Leadership in problem-oriented policing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of leadership in problem-oriented policing (POP). Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses interrupted time series models to isolate the impact on crime trends of a transformational leader's efforts to spearhead the implementation of a program of POP, called the problem solving model (PSM), in a southern state in Australia. Findings – This paper finds that the PSM led directly to an impact on overall crime, with a significant reduction in crimes per 100,000 persons per year after the introduction of the PSM. The majority of the overall crime drop attributable to implementation of POP was driven by reductions in property crime. It was noted that the leadership influence of the PSM was not effective in reducing all types of crime. Crimes against the person where not affected by the introduction of the PSM and public nuisance crimes largely followed the forecasted, upward trajectory. Practical implications – The driver behind the PSM was Commissioner Hyde and the success of the PSM is largely attributable to his strong commitment to transformational leadership and a top-down approach to implementation. These qualities encapsulate the original ideas behind POP that Goldstein (1979, 2003), back in 1979, highlighted as critical for the success of future POP programs. Social implications – Reducing crime is an important part of creating safe communities and improving quality of life for all citizens. This research shows that successful implementation of the PSM within South Australia under the strong leadership of Commissioner Hyde was a major factor in reducing property crime and overall crime rates. Originality/value – This paper is valuable because it demonstrates the link between strong leadership in policing, the commissioner's vision for POP and how his vision then translated into widespread adoption of POP. The study empirically shows that the statewide adoption of POP led to significant reductions in crime, particularly property crime.

Toward a sustainable culture of peer partnership

This project is a two phase design working in partnership with five universities to develop, implement and systematically embed a distributive leadership model that aims to embed peer partnership (review, development) within the culture of teaching and learning excellence. This presentation will posit a ‘prototype’ peer review leadership model based on ongoing research that brings together both the fundamentals of peer review with the broader importance of context and persons. It will be argued that essential to teaching development is a need to address not only the implementation of peer partnership programs but also strategies to influence and change both the contexts of teaching and the advantages for colleagues. Peer review as a strategy to develop excellence in teaching needs to be considered from a holistic perspective encompassing all elements of the teaching environment. The emphasis is on working to foster the type of conditions needed for leadership and change to begin and be sustained. The work has implications for policy, research, leadership development and student outcomes and has potential application world-wide. Phase 1 has collected focus interview and questionnaire data to inform the research and is being analysed using a thematic qualitative approach and statistical analysis. Evidence is emerging currently as the project is ongoing.

Toward a sustainable culture of peer partnership

This project is a two phase design working in partnership with five universities to develop, implement and systematically embed a distributive leadership model that aims to embed peer partnership (review, development) within the culture of teaching and learning excellence. This presentation will posit a ‘prototype’ peer review leadership model based on ongoing research that brings together both the fundamentals of peer review with the broader importance of context and persons. It will be argued that essential to teaching development is a need to address not only the implementation of peer partnership programs but also strategies to influence and change both the contexts of teaching and the advantages for colleagues. Peer review as a strategy to develop excellence in teaching needs to be considered from a holistic perspective encompassing all elements of the teaching environment. The emphasis is on working to foster the type of conditions needed for leadership and change to begin and be sustained. The work has implications for policy, research, leadership development and student outcomes and has potential application world-wide. Phase 1 has collected focus interview and questionnaire data to inform the research and is being analysed using a thematic qualitative approach and statistical analysis Evidence is emerging currently as the project is ongoing

Late Hammershoi

Poem

Meta-analysis of microarray data identifies GAS6 expression as an independent predictor of poor survival in ovarian cancer

Seeking new biomarkers for epithelial ovarian cancer, the fifth most common cause of death from all cancers in women and the leading cause of death from gynaecological malignancies, we performed a meta-analysis of three independent studies and compared the results in regard to clinicopathological parameters. This analysis revealed that GAS6 was highly expressed in ovarian cancer and therefore was selected as our candidate of choice. GAS6 encodes a secreted protein involved in physiological processes including cell proliferation, chemotaxis, and cell survival. We performed immunohistochemistry on various ovarian cancer tissues and found that GAS6 expression was elevated in tumour tissue samples compared to healthy control samples (P < 0.0001). In addition, GAS6 expression was also higher in tumours from patients with residual disease compared to those without. Our data propose GAS6 as an independent predictor of poor survival, suggesting GAS6, both on the mRNA and on the protein level, as a potential biomarker for ovarian cancer. In clinical practice, the staining of a tumour biopsy for GAS6 may be useful to assess cancer prognosis and/or to monitor disease progression.

