Human mating in the informal market for sperm donation: Preferences and decision making

Choosing a mate is one of the largest (economic) decisions humans make. This thesis investigates this large scale decision and how the process is changing with the advent of the internet and the growing market for online informal sperm donation. This research identifies individual factors that influence female mating preferences. It explores the roles of behavioural traits and physical appearance, preferences for homogamy and hypergamy, and personality, and how these impact the decision to choose a donor. Overall, this thesis makes contributions to both the literature on human behaviour, and that on decision-making in extreme and highly important situations.

Electricity pricing in New Zealand and the Australian State of Queensland: Accounting for the impact of sector restructuring

The electricity industries of New Zealand (NZ) and the Australian state of Queensland have undergone substantial structural and regulatory reform with the common intent to improve economic efficiency. Deregulation and privatisation have been key elements of the reform but have been approached differently by each jurisdiction. This study traces the link between structural and regulatory regimes and asset valuation, profits and, ultimately, pricing. The study finds that key drivers in recent price increases are the government-owned generation and retail sector in NZ and the government-owned distribution sector in Queensland. It is concluded that, contrary to the rationale for the imposition of regulatory controls in a nonmarket environment, the regulatory regimes appear to have contributed to higher rather than lower pricing structures.

Disability employment practices in the Australian retail sector

The persistent low employment rate of people with disability has emerged as a concern for the Australian Government and society in general. The research addressed the gap between the supply and demand sides of disability employment by exploring organisational mechanisms underlying the proactive employment of people with disability. Data was collected from a large Australian retail organisation that currently employs people with disability. The findings revealed how the organisation legitimises disability employment practices, within its internal and external operating environments. The research informs the areas of government policy and organisational practices concerning future employment opportunities for people with disability.

Owning the new economy: A guide to intellectual property management for Australia's clean technology sector

Australia's history of developing and managing the intellectual property rights of domestic innovations is – at best – mixed. The relevant immaturity of Australia's public sector commercialisation infrastructure has, over recent decades, been the subject of both stinging academic commentary and not insubstantial juridical disbelief. That said, improvements have been observed, and increasingly, private sector involvement in public sector innovation has allowed for a deepening refinement of domestic approaches to IP retention and ongoing management. Rather than a bare critique of Australia's IP management track-record, or a call for specific law reform, this manual engages at a more practical level some of the foundational questions that ought be asked by entities involved in the 'cleantech' industries. Beginning simply at what is IP and why it matters, this manual examines the models of IP management available to market participants around the world. The process of IP management is defined and assessed through a commercial lens; assessing the 'pros' and 'cons' of each management choice with a view to equipping the reader to determine which approach may be best adapted to their given clean tech project. The manual concludes with a brief survey of alternative models of Intellectual Property management, including relevant examples from overseas and prominent suggestions arising out of the academic discourse. It appears inevitable that the global warming challenge will prompt specific legislative, regulatory and multi-lateral responses by nation states, however, the ultimate form of any such response remains a highly contested political and social issue. Accordingly, the structure of this manual, and the discussion points raised herein, seek introduce the reader to some of the more contentious debates occurring around the world at the intersection between IP and climate change.

Impact of working conditions on the quality of working life: Case manufacturing sector colombian Caribbean Region [Impacto de las Condiciones de Trabajo en Calidad de Vida Laboral: Caso del Sector Manufacturero de la Región Caribe Colombiana]

La presenta investigación centra su atención en evaluar el impacto de las Condiciones de Trabajo en la Calidad de Vida Laboral del talento humano de sector manufacturero de la región Caribe colombiana. Para analizar este proceso se entrevistaron a 518 empleados del sector. El diseño utilizado fue no experimental de tipo transversal descriptivo, puesto que a cada participante se le aplicó una entrevista con el instrumento de Condiciones de Trabajo y la Herramienta de Calidad de Vida Laboral (Condiciones Salariales y Subjetivas). Los datos fueron analizados mediante análisis de correlación y modelos de regresión logística. Los resultados mostraron que el ambiente térmico y las normas de seguridad en el trabajo afectan de forma positiva la Calidad de Vida Laboral de los empleados del sector. Estos resultados ponen de manifiesto que la relación entre las condiciones de trabajo y la CVL se basa en la competencia y distan de ser una relación lineal y simple relacionada con la consideración de la presencia o la ausencia de las condiciones de trabajo. Ello tiene implicaciones a la hora de formular políticas, programas e intervenciones para prevenir, erradicar y amortiguar los efectos negativos de las condiciones de trabajo y mejorar la seguridad industrial dentro de las empresas.

