Enabling sustainable property practices by ensuring security of tenure

Sustainable property practices will be essential for Australia’s future. The various levels of government offer incentives aimed at encouraging residents to participate in sustainable practices. Many of these programmes however are only accessible by owner occupiers, or landlords and tenants with long term tenancies. Improving security of tenure for tenants, to enable longer term tenancies, would positively impact upon property practices. This article explains what security of tenure is and identifies how a lack of security of tenure adversely impacts property practices. By comparison with Genevan property practices, it concludes by making suggestions as to how security of tenure can be reinforced.

Locally oriented crime prevention and the “partnership approach” : politics, practices and prospects

Why have multi-agency or "partnership" approaches to crime prevention and community safety been reported internationally with unfavorable results? Can groups and individuals from disparate government and non-government sectors work together to reduce or prevent crime? This article will address these and other questions by using developments in Belgium as its case study. In 1992, Belgium launched its "safety and crime prevention contracts", a series of locally based crime prevention initiatives which have attempted to contract federal, regional and local governments to a range of social and police oriented crime prevention endeavors. Traces the development of the Belgian crime prevention contracts and examines the difficulties experienced with "multi-agency crime prevention" and suggests that much of the political rhetoric in Belgium calling for local, community and intersectorial "partnerships" has, like several other countries including England and Wales, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, lacked clear practical expression. However, some promising initiatives indicate that this prevention approach may be capable of producing effective crime prevention and community safety outcomes. Further research is needed to describe these initiatives and analyze the conditions under which they are developed.

Reflections around artefacts : using a deliberative approach to teaching reflective practices in fashion studies

While requiring students to think reflectively is a desirable teaching goal, it is often fraught with complexity and is sometimes poorly implemented in higher education. In this paper, we describe an approach to academic reflective practices that fitted a design subject in fashion education and was perceived as effective in enhancing student learning outcomes. In many design-based disciplines, it is essential to evaluate, through a reflective lens, the quality of tangible design outcomes - referred to here as artefacts. Fashion studio based practice (unlike many other theory based disciplines)requires an artefact to be viewed in order to initiate the reflective process. This reflection is not solely limited to reflective writing; the reflection happens through sight, touch and other non-traditional approaches. Fashion students were asked to reflect before, during and after the development of an artefact. Through a variety of media, a review of the first garment prototype - called a Sample Review - occurred. The reflective practices of students during the Sample Review provided a valuable insight into their own learning, as well as a valid assessment indicator for the lecturer. It also mirrored industry practices for design evaluation. We believe that this deliberative approach, characterised by artefact-prompted reflection, has wide applicability across undergraduate courses in a variety of discipline areas.

Strategic Management Practices in the Construction Industry : a Dynamic Capabilities View

This book is an empirical study of strategic management practices in the construction industry. It examines the dynamic capabilities paradigm within the context of the Indonesian construction industry. The characteristics of asset-capability combinations were found to be significant determinants of the competitive advantage of the Indonesian construction enterprises, and that such advantage sequentially contributes to organizational performance. In doing so, this study fills an important gap in the empirical literature and reinforces the dynamic capabilities framework’s recognition as a rigorous theory of strategic management. As the dynamic capabilities framework can work in the context of Indonesia, it suggests that the framework has potential applicability in other emerging and developing countries

Practices of interactive courseware at Malaysia primary smart school : usage standing and causes attributing

Malaysian teachers are now using interactive courseware in their teaching practices as part of teaching activity in classroom, to teach some subjects such as languages, mathematics, and science. Towards this, there is some debate going on the effectiveness of interactive courseware used in classroom. This paper reports data from interviews conducted with school principals and teachers from six selected primary Smart Schools across Malaysia.The interview conducted is looked on their current school practices and challenges in the implementation of interactive courseware in the classroom. The interview covers several aspects of their school facilities, the causes attributed and their concerns. However, the findings revealed that these six schools generally need more supports in the physical and technical form, in order to utilize the interactive courseware. Initially, the current support from the Malaysian Ministry of Education in physical form has proved that not very helpful. Thus, the respondents suggested that supports should be both: physical and technical. Therefore, this preliminary findings could be used as a pointer to the Malaysian government and other stakeholders to the improvement of interface design for future interactive courseware.

A spatial collision avoidance strategy for UAVs in a non-cooperative environment

This paper presents a feasible spatial collision avoidance approach for fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The proposed strategy aims to achieve the desired relative bearing in the horizontal plane and relative elevation in the vertical plane so that the host aircraft is able to avoid collision with the intruder aircraft in 3D. The host aircraft will follow a desired trajectory in the collision avoidance course and resume the pre-arranged trajectory after collision is avoided. The approaching stopping condition is determined for the host aircraft to trigger an evasion maneuver to avoid collision in terms of measured heading. A switching controller is designed to achieve the spatial collision avoidance strategy. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed approach can effectively avoid spatial collision, making it suitable for integration into flight control systems of UAVs.