From selfies to climate change : the #G20 debate on Twitter

The G20 Summit that brought many of the world’s most important leaders to Brisbane last weekend was also a major Twitter event. Australian and international users expressed their concerns over the appearance of Russian warships off the Queensland coast, shared selfies from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s impromptu visit to Brisbane’s Caxton St nightlife hub and called for action on issues ranging from Ebola to climate change...

Application of organo-beidellites for the adsorption of atrazine

The surfaces of natural beidellite were modified with cationic surfactant octadecyl trimethylammonium bromide at different concentrations. The organo-beidellite adsorbent materials were then used for the removal of atrazine with the goal of investigating the mechanism for the adsorption of organic triazine herbicide from contaminated water. Changes on the surfaces and structure of beidellite were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and BET surface analysis. Kinetics of the adsorption studies were also carried out which show that the adsorption capacity of the organoclays increases with increasing surfactant concentration up until 1.0 CEC surfactant loading, after which the adsorption capacity greatly decreases. TG analysis reveals that although the 2.0 CEC sample has the greatest percentage of surfactant by mass, most of it is present on external sites. The 0.5 CEC sample has the highest proportion of surfactant exchanged into the internal active sites and the 1.0 CEC sample accounts for the highest adsorption capacity. The goodness of fit of the pseudo-second order kinetic confirms that chemical adsorption, rather than physical adsorption, controls the adsorption rate of atrazine.

Oncology service initiatives and research in regional Australia

Objective: This paper reflects on the recent growth of cancer research being conducted through some of Australia’s rural centres. It encompasses work being done across the fields of clinical, translational and health services research. Design: This is a collaborative piece with contributions from rural health researchers, clinical and cancer services staff from several different regions. Conclusion: The past decade has seen an expansion in cancer research in rural and regional Australia driven in part by the recognition that cancer patients in remote areas experience poorer outcomes than their metropolitan counterparts. This work has led to the development of more effective cancer networks and new models of care designed to meet the particular needs of the rural cancer patient. It is hoped that the growth of cancer research in regional centres will, in time, reduce the disparity between rural and urban communities and improve outcomes for cancer patients across both populations.

Indigenous university champion angles for outcomes

The proportion of Australians to finish uni is about 25 per cent. This figure varies dramatically from the amount of Indigenous kids who attain the same result. Only five percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders gain a degree. That's why Marnee Shay from Ilkey on the Sunshine Coast is bucking the trend... above and beyond expectations. She's believed to be the first Aboriginal recipient of the Chancellor's Medal at the University of the Sunshine Coast, and she's now starting a PHD at QUT in Brisbane. The ABC's Jon Coghill asked her about her studies and what the medal signifies.

A tsunami of unmet needs: Pancreatic and ampullary cancer patients’ supportive care needs and use of community and allied health services

Objective People diagnosed with pancreatic cancer have the worst survival prognosis of any cancer. No previous research has documented the supportive care needs of this population. Our objective was to describe people’s needs and use of support services and to examine whether these differed according to whether or not patients had undergone surgical resection. Methods Queensland pancreatic or ampullary cancer patients (n=136, 54% of those eligible) completed a survey which assessed 34 needs across 5 domains (SCNS-SF34) and use of health services. Differences by resection were compared with Chi-squared tests. Results Overall, 96% of participants reported having some needs. More than half reported moderate-to-high unmet physical (54%) or psychological (52%) needs whereas, health system/information (32%), patient care (21%) and sexuality needs (16%) were described less frequently. The three most frequently reported moderate-to-high needs included ‘not being able to do things they used to do’ (41%), ‘concerns about the worries of those close’ (37%), and ‘uncertainty about the future’ (30%). Patients with non-resectable disease reported greater individual information needs but their needs were otherwise similar to patients with resectable disease. Self-reported use of support was low; only 35% accessed information, 28%, 18% and 15% consulted a dietician, complementary medicine practitioner or mental health practitioner, respectively. Palliative care access was greater (59% vs 27%) among those with non-resectable disease. Conclusion Very high levels of needs were reported by people with pancreatic or ampullary cancer. Future work needs to elucidate why uptake of appropriate supportive care is low and which services are required.

