International rigid contact lens prescribing

Rigid lenses have been fitted less since the introduction of soft lenses nearly 40 years ago. Data that we have gathered from annual contact lens fitting surveys conducted in Australia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK and the USA between 2000 and 2008 facilitate an accurate characterization of the pattern of the decline of rigid lens fitting during the first decade of this century. There is a trend for rigid lenses to be utilized primarily for refitting those patients who are already successful rigid lens wearers—most typically older females being refit with higher Dk materials. Rigid lenses are generally fitted on a full-time basis (four or more days of wear per week) without a planned replacement schedule. Orthokeratology is especially popular in the Netherlands, but is seldom prescribed in the other countries surveyed.

Twenty first century trends in silicone hydrogel contact lens fitting : an international perspective

Silicone hydrogel contact lenses were introduced into the market in 1999. To assess prescribing trends of this lens type since then, up to 1000 survey forms were sent to contact lens fitters in Australia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK and the USA each year between 2000 and 2008. Practitioners were asked to record data relating to the first 10 contact lens fits or refits performed after receiving the survey form. Analysis of returned forms revealed a rapid increase in the prescribing of silicone hydrogel lenses over the survey period. In 2008, silicone hydrogel lenses represented 36% of all soft lenses prescribed. The categorization of the majority of lenses prescribed as ‘refits’ is primarily attributed to the mass conversion of lens wearers from hydrogel to silicone hydrogel lenses. Silicone hydrogels may soon represent the majority of soft contact lenses prescribed.

Demographics of international contact lens prescribing

Knowledge of differences in the demographics of contact lens prescribing between nations, and changes over time, can assist (a) the contact lens industry in developing and promoting various product types in different world regions, and (b) practitioners in understanding their prescribing habits in an international context. Data that we have gathered from annual contact lens fitting surveys conducted in Australia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK and the USA between 2000 and 2008 reveal an ageing demographic, with Japan being the most youthful. The majority of fits are to females, with statistically significant differences between nations, ranging from 62 per cent of fits in Norway to 68 per cent in Japan. The small overall decline in the proportion of new fits, and commensurate increase in refits, over the survey periodmay indicate a growing rate of conversion of lens wearers to more advanced lens types, such as silicone hydrogels. � 2009 British Contact Lens Association.

Advanced Gen-1, 2 and 3 biofuels research in Australia - Fuelling advanced biofuels training for international scientists

Flinders University and Queensland University of Technology, biofuels research interests cover a broad range of activities. Both institutions are seeking to overcome the twin evils of "peak oil" (Hubbert 1949 & 1956) and "global warming" (IPPC 2007, Stern 2006, Alison 2010), through development of Generation 1, 2 and 3 (Gen-1, 2 & 3) biofuels (Clarke 2008, Clarke 2010). This includes development of parallel Chemical Biorefinery, value-added, co-product chemical technologies, which can underpin the commercial viability of the biofuel industry. Whilst there is a focused effort to develop Gen-2 & 3 biofuels, thus avoiding the socially unacceptable use of food based Gen-1 biofuels, it must also be recognized that as yet, no country in the world has produced sustainable Gen-2 & 3 biofuel on a commercial basis. For example, in 2008 the United States used 38 billion litres (3.5% of total fuel use) of Gen-1 biofuel; in 2009/2010 this will be 47.5 billion litres (4.5% of fuel use) and in 2018 this has been estimated to rise to 96 billion litres (9% of total US fuel use). Brazil in 2008 produced 24.5 billion litres of ethanol, representing 37.3% of the world’s ethanol use for fuel and Europe, in 2008, produced 11.7 billion litres of biofuel (primarily as biodiesel). Compare this to Australia’s miserly biofuel production in 2008/2009 of 180 million litres of ethanol and 75 million litres of biodiesel, which is 0.4% of our fuel consumption! (Clarke, Graiver and Habibie 2010) To assist in the development of better biofuels technologies in the Asian developing regions the Australian Government recently awarded the Materials & BioEnergy Group from Flinders University, in partnership with the Queensland University of Technology, an Australian Leadership Award (ALA) Biofuel Fellowship program to train scientists from Indonesia and India about all facets of advanced biofuel technology.

