Tax morale, Eastern Europe and European enlargement

This study tries to remedy the current lack of tax compliance research analyzing tax morale in 10 Eastern European countries that joined the European Union in 2004 or 2007. By exploring tax morale differences between 1999 and 2008 we show that tax morale has decreased in 7 out of 10 Eastern European countries. This lack of sustainability may support the incentive based conditionality hypothesis that European Union has only a limited ability to influence tax morale over time. We observe that events and processes at the country level are crucial to understanding tax morale. Factors such as perceived government quality, trust in the justice system and the government are positively correlated with tax morale in 2008.

Shut up and write! Facilitating informal learning in doctoral candidature

Doctoral candidates spend at least 2/3 of their degree outside of structured classroom instruction; most of their learning and writing takes place in their own time. Providing research degree candidates with writing help during their degree study is difficult. Candidates come into their degree with widely varying needs and levels of experience. Course work might seem to offer a way to create parity, but, according to the Australian Qualification Framework, mandated coursework can only occupy 1⁄3 of the degree

Transnational higher education programs for facilitating inter-university knowledge transfer : University of Indonesia’s experience

This paper explores the impacts and extent of knowledge transfer (KT) in an undergraduate engineering transnational program with an Australian university partner at the University of Indonesia (UI) using an inter-university KT conceptual framework (Sutrisno, Lisana, & Pillay 2012). For the purpose of this paper, the opportunity for KT in curriculum design is examined. Given the explicit nature of curriculum knowledge, assessing each partner’s curriculum was pivotal in allowing UI to enrich its own curriculum. The KT mechanism of face-to-face contact between Indonesian and Australian academics led to not only transfer of knowledge related to the curriculum of the undergraduate program but also to other cooperation beyond the transnational program in the form of joint research and joint supervision of post-graduate theses. Positive inter-university dynamics, such as trust and willingness to work together between the partners were underpinned by the presence of key actors from both sides at the earlier stages of the partnership. Retrospectively exploring the KT process in the UI’s transnational programs with its Australian partner suggests that there have been both structured and unstructured mechanisms, highlighting the ubiquitous and unbounded nature of KT between universities. While initially successful in facilitating KT, due to rapid succession of persons in charge of the program and the increasing focus on revenue generation, the useful lessons and practices unfortunately are being lost. Although the intention to use the transnational program for KT was always implied, it gradually was overlooked by newer staff members. Based on UI’s experience as the first provider of transnational program in Indonesia and other similar cases in China, seemingly transnational programs driven by short-term immediate financial return are unsuccessful in facilitating KT due to sensitivities to unfavourable economic situation. Those that remain operational and contribute to knowledge exchange between the partners apparently have genuine long-term engagement objective.

Review : "Spatial planning and climate change" by Elizabeth Wilson and Jake Piper

This timely and thorough book seeks to provide evidence-based assessments of ways in which spatial planning may develop and deliver new strategies for addressing both the causes and impacts of climate change. The authors state that much of the analysis is informed by experiences and learning from their own involvements with climate change projects. The book aims to be relevant to a wide audience and nominates its intended readership to include planning practitioners, scholars, post-graduate students of built environment courses, politicians and the ‘interested’ public. In this regard, the authors skilfully deliver with a comprehensive and accessible dissemination of the nexus between spatial planning and climate change...

APT7 : highs and lows

A critical assessment of the 7th Asia Pacific Triennial (APT7) in terms of how it is realizing its ambition, where it is succeeding and where it is falling short.

Transitioning from dependent to more independent learners : Using video tutorials as a means of helping students help themselves

This paper examines the use of short video tutorials in a post-graduate accounting subject, as a means of helping students transition from dependent to more independent learners. Five short (three to five minute) video tutorials were introduced in an effort to shift the reliance for learning from the lecturer to the student. Students’ usage of video tutorials, comments by students, and reliance on teaching staff for individual assistance were monitored over three semesters from 2008 to 2009. Interviews with students were then conducted in late 2009 to more comprehensively evaluate the use and benefits of video tutorials. Findings reveal preliminary but positive outcomes in terms of both more efficient teaching and more effective learning.