The ENIGMA Consortium: Large-scale collaborative analyses of neuroimaging and genetic data

The Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium is a collaborative network of researchers working together on a range of large-scale studies that integrate data from 70 institutions worldwide. Organized into Working Groups that tackle questions in neuroscience, genetics, and medicine, ENIGMA studies have analyzed neuroimaging data from over 12,826 subjects. In addition, data from 12,171 individuals were provided by the CHARGE consortium for replication of findings, in a total of 24,997 subjects. By meta-analyzing results from many sites, ENIGMA has detected factors that affect the brain that no individual site could detect on its own, and that require larger numbers of subjects than any individual neuroimaging study has currently collected. ENIGMA's first project was a genome-wide association study identifying common variants in the genome associated with hippocampal volume or intracranial volume. Continuing work is exploring genetic associations with subcortical volumes (ENIGMA2) and white matter microstructure (ENIGMA-DTI). Working groups also focus on understanding how schizophrenia, bipolar illness, major depression and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affect the brain. We review the current progress of the ENIGMA Consortium, along with challenges and unexpected discoveries made on the way.

Doing something about it: Representations of NAPLAN in the public domain

Since 2008 all Australian school students have sat standardised tests in Reading, Writing, Language Conventions (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and Numeracy in years 3,5,7 and 9. NAPLAN tests report individual students' attainment of skills against a set of standards. Individual student results are communicated to parents. Schools are then ranked against other schools depending upon the aggregate of their NAPLAN results. The process is explained to parents and community members as “improving the learning outcomes for all Australian students” (MCEETYA, 2009). This paper will examine NAPLAN as it is being played out in a mediated space through analysing unsolicited comment found in new media such as Twitter and online forums. NAPLAN intersects with contemporary debates about Australian education policy: the roles schools should play in improving national productivity, the relationship between state and federal government interest in education, the role and expectations of the teacher, what curriculum and pedagogy should be and look like and how limited financial resources can best be spread across education sectors and systems. These are not new considerations, however, what has changed is that education policy seems to have become even more of a political issue than it has before. This paper uses Ball's 'toolkit' approach to education policy analysis to suggest that there are multiple 'effects' of NAPLAN culminating in a series of disconnected conversations between various stakeholders.

EVERSUN: A phase 2 trial of alternating sunitinib and everolimus as first-line therapy for advanced renal cell carcinoma

Background We hypothesised that alternating inhibitors of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) and mammalian target of rapamycin pathways would delay the development of resistance in advanced renal cell carcinoma (aRCC). Patients and methods A single-arm, two-stage, multicentre, phase 2 trial to determine the activity, feasibility, and safety of 12-week cycles of sunitinib 50 mg daily 4 weeks on / 2 weeks off, alternating with everolimus 10 mg daily for 5 weeks on / 1 week off, until disease progression or prohibitive toxicity in favourable or intermediate-risk aRCC. The primary end point was proportion alive and progression-free at 6 months (PFS6m). The secondary end points were feasibility, tumour response, overall survival (OS), and adverse events (AEs). The correlative objective was to assess biomarkers and correlate with clinical outcome. Results We recruited 55 eligible participants from September 2010 to August 2012. Demographics: mean age 61, 71% male, favourable risk 16%, intermediate risk 84%. Cycle 2 commenced within 14 weeks for 80% of participants; 64% received ≥22 weeks of alternating therapy; 78% received ≥22 weeks of any treatment. PFS6m was 29/55 (53%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 40% to 66%). Tumour response rate was 7/55 (13%; 95% CI 4% to 22%, all partial responses). After median follow-up of 20 months, 47 of 55 (86%) had progressed with a median progression-free survival of 8 months (95% CI 5–10), and 30 of 55 (55%) had died with a median OS of 17 months (95% CI 12–undefined). AEs were consistent with those expected for each single agent. No convincing prognostic biomarkers were identified. Conclusions The EVERSUN regimen was feasible and safe, but its activity did not meet pre-specified values to warrant further research. This supports the current approach of continuing anti-VEGF therapy until progression or prohibitive toxicity before changing treatment.

International copyright law: A book review

n his 1994 book, Copyright's Highway, Paul Goldstein made the telling prophecy: The celestial jukebox may also portend more revolutional changes in international copyright markets. As the celestial jukebox disseminates information and entertainment over the air and without regard for national boundaries, the importance of the nation-state as a traditional guarantor of copyright may be replaced by international institutions such as the newly established World Trade Organization. In retrospect, it was an accurate prediction. The celestial jukebox has shown little respect for national boundaries. In particular, ephemeral file-sharing programs such as Napster, Freenet and Filetopia have posed difficulties for copyright law. International treaties have taken on larger significance and international institutions such as the World Intellectual Property Organization and World Trade Organization have assumed a greater role in regulating international copyright markets.