The impact of a streamlined funding application process on application time: Two cross-sectional surveys of Australian researchers

Objective: To examine if streamlining a medical research funding application process saved time for applicants. Design: Cross-sectional surveys before and after the streamlining. Setting: The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia. Participants: Researchers who submitted one or more NHMRC Project Grant applications in 2012 or 2014. Main outcome measures: Average researcher time spent preparing an application and the total time for all applications in working days. Results: The average time per application increased from 34 working days before streamlining (95% CI 33 to 35) to 38 working days after streamlining (95% CI 37 to 39; mean difference 4 days, bootstrap p value <0.001). The estimated total time spent by all researchers on applications after streamlining was 614 working years, a 67-year increase from before streamlining. Conclusions: Streamlined applications were shorter but took longer to prepare on average. Researchers may be allocating a fixed amount of time to preparing funding applications based on their expected return, or may be increasing their time in response to increased competition. Many potentially productive years of researcher time are still being lost to preparing failed applications.

Individual difference predictors of change in career adaptability over time

Career adaptability is a psychosocial construct that reflects individuals' resources for managing career tasks and challenges. This study investigated the effects of demographic characteristics and three sets of individual difference variables (Big Five personality traits, core self-evaluations, and temporal focus) on changes over time in career adaptability and its dimensions (concern, control, curiosity, and confidence). Data came from 659 full-time employees in Australia who participated in two measurement waves six months apart. Results showed that age and future temporal focus predicted change in overall career adaptability. In addition, age, education, extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, core self-evaluations, and future temporal focus differentially predicted change over time in one or more of the four career adaptability dimensions. While the lagged effects found in this study were generally small, the findings suggest that certain individual difference characteristics predispose employees to experience change in career adaptability over time.

Older job seekers' job search intensity: The interplay of proactive personality, age and occupational future time perspective

Long-term unemployment of older people can have severe consequences for individuals, communities and ultimately economies, and is therefore a serious concern in countries with an ageing population. However, the interplay of chronological age and other individual difference characteristics in predicting older job seekers' job search is so far not well understood. This study investigated relationships among age, proactive personality, occupational future time perspective (FTP) and job search intensity of 182 job seekers between 43 and 77 years in Australia. Results were mostly consistent with expectations based on a combination of socio-emotional selectivity theory and the notion of compensatory psychological resources. Proactive personality was positively related to job search intensity and age was negatively related to job search intensity. Age moderated the relationship between proactive personality and job search intensity, such that the relationship was stronger at higher compared to lower ages. One dimension of occupational FTP (perceived remaining time left in the occupational context) mediated this moderating effect, but not the overall relationship between age and job search intensity. Implications for future research, including the interplay of occupational FTP and proactive personality, and some tentative practical implications are discussed.

Relations between chronic regulatory focus and future time perspective: Results of a cross-lagged structural equation model

Future time perspective - the way individuals perceive their remaining time in life - importantly influences socio-emotional goals and motivational outcomes. Recently, researchers have called for studies that investigate relationships between personality and future time perspective. Using a cross-lagged panel design, this study investigated effects of chronic regulatory focus dimensions (promotion and prevention orientation) on future time perspective dimensions (focus on opportunities and limitations). Survey data were collected two times, separated by a 3. month time lag, from 85 participants. Results of structural equation modeling showed that promotion orientation had a positive lagged effect on focus on opportunities, and prevention orientation had a positive lagged effect on focus on limitations.

Remaining time and opportunities at work: Relationships between age, work characteristics, and occupational future time perspective

The authors adapted the concept of future time perspective (FTP) to the work context and examined its relationships with age and work characteristics (job complexity and control). Structural equation modeling of data from 176 employees of various occupations showed that age is negatively related to 2 distinct dimensions of occupational FTP: remaining time and remaining opportunities. Work characteristics (job complexity and control) were positively related to remaining opportunities and moderated the relationship between age and remaining opportunities, such that the relationship became weaker with increasing levels of job complexity and control.