Geekdom for Grrrls health : Australian undergraduate experiences developing and promoting women’s health in cyberspace

There is an increasing global reliance on the Internet for retrieving information on health, illness, and recovery (Sillence et al, 2007; Laurent et al, 2009; Adams, 2010). People suffering from a vast array of illnesses, conditions, and complaints, as well as healthy travelers seeking advice about safe practices abroad, and teens seeking information about safe sexual practices are all now more likely to go to the internet for information than they are to rely solely on a general practitioner or physician (Santor et al, 2007; Moreno et al, 2009; Bartlett et al, 2010). Women in particular seek advice and support online for a number of health-related concerns regarding issues such as puberty, conception, pregnancy, postnatal depression, mothering, breast-cancer recovery, and ageing healthily (van Zutphen, 2008; Raymond et al, 2005). In keeping with this increasing socio-technological trend, the Women’s Health Unit at the Queensland University of Technology (Q.U.T), Brisbane, Australia, introduced the research, design, and development of online information resources for issues affecting the health of Australian women as an assessment item for students in the undergraduate Public Health curriculum. Students were required to research a particular health issue affecting Australian women, including pregnancy, pregnancy terminations, postnatal depression, returning to the work force after having a baby, breast cancer recovery, chronic disease prevention, health and safety for sex-workers, and ageing healthily. Students were required to design and develop websites that supported people living with these conditions, or who were in these situations. The websites were designed for communicating effectively with both women seeking information about their health, and their health practitioners. The pedagogical challenge inherent in this exercise was twofold: firstly, to encourage students to develop the skills to design and maintain software for online health forums; and secondly, to challenge public health students to go beyond generating ‘awareness’ and imparting health information to developing a nuanced understanding of the worlds and perspectives of their audiences, who require supportive networks and options that resonate with their restrictions, capabilities, and dispositions. This latter challenge spanned the realms of research, communication, and aesthetic design. This paper firstly, discusses an increasing reliance on the Internet by women seeking health-related information and the potential health risks and benefits of this trend. Secondly, it applies a post-structural analysis of the de-centred and mobile female self, as online social ‘spaces’ and networks supersede geographical ‘places’ and hierarchies, with implications for democracy, equality, power, and ultimately women’s health. Thirdly, it depicts the processes (learning reflections) and products (developed websites) created within this Women’s Health Unit by the students. Finally, we review this development in the undergraduate curriculum in terms of the importance of providing students with skills in research, communication, and technology in order to share and implement improved health care and social marketing for women as both recipients and providers of health care in the Internet Age.

Money laundering and FATF compliance by the international community

This paper examines the anti-money laundering systems of Australia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA), the extent to which they have implemented the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, and how compliance with these recommendations is affected by local cultural and economic factors. The paper makes use of FATF evaluation reports to compare the countries’ compliance; it examines some of the underlying cultural considerations and culture-specific ethical issues that affect the extent of compliance, and how cultural and ethical considerations may affect good governance. The findings indicate that the UK and the USA are the most advanced with regards to their compliance with the FATF recommendations and Australia and the UAE less so. The UAE is in particular found to be least compliant. We relate this finding to previous work on how a country’s legal and financial systems develop in line with its religion, culture and socio-economic situation, and examine how such local factors have affected the UAE’s financial and anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) systems. This research will be of interest to policy-makers and government agencies involved in addressing money laundering and its successful detection and prosecution.

The comparison of international and local sustainable assessment tools of landscape design for housing estate developments : case of Bangkok Metropolitan Region, Thailand

Various countries have been introducing sustainable assessment tools for real estate design to produce integrated sustainability components not just for the building, but also the landscape component of the development. This paper aims to present the comparison between international and local assessment tools of landscape design for housing estate developments in Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR), Thailand. The methodologies used are to review, then compare and identify discrepancy indicators among the tools. This paper will examine four international tools; LEED for Neighbourhood Development (LEED – ND) of United State of America (USA), EnviroDevelopment standards of Australia, Residential Landscape Sustainability of United Kingdom (UK) and Green Mark for Infrastructure of Singapore; and three BMR’s existing tools; Land Subdivision Act B.E. 2543, Environmental Impact Assessment Monitoring Awards (EIA-MA) and Thai’s Rating for Energy and Environmental Sustainability of New construction and major renovation (TREES-NC). The findings show that there are twenty two elements of three categories which are neighbourhood design, community management, and environmental condition. Moreover, only one element in neighbourhood designs different between the international and local tools. The sustainable assessment tools have existed in BMR but they are not complete in only one assessment tool. Thus, the development of new comprehensive assessment tool will be necessary in BMR; however, it should meet the specific environment and climate condition for housing estate development at BMR.

