Part-time working by students : is it a policy issue, and for whom?

This paper uses data from interviews with representatives of national and state organisations that have a policy interest in student-working in Australia. The interviewees included representatives from employer bodies and trade unions as well as government organisations. The data are used to discuss these stakeholders’ perceptions of the main advantages and disadvantages of working by young full-time students and the ways in which organisations in the business and educational sectors have adapted their policies and practices for student-working. The analysis is then used to inform a discussion about whether this is a legitimate area for public policy formulation and if so, what principles might underpin such policy and what some policies might look like.

Cellular stress triggers the human topoisomerase I damage response independently of DNA damage in a p53 controlled manner

The 'human topoisomerase I (htopoI) damage response' was reported to be triggered by various kinds of DNA lesions. Also, a high and persistent level of htopoI cleavage complexes correlated with apoptosis. In the present study, we demonstrate that DNA damage-independent induction of cell death using colcemid and tumor necrosis factor is also accompanied by a strong htopoI response that correlates with the onset of apoptotic hallmarks. Consequently, these results suggest that htopoI cleavage complex formation may be caused by signaling pathways independent of the kind of cellular stress. Thus, protein interactions or signaling cascades induced by DNA damage or cellular stress might lead to the formation of stabilized cleavage complexes rather than the DNA lesion itself. Finally, we show that p53 not only plays a key role in the regulation of the htopoI response to UV-C irradiation but also to treatment with colcemid.

Overview of complex systems in sport

The complex systems approach offers an opportunity to replace the extant pre-dominant mechanistic view on sport-related phenomena. The emphasis on the environment-system relationship, the applications of complexity principles, and the use of nonlinear dynamics mathematical tools propose a deep change in sport science. Coordination dynamics, ecological dynamics, and network approaches have been successfully applied to the study of different sport-related behaviors, from movement patterns that emerge at different scales constrained by specific sport contexts to game dynamics. Sport benefit from the use of such approaches in the understanding of technical, tactical, or physical conditioning aspects which change their meaning and dilute their frontiers. The creation of new learning and training strategies for teams and individual athletes is a main practical consequence. Some challenges for the future are investigating the influence of key control parameters in the nonlinear behavior of athlete-environment systems and the possible relatedness of the dynamics and constraints acting at different spatio-temporal scales in team sports. Modelling sport-related phenomena can make useful contributions to a better understanding of complex systems and vice-versa.

Science of winning soccer : emergent pattern-forming dynamics in association football

Quantitative analysis is increasingly being used in team sports to better understand performance in these stylized, delineated, complex social systems. Here we provide a first step toward understanding the pattern-forming dynamics that emerge from collective offensive and defensive behavior in team sports. We propose a novel method of analysis that captures how teams occupy sub-areas of the field as the ball changes location. We used the method to analyze a game of association football (soccer) based upon a hypothesis that local player numerical dominance is key to defensive stability and offensive opportunity. We found that the teams consistently allocated more players than their opponents in sub-areas of play closer to their own goal. This is consistent with a predominantly defensive strategy intended to prevent yielding even a single goal. We also find differences between the two teams' strategies: while both adopted the same distribution of defensive, midfield, and attacking players (a 4:3:3 system of play), one team was significantly more effective both in maintaining defensive and offensive numerical dominance for defensive stability and offensive opportunity. That team indeed won the match with an advantage of one goal (2 to 1) but the analysis shows the advantage in play was more pervasive than the single goal victory would indicate. Our focus on the local dynamics of team collective behavior is distinct from the traditional focus on individual player capability. It supports a broader view in which specific player abilities contribute within the context of the dynamics of multiplayer team coordination and coaching strategy. By applying this complex system analysis to association football, we can understand how players' and teams' strategies result in successful and unsuccessful relationships between teammates and opponents in the area of play.

