Women's participation in the Australian digital content industry

The research investigated women’s participation in the Australian Digital Content Industry, which encompasses both multimedia and games production. The Digital Content Industry is an area of growing economic and social significance, both in Australia and internationally. Women are under-represented in core Digital Content Industry work but there has been little theoretical or empirical investigation of the underlying issues. This research identified a range of influences on women’s participation and provides a better understanding of this complex social phenomenon by proposing that influences should be understood from the perspective of agent-driven mechanisms. The key contribution is a new theory - the Acts of Agency Theory - which was used to discuss the phenomenon and issues underpinning women’s participation and to recommend strategies that should foster greater participation of women in the Digital Content Industry.

Applying maintenance strategies from the space and satellite sector to the upstream oil and gas industry : a research agenda

Practitioners from both the upstream oil and gas industry and the space and satellite sector have repeatedly noted several striking similarities between the two industries over the years, which have in turn resulted in many direct comparisons in the media and industry press. The two sectors have previously worked together and shared ideas in ways that have yielded some important breakthroughs, but relatively little sharing or cross-pollination has occurred in the area of asset maintenance. This is somewhat surprising in light of the fact that here, too, the sectors have much in common. This paper accordingly puts forward the viewpoint that the upstream oil and gas industry could potentially make significant improvements in asset maintenance—specifically, with regard to offshore platforms and remote pipelines—by selectively applying some aspects of the maintenance strategies and philosophies that have been learned in the space and satellite sector. The paper then offers a research agenda toward accelerating the rate of learning and sharing between the two industries in this domain, and concludes with policy recommendations that could facilitate this kind of cross-industry learning.

Antecedents of consumer brand loyalty in the Chilean wine industry

The wine industry has become fiercely competitive worldwide, and consumers are increasingly exposed to a wider range of wines in retail outlets. Therefore, wineries need to develop and build consumer loyalty toward their brands. The authors empirically test a model of wine brand loyalty in a Latin American context which considers wine brand trust, brand satisfaction, wine knowledge and wine experience as antecedents. Hypotheses are tested with structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings show that wine experience is positively related to brand trust and brand satisfaction. In addition, results show that consumer satisfaction with a wine brand is the strongest driver of brand loyalty.

Monster factory : International dynamics of the Australian horror movie industry

From the early-to-mid 2000s, the Australian horror film production sector has achieved growth and prosperity of a kind not seen since its heyday of the 1980s. Australian horror films can be traced back to the early 1970s, when they experienced a measure of commercial success. However, throughout the twenty-first-century Australian horror gained levels of international recognition that have surpassed the cult status enjoyed by some of the films in the 1970s and 1980s. In recent years, Australia has emerged as a significant producer of breakout, cult, and solid B-grade horror films, which have circulated in markets worldwide. Australian horror’s recent successes have been driven by one of its distinguishing features: its international dimensions. As this chapter argues, the Australian horror film production sector is an export-oriented industry that relies heavily on international partnerships and presales (the sale of distribution rights prior to a film’s completion), and on its relationships with overseas distributors. Yet, these traits vary from film to film as the sector is comprised of several distinct domains of production activity, from guerrilla films destined for niche video markets like specialist cult video stores and online mail-order websites to high(er)-end pictures made for theatrical markets. Furthermore, the content and style of Australian horror movies has often been tailored for export. While some horror filmmakers have sought to play up the Australianness of their product, others have attempted to pass off their films as faux-American or as placeless films effaced of national reference points.

Quantitative and qualitative assessment of the regenerative potential of osteoblasts versus bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells in the reconstruction of critical sized segmental tibial bone defects in a large animal model

This thesis is about the use of different cells for bone tissue engineering. The cells were used in combination with a novel biomaterial in a large tibial bone defects in a sheep model. Furthermore this study developed a novel cell delivery procedure for bone tissue engineering. This novel procedure of cell delivery could overcome the current problems of cell-based tissue engineering and serve as a baseline for the translation of novel concepts into clinical application.

