Workcover Queensland Act 1996 - award of damages for future care not precluded by s315

In Karanfilov v Inghams Enterprises Pty Ltd interpreted provisions of the Workcover Queensland Act 1996 as it applied to an injury occurring before 1 July 2001, i.e. prior to amendments made by the Workcover Queensland Act 2001. The decision involved the construction, in particular, of sections 312 and 315 of the Act

Homogeneous bent functions of degree n in 2n variables do not exist for n>3

We prove that homogeneous bent functions f:GF(2)^2n --> GF(2) of degree n do not exist for n>3. Consequently homogeneous bent functions must have degree 3.

Fusiform activation to animals is driven by the process, not the stimulus

Previous studies have found that the lateral posterior fusiform gyri respond more robustly to pictures of animals than pictures of manmade objects and suggested that these regions encode the visual properties characteristic of animals. We suggest that such effects actually reflect processing demands arising when items with similar representations must be finely discriminated. In a positron emission tomography (PET) study of category verification with colored photographs of animals and vehicles, there was robust animal-specific activation in the lateral posterior fusiform gyri when stimuli were categorized at an intermediate level of specificity (e.g., dog or car). However, when the same photographs were categorized at a more specific level (e.g., Labrador or BMW), these regions responded equally strongly to animals and vehicles. We conclude that the lateral posterior fusiform does not encode domain-specific representations of animals or visual properties characteristic of animals. Instead, these regions are strongly activated whenever an item must be discriminated from many close visual or semantic competitors. Apparent category effects arise because, at an intermediate level of specificity, animals have more visual and semantic competitors than do artifacts.

Minimum cost of transport in human running is not ubiquitous

Purpose This study explores recent claims that humans exhibit a minimum cost of transport (CoTmin) for running which occurs at an intermediate speed, and assesses individual physiological, gait and training characteristics. Methods Twelve healthy participants with varying levels of fitness and running experience ran on a treadmill at six self-selected speeds in a discontinuous protocol over three sessions. Running speed (km[middle dot]hr-1), V[spacing dot above]O2 (mL[middle dot]kg-1[middle dot]km-1), CoT (kcal[middle dot]km-1), heart rate (beats[middle dot]min-1) and cadence (steps[middle dot]min-1) were continuously measured. V[spacing dot above]O2 max was measured on a fourth testing session. The occurrence of a CoTmin was investigated and its presence or absence examined with respect to fitness, gait and training characteristics. Results Five participants showed a clear CoTmin at an intermediate speed and a statistically significant (p < 0.05) quadratic CoT-speed function, while the other participants did not show such evidence. Participants were then categorized and compared with respect to the strength of evidence for a CoTmin (ClearCoTmin and NoCoTmin). The ClearCoTmin group displayed significantly higher correlation between speed and cadence; more endurance training and exercise sessions per week; than the NoCoTmin group; and a marginally non-significant but higher aerobic capacity. Some runners still showed a CoTmin at an intermediate speed even after subtraction of resting energy expenditure. Conclusion The findings confirm the existence of an optimal speed for human running, in some but not all participants. Those exhibiting a COTmin undertook a higher volume of running, ran with a cadence that was more consistently modulated with speed, and tended to be aerobically fitter. The ability to minimise the energetic cost of transport appears not to be ubiquitous feature of human running but may emerge in some individuals with extensive running experience.

Lower partial moment and information entropy-based dynamic electricity purchasing strategy

In the electricity market environment, load-serving entities (LSEs) will inevitably face risks in purchasing electricity because there are a plethora of uncertainties involved. To maximize profits and minimize risks, LSEs need to develop an optimal strategy to reasonably allocate the purchased electricity amount in different electricity markets such as the spot market, bilateral contract market, and options market. Because risks originate from uncertainties, an approach is presented to address the risk evaluation problem by the combined use of the lower partial moment and information entropy (LPME). The lower partial moment is used to measure the amount and probability of the loss, whereas the information entropy is used to represent the uncertainty of the loss. Electricity purchasing is a repeated procedure; therefore, the model presented represents a dynamic strategy. Under the chance-constrained programming framework, the developed optimization model minimizes the risk of the electricity purchasing portfolio in different markets because the actual profit of the LSE concerned is not less than the specified target under a required confidence level. Then, the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is employed to solve the optimization model. Finally, a sample example is used to illustrate the basic features of the developed model and method.

'Not a Local Win': Rural Australian perceptions of the sustainable impacts of forest plantations

Australian forestry plantations have doubled in the past 15 years, with rural communities harbouring a diverse range of positive and negative of economic, environmental and social impacts – the so-called triple bottom line (TBL). Utilising two Australian rural communities in Eden/Gippsland and Tasmania as qualitative case studies, this research explores how 23 non-forestry affiliated rural residents perceived and experienced the TBL economic, environmental and social impacts of plantation forestry. Residents criticised the economic plantation forestry benefits because of lengthy periods of inactivity and limited local employment, explaining that their community was reliant on the industry yet the promised economic benefits had never fully materialised. There was a sense the industry ‘plant and walk away.’ Residents were concerned about the environment impact on water quality, water tables and fire hazards, although they praised plantation forestry for carbon sequestering, eradicating erosion and water run-off. Negative social impacts were described, specifically how the land-use change from farming to forestry had significantly reduced the local population, employment and need for services. Natural resource management and communication strategies are offered, derived from non-forestry affiliated rural resident perspectives on how best to ensure sustainable forest development in their community.

