'Skeleton budget', 'intranet', 'dole', and other strange Words: Bridging the cultural divide in a multicultural classroom

This paper examines the experiences of two academics who had been international students themselves and currently teaching in multicultural settings at tertiary level, with regards to the issues of the teacher using culture specific slang and idiom with otherwise keen and bright groups of students, in Australia. Using the research method of auto-ethnography, it examines and categorises the themes of issues most often faced by the staff members and students-such as the use of different vocabulary and keywords and the prior knowledge required of both the teacher and the students in reaching a shared understanding or inter-subjectivity. These will be discussed in terms of the various realities experienced by the students coming from a diversity of countries and cultures. The paper discusses how these challenges can be identified and addressed and how to prepare for future situations more effectively and in advance. They will be examined within the contexts of culturally responsive teaching, communication competence, the hidden curriculum, instructional scaffolding, understanding and being open to other cultures and acknowledgement of the richness and relevance of the multicultural students’ varied experiences and social realities, from the point of view of the academic discipline of communication studies.

Androgenic activity of effluent from forty-five municipal waste water treatment plants in Victoria, Australia

It is well known that waste water treatment plant (WWTP) effluents are estrogenic. There has been much less consideration of the androgenic activity of WWTP effluents. To partly address the shortage of information on androgens in Australian WWTP effluents, in August 2006, and again in 2007, we collected discharges from up to 45 Victorian WWTPs (~25% of all WWTPs in Victoria), grouped by treatment process, i.e. activated sludge, extended aeration, and lagoon based treatment, and measured the total estrogenic, androgenic, retinoic acid, and aromatic hydrocarbon hydrogenase activity of the effluents using a hybrid yeast bioassay. This paper will concentrate on the androgenic activity and male hormone concentrations.

Modeling the relationship between budget deficits, money supply and inflation in Fiji

For Fiji, which has been suffering persistent deficits since independence, determining the relationships between inflation, budget deficits, money supply, output, and import prices is essential. We find that inflation, deficits and money supply are cointegrated when inflation is the endogenous variable, and the long-run elasticities confirm that money supply and deficits induce inflation. While there is a short-run, unidirectional causality running from money supply to inflation and a bi-directional causality between money supply and budget deficits, in the long run both money supply and deficits ?Granger-cause? inflation.

Democracy in the making : municipal reforms, civil society, and the Brazilian Workers' Party

Ch. 1. Introduction -- Ch. 2. Change and Continuity: Brazilian Municipal Reforms in Context -- Ch. 3. Itabuna -- Ch. 4. Sao Paulo -- Ch. 5. Porto Alegre -- Ch. 6. 'Genuine' Democracy: Civil Society, the Workers' Party and Beyond.

Cidadania mediada : processos de democratização da política municipal no Brasil

This article discusses the notion that the persistence of “traditional” political practices weakens Brazil’s democracy.Drawing on the cases of three Brazilian municipalities administered by the Workers’ Party (PT), the author examines the space between “traditional” and “modern” and argues that successful democratization does not eradicate practices such as clientelism and patronage, but it tends to incorporate and build on these traditional political elements. Moreover, the article maintains that the democratization of municipal politics is inextricably bound up with the eradication of poverty and the construction of a responsive, state-based social safety net.

Does modifying the household food budget predict changes in the healthfulness of purchasing choices among low- and high-income women?

Food cost has a strong influence on food purchases and given that persons of low income often have more limited budgets, healthier foods may be overlooked in favour of more energy-dense lower-cost options. The aim of this study was to investigate whether modifications to the available household food budget led to changes in the healthfulness of food purchasing choices among women of low and high income. A quasi-experimental design was used which included a sample of 74 women (37 low-income women and 37 high-income women) who were selected on the basis of their household income and sent an itemised shopping list in order to calculate their typical weekly household shopping expenditure. The women were also asked to indicate those foods they would add to their list if they were given an additional 25% of their budget to spend on food and those foods they would remove if they were restricted by 25% of their budget. When asked what foods they would add with a larger household food budget, low-income women chose more foods from the ‘healthier’ categories whereas high-income women chose more foods from the less ‘healthier’ categories. However, making the budgets of low- and high-income women more ‘equivalent’ did not eradicate income differences in overall healthfulness of food purchasing choices. This study highlights the importance of cost when making food purchasing choices among low- and high-income groups. Public health strategies aimed at reducing income inequalities in diet might focus on promoting healthy diets that are low cost.

