Healthcare channel consumer insights : supermarkets, pharmacy & general practitioners

Why are consumers different: Heterogeneity in the way consumers categorise products and services – Snack Food Influenced by the individual needs, personal traits, values and goals – Blood Donation Consumers base their choices on information from external sources and prior experiences stored in memory. Intrinsic – prior experience Extrinsic – advertising, blogs, etc

Discharge practices for the intensive care patient : a qualitative exploration in the general ward setting

OBJECTIVE: To explore how registered nurses (RNs) in the general ward perceive discharge processes and practices for patients recently discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU). BACKGROUND: Patients discharged from the ICU environment often require complicated and multifaceted care. The ward-based RN is at the forefront of the care of this fragile patient population, yet their views and perceptions have seldom been explored. DESIGN: A qualitative grounded theory design was used to guide focus group interviews with the RN participants. METHODS: Five semi-structured focus group interviews, including 27 RN participants, were conducted in an Australian metropolitan tertiary referral hospital in 2011. Data analyses of transcripts, field notes and memos used concurrent data generation, constant comparative analysis and theoretical sampling. RESULTS: Results yielded a core category of 'two worlds' stressing the disconnectedness between ICU and the ward setting. This category was divided into sub categories of 'communication disconnect' and 'remember the family'. Properties of 'what we say', 'what we write', 'transfer' and 'information needs' respectively were developed within those sub-categories. CONCLUSION: The discharge process for patients within the ICU setting is complicated and largely underappreciated. There are fundamental, misunderstood differences in prioritisation and care of patients between the areas, with a deep understanding of practice requirements of ward based RNs not being understood. The findings of this research may be used to facilitate inter departmental communications and progress practice development.

kmth price sealed-bid auctions with general independent values and equilibrium linear mark-ups

A generalised bidding model is developed to calculate a bidder’s expected profit and auctioners expected revenue/payment for both a General Independent Value and Independent Private Value (IPV) kmth price sealed-bid auction (where the mth bidder wins at the kth bid payment) using a linear (affine) mark-up function. The Common Value (CV) assumption, and highbid and lowbid symmetric and asymmetric First Price Auctions and Second Price Auctions are included as special cases. The optimal n bidder symmetric analytical results are then provided for the uniform IPV and CV models in equilibrium. Final comments concern implications, the assumptions involved and prospects for further research.

Australian horror movies and the American market

In Australian cinema since the mid-2000s, horror has become a popular and at times commercially viable genre for low-budget and emerging filmmakers targeting international markets. While the annual horror film output of Australia pales in comparison to that of other Anglophone nations like the United States, Great Britain, and Canada, it has produced several significant titles that have performed moderately well at the international box office, from Wolf Creek (Greg McLean, 2005) to Daybreakers (Michael and Peter Spierig, 2009). Yet as part of a broader tradition of Anglophone horror cinema, many Australian horror movies have been heavily influenced by US and to a lesser extent British horror films. Furthermore, Australian horror film production is largely an internationally-oriented sector that relies on its relationships with overseas distributors and often investors. Consequently, the content and style of Australian horror movies have regularly been tailored for international markets. As a direct consequence some filmmakers have sought to trade on the “Australianness” of their product, others have attempted to pass off their films as faux-American, while others still have attempted to develop placeless films effaced of national reference points. This chapter examines local production as part of a broader tradition of Anglophone horror cinema, the influence of US horror movies, and the limitations of the domestic marketplace. The article concludes with an analysis of how the lure of the US market influences Australian filmmakers’ textual strategies.

