Graeme Byrne

• La Trobe University

Blended learning has become increasingly common in higher education. Recent findings suggest that blended learning achieves better student outcomes than traditional face-to-face teaching in gross anatomy courses. While face-to-face content is perceived as important to learning there is less evidence for the significance of online content in improvi...

The incidence of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia in residential aged care facilities is high. Effective team work and knowledgeable staff are cited as important facilitators of appropriate care responses to clients with these symptoms, but to achieve this within a resource-poor workplace can be challenging. In the study reported...

The study of human bioscience is viewed as a crucial curriculum in allied health. Nevertheless, bioscience (and particularly physiology) is notoriously difficult for undergraduates, particularly academically disadvantaged students. So endemic are the high failure rates (particularly in nursing) that it has come to be known as "the human bioscience...

Computer games that adaptively adjust difficulty are used to continuously challenge players according to their abilities. The adjustment of difficulty occurs automatically in response to a game's ongoing assessment of a player's performance. This approach to difficulty adjustment is likely to be of value in educational computer games as a means of...

Objective To explore the influences on accessibility of compounded progesterone therapy for Australian women. Study design A cross-sectional survey of a stratified sample of Australian women who use progesterone only products using the ‘Perspectives on Progesterone’ questionnaire. Main outcome measures Principle components analysis (PCA) to deter...

Objectives: To determine factors influencing compounded progesterone products' acceptability amongst Australian women who use them. Study design: A cross-sectional survey of 366 women from all states of Australia who had been dispensed a compounded progesterone product, using the 'Perspectives on Progesterone' questionnaire. Main outcome measures:...

Objectives: To determine factors influencing compounded progesterone products' acceptability amongst Australian women who use them. Study design: A cross-sectional survey of 366 women from all states of Australia who had been dispensed a compounded progesterone product, using the 'Perspectives on Progesterone' questionnaire. Main outcome measur...

This paper presents an in-depth analysis of 2006 census and survey data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) pertaining to the Australian ICT industry. Of particular interest were the participation rates of women and the issues of pay equity and women's representation at senior management and professional levels. Where possible th...

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are large, complex software packages with the potential to provide many business benefits. However, the billions of dollars invested by organizations worldwide in ERP systems have resulted in varying outcomes. This research will identify the significant factors contributing to the achievement of business b...

The e-commerce world is now pervasive and individuals without Internet access are at a severe disadvantage with respect to information and access to products and services. The nature and extent of the disadvantage will vary but it will generally involve additional cost and inconvenience. For example, much of the information and services available f...

This article reports on findings of a study designed to develop and test measures suitable to assessing the perceived comparative contribution of Australian community banks and other more conventional banks to communities served, and the perceived impact of these banks on the well-being and quality of life of individuals who reside in those communi...

This paper explores recent Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) survey micro-data on internet use in Australia. It provides a snapshot of the state of internet usage in Australia and compares and discusses trends over time. Further statistical analysis of the ABS data provides an updated picture of the state of internet use in terms of traditional...

From its very beginnings in the post second world war years the information technology (IT) industry in Australia has exhibited gender stereotyping with the relegation of women to lower paid and lower status jobs. Unfortunately the words of Game and Pringle (1983) are as true today as when they were written more than twenty years ago: The sexual di...

The purpose of this paper is to assess the status of women in the IT industry in 2001 relative to their position in 1996 and in comparison to their status in other industry sectors. To achieve this a special tabulation of 2001 and 1996 Australian census data relating to women’s position within the Australian IT industry is analysed. The issues of p...

Community banks in Australia are a recent new phenomenon. Their ownership structure and operational model, however, suggest an innovative approach to social and economic wealth creation is different from that typical of community and cooperative banks elsewhere in the world. In this paper we explain and discuss distinctive features of these communi...

The importance of teaching computer ethics is shown by its inclusion as core content in both in- formation systems and computer science model curricula. This paper outlines a method for evalu- ating undergraduate computer ethics programs using the Defining Issues Test of moral judgment. A "before-and-after with a control group" research design was...

The importance of teaching computer ethics is shown by its inclusion as core content in both information systems and computer science model curricula. This paper outlines a method for evaluating undergraduate computer ethics programs using the Defining Issues Test of moral judgment. A “before-and-after with a control group” research design was used...

Since the publication in 1997 of the Australian Computer Society's (ACS) body of knowledge for computing professionals, a higher priority has been given to the teaching of computer ethics in Australia. This paper evaluates an undergraduate computer ethics teaching program using the defining issues test of moral judgment. A "before-and-after with a...

