The Australian bowel cancer screening pilot program : analysis of routinely collected screening data

This report presents analyses of monitoring data from the Australian Bowel Cancer Screening Pilot Program. The purpose of the analyses is to support the overall evaluation of the Pilot and to inform the planning of the proposed national bowel cancer screening program.

Predicted packet padding for anonymous web browsing against traffic analysis attacks

Anonymous communication has become a hot research topic in order to meet the increasing demand for web privacy protection. However, there are few such systems which can provide high level anonymity for web browsing. The reason is the current dominant dummy packet padding method for anonymization against traffic analysis attacks. This method inherits huge delay and bandwidth waste, which inhibits its use for web browsing. In this paper, we propose a predicted packet padding strategy to replace the dummy packet padding method for anonymous web browsing systems. The proposed strategy mitigates delay and bandwidth waste significantly on average. We formulated the traffic analysis attack and defense problem, and defined a metric, cost coefficient of anonymization (CCA), to measure the performance of anonymization. We thoroughly analyzed the problem with the characteristics of web browsing and concluded that the proposed strategy is better than the current dummy packet padding strategy in theory. We have conducted extensive experiments on two real world data sets, and the results confirmed the advantage of the proposed method.

A multi-objective sensitivity approach to training providers' evaluation and quota allocation planning

The practice of solely relying on the human resources department in the selection process of external training providers has cast doubts and mistrust across other departments as to how trainers are sourced. There are no measurable criteria used by human resource personnel, since most decisions are based on intuitive experience and subjective market knowledge. The present problem focuses on outsourcing of private training programs that are partly government funded, which has been facing accountability challenges. Due to the unavailability of a scientific decision-making approach in this context, a 12-step algorithm is proposed and tested in a Japanese multinational company. The model allows the decision makers to revise their criteria expectations, in turn witnessing the change of the training providers' quota distribution. Finally, this multi-objective sensitivity analysis provides a forward-looking approach to training needs planning and aids decision makers in their sourcing strategy.

Understanding user participation in Australian Government tourism Facebook page

With Facebook being the largest social network site (SNS), can government use Facebook (FB) to increase citizen participation in delivering and promoting their services? This paper presents the case of government use of social media for tourism to provide a general understanding online government and user participation in the Tourism government FB page. This is a case study research into the government FB page of Tourism Australia. FB page wall posts and comments are analysed quantitatively using content analysis to determine what type of online participation is visible in these sites and what the agencies are trying to achieve. Further, the paper employed a spectrum of online engagement matrix to identify the type of engagement being attained by the page. Findings show that the page has successfully served as a platform for its audience to share their Australian experience and it is being used for the purpose of announcing, informing and involving type of online engagement. This is an example of a crowdsourcing endeavour where tourism experiences and stories and pictures are being sourced from public. The research contributes to gaining a better understanding of government FB phenomenon, in particular for Australian context.

Motivation-based IS evaluation strategy : a perspective of marketing information systems

The article describes the importance of motivational factors through an analysis of the core TAM constructs in the context of marketing IS evaluation. We argue that our findings compliment current IS evaluation strategy, specially for measuring motivational elements for online IS. The study consequently provides an empirical validation of the importance of motivational and behavioural factors. Through an experimental analysis we evaluated the relative importance of perceived enjoyment with perceived usefulness of using an online website for shopping purposes and found that enjoyment was by far the dominant predictor of attitude towards online shopping. The result illustrates that in terms of IS evaluation online environments have moved from being functional online applications to being functional, engaging and interactive online IS (e.g. websites).

Multilevel analysis of the Be Active Eat Well intervention : environmental and behavioural influences on reductions in child obesity risk

Background: The Be Active Eat Well (BAEW) community-based child obesity prevention intervention was successful in modestly reducing unhealthy weight gain in primary school children using a multi-strategy and multi-setting approach.

Objective: To (1) examine the relationship between changes in obesity-related individual, household and school factors and changes in standardised child body mass index (zBMI), and (2) determine if the BAEW intervention moderated these effects.

Methods: The longitudinal relationships between changes in individual, household and school variables and changes in zBMI were explored using multilevel modelling, with measurement time (baseline and follow-up) at level 1, individual (behaviours, n=1812) at level 2 and households (n=1318) and schools (n=18) as higher levels (environments). The effect of the intervention was tested while controlling for child age, gender and maternal education level.

Results: This study confirmed that the BAEW intervention lowered child zBMI compared with the comparison group (−0.085 units, P=0.03). The variation between household environments was found to be a large contributor to the percentage of unexplained change in child zBMI (59%), compared with contributions from the individual (23%) and school levels (1%). Across both groups, screen time (P=0.03), sweet drink consumption (P=0.03) and lack of household rules for television (TV) viewing (P=0.05) were associated with increased zBMI, whereas there was a non-significant association with the frequency the TV was on during evening meals (P=0.07). The moderating effect of the intervention was only evident for the relationship between the frequency of TV on during meals and zBMI, however, this effect was modest (P=0.04).

