Correlation of throwing velocity to the results of lower-body field tests in male college baseball players

Baseball-specific athleticism, potential, and performance have been difficult to predict. Increased muscle strength and power can increase throwing velocity but the majority of research has focused on the upper body. The present study sought to determine if bilateral or unilateral lower-body field testing correlates with throwing velocity. Baseball throwing velocity scores were correlated to the following tests: medicine ball (MB) scoop toss and squat throw, bilateral and unilateral vertical jumps, single and triple broad jumps, hop and stop in both directions, lateral to medial jumps, 10- and 60-yd sprints, and both left and right single-leg 10-yd hop for speed in 42 college baseball players. A multiple regression analysis (forward method), assessing the relationship between shuffle and stretch throwing velocities and lower-body field test results determined that right-handed throwing velocity from the stretch position was most strongly predicted by lateral to medial jump right (LMJR) and body weight (BW; R = 0.322), whereas lateral to medial jump left (LMJL; R = 0.688) predicted left stretch throw. Right-handed shuffle throw was most strongly predicted by LMJR and MB scoop (R = 0.338), whereas LMJL, BW, and LMJR all contributed to left-handed shuffle throw (R = 0.982). Overall, this study found that lateral to medial jumps were consistently correlated with high throwing velocity in each of the throwing techniques, in both left-handed and right-handed throwers. This is the first study to correlate throwing velocity with a unilateral jump in the frontal plane, mimicking the action of the throwing stride.

The consequences of intergroup ideologies and prejudice control for discrimination and harmony

In the present study, we investigated two literature bases by way of a community survey across Australia. We investigated four acculturation orientations (assimilation, multiculturalism, color-blind, and polyculturalism ideologies) and the motivations to respond without prejudice. We examined what predicted support for Harmony Day as well as explicit discrimination. Multiculturalism, polyculturalism, and internal motivation to respond without prejudice correlated with positive attitudes in both scenarios. External motivation to respond without prejudice was positively correlated with discrimination. Conversely, color-blind ideology had no effect, and assimilation ideology related positively to explicit discrimination and negatively with Harmony Day. Using a multiple regression analysis, there was a difference in emphasis in different contexts. Our findings provide antiprejudice practitioners with material for discussions which can promote positive intergroup relations.

Inclusion, organisational justice and employee well-being

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between employee perceived well-being and the four dimensions of organisational justice, namely, procedural, distributive, interpersonal and informational justice, and how dimensions of organisational justice affect employee well-being in the Australian tourism industry. Design/methodology/approach: The sample is selected from employees who work in the tourism industry in Australia, and the survey was conducted online (n=121). Factor analysis is used to identify key items related to perceived organisational justice, followed by multiple regression analysis to assess the magnitude and strength of impacts of different dimensions of organisational justice on employee well-being. Findings: The results support the established view that organisational justice is associated with employee well-being. Specifically, informational justice has the strongest influence on tourism employee well-being, followed by procedural justice, interpersonal justice and distributive justice. Research limitations/implications: The authors acknowledge key limitations in the study such as a relatively small sample size and gender imbalance in the sample. Practical implications: The authors provide strategies for managers to increase levels of organisational justice in the tourism sector such as workgroup interactions, a consultation process, team culture and social support. Originality/value: This study builds on limited literature in the area of inclusion and organisational justice in tourism organisations. The study provides a new path to effective organisational management within the context of a diverse workforce, adding to the current debate on which dimensions of organisational justice contribute to improving employee well-being.

Financial constraints and stock returns — evidence from Australia

Using multiple discriminant analysis, we construct an index thatmeasures firms' external financial constraints in an Australian setting.We form portfolios of firms based on our financial constraints index andfind that financially constrained firms earn lower return than theirunconstrained counterparts. Moreover, stock returns of financiallyconstrained firms are found to move together, indicating the potentialexistence of a financial constraints factor. Neither the variation nor themean return of the constraints factor are well explained by existing assetpricing models, suggesting an independent role for our financialconstraints factor in affecting stock returns.

Monitor objectivity with important clients: evidence from auditor opinions around the world

We examine whether monitors are likely to compromise their monitoring objectivity in the face of economically important clients in international business settings. In the context of external auditing and assurance services, we measure monitor objectivity by whether auditors are more (or less) likely to issue to their important clients modified audit opinions, that is, audit opinions provided to outside investors about the firm that demotes explicit areas of concern. Using a large cross-country sample, we document that auditors are more likely to issue modified opinions to their economically important clients relative to other clients. Furthermore, we find that this association is stronger (1) for Big N auditors, (2) for multinational audit clients, and (3) in countries with stronger legal regimes. These results suggest that monitors prioritize the protection of their reputation over lucrative economic relationships, and such information certification function is more pronounced for international auditors, multinational client firms, and in strong legal regimes.

