Disaggregation of household energy consumption patterns in Australian

Improving energy efficiency is an important target to be achieved in residential building development and household behaviour. The aim of this research is to help building professionals and policy makers understand the current housing situations and householders’ behaviour regarding energy consumption. The results of a survey of energy consumption, including house situations and householder behaviour, of 504 households in New South Wales Australia are reported. Twelve features affecting household energy consumption are investigated. These features included cooking appliances, refrigerators, laundry appliances, televisions, computers, gaming consoles, hot water systems, space cooling and heating systems, glazing, insulation, lighting, and other major energy consumption facilities. The differences of these features across different households with different physical characteristics, social-demographic features and geographical areas are analyzed. Based on the disaggregate study, it is found that mandatory policy, geographical and socio-economic factors can significantly affect the selection of fixtures and appliances in the households. It is also found that the positive effect of the government’s mandatory policy implementation on household energy consumption behaviour is evidenced. The findings will be of use in sustainable residential building development policy-making, and tailoring the regulations and standards with consideration of the various geographical and socio-economic factors.

Cross-curriculum priorities and the ethics of interpreting Indigenous texts

Deakin University’s first-year unit, ‘Reading Children’s Texts’, is mandatory for the B.Ed. (Primary). Newly revised, it addresses the cross- curriculum priorities, Indigenous histories and cultures, and Australia’s engagements with Asia. The unit introduces the study of narrative, genre, and ideology. But how should the political topics embedded in the English curriculum be framed for pre-service teachers, and how relevant are literary texts to the teaching of ethical interpretation of texts to both primary and secondary students?

Training postgraduate psychology students to deliver psychological services online

Information and communication technologies are increasingly being used to remotely deliver psychological services. This delivery method confers clear advantages to both client and therapist, including the accessibility of services by otherwise unserved populations and cost-effective treatment. Remote services can be delivered in a real-time or delayed manner, providing clients with a wealth of therapy options not previously available. The proliferation of these services has outstripped the development and implementation of all but the most rudimentary of regulatory frameworks, potentially exposing clients to substandard psychological services. Integrating mandatory training on the delivery of online psychological services into accredited postgraduate psychology courses would aid in addressing this issue. The purpose of this article is to outline issues of consideration in the development and implementation of such a training programme. An online etherapy training programme developed by Swinburne University's National eTherapy Centre will be used as an example throughout.

Food fortification : the evidence, ethics and politics of adding nutrients to food

This research book presents a critical analysis of mandatory food fortification as a technology for protecting and promoting public health. Increasing numbers of foods fortified with novel amounts and combinations of nutrients are being introduced into the food supplies of countries around the world to raise populations’ nutrient intakes. Three topical food fortification case studies representing the different public health rationales for adding nutrients to food were assessed for their public health benefits, risks and ethical considerations: Universal salt iodisation (USI) to help prevent iodine deficiency disorders; mandatory flour fortification with folic acid (MFFFA) to help prevent neural tube defects; and mandatory milk fortification with vitamin D (MMFVD) to help prevent vitamin D deficiency. These assessments found that whereas USI performs strongly as a public health intervention, MFFFA and MMFVD are associated with more risks and less ethical justification than an alternative policy option. Food fortification can be a blunt policy response to complex policy problems. The findings highlight that the primary predictor of a mandatory food fortification policy’s benefits, risks and ethics is its ability to address the underlying cause of the policy problem. The analysis of the policy-making processes for each case study found that certain powerful actors use their influence to determine what counts as evidence in policy processes to privilege food fortification activities over alternative policy options. Policy-making frequently was notable for the low prominence it afforded ethical considerations and its lack of public engagement. Priority activities to help strengthen policy processes and outcomes are suggested.

Fortification. Folic acid and spina bifida. Is it safe? Is it wise? Is it right?

Food fortification takes many forms. The example discussed here is unusual, because in many countries now it is required by law: the fortification of flour with the B vitamin folic acid, or MFFFA for short. Voluntary fortification of various food products was first used to help prevent and control child and maternal anaemia associated with folate deficiency (1). In the mid-1990s, policy-makers in various countries began considering using mandatory fortification under a novel policy paradigm, that fortification was needed to increase the folic acid intake and protect the health status of people who had a special requirement for this nutrient, irrespective of the folate status of the population as a whole.

Job satisfaction and 'welfare-to-work' : is any job a good job for Australian mothers?

