Process and impact evaluation of the romp & chomp obesity prevention intervention in early childhood settings : lessons learned from implementation in preschools and long day care settings

Background: The Romp & Chomp controlled trial, which aimed to prevent obesity in preschool Australian children, was recently found to reduce the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity and improve children’s dietary patterns. The intervention focused on capacity building and policy implementation within various early childhood settings. This paper reports on the process and impact evaluation of this trial and the lessons learned from this complex community intervention.
Methods: Process data was collected throughout and audits capturing nutrition and physical activity-related environments and practices were completed postintervention by directors of Long Day Care (LDC) centers (n = 10) and preschools (n = 41) in intervention and comparison (n = 161 LDC and n = 347 preschool) groups.
Results: The environmental audits demonstrated positive impacts in both settings on policy, nutrition, physical activity opportunities, and staff capacity and practices, although results varied across settings and were more substantial in the preschool settings. Important lessons were learned in relation to implementation of such community-based interventions, including the significant barriers to implementing health-promotion interventions in early childhood settings, lack of engagement of for-profit LDC centers in the evaluation, and an inability to attribute direct intervention impacts when the intervention components were delivered as part of a health-promotion package integrated with other programs.
Conclusions: These results provide confidence that obesity prevention interventions in children’s settings can be effective; however, significant efforts must be directed toward developing context-specific strategies that invest in policies, capacity building, staff support, and parent engagement. Recognition by funders and reviewers of the difficulties involved in implementing and evaluating such complex interventions is also critical to strengthening the evidence base on the effectiveness of such public health approaches to obesity prevention.

Promise more, leave less

Following Kim and Ritter (1999) who find that earnings forecasts provide more accurate valuations of IPOs, this paper analyses whether the owners of companies seeking to list will leave less money on the table if positive dividend per share (DPS) yield forecasts are made in the prospectus. Our findings indicate that DPS yield forecasts by directors of Industrial company IPOs have been an important ingredient in the amount of money left on the table. A similar result is found for Limited Liability IPOs and those that do not offer options to subscribers to buy more shares. The offer of an operational dividend reinvestment plan in the prospectus does not appear significant in reducing the amount of money left on the table.

Do outsider-dominated boards and large board sizes curtail firm enterprise activities?

Recent literature recognizes the need for corporate governance to encompass mechanisms for motivating managerial behaviour towards enhancing enterprise activities or increasing wealth of the firm. Agency theory and current regulatory activity advocate increasingly greater roles for outsiders on the board of directors of publicly-traded firms. The literature also put forward that board size affect firm activities independent of other board attributes. Lipton and Lorsch (1992) also propose limiting board sizes to enhance communication and coordination on the board of directors as well as increase the ability of the board of directors to control top management of firms. This suggests that there are biases as board size grows. This paper, therefore, studies the implications of outsider-dominated board of directors and board size on firm enterprise activities. The paper finds that outsider dominated board of directors have a negative impact on firm enterprise activities. Board size was found to have a positive effect on firm enterprise activities.

Perioperative managers: role stressors and strategies for coping

This qualitative study explored the role stressors experienced by perioperative nurse managers, and identified resources and strategies they used in order to cope with the multiple demands upon their role. Grounded Theory methodology was used to inform the inquiry through interviews with the participants and thematic analysis of the data. The perioperative nurse managers who participated in the study indicated that the major stressors they experienced were related to managing their staff. Stress was reduced through the use of hospital resources and peer support, referring to post management education and information obtained from attending conferences. In addition, they used team building strategies, balanced priorities and engaged in social activities. These findings will assist directors of nursing and other nursing leaders in formulating the direction of appropriate support and structure for the development perioperative nurse managers.

Intelligent financial news digest system

We present an agent-based system Intelligent Financial News Digest System (IFNDS) for analyzing online financial news articles and associated material. The system can abstract, synthesize, digest, and classify the contents, and assesses whether the report is favorable to any company discussed in the reports. It integrates artificial intelligence technologies including traditional information retrieval and extraction techniques for the news analysis. It makes use of keyword statistics and backpropagation training data to identify companies named in reportage whether it is, evaluatively speaking, positive, negative or neutral. The system would be of use to media such as clipping services, media management, advertising, public relations, public interest, and e-commerce professionals and government non-governmental bodies interested in monitoring the media profiles of corporations, products, and issues.

Guidelines for best practice in doctoral education

In recent years the Australian Council of Deans and Directors of Graduate Studies has become increasingly concerned about the quality and standards of doctorates, that is, PhDs, professional and other doctorates. It has become clear that PhD programs are not always of sufficient quality and that some PhD students do not receive a quality doctoral experience and outcome. Similarly, the Council has been concerned about the quality of some Australian professional and other doctorates. As a result of these concerns, the Council established a working party to prepare a set of guidelines for best practice in Australian doctoral programs. The draft guidelines are consistent with the Australian Qualifications Framework and were reviewed and refined at the last Council meeting in May, 2003. In this presentation, an overview of the guidelines is offered for further discussion and advice to the Council.