Capturing complex, non-linear team behaviours during competitive football performance

This study investigated changes in the complexity (magnitude and structure of variability) of the collective behaviours of association football teams during competitive performance. Raw positional data from an entire competitive match between two professional teams were obtained with the ProZone® tracking system. Five compound positional variables were used to investigate the collective patterns of performance of each team including: surface area, stretch index, team length, team width, and geometrical centre. Analyses involve the coefficient of variation (%CV) and approximate entropy (ApEn), as well as the linear association between both parameters. Collective measures successfully captured the idiosyncratic behaviours of each team and their variations across the six time periods of the match. Key events such as goals scored and game breaks (such as half time and full time) seemed to influence the collective patterns of performance. While ApEn values significantly decreased during each half, the %CV increased. Teams seem to become more regular and predictable, but with increased magnitudes of variation in their organisational shape over the natural course of a match.

International contact lens prescribing in 2010

For the past nine years, we have described the current state of contact lens fitting worldwide in Contact Lens Spectrum. This year, we report on 24,642 lens fits in 27 markets. As in all previous years, coordinators in each market distributed up to 1,000 paper or electronic survey forms to contact lens practitioners who, in turn, collected information about their next 10 fits. Data were processed and checked in the survey administrative offices in Manchester, United Kingdom and in Waterloo, Canada.

Doing cultural work : local postcard production and place identity in a rural shire

Studies of place construction in the rural studies literature have largely privileged the role of professionals over that of local lay actors. This paper contributes to redressing this imbalance through a critical case-study of lay postcard production in a rural shire. Drawing on original, qualitative research conducted in the Shire of Ravensthorpe, Western Australia, including in-depth interviews with key participants, the analysis focuses on this lay production—undertaken in the main by women—as cultural work. By emphasising the work of making the postcards along with the cultural work these postcards achieve, this examination foregrounds intersections of material and imagined ruralities. In the process, this study highlights the complexity and importance of this lay contribution to place identity, particularly as positioned within what may be considered rural cultural work.

Built to last or meant to end : intertemporal choice in strategic alliance portfolios

A salient but rarely explicitly studied characteristic of interfirm relationships is that they can intentionally be formed for finite periods of time. What determines firms' intertemporal choices between different alliance time horizons? Shadow of the future theorists suggest that when an alliance has an explicitly set short-term time frame, there is an increased risk that partners may behave opportunistically. This does not readily explain the high incidence of time-bound alliances being formed. Reconciling insights from the shadow of the future perspective with nascent research on the flexibility of temporary organizations, and shifting the focus from the level of individual transactions to that of strategic alliance portfolios, we argue that firms may be willing to accept a higher risk of opportunism when there are offsetting gains in strategic flexibility in managing their strategic alliance portfolio. Consequently, we hypothesize that environmental factors that increase the need for strategic flexibility—namely, dynamism and complexity in the environment—are likely to increase the relative share of time-bound alliances in strategic alliance portfolios. Our analysis of longitudinal data on the intertemporal alliance choices of a large sample of small and medium-sized enterprises provides support for this argument. Our findings fill an important gap in theory about time horizons in interfirm relationships and temporary organizations and show the importance of separating planned terminations from duration-based performance measures.

Changes in ocular biometrics and refraction during near work in downward gaze over time

PURPOSE To investigate changes in the characteristics of the corneal optics, total optics, anterior biometrics and axial length of the eye during a near task, in downward gaze, over 10 min. METHODS Ten emmetropes (mean - 0.14 ± 0.24 DS) and 10 myopes (mean - 2.26 ± 1.42 DS) aged from 18 to 30 years were recruited. To measure ocular biometrics and corneal topography in downward gaze, an optical biometer (Lenstar LS900) and a rotating Scheimpflug camera (Pentacam HR) were inclined on a custom built, height and tilt adjustable table. The total optics of the eye were measured in downward gaze with binocular fixation using a modified Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. Initially, subjects performed a distance viewing task at primary gaze for 10 min to provide a "wash-out" period for prior visual tasks. A distance task (watching video at 6 m) in downward gaze (25°) and a near task (watching video on a portable LCD screen with 2.5 D accommodation demand) in primary gaze and 25°downward gaze were then carried out, each for 10 min in a randomized order. During measurements, in dichoptic view, a Maltese cross was fixated with the right (untested) eye and the instrument’s fixation target was fixated with the subject’s tested left eye. Immediately after (0 min), 5 and 10 min from the commencement of each trial, measurements of ocular parameters were acquired in downward gaze. RESULTS Axial length exhibited a significant increase with downward gaze and accommodation over time (p<0.05). The greatest axial elongation was observed in downward gaze with 2.5 D accommodation after 10 min (mean change from baseline 23±3 µm). Downward gaze also caused greater changes in anterior chamber depth (ACD) and lens thickness (LT) with accommodation (ACD mean change -163±12µm at 10 min; LT mean change 173±17 µm at 10 min) compared to primary gaze with accommodation (ACD mean change -138±12µm at 10 min; LT mean change 131±15 µm at 10 min). Both corneal power and total ocular power changed by a small but significant amount with downward gaze (p<0.05), resulting in a myopic shift (~0.10 D) in the spherical power of the eye compared with primary gaze. CONCLUSION The axial length, anterior biometrics and ocular refraction change significantly with accommodation in downward gaze as a function of time. These findings provide new insights into the optical and bio-mechanical changes of the eye during typical near tasks.

