A further development in social marketing application of the MOA framework and behavioral implications

This social marketing study discusses the application of Rothschild’s MOA framework (Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability) in a land-use management context. The authors hypothesize that landholders with higher levels of MOA are positively associated with behavior that would result in the effective control of a vertebrate pest (the European rabbit). A random sample of 566 land managers in southeastern Australia was obtained. The development of scales associated with this study were the result of intensive qualitative research, including focus groups, in-depth interviews, and a thorough review of secondary resources. The scales were developed through a factor analytic process and were piloted and pre-tested before being used.

From the study it is ascertained that about one-third of land managers fall into the highest level of effective behavior, and for the remainder, social marketing interventions, using marketing, education, and the law, could be applied to changebehavior. The study provides evidence that Rothschild’s theoretical MOA framework can be applied to a social market and thus provides guidance on the types of interventions that may be effective in altering behavior. The MOA framework also provides a mechanism for segmentation that can be used to describe various markets and gives direction to the interventions that may be effective in altering behavior.

Volatility spillover between New Zealand stock market returns and exchange rate changes before and after the 1997 Asian financial crisis

Researchers in the last decade have been investigating the interdependence of stock returns and exchange rate changes within the same economy. Kanas (2000) and Yang and Doong (2004) find that for the G-7 countries, in general, the volatility of the stock market spills over to the exchange rate market but that volatility spillovers from the exchange rate market to the stock market are insignificant. Chen, Naylor, and Lu (2004) find that NZ individual firm returns are significantly exposed to exchange rate changes. This study complements their work by investigating the volatility spillover between the stock market and the foreign exchange market within the NZ economy.

A Ramsar wetland in crisis the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth, Australia

The state of global freshwater ecosystems is increasingly parlous with water resource development degrading high-conservation wetlands. Rehabilitation is challenging because necessary increases in environmental flows have concomitant social impacts, complicated because many rivers flow between jurisdictions or countries. Australia's MurrayDarling Basin is a large river basin with such problems encapsulated in the crisis of its Ramsar-listed terminal wetland, the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth. Prolonged drought and upstream diversion of water dropped water levels in the Lakes below sea level (20092010), exposing hazardous acid sulfate soils. Salinities increased dramatically (e.g. South Lagoon of Coorong>200gL-1, cf. modelled natural 80gL-1), reducing populations of waterbirds, fish, macroinvertebrates and littoral plants. Calcareous masses of estuarine tubeworms (Ficopomatus enigmaticus) killed freshwater turtles (Chelidae) and other fauna. Management primarily focussed on treating symptoms (e.g. acidification), rather than reduced flows, at considerable expense (≥AU$2 billion). We modelled a scenario that increased annual flows during low-flow periods from current levels up to one-third of what the natural flow would have been, potentially delivering substantial environmental benefits and avoiding future crises. Realisation of this outcome depends on increasing environmental flows and implementing sophisticated river management during dry periods, both highly contentious options.

A cluster-randomized controlled trial to reduce sedentary behavior and promote physical activity and health of 8-9 year olds : the transform-us! study

Background: Physical activity (PA) is associated with positive cardio-metabolic health and emerging evidence suggests sedentary behavior (SB) may be detrimental to children’s health independent of PA. The primary aim of the Transform-Us! study is to determine whether an 18-month, behavioral and environmental intervention in the school and family settings results in higher levels of PA and lower rates of SB among 8-9 year old children compared with usual practice (post-intervention and 12-months follow-up). The secondary aims are to determine the independent and combined effects of PA and SB on children’s cardio-metabolic health risk factors; identify the factors that mediate the success of the intervention; and determine whether the intervention is cost-effective.
Methods/design: A four-arm cluster-randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a 2 × 2 factorial design, with schools as the unit of randomization. Twenty schools will be allocated to one of four intervention groups, sedentary behavior (SB-I), physical activity (PA-I), combined SB and PA (SB+PA-I) or current practice control (C), which will be evaluated among approximately 600 children aged 8-9 years in school year 3 living in Melbourne, Australia. All children in year 3 at intervention schools in 2010 (8-9 years) will receive the intervention over an 18-month period with a maintenance ‘booster’ delivered in 2012 and children at all schools will be invited to participate in the evaluation assessments. To maximize the sample and to capture new students arriving at intervention and control schools, recruitment will be on-going up to the post-intervention time point. Primary outcomes are time spent sitting and in PA assessed via accelerometers and inclinometers and survey.
Discussion: To our knowledge, Transform-Us! is the first RCT to examine the effectiveness of intervention strategies for reducing children’s overall sedentary time, promoting PA and optimizing health outcomes. The integration of consistent strategies and messages to children from teachers and parents in both school and family settings is a critical component of this study, and if shown to be effective, may have a significant impact on educational policies as well as on pedagogical and parenting practices.

