Supporting the mature aged workforce

This article presents findings from an Australian research project regarding management of the mature aged workforce and ageing demographic issues. Semi structured interviews were used to discuss perceptions of older workers, ageing demography, informal work practices, formal work practices and business development. The sample included 25 employees from three local governments from the Queensland State in Australia. Four main themes emerged from the analysis regarding the current setting. These were: (1) Despite negative stereotyping, respondents had a positive view of older workers, (2) Age management was more of an issue for the outdoor workforce due to declines in physiological capacities associated with aging, (3) The overarching policy framework within the local councils was age neutral; and (4) Informal age management strategies existed at the discretion of the respective managers and section heads. An age conscious and forethought workforce plan was viewed as the next step towards a formal age management strategy. The findings indicate that mentoring, training and flexible work options to retain staff and to retain corporate knowledge may be some of the options for the future

Learning in the third space : a sociocultural perspective on learning with analogies

Research on analogies in science education has focussed on student interpretation of teacher and textbook analogies, psychological aspects of learning with analogies and structured approaches for teaching with analogies. Few studies have investigated how analogies might be pivotal in students’ growing participation in chemical discourse. To study analogies in this way requires a sociocultural perspective on learning that focuses on ways in which language, signs, symbols and practices mediate participation in chemical discourse. This study reports research findings from a teacher-research study of two analogy-writing activities in a chemistry class. The study began with a theoretical model, Third Space, which informed analyses and interpretation of data. Third Space was operationalized into two sub-constructs called Dialogical Interactions and Hybrid Discourses. The aims of this study were to investigate sociocultural aspects of learning chemistry with analogies in order to identify classroom activities where students generate Dialogical Interactions and Hybrid Discourses, and to refine the operationalization of Third Space. These aims were addressed through three research questions. The research questions were studied through an instrumental case study design. The study was conducted in my Year 11 chemistry class at City State High School for the duration of one Semester. Data were generated through a range of data collection methods and analysed through discourse analysis using the Dialogical Interactions and Hybrid Discourse sub-constructs as coding categories. Results indicated that student interactions differed between analogical activities and mathematical problem-solving activities. Specifically, students drew on discourses other than school chemical discourse to construct analogies and their growing participation in chemical discourse was tracked using the Third Space model as an interpretive lens. Results of this study led to modification of the theoretical model adopted at the beginning of the study to a new model called Merged Discourse. Merged Discourse represents the mutual relationship that formed during analogical activities between the Analog Discourse and the Target Discourse. This model can be used for interpreting and analysing classroom discourse centred on analogical activities from sociocultural perspectives. That is, it can be used to code classroom discourse to reveal students’ growing participation with chemical (or scientific) discourse consistent with sociocultural perspectives on learning.

The managerial benefits of tax compliance: perception by small business taxpayers

Research undertaken in 2006 – 2007 investigated the perception of managerial benefits of tax compliance by small business taxpayers. Survey data from a sample of 300 small business taxpayers and responses to semi-structured interviews of owner managers were examined. The study found that a majority of small business taxpayers recognised that tax compliance activities led to better record keeping and to an improved knowledge of their financial affairs. However, there seemed to be a general reluctance by respondents to accept the idea that benefits could be derived as a result of complying with tax. The findings of this study are important as it is the first research that systematically investigated managerial benefits and their perception by small business taxpayers in Australia.

A population survey of the penetrance of contact lens wear in Australia : rationale, methodology and results

Purpose: A population based, cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted to estimate the total penetrance of contact lens wear in Australia. Methods: A total of 42,749 households around Australia were randomly selected from the national electronic telephone directory based on postcode distribution. Before contact was attempted, letters of introduction were sent. The number of individuals and contact lens wearers in each household was ascertained and lens wearers were interviewed to determine details of lens type and mode of wear using a structured questionnaire. Results: Of households contacted, 59.2% (19,171/32,405) agreed to participate. Response rates were only marginally higher amongst households that first received a letter of introduction. In these households, 35,914 individuals were identified, of which, 1,798 were contact lens wearers. The penetrance of contact lens wear during the study period was 5.01% (95% CI: 4.78-5.24). Soft hydrogel lenses had the largest penetrance in the community, (66.7% of all wearers), however, their market share decreased significantly over the study period with increased uptake of newly introduced lens types. Conclusions: The penetrance of contact lens wear concurs with market estimates and equates to approximately 680,000 contact lens wearers aged between 15 and 64 years in Australia. The low response rate obtained in this study highlights the difficulty in contemporary use of telephone survey methodology

