Flexible schedules, lower pay and women's "Opportunities" in law

University employment in Australia is experiencing a period of decreased security and compensation. Women tend to have more frequent labour force transitions and respond more to non-employment commitments than do men. Relative to other formal sector employers, universities can offer greater flexibility in work schedules. The law of comparative advantage predicts that universities' flexibility, together with women's labour force characteristics will prompt an expansion of women's employment in universities and in law schools in particular. Changes in employment patterns in Australian law schools confirm to this prediction. Deterioration in employment conditions thus leads to increased female participation in this case.

Performance of murray cod, Maccullochella peelii peelii (Mitchell) in response to different feeding schedules

The Australian freshwater fish Murray cod, Maccullochella peelii peelii (Mitchell) is gaining popularity as a suitable species for intensive culture, particularly in closed systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of Murray cod in response to different feeding schedules. Growth, survival, food conversion and a range of other related parameters including carcass proximate composition were evaluated for fish in five feed management regimes. The feeding regimes used in the experiment were hand fed to satiation twice daily (SAT), a pre-determined ration of 1.2% of the body weight day−1 which was hand fed twice daily (HFR), and belt fed through the day only (B/D), belt fed through the night only (B/N) and belt fed for 24 h (B/DN). Each of the five feeding regimes was randomly allocated to three tanks (triplicates). All of the feeding regimes used a commercially prepared diet formulated specifically for Murray cod, containing ≈50% protein and ≈16% lipid. The experiment was conducted for 84 days. Specific growth rate ranged from 0.89±0.01 to 1.07±0.04% day−1. Food conversion ratio (FCR) ranged from 1.09±0.02 to 0.92±0.03. The fastest growth and greatest final body weight were observed in the SAT treatment; however, the highest FCR, visceral fat index (VFI %) and hepatosomatic index (HSI %) were also observed in this treatment. Significant differences were found in specific growth rate and final mean weight between fish in the B/D and SAT treatments. B/N and B/DN feeding regimes appeared to result in the most favourable fish performance.

Non-standard work schedules and health outcomes in Australia : some evidence from the HILDA Panel

What does the around-the-clock economic activity mean for workers' health? Despite the fact that non-standard work accounts for an increasing share of the job opportunities, relatively little is known about the potential consequences for health and the existing evidence is ambiguous. In this paper I examine the associations between non-standard job schedules and workers' physical and mental health outcomes using longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA). Specifically, the four health indicators considered are self-rated health and the SF-36 health indices for general health, mental health and physical functioning. Overall results generally suggest a negative relationship between non-standard work schedules and better health for both males and females. Regarding the statistical significance and magnitudes of the associations, however, we observe apparent differences between males and females. Among females, most of the coefficients in all models are statistically insignificant, which implies very small magnitudes in terms of the correlation between non-standard working hours and health. These results apply uniformly to all health measures investigated. Among males, on the other hand, the negative relationship is more noticeable for self-rated health, general health and physical functioning than for mental health. The pooled OLS and random effects coefficients are usually larger in magnitude and more significant than the fixed effects parameters. Nonetheless, even the more significant coefficients do not imply large effects in absolute terms.

Development of a novel micro-spray-assembly process for multilayer ultra-thin film formation

A novel micro-spray-assembly process and an automatic device to fabricate multilayer ultra-thin film are introduced. Employing self-assembly monolayer (SAM) technique, ultra-thin film can be assembled by utilizing the micro-spray-assembly device. The thickness and roughness of each monolayer can be controlled by varying various materials attributes, i.e., deposition time, ionic strength, pH value, molecular concentration and by selecting different manufacturing parameters of the automatic device such as spraying rate, size of micro-drop, N₂ flow rate, temperature of N₂ flow.

The consequences of climate-driven stop-over sites changes on migration schedules and fitness of Arctic geese

1. How climatic changes affect migratory birds remains difficult to predict because birds use multiple sites in a highly interdependent manner. A better understanding of how conditions along the flyway affect migration and ultimately fitness is of paramount interest.

2. Therefore, we developed a stochastic dynamic model to generate spatially and temporally explicit predictions of stop-over site use. For each site, we varied energy expenditure, onset of spring, intake rate and day-to-day stochasticity independently. We parameterized the model for the migration of pink-footed goose Anser brachyrhynchus from its wintering grounds in Western Europe to its breeding grounds on Arctic Svalbard.

3. Model results suggested that the birds follow a risk-averse strategy by avoiding sites with comparatively high energy expenditure or stochasticity levels in favour of sites with highly predictable food supply and low expenditure. Furthermore, the onset of spring on the stop-over sites had the most pronounced effect on staging times while intake rates had surprisingly little effect.

4. Subsequently, using empirical data, we tested whether observed changes in the onset of spring along the flyway explain the observed changes in migration schedules of pink-footed geese from 1990 to 2004. Model predictions generally agreed well with empirically observed migration patterns, with geese leaving the wintering grounds earlier while considerably extending their staging times in Norway.

The use of self-assessment schedules in negotiated learning

The paper describes an approach to assessment in which students create a comprehensive and analytical summary of their learning in a given subject. The self-assessment schedule, as it is called, has been used in contexts in which there is an emphasis on self-directed and negotiated learning. Unlike most assessment methods which focus on a relatively few aspects of a subject in some depth, the aim of the self-assessment schedule is to capture and account for a wide range of formal and informal learning. The application of the schedule in postgraduate courses is discussed and the views of staff and students reported.

Survival, oxidative stability, and surface characteristics of spray dried co-microcapsules containing omega-3 fatty acids and probiotic bacteria

The objective of the study was to determine optimum inlet and outlet air temperatures of spray process for producing co-microcapsules containing omega-3 rich tuna oil and probiotic bacteria L. casei. These co-microcapsules were produced using whey protein isolate and gum Arabic complex coacervates as shell materials. Improved bacterial viability and oxidative stability of omega-3 oil were used as two main criteria of this study. Three sets of inlet (130°C, 150°C, and 170°C) and outlet (55°C, 65°C, and 75°C) air temperatures were used in nine combinations to produce powdered co-microcapsule. The viability of L. casei, oxidative stability of omega-3 oil, surface oil, oil microencapsulation efficiency, moisture content, surface elemental composition and morphology of the powdered samples were measured. There is no statistical difference in oxidative stability at two lower inlet air temperatures (130°C and 150°C). However, there was a significant decrease in oxidative stability when higher inlet temperature (170°C) was used. The viability of L. casei decreased with the increase in the inlet and outlet air temperatures. There was no difference in the surface elemental compositions and surface morphology of powdered co-microcapsules produced under these nine inlet/outlet temperature combinations. Of the range of conditions tested the co-microcapsules produced at inlet-outlet temperature 130–65°C showed the highest bacterial viability and oxidative stability of omega-3 and having the moisture content of 4.93 ± 0.05% (w/w). This research shows that powdered co-microcapsules of probiotic bacteria and omega-3 fatty acids with high survival of the former and high stability against oxidation can be produced through spray drying.