Multicam-course : terrifying but fun

This industry magazine article reports on the author's participation in a post-graduate level professional course in multi-camera drama directing conducted by the Australian Film Television & Radio School (AFTRS) in conjunction with 'Blue Heelers'/Network 7 in Melbourne.

A prospective cohort study examining the preferred learning styles of acute care registered nurses

Objectives This paper reports on the preferred learning styles of Registered Nurses practicing in acute care environments and relationships between gender, age, post-graduate experience and the identified preferred learning styles. Methods A prospective cohort study design was used. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and the Felder-Silverman Index of Learning Styles (ILS) questionnaire to determine preferred learning styles. Results Most of the Registered Nurse participants were balanced across the Active-Reflective (n = 77, 54%), and Sequential-Global (n = 96, 68%) scales. Across the other scales, sensing (n = 97, 68%) and visual (n = 76, 53%) were the most common preferred learning style. There were only a small proportion who had a preferred learning style of reflective (n = 21, 15%), intuitive (n = 5, 4%), verbal (n = 11, 8%) or global learning (n = 15, 11%). Results indicated that gender, age and years since undergraduate education were not related to the identified preferred learning styles. Conclusions The identification of Registered Nurses’ learning style provides information that nurse educators and others can use to make informed choices about modification, development and strengthening of professional hospital-based educational programs. The use of the Index of Learning Styles questionnaire and its ability to identify ‘balanced’ learning style preferences may potentially yield additional preferred learning style information for other health-related disciplines.

Learning and teaching epidemiology with audience response technology

Background The learning and teaching of epidemiology is core to many public health programs. Many students find the content of epidemiology, and specifically risk of bias assessment, challenging to learn. Howbeit, learning is enhanced when knowledge is able to be acquired from an active-learning, hands-on experience. Methods The innovative use of wireless audience response technology “clickers” was incorporated into the lectures of the university’s post-graduate epidemiology units and the tailored epidemiological modules delivered for professional disciplines (e.g. optometry). Clickers were used to apply several pedagogical approaches of active learning including peer-instruction and real-world simulation. Students were also assessed for their gain in knowledge within the lecture (pre-post) and their perceptions of how the use of clickers helped them learn. The routine university-wide end of semester Insight Survey provided further information of the student’s satisfaction with the approach. Results The technology was useful in identifying deficits of knowledge of key concepts either before or after instruction. Where key concepts were re-tested post-lecture, as expected, knowledge increased significantly and provided immediate feed-back to students. Across the lecture series, typically 85% of students identified the technology helped them learn, increased their opportunity to interact with the lecturer, and recommend their use for future classes. The Insight Survey report identified 93% of respondents identified the unit in which clickers were consistently used provided good learning opportunities. Numerous student comments supported the teaching method. Conclusions Epidemiological subject matter lends itself to incorporation of audience response technology. The use of the technology to facilitate interactive voting provides an instant response and participation of everyone to enhance the classroom experience. The pedagogical approach increases students’ knowledge and increases their satisfaction with the unit.

Celebrating and sustaining Indigenous knowledges through higher education

In its intervention at the 10th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2010, the World Indigenous Network Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC) acknowledged that despite a history of protracted but limited attempts by Governments globally to address the low participation and graduation rates of Indigenous peoples from higher education at post graduate level, this continues to be an area of considerable concern. This paper speaks to the development of an innovative academic process that profiles the ground breaking work of WINHEC and a cohort of Indigenous academics in developing academic programs designed to address this systemic failure. The concept of these programs was endorsed in 2006 at a WINHEC conference where Indigenous representatives from across the world met to discuss in part, historical and contempory impediments to Indigenous success within higher education. The goal of WINHEC has been to develop a nested suite of inventive postgraduate awards founded within the scholarship of Indigenous Knowledge which encapsulates an epistemological approach. This has been a ground breaking process that has included collaborative and intellectual contributions of Indigenous academics from diverse cultural nations across the globe and, in particular, Australia. In 2012 the culmination of this dream and the suite of courses developed, honours and embrace the uniqueness of Indigenous Knowledge and the cultural integrity of Indigenous Leadership.

