ACE research vignette 022 : family business succession : when death takes a hand

This series of research vignettes is aimed at sharing current and interesting research findings from our team of international Entrepreneurship researchers. In this vignette, Dr. Mervyn Morris considers the impact on family business operations due to the sudden and unexpected death of a key family member.

Key priorities for Australian infection control : summary of findings from the launch of the Centre for Research Excellence in Reducing Healthcare Associated Infections

The launch of the Centre of Research Excellence in Reducing Healthcare Associated Infection (CRE-RHAI) took place in Sydney on Friday 12 October 2012. The mission of the CRE-RHAI is to generate new knowledge about strategies to reduce healthcare associated infections and to provide data on the cost-effectiveness of infection control programs. As well as launching the CRE-RHAI, an important part of this event was a stakeholder Consultation Workshop, which brought together several experts in the Australian infection control community. The aims of this workshop were to establish the research and clinical priorities in Australian infection control, assess the importance of various multi-resistant organisms, and to gather information about decision making in infection control. We present here a summary and discussion of the responses we received.

Changing the culture of teaching and learning in ICT and engineering : facilitating research professors to be teaching and learning leaders

This is the project report of a leadership project undertaken jointly by the Queensland University of Technology, University of Technology Sydney, and Monash University. Specific project objectives were to: -To build leadership capacity in teaching and learning, and to improve teaching quality in ICT and Engineering disciplines at three leading Australian universities, and -To facilitate the transference of research leadership to T&L leadership, and disseminate this transference model developed through the project within the Engineering and ICT domains to other disciplines and universities.

Third international workshop on empirical research in business process management (ER-BPM 2012)

Empirical research in business process management(BPM) is coming of age. In 2009, when the inaugural ER-BPM workshop was held, the field of BPM research was characterized by a strong emphasis on solution development, but also by an increasing demand for insights or evaluations of BPM technology based on dedicated empirical research strategies. The ER-BPM workshop series was created to provide an international forum for researchers to discuss and present such research.

Recruiting and engaging new mothers in nutrition research studies : lessons from the Australian NOURISH randomised controlled trial

Background: Despite important implications for the budgets, statistical power and generalisability of research findings, detailed reports of recruitment and retention in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are rare. The NOURISH RCT evaluated a community-based intervention for first-time mothers that promoted protective infant feeding practices as a primary prevention strategy for childhood obesity. The aim of this paper is to provide a detailed description and evaluation of the recruitment and retention strategies used. Methods: A two stage recruitment process designed to provide a consecutive sampling framework was used. First time mothers delivering healthy term infants were initially approached in postnatal wards of the major maternity services in two Australian cities for consent to later contact (Stage 1). When infants were about four months old mothers were re-contacted by mail for enrolment (Stage 2), baseline measurements (Time 1) and subsequent random allocation to the intervention or control condition. Outcomes were assessed at infant ages 14 months (Time 2) and 24 months (Time 3). Results: At Stage 1, 86% of eligible mothers were approached and of these women, 76% consented to later contact. At Stage 2, 3% had become ineligible and 76% could be recontacted. Of the latter, 44% consented to full enrolment and were allocated. This represented 21% of mothers screened as eligible at Stage 1. Retention at Time 3 was 78%. Mothers who did not consent or discontinued the study were younger and less likely to have a university education. Conclusions: The consent and retention rates of our sample of first time mothers are comparable with or better than other similar studies. The recruitment strategy used allowed for detailed information from non-consenters to be collected; thus selection bias could be estimated. Recommendations for future studies include being able to contact participants via mobile phone (particular text messaging), offering home visits to reduce participant burden and considering the use of financial incentives to support participant retention.

