A review of the effectiveness of speed control measures in roadwork zones

Noncompliance with speed limits is one of the major safety concerns in roadwork zones. Although numerous studies have attempted to evaluate the effectiveness of safety measures on speed limit compliance, many report inconsistent findings. This paper aims to review the effectiveness of four categories of roadwork zone speed control measures: Informational, Physical, Enforcement, and Educational measures. While informational measures (static signage, variable message signage) evidently have small to moderate effects on speed reduction, physical measures (rumble strips, optical speed bars) are found ineffective for transient and moving work zones. Enforcement measures (speed camera, police presence) have the greatest effects, while educational measures also have significant potential to improve public awareness of roadworker safety and to encourage slower speeds in work zones. Inadequate public understanding of roadwork risks and hazards, failure to notice signs, and poor appreciation of safety measures are the major causes of noncompliance with speed limits.

Review of 'Speaking Out: Stopping Homophobic and Transphobic Abuse In Queensland'

Speaking Out documents the outcomes of the largest ever study to examine homophobic and transphobic abuse and reporting in Queensland, Australia. It reports the results of a quantitative survey on victimisation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) people and how this victimisation is reported to police. Follow-up qualitative interviews and focus groups were also conducted with LGBTIQ people to examine the impact of this abuse and the reporting to police. This research is timely as we can sometimes assume LGBTIQ victimisation is a historical problem and may be settled by the idea that relations with police are in good shape. This book clearly demonstrates that we have some way to go before we can be assured these issues have been resolved...

Employment opportunities in Australia for educational researchers: A review of recent advertisements

The Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) by promoting the conference theme has identified a need to be more proactive to ensure growth in the number of educational researchers. Within the Higher Education sector there are a number of methods used to encourage interest in a particular area, and these include policy, funding, sponsorship, employment and scholarships. There are three types of employment for academics: Research, Lecturing and Teaching and Learning and two types of scholarships: either students self-identify the topic or topics are targeted with associated funding. The aim of this study is to review the academic positions and targeted scholarships of Australian Universities and research organisations gathered from advertisements in a national newspaper. This will establish a baseline of recent practice from July to December, 2006 and identify opportunities for researchers in all Disciplines and specifically in education. Results reveal the two main groups for academics are Research and Lecturing, with a small number in Teaching and Learning. Although the Education Discipline is well represented overall (3rd in 12 Disciplines after Health and Science) in terms of research opportunities education then moves to 10th position. A further significant finding is the highly contractual nature of research versus the more stable, tenured environment for lecturing. There are a number of implications arising from this short study. Firstly, the Discipline of Education as a targeted area for research alone is significantly under-represented in the advertised positions but is well represented in lecturing where the role always requires teaching and research. Thus it seems the amount of time devoted to research by academics in the education Discipline is significantly lower than for health or science. Secondly, there are few industry/Government targeted scholarships in the education Discipline therefore any growth in numbers of educational researchers through postgraduate study is not expanded by funding to meet identified needs. In conclusion AARE, an association interested in promoting the growth of educational research, has an obvious need to encourage and review the outcomes of this study and perhaps adopt some of the successful strategies employed by other Disciplines to improve the opportunities for educational researchers in the future.

Book review of Wang, Y., & Pizam, A. (Eds). 2011. Destination Marketing and Management – Theories and Applications.

A contentious issue in the field of destination marketing has been the recent tendency by some authors to refer to destination marketing organisations (DMOs) as destination management organisations. This nomenclature infers control over destination resources, a level of influence that is in reality held by few DMOs. This issue of a lack of control over the destination ‘amalgam’ is acknowledged by a number of the contributors, including the editors and the discussion on destination competitiveness by J.R. Brent Ritchie and Geoffrey Crouch, and is perhaps best summed up by Alan Fyall in the concluding chapter: “...unless all elements are owned by the same body, then the ability to control and influence the direction, quality and development of the destination pose very real challenges’ (p. 343). The title of the text acknowledges both marketing and management, in relation to theories and applications. While there are insightful propositions about ideals of destination management, readers will find there is a lack of coverage of destination management in practise by DMOs. This represents fertile ground for future research.

Efficacy of oral or intrauterine device-delivered progestin in patients with complex endometrial hyperplasia with atypia or early endometrial adenocarcinoma : a meta-analysis and systematic review of the literature

Objectives: To investigate the efficacy of progestin treatment to achieve pathological complete response (pCR) in patients with complex atypical endometrial hyperplasia (CAH) or early endometrial adenocarcinoma (EC). Methods: A systematic search identified 3245 potentially relevant citations. Studies containing less than ten eligible CAH or EC patients in either oral or intrauterine treatment arm were excluded. Only information from patients receiving six or more months of treatment and not receiving other treatments was included. Weighted proportions of patients achieving pCR were calculated using R software. Results: Twelve studies met the selection criteria. Eleven studies reported treatment of patients with oral (219 patients, 117 with CAH, 102 with grade 1 Stage I EC) and one reported treatment of patients with intrauterine progestin (11 patients with grade 1 Stage IEC). Overall, 74% (95% confidence interval [CI] 65-81%) of patients with CAH and 72% (95% CI 62-80%) of patients with grade 1 Stage I EC achieved a pCR to oral progestin. Disease progression while on oral treatment was reported for 6/219 (2.7%), and relapse after initial complete response for 32/159 (20.1%) patients. The weighted mean pCR rate of patients with grade 1 Stage I EC treated with intrauterine progestin from one prospective pilot study and an unpublished retrospective case series from the Queensland Centre of Gynaecologic Oncology (QCGC) was 68% (95% CI 45- 86%). Conclusions: There is a lack of high quality evidence for the efficacy of progestin in CAH or EC. The available evidence however suggests that treatment with oral or intrauterine progestin is similarly effective. The risk of progression during treatment is small but longer follow-up is required. Evidence from prospective controlled clinical trials is warranted to establish how the efficacy of progestin for the treatment of CAH and EC can be improved further.