Value-mapping for major economic infrastructure projects

The establishment of corporate objectives regarding economic, environmental, social, and ethical responsibilities, to inform business practice, has been gaining credibility in the business sector since the early 1990’s. This is witnessed through (i) the formation of international forums for sustainable and accountable development, (ii) the emergence of standards, systems, and frameworks to provide common ground for regulatory and corporate dialogue, and (iii) the significant quantum of relevant popular and academic literature in a diverse range of disciplines. How then has this move towards greater corporate responsibility become evident in the provision of major urban infrastructure projects? The gap identified, in both academic literature and industry practice, is a structured and auditable link between corporate intent and project outcomes. Limited literature has been discovered which makes a link between corporate responsibility; project performance indicators (or critical success factors) and major infrastructure provision. This search revealed that a comprehensive mapping framework, from an organisation’s corporate objectives through to intended, anticipated and actual outcomes and impacts has not yet been developed for the delivery of such projects. The research problem thus explored is ‘the need to better identify, map and account for the outcomes, impacts and risks associated with economic, environmental, social and ethical outcomes and impacts which arise from major economic infrastructure projects, both now, and into the future’. The methodology being used to undertake this research is based on Checkland’s soft system methodology, engaging in action research on three collaborative case studies. A key outcome of this research is a value-mapping framework applicable to Australian public sector agencies. This is a decision-making methodology which will enable project teams responsible for delivering major projects, to better identify and align project objectives and impacts with stated corporate objectives.

Resolving painful emotional experience during psychodrama

Unresolved painful emotional experiences such as bereavement, trauma and disturbances in core relationships, are common presenting problems for clients of psychodrama or psychotherapy more generally. Emotional pain is experienced as a shattering of the sense of self and disconnection from others and, when unresolved, produces avoidant responses which inhibit the healing process. There is agreement across therapeutic modalities that exposure to emotional experience can increase the efficacy of therapeutic interventions. Moreno proposes that the activation of spontaneity is the primary curative factor in psychodrama and that healing occurs when the protagonist (client) engages with his or her wider social system and develops greater flexibility in response to that system. An extensive case-report literature describes the application of the psychodrama method in healing unresolved painful emotional experiences, but there is limited empirical research to verify the efficacy of the method or to identify the processes that are linked to therapeutic change. The purpose of this current research was to construct a model of protagonist change processes that could extend psychodrama theory, inform practitioners’ therapeutic decisions and contribute to understanding the common factors in therapeutic change. Four studies investigated protagonist processes linked to in-session resolution of painful emotional experiences. Significant therapeutic events were analysed using recordings and transcripts of psychodrama enactments, protagonist and director recall interviews and a range of process and outcome measures. A preliminary study (3 cases) identified four themes that were associated with helpful therapeutic events: enactment, the working alliance with the director and with group members, emotional release or relief and social atom repair. The second study (7 cases) used Comprehensive Process Analysis (CPA) to construct a model of protagonists’ processes linked to in-session resolution. This model was then validated across four more cases in Study 3. Five meta-processes were identified: (i) a readiness to engage in the psychodrama process; (ii) re-experiencing and insight; (iii) activating resourcefulness; (iv) social atom repair with emotional release and (v) integration. Social atom repair with emotional release involved deeply experiencing a wished-for interpersonal experience accompanied by a free flowing release of previously restricted emotion and was most clearly linked to protagonists’ reports of reaching resolution and to post session improvements in interpersonal relationships and sense of self. Acceptance of self in the moment increased protagonists’ capacity to generate new responses within each meta-process and, in resolved cases, there was evidence of spontaneity developing over time. The fourth study tested Greenberg’s allowing and accepting painful emotional experience model as an alternative explanation of protagonist change. The findings of this study suggested that while the process of allowing emotional pain was present in resolved cases, Greenberg’s model was not sufficient to explain the processes that lead to in-session resolution. The protagonist’s readiness to engage and activation of resourcefulness appear to facilitate the transition from problem identification to emotional release. Furthermore, experiencing a reparative relationship was found to be central to the healing process. This research verifies that there can be in-session resolution of painful emotional experience during psychodrama and protagonists’ reports suggest that in-session resolution can heal the damage to the sense of self and the interpersonal disconnection that are associated with unresolved emotional pain. A model of protagonist change processes has been constructed that challenges the view of psychodrama as a primarily cathartic therapy, by locating the therapeutic experience of emotional release within the development of new role relationships. The five meta-processes which are described within the model suggest broad change principles which can assist practitioners to make sense of events as they unfold and guide their clinical decision making in the moment. Each meta-process was linked to specific post-session changes, so that the model can inform the development of therapeutic plans for individual clients and can aid communication for practitioners when a psychodrama intervention is used for a specific therapeutic purpose within a comprehensive program of therapy.

