Analyzing the factors influencing the successful design and uptake of interactive systems to support social networks in urban neighborhoods

In urban residential environments in Australia and other developed countries, Internet access is on the verge of becoming a ubiquitous utility like gas or electricity. From an urban sociology and community informatics perspective, this article discusses new emerging social formations of urban residents that are based on networked individualism and the potential of Internet-based systems to support them. It proposes that one of the main reasons for the disappearance or nonexistence of urban residential communities is a lack of appropriate opportunities and instruments to encourage and support local interaction in urban neighborhoods. The article challenges the view that a mere reappropriation of applications used to support dispersed virtual communities is adequate to meet the place and proximity-based design requirements that community networks in urban neighborhoods pose. It argues that the key factors influencing the successful design and uptake of interactive systems to support social networks in urban neighborhoods include the swarming social behavior of urban dwellers; the dynamics of their existing communicative ecology; and the serendipitous, voluntary, and place-based quality of interaction between residents on the basis of choice, like-mindedness, mutual interest and support needs. Drawing on an analysis of these factors, the conceptual design framework of a prototype system — the urban tribe incubator — is presented.

Communication and organizational social networks : a simulation model

Recent management research has evidenced the significance of organizational social networks, and communication is believed to impact the interpersonal relationships. However, we have little knowledge on how communication affects organizational social networks. This paper studies the dynamics between organizational communication patterns and the growth of organizational social networks. We propose an organizational social network growth model, and then collect empirical data to test model validity. The simulation results agree well with the empirical data. The results of simulation experiments enrich our knowledge on communication with the findings that organizational management practices that discourage employees from communicating within and across group boundaries have disparate and significant negative effect on the social network’s density, scalar assortativity and discrete assortativity, each of which correlates with the organization’s performance. These findings also suggest concrete measures for management to construct and develop the organizational social network.

Potentials of social media for tacit knowledge sharing amongst physicians : preliminary findings

Tacit knowledge sharing amongst physicians, such as the sharing of clinical experiences, skills, or know-how, or know-whom, is known to have a significant impact on the quality of medical diagnosis and decisions. This paper posits that social media can provide new opportunities for tacit knowledge sharing amongst physicians, and demonstrates this by presenting findings from a review of relevant literature and a survey conducted with physicians. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten physicians from around the world who were active users of social media. Initial thematic analysis revealed eight themes as potential contributions of social web tools to facilitate tacit knowledge flow amongst physicians. The emergent themes are defined, linked to the literature, and supported by instances of interview transcripts. Findings presented here are preliminary, and final results will be reported after accomplishing all phases of data collection and analysis.

Augmenting public participation : enhancing planning outcomes through the use of social media and web 2.0

Social media and web 2.0 tools offer opportunities to devise novel participation strategies that can engage previously difficult to reach as well as new segments of society in urban planning. This paper examines participatory planning in the four local government areas of Brisbane City Council, Gold Coast City Council, Redland City Council, and Toowoomba Regional Council, all situated in South East Queensland, Australia. The paper discusses how social media and web 2.0 tools can deliver a more engaging planning experience to citizens, and investigates local government’s current use and receptiveness to social media tools for plan making and community engagement. The study’s research informed the development of criteria to assess the level of participation reached through the current use of social media and web 2.0 in the four local government areas. This resulted in an adaptation of the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) Toolbox to integrate these new tools which is being presented to encourage further discussion and evaluation by planning professionals.

How males and females define speeding and how they’d feel getting caught for it : some implications for anti-speeding message development

Speeding represents a major contributor to road trauma, increasing crash frequency and severity. Antispeeding campaigns represent a key strategy aimed at discouraging individuals from speeding. This paper investigated salient beliefs underpinning male and female drivers’ travel speed behaviour, with the view to use such insight to, ultimately, inform the content of targeted anti-speeding messages. A survey of N = 751 (579 males, 16-79 years) drivers assessed what they regarded as speeding in 60km/hr and 100km/hr zones and their beliefs about how they would respond to receiving a speeding infringement. Participants responded to scales which extended up to 20km/hr above each respective speed limit, the lowest speed that they considered was speeding and the speed at which they would be willing to drive and still feel in control. For analyses, to enable greater scrutiny of potential gender differences regarding the speeds identified, participants’ responses to these items were categorised into 5km/hr increments and chi-square analyses conducted. For their responses to (beliefs about) the possibility of being caught speeding, drivers were asked how applicable various beliefs were to them (e.g., feeling unlucky). These beliefs were analysed via MANOVA. The results revealed that there was considerable variability in the speeds identified, thus supporting the value of categorising speeds. Within the 100km/hr zone, based on the categories, a significant difference was found regarding the speed that males would be willing to drive (and still feel in control) relative to females. Specifically, the greatest proportion of males (30.4%) identified speeds within the 106-110km/hr category whereas the greatest proportion of females (38.1%) identified a lower speed, within the 101-105km/hr category, as the speed they would be willing to drive. No other significant differences emerged, however, either in relation to the definition of speeding reported for 100km/hr zones (i.e., males and females tended to identify a similar speed as indicative of speeding) nor for these same items as assessed in relation to the 60km/hr zones. For their responses to the possibility of being caught, males were significantly more likely than females to report that, if caught, a likely response they would have would be to think that they had still been driving safely. In contrast, females were significantly more likely than males to report thinking that their speeding had been unsafe and that they should not have been speeding. Females were also significantly more likely to report feeling embarrassed to tell important others about having received a speeding infringement than males. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for developing well-targeted advertising messages aimed at discouraging drivers’ from speeding.

Choosing your niche : the social ecology of the International Baccalaureate Diploma in Australia.

