Dimensions of the third sector : comparative perspectives on structure and change

Cross-nationally, the introduction of New Public Management coincides with a significant growth phase of the nonprofit or third sector. This growth has disproportionately been an expansion of the economic dimensions (employment, turnover) and basically involved the greater use of third sector organisations as service providers. Such provision uses complex contract regimes, and typically takes place in some form of public-private partnership with either public or private funding agencies. Other parts of the third sector such as membership, volunteering and giving have generally grown less. The paper suggests that the sector is becoming qualitatively different, although the nature and strength of this change depends on the nonprofit regime type in a given country. Generally, however, third sector growth has led to differentiation processes that involve new organisational forms, and changes in activities and overall composition. The paper explores the measurement aspects of the quantitative-qualitative jump in third sector development by trying to "map" changes in core facts or dimensions over time. In closing, the paper suggests to examine recombination and refunctionality processes in the third sector.

Stories of cross-dressing and the body : family memories in fiction

Ruth Finnegan (2006, 179) describes how family myths have the power to provoke images that recur throughout generations. This paper will document my own encounter with such persistent images in the stories of a mother and daughter. Both mother and daughter told stories about encountering cross-dressing men in the streets of Brisbane, and both showed similar anxiety over their own body size. As a creative writer working with oral histories, I found these stories of the disguised body compelling. By drawing on the storytelling strategies and preoccupations present in the interview, I used imagination and fictional techniques to investigate the possibility of symbolic resonance of memories across generations. In her novel Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987) uses the notion of ‘rememory’ to describe how characters actively make and suppress meanings in their recollections. Like Morrison, my writing speaks to notions around the way stories are remembered and told.

Reading in the Australian curriculum English : describing the effects of structure and organisation on multimodal texts

The recently introduced Australian Curriculum: English Version 3.0 (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2012) requires students to ‘read’ multimodal text and describe the effects of structure and organisation. We begin this article by tracing the variable understandings of what reading multimodal text might entail through the Framing Paper (National Curriculum Board, 2008), the Framing Paper Consultation Report (National Curriculum Board, 2009a), the Shaping Paper (National Curriculum Board, 2009b) and Version 3.0 of the Australian Curriculum English (ACARA, 2012). Our findings show that the theoretical and descriptive framework for doing so is implicit. Drawing together multiple but internally coherent theories from the field of semiotics, we suggest one way to work towards three Year 5 learning outcomes from the reading/writing mode. The affordances of assembling a broad but explicit technical metalanguage for an informed reading of the integrated design elements of multimodal texts are noted.

Family literacy practices and home literacy resources : an Australian pilot study

The combined impact of social class, cultural background and experience upon early literacy achievement in the first year of schooling is among the most durable questions in educational research. Links have been established between social class and achievement but literacy involves complex social and cognitive practices that are not necessarily reflected in the connections that have been made. The complexity of relationships between social class, cultural background and experience, and their impact on early literacy achievement have received little research attention. Recent refinements of the broad terms of social class or socioeconomic status have questioned the established links between social class and achievement. Nevertheless, it remains difficult to move beyond deficit and mismatch models of explaining and understanding the underperformance of children from lower socioeconomic and cultural minority groups when conventional measures are used. The data from an Australian pilot study reported here add to the increasing evidence that income is not necessarily related directly to home literacy resources or to how those resources are used. Further, the data show that the level of print resources in the home may not be a good indicator of the level of use of those resources.

Mining work, family and community : a spatially-oriented approach to the impact of the Ravensthorpe nickel mine closure in remote Australia

While changes in work and employment practices in the mining sector have been profound, the literature addressing mining work is somewhat partial as it focuses primarily on the workplace as the key (or only) site of analysis, leaving the relationship between mining work and families and communities under-theorized. This article adopts a spatially oriented, case-study approach to the sudden closure of the Ravensthorpe nickel mine in the south-west of Western Australia to explore the interplay between the new scales and mobilities of labour and capital and work–family–community connections in mining. In the context of the dramatically reconfigured industrial arena of mining work, the study contributes to a theoretical engagement between employment relations and the spatial dimensions of family and community in resource-affected communities.

Molecular phylogeny supports the paraphyletic nature of the genus Trogoderma (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) collected in the Australasian ecozone

To date, a molecular phylogenetic approach has not been used to investigate the evolutionary structure of Trogoderma and closely related genera. Using two mitochondrial genes, Cytochrome Oxidase I and Cytochrome B, and the nuclear gene, 18S, the reported polyphyletic positioning of Trogoderma was examined. Paraphyly in Trogoderma was observed, with one Australian Trogoderma species reconciled as sister to all Dermestidae and the Anthrenocerus genus deeply nested within the Australian Trogoderma clade. In addition, time to most recent common ancestor for a number of Dermestidae was calculated. Based on these estimations, the Dermestidae origin exceeded 175 million years, placing the origins of this family in Pangaea.