A design led innovation approach to gathering deep customer insights in the aviation industry

Research has long documented the value that design brings to the innovation of products and services. The research landscape has transformed in the last decade and now reflects the value of design as a different way thinking that can be applied to the innovation of business models and catalyst for strategic growth. This paper presents a case study of gathering deep customer insights through a design led innovation approach and reveals industry perspectives and attitudes towards the value of deep customer insights within the context of a leading Australian airport corporation. The findings highlight that the process of gathering deep customer insights encourages a design led approach to testing assumptions and developing stronger customer engagement. The richness of the deep customer insights also provided a bridge to future thought by provoking possible product, service and business innovations which aligned to the airport corporation’s vision. The implications of the study reveal how quantitative market data, which reveals broad sociocultural trends into ‘how’ and ‘what’ customers interact with within an airport, can be strongly validated and built upon through qualitative deep customer insights that explore ‘why’ those choices to interact are made. Future research is then presented which aims to widely disseminate a design led approach to innovation within internal stakeholders of the airport corporation through the development of a digital strategy.

The Music Industry : Music in the Cloud, 1st edition

"The music industry is going through a period of immense change brought about in part by the digital revolution. What is the role of music in the age of computers and the internet? How has the music industry been transformed by the economic and technological upheavals of recent years, and how is it likely to change in the future? This is the first major study of the music industry in the new millennium. Wikström provides an international overview of the music industry and its future prospects in the world of global entertainment. He illuminates the workings of the music industry, and captures the dynamics at work in the production of musical culture between the transnational media conglomerates, the independent music companies and the public." -- back cover Table of Contents Introduction: Music in the Cloud Chapter 1: A Copyright Industry. Chapter 2: Inside the Music Industry Chapter 3: Music and the Media Chapter 4: Making Music - An Industrial or Creative Process Chapter 5: The Social and Creative Music Fan Chapter 6: Future Sounds

Validating a screening tool for mental health and substance use risk in an Indigenous prison population

Introduction and Aims: The Indigenous Risk Impact Screen (IRIS) is a validated culturally appropriate and widely used tool in the community for assessing substance use and mental disorder. This research aimed to assess the utility of this tool in an Indigenous prison population. Design and Methods: The study used data collected from a cross-sectional study of mental health among indigenous inmates in Queensland custodial centres (n=395, 84% male). Participants were administered a modified version of the IRIS, and ICD-10 diagnoses of substance use, depressive and anxiety disorders obtained using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). The concurrent validity of the modified IRIS was assessed against those of the CIDI. Results: 312 people screened as high risk for a substance use disorder and 179 were high risk for mental problems. 73% of males and 88% of females were diagnosed with a mental disorder. The IRIS was an effective screener for substance use disorders, with high sensitivity (Se) of 94% and low specificity (Sp) of 33%. The screener was less effective in identifying depression (Se 82%, Sp 59%) and anxiety (Se 68%, Sp 60%). Discussion: The IRIS is the first culturally appropriate screening instrument to be validated for the risk of drug and alcohol and mental disorder among Indigenous adults in custody. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the IRIS is a valid tool for screening of alcohol and drug use risk among an incarcerated Indigenous population. The IRIS could offer an opportunity to improve the identification, treatment and health outcomes for incarcerated Indigenous adults.

International tax and the Australian wine industry: Is your client’s product destined to sail the seven seas?

