An experiment to assess the learning benefits of employing accounting software in the classroom

This paper reports on an experiment analysing the development of students' understanding of accounting concepts by comparing three different teaching strategies: a traditional tutorial (workshop), exposure to a commercial accounting package, and a control group. Findings indicate that integration of a commercially available accounting package into accounting curricula does not significantly enhance students' understanding of accounting concepts. As this experiment employed a randomised allocation of students to groups, a control group, and identical pre and posttests, these findings are robust to alternative explanations such as learning styles and motivation.

Chemiluminescence from the Sakaguchi reaction

The Sakaguchi reaction between arginine and hypohalites in the presence of α-phenols (Fig. 1) has been extensively employed for the colorimetric determination of this amino acid [1] M.A Parniak, G Lange and T Viswanatha, Quantitative determination of monosubstituted guanidines: a comparative study of different procedures, J. Biochem. Biophys. Methods 7 (1983), pp. 267–276. Abstract | View Record in Scopus | Cited By in Scopus (8)[1] and [2]. There have been a number of modifications to the reaction for the determination of arginine to improve the color stability and sensitivity. The Sakaguchi reaction is much faster with hypobromite than with hypochlorite, but the colored product fades at a higher rate; however, this can be prevented by adding urea to remove the excess hypobromite [3]. Although 1-naphthol was originally used as the chromogen, other phenols including 2,4-dichloro-1-naphthol [4], 8-quinolinol [5], 5-chloro-7-iodo-8-quinolinol [6], and thymol [2] (Fig. 1) have provided superior analytical figures of merit. We have found that the reaction between arginine and hypobromite is chemiluminescent [7], which has been used to develop an analytical procedure that is rapid, simple, and selective for arginine in the presence of other amino acids.

The protection of political communication under the Australian constitution

Compatibility of a law with implied freedom of political communication - application of test of constitutionality outlined in Lange case - argues that two-tier approach be abandoned - if a law regulates the content of a political communication, not its mode, more rigorous judicial scrutiny will follow - should be a single test for constitutionality where application is through the proportionality framework and informed by the rationale of the implied freedom - application to Australian racial vilification laws.

The Permian of Timor : stratigraphy, palaeontology and palaeography

The Permian of Timor in the Lesser Sunda Islands has attracted the attention of palaeontologists since the middle of the nineteenth century because of the richness, diversity and excellent state of preservation of its fauna. These abundant fossil data have been compiled and updated for the present account. The Permian rocks of Timor were deposited on the northern margin of Australia. At the present time the northern margin of Australia, in the region of Timor, is involved in a continent–arc collision, where Australia is colliding with the Banda Arcs. As a result of this collision, Permian rocks of the Australian margin have been disrupted by folding and faulting with the generation of mud-matrix mélange, and uplifted to form part of the island of Timor. Due to this tectonic disruption, it has proved difficult to establish a reliable stratigraphy for the Permian units on Timor, especially as the classic fossil collections were obtained largely from the mélange or purchased from the local people, and do not have adequate stratigraphic control. Detailed systematic, structural, stratigraphic and sedimentological studies since the 1960s have provided a firmer stratigraphic and palaeogeographic background for reconsideration of the significance of the classic fossil collections. Permian rocks on Timor belong either to a volcanic-carbonate sequence (Maubisse Formation), or to a clastic sequence (Atahoc and Cribas formations) in which volcanics are less prominent. The Permian sequences were deposited on Australian continental basement which was undergoing extension with spasmodic volcanic activity. Carbonates of the Maubisse Formation were deposited on horst blocks and volcanic edifices, while clastic sediments of the Atahoc and Cribas formations were deposited in grabens. The clastic sediments are predominantly fine-grained, derived from a distant siliciclastic source, and are interbedded with sediments derived from the volcanics and carbonates of adjacent horst blocks. Bottom conditions in the graben were often anoxic. In the present account, events on Timor during the Permian are related to the regional tectonic context, with the northward movement of Australia leading to the amelioration of the climate from sub-glacial to sub-tropical, together with the separation of crustal blocks from the northern Australian margin to form the Meso-Tethys.

Accounting graduates' perceptions of skills emphasis in undergraduate courses: an investigation from two Victorian Universities

This study investigated the emphasis placed on technical and generic skills developed during undergraduate accounting courses from the graduate perspective. It is motivated by two issues. First, calls by the accounting profession and international education committees regarding the professional adequacy of graduates. Second, the challenge facing educators and professional bodies to design accounting courses that address a diverse range of needs from students, the educational philosophy of the institution, and the changing dynamics of global business. Data obtained from 310 graduates from two Victorian universities provided insights into the types of skills development considered necessary for a successful accounting career.

Ulster-New Zealand migration and cultural transfers / Brad Patterson

Books
Medievalism and the Gothic in Australian Culture. Edited by Stephanie Trigg.

What If? Australian History as It Might Have Been. Edited by Stuart Macintyre and Sean Scalmer.

Disputed Histories: Imagining New Zealand's Pasts. Edited by Tony Ballantyne and Brian Moloughney.

The Myth of the Great Depression. By David Potts.

Memory, Monuments and Museums: The Past in the Present. Edited by Marilyn Lake.

Connected Worlds: History in Transnational Perspective. Edited by Marilyn Lake and Ann Curthoys.

Island Ministers: Indigenous Leadership in Nineteenth Century Pacific Islands Christianity. By Raeburn Lange.

