Equal remuneration under the Fair Work Act 2009

The Commission’s Pay Equity Unit commissioned this research report to: assist parties to equal remuneration proceedings under Part 2-7 to engage in productive discussion and work towards greater consensus in relation to the proceedings; and inform potential parties about the matters they might be required to address and the type of evidence they might be required to bring as part of an equal remuneration proceeding. The report responds to those objectives in the following structure: setting the global scene, by describing the international labour standards on equal remuneration, providing international data on the GPG and summarising key elements of the approaches taken in selected overseas jurisdictions analysing the treatment of equal remuneration under the Fair Work Act; outlining the SACS case and explaining the various decisions given by the Fair Work Commission and its predecessors  reviewing available literature on how the GPG might be explained and assessed; and drawing on the research undertaken for the above purposes, outlining approaches which might usefully guide the conduct of future proceedings under Part 2-7 of the Fair Work Act The report also includes three appendices. The first two detail the development of equal remuneration regulation at the federal level (Appendix A) and under the State industrial systems (Appendix B). The third, Appendix C, provides an overview of the approaches taken in the European Union and ten selected countries—Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The report is the product of independent research by the authors, and the views it contains are those of the authors, not of the staff or Members of the Fair Work Commission

Neurodevelopment, quality of life and burden of care of young children who have undergone cardiac interventions in central South Africa: three-month and six-month post cardiac intervention outcomes