Online service delivery models : an international comparison in the public sector

Governments around the world are facing the challenge of responding to increased expectations by their customers with regard to public service delivery. Citizens, for example, expect governments to provide better and more efficient electronic services on the Web in an integrated way. Online portals have become the approach of choice in online service delivery to meet these requirements and become more customer-focussed. This study describes and analyses existing variants of online service delivery models based upon an empirical study and provides valuable insights for researchers and practitioners in government. For this study, we have conducted interviews with senior management representatives from five international governments. Based on our findings, we distinguish three different classes of service delivery models. We describe and characterise each of these models in detail and provide an in-depth discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches.

Self-service technology and the moderating effects of consumer characteristics

The incidence of self-service technology, where the consumer delivers the service themselves using technology, is increasing in the service encounter. One area that is under-explored is the potential impact of self-service technology on consumer satisfaction and affective commitment. Accordingly, this paper presents an empirical study that investigates the relative impact of self-service technology on consumer satisfaction (both overall and transaction-specific) and affective commitment, accounting for the moderating effects of consumer characteristics. The results highlight the importance of personal service for evaluations of satisfaction and commitment, and the importance of social competency as a moderator in this relationship. An understanding of these consumer perceptions will allow organisations to develop strategies to deliver the services expected by their consumers, improving consumer satisfaction and commitment.

Creating Active Futures : Edited Proceedings of the 26th ACHPER International Conference

Physical inactivity has become a major cause of the global increase in non-communicable disease (World Health Organisation, 2009}. In 2008, the World Economic Forum called for employers to be proactive in the prevention of non-communicable diseases in the workforce. A significant contributor to the development of a healthy workforce is a reliable pool of employees who are receptive to and aware of healthy lifestyle practices even before becoming employed. Health and Physical Education (HPE) is often stereotyped as 'doing sport'. However, if HPE is to play a part in the development of a healthy workforce, then the HPE learning environment must be about creating meaningful learning for all, which is clearly more than the creation of elite athletes. The ultimate aim of health and physical educators must be about 1) developing lifelong and habitual physical activity; 2) developing generic physical skills; 3) inspiring holistic and positive emotional attitudes and 4) instilling a focus on evidence based knowledge as a framework for inspiring active citizenship. As a response to the worldwide move to the development of healthier people, Australia currently has a strong momentum for an expanded and more unified role for HPE within a potential National curriculum. Other countries have engaged in such a process and much can be learned from their experiences of the process. The 2009 Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER) conference was a landmark conference that included an International group of experts from all continents and twenty three countries. Creating Active Futures: Edited Proceedings of the 26th ACHPER International Conference is an amalgamation of research and professional perspectives presented at the conference. The papers in this volume emerged from those presented for peer review, rather than through seeking specific articles. This volume is divided into sections based on the five conference themes: 1) Issues in Health and Physical Education (HPE) Pedagogy; 2) Practical Application of Science in HPE; 3) Lifestyle Enhancement; 4) Developing Sporting Excellence; 5) Contemporary Games Teaching. The 'Issues in HPE Pedagogy' section provides a diverse set of perspectives on teaching HPE with papers from a range of topics that include first aid, philosophy, access, cultural characteristics, methods and teaching styles, curriculum, qualifications and emotional development. The second section links science to teaching HPE and provides a range of valuable information on injury prevention, information technology, personality and skill development. Section 3 is a collection of writings and research about Lifestyle Enhancement. Topics include the important role of adventure, the natural world, curriculum, migrant viewpoints, beliefs and globally focused programs in the development of active citizens. The section on sporting excellence contains papers that undertake to explain an aspect of excellence in sport. The last section of this volume highlights some contemporary views on teaching games.

Comparative communication research : Australian and New Zealand communication research in an international context

This paper raises the question of whether comparative national models of communications research can be developed, along the lines of Hallin and Mancini’s (2004) analysis of comparative media policy, or the work of Perraton and Clift (2004) on comparative national capitalisms. Taking consideration of communications research in Australia and New Zealand as its starting point, the paper will consider what are relevant variables in shaping an “intellectual milieu” for communications research in these countries, as compared to those of Europe, North America and Asia. Some possibly relevant variables include: • Type of media system (e.g. how significant is public service media?); • Political culture (e.g. are there significant left-of-centre political parties?); • Dominant intellectual traditions; • Level and types of research funding; • Overall structure of higher education system, and where communications sits within it. In considering whether such an exercise can or should be undertaken, we can also evaluate, as Hallin and Mancini do, the significance of potentially homogenizing forces. These would include globalization, new media technologies, and the rise of a global “audit culture”. The paper will raise these issues as questions that emerge as we consider, as Curran and Park (2000) and Thussu (2009) have proposed, what a “de-Westernized” media and communications research paradigm may look like.