Are we there yet? Early years reform in Queensland : stakeholder perspectives on the introduction of funded preschool programs in long day care services

Australian educators are currently engaging with wide-ranging, national early childhood reform that is reshaping early childhood education and care. The Australian reform agenda reflects many of the early childhood policy directions championed by bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations Children's Education Fund, and is based on the dual discourse of (i) starting strong and (ii) investing in the early years. However, despite its traction in policy rhetoric and policy there is little empirical evidence of how reform is being played out. This paper reports on research undertaken in collaboration with the Queensland Office for Early Childhood Education and Care to generate sector feedback on one element of the reform agenda, the implementation of universal preschool in Queensland. The study aimed to determine the efficacy of the new policy in supporting the provision of 'approved preschool programs' within long day care services. Drawing together the views and experiences of a range of stakeholders, including peak organisations, service providers, directors, preschool teachers and government policy officers, it provides a situated case study of the implementation of universal preschool, and offers empirical evidence of how this policy is being played out at the local level. The paper identifies the opportunities and challenges in implementing universal preschool in Queensland that may have bearing on early childhood reform in Australia as well as other countries. Discussion of key findings is set within an overview of the ECEC policy agenda in Australia, with a particular focus on the commitment to universal preschool. Les éducateurs australiens s’engagent présentement dans une vaste réforme nationale de la petite enfance qui remodèle l'éducation et l’accueil de la petite enfance. Le programme de la réforme australienne reflète plusieurs des orientations en politique de la petite enfance soutenues par des organismes comme l'Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques (OCDE) et le Fonds des Nations Unies pour les enfants (UNICEF). Il s’appuie sur le double discours de (i) un bon départ et de (ii) l’investissement dans les premières années. Cependant, en dépit de son attrait en rhétorique de politique et en politique il y a peu de données empiriques sur la façon dont la réforme se déroule. Cet article rend compte de la recherche entreprise en collaboration avec le bureau de l'éducation et l’accueil à la petite enfance du Queensland afin d’obtenir une rétroaction du secteur sur un élément de la réforme, la mise sur pied du préscolaire universel dans le Queensland. L'étude visait à déterminer l'efficacité de la nouvelle politique pour soutenir la disposition «programmes préscolaires approuvés» dans les services de garde à temps plein. En regroupant les perspectives et les expériences d'une gamme d’intervenants, y compris d’importantes organisations, des prestataires de service, des directeurs, des enseignants du préscolaire et des fonctionnaires de politique gouvernementale, elle constitue une étude de cas localisée de l'exécution la mise sur pied du préscolaire universel, et fournit des données empiriques sur la façon dont cette politique se met en place au niveau local. L’article identifie les opportunités et les défis liés à l’implantation du préscolaire universel au Queensland, qui pourraient avoir une portée sur la réforme de petite enfance en Australie ainsi que dans d'autres pays. La discussion des principaux résultats est faite en lien avec un aperçu global de la politique d'éducation et d’accueil de la petite enfance en Australie, avec un accent particulier sur l'engagement envers le préscolaire universel. Los educadores australianos actualmente están involucrados en una amplia reforma de la educación temprana nacional que está revolucionando la educación preescolar y los servicios de cuidado. El programa de reforma Australiana refleja muchas de las direcciones políticas relacionadas con la infancia temprana incitadas por organismos como la Organización de Cooperación y Desarrollo Económicos y el Fondo Educacional Infantil de las Naciones Unidas, y se basa en el doble discurso de (i) empezando fuertemente e (ii) invertir en los primeros años. Sin embargo, a pesar de su política de tracción en retórica y política, hay pocos datos empíricos de cómo la reforma se está llevando a cabo. Este documento informa sobre las investigaciones llevadas a cabo en colaboración con la Oficina de Queensland de Educación tempana y cuidados, para generar comentarios del sector, sobre uno de los elementos de la agenda de reforma, la aplicación del preescolar universal en Queensland. El estudio tiene como objetivo determinar la eficacia de la nueva política para apoyar la prestación de "programas preescolares aprovados" dentro se los servicios de guardería y cuidado. Reuniendo los puntos de vista y las experiencias de una serie de interesados, entre ellos algunas organizaciones cumbre, proveedores de servicios, los directores, los maestros preescolares y oficiales de política y gobierno, se logra un estudio simulado de la implementación del preescolar universal, y ofrece evidencia empírica de cómo esta política se está llevando a cabo en el plano local. El documento identifica las oportunidades y desafíos en la implementación del preescolar universal en Queensland, que puede repercutir en la reforma de la indancia temprana en Australia, así como en otros países. La discusión de los resultados claves se encuentra en el interior de una visión de la agenda política de ECEC en Australia, con un enfoque particular en el compromiso con el preescolar universal.