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 2017.Over recent decades medical and surgical advances have significantly lowered the mortality rate for children born with congenital heart defects. Congenital heart disease (CHD) survivors are at high-risk of growth retardation and developmental morbidity that negatively affect their health-related quality of life (HRQOL). In addition, caring for a child with a chronic health condition such as CHD places a considerable financial and emotional burden on parents, putting them at risk of ongoing stress and psychological morbidity including anxiety and depression. The outcomes of children living with CHD and their families in South Africa (SA) are unknown. Outcomes for children with CHD in SA are likely to be further complicated by social disadvantage and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) co-infection. The aim of this observational descriptive study (Phase I and II) was to determine the pre-cardiac intervention, and three-month and six-month post-cardiac intervention development, growth, HRQOL and parenting stress outcomes of young children with CHD in central SA. Outcomes were compared over time, and variables associated with development, HRQOL and parenting stress outcomes determined. In addition, the developmental needs of young children living with CHD in central SA were to be identified. In order to meet the Phase I and II objectives, forty-eight consecutive children, 30 months and younger, and their parents were recruited into this study at the Universitas Academic Hospital in Bloemfontein. Children who had previous or emergency cardiac surgery were excluded. Development was assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (BSID-III), HRQOL using the Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQLTM) and levels of parenting stress using the Parenting Stress Index Short-Form (PSI-SF). Growth outcomes were determined by z-scores calculated for growth parameters. Medical severity of the cardiac disease was rated by a paediatric cardiologist using the Cardiologists Perception of Medical Severity Scale. Baseline data was collected for 40 children. The majority of children (n=26) underwent open-heart surgery in infancy with cardiopulmonary bypass. Most children (n=30) had moderate disease severity, with twenty percent (n=8) having cyanotic heart defects. A quarter of the children (n=10) had Down syndrome (DS). Surgical outcomes were comparable to those reported in developed countries, with a mortality rate of 15%. There was a high attrition rate during Phase II of this study, with 47.5% of children and their families missing one or more follow-up visit. Mothers fulfilled the role of primary caregiver, and carried most of the burden of care. The majority of families were from a low socioeconomic backgrounds (87.5%) and mothers had low levels of education, with only 40% having graduated high school. The majority (68%) of children had suboptimal growth prior to cardiac intervention. There was significant growth catch-up for both weight (p=0.04) and head circumference (p= 0.02) by the six-month post-cardiac intervention. Complete catchup growth had not yet taken place by the six-month post-cardiac intervention, with 40.9% of the children still presenting with malnutrition. The growth trends of children with CHD with DS were found to be similar to those of children with CHD without DS. Growth in children with cyanotic heart defects tended to be poorer both before and after cardiac intervention. There was a high prevalence of moderate developmental delay across all development domains. Motor delays (27.5%) were most prevalent prior to cardiac intervention. Motor performance improved with age and post cardiac intervention, but language and cognitive performance declined with age and increasing skill complexity. There was not a significant change in the developmental outcome of the children over the timespan of this study. The developmental outcome for children with cyanotic heart defects tended to be similar to those with acyanotic heart defects. The presence of DS was significantly (p<0.001) associated with developmental outcome across all developmental domains at all time-points of assessment. Children with CHD with DS tended to have considerably poorer developmental outcomes compared to children with CHD without DS. Disease severity (p=0.02) and maternal age (p=0.01) were significantly associated with cognitive development. Age at first cardiac surgery was found to be significantly associated with language development both before cardiac intervention (p<0.01) and at three-month post-cardiac intervention (p=0.04). Suboptimal growth prior to cardiac intervention (p=0.04) and maternal age (p<0.001) were significantly associated with motor development. Developmental performance was well below the test mean on all subscales of the BSID-III at all the time points of assessment. Although the patterns of development and the prevalence of developmental delays in the current study were similar to those reported in developed countries, children living with CHD in central SA performed below the expected developmental levels for children with CHD when assessed on the BSID-III. Hypotonia was the most significant abnormal neurological finding, with 45% of the children presenting with hypotonia prior to cardiac intervention. The hypotonia tended to resolve in the children without DS by the six-month post-cardiac intervention. Overall parents’ perceived their children’s HRQOL as being relatively good, and similar to that of their healthy same-aged peers and other children with CHD in developed countries. Parents’ perception of their children’s HRQOL improved significantly after cardiac intervention (p= 0.04). Perceived HRQOL tended to be similar for children with cyanotic and acyanotic heart defects. Parents of children with CHD with DS tended to perceive their children’s HRQOL as poorer when compared with parents of children with CHD without DS. Motor development (p=0.01) and levels of parenting stress (p=0.02) were significantly associated with parents’ perceptions of their children’s HRQOL prior to cardiac intervention. The majority of parents’ (60%) experienced clinically significant levels of stress prior to their children undergoing cardiac intervention. Parenting stress decreased significantly from pre-cardiac intervention levels at both three-month (p<0.001) and six-month (p<0.001) post-cardiac intervention as the child’s cardiac symptoms resolved or decreased, and their health status improved. Parents of children with cyanotic and acyanotic heart defects tended to experience similar levels of stress. Parents of children with CHD with DS tended to experience higher levels of ongoing stress when compared with parents of children with CHD without DS. Parenting stress prior to cardiac intervention was significantly associated with parents’ perception of their child’s HRQOL (p=0.02) and language development (p=0.04). Parenting stress at threemonth post-cardiac intervention was significantly associated with age at first cardiac surgery (p=0.03), language development (p=0.03) and level of maternal education (p=0.04). HRQOL and parenting stress outcomes were closely linked before cardiac intervention. Parents perceiving their child as having a poor ability to function in everyday situations experienced increased stress levels. Based on developmental performance on the BSID-III 59% of the children in the current study would qualify for referral to early intervention (EI) services including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy, with many children requiring access to more than one service. A home-based parent-driven developmental activity programme would likely be best suited to meet the developmental needs of children with CHD living in central SA taking into account the geography of the area and service delivery challenges in the public healthcare sector. Phase III of the study resulted in the development of a home-based developmental activity programme to meet the identified developmental needs of children with CHD in central SA. Qualitative methods, including an expert panel of rehabilitation professionals and a focus group of parents, were used to gain consensus on the content of the developmental activity programme. In conclusion, it is encouraging that the longer-term outcomes of children with CHD in central SA were not vastly different from those of children in developed countries. The greater extent of the growth retardation and developmental delay of the children in the current study is however of concern. The findings in this study strongly support the implementation of a cardiac neurodevelopmental programme as part standard cardiac care in SA. Early developmental intervention and psychosocial support services are indicated to optimise the outcome for both children living with CHD and their families. A home-based parent-driven developmental stimulation programme provides an innovative approach to meeting the developmental needs of young children living with CHD. Keywords Congenital heart disease, neurodevelopment, growth, parenting stress, health-related quality of life, home-based developmental activity programme, Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition, Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory, Parenting Stress Index-Short Form.LG201

