What it means to become a public relations professional: student perceptions of professional identity through real-world learning

Public relations educators need new solutions to prepare students to become tomorrow's practitioner today. Managers and employers in the new creative workforce (McWilliam, 2008) expect graduates to be problem solvers, critical and creative thinkers, reflective, and self reliant (Barrie, 2008; David, 2004). Enabling students to develop these attributes requires a collaborative and creative approach to pedagogy (Jeffrey & Craft, 2001, 2004). A model for the next generation of public relations education was developed to integrate industry partnerships as a way to bridge pedagogy and professional practice. The model suggests (a) that industry partnerships be embedded in learning activities, (b) that assessment items be considered on a continuum and delivered incrementally across a course of study, and (c) that connections between classroom and workplace activities are clearly signposted for students.

Urban identity and colour : the case of Tirana, Albania

When an artist is put in charge of a city, he will use the town as his canvas. Edi Rama became Mayor of Tirana in 2000 and since them has undertaken an unusual and colourful renewal program for the Albania capital.

Collaborative inquiries into literacy, place and identity in changing policy contexts : implications for teacher development

In this chapter we describe a history of collaboration between university-based literacy researchers and school-based teachers in teacher development programs and practitioner inquiries designed to improve literacy outcomes for students living in low-socioeconomic circumstances. We consider how an inquiry stance has informed teachers working for social justice through curriculum and pedagogy designed to connect children’s developing literacy repertoires with their changing material, social and linguistic contexts. We use examples from the practices of two of our long-term teacher-collaborators to show what has been possible to achieve, even in radically different policy contexts, because of teachers’ continued commitment to themes of place and belonging, and language and identity.

Application of Mesenchymal Stem Cells for repair and regeneration of cartilage and bone

Australian efforts to provide orthopaedic surgeons with living, load-bearing scaffolds suitable for current joint (knee and hip) replacement surgery, non-union fracture repair, and miniscal and growth plate cartilage regeneration are being lead by teams at the Institute for Medical and Veterinary Science and Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide; the Peter MacCallum and St Vincent's Medical Research Institutes in Melbourne; and the Mater Medical Research Institute and new Institute for Health and Biomedical Innovation at QUT, Brisbane. In each case multidisciplinary teams are attempting to develop autologous living tissue constructs, utilising mesenchymal stem cells (MSC), with the intention of effecting seamless repair and regeneration of skeletal trauma and defects. In this article we will briefly review current knowledge of the phenotypic properties of MSC and discuss the potential therapeutic applications of these cells as exemplified by their use in cartilage repair and tissue engineering based approaches to the treatment of skeletal defects.

Identity fraud and land registration systems : an Australian perspective

There is no doubt that fraud in relation to land transactions is a problem that resonates amongst land academics, practitioners, and stakeholders involved in conveyancing. As each land registration and conveyancing process increasingly moves towards a fully electronic environment, we need to make sure that we understand and guard against the frauds that can occur. What this paper does is examine the types of fraud that have occurred in paper-based conveyancing systems in Australia and considers how they might be undertaken in the National Electronic Conveyancing System (NECS) that is currently under development. Whilst no system can ever be infallible, it is suggested that by correctly imposing the responsibility for identity verification on the appropriate individual, the conveyancing system adopted can achieve the optimum level of fairness in terms of allocation of responsibility and loss. As we sit on the cusp of a new era of electronic conveyancing, the framework suggested here provides a model for minimising the risks of forged mortgages and appropriately allocating the loss. Importantly it also recognises that the electronic environment will see new opportunities for those with criminal intent to undermine the integrity of land transactions. An appreciation of this now, can see the appropriate measures put in place to minimise the risk.

Identity management : strengthening one-time password authentication through usability

Usability in HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) is normally understood as the simplicity and clarity with which the interaction with a computer program or a web site is designed. Identity management systems need to provide adequate usability and should have a simple and intuitive interface. The system should not only be designed to satisfy service provider requirements but it has to consider user requirements, otherwise it will lead to inconvenience and poor usability for users when managing their identities. With poor usability and a poor user interface with regard to security, it is highly likely that the system will have poor security. The rapid growth in the number of online services leads to an increasing number of different digital identities each user needs to manage. As a result, many people feel overloaded with credentials, which in turn negatively impacts their ability to manage them securely. Passwords are perhaps the most common type of credential used today. To avoid the tedious task of remembering difficult passwords, users often behave less securely by using low entropy and weak passwords. Weak passwords and bad password habits represent security threats to online services. Some solutions have been developed to eliminate the need for users to create and manage passwords. A typical solution is based on generating one-time passwords, i.e. passwords for single session or transaction usage. Unfortunately, most of these solutions do not satisfy scalability and/or usability requirements, or they are simply insecure. In this thesis, the security and usability aspects of contemporary methods for authentication based on one-time passwords (OTP) are examined and analyzed. In addition, more scalable solutions that provide a good user experience while at the same time preserving strong security are proposed.

The influence of conformity and group identity on drink walking intentions : comparing intentions to drink walk across risky pedestrian crossing scenarios

Despite the dangers associated with drink walking, limited research is currently available regarding the factors which influence individuals to engage in this risky behaviour. This study examined the influence of psychosocial factors upon individuals’ intentions to drink walk across four experimental scenarios (and a control condition). Specifically, a 2 × 2 repeated measures design was utilised in which all of the scenarios incorporated a risky pedestrian crossing situation (i.e., a pedestrian crossing against a red man signal) but differed according to the level of group identity (i.e., low/strangers and high/friends) and conformity (low and high). Individuals were assessed for their intentions to drink walk within each of these different scenarios. Undergraduate students (N = 151), aged 17–30 years, completed a questionnaire. Overall, most of the study's hypotheses were supported with individuals reporting the highest intentions to drink walk when in the presence of friends (i.e., high group identity) and their friends were said to be also crossing against the red man signal (i.e., high conformity). The findings may have significant implications for the design of countermeasures to reduce drink walking. For instance, the current findings would suggest that potentially effective strategies may be to promote resilience to peer influence as well as highlight the negative consequences associated with following the behaviour of other intoxicated pedestrians who are crossing against a red signal.