Professionals' perceptions of electronically recorded interviews with vulnerable witnesses

This study presents a qualitative evaluation of the Video and Audio Taped Evidence (VATE) process involving vulnerable witnesses, introduced by Victoria Police in 1996. Specifically, this study presents an analysis of individual in-depth interviews with a diverse group of 25 key Victorian stakeholders (police officers, prosecutors, solicitors, defence lawyers, and members of the judiciary). The aim of the interviews was to provide an overview of the stakeholders' perceptions of the VATE system, with particular focus on the usefulness of VATE interviews viewed or used in the stakeholders' practice. The findings revealed unanimous support for electronic recording of witness statements. However, the stakeholders also perceived that the effectiveness of the system was impeded by several factors. These include: (a) frequent absence within the interviews of a coherent account and detail needed to prove the various offences, (b) inability to scrutinise questions asked prior to the VATE interview, (c) lack of feedback regarding how well the VATE system is working, and (d) the recording medium itself which produced statements of poor sound and visual quality. Three broad recommendations arising from the interviews are discussed.

Is e-governance a function of government or media? Some directions for future research and development of electronically mediated citizen participation

Citizen participation, enabled by electronic means, grows, in parallel with government's apparent failure to promote it. Organisations such as Getup and Moveon flourish; the BBC announced in 2003 that 'Internet-based political activism is happening...The BBC wants to help a wider audience find their voice by tackling obstacles to greater participation' (http://www.opendemocracy.net). (Kevill, 2003). Such actions echo, perhaps, the enthusiastic adoption of the Internet by activist media groups, particularly Indymedia. This paper presents a response to this situation. It provides a richer account of the contradictory rise of e-government without e-governance, and examines the potential for media-based participatory engagement to complement e-government. It presents two models of the future of electronically mediated citizen engagement: the first involving agonistic relations between government and citizenry, with civic participation occurring outside of government-approved forums; the second involving the intimate linking of governmental transactions to participation by those citizens engaged in them. Finally it will outline mechanisms for researching the capacity of either or both models to sustain effective participation.

Reconnaissance limnology of Tasmania VI. Biogeographical significance of physicochemical features of coastal lagoons of the islands of Bass Strait

The physicochemical attributes of 66 coastal dune lakes (lagoons) on islands of Bass Strait have been investigated. The full data set is available electronically. Here, selected environmental variables with known ecological significance are presented and, by reference to known sites of floristic richness in Tasmania, the lagoons most likely to harbour endemic freshwater algae are identified, as biogeographical stepping stones between the Tasmanian and mainland Australian microfloras.

Acceptance and leadership-hegemonies of e-commerce policy perspectives

This paper presents an analysis of the e-Commerce policies developed and implemented in the USA, Canada, Australia, Victoria, Finland, Norway, the UK, Ireland, the EU (by the OECD), Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region). The paper shows that e-Commerce policy adopted is generally trying to achieve two fundamental aims:

1. to minimize regulatory environments for e-Commerce; and
2. to ease logistical problems in doing e-Commerce—i.e. in paying electronically, in deliver y of goods and in customs, tariffs and duties.

These strategies are designed to create an environment where e-Commerce is adopted by business and government in these countries to achieve ‘best practice’, to become ‘modern’, to gain ‘efficiencies’, because ‘it is the way to go’, because ‘we must have it, because everybody has it’, and because they ‘perceive the benefits of it’. In essence it is being used to gain hegemony in the economic competitiveness of the geopolitical environment created by the Internet. This paper argues that differentiating types of policy is related to ideology and hegemony in the various countries.

Global priority setting for Cochrane systematic reviews of health promotion and public health research

Background: Systematic reviews of health promotion and public health interventions are increasingly being conducted to assist public policy decision making. Many intra-country initiatives have been established to conduct systematic reviews in their relevant public health areas. The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organisation established to conduct and publish systematic reviews of healthcare interventions, is committed to high quality reviews that are regularly updated, published electronically, and meeting the needs of the consumers.

