An investigation of differences in crash characteristics between males and females involved in a fatigue-related crash or close call event

There is consensus among community and road safety agencies that driver fatigue is a major road safety issue and it is well known that excessive fatigue is linked with an increased risk of a motor vehicle crash. Previous research has implicated a wide variety of factors involved in fatigue-related crashes and the effects of these various factors in regard to crash risk can be interpreted as causal (i.e. alcohol and/or drugs may induce fatigue states) or additive (e.g. where a lack of sleep is combined with alcohol). As such, the purpose of this investigation was to examine self-report data to determine whether there are any differences in the prevalence, crash characteristics, and travel patterns of males and females involved in a fatigue-related crash or close call event. Such research is important to understand how fatigue related incidents occur within the typical driving patterns of men and women and it provides a starting point in order to explore if males and females experience and understand the risk of diving when tired in the same way. A representative sample of (N = 1,600) residents living in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and New South Wales (NSW), Australia, were surveyed regarding their experience of fatigue and their involvement in fatigue-related crashes and close call incidents. Results revealed that over 35% of participants reported having had a close call or crash due to driving when tired in the five years prior to the study being conducted. In addition, the results obtained revealed a number of interesting characteristics that provide preliminary evidence that gender differences do exist when examining the prevalence, crash characteristics, and travel patterns of males and females involved in a fatigue-related crash or close call event. It is argued that the results obtained can provide particularly useful information for the refinement and further development of appropriate countermeasures that better target this complex issue.

Multi-criteria assessment of innovative technology in the beef industry

In Australia rural research and development corporations and companies expended over $AUS500 million on agricultural research and development. A substantial proportion of this is invested in R&D in the beef industry. The Australian beef industry exports almost $AUS5billionof product annually and invest heavily in new product development to improve the beef quality and improve production efficiency. Review points are critical for effective new product development, yet many research and development bodies, particularly publicly funded ones, appear to ignore the importance of assessing products prior to their release. Significant sums of money are invested in developing technological innovations that have low levels and rates of adoption. The adoption rates could be improved if the developers were more focused on technology uptake and less focused on proving their technologies can be applied in practice. Several approaches have been put forward in an effort to improve rates of adoption into operational settings. This paper presents a study of key technological innovations in the Australian beef industry to assess the use of multiple criteria in evaluating the potential uptake of new technologies. Findings indicate that using multiple criteria to evaluate innovations before commercializing a technology enables researchers to better understand the issues that may inhibit adoption.

Obesity screening for young Japanese males and females using skin fold measurements : the classification revisited

Anthropometric assessment is a simple, safe, and cost-efficient method to examine the health status of individu-als. The Japanese obesity classification based on the sum of two skin folds (Σ2SF) was proposed nearly 40 years ago therefore its applicability to Japanese living today is unknown. The current study aimed to determine Σ2SF cut-off values that correspond to percent body fat (%BF) and BMI values using two datasets from young Japa-nese adults (233 males and 139 females). Using regression analysis, Σ2SF and height-corrected Σ2SF (HtΣ2SF) values that correspond to %BF of 20, 25, and 30% for males and 30, 35, and 40% for females were determined. In addition, cut-off values of both Σ2SF and HtΣ2SF that correspond to BMI values of 23 kg/m2, 25 kg/m2 and 30 kg/m2 were determined. In comparison with the original Σ2SF values, the proposed values are smaller by about 10 mm at maximum. The proposed values show an improvement in sensitivity from about 25% to above 90% to identify individuals with ≥20% body fat in males and ≥30% body fat in females with high specificity of about 95% in both genders. The results indicate that the original Σ2SF cut-off values to screen obese individuals cannot be applied to young Japanese adults living today and modification is required. Application of the pro-posed values may assist screening in the clinical setting.

New percentage body fat prediction equations for Japanese females

Anthropometry is a simple and cost-efficient method for the assessment of body composition. However prediction equations to estimate body composition using anthropometry should be ‘population-specific’. Most popular body composition prediction equations for Japanese females were proposed more than 40 years ago and there is some concern regarding their usefulness in Japanese females living today. The aim of this study was to compare percentage body fat (%BF) estimated from anthropometry and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to examine the applicability of commonly used prediction equations in young Japanese females. Body composition of 139 Japanese females aged between 18 and 27 years of age (BMI range: 15.1–29.1 kg/m2) was measured using whole-body DXA (Lunar DPX-LIQ) scans. From anthropometric measurements %BF was estimated using four equations developed from Japanese females. The results showed that the traditionally employed prediction equations for anthropometry significantly (p<0.01) underestimate %BF of young Japanese females and therefore are not valid for the precise estimation of body composition. New %BF prediction equations were proposed from the DXA and anthropometry results. Application of the proposed equations may assist in more accurate assessment of body fatness in Japanese females living today.

"My friend was over the alcohol limit, so I asked him not to drive" : Young females intervening in alcohol-impaired driving

Potential to strengthen a commitment to intervene within a friendship group: – all knew the other passengers, – 3 in 4 discussed intervening with other passengers, – expectations of friends was a key predictive factor. - young women have potential and willingness to intervene in their friends’ drink driving behaviour - majority of campaigns and strategies to reduce alcohol related crashes target the driver however it is arguable that some strategies should target the young female passenger.