Good governance - not just for the big boys governance in organizations in New Zealand

Good governance is recognized as a fundamental indicator of the success of a company. For a small- midsized company, this is particularly so, as such companies must be able to competitively demonstrate their flexibility in the face of market forces. This flexibility is the primary advantage they hold over larger firms (Dalton, Daily, Ellstrand and Johnson, 1998). Such companies, however, can find it difficult to attract good directors (Daum and Neff, 2003) and this makes developing improved strategies of governance a challenge. Taylor, Chait and Holland suggest top directors are not attracted to small/ medium companies because “the stakes remain low, the meetings process-driven, the outcomes ambiguous, and the deliberations insular” (Taylor, Chait and Holland, 2001). We suggest that the attraction of quality directors is a uniquely impacting situation for small and mid-size firms, as it is there where additional management resources should be needed most urgently. Directors on the boards of small-medium sized businesses are often lagging behind directors of large companies in that they are less likely to be independent external directors and are less likely to represent a diversity of attributes (Dalton, Daily, Ellstrand and Johnson, 1998). Arthur Levitt, former United States Securities and Exchange Commission Chair, describes the culture of medium sized business directorships as a “kind of a fraternity of CEOs who serve on one another's boards” (Stainburn, 2005). In addition, evidence suggests directors of small- medium businesses are often insufficiently trained for the role. Uncertain directors may, for example, be unwilling to ask crucial questions of managers before making major decisions. “Board members sometimes are made to feel that asking a thorny question or advancing an alternative opinion is disloyal to the administration” (Taylor, Chait and Holland, 2001). Small and medium businesses, however, are a growing contributor to the national economies of countries internationally. In New Zealand, small and medium-size firms recording large GDP values, ahead of many large businesses, which makes our investigation into good governance practices of SMEs relevant to suggest areas in which these firms can improve their governance policies and practices. We have reviewed more than 2,000 directors, executives and investors in New Zealand, making this one of the largest non-government surveys in governance. Supported by 16 large corporate organizations, such as KPMG, Business New Zealand, Simpson Grierson, Brook Asset Management, Porter Novelli, Sheffield and ‘Management’ Magazine, this work suggests that the current processes through which directors are selected and trained to serve on Boards of small and medium businesses needs to be altered. We are also concerned over the lack of director education and the close involvement of the Chief Executives as members of the Boards. There is a general concern over the lack of director independence and whether directors are effective in their roles. We are recommending an alternative process for SMEs to select directors, which will hopefully expand the available pool of directors in quantity and quality.

Back to basics : breakthrough proposals for the Australian environment

In this book Dr Geoff Wescott proposes a new approach to environmental decision making. He suggests we move forward from relying solely on individual virtuous action to improve our environment. He argues that the time has come to get ʻback to basicsʼ: for governments to be decisive and courageous and make positive environmental decisions in the interests of their current and future constituents rather than continue to be locked into short term decision making at the beck and call of corporations and large political donors.

Segment reporting and corporate takeovers : user needs

The nature of a corporate takeover often leads to the contraction in the number of companies operating in a given industry classification, along with the contraction in the amount of formal financial statements produced by the companies in that industry. Since 1985 Australian diversified companies are required to break their operations down into industry and geographical segments, so it would be expected that companies which diversify their operations through a corporate takeover would be forerunners in the adoption of this relatively new accounting standard on segment reporting. While previous studies have both declared the benefits of segment reporting to report users, and exposed some preconceived problems of its application in practice, there has not been any work on the 'usefulness1 of segment reporting as a form of reporting that will compensate shareholder users for the information loss suffered during a corporate takeover. This study endeavours to determine this, by questioning shareholders of companies that have been involved in takeovers in a period subsequent to the application date of the segment reporting standard, and obtaining their views on the usefulness of the post-takeover segment reports produced by their companies. A link is discovered to exist between shareholder dissatisfaction with segment reporting and the non-practice of creating a new segment in the post-takeover annual report for the target acquired. The underlying assumption that the practice of new segment creation after a takeover is influenced by the type of takeover undertaken is supported by the study. Regardless of whether or not a company is diversified before the takeover, the findings show that a corporate acquirer in a takeover is less likely to create a new industry or geographical segment for the target acquired if they are involved in horizontal or vertical takeovers than if they are involved in diversified takeovers. In these situations, segment reporting is found to not compensate shareholders for the loss of information incurred by them in these types of takeovers.

The transnational corporation and new corporate citizenship theory : a critical analysis

A recent conceptualisation of corporate citizenship by Matten and Crane (2005) shifts focus onto the corporation's role in providing individuals with the rights they are entitled to as citizens. This expanded corporate role is depicted as filling an institutional vacuum resulting from the withdrawal of the state. Marking an innovation to the corporate citizenship literature, we devise a three-part analytical framework from political institutionalism to question the concept's ideological and empirical groundings. Incorporating a constrained game theory perspective, we use an example of the provision of Western corporate services by low-labour-cost nation-states to argue that the concept as strategy would in some circumstances exacerbate the implications of globalisation on individual citizenship rights. The analytical framework has application for research directed toward proposals to extend the reach of corporations in traditional public services and, more generally, for studies of corporate responsibilities. Future research on corporate citizenship would be strengthened in recognising, as we do, institutional incentives, constraints, decision-making modes and resources as used by the transnational corporation.

