Digital Commons Network^™

Attrition From Australian Ict Degrees - Why Women Leave, Madeleine R. H Roberts, Tanya J. Mcgill, Peter N. Hyland

Faculty of Informatics - Papers (Archive)

Student attrition is of particular concern in the field of ICT because the industry faces staffing shortfalls, generally and a noticeable lack of female employees. This paper explores the reasons female students give for leaving their ICT courses. An online survey of early leavers from four Australian universities was conducted. The results show that, for many students, it is a combination of issues that leads to their withdrawal. Contrary to expectations, few female ex-students had experienced serious life events that necessitated their withdrawal or indicated that negative behaviour or attitudes had contributed to their decision to leave. More commonly female …

Australian Adolescents' Compliance With Sun Protection Behaviours During Summer: The Importance Of The School Context, Melinda Williams, Sandra C. Jones, Peter Caputi, Donald Iverson

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Adolescents exhibit significantly lower sun protection behaviours than adults in Australia. While many studies have assessed the sun protection behaviours of adolescents during summer, few studies have explored the differences in sun protection behaviours of adolescents across key contexts relevant to adolescents during summer—notably school time, weekends and school holidays. Greater understanding of differences in behaviours across these contexts provides more detailed explanations of the nature of adolescent ultraviolet exposure and thereby facilitates improved targeting of interventions for this segment whose behaviour is considered hard to change. In this study, we explore the differences in self-reported, habitual, sun protection behaviours …

What Influences Australian Women To Not Drink During Pregnancy?, Sandra C. Jones, Joanne Telenta

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

There is a strong social norm against consuming alcohol during pregnancy. However, many women do not realise they are pregnant until the sixth week and are not provided with information about the risks of consuming alcohol until they visit a health professional in the second trimester. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 midwives and 12 pregnant women from two regions inNSWin 2008–09 to explore attitudes towards alcohol consumption during pregnancy, and the factors that may encourage or inhibit women from following the recommendation to abstain from drinking while pregnant. Both groups noted the social issues around pregnant women consuming alcohol …

Swings And Roundabouts: Changes In Language Offerings At Australian Universities 2005-2011, Kerry S. Dunne, Marko Pavlyshyn

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

In this study we report on changes in language offerings in Australian universities for the period 2005–2011, focusing on languages with small enrolments. We also give a progress report on collaborative arrangements that were introduced to ensure wider availability of language programs. These programs were surveyed most recently in the 2009 DASSH project on collaborative models for the provision of languages in Australian universities (Winter 2009). We find that there has been an increase in the number of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) offered across the tertiary sector. However, it is not the case that all of these languages are …

The Relationship Between Particulate Pollution Levels In Australian Cities, Meteorology, And Landscape Fire Activity Detected From Modis Hotspots, Owen F. Price, Grant J. Williamson, Sarah B. Henderson, Fay Johnston, David M. J. S Bowman

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Generally, sigmoid curves are used to describe the growth of animals over their lifetime. However, because growth rates often differ over an animal's lifetime a single curve may not accurately capture the growth. Broken-stick models constrained to pass through a common point have been proposed to describe the different growth phases, but these are often unsatisfactory because essentially there are still two functions that describe the lifetime growth. To provide a single, converged model to age animals with disparate growth phases we developed a smoothly joining two-phase nonlinear function (SJ2P), tailored to provide a more accurate description of lifetime growth …

Translation Of Tobacco Policy Into Practice In Disadvantaged And Marginalized Subpopulations: A Study Of Challenges And Opportunities In Remote Australian Indigenous Communities, Jan A. Robertson, Katherine M. Conigrave, Rowena Ivers, Kim Usher, Alan R. Clough

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: In Australia generally, smoking prevalence more than halved after 1980 and recently commenced to decline among Australia's disadvantaged Indigenous peoples. However, in some remote Indigenous Australian communities in the Northern Territory (NT), extremely high rates of up to 83% have not changed over the past 25 years. The World Health Organisation has called for public health and political leadership to address a global tobacco epidemic. For Indigenous Australians, unprecedented policies aim to overcome disadvantage and close the 'health gap' with reducing tobacco use the top priority. This study identifies challenges and opportunities to implementing these important new tobacco initiatives …

