A comparison of children's needs models in the Australian and Chinese context

The diverse needs of children have been drawing global attention from both academic and practitioner communities. Based on semi-structured interviews with 23 kin caregivers and five school personnel in the Shijiapu Town of Jilin Province, China, this paper presents a needs model for rural school-age children left behind by their migrant parents. This Chinese model is compared to the needs identification mechanism developed by the Australian Research Alliance for Children and youth. The paper outlines the common needs of children in different contexts, and also highlights the needs that are not explicit in the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth framework, such as empowerment and agency or perhaps given insufficient weight, such as education. In discussing relationships among different needs, aspects that are missing in the framework it is argued that culture should be more explicitly recognised when defining need.

Food security in Australia in an era of neoliberalism, productivism and climate change

For over 150 years Australia has exported bulk, undifferentiated, commodities such as wool, wheat, meat and sugar to the UK and more recently to Japan, Korea, and the Middle East. It is estimated that, each year, Australia's farming system feeds a domestic population of some 22 million people, while exporting enough food to feed another 40 million. With the Australian population expected to double in the next 40 years, and with the anticipated growth in the world's population to reach a level of some 9 billion (from its present level of 7 billion) in the same period, there are strong incentives for an expansion of food production in Australia. Neoliberal settings are encouraging this expansion at the same time as they are facilitating importation of foods, higher levels of foreign direct investment and the commoditisation of resources (such as water). Yet, expansion in food production – and in an era of climate change – will continue to compromise the environment. After discussing Australia's neoliberal framework and its relation to farming, this paper outlines how Australia is attempting to address the issue of food security. It argues that productivist farming approaches that are favoured by both industry and government are proving incapable of bringing about long-term production outcomes that will guarantee national food security.

Broadening the focus : the case for lifestyle journalism as a field of scholarly inquiry

This introduction to the special issue outlines the case for an increased focus on studying lifestyle journalism, an area of journalism which, despite its rapid rise over recent decades, has not received much attention from scholars in journalism studies. Criticised for being antithetical to public interest and watchdog notions of journalism, lifestyle journalism is still ridiculed by some as being unworthy of being associated with the term journalism. However, in outlining the field's development and a critique of definitions of journalism, this paper argues that there are a number of good reasons for broadening the focus. In fact, lifestyle journalism?here defined as a distinct journalistic field that primarily addresses its audiences as consumers, providing them with factual information and advice, often in entertaining ways, about goods and services they can use in their daily lives?has much to offer for scholarly inquiry and is of increasing relevance for society.

UV Photodissociation Action Spectroscopy of Haloanilinium Ions in a Linear Quadrupole Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer

UV-vis photodissociation action spectroscopy is becoming increasingly prevalent because of advances in, and commercial availability of, ion trapping technologies and tunable laser sources. This study outlines in detail an instrumental arrangement, combining a commercial ion-trap mass spectrometer and tunable nanosecond pulsed laser source, for performing fully automated photodissociation action spectroscopy on gas-phase ions. The components of the instrumentation are outlined, including the optical and electronic interfacing, in addition to the control software for automating the experiment and performing online analysis of the spectra. To demonstrate the utility of this ensemble, the photodissociation action spectra of 4-chloroanilinium, 4-bromoanilinium, and 4-iodoanilinium cations are presented and discussed. Multiple photoproducts are detected in each case and the photoproduct yields are followed as a function of laser wavelength. It is shown that the wavelength-dependent partitioning of the halide loss, H loss, and NH3 loss channels can be broadly rationalized in terms of the relative carbon-halide bond dissociation energies and processes of energy redistribution. The photodissociation action spectrum of (phenyl)Ag-2 (+) is compared with a literature spectrum as a further benchmark.

Tracking spatio temporal movement of human in terms of space utilization using media access control address data

Using Media-Access-Control (MAC) address for data collection and tracking is a capable and cost effective approach as the traditional ways such as surveys and video surveillance have numerous drawbacks and limitations. Positioning cell-phones by Global System for Mobile communication was considered an attack on people's privacy. MAC addresses just keep a unique log of a WiFi or Bluetooth enabled device for connecting to another device that has not potential privacy infringements. This paper presents the use of MAC address data collection approach for analysis of spatio-temporal dynamics of human in terms of shared space utilization. This paper firstly discuses the critical challenges and key benefits of MAC address data as a tracking technology for monitoring human movement. Here, proximity-based MAC address tracking is postulated as an effective methodology for analysing the complex spatio-temporal dynamics of human movements at shared zones such as lounge and office areas. A case study of university staff lounge area is described in detail and results indicates a significant added value of the methodology for human movement tracking. By analysis of MAC address data in the study area, clear statistics such as staff’s utilisation frequency, utilisation peak periods, and staff time spent is obtained. The analyses also reveal staff’s socialising profiles in terms of group and solo gathering. The paper is concluded with a discussion on why MAC address tracking offers significant advantages for tracking human behaviour in terms of shared space utilisation with respect to other and more prominent technologies, and outlines some of its remaining deficiencies.

