Examination of distracted driving and yellow light running : analysis of simulator data

Driving on an approach to a signalized intersection while distracted is particularly dangerous, as potential vehicular conflicts and resulting angle collisions tend to be severe. Given the prevalence and importance of this particular scenario, the decisions and actions of distracted drivers during the onset of yellow lights are the focus of this study. Driving simulator data were obtained from a sample of 58 drivers under baseline and handheld mobile phone conditions at the University of Iowa - National Advanced Driving Simulator. Explanatory variables included age, gender, cell phone use, distance to stop-line, and speed. Although there is extensive research on drivers’ responses to yellow traffic signals, the examination has been conducted from a traditional regression-based approach, which does not necessary provide the underlying relations and patterns among the sampled data. In this paper, we exploit the benefits of both classical statistical inference and data mining techniques to identify the a priori relationships among main effects, non-linearities, and interaction effects. Results suggest that novice (16-17 years) and young drivers’ (18-25 years) have heightened yellow light running risk while distracted by a cell phone conversation. Driver experience captured by age has a multiplicative effect with distraction, making the combined effect of being inexperienced and distracted particularly risky. Overall, distracted drivers across most tested groups tend to reduce the propensity of yellow light running as the distance to stop line increases, exhibiting risk compensation on a critical driving situation.

Leadership for creating a thinking school at Buranda State School

This article explores the role of principal leadership in creating a thinking school. It contributes to the school leadership literature by exploring the intersection of two important areas of study in education - school leadership and education for thinking - which is a particularly apt area of study, because effective school leadership is crucial if students are to learn to be critical and creative thinkers, yet this connection has not be widely investigated. We describe how one principal, Hinton, turned around an underperforming school by using critical and creative philosophical thinking as the focus for students, staff and parents. Then, drawing on the school leadership literature, the article describes seven attributes of school leadership beginning with four articulated by Leithwood and colleagues (2006) (building vision and setting direction; redesigning the organisation; understanding and developing people; managing the teaching and learning program), and adding three others (influence; self-development; and responding to context). This framework is then used in a case study format in a collaboration between practitioner and researchers to first explore evidence from empirical studies and personal reflection about Hinton's leadership of Buranda State School, and second to illuminate how these general features of school leadership apply to creating a thinking school. Based on the case study and using the general characteristics of school leadership, a framework for leading a thinking school is described. Because the framework is based on a turnaround school, this framework has wide applicability: to schools that are doing well as an indication of how to implement a contemporary approach to curriculum and pedagogy; and to schools that are underperforming and want a rigorous, high expectation and contemporary way to improve student learning.

Sources of ultrafine particles and chemical species along a traffic corridor : comparison of the results from two receptor models

Particulate matter is common in our environment and has been linked to human health problems particularly in the ultrafine size range. A range of chemical species have been associated with particulate matter and of special concern are the hazardous chemicals that can accentuate health problems. If the sources of such particles can be identified then strategies can be developed for the reduction of air pollution and consequently, the improvement of the quality of life. In this investigation, particle number size distribution data and the concentrations of chemical species were obtained at two sites in Brisbane, Australia. Source apportionment was used to determine the sources (or factors) responsible for the particle size distribution data. The apportionment was performed by Positive Matrix Factorisation (PMF) and Principal Component Analysis/Absolute Principal Component Scores (PCA/APCS), and the results were compared with information from the gaseous chemical composition analysis. Although PCA/APCS resolved more sources, the results of the PMF analysis appear to be more reliable. Six common sources identified by both methods include: traffic 1, traffic 2, local traffic, biomass burning, and two unassigned factors. Thus motor vehicle related activities had the most impact on the data with the average contribution from nearly all sources to the measured concentrations higher during peak traffic hours and weekdays. Further analyses incorporated the meteorological measurements into the PMF results to determine the direction of the sources relative to the measurement sites, and this indicated that traffic on the nearby road and intersection was responsible for most of the factors. The described methodology which utilised a combination of three types of data related to particulate matter to determine the sources could assist future development of particle emission control and reduction strategies.

