Changes to commercial service provision among sex workers from Queensland, Australia

Introduction: The role of commercial sex in facilitating infection transmission is a subject of ongoing empirical enquiry, with little attention to the variety and extent of ‘non-traditional’ commercial services that pose a lesser risk of infection. This study sought to examine the supply and demand of a wide range of traditional and non-traditional commercial sexual services among sex workers and their clients from Queensland, Australia. Methods: Cross-sectional convenience sampling was used to compare female sex workers in 1991 (n=200, aged 16-46 years) and 2003 (n=247, aged 18-57 years) and from male clients in 2003. The client sample comprised 160 male clients aged between 19 and 72 years. Results: Over the comparison period there was a significant increase in the provision of ‘exotic’ or non-traditional sexual services. In 2003, the availability of bondage and discipline, submission, fantasy, use of sex toys, golden showers, fisting and lesbian double acts had increased dramatically, while ‘traditional’ services had mostly remained at similar levels. Moreover, the proportion of sex workers in some industry sectors providing ‘exotic’ commercial services seem to have risen over time. Conclusion: Undoubtedly, the sex industry has professionalised and now includes more sophisticated and specialized suppliers. As with any commercial business, the diversification of services is largely driven with client demand, with the ‘menu’ being generally broader than the majority of client preferences. However, although clients demands for particular commercial sexual services seems to have been met, with regard to anal sex and anal play, supply has failed to meet client demand. Disclosure of Interest Statement: Funding for the 2003 study was provided by the Prostitution Licensing Authority. Acknowledgement and sincere thanks to the men and women who participated in this study.

Environmental information provision, market valuation, and firm incentives: An empirical study of the Japanese PRTR system

The environmental performance of a listed firm could affect its level of investment in pollution prevention and its access to financial markets. Previous studies using Tobin's q that explore market response to environmental performance do not distinguish between the impact of performance on investment and market response, which may mislead conclusions. To overcome this problem, we simultaneously estimate the functions of the intangible asset, the replacement cost, and the toxic chemical risk. We find that the Japanese financial market does not value risk associated with toxic chemical releases. Nevertheless, even without market valuation, firms increase investment to reduce pollution. © 2010 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.

Further investigations of framing effects on cooperative choices in a provision point mechanism

We investigate whether framing effects of voluntary contributions are significant in a provision point mechanism. Our results show that framing significantly affects individuals of the same type: cooperative individuals appear to be more cooperative in the public bads game than in the public goods game, whereas individualistic subjects appear to be less cooperative in the public bads game than in the public goods game. At the aggregate level of pooling all individuals, the data suggests that framing effects are negligible, which is in contrast with the established result.

What works and why? Early childhood professionals' perspectives on effective early childhood education and care services for Indigenous families

Investment in early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs is a cornerstone policy of the Australian Government directed toward increasing the educational opportunities and life chances made available to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) children. Yet, ECEC programs are not always effective in supporting sustained attendance of Indigenous families. A site-case analysis of Mount Isa, Queensland was conducted to identify program features that engage and support attendance of Indigenous families. This first study, reports the perspectives of early childhood professionals from across the entire range of group-based licensed (kindergarten and long day care) and non-licensed (playgroups, parent-child education) programs (n=19). Early childhood professionals reported that Indigenous families preferred non-licensed over licensed programs. Reasons suggested for this choice were that non-licensed services provided integration with family supports, were responsive to family circumstance and had a stronger focus on relationship building. Implications for policy and service provision are discussed.

Coping strategies used by ballet dancers : effects of individual differences in competitive trait anxiety