Structuring free-form tagging in online news

Tagging has become one of the key activities in next generation websites which allow users selecting short labels to annotate, manage, and share multimedia information such as photos, videos and bookmarks. Tagging does not require users any prior training before participating in the annotation activities as they can freely choose any terms which best represent the semantic of contents without worrying about any formal structure or ontology. However, the practice of free-form tagging can lead to several problems, such as synonymy, polysemy and ambiguity, which potentially increase the complexity of managing the tags and retrieving information. To solve these problems, this research aims to construct a lightweight indexing scheme to structure tags by identifying and disambiguating the meaning of terms and construct a knowledge base or dictionary. News has been chosen as the primary domain of application to demonstrate the benefits of using structured tags for managing the rapidly changing and dynamic nature of news information. One of the main outcomes of this work is an automatically constructed vocabulary that defines the meaning of each named entity tag, which can be extracted from a news article (including person, location and organisation), based on experts suggestions from major search engines and the knowledge from public database such as Wikipedia. To demonstrate the potential applications of the vocabulary, we have used it to provide more functionalities in an online news website, including topic-based news reading, intuitive tagging, clipping and sharing of interesting news, as well as news filtering or searching based on named entity tags. The evaluation results on the impact of disambiguating tags have shown that the vocabulary can help to significantly improve news searching performance. The preliminary results from our user study have demonstrated that users can benefit from the additional functionalities on the news websites as they are able to retrieve more relevant news, clip and share news with friends and families effectively.

Elderly people's use of and attitudes towards assistive devices

People in developed countries are living longer with the help of medical advances. Literature has shown that older people prefer to stay independent and live at home for as long as possible. Therefore, it is important to find out how to best accommodate and assist them in maintaining quality of life and independence as well as easing human resources. Researchers have claimed that assistive devices assist in older people’s independence, however, only a small number of studies regarding the efficiency of assistive devices have been undertaken of which several have stated that devices are not being used. The overall aim of this research was to identify whether the disuse and ineffectiveness of assistive devices are related to change in abilities or related to the design of the devices. The objective was to gather information from the elderly; to identify what assistive devices are being used or not used and to gain an understanding on their attitudes towards assistive devices. Research was conducted in two phases. The initial phase of the research was conducted with the distribution of questionnaires to people over the age of fifty that asked general questions and specific questions on type of devices being used. Phase One was followed on by Phase Two, where participants from Phase One who had come in contact with assistive devices were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview. Questions were put forth to the interviewee on their use of and attitudes towards assistive devices. Findings indicated that the reasons for the disuse in assistive devices were mostly design related; bulkiness, reliability, performance of the device, difficulty of use. The other main reason for disuse was socially related; elderly people preferred to undertake activities on their own and only use a device as a precaution or when absolutely necessary. They would prefer not having to rely on the devices. Living situation and difference in gender did not affect the preference for the use of assistive devices over personal assistance. The majority strongly supported the idea of remaining independent for as long as possible. In conclusion, this study proposes that through these findings, product designers will have a better understanding of the requirements of an elderly user. This will enable the designers to produce assistive devices that are more practical, personalised, reliable, easy to use and tie in with the older people’s environments. Additional research with different variables is recommended to further justify these findings.

