The influences of Bislama on lexical choices in children's written English: A case study in Vanuatu

In Vanuatu, there have been concerns that Bislama (the national language of Vanuatu and a creole with an adapted English vocabulary) hinders English language learning. Consequently, previous language policy restricted the use of Bislama in schools. The findings from this study offer significant insights and implications that may assist teachers with using Bislama in their classrooms in a way that furthers English language and literacy development. This research is timely because the Vanuatu Government have recently implemented a new language policy that allows the vernacular island languages and Bislama to be used as a linguistic resource in schools.

Major project managers’ internal and external stakeholder relationships: The development and validation of measurement scales

In this paper, we detail the development of two stakeholder relationships scales. The scales measure major project managers' perceived competence in developing (establishing and maintaining) high quality, effective relationships with stakeholders who are internal and external to their organization. Our sample consists of 373 major project managers from a sub-set of the Australian defense industry. Both the internal stakeholder relationships scale and the external stakeholder relationships scale demonstrated validity and reliability. This research has implications for the interpersonal work relationships literature and the stakeholder management literature. We recommend that researchers test these scales with multiple samples, across different project types and project industries in the future. The stakeholder relationship scales should be versatile enough to be applied to project management generally but are perhaps best suited to major project environments.

Exploring the influences of country-level factors on mature-aged women’s drink driving attitudes

The current study examined drink driving attitudes among mature-aged women in Sweden and Australia, two countries with a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) limit of 0.02% and 0.05%, respectively. The study aimed to identify attitudes that might influence drink driving tendency among this group of women and further show how these attitudes vary across countries. Using an ethnographic approach, 15 mature-aged women (Sweden: mean age = 52.5years, SD = 4.8; Australia: mean age 52.2 years, SD = 3.4) were interviewed in each country. General patterns and themes from the data were developed using thematic analysis methods. The findings indicate that while women in both countries viewed drink driving negatively, the understanding of what the concept entailed differed between the two samples. The Swedish women appeared to cognitively separate alcohol consumption and driving, and consequently, drink driving was often spoken of as driving after any alcohol consumption. The Australian women’s understanding of drink driving was more closely related to the legal BAC limit. However, for some Australian women, a “Grey Zone” existed, which denoted driving with a BAC of just above the enforceable limit. While illegal, these instances were subjectively seen as similar to driving with a BAC of just under the legal limit and therefore not morally reprehensible. The practice of cognitively separating drinking from driving appeared to have implications for the tendency to drink and drive among the interviewed women. These findings are discussed in relation to current policy and legislation in Australia and the need for further research into mature-aged women’s drink driving is outlined.

Bat species comparisons based on external morphology: A test of traditional versus geometric morphometric approaches

External morphology is commonly used to identify bats as well as to investigate flight and foraging behavior, typically relying on simple length and area measures or ratios. However, geometric morphometrics is increasingly used in the biological sciences to analyse variation in shape and discriminate among species and populations. Here we compare the ability of traditional versus geometric morphometric methods in discriminating between closely related bat species – in this case European horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae, Chiroptera) – based on morphology of the wing, body and tail. In addition to comparing morphometric methods, we used geometric morphometrics to detect interspecies differences as shape changes. Geometric morphometrics yielded improved species discrimination relative to traditional methods. The predicted shape for the variation along the between group principal components revealed that the largest differences between species lay in the extent to which the wing reaches in the direction of the head. This strong trend in interspecific shape variation is associated with size, which we interpret as an evolutionary allometry pattern.

WNT16 influences bone mineral density, cortical bone thickness, bone strength, and osteoporotic fracture risk

