Footprints to pathways : reconciliation action planning in industry to sustain Indigenous employment in Queensland

This paper provides an introductory discussion to a study focusing on industry Reconciliation Action Plans (RAP) and sustaining Indigenous employment in Queensland. Indigenous people continue to experience deep and persistent disadvantage in employment, which limits their life prospects (McLachlan, Gilgillan & Gordon, 2013). A major contributing factor to this detriment is irregular employment and or unemployment. A reasonable standard of living has been found to be determined by access to economic resources such as income and wealth. Denial of this access, denies access to income streams, social status, and engagement in meaningful activities. Hence, job loss and joblessness are triggers of disadvantage (McLachlan, et al., 2013). For young Indigenous people, lack of access has lasting effects particularly if they have multiple characteristics that place them at risk of disadvantage. The project aims to develop knowledge and understanding of Industry RAPs mediate employment opportunities for Indigenous people and how young Indigenous people conceive of their employment options and the processes by which employers can best support Indigenous people. It adopts two theoretical frameworks to investigate the aim of the study : (1) Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theory of communities of practice and, (2) Sen’s (1993) capability approach which provides a structure for examining individual well-being in the context of societal inequality. This paper discusses the first research question of the study: What are Industry Reconciliation Action Plans? What is included in RAPs? Why do Industries develop RAPs? How do RAPs attract, recruit, retain, and tenure Indigenous people? The project’s significance rests with its focus on Industry, employers, policies and practices that aid the attraction and retention of Indigenous people in employment.

Theory-based self-management programs for promoting recovery in community-dwelling stroke survivors : a systematic review

Background Post-stroke recovery is demanding. Increasing studies have examined the effectiveness of self-management programs for stroke survivors. However no systematic review has been conducted to summarize the effectiveness of theory-based stroke self-management programs. Objectives The aim is to present the best available research evidence about effectiveness of theory-based self-management programs on community-dwelling stroke survivors’ recovery. Inclusion criteria Types of participants All community-residing adults aged 18 years or above, and had a clinical diagnosis of stroke. Types of interventions Studies which examined effectiveness of a self-management program underpinned by a theoretical or conceptual framework for community-dwelling stroke survivors. Types of studies Randomized controlled trials. Types of outcomes Primary outcomes included health-related quality of life and self-management behaviors. Secondary outcomes included physical (activities of daily living), psychological (self-efficacy, depressive symptoms), and social outcomes (community reintegration, perceived social support). Search Strategy A three-step approach was adopted to identify all relevant published and unpublished studies in English or Chinese. Methodological quality The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist for experimental studies. Data Collection A standardized JBI data extraction form was used. There was no disagreement between the two reviewers on the data extraction results. Data Synthesis There were incomplete details about the number of participants and the results in two studies, which makes it impossible to perform meta-analysis. A narrative summary of the effectiveness of stroke self-management programs is presented. Results Three studies were included. The key issues of concern in methodological quality included insufficient information about random assignment, allocation concealment, reliability and validity of the measuring instruments, absence of intention-to-treat analysis, and small sample sizes. The three programs were designed based on the Stanford Chronic Disease Self-management program and were underpinned by the principles of self-efficacy. One study showed improvement in the intervention group in family and social roles three months after program completion, and work productivity at six months as measured by the Stroke Specific Quality of Life Scale (SSQOL). The intervention group also had an increased mean self-efficacy score in communicating with physicians six months after program completion. The mean changes from baseline in these variables were significantly different from the control group. No significant difference was found in time spent in aerobic exercise between the intervention and control groups at three and six months after program completion. Another study, using SSQOL, showed a significant interaction effect by treatment and time on family roles, fine motor tasks, self-care, and work productivity. However there was no significant interaction by treatment and time on self-efficacy. The third study showed improvement in quality of life, community participation, and depressive symptoms among the participants receiving the stroke self-management program, Stanford Chronic Disease Self-management program, or usual care six months after program completion. However, there was no significant difference between the groups. Conclusions There is inconclusive evidence about the effectiveness of theory-based stroke self-management programs on community-dwelling stroke survivors’ recovery. However the preliminary evidence suggests potential benefits in improving stroke survivors’ quality of life and self-efficacy.

