Digital Commons Network^™

A Case Study Of Anxiety In The Spanish Classroom In Australia, Glenda Mejía

Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice

This study investigates the links between anxiety during oral activities in the Spanish language classroom and the teacher’s role, as well as the strategies students use to cope with their anxiety. Most of the studies on language anxiety have focused on beginner groups; however, such anxiety is not limited to just that group. As this study has found, second-year students learning Spanish also experience a certain level of anxiety, many times caused by different factors from those that might have caused them anxiety in their first year of learning. This study uses different methodologies to investigate those factors, including a …

Lessons About Best Interests Duty, Aaron Bruhn, Michael Miller

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

Financial advice is essentially a credence good, whose value is hard to assess. Yet in the Australian context the need for quality advice is growing, with self-sufficiency a growing trend and individuals facing significant complexity in their financial affairs. Recent regulatory proposals and reforms have been offered as a means to provide some comfort for consumers about the quality advice that they might receive, yet the challenge remains about what is meant by ‘quality’ in this area. By referring to recent high profile collapses, we describe some factors and features that are generally considered as examples of poor quality advice. …

Preference In Presentation Or Impression Management: A Comparison Study Between Chairmen’S Statements Of The Most And Least Profitable Australian Companies, Zilan Cen, Rongchang Cai

Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal

The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent of impression management in corporate annual reports in an Australian context. To contribute to this topic, a research question is investigated: do the most profitable Australian companies, assessed by percentage change in profit before tax, organise the chairmen’s statements of their corporate annual reports and disclose information in a way that is significantly different from those least profitable companies?

In terms of the methodology, this research has selected the top 50 most and least profitable companies in ASX 500 as at 30th June 2009 respectively. For reference and comparison purposes, …

Case Study: Transfield And Tenex: Endurance And Weakness In Two Migrant Family Businesses In Australia, Mary Barrett

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Transfield is one of Australia's most prominent construction companies. The name itself: "trans" meaning across and "field", which suggests open spaces, reflects the firm's origins as a venture founded by two Italian emigrants, Carlo Salteri and Franco Belgiorni-Nettis, who crossed huge distances to Australia before establishing their own firm.

What Happens When Digital Information Systems Are Brought Into Health And Social Care? Comparing Approaches To Social Policy In England And Australia, Susan Baines, Penelope Hill, Karin Garrety

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

This review article offers a brief comparative overview of approaches to the application of public sector information systems in England and Australia, with particular reference to health and social care. Since the 1990s, reforms to the public sector in both countries have looked to information and communication technologies (ICTs) from the private sector as the key to modern, citizen-centred services. These efforts have been conducted in the wider context of New Public Management, with the emphasis on the marketisation of government services, reducing the size of the state, and improvements in efficiency. Both countries are typically seen as being at, …

The Current Retirement System In Australia Needs To Be More Attuned To A Mobile International Workforce: A Case For Reform, Rhys Cormick, John A. Mclaren

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

Dealing with the fiscal impacts of Australia's ageing population is potentially the most important issue for the next 30 years. The majority of countries in the developed world are facing an ageing population due to sustained low fertility and increased life expectancy. In order to reduce the fiscal burden following this decreased labour force participation and increased age-related spending, governments must appropriately design retirement savings systems to protect their budget, the taxpayers and the elderly. Individuals are increasingly taking up employment in foreign countries. Such international labour mobility provides a number of economic benefits for both the home and host …

Weather-Ways: Experiencing And Responding To Everyday Weather, Eliza De Vet

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

Climates are changing, yet how these changes will affect individuals in their everyday lives is unclear. In climate change research, weather and climate (change) have largely been represented quantitatively. Such representations offer individuals, societies and institutions limited tangible explanation of future climate change, impeding efforts to develop and implement effective climate change responses. In order to comprehend the realities of climate change and potential adaptation capacities, research must recognise how individuals and societies currently relate to weather in context of everyday life.