Accounting at home in developing economies : Current practices and implications for the accounting professional

We determine the extent of accounting at home in developing economies in this research. We then consider the role of the accounting profession may have in promoting accounting values at home. A language of business, accounting today plays a fundamental support role within the business community to evaluate the impact past decisions, and foresees directions for future initiatives. Sound accounting practices are fundamental to ensure symmetrical information dissemination across various stakeholders. Accounting literature has sought to investigate a number of questions that attempt to improve the practice of accounting in the corporate world. Equally, we must obtain adequate understanding of how we use accounting in our everyday life, and how accounting could assist the people most affected by the effects of accounting scandals, economic conditions, and corporate collapses.

Family literacy practices and home literacy resources : an Australian pilot study

The combined impact of social class, cultural background and experience upon early literacy achievement in the first year of schooling is among the most durable questions in educational research. Links have been established between social class and achievement but literacy involves complex social and cognitive practices that are not necessarily reflected in the connections that have been made. The complexity of relationships between social class, cultural background and experience, and their impact on early literacy achievement have received little research attention. Recent refinements of the broad terms of social class or socioeconomic status have questioned the established links between social class and achievement. Nevertheless, it remains difficult to move beyond deficit and mismatch models of explaining and understanding the underperformance of children from lower socioeconomic and cultural minority groups when conventional measures are used. The data from an Australian pilot study reported here add to the increasing evidence that income is not necessarily related directly to home literacy resources or to how those resources are used. Further, the data show that the level of print resources in the home may not be a good indicator of the level of use of those resources.

Mining work, family and community : a spatially-oriented approach to the impact of the Ravensthorpe nickel mine closure in remote Australia

While changes in work and employment practices in the mining sector have been profound, the literature addressing mining work is somewhat partial as it focuses primarily on the workplace as the key (or only) site of analysis, leaving the relationship between mining work and families and communities under-theorized. This article adopts a spatially oriented, case-study approach to the sudden closure of the Ravensthorpe nickel mine in the south-west of Western Australia to explore the interplay between the new scales and mobilities of labour and capital and work–family–community connections in mining. In the context of the dramatically reconfigured industrial arena of mining work, the study contributes to a theoretical engagement between employment relations and the spatial dimensions of family and community in resource-affected communities.

Evaluation of green public road procurement in Australia : current practices and gaps to fill

Public road authorities have a key responsibility in driving initiatives for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the road construction project lifecycle. A coherent and efficient chain of procurement processes and methods is needed to convert green policies into tangible actions that capture the potential for GHG reduction. Yet, many infrastructure clients lack developed methodologies regarding green procurement practices. Designing more efficient solutions for green procurement requires an evaluation of the current initiatives and stages of development. A mapping of the current GHG reduction initiatives in Australian public road procurement is presented in this paper. The study includes the five largest Australian state road authorities, which cover 94% of the total 817,089 km of Australian main roads (not local) and account for 96% of the total A$13 billion annual major road construction and maintenance expenditure. The state road authorities’ green procurement processes and tools are evaluated based on interviews and a review of documents. Altogether 12 people, comprising 1-3 people of each organisation, participated in the interviews and provided documents. An evaluation matrix was developed for mapping the findings across the lifecycle of road construction project delivery. The results show how Australian state road authorities drive decisions with an impact on GHG emissions on the strategic planning phase, project development phase, and project implementation phase. The road authorities demonstrate varying levels of advancement in their green procurement methodologies. Six major gaps in the current green procurement processes are identified and, respectively, six recommendations for future research and development are suggested. The greatest gaps remain in the project development phase, which has a critical role in fixing the project (GHG reduction) goals, identifying risks and opportunities, and selecting the contractor to deliver the project. Specifically, the role of mass-haul optimisation as a part of GHG minimisation was reviewed, and mass-haul management was found to be an underutilised element with GHG reduction potential.

Were regulatory changes in reporting "abnormal items" justified? : evidence of intra-period classificatory earnings management practices in Australia

Purpose Managers generally have discretion in determining how components of earnings are presented in financial statements in distinguishing between ‘normal’ earnings and items classified as unusual, special, significant, exceptional or abnormal. Prior research has found that such intra-period classificatory choice is used as a form of earnings management. Prior to 2001, Australian accounting standards mandated that unusually large items of revenue and expense be classified as ‘abnormal items’ for financial reporting, but this classification was removed from accounting standards from 2001. This move by the regulators was partly in response to concerns that the abnormal classification was being used opportunistically to manage reported pre-abnormal earnings. This study extends the earnings management literature by examining the reporting of abnormal items for evidence of intra-period classificatory earnings management in the unique Australian setting. Design/methodology/approach This study investigates associations between reporting of abnormal items and incentives in the form of analyst following and the earnings benchmarks of analysts’ forecasts, earnings levels, and earnings changes, for a sample of Australian top-500 firms for the seven-year period from 1994 to 2000. Findings The findings suggest there are systematic differences between firms reporting abnormal items and those with no abnormal items. Results show evidence that, on average, firms shifted expense items from pre-abnormal earnings to bottom line net income through reclassification as abnormal losses. Originality/value These findings suggest that the standard setters were justified in removing the ‘abnormal’ classification from the accounting standard. However, it cannot be assumed that all firms acted opportunistically in the classification of items as abnormal. With the removal of the standardised classification of items outside normal operations as ‘abnormal’, firms lost the opportunity to use such disclosures as a signalling device, with the consequential effect of limiting the scope of effectively communicating information about the nature of items presented in financial reports.