Voluntary disclosure in a changing regulatory environment : evidence from Chinese stock market

This paper investigates the voluntary disclosure made by 297 Chinese listed firms in their 1995-2006 annual reports. It aims to determine how firms in the Chinese stock market have responded to the coercive pressure exerted upon them by the market regulatory body, the Chinese Security Regulatory Commission (CSRC) in terms of providing transparent information to the stock market. The findings show that over the study period, listed firms have gradually increased their voluntary disclosure. This paper also explores the main characteristics of voluntary disclosure made by listed firms in the Chinese stock market. It is concluded that voluntary disclosure has been adopted by firms to achieve institutional legitimacy in the stock market.

Does self monitoring of blood blucose as opposed to urinalysis provide additional benefit in patients newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes receiving structured education? The DESMOND SMBG randomised controlled trial protocol

Background
The benefit of self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) in people with type 2 diabetes on diet or oral agents other than sulphonylureas remains uncertain. Trials of interventions incorporating education about self-monitoring of blood glucose have reported mixed results. A recent systematic review concluded that SMBG was not cost-effective. However, what was unclear was whether a cheaper method of self-monitoring (such as urine glucose monitoring) could produce comparable benefit and patient acceptability for less cost.

Methods/Design
The DESMOND SMBG trial is comparing two monitoring strategies (blood glucose monitoring and urine testing) over 18 months when incorporated into a comprehensive self-management structured education programme. It is a multi-site cluster randomised controlled trial, conducted across 8 sites (7 primary care trusts) in England, UK involving individuals with newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetes.

The trial has 80% power to demonstrate equivalence in mean HbA1c (the primary end-point) at 18 months of within ± 0.5% assuming 20% drop out and 20% non-consent. Secondary end-points include blood pressure, lipids, body weight and psychosocial measures as well as a qualitative sub-study.

Practices were randomised to one of two arms: participants attend a DESMOND programme incorporating a module on self-monitoring of either urine or blood glucose. The programme is delivered by accredited educators who received specific training about equipoise. Biomedical data are collected and psychosocial scales completed at baseline, and 6, 12, and 18 months post programme. Qualitative research with participants and educators will explore views and experiences of the trial and preferences for methods of monitoring.

Discussion
The DESMOND SMBG trial is designed to provide evidence to inform the debate about the value of self-monitoring of blood glucose in people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Strengths include a setting in primary care, a cluster design, a health economic analysis, a comparison of different methods of monitoring while controlling for other components of training within the context of a quality assured structured education programme and a qualitative sub-study.

Trends in Australian contact lens prescribing during the first decade of the 21st century (2000–2009)

Purpose:  The aim was to document contact lens prescribing trends in Australia between 2000 and 2009.

Methods:  A survey of contact lens prescribing trends was conducted each year between 2000 and 2009. Australian optometrists were asked to provide information relating to 10 consecutive contact lens fittings between January and March each year.

Results:  Over the 10-year survey period, 1,462 practitioners returned survey forms representing a total of 13,721 contact lens fittings. The mean age (± SD) of lens wearers was 33.2 ± 13.6 years and 65 per cent were female. Between 2006 and 2009, rigid lens new fittings decreased from 18 to one per cent. Low water content lenses reduced from 11.5 to 3.2 per cent of soft lens fittings between 2000 and 2008. Between 2005 and 2009, toric lenses and multifocal lenses represented 26 and eight per cent, respectively, of all soft lenses fitted. Daily disposable, one- to two-week replacement and monthly replacement lenses accounted for 11.6, 30.0 and 46.5 per cent of all soft lens fittings over the survey period, respectively. The proportion of new soft fittings and refittings prescribed as extended wear has generally declined throughout the past decade. Multi-purpose lens care solutions dominate the market. Rigid lenses and monthly replacement soft lenses are predominantly worn on a full-time basis, whereas daily disposable soft lenses are mainly worn part-time.