Penal Colonies

Prostitution has been closely associated with the transportation of women convicts to British penal colonies. Convict labor was used to found a number of British colonies including Barbados, Jamaica, Maryland, Virginia, Singapore, New South Wales, Tasmania, and Western Australia. Between 1607 and 1939, Britain transported approximately 400,000 convicts, 162,000 of whom came to Australia and about 50,000 to North America. Significant numbers of women were among those transported to the Australian and North American colonies, although their numbers were relatively small in comparison to male convicts. Transportation was typically reserved for the most recalcitrant of female offenders. Most women transported came from working-class populations, resided in metropolitan centers, and were single at the time of their offense. Although few of these women were actually sentenced for activities associated with prostitution, large numbers had a history of involvement with prostitution. Transportation was considered to offer prostitutes a chance at redemption, with colonial commentators drawing contrasts between the Old World and its vice-ridden sensuality and the colonies, which offered opportunities for redemption through religious devotion and hard work. Many women transported to the Australian colonies were described by officials as being "on the town" at their time of apprehension and were collectively considered to be "damned whores, possessed of neither virtue nor honesty". Recently, historians have argued that these assessments were emblematic of middle-class prejudices toward the open and aggressive sexuality of working-class women. The number of convict women involved in prostitution may have been higher than recorded crimes, typically involving "larceny", suggest. A number of women were charged with theft from men who had paid them (or, in some instances, refused to pay them) for sex. Historians have estimated that one in five convict women were part-time or full-time prostitutes before transportation. Many continued in prostitution after transportation, with prostitution becoming an important element in the social and economic life of the Australian colonies, where, between 1788-1830, men outnumbered women six to one. Officially, prostitution was tolerated to dissuade men from vice. For women, prostitution presented a means of securing physical protection and accommodation at a time when general amenities and employment opportunities were restricted.

Submission to the Attorney-General's Department consultation on "Marrakesh Treaty options for implementation" discussion paper

It is extremely important to ensure that people with disabilities can access information and cultural works on an equal basis with others. Access is fundamentally important to enable people with disabilities to fully participate in economic, social, and political life. This is both a pressing moral imperative and a legal requirement in international law. Australia should take clear steps to affirmatively redress the fundamental inequalities of access that people with disabilities face. This requires a fundamental shift in the way that we think about copyright and disability rights: the mechanisms for enabling access should not be a limited exception to normal distribution, but should instead be strong positive rights that are able to be routinely and practically exercised.

An Australian perspective on the ALI-III global principles for cooperation in International insolvency cases

In 2012, Professor Ian Fletcher (United Kingdom) and Professor Bob Wessels (The Netherlands) presented a Report to the American Law Institute and the International Insolvency Institute entitled Transnational Insolvency: Global Principles for Cooperation in International Insolvency Cases (“Global Principles”). This followed their appointment as Joint Reporters to investigate whether the essential provisions of the American Law Institute Principles of Cooperation among the North American Free Trade Agreement Countries with their annexed Guidelines Applicable to Court-to-Court Communication in Cross-border Cases may, with certain necessary modifications, be acceptable for use by jurisdictions across the world. This article comments on the Global Principles from the perspective of a jurisdiction which has adopted the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-border Insolvency (“Model Law”). In 2008, Australia enacted a standalone statute, the Cross-border Insolvency Act 2008 (Cth) to which is annexed the Model Law. In that process, it made minimal changes to the Model Law text. Against the background of the 2008 Act, related procedural laws as well as Australia’s general insolvency statutes and recent cross-border insolvency jurisprudence, this article comments on the potential relevance of the Transnational Insolvency Report as a point of reference for Australian courts and insolvency administrators when addressing international insolvency cases. By comparing the Global Principles with the Model Law as closely adopted in Australia, this analysis is a resource for other Model Law jurisdictions when considering the potential relevance of the Global Principles for their own international insolvency practice.

The biology of an isolated population of American Flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber in the Galapagos Islands

A genetically and morphologically divergent population of c.500 American Flamingos, isolated from the parental Caribbean stock of Phoenicopterus ruber, occurs in the Galapagos archipelago. Based primarily on data from a 3-year study, we provide the first description of the feeding and breeding biology of this population. Galapagos provides a suitable habitat comprising lagoons on a number of islands, among which the flamingos travel in response to food and nest site availability. The occurrence and qualnity of some food species was associated with the chlorosity of lagoon water, as was the distribution of flamingos. They bred opportunistically at five lagoons on four islands, sometimes simultaneously on more than one island. Group display usually involved approx 20 birds and colonies contained as few as three nests. Laying occurred during nine months of the year... We review potential dangers to this unique population and suggest conservation measures.