Higher education institutions in Australia are increasingly embracing the Internet as a tool to support academic programs offered in the Asian region. The purpose of this study is to describe a low cost internet-based international video conferencing system and to assess staff attitudes toward its use to deliver lectures and tutorials to Hong Kong....

C Co om mp pu ut te er r A At tt ti it tu ud de es s a an nd d C Co om mp pu ut ti in ng g C Ca ar re ee er r P Pe er rc ce ep pt ti io on ns s o of f F Fi ir rs st t Y Ye ea ar r C Co om mp pu ut ti in ng g S St tu ud de en nt ts s Abstract This paper reports on a longitudinal research study on the attitudes to computers, and the perceptions of a...

This paper reports on a longitudinal research study on the attitudes to computers, and the perceptions of a computing career, of students enrolled in an introductory computing course in the years 1995 to 1998. Previous programming experience had a positive effect on computer confidence, and ownership of a home computer had a positive effect on comp...

For f∈C[−1,1], let Hm,n(f,x) denote the (0, 1, …,anbsp;m) Hermite–Fejér (HF) interpolation polynomial of f based on the Chebyshev nodes. That is, Hm,n(f,x) is the polynomial of least degree which interpolates f(x) and has its first m derivatives vanish at each of the zeros of the nth Chebyshev polynomial of the first kind. In this paper a precise p...

This article reports on an intervention program for women in the first year of a computing degree. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to evaluate the intervention program. The quantitative results revealed the most significant factors influencing success in the first programming course to be age, having studied mathematics in the f...

This paper presents a short survey of convergence results and properties of the Lebesgue function λm,n(x) for(0, 1, …, m)Hermite-Fejér interpolation based on the zeros of the nth Chebyshev polynomial of the first kind. The limiting behaviour as n → ∞ of the Lebesgue constant Λm,n = max{λm,n(x): −1 ≤ x ≤ 1} for even m is then studied, and new result...

The role of accounting regulation hinges upon whether, how, and why managers manage earnings in the absence of regulatory constraints. Determining whether managers engage in earnings management to transfer wealth away from its most economic or socially effective/efficient distribution requires the researcher to first model predicted earnings, or ac...

International researchers investigating earnings management, and standard-setters, analysts, and auditors relying upon evidence of earnings management in their deliberations, require earnings management models to appropriately classify accruals as discretionary or non-discretionary. We examine whether refining the property plant and equipment (PPE)...

This paper discusses the outcomes of an intervention programme conducted in 1995 and 1996 at La Trobe University, Bendigo in Australia. The programme was aimed at improving the retention rates of first year women students in computing courses. Anecdotal and survey evidence provided by a pilot programme in 1994 suggested that the problems experience...

It is shown that for m = 1,2,3,…, the trigonometric sums and can be represented as integer-valued polynomials in n of degrees 2 m – 1 and 2 m , respectively. Properties of these polynomials are discussed, and recurrence relations for the coefficients are obtained. The proofs of the results depend on the representations of particular polynomials of...

For a fixed integer m ≥ 0, and for n = 1, 2, 3, ..., let λ2m, n(x) denote the Lebesgue function associated with (0, 1,..., 2m) Hermite-Fejér polynomial interpolation at the Chebyshev nodes {cos[(2k−1) π/(2n)]: k=1, 2, ..., n}. We examine the Lebesgue constant Λ2m, n ≔ max{λ2m, n(x): −1 ≤ x ≤ 1}, and show that Λ2m, n = λm, n(1), thereby generalising...

Given f C [−1, 1], let Hn, 3(f, x) denote the (0,1,2) Hermite-Fejér interpolation polynomial of f based on the Chebyshev nodes. In this paper we develop a precise estimate for the magnitude of the approximation error |Hn, 3(f, x) − f(x)|. Further, we demonstrate a method of combining the divergent Lagrange and (0,1,2) interpolation methods on the C...

A quantitative version of a classical result of S.N. Bernstein concerning the divergence of Lagrange interpolation polynomials based on equidistant nodes is presented. The proof is motivated by the results of numerical computations.

Higher education institutions in Australia are increasingly embracing the Internet as a tool to support aca-demic programs offered in the Asian region. The purpose of this study is to describe a low cost internet-based international video conferencing system and to assess staff attitudes toward its use to deliver lec-tures and tutorials to Hong Kon...