Dairy Consumption And Diet Quality In A Sample Of Australian Children, Anna M. Rangan, Victoria M. Flood, Gareth Denyer, Karen Webb, Guy B. Marks, Timothy P. Gill

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Objective: To examine the association between intake of dairy products and indicators of diet quality among a sample of Australian children. Methods: Three 24-hour recalls were collected from 222 children aged 8–10 years living in western Sydney. Analysis of covariance was used to examine differences in mean intakes of foods and nutrients among 3 dairy consumption groups (<1 serve, 1–2 serves, ≥2 serves per day). The percentage of children meeting healthy eating guidelines for foods and estimated average requirements (EAR) for nutrients was also assessed. Results: Higher dairy consumption was associated with higher intakes of energy, protein, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, zinc, vitamin A, riboflavin, and niacin as well as foods from the bread and cereal group but lower intakes of mono- and polyunsaturated fats, foods from the meat and alternatives group, and energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods. Children who consumed ≥2 serves of dairy products per day (38%) were more likely to meet food and nutrient recommendations. Body mass index z-score and waist circumference were not associated with dairy consumption. Milk intake was inversely associated with the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages, and children who did not meet their minimum dairy serve recommendations consumed higher quantities of sugar-sweetened beverages than milk. Conclusions: Adequate dairy consumption was associated with diets of higher nutritional quality but also higher intakes of energy, suggesting a potential benefit from shifting consumption from regular-fat to reduced-fat dairy products in line with current national recommendations.

Comparison Of Assessment Performance Of Rural And Regional Students In A Unique Australian Graduate-Entry Medical Program, David L. Garne, J Bushnell, A Lethbridge, J Douglas

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

The Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Wollongong is one of Australia's newest medical schools, with a regional/rural focus and a distributed campus, and students are all expected to spend a significant proportion of their training in a rural setting. Due to the diverse learning environments that students are exposed to, we sought to determine by phase if there was any difference in examination results between groups who were located in rural settings and those in regional settings.

Responding To Genocide: Australian Parliamentary Discussions About The Crisis In Darfur, Deborah Mayersen, Thomas Galloway

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

‘Australia’s response [to the crisis in Darfur] has been slow, it has been hesitant, and, I regret to say, it has been inadequate’, remarked Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Kevin Rudd in February 2005 (House of Representatives Hansard: 47). Since 2003, genocide in Darfur has claimed more than 300,000 lives, with 2.6 million more displaced by the conflict (Degomme and Guha-Sapir 2010: 294-300; Reeves 2012). The international response to the crisis has been slow and lacklustre, and while the intensity of the conflict has fluctuated in the past nine years, the situation remains dire. The Australian government’s policy response to …

Namatjira's Absent Presence In Australian National Discourse, Ian A. Mclean

Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts - Papers (Archive)

By the early 1950s Albert Namatjira had achieved an unprecedented presence in the Australian consciousness. He had sell-out exhibitions, received more press coverage than any other Australian artist, was lionized in Australia’s capital cities and had become a household name. His success was due to more than the quality his art. His Aboriginality played into the mid-twentieth-century discourse of Australian nationalism and the look and subject matter of his paintings reflected the most prominent and popular school of Australian landscape art associated with this discourse. Why then is his work absent from official exhibitions designed to promote the idea of …

Short And Long Sleep Duration Are Associated With Prevalent Cardiovascular Disease In Australian Adults, Christopher A. Magee, Len Kritharides, John Attia, Patrick Mcelduff, Emily Banks

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

A growing number of studies from a range of different countries have observed an association between sleep duration and cardiovascular disease. The objective of this paper was to examine the associations between sleep duration and prevalent cardiovascular disease in a large sample of Australian adults, and identify the sociodemographic and health-related factors moderating these associations. Participants included 218 155 Australian adults aged 45 years and over. The results indicated that 6 h versus 7 h sleep was associated with increased odds of heart disease [odds ratio (OR) = 1.11 (1.06–1.17)], diabetes [OR = 1.15 (1.09–1.22)], stroke [OR = 1.25 (1.14–1.38)] …

