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Articles 13501 - 13530 of 14367

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Investigating The Origin Of Aids: Some Ethical Dimensions, Brian Martin Aug 2003

Investigating The Origin Of Aids: Some Ethical Dimensions, Brian Martin

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

The theory that AIDS originated from contaminated polio vaccines raises a number of challenging issues with ethical dimensions. The Journal of Medical Ethics dealt with a submission about the theory a decade ago; subsequent developments have raised further issues. Four areas of contention are addressed: whether the theory should be investigated, whether anyone should be blamed, whether defamation actions are appropriate and whether the scientific community has a responsibility to examine unorthodox theories.

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Benchmarking With The Best, Felicity Mcgregor Jul 2003

Benchmarking With The Best, Felicity Mcgregor

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

Measuring the performance of individual library services and processes is now well developed; it is more difficult, however, to identify best practice or to measure the overall organisational performance of libraries. In the absence of relevant sector-wide benchmarks, the University of Wollongong Library (UoW) adopted the principles outlined in the Australian Quality Council’s (AQC) Business Excellence Framework and then benchmarked its performance by applying for, and subsequently winning, an Australian Business Excellence Award. The Awards process requires evidence on all aspects of organisational performance: leadership and innovation, strategy and planning processes, data, information and knowledge, people, customer and market focus, …

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Making Censorship Backfire, S. Curry Jansen, Brian Martin Jul 2003

Making Censorship Backfire, S. Curry Jansen, Brian Martin

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

In the age of instantaneous global communications, overt censorship is always a risky endeavor. Attempts to repress 'dangerous ideas' sometimes have the opposite effect: that is, they serve as catalysts for expanding the reach, resonance and receptivity of those ideas.

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Taking A Closer Look: The Why And How Of New Accounting Practices In An Australian Religious/Charitable Organisation, H. J. Irvine Jul 2003

Taking A Closer Look: The Why And How Of New Accounting Practices In An Australian Religious/Charitable Organisation, H. J. Irvine

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Neo-institutional sociology proposes that organisations in a particular field behave in essentially the same way. In taking for granted the prevalence of institutionalised activities, such as accounting, however, it offers little in the way of penetrating insights into how, and to what extent, those activities are actually introduced and embedded into individual organisations. Changes in the nonprofit environment in Australia in recent years have catapulted organisations in that sector into a new corporate mode of operation, providing a unique opportunity not only to observe the introduction of new accounting practices, but also to critique the usefulness of neo-institutionalism as a …

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Countershock: Mobilizing Resistance To Electroshock Weapons, Brian Martin, S. Wright Jul 2003

Countershock: Mobilizing Resistance To Electroshock Weapons, Brian Martin, S. Wright

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Electroshock, stun and restraint technologies are often used for torture and as tools of repression. There is much information available exposing the problems with such technologies but little about how to be effective in challenging their use. The concept of political jiu-jitsu - the process by which an attack on a nonviolent resister can backfire on the attackers - is introduced and adapted to examine challenges to electroshock weapons. In order to make these weapons backfire, it is important to emphasise the value of potential targets, to expose secret dealings, to reveal the harm caused by the weapons and to …

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A Shock To The System? The Impact Of Hrm On Academic Ir In Australia In Comparison With Usa And Uk, 1980-95 , Diana J. Kelly Jul 2003

A Shock To The System? The Impact Of Hrm On Academic Ir In Australia In Comparison With Usa And Uk, 1980-95 , Diana J. Kelly

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Taking a theme of the transmission of ideas within disciplines, this paper investigates the impact of academic human resource management on academic industrial relations, comparing the impact in Australia between 1990 and 1995 with the earlier responses in UK and USA. It is shown that while HRM had a significant effect on academic industrial relations, the extent of that impact is not wholly clear because other events, such as public policy shifts and the changing role of universities also affected academic industrial relations.

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When Does Gender Trump Money? Bargaining And Time In Household Work, M. Bittman, P. England, L. Sayer, N. Folbre, George Matheson Jul 2003

When Does Gender Trump Money? Bargaining And Time In Household Work, M. Bittman, P. England, L. Sayer, N. Folbre, George Matheson

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Using data from Australia and the United States, the authors explore the effect of spouses' contribution to family income on how housework is divided. Consistent with exchange-bargaining theory, women decrease their housework as their earnings increase, up to the point where both spouses contribute equally to the income.In other respects, gender trumps money.