This thesis contributes to research on weather relations by exploring the role of weather in everyday life in …

Motivations, Learning Activities And Challenges: Learning Mandarin Chinese In Australia, Xiaoping Gao

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

Mandarin Chinese is ane of the priority languages in the Australian Government's {2012} 'Australia in the Asian Century' White Paper. However the number of Australian learners of Mandarin remains the smallest among six commonly taught foreign languages in Australia. What are Australian learners' motivations and preferred learning activities for learning Mandarin Chinese? What challenges do teachers face when promoting this language? To answer these questions, this study conducted surveys with 149 school students and with 18 principals and language teachers in New South Wales. Results show that the Australian students' study of Mandarin was primarily driven by extrinsic motivation although …

Discretionary Benefit Or Entitlement? Hospitality Workers And The Ownership Of Customer Tips In Australia, Amelia Gow, Andrew Frazer

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

The tipping of hospitality workers by customers is an increasingly common custom in Australia. Tips are a substantial (though unquantified) part of the income of hospitality workers. Such workers are often casual and vulnerable young employees. Tipping occurs in a tripartite relationship between the business operator, the customer and the worker. It is almost completely unregulated by the labour law instruments of awards and enterprise agreements. This is a ‘regulatory space’ where labour law and consumer protection law may potentially intersect.

Who owns tips? While customers may reasonably assume that service workers will receive all the tips they leave, either …

Retrofitting Cities: Local Governance In Sydney, Australia, Robyn Dowling, Pauline M. Mcguirk, Harriet Bulkeley

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Transforming cities to a lower carbon future is one of the key challenges of contemporary urban governance. Retrofitting the city - or modifying existing urban infrastructures, buildings and daily life to suit different energy sources and different expectations of energy consumption - is essential to this transformation. In urban studies, little focus has yet been applied to the shape and character of urban governance frameworks and mechanisms required to successfully retrofit cities. In this paper we address this lacuna by exploring the logics, practices and dynamics of retrofitting governance in the Australian city. Using a governmentality perspective, the paper identifies …

Repositioning Urban Governments? Energy Efficiency And Australia's Changing Climate And Energy Governance Regimes, Pauline M. Mcguirk, Robyn Dowling, Harriet Bulkeley

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Urban local governments are important players in climate governance, and their roles are evolving. This review traces the changing nexus of Australia's climate policy, energy policy and energy efficiency imperatives and its repositioning of urban local governments. We characterise the ways urban local governments' capacities and capabilities are being mobilised in light of a changing multi-level political opportunity structure around energy efficiency. The shifts we observe not only extend local governments' role in implementing climate change responses but also engage them as partners in conceiving and operationalising new measures, suggesting new ground is being opened in the urban politics of …

Late-Holocene Climatic Variability Indicated By Three Natural Archives In Arid Southern Australia, Luke A. Gliganic, Timothy J. Cohen, Jan-Hendrik May, John D. Jansen, Gerald C. Nanson, Anthony Dosseto, Joshua R. Larsen, Maxime Aubert

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

Three terrestrial climate proxies are used to investigate the evolution of Holocene palaeoenvironments in southern central Australia, all of which present a coherent record of palaeohydrology. Single-grain optically stimulated luminescence from sediments supplemented by 14C from charcoal and lacustrine shells was obtained to date shoreline deposits (Lake Callabonna) and the adjacent Mt Chambers Creek alluvial fan. Our findings are complemented by a U/Th-based record of speleothem growth in the Mt Chambers Creek catchment, which we interpret to reflect increased precipitation. Together, these archives shed light on the timing of, and possible sources of water for, Holocene pluvial intervals. We identified …

Cross Sectional Survey Of Human-Bat Interaction In Australia: Public Health Implications, Beverley J. Paterson, Michelle T. Butler, Keith Eastwood, Patrick M. Cashman, Alison Jones, David N. Durrheim

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

Background Flying foxes (megachiroptera) and insectivorous microbats (microchiroptera) are the known reservoirs for a range of recently emerged, highly pathogenic viruses. In Australia there is public health concern relating to bats' role as reservoirs of Australian Bat Lyssavirus (ABLV), which has clinical features identical to classical rabies. Three deaths from ABLV have occurred in Australia. A survey was conducted to determine the frequency of bat exposures amongst adults in Australia's most populous state, New South Wales; explore reasons for handling bats; examine reported practices upon encountering injured or trapped bats or experiencing bat bites or scratches; and investigate knowledge of …

Theatrical Jurisprudence And The Imaginary Lives Of Law In Pre-1945 Australia, Marett Leiboff

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

If there is anything like an imagined pre-1945 past in Australia, it is one steeped in an Anglophone legal ascendancy. But this is an imaginary past in so many ways. Non-British Europeans came to Australia long before 1945. These earlier Europeans were marked by differences of voice and face, but were eager British subjects, as likely to actively take advantage of law as they were to be subjected to its strictures. By theatricalising their ordinary and extraordinary legal lives through archive and memory, we are reminded that there is more to law of the South than formal accounts which have …

