Growing up in Australia: the longitudinal study of Australian children: entering adolescence and becoming a young adult

Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) has now produced five waves of data, capturing information on young children growing up and now entering adolescence. This article explains the design and methodology of the study, and how it has enhanced our capacity to understand the lives of Australian children and their families. Now that the K cohort children are 12-13 years old, they are being asked new questions about this time of transition, such as conflict with authority and antisocial behaviour, after-school time use and supervision, and pocket money, an important aspect in the development of financial literacy

The search for trading partners and the cross-border merger decision.

We investigate the merger decision between two firms in an outsourcing relationship, one upstream and the other downstream. The inter-firm relationship is subject both to ex ante matching uncertainty and to contractual efficiency issues. Cross-border merger is assumed to solve the latter problem, but at the expense of curtailing the match-searching process. The trade-off between these two factors is assumed to determine the dynamics of foreign direct investment in this kind of industry.Trade, search, outsourcing, merger.

Growing up in Australia: the longitudinal study of Australian children (LSAC)

This report uses National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) data in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) to provide an in-depth understanding of children\u27s development in Australia\u27s current social, economic and cultural environment, thereby contributing to the evidence base for future policy and practice development. The study was conducted in partnership between the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), with advice provided by a consortium of leading researchers from research institutions and universities throughout Australia. The study commenced in 2004 with the recruitment of two cohorts: one cohort of 5,107 children aged 0–1 year old (the birth or “B cohort”) and another of 4,983 children aged 4–5 years old (the kindergarten or “K cohort”) and their families across all states and territories of Australia. Interviews comprising different instruments are conducted with families every two years

Commonwealth place-based service delivery initiatives: key learnings project

Overview: Place-based initiatives are programs designed and delivered with the intention of targeting a specific geographical location and particular population group in order to respond to complex social problems. Typically, they focus on areas and communities with entrenched disadvantage or deprivation. This report investigates the key factors and characteristics associated with successful outcomes with such programs, drawing on the international literature and evaluation studies of Australian government and overseas programs. Key messages: Many Commonwealth place-based initiatives reviewed had features that accord with those of international place-based initiatives, including common program elements such as design, delivery, implementation and evaluation. Evaluation of all these common elements is rarely done by either international or Commonwealth place-based initiatives. In particular, evaluations of Commonwealth place-based initiatives lacked sufficient evidence to establish the causal effects of initiatives, their cost-effectiveness and an understanding of how these initiatives work to achieve their goals. This was more pronounced among the evaluation of Commonwealth initiatives than in international evaluations

Stability and change in risky driving from the late teens to the late twenties

This paper examines patterns of risky driving from the late teens to the late twenties and identifies factors associated with persistence and change in risky driving tendencies.Key findings: Rates of risky driving remained fairly stable between the ages of 19-20 and 23-24 years, but had significantly decreased by 27-28 years. While there was a general trend for levels of risky driving to decrease, considerable variability was found in the risky driving patterns of individuals over this period. Antisocial behaviour appeared to be strongly linked to persistence and change in risky driving, adding support to the view that risky driving may form part of a broader underlying propensity to engage in problem behaviour(s). Low social skills were associated with an increasing propensity for risky driving among some young drivers. Binge drinking, gender, and parental status also differentiated between drivers who exhibited different across-time patterns of risky driving. These findings add to a growing body of research, which suggests that risky drivers are not identical - the factors that underlie their behaviour may differ

The Upper Triassic microvertebrate assemblage of Ruthin Quarry, South Wales

Bone-rich sediments recovered from the Upper Triassic cave systems of Ruthin Quarry, South Wales, preserve a diverse assemblage of small vertebrates. These include procolophonids (2 taxa), archosauriforms (4 taxa), lepidosaurs (2 taxa) and a Trilophosaurus-like animal, Tricuspisaurus thomasi. The most common Ruthin procolophonid had an extensive covering of dermal armour. Skull bones and osteoderms share a pronounced dermal ornament (deeply pitted surface with one or more distinct bosses) characteristic of certain parareptiles (pareiasaurs, lanthanosuchids, Sclerosaurus). The second procolophonid, recognised largely by characters of the tooth-bearing elements, is a rare component of the assemblage and closely resembles Haligonia bolodon from the Wolfville Formation of Nova Scotia. The two forms are considered congeneric. The most common archosauriform is a suchian closely related to the Crocodylomorpha. The suchian shares two derived characters with sphenosuchian crocodylomorphs, osteoderm morphology (paired, elongate, ornamented osteoderms with an anterior articulatory process) and prefrontal-frontal articulation (in which the prefrontal underlaps the frontal); but retains a postfrontal. The second notable archosauriform is a prosauropod dinosaur, known principally from a tiny ilium (4mm long) of a hatchling, or very juvenile animal. The two lepidosaurs found at Ruthin are the sphenodontian Planocephalosaurus and a basal lepidosaur, possibly, but not necessarily, a rhynchocephalian. Contrary to previous reports, Clevosaurus is not present at Ruthin. The previously described, and enigmatic, Tricuspisaurus is a trilophosaurid archosauromorph. Attribution of this form, and others like it (Variodens, Xenodiphyodon, Trilophosaurus jacobsi [=Chinleogomphius]), to the Procolophonidae are not supported. Although wholly terrestrial, the Ruthin assemblage shares many groups (procolophonids, archosaurs, lepidosaurs, trilophosaurids) in common with the more typical aquatic/terrestrial mix from other Upper Triassic localities. The Ruthin fossil assemblage may be correlated with that of the Wolfville Formation of Nova Scotia, dating the fauna as late Carnian