The export market for Australian wine continues to grow at a rapid rate, with imported wines also playing a role in market share in sales in Australia. It is estimated that over 60 per cent of all Australian wine is exported, while 12 per cent of wine consumed in Australia has overseas origins. In addition to understanding the size and direction (import or export) of wines, the foreign locales also play an important role in any tax considerations. While the export market for Australian produced alcohol continues to grow, it is into the Asian market that the most significant inroads are occurring. Sales into China of bottled wine over $7.50 per litre recently overtook the volume sold our traditional partners of the United States and Canada. It is becoming easier for even small to medium sized businesses to export their services or products overseas. However, it is vital for those businesses to understand the tax rules applying to any international transactions. Specifically, one of the first tax regimes that importers and exporters need to understand once they decide to establish a presence overseas is transfer pricing. These are the rules that govern the cross-border prices of goods, services and other transactions entered into between related parties. This paper is Part 2 of the seminar presented on transfer pricing and international tax issues which are particularly relevant to the wine industry. The predominant focus of Part 2 is to discuss four key areas likely to affect international expansion. First, the use of the available transfer pricing methodologies for international related party transactions is discussed. Second, the affects that double tax agreements will have on taking a business offshore are considered. Third, the risks associated with aggressive tax planning through tax information exchange agreements is reviewed. Finally, the paper predicts future ‘trip-wires’ and areas to ‘watch out for’ for practitioners dealing with clients operating in the international arena.

Development of the palliative care needs assessment tool (PC-NAT) for use by multi-disciplinary health professionals

Needs assessment strategies can facilitate prioritisation of resources. To develop a needs assessment tool for use with advanced cancer patients and caregivers, to prompt early intervation. A convenience sample of 103 health professionals viewed three videotaped consultations involving a simulated patient, his/her caregiver and a health professional, completed the Palliative Care Needs Assessment Tool (PC-NAT) and provided feedback on clarity, content and acceptability of the PC-NAT. Face and content validity, acceptability and feasibility of the PC-NAT were confirmed. Kappa scores indicated adequate inter-rater reliability for the majority of domains; the patient spirituality domain and the caregiver physical and family and relationship domains had low reliability. The PC-NAT can be used by health professionals with a range of clinical expertise to identify individuals' needs, thereby enabling early intervention. Further psychometric testing and an evaluation to assess the impact of the systematic use of the PC-NAT on quality of life, unmet needs and service utilisation of patients and caregivers are underway.

YAWL4Industry : reflections on using YAWL for industry projects

The Yet Another Workflow Language (YAWL) language and environment has been used to prototype, verify, execute and analyse business processes in a wide variety of industrial domains, such as telephony, construction, supply chain, insurance services, medical environments, personnel management and the creative arts. These engagements offer the YAWL researcher community a great opportunity to validate our research findings within an industry setting, as well as discovery of possible enhancements from the end user perspective. This paper describes three such industry projects, discusses why YAWL was chosen and how it was used in each, and reacts on the insights gained along the way.

Development of a large scale flexible LED display matrix for the screen industry

This project addresses the viability of lightweight, low power consumption, flexible, large format LED screens. The investigation encompasses all aspects of the electrical and mechanical design, individually and as a system, and achieves a successful full scale prototype. The prototype implements novel techniques to achieve large displacement colour aliasing, a purely passive thermal management solution, a rapid deployment system, individual seven bit LED current control with two way display communication, auto-configuration and complete signal redundancy, all of which are in direct response to industry needs.

CSR in Private Enterprises in Developing Countries : Evidences from the Ready-Made Garments Industry in Bangladesh

"This book examines the growing trend of recognition and practices of CSR in private enterprises in developing countries. It identifies the challenges and deficiencies in these practices and proposes means for improvement. Based on a sound theoretical foundation, this book focusses on the case of Bangladesh and the ready-made garment industry to exemplify the described developments. After a brief introduction the book outlines the standards of Corporate Social Responsibility. It compares the trends in CSR practices both in developed and developing countries and then embarks on CSR practices in the private sector in Bangladesh to finally present a detailed analysis of CSR and its practices in the ready-made garment industry. The book not only compares developing countries with developed, but as well provides an assessment and analysis of different stages of CSR within the South Asian area."--published website

Error and uncertainty of adult age estimation of the pubic symphysis in an Australian sub-population using computed tomography

