Study on the method of freeway incident detection using wireless positioning terminal

Improving the performance of a incident detection system was essential to minimize the effect of incidents. A new method of incident detection was brought forward in this paper based on an in-car terminal which consisted of GPS module, GSM module and control module as well as some optional parts such as airbag sensors, mobile phone positioning system (MPPS) module, etc. When a driver or vehicle discovered the freeway incident and initiated an alarm report the incident location information located by GPS, MPPS or both would be automatically send to a transport management center (TMC), then the TMC would confirm the accident with a closed-circuit television (CCTV) or other approaches. In this method, detection rate (DR), time to detect (TTD) and false alarm rate (FAR) were more important performance targets. Finally, some feasible means such as management mode, education mode and suitable accident confirming approaches had been put forward to improve these targets.

Predicting behaviour to reduce stroke risk in at-risk populations : the role of beliefs

Aims: Changing behaviour to reduce stroke risk is a difficult prospect made particularly complex because of psychological factors. This study examined predictors of intentions and behaviours to reduce stroke risk in a sample of at-risk individuals, seeking to find how knowledge and health beliefs influenced both intention and actual behaviour to reduce stroke risk. Methods: A repeated measures design was used to assess behavioural intentions at time 1 (T1) and subsequent behaviour (T2). One hundred and twenty six respondents completed an online survey at T1, and behavioural follow-up data were collected from approximately 70 participants 1 month later. Predictors were stroke knowledge, demographic variables, and beliefs about stroke that were derived from an expanded health belief model. Dependent measures were: exercise and weight loss, and intention to engage in these behaviours to reduce stroke risk. Findings: Multiple hierarchical regression analyses showed that, for exercise and weight loss respectively, different health beliefs predicted intention to control stroke risk. The most important exercise-related health beliefs were benefits, susceptibility, and self-efficacy; for weight loss, the most important beliefs were barriers, and to a lesser degree, susceptibility and subjective norm. Conclusions: Health beliefs may play an important role in stroke prevention, particularly beliefs about susceptibility because these emerged for both behaviours. Stroke education and prevention programmes that selectively target the health beliefs relevant to specific behaviours may prove most efficacious.

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Way of Coping Checklist-Revised (WCCL-R) in the Asian context

Industrial employment growth has been one of the most dynamic areas of expansion in Asia; however, current trends in industrialised working environments have resulted in greater employee stress. Despite research showing that cultural values affect the way people cope with stress, there is a dearth of psychometrically established tools for use in non-Western countries to measure these constructs. Studies of the "Way of Coping Checklist-Revised" (WCCL-R) in the West suggest that the WCCL-R has good psychometric properties, but its applicability in the East is still understudied. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is used to validate the WCCL-R constructs in an Asian population. This study used 1,314 participants from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Thailand. An initial exploratory factor analysis revealed that original structures were not confirmed; however, a subsequent EFA and CFA showed that a 38-item, five-factor structure model was confirmed. The revised WCCL-R in the Asian sample was also found to have good reliability and sound construct and concurrent validity. The 38-item structure of the WCCL-R has considerable potential in future occupational stress-related research in Asian countries.

Buying a sponsor’s brand : the role of affective commitment to the sponsored team

Sponsorship is increasingly important in a firm’s communication mix. Research to date has focused on the impact of sponsorship on brand awareness and its subsequent consequences for image congruency and consumer attitudes towards sponsors’ brands. A lesser studied area is the effect of sponsorship on consumers’ purchase intentions and behaviours. We argue that existing models of sponsorship driven purchase behaviour fail to account for affective commitment, which mediates relationship between affiliation with the team and social identification with the team. We propose a modified framework describing the effect of sponsorship on purchase intentions in the context of low and high performing sports teams. The framework is tested using structural equations modelling; employing PLS estimation and data collected via online survey of AFL chat room participants. Results confirm the role of affective commitment in sport sponsorship purchase intentions and indicate that team success has a significant influence on fans’ purchase behaviours.

The role of product involvement in e-service evaluations

This paper provides conceptual and empirical insights into consumers’ evaluations of online services and their consequent behavioural intentions. We show that behavioural intentions in online contexts are driven primarily by two factors, namely online service satisfaction and perceived service quality. Perceived sacrifice and service quality are found to have an indirect effect on online service satisfaction through their influences on perceived value associated with the online service. In addition, we examine the moderating effects of product involvement and discuss the implications of our research findings.

"Okay girl, it's up to you": a case study of the use of a seizure alert dog to improve the wellbeing of a student with epilepsy

The relationship between student well-being and the other vital outcomes of school is unequivocal. Improved outcomes in all aspects of student well-being are positively associated with improved outcomes in all other aspects of schooling. This educational imperative only serves to strengthen and support the moral imperative for schools and schooling to be inclusive, supportive and nurturing in order to maintain and support student well-being. (Fraillon 2005, p. 12)

The reliability of information on work-related injuries available from hospitalisation data in Australia

Objective: To examine the reliability of work-related activity coding for injury-related hospitalisations in Australia. Method: A random sample of 4373 injury-related hospital separations from 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2004 were obtained from a stratified random sample of 50 hospitals across 4 states in Australia. From this sample, cases were identified as work-related if they contained an ICD-10-AM work-related activity code (U73) allocated by either: (i) the original coder; (ii) an independent auditor, blinded to the original code; or (iii) a research assistant, blinded to both the original and auditor codes, who reviewed narrative text extracted from the medical record. The concordance of activity coding and number of cases identified as work-related using each method were compared. Results: Of the 4373 cases sampled, 318 cases were identified as being work-related using any of the three methods for identification. The original coder identified 217 and the auditor identified 266 work-related cases (68.2% and 83.6% of the total cases identified, respectively). Around 10% of cases were only identified through the text description review. The original coder and auditor agreed on the assignment of work-relatedness for 68.9% of cases. Conclusions and Implications: The current best estimates of the frequency of hospital admissions for occupational injury underestimate the burden by around 32%. This is a substantial underestimate that has major implications for public policy, and highlights the need for further work on improving the quality and completeness of routine, administrative data sources for a more complete identification of work-related injuries.

The impact of pain on the quality of life of people with multiple sclerosis: A community survey

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of pain on functioning across multiple quality of life (QOL) domains among individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). A total of 219 people were recruited from a regional MS society membership database to serve as the community-based study sample. All participants completed a questionnaire containing items about their demographic and clinical characteristics, validated measures of QOL and MS-related disability, and a question on whether or not they had experienced clinically significant pain in the preceding 2 weeks. Respondents who reported pain then completed an in-person structured pain interview assessing pain characteristics (intensity, quality, location, extent, and duration). Comparisons between participants with and without MS-related pain demonstrated that pain prevalence and intensity were strongly correlated with QOL: physical health, psychological health, level of independence, and global QOL were more likely to be impaired among people with MS when pain was present, and the extent of impairment was associated with the intensity of pain. Moreover, these relationships remained significant even after statistically controlling for multiple demographic and clinical covariates associated with self-reported QOL. These findings suggest that for people with MS, pain is an important source of distress and disability beyond that caused by neurologic impairments.

Constructive development of the solutions of linear equations in introductory ordinary differential equations

The solution of linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) is commonly taught in first year undergraduate mathematics classrooms, but the understanding of the concept of a solution is not always grasped by students until much later. Recognising what it is to be a solution of a linear ODE and how to postulate such solutions, without resorting to tables of solutions, is an important skill for students to carry with them to advanced studies in mathematics. In this study we describe a teaching and learning strategy that replaces the traditional algorithmic, transmission presentation style for solving ODEs with a constructive, discovery based approach where students employ their existing skills as a framework for constructing the solutions of first and second order linear ODEs. We elaborate on how the strategy was implemented and discuss the resulting impact on a first year undergraduate class. Finally we propose further improvements to the strategy as well as suggesting other topics which could be taught in a similar manner.

Building for competitive advantage in early stage start-ups : the role of entrepreneurial capabilities

Recent theoretical work has suggested “entrepreneurial capabilities” themselves may provide the resource foundations to deliver competitive advantage for entrepreneurial firms. This paper empirically examines how start-ups use such entrepreneurial capabilities to build competitive advantage. We investigate the effects of technological and marketing expertise, knowledge of market trends, flexibility and networking on the ability to obtain a cost leadership or differentiation advantage. Using a large dataset of 1,108 start-ups obtained after random sampling of over 30,193 households, we find that differentiation strategies benefit from most resource advantages. Cost leadership strategies, however, seem only to benefit from technological expertise and flexibility and not related to market-based advantages. By doing so, this study contributes to both entrepreneurship and RBV-theories by showing how entrepreneurial capabilities lead to competitive advantages in nascent and early-stage start-ups.

An investigation of the social learning and symbolic interaction models for the development of self-concepts and self-esteem

Two studies were conducted to investigate empirical support for two models relating to the development of self-concepts and self-esteem in upper-primary school children. The first study investigated the social learning model by examining the relationship between mothers' and fathers' self-reported self-concepts and self-esteem and the self-reported self-concepts and self-esteem of their children. The second study investigated the symbolic interaction model by examining the relationship between children's perception of the frequency of positive and negative statements made by parents and their self-reported self-concepts and self-esteem. The results of these studies suggested that what parents say to their children and how they interact with them is more closely related to their children's self-perceptions than the role of modelling parental attitudes and behaviours. The findings highlight the benefits of parents talking positively to their children.