Conclusions:  This survey indicates that technological advances, such as the development of new lens materials, manufacturing methods and lens designs, and the availability of various lens replacement options, have had a significant impact on the contact lens market during the first decade of the 21st Century.

The use of molecular phylogenetic and morphological tools to identify cryptic and paraphyletic species : examples from the diminutive long-fingered bats (Chiroptera : Miniopteridae : Miniopterus) on Madagascar

Based on nearly complete (1125 bp) cytochrome-b sequence data and morphological characters, two new endemic species of Miniopterus are described from Madagascar that were previously identified as M. manavi. Using phylogenetic analysis, the basal nodes of major lineages in the Malagasy members of this genus are weakly supported, while, in most cases, the branches leading to each of the clades are well resolved. Miniopterus mahafaliensis, new species, occurs in the southwestern semidesert areas and M. brachytragos, new species, has a broad distribution across the northern half of the island, ranging across several different biomes. Phylogenetic inference indicates that these two new taxa are not closely related to M. manavi sensu stricto, with average genetic distances of 9.2% and 5.7% from this taxon, respectively. On the basis of this and previous revisions, the former M. manavi complex is now recognized to represent at least five taxa, which do not form a monophyletic group with respect to one another, and represent extraordinary examples of convergent evolution. Miniopterus brachytragos is closely related to the recently named M. aelleni, while M. mahafaliensis is not closely associated with any of these species. Molecular phylogenetic analysis was imperative to resolve the species limits of these taxa and morphology then provided the means to corroborate the recovered clades. There are localities on the island, specifically limestone karstic zones, where four species of the former M. manavi sensu lato complex occur in strict sympatry. These species often use the same day-roost caves and have similar external and craniodental measurements. This raises intriguing questions as to how these animals divide their worlds with regard to dietary regimes and foraging strategies, as well as their speciation history.

Foreign environmental impacts on export performance A study of agribusiness firms exporting to Japan

Although a large body of literature exists on export performance, little attention has been given to how foreign environments impact on the performance of firms exporting to a particular market. This study examines how the business environment in Japan impacts on a sample of New Zealand agribusiness firms exporting to this market. Using path analysis with LISREL, the findings suggest that the foreign environment in Japan has a small but significant adverse impact on export performance. The results also show that exporters are able to mediate the adverse effects of the Japanese business environment on their overall export performance by formulating effective product, pricing, promotion and distribution strategies.

Feedback reporting of survey data to healthcare aides

Background

This project occurred during the course of the Translating Research in Elder Care (TREC) program of research. TREC is a multilevel and longitudinal research program being conducted in the three Canadian Prairie Provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The main purpose of TREC is to increase understanding about the role of organizational context in influencing knowledge use in residential long-term care settings. The purpose of this study was to evaluate healthcare aides’ (HCAs) perceptions of a one-page poster designed to feed back aggregated data (including demographic information and perceptions about influences on best practice) from the TREC survey they had recently completed.

Methods
A convenience sample of 7 of the 15 nursing homes participating in the TREC research program in Alberta were invited to participate. Specific facility-level summary data were provided to each facility in the form of a one-page poster report. Two weeks following delivery of the report, a convenience sample of HCAs was surveyed using one-to-one structured interviews.

Results
One hundred twenty-three HCAs responded to the evaluation survey. Overall, HCAs’ opinions about presentation of the feedback report and the understandability, usability, and usefulness of the content were positive. For each report, analysis of data and production and inspection of the report took up to one hour. Information sessions to introduce and explain the reports averaged 18 minutes. Two feedback reports (minimum) were supplied to each facility at a cost of CAN$2.39 per report, for printing and laminating.

Conclusions
This study highlights not only the feasibility of producing understandable, usable, and useful feedback reports of survey data but also the value and importance of providing feedback to survey respondents. More broadly, the findings suggest that modest strategies may have a positive and desirable effect in participating sites.

