The causal effect of income on health: Evidence from German reunification

We investigate whether therewas a causal effect of income changes on the health satisfaction of East and West Germans in the years following reunification. Our data source is the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) between 1984 and 2002, and we fit a recently proposed fixed-effects ordinal estimator to our health measures and use a causal decomposition technique to account for panel attrition.We find evidence of a significant positive effect of income changes on health satisfaction, but the quantitative size of this effect is small. This is the case with respect to current income and a measure of ‘permanent’ income.

Sir Neville Howse (VC), Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick and Private Martin O’Meara (VC) and their contributions to Australian military medicine

Medical personnel serving with the Defence Forces have contributed to the evolution of trauma treatment and the advancement of prehospital care within the military environment. This paper investigates the stories of an Australian Medical Officer, Sir Neville Howse, and two stretcher bearers, Private John Simpson (Kirkpatrick) and Private Martin O’Meara, In particular it describes the gruelling conditions under which they performed their roles, and reflects on the legacy that they have left behind in Australian society. While it is widely acknowledged that conflicts such as World War One should never have happened, as civilian and defence force paramedics, we should never forget the service and sacrifice of defence force medical personnel and their contribution to the body of knowledge on the treatment of trauma. These men and women bravely provided emergency care in the most harrowing conditions possible. However, men like Martin O’Meara may not have been given the same status in society today as Sir Neville Howse or Simpson and his donkey, due to the public’s lack of awareness and acceptance of war neurosis and conditions such as post traumatic stress disorder, reactive psychosis and somatoform disorders which were suffered by many soldiers during their wartime service and on their return home after fighting in war.

A quite unreasonable state of affairs : corporate social responsibility and the John Lewis Partnership

On the surface the subjects of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Critical Management Studies (CMS) seem to be closely related. Both are concerned with reflecting on the impact of management and organisation on employees, the wider community and the environment. Both suggest that there may be a need for organisations to take responsibility for and account of people other than shareholders and both have used the concept of accountability to suggest that organisations may need to do more than just comply with the legal framework.

Kava and St. John's wort : current evidence for use in mood and anxiety disorders

Background: Mood and anxiety disorders pose significant health burdens on the community. Kava and St John’s wort (SJW) are the most commonly used herbal medicines in the treatment of anxiety and depressive disorders, respectively. Objectives: To conduct a comprehensive review of kava and SJW, to review any evidence of efficacy, mode of action, pharmacokinetics, safety and use in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Bipolar Disorder (BP), Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Social Phobia (SP), Panic Disorder (PD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Methods: A systematic review was conducted using the electronic databases MEDLINE, CINAHL, and The Cochrane Library during late 2008. The search criteria involved mood and anxiety disorder search terms in combination with kava, Piper methysticum, kavalactones, St John’s wort, Hypericum perforatum, hypericin and hyperforin. Additional search criteria for safety, pharmacodynamics , and pharmacokinetics was employed. A subsequent forward search was conducted of the papers using Web of Science cited reference search. Results: Current evidence supports the use of SJW in treating mild-moderate depression, and for kava in treatment of generalized anxiety. In respect to the other disorders, only weak preliminary evidence exists for use of SJW in SAD. Currently there is no published human trial on use of kava in affective disorders, or in OCD, PTSD, PD or SP. These disorders constitute potential applications that warrant exploration. Conclusions: Current evidence for herbal medicines in the treatment of depression and anxiety only supports the use of Hypericum perforatum for depression, and Piper methysticum for generalized anxiety.

The development of a "Good Practice Guide" for first year curriculum development, revision and evaluation : a moving feast

Since 2002 QUT has sponsored a range of first year-focussed initiatives, most recently the Transitions In Project (TIP) which was designed to complement the First Year Experience Program and be a capacity building initiative. A primary focus of TIP was The First Year Curriculum Project: the review, development, implementation and evaluation of first year curriculum which has culminated in the development of a “Good Practice Guide” for the management of large first year units. First year curriculum initiates staff-student relationships and provides the scaffolding for the learning experience and engagement. Good practice in first year curriculum is within the control of the institution and can be redesigned and reviewed to improve outcomes. This session will provide a context for the First Year Curriculum Project and a concise overview of the suite of resources developed that have culminated in the Good Practice Guide.