Practice and procedure : Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 s56

In Amos v Brisbane City Council [2005] QCA 433 the Queensland Court of Appeal was called upon to determine the scope of s56 of the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002. The decision makes it clear that the section does not provide a complete code governing awards of damages and does not deprive the court of power to award costs against a plaintiff who fails to succeed on liability.

Ion-acoustic surface waves on a dielectric-dusty plasma interface

The theory of ion-acoustic surface wave propagation on the interface between a dusty plasma and a dielectric is presented. Both the constant and variable dust-charge cases are considered. It is found that massive negatively charged dust grains can significantly affect the propagation and damping of the surface waves. Application of the results to surface-wave generated plasmas is discussed. © 1998 IEEE.

Balancing organizational and professional commitments in professional service firms : the HR practices that matter

Due to their potential to positively influence sales quality and performance and reduce employee turnover in service organizations, HR practices targeting employee commitment have received considerable attention in the HRM literature in recent years. Parallel to this, there has been increasing focus on the nature of commitment, and in particular the existence of multiple commitment foci. In this paper, we examine how HR practices influence professionals' commitment to their organization, to their profession or to both organization and profession, in a qualitative study of three Danish financial investment firms. Our findings suggest that in professional service firms, HR practices encourage high levels of organizational commitment primarily and most often through their influence on professional commitment and that HR practices related to flexible work design are essential in creating balance between an employee's commitment to organization and commitment to their profession. Further, the findings suggest that these same HR practices may foster such high levels of professional commitment that labor turnover will increase when opportunities for pursuing professional goals afforded by work design are restricted.

Cutting the Gordian knot of futility : a case for law reform on unilateral withholding and withdrawal of potentially life-sustaining treatment

In this paper, we propose law reform with respect to the unilateral withholding or withdrawal of potentially life-sustaining treatment in Australia and New Zealand. That is, where a doctor withholds or withdraws potentially life-sustaining treatment without consent from a patient or a patient’s substitute decision-maker (where the patient lacks capacity), or authorisation from a court or tribunal, or by operation of a statute or justifiable government or institutional policy. Our proposal is grounded in the core values that do (or should) underpin a regulatory framework on an issue such as this; these values are drawn from existing commitments made by Australia and New Zealand through legislation, the common law, and conventions and treaties. It is also grounded in a critical review of the law on unilateral withholding and withdrawal as well as the legal context within which this issue sits in Australasia. We argue that the current law is inconsistent with the core values and develop a proposal for a legal response to this issue that more closely aligns with the core values it is supposed to serve.

Government procurement contracts and minimum labour standards enforcement: Rhetoric, duplication and distraction?

Government contracts for services typically include terms requiring contractors to comply with minimum labour standards laws. Procurement contract clauses specify reporting procedures and sanctions for non-compliance, implying that government contracting agencies will monitor and enforce minimum labour standards within contract performance management. In this article, the case of school cleaners employed under New South Wales government contracts between 2010 and 2011 is the vehicle for exploring the effectiveness of these protective clauses. We find that the inclusion of these protective clauses in procurement contracts is unnecessary in the Australian context, and any expectations that government contracting agencies will monitor and enforce labour standards are misleading. At best, the clauses are rhetoric, and at worst, they are a distraction for parties with enforcement powers.