Deviant knowledge : criminology, politics and policy

The “political” dynamics and the details of conducting criminological research on a day-to-day basis are examined. The role of government and commercial contracts in contemporary criminological scholarship are explored, as well as the various obstacles that criminologists must negotiate during the completion of a research project. The criminological implications of the ways in which academic environments are changing under new managerialist philosophies are examined. The ways in which notions of “critique” have become subordinate to the politics of existing governing rationalities are also examined. Chapter 1 details the questions, contours, and methods of “deviant knowledge.” Chapter 2 discusses the contours of criminological knowledge, including early criminological developments, international reconstruction and developments in criminological research following World War II, the United Nations, and the rise of critical genres. Chapter 3 explores criminology, government, and public policy, including the policies of the Home Office of England and Wales; the National Institute of Justice in Washington, DC; and the Australian Institute of Criminology in Canberra. The politics and control of criminological knowledge are discussed in chapter 4, along with ethical and legal issues, gathering and accessing data, and publishing results of research. Chapter 5 describes the “War on Terror” and government intolerance and suppression of free speech. Chapter 6 examines the new modes of governance and the commercialization of criminological knowledge. Chapter 7 discusses intellectual independence and collective concern, and the value of critique. 3 appendices, 546 references, index

Disclosure of proxy voting information by Australian managed investment schemes

The US Securities and Exchange Comission requires registered management investment companies to disclose how they vote proxies relating to portfolio securities they hold. The primary purpose of this rule is to enable fund investors to monitor the role of institutional shareholders in the corporate governance practices of public companies. In Australia, despite reform proposals, there are no regulations requiring institutional investors to report proxy voting procedures and practises. There is little evidence of voluntary disclosure of proxy voting by Australian managed investment schemes in equities, indicating that there are costs involved in such disclosure.

Impact of the Corporate Law Economic Reform Program Act 1999 on initial public offering prospectus earnings forecasts

Commencing 13 March 2000, the Corporate Law Economic Reform Program Act 1999 (Cth) introduced changes to the regulation of corporate fundraising in Australia. In particular, it effected a reduction in the litigation risk associated with initial public offering prospectus disclosure.We find that the change is associated with a reduction in forecast frequency and an increase in forecast value relevance, but not with forecast error or bias. These results confirm previous findings that changes in litigation risk affect the level but not the quality of disclosure. They also suggest that the reforms’ objectives of reducing fundraising costs while improving investor protection, have been achieved.

‘Show Me Your Wiki and I’ll Show you Mine’: Using Online Interactive Media to Improve Academic Writing and Research in a Public Health Under-Graduate Cohort

The number of Internet users in Australia has been steadily increasing, with over 10.9 million people currently subscribed to an internet provider (ABS, 2011). Over the past year, the most avid users of the Internet were 15 – 24 year olds, with approximately 95% accessing the internet on a regular basis (ABS, Social Trends, 2011). While the internet has been described as fundamental to higher education students, social and leisure internet tools are also increasingly being used by these students to generate and maintain their social and professional networks and interactions (Duffy & Bruns 2006). Rapid technological advancements have enabled greater and faster access to information for learning and education (Hemmi et al, 2009; Glassman and Kang, 2011). As such, we sought to integrate interactive, online social media into the assessment profile of a Public Health undergraduate cohort at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The aim of this exercise was to engage students to both develop and showcase their research on a range of complex, contemporary health issues within the online forum of Wikispaces (http://www.wikispaces.com/) for review and critique by their peers. We applied Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (SLT) to analyse the interactive processes from which students developed deeper and more sustained learning, and via which their overall academic writing standards were raised. This paper outlines the assessment task, and the students’ feedback on their learning outcomes in relation to the Attentional, Retentional, Motor Reproduction, and Motivational Processes outlined by Bandura in SLT. We conceptualise the findings in a theoretical model, and discuss the implications for this approach within the broader tertiary environment.

Efficient and secure self-escrowed public-key infrastructures

A self-escrowed public key infrastructure (SE-PKI) combines the usual functionality of a public-key infrastructure with the ability to recover private keys given some trap-door information. We present an additively homomorphic variant of an existing SE-PKI for ElGamal encryption. We also propose a new efficient SE-PKI based on the ElGamal and Okamoto-Uchiyama cryptosystems that is more efficient than the previous SE-PKI. This is the first SE-PKI that does not suffer from a key doubling problem of previous SE-PKI proposals. Additionally, we present the first self-escrowed encryption schemes secure against chosen-ciphertext attack in the standard model. These schemes are also quite efficient and are based on the Cramer-Shoup cryptosystem, and the Kurosawa-Desmedt hybrid variant in different groups.

Learning and acting in project situations through a meta-method (MAP) a case study : contextual and situational approach for project management governance in management education

The paper introduces the underlying principles and the general features of a meta-method (MAP method) developed as part of and used in various research, education and professional development programmes at ESC Lille. This method aims at providing effective and efficient structure and process for acting and learning in various complex, uncertain and ambiguous managerial situations (projects, programmes, portfolios). The paper is developed around three main parts. First, I suggest revisiting the dominant vision of the project management knowledge field, based on the assumptions they are not addressing adequately current business and management contexts and situations, and that competencies in management of entrepreneurial activities are the sources of creation of value for organisations. Then, grounded on the former developments, I introduce the underlying concepts supporting MAP method seen as a ‘convention generator’ and how this meta method inextricably links learning and practice in addressing managerial situations. Finally, I briefly describe an example of application, illustrating with a case study how the method integrates Project Management Governance, and give few examples of use in Management Education and Professional Development.

