Evaluation and social impact measurement amongst small to medium social enterprises : process, purpose and value

In recent years, the imperative to communicate organisational impacts to a variety of stakeholders has gained increasing importance within all sectors. Despite growing external demands for evaluation and social impact measurement, there has been limited critically informed analysis about the presumed importance of these activities to organisational success and the practical challenges faced by organisations in undertaking such assessment. In this paper, we present the findings from an action research study of five Australian small to medium social enterprises’ practices and use of evaluation and social impact analysis. Our findings have implications for social enterprise operators, policy makers and social investors regarding when, why and at what level these activities contribute to organisational performance and the fulfilment of mission.

We have a lot to learn yet : a postcolonial lens in health promotion

Health promotion progresses a social justice and empowerment agenda and thus emphasises working with people to increase their control over their health. Certainly, Australia has experienced much success in this endeavour and is internationally recognised as a leader. However, health promotion has failed Indigenous Australians; a fact that is echoed in the health outcomes that ironically provide us with the “moral imperative” to act. Further investigation has also revealed health promotion’s foundation in colonial imaginings. Thus, this paper calls for the culture of health promotion to be examined as a risk factor for poor Indigenous health. To complement this call, this paper presents findings of an ethnographic study of Indigenous health promotion practice, undertaken from a postcolonial and critical whiteness framework. These findings provide a narrative of strength and innovative approaches, highlighting the value of Indigenous knowledge. These findings also contradict the biomedical tendency to construct culture as illness-producing. More broadly, this study’s findings entail important lessons for health promotion to consider, if it is to move beyond the rhetoric, to truly increase people’s control over their health.

State-of-the-art : track degradation at bridge transitions

Transition zones between bridge decks and rail tracks suffer early failure due to poor interaction between rail vehicles and sudden changes of stiffness. This has been an ongoing problem to rail industry and yet still no systematic studies appear to have been taken to maintain a gradually smoothening transmission of forces between the bridge and its approach. Differential settlement between the bridge deck and rail track in the transition zone is the fundamental issue, which negatively impacts the rail industry by causing passenger discomfort, early damage to infrastructure and vehicle components, speed reduction, and frequent maintenance cycles. Identification of mechanism of the track degradation and factors affecting is imperative to design any mitigation method for reducing track degradation rate at the bridge transition zone. Unfortunately this issue is still not well understood, after conducting a numbers of reviews to evaluate the key causes, and introducing a wide range of mitigation techniques. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the available literature has been carried out to develop either a novel design framework or a mitigation technique for the bridge transition zone. This paper addresses three critical questions in relation to the track degradation at transition zone: (1) what are the causes of bridge transition track degradation?; (2) what are the available mitigation techniques in reducing the track degradation rate?; (3) what are the factors affecting on poor performance of the existing mitigation techniques?. It is found that the absence of soil-water response, dynamic loading response, and behaviour of geotechnical characteristics under long-term conditions in existing track transition design frameworks critically influence on the failures of existing mitigation techniques. This paper also evaluates some of the existing design frameworks to identify how each design framework addresses the track degradation at the bridge transition zone.

Considering a whole-of-community approach to integrating nature in cities, an international case study of Vauban, Germany

Globally, cities face a convergence of complex and rapidly evolving challenges, including climate change, resource shortages, population growth and urbanization, and financial pressures. Biophilic urbanism is an emerging design principle capable of considering the multidimensional and interdependent complexities of urban systems and infrastructure, which through the use of natural design features, can meet society’s inherent need for contact with nature, and assist efforts to respond to these growing challenges. Considering the imperative for addressing these challenges, this paper proposes that significant lessons can be learned from existing examples of biophilic urbanism, avoiding ‘re-invention of the wheel’ and facilitating accelerated innovation in other areas. Vauban is a 38-hectare brownfield development located 3 kilometers from the centre of Germany’s ‘ecological capital’ of Freiburg city. It was developed using an innovative process with strong community participation and reinterpreted developer roles to produce an example of integrated sustainability. Innovation in transport, energy, housing, development and water treatment has enabled a relatively high-density, mixed-use development that integrates a considerable amount of nature. This paper discusses Vauban in light of research undertaken over the last two years through the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre in Australia, to investigate emerging elements of ‘biophilic urbanism’ (nature-loving cities), and their potential to be mainstreamed within urban environments. The paper considers the interplay between the policies, community dynamics and innovations in Vauban, within the context of the culture, history and practice of sustainability in Germany, and how these have enabled nature to be integrated into the urban environment of Vauban while achieving other desirable goals for urban areas. It highlights potential applications from Vauban for Australian cities.

