Seeking the views of health professionals on translating chronic disease self-management models into practice

Abstract
Few studies have investigated the views of health professionals with respect to their use of chronic disease self-management (CDSM) in the workplace.
Objective
This qualitative study, conducted in an Australian health care setting, examined health professional's formal self-management (SM) training and their views and experiences on the use of SM techniques when working with people living with a chronic illness.
Methods
Purposive sample of 31 health care professionals from a range of service types participated in semi-structured interviews.
Results
The majority of participants (65%) had received no formal training in SM techniques. Participants reported a preference for an eclectic approach to SM, relying primarily on five elements: collaborative care, self-responsibility, client's individual situation, structured support and linking with community agencies. Problems with CDSM centred on medication management, complex measuring devices and limited efficacy with some patient groups.
Conclusion
This study provides valuable information with respect to the use of CDSM within the workplace from the unique perspective of a range of healthcare providers within an Australian health care setting.
Practice implications
Training implications, with respect to CDSM and patient care, are discussed, together with how these findings contribute to the debate concerning how SM principles are translated into healthcare settings.

A critical review of multi-criteria decision making methods with special reference to forest management and planning

This paper provides a review of research contributions on forest management and planning using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) based on an exhaustive literature survey. The review primarily focuses on the application aspects  highlighting theoretical underpinnings and controversies. It also examines the nature of the problems addressed and incorporation of risk into forest  management and planning decision making. The MCDM techniques covered in this review belong to several schools of thought. For each technique, a variety of empirical applications including recent studies has been reviewed. More than 60 individual studies were reviewed and classified by the method used, country of origin, number and type of criteria and options evaluated. The review serves as a guide to those interested in how to use a particular MCDM approach. Based on the review, some recent trends and future research directions are also highlighted.

Design and delivery of undergraduate IT security management course

Information technology has become the core tool of business organisations’. External and internal threats as well as legal, regulatory and contractual compliance requirements are all combining to make effective information security a key information technology management challenges. This paper describes an undergraduate information technology security management course that provides comprehensive knowledge and skills necessary to manage both strategic and operational aspects of information security. The course covers a broad range of managerial topics in information technology security and makes use of a number of security tools and techniques to complement the theory taught. In this paper, we describe our approach, our experiences and lessons learned for teaching information technology security management course. The paper details the content of the course and outlines how it is taught and assessed.

Wireless sensor networks for in-situ image validation for water and nutrient management

Water and Nitrogen (N) are critical inputs for crop production. Remote sensing data collected from multiple scales, including ground-based, aerial, and satellite, can be used for the formulation of an efficient and cost effective algorithm for the detection of N and water stress. Formulation and validation of such techniques require continuous acquisition of ground based spectral data over the canopy enabling field measurements to coincide exactly with aerial and satellite observations. In this context, a wireless sensor in situ network was developed and this paper describes the results of the first phase of the experiment along with the details of sensor development and instrumentation set up. The sensor network was established based on different spatial sampling strategies and each sensor collected spectral data in seven narrow wavebands (470, 550, 670, 700, 720, 750, 790 nm) critical for monitoring crop growth. Spectral measurements recorded at required intervals (up to 30 seconds) were relayed through a multi-hop wireless network to a base computer at the field site. These data were then accessed by the remote sensing centre computing system through broad band internet. Comparison of the data from the WSN and an industry standard ground based hyperspectral radiometer indicated that there were no significant differences in the spectral measurements for all the wavebands except for 790nm. Combining sensor and wireless technologies provides a robust means of aerial and satellite data calibration and an enhanced understanding of issues of variations in the scale for the effective water and nutrient management in wheat.