Some Comments on Multigrid Methods for Computing Propagators

I make three conceptual points regarding multigrid methods for computing propagators in lattice gauge theory: 1) The class of operators handled by the algorithm must be stable under coarsening. 2) Problems related by symmetry should have solution methods related by symmetry. 3) It is crucial to distinguish the vector space $V$ from its dual space $V^*$. All the existing algorithms violate one or more of these principles.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX plus subeqnarray.sty (included at end), NYU-TH-93/07/0

Regulating Culture: Improving Corporate Governance with Anti-Arbitration Provisions for Whistleblowers

A focus on corporate culture, especially at financial institutions, has emerged as a regulatory, public, and media priority in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. With Dodd-Frank, Congress embraced whistleblower statutes as a key instrument to improve corporate culture and governance, and to extirpate undesired and unethical business practices. Despite the clear policy goals, Dodd- Frank’s unclear statutory text has created interpretative controversies. Although Dodd-Frank adds anti-arbitration provisions to preexisting whistleblower statutes, it does not include a dedicated, standalone anti-arbitration provision for Dodd-Frank’s new whistleblower cause of action. This Article argues that courts should not allow employers to use pre-dispute arbitration agreements to compel whistleblowers to arbitrate their Dodd-Frank claims. To make the case, we review policy concerns for whistleblower actions that favor public actions in public courts. We argue for a pragmatic interpretation of the statute that protects whistleblowers and the public’s right to know by exempting Dodd-Frank’s whistleblowers from arbitration. The Article draws on existing literature discussing the importance of developing case law through court decisions, enforcement and responsiveness to reputational risk, and public supervision of corporate governance issues

Scanning laser source and scanning laser detection techniques for different surface crack geometries

Standard test samples typically contain simulated defects such as slots machined normal to the surface. However, real defects will not always propagate in this manner; for example, rolling contact fatigue on rails propagates at around 25º to the surface, and corrosion cracking can grow in a branched manner. Therefore, there is a need to understand how ultrasonic surface waves interact with different crack geometries. We present measurements of machined slots inclined at an angle to the surface normal, or with simple branched geometries, using laser ultrasound. Recently, Rayleigh wave enhancements observed when using the scanning laser source technique, where a generation laser is scanned along a sample, have been highlighted for their potential in detecting surface cracks. We show that the enhancement measured with laser detector scanning can give a more significant enhancement when different crack geometries are considered. We discuss the behaviour of an incident Rayleigh wave in the region of an angled defect, and consider mode-conversions which lead to a very large enhancement when the detector is close to the opening of a shallow defect. This process could be used in characterising defects, as well as being an excellent fingerprint of their presence

Non-contact ultrasonic detection of angled surface defects

Non-destructive testing is an important technique, and improvements are constantly needed. Surface defects in metals are not necessarily confined to orientations normal to the sample surface; however, much of the previous work investigating the interaction of ultrasonic surface waves with surface-breaking defects has assumed cracks inclined at 90° to the surface. This paper explores the interaction of Rayleigh waves with cracks which have a wide range of angles and depths relative to the surface, using a non-contact laser generation and detection system. Additional insight is acquired using a 3D model generated using finite element method software. A clear variation of the reflection and transmission coefficients with both crack angle and length is found, in both the out-of-plane and in-plane components. The 3D model is further used to understand the contributions of different wavemodes to B-Scans produced when scanning a sample, to enable understanding of the reflection and transmission behaviour, and help identify angled defects. Knowledge of these effects is essential to correctly gauge the severity of surface cracking