Evidence-based development of school-based and family-involved prevention of overweight across Europe : the ENERGY-project's design and conceptual framework

Background
There is an urgent need for more carefully developed public health measures in order to curb the obesity epidemic among youth. The overall aim of the "EuropeaN Energy balance Research to prevent excessive weight Gain among Youth" (ENERGY)-project is the development and formative evaluation of a theory-informed and evidence-based multi-component school-based and family-involved intervention program ready to be implemented and evaluated for effectiveness across Europe. This program aims at promoting the adoption or continuation of health behaviors that contribute to a healthy energy balance among school-aged children. Earlier studies have indicated that school and family environments are key determinants of energy-balance behaviors in schoolchildren. Schools are an important setting for health promotion in this age group, but school-based interventions mostly fail to target and involve the family environment.

Methods
Led by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from eleven European countries and supported by a team of Australian experts, the ENERGY-project is informed by the Environmental Research Framework for Weight gain Prevention, and comprises a comprehensive epidemiological analysis including 1) systematic reviews of the literature, 2) secondary analyses of existing data, 3) focus group research, and 4) a cross European school-based survey.

Results and discussion
The theoretical framework and the epidemiological analysis will subsequently inform stepwise intervention development targeting the most relevant energy balance-related behaviors and their personal, family-environmental and school-environmental determinants applying the Intervention Mapping protocol. The intervention scheme will undergo formative and pilot evaluation in five countries. The results of ENERGY will be disseminated among key stakeholders including researchers, policy makers and the general population.

Conclusions
The ENERGY-project is an international, multidisciplinary effort to develop and test an evidence-based and theory-informed intervention program for obesity prevention among school-aged children.

Development of a supply chain management security risk management method : a conceptual model

This paper continues the prior research undertaken by Warren and Leitch (2009), in which a series of initial research findings were presented. These findings identified that in Australia, Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems were the weak link of Australian critical infrastructure. This paper focuses upon the security and risk issues associated with SCM systems and puts forward a new SCM Security Risk Management method, continuing the research presented at the European Conference of Information Warfare in 2009.This paper proposes a new Security Risk Analysis model that deals with the complexity of protecting SCM critical infrastructure systems and also introduces a new approach that organisations can apply to protect their SCM systems. The paper describes the importance of SCM systems from a critical infrastructure protection perspective. The paper then discusses the importance of SCM systems in relation to supporting centres of populations and gives examples of the impact of failure. The paper proposes a new SCM security risk analysis method that deals with the security issues related to SCM security and the security issues associated with Information Security. The paper will also discuss a risk framework that can be used to protect against high and low level associated security risks using a new SCM security risk analysis method.

Innovation in logistic services and the new business model : a conceptual framework

Service industries hold an increasingly dynamic and pivotal role in today’s knowledge-based economies. The logistics industry is a classic example of the birth and development of a vital new service-based industry, transformed from the business concept of transportation to that of serving the entire logistical needs of customers. Quantum advances in science, technology, and communication in the new millennium have compelled firms to consider the potential of the so-called new “resources” (technology, knowledge and relationship networks) that are essential if firms are to operate effectively within the emerging business model, and to utilise the opportunities to innovate and gain market leadership. Through an extensive literature review, this paper examines the factors that nurture innovation in logistics services, identifies the contributions of the new “resources” and, using industry examples, examines the application of these resources to logistics firms as they assume an extended role within the new business model

Environmental attitudes of pre-service teachers : a conceptual and methodological dilemma in cross-cultural data collection

Human generated environmental problems are significant issues of global concern. Despite this, varying attitudes towards environments continue to exist across the globe, impacting on environmental decision-making and action at local, national and international levels. This paper probes some of the similarities and differences in environmental attitudes amongst pre-service teachers in Australia, Republic of Maldives and Indonesia. Data were collected using an established environmental attitude questionnaire and individual interviews. The three communities exhibited a similar range of environmental attitudes using the established questionnaire but significant differences emerged when the interview data were analysed phenomenographically. These differences reflect diversity within and across cultural groups that cannot be satisfactorily explained by the theory underpinning the established questionnaire. Consequently, a revised conceptual framework is proposed.

A conceptual framework of corporate and business ethics across organizations

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to introduce and describe a conceptual framework of corporate and business ethics across organizations in terms of ethical structures, ethical processes and ethical performance.

Design/methodology/approach – A framework is outlined and positioned incorporating an ethical frame of reference in the field of organizational chain management.

Findings – A number of areas and sub-areas of corporate and business ethics are framed in the context across organizations.

Research limitations/implications – The introduced framework should be seen as a seed for further development and refinement. It provides opportunities for further research of ethical concerns across organizations.

Practical implications – Organizations may benefit from the findings and insights presented and they may be used to enhance their ability to manage, monitor and evaluate ethical business practices across organizations.

Social implications – Changing societal and market patterns may enforce organizations to address ethical concerns across organizations. A myopic approach restricted to the judicial system may become insufficient and unsatisfactory from the perspective of other stakeholders of the organization.

Originality/value – The framework makes a contribution bringing in ethical concerns across organizations, providing a basis for their ethical values and culture, as well as asymmetric relationships in terms of power and dependence. The authors believe that a true learning organization needs to realise the importance of an extended view of its endeavors of corporate and business ethics in terms of ethical structures, ethical processes and ethical performance across organizations.

Conceptual framework for earnings management and corporate governance research

This study investigates the theoretical framework for earnings management and corporate governance research along with a focused review of relevant previous research that has investigated the effects of a variety of corporate governance factors and earnings management. Research background has been categorised using Australian corporate governance principles and recommendations issued in August 2007.

