Further examination of relationships between events and psychiatric symptoms in adults with intellectual disability

Background: It has been proposed that people with intellectual disability (ID) might be similar to the general population in the way they respond to significant life events. Some preliminary findings have demonstrated that adults with ID who have experienced recent life events have an increased probability of having psychiatric problems. The aims of the present study were to determine whether previous findings can be replicated, and to examine the influence of additional diagnoses associated with ID on the strength of relationships between life event frequency and psychiatric problems.

Methods: Adults with ID (n = 624), living either in staffed community accommodation or in family or foster homes, were assessed on the Developmental Behaviour Checklist for Adults (DBC-A) and a 37-item life events checklist. Carers who knew the person well acted as proxy informants.

Results: People living in staffed accommodation experienced more life events than people living with natural or foster families. Life event frequency predicted DBC-A total score, five of six sub-scale scores, and caseness status, after significant demographic factors were taken into account. However, the strength of correlations between life event frequency and DBC-A total score varied among sub-groups identified by type of developmental disability and level of ID.

Conclusions: Weak but significant associations between emotional and behavioural problems and life events experienced by adults with ID were demonstrated, but it was also shown that the strength of such associations varies among sub-groups of this heterogeneous population. Future research needs to take account of the circumstances surrounding the life changes, the period of time over which changes might have taken place, and the meaning that the person might attach to the changes. Research into the causal relationship between exposure to life events and the onset of psychiatric problems is also warranted.

Initiation into a dialysis-dependent life: an examination of rites of passage

Martin-McDonald et al explore the conceptual and empirical application of the rites of passage model in contemporary health care for those who are dialysis dependent. The findings illustrate the three stages of rites of passage, separation. liminality, and reincorporation. A commentary and response are provided.

A critical examination of ethical decision making models

This paper critically examines both the need for, and the use of, ethical decision making models (EDMMs). This paper suggests that EDMMs focus on arriving at the correct decision but ignore the action required to implement it and are therefore incomplete. In most “accounting” circumstances, finding the right decision is not what is required. Rather, a model which provides both a sound decision and, appropriate implementation would be more useful. In trying to establish a new/different EDDM that provides for this it is argued that a biblical model exists which addresses both decision making and action. This paper aims to encourage accounting ethics education to move beyond determining the right decision and focus on taking the right action.

An examination on the performance of MML causal induction

This paper presents an examination report on the performance of the improved MML based causal model discovery algorithm. In this paper, We firstly describe our improvement to the causal discovery algorithm which introduces a new encoding scheme for measuring the cost of describing the causal structure. Stiring function is also applied to further simplify the computational complexity and thus works more efficiently. It is followed by a detailed examination report on the performance of our improved discovery algorithm. The experimental results of the current version of the discovery system show that: (l) the current version is capable of discovering what discovered by previous system; (2) current system is capable of discovering more complicated causal networks with large number of variables; (3) the new version works more efficiently compared with the previous version in terms of time complexity.

A preliminary examination of public opinion in Australia on the use of biometric devices or identifiers in everyday life

Since the September 11,2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, many countries including Australia have been able to justify the use of biometric devices for identification and surveillance of their own citizens and others in the name of national security.

This paper reports on the preliminary findings of a survey that examined Australians' views and experiences with the use of biometric devices in everyday situations in the context of their potential to serve as a 'Panopticon' to keep the nation's citizenry under surveillance. It discusses the adoption of the new communication technology from the point of view of the Justification model that sees technology choice as social
gambling and the pluralist view of technology that sees technology as neutral in itself but as having negative or positive effects on society based on how It is used.

The paper proposes the need for Australian society to balance citizens' right to privacy and civil liberties with the right to stay alive and safe from terrorism and how it may be done with the necessary legal and regulator)' safeguards.

Conceptualising the role of reciprocity in relationship marketing : an examination of its supporting virtues

One possible “kind” of marketing relationship occurs where a norm of reciprocity is upheld. The norm states that “we should return good for good, in proportion to what we receive; we should resist evil, but not do evil in return; we should make reparation for the harm we do;...furthermore that obligations should be felt in retrospect” (Becker, 1990, p.4). The appeal of this kind of exchange is that it provides the participants with traits that enable them to pursue excellence in moral behaviour. Making the assumption that societal goal is good moral citizenship; this could be the perfect relationship. It is therefore a good starting point toward examining other types. However, “Reciprocity, taken by itself is insufficient for its own purposes” (Becker, 1986, p.150). It relies on a number of supporting virtues. This paper builds on previous work that conceptualises the role of reciprocity in relationship marketing by examining these virtues. For the norm to effectively stabilize marketing relationships it relies on the presence of other virtues, these include, generosity, conviviality, empathy, and practical wisdom (Becker, 1986). These traits are explored within the context of reciprocity and supporting relationship marketing literature.

Leveraging the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne for community engagement: an examination of Equal First and the Adopt-a-Second-Team program

Event leverage provides information about what outcomes occur as a result of an event. Unlike event impact studies, event leverage analysis identifies why particular outcomes occurred, and the processes that can be used to optimise desired event outcomes. While research has been directed towards understanding how events can be leveraged to provide optimal economic outcomes for host communities, there is little research that examines social leverage within the context of events. The research presented in this paper is part of a larger study that investigated social leverage within the context of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, held in Melbourne, Australia. This paper presents preliminary results relating to two Victorian regions with regard to one the over-arching social policy, Equal First, and a subsidiary program called, Adopt-a-Second-Team. Participant observations and stakeholder interviews were employed to explore the development, operationalisation, implementation and outcomes of Equal First and Adopt-a-Second-Team. The results suggest that although each region achieved outcomes that were consistent with the directions of Equal First, each implemented the Adopt-a-Second-Team differently. The two case studies presented in this paper highlight that the model of implementation developed by the City of Port Phillip may provide a benchmark in social leverage of events. Implications for leveraging social impacts and managing social legacies of events through an approach that includes consideration of policy development and operationalisation from the event organising body and program implementation from the perspective of local community event organisers are discussed.

