The Genua brothers: a family at the crossroads

Managing the family business is a timely and thought provoking book that should encourage greater debate about where family businesses are going and what issues are paramount. The editors have made a consious attempt to invite and encourage academic and industry practitioners to contribute chapters.<br />

Are youth mentoring programs good value-for-money? An evaluation of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Melbourne program

<b>Background : </b>The Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) program matches vulnerable young people with a trained, supervised adult volunteer as mentor. The young people are typically seriously disadvantaged, with multiple psychosocial problems.<br /><br /><b>Methods : </b>Threshold analysis was undertaken to determine whether investment in the program was a worthwhile use of limited public funds. The potential cost savings were based on US estimates of life-time costs associated with high-risk youth who drop out-of-school and become adult criminals. The intervention was modelled for children aged 10&ndash;14 years residing in Melbourne in 2004.<br /><br /><b>Results :</b> If the program serviced 2,208 of the most vulnerable young people, it would cost AUD 39.5 M. Assuming 50% were high-risk, the associated costs of their adult criminality would be AUD 3.3 billion. To break even, the program would need to avert high-risk behaviours in only 1.3% (14/1,104) of participants.<br /><br /><b>Conclusion :</b> This indicative evaluation suggests that the BBBS program represents excellent 'value for money'.<br />

Continuity and change at C.B.C. : an ethnography of a Catholic Brothers School in Australian society

This thesis is an ethnographic investigation of a Catholic Brothers school, Christian Brothers College (C.B.C.), in the provincial city of Newburyport, Australia* The study explores the traditions and historical purposes of education at the independent, religious school, and examines the manner in which these have changed or are changing. All names, including the name of the school and the city, have been altered to preserve anonymity. The opening section discusses the emergence of the theoretical problem of the dialectic of change and continuity in the ongoing activity of C.B.C. actors. This is followed by an argument that an understanding of such activity requires an ethnographic perspective. Such a perspective, however, must not overlook the organisational and structural constraints within which participants operate. Hence, a critical ethnography, which takes account of both the agency of human actors and the structures which influence their activity, is advocated as the most suitable approach for understanding continuity and change within a complex organisation in its social context. This argument is followed by an ethnographic account of Christian Brothers College, which focuses on the perceptions and activities of teachers and administrators, Individual chapters deal with the Christian Brothers Order and its educational mission at C.B.C.; the nature of religious education at the school; the administration of the school; approaches to control and discipline; the curriculum and evaluation of pupils; and the relationship between C.B.C. and the wider Newburyport community. The concluding section integrates an analysis of continuity and change at C.B.C. with a discussion of theoretical perspectives on reproduction and transformation. The thesis concludes that, although change has occurred in many ways, an institutionalised image of C.B.C. as 'Brothers’ school'persists and impedes the formation of more democratic authority relations, curriculum, and evaluation. The potential for such change, however, is seen most strongly in the ongoing reform of religious education.

The effect of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy on the performance of Chinese sectors

We investigate the effect of the news announcement of the Lehman Brothers (LBs) bankruptcy on the performance of Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) sectors. Unlike the assumption in the literature that firms are homogenous, we address the unknown issue: Does LBs bankruptcy have a heterogeneous effect on stock returns of sectors listed on SSE? We find statistically insignificant effect of LBs bankruptcy on the performance of energy and financial sectors while most of the other sectors suffered significantly. Thus, our results highlight the heterogeneous effect of LBs bankruptcy on different sectors and at different time intervals surrounding the event.

Tip top result goes stale: ACCC-v- Australian Safeway Stores Pty Ltd(No 2)

Bread, its constituents, its methods of manufacture and its price and availability to consumers can claim to be the <i>leitmotiv</i> of competition law, both ancient and modern. The inelasticity of demand for such a staple food explains laws against monopolies being included in the eighteenth century BC Code of Hammurabi, why corn laws exercised the minds of the Gracchi brothers in second century B.C. Rome, and why ineffective regulation of the price of bread was seen as an important precipitator of revolutions in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the common law the early restraint of trade case, Mitchell v Reynolds saw a parish wide five year non-competition clause in a contract for the sale of a bakery upheld as reasonable. In the post-Shennan Anti-Trust Act (1890) United States, attempts by manufacturers of macaroni to change its constituents because of the prevailing high price of durm wheat were held in National Macaroni Manufacturers Association v FCT) to constitute price-fixing, an offence illegal per se under American anti-trust law.<br />

Long-term trends in the Australaian gannet (Morus serrator) population in Australia: the effect of climate change and commercial fisheries

The Australasian gannet (<i>Morus serrator</i>) population has increased considerably over the past century, both in New Zealand and Australia. Since 1980, the population in Australian waters has increased threefold, from 6,600 breeding pairs to approximately 20,000 pairs in 1999-2000, a rate of 6% per year. Reasons for the increase in the Australasian gannet population are poorly understood; here we consider the possible effects of recent fluctuations in climatic and oceanographic conditions, and changes in major local commercial fisheries. A significant trend towards more frequent, and stronger, El Ni&ntilde;o Southern Oscillation events, warmer summer sea surface temperatures in Bass Strait, increased annual catches and catch per unit effort in the Victorian pilchard (<i>Sardinops sagax</i>) fishery and potential increased discarding of fisheries bycatch may account for at least some of the observed increase in the Australasian gannet population. The potential interactive effects of these factors on prey distribution and abundance and consequently on gannet numbers are discussed.<br />

