Finding and filling the gaps in the Australian governments\u27 innovation and entrepreneurship support spectra

A national innovation system is concerned with the full process of converting new knowledge into commercially viable results. Governments are policy-active in trying to create productive national innovation systems. This paper reviews ways of thinking about entrepreneurship as the commercialisation component of Australia&rsquo;s innovation system. The paper explores the impact and relevance of selected existing Australian Commonwealth, and to a lesser extent State government, programs for the commercialisation channels so identified, using four frameworks for the analysis: financial, management/start-up, innovation and entrepreneurial. The analysis indicates program initiatives covering the later development and commercialization phases, but serious gaps in the support available for the entrepreneurship phase involving the act of new entry. This gap is covered by research provider business development people and to a limited extent by incubator and State government initiatives. A critical issue has been and is access to smaller amounts of seed finance. The critical human component is the education of public servants and politicians about the nature and operation of entrepreneurship.<br /

Three-dimensional kinematics of the human back in the normal and pathologic spine

This thesis investigated the relationship between the three-dimensional kinematics of the human back and spinal pathology. This required the development of a system capable of the in vivo measurement of spinal movement non-invasively and in three-dimensions. The opto-electronic CODA-3 Scanner proved unsatisfactory in this respect. The electro-magnetic 3SPACE Isotrak, however, was found to be an accurate and reliable system during a study of twisting in flexed postures. Available axial rotation was significantly increased in some degree of sagittal flexion suggesting that this may be a mechanism for intervertebral disc injury. At high degrees of sagittal flexion a reduction in available axial rotation was noted. In vitro tests on isolated lumbar motion segments confirmed the increase in axial rotation available in flexed postures shown in vivo, this was presumed to be due to an opening of the lumbar zygapophysial joints. Mechanical testing of lumbar interspinous and supraspinous ligaments showed them to be active only in the extremes of sagittal flexion and hence that they could be responsible for the reduction in axial rotation seen in vivo. The 3SPACE Isotrak was used in a clinical study of 80 normal and 43 pathologic subjects. In the normals ranges of motion were, in general, reduced with increasing age in both males and females although a significant increase in sagittal flexion occurred with increasing age in females. Male mobility significantly exceeded female in sagittal flexion but female tended to exceed male in extension, lateral bend and axial rotation. Opposite axial rotation occurred consistently upon lateral bend and vice versa, flexion also occurred on lateral bend but not axial rotation. There was widespread disruption to the primary and coupled movements of the back pain patients when compared to normal movement patterns but there was no clear distinction between the kinematic movement patterns of discrete patient groups. The small numbers in these patient groups warrant a further, more detailed, clinical study

The Republic of Letters in America: The Correspondence of John Peale Bishop and Allen Tate

The correspondence of John Peale Bishop and Allen Tate, extending from 1929 to the time of Bishop’s death in 1944, embraces the period of the Great Depression and the coming of World War II. In that richly eventful period in the development of American literature, these two men of letters were continually exchanging news and comment about the activities, opinions, successes, and misadventures of poets, novelists, critics, publishers, and editors; about expatriate Americans in Europe and the quickening intellectual life of New York; and about the Agrarian movement and what was later to be called the Southern Renascence. Archibald MacLeish, Ernest Hemingway, Robert Penn Warren, John Crowe Ransom, Katherine Anne Porter, Maxwell Perkins, Hart Crane, Malcolm Cowley, Scott Fitzgerald—all are subjects of comment, both personal and artistic. The respect and affection of both writers for Edmund Wilson survived their vehement political differences with him, and their exchange of literary criticism, advice, and encouragement with Wilson continued unabated. The letters record a warm and steady friendship, as well as a literary relationship in which Tate—though the younger man—is clearly the mentor. The freedom with which Tate and Bishop discuss their work in progress, and the care and candor with which they comment on one another’s poems and stories, offer the reader of this carefully edited correspondence revealing glimpses of the creative process and the reality of the American “republic of letters” in their time. Thomas D. Young is Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English at Vanderbilt University. John J. Hindle is a Nashville writer.https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_english_language_and_literature_north_america/1034/thumbnail.jp

Goal-orientated cognitive rehabilitation for dementias associated with Parkinson's disease―A pilot randomised controlled trial

OBJECTIVE: To examine the appropriateness and feasibility of cognitive rehabilitation for people with dementias associated with Parkinson's in a pilot randomised controlled study. METHODS: This was a single-blind pilot randomised controlled trial of goal-oriented cognitive rehabilitation for dementias associated with Parkinson's. After goal setting, participants were randomised to cognitive rehabilitation (n = 10), relaxation therapy (n = 10), or treatment-as-usual (n = 9). Primary outcomes were ratings of goal attainment and satisfaction with goal attainment. Secondary outcomes included quality of life, mood, cognition, health status, everyday functioning, and carers' ratings of goal attainment and their own quality of life and stress levels. Assessments were at 2 and 6 months following randomisation. RESULTS: At 2 months, cognitive rehabilitation was superior to treatment-as-usual and relaxation therapy for the primary outcomes of self-rated goal attainment (d = 1.63 and d = 1.82, respectively) and self-rated satisfaction with goal attainment (d = 2.04 and d = 1.84). At 6 months, cognitive rehabilitation remained superior to treatment-as-usual (d = 1.36) and relaxation therapy (d = 1.77) for self-rated goal attainment. Cognitive rehabilitation was superior to treatment as usual and/or relaxation therapy in a number of secondary outcomes at 2 months (mood, self-efficacy, social domain of quality of life, carers' ratings of participants' goal attainment) and at 6 months (delayed recall, health status, quality of life, carer ratings of participants' goal attainment). Carers receiving cognitive rehabilitation reported better quality of life, health status, and lower stress than those allocated to treatment-as-usual. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive rehabilitation is feasible and potentially effective for dementias associated with Parkinson's disease