From estrangement to a sense of place …

Maggie MacKellar in her book Core of my Heart, my Country writes 'What is sense of place? Why is relationship with place so fundamental to our identity as individuals and as communities?' MacKellar rightly acknowledges that 'A sense of place is a complex connection between land and self. Place is both inside and outside; it takes us beyond ourselves, yet allows us to make sense of ourselves. Attachments to place are born into us, but they are also formed through movement, through labour, through words.' My mother Maria Radzimirski-Herzog considered herself truly Swiss and thoroughly Australian. Through one migrant's story this paper explores something of the complex intertwining of place, memory and identity. It grapples with the notion of belonging to one's country of birth and one's adopted country via a rich understanding of place. In Maria's case, place becomes inextricably bound with who she became as a person. In the early 1940s, Maria explored Switzerland on bike and on foot during war-time restrictions on cars and she came to know it intimately. She photographed the land and the mountains; she documented her journeys. Spirn writes perceptively that 'Significance does not depend on human perception or imagination alone.' For Maria significance was, to use Spirn's words, 'there to be discovered, inherent and ascribed, shaped by what senses perceive, what instinct and experience read as significant, what minds know'. For Maria, Landscape was not 'mere scenery'. The ability to see, to listen, to be present in place, stood her in good stead in her adopted country, Australia. Maria called place into being for her children: through her lived experiences, her memories, her story telling, through language, traditions and history, Maria shared her Swiss identity with her children. But imperceptibly she also taught them how to understand her new homeland Australia, their birth country. How did Maria become Australian? Was that her creative response to exile from Switzerland? How did she come to feel at home in both countries, to understand both places? How did they seep into her and she into them? Through my own research on place I have discovered that assessing 'sense of place' is not an exact science but a creative analysis of the attributes of a place. The methodology I have adopted to explore the complex interrelationships between place, memory and identity allows recovery and reclamation, rediscovery, juxtaposing the subjective and the objective, the co-presence of different evidence. This paper draws on place research, on personal papers, letters and photographs, and the author's own experiences and memories. Through story and narrative it interweaves autobiography and biography with theoretical scholarship, to illuminate one migrant's journey from estrangement to a sense of place in her adopted country, Australia.

Practitioners' opinions on a new construction process model

Construction projects have been criticised for low performance for many decades. One of the reasons for this situation is the temporary multi-organisation of the construction team; the ultimate reason may be due to the divergent background and specialist skills of the project team members. The aim of this paper is to investigate the different opinions of construction participants within the construction process. It focuses on the projects which use the traditional procurement strategy in the building sector as this process is often perceived as being far from efficient. The methodology used in this research is by interview; the targeted interviewees include architects, quantity surveyors, clients and planning supervisors. An expert system which has been developed to model the construction process, called the CONstruction Best Practice System (CONBPS), has been demonstrated and the participants’ comments sought. The findings are that different construction parties have different perceptions of the construction process and their understanding of each other’s role is ambiguous.

The role of nanomedicine in cell based therapeutics in cancer and inflammation.

Cell based therapeutics is one of the most rapidly advancing medical fields, bringing together a range of fields including transplantation, tissue engineering and regeneration, biomaterials and stem cell biology. However, traditional cell-based therapeutics have many limitations, one of which is their harmful effects exhibited on healthy body cells due to their lack of specificity. Nanomedicine is providing an alternative treatment strategy that is more targeted and specific to a range of diseases. Varying from polymers conjugated with drugs or tissue targeting molecules, to proteins encapsulated within a polymer shell, nanomedicine will without a doubt play a major role in designing effective cell-based therapeutics that can overcome certain classical problems. These may include from addressing the problem of non-specificity of contemporary treatments to overcoming mechanical barriers, such as crossing cell membranes. This review summarises the recent work on nano-based cell therapy as a regenerative agent and as a therapeutic for cancer and neurological diseases.

The Role of TAFE as an Equity Pathway to Social Inclusion, Employment, and to University : a submission from The Deakin University Social Work/Gordon TAFE Community Services Work, Geelong Based Project Team

Executive Summary

The Deakin University Social Work/Gordon TAFE Community Services Work Geelong Based Project Team (the Project Team) was assisted by Higher Education Partnership and Participation funding made available through Deakin University Participation and Partnerships Program (DUPPP) to carry out research and project work in 2012/13.