Conclusions: The development of childhood obesity involves multi-factorial and multi-level influences, some of which are amenable to change. Obesity prevention strategies should not only target individual behaviours but also the household environment and family practices. Although zBMI changes were modest, these findings are encouraging as small reductions can have population level impacts on childhood obesity levels.

A new child protection strategy for Aboriginal communities in Western Australia

Despite numerous government inquiries and reforms, child sexual abuse in remote Aboriginal communities is a well-documented, ongoing problem. Established in Western Australia in 2009, Operation RESET is a multi-agency proactive community engagement initiative designed to improve the ability of communities and supporting agencies to detect, respond to and prevent child sexual abuse through the implementation of community engagement, capacity building and educational strategies. This comment describes the three core principles of Operation RESET: tackling child sexual abuse requires a collaborative, proactive approach between government and communities; the underlying causes and context of child sexual abuse must be recognised; and children's overall safety and wellbeing must be enhanced through integrated services that strengthen and empower families and communities. It also enumerates the seven phases of the operation's implementation, from identifying target communities to deploying an exit strategy. The comment ends by addressing the importance of empirical evaluation.

Sustainable development in the border region plan case study : Pengragoan village, Jembrana regency, Bali-Indonesia

Commonly, the border area is a countryside located far from city centre, so that such area gets less attention from government. This condition is seen from the condition of social and economic aspects that is left behind than other locations (Bappenas 2004). In Balinese Traditional perspective, countryside as border area is a non built environment as a symbol of an authority but it does not mean without activities. Asa regency area, border area is a gate of the regency that gives a first impression and attraction as well as represent of the regency characteristic. One of border areasbetween 2 regencies in Bali is Pengragoanareatraversed bythe main routeconnecting thecentreof the Bali Provinceand Gilimanuk Port. Not only is it as a border area betweenJembrana and Tabanan regencies, but also a coastal area that began to gain influence tourism development. The objective of this study is to find the strategies planning for border development that gives benefit to people, protect the local wisdom and meet with sustainable development issues. In order to achieve this objective, this research uses field study, focus groups discussion strategy and direct interview to collect data and descriptive analysis to analyse data. As an agriculture area, this area can be developed as agro-tourism area that focuses on agticultural activities and some support activities, " in limited number", such as home industries, outdoor recreation, agro tourism, restaurant, villa as well as stop over.

Competition and television news in India : a content analysis

In India, not unlike some other developing countries, ruling parties have used public service broadcasters to propagate their virtues, adversely affecting the broadcasters' image as a credible news media. The Indian public service broadcaster. Doordarshan,
which has been besieged by increased competition and government-imposed demandfor selfsufficiency in recent years, continues to struggle to shed its image as a government mouthpiece despite being run by an independent corporation. This article
presents a content analysis of news programs broadcast by Doordarshan and a foreign television network. Star News. The study examines the differences and similarities between Doordarshan and Star TV's prime time news programs broadcast at the turn ofthe century, almost a decade after the advent ofcommercial television in India broke the public service broadcaster's monopoly in the country.

Developing customer-focused public sector rewards schemes : evidence from the Botswana government's performance based reward system (PBRS)

Purpose – Governmental agencies are interested in improving the quality of their service delivery. One tool that has been used to manage their performance is performance based reward schemes (PBRS). The aim of this paper is to examine the degree to which a sample of these plans, used within the Botswana public sector, is customer-focused. Being more customer-focused should deliver improved public sector service quality.

Design/methodology/approach – This study carried out an evaluation of a sample of Botswana PBRS plans, using multidimensional content analysis undertaken by four expert “evaluators”, to identify the degree to which the PBRS were customer-focused.

Findings – Classifying PBRS plans as being customer-focused was difficult, as the plans had few objectives related to customer experiences or outcomes. Those that did had poorly defined performance objectives, their targets were not specific, or there was limited explicit role responsibility. Thus, PBRS plans seemed not to focus on improving customer outcomes.

Research limitations/implications – The PBRS evaluated do not appear to be customer-focused and, thus, would have limited ability to improve customer experiences (i.e. public sector quality). Further research is needed in other countries to see whether these results are generalisable, and whether service levels vary with more customer-focused PBRS plans.

Practical implications – The results suggest improvements that could be adopted by organisations seeking to make their PBRS schemes customer-focused.

