Aboriginal health promotion through addressing employment discrimination

The Localities Embracing and Accepting Diversity (LEAD) program aimed to improve the mental health of Aboriginal Victorians by addressing racial discrimination and facilitating social and economic participation. As part of LEAD, Whittlesea Council adopted the Aboriginal Employment Pathways Strategy (AEPS) to increase Aboriginal employment and retention within the organisation. The Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Training Program was developed to build internal cultural competency and skills in recruiting and retaining Aboriginal staff. Analysis of surveys conducted before (pre; n=124) and after (post; n=107) the training program indicated a significant increase in participant understanding across all program objectives and in support of organisational policies to improve Aboriginal recruitment and retention. Participants ended the training with concrete ideas about intended changes, as well as how these changes could be supported by their supervisors and the wider organisation. Significant resources have since been allocated to implementing the AEPS over 5 years. In line with principles underpinning the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan 2013-23, particularly the focus on addressing racism as a determinant of health, this paper explores the AEPS and training program as promising approaches to health promotion through addressing barriers to Aboriginal employment. Possible implications for other large organisations are also considered.

The role of effective partnerships in an Australian place-based intervention to reduce race-based discrimination

Localities Embracing and Accepting Diversity (LEAD) is an ongoing place-based pilot program aimed at improving health outcomes among Aboriginal and migrant communities through increased social and economic participation. Specifically, LEAD works with mainstream organizations to prevent race-based discrimination from occurring. The partnership model of LEAD was designed to create a community intervention that was evidence-based, effective, and flexible enough to respond to local contexts and needs. LEAD's complex organizational and partnership model, in combination with an innovative approach to reducing race-based discrimination, has necessitated the use of new language and communication strategies to build genuinely collaborative partnerships. Allocating sufficient time to develop strategies aligned with this new way of doing business has been critical. However, preliminary data indicate that a varied set of partners has been integral to supporting the widespread influence of the emerging LEAD findings across partner networks in a number of different sectors.

Independent television production, TV formats and media diversity in China

Beginning around 2003, television studies has seen the growth of interest in the genre of reality shows. However, concentrating on this genre has tended to sideline the even more significant emergence of the program format as a central mode of business and culture in the new television landscape. "Localizing Global TV" redresses this balance, and heralds the emergence of an important, exciting and challenging area of television studies. Topics explored include reality TV, makeover programs, sitcoms, talent shows and fiction serials, as well as broadcaster management policies, production decision chains and audience participation processes. This seminal work will be of considerable interest to media scholars internationally.

Diverse urban plantings managed with sufficient resource availability can increase plant productivity and arthropod diversity

Buildings structures and surfaces are explicitly being used to grow plants, and these “urban plantings” are generally designed for aesthetic value. Urban plantings also have the potential to contribute significant “ecological values” by increasing urban habitat for animals such as arthropods and by increasing plant productivity. In this study, we evaluated how the provision of these additional ecological values is affected by plant species richness; the availability of essential resources for plants, such as water, light, space; and soil characteristics. We sampled 33 plantings located on the exterior of three buildings in the urban center of Brisbane, Australia (subtropical climatic region) over 2, 6 week sampling periods characterized by different temperature and rainfall conditions. Plant cover was estimated as a surrogate for productivity as destructive sampling of biomass was not possible. We measured weekly light levels (photosynthetically active radiation), plant CO2 assimilation, soil CO2 efflux, and arthropod diversity. Differences in plant cover were best explained by a three-way interaction of plant species richness, management water regime and sampling period. As the richness of plant species increased in a planter, productivity and total arthropod richness also increased significantly—likely due to greater habitat heterogeneity and quality. Overall we found urban plantings can provide additional ecological values if essential resources are maintained within a planter such as water, light and soil temperature. Diverse urban plantings that are managed with these principles in mind can contribute to the attraction of diverse arthropod communities, and lead to increased plant productivity within a dense urban context.