Does Targetted Assessment Of Function Influence Emergency Department Re-Poresentation In Older Adults: An Australian Insight, M Bissett, A Cusick

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract presented at the IFA 11th Global Conference on Ageing, 28 May-1 June 2012, Prague, Czech Republic

The Role Of School Counsellors In Fostering Giftedness: The Australian Experience., Wilma Vialle

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

An African proverb that resonates strongly with educators is that "it takes a whole village to raise a child". The proverb has been the inspiration for at least two books (Cowen-Fletcher 1994; Rodham Clinton, 1996) and countless t-shirt and greeting card designs, but, more importantly, its sentiment acknowledges the collective responsibility we bear for educating our children. Franz Monks has dedicated his long academic career to the field of gifted education and his wide-ranging contributions have epitomized this shared responsibility for ensuring that the gifts and talents of our young people are nurtured. Like many educators who have interacted with …

A Comparison Of Theory And Practice In Market Intelligence Gathering For Australian Micro-Businesses And Smes, Pauline Ross, Carol Mcgowan, Lee Styger

Sydney Business School - Papers

Recent government sponsored research has demonstrated that there is a gap between the theory and practice of market intelligence gathering within the Australian micro, small and medium businesses (SMEs). Typically, there is a significant amount of information in literature about "what needs to be done", however, there is little insight in terms of how market intelligence gathering should occur. This paper provides a novel insight and a comparison between the theory and practices of market intelligence gathering of micro-business and SMEs in Australia and demonstrates an anomoly in so far as typically the literature does not match what actually occurs …

Interpodes: Poland, Tom Keneally And Australian Literary History, Paul Sharrad

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

This article is framed by a wider interest in how literary careers are made: what mechanisms other than the personal/biographical and the text-centred evaluations of scholars influence a writer’s choices in persisting in building a succession of works that are both varied and yet form a consistently recognizable “brand.”

Translation is one element in the wider network of “machinery” that makes modern literary publishing. It is a marker of success that might well keep authors going despite lack of sales or negative reviews at home. Translation rights can provide useful supplementary funds to sustain a writer’s output. Access to new …

Australian Online Public Information Systems: A User-Centred Study Of An Evolving Public Health Website, Helen Hasan, Joseph Meloche, Sumayya Banna

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

The strategic, transformational nature of many information systems projects is now widely understood. Large-scale implementations of systems are known to require significant management of organisational change in order to be successful. Moreover, projects are rarely executed in isolation - most organisations have a large programme of projects being implemented at any one time. However, project and value management methodologies provide ad hoc definitions of the relationship between a project and its environment. This limits the ability of an organisation to manage the larger dynamics between projects and organisations, over time, and between projects. The contribution of this paper, therefore, is …

Changes In Physical Activity Levels, Lesson Context, And Teacher Interaction During Physical Education In Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Australian Schools, Dean A. Dudley, Anthony D. Okely, Philip Pearson, Wayne G. Cotton, Peter Caputi

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background: Recent data show that only 15% of Australian adolescents participate in adequate amounts of physical activity (PA) and those students from Asian and Middle-Eastern backgrounds in Grades 6-12 are significantly less active than their English-speaking background peers. Schools have recently been recognised as the most widely used and cost-effective setting for promoting PA among youth and one domain within schools where PA can occur regularly for all youth, regardless of cultural background or socio-economic status, is during physical education (PE). Methods: This study describes changes in physical activity (PA), lesson context and teacher interaction in physical education over the …

Perceptions Of A Gender-Inclusive Curriculum Amongst Australian Information And Communications Technology Academics, Tony Koppi, Madeleine Roberts, Golshah Naghdy

Faculty of Informatics - Papers (Archive)

The lack of female enrolments in ICT is widely recognised and has prompted a range of strategies to attract more women, most of which do not include curriculum changes at any level. Research suggests that there are aspects of the ICT curriculum that could appeal to females, particularly in relation to benefits to society and humanity in general, and that including these considerations in the curriculum would be of interest to all students. The perceptions of a gender-inclusive ICT curriculum in Australia have been ascertained from a survey and forum discussions of ICT academic managers and leaders of ICT learning …

