Degrees of difference? A preliminary study of criminology degrees at Australian universities

While the discipline of ‘criminology’ has existed within Australian universities for more than half a century, the introduction of discrete ‘criminology’ and justice programmes is much more recent. Little is known, however, about the current state of play when it comes to what a degree in ‘criminology’ actually entails. With growing student enrolments in such programmes, reflecting on the status of these programmes is important in the context of student and employer requirements and expectations. Drawing on the findings of a preliminary study, this paper will explore what it means to study for an undergraduate degree in ‘criminology’ in Australia. Specifically, we will focus on the content, availability and range of ‘criminology’ and justice degrees available in Australia, in order to gain a better understanding of the convergences and divergences across degree programmes, and make some recommendations for future research.

Ambiguity Acceptance Testing : A Comparison of the Ratio Test and Difference Test

Integer ambiguity resolution is an indispensable procedure for all high precision GNSS applications. The correctness of the estimated integer ambiguities is the key to achieving highly reliable positioning, but the solution cannot be validated with classical hypothesis testing methods. The integer aperture estimation theory unifies all existing ambiguity validation tests and provides a new prospective to review existing methods, which enables us to have a better understanding on the ambiguity validation problem. This contribution analyses two simple but efficient ambiguity validation test methods, ratio test and difference test, from three aspects: acceptance region, probability basis and numerical results. The major contribution of this paper can be summarized as: (1) The ratio test acceptance region is overlap of ellipsoids while the difference test acceptance region is overlap of half-spaces. (2) The probability basis of these two popular tests is firstly analyzed. The difference test is an approximation to optimal integer aperture, while the ratio test follows an exponential relationship in probability. (3) The limitations of the two tests are firstly identified. The two tests may under-evaluate the failure risk if the model is not strong enough or the float ambiguities fall in particular region. (4) Extensive numerical results are used to compare the performance of these two tests. The simulation results show the ratio test outperforms the difference test in some models while difference test performs better in other models. Particularly in the medium baseline kinematic model, the difference tests outperforms the ratio test, the superiority is independent on frequency number, observation noise, satellite geometry, while it depends on success rate and failure rate tolerance. Smaller failure rate leads to larger performance discrepancy.

Relating Across Difference : A Case Study in Transformative Learning

This chapter examines the process of “transformative learning” for the 2008 cohort of the St. Thomas More College–Intercordia Canada (STM/IC) international community service-learning program. My primary data comes from the eight students who were part of that cohort, when I was their program coordinator. That data later became the heart of my Master’s thesis and was approved by the Research Ethics Office of the University of Saskatchewan. In this chapter I focus on three of those eight participants, outlining the critical elements of their experiences that were conducive to their transformative learning. To be sure, my sample size is too small to draw generalizable conclusions, but the quality of information I received from these students and their colleagues, coupled with the follow-up conversations I had with other educators and with the accompanying literature, supports the value of reflecting at length here about these students’ comments. I have chosen to highlight the experiences of these three participants because together they provide a range of experiences that best enables an analysis of the conditions that both did and did not lead to transformative learning. This case study suggests that transformative learning occurs through: the dynamics of vulnerability, a discovery of persisting differences within inter-personal relationships, and an experience of welcome and hospitality in the host environment. In contrast to other studies that focus on the enhanced capacities, skills and subsequent employability of participants through international education, transformative learning for these students required a relinquishing of securities, a disorientation and critical interrogation of the self, and enhanced receptivity to the newly recognized Other. Moreover, consistent with the critical-humanistic educational philosophy shared in different ways by the participants of the STM/IC program, this study suggests that international community service-learning can most responsibly contribute to good global citizenship through the construction of relationships of solidarity across difference.

Organizational work-related road safety situational analysis: More than just an audit tool