The world of classical ballet exerts considerable physical and psychological stress upon those who participate, and yet the process of coping with such stressors is not well understood. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine relationships between coping strategies and competitive trait anxiety among ballet dancers. Participants were 104 classical dancers (81 females and 23 males) ranging in age from 15 to 35 years (M = 19.4 yr., SD = 3.8 yr.) from three professional ballet companies, two private dance schools, and two full-time, university dance courses in Australia. Participants had a mean of 11.5 years of classical dance training (SD = 5.2 yr.), having started dance training at 6.6 years of age (SD = 3.4 yr.). Coping strategies were assessed using the Modified COPE scale (MCOPE: Crocker & Graham, 1995), a 48-item measure comprising 12 coping subscales (Seeking Social Support for Instrumental Reasons, Seeking Social Support for Emotional Reasons, Behavioral Disengagement, Planning, Suppression of Competing Activities, Venting of Emotions, Humor, Active Coping, Denial, Self-Blame, Effort, and Wishful Thinking). Competitive trait anxiety was assessed using the Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS: Smith, Smoll, & Schutz, 1990), a 21-item measure comprising three anxiety subscales (Somatic Anxiety, Worry, Concentration Disruption). Standard multiple regression analyses showed that trait anxiety scores, in particular for Somatic Anxiety and Worry, were significant predictors of seven of the 12 coping strategies (Suppression of Competing Activities: R2 = 27.1%; Venting of Emotions: R2 = 23.2%; Active Coping: R2 = 14.3%; Denial: R2 = 17.7%; Self-Blame: R2 = 35.7%; Effort: R2 = 16.6%; Wishful Thinking: R2 = 42.3%). High trait anxious dancers reported more frequent use of all categories of coping strategies. A separate two-way MANOVA showed no significant main effect for gender nor status (professional versus students) and no significant interaction effect. The present findings are generally consistent with previous research in the sport psychology domain (Crocker & Graham, 1995; Giacobbi & Weinberg, 2000) which has shown that high trait anxious athletes tend, in particular, to use more maladaptive, emotion-focused coping strategies when compared to low trait anxious athletes; a tendency which has been proposed to lead to negative performance effects. The present results emphasize the need for the effectiveness of specific coping strategies to be considered during the process of preparing young classical dancers for a career in professional ballet. In particular, the results suggest that dancers who are, by nature, anxious about performance may need special attention to help them to learn to cope with performance-related stress. Given the absence of differences in coping strategies between student and professional dancers and between males and females, it appears that such educational efforts should begin at an early career stage for all dancers.

Editorial for the JFR special issue on low altitude flight of UAVs

This special issue of the Journal of Field Robotics focuses on low altitude flight of UAVs with a particular emphasis on fully implemented systems that were tested in relevant environments or deployed in regular operations.

Psycho-educational assessment of specific learning disabilities: Views and practices of Australian psychologists and guidance counsellors

This paper reports an investigation of the views and practices of 203 Australian psychologists and guidance counsellors with respect to psycho-educational assessment of students with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLDs). Results from an online survey indicated that practitioners draw upon a wide-range of theoretical perspectives when conceptualising and identifying SLDs, including both response to intervention and IQ – achievement discrepancy models. Intelligence tests (particularly the Wechsler scales) are commonly employed, with the main stated reasons for their use being ‘traditional’ perspectives (including IQ-achievement discrepancy-based definitions of SLDs), to exclude a diagnosis of intellectual disability, and to guide further assessment and intervention. In contrast participants reported using measures of academic achievement and tests of specific cognitive deficits known to predict SLDs (e.g., phonological awareness) relatively infrequently.

Making sense of inconsistencies in psycho-educational assessment: A case report

The case is presented of an 8-year-old young boy who was referred for psycho-educational assessment because of difficulties with writing. The paper provides an example of the way in which a case unfolds as further assessment data become available, and describes a number of challenging aspects of the assessment process. In this case, dilemmas arose when test results were inconsistent at different time points, and when the results were inconsistent with clinical observations. The case report illustrates the ways in which practitioners can collaborate to make sense of such discrepancies, with each contributing a slightly different perspective or set of skills that, in combination, assist to better understand a child’s difficulties.

Cartels – What are they and how to avoid being part of one : the implications of University fee deregulation

Universities supply a range of services to students. These include most obviously, tuition services in relation to undergraduate and postgraduate courses; research supervision services in relation to research degrees; as well as consultancy services in relation to Government and industry work. For the purposes of the CCA, universities are trading corporations. They engage in trade or commerce through the provision of a range of services for reward. As such Universities are subject to the same rules and regulations that govern the conduct of other trading corporations, such Coles and Woolworths. As senior officers and managers of a trading corporation you need to acquire some basic understanding of the rules that govern competition in the education sector. In other sectors, companies generally undertake a risk assessment of those areas where they are most at risk of contravening the CCA; to ascertain in advance how problems might arise so that they can put in place strategies to mitigate the risk of inadvertent contraventions.