Emerging Geographies Of Conservation And Indigenous Land In Australia, Heather Moorcroft, Michael Adams

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

International examples of interactions between Indigenous peoples and the new conservation paradigm come mainly from developing countries and suggest divisions over priorities. As a Western settler society, Australia is at a critical time in conservation and Indigenous peoples' rights. Innovative approaches to conservation are promoted. The role and influence of non-governmental organisations is increasing. Indigenous peoples' rights to land are recognised and Indigenous involvement in conservation is growing. Yet, despite Australia being considered a leader in these arenas, particularly the latter, there has been little analysis of the relationship between innovative approaches to conservation and Indigenous Australians under the new …

The Retention, Revival, And Subjugation Of Indigenous Fire Knowledge Through Agency Fire Fighting In Eastern Australia And California, Christine Eriksen, Don L. Hankins

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This article explores the potential impact of training and employment with wildfire management agencies on the retention of Indigenous fire knowledge. It focuses on the comparative knowledge and experiences of Indigenous Elders, cultural practitioners, and land stewards in connection with ''modern'' political constructs of fire in New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, and California in the United States of America. This article emphasises the close link between cross-cultural acceptance, integration of Indigenous and agency fire cultures, and the ways in which knowledge types are shared or withheld. While agency fire fighting provides an opportunity for Indigenous people to connect and …

Outback Elvis: Musical Creativity In Rural Australia, John Connell, Christopher Gibson

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

However cartographies of music are constructed, they invariably suggest some authentic relationship between particular sites of vernacular musical creativity and a social and economic context that has contributed to a certain distinctiveness. Thus, the literature is replete with accounts of supposedly distinctive Mersey and Otago sounds, New Orleans jazz or Nashville country, and the 'mutually generative relations of music and space' (Leyshon et al., 1995, p. 424). In the conventional narrative, styles are generally deemed to have originated from particular individual and collective scenes associated with key musicians and bands, and talked up as a means of promoting these styles …

Inclusion Of Mobile Telephone Numbers Into An Ongoing Population Health Survey In New South Wales, Australia, Using An Overlapping Dual-Frame Design: Impact On The Time Series, Margo Barr, Raymond A. Ferguson, David G. Steel

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

No abstract provided.

Changing Accuracy Of Self-Reported Bmi Over Time In Nsw, Australia, Margo Barr, David G. Steel, Raymond A. Ferguson

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

No abstract provided.

South Australia: Patient Outcomes In Palliative Care: July - December 2013: Report 16, Alanna M. Holloway, Samuel Allingham, Carol Hope, Sabina Clapham, Linda Foskett

Australian Health Services Research Institute

The Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) assists services to improve the quality of the palliative care they provide through the analysis and benchmarking of patient outcomes. In this, the sixteenth PCOC report, data submitted for the July to December 2013 period are summarised and patient outcomes benchmarked to enable participating services to assess their performance and identify areas in which they may improve.

South Australia: Patient Outcomes In Palliative Care: January - June 2014: Report 17, Alanna M. Holloway, Samuel F. Allingham, Sabina P. Clapham, Janet Taylor, Karen Quinsey, Linda M. Foskett

Australian Health Services Research Institute

The Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) assists services to improve the quality of the palliative care they provide through the analysis and benchmarking of patient outcomes. In this, the seventeenth PCOC report, data submitted for the January to June 2014 period are summarised and patient outcomes benchmarked to enable participating services to assess their performance and identify areas in which they may improve.

Evaluation Of The Alzheimer's Australia National Quality Dementia Care Initiative (Nqdci) Final Report, Anita B. Westera, Cristina J. Thompson, Darcy Morris

Australian Health Services Research Institute

No abstract provided.

Implementation Of A National Casemix Classification And Funding Model Into Palliative Care In Australia, Kathy Eagar

Australian Health Services Research Institute

[extract] The starting point for the Australian western health care system New South Wales became a (penal) colony in 1788, followed progressively by the other Australian States. Australia didn't became a country until 1901.

