Industry needs and course content in project management

The new competitive international business environment is characterised by constant change and uncertainty. This is particularly true in project-oriented industries such as construction where subcontracting and competitive tendering add new dimensions to an already uncertain working environment. Many management writers and practitioners argue that the changing business environment and the speed required to design, develop and market products and services will lead to increasing use of project management in the future. This means that project management skills will become a competitive weapon for those individuals and firms that properly develop them.

Problems in the assessment of magnesium depletion in the rat by in vivo 31P NMR

Prior in vitro studies, utilizing 31Pn uclear magnetic resonance (31PN MR) to measure the chemical shift (CT) of 0-ATP and lengthening of the phosphocreatine spin-spin (7"') relaxation time, suggested an assessment of their efficacy in measuring magnesium depletion in vivo. Dietary magnesium depletion (Me$) produced markedly lower magnesium in plasma (0.44 vs 1. I3 mmol/liter) and bone (1 30 vs 190 pmol/g) but much smaller changes in muscle (41 vs 45 pmol/g, P < 0.01), heart (42.5 vs 44.6 prnol/g), and brain (30 vs 32 pmollg). NMR experiments in anesthetized rats in a Bruker 7-T vertical bore magnet showed that in M e $ rats there was a significant change in brain j3-ATP shift (16.15 vs 16.03 ppm, P < 0.05). These chemical shifts gave a calculated free [Mg"] of 0.71 mM (control) and 0.48 mM (MgZ+$). In muscle the change in j3-ATP shift was not significant (Me$ 15.99 ppm, controls 15.96 ppm), corresponding to a calculated free M P of 0.83 and 0.95 mM, respectively. Phosphccreatine Tz (Carr-Purcell, spin-echo pulse sequence) was no different with M e $ in muscle in vivo (surface coil) (M$+$ 136, control 142 ms) or in isolated perfused hearts (Helmholtz coil) (control 83, M e $ 92 ms). 3'P NMR is severely limited in its ability to detect dietary magnesium depletion in vivo. Measurement of j3-ATP shift in brain may allow studies of the effects of interaction in group studies but does not allow prediction of an individual magnesium status.

Dealing with unfinished business : preparing pre-service social education teachers for curriculum change

Pre-service teacher education is unfinished business. New social education teachers face the challenge of fluid policy environments in which curriculum content and pedagogy are continually changing. The evolving Australian curriculum is the most recent example of such fluidity with its emphasis on shifting the educational agenda to a focus on discipline-based approaches. This paper addresses the concerns of final year pre-service and early career social education teachers, in terms of their professional development needs, by drawing on the findings of a pilot study with students and recent graduates from a university in south-east Queensland. It concludes that social education curriculum units which embed links to professional practice and professional development in teaching, learning and assessment may provide the way forward for enhancing the transition to practice for beginning teachers and assist them in navigating constant change.

Using reflective practice assessment in the first year of law to encourage a positive professional identity and promote law student well-being

In this paper we argue that intentional curriculum design in the first year of law should encourage law students to develop an emergent sense of a positive professional identity. When first year law students engage with a nascent notion of a positive professional identity, their well-being is supported because their studies are informed and contextualised by a sense of purpose for their future professional life. In a first year law subject run for the first time at the QUT Law School in 2011, reflective practice was successfully used to achieve these goals. The paper discusses the subject, the opportunity of using reflective practice to teach a positive sense of professional identity, and some student perspectives on the subject’s design.

Assessment of the health impacts of the 2011 summer floods in Brisbane

Background: During December 2010 and January 2011, torrential rainfall in Queensland resulted in the worst flooding in over 50 years. We carried out a community-based survey to assess the health impacts of this flooding in the city of Brisbane. Methods: A community-based survey was conducted in 12 flood-affected electorates using postal questionnaires. A random sample of residents in these areas was drawn from electoral rolls. Questions examined sociodemographic information, the direct impact of flooding on the household, and perceived flood-related health impacts. Outcome variables included perceived flood-related effects on overall and respiratory health, along with mental health outcomes measured by psychosocial distress, reduced sleep quality and probable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the association between flooding and health outcome variables, adjusted for current health status and socioeconomic factors. Results: 3000 residents were invited to participate in this survey, with 960 responses (32%). People whose households were directly impacted by flooding had a decrease in perceived overall health (OR 5.3, 95% CI: 2.8–10.2), along with increases in psychological distress (OR 1.9, 1.1–3.5), decreased sleep quality (OR 2.3, 1.2–4.4), and probable PTSD (OR 2.3, 1.2–4.5). Residents were also more likely to increase usage of both tobacco (OR 6.3, 2.4–16.8) and alcohol (OR 7.0, 2.2–22.3) after flooding. Conclusions: There were significant impacts of flood events on residents’ health, in particular psychosocial health. Improved support strategies may need to be integrated into existing disaster management programs to reduce flood-related health impacts.

