Applying market design theory to 'greyfields' housing supply

This paper examines whether innovation in market design can address persistent problems of housing choice and affordability in the ageing inner and middle suburbs of Australian cities. Despite policy consensus that urban intensification of these low density, ‘greyfield’ areas should be able to deliver positive social, economic and environmental outcomes, existing models of development have not increased housing stock or delivered adequate gains in sustainability, affordability or diversity of dwellings in greyfield localities. We argue that application of smart market and matching market principles to the supply of multi-unit housing can unlock land, reduce development costs and improve design.

Full compensation no longer sacrosanct : reflections on the past and future economic loss ‘cap’ for high income earners

The civil liability provisions relating to the assessment of damages for past and future economic loss have abrogated the common law principle of full compensation by imposing restrictions on the damages award, most commonly by a “three times average weekly earnings” cap. This consideration of the impact of those provisions is informed by a case study of the Supreme Court of Victoria Court of Appeal decision, Tuohey v Freemasons Hospital (Tuohey) , which addressed the construction and arithmetic operation of the Victorian cap for high income earners. While conclusions as to operation of the cap outside of Victoria can be drawn from Tuohey, a number of issues await judicial determination. These issues, which include the impact of the damages caps on the calculation of damages for economic loss in the circumstances of fluctuating income; vicissitudes; contributory negligence; claims per quod servitum amisit; and claims by dependants, are identified and potential resolutions discussed.

Compensation for lost services of an employee : pure economic loss and per quod action

Under the common law an employer may take action against a defendant for the loss of an employee’s services due to the act of the defendant (per quod servitium amisit - by reason of which the services were lost). The High Court has recently affirmed the existence of this ancient tort in Barclay v Penberthy [2012] HCA 40.

Input-orientated data envelopment analysis framework for measuring and decomposing economic, environmental and ecological efficiency : an application to OECD agriculture

This paper presents an input-orientated data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework which allows the measurement and decomposition of economic, environmental and ecological efficiency levels in agricultural production across different countries. Economic, environmental and ecological optimisations search for optimal input combinations that minimise total costs, total amount of nutrients, and total amount of cumulative exergy contained in inputs respectively. The application of the framework to an agricultural dataset of 30 OECD countries revealed that (i) there was significant scope to make their agricultural production systemsmore environmentally and ecologically sustainable; (ii) the improvement in the environmental and ecological sustainability could be achieved by being more technically efficient and, even more significantly, by changing the input combinations; (iii) the rankings of sustainability varied significantly across OECD countries within frontier-based environmental and ecological efficiency measures and between frontier-based measures and indicators.

Internet interventions for treatment of alcohol related problems

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: The primary objective of this review will be to assess the effect of internet and mobile phone alcohol-related interventions on reducing participants' alcohol consumption. Secondary objectives will include assessing the impact of the interventions on symptoms of alcohol-related disorders and degree of alcohol dependence, the effects on functioning, and patient acceptability. The review will also assess whether there are different outcomes for different diagnostic groups, and which intervention approaches or components (including therapeutic support) may be contributing to any positive effects.

The public health challenges of mental health problems and associated difficulties

Mental health is a major global health issue. Neuropsychiatric conditions are the most significant cause of disability worldwide, and account for 14% of the global burden of disease. Depression in particular places a huge burden on society, with the Global Burden of Disease 2000 study listing it as the fourth leading cause of disease burden worldwide and the largest non-fatal disease burden. In Australia, mental disorders are startlingly common and related to significant disability. The 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing revealed that the lifetime prevalence of any mental disorder was 45%, and within the last 12 months 20% of Australians met criteria for a mental disorder. Many of the articles in this issue explore mental health issues in young people. Indeed, mental health issues account for a large proportion of the disease burden in young people. Across the globe, mental health disorders caused the greatest number of years lost to disability(YLDs) amongst young people aged 10 to 24 years (45% of total YLDs). Depression caused the highest number of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) across this age group, accounting for 8. 2% of DALYs alone.6 It is clear that mental health is a critical area of focus for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.

Mentoring

Research relating to mentoring has burgeoned in the last two decades and as might be expected there is immense variation in the nature and rigour of this research. For some, mentoring seems to be a panacea for many societal problems as the studies have focussed on juvenile crime, teenage pregnancy, academic performance, drug usage, school dropout rates, teacher attributes, parental relationship, heightened self-confidence, general “at risk” children and issues of gender, ethnicity, socio economic status and equity. Rather than a panacea, it would be more accurate to suggest that in specific circumstances mentoring has the potential to be associated with beneficial outcomes.

