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.

Positive emotional experiences with portable interactive products

Positive emotions are central to human life and have implications to the overall quality of people's life (Fredrickson, 1998). This paper reports on positive experiences with two types of portable interactive devices (PIDs), specifically media/entertainment and medical/health devices. The study is based on a six-month longitudinal study exploring people's emotional experience and how PIDs mediate these experiences in everyday contexts. Previous findings by the authors (Gomez, Popovic & Blackler, 2011) presented four categories of activities including Feature, Functional, Mediation and Auxiliary activities and their relationship to emotional experience. The paper presents emotional experiences with specific activities reported with a focus on positive emotions. It concludes with a discussion of the findings on positive experiences and the implications for the future design of PIDs.

Towards a taxonomy of passenger airport experience

Airports are vital sources of income to a country and city. Airports are often understood from a management perspective, rather than a passenger perspective. As passengers are a vital customer of airports, a passenger perspective can provide a novel approach in understanding and improving the airport experience. This paper focuses on the study of passenger experiences at airports. This research is built on recent investigations of passenger discretionary activities in airports by the authors, which have provided a new perspective on understanding the airport experience. The research reported in this paper involves field studies at three Australian airports. Seventy one people who had impending travel were recruited to take part in the field study. Data collection methods included video-recorded observation and post-travel interviews. Observations were coded and a list of activities performed was developed. These activities were then classified into an activity taxonomy, depending on the activity location and context. The study demonstrates that there is a wide range of activities performed by passengers as they navigate through the airport. The emerging activity taxonomy consists of eight categories. They include: (i) processing (ii) preparatory (iii) consumptive (iv) social (v) entertainment (vi) passive (vii) queuing and (viii) moving. The research provides a novel perspective to understand the experience of passenger at international airports. It has been applied in airports to improve passenger processing and reduce waiting times. The significance of the taxonomy lies in its potential application to airport terminal design and how it can be utilised to understand and improve the passenger experience.

Modelling web-server Flash Events

A Flash Event (FE) represents a period of time when a web-server experiences a dramatic increase in incoming traffic, either following a newsworthy event that has prompted users to locate and access it, or as a result of redirection from other popular web or social media sites. This usually leads to network congestion and Quality-of-Service (QoS) degradation. These events can be mistaken for Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks aimed at disrupting the server. Accurate detection of FEs and their distinction from DDoS attacks is important, since different actions need to be undertaken by network administrators in these two cases. However, lack of public domain FE datasets hinders research in this area. In this paper we present a detailed study of flash events and classify them into three broad categories. In addition, the paper describes FEs in terms of three key components: the volume of incoming traffic, the related source IP-addresses, and the resources being accessed. We present such a FE model with minimal parameters and use publicly available datasets to analyse and validate our proposed model. The model can be used to generate different types of FE traffic, closely approximating real-world scenarios, in order to facilitate research into distinguishing FEs from DDoS attacks.

From the editor

In order to read this Project Management Journal issue, I suggest embracing a modeling perspective. Talking about modeling should lead me to define what is meant by ���model��� and to develop some kind of categorization, classification, or taxonomy of models. One can consider basic categories like quantitative vs. qualitative, explanatory vs. predictive, stochastic, nonstochastic mathematical, or qualitative models, linear vs. nonlinear and their underlying assumptions, degree of simplification, systemic effects integration, and so on...

Finding your research voice : the application of bibliometrics as an analytic literature tool on the pedagogic field of higher education

This paper documents the use of bibliometrics as a methodology to bring forth a structured, systematic and rigorous way to analyse and evaluate a range of literature. When starting out and reading broadly for my doctoral studies, one article by Trigwell and Prosser (1996b) led me to reflect about my level of comprehension as the content, concepts and methodology did not resonate with my epistemology. A disconnection between our paradigms emerged. Further reading unveiled the work by Doyle (1987) who categorised research in teaching and teacher education by three main areas: teacher characteristics, methods research and teacher behaviour. My growing concerns that there were gaps in the knowledge also exposed the difficulties in documenting said gaps. As an early researcher who required support to locate myself in the field and to find my research voice, I identified bibliometrics (Budd, 1988; Yeoh & Kaur, 2007) as an appropriate methodology to add value and rigour in three ways. Firstly, the application of bibliometrics to analyse articles is systematic, builds a picture from the characteristics of the literature, and offers a way to elicit themes within the categories. Secondly, by systematic analysis there is occasion to identify gaps within the body of work, limitations in methodology or areas in need of further research. Finally, extension and adaptation of the bibliometrics methodology, beyond citation or content analysis, to investigate the merit of methodology, participants and instruments as a determinant for research worth allowed the researcher to build confidence and contribute new knowledge to the field. Therefore, this paper frames research in the pedagogic field of Higher Education through teacher characteristics, methods research and teacher behaviour, visually represents the literature analysis and locates my research self within methods research. Through my research voice I will present the bibliometrics methodology, the outcomes and document the landscape of pedagogy in the field of Higher Education.