Beef carcasses with larger eye muscle areas, lower ossification scores and improved nutrition have a lower incidence of dark cutting

This study evaluated the effect of eye muscle area (EMA), ossification, carcass weight, marbling and rib fat depth on the incidence of dark cutting (pH u > 5.7) using routinely collected Meat Standards Australia (MSA) data. Data was obtained from 204,072 carcasses at a Western Australian processor between 2002 and 2008. Binomial data of pH u compliance was analysed using a logit model in a Bayesian framework. Increasing eye muscle area from 40 to 80 cm 2, increased pH u compliance by around 14% (P < 0.001) in carcasses less than 350 kg. As carcass weight increased from 150 kg to 220 kg, compliance increased by 13% (P < 0.001) and younger cattle with lower ossification were also 7% more compliant (P < 0.001). As rib fat depth increased from 0 to 20 mm, pH u compliance increased by around 10% (P < 0.001) yet marbling had no effect on dark cutting. Increasing musculature and growth combined with good nutrition will minimise dark cutting beef in Australia.

How males and females define speeding and how they’d feel getting caught for it : some implications for anti-speeding message development

Speeding represents a major contributor to road trauma, increasing crash frequency and severity. Antispeeding campaigns represent a key strategy aimed at discouraging individuals from speeding. This paper investigated salient beliefs underpinning male and female drivers’ travel speed behaviour, with the view to use such insight to, ultimately, inform the content of targeted anti-speeding messages. A survey of N = 751 (579 males, 16-79 years) drivers assessed what they regarded as speeding in 60km/hr and 100km/hr zones and their beliefs about how they would respond to receiving a speeding infringement. Participants responded to scales which extended up to 20km/hr above each respective speed limit, the lowest speed that they considered was speeding and the speed at which they would be willing to drive and still feel in control. For analyses, to enable greater scrutiny of potential gender differences regarding the speeds identified, participants’ responses to these items were categorised into 5km/hr increments and chi-square analyses conducted. For their responses to (beliefs about) the possibility of being caught speeding, drivers were asked how applicable various beliefs were to them (e.g., feeling unlucky). These beliefs were analysed via MANOVA. The results revealed that there was considerable variability in the speeds identified, thus supporting the value of categorising speeds. Within the 100km/hr zone, based on the categories, a significant difference was found regarding the speed that males would be willing to drive (and still feel in control) relative to females. Specifically, the greatest proportion of males (30.4%) identified speeds within the 106-110km/hr category whereas the greatest proportion of females (38.1%) identified a lower speed, within the 101-105km/hr category, as the speed they would be willing to drive. No other significant differences emerged, however, either in relation to the definition of speeding reported for 100km/hr zones (i.e., males and females tended to identify a similar speed as indicative of speeding) nor for these same items as assessed in relation to the 60km/hr zones. For their responses to the possibility of being caught, males were significantly more likely than females to report that, if caught, a likely response they would have would be to think that they had still been driving safely. In contrast, females were significantly more likely than males to report thinking that their speeding had been unsafe and that they should not have been speeding. Females were also significantly more likely to report feeling embarrassed to tell important others about having received a speeding infringement than males. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for developing well-targeted advertising messages aimed at discouraging drivers’ from speeding.

Improving communication and increasing adoption of innovations in the beef industry

Agriculture has adopted many scientific innovations that have improved productivity. The majority of innovations in agriculture have been communicated to end users through a simple diffusion and dissemination model. However, as the science underpinning the innovations becomes more complex, research and development organizations need to look at better ways to communicate their innovation to end users. This paper examines innovations in the beef industry in Australia and investigates how complex innovations are being communicated and identifies the nature and level of communication with end users and the role of intermediaries. The findings support the need for greater involvement of end users in the innovation development process and a more vibrant two-way communication process between scientists, intermediaries and end users. The results also suggest that the traditional diffusion processes are insufficient to ensure high levels of awareness and adoption.

Polyalanine repeat polymorphism in RUNX2 is associated with site-specific fracture in post-menopausal females

Runt related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2) is a key regulator of osteoblast differentiation. Several variations within RUNX2 have been found to be associated with significant changes in BMD, which is a major risk factor for fracture. In this study we report that an 18bp deletion within the polyalanine tract (17A>11A) of RUNX2 is significantly associated with fracture. Carriers of the 11A allele were found to be nearly twice as likely to have sustained fracture. Within the fracture category, there was a significant tendency of 11A carriers to present with fractures of bones of intramembranous origin compared to bones of endochondral origin (p=0.005). In a population of random subjects, the 11A allele was associated with decreased levels of serum collagen cross links (CTx, p=0.01), suggesting decreased bone turnover. The transactivation function of the 11A allele was quantitatively decreased. Interestingly, we found no effect of the 11A allele on BMD at multiple skeletal sites, although these were not the sites where a relationship with fracture was most evident. These findings suggest that the 11A allele is a biologically relevant polymorphism that influences serum CTx and confers enhanced fracture risk in a site-selective manner related to intramembranous bone ossification.

A systemic view of innovation adoption in the Australian beef industry

Significant investments in developing technological innovations have been made in the Australian beef industry but with low adoption rates. By modelling the key variables and their interactions in the innovation adoption process, this research seeks to demonstrate the complexity and dynamics of the process. This research uses causal loop modelling and develops a holistic model of the current innovation adoption system in the Australian beef industry to show the complexity of dynamic interactions among multiple variables. It is suggested that innovation adoption is such an extremely complex issue, and we need to shift our views on this issue from a paradigm of linear thinking to systems thinking. Innovation adoption is more likely to be enhanced based on a full understanding of the complexity and dynamics of the system as a whole. The paper demonstrates to practitioners and developers of innovation the multiple variables and interactions impacting innovation adoption.