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Mapping Australia's Wine Exporters, D. K. Aylward Jun 2003

Mapping Australia's Wine Exporters, D. K. Aylward

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

No abstract provided.

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Teaching And Learning In China And Asia: Some Observations, H. W. Collier Jun 2003

Teaching And Learning In China And Asia: Some Observations, H. W. Collier

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

As the ‘Far East’ enters the WTO and the world economy, change is inevitable. The more developed economies will undoubtedly lead the way, and the change agents are more than likely to come from outside the area at least for a while. Beginning in 1973, many of the Chinese students and scholars who studied in the West did not return to China. Many of my current students who have the opportunity to leave do not intend to return. However, there is an increasing number who will return. As more and more of these student graduates return to China and to …

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A Documentary Of Innovation Support Among New World Wine Industries, D. K. Aylward Jun 2003

A Documentary Of Innovation Support Among New World Wine Industries, D. K. Aylward

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

During the past two decades, the international wine industry has undergone a ‘seismic shift’. Old World producers no longer dominate production, export and marketing of wine to the extent that they once did. Instead, New World producers such as California, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand have successfully married production, management, marketing and innovation to emerge as a new force on the global wine landscape. It is the innovation supports within these selected New World industries that this paper seeks to document, in order to highlight different approaches and outcomes and how they may or may not contribute to an …

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Trust Me! A Personal Account Of Confidentiality Issues In An Organisational Research Project, H. J. Irvine Jun 2003

Trust Me! A Personal Account Of Confidentiality Issues In An Organisational Research Project, H. J. Irvine

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Organisations, particularly those that depend on donations from the public, care a great deal about the image they present to society. This makes them especially sensitive about confidentiality when it comes to details of their accounting systems and financial affairs. Organisational, technical and personal factors determine the strategies adopted for encouraging trust and respecting confidentiality while undertaking research in such organisations. This is a personal account of some of the confidentiality issues that arose during a qualitative research project within a large religious/charitable organisation. It illustrates the importance and challenges of maintaining confidentiality in that and other contexts.

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The Influence Of Interactions Between Market Segmentation Strategy And Competition On Organizational Performance – A Simulation Study, Sara Dolnicar, R. Freitag Jun 2003

The Influence Of Interactions Between Market Segmentation Strategy And Competition On Organizational Performance – A Simulation Study, Sara Dolnicar, R. Freitag

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

A computer simulation study is conducted to explore the interaction of alternative segmentation strategies and the competitiveness of the market environment, a goal that can neither be tackled by purely analytic approaches nor is sufficient and undistorted real market data available to deduct findings in an empirical manner.The fundamental idea of the simulation is to increase competition in the artificial marketplace and to study the influence of segmentation strategy and varying market conditions on organizational success. Success/failure is measured using two performance criteria: number of units sold and survival of firms over 36 periods of time. Three central findings emerge: …

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The Effectiveness Of True Analogies For Consumer Learning Of Really New Products, A. Ait El Houssi, K. P. Morel, E. J. Hultink May 2003

The Effectiveness Of True Analogies For Consumer Learning Of Really New Products, A. Ait El Houssi, K. P. Morel, E. J. Hultink

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Recent research has suggested that analogies may be useful to enhance consumer learning of really new products (RNPs). However, these studies have failed to show convincingly that analogies enhance consumers’ comprehension of RNPs as their operationalisation of analogies does not represent a “true” analogy. Besides, they examined the interaction effects of numerous moderators without showing the existence of a main effect first. Hence, it remains unclear what the effectiveness of analogies for consumer learning of RNPs truly is. It is the aim of the present study to fill this void by means of an experiment in which consumers evaluate product …

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Development Of A Posteriori Market Segments Over Time - A Tracking Procedure, Friedrich Leisch, Sara Dolnicar May 2003

