Governance, representation and the ‘monstrous regiment’: is the collective feminine?

Alternatives to the individualistic emphasis of liberal theory focus attention on collective dimensions of social life with implications for legal and political analysis of the state, of representation, and of international law. In this context, relationships between the individual–collective dichotomy and the dichotomy of gender demand attention because of the claimed affiliations of individualism with social understandings of masculinity.

The association of knowledge, attitudes and behaviours related to salt with 24-hour urinary sodium excretion

Salt reduction efforts usually have a strong focus on consumer education. Understanding the association between salt consumption levels and knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards salt should provide insight into the likely effectiveness of education-based programs.

Learning from others at work: communities of practice and informal learning

This paper addresses the question of who is involved in learning in workplaces and the ways in which members of workgroups learn as part of their normal work. It draws on qualitative data from a study of multiple worksites with differentiated work within a large organisation. It examines the value of the notion of communities of practice in conceptualising such workplace learning and suggests that other forms of conceptualisation are also needed.

Family day care educators’ knowledge, confidence and skills in promoting children’s social and emotional wellbeing: baseline data from Thrive

THIS PAPER PRESENTS BASELINE data from Thrive, a capacity-building program for family day care educators. Educators completed a self-report survey assessing knowledge and confidence in promoting children’s social and emotional wellbeing. An in-home observation was used to assess care quality. Twenty-four educators responded to the survey (40 per cent response rate). They had an average of nine years’ experience and 82 percent held childcare qualifications. Educators reported knowledge of, on average, three early signs of social and emotional problems in children, three risk factors and two protective factors. Using a scale from 0-10, mean educator confidence levels ranged from an average of 6.69 to 7.25. Quality of care ratings were moderate. Although educators had a good understanding of children’s social and emotional wellbeing, the study identified opportunities for significant changes in the quality of the educators’ interactions with children in their care and their professional development.

Management control systems and organisational learning: the effects of design and use

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a study on relationships between the design of management control systems (MCS), the use of MCS and organisational learning (OL). Design/methodology/approach – This study adopted a survey method. A written questionnaire was prepared and mailed out to collect quantitative data. After analysis of the empirical results, follow-up interviews were conducted to develop a deeper understanding of the empirical results. Findings – Findings of the study show that both the design and use of MCS are significantly associated with levels of OL activities in organisations, and the use of MCS is found to be a more influential factor in OL. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the accounting literature by providing empirical evidence on the relative impacts of the design and use of MCS on OL activities in organisations and the interaction between the design and use of MCS in influencing OL.

Effect of mood, social connectivity and age in online depression community via topic and linguistic analysis

Depression afflicts one in four people during their lives. Several studies have shown that for the isolated and mentally ill, the Web and social media provide effective platforms for supports and treatments as well as to acquire scientific, clinical understanding of this mental condition. More and more individuals affected by depression join online communities to seek for information, express themselves, share their concerns and look for supports [12]. For the first time, we collect and study a large online depression community of more than 12,000 active members from Live Journal. We examine the effect of mood, social connectivity and age on the online messages authored by members in an online depression community. The posts are considered in two aspects: what is written (topic) and how it is written (language style). We use statistical and machine learning methods to discriminate the posts made by bloggers in low versus high valence mood, in different age categories and in different degrees of social connectivity. Using statistical tests, language styles are found to be significantly different between low and high valence cohorts, whilst topics are significantly different between people whose different degrees of social connectivity. High performance is achieved for low versus high valence post classification using writing style as features. The finding suggests the potential of using social media in depression screening, especially in online setting.

Digital material representation and testing of metal foams

In recent years, metal foams are becoming more and more popular due to their high energy absorption ability and low density, which are being widely used in automotive engineering and aerospace engineering. As a design guide, foams can be characterised by several main geometric parameters, such as pore size, pore shape, spatial distribution and arrangement and so on. Considering most foam materials have random distributions of cell size and cell shape, the digital material representation and modelling of such materials become more complex. Cell size and shape effects on mechanical behaviours of metal foams have been found and investigated numerically and experimentally in authors' previous studies in which the authors have developed a digital framework for the representation, modelling and evaluation of multi-phase materials including metal foams. In this study, 2-/3-D finite element models are both developed to represent metal foams with random cell distributions and then a series of digital testing are simulated to investigate the mechanical behaviours of such foams. For validation and verification purpose, the results obtained from 2-/3-D models have been compared and good agreement has been found which demonstrated the effectiveness of the digital framework developed for metal forms. © (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.

Fog computing: a cloud to the ground support for smart things and machine-to-machine networks

Cloud services to smart things face latency and intermittent connectivity issues. Fog devices are positioned between cloud and smart devices. Their high speed Internet connection to the cloud, and physical proximity to users, enable real time applications and location based services, and mobility support. Cisco promoted fog computing concept in the areas of smart grid, connected vehicles and wireless sensor and actuator networks. This survey article expands this concept to the decentralized smart building control, recognizes cloudlets as special case of fog computing, and relates it to the software defined networks (SDN) scenarios. Our literature review identifies a handful number of articles. Cooperative data scheduling and adaptive traffic light problems in SDN based vehicular networks, and demand response management in macro station and micro-grid based smart grids are discussed. Security, privacy and trust issues, control information overhead and network control policies do not seem to be studied so far within the fog computing concept.

Reducing the risk of heart disease among Indian Australians: knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs regarding food practices - a focus group study

BACKGROUND: Australia has a growing number of Asian Indian immigrants. Unfortunately, this population has an increased risk for coronary heart disease (CHD). Dietary adherence is an important strategy in reducing risk for CHD. This study aimed to gain greater understanding of the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs relating to food practices in Asian Indian Australians. METHODS: Two focus groups with six participants in each were recruited using a convenience sampling technique. Verbatim transcriptions were made and thematic content analysis undertaken. RESULTS: Four main themes that emerged from the data included: migration as a pervasive factor for diet and health; importance of food in maintaining the social fabric; knowledge and understanding of health and diet; and elements of effective interventions. DISCUSSION: Diet is a complex constructed factor in how people express themselves individually, in families and communities. There are many interconnected factors influencing diet choice that goes beyond culture and religion to include migration and acculturation. CONCLUSIONS: Food and associated behaviors are an important aspect of the social fabric. Entrenched and inherent knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and traditions frame individuals' point of reference around food and recommendations for an optimal diet.