Development and validation of a ultra performance LC-ESI/MS method for analysis of metabolic phenotypes of healthy men in day and night urine samples

Ultra-performance LC coupled to quadrupole TOF/MS (UPLC-QTOF/MS) in positive and negative ESI was developed and validated to analyze metabolite profiles for urine from healthy men during the day and at night. Data analysis using principal components analysis (PCA) revealed differences between metabolic phenotypes of urine in healthy men during the day and at night. Positive ions with mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) 310.24 (5.35 min), 286.24 (4.74 min) and 310.24 (5.63 min) were elevated in the urine from healthy men at night compared to that during the day. Negative ions elevated in day urine samples of healthy men included m/z 167.02 (0.66 min), 263.12 (2.55 min) and 191.03 (0.73 min), whilst ions m/z 212.01 (4.77 min) were at a lower concentration in urine of healthy men during the day compared to that at night. The ions m/z 212.01 (4.77 min), 191.03 (0.73 min) and 310.24 (5.35 min) preliminarily correspond to indoxyl sulfate, citric acid and N-acetylneuraminic acid, providing further support for an involvement of phenotypic difference in urine of healthy men in day and night samples, which may be associated with notably different activities of gut microbiota, velocity of tricarboxylic acid cycle and activity of sialic acid biosynthesis in healthy men as regulated by circadian rhythm of the mammalian bioclock.

Integrating early childhood teachers into long day care : building respectful relationships

Amongst the current reforms in early childhood in Australia is the requirement for four year university degree-qualified teachers to be employed to provide a kindergarten program for four-year-old children in the year prior to school entry. The possibility for long day care to provide a funded kindergarten program, with an early childhood teacher (ECT) presents a change for the field. With this change come challenges, though also opportunities to think in new and different ways about what long day care and working in long day care might look like.

The Chinese state enterprise sector: Labour market reform and the impact on male–female wage structure

The paper examines the wage structure in the Chinese state enterprise sector between 1981 and 1987. This period is of particular interest given the introduction of major labour market reforms in China during the early 1980s. In essence the reforms represented a movement away from administratively determined prices towards a market–oriented system combined with a relatively flexible system of labour allocation. The Juhn, Murphy and Pierce (1991) decomposition is employed to shed light on the role of changing labour market institutions over the period.

Labour market institutions and the gender wage gap in Britain and Australia, 1973–90

The importance of wage structure is frequently interpreted as indirect evidence of the role played by labour market institutions. The current paper follows in this tradition, examining the role of wage structure in explaining the trend in the gender wage gap over the period 1973–91 for both Australia and the UK. The focus is upon whether changes in wage structure (and associated gender wage gap) both across country and over time are compatible with institutional explanations. Combining comparisons both cross-country and over time yields a more stringent, albeit indirect, test of the role of institutions.

Gender and other determinants of trust and reciprocity in an experimental labour market amongst Chinese students

Due to economic and demographic changes highly educated women play an important role on the Chinese labour market. Gender has been shown to be an important characteristic that influences behaviour in economic experiments, as have, to a lesser degree, academic major, age and income. We provide a study looking at trust and reciprocity and their determinants in a labour market laboratory experiment. Our experimental data is based on two games, the Gift Exchange Game (GEG) and a variant of this game (the Wage Promising Game, WPG) where the employer's wage offer is non-binding and the employer can choose the wage freely after observing the workers effort. We and that women are less trusting and reciprocal than men in the GEG while this cannot be found in the WPG. Letting participants play the GEG and the WPG, allows us to disentangle reciprocal and risk attitudes. While in the employer role, it seems to be that risk attitude is the main factor, this is not confirmed analysing decisions in the worker role.