Aims: To identify global priorities for Cochrane systematic reviews of public health topics.

Methods: Systematic reviews of public health interventions were identified and mapped against global health risks. Global health organisations were engaged and nominated policy-urgent titles, evidence based selection criteria were applied to set priorities.

Results: 26 priority systematic review titles were identified, addressing interventions such as community building activities, pre-natal and early infancy psychosocial outcomes, and improving the nutrition status of refugee and displaced populations.

Discussion: The 26 priority titles provide an opportunity for potential reviewers and indeed, the Cochrane Collaboration as a whole, to address the previously unmet needs of global health policy and research agencies.

Ethics and electronic commerce

Ethics is an important element in all aspects of computing, but proves to be a real problem in the development and delivery of electronic commerce systems. There are many aspects of ethics that can affect electronic commerce systems, but perhaps the most notable and worrying to both consumers and developers is that of trust.

In a world where so much information is transmitted and shared electronically, ethical standards that in general society are applied to this medium, are often ignored or forgotten. This paper will discuss some of the ethical considerations that should be considered in electronic commerce and offer the possible solutions that can encourage developers to consider ethical considerations and prove excellence and trust to the consumer.

Developing and testing a model of knowledge utilisation through marketing research

Little research has examined the return on marketing research, be that financial or knowledge acquisition. Furthermore, there has been insufficient research into the factors affecting the conduct of marketing research. This paper investigates and reports on a conceptual model proposed by Yaman (2000), which explores knowledge acquisition, dissemination, and utilisation through marketing research. The study specifically explores and attempts to replicate the model’s conceptual structure. The data were collected electronically via emails and an HTML web-form questionnaire, with a sample of 182 being obtained. Using structural equation modelling, the results obtained indicated an adequate fit for a modified Yaman model to the data from this particular sample.

Knowledge management for SME-based regional clusters

This paper considers the need for knowledge management (KM) in regional clusters comprising many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the appropriate KM techniques for this form of economic organisation. Information and communication technologies offer a range of tools to help such clusters develop into electronically-linked eClusters, making KM possible on a scale not previously possible. Most KM techniques have been developed by large organisations and their relevance to SME-based clusters has received little attention. Based on our analysis of the literature, we conclude that KM approaches based on personalised rather than codified information are the most promising model for regionally-based eClusters and that Communities of Practice arising from open forms of internet collaboration are most likely to be successful in this environment. Future research will identify key issues and appropriate techniques for supporting regional clusters with electronic systems for KM.

Securing small business - the role of information technology policy

As small and medium enterprises develop their capacity to trade  electronically, they and their trading partners stand to gain considerable benefit from the resulting transaction efficiencies and business  relationships. However, this raises the question of how well small business manages its IT security and the threats that security lapses may pose to the wider trading network. It is in the interest of all members of an electronic trading network, as well as governments, to assist smaller companies to secure their business data. This paper considers the relationship between IT security management and IT policy implementation among small  businesses involved in business-to-business eCommerce. It reports the results of a survey of 240 Australian small and medium businesses  operating in a cross-industry environment. The survey found a low level of strategic integration of eCommerce along with inadequate IT security among the respondents, despite the fact that 81% were doing business online and 97% identified their business data as confidential. Businesses which implemented satisfactory levels of security technologies were more likely than others to have an information technology policy within the organisation. The paper proposes a model that outlines the development of security governance and policy implementation for small and medium businesses.