The Impact of Indigenous status on adult sentencing : a review of the statistical research literature.

The gross overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in prison populations suggests that sentencing may be a discriminatory process. Using findings from recent (1991–2011) multivariate statistical sentencing analyses from the United States, Canada, and Australia, we review the 3 key hypotheses advanced as plausible explanations for baseline sentencing discrepancies between Indigenous and non-Indigenous adult criminal defendants: (a) differential involvement, (b) negative discrimination, and (c) positive discrimination. Overall, the prior research shows strong support for the differential involvement thesis and some support for the discrimination theses (positive and negative). We argue that where discrimination is found, it may be explained by the lack of a more complete set of control variables in researchers’ multivariate models and/or differing political and social contexts.

Surveillance of dengue fever virus: a review of epidemiological models and early warning systems

Dengue fever is one of the world’s most important vector-borne diseases. The transmission area of this disease continues to expand due to many factors including urban sprawl, increased travel and global warming. Current preventative techniques are primarily based on controlling mosquito vectors as other prophylactic measures, such as a tetravalent vaccine are unlikely to be available in the foreseeable future. However, the continually increasing dengue incidence suggests that this strategy alone is not sufficient. Epidemiological models attempt to predict future outbreaks using information on the risk factors of the disease. Through a systematic literature review, this paper aims at analyzing the different modeling methods and their outputs in terms of accurately predicting disease outbreaks. We found that many previous studies have not sufficiently accounted for the spatio-temporal features of the disease in the modeling process. Yet with advances in technology, the ability to incorporate such information as well as the socio-environmental aspect allowed for its use as an early warning system, albeit limited geographically to a local scale.

Review of Australian health related social work research 1990-2009

Social workers form a critical component of the Australian health workforce. Whilst their roles as practitioners are very strategic within the health system, less clear is their contribution to health research. This paper reviews the published record of social work research in Australian health from 1990-2009 in order to discern the patterns of the social work contribution to new knowledge in health. The results of this review indicate a tendency to focus on discursive commentary rather than empirical research as well as a less than expected focus on client studies. Given the rise of evidence based practice, there are potentially serious implications for social work in terms of how it positions itself as a contributor to new knowledge within the health field.

Mixed methods research approach to the development and review of competency standards for dietitians

Aim: Competency standards support a range of professional activities including the accreditation of university courses. Reviewing these standards is essential to ensure universities continue to produce well equipped graduates, who can meet the challenge of changing workforce requirements. This paper has two aims: a) to provide an overview of the methodological approaches utilised for compilation and review of the Competency Standards for Dietetics and b) to evaluate the Dietitians Association of Australia’s Competency Standards and capture emerging and contemporary dietetic practice. Methods: A literature review of the methods used to develop Competency Standards for dietitians in Australia, including entry level, advanced level and DAA Fellow competencies and other specific areas of competency, such as public health nutrition and nutrition education is outlined and compared to other allied health professions. The mixed methods methodology used in the most recent review is described in more detail. Results: The history of Dietetic Competency Standards development and review in Australia is compared to dietetic Competency Standards internationally and within other health professions in Australia. The political context in which these standards have been developed in Australia and which has determined their format is also discussed. The results of the most recent Competency Standards review are reported to highlight emerging practice in Australia. Conclusion: The mixed methods approach used in this review provides rich data about contemporary dietetic practice. Our view supports a planned review of all Competency Standards to ensure practice informs education and credentialling and we recommend the Dietitians Association of Australia consider this in future

The impact of litigation risk on corporate prospective disclosure : a review of the empirical literature

We review the literature on the impact of litigation risk (a form of external governance) on corporate prospective disclosure decisions as reflected in management earnings forecasts. From this analysis we identify four key areas for future research. First, litigation risk warrants more attention from researchers; currently it tends to be treated as a secondary factor impacting MEF decisions. Second, it would be informative from a governance perspective for researchers to explore why litigation risk has a differential impact on MEF decisions across countries. Third, understanding the interaction between litigation risk and forecast/firm-specific characteristics is important from management, investor and regulatory perspectives but is currently under-explored Last, research on the litigation risk and MEF attributes link is piecemeal and incomplete, requiring more integrated and expanded analysis.

Meeting the Food Needs of Queensland’s Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Aged Population: A Review of the Literature

This report summarises research undertaken by Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, in partnership with Diversicare, on ‘Meeting the cultural food needs of Queensland’s Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) aged’. An earlier literature review[6] summarised the state of the evidence in relation to Australia’s CALD aged population and their less than optimal usage of Home and Community Care services (HACC), in particular, food services. This report builds on the information presented in the literature review aiming to explore the current provision of food services to CALD clients and the barriers and enablers to this service provision in Queensland.