A Comparison Of Supply Integration And End-To-End Communication Theory And Practice - An Australian Perspective, Fadi Kotob, Lee E J Styger

Sydney Business School - Papers

The concept of supply chain integration and end-to-end communication are well established in supply chain theory. Typically, because of the depth of publications, an axiom has developed that all supply networks are fully integrated and have end-toend communication protocols. Recent research into Australian supply networks has highlighted a somewhat different scenario, where many networks are fragmented and lack the connectivity that would be expected. This paper offers a comparison of theoretical supply chain management and the actual practices found in Australian businesses. As a result of this grass root research, a scenario is offered that suggest there is a significant …

The Need To Evaluate Public Health Reforms: Australian Perinatal Mental Health Initiatives, Marie-Paule Austin, Nicole M. Reilly, Elizabeth Sullivan

Australian Health Services Research Institute

Objective: To describe the Australian perinatal mental health reforms and explore ways of improving surveillance of maternal mental health morbidity and mortality in this context. Approaches: We reviewed the Australian perinatal (defined as conception to one year postpartum) mental health reforms, in association with an appraisal of the population health methods that could be used for their evaluation. Conclusion: Despite the increasing focus of public health reforms on maternal mental health in the perinatal period, there is currently no national data available to evaluate these reforms or to provide an evidence base for improved health outcomes. National data development and …

Infant Feeding Practices And Nut Allergy Over Time In Australian School Entrant Children, James James Paton, Marjan Kljakovic, Karen Ciszek, Pauline Y. O'Shaughnessy

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

To measure the association between infant feeding practices and parent-reported nut allergy in school entrant children. Method. The Kindergarten Health Check Questionnaire was delivered to all 110 Australian Capital Territory (ACT) primary schools between 2006 and 2009. Retrospective analyses were undertaken of the data collected from the kindergarten population. Results. Of 15142 children a strong allergic reaction to peanuts and other nuts was reported in 487 (3.2%) and 307 (3.9%), children, respectively. There was a positive association between parent reported nut allergy and breast feeding (OR = 1.53; 1.11–2.11) and having a regular general practitioner (GP) (OR = 1.42; 1.05–1.92). …

Supporting The Language And Learning Development Of Eal Students In Australian Higher Education, Paul J. Moore

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

The role of learning advising in improving the educational outcomes of students for whom English is an additional language (EAL) in Australian universities has received significant attention in recent years. A combination of research findings, governmental pressure and media scrutiny has provided renewed impetus for universities to address issues of language proficiency and academic literacy amongst the growing population of onshore international students for whom English is an additional language (EAL). In this paper, I discuss the role of academic language and learning advising in the Australian university context, including how this practice is influenced by a range of political, …

Citizen Of Australia...Citizen Of The World: An Australian New Woman's Feminist And Nationalist Vision, Sharon Crozier-De Rosa

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Writing in the 1890s, South Australian author, Catherine Martin, contributed to what John Docker has labelled ‘those feverish years of utopian and dystopian visions’. Her popular 1890 novel, An Australian Girl, presents modern historians with one fin-de-siècle vision for a newly emerging Australian nation, a vision that reveals itself as a utopian blend of feminist and nationalist aspirations. What emerges from this book is a sense of an Australian landscape that was as feminised as masculinised; a belief in a national identity that may have been transnationalist in that it was shaped by understandings of what it meant to be …

Consumer Understandings And Attitudes Towards Local Food: An Exploration Of Australian Consumers' Perspectives, Ellena Rebbeck, Deanne Condon-Paoloni, Heather Yeatman

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Concerns exist about the sustainability of current globalised food systems, and have led to increased interest in alternative food systems. It has been argued that local food will reduce environmental impacts, provide consumer benefits of connection and health, and support local economies.

