Linkage measures of the real estate sector considering the effect of capital

A significant limitation in previous linkage relevant research is that the flow of capital goods is not addressed. Using the OECD input-output tables, this research first generates a new input-output model considering capital as an intermediate factor. Using the new model, the real estate linkages are re-calculated and investigated in order to evaluate appropriately the impact of the real estate sector on national economies. The findings verify that the linkages of the real estate sector were extremely underestimated in previous research. A correct linkage measure of the real estate sector can contribute to produce correct information corresponding to the sectors responsible for the economic growth during the period under study and provide substantial contributions towards guiding the appropriate strategies for future economic development.

An input-output-based linkage measurement framework

This study proposed an input-output-based linkage measurement framework, which is a multi-level hierarchy, omni-direction decision-making model and takes the impact of capital into account. This framework had resolved the critical deficiencies and inherent limitations of the existing methods and was used to explore the real estate and construction linkages.

Corporate commitment to sustainability – is it all hot air? A review of the linkage between executive pay and sustainable performance

Across time, companies are increasingly making public commitments to sustainable development and to reducing their impacts on climate change. Management remuneration plans (MRPs) are a key mechanism to motivate managers to achieve corporate goals. We review the MRPs negotiated with key management personnel in a sample of large Australian carbon-intensive companies. Our results show that, as in past decades, the companies in our sample have MRPs in place that continue to fixate on financial performance. We argue that this provides evidence of a disconnection between the sustainability-related rhetoric of the sample companies, and their ‘real’ organisational priorities.

Validation of de-identified record linkage to ascertain hospital admissions in a cohort study

Background Cohort studies can provide valuable evidence of cause and effect relationships but are subject to loss of participants over time, limiting the validity of findings. Computerised record linkage offers a passive and ongoing method of obtaining health outcomes from existing routinely collected data sources. However, the quality of record linkage is reliant upon the availability and accuracy of common identifying variables. We sought to develop and validate a method for linking a cohort study to a state-wide hospital admissions dataset with limited availability of unique identifying variables.

Methods A sample of 2000 participants from a cohort study (n = 41 514) was linked to a state-wide hospitalisations dataset in Victoria, Australia using the national health insurance (Medicare) number and demographic data as identifying variables. Availability of the health insurance number was limited in both datasets; therefore linkage was undertaken both with and without use of this number and agreement tested between both algorithms. Sensitivity was calculated for a sub-sample of 101 participants with a hospital admission confirmed by medical record review.

Results Of the 2000 study participants, 85% were found to have a record in the hospitalisations dataset when the national health insurance number and sex were used as linkage variables and 92% when demographic details only were used. When agreement between the two methods was tested the disagreement fraction was 9%, mainly due to "false positive" links when demographic details only were used. A final algorithm that used multiple combinations of identifying variables resulted in a match proportion of 87%. Sensitivity of this final linkage was 95%.

Conclusions High quality record linkage of cohort data with a hospitalisations dataset that has limited identifiers can be achieved using combinations of a national health insurance number and demographic data as identifying variables.

Using patients' experiences of adverse events to improve health service delivery and practice: protocol of a data linkage study of Australian adults age 45 and above

Evidence of patients' experiences is fundamental to creating effective health policy and service responses, yet is missing from our knowledge of adverse events. This protocol describes explorative research redressing this significant deficit; investigating the experiences of a large cohort of recently hospitalised patients aged 45 years and above in hospitals in New South Wales (NSW), Australia.