The Performance Nexus - A framework for improving energy efficiency in existing commercial buildings by considering a whole-of-building approach

Efforts to reduce carbon emissions in the buildings sector have been focused on encouraging green design, construction and building operation; however, the business case is not very compelling if considering the energy cost savings alone. In recent years green building has been driven by a sense that it will improve the productivity of occupants,i something with much greater economic returns than energy savings. Reducing energy demand in green commercial buildings in a way that encourages greater productivity is not yet well understood as it involves a set of complex and interdependent factors. This paper outlines an investigation into these factors and focuses on better understanding the performance of and interaction between: design elements, internal environmental quality, occupant experience, tenant/leasing agreements, and building regulation and management. In doing so the paper presents a framework for improving energy efficiency in existing commercial buildings by considering a range of interconnected and synergistic elements.

The development of a simple multi-nodal tool to identify performance issues in existing commercial buildings

Australia’s building stock includes many older commercial buildings with numerous factors that impact energy performance and indoor environment quality. The built environment industry has generally focused heavily on improving physical building design elements for greater energy efficiency (such as retrofits and environmental upgrades), however there are noticeable ‘upper limits’ to performance improvements in these areas. To achieve a stepchange improvement in building performance, the authors propose that additional components need to be addressed in a whole of building approach, including the way building design elements are managed and the level of stakeholder engagement between owners, tenants and building managers. This paper focuses on the opportunities provided by this whole-of-building approach, presenting the findings of a research project undertaken through the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) in Australia. Researchers worked with a number of industry partners over two years to investigate issues facing stakeholders at base building and tenancy levels, and the barriers to improving building performance. Through a mixed-method, industry-led research approach, five ‘nodes’ were identified in whole-of-building performance evaluation, each with interlinking and overlapping complexities that can influence performance. The nodes cover building management, occupant experience, indoor environment quality, agreements and culture, and design elements. This paper outlines the development and testing of these nodes and their interactions, and the resultant multi-nodal tool, called the ‘Performance Nexus’ tool. The tool is intended to be of most benefit in evaluating opportunities for performance improvement in the vast number of existing low-performing building stock.

Two-scale computational modelling of unsaturated flow in soils exhibiting small scale heterogeneities

Unsaturated water flow in soil is commonly modelled using Richards’ equation, which requires the hydraulic properties of the soil (e.g., porosity, hydraulic conductivity, etc.) to be characterised. Naturally occurring soils, however, are heterogeneous in nature, that is, they are composed of a number of interwoven homogeneous soils each with their own set of hydraulic properties. When the length scale of these soil heterogeneities is small, numerical solution of Richards’ equation is computationally impractical due to the immense effort and refinement required to mesh the actual heterogeneous geometry. A classic way forward is to use a macroscopic model, where the heterogeneous medium is replaced with a fictitious homogeneous medium, which attempts to give the average flow behaviour at the macroscopic scale (i.e., at a scale much larger than the scale of the heterogeneities). Using the homogenisation theory, a macroscopic equation can be derived that takes the form of Richards’ equation with effective parameters. A disadvantage of the macroscopic approach, however, is that it fails in cases when the assumption of local equilibrium does not hold. This limitation has seen the introduction of two-scale models that include at each point in the macroscopic domain an additional flow equation at the scale of the heterogeneities (microscopic scale). This report outlines a well-known two-scale model and contributes to the literature a number of important advances in its numerical implementation. These include the use of an unstructured control volume finite element method and image-based meshing techniques, that allow for irregular micro-scale geometries to be treated, and the use of an exponential time integration scheme that permits both scales to be resolved simultaneously in a completely coupled manner. Numerical comparisons against a classical macroscopic model confirm that only the two-scale model correctly captures the important features of the flow for a range of parameter values.

Evaluating the use of a very large-scale presentation and collaboration framework

In this paper we describe the use and evaluation of CubIT, a multi-user, very large-scale presentation and collaboration framework. CubIT is installed at the Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) Cube facility. The “Cube” is an interactive visualisation facility made up of five very large-scale interactive multi-panel wall displays, each consisting of up to twelve 55-inch multi-touch screens (48 screens in total) and massive projected display screens situated above the display panels. The paper outlines the unique design challenges, features, use and evaluation of CubIT. The system was built to make the Cube facility accessible to QUT’s academic and student population. CubIT enables users to easily upload and share their own media content, and allows multiple users to simultaneously interact with the Cube’s wall displays. The features of CubIT are implemented via three user interfaces, a multi-touch interface working on the wall displays, a mobile phone and tablet application and a web-based content management system. The evaluation reveals issues around the public use and functional scope of the system.