The Reef Cycle: Engaging in creativity and global awareness

This is a report of a musical theatre production performed at QUT Gardens Point Campus in November 2014 for the occasion of the end of year Annual Art Exhibition and concert of the Post graduate research students. Both the performance and the exhibition focused on environmental issues especially in relation to coal and coral in Queensland. The poster was prepared by Stephen Bennett former student in Creative Industries.

The Reef Cycle: Paradise; Paradise Plundered; Paradise Preserved by people Power

This is a musical theatre production with an environmental message addressing a Queensland, Australia tussle between the development of the Galilee Coal Basin and the potential threat to the health of the Great Barrier Reef along the Queensland coast. The drama is enacted by characters representing "goodies" and "baddies" and includes epic poetry, dance, orchestra and drama. The whole performance is enacted in the midst of a post graduate student art exhibition with a coral and coal theme.

Importance of animal models in schizophrenia research

Objective This review aims to summarize the importance of animal models for research on psychiatric illnesses, particularly schizophrenia. Method and Results Several aspects of animal models are addressed, including animal experimentation ethics and theoretical considerations of different aspects of validity of animal models. A more specific discussion is included on two of the most widely used behavioural models, psychotropic drug-induced locomotor hyperactivity and prepulse inhibition, followed by comments on the difficulty of modelling negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Furthermore, we emphasize the impact of new developments in molecular biology and the generation of genetically modified mice, which have generated the concept of behavioural phenotyping. Conclusions Complex psychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia, cannot be exactly reproduced in species such as rats and mice. Nevertheless, by providing new information on the role of neurotransmitter systems and genes in behavioural function, animal 'models' can be an important tool in unravelling mechanisms involved in the symptoms and development of such illnesses, alongside approaches such as post-mortem studies, cognitive and psychophysiological studies, imaging and epidemiology.

4D deformation modeling of cortical disease progression in Alzheimer's dementia

This work describes the development of a model of cerebral atrophic changes associated with the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Linear registration, region-of-interest analysis, and voxel-based morphometry methods have all been employed to elucidate the changes observed at discrete intervals during a disease process. In addition to describing the nature of the changes, modeling disease-related changes via deformations can also provide information on temporal characteristics. In order to continuously model changes associated with AD, deformation maps from 21 patients were averaged across a novel z-score disease progression dimension based on Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores. The resulting deformation maps are presented via three metrics: local volume loss (atrophy), volume (CSF) increase, and translation (interpreted as representing collapse of cortical structures). Inspection of the maps revealed significant perturbations in the deformation fields corresponding to the entorhinal cortex (EC) and hippocampus, orbitofrontal and parietal cortex, and regions surrounding the sulci and ventricular spaces, with earlier changes predominantly lateralized to the left hemisphere. These changes are consistent with results from post-mortem studies of AD.

Support services for higher degree research students: A survey of three Australian universities

A survey was conducted across three Australian universities to identify the types and format of support services available for higher degree research (HDR, or MA and Ph.D.) students. The services were classified with regards to availability, location and accessibility. A comparative tool was developed to help institutions categorise their services in terms of academic, administrative, social and settlement, language and miscellaneous (other) supports. All three universities showed similarities in the type of academic support services offered, while differing in social and settlement and language support services in terms of the location and the level of accessibility of these services. The study also examined the specific support services available for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students. The three universities differed in their emphases in catering to CALD needs, with their allocation of resources reflecting these differences. The organisation of these services within the universities was further assessed to determine possible factors that may influence the effective delivery of these services, by considering HDR and CALD student specific issues. The findings and tools developed by this study may be useful to HDR supervisors and university administrators in identifying key support services to better improve outcomes for the HDR students and universities.