Enhancing the dietary management of general practice patients through collaborative care: perspectives of general practitioners and dietitians

Aim:  To describe how general practitioners and dietitians view their role in the dietary management of cardiac patients and to provide insights on how to facilitate collaborative care.
Methods:  Two studies were conducted in Victoria (Australia) 2005–2006. Study One: semi-structured interviews with general practitioners. Study Two: cross-sectional quantitative surveys of general practitioners and dietitians. Study One: texts were analysed using the grounded theory approach. Study Two: frequency analysis was conducted and chi-squared test for independence was used to explore the impact of age, sex and consultation time on the role and reporting scales.
Results:  Study One: Themes arising from the interviews with 30 general practitioners showed their involvement in dietary management fell into three broad roles: ‘Influencing’, ‘Coordinator’ of referrals and dietary ‘Educator’. They described dietetic education as a process that included dietary assessment, education, application of behavioural change techniques and reporting back to general practitioners. Study Two: Respondents were 248 general practitioners (30% response) and 180 dietitians (60% response). General practitioners' counselling consisted mostly of advocating for dietary change, coordinating dietetic referrals and reinforcing dietitians' recommendations. General practitioners considered dietary education as the role of dietitians. Dietitians reported a much broader role in the management of patients with some overlap with general practitioners' roles.
Conclusions:   The findings indicate the need: (i) for more structured reporting to ensure general practitioners receive appropriate information to enable them to reinforce dietetic counselling and recommendations; and (ii) to streamline the communication process in order to expedite dietitians' reports to general practitioners.

Comparison of automated classification techniques for predicting benthic biological communities using hydroacoustics and video observations

The effective management of our marine ecosystems requires the capability to identify, characterise and predict the distribution of benthic biological communities within the overall seascape architecture. The rapid expansion of seabed mapping studies has seen an increase in the application of automated classification techniques to efficiently map benthic habitats, and the need of techniques to assess confidence of model outputs. We use towed video observations and 11 seafloor complexity variables derived from multibeam echosounder (MBES) bathymetry and backscatter to predict the distribution of 8 dominant benthic biological communities in a 54 km² site, off the central coast of Victoria, Australia. The same training and evaluation datasets were used to compare the accuracies of a Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC) and two new generation decision tree methods, QUEST (Quick Unbiased Efficient Statistical Tree) and CRUISE (Classification Rule with Unbiased Interaction Selection and Estimation), for predicting dominant biological communities. The QUEST classifier produced significantly better results than CRUISE and MLC model runs, with an overall accuracy of 80% (Kappa 0.75). We found that the level of accuracy with the size of training set varies for different algorithms. The QUEST results generally increased in a linear fashion, CRUISE performed well with smaller training data sets, and MLC performed least favourably overall, generating anomalous results with changes to training size. We also demonstrate how predicted habitat maps can provide insights into habitat spatial complexity on the continental shelf. Significant variation between patch-size and habitat types and significant correlations between patch size and depth were also observed.

A critical analysis of techniques for risk mitigation in the construction industry

Risks exist in every form of construction project. The risks associated with construction projects are often diverse and varied and the management of these risks is nowadays considered compulsory in order to achieve project success. This paper analyses the diverse strategies of risk mitigation that have been employed in construction projects. These strategies are classified into analysed categories of procurement strategies. contingency and co-operative approach along with the utilisation of a designated risk manager. The analysis showed that in order to improve risk mitigation within the construction industry, there is a requirement tor an industry based standard. This standard will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the risk mitigation response technique to risk management.

Australian universities, government research and the application of climate change knowledge in Australian coastal zone management