The influence of national culture on communication practices : a case study on Malaysian organisation

National culture is deeply rooted in values, which are learned and acquired when we are young (2007, p. 6), and „embedded deeply in everyday life. (Newman & Nollen, 1996, p. 754). Values have helped to shape us into who we are today. In other words, as we grow older, the cultural values we have learned and adapted to will mould our daily practices. This is reflected in our actions, behaviours, and the ways in which we communicate. Based on the previous assertion, it can be suggested that national culture may also influence organisational culture, as our „behaviour at work is a continuation of behaviour learned earlier. (Hofstede, 1991, p. 4). Cultural influence in an organisation could be evidenced by looking at communication practices: how employees interact with one another as they communicate in their daily practices. Earlier studies in organisational communication see communication as the heart of an organisation in which it serves, and as „the essence of organised activity and the basic process out of which all other functions derive. (Bavelas and Barret, cited in Redding, 1985, p. 7). Hence, understanding how culture influences communication will help with understanding organisational behaviour. This study was conducted to look at how culture values, which are referred to as culture dimensions in this thesis, influenced communication practices in an organisation that was going through a change process. A single case study was held in a Malaysian organisation, to investigate how Malaysian culture dimensions of respect, collectivism, and harmony were evidenced in the communication practices. Data was collected from twelve semi-structured interviews and five observation sessions. Guided by six attributes identified in the literature, (1) acknowledging seniority, knowledge and experience, 2) saving face, 3) showing loyalty to organisation and leaders, 4) demonstrating cohesiveness among members, 5) prioritising group interests over personal interests, and 6) avoiding confrontations of Malaysian culture dimensions, this study found eighteen communication practices performed by employees of the organisation. This research contributes to the previous cultural work, especially in the Malaysian context, in which evidence of Malaysian culture dimensions of respect, collectivism, and harmony were displayed in communication practices: 1) acknowledging the status quo, 2) obeying orders and directions, 3) name dropping, 4) keeping silent, 5) avoiding questioning, 6) having separate conversations, 7) adding, not criticising, 8) sugar coating, 9) instilling a sense of belonging, 10) taking sides, 11) cooperating, 12) sacrificing personal interest, 13) protecting identity, 14) negotiating, 15) saying „yes. instead of „no., 16) giving politically correct answers, 17) apologising, and 18) tolerating errors. Insights from this finding will help us to understand the organisational challenges that rely on communication, such as during organisational change. Therefore, data findings will be relevant to practitioners to understand the impact of culture on communication practices across countries.

Conceptions of learning held by upper primary children in government schools in Brunei Darussalam

The current study examined the conceptions of learning held by upper primary children in government schools in Brunei. Previous studies have shown that the conceptions of learning held by students influence the ways in which they approach learning tasks and, in turn, impact on their learning outcomes. However, the majority of these studies were carried out with university and secondary school students, with little research involving primary school children. A phenomenographic research approach was used to describe the qualitatively different ways in which a group of sixteen upper primary children experienced learning in two government schools in Brunei. Data were gathered using scenariobased semi]structured interviews. Iterative cycles of analysis revealed three categories of description depicting three qualitatively different ways in which the children experienced the phenomenon. The three categories of description were: learning as acquiring information (Category 1), learning as remembering information (Category 2) and learning as doing hands]on activities (Category 3). These categories indicate a variation in the ways in which upper primary children experience learning in government schools in Brunei. The conceptions of learning held by the children provide a platform from which educators and policy]makers can consider possibilities for meaningful learning in government schools in Brunei.

Facial feature detection for in-car environment

Acoustically, vehicles are extremely noisy environments and as a consequence audio-only in-car voice recognition systems perform very poorly. Seeing that the visual modality is immune to acoustic noise, using the visual lip information from the driver is seen as a viable strategy in circumventing this problem. However, implementing such an approach requires a system being able to accurately locate and track the driver’s face and facial features in real-time. In this paper we present such an approach using the Viola-Jones algorithm. Using this system, we present our results which show that using the Viola-Jones approach is a suitable method of locating and tracking the driver’s lips despite the visual variability of illumination and head pose.

