Influences on novice drivers' speed selection - a systematic review: Application and limitations of theory and methodology

Background Excessive speed is a primary contributing factor to young novice road trauma, including intentional and unintentional speeds above posted limits or too fast for conditions. The objective of this research was to conduct a systematic review of recent investigations into novice drivers’ speed selection, with particular attention to applications and limitations of theory and methodology. Method Systematic searches of peer-reviewed and grey literature were conducted during September 2014. Abstract reviews identified 71 references potentially meeting selection criteria of investigations since the year 2000 into factors that influence (directly or indirectly) actual speed (i.e., behaviour or performance) of young (age <25 years) and/or novice (recently-licensed) drivers. Results Full paper reviews resulted in 30 final references: 15 focused on intentional speeding and 15 on broader speed selection investigations. Both sets identified a range of individual (e.g., beliefs, personality) and social (e.g., peer, adult) influences, were predominantly theory-driven and applied cross-sectional designs. Intentional speed investigations largely utilised self-reports while other investigations more often included actual driving (simulated or ‘real world’). The latter also identified cognitive workload and external environment influences, as well as targeted interventions. Discussion and implications Applications of theory have shifted the novice speed-related literature beyond a simplistic focus on intentional speeding as human error. The potential to develop a ‘grand theory’ of intentional speeding emerged and to fill gaps to understand broader speed selection influences. This includes need for future investigations of vehicle-related and physical environment-related influences and methodologies that move beyond cross-sectional designs and rely less on self-reports.

Enhanced processing of SPOT multispectral satellite imagery for environmental monitoring and modelling

The Taita Hills in southeastern Kenya form the northernmost part of Africa’s Eastern Arc Mountains, which have been identified by Conservation International as one of the top ten biodiversity hotspots on Earth. As with many areas of the developing world, over recent decades the Taita Hills have experienced significant population growth leading to associated major changes in land use and land cover (LULC), as well as escalating land degradation, particularly soil erosion. Multi-temporal medium resolution multispectral optical satellite data, such as imagery from the SPOT HRV, HRVIR, and HRG sensors, provides a valuable source of information for environmental monitoring and modelling at a landscape level at local and regional scales. However, utilization of multi-temporal SPOT data in quantitative remote sensing studies requires the removal of atmospheric effects and the derivation of surface reflectance factor. Furthermore, for areas of rugged terrain, such as the Taita Hills, topographic correction is necessary to derive comparable reflectance throughout a SPOT scene. Reliable monitoring of LULC change over time and modelling of land degradation and human population distribution and abundance are of crucial importance to sustainable development, natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, and understanding and mitigating climate change and its impacts. The main purpose of this thesis was to develop and validate enhanced processing of SPOT satellite imagery for use in environmental monitoring and modelling at a landscape level, in regions of the developing world with limited ancillary data availability. The Taita Hills formed the application study site, whilst the Helsinki metropolitan region was used as a control site for validation and assessment of the applied atmospheric correction techniques, where multiangular reflectance field measurements were taken and where horizontal visibility meteorological data concurrent with image acquisition were available. The proposed historical empirical line method (HELM) for absolute atmospheric correction was found to be the only applied technique that could derive surface reflectance factor within an RMSE of < 0.02 ps in the SPOT visible and near-infrared bands; an accuracy level identified as a benchmark for successful atmospheric correction. A multi-scale segmentation/object relationship modelling (MSS/ORM) approach was applied to map LULC in the Taita Hills from the multi-temporal SPOT imagery. This object-based procedure was shown to derive significant improvements over a uni-scale maximum-likelihood technique. The derived LULC data was used in combination with low cost GIS geospatial layers describing elevation, rainfall and soil type, to model degradation in the Taita Hills in the form of potential soil loss, utilizing the simple universal soil loss equation (USLE). Furthermore, human population distribution and abundance were modelled with satisfactory results using only SPOT and GIS derived data and non-Gaussian predictive modelling techniques. The SPOT derived LULC data was found to be unnecessary as a predictor because the first and second order image texture measurements had greater power to explain variation in dwelling unit occurrence and abundance. The ability of the procedures to be implemented locally in the developing world using low-cost or freely available data and software was considered. The techniques discussed in this thesis are considered equally applicable to other medium- and high-resolution optical satellite imagery, as well the utilized SPOT data.