Differences in post-prandial responses to fat and carbohydrate loads in habitual high and low fat consumers (phenotypes).

The present study investigated metabolic responses to fat and carbohydrate ingestion in lean male individuals consuming an habitual diet high or low in fat. Twelve high-fat phenotypes (HF) and twelve low-fat phenotypes (LF) participated in the study. Energy intake and macronutrient intake variables were assessed using a food frequency questionnaire. Resting (RMR) and postprandial metabolic rate and substrate oxidation (respiratory quotient; RQ) were measured by indirect calorimetry. HF had a significantly higher RMR and higher resting heart rate than LF. These variables remained higher in HF following the macronutrient challenge. In all subjects the carbohydrate load increased metabolic rate and heart rate significantly more than the fat load. Fat oxidation (indicated by a low RQ) was significantly higher in HF than in LF following the fat load; the ability to oxidise a high carbohydrate load did not differ between the groups. Lean male subjects consuming a diet high in fat were associated with increased energy expenditure at rest and a relatively higher fat oxidation in response to a high fat load; these observations may be partly responsible for maintaining energy balance on a high-fat (high-energy) diet. In contrast, a low consumer of fat is associated with relatively lower energy expenditure at rest and lower fat oxidation, which has implications for weight gain if high-fat foods or meals are periodically introduced to the diet.

The stewardship paradigm : an enquiry into the ethical obligation associated with being in control of resorces

The resource allocation and utilization discourse is dominated by debates about rights particularly individual property rights and ownership. This is due largely to the philosophic foundations provided by Hobbes and Locke and adopted by Bentham. In our community, though, resources come not merely with rights embedded but also obligations. The relevant laws and equitable principles which give shape to our shared rights and obligations with respect to resources take cognizance not merely of the title to the resource (the proprietary right) but the particular context in which the right is exercised. Moral philosophy regarding resource utilisation has from ancient times taken cognizance of obligations but with ascendance of modernity, the agenda of moral philosophy regarding resources, has been dominated, at least since John Locke, by a preoccupation with property rights; the ethical obligations associated with resource management have been largely ignored. The particular social context has also been ignored. Exploring this applied ethical terrain regarding resource utilisation, this thesis: (1) Revisits the justifications for modem property rights (and in that the exclusion of obligations); (2) Identifies major deficiencies in these justifications and reasons for this; (3) Traces the concept of stewardship as understood in classical Greek writing and in the New Testament, and considers its application in the Patristic period and by Medieval and reformist writers, before turning to investigate its influence on legal and equitable concepts through to the current day; 4) Discusses the nature of the stewardship obligation,maps it and offers a schematic for applying the Stewardship Paradigm to problems arising in daily life; and, (5) Discusses the way in which the Stewardship Paradigm may be applied by, and assists in resolving issues arising from within four dominant philosophic world views: (a) Rawls' social contract theory; (b) Utilitarianism as discussed by Peter Singer; (c) Christianity with particular focus on the theology of Douglas Hall; (d) Feminism particularly as expressed in the ethics of care of Carol Gilligan; and, offers some more general comments about stewardship in the context of an ethically plural community.

Learning to win process-control games watching game-masters

The present paper focuses on some interesting classes of process-control games, where winning essentially means successfully controlling the process. A master for one of these games is an agent who plays a winning strategy. In this paper we investigate situations in which even a complete model (given by a program) of a particular game does not provide enough information to synthesize—even incrementally—a winning strategy. However, if in addition to getting a program, a machine may also watch masters play winning strategies, then the machine is able to incrementally learn a winning strategy for the given game. Studied are successful learning from arbitrary masters and from pedagogically useful selected masters. It is shown that selected masters are strictly more helpful for learning than are arbitrary masters. Both for learning from arbitrary masters and for learning from selected masters, though, there are cases where one can learn programs for winning strategies from masters but not if one is required to learn a program for the master's strategy itself. Both for learning from arbitrary masters and for learning from selected masters, one can learn strictly more by watching m+1 masters than one can learn by watching only m. Last, a simulation result is presented where the presence of a selected master reduces the complexity from infinitely many semantic mind changes to finitely many syntactic ones.