Rapid nutrient determination of sugarcane milling by-products using near infrared spectroscopy

This thesis investigates the use of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopic methods for rapid measurement of nutrient elements in mill mud and mill ash. Adoption of NIR-based analyses for carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and silicon will allow Australian sugarcane farmers to comply with recent legislative changes, and act within recommended precision farming frameworks. For these analyses, NIR spectroscopic methods surpass several facets of traditional wet chemistry techniques, dramatically reducing costs, required expertise and chemical exposure, while increasing throughput and access to data. Further, this technology can be applied in various modes, including laboratory, at-line and on-line installations, allowing targeted measurement.

Police-referred restorative justice for juveniles in Australia

This preliminary paper provides an overview of the legislative and policy context of restorative justice measures for juveniles in each Australian state and territory, highlighting the diverse characteristics of current restorative practices. Further, it provides an indication of the numbers and characteristics of juveniles who are referred by police to restorative justice measures and the offence types for which they are most commonly referred. A number of key points about the application of restorative justice measures to juveniles in Australia’s jurisdictions are highlighted, including that juveniles were referred to conferences primarily for property crimes and that Indigenous juveniles comprised higher proportions of those sent to court than to conferencing. This paper argues that more detailed data on the offending histories, offence types and offence seriousness of juveniles referred by police to restorative justice processes would enable a more finely-grained analysis of restorative justice for juveniles in Australia.

Children's exposure to domestic violence in Australia

Children's 'witnessing' or exposure to domestic violence has been increasingly recognised as a form of child abuse, both in Australia and internationally. Although it is difficult to accurately assess the scope of the problem, research has demonstrated that a substantial amount of domestic violence is witnessed by children. As this paper outlines, witnessing domestic violence can involve a range of incidents, ranging from the child 'only' hearing the violence, to the child being forced to participate in the violence or being used as part of a violent incident. In this paper, current knowledge about the extent of children's exposure to domestic violence in Australia is described, along with the documented impacts that this exposure can have on children. This includes psychological and behavioural impacts, health and socioeconomic impacts, and its link to the intergenerational transmission of violence and re-victimisation. Current legislative and policy initiatives are then described and some community-based programs that have been introduced in Australia to address the problem of children's exposure to domestic violence are highlighted. The paper concludes that initiatives focused on early intervention and holistic approaches to preventing and responding to children's exposure to domestic violence should be considered as part of strategies developed to address this problem.

Knowledge and behaviours of drunk driving offenders in Guangzhou, China

Background Alcohol is a major contributor to road crashes in China (Li, Xie, Nie, & Zhang, 2012; Cochrane, & Chen, 2003). Two levels of offence are defined in legislation: the lower level is driving under the influence (DUI, also translated as “drink driving”) and the higher level is driving while intoxicated (DWI, also translated as “drunk driving”, where the driver has BAC>0.08mg/100ml). This study focuses on a 2011 legislative amendment that made drunk driving (DWI) a criminal offence. However, it is not known whether drivers are aware of the law, and whether this knowledge, their exposure to enforcement and the existence of alcohol use disorders relate to their drink driving behaviour. This study explored these relationships in a sample of convicted drunk drivers. Method A survey collected information about offenders’ knowledge and practices related to drunk driving in Guangzhou. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) (Babor, & Grant, 1989; Chen, & Cheng, 2005) assessed hazardous drinking levels. In total, 101 drunk driving offenders were recruited while in detention. Results Males represented 90% of the sample; the average age was 33.6 years (SD=8.7; range 17-59 years). The average age at which offenders reported starting to drink alcohol was 19.5 years (SD=4.1; range 8-30 years). Driver’s licences had been held for a median of 7 years. Knowledge about legal limits for DUI and DWI offences was surprisingly low, at 27.7% and 40.6% respectively. On average, offenders had experienced 1.5 police alcohol breath tests in the previous year (SD=1.3; range 1-10). AUDIT scores indicated that a substantial proportion of the offenders had high levels of alcohol use disorders. Higher AUDIT scores were found among the least experienced drivers, those with lack of knowledge about the legal limits, and recidivist drunk drivers. Discussion and conclusions Limited awareness of legal alcohol limits might contribute to offending; high levels of alcohol consumption by many offenders suggest that hazardous drinking levels may also contribute. Novice drivers are a concern and their higher AUDIT scores merit some followup. Overall, this study provides important information to assist in refining community education and prevention efforts to align with China’s new regulations.

Child complainants and the court process in Australia

In recent years, it has been recognised that child complainants in the criminal justice system can experience difficulties over and above those of other complainants and that children can experience the court process as extremely traumatising. This can be exacerbated if children are complainants in child sexual offence matters and if they have to give evidence against a family member. This paper has three primary aims. First, it outlines the major factors that contribute to making court processes harrowing for child complainants. Second, it outlines some of the main initiatives that have been introduced to address these factors. Finally, it weighs up the evidence about initiatives designed to assist child complainants and concludes that such initiatives have had only limited practical impact for child complainants in the criminal justice system. The limited impact is attributed to the need to balance the rights of the accused with consideration for the complainant, a failure to translate legislative changes into practice, the impact of judicial discretion and/or a focus on protecting child complainants at the expense of increasing convictions.