Phylogenetics, taxon delimitation and phylogenetic diversity

Throughout the history of Linnean taxonomy, species have been described with varying degrees of justification. Many descriptions have been based on only a few ambiguous morphological characters. Moreover, species have been considered natural, well-defined units whereas higher taxa have been treated as disparate, non-existent creations. In the present thesis a few such cases were studied in detail. Often the species-level descriptions were based on only a few specimens and the variation previously thought to be interspecific was found to be intraspecific. In some cases morphological characters were sufficient to resolve the evolutionary relationships between the taxa, but generally more resolution was gained by the addition of molecular evidence. However, both morphological and molecular data were found to be deceptive in some cases. The DNA sequences of morphologically similar specimens were found to differ distinctly in some cases, whereas in other closely related species the morphology of specimens with identical DNA sequences differed substantially. This study counsels caution when evolutionary relationships are being studied utilizing only one source of evidence or a very limited number of characters (e.g. barcoding). Moreover, it emphasizes the importance of high quality data as well as the utilization of proper methods when making scientific inferences. Properly conducted analyses produce robust results that can be utilized in numerous interesting ways. The present thesis considered two such extensions of systematics. A novel hypothesis on the origin of bioluminescence in Elateriformia beetles is presented, tying it to the development of the clicking mechanism in the ancestors of these animals. An entirely different type of extension of systematics is the proposed high value of the white sand forests in maintaining the diversity of beetles in the Peruvian Amazon. White sand forests are under growing pressure from human activities that lead to deforestation. They were found to harbor an extremely diverse beetle fauna and many taxa were specialists living only in this unique habitat. In comparison to the predominant clay soil forests, considerably more elateroid beetles belonging to all studied taxonomic levels (species, genus, tribus, and subfamily) were collected in white sand forests. This evolutionary diversity is hypothesized to be due to a combination of factors: (1) the forest structure, which favors the fungus-plant interactions important for the elateroid beetles, (2) the old age of the forest type favoring survival of many evolutionary lineages and (3) the widespread distribution and fragmentation of the forests in the Miocene, favoring speciation.

Challenges of international design chain integration and cultural diversity : organisational reflexive capability

Increasingly project teams on international mega projects are composed of multiple partners from different countries forming joint ventures to achieve a higher level of strategic flexibility. Establishing and maintaining local business networks are critical to ensure the success of exporting firms. Firms who achieve competitive advantage in international markets and long term economic sustainability constantly adapt their business practices to achieve client satisfaction by a combination of self, market and project needs assessment. Successful firms ultimately achieve this in local markets but in international market this is intensified with the complexity of barriers grounded in cross-cultural contexts. The need for flexibility, adaptability and continual reassessment is enhanced as the market evolves in various localities. Reflexivity theory was used to develop a conceptual model to explain the way in which firms develop awareness, responsiveness and adaptability for long term success in diverse international markets. This paper summarizes the initial Australian study which developed the model grounded in empirical observations of design construction firms working on projects in developing countries and a second study of Malaysian firms which validated the model. The aim of this study was to develop a performance measurement framework for capabilities assessment of international collaborative partnerships. The study explored the joint venture partnerships between Australian and Malaysian property and construction professionals. Four Malaysian organizations were examined as case studies and two key activities of design management and knowledge management were analyzed in relation to social, cultural and intellectual capital transformation within the Reflexivity Capability Maturity Assessment Framework.

Coproduction and Casula's Pacifica Program: Initial research findings

This research takes Casula Powerhouse Art Centre’s Pacifica program as a case study to investigate the ways in which museum and galleries are involved in coproduction with culturally diverse communities. Coproduction is defined here as:Museum and gallery practice conducted jointly with communities or other external partiesThe benefits of coproduction are that it leads to more effective and efficient public services (including arts and cultural services) while also building the skills and capacity of the community. However coproduction is not easy, particularly because it requires public service providers and communities to work in ‘equal and reciprocal’ relationships.As an organisation with strong and strategic alliances to its governing body (Liverpool City Council), Casula brings a strong capacity for coproduction. Internally it has support and commitment to coproduction from across the organisation. The staff at Casula bring exceptional relational skills. The organisation’s capacity to coproduce draws heavily on their skills as cultural brokers and experience in community cultural development practice. The communities Casula works with bring strong cultural knowledge and practice, along with a desire to maintain and preserve these community resources. Casula’s coproduction work also meets external political needs for public services to deliver increased public value as well as a greater diversity in the profile of arts audiences.The key challenge for Casula Powerhouse’s coproduction work is the extent to which it aims for joint delivery of public services through ‘equal and reciprocal’ relationships with the community, or uses coproduction as a tool for community engagement and audience development. Advocates of coproduction in the public sector argue for its value as a means of delivering more effective and efficient public services while at the same time building the skills and capacity of local communities. A critical element of coproduction according to these writers and scholars is the development and delivery of public services through ‘equal and reciprocal’ relationships between providers and users.The value of coproduction for Casula Powerhouse and the Pacifica program is its use as a means of community engagement and audience development. Coproduction is a feature of the components of Pacifica that enable the participation of the community and provide entry points for audiences to engage with contemporary art. Evidence of this approach to coproduction can be seen in the dual ‘stakeholder’ and ‘audience’ role that the community have within the Pacifica program. The community is therefore both a contributor to Pacifica and a beneficiary of this work. The benefits Casula Powerhouse receives from the community’s involvement in Pacifica are greater public value of its work and stronger engagement with communities and audiences.Although coproduction may not be the focus of all aspects of Pacifica, the involvement of Pacific Islander communities in the program results in exhibitions and public programs that are not typical contemporary art gallery offerings. Pacifica is further evidence of Casula Powerhouse’s innovative and entrepreneurial approach to gallery practice. The use of coproduction also ensures Pacifica offers an authentic and distinctive gallery experience.