Development Of A Posteriori Market Segments Over Time - A Tracking Procedure, Friedrich Leisch, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Segmentation has become a standard procedure in strategic marketing. A posteriori approaches are popular among practitioners and researchers and gaining importance over a priori consumer groupings. Despite the wide variety of methodological developments in the field, little attention has been given to tracking changes of a posteriori market segments over time. This article proposes a simple tracking procedure that allows testing of a posteriori segment developments over time on the basis of identical consecutive consumer surveys. It is flexible with regard to techniques chosen at each step and – through validation findings through repetition – allows thorough insight into market …

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Tracking Positioning Developments – Perceptual Changes In Hair Colorant Positioning In Eastern Europe, Sara Dolnicar May 2003

Tracking Positioning Developments – Perceptual Changes In Hair Colorant Positioning In Eastern Europe, Sara Dolnicar

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Typically, changes in the perception of brand images are tracked on an attribute-to attribute basis. In reality, however, it is not a single attribute but a combination of multiple attributes that constitute brand image. Accounting for this multi-facetness of brand perception, a framework for tracking changes thereof is proposed that can be used in addition to simple attribute comparison approaches. It provides insight into changes over time in a more holistic manner, tracking shifts of associations of specific brands with generic perceptual positions. The framework consists of (1) computation of a data-driven generic perceptual positions, (2) characterization of generic perceptual …

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Poly(2-Alkylacrylic Acid) Polymers Deliver Molecules To The Cytosol By Ph-Sensitive Disruption Of Endosomal Vesicles, Rachel A. Jones, C. Y. Cheung, F. E. Black, J. K. Zia, P. S. Stayton, A. S. Hoffman, Mark R. Wilson May 2003

Poly(2-Alkylacrylic Acid) Polymers Deliver Molecules To The Cytosol By Ph-Sensitive Disruption Of Endosomal Vesicles, Rachel A. Jones, C. Y. Cheung, F. E. Black, J. K. Zia, P. S. Stayton, A. S. Hoffman, Mark R. Wilson

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

The permeability barrier posed by cell membranes represents a challenge for the delivery of hydrophilic molecules into cells. We previously proposed that poly(2- alkylacrylic acid)s are endocytosed by cells into acidified vesicles and are there triggered by low pH to disrupt membranes and release the contents of endosomes/lysosomes to the cytosol. If this hypothesis is correct, these polymers could be valuable in drug delivery applications. This report provides functional comparisons of a family of three poly(2-alkylacrylic acid)s. Poly(2-propylacrylic acid) (PPAA), poly(2-ethylacrylic acid) (PEAA), and poly(2-methylacrylic acid) (PMAA) were compared in red blood cell haemolysis assays and in a lipoplex gene …

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Causes And Implications Of Declining Economics Major: A Focus On Australia, M. Alauddin, A. Valadkhani Mar 2003

Causes And Implications Of Declining Economics Major: A Focus On Australia, M. Alauddin, A. Valadkhani

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper analyses the causes and implications of declining economics major in Australia. Based on a brief review of the relevant literature and an analysis of the Australian time series data, it is found that economics continues to be less attractive to students in relative terms. Three major factors contribute to this phenomenon: less than appropriate product for an increasingly diverse clientele, the introduction of more attractive and business, commerce and industry-oriented programs such as finance, accounting and commerce, and business majors geared to the needs of the real world, and the use of less experienced teaching staff in lower …

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An Empirical Analysis Of Australian Labour Productivity, Abbas Valadkhani Mar 2003

An Empirical Analysis Of Australian Labour Productivity, Abbas Valadkhani

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This study presents a model capturing sources of Australian aggregate labour productivity using annual time series data from 1970 to 2001. Labour productivity, or real output per hour worked, in this model is determined by real net capital stock in information technology and telecommunications (ITT), real net capital stock in the non-ITT sector, trade openness, human capital, the wage rate, international competitiveness, and the union membership rate. Given the lack of long and consistent time series data, multivariate cointegration techniques are inappropriate as the cointegration results will be sensitive to the lag length, the inclusion or exclusion of the intercept …

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Using Input-Output Analysis To Identify Australia’S High Employment Generating Industries, Abbas Valadkhani Mar 2003

Using Input-Output Analysis To Identify Australia’S High Employment Generating Industries, Abbas Valadkhani