The impact of frailty and polypharmacy on adverse outcomes in older inpatients

Background Older people are at significant risk of adverse outcomes as a result of changes in physiology, frailty, co-morbidity and polypharmacy.1 Timely identification of high-risk patients may facilitate the optimization of medication and reduce the incidence of adverse outcomes. The aims of this study were to evaluate in older inpatients the relationships between risk factors, including frailty and polypharmacy, and adverse health outcomes. Methods This is a prospective study of 1418 patients, aged 70 and older, admitted to general medical units in 11 acute care hospitals across Australia. The interRAI Acute Care (interRAI AC) assessment tool was used for data collection. Frailty status was measured using a Frailty Index (FI), adding each individual’s deficits and dividing by the total number of deficits considered. Adverse health outcomes included falls in hospital, delirium, in-hospital functional and cognitive decline, discharge to a higher level of care and inpatient mortality. Results Patients had a mean age 81 ± 6.8 years with a median length of hospital stay of 6 days (interquartile range 4 to 11 days); 701 (50%) experienced at least one adverse outcome. Polypharmacy (5-9 drugs per day) was observed in almost half of the study population (n=695, 49%) and hyper-polypharmacy (≥10 drugs) observed in about one-third of patients (n=490, 34.6%). Cognitive impairment was shown to be associated with the lower rate of prescribing. FI had a significant association with all adverse outcomes studied (p = <0.05). In contrast, no association was observed between polypharmacy categories and adverse outcomes except for those on 10 or more drugs where they were more likely to be discharged to a higher level of care (p= 0.014). Conclusions Among older inpatients, frailty status was a significant predictor of adverse outcomes. Lower rates of prescribing to patients with cognitive impairment may underpin the lack of an association between polypharmacy and adverse outcomes in this cohort. References: 1. Olsson IN, Runnamo R, Engfeldt P. Medication quality and quality of life in the elderly, a cohort study.Health Qual Life Outcomes.2011;9:95

Revisiting borehole stresses in anisotropic elastic media : comparison of analytical versus numerical solutions

We present a rigorous validation of the analyticalAmadei solution for the stress concentration around arbitrarily orientated borehole in general anisotropic elastic media. First, we revisit the theoretical framework of the Amadei solution and present analytical insights that show that the solution does indeed contain all special cases of symmetry, contrary to previous understanding, provided that the reduced strain coefficients β11 and β55 are not equal. It is shown from theoretical considerations and published experimental data that the β11 and β55 are not equal for realistic rocks. Second, we develop a 3D finite-element elastic model within a hybrid analyticalnumerical workflow that circumvents the need to rebuild and remesh the model for every borehole and material orientation. Third, we show that the borehole stresses computed from the numerical model and the analytical solution match almost perfectly for different borehole orientations (vertical, deviated and horizontal) and for several cases involving isotropic and transverse isotropic symmetries. It is concluded that the analytical Amadei solution is valid with no restrictions on the borehole orientation or elastic anisotropy symmetry.

Patterns of service use among persons with Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders

Objective: This study assessed 12-month service use patterns among people with psychotic disorders and sought to identify determinants of service use. Methods: As part of a large two-phase Australian study of psychotic disorders, structured interviews were conducted with a stratified random sample of adults who screened positive for psychosis. Demographic characteristics, social functioning, symptoms, mental health diagnoses, and use of psychiatric and nonpsychiatric services were assessed. Data were analyzed for 858 persons who had an ICD-10 diagnosis of a psychotic disorder and who had been hospitalized for less than six months during the previous year. Results: People with psychotic disorders had high levels of use of health services, both in absolute terms and relative to people with nonpsychotic disorders. Those with psychotic disorders were estimated to have an average of one contact with health services per week. Use of psychiatric inpatient services was associated with parenthood, higher symptom levels, recent attempts at suicide or self-harm, personal disability, medication status, and frequency of alcohol consumption. Services provided by general practitioners (family physicians) were more likely to be obtained by older people, women, people with greater availability of friends, those with fewer negative symptoms, and those whose service needs were unmet by other sources. People who were high users of health services also reported having more contact with a range of non-health agencies. Conclusions: The predictors of service use accounted for small proportions of the variance in overall use of health services. The role of general practitioners in providing and monitoring treatment programs and other psychosocial interventions needs to be acknowledged and enhanced.