Consequences of introducing mandatory reporting legislation for child sexual abuse

To improve detection of child sexual abuse, many jurisdictions have enacted mandatory reporting laws requiring selected persons to report known and suspected cases. In Ireland, the Child First approach previously incorporated only a policy-based approach to reporting. Due to a perceived lack of efficacy, the Children First Bill was drafted in 2012 to shift this policy guidance to a legislative approach. What effects will the new legislative reporting duties have on numbers of reports, and outcomes of reports, of suspected child sexual abuse? This paper will shed light on these important questions by presenting results of analyses of the introduction of legislative reporting obligations in two Australian States. Three questions will be explored: 1. Does introducing reporting legislation result in enhanced detection of child sexual abuse? 2. Do different reporter groups have different patterns of reporting? 3. What do the patterns of report numbers and outcomes indicate for child protection systems and communities?

Scared straight : boot camps for Queensland

The Liberal National Party (‘LNP’) ‘tough on youth crime’ policy mantra was well publicised in the months leading up to the 2012 Queensland state election. 1 Boot camp trials were espoused as a quick-fix panacea — a way of addressing youth offending. The idea was particularly favoured in the far northern regions of the state. In line with the new government’s policy, the Youth Justice (Boot Camp Orders) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 (Qld) (‘the Bill’) had a speedy passage through the unicameral Queensland parliament. It was introduced on 1 November 2012, scrutinised by the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee (‘LACSC’) which sought community feedback, and reported back to Parliament within the given timeframe of three weeks. The Bill received assent early December and the provisions commenced in January 2013. This article examines the legislative changes implemented in Queensland. It analyses the issues prompting the amendments such as the perception that parts of Queensland were in the grip of a ‘soaring juvenile crime rate’, the conservative government’s ‘tough stance’ policy towards youth offending, and the transfer of youth justice ‘solutions’ such as ‘boot camps’ among jurisdictions. The article assesses the evidence base for boot camp orders as an option in sentencing young offenders and concludes by raising serious concerns about pursuing such a narrow hardline approach to youth justice.

Copyright and computer generated materials : is it time to reboot the discussion about authorship?

Computer generated materials are ubiquitous and we encounter them on a daily basis, even though most people are unaware that this is the case. Blockbuster movies, television weather reports and telephone directories all include material that is produced by utilising computer technologies. Copyright protection for materials generated by a programmed computer was considered by the Federal Court and Full Court of the Federal Court in Telstra Corporation Limited v Phone Directories Company Pty Ltd. The court held that the White and Yellow pages telephone directories produced by Telstra and its subsidiary, Sensis, were not protected by copyright because they were computer-generated works which lacked the requisite human authorship. The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) does not contain specific provisions on the subsistence of copyright in computer-generated materials. Although the issue of copyright protection for computer-generated materials has been examined in Australia on two separate occasions by independently-constituted Copyright Law Review Committees over a period of 10 years (1988 to 1998), the Committees’ recommendations for legislative clarification by the enactment of specific amendments to the Copyright Act have not yet been implemented and the legal position remains unclear. In the light of the decision of the Full Federal Court in Telstra v Phone Directories it is timely to consider whether specific provisions should be enacted to clarify the position of computer-generated works under copyright law and, in particular, whether the requirement of human authorship for original works protected under Part III of the Copyright Act should now be reconceptualised to align with the realities of how copyright materials are created in the digital era.

Australian domestic violence protection order legislation : a comparative quantitative content analysis of victim safety provisions

In Australia, protection orders are a key legal response to domestic violence, and are often viewed as a way of providing for victim safety. For instance, recently the joint Australian and New South Wales Law Reform Commissions recommended that a common core purpose of all state and territory domestic violence legislation should be ‘to ensure or maximise the safety and protection of persons who fear or experience family violence’ (2010:Recommendation 7-4). Drawing and building upon prior research in Australia and the United States (‘US’), this paper uses comparative quantitative content analysis to assess the victim safety focus of domestic violence protection order legislation in each Australian state and territory. The findings of this analysis show that the Northern Territory, South Australia and Victoria ‘stand out’ from the other jurisdictions, having the highest victim safety focus in their legislation. However, there remains sizeable scope for improvement in all Australian jurisdictions, in terms of the victim safety focus of their legislative provisions and the considerations of legislative inconsistency between jurisdictions.

Point-to-point speed enforcement : recommendations for better practice

Point-to-point speed cameras are a relatively new and innovative technological approach to speed enforcement that is increasingly been used in a number of highly motorised countries. Previous research has provided evidence of the positive impact of this approach on vehicle speeds and crash rates, as well as additional traffic related outcomes such as vehicle emissions and traffic flow. This paper reports on the conclusions and recommendations of a large-scale project involving extensive consultation with international and domestic (Australian) stakeholders to explore the technological, operational, and legislative characteristics associated with the technology. More specifically, this paper provides a number of recommendations for better practice regarding the implementation of point-to-point speed enforcement in the Australian and New Zealand context. The broader implications of the research, as well as directions for future research, are also discussed.