Craving : a research update [Editorial to a special issue]

Craving has long been associated with addictive disorders. It has received much attention over the last two decades, partly through the advent of pharmacotherapies that attempt to address it (Jonson, 2008; Yahyavi-Firouz-Abadi & See, 2009). More recently, craving for substances has attained increased prominence, with the inclusion of “Craving or a strong desire or urge” in the draft of DSM-5 (APA, 2012). Studies generally support craving as occurring on a single diagnostic dimension alongside existing dependence criteria (Hasin, et al., 2012; Keyes, et al., 2011). Some (e.g. Keyes, et al., 2011) demonstrate that the addition of craving to DSM-IV alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence criteria contributes novel variance in predicting severity, and improves discrimination above that offered by existing DSM-IV criteria. Within the current volume, the paper by Agrawal et al. confirms that craving strongly loads on a single dimension that also incorporates DSM-IV alcohol dependence criteria. Craving was a relatively severe symptom: It was least often endorsed, and did not exceed 50% endorsement until 6 of the remaining 7 criteria were present...

Nambour : the model rural school

This paper examines the Rural Schools of Queensland. Starting with Nambour in 1917, the scheme incorporated thirty schools, and operated for over forty years. The rhetoric of the day was that boys and girls from the senior classes of primary school would be provided with elementary instruction of a practical character. In reality, the subjects taught were specifically tailored to provide farm skills to children in rural centres engaged in farming, dairying or fruit growing. Linked to each Rural School was a number of smaller surrounding schools, students from which travelled to the Rural School for special agricultural or domestic instruction. Through this action, the Queensland Department of Public Instruction left no doubt it intended to provide educational support for agrarian change and development within the state; in effect, they had set in motion the creation of a Queensland yeoman class. The Department’s intention was to arrest or reverse the trend toward urbanisation — whilst increasing agricultural productivity — through the making of a farmer born of the land and accepting of the new scientific advances in agriculture.

A comparison of new and existing mild traumatic brain injury vignettes : recommendations for research into post-concussion syndrome

OBJECTIVE: To review and compare the mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) vignettes used in postconcussion syndrome (PCS) research, and to develop 3 new vignettes. METHOD: The new vignettes were devised using World Health Organization (WHO) mTBI diagnostic criteria [1]. Each vignette depicted a very mild (VM), mild (M), or severe (S) brain injury. Expert review (N = 27) and readability analysis was used to validate the new vignettes and compare them to 5 existing vignettes. RESULTS: The response rate was 44%. The M vignette and existing vignettes were rated as depicting a mTBI; however, the fit-to-criteria of these vignettes differed significantly. The fit-to-criteria of the M vignette was as good as that of 3 existing vignettes and significantly better than 2 other vignettes. As expected, the VM and S vignettes were a poor fit-to-criteria. CONCLUSIONS: These new vignettes will assist PCS researchers to test the limits of important etiology factors by varying the severity of depicted injuries.

Wound Management Innovation Cooperative Research Centre - a new model for inter-disciplinary wound research

Wound research is a complex multidimensional activity most effectively conducted by inter-disciplinary teams that connect studies in basic wound biology, devices and biomaterials with clinical practice. These complexities have been recognised in a new initiative through the establishment of an inter-disciplinary wound research centre in Australia; the Wound Management Innovation Cooperative Research Centre (WMI CRC). The centre is funded by the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centre Program and a consortium of 22 participants and has a resource of US$108 million over 8 years...

Simulation of phosphine flow in vertical grain storage : a preliminary numerical study

To fumigate grain stored in a silo, phosphine gas is distributed by a combination of diffusion and fan-forced advection. This initial study of the problem mainly focuses on the advection, numerically modelled as fluid flow in a porous medium. We find satisfactory agreement between the flow predictions of two Computational Fluid Dynamics packages, Comsol and Fluent. The flow predictions demonstrate that the highest velocity (>0.1 m/s) occurs less than 0.2m from the inlet and reduces drastically over one metre of silo height, with the flow elsewhere less than 0.002 m/s or 1% of the velocity injection. The flow predictions are examined to identify silo regions where phosphine dosage levels are likely to be too low for effective grain fumigation.