A conceptual model of the strategic alliance process : from initiation to conclusion

The primary focus of this paper is to present a conceptual model of the strategic alliance process that delineates the stages of initiation, formation and sustained operation of strategic alliances. Based on a detailed review of the literature, the model takes a process perspective and explicitly focuses on the key factors that influence the outcomes and behaviour of an alliance during these stages. The model provides insights to both policy-makers and alliance managers on establishing and managing successful alliances. Based on different aspects of the model, the possible hypotheses have been developed related to the initiation, formation and operation of strategic alliances. The approaches that are currently under way to test these hypotheses are described and the possible practical implications of the findings that could emerge are also discussed.

A conceptual framework for the implementation of enterprise information portals in large organizations

Addressing the diversity in information requirements across the enterprise is a central challenge in enterprise content management. Enterprise information portals (EIPs) hold promise in this regard, offering each user a gateway to customized and personalized content. However, in large organizations EIP implementers face the complexity of tailoring portals for potentially thousands of users. A conceptual framework based on marketing fundamentals is developed to inform EIP implementation in this respect. It is argued that EIP implementers should view their user community as a number of distinct segments in order to address divergent needs more specifically (as opposed to a ‘one size fits all’ approach). For each identified segment, a ‘mix’ of content (product), distribution (place), promotion and price (cost) should be considered. The framework is applied to two cases of EIP implementation in large organizations. It is proposed that segmentation enables better planning of the overall EIP implementation effort. Considerations such as the number of user segments, customization, and personalization of content, and the funding of EIP development in large organizations are also discussed. The concepts elaborated here also hold theoretical relevance for other IS implementation contexts that involve very large usercommunities with diverse information

Proposal of a tiered conceptual framework for sustainable design and planning of large-scale development projects in the metropolitan context

The overwhelming threat posed by climate change means that increasingly, emphasis is being placed on the need to integrate sustainability considerations into all areas of policy making, planning and development. Actors in the built environment are progressively considering environmental and social issues alongside functional and economic aspects of development projects. However, to date in Australia and internationally, there have been few practical examples of integrated applications of sustainability principles in the built environment across design, planning, construction, operation and de-construction phases. Notable initiatives have tended to be narrow in scope, focusing on either mitigation or adaptation strategies. Integrated considerations of impacts from component and building scales to city and regional scales and across physical and socio-economic dimensions are urgently needed, particularly for long-life major infrastructure projects. This paper proposes a conceptual framework based on the principal that early intervention is the most cost-effective and efficient means of implementing effective strategies for mitigation and adaptation. A Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) approach is forwarded as an umbrella analytical framework, assembled from analytical methods which are strategically ‘tiered’ to inform different stages of the planning and decision-making process. Techniques such as Ecological footprint, Life cycle costing and Risk analysis may be applied to integrate sustainable design, construction and planning considerations which address both mitigation and adaptation dimensions, results of each analysis ultimately being collated into the overall SEA. This integrated conceptual framework for sustainable, resilient and cost-effective infrastructure development will in practice be applied to assess selected case-studies of major development projects in Australia, focusing on the area of stadium development. Practically applied and timed accordingly, the framework would allow assessments to be targeted towards appropriate decision making levels and enable better decision-making and more efficient resource allocation for major infrastructure development projects.

Social justice in Australian higher education policy : an historical and conceptual account of student participation

This article provides a synoptic account of historically changing conceptions and practices of social justice in Australian higher education policy. It maps the changes in this policy arena, beginning with the period following the Second World War and concluding with an analysis of the most recent policy proposals of the Bradley Review. Concurrently, it explores the different meanings ascribed to social justice, equity and social inclusion over this time span and what these have meant and will mean for students, particularly those from low socio-economic backgrounds. It concludes that a relational understanding of social justice – ‘recognitive justice’ – is yet to inform student equity policy in higher education, although this is now what is required in the context of the planned shift from mass to universal participation.

A validity-driven approach to the understanding of the personal and societal burden of low back pain : development of a conceptual and measurement model

Introduction: While the importance and magnitude of the burden of low back pain upon the individual is well recognized, a systematic understanding of the impact of the condition on individuals is currently hampered by the lack of an organized understanding of what aspects of a person’s life are affected and the lack of comprehensive measures for these effects. The aim of the present study was to develop a conceptual and measurement model of the overall burden of low back pain from the individual’s perspective using a validity-driven approach.
Methods: To define the breadth of low back pain burden we conducted three concept-mapping workshops to generate an item pool. Two face-to-face workshops (Australia) were conducted with people with low back pain and clinicians and policy-makers, respectively. A third workshop (USA) was held with international multidisciplinary experts. Multidimensional scaling, cluster analysis, participant input and thematic analyses organized participants’ ideas into clusters of ideas that then informed the conceptual model.
Results: One hundred and ninety-nine statements were generated. Considerable overlap was observed between groups, and four major clusters were observed - Psychosocial, Physical, Treatment and Employment - each with between two and six subclusters. Content analysis revealed that elements of the Psychosocial cluster were sufficiently distinct to be split into Psychological and Social, and a further cluster of elements termed Positive Effects also emerged. Finally, a hypothesized structure was proposed with six domains and 16 subdomains. New domains not previously considered in the back pain field emerged for psychometric verification: loss of independence, worry about the future, and negative or discriminatory actions by others.
Conclusions: Using a grounded approach, an explicit a priori and testable model of the overall burden of low back pain has been proposed that captures the full breadth of the burden experienced by patients and observed by experts.