Heart failure nursing in Australia: Challenges, strengths, and opportunities

Australia has a land mass similar to the United States of America, supporting a population of just over 20 million, which is distributed predominantly across the coastal perimeter. The Australian society is rich in cultural diversity fostered by decades of migration. Both these factors present challenges for health care. First, because resources are scare in rural and remote regions, health outcomes are poorer in these regions, especially among indigenous populations. Second, the cultural diversity of Australians is a challenge to providing evidence-based treatment recommendations. In Australia, in parallel with international trends, there is a strong association between socioeconomic status, chronic conditions, and health outcomes

Electronic Service Quality Gaps in the Australian Wine Industry

PDF attached with permission from authorsThe wine industry is very important in Australia and the advent of e-commerce has presented the industry with new challenges. This is especially so for smaller wineries in order to reach a wider audience and secure a competitive advantage. The old adage ‘the customer is always right’ has never been more important, as the foundation stone upon which electronic service quality (e-SQ) lies is customer requirements. Zeithaml, Parasuraman, and Malhotra, (2002) claim that the elimination of e-SQ gaps will lead to customer satisfaction which results in increased perceived e-SQ, value, purchases and repurchases. This paper proposes a formal mathematical definition for e-SQ gaps and a statistical method of testing for the existence of such gaps. This method was applied to a study of Australian winery customers, managers, and websites and it was found that e-SQ gaps did exist. Hence, Australian wineries are not meeting customer website requirements. Further research is being conducted to determine the extent of, and contributing factors to, these e-SQ gaps.Robyn Davidson and Joan Cooperhttp://ecom.fov.uni-mb.si/ECOMFrames.nsf/pages/bled200

Developing an e-Collaboration Framework for Knowledge Sharing in the Australian Wine-Making Industry: Research in Progress

The Australian wine-making industry has undergone remarkable changes which have transformed it into a leading world innovator, producer and exporter of table wine. However, while Australia has been a leader in wine R&D, globalisation had led to the rapid proliferation and adoption of new technologies by new suppliers and wine-makers in various countries. To counter increasingly intense competition from emerging foreign suppliers, Australian wine-makers need to enhance their distinctiveness and innovation. One possible way for doing so involves knowledge sharing via electronic collaboration or e-collaboration. This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge by developing an e-collaboration framework for the Australian wine-making industry. It focuses on how e-collaboration technologies are used for the purpose of innovation and knowledge sharing and how the Australian wine-making industry can benefit from it

Determinants of social media impact in local government

Limited attention has been directed towards understanding the impact of social media in the public sector, particularly in local government organisations. Although social media offer substantial benefits and opportunities to local government, research into the impact of social media remains scant. To address this gap, the authors draw on the technology, organisation, and environment (TOE) framework and propose a model of the determinants of social media impact in local government. The model is tested with data collected via a survey with 173 Australian local government organisations using social media. Data were analysed using the partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. The results indicate that TOE factors including perceived benefits, perceived security risks, compatibility, and degree of formalisation are important predictors of social media impact in local government

Public sector adoption of social media

Social media technologies offer substantial opportunities to public sector organizations for developing community-based partnerships by facilitating engagement with citizens.Yet, public sector social media adoption remains an under-researched phenomenon, which at least partially is attributed to the unique challenges and idiosyncrasies of public sector organizations. We take an analytical approach to examine qualitative evidence sourced from interviews with twenty-four local government organizations across Australia, and contribute to the existing body of knowledge. We induce a range of technological,organizational, and environmental factors that can impact on the social media adoption decisions in local government organizations.The interactions among these factors are also examined.In a dynamic environment where social media use is changing quickly, our findings about social media adoption factors can be useful to many stakeholders, including public sector adoption decision makers, social media and communication officers

Observation, evaluation and coaching: the local orderliness of ‘seeing’ performance

Inspired by ethnomethodological attention to social order, the aim of this paper was to examine the visible, tangible and contextual details of how coaches’ observations, or what coaches actually see, are accomplished in practice. Drawing upon examples from a season long ethnomethodologically informed ethnographic investigation of a semi-professional football club, the paper positions coach observation, not as a visual perception, but as a locally organised achievement of the individuals involved. In doing so, attention is paid to the details of observations constructed in, through and by coaches, assistants and players. The paper concludes with some tentative recommendations for related progressive practice

A Cholinergic-Regulated Circuit Coordinates the Maintenance and Bi-Stable States of a Sensory-Motor Behavior during Caenorhabditis elegans Male Copulation

Penetration of a male copulatory organ into a suitable mate is a conserved and necessary behavioral step for most terrestrial matings; however, the detailed molecular and cellular mechanisms for this distinct social interaction have not been elucidated in any animal. During mating, the Caenorhabditis elegans male cloaca is maintained over the hermaphrodite's vulva as he attempts to insert his copulatory spicules. Rhythmic spicule thrusts cease when insertion is sensed. Circuit components consisting of sensory/motor neurons and sex muscles for these steps have been previously identified, but it was unclear how their outputs are integrated to generate a coordinated behavior pattern. Here, we show that cholinergic signaling between the cloacal sensory/motor neurons and the posterior sex muscles sustains genital contact between the sexes. Simultaneously, via gap junctions, signaling from these muscles is transmitted to the spicule muscles, thus coupling repeated spicule thrusts with vulval contact. To transit from rhythmic to sustained muscle contraction during penetration, the SPC sensory-motor neurons integrate the signal of spicule's position in the vulva with inputs from the hook and cloacal sensilla. The UNC-103 K+ channel maintains a high excitability threshold in the circuit, so that sustained spicule muscle contraction is not stimulated by fewer inputs. We demonstrate that coordination of sensory inputs and motor outputs used to initiate, maintain, self-monitor, and complete an innate behavior is accomplished via the coupling of a few circuit components

Psychosocial impact of undergoing prostate cancer screening for men with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations.

OBJECTIVES: To report the baseline results of a longitudinal psychosocial study that forms part of the IMPACT study, a multi-national investigation of targeted prostate cancer (PCa) screening among men with a known pathogenic germline mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes. PARTICPANTS AND METHODS: Men enrolled in the IMPACT study were invited to complete a questionnaire at collaborating sites prior to each annual screening visit. The questionnaire included sociodemographic characteristics and the following measures: the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Impact of Event Scale (IES), 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36), Memorial Anxiety Scale for Prostate Cancer, Cancer Worry Scale-Revised, risk perception and knowledge. The results of the baseline questionnaire are presented. RESULTS: A total of 432 men completed questionnaires: 98 and 160 had mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, respectively, and 174 were controls (familial mutation negative). Participants' perception of PCa risk was influenced by genetic status. Knowledge levels were high and unrelated to genetic status. Mean scores for the HADS and SF-36 were within reported general population norms and mean IES scores were within normal range. IES mean intrusion and avoidance scores were significantly higher in BRCA1/BRCA2 carriers than in controls and were higher in men with increased PCa risk perception. At the multivariate level, risk perception contributed more significantly to variance in IES scores than genetic status. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to report the psychosocial profile of men with BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations undergoing PCa screening. No clinically concerning levels of general or cancer-specific distress or poor quality of life were detected in the cohort as a whole. A small subset of participants reported higher levels of distress, suggesting the need for healthcare professionals offering PCa screening to identify these risk factors and offer additional information and support to men seeking PCa screening