Tactics of antifeminist backlash against the U. S. battered women's movement

Opposition to men’s violence against women who are their intimate partners has become politically popular in the United States. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) has enjoyed broad-based support for over 15 years. VAWA has been refined and expanded with each reauthorization. Resistance to the battered women’s movement is often overlooked in this political context. However, woman abuse and state responses to it are mired in cultural tensions about crime, law, gender, economics, scholarship, and the family. Based on interviews with 35 advocates in the United States, this paper outlines key tactics of antifeminist backlash against the battered women’s movement.

Measuring Online user engagement : the limitations of Web analytics

The ability to identify and assess user engagement with transmedia productions is vital to the success of individual projects and the sustainability of this mode of media production as a whole. It is essential that industry players have access to tools and methodologies that offer the most complete and accurate picture of how audiences/users engage with their productions and which assets generate the most valuable returns of investment. Drawing upon research conducted with Hoodlum Entertainment, a Brisbane-based transmedia producer, this chapter outlines an initial assessment of the way engagement tends to be understood, why standard web analytics tools are ill-suited to measuring it, how a customised tool could offer solutions, and why this question of measuring engagement is so vital to the future of transmedia as a sustainable industry.

From democracy in America to a la francaise accountability. Grasping the sociopolitical origins of accountability [De la démocratie en Amérique du Nord à l’accountability à la française]

Whilst native French speakers oftentimes collapse accountability to account giving, this paper outlines the shape of an accountability ala française. Reading Tocqueville’s (1835) work highlights that accountability as practiced in Anglo-Saxonc countries has been an offspring of American democracy. An accountability a la française would be characterised by conformance to a set or universal values, the submission of minorities to choices made by the majority, a means obligation as well as the rejection of transparency. [Alors que le francophone réduit généralement l’accountability à la reddition de comptes, cet article esquisse les contours d’une véritable accountability à la française. La lecture de Tocqueville (1835) révèle que l’accountability pratiquée dans les pays anglo-saxons trouve ses origines dans les fondements de la démocratie américaine. En France, l’accountability serait caractérisée par le respect d’un ensemble de valeurs universelles, l’adhésion des minorités aux choix majoritaires, l’absence de discriminations, une obligation de moyens et un rejet de la transparence.]

An application of the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire in a large Australian organisational fleeting setting : can it predict crashes and demerit point loss?

This study reports on the utilisation of the Manchester Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) to examine the self-reported driving behaviours of a large sample of Australian fleet drivers (N = 3414). Surveys were completed by employees before they commenced a one day safety workshop intervention. Factor analysis techniques identified a three factor solution similar to previous research, which was comprised of: (a) errors, (b) highway-code violations and (c) aggressive driving violations. Two items traditionally related with highway-code violations were found to be associated with aggressive driving behaviours among the current sample. Multivariate analyses revealed that exposure to the road, errors and self-reported offences predicted crashes at work in the last 12 months, while gender, highway violations and crashes predicted offences incurred while at work. Importantly, those who received more fines at work were at an increased risk of crashing the work vehicle. However, overall, the DBQ demonstrated limited efficacy at predicting these two outcomes. This paper outlines the major findings of the study in regards to identifying and predicting aberrant driving behaviours and also highlights implications regarding the future utilisation of the DBQ within fleet settings.

Understanding the information literacy experiences of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students

Purpose – This paper outlines research that explores the information literacy experiences of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students. The question explored in this research was: how do EFL students experience information literacy. Design/Methodology/Approach – This study used phenomenography, a relational approach to explore the information literacy experiences of EFL students. Phenomenography studies the qualitatively different ways a phenomenon is experienced in the world around us. Findings – This research revealed that EFL students experienced information literacy in four qualitatively different ways. The four categories revealed through the data were: process, quality, language and knowledge. This research found that language impacted on EFL students’ experiences of information literacy and revealed that EFL students applied various techniques and strategies when they read, understood, organised and translated information. Research limitations/implications – This research was conducted in a specific cultural and educational context, therefore the results might not reflect the experiences of EFL students in other cultural or educational contexts. Practical implications – The findings from this research offer an important contribution to information literacy practice by providing important insights about EFL students’ experiences and perceptions of information and learning that can be used to inform curriculum development in second language learning contexts. Originality/Value - There is currently a lack of research using a relational approach to investigate EFL students’ experiences of information literacy. There is also limited research that explores the impact language has on information literary and learning in English as a foreign or second language contexts.

The Researcher Librarian Partnership : building a culture of research

Increasingly, the library and information science (LIS) practitioner is being challenged to incorporate research into the context of their professional work. This paper reports on the Researcher-Librarian Partnership, a research-mentoring program that was initiated by the International Federation of the Library Association and Institutions. Six new LIS practitioners within their first seven years of professional practice took part in the program. Each was partnered with an experienced LIS researcher who provided mentoring and support. During the 12-month program the new professionals designed and implemented a research project on a topic of interest. This paper outlines the details of the program providing observations on how research mentoring can be a powerful way to ensure all stakeholders – practitioners, educators and professional associations – can plan an active role in supporting the development of a research culture within the profession.