Project management governance : a situational approach

The purpose of this paper is to show how project management governance is addressed through the use of a specific meta-method. Governance is defined here on two criteria: accountability and performance. Accountability is promoted through transparency and performance is promoted by responsive and responsible decision-making. According to a systemic perspective, transparency and decision-making involve having information, tacit or explicit knowledge, as well as understanding of the context, the different parameters and variables, their interaction and conditions of change. Although this method of methods was built according a heuristic process involving 25 years of various researches and consulting activities, it seems appropriate to draw its foundations. I clarify first my epistemological position and the notion of project and project management, as Art and Science. This lead me to define a "Be" / "Have" posture to this regards. Then, the main theoretical roots of MAP Method are exposed: Boisot' s Social Learning Cycle, Praxeology and Theory of Convention. Then we introduced the main characteristics of the method and the 17 methods and tools constituting MAP "tool box", thus with regard to the project management governance perspective. Finally, I discuss the integration of two managerial modes (operational and project modes) and the consequence in term of governance in a specific socio-techno-economic project/context ecosystem.

Learning and acting in project situations through a meta-method (MAP) : a case study : contextual and situational approach for project management governance in management education

The paper introduces the underlying principles and the general features of a meta-method (MAP method – Management & Analysis of Projects) developed as part of and used in various research, education and professional development programmes at ESC Lille. This method aims at providing effective and efficient structure and process for acting and learning in various complex, uncertain and ambiguous managerial situations (projects, programmes, portfolios). The paper is organized in three parts. In a first part, I propose to revisit the dominant vision of the project management knowledge field, based on the assumptions they are not addressing adequately current business and management contexts and situations, and that competencies in management of entrepreneurial activities are the sources of creation of value for organisations. Then, grounded on the new suggested perspective, the second part presents the underlying concepts supporting MAP method seen as a ‘convention generator' and how this meta-method inextricably links learning and practice in addressing managerial situations. The third part describes example of application, illustrating with a brief case study how the method integrates Project Management Governance, and gives few examples of use in Management Education and Professional Development.

Book Review: "Mark Considine, Jenny Lewis and Damon Alexander Networks, Innovation and Public Policy : Politicians, Bureaucrats and the Pathways to Change inside Government Houndsmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009"

Having wrung the most from workforce and workplace productivity initiaitves, innovation has come to the fore as a key goal and directive for public sector organisations to become more efficient. This clarion call for innovation can be heard all around the world, with public services everywhere taking up the message to develop better, smarter, novel, more innovative processes, programs and policies. In the current push for innovation, networks are considered to be a superior vehicle through which collective knowledge can be shared and leveraged; replacing or at least supplementing the role function previously provided by inventive leaders...

Serious firearm offending in New Zealand : issues for gun controls and public safety

Reducing or preventing the misuse of firearms (whether criminal, suicidal or accidental) is central to gun controls policy. In June 1997 the New Zealand Government received the recommendations of the Review of Firearms Control, an independent inquiry commissioned by the Minister of Police and chaired by Sir Thomas Thorp.The Review comprehensively examined several firearm-related issues, including the nature and extent of serious firearm offending in New Zealand. The research presented in this article was commissioned by the Review. Based on a population of 709 offences for the 12 months ending 30 June 1996, this study provides an analysis of serious firearm offending in New Zealand and discusses the implications of these findings for gun controls policy.

Social defence and international reconstructon : illustrating the governance of post-war criminological discourse

This article examines the technocratic priorities of criminological discourse following the Second World War. In doing so, it charts the role and influence of the United Nations and the doctrine of social defence, and traces those shifts and events that have forged a nexus between criminological endeavour and processes of governance. This article aims to illustrate that social defence and international reconstruction provide a useful framework for understanding the links between power/knowledge and the pragmatic orientations of criminological scholarship.

New modes of governance and the commodification of criminological knowledge

This article explores the influence of new modes of governance on the production of criminological knowledge. In doing so, it examines the rise of discourses on risk and critiques the ways in which academic environments are changing under new managerialist philosophies. The article further explores the increasing 'commodification of criminological knowledge' and analyses its effect on contemporary criminological scholarship. Finally, this article examines the contours of critical criminological scholarship and advocates for a criminology of resistance.

Tax concessions for charities : competitive neutrality, the tax base and "public goods" choice

It is argued that concerns arise about the integrity and fairness of the taxation regime where charitable organizations, which avail themselves of the tax exemption status while undertaking commercial activities, compete directly with the for-profit sector. The appropriateness of the tax concessions granted to charitable organizations is considered in respect of income derived from commercial activities. It is principally argued that the traditional line of reasoning for imposing limitations on tax concessions focuses on an incorrect underlying inquiry. Traditionally, it is argued that limitations should be imposed because of unfair competition, lack of competitive neutrality, or an arbitrary decision relating to a lack of deserving. However, it is argued that a more appropriate question from which to base any limitations is one which considers the value attached to the integrity of the taxation regime as a whole, and the tax base specifically compared to the public good of charities. When the correct underlying question is asked, sound taxation policy ensues, as a less arbitrary approach may be adopted to limit the scope of tax concessions available to charitable organizations.

Running dry : Brisbane's public fountains

"Does heat have a cooling effect on culture? Sweat argues the reverse: culture thrives in the subtropical zones. While acknowledging that the subtropical generates ambivalence—being cast as alternately idyllic or hellish—Sweat nonetheless seeks to develop the specific voices of subtropical cultures. The uneasy place of this sweaty discourse is explored across art, literature, architecture, and the built environment. In particular, Sweat focuses on the most commonly experienced situation, the everyday house. While it addresses subjects from Japan, Brazil, and France, Sweat centres on Brisbane, Queensland—long in the shadow of Sydney and Melbourne in the Australian cultural psyche—due to its enduring and self-conscious attention to subtropical living..." -- online book description