Who's counting? Legitimating measurement in the audit culture

What gives legitimacy to the numbers that constitute the measurement techniques of the audit culture? We argue that the audit culture’s blind application of numbers to people as if there was no moral or ethical dimension to the calculation rests on a military discourse resi-dent in mathematics. This argument is based on the genealogy presented in this paper, which uncovers a regime of measurement-by-number, sedimented as legitimate through an associa-tion with military power. We claim that this military measurement-by-number is a dubious technique of government on which the audit culture relies for its highly questionable authori-ty.

Workplace "bargaining" and the wages/working time nexus: counting the cost of decentralisation

The impact of deregulation on dispersion of earnings in Victoria has been
acknowledged in the findings of the recent task force enquiry into industrial relations in Victoria. This paper argues that the link between hours worked and rates of pay has played a significant role in this increased dispersion. Drawing upon detailed analysis of hours and wages in Victorian agreements, data is presented on declining take-home pay flowing from the loss of penalty rates. This, we argue, is attributable to
the lack of substantive and procedural protections available to Victorian workers under schedule 1A of the Workplace Relations Act, and formerly under the Victorian Employee Relations Act, 1992. We contrast these findings with collective agreements trading off penalty rates certified by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, and Australian Workplace Agreements approved by the Office of the Employment
Advocate. We conclude by suggesting there is a scale of fair outcomes attached to the wages/hours trade-off, directly attributable to the various institutional mechanisms now influencing Australian wage determination.

Pandora`s box : academic perceptions of student plagiarism in writing

Plagiarism is viewed by many academics as a kind of Pandora's box—the elements contained inside are too frightening to allow escape for fear of the havoc that may result. Reluctance by academic members of staff to discuss student plagiarism openly may contribute to the often untenable situations we, as teachers, face when dealing with student plagiarism issues. In this article, I examine the dilemmas English for Academic Purposes (EAP) staff face when dealing with student plagiarism in the tertiary classroom. The perceptions of all 11 teachers involved in teaching a first year EAP writing subject at South-Coast University are detailed in light of the university's policy on plagiarism. My research indicates that not only is an agreed definition of plagiarism difficult to reach by members of staff teaching the same subject, but plagiarism is a multi-layered phenomenon encompassing a spectrum of human intention. Evaluating the spectrum can lead to differences in the implementation of university plagiarism policy, the result of which embodies issues of equity. The aim of the article is to encourage policy-makers and academic staff to acknowledge the concerns about implementation of plagiarism policy. Collaborative, cross-disciplinary re-thinking of plagiarism is needed to reach workable solutions.

Australia`s box - ironbark forests and woodlands : saving the fragments of a threatened ecosystem

Australia's box-ironbark forests and woodlands once covered about 14 per cent of the State of Victoria on the riverine plains and foothills of the Great Dividing Range. But approximately 83 per cent of the total original habitat has been destroyed and what remains of this significant ecosystem is now highly fragmented and vulnerable to further degradation. Moreover, only 14 per cent of the area remaining is on public land. A 10 year campaign on the part of the environmental movement eventually succeeded in forcing the State government to conduct an independent inquiry into this ecosystem and make recommendations on future management. This paper outlines the innovative public participation process adopted by the Victorian State government and the outcomes of the inquiry. A subsequent compensation package for commercial operations disadvantaged by the proclamation of a series of new national parks is also discussed, as are the shortcomings of a process that can have little or no impact on what happens on private land.

Frequency distribution of TATA box and extension sequences on human promoters

TATA box is one of the most important transcription factor binding sites. But the exact sequences of TATA box are still not very clear yet. In this study, we conducted a dedicated analysis on the frequency distribution of TATA Box and its extension sequences on human promoters. Sixteen TATA elements derived from TATA Box motif, TATAWAWN, were classified into three distribution patterns: peak, bottom-peak and bottom. Fourteen TATA extension sequences (up to two base extensions) were predicted to be the new TATA Box elements because of their high motif factors, which indicate their statistical significance. Statistical analysis on the promoters of mouse, zebrafish and drosophila melanogaster verified seven of these elements. It was also observed that the distribution of TATA elements on the promoters of housekeeping genes are very similar with their distribution on the promoters of tissue specific genes in human.