Brief interventions to reduce ecstasy use : a multi-site randomized controlled trial

Studies examining the ability of motivational enhancement therapy (MET) to augment education provision among ecstasy users have produced mixed results and none have examined whether treatment fidelity was related to ecstasy use outcomes. The primary objectives of this multi-site, parallel, two-group randomized controlled trial were to determine if a single-session of MET could instill greater commitment to change and reduce ecstasy use and related problems more so than an education-only intervention and whether MET sessions delivered with higher treatment fidelity are associated with better outcomes. The secondary objective was to assess participants’ satisfaction with their assigned interventions. Participants (N = 174; Mage = 23.62) at two Australian universities were allocated randomly to receive a 15-minute educational session on ecstasy use (n = 85) or a 50-minute session of MET that included an educational component (n = 89). Primary outcomes were assessed at baseline, and then at 4-, 16-, and 24-weeks post-baseline, while the secondary outcome measure was assessed 4-weeks post-baseline by researchers blind to treatment allocation. Overall, the treatment fidelity was acceptable to good in the MET condition. There were no statistical differences at follow-up between the groups on the primary outcomes of ecstasy use, ecstasy-related problems, and commitment to change. Both interventions groups reported a 50% reduction in their ecstasy use and a 20% reduction in the severity of their ecstasy-related problems at the 24-week follow up. Commitment to change slightly improved for both groups (9% - 17%). Despite the lack of between-group statistical differences on primary outcomes, participants who received a single session of MET were slightly more satisfied with their intervention than those who received education only. MI fidelity was not associated with ecstasy use outcomes. Given these findings, future research should focus on examining mechanisms of change. Such work may suggest new methods for enhancing outcomes.

The special branch : governing mentalities through alternative-site placement

"…one should try to locate power at the extreme points of its exercise, where it is always less legal in character." (Foucault, 1980, p.97) Studies of schooling practices as techniques deriving from a particular art of governing that Foucault (2003b) called ‘governmentality’ have shown how psychopathologising discourses work to construct particular student-subjects and legitimise various practices of exclusion (Gram, 2007b). Here I extend this work to consider the use of alternative-site placement as an intensification in response to governmentality being put ‘at risk’. Governing ‘at a distance’ conjures an illusion of individual freedom which relies on the production of subjects who ‘choose’ to make choices that are consistent with the aspirations of government. In this chapter, it is argued that the designation of a child as ‘disorderly’ legitimises the intrusion of state into the private domain of the family via the Trojan horse of early intervention. This is enabled by the psy-sciences, whose technologies and aims amount to the moral retraining of ‘improper’ future-citizens who, in choosing to choose otherwise, threaten to make visible invisible relations of power. Alternative-site placement in special schools running intensive behaviour modification programs allows for a ‘redoubled insistence’ (Ewald, 1992) of these norms and limits that a ‘disorderly’ child threatens to transgress.

Optimising the education and care experiences of children with 'difficult' temperament

This thesis asked whether more temperamentally reactive or difficult children are more sensitive to Early Childhood and Care (ECEC) environments than less reactive children. The aim was to assess what forms of ECEC provision best support more reactive children. The study analysed data from the national Effective Early Educational Experiences (E4Kids). Children with reactive temperament had less behavioural difficulties in classrooms with higher quality instruction but more when instructional quality was low. The findings underscore the importance of higher quality ECEC environments for temperamentally vulnerable children and the possibility that temperamentally reactive children are "barometers" of ECEC quality more generally.

Supporting family caregivers with palliative symptom management: A qualitative analysis of the provision of an emergency medication kit in the home setting

Purpose The purpose of this qualitative analysis was to examine the experiences of family caregivers supporting a dying person in the home setting. In particular, it explores caregivers’ perceptions of receiving palliative care at home when supplied with an emergency medication kit (EMK). Results Most family caregivers described preexisting medication management strategies that were unable to provide timely intervention in symptoms. The EMK was largely viewed as an effective strategy in providing timely symptom control and preventing readmission to inpatient care. Caregivers reported varying levels of confidence in the administration of medication. Conclusion The provision of an EMK is an effective strategy for improving symptom control and preventing inpatient admissions of home-dwelling palliative care patients.