Forging the synergy between anticipation and innovation : the futures action model

This paper presents the theory and practice of the Futures Action Model (FAM). FAM has been in development for over a decade, in a number of contexts and iterations. It is a creative methodology that uses a variety of concepts and tools to guide participants through the conception and modeling of enterprises, services, social innovations and projects in the context of emerging futures. It is used to generate strategic options that people can utilise to build opportunities for value creation as they move into the future. This paper details examples in its development, and provides theoretical and practical guidelines for educators and business facilitators to use the FAM system in their own workplaces.

Did you see that? Dissociating advanced visual information and ball flight constrains perception and action processes during one-handed catching

The integration of separate, yet complimentary, cortical pathways appears to play a role in visual perception and action when intercepting objects. The ventral system is responsible for object recognition and identification, while the dorsal system facilitates continuous regulation of action. This dual-system model implies that empirically manipulating different visual information sources during performance of an interceptive action might lead to the emergence of distinct gaze and movement pattern profiles. To test this idea, we recorded hand kinematics and eye movements of participants as they attempted to catch balls projected from a novel apparatus that synchronised or de-synchronised accompanying video images of a throwing action and ball trajectory. Results revealed that ball catching performance was less successful when patterns of hand movements and gaze behaviours were constrained by the absence of advanced perceptual information from the thrower's actions. Under these task constraints, participants began tracking the ball later, followed less of its trajectory, and adapted their actions by initiating movements later and moving the hand faster. There were no performance differences when the throwing action image and ball speed were synchronised or de-synchronised since hand movements were closely linked to information from ball trajectory. Results are interpreted relative to the two-visual system hypothesis, demonstrating that accurate interception requires integration of advanced visual information from kinematics of the throwing action and from ball flight trajectory.

Knowledge unlatched : encouraging innovation in academic publishing through collective action and Open Access licensing

This case study examines the way in which Knowledge Unlatched is combining collective action and open access licenses to encourage innovation in markets for specialist academic books. Knowledge Unlatched is a not for profit organisation that has been established to help a global community of libraries coordinate their book purchasing activities more effectively and, in so doing, to ensure that books librarians select for their own collections become available for free for anyone in the world to read. The Knowledge Unlatched model is an attempt to re-coordinate a market in order to facilitate a transition to digitally appropriate publishing models that include open access. It offers librarians an opportunity to facilitate the open access publication of books that their own readers would value access to. It provides publishers with a stable income stream on titles selected by libraries, as well as an ability to continue selling books to a wider market on their own terms. Knowledge Unlatched provides a rich case study for researchers and practitioners interested in understanding how innovations in procurement practices can be used to stimulate more effective, equitable markets for socially valuable products.

The mirror manoeuvre : telling the same story twice

The emerging field of ecopsychology is marked by two theoretical concerns which can be seen as mirror images of each other. One is the concern with what humans need, psychologically, from the non-human natural world (e.g. Wolsko & Lindberg 2013). The other is what nature needs from us (e.g. Swim 2013). Ecocriticism has been exploring these questions for at least two decades, but ecocritical theory examines ways of reading texts rather than ways of writing them (Bate 2000; Buell 2001; Garrard 2012). Undertaking theoretically-informed “creative manoeuvres”, and reflecting and reporting on the results, is one way for practice-led researchers in the field of creative writing to progress the knowledge claims of our discipline. This paper describes an ecowriting practice experiment based on the premise that specific techniques of narrative fiction writing can deepen reader engagement with ecopsychology’s twin concerns, and help motivate ecological action. Exploring this premise is time-critical given the current environmental crisis (Rust & Totton 2012), and emerging evidence that contemporary modes of representing the non-human natural world fail to elicit activist responses (Crompton & Kasser 2009; Joffe 2008). In the practice experiment reported here, a unique reading experience has been constructed such that the reader encounters from two different perspectives, through two different novels, a single story of humans benefiting from non-destructive interactions with non-human nature. This paper argues that the two novels create a complex and intense relationship between reader and story which generates specific psychological effects, and ultimately demands an activist response.