We aimed to identify genetic variants associated with cortical bone thickness (CBT) and bone mineral density (BMD) by performing two separate genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analyses for CBT in 3 cohorts comprising 5,878 European subjects and for BMD in 5 cohorts comprising 5,672 individuals. We then assessed selected single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for osteoporotic fracture in 2,023 cases and 3,740 controls. Association with CBT and forearm BMD was tested for ~2.5 million SNPs in each cohort separately, and results were meta-analyzed using fixed effect meta-analysis. We identified a missense SNP (Thr>Ile; rs2707466) located in the WNT16 gene (7q31), associated with CBT (effect size of -0.11 standard deviations [SD] per C allele, P = 6.2×10-9). This SNP, as well as another nonsynonymous SNP rs2908004 (Gly>Arg), also had genome-wide significant association with forearm BMD (-0.14 SD per C allele, P = 2.3×10-12, and -0.16 SD per G allele, P = 1.2×10-15, respectively). Four genome-wide significant SNPs arising from BMD meta-analysis were tested for association with forearm fracture. SNP rs7776725 in FAM3C, a gene adjacent to WNT16, was associated with a genome-wide significant increased risk of forearm fracture (OR = 1.33, P = 7.3×10-9), with genome-wide suggestive signals from the two missense variants in WNT16 (rs2908004: OR = 1.22, P = 4.9×10-6 and rs2707466: OR = 1.22, P = 7.2×10-6). We next generated a homozygous mouse with targeted disruption of Wnt16. Female Wnt16-/- mice had 27% (P<0.001) thinner cortical bones at the femur midshaft, and bone strength measures were reduced between 43%-61% (6.5×10-13<P<5.9×10-4) at both femur and tibia, compared with their wild-type littermates. Natural variation in humans and targeted disruption in mice demonstrate that WNT16 is an important determinant of CBT, BMD, bone strength, and risk of fracture. © 2012 Zheng et al.

Prospective external validation of an accelerated (2-h) acute coronary syndrome rule-out process using a contemporary troponin assay

Background: Recently there have been efforts to derive safe, efficient processes to rule out acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in emergency department (ED) chest pain patients. We aimed to prospectively validate an ACS assessment pathway (the 2-Hour Accelerated Diagnostic Protocol to Assess Patients with Chest Pain Symptoms Using Contemporary Troponins as the Only Biomarker (ADAPT) pathway) under pragmatic ED working conditions. Methods: This prospective cohort study included patients with atraumatic chest pain in whom ACS was suspected but who did not have clear evidence of ischaemia on ECG. Thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) score and troponin (TnI Ultra) were measured at ED presentation, 2 h later and according to current national recommendations. The primary outcome of interest was the occurrence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) including prevalent myocardial infarction (MI) at 30 days in the group who had a TIMI score of 0 and had presentation and 2-h TnI assays <99th percentile. Results: Eight hundred and forty patients were studied of whom 177 (21%) had a TIMI score of 0. There were no MI, MACE or revascularization in the per protocol and intention-to-treat 2-h troponin groups (0%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0% to 4.5% and 0%, 95% CI 0% to 3.8%, respectively). The negative predictive value (NPV) was 100% (95% CI 95.5% to 100%) and 100% (95% CI 96.2% to 100%), respectively. Conclusions: A 2-h accelerated rule-out process for ED chest pain patients using electrocardiography, a TIMI score of 0 and a contemporary sensitive troponin assay accurately identifies a group at very low risk of 30-day MI or MACE.

Adjustable stiffness, external fixator for the rat femur osteotomy and segmental bone defect models

The mechanical environment around the healing of broken bone is very important as it determines the way the fracture will heal. Over the past decade there has been great clinical interest in improving bone healing by altering the mechanical environment through the fixation stability around the lesion. One constraint of preclinical animal research in this area is the lack of experimental control over the local mechanical environment within a large segmental defect as well as osteotomies as they heal. In this paper we report on the design and use of an external fixator to study the healing of large segmental bone defects or osteotomies. This device not only allows for controlled axial stiffness on the bone lesion as it heals, but it also enables the change of stiffness during the healing process in vivo. The conducted experiments have shown that the fixators were able to maintain a 5 mm femoral defect gap in rats in vivo during unrestricted cage activity for at least 8 weeks. Likewise, we observed no distortion or infections, including pin infections during the entire healing period. These results demonstrate that our newly developed external fixator was able to achieve reproducible and standardized stabilization, and the alteration of the mechanical environment of in vivo rat large bone defects and various size osteotomies. This confirms that the external fixation device is well suited for preclinical research investigations using a rat model in the field of bone regeneration and repair.

Open innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): External knowledge sourcing strategies and internal organizational facilitators

In this paper we explore how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engage in external knowledge sourcing, a form of inbound open innovation. We draw upon a sample of 1,411 SMEs and empirically conceptualize a typology of strategic types of external knowledge sourcing, namely minimal, supply-chain, technology-oriented, application-oriented, and full-scope sourcing. Each strategy reflects the nature of external interactions and is linked to a distinct mixture of four internal practices for managing innovation. Both full-scope and application-oriented sourcing offer performance benefits and are associated with a stronger focus on managing innovation. However, they differ in their managerial focus on strategic and operational aspects.