One of the key issues in Australia for sustainable management of the coastal zone is that the science of climate change has not been widely used by decision-makers to inform coastal governance. There exist opportunities to enhance the dialogue between knowledge-makers and decision-makers, and universities have a key role to play in researching and fostering better linkages. At the heart of these linkages lies the principle of more informed engagement between historically disparate groups. In Australia, the new ‘Flagship’ research programme, funded by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), emphasizes their partnering with universities in a more systematic and collaborative manner than previously achieved in such research projects. In order to address sustainability in general and coastal adaptation to climate change in particular, interdisciplinary learning needs to occur between the social and natural sciences; also, transdisciplinary understanding of that interaction needs to be fully developed. New methods of communicative engagement such as computer visualizations and animations, together with deliberative techniques, can help policy-makers and planners reach a better understanding of the significance of the science of climate change impacts on the coast. Deeper engagement across historically disparate groups can lead to the development of epistemological and methodological synergies between social and natural scientists, adaptive learning, reflexive governance, and greater analytical and deliberative understanding among scientists, policymakers and the wider public. This understanding can lead in turn to enhance coastal governance for climate adaptation on the coast.

The role of motivation in change management : an exploration of the not-for-profit context

While previous studies have highlighted the importance of knowledge enhancement in the social change process the motivation of key stakeholders has also been identified as playing a pivotal role. To gain a deeper understanding of this process a conceptual model, was operationalised to explore the mechanism where by knowledge enhancement might lead to behavioural change. In this paper we discuss the application of the social marketing framework MOA (motivation, opportunity and ability) with a particular focus on the motivation component of the model. Motivation is considered from the perspectives of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Although the degree or level of motivation has previously been used in the operationalisation of the construct for motivation, a deeper understanding of this construct is developed for an environmental program as an increasing number of environmental programs claim to have adopted a social marketing approach. The key objectives which are explored in this paper involve the development of MOA constructs, with a particular focus on Motivation, including Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation. An understanding of the factors that increase the likelihood of ineffective behaviour and the development of a model to understand the behaviour change process. Scales were developed to investigate the relationship between the MOA constructs, including intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and the respondents control behaviour. Data were collected from a random sample of 566 respondents who were involved in a environmental land management program. Using ANOVA and MANOVA techniques, significant differences were found between compliant and non compliant stakeholders with regard to all MOA constructs. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of this study with particular reference to environmental programs have adopted the social marketing approach.

Environmental sustainability change management in SMEs : learning from sustainability champions

This study identifies the change management processes involved in undertaking environmental sustainability (ES) initiatives within Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) and relate these to the main attributes of learning organisations. Using case study techniques, the study draws from the change management experiences of a sample of 12 ES champions in different industries. The findings suggest that the ES champions experience four distinct change management stages in undertaking ES initiatives; namely the design, internalise, implement and evaluate stages. Each stage is also found to relate strongly with a number of key characteristics of learning organisations. Overall, the findings suggest that SMEs with strong learning organisation attributes are more likely to be successful in implementing and managing ES change initiatives. The implications of the findings are also discussed.

Data mining techniques for the assessment of factors contributing to the damage of residential houses in Australia

This paper reports on the preparation and management processes of inconsistent data on damage on residential houses in Victoria, Australia. There are no existing specific and fully relevant databases readily available except for the incomplete paper-based and electronic-based reports. Therefore, the extracting of information from the reports is complicated and time consuming in order to extract and include all the necessary information needed for analysis of damage on residential houses founded on expansive soils. Data mining is adopted to develop a database. Statistical methods and Artificial Intelligence methods are used to quantify the quality of data. The paper concludes that the development of such database could enable BHC to evaluate the usefulness of the reports prepared on the reported damage properties for further analysis.

The 1947 bank nationalisation scheme : a prehistory of issues management?

Industry-wide crises emanating from legislative proposals are rare in Australia, and can be classed as once in a generation events, and so merit consideration and research. Currently, there is one such debate over the Mineral Resources Rent Tax, proposed by Prime Minister’s Julia Gillard’s government. Prior to this, the closest comparable event was the 1974 proposal for the establishment of a universal health insurance scheme. The 1947 proposal, by the Ben Chifley-led Labor Government, aimed to nationalise Australia’s banks, and it brought a crisis of massive proportions to Australia’s conservative financial service industry. Although the High Court of Australia finally found Chifley’s proposed legislation unconstitutional, the banks realised they must win in the court of public opinion, generate press coverage in favour of their position, and help defeat the Labor Government at the 1949 election. At the time, and for some decades to come, this was the most expensive and largest public relations campaign waged in Australia. After such a campaign there could be few Australians who could claim that they had not been exposed to the powers of public relations in a modern world. This paper looks at what can be learned from the banks’ collective response to the proposed nationalisation. It does so by applying contemporary issues management evaluation techniques.