Jury option needs early verdict

The decision in Rubin v Buchanan [2011] QSC 275 confirms that a trial by jury should be considered at the outset of a proceeding.

Anticipating user experience with a desired product : the AUX Framework

Positive user experience (UX) has become a key factor in designing interactive products. It acts as a differentiator which can determine a product’s success on the mature market. However, current UX frameworks and methods do not fully support the early stages of product design and development. During these phases, assessment of UX is challenging as no actual user-product interaction can be tested. This qualitative study investigated anticipated user experience (AUX) to address this problem. Using the co-discovery method, participants were asked to imagine a desired product, anticipate experiences with it, and discuss their views with another participant. Fourteen sub-categories emerged from the data, and relationships among them were defined through co-occurrence analysis. These data formed the basis of the AUX framework which consists of two networks which elucidate 1) how users imagine a desired product and 2) how they anticipate positive experiences with that product. Through this AUX framework, important factors in the process of imagining future products and experiences were learnt, including the way in which these factors interrelate. Focusing on and exploring each component of the two networks in the framework will allow designers to obtain a deeper understanding of the required pragmatic and hedonic qualities of product, intended uses of product, user characteristics, potential contexts of experience, and anticipated emotions embedded within the experience. This understanding, in turn, will help designers to better foresee users’ underlying needs and to focus on the most important aspects of their positive experience. Therefore, the use of the AUX framework in the early stages of product development will contribute to the design for pleasurable UX.

Principles on assessment of costs on standard basis – necessary or proper

The judgement in Hennessey Glass and Aluminium Pty Ltd v Watpac Australia Pty Ltd [2007] QDC 57 McGill DCJ provides valuable guidance for practitioners as to whether a range of particular costs items should be permitted on an assessment on the standard basis, and the amounts which should be allowed for such items. The items in issue included counsel’s fees and fees paid to expert witnesses. The decision also examined GST implications for the recovery of legal costs.

Challenges to environmental toxicology and epidemiology : where do we stand and which way do we go?

Modern toxicology investigates a wide array of both old and new health hazards. Priority setting is needed to select agents for research from the plethora of exposure circumstances. The changing societies and a growing fraction of the aged have to be taken into consideration. A precise exposure assessment is of importance for risk estimation and regulation. Toxicology contributes to the exploration of pathomechanisms to specify the exposure metrics for risk estimation. Combined effects of co-existing agents are not yet sufficiently understood. Animal experiments allow a separate administration of agents which can not be disentangled by epidemiological means, but their value is limited for low exposure levels in many of today’s settings. As an experimental science, toxicology has to keep pace with the rapidly growing knowledge about the language of the genome and the changing paradigms in cancer development. During the pioneer era of assembling a working draft of the human genome, toxicogenomics has been developed. Gene and pathway complexity have to be considered when investigating gene–environment interactions. For a best conduct of studies, modern toxicology needs a close liaison with many other disciplines like epidemiology and bioinformatics.

Court Based Psychiatric Assessment: A Case for an Integrated and Diversionary Public Health Role

This article describes a follow-up study of 232 individuals who underwent psychiatric assessment by a Criminal Justice Mental Health Team (CJMHT) in 2001/2002, and also draws upon in-depth interviews conducted with 26 of the cohort. At assessment many people are identified with substance misuse problems, as homeless and with a history of psychiatric contact but in the main their problems are of insufficient severity to merit diversion to psychiatric hospital. The study mapped service contact, housing and offending in the 12 months following assessment and compared this to the 12 months prior to assessment, and found increased levels of service contact but also increased levels of offending and no decrease in homelessness. Thus assessment by the CJMHT brought few discernible advantages for the majority of clients. This was also the perception of the 26 clients who were interviewed. Their own perceptions of their lifestyle and the support that they deemed most valuable are described to identify means of enhancing the efficacy of court assessment.