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Using the 1996-97 input-output table, the objective of this paper is to identify Australia’s high employment generating industries. First, the “real” (direct and indirect) contribution of the tradeable industries to employment are quantified by adopting the “loss of the industry” or “shut-down of industry” approach. Second, the sectoral employment elasticities are calculated to determine the leading employment generating sectors. The empirical analysis and rankings undertaken in this study shed some light on sectoral potentials in relation to the creation of jobs in the economy. It is found that, inter alia, the following industries will play a crucial role in generating …

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The Causes Of Unemployment In Iran: An Empirical Investigation, Abbas Valadkhani Mar 2003

The Causes Of Unemployment In Iran: An Empirical Investigation, Abbas Valadkhani

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper examines the major causes of Iran’s unemployment conundrum using a simultaneous-equation model and annual time series data from 1968 to 2000. It is found that the rate of unemployment responds positively to output gap and increasing economic uncertainty and negatively to the higher growth rates of real investment and inflation, supporting the view that there exists a degree of trade-off between inflation and unemployment. However, since persistent and soaring inflation rates eventually lead to the chronic depreciation of the domestic currency and rising economic instability, it will be irrational to exploit this trade-off to fight against unemployment, particularly …

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The Effect Of Government On Economic Growth In Fiji, D. P. Doessel, A. Valadkhani Mar 2003

The Effect Of Government On Economic Growth In Fiji, D. P. Doessel, A. Valadkhani

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper investigates the empirical relationship between the size of government and the process of economic growth in Fiji. The results reported here present a mixed picture, in that the model estimated specifies two different effects of the government sector on economic growth. Using annual time series data for the period 1964-1999, it is found that government expenditure exerts a strong beneficial impact on economic growth. However, marginal factor productivity in the government sector is found to be lower than that of the private sector. The reasons for this low productivity are twofold: the result of the lack of market …

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Theory And Econometric Evidence Explaining Public Expenditure: The Case Of Iran, D. P. Doessel, A. Valadkhani Mar 2003

Theory And Econometric Evidence Explaining Public Expenditure: The Case Of Iran, D. P. Doessel, A. Valadkhani

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this paper is to analyse government expenditure in Iran using annual time series data for the period 1963-2000. Various theories of the size of government are reviewed and a distinction is made between economic/structural determinants and institutional determinants. Categorising the theories of government expenditure in this way suggests the application of non-nested tests as a mechanism whereby the relative importance of the two broad theoretical categories can be determined. The empirical results, indicating "double rejection", reveal that neither the economic/structural determinants nor the institutional determinants alone are sufficient to explain government expenditure in Iran. A comprehensive, incorporating …

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Novel Pharmacophore Based Methods Reveal Gossypol As A Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor, Paul A. Keller, C. Birch, S. P. Leach, D. Tyssen, R. Griffith Mar 2003

Novel Pharmacophore Based Methods Reveal Gossypol As A Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor, Paul A. Keller, C. Birch, S. P. Leach, D. Tyssen, R. Griffith

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

In a program to identify new structural entities for the inhibition of the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) enzyme via database searching, a series of RT pharmacophores were developed. By utilising a novel filtering technique, the National Cancer Institute database of compounds was scanned producing 15 compounds to be screened for activity. A notable inclusion was a series of gossypol derivatives. The testing of a series of compounds revealed the parent compound gossypol to be an HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitor. These results suggest that at least part of its anti-HIV activity is due to gossypol targeting the non-nucleoside inhibitor binding pocket …

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Nonviolence And Communication, Brian Martin, W. Varney Mar 2003

Nonviolence And Communication, Brian Martin, W. Varney

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Communication is central to the effectiveness of nonviolent action: methods of protest and persuasion are essentially means of communication, while methods of noncooperation and nonviolent intervention have crucial communicative dimensions. As a mode of political communication, nonviolence can be contrasted with rational dialogue, electoral politics and violence, and stands out from them in combining high transformative potential with dialogue and participation. The more well studied dimensions of nonviolence as communication are dialogue with opponents, power equalization to prepare for dialogue, and mobilization of third parties. To these should be added two further dimensions, collective and individual empowerment. Two cases of …

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A Case Study Of Sodium Reduction In Breakfast Cereals And The Impact Of The Pick The Tick Food Information Program In Australia, P. G. Williams, A. Mcmahon, R. Boustead Mar 2003