Changing perspectives : teaching and learning centres’ strategic contributions to academic development in Australian higher education

This article reports on a study of Australian teaching and learning centres to identify factors that contribute to their effective strategic leadership. These centres remain in a state of flux, with seemingly endless reconfiguration. The drivers for such change appear to lie in decision makers’ search for their centres to add more strategic value to organisational teaching, learning and the student experience. Through a synthesis of findings based on interviews, a survey of directors of centres and focus groups, the article identifies paradigmatic shifts in the ways centres see themselves, relate to their organisations and respond to external environmental forces. From an understanding of paradigm shifts, strategic contributions to academic development in the sector are framed organisationally through key points of leverage. Points of leverage are manageable actions that can be taken to maximise overall institutional impact and effectiveness.

Teaching the teachers Aboriginal studies : illuminating successful strategies

The study was commissioned by the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) under its Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Programme (IESIP). The project goals were supported by the New South Wales Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Inc.; New South Wales Teachers Federation, New South Wales Primary Principals' Association; New South Wales Department of Education and Training (NSW DET); the national Aboriginal Studies Association; and the Australian Council of Deans of Education. This paper reports on the qualitative component of the study (Craven, Halse, Marsh, Mooney & Wilson-Miller, in press a, in press b). The qualitative component of the project consists of in-depth interviews with Heads of Schools, Directors of Aboriginal Education Units and teacher educators and includes three Case Studies. Fifteen institutions in Australia offer Aboriginal Studies as a core, perspective or elective program in Primary Teacher Education Courses in Australia. Of these institutions seven institutions from four States responded to the invitation to participate in the study. From these institutions three were engage to submit a case study of their institution as they had demonstrated that they had successfully introduced core Aboriginal Studies teacher units in their course. This paper presents the findings and discusses teaching Aboriginal Studies, its inclusion in curriculum and its worth for fostering reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians within universities, schools and the wider community.

Miscommunication in Australia-China relations: the Stern Hu Affair

This paper explores communication and miscommunication in international business relations by studying the case of former RIO Tinto executive Stern Hu who was prosecuted for stealing trade secrets and taking bribes in kickbacks from Chinese steel firms. Using newspaper articles about the case that were published in Australia, China and other countries via Internet in either Chinese or English from July 2009 to April 2010, a series of differences in the way the Chinese and Australian protagonists were framed both in terms of relevant facts and value judgments. Apart from various obvious stereotypes, more subtle differences in the perspectives of the two nations emerge in my reading of their presses regarding the nature of trust, the role of corporations, government and how morality and business intermesh in two culturally distinct systems. Using this case, this paper illustrates the nature and types of misunderstandings that emerge over time and across locations within each cultural setting.

"Sexually transmitted debts":the scope of defences to directors' liability for insolvent trading

The recent demise of prominent Australian corporations, such as GIO Australia Holdings Ltd, One.Tel Ltd, HIH Insurance Ltd and Ansett Australia Ltd, have highlighted the relevance of, inter alia, the Australian insolvent trading provisions embodied in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (formerly Corporations Law). What may not be appreciated, however, is that insolvent trading is not only concerned with large public companies. Many of the insolvent trading cases that come before the courts involve small proprietary companies. Moreover, in many cases these are small “family” companies where there may only be one active director. This gives rise to a difficult issue as to the appropriateness of imposing liability for insolvent trading on a spouse who is, factually, merely a dormant director. This article explores the issue of spousal liability for insolvent trading, particularly focusing on the scope of the current defences to insolvent
trading under s 588H.

Related party transactions under Pt 2E of the corporations act: time for reconsideration

The related party provisions under Pt 2E of the Corporations Act 2001 were introduced in 1992 to protect the resources of companies and shareholder interests by requiring that directors disclose financial benefits given to 'related parties' -- those capable of exercising significant influence over the giving of such benefits. The contention of the authors in this article is that Pt 2E has been unsuccessful in achieving its intended purpose, and should be repealed in its entirety. The authors argue that the various provisions of Pt 2E are so confusing and convoluted that they potentially violate the rule of law virtue that laws must be promulgated in a manner that is clear, so that it is apparent from reading the laws what one must do. Further, [*2] the manner in which Pt 2E is presently drafted, especially the definition of related party, fails to reflect the purpose behind the provisions, making the overall operation of Pt 2E ineffective. It is also argued that Pt 2E is superfluous since the fiduciary duty of directors to disclose a conflict of interest, and to a lesser extent the requirement for disclosure of material personal interests under s 191 of the Corporations Act, adequately deal with the transactions presently attracting the attention of Pt 2E. In light of all this, it is contended that the law would be demonstrably improved by repealing Pt 2E.