Granger causality among house price and macroeconomic variables in Victoria

This study analyses the dynamic causality of four macroeconomic variables on house prices. The four macroeconomic variables have interrelationships with house prices in certain lagged terms, but these relationships are not always the same as the notions put forward in prior research. The relationships are detected to be unstable in the three observation periods. The instability of these relationships would cause difficulty in predicting house prices in the market, especially for policy makers and market participants.

Community reintegration of ex-prisoners : type and degree of change in variables influencing successful reintegration

Community reintegration of ex-prisoners is an important issue in efforts to reduce recidivism. The present study examined the multiple, complex, and dynamic nature of variables influencing successful reintegration by assessing the type and degree of change in reintegration variables over time. Participants were 79 adult prisoners (54 male, 25 female) who completed a prerelease questionnaire 1 month before their release, which focused on prison-related variables, participant background, and anticipated conditions upon release. A postrelease questionnaire was administered to the same participants at 1-4 weeks and 3-4 months postrelease, focusing on the quality of life conditions experienced following release. Results indicate that current health ratings and several indicators of drug use were significantly different over the three measurement phases. Ratings of employment and housing stability, finance, and social support were unchanged over the postrelease period. Theoretical implications of the present investigation for reintegration theory are discussed, together with practical applications.

Effect of process variables on formation of dynamic strain induced ultrafine ferrite during hot torsion testing

Ultrafine grain sizes were produced using hot torsion testing of a 0.11C-1.68Mn-0.20Si (wt-%) steel, with ultrafine ferrite (<1 µm) nucleating intragranularly during testing by dynamic strain induced transformation. A systematic study was made of the effect of isothermal deformation temperature, strain level, strain rate, and accelerated cooling during deformation on the formation of ultrafine ferrite by this process. Decreasing the isothermal testing temperature below the Ae₃ temperature led to a greater driving force for ferrite nucleation and thus more extensive nucleation during testing; the formation of Widmanstätten ferrite prior to, or early during, deformation imposed a lower temperature limit. Increasing the strain above that where ferrite first began 0.8 at 675C and a strain rate of 3 s¯¹ increased the intragranular nucleation of ferrite. Strain rate appeared to have little effect on the amount of ferrite formed. However, slower strain rates led to extensive polygonisation of the ferrite formed because more time was available for ferrite recovery. Accelerated cooling during deformation followed by air cooling to room temperature led to a uniform microstructure consisting of very fine ferrite grains and fine spherical carbides located in the grain boundaries regions. Air cooling after isothermal testing led to carbide bands and a larger ferrite grain size.

Exploring the role of relationship variables in predicting customer voice to a service worker

Customers’ perceptions of service workers’ trustworthiness and power, and their commitment to the service worker were investigated as possible determinants of the likelihood of customer voice directly to the service worker in the event of a service failure. Set in the context of hairdressing salons, it was found that hair stylists’ perceived trust (benevolence and credibility) and expert power were positively associated with clients’ intention to voice. By contrast, the level of coercive power hair stylists were perceived to have was negatively associated with intentions to voice. Hair stylists’ perceived benevolence was the strongest predictor of client voice.

Interobserver reproducibility of histopathologic prognostic variables in primary cutaneous melanomas

Background: The prognosis for patients with localized primary cutaneous melanoma is known to depend principally on tumor thickness, and to a lesser extent on ulcerative state and Clark level. We have recently found in an analysis of 3661 patients that tumor mitotic rate (TMR) is also an important prognostic parameter, ranking second only to tumor thickness. However, few studies have assessed the accuracy and reproducibility with which these features of a melanoma are recorded by histopathologists.
Aim: To assess interobserver reproducibility of major pathologic prognostic parameters in cutaneous melanoma.
Methods: Single hematoxylin and eosin-stained slides of 69 dermally invasive primary cutaneous melanomas were circulated among six pathologists with differing experience in the assessment of melanocytic tumors. The observers independently determined the tumor thickness, Clark level of invasion, ulcerative state, and TMR for each lesion. Intraclass correlation coefficients and kappa scores for multiple ratings per subject were calculated.
Results: The intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.96 for tumor thickness and 0.76 for TMR. The kappa scores were 0.83 for ulcerative state and 0.60 for Clark level. These results indicated excellent agreement among the pathologists for measurements of tumor thickness, ulcerative state, and TMR and fair to good agreement for Clark level.
Conclusions: Appropriately trained and experienced histopathologists can assess prognostically important features of melanomas accurately and reproducibly. Given our recent finding of the significance of TMR in determining prognosis, it is important that this feature be assessed by a standardized method and documented for all primary cutaneous melanomas.