Conceptualising, operationalising and measuring the player experience in videogames

The player experience is at the core of videogame play. Understanding the facets of player experience presents many research challenges, as the phenomenon sits at the intersection of psychology, design, human-computer interaction, sociology, and physiology. This workshop brings together an interdisciplinary group of researchers to systematically and rigorously analyse all aspects of the player experience. Methods and tools for conceptualising, operationalising and measuring the player experience form the core of this research. Our aim is to take a holistic approach to identifying, adapting and extending theories and models of the player experience, to understand how these theories and models interact, overlap and differ, and to construct a unified vision for future research.

Towards tacit knowledge sharing over social web tools

Purpose - Researchers debate whether tacit knowledge sharing through Information Technology (IT) is actually possible. However, with the advent of social web tools, it has been argued that most shortcomings of tacit knowledge sharing are likely to disappear. This paper has two purposes: firstly, to demonstrate the existing debates in the literature regarding tacit knowledge sharing using IT, and secondly, to identify key research gaps that lay the foundations for future research into tacit knowledge sharing using social web. Design/methodology/approach - This paper reviews current literature on IT-mediated tacit knowledge sharing and opens a discussion on tacit knowledge sharing through the use of social web. Findings - First, the existing schools of thoughts in regards to IT ability for tacit knowledge sharing are introduced. Next, difficulties of sharing tacit knowledge through the use of IT are discussed. Then, potentials and pitfalls of social web tools are presented. Finally, the paper concludes that whilst there are significant theoretical arguments supporting that the social web facilitates tacit knowledge sharing there is a lack of empirical evidence to support these arguments and further work is required. Research limitations/implications - The limitations of the review includes: covering only papers that were published in English, issues of access to full texts of some resources, possibility of missing some resources due to search strings used or limited coverage of databases searched. Originality/value - The paper contributes to the fast growing literature on the intersection of KM and IT particularly by focusing on tacit knowledge sharing in social media space. The paper highlights the need for further studies in this area by discussing the current situation in the literature and disclosing the emerging questions and gaps for future studies.

Examining the effects of an eco-driving system on driver distraction

Driver distraction has recently been defined by Regan as "the diversion of attention away from activities critical for safe driving toward a competing activity, which may result in insufficient or no attention to activities critical for safe driving (Regan, Hallett & Gordon, 2011, p.1780)". One source of distraction is in-vehicle devices, even though they might provide other benefits, e.g. navigation systems. Currently, eco-driving systems have been growing rapidly in popularity. These systems send messages to drivers so that driving performance can be improved in terms of fuel efficiency. However, there remain unanswered questions about whether eco-driving systems endanger drivers by distracting them. In this research, the CARRS-Q advanced driving simulator was used in order to provide safety for participants and meanwhile simulate real world driving. The distraction effects of tasks involving three different in-vehicle systems were investigated: changing a CD, entering a five digit number as a part of navigation task and responding to an eco-driving task. Driving in these scenarios was compared with driving in the absence of these distractions, and while drivers engaged in critical manoeuvres. In order to account for practice effects, the same scenarios were duplicated on a second day. The three in-vehicle systems were not the exact facsimiles of any particular existing system, but were designed to have similar characteristics to those of system available. In general, the results show that drivers’ mental workloads are significantly higher in navigation and CD changing scenarios in comparison to the two other scenarios, which implies that these two tasks impose more visual/manual and cognitive demands. However, eco-driving mental workload is still high enough to be called marginally significant (p ~ .05) across manoeuvres. Similarly, event detection tasks show that drivers miss significantly more events in the navigation and CD changing scenarios in comparison to both the baseline and eco-driving scenario across manoeuvres. Analysis of the practice effect shows that drivers’ baseline scenario and navigation scenario exhibit significantly less demand on the second day. However, the number of missed events across manoeuvres confirmed that drivers can detect significantly more events on the second day for all scenarios. Distraction was also examined separately for five groups of manoeuvres (straight, lane changing, overtaking, braking for intersections and braking for roundabouts), in two locations for each condition. Repeated measures mixed ANOVA results show that reading an eco-driving message can potentially impair driving performance. When comparing the three in–vehicle distractions tested, attending to an eco-driving message is similar in effect to the CD changing task. The navigation task degraded driver performance much more than these other sources of distraction. In lane changing manoeuvres, drivers’ missed response counts degraded when they engaged in reading eco-driving messages at the first location. However, drivers’ event detection abilities deteriorated less at the second lane changing location. In baseline manoeuvres (driving straight), participants’ mean minimum speed degraded more in the CD changing scenario. Drivers’ lateral position shifted more in both CD changing and navigation tasks in comparison with both eco-driving and baseline scenarios, so they were more visually distracting. Participants were better at event detection in baseline manoeuvres in comparison with other manoeuvres. When approaching an intersection, the navigation task caused more events to be missed by participants, whereas eco-driving messages seemed to make drivers less distracted. The eco-driving message scenario was significantly less distracting than the navigation system scenario (fewer missed responses) when participants commenced braking for roundabouts. To sum up, in spite of the finding that two other in-vehicle tasks are more distracting than the eco-driving task, the results indicate that even reading a simple message while driving could potentially lead to missing an important event, especially when executing critical manoeuvres. This suggests that in-vehicle eco-driving systems have the potential to contribute to increased crash risk through distraction. However, there is some evidence of a practice effect which suggests that future research should focus on performance with habitual rather than novel tasks. It is recommended that eco-driving messages be delivered to drivers off-line when possible.