Making YAWL and SmartPM interoperate : managing highly dynamic processes by exploiting automatic adaptation features

In the last years, the trade-o between exibility and sup- port has become a leading issue in work ow technology. In this paper we show how an imperative modeling approach used to de ne stable and well-understood processes can be complemented by a modeling ap- proach that enables automatic process adaptation and exploits planning techniques to deal with environmental changes and exceptions that may occur during process execution. To this end, we designed and imple- mented a Custom Service that allows the Yawl execution environment to delegate the execution of subprocesses and activities to the SmartPM execution environment, which is able to automatically adapt a process to deal with emerging changes and exceptions. We demonstrate the fea- sibility and validity of the approach by showing the design and execution of an emergency management process de ned for train derailments.

Editorial : Law and ethics for the bioeconomy and beyond

The convergence of biological, technological and economic realms of life has fostered the development of the bioeconomy as a new feature of contemporary society. As the meaning of life and the human body is redefined in the context of the bioeconomy, new challenges have emerged for ethics and law In the face of these challenges, it is imperative that the currency of regulatory frameworks is maintained through the processes of regular review and update. The National Health and Medical Research Council has recently released the new National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research to provide guidance for health research in Australia. The new National Statement will play an important part in supporting innovation and the development of the knowledge economy.

Computational aspects of probabilistic assessment of UAS robust autonomy

As the level of autonomy in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) increases, there is an imperative need for developing methods to assess robust autonomy. This paper focuses on the computations that lead to a set of measures of robust autonomy. These measures are the probabilities that selected performance indices related to the mission requirements and airframe capabilities remain within regions of acceptable performance.

Educating for digital futures : what the learning strategies of digital media professionals can teach higher education

This article explores how universities might engage more effectively with the imperative to develop students’ 21st century skills for the information society, by examining learning challenges and professional learning strategies of successful digital media professionals. The findings of qualitative interviews with professionals from Australian games, online publishing, apps and software development companies reinforce an increasing body of literature that suggests that legacy university structures and pedagogical approaches are not conducive to learning for professional capability in the digital age. Study participants were ambivalent about the value of higher education to digital careers, in general preferring a range of situated online and face-to-face social learning strategies for professional currency. This article draws upon the learning preferences of the professionals in this study to present a model of 21st century learning, as linked with extant theory relating to informal, self-determined learning and communities of practice.

Clinical use of objective measures of physical activity

With measurement of physical activity becoming more common in clinical practice, it is imperative that healthcare professionals become more knowledgeable about the different methods available to objectively measure physical activity behaviour. Objective measures do not rely on information provided by the patient, but instead measure and record the biomechanical or physiological consequences of performing physical activity, often in real time. As such, objective measures are not subject to the reporting bias or recall problems associated with self-report methods. The purpose of this article was to provide an overview of the different methods used to objectively measure physical activity in clinical practice. The review was delimited to heart rate monitoring, accelerometers and pedometers since their small size, low participant burden and relatively low cost make these objective measures appropriate for use in clinical practice settings. For each measure, strengths and weakness were discussed; and whenever possible, literature-based examples of implementation were provided.

Building capacity for 21st century engineering through curriculum renewal

At the 2012 CDIO conference, it was clear to all that engineering for 21st Century challenges and opportunities will be critical to the success of society over the next 2-3 decades, in dealing with pressures including climate change, resource depletion and urban densification. Within this context there is a growing imperative for rapid curriculum renewal towards education for sustainable development across all types and disciplines of engineering education, around the world. Building on a paper presented by these authors at the 2012 CDIO conference, this 2013 roundtable will draw on participants’ experiences to discuss how sustainability knowledge and skills can be embedded within a CDIO-based program using a holistic approach to curriculum renewal. The highly interactive and dynamic session will include two parts: 1) a short presentation from the chairs of the roundtable on an emergent model for rapid curriculum renewal; and 2) a facilitated discussion with participants about challenges and opportunities for action. Session notes will be recorded for distribution among participants following the conference.