UV Photodissociation Action Spectroscopy of Haloanilinium Ions in a Linear Quadrupole Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer

UV-vis photodissociation action spectroscopy is becoming increasingly prevalent because of advances in, and commercial availability of, ion trapping technologies and tunable laser sources. This study outlines in detail an instrumental arrangement, combining a commercial ion-trap mass spectrometer and tunable nanosecond pulsed laser source, for performing fully automated photodissociation action spectroscopy on gas-phase ions. The components of the instrumentation are outlined, including the optical and electronic interfacing, in addition to the control software for automating the experiment and performing online analysis of the spectra. To demonstrate the utility of this ensemble, the photodissociation action spectra of 4-chloroanilinium, 4-bromoanilinium, and 4-iodoanilinium cations are presented and discussed. Multiple photoproducts are detected in each case and the photoproduct yields are followed as a function of laser wavelength. It is shown that the wavelength-dependent partitioning of the halide loss, H loss, and NH3 loss channels can be broadly rationalized in terms of the relative carbon-halide bond dissociation energies and processes of energy redistribution. The photodissociation action spectrum of (phenyl)Ag-2 (+) is compared with a literature spectrum as a further benchmark.

Ultraviolet Photodissociation of the N-Methylpyridinium Ion: Action Spectroscopy and Product Characterization

The ultraviolet photodissociation of gas-phase N-methylpyridinium ions is studied at room temperature using laser photodissociation mass spectrometry and structurally diagnostic ion-molecule reaction kinetics. The C5H5N-CH3+ (m/z 94), C5H5N-CD3+ (m/z 97), and C5D5N-CH3+(m/z 99) isotopologues are investigated, and it is shown that the N-methylpyridinium ion photodissociates by the loss of methane in the 36 000 - 43 000 cm(-1) (280 - 230 nm) region. The dissociation likely occurs on the ground state surface following internal conversion from the SI state. For each isotopologue, by monitoring the photofragmentation yield as a function of photon wavenumber, a broad vibronically featured band is recorded with origin (0-0) transitions assigned at 38 130, 38 140 and 38 320 cm(-1) for C5H5N-CH3+ C5H5N-CD3+ and C5D5N-CH3+, respectively. With the aid of quantum chemical calculations (CASSCF(6,6)/aug-cc-pVDZ), most of the observed vibronic detail is assigned to two in-plane ring deformation modes. Finally, using ion-molecule reactions, the methane coproduct at m/z 78 is confirmed as a 2-pyridinylium ion.

Ultraviolet action spectroscopy of iodine labeled peptides and proteins in the gas phase

Structural investigations of large biomolecules in the gas phase are challenging. Herein, it is reported that action spectroscopy taking advantage of facile carbon-iodine bond dissociation can be used to examine the structures of large molecules, including whole proteins. Iodotyrosine serves as the active chromophore, which yields distinctive spectra depending on the solvation of the side chain by the remainder of the molecule. Isolation of the chromophore yields a double featured peak at ∼290 nm, which becomes a single peak with increasing solvation. Deprotonation of the side chain also leads to reduced apparent intensity and broadening of the action spectrum. The method can be successfully applied to both negatively and positively charged ions in various charge states, although electron detachment becomes a competitive channel for multiply charged anions. In all other cases, loss of iodine is by far the dominant channel which leads to high sensitivity and simple data analysis. The action spectra for iodotyrosine, the iodinated peptides KGYDAKA, DAYLDAG, and the small protein ubiquitin are reported in various charge states. © 2012 American Chemical Society.