Communicating personal amnesty : a dismodernist approach to arts intersections between disability, personal stories and well-being

This thesis investigates the role of narrative devices in the process of improving an individual’s psychological and physiological experience of health and well-being using two methods of inquiry: a theoretical research project and a comparative analysis of two case studies. Through these two approaches the research examines how the health status of people experiencing disability can be re-positioned and re-designed to develop creative, narrative-based approaches to strengthen communication between the mainstream community and those marginalised by pathological, social and biological illness-centric policy. The theoretical section of the thesis examines two different, but complementary bodies of research: health and well-being, and narrative reconstruction. By invoking Antonovksy’s (1985a) theory of salutogenesis and Davis’s (2002) theory of dismodernism, the study examines the role of language and narrative in the defining of health in social, pathological and ableist spheres. The research positions health and well-being as disparate from historical and contemporary readings of illness and disability and presents literature to support the potential to improve health well-being through a creative re-narration of the experience of disability. The research examines the theoretical concepts of resilience, autonomy and social inclusion through a detailed examination of narratology and the amnesty narrative. The study links these theoretical approaches to a practical Arts-Health intersection program developed for the research project called Communicating Personal Amnesty. Through a comparative analysis of a Pilot Study and Major Case study, the research presents findings derived from theory-building participatory action research showing the efficacy of the program. The research provides a detailed analysis of key narrative structures through a variety of experimental methodological approaches to encourage an important dialogue between the creative components of the thesis and the more traditional health-based academic critique. The research is an example of emergent translational health methodologies, in disability studies.

How similar are two-unit bicycle and motorcycle crashes?

This paper explores the similarities and differences between bicycle and motorcycle crashes with other motor vehicles. If similar treatments can be effective for both bicycle and motorcycle crashes, then greater benefits in terms crash costs saved may be possible for the same investment in treatments. To reduce the biases associated with under-reporting of these crashes to police, property damage and minor injury crashes were excluded. The most common crash type for both bicycles (31.1%) and motorcycles (24.5%) was intersection from adjacent approaches. Drivers of other vehicles were coded most at fault in the majority of two-unit bicycle (57.0%) and motorcycle crashes (62.7%). The crash types, patterns of fault and factors affecting fault were generally similar for bicycle and motorcycle crashes. This confirms the need to combat the factors contributing to failure of other drivers to yield right of way to two-wheelers, and suggest that some of these actions should prove beneficial to the safety of both motorized and non-motorized two-wheelers. In contrast, child bicyclists were more often at fault, particularly in crashes involving a vehicle leaving the driveway or footpath. The greater reporting of violations by riders and drivers in motorcycle crashes also deserves further investigation.

