Physical performance and self-efficacy under happy and sad moods

Two experiments involving 87 undergraduates examined whether happiness produces increased performance on a physical task and tested whether self-efficacy mediated the results. When mood inductions covered the full range from happy to sad, mood influenced physical performance; however, evidence regarding self-efficacy was equivocal. Efficacy for the performed task was unaffected by mood, although it remained a good predictor of performance. Since mood altered efficacy for a nonperformed but more familiar task, inconsistent efficacy results could reflect task differences. Findings offer prospects for the use of mood inductions in practical sporting situations.

Under great pressure, a diamond is being formed: The SBS over time

This article observes a paradox in the recent history of the Special Broadcasting Service. It is argued that, in contrast to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the role and general direction of SBS were not extensively debated as part of the ‘culture wars’ that occurred during the years of the Howard government. While that made SBS a less fraught space during that period, it may now be a factor in the comparative lack of support being given by the Rudd Labor government to SBS in comparison with the ABC, as some of the ‘special’ status of SBS has been blunted by its drift towards more mainstream programming and a mixed economy of commercial advertising, as well as government funding.

Cognitive assessment in closed head injury : stability, validity and parallel forms for two neuropsychological measures of recovery

Investigated the psychometric properties of the original and alternate sets of the Trail Making Test (TMT) and the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT; A. L. Benton and D. Hamsher, 1978) in 50 orthopedic and 15 closed head injured (1 yr after trauma) patients (aged 15–59 yrs). Although the alternate forms of both measures proved to be stable and consistent with each other in both groups, only the parallel sets of TMT reliably discriminated the clinical group from controls. Practice effects in the head injured were significant only for Trail B of TMT. Factor analysis of the control group's results identified Verbal Knowledge as a major contributor to performance on COWAT, whereas TMT was more dependent on Rapid Visual Search and Visuomotor Sequencing.

Tip-over injuries in children under 5 years of age in Queensland 1999-2008

Furniture and appliance related injuries in children under 5 years of age accounts for an estimated 180 emergency presentations annually in Queensland. Injuries occur when children push or pull items over, climb and fall off furniture, or climb and tip the item over. Children under 2 years of age tend to injure themselves by pulling items over onto themselves Children over 2 years of age are more likely to be injured after climbing the item and either falling off or tipping the item over onto themselves. Tip over injuries (where the item falls over and injures the child) in children under 5 years of age account for an estimated 115 emergency presentations annually in Queensland. The item most commonly associated with a tip over injury is a television (with or without the cabinet) Prevention requires better design and selection of furniture with inherent stability coupled with mechanisms to install or fix less stable items

Pram and stroller related injury in Queensland children under 5 years of age

An estimated 200 Queensland children under 5 years of age are injured every year in incidents involving prams or strollers. The majority of injuries are due to falls from or falls with the pram or stroller Nineteen children were identified as having been caught in the pram or stroller mechanism (13 sustained finger injuries). Stairs and escalators were a factor in nearly 10 percent of pram or stroller fall injuries, with children being tipped out of the pram or stroller, or rolling down the stairs in the device. Roll away injuries accounted for eight percent of all pram or stroller fall injuries (some also involving stairs) Roll away injuries could be prevented by a default brake system similar to airport trolleys. Pram or stroller failure was identified in 2% of injuries

Aberrations and pupil location under corneal topography and Hartmann-Shack illumination conditions

PURPOSE. This study was conducted to determine the magnitude of pupil center shift between the illumination conditions provided by corneal topography measurement (photopic illuminance) and by Hartmann-Shack aberrometry (mesopic illuminance) and to investigate the importance of this shift when calculating corneal aberrations and for the success of wavefront-guided surgical procedures. METHODS. Sixty-two subjects with emmetropia underwent corneal topography and Hartmann-Shack aberrometry. Corneal limbus and pupil edges were detected, and the differences between their respective centers were determined for both procedures. Corneal aberrations were calculated using the pupil centers for corneal topography and for Hartmann-Shack aberrometry. Bland-Altmann plots and paired t-tests were used to analyze the differences between corneal aberrations referenced to the two pupil centers. RESULTS. The mean magnitude (modulus) of the displacement of the pupil with the change of the illumination conditions was 0.21 ± 0.11 mm. The effect of this pupillary shift was manifest for coma corneal aberrations for 5-mm pupils, but the two sets of aberrations calculated with the two pupil positions were not significantly different. Sixty-eight percent of the population had differences in coma smaller than 0.05 µm, and only 4% had differences larger than 0.1 µm. Pupil displacement was not large enough to significantly affect other higher-order Zernike modes. CONCLUSIONS. Estimated corneal aberrations changed slightly between photopic and mesopic illumination conditions given by corneal topography and Hartmann-Shack aberrometry. However, this systematic pupil shift, according to the published tolerances ranges, is enough to deteriorate the optical quality below the theoretically predicted diffraction limit of wavefront-guided corneal surgery.

Interaction between visual status, driver age and distracters on daytime driving performance

This study investigated the effects of visual status, driver age and the presence of secondary distracter tasks on driving performance. Twenty young (M = 26.8 years) and 19 old (M = 70.2 years) participants drove around a closed-road circuit under three visual (normal, simulated cataracts, blur) and three distracter conditions (none, visual, auditory). Simulated visual impairment, increased driver age and the presence of a distracter task detrimentally affected all measures of driving performance except gap judgments and lane keeping. Significant interaction effects were evident between visual status, age and distracters; simulated cataracts had the most negative impact on performance in the presence of visual distracters and a more negative impact for older drivers. The implications of these findings for driving behaviour and acquisition of driving-related information for people with common visual impairments are discussed

Damage assessment of 3D reinforced concrete frame under external explosion loading

Multi-storey buildings are highly vulnerable to terrorist bombing attacks in various parts of the world. Large numbers of casualties and extensive property damage result not only from blast overpressure, but also from the failing of structural components. Understanding the blast response and damage consequences of reinforced concrete (RC) building frames is therefore important when assessing multi-storey buildings designed to resist normal gravity loads. However, limited research has been conducted to identify the blast response and damage of RC frames in order to assess the vulnerability of entire buildings. This paper discusses the blast response and evaluation of damage of three-dimension (3D) RC rigid frame under potential blast loads scenarios. The explicit finite element modelling and analysis under time history blast pressure loads were carried out by LS DYNA code. Complete 3D RC frame was developed with relevant reinforcement details and material models with strain rate effect. Idealised triangular blast pressures calculated from standard manuals are applied on the front face of the model in the present investigation. The analysis results show the blast response, as displacements and material yielding of the structural elements in the RC frame. The level of damage is evaluated and classified according to the selected load case scenarios. Residual load carrying capacities are evaluated and level of damage was presented by the defined damage indices. This information is necessary to determine the vulnerability of existing multi-storey buildings with RC frames and to identify the level of damage under typical external explosion environments. It also provides basic guidance to the design of new buildings to resist blast loads.

Closed-form design equations for decoupling networks of small arrays

Small element spacing in compact arrays results in strong mutual coupling between the array elements. A decoupling network consisting of reactive cross-coupling elements can alleviate problems associated with the coupling. Closed-form design equations for the decoupling networks of symmetrical arrays with two or three elements are presented.