Mining, sex work and STIs: why force a connection?

Can the mining boom be blamed for the rising rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in some states? The Australian Medical Association thinks so, with its Queensland president Dr Richard Kidd attributing rising rates of gonorrhoea, syphilis and chlamydia in Queensland and Western Australia to bored and cashed-up miners.

Green urbanism and diffusion issues

This paper addresses the research question, ‘What are the diffusion determinants for green urbanism innovations in Australia?’ This is a significant topic given the global movement towards green urbanism. The study reported here is based on desktop research that provides new insights through (1) synthesis of the latest research findings on green urbanism innovations and (2) interpretation of diffusion issues through our innovation system model. Although innovation determinants have been studied extensively overseas and in Australia, there is presently a gap in the literature when it comes to these determinants for green urbanism in Australia. The current paper fills this gap. Using a conceptual framework drawn from the innovation systems literature, this paper synthesises and interprets the literature to map the current state of green urbanism innovations in Australia and to analyse the drivers for, and obstacles to, their optimal diffusion. The results point to the importance of collaboration between project-based actors in the implementation of green urbanism. Education, training and regulation across the product system is also required to improve the cultural and technical context for implementation. The results are limited by their exploratory nature and future research is planned to quantify barriers to green urbanism.

Masculinity, sexuality, theology and child sexual abuse by personnel in Christian institutions

There growing recognition that a contributor to the repeat crises of child sexual abuse (CSA) by personnel in Christian institutions (PICIs), is the often gendered culture of Christian institutions themselves. This work explores theological discursive constructions of masculinity and sexuality and their implications for addressing CSA by PICIs. The perspectives discussed here are of PICIs who participated in a research project conducted in Australia. From these perspectives male gendered and sexual performance is constructed through discourse as both an explanation and solution to offending behaviour. Similarly, sexuality is viewed as God-given, heteronormative and legitimately expressed only within the bounds of marriage. This work draws on Foucault and feminist discourses as they relate to CSA by PICIs and institutional discourses. This work offers a perspective of PICIs that may not otherwise be heard in the common discourses of CSA in Christian Institutions.

Australian stock indexes and the four-factor model

Stock indexes are passive 'value-weighted' portfolios and should not have alphas which are significantly different from zero. If an index produces an insignificant alphan, then significant alphas for equity funds using this index can be attributed solely to manager performance. However, recent literature sugests that US Stock indexes can demonstrate significant alphas, which ultimately raise questions regarding equity fund manager performance in both the US and abroad. in this paper, we employ the Carhart four-factor model and newly available Asian-Pacific risk factors to generate alphas and risk factor loadings for eight Australian stock indexes from January 2004 to December 2012. We ifnd that the initial full sample period analysis does not provide indication of significant alphas in the indexes examined. However, by carrying out 36-month rolling regressions, we discover at least four significant alphas in seven of the eight indexes and factor loading variability. As previously reported in the US, this paper confirms similar issues with the four-factor model using Australian stock indexes and performance benchmarking. In effectively measuring Australian equity fund manager performance, it is therefore essential to evaluate a fund's alpha and risk factors relative to the alpha and risk factors of the appropriate benchmark index.

Establishing and maintaining social connectivity: An understanding of the lived experiences of older adults residing in regional and rural communities

- Objective To better understand how to plan for an ageing demographic that resides in ever-changing community typologies. Design: Semi-structured in-depth interviews. - Setting Community settings in rural and regional towns in Queensland. - Participants Twenty-two people aged over 65 years living in regional and rural Australia. - Interventions Qualitative study of social connectedness. - Main outcome measure(s) Thematic qualitative analysis. - Results Formal and informal social contact, through family, friends and social groups, was found to be important to the everyday lives of the participants. - Conclusions Social connections for older adults are important in maintaining independence and community engagement.

Tesla motors’ open source revolution: Intellectual property and the carbon crisis

On the 12th June 2014, Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of the electric car manufacturer, Tesla Motors, announced in a blog that ‘all our patents belong to you.’ He explained that the company would adopt an open source philosophy in respect of its intellectual property in order to encourage the development of the industry of electric cars, and address the carbon crisis. Elon Musk made the dramatic, landmark announcement: Yesterday, there was a wall of Tesla patents in the lobby of our Palo Alto headquarters. That is no longer the case. They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology.

Breakfast at Tiffany's': eBay Inc., trade mark law, and counterfeiting

In an exploration of intellectual property and fashion, this article examines the question of the intermediary liability of online auction-houses for counterfeiting. In the United States, the illustrious jewellery store, Tiffany & Co, brought a legal action against eBay Inc, alleging direct trademark infringement, contributory trademark infringement, false advertising, unfair competition and trademark dilution. The luxury store depicted the online auction-house as a pirate bazaar, a flea-market and a haven for counterfeiting. During epic litigation, eBay Inc successfully defended itself against these allegations in a United States District Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Tiffany & Co made a desperate, unsuccessful effort to appeal the matter to the Supreme Court of the United States. The matter featured a number of interventions from amicus curiae — Tiffany was supported by Coty, the Fashion Designer's Guild, and the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition, while eBay was defended by publicly-spirited civil society groups such as Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Citizen, and Public Knowledge as well as Yahoo!, Google Inc, Amazon.com, and associations representing telecommunications carriers and internet service providers. The litigation in the United States can be counterpointed with the fusillade of legal action against eBay in the European Union. In contrast to Tiffany & Co, Louis Vuitton triumphed over eBay in the French courts — claiming its victory as vindication of the need to protect the commercial interests and cultural heritage of France. However, eBay has fared somewhat better in a dispute with L’Oréal in Great Britain and the European Court of Justice. It is argued that, in a time of flux and uncertainty, Australia should follow the position of the United States courts in Tiffany & Co v eBay Inc. The final part examines the ramifications of this litigation over online auction-houses for trade mark law reform and consumer rights; parallel disputes over intermediary liability and safe harbours in the field of copyright law and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement 2010. The conclusion calls for a revision of trade mark law, animated by a respect for consumers’ rights and interests in the electronic marketplace.