The relationship between emotional state and other variables influencing successful reintegration of ex-prisoners

This study investigated the multiple, complex, dynamic and interactive variables influencing successful reintegration of ex-prisoners, with a particular focus on the role of emotional state in the reintegration process. This involved conduct of a survey to a large group of prisoners approaching release and subsequently following release from prisons in Victoria and Queensland. Participants were 101 adult prisoners who completed a pre-release questionnaire one month prior to their release that focused on prison-related variables, participant background, and anticipated conditions upon release. A post-release questionnaire was administered to the same participants at one to four weeks and three to four months post-release, focusing on the quality of life conditions experienced following release. As well, the Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory were completed at each interview. Of interest, was the level and degree of change in prisoner ratings of depression, anxiety, and anger at pre-release and extending over the post-release period. As well, the strength of relationship between emotional state and the main variables influencing reintegration was investigated; that is, the degree to which reintegration variables (such as social support, drug use, post-release program participation, rated health) are associated with depression, anxiety, and anger among ex-prisoners. The report commences with the description of an ecological model of community reintegration that enables the main variables that may influence reintegration of ex-prisoners to be easily conceptualised and understood. A review of the international and Australian literature relevant to community reintegration of ex-prisoners is then presented, consistent with this conceptual framework, with a specific emphasis on the role of emotional state in post-release outcomes for this group. In the second section, the study design and method are described, with the results presented in the third section. The fourth and final section of the report includes a discussion of the results, implications for reintegration theory, and practical implications for promoting successful reintegration of ex-prisoners.

'I know I'm doing a good job': canonical and autobiographical narratives of teenage mothers

Teenage pregnancy is typically presented as a problem to be solved, if not as an epidemic in need of urgent intervention. This paper reports on Australian research that examined the phenomenon of teenage motherhood from the perspective of the young women themselves. The theoretical frame of narrative was adopted in order to understand both the way in which the young mothers were making sense of their own lives, and the way in which they interpreted the canonical narrative of teenage motherhood. Interviews with 20 young mothers demonstrated both their awareness of the canonical narrative, in which they are judged and condemned, and their contrasting autobiographical narratives, in which they are represented as good mothers who are capable of learning the skills of motherhood. Although the women refused to emphasise the disadvantages of teenage motherhood, they acknowledged difficulties. Throughout their autobiographical accounts, a 'consoling plot' was evident. Young women may be supported in their endeavour to emplot their lives to their own benefit by family narratives of teenage motherhood.

Understanding travel behavior using demographic and socioeconomic variables as travel constraints

Samdahl and Jekubovich (1997) view constraints as a subset of reasons for not engaging in a particular behavior. There is limited empirical research on the role of demographic and socioeconomic variables as travel constraints. This study investigates the relationships between a wide range of short and long trip planning and travel behaviors and sociodemographic constraints comprised of age, income and life cycle.

This research uses data generated from a cross-sectional, self-completed survey on travel and tourism which was collected during 2003 and 2004 from 49,105 Australian respondents. This paper utilizes binomial regression to find that age, income and life stage have significant differential and interactive effects on travel behavior. The results show that sociodemographic variables act in different ways to constrain/free different types of travel behavior. Implications are provided for national and state based tourism authorities. There is a need to understand these phenomena. Current research is addressing these issues.

Choosing qualitative methods for entrepreneurial cognition research : a canonical development approach

This article presents a structured, manageable approach to the complex problem of how to choose, from the vast arsenal loosely labeled "qualitative methods," sets of techniques appropriate to advancement of the emerging field of entrepreneurial cognition. Summary consideration is given to four key issues of philosophical context as a necessary predicate to presentation of a "canonical development" approach, stylized in diagrammatic form. The approach is able to accommodate due regard for both methodological controversy and operational complexity without being overwhelmed by either. Three illustrative examples indicate how use of the approach can stimulate a researcher to create productive matches between questions evolved from the entrepreneurial cognition canon and techniques selected from the complex array of qualitative methods.