Path+Ways. Towards best practice bridging and Indigenous participation through regional dual-sector universities

Regional and remote Indigenous students are underrepresented in both higher education and vocational education and training. Enabling education courses are important in lifting participation rates and potentially in encouraging mobility between the sectors, yet there is a clear lack of evidence underpinning their development. This report provides an overview of the data collection and analysis activities undertaken via a research project funded by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education. The project purpose was to explore current practices dealing with Indigenous enabling courses, particularly in the context of regional, dual-sector universities. In particular, the project examined how these programs vary by institution (and region) in terms of structure, mode and ethos of offering; and direct and indirect impacts of these initiatives on Indigenous student participation and attainment; with a view to designing a best practice framework and implementation statement. Through its focus on students accessing Indigenous and mainstream enabling education, the project focussed on range of equity groups including those of low socio-economic status (both school leaver and mature-age categories), regional and/or remote students, Indigenous students and students with disability.

Turnover intentions of employees with informal eldercare responsibilities: The role of core self-evaluations and supervisor support

As longevity increases, so does the need for care of older relatives by working family members. This research examined the interactive effect of core self-evaluations and supervisor support on turnover intentions in two samples of employees with informal caregiving responsibilities. Data were obtained from 57 employees from Australia (Study 1) and 66 employees from the United States and India (Study 2). Results of Study 1 revealed a resource compensation effect, that is, an inverse relationship between core self-evaluations and turnover intentions when supervisor care support was low. Results of Study 2 extended these findings by demonstrating resource boosting effects. Specifically, there was an inverse relationship between core self-evaluations and subsequent turnover intentions for those with high supervisor work and care support. In addition, employees' satisfaction and emotional exhaustion from their work mediated the inverse relationship between core self-evaluations and subsequent turnover intentions when supervisor work support and care support were high. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of employee- and supervisor-focused intervention strategies in organizations to support informal caregivers.

Social Audit Regulation Within the NGO Sector: Practices of NGOs Operating in Bangladesh and Indonesia

Social audit is one of those important mechanisms for strengthening NGOs’ accountability to poor communities (as NGOs’ key beneficiaries). However, conducting social audits within the NGO sector often rests on the individual interests and priorities of donors or NGOs themselves, effectively resulting in self-selection bias, and limiting the effectiveness and usefulness of social audits as a control and evaluation mechanism. The purpose of this chapter is to identify the prevalence, scale, and scope of social audits within the NGO sector, particularly NGOs engaging in microenterprise development programs. Accordingly, this study examined 20 NGOs operating in two countries - Bangladesh and Indonesia. Data were collected from publicly available sources and in-depth interviews with senior executives of the participating NGOs. Further, 10 interviews were conducted with a small sample of beneficiaries (individuals or groups from four of the participating NGOs) in order to gain an understanding of beneficiaries’ perceptions of the NGOs’ social audit mechanism. The findings reveal a range of approaches to social audit among NGOs, as well as the usefulness and limitations of this mechanism for strengthening NGO accountability, particularly to beneficiaries. Findings highlight that within the NGOs investigated the conduct of social audits remained voluntary and was strongly dependant on donors’ requirements. As social audit regulation within the NGO sector is minimal, the findings provide regulators with valuable guidance for better understanding the value of social audit as a mechanism to strengthen accountability of the NGO sector, particularly accountability to beneficiaries.

Prescribing for older people discharged from the acute sector to residential aged-care facilities

For frail older people, admission to hospital is an opportunity to review the indications for specific medications. This research investigates prescribing for 206 older people discharged into residential aged care facilities from 11 acute care hospitals in Australia. Patients had multiple comorbidities (mean 6), high levels of dependency, and were prescribed a mean of 7.2 regular medications at admission to hospital and 8.1 medications on discharge, with hyper-polypharmacy (≥10 drugs) increasing from 24.3% to 32.5%. Many drugs were preventive medications whose time until benefit was likely to exceed the expected lifespan. In summary, frail patients continue to be exposed to extensive polypharmacy and medications with uncertain risk–benefit ratio.