After attending this presentation, attendees will gain awareness of: (1) the error and uncertainty associated with the application of the Suchey-Brooks (S-B) method of age estimation of the pubic symphysis to a contemporary Australian population; (2) the implications of sexual dimorphism and bilateral asymmetry of the pubic symphysis through preliminary geometric morphometric assessment; and (3) the value of three-dimensional (3D) autopsy data acquisition for creating forensic anthropological standards. This presentation will impact the forensic science community by demonstrating that, in the absence of demographically sound skeletal collections, post-mortem autopsy data provides an exciting platform for the construction of large contemporary ‘virtual osteological libraries’ for which forensic anthropological research can be conducted on Australian individuals. More specifically, this study assesses the applicability and accuracy of the S-B method to a contemporary adult population in Queensland, Australia, and using a geometric morphometric approach, provides an insight to the age-related degeneration of the pubic symphysis. Despite the prominent use of the Suchey-Brooks (1990) method of age estimation in forensic anthropological practice, it is subject to intrinsic limitations, with reports of differential inter-population error rates between geographical locations1-4. Australian forensic anthropology is constrained by a paucity of population specific standards due to a lack of repositories of documented skeletons. Consequently, in Australian casework proceedings, standards constructed from predominately American reference samples are applied to establish a biological profile. In the global era of terrorism and natural disasters, more specific population standards are required to improve the efficiency of medico-legal death investigation in Queensland. The sample comprises multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) scans of the pubic symphysis (slice thickness: 0.5mm, overlap: 0.1mm) on 195 individuals of caucasian ethnicity aged 15-70 years. Volume rendering reconstruction of the symphyseal surface was conducted in Amira® (v.4.1) and quantitative analyses in Rapidform® XOS. The sample was divided into ten-year age sub-sets (eg. 15-24) with a final sub-set of 65-70 years. Error with respect to the method’s assigned means were analysed on the basis of bias (directionality of error), inaccuracy (magnitude of error) and percentage correct classification of left and right symphyseal surfaces. Morphometric variables including surface area, circumference, maximum height and width of the symphyseal surface and micro-architectural assessment of cortical and trabecular bone composition were quantified using novel automated engineering software capabilities. The results of this study demonstrated correct age classification utilizing the mean and standard deviations of each phase of the S-B method of 80.02% and 86.18% in Australian males and females, respectively. Application of the S-B method resulted in positive biases and mean inaccuracies of 7.24 (±6.56) years for individuals less than 55 years of age, compared to negative biases and mean inaccuracies of 5.89 (±3.90) years for individuals greater than 55 years of age. Statistically significant differences between chronological and S-B mean age were demonstrated in 83.33% and 50% of the six age subsets in males and females, respectively. Asymmetry of the pubic symphysis was a frequent phenomenon with 53.33% of the Queensland population exhibiting statistically significant (χ2 - p<0.01) differential phase classification of left and right surfaces of the same individual. Directionality was found in bilateral asymmetry, with the right symphyseal faces being slightly older on average and providing more accurate estimates using the S-B method5. Morphometric analysis verified these findings, with the left surface exhibiting significantly greater circumference and surface area than the right (p<0.05). Morphometric analysis demonstrated an increase in maximum height and width of the surface with age, with most significant changes (p<0.05) occurring between the 25-34 and 55-64 year age subsets. These differences may be attributed to hormonal components linked to menopause in females and a reduction in testosterone in males. Micro-architectural analysis demonstrated degradation of cortical composition with age, with differential bone resorption between the medial, ventral and dorsal surfaces of the pubic symphysis. This study recommends that the S-B method be applied with caution in medico-legal death investigations of unknown skeletal remains in Queensland. Age estimation will always be accompanied by error; therefore this study demonstrates the potential for quantitative morphometric modelling of age related changes of the pubic symphysis as a tool for methodological refinement, providing a rigor and robust assessment to remove the subjectivity associated with current pelvic aging methods.