BDNF SNPs are implicated in comorbid alcohol dependence in schizophrenia but not in alcohol-dependent patients without schizophrenia

Aims The functional BDNF single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs6265 has been associated with many disorders including schizophrenia and alcohol dependence. However, studies have been inconsistent, reporting both positive and negative associations. Comorbid alcohol dependence has a high prevalence in schizophrenia so we investigated the role of rs6265 in alcohol dependence in Australian populations of schizophrenia and alcohol dependent patients. Methods Two BDNF SNPs rs6265 and a nearby SNP rs7103411 were genotyped in a total of 848 individuals. These included a schizophrenia group (n = 157) and a second schizophrenia replication group (n = 235), an alcohol dependent group (n = 231) that had no schizophrenia diagnosis and a group of healthy controls (n = 225). Results Allelic association between rs7103411 and comorbid alcohol dependence was identified (P = 0.044) in the primary schizophrenia sample. In the replication study, we were able to detect allelic associations between both BDNF SNPs and comorbid alcohol dependence (rs6265, P = 0.006; rs7103411, P = 0.014). Moreover, we detected association between both SNPs and risk-taking behaviour after drinking (rs6265, P = 0.005; rs7103411, P = 0.009) and we detected strong association between both SNPs and alcohol dependence in males (rs6265, P = 0.009; rs7103411, P = 0.013) while females showed association with multiple behavioural measures reflecting repetitive alcohol consumption. Haplotype analysis revealed the rs6265-rs7103411 A/C haplotype is associated with comorbid alcohol dependence (P = 0.002). When these SNPs were tested in the non-schizophrenia alcohol dependent group we were unable to detect association. Conclusion We conclude that these BDNF SNPs play a role in development of comorbid alcohol dependence in schizophrenia while our data does not indicate that they play a role in alcohol dependent patients who do not have schizophrenia.

The Not for Profit Sector in Australia : Fact Sheet

This fact sheet outlines aspects of the nonprofit sector in Australia, under the following headings: size; economic contribution; employment; volunteering; income; expenses; and philanthropy; and provides international comparisons on aspects including size, growth, economic contribution, giving, and workforce.

A hard slog, not a leap frog : globalization and sustainability transitions in developing Asia

How does globalization influence transitions toward more sustainable socio-technical regimes in the developing world? This paper argues that transformations of regimes, the networks and institutions governing technological and environmental practices in an industry, can be positively influenced by globalization but it depends on how global forces interact with local socio-political landscapes-the political-economic institutions, values, and regulations broadly guiding an economy and its relationship to the environment. We evaluate these relationships through a comparison of two kinds of socio-political landscapes-the neo-liberal export-led development model commonly found in the developing world and the uniquely Asian capitalist developmental state. We first show how the neo-liberal model overemphasizes the power of market forces to facilitate upgrading and more sustainable industrialization. We then argue that capitalist developmental states in East and Southeast Asia have been better able to harness global economic forces for technological and sustainability transitions through an openness to trade and investment and effective public-private institutions able to link cleaner technologies and environmental standards to production activities in firms. We buttress this argument with firm-level evidence showing the evolution of socio-technical regimes in two industries-cement and electronics. The case studies demonstrate how interactions with OECD firms can contribute to environmental technique effects provided the socio-political landscape is amenable to changes in an industry's regime. Ultimately, we find the process of transition to be complex and contingent; a hard slog not a leap frog toward a potentially more sustainable future. We close by considering the limitations on the capitalist developmental state model and with comments about what else needs to be learned about globalization's role in sustainability transitions.

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...

When to pull the plug and when to take the plunge : timing strategic decisions about new ventures

It is not uncommon for firms to explore a new venture under the belief it will generate profits, only to find out later that although costs accumulated, profits did not materialize. To manage the high level of uncertainty involved in this process, new ventures are generally designed as vehicles of exploration (Wu, 2012) that allow for a staged investment of resources, starting with small initial investments that can be scaled up or discontinued as uncertainty is resolved over time (Folta, 1998; Li and Chi, 2013). As such, new ventures provide firms a vehicle by which they can probe an uncertain future (Brown and Eisenhardt, 1997) without fully committing early on to an irreversible course of action (Folta, Johnson, and O’Brien, 2006). Our focus in the present paper is on the timing of strategic decisions that firms make regarding their exploration ventures. Prior research in the fields of entrepreneurship, real options reasoning, and decision speed has demonstrated a link between the timing of making decisions and performance (Baum and Wally, 2003; Eisenhardt, 1989; Judge and Miller, 1991). The antecedents to the timing of decisions, however, are less understood and pose an interesting dilemma.

‘It's all scientific to me’ : focus group insights into why young people do not apply safe-sex knowledge

Despite rising levels of safe-sex knowledge in Australia, sexually transmitted infection notifications continue to increase. A culture-centred approach suggests it is useful in attempting to reach a target population first to understand their perspective on the issues. Twenty focus groups were conducted with 89 young people between the ages of 14 and 16 years. Key findings suggest that scientific information does not articulate closely with everyday practice, that young people get the message that sex is bad and they should not be preparing for it and that it is not appropriate to talk about sex. Understanding how young people think about these issues is particularly important because the focus groups also found that young people disengage from sources of information that do not match their own experiences.

I’m friends with Louie the Fly, not Mortein : conceptualising the new brand relationships on social media [Reprint]

Social media offers many opportunities for building brand relationships. One method of fostering relationships is to create a social media presence for the company spokes-character. Anecdotal evidence suggests that such a strategy can be very effective, though empirical research is needed. This paper reviews what is known and highlights a concern, based on analysis of the case of Louie the Fly and Mortein, that consumers may interact with characters as if they were separate to their parent brand. Hence positive associations with the character may not translate into positive brand outcomes. Following discussion, a model is proposed for testing.