The International Baccalaureate’s branding and reputation targets academic high achievers aiming for university entrance. This is an empirical examination of the growing popularity of this transnational secondary credential amongst local populations in Australia, focusing on its uptake across the community, and the discourses underpinning its spread and popularity. This paper reports on online surveys of 179 parents and 231 students in schools offering the IB as an alternative to Australian state curricula. It sets out to understand the social ecology of who chooses the IB and who it chooses. Statistically significant differences between IB and non-IB choosers were found in terms of family income, parent education, student aspirations, transnational lifestyles, and neoconservative, neoliberal and cosmopolitan beliefs. The analysis demonstrates how the reproduction of advantage is accomplished through choice behaviours in stratified educational markets.

Collaboration and competition on a Wiki : the praxis of online social learning to improve academic writing and research in under-graduate students

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, in particularly Web 2.0, 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 & 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 undergraduate students to both develop and showcase their research on a range of complex, contemporary health issues within the online forum of Wikispaces 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 enriched. 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.

Intellectual property and development : theory and practice

Since the 1960s, many developing countries have introduced IP laws to help them in their social and economic development. Introducing these laws was considered as a civilised act and a precondition of developing countries‘ progress from being =under-developed‘ to becoming =developed‘. In 2004, Brazil and Argentina presented a comprehensive proposal on behalf of developing countries to establish the Development Agenda in the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). They put forward a view that IP laws in their current form are not helping those countries in their development, as is constantly being suggested by developed countries, and that there is a need to rethink the international IP system and the work of WIPO. The research undertaken examines the correlation between IP and social and economic development. It investigates how IP systems in developing countries could work to advance their development, especially in the context of the internet. The research considers the theory and practice of IP and development, and proposes a new IP framework which developing countries could employ to further their social and economic development.

Anti-infectives

18.1 Antibiotics 18.1.1 Introduction to bacteria 18.1.2 Introduction to antibiotics 18.1.3 Inhibitors of bacterial cell wall synthesis 18.1.3.1 β-Lactams 18.1.3.2 Glycopeptides 18.1.4 Inhibitors of bacterial protein synthesis 18.1.4.1 Tetracyclines 18.1.4.2 Aminoglycosides 18.1.4.3 Chloramphenicol 18.1.4.4 Macrolides 18.1.4.5 Lincosamides 18.1.4.6 Oxalazidones 18.1.5 Inhibitors of DNA synthesis 18.2. Anti-tuberculotic drugs 18.2.1 Introduction 18.2.2 Isoniazid 18.2.3 Ethambutol 18.2.4 Rifamycin 18.2.5 Pyrazinamide 18.3. Anti-viral drugs 18.3.1 Introduction to viruses 18.3.2 Drugs used to treat herpesviruses 18.3.3 Drugs used to treat the flu 18.3.4 Drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS 18.4. Antifungal drugs 18.4.1 Introduction to Fungi 18.4.2 Antifungal drugs

Plant made anti-HIV microbicides-A field of opportunity

HIV remains a significant global burden and without an effective vaccine, it is crucial to develop microbicides to halt the initial transmission of the virus. Several microbicides have been researched with various levels of success. Amongst these, the broadly neutralising antibodies and peptide lectins are promising in that they can immediately act on the virus and have proven efficacious in in vitro and in vivo protection studies. For the purpose of development and access by the relevant population groups, it is crucial that these microbicides be produced at low cost. For the promising protein and peptide candidate molecules, it appears that current production systems are overburdened and expensive to establish and maintain. With recent developments in vector systems for protein expression coupled with downstream protein purification technologies, plants are rapidly gaining credibility as alternative production systems. Here we evaluate the advances made in host and vector system development for plant expression as well as the progress made in expressing HIV neutralising antibodies and peptide lectins using plant-based platforms. © 2012 Elsevier Inc.

Meaning or measurement? Researching the social contexts of health and settlement among newly-arrived refugee youth in Melbourne, Australia

What are the most appropriate methodological approaches for researching the psychosocial determinants of health and wellbeing among young people from refugee backgrounds over the resettlement period? What kinds of research models can involve young people in meaningful reflections on their lives and futures while simultaneously yielding valid data to inform services and policy? This paper reports on the methods developed for a longitudinal study of health and wellbeing among young people from refugee backgrounds in Melbourne, Australia. The study involves 100 newly-arrived young people 12 to 18 years of age, and employs a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods implemented as a series of activities carried out by participants in personalized settlement journals. This paper highlights the need to think outside the box of traditional qualitative and/or quantitative approaches for social research into refugee youth health and illustrates how integrated approaches can produce information that is meaningful to policy makers, service providers and to the young people themselves.

Understanding Indigenous Australian women's social and emotional wellbeing and wellness through yarning : the Indigenous Women's Wellness Program

This paper explores Indigenous Australian women’s understanding of wellness, through the lens of social and emotional wellbeing. The authors use a “yarning” approach to explore how wellness is important to Indigenous women who live in North Brisbane (Australia). They discuss the benefits of yarning and its strength as a methodology for conducting research and building activism within Indigenous Australian communities. They argue that, for Indigenous Australian women, wellness is linked to a sense of wholeness and strongly related to the feeling of connection that women get from meeting together and having time for women’s business. They describe the way that their research project developed into a community summit focused on Indigenous women’s wellness.

Review of Australian health related social work research 1990-2009

Social workers form a critical component of the Australian health workforce. Whilst their roles as practitioners are very strategic within the health system, less clear is their contribution to health research. This paper reviews the published record of social work research in Australian health from 1990-2009 in order to discern the patterns of the social work contribution to new knowledge in health. The results of this review indicate a tendency to focus on discursive commentary rather than empirical research as well as a less than expected focus on client studies. Given the rise of evidence based practice, there are potentially serious implications for social work in terms of how it positions itself as a contributor to new knowledge within the health field.