BoP and MNCs: where is the market and where the source of innovation?

ln 2004 Prahalad made managers aware of the great economic opportunity that the population at the BoP (Base of the Pyramid) could represent for business in the tom of new potential consumers. However, MNCs (Multi-National Corporations) have continued to fail in penetrating low income markets, arguably because applied strategies are often the same adopted at the top of the pyramid. Even in those few cases where products get re-envisioned, theie introduction in contexts of extreme poverty only induces new needs and develops new dependencies. At best the rearrangement of business models by MNCs has meant the realization of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibly) schemes that have validity from a marketing perspective, but still lack the crucial element of social embeddedness (London & Hart, 2004). Today the challenge is lo reach the lowest population tier with reinvented business models based on principles of value co-creation. Starting from a view of the potential consumer at the BoP as a ring of continuity in the value chain process – a resource that can itself produce value - this paper concludes proposing an alternative innovative approach to operate in developing markets that overturns the roles of MNCs and the BoP. The proposed perspective of ‘reversed' source of innovation and primary target market builds on two fundamental tenets: traditional knowledge is rich and greatly unexploded, and markets at the lop of the pyramid are saturated with unnecessary products / practices that have lost contact with the natural environment.

BoP and MNCs: where is the market and where the source of innovation?

ln 2004 Prahalad made managers aware of the great economic opportunity that the population at the BoP (Base of the Pyramid) could represent for business in the tom of new potential consumers. However, MNCs (Multi-National Corporations) have continued to fail in penetrating low income markets, arguably because applied strategies are often the same adopted at the top of the pyramid. Even in those few cases where products get re-envisioned, theie introduction in contexts of extreme poverty only induces new needs and develops new dependencies. At best the rearrangement of business models by MNCs has meant the realization of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibly) schemes that have validity from a marketing perspective, but still lack the crucial element of social embeddedness (London & Hart, 2004). Today the challenge is lo reach the lowest population tier with reinvented business models based on principles of value co-creation. Starting from a view of the potential consumer at the BoP as a ring of continuity in the value chain process – a resource that can itself produce value - this paper concludes proposing an alternative innovative approach to operate in developing markets that overturns the roles of MNCs and the BoP. The proposed perspective of ‘reversed' source of innovation and primary target market builds on two fundamental tenets: traditional knowledge is rich and greatly unexploded, and markets at the lop of the pyramid are saturated with unnecessary products / practices that have lost contact with the natural environment.

Control, shift, insert : living and enacting policy in teachers' day/night work

This thesis investigates the experiences of teachers who trialled an electronic curriculum and assessment tool in the wider context of text-mediated ruling relations organising their work. Problematised as policy and text, this tool is interrogated as a 'solution' to problems perceived in teachers' work in an era of increased accountability. It provides evidence that teachers' work is shaped by forces operating outside their control and mediated by the policy discourses and subjectivities available to them.

Impacts of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technologies on electricity market operations

The Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) concept is based on the newly developed and marketed technologies of hybrid petrol-electric vehicles, most notably represented by the Toyota Prius, in combination with significant structural changes to the world's energy economy, and the growing strain on electricity networks. The work described in this presentation focuses on the market and economic impacts of grid connected vehicles. We investigate price reduction effects and transmission system expansion cost reduction. We modelled a large numbers of plug-in-hybrid vehicle batteries by aggregating them into a virtual pumped-storage power station at the Australian national electricity market's (NEM) region level. The virtual power station concept models a centralised control for dispatching (operating) the aggregated electricity supply/demand capabilities of a large number of vehicles and their batteries. The actual level of output could be controlled by human or automated agents to either charge or discharge from/into the power grid. As previously mentioned the impacts of widespread deployments of this technology are likely to be economic, environmental and physical.

Validating a novel, low cost, automated malnutrition screening system as a predictor of nutritional risk in the Oncology Day Care Unit

Background Cancer-related malnutrition is associated with increased morbidity, poorer tolerance of treatment, decreased quality of life, increased hospital admissions, and increased health care costs (Isenring et al., 2013). This study’s aim was to determine whether a novel, automated screening system was a useful tool for nutrition screening when compared against a full nutrition assessment using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) tool. Methods A single site, observational, cross-sectional study was conducted in an outpatient oncology day care unit within a Queensland tertiary facility, with three hundred outpatients (51.7% male, mean age 58.6 ± 13.3 years). Eligibility criteria: ≥18 years, receiving anticancer treatment, able to provide written consent. Patients completed the Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST). Nutritional status was assessed using the PG-SGA. Data for the automated screening system was extracted from the pharmacy software program Charm. This included body mass index (BMI) and weight records dating back up to six months. Results The prevalence of malnutrition was 17%. Any weight loss over three to six weeks prior to the most recent weight record as identified by the automated screening system relative to malnutrition resulted in 56.52% sensitivity, 35.43% specificity, 13.68% positive predictive value, 81.82% negative predictive value. MST score 2 or greater was a stronger predictor of nutritional risk relative to PG-SGA classified malnutrition (70.59% sensitivity, 69.48% specificity, 32.14% positive predictive value, 92.02% negative predictive value). Conclusions Both the automated screening system and the MST fell short of the accepted professional standard for sensitivity (80%) or specificity (60%) when compared to the PG-SGA. However, although the MST remains a better predictor of malnutrition in this setting, uptake of this tool in the Oncology Day Care Unit remains challenging.