A note on work-related values, budget emphasis and managers’ organisational commitment

Managers’ work-related values (WRVs) have important implications for designing appropriate management accounting systems (MAS) in organisations. This paper examines the effect of the interaction between managers’ WRV for innovation and budget emphasis (an integral part of MAS) on their organisational commitment. The sample consisted of 109 managers from production, marketing and support departments within Australian manufacturing firms. Hypotheses were tested using both quantitative and qualitative data collected by a questionnaire survey and post-survey interviews. The results indicate that the adoption of low budget emphasis led to high organisational commitment when managers’ WRV for innovation was high, but not when managers’ WRV for innovation was low. The results also indicate that marketing managers held higher WRV for innovation than production managers. The post-survey interviews provide further insight into how a more customer- and competitor-focused subculture of marketing managers and a more technical- and efficiency-focused subculture of production managers may promote the difference in their WRV for innovation, and affect their attitudes towards budget emphasis. The findings of the study have implications for design of performance evaluation systems for managers in functionally differentiated organisations.

The sustainability of Fiji's budget deficit : an econometric analysis

The sustainability of Fiji's budget deficit is examined here within the framework of inter-temporal budget constraint theory, where government revenue is modelled as a function of government expenditure. An error-correction mechanism test for cointegration finds that government revenue and expenditure are cointegrated, which provides some support for the position that Fiji's budget deficit is sustainable in the long run. It is argued that more government expenditure on capital investment will ensure a broader revenue base and reduce the risk of a budget deficit explosion.

Fiji national budget 2003 : building a resilient economy?

This paper examines three key issues arising from the 2003 Fiji National Budget: the emphasis on tourism as a driver for economic growth; a 25 per cent increase in the VAT; and the 7 per cent increase in the sugar tax. The authors argue that, rather than increasing taxes, the government should focus on creating a sound investment climate, including secure access to land, which will benefit the tourism and sugar industries, and look to better collection strategies for the taxes that are already in place.

Accounting problems and issues in cases of municipal boundary changes

Analyses the methodologies and accounting treatments used for the transfer of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses resulting from municipal restructuring in Victoria during the early 1990s. It was found that most municipalities adopted simple or pragmatic methods, whereby fixed assets and associated liabilities were allocated physically avoiding the need for financial valuations.

Drip irrigation of treated municipal effluent in vineyards

Vine-row soil chemical and physical properties were significantly and detrimentally altered by drip irrigation of treated municipal effluent. Hydraulic gradients under the drip-emitter fostered strong chemical gradients and high variability of vine-row soil parameters, complicating soil management. Gypsum improves soil properties without impacting vine production when applied in small quantities.

Assessing body condition and energy budget components by scoring abdominal profiles in free-ranging pink-footed geese Anser brachyrhynchus

An abdominal profile index (API) was developed for pink-footed geese Anser brachyrhynchus as a measure of body condition. On basis of carcass analysis of 56 adult geese with known API prior to collection, we found significant linear relationships between API against body mass, abdominal fat and total energy content. Hence, changes in API reflect net energy intake rates. As an example of the applicability of the calibration, we compared APIs of individually marked geese before and after long migration episodes and estimated the cost of flight at 8.9 kJ/km. In addition we estimated gain rates at three major staging sites along the spring flyway indicating an increase in fueling rates with latitude. Calibration of APIs and energy contents offers new opportunities for field studies of waterfowl energetics.

Reading in brown paper : Beckett's budget and the sensationalist press in interwar Sydney

This article addresses the audience reception of sensationalist newspapers in interwar Australia through a case study of Sydney weekly Beckett's Budget. During a libel trial brought against Beckett's in 1928, readers came to its defence and their testimony reveals overlaps between reading and political allegiances: reading Beckett's equated with voting Labor. While histories of sensationalist media in Australia have rightly emphasised illicit sexuality and public outcry, connections between sensationalism and working-class political movements remain on the margins of academic interest. Responding to the question 'Do you read Beckett's?' readers' evidence at the trial constitutes an audience response and invites debate over the ways gender and class could inform political engagement in the 1920s. Viewing Beckett's Budget outside of 'brown paper' and beyond the sensationalist genre reveals a shift in Australian political culture as party strategists embraced a broader electorate, using Beckett's Budget to tap into the culture and concerns of interwar society.