Adaptive cruise control look-ahead system for energy management of vehicles

Cruise control in motor vehicles enhances safe and efficient driving by maintaining a constant speed at a preset level. Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) is the latest development in cruise control. It controls engine throttle position and braking to maintain a safe distance behind a vehicle in front by responding to the speed of this vehicle, thus providing a safer and more relaxing driving environment. ACC can be further developed by including the look-ahead method of predicting environmental factors such as wind speed and road slope. The conventional analytical control methods for adaptive cruise control can generate good results; however they are difficult to design and computationally expensive. In order to achieve a robust, less computationally expensive, and at the same time more natural human-like speed control, intelligent control techniques can be used. This paper presents an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) based on ACC systems that reduces the energy consumption of the vehicle and improves its efficiency. The Adaptive Cruise Control Look-Ahead (ACC-LA) system works as follows: It calculates the energy consumption of the vehicle under combined dynamic loads like wind drag, slope, kinetic energy and rolling friction using road data, and it includes a look-ahead strategy to predict the future road slope. The cruise control system adaptively controls the vehicle speed based on the preset speed and the predicted future slope information. By using the ANFIS method, the ACC-LA is made adaptive under different road conditions (slope angle and wind direction and speed). The vehicle was tested using the adaptive cruise control look-ahead energy management system, the results compared with the vehicle running the same test but without the adaptive cruise control look-ahead energy management system. The evaluation outcome indicates that the vehicle speed was efficiently controlled through the look-ahead methodology based upon the driving cycle, and that the average fuel consumption was reduced by 3%.

Major quantitative techniques for risk analysis in the construction industry : a comparative analysis

Risk analysis is one of the critical functions of the risk management process. It relies on a detailed understanding of risks and their possible implications. Construction projects, because of their large and complex nature, are plagued by a variety of risks which must be considered and responded to in order to ensure project success. This study conducts an extensive comparative analysis of major quantitative risk analysis techniques in the construction industry. The techniques discussed and comparatively analyzed in this report include: Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), Judgmental Risk Analysis Process (JRAP), Estimating Using Risk Analysis (ERA), Monte Carlo Simulation technique, Computer Aided Simulation for Project Appraisal and Review (CASPAR), Failure Modes and Effects Analysis technique (FMEA) and Advanced Programmatic Risk Analysis and Management model (APRAM). The findings highlight the fact that each risk analysis technique addresses risks in any or all of the following areas – schedule risks, budget risks or technical risks. Through comparative analysis, it has been revealed that a majority of risk analysis techniques focus on schedule or budget risks. Very little has been documented in terms of technical risk analysis techniques. In an era where clients are demanding and expecting higher quality projects and finishes, project managers must endeavor to invest time and resources to ensure that the few existing technical risk analysis techniques are developed and further refined, and that new technical risk analysis techniques are developed to suit the current construction industries requirements.

Hierarchical summarization techniques for network traffic

In today’s high speed networks it is becoming increasingly challenging for network managers to understand the nature of the traffic that is carried in their network. A major problem for traffic analysis in this context is how to extract a concise yet accurate summary of the relevant aggregate traffic flows that are present in network traces. In this paper, we present two summarization techniques to minimize the size of the traffic flow report that is generated by a hierarchical cluster analysis tool. By analyzing the accuracy and compaction gain of our approach on a standard benchmark dataset, we demonstrate that our approach achieves more accurate summaries than those of an existing tool that is based on frequent itemset mining.