The incidence and predictors of lower limb split skin graft failure and primary closure dehiscence in day case surgical patients

This project was an observational study of outpatients following lower limb surgical procedures for removal of skin cancers. Findings highlight a previously unreported high surgical site failure rate. Results also identified four potential risk factors (increasing age, presence of leg pain, split skin graft and haematoma) which negatively impact on surgical site healing in this population.

A randomised, concentration-controlled, comparison of standard (5-day) vs. prolonged (15-day) infusions of etoposide phosphate in small-cell lung cancer

Purpose: This randomised trial was designed to investigate the activity and toxicity of continuous infusion etoposide phosphate (EP), targeting a plasma etoposide concentration of either 3 μg/ml for five days (5d) or 1 μg/ml for 15 days (15d), in previously untreated SCLC patients with extensive disease. Patients and methods: EP was used as a single agent. Plasma etoposide concentration was monitored on days 2 and 4 in patients receiving 5d EP and on days 2, 5, 8 and 11 in patients receiving 15d EP, with infusion modification to ensure target concentrations were achieved. Treatment was repeated every 21 days for up to six cycles, with a 25% reduction in target concentration in patients with toxicity. Results: The study has closed early after entry of 29 patients (14 with 5d EP, 15 with 15d EP). Objective responses were seen in seven of 12 (58%, confidence interval (CI): 27%-85%) evaluable patients after 5d EP, and two of 14 (14%, CI: 4%42%) evaluable patients after 15d EP (P = 0.038). Grade 3 or 4 neutropenia or leucopenia during the first cycle of treatment was observed in six of 12 patients after 5d EP and 0/14 patients after 15d EP (P = 0.004), with median nadir WBC count of 2.6 x 109/1 after 5d and 5.0 x 109/1 after 15d EP (P = 0.017). Only one of 49 cycles of 15d EP was associated with grade 3 or worse haematological toxicity, compared to 14 of 61 cycles of 5d EP. Conclusions: Although the number of patients entered into this trial was small, the low activity seen at 1 μg/ml in the 15d arm suggests that this concentration is below the therapeutic window in this setting. Further concentration- controlled studies with prolonged EP infusions are required.

Assessing the suitability of market approach valuation methods for mine and quarry valuations

An area of property valuation that has attracted less attention than other property markets over the past 20 years has been the mining and extractive industries. These operations can range from small operators on leased or private land to multinational companies. Although there are a number of national mining standards that indicate the type of valuation methods that can be adopted for this asset class, these standards do not specify how or when these methods are best suited to particular mine operations. The RICS guidance notes and the draft IVSC guidance notes also advise the various valuations methods that can be used to value mining properties; but, again they do not specify what methods should be applied where and when. One of the methods supported by these standards and guidelines is the market approach. This paper will carry out an analysis of all mine, extractive industry and waste disposal sites sale transactions in Queensland Australia, a major world mining centre, to determine if a market valuation approach such as direct comparison is actually suitable for the valuation of a mine or extractive industry. The analysis will cover the period 1984 to 2011 and covers sale transactions for minerals, petroleum and gas, waste disposal sites, clay, sand and stone. Based on this analysis, the suitability of direct comparison for valuation purposes in this property sector will be tested.

Investigating attitudes towards three South American destinations in an emerging long haul market using a model of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE)

Despite the importance of destination image in market competitiveness, and the popularity of the field within tourism literature, there remains a dearth of published research examining travellers’ perceptions of destinations in South America. This manuscript addresses this gap by testing a model of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) associated with three South American countries; Chile, Brazil and Argentina. The introduction of direct air links and a free trade agreement in 2008 has led destination marketing organisations (DMOs) in these countries to increase promotional efforts in the Australian market. This study shows that the CBBE model is an appropriate tool to explore consumers’ attitudes in the long haul travel context. The findings provide DMOs of the three countries studied, with benchmarks against which to compare the impact of future marketing communications in Australia. The results provide increased transparency and accountability to stakeholders, such as South American tourism businesses and Australian travel intermediaries.