Gender and ethnic diversity on boards and corporate responsibility : the case of the arts sector

This study provides insights on sector-specific characteristics, challenges and issues that affect corporate responsibility (CR) in relation to ethnicity and gender on arts boards. Using stakeholder theory, the study explores how arts board composition (e.g. gender and ethnicity) sets the scene for dynamics that affect CR. Data analysis is based on interviews with 92 board members and stakeholders sitting on 66 arts boards in Australia. Results suggest that the dynamism of gender and ethnic diversity on arts boards makes them responsive to CR; however, their presence does not always lead to CR. For diverse boards to lead to CR, our findings indicate the significance of board member attributes of passion, skill and capability of developing networks, irrespective of gender and ethnicity. The article advances understanding of the implications and relevance of ethnic and gender diversity on non-profit boards and contributes to an important yet under-researched body of literature.

The importance of outreach programs to unblock the pipeline and broaden diversity in ICT education

There is a need for outreach programs to attract a diverse range of students to the computing discipline. The lack of qualified computing graduates to fill the growing number of computing vacancies is of concern to government and industry and there are few female students entering the computing pipeline at high school level. This paper presents three outreach programs that have the underlying assumption that students need to be reminded about the creativity and potential of computing so that it remains on the radar of their future career options. Each program instigated social and cultural change through a paradigm shift where girls moved from being ICT consumers to ICT creators. By exposing students to a wide variety of ICT activities and careers during secondary schooling, they were more likely to consider studying information systems, computer science or any other computing course at the university level. Results are presented showing student attitudinal changes as well as observed increases in enrolments at secondary school and university courses

Fluorescent amplified fragment length polymorphism (fAFLP) analyses and genetic diversity in Litopenaeus vannamei (Penaeidae)

The Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei (Penaeidae), represents about 95% of all Brazilian shrimp production. The Brazilian L. vannamei foundation broodstock was made up of specimens collected from different American Pacific sites, but little information was collected on the genetic structure of the broodstock. We used the fluorescence amplified fragment length polymorphism (fAFLP) method to study the genetic diversity of L. vannamei broodstock lines 03CMF1 and 03CBF1 originally produced by breeder-shrimps imported mainly from Panama and Ecuador, although wild individuals from other localities may also have been used in producing these two lines. Our results showed a total of 93 polymorphic bands ranging from 50 to 500 bp, the mean Nei's genetic diversity calculated for the total sample was 13.4% and identity and genetic distance analyses indicated high genetic homogeneity within and between both the broodstock lineages studied which suggests that they had similar genetic structure. These results may represent an important tool for the appropriate management of L. vannamei broodstocks. Copyright by the Brazilian Society of Genetics.

History, structure, and genetic diversity of Brazilian Gir cattle

The Gir cattle breed (Bos indicus) is an important genetic resource for milk production throughout the tropics. The small number of Gir animals introduced in Brazil, rapid dissemination of this breed recently, and the intensification of selection practices could contribute to increase of inbreeding level and reduce genetic diversity in this population. The population was analyzed in terms of pedigree completeness level, inbreeding coefficient, coancestry, generation interval, effective population size, effective number of founders and ancestors, among others. Despite the low mean inbreeding (around 2%), minor problems were identified in the population structure of the Brazilian Gir cattle, e.g., trend of narrower bottlenecks in the pedigree in recent years. The effective population sizes based on inbreeding (94) or coancestry (165.9) as well as the effective number of ancestors (76) and founders (143) were relativity high. The major subdivision of the Gir breed was observed between 1993 and 2002 (dairy and dual-purpose herds, wide use of within-herd matings). In this period the level of inbreeding remained at a higher level, there was a small increase in coancestry and the number of equivalent subpopulations was approximately 6. After 2002, there was genetic exchange between subpopulations, reduction in the average inbreeding, pronounced increase in the average coancestry, and the number of equivalent subpopulations was about 2. Furthermore, it was found that the mean generation interval of the population tended to increase in recent years (around 9 years). About 23% of genetic diversity has been lost since the first generation of founders. Based on the effective population size, number of equivalent subpopulations, inbreeding, coancestry, and loss of genetic diversity, the Gir population is still highly structured, but there is ample room for artificial selection. The results regarding the effective number of founders and ancestors in the present population demonstrate the existence of bottlenecks in the pedigree and indicate the need for population structure monitoring. Nevertheless, the Brazilian Gir breed can perfectly face a breeding program with high selection intensity. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.