Online versus postal data collection : a re-examination of the response differences using demographically matched data

Past research has identified differences between online and mail collected responses to the same survey, but differences in the demographics of respondents had also been noted making the cause of the variation unclear. In the research reported here, responses to the same questionnaire, delivered via mail and internet surveys, were demographically matched across a range of variables. This removed the impact of response differences caused by age, gender, type of product consumed and length of customer relationship. Across all the different question types and response scales, significant differences were still found between mail and online respondents, even when data were ipsatised. Notably, online respondents were far less likely to use the end-points of the scale, perhaps indicating issues with the online collection methodology. The conclusion is that the two methods of data collection can not be assumed to be directly inter-changeable, and that the method used can lead to different results if not managed carefully.

Does financial education influence retirement savings? An examination of Australian employees

In order to ensure a financially secure retirement, Australians will need to plan and save for their retirement many decades before they retire.

The age pension, paid for out of Commonwealth government taxes is currently the backbone of the retirement system, but will not replace as much pre-retirement income in the future as it does today. Given the shift from the defined benefit style to the accumulation style, superannuation funds involve considerably more uncertainty, and as such, one might have thought that individuals would be saving more on their own. But personal saving outside of superannuation plans is virtually non-existent. Combine the retirement income crunch with the dramatic increase in life expectancy, and the need for careful retirement planning and sacrificing current consumption for later consumption becomes imperative for ensuring the financial security of older Australians. The hard question is whether individuals will be prepared to make the necessary sacrifices today to ensure a more secure financial future in retirement? This paper explores the willingness of individuals to make these sacrifices, and whether financial education can influence individuals in this difficult decision.

The impact of the adoption of IAS 19 employee benefits on annual financial statements: an examination of Australian and United Kingdom companies

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been adopted by a number of countries as a means of harmonising financial statements around the world. Proponents of IFRS suggest many benefits upon their adoption. This paper examines the effect of the adoption of IFRS on aspects of the company's financial statements, in particular, the adoption of the IFRS relating to post employment benefits and its effects on debt/equity ratios.

This study compared the reporting practices of a number of Australian and UK companies and found that for most companies there was a substantial increase in liabilities, a decrease in shareholders' equity and a corresponding increase in debt/equity ratios after the IFRS were adopted.

An experimental examination of colonization as a generator of biotic nestedness

Species assemblages of systems of islands and other fragmented habitats frequently show a "nested-subset" structure in which the biotas of sites with low species richness are non-random subsets of the biotas of richer sites. Much literature suggests that extinction is more likely to produce strongly nested patterns than colonization, although very few experiments have been conducted on the generation of nested-subset patterns. Here, we describe an experiment on nestedness of benthic invertebrates occupying rocks in the littoral zone of a lake in western Victoria, Australia. Data collected from previous work indicated that the invertebrate biotas of rocks were nested. We used initially defaunated, different-sized habitat patches (half house-bricks, full house-bricks, double house-bricks) and followed the time-course of occupation to assess whether nested-subset patterns would emerge, and whether extinction or colonization best accounted for the patterns. We predicted that nestedness would increase through time up to the end of the experiment. This was found to be the case with colonization dominating the establishment of a strongly nested system; extinction appeared to be of relatively little importance over the duration of the experiment. These results suggest that at least in some circumstances, differential colonization may be influential in producing nested-subset patterns but experiments conducted over longer times may be needed to more completely understand the respective roles of extinction and colonization in generating nested-subset patterns in this system.

Towards a new policy environment for indigenous people, culture and knowledge in Australian higher education: an examination of issues and possibilities for institutional and government policy

The purpose of this discussion paper is to stimulate an examination of critical issues in Indigenous higher education and encourage new possibilities to be explored. It invites a wide sharing of views. The paper
does not attempt to trace the full history of the policies for Indigenous higher education and the successes and failures. The focus instead is on the major contemporary issues and the key questions that might be considered by the conference participants.

An examination of the effect on debt/equity ratios with the adoption of IAS 19 : employee benefits

A number of countries have adopted the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as a means of harmonising financial statements. .This paper examines the effect of the adoption of IFRS, relating to post employment benefits and its effects on debt/equity ratios. The adoption of the IFRS resulted in most companies reporting a substantial increase in liabilities, a
decrease in shareholders’ equity and a corresponding increase
in debt/equity ratios.

An examination of the organisational commitment of financial planners

This paper sets out to determine whether the demographic variables of age, gender, length of service can be shown to be related to the organisational commitment (OC) of financial planners in Australia. The financial planners were surveyed using an instrument derived from established questionnaires. It was mailed nationally to 312 financial planners. A response rate of 36% was achieved, equating to 113 useable responses. The analyses revealed statistically significant results at the 95% confidence level (p=0.05), that female respondents demonstrated a statistically significant higher level of OC than did their male counterparts.Such findings contribute to our understanding of the organisational commitment of Financial Planners, and have implications for employers in terms of hiring and retention of employees. The analyses are also important from a public policy perspective in an era of increasing attention given to, and likely increased regulation of, the financial planning industry.