'Kaikaku’ project management : investigating the Japanese answer to the 90s depression

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the Japanese answer to the 90s depression, both as a case study of what framework has been developed to address new business challenges and value creation in complex, ambiguous and uncertain environment; and in order to expose what are, in our view, the underlying theoretical bases supporting this framework. This theoretical approach, and the resulting lessons learned, is assumed to be helpful to transpose the Japanese experience to other analogical contexts and situations.

Alternatives to the behavioural technicist approaches to study skills

The content and approach of study skills courses are critiqued and alternatives are suggested. It is proposed that an approach providing students with knowledge about the cognitive processes involved in mastering complex material would make the study skills teacher an agent of social change aiming for the enlightenment and emancipation of students and lecturers.

ePortfolios and eGovernment : from technology to the entrepreneurial self

We analyse the electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) in higher education policy and practice. While evangelical accounts of the ePortfolio celebrate its power as a new eLearning technology, we argue that it allows the mutually-reinforcing couple of neoliberalism and the enterprising self to function in ways in which individual difference can be presented, cultured and grown, all the time within a standardised framework which relentlessly polices the limits of the acceptable and unacceptable. We point to the ePortfolio as a practice of (self-) government, arguing that grander policy coalesces out of a halting, experimental set of technological instruments for thinking about how life should be lived.

How Does Information Processing Speed Relate to the Attentional Blink?

Background When observers are asked to identify two targets in rapid sequence, they often suffer profound performance deficits for the second target, even when the spatial location of the targets is known. This attentional blink (AB) is usually attributed to the time required to process a previous target, implying that a link should exist between individual differences in information processing speed and the AB. Methodology/Principal Findings The present work investigated this question by examining the relationship between a rapid automatized naming task typically used to assess information-processing speed and the magnitude of the AB. The results indicated that faster processing actually resulted in a greater AB, but only when targets were presented amongst high similarity distractors. When target-distractor similarity was minimal, processing speed was unrelated to the AB. Conclusions/Significance Our findings indicate that information-processing speed is unrelated to target processing efficiency per se, but rather to individual differences in observers' ability to suppress distractors. This is consistent with evidence that individuals who are able to avoid distraction are more efficient at deploying temporal attention, but argues against a direct link between general processing speed and efficient information selection.

Commentaries and Responses to "The Driver Behaviour Questionnaire as a predictor of accidents: A meta-analysis" [Commentaries lead by Anders af Wahlberg; Responses lead by J.C.F. de Winter]

The following discussion is in response to a 2010 article published in the Journal of Safety Research by J.C.F. de Winter and D. Dodou entitled “The Driver Behaviour Questionnaire as a predictor of accidents: A meta-analysis” (Volume 41, Number 6, pp. 463-470, available on sciencedirect.com). The editors are pleased to provide a forum for this exchange and welcome further comments.

Introductory Chapter to The Economics of Nonprofit Enterprises

Nonprofit organizations present the analyst with a slew of puzzles. To an economist conditioned to think in terms of objectives and constraints, even the mathematical definition of the beast is a problem. What is a nonprofit organization? How does this definition shape the elaboration of objectives and constraints?

ACE research vignette 014 : how does networking contribute to the bottom line? - The value of purpose-driven networking

This series of research vignettes is aimed at sharing current and interesting research findings from our team and other international researchers. In this vignette, Dr Martie-Louise Verreynne from the University of Queensland Business School summaries the findings from a paper written in conjunction with Sarel Gronum and Tim Kastelle from the UQ Business School that examined if networking really contributes to small firms' bottom line. Their findings show that unless networks are used for productive means, efforts to cultivate and maintain them may be wasteful.

From 'Neighbours' to 'Packed to the Rafters': accounting for longevity in the evolution of Aussie soaps

If there is one television programming staple for which Australian television drama is known internationally, it is the long-running television soap, with Neighbours (originally produced by Grundy in 1985) lauded as 'the most outstanding example of Australian series export' (Cunningham and Jacka, 1996). Twenty-five years on, this program still airs on domestic and international TV schedules five days a week, despite waning popularity with local Australian audiences. Considering past interest in the success and longevity of this soap, it is apposite to look again at the continuing progress of Neighbours foremost as a global brand. In comparison, Packed to the Rafters is treated here as a contemporary version of familiar Aussie themes related to everyday middle-class suburbia, populated with blue skies and feel-good characters expressing wholesome family values, but with a stylistic innovation defined here as domestic realism. As part of the production ecology of the late 2000s, Packed to the Rafters demonstrates the considerable role for local drama productions as loss leaders and flagship programming for commercial free-to-air networks up against an increasingly difficult domestic market.

