Australian employment services: Help or hindrance in the achievement of mutual obligation?

The concept of mutual obligation underpins Australian employment services. In return for receiving income support, there are three elements of mutual obligation: to actively seek work; to improve one’s competitiveness in the labour market; and to contribute to the community. Failing to undertake mutual obligation activities results in sanctions, usually unemployment benefit suspension or cancellation. In the year 2017/18, one mutual obligation activity, compulsory employment service provider appointments, accounted for more than 93 per cent of sanctions. The study reported here explores unemployed and recently employed workers’ experiences of appointments and their attitudes to the concept of mutual obligation. The findings are that unemployed workers say appointments have little utility for advancing elements of mutual obligation and are psychologically harmful. Non-attendance may be a form of self-protection although seeking a medical exemption or dropping out of the system altogether also appears to be a common self-protection strategy. We also find that non-attendance at appointments cannot be conflated with a negative attitude to mutual obligation and that unemployed workers want services that are effective and psychologically positive to help them to fulfil their mutual obligations.     

Distributed detection/localization of change-points in high-dimensional network traffic data

We propose a novel approach for distributed statistical detection of change-points in high-volume network traffic. We consider more specifically the task of detecting and identifying the targets of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. The proposed algorithm, called DTopRank, performs distributed network anomaly detection by aggregating the partial information gathered in a set of network monitors. In order to address massive data while limiting the communication overhead within the network, the approach combines record filtering at the monitor level and a nonparametric rank test for doubly censored time series at the central decision site. The performance of the DTopRank algorithm is illustrated both on synthetic data as well as from a traffic trace provided by a major Internet service provider.     

A methodological evaluation of public relations research

An examination of journal articles published from 1989 to 2007 reveals that although public relations scholars appear to have followed rigorous procedures, reporting on research protocols is inadequate in some quantitative and qualitative studies. Most areas of needed improvement concern sins of omission, not of commission.     

A modelling approach for production costing and continuous improvement of manufacturing processes

It is shown how production management constraints can be taken into account as early as the design stage of the product. It is then shown that the indication of physical and economic performances is a means to obtain integration and to continually improve the manufacturing processes. To perform continuous and efficient evaluation of physical and economic performances, the concept of activity is introduced, now acknowledged as a basic concept of cost management systems. A modelling approach is then proposed to allow each member of the design team, in a concurrent engineering context, to perform activity based modelling and estimations with simulation. After describing the set of possible situations in which this approach can be used, an application case is presented concerning a French firm, and the advantages and disadvantages of the approach are discussed.     

Diabetes mellitus in older men

Most persons with diabetes mellitus are over the age of 60 years. Males develop diabetes more commonly than females. Older diabetics tend to have both impaired insulin release as well as insulin resistance. In older persons diabetes mellitus is associated with decreased functional status and cognitive dysfunction. In general, older persons with diabetes are inclined to be underdiagnosed and undertreated. Managing diabetes in older persons requires special considerations because of their differences in pathophysiology of diabetes and strong association with functional, cognitive impairments and comorbidities. The use of strict therapeutic diets is not recommended in older persons. Treatment of hypertension and hyperglycemia can improve outcomes in older persons. The interdisciplinary team approach is important for care of older diabetic persons.     

外国友人同举奥运圣火(英文)

博珍妮和迪尔德丽·史密斯来自不同国家,2008年,在北京.一种共同的荣耀将居住在中国多年的两人紧紧连在一起。经过长达一个月的网上公开投票.由联想集团与中国日报携手举办的火炬手选拔活动最终结果揭晓——博珍妮和迪尔德丽·史密斯自257名参与者中脱颖而出,进入在华传递圣火的八名外籍火炬手行列。她们期待着高擎火炬,共同庆祝属于全世界人民的体育盛事!     

Tropic Knights and Hula Belles: War and Tourism in the South Pacific

Through the discussion of a collection of photographs, this paper explores aspects of the relationship between tourism and war in the Pacific islands. These unpublished photographs were taken by a US naval officer stationed on Saipan and Tinian in 1944 and 1945 and are now held in an archive which contains other material from the Pacific War. A brief history is given of the photographer’s military career and of the circumstances in which the images were taken.

The body of the paper considers the politics of representation through which military and tourist sensibilities overlap. Drawing upon the work of John Urry and Teresia Teaiwa and with close reference to the Yeagar collection I demonstrate the symbiosis between the scopophilic gaze of the first world tourist and the gaze of military surveillance. Simultaneously relying upon tourist stereotypes to distract from military violence while using military force to fulfill touristic fantasies, the Yeagar photographs exemplify the complex looking relations of the soldier‐tourist. This hybrid gaze structure offers a conceptual model for more clearly understanding the development of “militourism” in the Pacific islands during, and since, World War II.     

Book review

G.Bamberg:Statistische Entseheldungstheorle, Physica-Verlag, Würzburg-Wien 1972, 149 S., DM 20,–.

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G.Härtler:Versuchsplanung und Statistische Datenanalyse, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1976, 103 S., 6 Abb., 12,– M.

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E.Schaich, D. Kohle, W.Schweitzer, F.Wegner:Statistik I (für Volkswirte, Betriebswirte und Soziologen.) Verlag Franz Vahlen GrnbH, München 1974, 160 S., DM 22,80.

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H.Bauer:Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie und Grundzilge der Maßtheorie. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin-New York 1974, 407 S., DM 48,–.

A.M.Mathai, P.N. Rathie:Basic Concepts in Information and Statistics(Axioluatic Foundations and Applications). Wiley Eastern Limited, New Delhi 1975, X, 137 S., £ 2.75; $ 5.50.

D.F.Merriam (Hrsg.): Random Processes in Geology.Springer-Verlag, Berlin-Heidelberg-New York 1976, VIII, 168 S., 63 Abb., 18 Tab., DM 34,50.

G.Matheron: Random Sets and Integral Geometry. Wiley Series in Probability and Mathematical Statistics, J. Wiley and Sons, New York 1975, XXIII, 261 S., £ 10.60; $ 21.20.

L.Kleinrock: Queueing Systems. Volume I: Theory. J. Wiley and Sons, New York-London-Sydney-Toronto 1975, XVIII, 417 S.; £ 13.55; $ 24.30.

Bartsch, H.-J.:Mathematische Formeln, VEB Fachbuchverlag, Leipzig 1976,15. Auflage, 510 S., 362 Abb., 9,80 M.