The new Vancouver Chest Pain Rule using troponin as the only biomarker: An external validation study

Objectives To externally evaluate the accuracy of the new Vancouver Chest Pain Rule and to assess the diagnostic accuracy using either sensitive or highly sensitive troponin assays. Methods Prospectively collected data from 2 emergency departments (EDs) in Australia and New Zealand were analysed. Based on the new Vancouver Chest Pain Rule, low-risk patients were identified using electrocardiogram results, cardiac history, nitrate use, age, pain characteristics and troponin results at 2 hours after presentation. The primary outcome was 30-day diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), including acute myocardial infarction, and unstable angina. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values and negative predictive values were calculated to assess the accuracy of the new Vancouver Chest Pain Rule using either sensitive or highly sensitive troponin assay results. Results Of the 1635 patients, 20.4% had an ACS diagnosis at 30 days. Using the highly sensitive troponin assay, 212 (13.0%) patients were eligible for early discharge with 3 patients (1.4%) diagnosed with ACS. Sensitivity was 99.1% (95% CI 97.4-99.7), specificity was 16.1 (95% CI 14.2-18.2), positive predictive values was 23.3 (95% CI 21.1-25.5) and negative predictive values was 98.6 (95% CI 95.9-99.5). The diagnostic accuracy of the rule was similar using the sensitive troponin assay. Conclusions The new Vancouver Chest Pain Rule should be used for the identification of low risk patients presenting to EDs with symptoms of possible ACS, and will reduce the proportion of patients requiring lengthy assessment; however we recommend further outpatient investigation for coronary artery disease in patients identified as low risk.

Temporal and environmental influences on the vocal behaviour of a nocturnal bird

Temporal and environmental variation in vocal activity can provide information on avian behaviour and call function not available to short-term experimental studies. Intersexual differences in this variation can provide insight into selection effects. Yet factors influencing vocal behaviour have not been assessed in many birds, even those monitored by acoustic methods. This applies to the New Zealand kiwi (Apterygidae), for which call censuses are used extensively in conservation monitoring, yet which have poorly understood acoustic ecology. We investigated little spotted kiwi Apteryx owenii vocal behaviour over 3 yr, measuring influences on vocal activity in both sexes from time of night, season, weather conditions and lunar cycle. We tested hypotheses that call rate variation reflects call function, foraging efficiency, historic predation risk and variability in sound transmission, and that there are inter-sexual differences in call function. Significant seasonal variation showed that vocalisations were important in kiwi reproduction, and inter-sexual synchronisation of call rates indicated that contact, pair-bonding or resource defence were key functions. All weather variables significantly affected call rates, with elevated calling during increased humidity and ground moisture indicating a relation between vocal activity and foraging conditions. A significant decrease in calling activity on cloudy nights, combined with no moonlight effect, suggests an impact of light pollution in this species. These influences on vocal activity provide insight into kiwi call function, have direct consequences for conservation monitoring of kiwi, and have wider implications in understanding vocal behaviour in a range of nocturnal birds

External auditors’ perceptions of cloud computing adoption in Australia

Adopting a multi-theoretical approach, I examine external auditors’ perceptions of the reasons why organizations do or do not adopt cloud computing. I interview forensic accountants and IT experts about the adoption, acceptance, institutional motives, and risks of cloud computing. Although the medium to large accounting firms where the external auditors worked almost exclusively used private clouds, both private and public cloud services were gaining a foothold among many of their clients. Despite the advantages of cloud computing, data confidentiality and the involvement of foreign jurisdictions remain a concern, particularly if the data are moved outside Australia. Additionally, some organizations seem to understand neither the technology itself nor their own requirements, which may lead to poorly negotiated contracts and service agreements. To minimize the risks associated with cloud computing, many organizations turn to hybrid solutions or private clouds that include national or dedicated data centers. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first empirical study that reports on cloud computing adoption from the perspectives of external auditors.