The freedom to tinker: Patent law and experimental use

This article considers the origins and the development of the defence of experimental use in patent law - the ’freedom to tinker'. It explores the impact of such an exemption upon a number of important industries - such as agriculture, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical drugs. This article takes a comparative approach in its analysis of patent law and experimental use. It highlights the competing norms, and lack of harmonization between a number of jurisdictions - including the United States, the European Union, and Australia. Section 2 provides a critique of the development of the common law defence of experimental use in the United States. It considers a series of precedents - including Roche Products Inc v Bolar Pharmaceuticals, Madey v Duke University, Integra Lifesciences I Ltd v Merck KgaA, and Applera v MJ Research. Section 3 explores the operation of patent law and experimental use in European jurisdictions. It looks at a number of significant precedents in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Germany. Section 4 considers the policy debate in a number of forums over the defence of experimental use in Australia. It examines the controversy over Genetic Technologies Limited asking research organisations to obtain a licence in respect of its patents associated with non-coding DNA and genomic mapping. It also considers the inquiries of the Australian Law Reform Commission and the Advisory Council on Intellectual Property, as well as the impact of the TRIPS Agreement and the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. The conclusion contends that there is a need for a broad-based defence of experimental use for all the member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

On food security and alternative food networks: Understanding and performing food security in the context of urban bias

This paper offers one explanation for the institutional basis of food insecurity in Australia, and argues that while alternative food networks and the food sovereignty movement perform a valuable function in building forms of social solidarity between urban consumers and rural producers, they currently make only a minor contribution to Australia’s food and nutrition security. The paper begins by identifying two key drivers of food security: household incomes (on the demand side) and nutrition-sensitive, ‘fair food’ agriculture (on the supply side). We focus on this second driver and argue that healthy populations require an agricultural sector that delivers dietary diversity via a fair and sustainable food system. In order to understand why nutrition-sensitive, fair food agriculture is not flourishing in Australia we introduce the development economics theory of urban bias. According to this theory, governments support capital intensive rather than labour intensive agriculture in order to deliver cheap food alongside the transfer of public revenues gained from rural agriculture to urban infrastructure, where the majority of the voting public resides. We chart the unfolding of the Urban Bias across the twentieth century and its consolidation through neo-liberal orthodoxy, and argue that agricultural policies do little to sustain, let alone revitalize, rural and regional Australia. We conclude that by observing food system dynamics through a re-spatialized lens, Urban Bias Theory is valuable in highlighting rural–urban socio-economic and political economy tensions, particularly regarding food system sustainability. It also sheds light on the cultural economy tensions for alternative food networks as they move beyond niche markets to simultaneously support urban food security and sustainable rural livelihoods.

Review: Let's talk kinship: Innovating Australian social work education, theory, research and practice through Aboriginal knowledge

Review(s) of: Let's talk kinship: Innovating Australian social work education, theory, research and practice through Aboriginal knowledge, by Christine Fejo-King, published by Christine Fejo-King Consulting, ISBN: 978-0-9922814-0-3.

NAPLAN, MySchool and accountability: Teacher perceptions of the effects of testing

This paper explores Rizvi and Lingard’s (2010) idea of the “local vernacular” of the global education policy trend of using high-stakes testing to increase accountability and transparency, and by extension quality, within schools and education systems in Australia. In the first part of the paper a brief context of the policy trajectory of National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is given in Australia. In the second part, empirical evidence drawn from a survey of teachers in Western Australia (WA) and South Australia (SA) is used to explore teacher perceptions of the impacts a high-stakes testing regime is having on student learning, relationships with parents and pedagogy in specific sites. After the 2007 Australian Federal election, one of Labor’s policy objectives was to deliver an “Education Revolution” designed to improve both the equity and excellence in the Australian school system1 (Rudd & Gillard, 2008). This reform agenda aims to “deliver real changes” through: “raising the quality of teaching in our schools” and “improving transparency and accountability of schools and school systems” (Rudd & Gillard, 2008, p. 5). Central to this linking of accountability, the transparency of schools and school systems and raising teaching quality was the creation of a regime of testing (NAPLAN) that would generate data about the attainment of basic literacy and numeracy skills by students in Australian schools.

Financial Accounting: Reporting, Analysis and Decision Making [5th ed.]

In recent years accounting education has seen numerous changes to the way financial accounting is taught. These changes reflect the demands of an ever-changing business world, opportunities created by new technology and instructional technologies, and an increased understanding of how students learn. The foundation of Financial Accounting is based on a number of unique principles and innovations in accounting education. The objective of Financial Accounting is to provide students with an understanding of those concepts that are fundamental to the preparation and use of accounting information. Most students will forget procedural details within a short period of time. On the other hand, concepts, if well taught, should be remembered for a lifetime. Concepts are especially important in a world where the details are constantly changing. Students learn best when they are actively engaged. The overriding pedagogical objective of Financial Accounting is to provide students with continual opportunities for active learning. One of the best tools for active learning is strategically placed questions. Discussions are framed by questions, often beginning with rhetorical questions and ending with review questions, and our analytical devices, called decision-making toolkits, use key questions to demonstrate the purpose of each.