Comparison of ELISA and ELISPOT methods in measuring CD4+ T cell responses to a newly identified MHC class II-restricted epitope within Simian Virus 40 T antigen

ELISA and ELI SPOT were used to monitor CD4+ and CD8+ responses to SV 40 Tag MHC class I and class II-restricted epitopes. It was found that freezing and thawing IFN-y samples decreased their ability to be detected by ELISA. Therefore, Femto-HS ELISA reagents were necessary to detect weaker CD4+ responses when using frozen supernatants; responses detected were comparable to those detected by ELISPOT. Later experiments using direct capture ELISA, ELISA of fresh supernatants and ELIS POT showed that the CD4+ responses were stronger when MHC class I-restricted epitopes were absent from the SV40 T ag

Business Process Agility

Business processes are the central building blocks of how individuals, organizations, and industries participate with one another. In a dynamic environment, a firm’s ability to respond and adapt is dependent on the agility of its business processes. However, agility from a business process perspective has yet to be defined and measured. This paper refines the definition of operational agility from the IS literature and tests a conceptual model. A field study is used to evaluate a metric created for measuring business process agility and understanding the relationship between the firm’s system capabilities and management’s factors driving adoption of agile business processes

Transparency and Fairness in Machine Learning Applications

Businesses and consumers increasingly use artificial intelligence (“AI”)— and specifically machine learning (“ML”) applications—in their daily work. ML is often used as a tool to help people perform their jobs more efficiently, but increasingly it is becoming a technology that may eventually replace humans in performing certain functions. An AI recently beat humans in a reading comprehension test, and there is an ongoing race to replace human drivers with self-driving cars and trucks. Tomorrow there is the potential for much more—as AI is even learning to build its own AI. As the use of AI technologies continues to expand, and especially as machines begin to act more autonomously with less human intervention, important questions arise about how we can best integrate this new technology into our society, particularly within our legal and compliance frameworks. The questions raised are different from those that we have already addressed with other technologies because AI is different. Most previous technologies functioned as a tool, operated by a person, and for legal purposes we could usually hold that person responsible for actions that resulted from using that tool. For example, an employee who used a computer to send a discriminatory or defamatory email could not have done so without the computer, but the employee would still be held responsible for creating the email. While AI can function as merely a tool, it can also be designed to act after making its own decisions, and in the future, will act even more autonomously. As AI becomes more autonomous, it will be more difficult to determine who—or what—is making decisions and taking actions, and determining the basis and responsibility for those actions. These are the challenges that must be overcome to ensure AI’s integration for legal and compliance purposes

Privacy policies: Are they meeting users\u27 needs?

This paper examines the web site privacy policies of 200 web sites, 100 of the most popular as well as 100 random web sites. It examines the extent at which these privacy policies comprehensively define a company\u27s data collection and dissemination policies. Such policies are important in creating trust between a company and its customers

Student experiences of work placement in school-based vocational programs

Using a sample of 446 secondary students who had participated in a vocational education and training in school (VETiS) program, compares the experiences and perceptions of students who had undertaken a work placement with those who had not. Shows that students who had participated in work placement enjoyed the VETiS experience more than those who had not, and that the work placement had assisted them in their decision whether to stay at school or not. A factor analysis of results showed a factor associated with self-confidence about employability, and a factor associated with assistance in achieving specific post-school employment. Students who had completed a work placement were significantly higher on both these factors than students who had not. Results are consistent with other research in the field, and it is argued that the work placement experience plays a considerable part in developing student agency in the decisions and the journey that they make in their transition from school to work.<br /