Refractory boron compounds for high performance: Theory and experiment

We have shown that novel synthesis methods combined with careful evaluation of DFT phonon calculations provides new insight into boron compounds including a capacity to predict Tc for AlB2-type superconductors.

Heat stress effects on grain sorghum productivity-biology and modelling

Heat stress can cause sterility in sorghum and the anticipated increased frequency of high temperature events implies increasing risk to sorghum productivity in Australia. Here we summarise our research on specific varietal attributes associated with heat stress tolerance in sorghum and evaluate how they might affect yield outcomes in production environments by a crop simulation analysis. We have recently conducted a range of controlled environment and field experiments to study the physiology and genetics of high temperature effects on growth and development of sorghum. Sorghum seed set was reduced by high temperature effects (>36-38oC) on pollen germination around flowering, but genotypes differed in their tolerance to high temperature stress. Effects were quantified in a manner that enabled their incorporation into the APSIM sorghum crop model. Simulation analysis indicated that risk of high temperature damage and yield loss depended on sowing date, and variety. While climate trends will exacerbate high temperature effects, avoidance by crop management and genetic tolerance seems possible.

The Systems Theory Framework of career development: 20 years of contribution to theory and practice

The development and sustained contribution of the Systems Theory Framework to career development theory and practice is well documented in national and international literatures. In addition to its contribution to theory integration, it has added to the growing literature on connecting career theory and practice, in particular for non-Western populations. In addition, it has been the basis of the development of a broad array of constructivist approaches to career counselling, and indeed specific reflective career assessment activities. This article begins with a brief history of the Systems Theory Framework which is then followed by a rationale for its development. The contribution of the Systems Theory Framework to theory and practice is then described prior to concluding comments by the authors.

Scattering theory and the discrete linear optimal control problem

This paper deals with the interpretation of the discrete-time optimal control problem as a scattering process in a discrete medium. We treat the discrete optimal linear regulator, constrained end-point and servo and tracking problems, providing a unified approach to these problems. This approach results in an easy derivation of the desired results as well as several new ones.

Precipitate growth with composition-dependent diffusivity: Comparison between theory and phase field simulations

We consider the growth of an isolated precipitate when the matrix diffusivity depends on the composition. We have simulated precipitate growth using the Cahn-Hilliard model, and find good agreement between our results and those from a sharp interface theory for systems with and without a dilatational misfit. With misfit, we report (and rationalize) an interesting difference between systems with a constant diffusivity and those with a variable diffusivity in the matrix.

Thermoelectric power in ultrathin films, quantum wires and carbon nanotubes under classically large magnetic field: Simplified theory and relative comparison

We study the thermoelectric power under classically large magnetic field (TPM) in ultrathin films (UFs), quantum wires (QWs) of non-linear optical materials on the basis of a newly formulated electron dispersion law considering the anisotropies of the effective electron masses, the spin-orbit splitting constants and the presence of the crystal field splitting within the framework of k.p formalism. The results of quantum confined III-V compounds form the special cases of our generalized analysis. The TPM has also been studied for quantum confined II-VI, stressed materials, bismuth and carbon nanotubes (CNs) on the basis of respective dispersion relations. It is found taking quantum confined CdGeAs2, InAs, InSb, CdS, stressed n-InSb and Bi that the TPM increases with increasing film thickness and decreasing electron statistics exhibiting quantized nature for all types of quantum confinement. The TPM in CNs exhibits oscillatory dependence with increasing carrier concentration and the signature of the entirely different types of quantum systems are evident from the plots. Besides, under certain special conditions, all the results for all the materials gets simplified to the well-known expression of the TPM for non-degenerate materials having parabolic energy bands, leading to the compatibility test. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Simulation and modelling tools for quantitative safety assessments of unmanned aircraft systems and operations

This paper presents two simple simulation and modelling tools designed to aid in the safety assessment required for unmanned aircraft operations within unsegregated airspace. First, a fast pair-wise encounter generator is derived to simulate the See and Avoid environment. The utility of the encounter generator is demonstrated through the development of a hybrid database and a statistical performance evaluation of an autonomous See and Avoid decision and control strategy. Second, an unmanned aircraft mission generator is derived to help visualise the impact of multiple persistent unmanned operations on existing air traffic. The utility of the mission generator is demonstrated through an example analysis of a mixed airspace environment using real traffic data in Australia. These simulation and modelling approaches constitute a useful and extensible set of analysis tools, that can be leveraged to help explore some of the more fundamental and challenging problems facing civilian unmanned aircraft system integration.