Social influences on risky driving behaviours among young drivers in Oman

Young drivers represent approximately 20% of the Omani population, yet account for over one third of crash injuries and fatalities on Oman's roads. Internationally, research has demonstrated that social influences play an important role within young driver safety, however, there is little research examining this within Arab gulf countries. This study sought to explore young driver behaviour using Akers' social learning theory. A self-report survey was conducted by 1319 (72.9% male and 27.1% female) young drivers aged 17-25 years. A hierarchical regression model was used to investigate the contribution of social learning variables (norms and behaviour of significant others, personal attitudes towards risky behaviour, imitation of significant others, beliefs about the rewards and punishments offered by risky behaviour), socio-demographic characteristics (age and gender), driving experience (initial training, time driving and previous driving without supervision) and sensitivity to rewards and punishments upon the self-reported risky driving behaviours of young drivers. It was found that 39.6% of the young drivers reported that they have been involved in at least one crash since the issuance of their driving licence and they were considered ‘at fault’ in 60.7% of these crashes. The hierarchical multiple regression models revealed that socio-demographic characteristics and driving experience alone explained 14.2% of the variance in risky driving behaviour. By introducing social learning factors into the model a further 37.0% of variance was explained. Finally, 7.9% of the variance in risky behaviour could be explained by including individual sensitivity to rewards and punishments. These findings and the implications are discussed.

Socio-cultural influences on vehicle defects in the Omani heavy vehicle industry

With recent economic growth in Oman there is increased use of heavy vehicles, presenting an increase in heavy vehicle crashes, associated fatalities and injuries. Vehicle defects cause a significant number of heavy vehicle crashes in Oman and increase the likelihood of fatalities. The aim of this study is to explore factors contributing to driving with vehicle defects in the Omani heavy vehicle industry. A series of qualitative participants observations were conducted in Oman with 49 drivers. These observations also involved discussion and interviews with drivers. The observations occurred at two road-side locations where heavy vehicle drivers gather for eating, resting, vehicle check-up, etc. Data collection was conducted over a three week period. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. A broad number of factors were identified as contributing to the driving of vehicles with defects. Participants indicated that tyres and vehicle mechanical faults were a common issue in the heavy vehicle industry. Participants regularly reported that their companies use cheap, poor quality standards parts and conducted minimal maintenance. Drivers also indicated that they felt powerless to resist company pressure to drive vehicles with known faults. In addition, drivers reported that traffic police were generally in effective and lacked skill to appropriately conduct roadside inspection on trucks. Further, participants stated that it was possible for companies to avoid being fined during annual or roadside vehicle inspections if members of the company knew the traffic police officer conducting the inspection. Moreover, fines issued by police are generally directed to the individual driver rather than being applied to the company, thus providing no incentive for companies to address vehicle faults. The implications of the findings are discussed.

A road safety strategy for Norfolk Island, an Australian external territory

Norfolk Island is an Australian external territory in Oceania. The significant road safety reforms in Australia from the 1970s onward bypassed the island, and most road safety ‘silver bullets’ adopted in other Australian jurisdictions were not introduced. While legislative amendments in 2010 introduced mandatory seat belt wearing for vehicle occupants on Norfolk Island, other critical issues face the community including drink driving by residents and visitors, occupant protection for vehicle passengers, and the provision of a more protective road environment. The release of the first Norfolk Island road safety strategy 2014-2016 proposed, inter alia: • a lower BAC of 0.05 and the introduction of compulsory driver alcohol and drug testing by police; • targeted enforcement of occupant protection for vehicle passengers, particularly for passengers riding on vehicle tray backs; • education interventions to challenge values held by some members of the community that support unsafe road use; • ensuring that driver information, training and testing is adequate for all drivers; • identification and rectification of hazardous roadside infrastructure, particularly barrier protection at “high drop locations” within the road network; and • developing a specification for vehicle standards for vehicles imported into Norfolk Island. Norfolk Island is engaging in a process of integration with the Australian community, and wider issues relating to funding and resources have impacted on the implementation of the road safety strategy. The response to the strategy will be discussed, particularly in terms of current attempts to address drink driving and the provision of a safer road environment.

Submission to the External Independent Review of the United Nations Response to Allegations of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Other Serious Crimes by Members of Foreign Military Forces Not Under United Nations Command in the Central African Republic

In 2015 the UN Secretary-General established an External Independent Review to review how the United Nations has responded to allegations of child sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse, and to make recommendations concerning how the United Nations should respond to allegations in the future. This submission to the Review Panel draws on literature regarding children's rights, the nature of child sexual abuse, international instruments and policy, the nature of institutional child sexual abuse, and the CAR case itself. It makes recommendations for reform of UN protocols and procedures to better prevent child sexual abuse, and to improve responses to future occurrences.