This exploratory study sought to assess the job satisfaction of employed Australian single mothers who had mandatory employment participation requirements. In particular, we sought to identify the characteristics of the job and the individual that were closely associated with participant’s job satisfaction. Self‑report data on job satisfaction, employment characteristics and parenting stress were collected from 155 employed single mothers. Participant job satisfaction was compared to female Australian population norms and linear regression analyses determined the job‑related and individual predictors of single mothers’ job satisfaction. Findings from this exploratory study revealed that single mothers involved in a mandatory welfare‑to‑work program experienced significantly lower job satisfaction than the Australian female population. The individual variable, parental distress, negatively predicted each of the six job satisfaction domains while being employed on a casual basis was inversely associated with three domains (job security, work hours and overall job satisfaction). The Australian government purported that making the transition from welfare to work would improve wellbeing for program participants, under the assumption that ‘any job’s a good job’. However, the relatively low levels of job satisfaction experienced by single mothers in the current study provide little support for this assumption.

Frequency of excisions and yields of malignant skin tumors in a population-based screening intervention of 360 288 whole-body examinations

Objective To explore the frequency of excisions and yields of histopathologically confirmed skin cancer.

Design A population-based skin cancer screening intervention (the SCREEN project) in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein (July 1, 2003, to June 30, 2004).

Setting Physician offices. Participants could choose between nondermatologist physicians and dermatologists for their initial whole-body skin examination. All screening physicians received a mandatory 8-hour training course.

Participants Inhabitants of Schleswig-Holstein 20 years or older with statutory health insurance (N = 360 288).

Main Outcome Measures Frequency of excisions and yields of malignant skin tumors (malignant melanomas [MMs], basal cell carcinomas [BCCs], and squamous cell carcinomas [SCCs]), stratified by sex and age.

Results Overall, 15 983 excisions were performed (1 of 23 screenees). A total of 3103 malignant skin tumors were diagnosed in 2911 persons: 585 MMs, 1961 BCCs, 392 SCCs, and 165 other malignant skin tumors. Overall, 116 persons (3103 of 360 288) had to be screened to find 1 malignant tumor, with 1 of 620 for MM, 1 of 184 for BCC, and 1 of 920 for SCC. Twenty excisions were performed to find 1 melanoma in men 65 years and older, but more than 50 excisions were required to find 1 melanoma in men aged between 20 and 49 years.

Conclusions The results of SCREEN suggest a high yield of malignant skin tumors in a large-scale population-based screening project. We found that a high number of excisions was performed in the youngest screenees with an associated low yield, suggesting a need in screener training to emphasize a more conservative attitude toward excisions in young screenees.

Workplace human rights reporting: a study of Australian garment and retail companies

The opening of the Australian economy in a globalised world has led to Australian garment and retail corporations moving their manufacturing overseas and acquiring goods from overseas providers. This is usually better for the corporations’ bottom-line, as they can purchase goods overseas at a fraction of their local cost, partly due to cheap labour. Australia is one of the many OECD countries not to have a well regulated environment for workplace human rights. This study examines 18 major Australian retail and garment manufacturing corporations and finds that workplace human rights reporting is poor, based on content analysis of their annual reports, corporate social responsibility reports and websites. This is probably due to the failure of the Australian Government to provide adequate oversight by promulgating mandatory reporting standards for both local and overseas operations of Australian companies. This permits corporations to avoid reporting their workplace human rights standards and breaches.

A governance of denial: hate crime in New Zealand and Australia

In Australia and New Zealand, the strategies employed by governments to remedy prejudice, intolerance and hatred occur on a continuum; ranging from global mission statements about multiculturalism/ biculturalism, through to the enactment of civil anti-discrimination and anti-vilification legislation. In some jurisdictions, these civil remedies have been extended to criminal codes and sentencing legislation, and enshrined in human rights charters. In the place of a comprehensive outline of each of the nine jurisdictions, case studies from throughout the region are presented as exemplars of the strategies employed and barriers faced in reducing prejudice-related violence.

The differences between the Australian and New Zealand jurisdictions belies a common theme that frames the delay in developing legislative responses to hate crime and the paucity of cases to reach the point at which they begin to establish an agreed set of norms and values about the abhorrence of prejudice and hatred. At most turns—whether political or public rhetoric, or legislative and policy development - there is a frontier denial, minimisation and negation of prejudice and hatred.

Internationalisation of vocational education and training: an adapting curve for teachers and learners

Competency-based training and training packages are mandatory for Australian vocational education and training (VET). VET qualifications are designed to provide learners with skills, knowledge, and attributes required for Australian workplaces. Yet, toward the end of December 2011, there were 171,237 international student enrolments in the Australian vocational education sector.

VET currently ranks second behind the university sector by volume of international student enrolments in Australia. The flow of international students into Australian vocational education, their diverse learning characteristics, and their different acquired values have created new challenges as well as possibilities for teachers to transform their pedagogic practices and contribute to reshaping the pedagogy landscape in vocational education.