Health informatics domain knowledge analysis : an information technology perspective

Health Informatics is an intersection of information technology, several disciplines of medicine and health care. It sits at the common frontiers of health care services including patient centric, processes driven and procedural centric care. From the information technology perspective it can be viewed as computer application in medical and/or health processes for delivering better health care solutions. In spite of the exaggerated hype, this field is having a major impact in health care solutions, in particular health care deliveries, decision making, medical devices and allied health care industries. It also affords enormous research opportunities for new methodological development. Despite the obvious connections between Medical Informatics, Nursing Informatics and Health Informatics, most of the methodologies and approaches used in Health Informatics have so far originated from health system management, care aspects and medical diagnostic. This paper explores reasoning for domain knowledge analysis that would establish Health Informatics as a domain and recognised as an intellectual discipline in its own right.

The Stitchery collective : fashion in an expanded field

This practice-based presentation explores the role of fashion as an agent for social inclusion and ethical design practice in communities. The Stitchery Collective is an artist-run initiative based in Brisbane, Australia. Operating at the intersection of craft and design, the fashion-based initiative challenges the assumption that fashion is designed, produced and consumed exclusively in the commercial sector. As a not-for-profit cooperative, the stitchery collective is the first and only fashion organisation in Australia to attract funding under the national and state artist-run-initiative scheme. The collective approach extends to the stitchery design practice, facilitated by individual practitioners working within the organisation who devise programs in the context of collaborative and socially engaged design. Working under the banner of a question, Can fashion be more than pretty clothes for pretty people? the stitchery works to extend the cultural field of fashion practice in the 21st century. The premise of dress as a ‘significant creative or cultural expression’ has informed the expanded definition of fashion practice, as adopted by the stitchery. This alternative classification has fostered partnerships with numerous community groups, including those marginalised in the contemporary fashion context such as recent migrants and refugees. Community engagement programs span design, sewing and up-cycling workshops, sustainability lectures, clothing swaps and public education seminars, supported by partnerships with various cultural, government and educational institutions. In 2011, the stitchery travelled to the Venice Biennale’s 3rd International Children’s Carnival, hosting a workshop series and installation to promote design for sustainability. The proven potential for design to connect community members has motivated the stitchery to question the opportunity for fashion practice to, perhaps uncharacteristically, operate under the banner of ‘design for social good’. Acknowledging craft and design as relational fields, this presentation expands fashion as a tool for social innovation and sustainable practice. The stitchery dislocates the consumer status of fashion with small-scale, localised projects; moving beyond fashion as a dictum of social class to an alternative model that is accessible, conscious, flexible, connected and sustainable. As an undefined post-industrial future approaches, the non-commercial status of the stitchery practice might work to present an image of the active post-consumer. How can the stitchery propose a resilient model of design for the future?

Enlarged stopping distance to improve vehicle discharge at urban signalised intersections

Normally, vehicles queued at an intersection reach maximum flow rate after the fourth vehicle and results in a start-up lost time. This research demonstrated that the Enlarged Stopping Distance (ESD) concept could assist in reducing the start-up time and therefore increase traffic flow capacity at signalised intersections. In essence ESD gives sufficient space for a queuing vehicle to accelerate simultaneously without having to wait for the front vehicle to depart, hence reducing start-up lost time. In practice, the ESD concept would be most effective when enlarged stopping distance between the first and second vehicle allowing faster clearance of the intersection.

Monte Carlo-based diode design for correction-less small field dosimetry

Due to their small collecting volume diodes are commonly used in small field dosimetry. However the relative sensitivity of a diode increases with decreasing small field size. Conversely, small air gaps have been shown to cause a significant decrease in the sensitivity of a detector as the field size is decreased. Therefore this study uses Monte Carlo simulations to look at introducing air upstream to diodes such that they measure with a constant sensitivity across all field sizes in small field dosimetry. Varying thicknesses of air were introduced onto the upstream end of two commercial diodes (PTW 60016 photon diode and PTW 60017 electron diode), as well as a theoretical unenclosed silicon chip using field sizes as small as 5 mm × 5 mm . The metric D_(w,Q)/D_(Det,Q) used in this study represents the ratio of the dose to a point of water to the dose to the diode active volume, for a particular field size and location. The optimal thickness of air required to provide a constant sensitivity across all small field sizes was found by plotting D_(w,Q)/D_(Det,Q) as a function of introduced air gap size for various field sizes, and finding the intersection point of these plots. That is, the point at which D_(w,Q)/D_(Det,Q) was constant for all field sizes was found. The optimal thickness of air was calculated to be 3.3 mm, 1.15 mm and 0.10 mm for the photon diode, electron diode and unenclosed silicon chip respectively. The variation in these results was due to the different design of each detector. When calculated with the new diode design incorporating the upstream air gap, k_(Q_clin 〖,Q〗_msr)^(f_clin 〖,f〗_msr ) was equal to unity to within statistical uncertainty (0.5 %) for all three diodes. Cross-axis profile measurements were also improved with the new detector design. The upstream air gap could be implanted on the commercial diodes via a cap consisting of the air cavity surrounded by water equivalent material. The results for the unclosed silicon chip show that an ideal small field dosimetry diode could be created by using a silicon chip with a small amount of air above it.