Knowledge transfer through dual degree programs : perspectives from Indonesian universities

The thesis provides an Indonesian perspective into the rationales and outcomes of cooperation between Indonesian and Australian universities. It demonstrates that Indonesian universities participating in this study have actively pursued their institutional agenda to bring benefits from the cooperation with the international partners and engaged in knowledge transfer with these partners to develop their capacity. It particularly investigates the knowledge transfer processes between Indonesian and Australian universities through dual degree program partnerships.

Security metrics for Java bytecode programs

Although there are many approaches for developing secure programs, they are not necessarily helpful for evaluating the security of a pre-existing program. Software metrics promise an easy way of comparing the relative security of two programs or assessing the security impact of modifications to an existing one. Most studies in this area focus on high level source code but this approach fails to take compiler-specific code generation into account. In this work we describe a set of object-oriented Java bytecode security metrics which are capable of assessing the security of a compiled program from the point of view of potential information flow. These metrics can be used to compare the security of programs or assess the effect of program modifications on security using a tool which we have developed to automatically measure the security of a given Java bytecode program in terms of the accessibility of distinguished ‘classified’ attributes.

The importance of understanding student learning styles in accounting degree programs

Accounting education is critical and any improvements in tertiary education of accounting students should result in better prepared graduates entering the profession. This study evaluates accounting students’ learning styles and the interaction of learning styles and teaching methodologies during degree programmes. Nine classes of accounting students (648 students) spread across four years and two degree programmes were evaluated. Students self-evaluated their learning style, pre-instruction. They were then subject to two separate teaching techniques (one active and one passive) in each course. Learning styles were then re-assessed and teaching techniques evaluated. Accounting students displayed a preference for passive learning, even those far advanced in their degrees. Furthermore, when learning styles matched teaching methods used, usefulness was assessed as high but when learning styles and teaching methods differed, usefulness deteriorated. Overall, the teaching methods were deemed more effective by active rather than passive learners. The implications are significant. To maximise educational benefit for the accounting profession, student learning styles should be assessed before designing appropriate teaching methodologies. This has resource implications which would have to be considered.

Editorial : Action research, action learning and community services

This edition of ALARj has a focus on the contribution of action learning and action research to the development of community services, particularly nonprofits. The landscape of community services has been changing rapidly in recent decades, and can be typified by the notion of complexity. Complexity in the nature of issues that services seek to respond to, complexity in the policy environment and systems of support that have tended to silo and compartmentalise problems and people, and complexity in the institutional location non-profit services occupy in ‘helping’ those who are seen as ‘in need’ or marginalised. In addition to being typified by complexity the environment in which community services are located is dynamic, undergoing profound and ongoing change as neo-liberal approaches to understanding and responding to human need, which emphasise the individualisation of risk, and market principles such as choice, competition and innovation, drive social policy. How can long held values of empowerment, care, inclusivity and benefit to individuals and communities have expression in community services as they grapple with the challenges of being viable and relevant in such a dynamically changing environment? This edition brings together a range of contributions which speak to these challenges. The thematic through these is that processes are needed which engage services and communities in ongoing processes of inquiry about how they can best proceed in contexts typified by complexity and change. Action learning and action research can provide processes of this character.

Higher Education and Sustainable Development : A Model for Curriculum Renewal

Responding to the global and unprecedented challenge of capacity building for twenty-first century life, this book is a practical guide for tertiary education institutions to quickly and effectively renew the curriculum towards education for sustainable development. The book begins by exploring why curriculum change has been so slow. It then describes a model for rapid curriculum renewal, highlighting the important roles of setting timeframes, formal and informal leadership, and key components and action strategies. The second part of the book provides detailed coverage of six core elements that have been trialled and peer reviewed by institutions around the world: - raising awareness among staff and students - mapping graduate attributes - auditing the curriculum - developing niche degrees, flagship courses and fully integrated programs - engaging and catalysing community and student markets - integrating curriculum with green campus operations. With input from more than seventy academics and grounded in engineering education experiences, this book will provide academic staff with tools and insights to rapidly align program offerings with the needs of present and future generations of students.