How should we measure indigenous entrepreneurship? A search for explanatory variables

In Canada and elsewhere around the world Indigenous Peoples are struggling to rebuild their ‘nations’ and improve the socioeconomic circumstances of their people. We are embarking on a program of research in an effort to understand this phenomenon and to inform the process. In this paper we (i) explore the approach to development being adopted by Indigenous people in Canada; (ii) conduct a preliminary literature review; (iii) identify input indicators of entrepreneurship and business development capacity, process measures of development activity and an output indicator of development effectiveness and (v) identify the information available from secondary sources relating to these indicators and the gaps in information that will have to be filled by primary research.

Variables influencing the mathematics performance of first-year tertiary students : a case study

The need to understand which factors most strongly affect performance in first-year mathematics programs at Khon Kaen University (KKU), in North Eastern Thailand, provided the main focus of the study which is described. First-year mathematics students in the 1990-1991 academic year, from four KKU faculty groups (Medicine and Nursing, Agriculture, Science and Education, and Engineering) were involved in this study. Research literatures addressing variables which were likely to influence performance in early tertiary mathematical study, and variables associated with difficulties in learning mathematics at the transition from upper secondary school to tertiary studies, were reviewed. The first major aim of the study was to identify the variables which were good predictors of first-year mathematics performance at KKU. Results from stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated that the following predictor variables were statistically significant and entered the regression equations for most Faculty groups: School Mathematics Achievement, Self-Esteem, Study Habits in Mathematics, and Faculty of Study. Other predictor variables that sometimes entered regression equations (depending on the Faculty group) were Socio-Economic-Status, Mathematics Language Competence, Mathematics Confidence, Attitude Towards Mathematics, and Gender. Depending on Faculty group, the statistically significant variables accounted for between 11% and 74% of scores on fist-year KKU mathematics examinations. The predictor variables contributed much more to the variance of scores on first-semester mathematics examinations than to the variance of scores on second-semester mathematics examinations. It was also found that scores on the Direct Entry Examination Mathematics test (administered by KKU) and the School Mathematics Achievement test (developed and administered by the author) had stronger correlations with first-year KKU mathematics performance than did scores on the National Entry Examination Mathematics tests (administered by the Thai Ministry of University Affairs). Scores on the three pre-university mathematics achievement test instruments were better predictors of first-semester mathematics performance than of second-semester mathematics performance. It was found that the mean Mathematics Confidence of male students was statistically significantly higher than that of female students, but there were no statistically significant gender differences in Mathematics Misplaced Confidence. Only about 30% of the main sample ( 30% of the male and 30% of the female sample groups) had appropriate confidence in mathematics, that is, they thought their answers were correct when they were, in fact, correct, and they thought they were wrong when they were, in fact, incorrect. So far as Faculty performance differences were concerned, Engineering students had the highest Mathematics Confidence scores, followed by the Medicine and Nursing group of students and the Science and Education group students. Agriculture students had the lowest mean Mathematics Confidence score. No statistically significant differences occurred in Mathematics Misplaced Confidence between different Faculty groups. The second main aim of the study was to investigate why many first-year students experienced difficulties in coping with their mathematics units. A small group of senior secondary mathematics teachers, university mathematics lecturers, and first-year mathematics students were interviewed during the first semester of the 1990-1991 academic year. Interviews were conducted by the author according to a questionnaire format, and were aimed at identifying factors causing difficulty in the transition from senior secondary to university mathematical study. The analysis of the quantitative data together with the interview data indicated that the major sources of difficulty were associated with: (a) students' mathematical abilities; (b) curriculum content; (c) course organisation; (d) students' study habits; (e) instructional styles; and (f) assessment procedures. The results of the investigation are discussed in the light of the relevant literature and related research. The study concludes with recommendations which are addressed to mathematics teachers and education administrators in senior secondary schools in Thailand, to the Thai Ministry of Education, and to the KKU Department of Mathematics.