Managing flexible work arrangements in small not-for-profit firms: The influence of organisational size, financial constraints and workforce characteristics

Small, not-for-profit organisations fulfil a need in the economy that is typically not satisfied by for-profit firms. They also operate in ways that are distinct from larger organisations. While such firms employ a substantial proportion of the workforce, research addressing human resource management (HRM) practices in these settings is limited. This article used data collected from five small not-for-profit firms in Australia to examine the way one significant HRM practice – the provision and utilisation of flexible work arrangements – operates in the sector. Drawing on research from several scholarly fields, the article firstly develops a framework comprising three tensions in not-for-profits that have implications for HRM. These tensions are: (1) contradictions between an informal approach to HRM vs. a formal regulatory system; (2) employee values that favour social justice vs. external market forces; and (3) a commitment to service vs. external financial expectations. The article then empirically examines how these tensions are managed in relation to the specific case of flexible work arrangements. The study reveals that tensions around providing and accessing flexible work arrangements are managed in three ways: discretion, leadership style and distancing. These findings more broadly inform the way HRM is operationalised in this under-examined sector.

Exploring elements for innovation in the Australian water sector

This thesis explores innovation as a means to achieving an enhanced level of sustainability in the Australian water sector. A modified Delphi study uncovered sixteen key elements centred around themes of 'community acceptance' and 'innovator effectiveness', that provide insights for immediate application within the sector to address impacts of climate change, population increases and resource scarcity. This exploratory research builds a foundational understanding of the components for change and innovation within the Australian water sector, and forms the underpinning for more specific lines of enquiry.

The diet-related health of the Australian population and potential opportunities for the food retail sector

This report describes the diet-related health of the Australian population and identifies potential opportunities for the food retail sector.

Making decisions about antibiotic use in the Australian primary healthcare sector

Background Australia has one of the highest rates of antibiotic use amongst OECD countries. Data from the Australian primary healthcare sector suggests unnecessary antibiotics were prescribed for self-resolving conditions. We need to better understand what drives general practitioners (GPs) to prescribe antibiotics, consumers to seek antibiotics, and pharmacists to fill repeat antibiotic prescriptions. It is also not clear how these individuals trade-off between the possible benefits that antibiotics may provide in the immediate/short term, against the longer term societal risk of antimicrobial resistance. This project investigates what factors drive decisions to use antibiotics for GPs, pharmacists and consumers, and how these individuals discount the future. Methods Factors will be gleaned from published literature and from semi-structured interviews, to inform the development of Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs). Three DCEs will be constructed – one for each group of interest – to allow investigation of which factors are more important in influencing (a) GPs to prescribe antibiotics, (b) consumers to seek antibiotics, and (c) pharmacists to fill legally valid but old or repeat prescriptions of antibiotics. Regression analysis will be conducted to understand the relative importance of these factors. A Time Trade Off exercise will be developed to investigate how these individuals discount the future. Results Findings from the DCEs will provide an insight into which factors are more important in driving decision making in antibiotic use for GPs, pharmacists and consumers. Findings from the Time Trade Off exercise will show what individuals are willing to trade for preserving the miracle of antibiotics. Conclusion Research findings will contribute to existing national programs to bring about a reduction in inappropriate use of antibiotic in Australia. Specifically, influencing how key messages and public health campaigns are crafted, and clinical education and empowerment of GPs and pharmacists to play a more responsive role as stewards of antibiotic use in the community.

Making usability affordable in the design of e-government services: User-centred design for public sector websites

E-government provides a platform for governments to implement web-enabled services that facilitate communication between citizens and the government. However, technology-driven design approach and limited understanding of citizens' requirements have led to a number of critical usability problems on the government websites. Hitherto, there has been no systematic attempt to analyse the way in which theory of User-Centred Design (UCD) can contribute to address the usability issues of government websites. This research seeks to fill this gap by synthesising perspectives drawn from the study of UCD and examining them based on the empirical data derived from case study of the Scottish Executive (SE) website. The research employs a qualitative approach in the collection and analysis of data. The triangulated analysis of the findings reveals that e-government web designers take commercial development approach and focus only on technical implementations, which lead to websites that do not meet citizens' expectations. The research identifies that e-government practitioners can overcome web usability issues by transferring the theory of UCD to practice. © Copyright 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

The Australian Nonprofit Sector Legal Almanac 2015

Collected summaries of court cases involving nonprofit organisations, from Australia and overseas, during 2015, along with updates of legislative changes in all Australian jurisdictions. Significant Australian cases included several disputes with State Revenue Authorities about exemption from payroll taxes.