A comparison of pilling results tested with the ICI pill box and a new perspex™ pill box

Identical single jersey wool knit fabrics produced inconsistent results when tested on the same type of ICI pill box in 4 independence testing laboratories.  The hypothesis formulated to investigate this event was that continued pilling testing in the ICI pill box changes the frictional properties of the cork liners, resulting in the difference pilling ratings.  The aim of this study was to decrease the inconsistencies in the pilling results by replacing the conventional cork lined pill box with a Perspex^TM pill box.  The smae or similar pilling results found for several of the knit facots tested in the two difference pill boxes, while for others there were some significant differences found.  In addition, while using the Perspex^TM pill box observations of the movement of the pilling tubes during testing provided evidence of greater fabric-to-fabric abrasion, rather the expected high degree of fabric-to-cork abrasion (or fabric-to-Perspex^TM) during pilling testing.

The diet of a Southern Boobook Ninox novaeseelandiae in Box-ironbark country, central Victoria

The diet of a Southern Boobook Ninox novaeseelandiae in a Box-Ironbark woodland remnant in central Victoria was studied. An analysis of 42.5 pellets found invertebrates to represent 82% of the total prey items, but vertebrates, in the form of the House Mouse Mus domesticus, to represent 88% of the biomass. The proportion of spiders as prey items in the diet in this instance (43%) was significantly higher than in other studies on mainland Australia.

A rapid cell counting method utilising acridine orange as a novel discriminating marker for both cultured astrocytes and microglia

Cell culture analyses of growth, morphology and apoptosis commonly require counting of different cell types stained with antibodies to discriminate between them. Previously, we reported the use of l-Leucine methyl ester (l-LME) to prepare purified cultures of type 1 astrocytes with minimal microglia, and staining by GFAP and CD antibodies, respectively. Here, we demonstrate a novel use of acridine orange (AO) for rapid discrimination between these cell types using fluorescence microscopy. AO accumulates in the lysosomes and also binds strongly to nuclear DNA and cytoplasmic/nucleolar RNA. Microglia may contain abundant lysosomes due to known roles in homeostasis and immune response. AO staining of lysosomes was tested at a range of concentrations, and 2.5 μg/mL was most suitable. In agreement with previous reports, microglia treated with AO showed very intense yellow, orange or red granular cytoplasmic staining of lysosomes. Microglia contain a substantially higher number of lysosomes than astrocytes, which have a variable amount. We measured the microglia population at 5.14 ± 0.50% in mixed cultures. Thus, these results show AO is a novel discriminatory marker, as microglia were easily observed and counted in clumps on top of the monolayer of astrocytes, providing a rapid alternative to time-consuming and costly antibody-based assays.

Nestedness in fragmented landscapes: birds of the box-ironbark forests of south-eastern Australia

Nestedness in biota as a function of species richness – biota of depauperate assemblages being non-random subsets of richer biotas – has been widely documented in recent years (see Wright et al. 1998, Oecologia 113: 1–20). Ordering sites by richness maximizes nestedness indices; however, ordering by other criteria such as area or isolation may be more ecologically interpretable. We surveyed birds in true fragments (35 in all), and in "reference areas" in large extant forest blocks (30 locations), of the same range of areas (10, 20, 40, 80 ha). The avifauna was divided into "bush birds"– species dependent on forest and woodland, and "open country" species. We looked at nestedness in four data sets: "bush birds" in fragments and reference areas, and "all birds" in fragments and in reference areas. All data sets were significantly nested. Ordering by area in all cases was not significantly less nested than ordering by richness. Ordering by area in fragments was significantly greater than in reference areas, but the differences in standardized nestedness indices were small (<15%). We identified those birds that had distributions among fragments that conformed strongly with area, those that were more randomly distributed and some species that were more likely to occupy the smallest fragments. Among the latter was a hyperaggressive, invasive, colonial native species (noisy miner Manorina melanocephala). A suite of small, insectivorous birds were more likely to strongly conform with expected distributions in relation to area, which was consistent with observations of their vulnerability to the effects of the noisy miner in smaller fragments.

An image retrieval system based on fractal dimension

This paper presents a new kind of image retrieval system which obtains the feature vectors of images by estimating their fractal dimension; and at the same time establishes a tree-structure image database. After preprocessing and feature extracting, a given image is matched with the standard images in the image database using a hierarchical method of image indexing.

The transfer of management accounting practices from London counting houses to the British North American fur trade

During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries management accounting practices were transferred from London counting houses to the British North American fur trade. This transfer involved a set of practices that was more effective for implementing the strategy being pursued at the time than the set used with the previous strategy. London counting houses had developed management accounting practices to facilitate their backward integration strategies with America and the West Indies. Pivotal to this development was the requirement for sub-unit accountability and responsibility.