Augmenting process elicitation with visual priming: An empirical exploration of user behaviour and modelling outcomes

Business process models have become an effective way of examining business practices to identify areas for improvement. While common information gathering approaches are generally efficacious, they can be quite time consuming and have the risk of developing inaccuracies when information is forgotten or incorrectly interpreted by analysts. In this study, the potential of a role-playing approach to process elicitation and specification has been examined. This method allows stakeholders to enter a virtual world and role-play actions similarly to how they would in reality. As actions are completed, a model is automatically developed, removing the need for stakeholders to learn and understand a modelling grammar. An empirical investigation comparing both the modelling outputs and participant behaviour of this virtual world role-play elicitor with an S-BPM process modelling tool found that while the modelling approaches of the two groups varied greatly, the virtual world elicitor may not only improve both the number of individual process task steps remembered and the correctness of task ordering, but also provide a reduction in the time required for stakeholders to model a process view.

Binding of nucleobases with single-walled carbon nanotubes: Theory and experiment

We report the binding energy of various nucleobases (guanine (G), adenine (A), thymine (T) and cytosine (C)) with (5,5) single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) calculated using first-principle Hartre–Fock method (HF) together with classical force field. The binding energy without including the solvation effects of water decreases in the order G>A>T>C. The inclusion of solvation energy changes the order of binding preference to be G>T>A>C. Using isothermal titration (micro) calorimetry experiments, we also show the relative binding affinity to be T>A>C, in agreement with our calculations.

Thermoelectric Power Under Strong Magnetic Field in Quantum Dots and Quantized Superlattices: Simplified Theory and Relative Comparison

In this paper, we study the thermoelectric power under strong magnetic field (TPSM) in quantum dots (QDs) of nonlinear optical, III-V, II-VI, GaP, Ge, Te, Graphite, PtSb2, zerogap, Lead Germanium Telluride, GaSb, stressed materials, Bismuth, IV-VI, II-V, Zinc and Cadmium diphosphides, Bi2Te3 and Antimony respectively. The TPSM in III-V, II-VI, IV-VI, HgTe/CdTe quantum well superlattices with graded interfaces and effective mass superlattices of the same materials together with the quantum dots of aforementioned superlattices have also been investigated in this context on the basis of respective carrier dispersion laws. It has been found that the TPSM for the said quantum dots oscillates with increasing thickness and decreases with increasing electron concentration in various manners and oscillates with film thickness, inverse quantizing magnetic field and impurity concentration for all types of superlattices with two entirely different signatures of quantization as appropriate in respective cases of the aforementioned quantized structures. The well known expression of the TPSM for wide-gap materials has been obtained as special case for our generalized analysis under certain limiting condition, and this compatibility is an indirect test of our generalized formalism. Besides, we have suggested the experimental method of determining the carrier contribution to elastic constants for nanostructured materials having arbitrary dispersion laws.

The Photoemission from Quantum Wells, Wires and Carbon Nanotubes:Simplified Theory and Relative Comparison

We investigate the photoemission from quantum wells (QWs) in ultrathin films (UFs) and quantum well wires (QWWs) of non-linear optical materials on the basis of a newly formulated electron dispersion law considering the anisotropies of the effective electron masses, the spin-orbit splitting constants and the presence of the crystal field splitting within the framework of k.p formalism. The results of quantum confined Ill-V compounds form the special cases of our generalized analysis. The photoemission has also been studied for quantum confined II-VI, n-GaP, n-Ge, PtSb2, stressed materials and Bismuth on the basis of respective dispersion relations. It has been found taking quantum confined CdGeAS(2), InAs, InSb, CdS, GaP, Ge, PtSb2, stressed n-InSb and B1 that the photoemission exhibits quantized variations with the incident photon energy, changing electron concentration and film thickness, respectively, for all types of quantum confinement. The photoemission from CNs exhibits oscillatory dependence with increasing normalized electron degeneracy and the signature of the entirely different types of quantum systems are evident from the plots. Besides, under certain special conditions, all the results for all the materials gets simplified to the well-known expression of photoemission from non-degenerate semiconductors and parabolic energy bands, leading to the compatibility test.