An analysis of the KEEP CLEAR pavement markings effects on queuing vehicles dynamic performance at urban signalised intersections

KEEP CLEAR pavement markings are widely used at urban signalised intersections to indicate to drivers to avoid entering blocked intersections. For example, ‘Box junctions’ are most widely used in the United Kingdom and other European countries. However, in Australia, KEEP CLEAR markings are mostly used to improve access from side roads onto a main road, especially when the side road is very close to a signalised intersection. This paper aims to reveal how the KEEP CLEAR markings affect the dynamic performance of the queuing vehicles on the main road, where the side road access is near a signalised intersection. Raw traffic field data was collected from an intersection at the Gold Coast, Australia, and the Kanade–Lucas–Tomasi (KLT) feature tracker approach was used to extract dynamic vehicle data from the raw video footage. The data analysis reveals that the KEEP CLEAR markings generate positive effects on the queuing vehicles in discharge on the main road. This finding refutes the traditional viewpoint that the KEEP CLEAR pavement markings will cause delay for the queuing vehicles’ departure due to the enlarged queue spacing. Further studies are suggested in this paper as well.

BWW ontology as a lens on IS design theory: Extending the design science research roadmap

The Design Science Research Roadmap (DSR-Roadmap) [1] aims to give detailed methodological guidance to novice researchers in Information Systems (IS) DSR. Focus group evaluation, one phase of the overall study, of the evolving DSR-Roadmap revealed that a key difficulty faced by both novice and expert researchers in DSR, is abstracting design theory from design. This paper explores the extension of the DSR-Roadmap by employing IS deep structure ontology (BWW [2-4]) as a lens on IS design to firstly yield generalisable design theory, specifically 'IS Design Theory' (ISDT) elements [5]. Consideration is next given to the value of BWW in the application of the design theory by practitioners. Results of mapping BWW constructs to ISDT elements suggest that the BWW is promising as a common language between design researchers and practitioners, facilitating both design theory and design implementation

Institutional perspectives on operationalising climate adaptation through planning

Adaptation to climate change is an imperative and an institutional challenge. This paper argues that the operationalisation of climate adaptation is a crucial element of a comprehensive response to the impacts of climate change on human settlements, including major cities and metropolitan areas. In this instance, the operationalisation of climate adaptation refers to climate adaptation becoming institutionally codified and implemented through planning policies and objectives, making it a central tenet of planning governance. This paper has three key purposes. First, it develops conceptual understandings of climate adaptation as an institutional challenge. Second, it identifies the intersection of this problem with planning and examines how planning regimes, as institutions, can better manage stress created by climate change impacts in human settlements. Third, it reports empirical findings focused on how the metro-regional planning regime in Southeast Queensland (SEQ), Australia, has institutionally responded to the challenge of operationalising climate adaptation. Drawing on key social scientific theories of institutionalism, it is argued that the success or failure of the SEQ planning regime's response to the imperative of climate adaptation is contingent on its ability to undergo institutional change. It is further argued that a capacity for institutional change is heavily conditioned by the influence of internal and external pathways and barriers to change, which facilitate or hinder change processes. The paper concludes that the SEQ metro-regional planning regime has undergone some institutional change but has not yet undergone change sufficient to fully operationalise climate adaptation as a central tenet of planning governance in the region.