Texts and Contexts: Reflections in Pacific Islands Historiography. Edited by Doug Munro and Brij V. Lai.

Day of Reckoning. By Lachlan Strahan.

Appropriated Pasts: Indigenous Peoples and the Colonial Culture of Archaeology. By Ian J. McNiven and Lynette Russell.

Recognising Aboriginal Title: The Mabo Case and Indigenous Resistance to English-Settler Colonialism. By Peter H. Russell.

Black Glass: Western Australian Courts of Native Affairs 1936-54. By Kate Auty.

Edward Eyre, Race and Colonial Governance. By Julie Evans.

Gender and Empire. By Angela Woollacott.

Uncommon Ground: White Women in Aboriginal History. Edited by Anna Cole, Victoria Haskins and Fiona Paisley.

Mixed Relations: Asian-Aboriginal Contact in North Australia. By Regina Ganter, with contributions from Julia Martinez and Gary Lee.

Botany Bay: Where Histories Meet. By Maria Nugent.

A Man of All Tribes: The Life of Alick Jackomos. By Richard Broome and Corinne Manning.

Black Founders: The Unknown Story of Australia's First Black Settlers. By Cassandra Pybus.

Over the Mountains of the Sea: Life on the Migrant Ships 1870-1885. By David Hastings.

Ulster-New Zealand Migration and Cultural Transfers. Edited by Brad Patterson.

From Paesani to Global Italians: Veneto Migrants in Australia. By Loretta Baldassar and Ros Pesman.

Ways of Seeing China: From Yellow Peril to Shangrila. By Timothy Kendall.

East by South: China in the Australasian Imagination. Edited by Charles Ferrall, Paul Millar and Keren Smith.

Arthur Tange: Last of the Mandarins. By Peter Edwards.

Kin: A Collective Biography of a Working-Class New Zealand Family. By Melanie Nolan.

Ida Leeson A Life: Not a Blue-Stocking Lady. By Sylvia Martin.

Will Dyson: Australia's Radical Genius. By Ross McMullin.

Francis De Groot: Irish Fascist Australian Legend. By Andrew Moore.

South by Northwest: The Magnetic Crusade and the Contest for Antarctica. By Granville Allen Mawer.

From Woolloomooloo to 'Eternity': A History of Australian Baptists. 2 vols. Volume 1: Crowing and Australian Church (1831-1914), Volume 2: A National Church in a Global Community (1914-2005). By Ken R. Manley.

Neo-positivist or neo-kantian? Karl Popper and the Vienna Circle.

This paper re-contextualises Popper within a Kantian tradition by examining his interaction with the Vienna Circle. The complexity of Popper’s relationship to the Vienna Circle is often a point of confusion as some view him as a member of the Vienna Circle while others minimise his association with this group. This paper argues that Popper was not a member of the Vienna Circle or a positivist but shared many neo-Kantian philosophical tendencies with the members of the Circle as well as many of their philosophical problems and interests. By better understanding the influence of the Circle’s members upon Popper, we not only remove the myths surrounding Popper’s positivism, but also place the logical positivism of the Vienna Circle within its proper philosophical context. This paper further argues that it was Popper’s friend during his formative philosophical years in Vienna, Julius Kraft (1921–1960) who was responsible for the way in which Popper approached Kant. Through Kraft, Popper was introduced to the thought of Leonard Nelson (1882–1927) and Jakob Fries (1773–1843) as well as a tradition of critical rationalism which Popper would continue both in his methodological orientation as well as through his late German Enlightenment intellectual values.

Novel B-site ordered double perovskite Ba2Bi0.1Sc0.2Co1.7O6-x for highly efficient oxygen reduction reaction

Double perovskite Ba₂Bi_0.1Sc_0.2Co_1.7O_6-x (BBSC) demonstrates low polarization resistance between 600 and 750 °C due to the high oxygen reduction rate of BBSC as reflected by its large D_V and k values, which are derived from the face centered cubic structure and high cobalt content.

Accounting education at a crossroad in 2010 and challenges facing accounting education in Australia

Of the various reports released in 2010, two purport to examine the state of accounting education in Australia. These are Accounting Education at a Crossroad in 2010 and Challenges Facing Accounting Education in Australia. Both were released as collaborations of the leading academic organisation, the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) or professional accounting bodies in Australia including the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA), the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA),1 and Certified Practising Accountants of Australia (CPA Australia). As their titles imply, the main thrust of these reports is to examine the challenges facing accounting education in Australian universities and, as such, they act as the input for this AE Briefing. The main challenges articulated in these reports portray a sector suffering from the combined pressure of a large international student enrolment, high student-to-staff ratios, an inadequate funding model, and an ageing academic staff profile. By way of commentary, we suggest that, if these gloomy circumstances continue to develop unabated, then the future for the sector will play out as a ‘perfect storm’2 with the sector suffering on-going troubled development.

Application of Swales' model in research papers by non-native authors

This paper reports the investigation of the organisational structure of introductory sections of research papers written by Polish authors in English and Polish. The aim of the study was to test whether in view of cultural differences, reflected in the Anglo-American and Polish intellectual styles, the rhetorical pattern of research papers would vary between the two cultures. The selected texts were analysed in terms of Swales' Creating a Research Space (CARS) model (Swales 1990). On application of the model in the analysis of articles from the English corpus, it was found that it could only be employed in very generic terms. The analysis of the Polish corpus revealed that the Variation between Anglo-American and Polish schematic patterns was too significant to justify the implementation of the same investigative tool.