Near infrared spectroscopy of stearic acid adsorbed on montmorillonite

The adsorption of stearic acid on both sodium montmorillonites and calcium montmorillonites has been studied by near infrared spectroscopy complimented with infrared spectroscopy. Upon adsorption of stearic acid on Ca-Mt additional near infrared bands are observed at 8236 cm-1 and is assigned to an interaction of stearic acid with the water of hydration. Upon adsorption of the stearic acid on Na-Mt, the NIR bands are now observed at 5671, 5778, 5848 and 5912 cm-1 and are assigned to the overtone and combination bands of the CH fundamentals. Additional bands at 4177, 4250, 4324, 4337, 4689 and 4809 cm-1 are attributed to CH combination bands resulting from the adsorption of the stearic acid. Stearic acid is used as a model molecule for adsorption studies. The application of near infrared spectroscopy to the study of this adsorption proved most useful.

Learning wellness : how ageing Australians experience health information literacy

Given identified synergies between information use and health status greater understanding is needed about how people use information to learn about their health. This article presents the findings of preliminary research into health information literacy which sought to explore how this is phenomenon is experienced among ageing Australians. Analysis of data from semi-structured interviews has revealed six different ways ageing Australians experience using information to learn about their health within one aspect of community life. Health information literacy is a new terrain for information literacy research endeavours and one which warrants further attention by the profession to foster and promote within the community.

Supply chain collaboration : capabilities for continuous innovation

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate how collaborative relationships enhance continuous innovation in the supply chain using case studies. Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 23 managers in ten case studies. The main intention was to comprehend how these firms engaged in collaborative relationships and their importance for successful innovation. The study adopted a qualitative approach to investigating these factors. Findings – The findings demonstrate how differing relationships can impact on the operation of firms and their capacities to innovate. The ability to work together with partners has enabled firms to integrate and link operations for increased effectiveness as well as embark on both radical and incremental innovation. Research limitations/implications – The research into the initiatives and strategies for collaboration was essentially exploratory. A qualitative approach using case studies acknowledged that the responses from managers were difficult to quantify or gauge the extent of these factors. Practical implications – The findings have shown various methods where firms integrated with customers and suppliers in the supply chain. This was evident in the views of managers across all the firms examined, supporting the importance of collaboration and efficient allocation of resources throughout the supply chain. They were able to set procedures in their dealings with partners, sharing knowledge and processes, and subsequently joint-planning and investing with them for better operations, systems and processes in the supply chain. Originality/value – The case studies serve as examples for managers in logistics organisation who are contemplating strategies and issues on collaborative relationships. The study provides important lessons on how such relationships can impact on the operation of firms and their capability to innovate. Keywords Supply chain management, Innovation, Relationship marketing

Design of automatic vision-based inspection system for solder joint segmentation

Purpose: Computer vision has been widely used in the inspection of electronic components. This paper proposes a computer vision system for the automatic detection, localisation, and segmentation of solder joints on Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) under different illumination conditions. Design/methodology/approach: An illumination normalization approach is applied to an image, which can effectively and efficiently eliminate the effect of uneven illumination while keeping the properties of the processed image the same as in the corresponding image under normal lighting conditions. Consequently special lighting and instrumental setup can be reduced in order to detect solder joints. These normalised images are insensitive to illumination variations and are used for the subsequent solder joint detection stages. In the segmentation approach, the PCB image is transformed from an RGB color space to a YIQ color space for the effective detection of solder joints from the background. Findings: The segmentation results show that the proposed approach improves the performance significantly for images under varying illumination conditions. Research limitations/implications: This paper proposes a front-end system for the automatic detection, localisation, and segmentation of solder joint defects. Further research is required to complete the full system including the classification of solder joint defects. Practical implications: The methodology presented in this paper can be an effective method to reduce cost and improve quality in production of PCBs in the manufacturing industry. Originality/value: This research proposes the automatic location, identification and segmentation of solder joints under different illumination conditions.