Mapping postgraduate nurse education in Australia 2001-2002

Workforce planning at a national level within nursing and midwifery has been largely fragmented and uncoordinated with health-care organisations, state health authorities, peak nursing organisations and the tertiary sector often engaging in independent decision making and planning. In order to gain an increased understanding of the complexity of contemporary nurse education and to quantify the number of graduates of nursing education courses into categories that are meaningful for workforce planning, the federal Department of Education, Science and Training commissioned a national study in 2002. The aim of this study was to map and quantify current and projected numbers of Australian domestic nursing postgraduate students within their respective specialisation according to each State/Territory. All Australian universities offering postgraduate courses in nursing were electronically surveyed (n=30). Two non-university providers of postgraduate nursing education were also asked to participate, but only one responded. Data were gathered on the number of domestic postgraduate nursing students enrolled in 2002, the number of course completions in 2001 and projected completions for 2002. Of the 13 broad band specialty categories developed for the study, the specialties of Midwifery and High Dependency were dominant in both student enrolments and course completions, including projected completions. The range of specialties that were offered varied by State/Territory, as did the number and percentage of students enrolled, completing and projected to complete each specialty program. Generic courses (without listed specialisations) continue to complicate the process of attempting to tease out and quantify accurately the number of enrolled and completing postgraduate students according to area of specialty practice.

A panel cointegration analysis of the demand for oil in the Middle East

This article applies recently developed panel unit root and panel cointegration techniques to estimate the long-run income and price elasticities for oil in the Middle East. The results for the panel indicate that demand for oil is highly price inelastic and slightly income elastic in the Middle East. There is considerable variation in the results for the income variable across countries, with the coefficient on the income variable statistically insignificant for several countries. The coefficient on the price variable is statistically significant in all cases with the expected sign and the price elasticity is uniformly low. While the results for the income variable differ across countries, the results for the panel as a whole suggest that the demand for oil in the Middle East is being driven largely by strong economic growth, while consumers are largely insensitive to price changes.

Exploring the oil price and real GDP nexus for a small island economy, the Fiji Islands

The goal of this paper is to examine the relationship between real GDP and oil prices using time series data for the period 1970–2005. Our main finding is that an increase in oil has a positive, albeit inelastic, impact on real GDP, inconsistent with the bulk of the literature. We argue that this is not a surprising result for the Fiji Islands. Our central argument focuses on two aspects of the Fijian economy: (1) the fact that actual output in Fiji has been around 50 per cent less than potential output; thus, Fiji's actual output has not reached a threshold level at which oil prices can negatively impact output; and (2) a rise in oil prices filters through to value added, which in turn is reflected in a larger actual output.

Family and carer smoking control programmes for reducing children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke

Background: Exposure to other people’s cigarette smoke (environmental tobacco smoke, or ETS) is an important child health issue.
Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of interventions aiming to reduce exposure of children to ETS.
Search strategy: The Tobacco Addiction Group register of studies was searched.MEDLINE, EMBASE and four other health and psychology databases were searched electronically, bibliographies of retrieved primary studies were checked and specialists in the area consulted.
Selection criteria: Controlled trials with or without random allocation were included in this review if they addressed participants (parents and other family members, child care workers and teachers) involved with the care and education of infants and young children (aged 0-12 years). All mechanisms for reduction of children’s environmental tobacco smoke exposure, and smoking prevention, cessation, and control programmes targeting these participants are included. These include smoke free policies and legislation, health promotion, social behavioural therapies, technology, education and clinical interventions.
Data collection and analysis: Two reviewers independently assessed studies and extracted data. Due to heterogeneity of methodologies and outcomes, no summary measures were possible and results were synthesised using narrative summaries.
Main results: Nineteen studies met the inclusion criteria, one of which was subsequently excluded. Three interventions were targeted at populations or community settings, seven studies were conducted in the well child health care setting and eight in the ill child health care setting. Twelve of these studies are from North America. In 12 of the 18 studies there was reduction of ETS exposure for children in both intervention and comparison groups. In only four of the 18 studies was there a statistically significant intervention effect. Three of these successful studies employed intensive counselling interventions targeted to smoking parents. There is little difference between the well infant, child respiratory illness and other child illness settings as contexts for parental smoking cessation interventions. The fourth successful intervention was in the school setting targeting the ETS exposure of children from smoking fathers.
Authors’ conclusions: Brief counselling interventions, successful in the adult health setting when coming from physicians, cannot be extrapolated to adults in the setting of child health. There is limited support for more intensive counselling interventions. There is no clear evidence for differences between the respiratory, non-respiratory ill child, well child and peripartum settings as contexts for reduction of children’s ETS exposure.