Variation in the walking time to bus stop by the degree of transit captivity

Measures of transit accessibility are important in evaluating transit services, planning for future services and investment on land use development. Existing tools measure transit accessibility using averaged walking distance or walking time to public transit. Although the mode captivity may have significant implications on one’s willingness to walk to use public transit, this has not been addressed in the literature to date. Failed to distinguish transit captive users may lead to overestimated ridership and spatial coverage of transit services. The aim of this research is to integrate the concept of transit captivity into the analysis of walking access to public transit. The conventional way of defining “captive” and “choice” transit users showed no significant difference in their walking times according to a preliminary analysis. A cluster analysis technique is used to further divide “choice” users by three main factors, namely age group, labour force status and personal income. After eliminating “true captive” users, defined as those without driver’s licence or without a car in respective household, “non-true captive” users were classified into a total of eight groups having similar socio-economic characteristics. The analysis revealed significant differences in the walking times and patterns by their level of captivity to public transit. This paper challenges the rule-of-thumb of 400m walking distance to bus stops. In average, people’s willingness to walk dropped drastically at 268m and continued to drop constantly until it reached the mark of 670m, where there was another drastic drop of 17%, which left with only 10% of the total bus riders willing to walk 670m or more. This research found that mothers working part time were the ones with lowest transit captivity and thus most sensitive to the walking time, followed by high-income earners and the elderly. The level of captivity increases when public transit users earned lesser income, such as students and students working part time.

Sitting-time and 9-year all-cause mortality in older women

Background Studies of mid-aged adults provide evidence of a relationship between sitting-time and all-cause mortality, but evidence in older adults is limited. The aim is to examine the relationship between total sitting-time and all-cause mortality in older women. Methods The prospective cohort design involved 6656 participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health who were followed for up to 9 years (2002, age 76–81, to 2011, age 85–90). Self-reported total sitting-time was linked to all-cause mortality data from the National Death Index from 2002 to 2011. Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the relationship between sitting-time and all-cause mortality, with adjustment for potential sociodemographic, behavioural and health confounders. Results There were 2003 (30.1%) deaths during a median follow-up of 6 years. Compared with participants who sat <4 h/day, those who sat 8–11 h/day had a 1.45 times higher risk of death and those who sat ≥11 h/day had a 1.65 times higher risk of death. These risks remained after adding sociodemographic and behavioural covariates, but were attenuated after adjustment for health covariates. A significant interaction (p=0.02) was found between sitting-time and physical activity (PA), with increased mortality risk for prolonged sitting only among participants not meeting PA guidelines (HR for sitting ≥8 h/day: 1.31, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.61); HR for sitting ≥11 h/day: 1.47, CI 1.15 to 1.93). Conclusions Prolonged sitting-time was positively associated with all-cause mortality. Women who reported sitting for more than 8 h/day and did not meet PA guidelines had an increased risk of dying within the next 9 years.

Nine year changes in sitting time in young and mid-aged Australian women: Findings from the Australian longitudinal study for women's health

- Objective To examine changes in sitting time (ST) in women over nine years and to identify associations between life events and these changes. - Methods Young (born 1973–78, n = 5215) and mid-aged (born 1946–51, n = 6973) women reported life events and ST in four surveys of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health between 2000 and 2010. Associations between life events and changes in ST between surveys (decreasers ≥ 2 h/day less, increasers ≥ 2 h/day more) were estimated using generalized estimating equations. - Results Against a background of complex changes there was an overall decrease in ST in young women (median change − 0.48 h/day, interquartile range [IQR] = − 2.54, 1.50) and an increase in ST in mid-aged women (median change 0.43 h/day; IQR = − 1.29, 2.0) over nine years. In young women, returning to study and job loss were associated with increased ST, while having a baby, beginning work and decreased income were associated with decreased ST. In mid-aged women, changes at work were associated with increased ST, while retiring and decreased income were associated with decreased ST. - Conclusions ST changed over nine years in young and mid-aged Australian women. The life events they experienced, particularly events related to work and family, were associated with these changes.