Originality/value – Extensive research suggests that PBRS plans can be used to improve service quality. Most of the studies have focused on the employees' perspectives and have not looked at the degree of customer orientation within the plans.

Time series analysis of air transportation service quality and travel demand in Japan

The evolution of domestic air travel service in Japan is a product of many factors including airline responses to the changing aviation market, government interventions in terms of regulatory/deregulatory policies, infrastructure investments, and changes in market structure. This paper presents an empirical investigation of the changing quality of passenger airline service and its implications in the domestic aviation market in Japan using qualitative review and a time series analysis of the domestic airline markets from 1986 to 2003. The results show that to meet the ultimate aim of deregulation to increase air passengers’ welfare gain, there is a need to instill measures to correct service imbalance and to create innovative airport demand-capacity management measures.

Rapid determination of protein contents in microencapsulated fish oil supplements by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy and partial least square regression (PLSR) analysis

Following the recent success in quantitative analysis of essential fatty acid compositions in a commercial microencapsulated fish oil (?EFO) supplement, we extended the application of portable attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopic technique and partial least square regression (PLSR) analysis for rapid determination of total protein contents-the other major component in most commercial ?EFO powders. In contrast to the traditional chromatographic methodology used in a routine amino acid analysis (AAA), the ATR-FTIR spectra of the ?EFO powder can be acquired directly from its original powder form with no requirement of any sample preparation, making the technique exceptionally fast, noninvasive, and environmentally friendly as well as being cost effective and hence eminently suitable for routine use by industry. By optimizing the spectral region of interest and number of latent factors through the developed PLSR strategy, a good linear calibration model was produced as indicated by an excellent value of coefficient of determination R2 = 0.9975, using standard ?EFO powders with total protein contents in the range of 140-450 mg/g. The prediction of the protein contents acquired from an independent validation set through the optimized PLSR model was highly accurate as evidenced through (1) a good linear fitting (R2 = 0.9759) in the plot of predicted versus reference values, which were obtained from a standard AAA method, (2) lowest root mean square error of prediction (11.64 mg/g), and (3) high residual predictive deviation (6.83) ranked in very good level of predictive quality indicating high robustness and good predictive performance of the achieved PLSR calibration model. The study therefore demonstrated the potential application of the portable ATR-FTIR technique when used together with PLSR analysis for rapid online monitoring of the two major components (i.e., oil and protein contents) in finished ?EFO powders in the actual manufacturing setting.

Recommendations for improved data processing from expired gas analysis indirect calorimetry

There is currently no universally recommended and accepted method of data processing within the science of indirect calorimetry for either mixing chamber or breath-by-breath systems of expired gas analysis. Exercise physiologists were first surveyed to determine methods used to process oxygen consumption ([OV0312]O 2) data, and current attitudes to data processing within the science of indirect calorimetry. Breath-by-breath datasets obtained from indirect calorimetry during incremental exercise were then used to demonstrate the consequences of commonly used time, breath and digital filter post-acquisition data processing strategies. Assessment of the variability in breath-by-breath data was determined using multiple regression based on the independent variables ventilation (VE), and the expired gas fractions for oxygen and carbon dioxide, FEO 2 and FECO2, respectively. Based on the results of explanation of variance of the breath-by-breath [OV0312]O2 data, methods of processing to remove variability were proposed for time-averaged, breath-averaged and digital filter applications. Among exercise physiologists, the strategy used to remove the variability in sequential [OV0312]O2 measurements varied widely, and consisted of time averages (30 sec [38%], 60 sec [18%], 20 sec [11%], 15 sec [8%]), a moving average of five to 11 breaths (10%), and the middle five of seven breaths (7%). Most respondents indicated that they used multiple criteria to establish maximum [OV0312]O 2 ([OV0312]O2max) including: the attainment of age-predicted maximum heart rate (HRmax) [53%], respiratory exchange ratio (RER) >1.10 (49%) or RER >1.15 (27%) and a rating of perceived exertion (RPE) of >17, 18 or 19 (20%). The reasons stated for these strategies included their own beliefs (32%), what they were taught (26%), what they read in research articles (22%), tradition (13%) and the influence of their colleagues (7%). The combination of VE, FEO 2 and FECO2 removed 96-98% of [OV0312]O2 breath-by-breath variability in incremental and steady-state exercise [OV0312]O2 data sets, respectively. Correction of residual error in [OV0312]O2 datasets to 10% of the raw variability results from application of a 30-second time average, 15-breath running average, or a 0.04 Hz low cut-off digital filter. Thus, we recommend that once these data processing strategies are used, the peak or maximal value becomes the highest processed datapoint. Exercise physiologists need to agree on, and continually refine through empirical research, a consistent process for analysing data from indirect calorimetry.

Racism as a determinant of health: a protocol for conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: