The impact of police speed enforcement practices on self-reported speeding: An exploration of the effects of visibility and mobility

Research has highlighted the relationship between vehicle speed and increased crash risk and severity. Evidence suggests that police speed enforcement, in particular speed camera operations, can be an effective tool for reducing traffic crashes. A quantitative survey of Queensland drivers (n = 852) was conducted to investigate the impact of police speed enforcement methods on self-reported speeding behaviour. Results indicate that visible enforcement was associated with significantly greater self-reported compliance than covert operations irrespective of the mobility of the approach, and the effects on behaviour were longer lasting. The mobility of operations appeared to be moderated the visibility of the approach. Specifically, increased mobility was associated with increase reported compliant behaviour, but only for covert operations, and increased longevity of reported compliant behaviour, but only for overt operations. The perceived effectiveness of various speed enforcement approaches are also analysed across a range of driving scenarios. Results are discussed in light of the small effect sizes. Recommendations for policy and future research are presented.

"There's no way in hell I would pull up" : Deterrent and other effects of vehicle impoundment laws for hooning

Traffic law enforcement is based on deterrence principles, whereby drivers control their behaviour in order to avoid an undesirable sanction. For “hooning”-related driving behaviours in Queensland, the driver’s vehicle can be impounded for 48 hours, 3 months, or permanently depending on the number of previous hooning offences. It is assumed that the threat of losing something of value, their vehicle, will discourage drivers from hooning. While official data shows that the rate of repeat offending is low, an in-depth understanding of the deterrent effects of these laws should involve qualitative research with targeted drivers. A sample of 22 drivers who reported engaging in hooning behaviours participated in focus group discussions about the vehicle impoundment laws as applied to hooning offences in Queensland. The findings suggested that deterrence theory alone cannot fully explain hooning behaviour, as participants reported hooning frequently, and intended to continue doing so, despite reporting that it is likely that they will be caught, and perceiving the vehicle impoundment laws to be extremely severe. The punishment avoidance aspect of deterrence theory appears important, as well as factors over and above legal issues, particularly social influences. A concerning finding was drivers’ willingness to flee from police in order to avoid losing their vehicle permanently for a third offence, despite acknowledging risks to their own safety and that of others. This paper discusses the study findings in terms of the implications for future research directions, enforcement practices and policy development for hooning and other traffic offences for which vehicle impoundment is applied.

Applying data mining to assess crash risk on curves

The wide range of contributing factors and circumstances surrounding crashes on road curves suggest that no single intervention can prevent these crashes. This paper presents a novel methodology, based on data mining techniques, to identify contributing factors and the relationship between them. It identifies contributing factors that influence the risk of a crash. Incident records, described using free text, from a large insurance company were analysed with rough set theory. Rough set theory was used to discover dependencies among data, and reasons using the vague, uncertain and imprecise information that characterised the insurance dataset. The results show that male drivers, who are between 50 and 59 years old, driving during evening peak hours are involved with a collision, had a lowest crash risk. Drivers between 25 and 29 years old, driving from around midnight to 6 am and in a new car has the highest risk. The analysis of the most significant contributing factors on curves suggests that drivers with driving experience of 25 to 42 years, who are driving a new vehicle have the highest crash cost risk, characterised by the vehicle running off the road and hitting a tree. This research complements existing statistically based tools approach to analyse road crashes. Our data mining approach is supported with proven theory and will allow road safety practitioners to effectively understand the dependencies between contributing factors and the crash type with the view to designing tailored countermeasures.

Evidence for a dual function of EphB4 as tumor promoter and suppressor regulated by the absence or presence of the ephrin-B2 ligand