Anti-proliferative and cytotoxic activity of pentadactylin isolated from Leptodactylus labyrinthicus on melanoma cells

Nowadays, the emergence of resistance to the current available chemotherapeutic drugs by cancer cells makes the development of new agents imperative. The skin secretion of amphibians is a natural rich source of antimicrobial peptides (AMP), and researchers have shown that some of these wide spectrum molecules are also toxic to cancer cells. The aim of this study was to verify a putative anticancer activity of the AMP pentadactylin isolated for the first time from the skin secretion of the frog Leptodactylus labyrinthicus and also to study its cytotoxic mechanism to the murine melanoma cell line B16F10. The results have shown that pentadactylin reduces the cell viability of B16F10 cells in a dose-dependent manner. It was also cytotoxic to normal human fibroblast cells; nevertheless, pentadactylin was more potent in the first case. The studies of action mechanism revealed that pentadactylin causes cell morphology alterations (e.g., round shape and shrinkage morphology), membrane disruption, DNA fragmentation, cell cycle arrest at the S phase, and alteration of mitochondrial membrane potential, suggesting that B16F10 cells die by apoptosis. The exact mechanism that causes reduction of cell viability and cytotoxicity after treatment with pentadactylin is still unknown. In conclusion, as cancer cells become resilient to death, it is worthwhile the discovery of new drugs such as pentadactylin that induces apoptosis.

Cortical organization of environmental sounds by attribute

Semantic knowledge is supported by a widely distributed neuronal network, with differential patterns of activation depending upon experimental stimulus or task demands. Despite a wide body of knowledge on semantic object processing from the visual modality, the response of this semantic network to environmental sounds remains relatively unknown. Here, we used fMRI to investigate how access to different conceptual attributes from environmental sound input modulates this semantic network. Using a range of living and manmade sounds, we scanned participants whilst they carried out an object attribute verification task. Specifically, we tested visual perceptual, encyclopedic, and categorical attributes about living and manmade objects relative to a high-level auditory perceptual baseline to investigate the differential patterns of response to these contrasting types of object-related attributes, whilst keeping stimulus input constant across conditions. Within the bilateral distributed network engaged for processing environmental sounds across all conditions, we report here a highly significant dissociation within the left hemisphere between the processing of visual perceptual and encyclopedic attributes of objects.

Firm-customer mobile digital connectedness : conceptualization, measurement and implications

Firm-customer digital connectedness for effective sensing and responding is a strategic imperative for contemporary competitive firms. This research-in-progress paper conceptualizes and operationalizes the firm-customer mobile digital connectedness of a smart-mobile customer. The empirical investigation focuses on mobile app users and the impact of mobile apps on customer expectations. Based on pilot data collected from 127 customers, we tested hypotheses pertaining to firm-customer mobile digital connectedness and customer expectations. Our test analysis using linear and non-linear postulations reveals those customers raise their expectations as they increase their digital interactions with a firm.

Family Mobility : Reconciling Career Opportunities and Educational Strategy

Family mobility decisions reveal much about how the public and private realms of social life interact and change. This sociological study explores how contemporary families reconcile individual members’ career and education projects within the family unit over time and space, and unpacks the intersubjective constraints on workforce mobility. This Australian mixed methods study sampled Defence Force families and middle class professional families to illustrate how families’ educational projects are necessarily and deeply implicated in issues of workforce mobility and immobility, in complex ways. Defence families move frequently, often absorbing the stresses of moving through ‘viscous’ institutions as private troubles. In contrast, the selective mobility of middle class professional families and their ‘no go zones’ contribute to the public issue of poorly serviced rural communities. Families with different social, material and vocational resources at their disposal are shown to reflexively weigh the benefits and risks associated with moving differently. The book also explore how priorities shift as children move through educational phases. The families’ narratives offer empirical windows on larger social processes, such as the mobility imperative, the gender imbalance in the family’s intersubjective bargains, labour market credentialism, the social construction of place, and the family’s role in the reproduction of class structure.

Enhancing the capacity of kin caregivers and their families to meet the needs of children left behind

Based on qualitative research of the experiences of 23 kin caregivers and five school personnel, this article explores the role of informal kinship care in addressing the needs of school-age children left behind in rural China. The findings of this study suggest that kin caregivers' child-rearing capacity is limited in the rural context, and they are often overwhelmed by children's diverse and complex needs, particularly their emotional ones. In view of the huge population and their vulnerability, it is imperative for the state to take up its responsibilities and develop specific social work services and other support for children left behind and their families. 根据对23位亲属照顾者和5位学校人员的质性研究，文章探讨在处理中国留守学龄儿童的需要时，非正式亲属照料所担当的角色。研究发现，在农村的亲属照料者的抚养儿童能力有限，而且他们时常在面对儿童众多复杂的需求时应接不暇，问题又以情绪需要尤甚。有见于留守儿童的数目众多和易受伤害，政府急切需要承担相关的责任，为留守儿童及其家庭发展专门的社会工作服务和其他支援。