The validity of the GENEActiv wrist-worn accelerometer for measuring adult sedentary time in free living

OBJECTIVES Based on self-reported measures, sedentary time has been associated with chronic disease and mortality. This study examined the validity of the wrist-worn GENEactiv accelerometer for measuring sedentary time (i.e. sitting and lying) by posture classification, during waking hours in free living adults. DESIGN Fifty-seven participants (age=18-55 years 52% male) were recruited using convenience sampling from a large metropolitan Australian university. METHODS Participants wore a GENEActiv accelerometer on their non-dominant wrist and an activPAL device attached to their right thigh for 24-h (00:00 to 23:59:59). Pearson's Correlation Coefficient was used to examine the convergent validity of the GENEActiv and the activPAL for estimating total sedentary time during waking hours. Agreement was illustrated using Bland and Altman plots, and intra-individual agreement for posture was assessed with the Kappa statistic. RESULTS Estimates of average total sedentary time over 24-h were 623 (SD 103) min/day from the GENEActiv, and 626 (SD 123) min/day from the activPAL, with an Intraclass Correlation Coefficient of 0.80 (95% confidence intervals 0.68-0.88). Bland and Altman plots showed slight underestimation of mean total sedentary time for GENEActiv relative to activPAL (mean difference: -3.44min/day), with moderate limits of agreement (-144 to 137min/day). Mean Kappa for posture was 0.53 (SD 0.12), indicating moderate agreement for this sample at the individual level. CONCLUSIONS The estimation of sedentary time by posture classification of the wrist-worn GENEActiv accelerometer was comparable to the activPAL. The GENEActiv may provide an alternative, easy to wear device based measure for descriptive estimates of sedentary time in population samples

Past-day recall of sedentary time: Validity of a self-reported measure of sedentary time in a university population

Background Sedentary behaviour is associated with several deleterious health consequences. Although device-based measures of sedentary time are available, they are costly and do not provide a measure of domain specific sedentary time. High quality self-report measures are necessary to accurately capture domain specific sedentary time, and to provide an alternative to devices when cost is an issue. In this study, the Past-day Adults’ Sedentary Time (PAST) questionnaire, previously shown to have acceptable validity and reliability in a sample of breast cancer survivors, was modified for a university sample and validity of the modified questionnaire was examined compared with activPAL. Methods Participants (n = 58, age = 18–55 years, 48% female, 66% students) were recruited from the University of Queensland (students and staff). They answered the PAST questionnaire, which asked about time spent sitting or lying down for work, study, travel, television viewing, leisure-time computer use, reading, eating, socialising and other purposes, during the previous day. Time reported for these questions was summed to provide a measure of total sedentary time. Participants also wore an activPAL device for the full day prior to completing the questionnaire and recorded their wake and sleep times in an activity log. Total waking sedentary time derived from the activPAL was used as the criterion measure. Correlation (Pearson's r) and agreement (Bland–Altman plots) between PAST and activPAL sedentary time were examined. Results Participants were sedentary (activPAL-determined) for approximately 66% of waking hours. The correlation between PAST and activPAL sedentary time for the whole sample was r = 0.50 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.28–0.67]; and higher for non-students (r = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.26–0.84) than students (r = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.16–0.68). Bland–Altman plots revealed that the mean difference between the two measures was 19 min although limits of agreement were wide (95% limits of agreement −4.1 to 4.7 h). Discussion The PAST questionnaire provides an acceptable measure of sedentary time in this population, which included students and adults with high workplace sitting. These findings support earlier research that questionnaires employing past-day recall of sedentary time provide a viable alternative to existing sedentary behaviour questionnaires.