Politics and the Bengal Legislative Council 1912-1926

In nineteenth-century Bengal a small section of Hindu society, educated, of high-caste, and with an economy based upon landed rents and professional employment, evolved from its contact with the British a distinctive culture. This gave its members a sense of community and set them apart from the mass of Bengalis. They called themselves bhadralok: 'the respectable people'

Some approximation problems in the theory of stationary processes

AbstractIn this paper, necessary and sufficient conditions for the regularity of a general (multivariate) stationary process are obtained. These subsume all the known criteria of regularity for such processes

Australia\u27s strengths and weaknesses in technology transfer and R&D exploitation : GEM survey "experts" views compared with public policy and other published data

There has been increasing public debate in Australia in recent years about research culture in universities and other publicly funded research agencies such as CSIRO and its impact on Australia\u27s performance in generating economic, social and environmental benefits to the Australian community from the large amount of public funding for R&amp;D. This is the supply side issue. On the demand side there is equally concern about the technology absorptive capacity of Australian. business as illustrated by the low proportion of gross business research expenditure (GERD) spent by business (BERD). Against this background, this paper has explored the views of abut 100 &quot;experts&quot; interviewed in the Australian Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) studies in the years 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 on the issues, strengths and weaknesses of Australia\u27s technology transfer performance as it applies to new technology small firms. The paper has also explored evidence for any longitudinal change over this period.<br /

Cognitive training interventions for dementia and mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease

Background Approximately 60% to 80% of people with Parkinson's disease (PD) experience cognitive impairment that impacts on their quality of life. Cognitive decline is a core feature of the disease and can often present before the onset of motor symptoms. Cognitive training may be a useful non‐pharmacological intervention that could help to maintain or improve cognition and quality of life for people with PD dementia (PDD) or PD‐related mild cognitive impairment (PD‐MCI). Objectives To determine whether cognitive training (targeting single or multiple domains) improves cognition in people with PDD and PD‐MCI or other clearly defined forms of cognitive impairment in people with PD. Search methods We searched the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group Trials Register (8 August 2019), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, and PsycINFO. We searched reference lists and trial registers, searched relevant reviews in the area and conference proceedings. We also contacted experts for clarifications on data and ongoing trials. Selection criteria We included randomised controlled trials where the participants had PDD or PD‐MCI, and where the intervention was intended to train general or specific areas of cognitive function, targeting either a single domain or multiple domains of cognition, and was compared to a control condition. Multicomponent interventions that also included motor or other elements were considered eligible. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently screened titles, abstracts, and full‐text articles for inclusion in the review. Two review authors also independently undertook extraction of data and assessment of methodological quality. We used GRADE methods to assess the overall quality of the evidence. Main results Seven studies with a total of 225 participants met the inclusion criteria for this review. All seven studies compared the effects of a cognitive training intervention to a control intervention at the end of treatment periods lasting four to eight weeks. Six studies included people with PD living in the community. These six studies recruited people with single‐domain (executive) or multiple‐domain mild cognitive impairment in PD. Four of these studies identified participants with MCI using established diagnostic criteria, and two included both people with PD‐MCI and people with PD who were not cognitively impaired. One study recruited people with a diagnosis of PD dementia who were living in long‐term care settings. The cognitive training intervention in three studies targeted a single cognitive domain, whilst in four studies multiple domains of cognitive function were targeted. The comparison groups either received no intervention or took part in recreational activities (sports, music, arts), speech or language exercises, computerised motor therapy, or motor rehabilitation combined with recreational activity. We found no clear evidence that cognitive training improved global cognition. Although cognitive training was associated with higher scores on global cognition at the end of treatment, the result was imprecise and not statistically significant (6 trials, 178 participants, standardised mean difference (SMD) 0.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.03 to 0.59; low‐certainty evidence). There was no evidence of a difference at the end of treatment between cognitive training and control interventions on executive function (5 trials, 112 participants; SMD 0.10, 95% CI −0.28 to 0.48; low‐certainty evidence) or visual processing (3 trials, 64 participants; SMD 0.30, 95% CI −0.21 to 0.81; low‐certainty evidence). The evidence favoured the cognitive training group on attention (5 trials, 160 participants; SMD 0.36, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.68; low‐certainty evidence) and verbal memory (5 trials, 160 participants; SMD 0.37, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.69; low‐certainty evidence), but these effects were less certain in sensitivity analyses that excluded a study in which only a minority of the sample were cognitively impaired. There was no evidence of differences between treatment and control groups in activities of daily living (3 trials, 67 participants; SMD 0.03, 95% CI −0.47 to 0.53; low‐certainty evidence) or quality of life (5 trials, 147 participants; SMD −0.01, 95% CI −0.35 to 0.33; low‐certainty evidence). There was very little information on adverse events. We considered the certainty of the evidence for all outcomes to be low due to risk of bias in the included studies and imprecision of the results. We identified six ongoing trials recruiting participants with PD‐MCI, but no ongoing trials of cognitive training for people with PDD. Authors' conclusions This review found no evidence that people with PD‐MCI or PDD who receive cognitive training for four to eight weeks experience any important cognitive improvements at the end of training. However, this conclusion was based on a small number of studies with few participants, limitations of study design and execution, and imprecise results. There is a need for more robust, adequately powered studies of cognitive training before conclusions can be drawn about the effectiveness of cognitive training for people with PDD and PD‐MCI. Studies should use formal criteria to diagnose cognitive impairments, and there is a particular need for more studies testing the efficacy of cognitive training in people with PDD