Tooth fracture risk analysis based on a new finite element dental structure models using micro-CT data

The finite element (FE) analysis is an effective method to study the strength and predict the fracture risk of endodontically-treated teeth. This paper presents a rapid method developed to generate a comprehensive tooth FE model using data retrieved from micro-computed tomography (μCT). With this method, the inhomogeneity of material properties of teeth was included into the model without dividing the tooth model into different regions. The material properties of the tooth were assumed to be related to the mineral density. The fracture risk at different tooth portions was assessed for root canal treatments. The micro-CT images of a tooth were processed by a Matlab software programme and the CT numbers were retrieved. The tooth contours were obtained with thresholding segmentation using Amira. The inner and outer surfaces of the tooth were imported into Solidworks and a three-dimensional (3D) tooth model was constructed. An assembly of the tooth model with the periodontal ligament (PDL) layer and surrounding bone was imported into ABAQUS. The material properties of the tooth were calculated from the retrieved CT numbers via ABAQUS user's subroutines. Three root canal geometries (original and two enlargements) were investigated. The proposed method in this study can generate detailed 3D finite element models of a tooth with different root canal enlargements and filling materials, and would be very useful for the assessment of the fracture risk at different tooth portions after root canal treatments.

Challenges in mass spectrometry-based quantification of bioactive peptides: A case study exploring the neuropeptide Y family

The study of biologically active peptides is critical to the understanding of physiological pathways, especially those involved in the development of disease. Historically, the measurement of biologically active endogenous peptides has been undertaken by radioimmunoassay, a highly sensitive and robust technique that permits the detection of physiological concentrations in different biofluid and tissue extracts. Over recent years, a range of mass spectrometric approaches have been applied to peptide quantification with limited degrees of success. Neuropeptide Y (NPY), peptide YY (PYY), and pancreatic polypeptide (PP) belong to the NPY family exhibiting regulatory effects on appetite and feeding behavior. The physiological significance of these peptides depends on their molecular forms and in vivo concentrations systemically and at local sites within tissues. In this report, we describe an approach for quantification of individual peptides within mixtures using high-performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry analysis of the NPY family peptides. Aspects of quantification including sample preparation, the use of matrix-matched calibration curves, and internal standards will be discussed. This method for the simultaneous determination of NPY, PYY, and PP was accurate and reproducible but lacks the sensitivity required for measurement of their endogenous concentration in plasma. The advantages of mass spectrometric quantification will be discussed alongside the current obstacles and challenges. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers (Pept Sci) 98: 357–366, 2012.

Men, wage work and family

In the last two decades there has been a plethora of research on a range of subjects collectively and rhetorically known as ‘work-life balance’. The bulk of this research, which spans disciplines including feminist sociology, industrial relations and management, has focused on the significant concerns of employed women and/or dual career couples. Less attention has been devoted to scholarship which explicitly examines men and masculinities in this context. Meanwhile, public and organizational discourse is largely espoused in gender neutral terms, often neglecting salient gendered issues which differentially impact the ability of women and men to successfully integrate their work and non-work lives. This edited book brings together empirical studies of the work-life nexus with a specific focus on men’s working time arrangements, how men navigate and traverse paid work and family commitments, and the impact of public and organizational policies on men’s participation in work, leisure, and other life domains. The book is innovative in that it presents both macro (institutional, how policy affects practice) and micro (individual, from men’s own perspectives) level studies, allowing for a rich and contrasting exploration of how men’s participation in paid work and other domains is divided, conflicted, or integrated. The essays in this volume address issues of fundamental social, labor market, and economic change which have occurred over the last 20 years and which have profoundly affected the way work, care, leisure and community have evolved in different contexts. Taking an international focus, Men, Wage Work and Family contrasts various public and organizational policies and how these policies impact men’s opportunities and participation in paid work and non-work domains in industrialised countries in Europe, North America, and Australia.

Molecular structure of the mineral svanbergite SrAl3(PO 4,SO4)2(OH)6 - A vibrational spectroscopic study

The mineral svanbergite SrAl 3(PO 4,SO 4) 2(OH) 6 is a hydroxy phosphate-sulphate mineral belonging to the beudantite subgroup of alunites and has been characterised by vibrational spectroscopy. Bands at various wavenumbers were assigned to the different vibrational modes of svanbergite, which were then associated with the structure of the mineral. Bands were primarily assigned to phosphate and sulphate stretching and bending modes. Two symmetric stretching modes for both phosphate and sulphate supported the concept of non-equivalent phosphate and sulphate units in the mineral structure. Bands in the OH stretching region enabled hydrogen bond distances to be calculated. Comparison of the hydrogen bond distances and the calculated hydrogen bond distances from the structure models indicates that hydrogen bonding in svanbergite occurs between the two OH units rather than OH to SO42- units.