Dance classes, youth cultures and public health

This article explores the social aspects of young people's participation in dance classes and its potential to lead to new directions in public health initiatives in Australia. The health benefits of dancing are promoted significantly less than other sports in spite of its popularity among young people. Dance classes, unlike the apparent abandonment of raving, present a specific, structured and codified dance style. Thus, it entail both self- and other-oriented subjectivity.

Cyborgs and Barbie dolls : feminism, popular culture and the posthuman body

Bringing a lively and accessible style to a complex subject, "Cyborgs and Barbie Dolls" explores the idea of the 'posthuman' and the ways in which it is represented in popular culture. Toffoletti explores images of the posthuman body from goth-rocker Marilyn Manson's digitally manipulated self-portraits to the famous TDK 'baby' adverts, and from the work of artist Patricia Piccinini to the curiously 'plastic' form of the ubiquitous Barbie doll, controversially rescued here from her negative image. Drawing on the work of thinkers including Baudrillard, Donna Haraway and Rosi Braidotti, "Cyborgs and Barbie Dolls" explores the nature of the human - and its ambiguous gender - in an age of biotechnologies and digital worlds.

What determines Australia's response to emergency and natural disasters

This article examines the determinants of Australia's response to emergencies and natural disasters. It examines the response from the Australian public by examining contributions made to the appeals of the country's largest Non-Governmental Organisation: World Vision of Australia. It also examines the response of the Australian Government. The data include 43 emergencies and natural disasters since 1998. Results suggest that the responses from both the public and government are positively associated with the number of people affected, media coverage, and the level of political and civil freedom in the country where the event occurred. The type and location of the emergency or disaster are important for the public's response. Differences between public and government donations exist: support from the Australian Government is positively associated with smaller countries and there is some evidence that the public donates more to events occurring in larger and poorer countries.

Making long-term economic growth more sustainable: evaluating the costs and benefits

Currently, traditional development issues such as economic stagnation, poverty, hunger, and illness as well as newer challenges like environmental degradation and globalisation demand attention. Sustainable development, including its economic, environmental and social elements, is a key goal of decisionmakers. Optimal economic growth has also been a crucial goal of both development theorists and practitioners. This paper examines the conditions under which optimal growth might be sustainable, by assessing the costs and benefits of growth. Key environmental and social aspects are considered. The Ecol-Opt-Growth-1 model analyses economic–ecological interactions, including resource depletion, pollution, irreversibility, other environmental effects, and uncertainty. It addresses some important issues, including savings, investment, technical progress, substitutability of productive factors, intergenerational efficiency, equity, and policies to make economic growth more sustainable—a basic element of the sustainomics framework. The empirical results support growing concerns that costs of growth may outweigh its benefits, resulting in unsustainability. Basically, in a wide range of circumstances, long term economic growth is unsustainable due to increasing environmental damage. Nevertheless, the model has many options that can be explored by policy makers, to make the development path more sustainable, as advocated by sustainomics. One example suggests that government supported abatement programs are needed to move towards sustainable development, since the model runs without abatement were infeasible. The optimal rate of abatement increases over time. Abatement of pollution is necessary to improve ecosystem viability and increase sustainability. Further research is necessary to seek conditions under which alternative economic growth paths are likely to become sustainable.

Using job strain and psychological contract theories to predict employee wellbeing in a reformed public sector agency

This study investigates the Issues that contribute to employee wellbeing in a public sector agency having undergone substantial reform The research is based on a model that is initially demand-oriented, and is expanded to incorporate psychological contract breach and organisational justice. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted on the 1,010 completed surveys The results confirm the value of the Job strain model (JSM) and that the inclusion of breach and fairness were worthwhile extensions of the JSM Future research may wish to extend this approach and incorporate more of the social aspects of the work situation m studies of employee wellbeing.

Sociocultural research on mathematics education : an international perspective

This volume--the first to bring together research on sociocultural aspects of mathematics education--presents contemporary and international perspectives on social justice and equity issues that impact mathematics education. In particular, it highlights the importance of three interacting and powerful factors--gender, social, and cultural dimensions. Sociocultural Research on Mathematics Education: An International Perspective is distinguished in several ways:

* It is research based. Chapters report on significant research projects; present a comprehensive and critical summary of the research findings; and offer a critical discussion of research methods and theoretical perspectives undertaken in the area.
* It is future oriented, presenting recommendations for practice and policy and identifying areas for further research.
* It deals with all aspects of formal and informal mathematics education and applications and all levels of formal schooling.

As the context of mathematics education rapidly changes-- with an increased demand for mathematically literate citizenship; an increased awareness of issues of equity, inclusivity, and accountability; and increased efforts for globalization of curriculum development and research-- questions are being raised more than ever before about the problems of teaching and learning mathematics from a non-cognitive science perspective. This book contributes significantly to addressing such issues and answering such questions. It is especially relevant for researchers, graduate students, and policymakers in the field of mathematics education.

Healthy parks, healthy people : the health benefits of contact with nature in a park context : a review of current literature

This review identifies significant research that has not previously been compiled. It will provide key information for decision making by park managers, forming the basis of a program of future research to overcome the limited knowledge in this area. It is part of stage two of this project, funded by the International Park Strategic Partners Group. It builds on an earlier review (completed early in 2002 with funding provided by Parks Victoria) by addressing the health and wellbeing benefits of contact with nature in a parks context, at an individual and community level.

Healthy parks healthy people : annotated bibliography

This annotated bibliography is part of a joint initiative between Parks Victoria, the International Park Strategic Partners Group, and Deakin University. All organisations recognise the significance of the health and wellbeing benefits from interacting with nature in park settings, the implications for public health, and the lack of collated information on this topic. This document brings together significant research on the health benefits of interacting with nature, not previously compiled, to provide park managers with key references to guide decision-making, and future park planning. Criteria for inclusion included significance of the work, and relevance to either the health benefits of contact with nature or implications for park management and planning. Funding was provided by the International Park Strategic Partners Group.

Emotions in organizational behavior

"Emotions in Organizational Behavior is an edited volume and the first of its kind to incorporate organizational behavior and bounded emotionality. The volume looks at the range of research on emotions within an organizational behavior framework, organized in terms of the individual, interpersonal, and organizational levels. This research was presented at the bi-annual International Conference on Emotions and Organizational Life held in London, England. Particular emphasis has been placed on obtaining the leading research in the international sphere. This book is intended to be useful to the student of organizational behavior, as well as the managers of organizations."