http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/ The University of Queensland en Fez http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:283163 2012-10-12T19:26:01Z Jayasekara, Harindra og Lloyd, Belinda og Matthews, Sharon og Ferris, Jason http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:283158 2012-10-12T19:25:16Z Jayasekara, Harindra og Lloyd, Belinda og Matthews, Sharon og Ferris, Jason http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:194168 One of the major shifts to occur in relationship formation over the last century is the increase in the number of people cohabitating prior to marriage. In Australia, the proportion of marriages preceded by cohabitation has risen from 30% in the 1980’s to around 75% in 2003. Sociological theories of the family propose that the increasing rate of cohabitation is, at least in part, a risk-management strategy in response to the perceived risk of divorce. In a social climate where marriage is no longer guaranteed for life, cohabitation offers the opportunity for a 'trial marriage', where a couple can get to know each other, negotiate roles, and develop communication skills prior to marriage, which should, in theory, reduce the likelihood of marriage breakdown. But how effective is cohabitation as a divorce-risk minimisation strategy? The weight of evidence from developed Western countries such as Australia, the U.S., the U.K., and Canada suggests that cohabitation increases the risk of marriage breakdown rather than minimising it. On the other hand, a couple of studies provide evidence that the increased risk of divorce, when a couple cohabits prior to marriage, is smaller for younger cohorts than for older cohorts. These results suggest that the increased likelihood of divorce with premarital cohabitation is diminishing over time, lending some support to the hypothesis that cohabitation does reduce the risk of divorce. In this paper I investigate these issues further using retrospective life course data from Wave 1 of the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey (HILDA). 2010-01-29T00:00:00Z Hewitt, B. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:283167 2012-10-12T19:26:38Z Ferris, Jason og Room, Robin og Graham, Kate http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:67377 Objective: This paper reports key findings from an exploratory study of factors associated with women's decision to participate in mass mammography screening in Tasmania. In particular, we explored factors that contribute to the choice to participate in screening by women who are outside the primary target group, and for whom the evidence of benefit remains contentious. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a small sample of women aged between 40 and 49 years in rural Tasmania who had participated in mammography screening. Results: Key ideas that appeared to shape participation included the fear of breast cancer, trust in technology, and taking responsibility for health. Information provision is also an important factor in shaping participation patterns. Conclusions and implications: In order to facilitate informed consent, information provision in this area should take account of the dominant ideas that shape the decision to participate in breast cancer screening. 2007-08-15T00:00:00Z Willis, K. og Baxter, J. H. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:84445 This project aimed to develop a systematic framework for understanding the relationship between social science research and public policy, and to build more effective linkages between social researchers and policy practitioners in the Australian housing system, particularly through AHURI. The project is explicitly applied and solution-focused. It was undertaken in close collaboration with AHURI and has contributed to AHURI's overall mission and strategy to enhancing research-based housing policy. It provided an opportunity for the AHURI policy community to engage in a process of action-oriented, self-reflection around its core business of applied housing policy research. 2007-08-14T00:00:00Z Jones, Andrew og Seelig, Timothy http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:71189 2007-08-14T00:00:00Z Loudoun, R. og Pisarski, A. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:262468 2011-11-29T09:09:28Z Fielding, Kelly S. og Louis, Winnifred R. og Warren, Clive og Thompson, Alice http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:195535 2010-02-17T00:00:00Z James, Amity http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:201562 A quality of life survey of a sample of households across the Brisbane South-East Queensland region has identified about 28 percent of people as 'downshifters.' They are defined as people who voluntarily make a long-term change in their lifestyle - other than planned retirement - which reduces income and adjusts their lifestyle conditions. A typology of downshifters is developed on the basis of their motives for downshifting and their socio-economic and demographic characteristics using a Two Step Cluster Analysis. Results indicate that the social and economic circumstances and the reasons and methods of downshifting tend to vary substantially across the clusters. 2010-04-01T00:00:00Z Chhetri, Prem og Stimson, Robert J. og Western, John S. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:256724 This qualitative inquiry explores the experiences of community-living older people in Australia living in their home environment. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 30 older people, aged 56–90, from three states in Australia. Purposive or maximum variation sampling was used to recruit people with diverse characteristics in terms of age, gender, living situation, dwelling type, tenure and location (urban/rural). Older people in this study stated that they were interested in the capacity of the house to support their many and varied occupations, particularly their ability to care for others. They also enjoyed the independence and autonomy that living in their own home afforded them. The location of the home in the community provided general convenience and offered opportunities for social connectedness. The home environment and the surrounding community also created an ambience and afforded people a particular lifestyle. The importance of the history of the home environment and the emotional connection older people have with the dwelling was another prevalent theme. Future research is recommended to investigate whether these views of the home are representative of other groups of older people and which aspects of the home they seek to retain when adapting their homes or relocating. 2011-10-18T13:00:13Z de Jonge, Desleigh M. og Jones, Andrew og Phillips, Rhonda og Chung, Magdalene http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:256616 2011-10-18T00:00:00Z Colley, Linda http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:271229 2012-03-22T00:00:00Z Tai, Tsui-O og Treas, Judith http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:199510 2010-03-16T00:00:00Z Boege, Volker og Brown, Anne og Clements, Kevin og Nolan, Anna http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:237787 2011-03-21T00:00:00Z Davis, Kristen http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:81979 2007-08-15T00:00:00Z Boege, V H http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:220581 Organisations are increasingly implementing a range of work-leave entitlements to assist employees to balance work and family responsibilities. Recent evidence has suggested mixed findings on the impact of work-leave policy on employees' wellbeing, citing organisational culture and inequity among employees as the major barrier to their uptake. There is limited evidence within Australia to effectively evaluate the impact of these policies. Examining leave use among a group of employees with a well-established set of policy entitlements and broadly similar working conditions allows for a detailed examination of the factors associated with the implementation of policy. Using data from an online survey of Queensland public sector employees conducted in August 2008, this paper reports on the utilisation of a number of entitlements including various flexible leave options as well as entitlements intended for employees with caring responsibilities (e.g., carers, parental leave). Regression analyses examine the relationship between leave utilisation on a number of measures of wellbeing. Findings suggest positive benefits are not always guaranteed, with differences evident across gender and leave usage. The paper concludes that implementation processes continue to hinder outcomes for some employees. 2010-11-16T00:00:00Z Troup, Carolyn http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:286684 2012-12-03T09:48:09Z Corcoran, Jonathan og Stimson, Robert og Chhetri, Prem og Rohde, David og Higginson, Angela http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:199548 This paper examines the strength of relationships between objectively measured broad dimensions of the urban environment, which underlie the structure of the urban environment in South East Queensland, and related subjectively measured evaluations of the urban environment. Data for the objective dimensions were gained from GIS data sets and the Australian population census while data for the subjective evaluations were gained from the 2003 Survey of Quality of Life in South East Queensland. The objective and subjective data were then linked by geocoding the location of residents responding to this survey. Generalised Linear Modelling was used to test the strength of relationships between objective dimensions and subjective evaluations of the urban environment which were found to be weak. Some psychological, social, and residential relocation process explanations are discuss as well as implications for urban quality of life theory and urban planning. 2010-03-17T00:00:00Z McCrea, Rod http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:270077 Social housing is a very significant tenure for Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders (Indigenous people) in Australia with three in ten Indigenous households living in social housing. Demand for social housing from Indigenous applicants is also high due to population and household growth, the lower average incomes in this group, the significant numbers of homeless Indigenous people, and barriers faced by many Indigenous people in accessing private rental and home ownership, including affordability and discrimination. 2012-03-15T00:00:00Z Milligan, Vivienne og Phillips, Rhonda. og Easthope, Hazel og Lui, Edgar og Memmott, Paul http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:253667 2011-09-29T12:43:15Z Head, Brian http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:275825 2012-06-18T17:33:00Z Crutchfield, Robert og Ramirez, Suzanna http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:181514 This article introduces the application of circular statistics to an analysis of 'journey to work' (JTW) data for the South East Queensland (SEQ) region in Australia. The JTW data include the total number of journeys between an origin (HOME) and destination zone (work) across SEQ. Using bespoke tools developed in a GIS environment the direction and frequency of each journey is first calculated. Using the outputs from this process, two descriptive measures - namely the circular mean and circular variance - are then computed and the results presented. Analysis of the mapped outputs shows strong JTW patterns that are readily detectable and visualised using a combination of GIS and circular statistics. 