Although safety statistics indicate that road crashes are the most common form of work-related fatalities, many organizations fail to treat company vehicles in the same manner as other physical safety hazards within the workplace. Traditionally, work-related road safety has targeted primarily driver-related issues and not adequately addressed organizational processes, such as the organizations’ safety system and risk management processes and practice. This inadequacy generally stems from a lack of specific contextual knowledge and basic requirements to improve work-related road safety, including the supporting systems to ensure any intervention strategy or initiative’s ongoing effectiveness. Therefore, informed by previous research and based on a case study methodology, the Organizational Work-Related Road Safety Situational Analysis was developed to assess organizations’ current work-related road safety system, including policy, procedures, processes and practice. The situational analysis tool is similar to a safety audit however is more comprehensive in detail, application and provides sufficient evidence to enable organizations to mitigate and manage their work-related road safety risks. In addition, data collected from this process assists organizations in making informed decisions regarding intervention strategy design, development, implementation and ongoing effectiveness. This paper reports on the effectiveness of the situational analysis tool to assess WRRS systems across five differing and diverse organizations; including gas exploration and mining, state government, local government, and not for profit/philanthropy. The outcomes of this project identified considerable differences in the degree by which the organizations’ addressed work-related road safety across their vehicle fleet operations and provides guidelines for improving organizations’ work-related road safety systems.

The importance of individual difference : examining anthropomorphic tendency and consumer responses to spokes-characters

This thesis comprised a series of online experiments to examine the influence of an individual's level of anthropomorphic tendency on responses to spokes-characters. It finds that an individual's level of anthropomorphic tendency does influence their responses to some types of spokes-characters. Further, those with high anthropomorphic tendency tend towards being younger and more creative in their thinking. This research contributes to anthropomorphic tendency theory; specifically it addresses how this tendency operates in a marketing context and thereby aids practitioners seeking to utilise such characters in achieving positive business outcomes.

Small firms and the challenge of equality, diversity and difference

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers contributing to this special issue and to locate them within the broader questions about the role of small firms in enabling or alleviating issues of equality, diversity, and difference for various groups in society. Design/methodology/approach The literature dealing with the issues of equality, diversity, and difference pertaining to the operation of and/or working in smaller firms was reviewed prior to drawing out the key points from the submitted papers and considering the contribution they make to this literature. Findings Overall, one's these five papers contribute to one's understanding of the issues facing those in business or self‐employment, working in small business or wanting to pursue enterprise. Originality/value Rarely are questions asked about the assumed role small firms play in mitigating social exclusion for a range of groups in society. By addressing questions which explore the challenge of equality, diversity, and difference for small business in their establishment, management, and effective operation using interdisciplinary frameworks and different methodologies, a better understanding of the role of small business in society can be developed.

It’s Not Just a Game: Contemporary Challenges for Games Research and the Internet

In this final chapter we will raise a number of issues that we have encountered as we have put this collection of papers together. In doing this, we also reflect upon the seven challenges for video game theory that Bernard Perron and Mark Wolf(2009)put forward in the introduction to the second video game theory reader given it is probably one of the most recent assessments in the area at the time of writing. These challenges are concerned with Terminology and Accuracy, History, Methodology, Technology, Interactivity, Play and the Integration of Interdisciplinary Approaches. These issues will be brought up throughout this chapter, but not necessarily in mutually exclusive fashion...

More than just friends? Facebook, disclosive ethics and the morality of technology

Social networking sites have become increasingly popular destinations for people wishing to chat, play games, make new friends or simply stay in touch. Furthermore, many organizations have been quick to grasp the potential they offer for marketing, recruitment and economic activities. Nevertheless, counterclaims depict such spaces as arenas where deception, social grooming and the posting of defamatory content flourish. Much research in this area has focused on the ends to which people deploy the technology, and the consequences arising, with a view to making policy recommendations and ethical interventions. In this paper, we argue that tracing where morality lies is more complex than these efforts suggest. Using the case of a popular social networking site, and concepts about the morality of technology, we disclose the ethics of Facebook as diffuse and multiple. In our conclusions we provide some reflections on the possibilities for action in light of this disclosure.

Just dawn

Commissioned for the It’s Timely exhibition at the Blacktown Arts Centre, Just Dawn is a response to two speeches that former Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam delivered in Blacktown in 1972 and 1974. Throughout the video, a series of white words and phrases fade in and out as a virtual camera flies towards an abstract horizon line. The narrative thread of the text is directed towards an unnamed Whitlam through the repeated appearance of the words ‘you said’. As the video progresses, the colours of the animated background slowly brighten to resemble an emerging dawn, and the sound, text and camera movements build in frequency and intensity. As they do so, the once optimistic outlook becomes increasingly unsteady. In these ways, Just Dawn is equal parts homage and lament for the ideological acuity and ambition of Whitlam’s agenda. It explores how Whitlam’s words can become markers for the complexities of both his own specific transformative policies, and the character of the socially progressive movement more broadly.