Referral patterns and proximity to palliative care inpatient services by level of socio-economic disadvantage : a national study using spatial analysis

Background: A range of health outcomes at a population level are related to differences in levels of social disadvantage. Understanding the impact of any such differences in palliative care is important. The aim of this study was to assess, by level of socio-economic disadvantage, referral patterns to specialist palliative care and proximity to inpatient services. Methods: All inpatient and community palliative care services nationally were geocoded (using postcode) to one nationally standardised measure of socio-economic deprivation – Socio-Economic Index for Areas (SEIFA; 2006 census data). Referral to palliative care services and characteristics of referrals were described through data collected routinely at clinical encounters. Inpatient location was measured from each person’s home postcode, and stratified by socio-economic disadvantage. Results: This study covered July – December 2009 with data from 10,064 patients. People from the highest SEIFA group (least disadvantaged) were significantly less likely to be referred to a specialist palliative care service, likely to be referred closer to death and to have more episodes of inpatient care for longer time. Physical proximity of a person’s home to inpatient care showed a gradient with increasing distance by decreasing levels of socio-economic advantage. Conclusion: These data suggest that a simple relationship of low socioeconomic status and poor access to a referral-based specialty such as palliative care does not exist. Different patterns of referral and hence different patterns of care emerge.

Modeling as a bridge between real world problems and school mathematics

This article argues for an interdisciplinary approach to mathematical problem solving at the elementary school, one that draws upon the engineering domain. A modeling approach, using engineering model eliciting activities, might provide a rich source of meaningful situations that capitalize on and extend students’ existing mathematical learning. The study reports on the developments of 48 twelve-year old students who worked on the Bridge Design activity. Results revealed that young students, even before formal instruction, have the capacity to deal with complex interdisciplinary problems. A number of students created quite appropriate models by developing the necessary mathematical constructs to solve the problem. Students’ difficulties in mathematizing the problem, and in revising and documenting their models are presented and analysed, followed by a discussion on the appropriateness of a modeling approach as a means for introducing complex problems to elementary school students.

A hybrid smoothed finite element method (H-SFEM) to solid mechanics problems

In this paper, a hybrid smoothed finite element method (H-SFEM) is developed for solid mechanics problems by combining techniques of finite element method (FEM) and Node-based smoothed finite element method (NS-FEM) using a triangular mesh. A parameter is equipped into H-SFEM, and the strain field is further assumed to be the weighted average between compatible stains from FEM and smoothed strains from NS-FEM. We prove theoretically that the strain energy obtained from the H-SFEM solution lies in between those from the compatible FEM solution and the NS-FEM solution, which guarantees the convergence of H-SFEM. Intensive numerical studies are conducted to verify these theoretical results and show that (1) the upper and lower bound solutions can always be obtained by adjusting ; (2) there exists a preferable at which the H-SFEM can produce the ultrasonic accurate solution.

Solving inherent problems of anomaly detection by cooperation

Anomaly detection compensates shortcomings of signature-based detection such as protecting against Zero-Day exploits. However, Anomaly Detection can be resource-intensive and is plagued by a high false-positive rate. In this work, we address these problems by presenting a Cooperative Intrusion Detection approach for the AIS, the Artificial Immune System, as an example for an anomaly detection approach. In particular we show, how the cooperative approach reduces the false-positive rate of the detection and how the overall detection process can be organized to account for the resource constraints of the participating devices. Evaluations are carried out with the novel network simulation environment NeSSi as well as formally with an extension to the epidemic spread model SIR

Problems and awareness of support services among University students

Although Australian universities have allocated significant resources toward the development of student support services, administrators have little systematic information about the problems undergraduate university students experience or students' knowledge about available support services. The author surveyed 441 students in an urban, nonresidential university to examine the prevalence of difficulties associated with learning, sexual harassment, discrimination, emotional distress, health problems, course and career concerns, financial difficulties, and difficulties with lecturers; he also assessed students' knowledge of support services in each of these areas. Course concerns were the most common problem, followed by emotional distress, worry about career choices, financial difficulties, and problems with lecturers. More than half of the students were unaware of the support services available to them to address a range of concerns from sexual harassment and discrimination to emotional distress. Approximately 20% of the students reported having used university counseling or career services. Implications for targeting specific areas for outreach programs are discussed.