The Corporate Social Responsibility Debate

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the arguments concerning corporate social responsibility (CSR). The two sides of the debate are stakeholder theory and shareholder theory. Proponents of stakeholder theory support providing for the discretionary expectations of society. On the other hand, advocates of shareholder theory maintain that businesses should simply obey the law and maximize shareholder wealth. Although CSR is enthusiastically espoused by many social progressives, it is not a panacea for society’s ills. The conclusion of this study is that corporations should focus on legally maximizing shareholder wealth based on ethical principles. CSR should only be pursued if doing so accomplishes this function

Higher education curriculum ecosystem design

This study focuses on the development of a Design Framework for Higher Education Curriculum Ecosystem design. The study views the world as a digital ecosystem where the physical and the virtual are fully intertwined and function through integrated social and technical architecture working together in a seamless mesh that is persistent and pervasive. This digital ecosystem is an open, flexible, demand driven, self-organising, collaborative environment. It has enhanced individuals’ abilities to connect with other people, share ideas, work collaboratively and form communities. This has inevitably impacted on educational practice in Higher Education. The thesis draws together educational theories, curriculum designs, and concepts drawn from ecological psychology, cognitive apprenticeship, distributed cognition and activity theory, and extends them through the application of a Complexity Science lens. A Complexity Science perspective views the world as comprised of Complex Adaptive Systems. This study explores how authentic learning processes can be scaffolded within a Complex Adaptive System. The iterative development and refinement, through three iterations over six years, of a curriculum ecosystem for a Built Environment Degree Program is used as a case study for the development of a Higher Education curriculum ecosystem exemplar. A Design Framework for a Curriculum Ecosystem for Higher Education which has emerged through this process is presented

Cheers - London

Bar & grill. Franchise & chains. New England cuisine. Geographical location: London, UK

Evidence Based Practice in Out-Of-Home Care

This research is about evidence based practice, which is an area of increasing interest and emphasis in social work today. Initially apparent in medical and health care settings, evidence based practice now has widened applicability to a broad range of contexts and professional disciplines. The ways in which research evidence is translated into policy and practice is itself a topic area for social work research. The study investigates evidence based practice in child welfare, specifically the out-of-home care system. Out-of-home care provides alternative placements for children and young people who cannot live with their families because of abuse and neglect, and generally consists of placement with foster carers or in a residential/group care setting. This research is an exploratory study which investigates through individual interview how nineteen out-of-home care Senior Managers and Team Leaders in the states of New South Wales, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory interpret and understand evidence based practice, and the degree and depth of knowledge they transfer from research awareness into out-of-home care practice and policy development. The research has three main objectives. Firstly to investigate the understanding of out-of-home care managers of evidence based practice, secondly to determine the influence of relevant research on practice and policy in out-ofhome care, and thirdly to explore potential barriers to evidence based practice. Looking After Children, a social work case management system for children and young people in out-of-home care, provides the context for this research, in which evidence based practice is critically examined. A thematic analysis of the interview data identified five major themes. These included: the benefit of broadening definitions of evidence based practice to include a wide range of influences on practice; the value and importance of 2 considering a broad range of research approaches in connecting research with policy and practice AND the potential for influencing outcomes of social work intervention via research based and influenced guided practice systems and techniques; factors which constitute barriers and also those that enhance the implementation of evidence based practice; the potential for instigating and supporting new research via the use of evidence based practice for purposes such as data aggregation, in addition to practice development and enhancement of client outcomes. Implications and conclusions are drawn from this study in relation to out-ofhome care policy and practice, with particular reference to use of the Looking After Children case management system in the Australian context. These include the potential of a consistent system such as LAC to provide common language and assessment tools and procedures in a welfare sector that is fragmented by lack of national legislation, and the potential for development of national out-of-home care research projects as a result of cross agency LAC implementation resulting in data aggregation opportunities

Classifying, clustering and clumping: defining groups of irrigators in Australia's Namoi Valley

[Extract] This paper explores the non-commercial factors influencing farmers' decision making in the context of the recently implemented Water Sharing Plans (WSP) in the Namoi Valley of New South Wales. In line with the governments water reform goals, the WSP were introduced to rectify an over allocation of groundwater resources. The required amount of entitlement reduction varied across the valley, according to the existing amount of over allocation, and has resulted in some licence holders losing up to 94% of their entitlements. To manage this degree of reduction most licence holders have to make some kind of decision about how to deal with it. This could be by purchasing or selling land or water

CELL-TO-CELL INTERACTION IN THE IMMUNE RESPONSE : IX. REGULATION OF HAPTEN-SPECIFIC ANTIBODY CLASS BY CARRIER PRIMING

Mice primed to horse erythrocytes (HRBC) produced greatly enhanced 3,5-dinitro,4-hydroxyphenylacetic (NNP)-specific indirect plaque-forming cell (7S PFC) responses when given NNP.HRBC but no difference in hapten-specific direct (19S PFC) responses in comparison to non-carrier-primed mice. The effect was carrier specific and could not be produced by simultaneous challenge of rabbit erythrocyte (RRBC)-primed mice with RRBC and NNP.HRBC. When spleen cells from HRBC-primed mice were transferred to irradiated recipients, there was again an enhanced 7S response to NNP.HRBC. The primed spleen cells could be replaced by giving activated thymus cells to HRBC together with normal spleen as a source of B cells. It is concluded that T cells influence not only the amount but also the class of antibody formed by hapten-sensitive B cells

Proposal of alternative solutions to address children’s rights violation: Conversion therapy

This article aims to expose the effects of, and explore remedies to, attempts by religious organisations and others to alter the sexual or gender orientation of children who express their sexuality and/or gender in non-normative, non-binary or non-traditional ways. It will begin with a brief history of the emergence of such ‘conversion therapies’ or ‘sexual orientation change efforts’ and discuss their effectiveness when applied to children. The article will further discuss the relevance of this to the social work profession, suggest strategies for social work practice and highlight uncertainties in proposed laws in Australia

An analysis of partial efficiencies of energy utilisation of different macronutrients by barramundi (Lates calcarifer) shows that starch restricts protein utilisation in carnivorous fish

This study examined the effect of including different dietary proportions of starch, protein and lipid, in diets balanced for digestible energy, on the utilisation efficiencies of dietary energy by barramundi (Lates calcarifer). Each diet was fed at one of three ration levels (satiety, 80 % of initial satiety and 60 % of initial satiety) for a 42-d period. Fish performance measures (weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio) were all affected by dietary energy source. The efficiency of energy utilisation was significantly reduced in fish fed the starch diet relative to the other diets, but there were no significant effects between the other macronutrients. This reduction in efficiency of utilisation was derived from a multifactorial change in both protein and lipid utilisation. The rate of protein utilisation deteriorated as the amount of starch included in the diet increased. Lipid utilisation was most dramatically affected by inclusion levels of lipid in the diet, with diets low in lipid producing component lipid utilisation rates well above 1·3, which indicates substantial lipid synthesis from other energy sources. However, the energetic cost of lipid gain was as low as 0·65 kJ per kJ of lipid deposited, indicating that barramundi very efficiently store energy in the form of lipid, particularly from dietary starch energy. This study defines how the utilisation efficiency of dietary digestible energy by barramundi is influenced by the macronutrient source providing that energy, and that the inclusion of starch causes problems with protein utilisation in this species