‘Care in a chair’ – The impact of an overcrowded emergency department on the time to treatment and length of stay of self-presenting patients with abdominal pain

Objectives The aim in this study was to investigate the impact of overcrowding on the Australasian Triage Score’s (ATS) time to treatment target and the National Emergency Access Target (NEAT) for patients who self-present to the Emergency Department (ED) with abdominal pain. Background The causes and effects of ED overcrowding have been well described in the literature. It is a widespread phenomenon throughout the world and it can cause serious harm to patients and have a negative impact on access to emergency care. There is however, little research investigating the effect of overcrowding when patients self-present to the ED and experience a delay in being allocated a cubicle. Methods A retrospective analysis of 12-months of computerised records was carried out in order to determine if self-presenting patients with abdominal pain allocated a category 3 triage score who were required to ‘queue’ for a cubicle would meet ATS target and NEAT requirements. A multiple regression analysis was used to determine whether or not queuing for an ED cubicle, age and gender were predictors of meeting the ATS guidelines and NEAT requirements. Results Three hundred and five patients met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. Of these 149 patients waited more than 15 min to be allocated a cubicle while 156 did not experience any delay. A multiple regression analysis revealed that gender and age were not predictive of meeting the ATS target and NEAT requirements, while delay in allocation to a cubicle was a significant predictor of not being assessed within 30 min and discharged within 4 h. Furthermore, 61.2% of patients allocated to the waiting room queue for any amount of time were admitted to the ward. Conclusion Queuing in the waiting room for an ED bed was a significant predictor of whether or not category three patients with abdominal pain had treatment commenced within 30 min of presentation and was associated with a longer total ED length of stay.

The relationship between house prices and demographic variables: an Australian case study

Purpose – The process for examining the value of house prices in an urban city has given limited attention, if any, to demographic variables associated with urban geography. Although the disciplines of property/real estate and demography have moved closer, little progress has been made when modelling house prices using population-related data in the field of urban geography to explain the level of house prices.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper proposes an innovative model to examine the influence of population variables on the level of house prices. It used a two-stage approach as follows: principal components analysis (PCA) identified social dimensions from a range of demographic variables, which were then retained for further analysis. This information was sourced from two Australian Bureau of Statistics censuses undertaken involving all Melbourne residents during 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011; multiple regression analysis examined the relationship between the retained factor scores from the PCA (as independent variables) and established residential house prices (as the dependent variable).

Findings – The findings confirm the demographic profile of each household, which is directly related to their decisions about housing location and house prices. Based on a case study of Melbourne, Victoria, it was demonstrated that households with specific demographic characteristics are closely related to a certain level of house prices at the suburban level.

Originality/value – This is an innovative study which has not been previously undertaken for an extended period of time to facilitate an analysis of change over time.

Stereo correspondence estimation using multiwavelets scale-space representation-based multiresolution analysis

A multiresolution technique based on multiwavelets scale-space representation for stereo correspondence estimation is presented. The technique uses the well-known coarse-to-fine strategy, involving the calculation of stereo correspondences at the coarsest resolution level with consequent refinement up to the finest level. Vector coefficients of the multiwavelets transform modulus are used as corresponding features, where modulus maxima defines the shift invariant high-level features (multiscale edges) with phase pointing to the normal of the feature surface. The technique addresses the estimation of optimal corresponding points and the corresponding 2D disparity maps. Illuminative variation that can exist between the perspective views of the same scene is controlled using scale normalization at each decomposition level by dividing the details space coefficients with approximation space. The problems of ambiguity, explicitly, and occlusion, implicitly, are addressed by using a geometric topological refinement procedure. Geometric refinement is based on a symbolic tagging procedure introduced to keep only the most consistent matches in consideration. Symbolic tagging is performed based on probability of occurrence and multiple thresholds. The whole procedure is constrained by the uniqueness and continuity of the corresponding stereo features. The comparative performance of the proposed algorithm with eight famous existing algorithms, presented in the literature, is shown to validate the claims of promising performance of the proposed algorithm.

Discrete inequalities based on multiple auxiliary functions and their applications to stability analysis of time-delay systems

Abstract
This paper presents new discrete inequalities for single summation and double summation. These inequalities are based on multiple auxiliary functions and include the Jensen discrete inequality and the discrete Wirtinger-based inequality as special cases. An application of these discrete inequalities to analyse stability of linear discrete systems with an interval time-varying delay is studied and a less conservative stability condition is obtained. Three numerical examples are given to show the effectiveness of the obtained stability condition.

A new process capability index for multiple quality characteristics based on principal components

This paper presents a new multivariate process capability index (MPCI) which is based on the principal component analysis (PCA) and is dependent on a parameter (Formula presented.) which can take on any real number. This MPCI generalises some existing multivariate indices based on PCA proposed by several authors when (Formula presented.) or (Formula presented.). One of the key contributions of this paper is to show that there is a direct correspondence between this MPCI and process yield for a unique value of (Formula presented.). This result is used to establish a relationship between the capability status of the process and to show that under some mild conditions, the estimators of this MPCI is consistent and converge to a normal distribution. This is then applied to perform tests of statistical hypotheses and in determining sample sizes. Several numerical examples are presented with the objective of illustrating the procedures and demonstrating how they can be applied to determine the viability and capacity of different manufacturing processes.