In the following submission to the House of Representatives Inquiry into the role of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) system and its operation, this Project Team seeks to establish a case for:

1. Funding to enable TAFE to continue as:

a) an equity pathway to social inclusion, employment, and to university, particularly in regional areas.
b) an integral complement to the University education sector to deliver on the ambitious objectives of the Federal Government’s widening participation agenda, as a mechanism to deliver the skills, knowledge and workforce needed now, and in the future, in the Australian economy.
2. Increased resources for separate and joint sector development
a) Publicly funded TAFEs need funding to be restored and increased to enable them to maintain the high quality education they provide and to maintain their successful work in supporting communities, regions and disadvantaged individuals to gain skills, training and employment.
b) Universities need increased funding to increase staffing levels and therefore free up teaching staff to spend the necessary time to develop relationships with and provide support to students. This is important for the achieving the goals of the widening participation agenda of increasing access without increasing attrition at the same time.
c) TAFEs and Universities need funding to do the work required to further develop and formalise diploma-degree pathways so that disadvantaged individuals can exit into employment at the diploma level or be supported in an efficient and seamless way to undertake further study.
3. Active use of localised and nuanced partnership approaches by education institutions. This includes:
• Cross teaching by TAFEs and Universities in courses that can be articulated, such as professional practice diplomas and degrees
• Programs negotiated and designed according to the needs of students in each location. TAFEs and Universities need resources in order to do this work
• Focus on regional centres where there is a particular opportunity for government to make an impact on TAFE pathways to employment and/or further education
• Workforce development in regional areas due to new industries is a particular area of need
4. Recognise and capitalise on the complementary and symbiotic nature of each sector’s skills, strengths and capacities.
The submission responds to the second, third and fifth points of the Terms of Reference of the Inquiry and is based on the research work carried out by the Project Team in 2012/13.

We provide evidence of Gordon TAFE in Geelong working as an equity mechanism in the particular case of the welfare/ community services diploma to social work degree pathway. The project team considers that there is a strong case for additional resourcing of TAFE to enable it to continue what it does well. TAFE is the key training and education sectorthe ‘education and social hub’that can successfully attract, retain, and graduate people who may not otherwise access education due to one or more combinations of:

1. having a low SES current or past background;
2. living in regional areas;
3. receiving interrupted primary and secondary education;
4. having disabilities;
5. being sole parents;
6. being from refugee backgrounds;
7. having English as an additional language/culture;
8. retrenchment from employment in dying industries;
9. short, medium and long term unemployment;
10. past and/or current caring roles;
11. marriage/relationship breakdowns;
12. domestic violence;
13. gender, class, age, race/ethnicity and dis/ability discriminations; and
14. socialised expectations and fears.

The recommendations in this submission are based on research findings about important similarities and differences between Gordon TAFE welfare and Deakin University social work students in Geelong, and their respective institutional organisations and contexts. The two institutions employ a repertoire of diverse administrative, teaching, learning and support approaches to meet different mission goals, requirements and needs.

Sickness ruins the complexion, breeding disappears without gold: culture and the i nterpretation of illness among the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, Indonesia

The interpretation of illness and its meaning to individuals and groups is largely a product of culture and is based on shared experience, historical significance, and the social function of individuals in the community. West Sumatra, like many parts of Indonesia, has experienced rapid development and modernization since the nation achieved independence in 1945 and is currently 12 years into Regional Autonomy, a dramatic shift in national administration from a highly centralized system to one which devolved authority to the level of district or municipal government. These changes have brought Indonesians into contact with an increasingly globalized culture and have put pressure on traditional institutions and practices. This is especially significant in the area of health, where considerable tension exists between the allopathic conceptualization of health (as espoused by health care professionals in the formal sector) and traditional interpretations of health that derive from a traditional cultural and linguistic frame of reference. This paper, based on fieldwork in the Indonesian region of Tanah Datar, West Sumatra, describes the impact of cultural and linguistic factors on the interpretation of illness among rural residents and elucidates the growing impact of multiple systems of meaning in local understanding of health.