Insights to the Clarification of Sugar Cane Juice Expressed from Sugar Cane Stalk and Trash

Processing of juice expressed from green sugar cane containing all the trash (i.e., tops and leaves, the nonstalk component) of the sugar cane plant during sugar manufacture has been reported to lead to poor clarified juice (CJ) quality. Studies of different liming techniques have been conducted to identify which liming technique gives the best clarification performance from juice expressed from green cane containing half of all trash extracted (GE). Results have shown that lime saccharate addition to juice at 76 °C either continuous or batchwise gives satisfactory settling rates of calcium phosphate flocs(50−70 cm/min) and CJ with low turbidity and minimal amounts of mineral constituents. Surprisingly, the addition of phosphoric acid (≤300 mg/kg as P2O5), prior to liming to reduce juice turbidity (≤80%), increased the Mg (≤101%) and Si(≤148%) contents particularly for clarified GE juices. The increase was not proportional with increasing phosphoric acid dose. The nature of the flocs formed, including the zeta potential of the particles by the different liming techniques, has been used to account for the differences in clarification performance. Differences between the qualities of the CJ obtained with GE juice and that of burnt cane juices with all trash extracted (BE) have been discussed to provide further insights into GE processing.

Corporate social and environmental responsibility in relation to the agricultural sector and the food supply chain : a Case Study of Waitrose

Waitrose has a strong commitment to organic farming but also uses products from 'conventional' farms. At the production stage, Waitrose own-label products are fully traceable, GM-free and all suppliers undergo a detailed assessment programme based on current best practice. Crop suppliers to Waitrose operate an authenticity programme to certify that each assignment is GM-free and produce is screened for pesticide residues. Waitrose sources conventional crops grown from 'Integrated Crop Management Systems' (ICMS) using best horticultural practices. The 'Assured Product' scheme regulates all UK produce to ICMS standards and these audits are being extended worldwide. Business is withdrawn from suppliers who fail the audit. In relation to this, Waitrose has increased its Fairtrade range as in its view 'Buying these products provides direct additional benefit to workers in the developing countries where they are produced and assists marginal producers by giving them access to markets they would not otherwise have'. Currently, Waitrose is developing its own sustainable timber assessment criteria. For livestock, protocols are in place to ensure that animals are reared under the 'most natural conditions possible' and free range produce is offered where animals have access to open space although some produce is not from free-range animals. Waitrose also use a 'Hazards Analysis Critical Points' system to identify food safety hazards that occur at any stage from production to point of sale and to ensure that full measures are in place to control them. In addition, mechanisms have been implemented to reduce fuel use and hence reduce CO2 emissions in the transport of products and staff, and to increase the energy use efficiency of refrigeration systems which account for approximately 60% of Waitrose energy use.

Get Into Vocational Education (GIVE) Rockhampton Region Pilot Project : Final Report to The John Villiers Trust

This report describes the Get Into Vocational Education (GIVE) pilot project run in the Rockhampton Region at two schools in 2011. The report includes a description of the project, including its aims, budget, and timeline; and the findings in relation to each of the three major objectives of the project, namely (a) build awareness of, interest in, and familiarity with, trades as a future vocation and opportunity for advancement; (b) enhance literacy, numeracy and science knowledge and performance; and (c) provide motivation and engagement to stay on at school and build towards a productive future. The clear findings of the GIVE Rockhampton Region pilot project are that, for students at risk in terms of school attendance, engagement and learning: (1) awareness of trade practices in horticulture, hospitality, retail, and design and engineering, literacy, mathematics and science knowledge, and motivation and engagement all improve and, in most cases, dramatically improve, in the GIVE structure; and (2) the crucial factor in the GIVE structure that gives the improvement is the integration of classroom work with trades experiences and not the classroom and trades experiences themselves (although it is better if these are good).