The ALP after 2004

In 2004, for the first time in the two decades for which Australian Election Study (AES) data has become available, more blue-collar workers cast their primary vote for the Coalition parties than for Labor. Blue-collar support for Labor had partially recovered under Beazley in 1998 and 2001 following its dramatic drop under Keating in 1996 but it dropped to even lower levels under Latham in 2004. This paper analyses AES survey data, the actual voting results in each federal electorate and the demographic characteristics of those electorates to discuss the nature of Labor’s latest national election defeat and the reasons for it. There is considerable disagreement among commentators as to whether Labor has lost the last four national elections because it has failed to reconnect with its traditional voter base; or because it has failed to go beyond that base. Much of the disagreement centres on how blue-collar workers are to be understood. Are they ‘battlers’ and victims of ‘globalisation’ or have they become prosperous, upwardly-mobile and ‘aspirational’? Related questions include whether the most salient issues for blue-collar voters are economic, or cultural; and whether the most important inequalities in Australian society should be measured in terms of income; or occupation; or geographic location (including degree of distance from the inner-city). This paper analyses the policies presented in the 2004 election and engages with informed journalistic analyses, and contributions from past and present politicians, in addition to the work of political scientists, to help make sense of precisely where and why Labor lost support in 2004 and the implications this has for future ALP policy and strategy. The paper also contributes to the longer-term debates about the reasons for Howard’s electoral ascendancy since 1996; and the role and constituency of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party.

The home-market effect and bilateral trade patterns: a reexamination of the evidence

This paper finds that the evidence for the home market effect (HME) found by Hanson and Xiang (AER, 2004) is sensitive to the way the dependent and the independent variables are constructed. Second, we also find that the HME evidence goes away when we estimate their difference-in-difference gravity model on a truncated sample of positive trade flows. With Eaton–Tamura–Tobit, Heckman, and Helpman–Melitz–Rubinstein estimation of the gravity equation using Hanson and Xiang's data, we are unable to find any evidence for the HME. Finally, the HME evidence is also absent for a sample of Canadian provinces' exports to U.S. states. All of our results, taken together, do not reject the existence of the HME in general but rather suggest that the HME results found by Hanson and Xiang may not be robust.

Physical activity parenting measurement and research : challenges, explanations and solutions

Physical activity (PA) parenting research has proliferated over the past decade, with findings verifying the influential role that parents play in children's emerging PA behaviors. This knowledge, however, has not translated into effective family-based PA interventions. During a preconference workshop to the 2012 International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity annual meeting, a PA parenting workgroup met to: (1) Discuss challenges in PA parenting research that may limit its translation, (2) identify explanations or reasons for such challenges, and (3) recommend strategies for future research. Challenges discussed by the workgroup included a proliferation of disconnected and inconsistently measured constructs, a limited understanding of the dimensions of PA parenting, and a narrow conceptualization of hypothesized moderators of the relationship between PA parenting and child PA. Potential reasons for such challenges emphasized by the group included a disinclination to employ theory when developing measures and examining predictors and outcomes of PA parenting as well as a lack of agreed-upon measurement standards. Suggested solutions focused on the need to link PA parenting research with general parenting research, define and adopt rigorous standards of measurement, and identify new methods to assess PA parenting. As an initial step toward implementing these recommendations, the workgroup developed a conceptual model that: (1) Integrates parenting dimensions from the general parenting literature into the conceptualization of PA parenting, (2) draws on behavioral and developmental theory, and (3) emphasizes areas which have been neglected to date including precursors to PA parenting and effect modifiers.

Health and disability : partnerships in action

Matthew is a 15-year-old adolescent boy who lives with his parents, Boon Hock and Guek, and brother Benjamin in Melaka Malaysia. Matthew loves exercising in the park, going to school and dressing smartly like his brother. Matthew has an intellectual disability and autism, and attends a special school. In this story, Matthew's parents reflect on the time around the diagnoses of his disabilities, and their experiences with health care professionals. They describe the changes in Matthew as he has grown from child to adolescent. The impact of Matthew's developmental disabilities on his likfe and that of his brother and parents are explored, and their hopes and plans for the future are discussed

Control of excitation and quenching in multi-colour electrogenerated chemiluminescence systems through choice of co-reactant

We demonstrate a new approach to manipulate the selective emission in mixed electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) systems, where subtle changes in co-reactant properties are exploited to control the relative electron-transfer processes of excitation and quenching. Two closely related tertiary-amine co-reactants, tri-n-propylamine and N,N-diisopropylethylamine, generate remarkably different emission profiles: one provides distinct green and red ECL from [Ir(ppy)3] (ppy=2-phenylpyridinato-C2,N) and a [Ru(bpy)3](2+) (bpy=2,2'-bipyridine) derivative at different applied potentials, whereas the other generates both emissions simultaneously across a wide potential range. These phenomena can be rationalized through the relative exergonicities of electron-transfer quenching of the excited states, in conjunction with the change in concentration of the quenchers over the applied potential range.

Gender congruity and social processes of leadership: is gender balance important?

This article presents the results of a study investigating the effects of gender balance on leadership processes at a workgroup and industry level. Leadership is conceptualized as a social process occurring between individuals, rather than as the behavior or attribute of a single individual. Transformational leadership processes were found less often in male-dominated industries. Furthermore, gender congruity effects were found, showing that gender balance between work teams and industries affects leadership processes between individuals. Leadership processes were reported most often in female-dominated work teams within female-dominated industries, but least often in female-dominated work teams within male-dominated industries. The implications for both leadership and gender research are discussed.

Colby News

Passion Defines Grads Colby Dumps Bottled Water Bullish on Colby: 2011 Graduates Find Success in Tight Market Four Fulbright Fellows; Projects for Peace Winners Hanson Scholar Feels an Affinity Philosophy Prof's Advice: "Plastikos" TwitterFEED Update: Nick Tucker '11J Student Entrepreneurs Win Start-Up Cash Schwalm '99 Shoots NFL Photo of the Year Rising Senior Wins Jeapardy! Admitting the Illustrious Class of 2015

O orçamento público municipal como instrumento de controle gerencial: um estudo de caso

O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar a relação existente entre a literatura sobre orçamento no contexto do controle gerencia1 e o sistema orçamentário da prefeitura de uma cidade do interior de São Paulo. Na revisão de literatura foram abordados aspectos do controle gerencial de modo geral e, especificamente, para organizações sem fins lucrativos, do orçamento como instrumento de controle e os seus aspectos comportamentais, além do orçamento-programa (capítulo 2). A metodologia adotada foi a do estudo de caso, por se pretender conhecer com mais detalhes o sistema orçamentário municipal, viabilizada através de entrevistas - com aplicação de questionário - com os secretários municipais. Os resultados obtidos foram apresentados e analisados à luz do referencial teórico utilizado (capítulo 3). Finalmente, chegou-se a algumas conclusões sobre o estado atual do orçamento público municipal da prefeitura em questão, a partir dos quais foram apresentadas sugestões para novas pesquisas.