2009-09-03T08:33:41Z Corcoran, Jonathan og Chhetri, Prem og Stimson, Robert http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:286374 Content analysis is a powerful tool for investigating attitudes expressed in naturally occurring language data. It is a useful tool to help researchers develop an understanding of a specific research field through identifying how particular issues or topics have been conceptualized or where fieldwork can be limited or prohibitive. This is especially true for research on postconflict reconstruction, where large-scale quantitative surveying or metareviews of the literature can be prohibitive. The present study provides a case study of how a particular content analysis software program—Leximancer—was used to map factors associated with institutional legitimacy in postconflict societies. The case of Timor-Leste is used as an example. We examine texts at three levels of discourse: at the academic, official, and primary levels. Results indicate differing perspectives on legitimacy at each level of discourse. This article offers a snapshot of a potential method for understanding how particular topics are conceptualized within a specific research field and can thus help in the development of evaluation methods or data collection instruments. 2012-11-27T14:40:25Z Fisk, Kylie og Cherney, Adrian og Hornsey, Matthew og Smith, Andrew http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:247150 Gunshot detection systems are defined as technologically advanced acoustic sensing systems capable of identifying, discriminating and reporting gun shots within one second of a shot being fired. Manufacturers of gunshot detection systems propose that the technology can significantly decrease officer response times to random gunfire calls for service as well as indi rectly control random gunfire problems. Our paper examines some of the organizational imphcations of using gunshot detection systems in local law enforcement agencies. Drawing from a two-month field trial of a gun shot detection system implemented in Dallas, Tex., our paper explores the impact of the technology on officer response times and officer workloads. Our results suggest that implementation of gunshot detection technology in Dallas reduced officer response times by about one minute (7% reduc tion) yet significantly increased officer workloads. 2011-09-05T14:52:24Z Mazerolle, Lorraine Green og Watkins, Cory og Rogan, Dennis og Frank, James http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:284852 2012-11-14T13:46:38Z Beal, Cara og Stewart, Rodney A. og Spinks, Anneliese og Fielding, Kelly http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:211170 2010-08-05T00:00:00Z Brown, M. Anne og Nolan, Anna http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:269880 2012-03-14T14:44:26Z Kelly, Adrian B. og Chan, Gary C. K. og Toumbourou, John W. og O'Flaherty, Martin og Homel, Ross og Patton, George C. og Williams, Joanne http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:258824 One major goal of face-to-face restorative justice (RJ) is to help heal the psychological harm suffered by crime victims (Braithwaite, 2002). Substantial evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) has shown that this can be accomplished (Strang, 2002) and more trials are underway (Sherman & Strang, 2004). These outcomes are even more clearly, if less rigorously, demonstrated through retrospective interviews of victims about their feelings before and after RJ took place. We review the responses of victims (N= 210) who participated in trials in Canberra (Australia) and in London, Thames Valley, and Northumbria (UK). Despite substantial variations in offense types, social contexts, nation and race, before-after changes revealed by qualitative and quantitative data are all in the same beneficial direction. 2011-10-21T21:21:26Z Strang, Heather og Sherman, Lawrence og Angel, Caroline M. og Woods, Daniel J. og Bennett, Sarah og Newbury-Birch, Dorothy og Inkpen, Nova http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:283733 Violence in entertainment districts is a major problem across urban landscapes throughout the world. Research shows that licensed premises are the third most common location for homicides and serious assaults, accounting for one in ten fatal and nonfatal assaults. One class of interventions that aims to reduce violence in entertainment districts involves the use of civil remedies: a group of strategies that use civil or regulatory measures as legal "levers" to reduce problem behavior. One specific civil remedy used to reduce problematic behavior in entertainment districts involves manipulation of licensed premise trading hours. This article uses generalized linear models to analyze the impact of lockout legislation on recorded violent offences in two entertainment districts in the Australian state of Queensland. Our research shows that 3 a.m. lockout legislation led to a direct and significant reduction in the number of violent incidents inside licensed premises. Indeed, the lockouts cut the level of violent crime inside licensed premises by half. Despite these impressive results for the control of violence inside licensed premises, we found no evidence that the lockout had any impact on violence on streets and footpaths outside licensed premises that were the site for more than 80 percent of entertainment district violence. Overall, however, our analysis suggests that lockouts are an important mechanism that helps to control the level of violence inside licensed premises but that finely grained contextual responses to alcohol-related problems are needed rather than one-size-fits-all solutions. 2012-10-22T12:35:55Z Mazerolle, Lorraine og White, Gentry og Ferguson, Patricia og Ransley, Janet http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:77318 2007-08-15T00:00:00Z Boege, V. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:278120 Effective communication between healthcare professionals and patients is critical to patients’ health outcomes. The doctor/patient dialogue has been extensively researched from different perspectives, with findings emphasising a range of behaviours that lead to effective communication. Much research involves self-reports, however, so that behavioural engagement cannot be disentangled from patients’ ratings of effectiveness. In this study we used a highly efficient and time economic automated computer visualisation measurement technique called Discursis to analyse conversational behaviour in consultations. Discursis automatically builds an internal language model from a transcript, mines the transcript for its conceptual content, and generates an interactive visual account of the discourse. The resultant visual account of the whole consultation can be analysed for patterns of engagement between interactants. The findings from this study show that Discursis is effective at highlighting a range of consultation techniques, including communication accommodation, engagement and repetition. 2012-07-26T10:28:29Z Angus, Daniel og Watson, Bernadette og Smith, Andrew og Gallois, Cindy og Wiles, Janet http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:282478 An important aspect of decision support systems involves applying sophisticated and flexible statistical models to real datasets and communicating these results to decision makers in interpretable ways. An important class of problem is the modelling of incidence such as fire, disease etc. Models of incidence known as point processes or Cox processes are particularly challenging as they are ‘doubly stochastic’ i.e. obtaining the probability mass function of incidents requires two integrals to be evaluated. Existing approaches to the problem either use simple models that obtain predictions using plug-in point estimates and do not distinguish between Cox processes and density estimation but do use sophisticated 3D visualization for interpretation. Alternatively other work employs sophisticated non-parametric Bayesian Cox process models, but do not use visualization to render interpretable complex spatial temporal forecasts. The contribution here is to fill this gap by inferring predictive distributions of Gaussian-log Cox processes and rendering them using state of the art 3D visualization techniques. This requires performing inference on an approximation of the model on a discretized grid of large scale and adapting an existing spatial-diurnal kernel to the log Gaussian Cox process context. 2012-09-26T09:19:56Z Rohde, David og Corcoran, Jonathan og White, Gentry og Huang, Ruth http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:129529 Recent research demonstrates that involvement in productive activities, particularly volunteering, has important societal and individual benefits in the contemporary aging environment. However, less attention has been paid to the structaral dimension of volunteering or what encourages or discourages older people regarding volunteering. The authors present the findings from a two-phase Australian case study that explores the incentives and barriers to volunteering by those aged 50 and older, all members of a national seniors organization. Results suggest that governments and organizations need to consider many issues if more seniors are to be attracted to volunteering. Ensuring appropriate incentives to encourage volunteering was viewed as particularly important, with incentives including the need for more training, more flexible and diverse options, and more opportunities for intergenerational volunteering. Potential barriers included negative perceptions of volunteer activities, fear of encountering ageism, and concerns about the increasingly regulatory organizational environment. 2008-02-18T14:30:15Z Warburton, Jeni og Paynter, Jessica og Petriwskyj, Andrea http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:145740 2008-06-06T00:00:00Z http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:230781 2011-03-01T16:46:09Z Russell, Sally og Fielding, Kelly http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:40989 2007-08-10T00:00:00Z Boege, V H http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:229198 2011-02-15T13:47:03Z Head, Brian W. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:238913 2011-03-25T12:08:39Z Spearritt, Peter og Head, Brian http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:289987 2013-01-26T22:11:02Z Uhlmann, Vikki og Head, Brian W. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:197464 2010-03-03T00:00:00Z McCrea, R. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:198548 2010-03-10T00:00:00Z Petriwskyj, A. M. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:269282 Employment security is a traditional characteristic of public employment but has been affected by public management reforms and more recently by the global financial crisis (GFC). This article considers employment security through a case study of an Australian state public service. Queensland has only pursued moderate reforms, but this has still challenged employment security. Institutional tensions became clear, as the central personnel agency defended and even strengthened employment security policies, whereas the central industrial relations (IR) agency issued potentially contradictory policies and departments thwarted policy intentions during implementation. The economic context arguably allowed for weaker scrutiny of new employment initiatives and highlighted the tensions in the current powers and responsibilities of the central personnel agency. 2012-03-07T16:42:27Z Colley, Linda Katurah http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:273236 2012-04-26T00:00:00Z Bates, Annerley og Bates, Merrelyn og Bates, Lyndel http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:198370 2010-03-09T00:00:00Z Liao, Eric og Shyy, T. K. og Stimson, Robert http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:139452 2008-06-10T00:00:00Z Baum, S. W. og Stimson, R. J. og Mullins, P. F. og O'Connor, K. http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:259531 2011-10-25T12:06:08Z Yerkes, Mara http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:295750 2013-04-04T10:23:17Z Yerkes, Mara A. og Peper, Bram og Baxter, Janeen http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:258421 2011-10-21T00:00:00Z Boreham, Paul og Povey, Jenny http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:198540 2010-03-10T00:00:00Z Petriwskyj, A. M.