Guerrilla research tactics: alternative research methods

This case-study explores alternative and experimental methods of research data acquisition, through an emerging research methodology, ‘Guerrilla Research Tactics’ [GRT]. The premise is that the researcher develops covert tactics for attracting and engaging with research participants. These methods range between simple analogue interventions to physical bespoke artefacts which contain an embedded digital link to a live, interactive data collecting resource, such as an online poll, survey or similar. These artefacts are purposefully placed in environments where the researcher anticipates an encounter and response from the potential research participant. The choice of design and placement of artefacts is specific and intentional. DESCRIPTION: Additional information may include: the outcomes; key factors or principles that contribute to its effectiveness; anticipated impact/evidence of impact. This case-study assesses the application of ‘Guerrilla Research Tactics’ [GRT] Methodology as an alternative, engaging and interactive method of data acquisition for higher degree research. Extending Gauntlett’s definition of ‘new creative methods… an alternative to language driven qualitative research methods' (2007), this case-study contributes to the existing body of literature addressing creative and interactive approaches to HDR data collection. The case-study was undertaken with Masters of Architecture and Urban Design research students at QUT, in 2012. Typically students within these creative disciplines view research as a taxing and boring process, distracting them from their studio design focus. An obstacle that many students face, is acquiring data from their intended participant groups. In response to these challenges the authors worked with students to develop creative, fun, and engaging research methods for both the students and their research participants. GRT are influenced by and developed from a combination of participatory action research (Kindon, 2008) and unobtrusive research methods (Kellehear, 1993), to enhance social research. GRT takes un-obtrusive research in a new direction, beyond the typical social research methods. The Masters research students developed alternative methods for acquiring data, which relied on a combination of analogue design interventions and online platforms commonly distributed through social networks. They identified critical issues that required action by the community, and the processes they developed focused on engaging with communities, to propose solutions. Key characteristics shared between both GRT and Guerrilla Activism, are notions of political issues, the unexpected, the unconventional, and being interactive, unique and thought provoking. The trend of Guerrilla Activism has been adapted to: marketing, communication, gardening, craftivism, theatre, poetry, and art. Focusing on the action element and examining elements of current trends within Guerrilla marketing, we believe that GRT can be applied to a range of research areas within various academic disciplines.

Ian Weir Research Architect

Dr Ian Weir's practice is driven by a passion for the Fitzgerald Bioregion, a remote, bushfire-prone landscape on the south coats of Western Australia which is renowned internationally for its biodiversity. It is here that Dr Weir collaborates with individuals and organisations from the fields of ecology, botany, bushfire science, land surveying, landscape architecture and art practice, all of whom seek to expand understandings of this remarkable landscape. This diverse practice formation is constructed to address a significant problem beyond the scope of conventional modes of architectural practice: the reconciliation of biodiversity and bushfire with human habitation, through a multimodal approach using art practice cartography and architectural intervention. The chapter articulates Dr Weir's practice through a formation diagram and depicts key works of landscape representaion taken from "Enacted Cartography" and "Lightsite", two of Dr Weir's key research themes.

Ian Weir Research Architect : website

Research background: Communicating the diverse nature of multimodal practice is inherently difficult for the design-led research academic. Websites are an effective means of displaying images and text, but for the user/viewer the act of viewing is often random and disorienting, due to the non-linear means of accessing the information. This characteristic of websites limits the medium’s efficacy in regard to presenting an overarching philosophical standpoint or theme - the key driver behind most academic research. Research Contribution: This website: http://www.ianweirarchitect.com, presents a means of reconciling this problem by presenting a deceptively simple graphic and temporal layout, which limits the opportunity for the user/viewer to become disoriented and miss the key themes and issues that binds, the otherwise divergent, research material together. Research significance: http://www.ianweirarchitect.com, is a creative work that supplements Dr Ian Weir’s exhibition “Enacted Cartography” held in August 2012 in Brisbane and in August/September 2012 in Venice, Italy for the 13th International Architecture Exhibition (Venice Architecture Biennale). Dr Weir was selected by the Australian Institute of Architects to represent innovation in architectural practice for the Institute’s Formations: New Practices in Australian Architecture, exhibition and catalogue (of the same name) held in the Australian Pavilion, The Giardini, Venice. This website is creative output that compliments Dr Weir’s other multimodal outputs including photographic artworks, cartographic maps and architectural designs.