Fire Regimes And Carbon In Australian Vegetation, Richard J. Williams, Ross A. Bradstock, Damian Barrett, Jason Beringer, Mathias M. Boer, Geoffrey J. Cary, Garry D. Cook, A Malcolm Gill, Lindsay B. Hutley, Heather Keith, Stefan W. Maier, Cp (Mick) Meyer, Owen Price, Stephen H. Roxburgh, Jeremy Russell-Smith

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Fires regularly affect many of the world's terrestrial ecosystems, and, as a result, fires mediate the exchange of greenhouse gases (GHG) between the land and the atmosphere at a global scale and affect the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to store carbon (Bowman et al. 2009). Variations in fire -regimes can therefore potentially affect the global, regional and local carbon balance and, potentially, climate change itself (Bonan 2008). Here we examine how variation in fire regimes (Gill 1975; Bradstock et al. 2002) will potentially affect carbon in fire-prone Australian ecosystems via interactions with the stocks and transfers of carbon that are …

Nutritional Quality Of Australian Breakfast Cereals - Are They Improving?, Elizabeth K. Dunford, Jimmy Chun Yu Louie, Karen Z. Walker, Timothy P. Gill

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Abstract of paper that presented at The 16th International Congress of Dietetics, 5-8 Sep, 2012, Sydney.

Access To Same Day, Next Day And After-Hours Appointments: The Views Of Australian General Practitioners, Mark Fort Harris, Patrick Davies, Mahnaz Fanaian, Nicholas Zwar, Siaw-Teng Liaw

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Objective. To evaluate factors associated with the availability of same or next day appointments and after-hours access reported by Australian general practitioners (GPs). Methods. Secondary analysis of a survey of primary care practitioners conducted by the Commonwealth Fund in 2009 in 11 countries. Analysis of factors likely to be associated with reported availability of same or next day appointments and after-hours access. Findings. Of 1016 Australian GPs, 78.8% reported that most patients in their practice had access to an appointment on the same or next day and 50% that their practice had arrangements for after-hours access. Access to same or …

Larval Tolerance To Salinity In Three Species Of Australian Anuran: An Indication Of Saline Specialisation In Litoria Aurea, Brian D. Kearney, Phillip G. Byrne, Richard D. Reina

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Recent anthropogenic influences on freshwater habitats are forcing anuran populations to rapidly adapt to high magnitude changes in environmental conditions or face local extinction. We examined the effects of ecologically relevant elevated salinity levels on larval growth, metamorphosis and survival of three species of Australian anuran; the spotted marsh frog (Limnodynastes tasmaniensis), the painted burrowing frog (Neobatrachus sudelli) and the green and golden bell frog (Litoria aurea), in order to better understand the responses of these animals to environmental change. Elevated salinity (16% seawater) negatively impacted on the survival of L. tasmaniensis (35% survival) …

Practice Nurses Experiences Of Mentoring Undergraduate Nursing Students In Australian General Practice, Elizabeth J. Halcomb, Kathleen Peters, Susan Mcinnes

Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health - Papers: part A

Internationally, the delivery of health services has shifted from secondary to primary care, necessitating an exponential growth of the nursing workforce and expansion of the nursing role in general practice. This growth, and the subsequent need to develop this workforce, has created a need to expose undergraduate nurses to general practice nursing as a viable career option. Concurrently, universities are struggling to find sufficient clinical places for their undergraduate students to gain clinical experience. It is logical, therefore, to increase the number of undergraduate nursing student placements in general practice. Through qualitative research methods, this paper seeks to explore the …

Future Of Australian Rail Tracks Capturing Higher Speeds With Heavier Freight, Buddhima Indraratna, Sanjay Nimbalkar, Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn

Faculty of Engineering - Papers (Archive)

In Australia, quicker and more cost effective commuter and freight transports are essential to cater for the needs of travel demand and supply chains in the mining and agriculture sectors. Such development in coastal areas would necessitate the use of ground improvement techniques in response to environmental legislation and requirements for improved performance and sustainability. In coastal Australia the high cost of track maintenance is the main issue due to poor drainage of soft coastal soils, ballast degradation, fouling (e.g. coal and subgrade soil), differential settlement of track, pumping of subgrade soils and track misalignment due to excessive lateral movements. …