Australia In The Asian Century - A Critique Of The White Paper, Bruno Mascitelli, G Barry O'Mahony

University of Wollongong in Dubai - Papers

This article critiques the Australian Government's White Paper: Australia in the Asian Century. It begins by reflecting on the relationship between Australia and Asia suggesting that this is measured solely through the narrow economic lens of Australian interests. The critique then focusses on the key drivers presented as the means by which Australia will navigate the Asian century concluding that although Australia punches above its weight in terms of living standards, equity and social inclusion, the White Paper overstates the country's capability and capacity particularly in the areas of skills, education, innovation and relationship development. This presents a number of …

Do Low-Income Neighbourhoods Have The Least Green Space? A Cross-Sectional Study Of Australia's Most Populous Cities, Thomas Astell-Burt, Xiaoqi Feng, Suzanne Mavoa, Hannah M. Badland, Billie Giles-Corti

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background

An inequitable distribution of parks and other ‘green spaces’ could exacerbate health inequalities if people on lower incomes, who are already at greater risk of preventable diseases, have poorer access.

Methods

The availability of green space within 1 kilometre of a Statistical Area 1 (SA1) was linked to data from the 2011 Australian census for Sydney (n = 4.6 M residents); Melbourne (n = 4.2 M); Brisbane (n = 2.2 M); Perth (n = 1.8 M); and Adelaide (n = 1.3 M). Socioeconomic circumstances were measured via the percentage population of each SA1 living on < $21,000 per annum. Negative binomial and logit regression models were used to investigate association between the availability of green space in relation to neighbourhood socioeconomic circumstances, adjusting for city and population density.

Results

Green space availability …

A Brief Report On Primary Care Service Area Catchment Geographies In New South Wales Australia, Soumya Mazumdar, Xiaoqi Feng, Paul Konings, Ian S. Mcrae, Federico Girosi

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background To develop a method to use survey data to establish catchment areas of primary care or Primary Care Service Areas. Primary Care Service Areas are small areas, the majority of patients resident in which obtain their primary care services from within the geography. Methods The data are from a large health survey (n =267,153, year 2006-2009) linked to General Practitioner service use data (year 2002-2010) from New South Wales, Australia. Our methods broadly follow those used previously by researchers in the United States of America and Switzerland, with significant modifications to improve robustness. This algorithm allocates post code areas …

‘It Was Florence Nightingale By Torch’: Military Nursing Traditions And Australian Nurses In Vietnam, Janice Margaret Twomey

University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016

This thesis examines the experiences of two groups of nurses who served in the Vietnam War, the members of Royal Australian Army Nursing Corps (RAANC) and the women who volunteered as members of the civilian aid surgical teams who served in Vietnam under the humanitarian aid clauses of the Southeast Asian Treaty Organisation (SEATO). The oral testimonies of 31 members of both RAANC and the civilian aid teams provided the evidence used for this thesis.

The thesis argues that both groups of women, irrespective of their mode of deployment worked within a tradition of Australian nursing: the military nursing tradition, …

Indigenous Australia's Diverse Memorialisation Of The Dead, Bronwyn Carlson

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

Beliefs and ceremonies associated with death in Indigenous Australia are diverse. Death and the deceased are sacred to Indigenous Australians and ceremonies differ between communities.

They may involve lengthy ceremonies lasting several days with strict protocols around language, names, images and other possessions. Alternatively deaths might be marked by funerals that can include images and speaking the deceased person’s name, performances and other tributes.

Socioeconomic Status And Heart Failure In Sydney, Glenn R. Close, Phillip J. Newton, Simon C. Fung, Alan R. Denniss, Elizabeth J. Halcomb, Pramesh Kovoor, Simon Stewart, Patricia M. Davidson

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

Background Socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with an increased risk of developing heart failure and with inferior health outcomes following diagnosis. Methods Data for hospitalisations and deaths due to heart failure in the Sydney metropolitan region were extracted from New South Wales hospital records and Australian Bureau of Statistics databases for 1999-2003. Standardised rates were analysed according to patients' residential local government area and correlated with an index of socioeconomic disadvantage. Results Eight of the 13 local government areas with standardised separation rate ratios significantly higher than all NSW, and those with the six highest standardised separation rate ratios, were in …

Depositional History And Archaeology Of The Central Lake Mungo Lunette, Willandra Lakes, Southeast Australia, Kathryn E. Fitzsimmons, Nicola Stern, Colin V. Murray-Wallace

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

Lake Mungo, presently a dry lake in the semi-arid zone of southeastern Australia, preserves a unique record of human settlement and past environmental change within the transverse lunette that built up on its downwind margin. The lunette is >30 km long and the variable morphology along its length suggests spatial variability in deposition over time. Consequently this presents differential potential for the preservation of past activity traces of different ages along the lunette. Earlier work at Lake Mungo focused primarily on the southern section of the lunette, where two ritual burials of considerable antiquity were found. Here we describe the …