A Case Study Of Sodium Reduction In Breakfast Cereals And The Impact Of The Pick The Tick Food Information Program In Australia, P. G. Williams, A. Mcmahon, R. Boustead

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

In 1997 one of Australia’s largest food companies undertook a program of salt reduction in 12 breakfast cereals. The National Heart Foundation’s Pick the Tick program criterion (<400mg>sodium/100g) was used as a target value where possible. Twelve products were reformulated, with reductions ranging from 85-469mg sodium per 100g and an average reduction of 40% (12-88%). As a result, 235 tonnes of salt were removed annually from the Australian food supply and five more products were able to carry the Tick logo. The impact of the Pick the Tick program in changing the food supply extends beyond those products that …

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Cybermethods: An Assessment, H. Megens, Brian Martin Feb 2003

Cybermethods: An Assessment, H. Megens, Brian Martin

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Methods of communication and action on the Internet, such as e-mail, encryption and hacking, can be broadly grouped into four categories: expressing, protecting, information gathering and interfering. This classification helps explain the distribution of concern about cybermethods and offers a guide for assessing and designing future methods. As forms of technology, cybermethods are neither neutral nor autonomous. Methods of expressing and protecting are most suitable for promoting a society with greater equality and participation.

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An Activity-Based Model Of Collective Knowledge, Helen M. Hasan Jan 2003

An Activity-Based Model Of Collective Knowledge, Helen M. Hasan

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In the challenges faced by organisations in the area of knowledge management, there is clearly a role for information and communications technologies in supporting the exploitation of business knowledge. This paper proposes a model of knowledge processes, based on the concept of "activity", i.e. what people do, as determined by the cultural-historical activity theory. The evolutionary development of an implementation of the model in currently available technology is described, together with the results of an evaluation of its suitability and effectiveness. This work is substantiating both the practicability of the implementation and the usefulness of the structure for the extraction …

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Known 'Bugs' In Cultural Historical Activity Theory, John G. Findlay Jan 2003

Known 'Bugs' In Cultural Historical Activity Theory, John G. Findlay

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

When Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) was first propounded by the Vygotskian school of Russian psychologists in the 1920s it offered a robust explanation of how human development is mediated by cultural as well as biological influences. Along the way, CHAT has acquired some "bugs" or usability difficulties by remaining isolated from other theories that have a common heritage. This paper explores how the theory may have evolved if Vygotsky was alive today. Revisions to CHAT are proposed that borrow from complexity theory, innovation theory, group dynamics and Flow theory to explain the evolution of minds, tools and cultures as a …

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Web-Mediated Communication (Wmc) And Social Interaction: A Social Psychological Approach, Koo Won Suh, Helen Hasan, Paul K. Couchman Jan 2003

Web-Mediated Communication (Wmc) And Social Interaction: A Social Psychological Approach, Koo Won Suh, Helen Hasan, Paul K. Couchman

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

It can be argued that social interaction is a critical factor in understanding Web-mediated communication. While the concept and domain of social interaction has been studied in several disciplines they are underdeveloped in the current Web-enabled environment. This paper adopts a social psychological point of view of conceptual and operational issues in relation to social interaction. Through a review of the literature, two domains of social interaction are identified: task and socio-emotional interaction. The literature review also addresses some problems in defmition related to socio-emotional interaction. In an attempt to fill the gap between conceptual and operational defmitions of social …

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Development And Validation Of An Australian Video Speed Test (Avst), Jennifer Ann Algie, John R. Rossiter Jan 2003

Development And Validation Of An Australian Video Speed Test (Avst), Jennifer Ann Algie, John R. Rossiter

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Anti-speeding educational campaigns (in television commercials, print ads, and outdoor ads, mostly) are constantly being tried but it is difficult to determine which ads are effective in reducing speed. A promising solution to this problem is to use a behavioural simulation such as the Video Speed Test, the VST (Horswill and McKenna, 1999). The driving simulation test involves getting drivers to view video excerpts of a person driving a vehicle in real driving situations. The drivers then are asked to estimate the speed that they would use in the same situations, that is, how many kilometres/hour slower or faster they …

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