Drawing on interviews with 50 teachers from VET institutes in three states of Australia, this article discusses the emergence of international vocational education pedagogy that enables international students and indeed all learners to develop necessary skills, knowledge, and attributes in response to the new demands of the changing workplace context and global skills and knowledge mobility.

This article addresses a number of important issues concerning the interrelationship of international pedagogy and learner-centered education, notions of productive and inclusive pedagogies, transnational skills mobility, cultural diversity, and internationalization within the context of the Australian VET sector. Finally, the significance of these issues to educational providers and teachers across different educational levels and national contexts is discussed.

Security in uncertain times: policies for increasing the popularity of life annuities among retirees

Life annuities offer retirees an assured income stream for as long as they live. This makes it surprising that they are unpopular in most markets where their purchase is not compelled by government policy. With the numbers of retirees in the population set to increase dramatically, this low take-up rate of life annuities could exacerbate financial insecurity. Consequently, it is in society’s interest to implement non-coercive policies that increase annuitization levels. Although there is research that has focused on the possible causes of low annuitization rates, much of this research falls short of suggesting comprehensive strategies for persuading retirees to annuitize their savings.

A generalization of the Bonferroni mean based on partitions

The mean defined by Bonferroni in 1950 (known by the same name) averages all non-identical product pairs of the inputs. Its generalizations to date have been able to capture unique behavior that may be desired in some decision-making contexts such as the ability to model mandatory requirements. In this paper, we propose a composition that averages conjunctions between the respective means of a designated subset-size partition. We investigate the behavior of such a function and note the relationship within a given family as the subset size is changed. We found that the proposed function is able to more intuitively handle multiple mandatory requirements or mandatory input sets.

Estimating fatality rates in occupational light vehicle users using vehicle registration and crash data

Objective: To estimate occupational light vehicle (OLV) fatality numbers using vehicle registration and crash data and compare these with previous estimates based on workers' compensation data. Method: New South Wales (NSW) Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) vehicle registration and crash data were obtained for 2004. NSW is the only Australian jurisdiction with mandatory work-use registration, which was used as a proxy for work-relatedness. OLV fatality rates based on registration data as the denominator were calculated and comparisons made with published 2003/04 fatalities based on workers' compensation data. Results: Thirty-four NSW RTA OLV-user fatalities were identified, a rate of 4.5 deaths per 100,000 organisationally registered OLV, whereas the Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC), reported 28 OLV deaths Australia-wide. Conclusions: More OLV user fatalities were identified from vehicle registration-based data than those based on workers' compensation estimates and the data are likely to provide an improved estimate of fatalities specific to OLV use. Implications: OLV-use is an important cause of traumatic fatalities that would be better identified through the use of vehicle-registration data, which provides a stronger evidence base from which to develop policy responses.

Changes in injury-related hospital emergency department presentations associated with the imposition of regulatory versus voluntary licensing conditions on licensed venues in two cities

Introduction and Aims
Regulatory and collaborative intervention strategies have been developed to reduce the harms associated with alcohol consumption on licensed venues around the world, but there remains little research evidence regarding their comparative effectiveness. This paper describes concurrent changes in the number of night-time injury-related hospital emergency department presentations in two cities that implemented either a collaborative voluntary approach to reducing harms associated with licensed premises (Geelong) or a regulatory approach (Newcastle).

Design and Methods
This paper reports findings from Dealing with Alcohol-Related problems in the Night-Time Economy project. Data were drawn from injury-specific International Classification of Disease, 10th Revision codes for injuries (S and T codes) presenting during high-alcohol risk times (midnight—5.59 am, Saturday and Sunday mornings) at the emergency departments in Geelong Hospital and Newcastle (John Hunter Hospital and the Calvary Mater Hospital), before and after the introduction of licensing conditions between the years of 2005 and 2011. Time-series, seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average analyses were conducted on the data obtained from patients' medical records.

Results
Significant reductions in injury-related presentations during high-alcohol risk times were found for Newcastle since the imposition of regulatory licensing conditions (344 attendances per year, P < 0.001). None of the interventions deployed in Geelong (e.g. identification scanners, police operations, radio networks or closed-circuit television) were associated with reductions in emergency department presentations.

Discussion and Conclusions
The data suggest that mandatory interventions based on trading hours restrictions were associated with reduced emergency department injury presentations in high-alcohol hours than voluntary interventions. [Miller P, Curtis A, Palmer D, Busija L, Tindall J, Droste N, Gillham K, Coomber K, Wiggers J. Changes in injury-related hospital emergency department presentations associated with the imposition of regulatory versus voluntary licensing conditions on licensed venues in two cities. Drug Alcohol Rev 2014]*