Novel fluorinated surfactants tentatively identified in firefighters using liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of flight tandem mass spectrometry and a case-control approach

Fluorinated surfactant-based aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs) are made up of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) and are used to extinguish fires involving highly flammable liquids. The use of perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and other perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in some AFFF formulations has been linked to substantial environmental contamination. Recent studies have identified a large number of novel and infrequently reported fluorinated surfactants in different AFFF formulations. In this study, a strategy based on a case-control approach using quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry (QTOF-MS/MS) and advanced statistical methods has been used to extract and identify known and unknown PFAS in human serum associated with AFFF-exposed firefighters. Two target sulfonic acids [PFOS and perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS)], three non-target acids [perfluoropentanesulfonic acid (PFPeS), perfluoroheptanesulfonic acid (PFHpS), and perfluorononanesulfonic acid (PFNS)], and four unknown sulfonic acids (Cl-PFOS, ketone-PFOS, ether-PFHxS, and Cl-PFHxS) were exclusively or significantly more frequently detected at higher levels in firefighters compared to controls. The application of this strategy has allowed for identification of previously unreported fluorinated chemicals in a timely and cost-efficient way.

Early Childhood teachers’ work in a time of change

This article investigates teacher decision-making in a time of rapid educational reforms. Institutional ethnography is used to discover how teachers’ work is co-ordinated by the texts of a new national curriculum, and a system for the assessment and ratings of kindergarten, preschool and long day-care services in individual settings and across sites. The research draws on video recorded interview data gathered from five teachers working with three to five year old children in kindergarten classrooms throughout South East Queensland. Analysis shows the reported effects of policy regimes designed to improve the quality of learning young children experience, on classroom teachers’ work. Findings suggest that increasing levels of governance enacted through policy texts are creating an audit culture where teachers’ educational work with children is changing. The article argues that the reported workload associated with the production of evidence, and the focus on providing ‘proof’ of quality, is taking teachers away from time spent building educative relationships with children. Note: In Queensland, kindergarten caters for children aged three and a half to five years. This year is known as Preschool in some Australian states.

Survival analysis of time-to-event data in respiratory health research studies

This article provides a review of techniques for the analysis of survival data arising from respiratory health studies. Popular techniques such as the Kaplan–Meier survival plot and the Cox proportional hazards model are presented and illustrated using data from a lung cancer study. Advanced issues are also discussed, including parametric proportional hazards models, accelerated failure time models, time-varying explanatory variables, simultaneous analysis of multiple types of outcome events and the restricted mean survival time, a novel measure of the effect of treatment.

Some empirical evidence on offender time discount rates

The conventional wisdom is that offenders have very high discount rates not only with respect to income and fines but also with respect to time incarcerated. These rates are difficult to measure objectively and the usual approach is to ask subjects hypothetical questions and infer time preference from their answers. In this article, we propose estimating rates at which offenders discount time incarcerated by specifying their equilibrium plea, defined as the discount rate, which equates the time and expected time spent in jail following a guilty plea and a trial. Offenders are assumed to exhibit positive time preference and discount time spent in jail at a constant rate. Our choice of sample is interesting because the offenders are not on bail, punishment is not delayed and the offences are planned therefore conforming to Becker’s model of the decision to commit a crime. Contrary to the discussion in the literature, we do not find evidence of consistently high time discount rates, and therefore cannot unequivocally infer that the prison experience always results in low levels of specific deterrence.

VisArchive: a time and relevance based visual interface for searching, browsing, and exploring project archives

Background Project archives are becoming increasingly large and complex. On construction projects in particular, the increasing amount of information and the increasing complexity of its structure make searching and exploring information in the project archive challenging and time-consuming. Methods This research investigates a query-driven approach that represents new forms of contextual information to help users understand the set of documents resulting from queries of construction project archives. Specifically, this research extends query-driven interface research by representing three types of contextual information: (1) the temporal context is represented in the form of a timeline to show when each document was created; (2) the search-relevance context shows exactly which of the entered keywords matched each document; and (3) the usage context shows which project participants have accessed or modified a file. Results We implemented and tested these ideas within a prototype query-driven interface we call VisArchive. VisArchive employs a combination of multi-scale and multi-dimensional timelines, color-coded stacked bar charts, additional supporting visual cues and filters to support searching and exploring historical project archives. The timeline-based interface integrates three interactive timelines as focus + context visualizations. Conclusions The feasibility of using these visual design principles is tested in two types of project archives: searching construction project archives of an educational building project and tracking of software defects in the Mozilla Thunderbird project. These case studies demonstrate the applicability, usefulness and generality of the design principles implemented.