Building an evidence base to practice 2004

The Big Brother Big Sister program obtained funding from the William Buckland Foundation to commission a project that was designed to build an evidence base to gauge the effectiveness of mentoring practice. <br />

Class action

Hannie Rayson followed the success of her play Life After George (2000) with Inheritance. It is a rural family saga set in Victoria's Mallee region where two families, headed by eighty-year-old twin sisters Dibs and Girlie, battle it out for possession of the family farm. The play, directed by Simon Phillips, was performed in March 2003 to capacity audiences at the Melbourne Theatre Company, and then at the Sydney Theatre Company in April-May 2003. Rayson's most recent play, Two Brothers, opened at the Playhouse, Victorian Arts Centre, in April 2005.<br />

Family circumstance and adolescent dietary behaviours

The available information on the contribution of family circumstance to adolescent dietary behaviours is inconsistent. Indicators of family circumstance may impact adolescent behaviours by influencing their daily home environment. This study examined cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between indicators of family circumstance and (i) breakfast skipping and (ii) consumption of snack food, fast food, fruits and vegetables among adolescents. Dietary behaviour was assessed using a web-based survey completed by 1884 adolescents from years 7 and 9 of secondary schools in Victoria, Australia, at baseline and 2 years later. Five indicators of family circumstance (parental marital status, maternal education, maternal employment status, number of brothers and number of sisters) were assessed with a questionnaire completed by parents at baseline only. Logistic regression was used to examine cross-sectional associations between indicators of family circumstance and dietary behaviours. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine associations between indicators of family circumstance and 2-year change in dietary behaviours. Individual indicators of family circumstance were differentially associated with adolescent dietary behaviours. Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations differed for adolescent boys and girls highlighting the importance of assessing specific dietary behaviours and food types individually by gender. This study highlights the complexity of the relationships between family circumstance and adolescent dietary behaviours. Future research needs to assess the efficacy of strategies promoting maternal nutritional knowledge on the dietary behaviours of adolescents.<br />

Risk of prostate cancer associated with a family history in an era of rapid increase in prostate cancer diagnosis (Australia)

OBJECTIVE: We conducted a case-control study of prostate cancer and familial risk of the disease in Australia between 1994 and 1998, a period during which the incidence of prostate cancer increased dramatically with widespread use of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing. METHODS: 1475 cases and 1405 controls were asked about prostate cancer in their first-degree relatives. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated using logistic regression. RESULTS: Cases were more likely to report a family history of prostate cancer than controls (OR 3.0; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.3-3.9) and cases reporting an affected relative were younger (58.8 versus 60.9 years, p &lt; 0.0001). The OR for an affected first-degree relative increased with increasing number of affected relatives and decreased with increasing age of the case. The OR for more than one affected first-degree relative was 6.9 (95% CI 2.7-18). The OR for an affected brother was 3.9 (95% CI 2.5-6.1) and for an affected father was 2.9 (95% CI 2.1-3.9) but these were not significantly different (p = 0.2). When analyses were repeated including only diagnoses made in relatives prior to 1992, the risks were generally similar except that the OR for an affected brother decreased to 3.1 (95% CI 1.2-3.9). When only relatives' diagnoses made after 1991 were included results were again similar to those for all relatives, although the effect for brothers was greater and the attenuation with age at diagnosis dissipated. CONCLUSIONS: The recent introduction of PSA testing that has resulted in a greater prevalence of apparent prostate cancer, does not appear to have substantially altered familial risks of disease, although effects associated with brothers may be inflated.

Parenting styles, family structure and adolescent dietary behaviour

<b>Objective </b>To examine associations between parenting styles, family structure and aspects of adolescent dietary behaviour.<br /><b><br />Design</b> Cross-sectional study.<br /><b><br />Setting </b>Secondary schools in the East Midlands, UK.<br /><br /><b>Subjects </b>Adolescents aged 12&ndash;16 years (n 328, 57 % boys) completed an FFQ assessing their consumption of fruit, vegetables, unhealthy snacks and breakfast. Adolescents provided information on parental and sibling status and completed a seventeen-item instrument measuring the general parenting style dimensions of involvement and strictness, from which four styles were derived: indulgent, neglectful, authoritarian, authoritative.<br /><b><br />Results </b>After controlling for adolescent gender and age, analysis of covariance revealed no significant interactions between parenting style and family structure variables for any of the dietary behaviours assessed. Significant main effects for family structure were observed only for breakfast consumption, with adolescents from dual-parent families (P &lt; 0&middot;01) and those with no brothers (P &lt; 0&middot;05) eating breakfast on more days per week than those from single-parent families and those with one or more brother, respectively. Significant main effects for parenting style were observed for all dietary behaviours apart from vegetable consumption. Adolescents who described their parents as authoritative ate more fruit per day, fewer unhealthy snacks per day, and ate breakfast on more days per week than those who described their parents as neglectful.<br /><b><br />Conclusions </b>The positive associations between authoritative parenting style and adolescent dietary behaviour transcend family structure. Future research should be food-specific and assess the efficacy of strategies promoting the central attributes of an authoritative parenting style on the dietary behaviours of adolescents from a variety of family structures.<br />