Evaluation of an intervention to promote protective infant feeding practices to prevent childhood obesity : outcomes of the NOURISH RCT at 14 months of age and 6 months post the first of two intervention modules

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a universal obesity prevention intervention, which commenced at infant age 4-6 months, using outcome data assessed 6-months after completion of the first of two intervention modules and 9 months from baseline. DESIGN: Randomised controlled trial of a community-based early feeding intervention. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 698 first-time mothers (mean age 30±5 years) with healthy term infants (51% male) aged 4.3±1.0 months at baseline. Mothers and infants were randomly allocated to self-directed access to usual care or to attend two group education modules, each delivered over three months, that provided anticipatory guidance on early feeding practices. Outcome data reported here were assessed at infant age 13.7±1.3 months. Anthropometrics were expressed as z-scores (WHO reference). Rapid weight gain was defined as change in weight-for-age z-score (WAZ) > +0.67. Maternal feeding practices were assessed via self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: There were no differences according to group allocation on key maternal and infant characteristics. At follow up (n=598 [86%]) the intervention group infants had lower BMIZ (0.42±0.85 vs 0.23±0.93, p=0.009) and infants in the control group were more likely to show rapid weight gain from baseline to follow up (OR=1.5 CI95%1.1-2.1, p=0.014). Mothers in the control group were more likely to report using non- responsive feeding practices that fail to respond to infant satiety cues such as encouraging eating by using food as a reward (15% vs 4%, p=0.001) or using games ( 67% vs 29%, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: These results provide early evidence that anticipatory guidance targeting the ‘when, what and how’ of solid feeding can be effective in changing maternal feeding practices and, at least in the short term, reducing anthropometric indicators of childhood obesity risk. Analyses of outcomes at later ages are required to determine if these promising effects can be sustained.

Environmental factors controlling temporal and spatial variability in the soil-atmosphere exchange of CO2, CH4 and N2O from an Australian subtropical rainforest

The temporal variations in CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes were measured over two consecutive years from February 2007 to March 2009 from a subtropical rainforest in south-eastern Queensland, Australia, using an automated sampling system. A concurrent study using an additional 30 manual chambers examined the spatial variability of emissions distributed across three nearby remnant rainforest sites with similar vegetation and climatic conditions. Interannual variation in fluxes of all gases over the 2 years was minimal, despite large discrepancies in rainfall, whereas a pronounced seasonal variation could only be observed for CO2 fluxes. High infiltration, drainage and subsequent high soil aeration under the rainforest limited N2O loss while promoting substantial CH4 uptake. The average annual N2O loss of 0.5 ± 0.1 kg N2O-N ha−1 over the 2-year measurement period was at the lower end of reported fluxes from rainforest soils. The rainforest soil functioned as a sink for atmospheric CH4 throughout the entire 2-year period, despite periods of substantial rainfall. A clear linear correlation between soil moisture and CH4 uptake was found. Rates of uptake ranged from greater than 15 g CH4-C ha−1 day−1 during extended dry periods to less than 2–5 g CH4-C ha−1 day−1 when soil water content was high. The calculated annual CH4 uptake at the site was 3.65 kg CH4-C ha−1 yr−1. This is amongst the highest reported for rainforest systems, reiterating the ability of aerated subtropical rainforests to act as substantial sinks of CH4. The spatial study showed N2O fluxes almost eight times higher, and CH4 uptake reduced by over one-third, as clay content of the rainforest soil increased from 12% to more than 23%. This demonstrates that for some rainforest ecosystems, soil texture and related water infiltration and drainage capacity constraints may play a more important role in controlling fluxes than either vegetation or seasonal variability

Canadian Crime Control in the New Millennium: The Influence of Neo-conservative U.S. Policies and Practices

An important issue facing Canadians today is crime control and prevention. Research done in the late 1980s and early 1990s by three sociologists shows that Canadian federal criminal justice policies and practices adopted by the Mulroney government from 1984 to 1990 were inconsistent with US ‘law and order’ models in place at that time. However, since the mid‐1990s, Canadian federal and provincial governments have mimicked some US authoritarian and gender‐blind means of curbing crime. The main objective of this paper is to provide some key examples of criminal justice policy transfer from the USA in Canada. At first glance, Canada may appear to be a ‘kinder, gentler nation,’ but not to the extent assumed by many, if not most, outside observers.