Comprehensive Addictive Behaviors and Disorders, Volume 3 : Interventions for Addiction

"Interventions for Addiction examines a wide range of responses to addictive behaviors, including psychosocial treatments, pharmacological treatments, provision of health care to addicted individuals, prevention, and public policy issues. Its focus is on the practical application of information covered in the two previous volumes of the series, Comprehensive Addictive Behaviors and Disorders. Readers will find information on treatments beyond commonly used methods, including Internet-based and faith-based therapies, and criminal justice interventions. The volume features extensive coverage of pharmacotherapies for each of the major drugs of abuse-including disulfiram, buprenorphine, naltrexone, and others-as well as for behavioral addictions. In considering public policy, the book examines legislative efforts, price controls, and limits on advertising, as well as World Health Organization (WHO) efforts. Interventions for Addiction is one of three volumes comprising the 2,500-page series, Comprehensive Addictive Behaviors and Disorders. This series provides the most complete collection of current knowledge on addictive behaviors and disorders to date. In short, it is the definitive reference work on addictions."--publisher website

A preliminary study on assessing body burden of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in infants through analysis of faeces

Most persistent organic pollutants (POPs) like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a range of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) are readily absorbed (via the ingestion and inhalation) and accumulate in fatty tissue, including adipose tissue and human milk [1]. Health effects related to exposure to these chemicals may include neurological effects, altered functioning of the nervous system and/or endocrine disruption [2-4]. The burden of environmental disease is recognized as much higher for children than adults, especially in young children under 5 years of age worldwide [5]. There is increased concern regarding the environmental impact on the health of children who have been disproportionately affected by environmental problems. For example they may be subjected to relatively higher exposure, have greater physiological susceptibility and/or suffer more extreme consequences due to growth [6-9]. It is therefore worthwhile to assess the correlation between burden of disease and exposure to xenobiotic chemical pollutants like POPs. Such assessment may provide guidance for legislative changes regarding chemical bans and give reliable advice to parents including lactating mothers.

Ethics in Research with Children

Widespread scholarly interest in ethics in research with children, as an extant field of inquiry and practice, is a relatively new phenomenon. The discipline of ethics can be traced back to the Hippocratic school, but its contemporary applications in the everyday worlds of children and those around them are gaining greater attention from theorists, practitioners, and those involved in policy. Heightened international awareness of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1979) gave significant impetus to increasing international awareness of children’s rights to provision, protection, and participation in everyday contexts, including those in which research occurs. Understandings of research ethics and of children’s involvement in research relate to broader understandings of children and childhood drawn from developmental science, sociology, human geography, health sciences, and children’s human rights to participation and protection. Key understandings pertain to children’s competence to participate in research, to operate as reliable informants with respect to their own lives, to provide voluntary informed consent and dissent in research, and to make meaningful decisions about the nature and extent of their participation. The field is international and interdisciplinary, although bounded by legislative, policy, and jurisdictional requirements governing research—its conduct and dissemination. So, too, the burgeoning work of ethics committees, whether in relation to health research or social research, is evidence of a sharpened focus on governance of child research. Oxford Bibliographies offers a suite of perspectives, resources, and strategies to guide the researcher, practitioner, and policymaker and serves to challenge readers to interrogate conceptual understandings, methodologies, and dissemination of research with and about children. Exploration of the suite opens up new possibilities for considering children’s rights to participation in matters that affect their lives and for children to be seen and heard in research.

Fundamental Tax Legislation [22nd Edition]

This edition includes a revised Year in Review section, which summarises the legislative developments in taxation over the previous 12 months, a listing of the passage of tax-related legislation during the last year and the inclusion of reference statistics (such as CPI quarterly figures and individual tax rates for residents and non-residents). A Tax Rates and Tables section which contains an accessible summary of the main tax rates and tables that students will need to refer to for their tax studies

Criminal Laws : Materials and Commentary on Criminal Law and Process in NSW [Fifth Edition]

"The success of Criminal Laws lies both in its distinctive features and in its appeal to a range of readerships. As one review put it, it is simultaneously a "textbook, casebook, handbook and reference work". As such it is ideal for criminal law and criminal justice courses as a teaching text, combining as it does primary sources with extensive critical commentary and a contextual perspective. It is likewise indispensable to practitioners for its detailed coverage of substantive law and its extensive references and inter-disciplinary approach make it a first point of call for researchers from all disciplines. This fifth edition strengthens these distinctive features. All chapters have been systematically updated to incorporate the plethora of legislative, case law, statistical and research material which has emerged since the previous edition. The critical, thematic, contextual and interdisciplinary perspectives have been continued."--Publisher's website. Table of Contents: 1. Some themes -- 2. Criminalisation -- 3. The criminal process -- 4. Components of criminal offences -- 5. Homicide: murder and involuntary manslaughter -- 6. Defences -- 7. Assault and sexual assault -- 8. Public order offences -- 9. Drugs offences -- 10. Dishonest acquisition -- 11. Extending criminal liability: complicity, conspiracy and association -- 12. Sentencing and penality.