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Information Technology Security Governance (ITSG) provides organizations a roadmap to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure protection with goals and objectives to design the security governance processes in align with national and international governance frameworks. Organizations in Australia are still at infancy stages of adopting IT governance processes. Organizations who have adopted these processes underestimate the security processes within the governance framework. If the security processes are designed, they are often flawed with operational level implementation. This paper investigates IT security governance specifically in Australian organizations. The objective is to bring the Australian organizations in alignment with international standards and frameworks in terms of integration of information security, IT audits, risks and control measures. A survey of selected organizations is conducted and results are presented in this paper identifying the maturity level of IT security governance in Australian organizations against the well known Capability Maturity Model® (CMM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of data quality problems occur during the data entry stage. With improved system interfaces and business logics, organisations are able to verify and enhance the quality of data input electronically. However, paper-based data entry (and later conversion to digital forms) is still common in many industries (for example, field-force for utility companies). This paper investigates the issues of data input in an Australian utility company and develops a prototype system to demonstrate the use of mobile systems as a means to improve data quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A theory is proposed to explain the poor numeracy rates within Australia. The theory suggests that the education system does not adhere closely enough to known principles of skill acquisition. The theory provided a rationale for the development of a computer game designed to facilitate the acquisition of arithmetic skills in children. The full version of the game possessed three separate elements designed to encourage faster retrieval of arithmetic facts. A limited version of the game was also developed with only one of these features. The paper reports the results of an experiment that compared performance on standard arithmetic problems following the playing of either version of the game with that observed following two control conditions: 1. Normal classroom lessons; 2. Arithmetic problems performed on a computer. The accuracy of performance on the standard arithmetic problems improved in all conditions at an equivalent rate, reflecting a general practice effect. The speed of performance on these problems became slower in all conditions except following play of the limited version of the game, where speed increased. This far transfer from a game task to standard arithmetic problems was interpreted as support for the proposal that appropriately designed educational games can facilitate the acquisition of arithmetic skills. Some limitations of the study are discussed and recommendations are made that could improve the effectiveness of the full version of the game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian Government maternity reform documents promote collaborative multidisciplinary models of care and strive to improve service provision and access for all childbearing women. In order to provide a quality and equitable maternity service, effective monitoring and mapping of service provision needs to be undertaken. In this paper we explore maternity models of care and key allied health services across Victorian hospitals as per the Victorian Government Health Information Website (VGHIW)). Altogether, this study found discrepancies in information provided to consumers using the VGHIW, a scarcity of models offering continuity of care/r and an overall reduction in equity and access throughout rural maternity health service provision [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to "Healthy Planet, Places and People" report prepared by Research Australia (2008) top ten health impacts of climate change are "Deaths during heatwaves -- especially heart attacks and strokes; Asthma; Mosquito borne infectious diseases; Gastroenteritis and food poisoning; Mental health; Water-borne disease; Obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease; Indigenous health; Declining food yields, nutrition and health and Deteriorating global health". Thus it becomes crucial that health and medical researchers understand how climate change and the changing environment influence these impacts in order to control, mitigate and combat them. This paper gives a framework in integrating climate, pollution and health indicator variables such as disease prevalence and occurrence data to discover the impact of climate change on health. Further it identifies the gaps in current data collection procedures and gives a recommendation on how it can be improved to facilitate such an integrated approach widely. Finally the framework is demonstrated using Asthma prevalence data and temperature attributed deaths and illustrates the limitations of the current data collection methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]