Overexpression of the receptor tyrosine kinase EphB4 is common in epithelial cancers and linked to tumor progression by promoting angiogenesis, increasing survival and facilitating invasion and migration. However, other studies have reported loss of EphB4 suggesting a tumor suppressor function in some cancers. These opposing roles may be regulated by (i) the presence of the primary ligand ephrin-B2 that regulates pathways involved in tumor suppression or (ii) the absence of ephrin-B2 that allows EphB4 signaling via ligand-independent pathways that contribute to tumor promotion. To explore this theory, EphB4 was overexpressed in the prostate cancer cell line 22Rv1 and the mammary epithelial cell line MCF-10A. Overexpressed EphB4 localized to lipid-rich regions of the plasma membrane and confirmed to be ligand-responsive as demonstrated by increased phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and internalization. EphB4 overexpressing cells demonstrated enhanced anchorage-independent growth, migration and invasion, all characteristics associated with an aggressive phenotype, and therefore supporting the hypothesis that overexpressed EphB4 facilitates tumor promotion. Importantly, these effects were reversed in the presence of ephrin-B2 which led to a reduction in EphB4 protein levels, demonstrating that ligand-dependent signaling is tumor suppressive. Furthermore, extended ligand stimulation caused a significant decrease in proliferation that correlated with a rise in caspase-3/7 and -8 activities. Together, these results demonstrate that overexpression of EphB4 confers a transformed phenotype in the case of MCF-10A cells and an increased metastatic phenotype in the case of 22Rv1 cancer cells and that both phenotypes can be restrained by stimulation with ephrin-B2, in part by reducing EphB4 levels.

Provisionality and the impossible task of painting

This thesis explores Raphael Rubinstein’s notion of provisionality as detailed in his influential article from 2009, Provisional Painting and his subsequent exhibition of the same name from 2011. Rubenstein’s writing is discussed in relation to modern art’s rhetoric around the many ‘deaths’ or ‘ends’ of painting as a contemporary art‐making medium, particularly in reference to Yve‐Alain Bois’ 1986 article, Painting: the task of mourning. While Rubenstein predominantly views the provisional via an abstract lens, it is through the work of Sigmar Polke and then Luc Tuymans, Peter Doig and Daniel Richter, that I build an argument to include the work of contemporary representational painters within his notion of provisionality. These new ideas of provisionality are then examined in the context of my recent paintings, which are viewed as contemporary examples of provisionality extended into the representational.

Eph receptors and their ligands : promising molecular biomarkers and therapeutic targets in prostate cancer

Although at present, there is a high incidence of prostate cancer, particularly in the Western world, mortality from this disease is declining and occurs primarily only from clinically significant late stage tumors with a poor prognosis. A major current focus of this field is the identification of new biomarkers which can detect earlier, and more effectively, clinically significant tumors from those deemed “low risk”, as well as predict the prognostic course of a particular cancer. This strategy can in turn offer novel avenues for targeted therapies. The large family of Receptor Tyrosine Kinases, the Ephs, and their binding partners, the ephrins, has been implicated in many cancers of epithelial origin through stimulation of oncogenic transformation, tumor angiogenesis, and promotion of increased cell survival, invasion and migration. They also show promise as both biomarkers of diagnostic and prognostic value and as targeted therapies in cancer. This review will briefly discuss the complex roles and biological mechanisms of action of these receptors and ligands and, with regard to prostate cancer, highlight their potential as biomarkers for both diagnosis and prognosis, their application as imaging agents, and current approaches to assessing them as therapeutic targets. This review demonstrates the need for future studies into those particular family members that will prove helpful in understanding the biology and potential as targets for treatment of prostate cancer.

Associative Pavlovian conditioning leads to an increase in spinophilin-immunoreactive dendritic spines in the lateral amygdala

Changes in dendritic spine number and shape are believed to reflect structural plasticity consequent to learning. Previous studies have strongly suggested that the dorsal subnucleus of the lateral amygdala is an important site of physiological plasticity in Pavlovian fear conditioning. In the present study, we examined the effect of auditory fear conditioning on dendritic spine numbers in the dorsal subnucleus of the lateral amygdala using an immunolabelling procedure to visualize the spine-associated protein spinophilin. Associatively conditioned rats that received paired tone and shock presentations had 35% more total spinophilin-immunoreactive spines than animals that had unpaired stimulation, consistent with the idea that changes in the number of dendritic spines occur during learning and account in part for memory.

Security analysis of the non-aggressive challenge response of the DNP3 Protocol using a CPN Model

Distributed Network Protocol Version 3 (DNP3) is the de-facto communication protocol for power grids. Standard-based interoperability among devices has made the protocol useful to other infrastructures such as water, sewage, oil and gas. DNP3 is designed to facilitate interaction between master stations and outstations. In this paper, we apply a formal modelling methodology called Coloured Petri Nets (CPN) to create an executable model representation of DNP3 protocol. The model facilitates the analysis of the protocol to ensure that the protocol will behave as expected. Also, we illustrate how to verify and validate the behaviour of the protocol, using the CPN model and the corresponding state space tool to determine if there are insecure states. With this approach, we were able to identify a Denial of Service (DoS) attack against the DNP3 protocol.

Tangible E-Learning

Tangible User Interfaces increasingly gain attention for their supportive potential in cognitive processes. More and more often the terms e-Learning and tangible interaction are been referred to in one word as Tangible e-Learning. This paper gives a general overview on the topic in reference to development history, research and effectiveness. It explains how epistemology, together with its idea that physicality enhances learning and that the cognitive process can happen in expressive or exploratory manner, motivates the emerging of TUIs and acts as a basis for the classification of Tangible e-Learning Systems. The benefits of TUIs in comparison to classical GUIs in terms of their contribution to the learning process, engagement, enjoyment and collaboration are empirically proven, although poorly. Nevertheless, it is not known whether TUIs have stronger potential than common Physical User Interfaces that are not electronically augmented. Still, TUIs that support learning have a strong potential to be integrated into real world scenarios.

Hip joint stabilization vs. propulsion and resistance in individuals with transfemoral amputation

Joint moments and joint powers are widely used to determine the effects of rehabilitation programs and prosthetic components (e.g., alignments). A complementary analysis of the 3D angle between joint moment and joint angular velocity has been proposed to assess whether the joints are predominantly driven or stabilized.

Dynamic input to determine hip joint moments, power and work on the prosthetic limb of transfemoral amputees: ground reactions vs knee reactions

Study Design: Comparative analysis Background: Calculations of lower limbs kinetics are limited by floor-mounted force-plates. Objectives: Comparison of hip joint moments, power and mechanical work on the prosthetic limb of a transfemoral amputee calculated by inverse dynamics using either the ground reactions (force-plates) or knee reactions (transducer). Methods: Kinematics, ground reactions and knee reactions were collected using a motion analysis system, two force-plates and a multi-axial transducer mounted below the socket, respectively. Results: The inverse dynamics using ground reactions under-estimated the peaks of hip energy generation and absorption occurring at 63 % and 76 % of the gait cycle (GC) by 28 % and 54 %, respectively. This method over-estimated a phase of negative work at the hip (from 37 %GC to 56 %GC) by 24%. It under-estimated the phases of positive (from 57 %GC to 72 %GC) and negative (from 73 %GC to 98 %GC) work at the hip by 11 % and 58%, respectively. Conclusions: A transducer mounted within the prosthesis has the capacity to provide more realistic kinetics of the prosthetic limb because it enables assessment of multiple consecutive steps and a wide range of activities without issues of foot placement on force-plates. CLINICAL RELEVANCE The hip is the only joint that an amputee controls directly to set in motion the prosthesis. Hip joint kinetics are associated with joint degeneration, low back pain, risks of fall, etc. Therefore, realistic assessment of hip kinetics over multiple gait cycles and a wide range of activities is essential.

Formal modelling and analysis of DNP3 secure authentication

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems are one of the key foundations of smart grids. The Distributed Network Protocol version 3 (DNP3) is a standard SCADA protocol designed to facilitate communications in substations and smart grid nodes. The protocol is embedded with a security mechanism called Secure Authentication (DNP3-SA). This mechanism ensures that end-to-end communication security is provided in substations. This paper presents a formal model for the behavioural analysis of DNP3-SA using Coloured Petri Nets (CPN). Our DNP3-SA CPN model is capable of testing and verifying various attack scenarios: modification, replay and spoofing, combined complex attack and mitigation strategies. Using the model has revealed a previously unidentified flaw in the DNP3-SA protocol that can be exploited by an attacker that has access to the network interconnecting DNP3 devices. An attacker can launch a successful attack on an outstation without possessing the pre-shared keys by replaying a previously authenticated command with arbitrary parameters. We propose an update to the DNP3-SA protocol that removes the flaw and prevents such attacks. The update is validated and verified using our CPN model proving the effectiveness of the model and importance of the formal protocol analysis.