How males and females define speeding and how they���d feel getting caught for it : some implications for anti-speeding message development

Speeding represents a major contributor to road trauma, increasing crash frequency and severity. Antispeeding campaigns represent a key strategy aimed at discouraging individuals from speeding. This paper investigated salient beliefs underpinning male and female drivers��� travel speed behaviour, with the view to use such insight to, ultimately, inform the content of targeted anti-speeding messages. A survey of N = 751 (579 males, 16-79 years) drivers assessed what they regarded as speeding in 60km/hr and 100km/hr zones and their beliefs about how they would respond to receiving a speeding infringement. Participants responded to scales which extended up to 20km/hr above each respective speed limit, the lowest speed that they considered was speeding and the speed at which they would be willing to drive and still feel in control. For analyses, to enable greater scrutiny of potential gender differences regarding the speeds identified, participants��� responses to these items were categorised into 5km/hr increments and chi-square analyses conducted. For their responses to (beliefs about) the possibility of being caught speeding, drivers were asked how applicable various beliefs were to them (e.g., feeling unlucky). These beliefs were analysed via MANOVA. The results revealed that there was considerable variability in the speeds identified, thus supporting the value of categorising speeds. Within the 100km/hr zone, based on the categories, a significant difference was found regarding the speed that males would be willing to drive (and still feel in control) relative to females. Specifically, the greatest proportion of males (30.4%) identified speeds within the 106-110km/hr category whereas the greatest proportion of females (38.1%) identified a lower speed, within the 101-105km/hr category, as the speed they would be willing to drive. No other significant differences emerged, however, either in relation to the definition of speeding reported for 100km/hr zones (i.e., males and females tended to identify a similar speed as indicative of speeding) nor for these same items as assessed in relation to the 60km/hr zones. For their responses to the possibility of being caught, males were significantly more likely than females to report that, if caught, a likely response they would have would be to think that they had still been driving safely. In contrast, females were significantly more likely than males to report thinking that their speeding had been unsafe and that they should not have been speeding. Females were also significantly more likely to report feeling embarrassed to tell important others about having received a speeding infringement than males. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for developing well-targeted advertising messages aimed at discouraging drivers��� from speeding.

Relationships between appetite and quality of life in hemodialysis patients

The aim of this paper was to investigate the association between appetite and Kidney-Disease Specific Quality of Life in maintenance hemodialysis patients. Quality of Life (QoL) was measured using the Kidney Disease Quality Of Life survey. Appetite was measured using self-reported categories and a visual analog scale. Other nutritional parameters included Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PGSGA), dietary intake, body mass index and biochemical markers C-Reactive Protein and albumin. Even in this well nourished sample (n=62) of hemodialysis patients, PGSGA score (r=-0.629), subjective hunger sensations (r=0.420) and body mass index (r=-0.409) were all significantly associated with the Physical Health Domain of QoL. As self-reported appetite declined, QoL was significantly lower in nine domains which were mostly in the SF36 component and covered social functioning and physical domains. Appetite and other nutritional parameters were not as strongly associated with the Mental Health domain and Kidney Disease Component Summary Domains. Nutritional parameters, especially PGSGA score and appetite, appear to be important components of the physical health domain of QoL. As even small reductions in nutritional status were associated with significantly lower QoL scores, monitoring appetite and nutritional status is an important component of care for hemodialysis patients.

Ecological footprinting : its potential as a tool for change in preservice teacher education

Environmental and sustainability issues pose challenges for society. Although education is seen as being a contributor to addressing sustainability, teacher education has been slow to act in preparing future teachers to teach sustainability. Recent Australian curriculum documents nominate sustainability as one of three cross-curriculum priorities. In one Australian university course, an Ecological Footprint Calculator tool has been employed to challenge preservice early childhood teachers to consider the sustainability of their lifestyles as a means for engaging them in learning and teaching for sustainability. Students enrolled in an integrated arts and humanities subject voluntarily engaged with the online calculator and shared their findings on an electronic discussion forum. These postings then became the basis of qualitative analysis and discussion. Data categories included reactions and reflections on reasons for the ���heaviness��� of their footprints , student reactions leading to actions to reduce their footprints, reflections on the implications of the footprint results for future teaching, reactions that considered the need for societal change, and reflections on the integration of sustainability with the visual arts. The power of the tool���s application to stimulate interest in sustainability and education for sustainability more broadly in teacher education is explored.

A six-year descriptive analysis of hospitalisations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions among people born in refugee-source countries

Background: Hospitalisation for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSHs) has become a recognised tool to measure access to primary care. Timely and effective outpatient care is highly relevant to refugee populations given the past exposure to torture and trauma, and poor access to adequate health care in their countries of origin and during flight. Little is known about ACSHs among resettled refugee populations. With the aim of examining the hypothesis that people from refugee backgrounds have higher ACSHs than people born in the country of hospitalisation, this study analysed a six-year state-wide hospital discharge dataset to estimate ACSH rates for residents born in refugee-source countries and compared them with the Australia-born population. Methods: Hospital discharge data between 1 July 1998 and 30 June 2004 from the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset were used to assess ACSH rates among residents born in eight refugee-source countries, and compare them with the Australia-born average. Rate ratios and 95% confidence levels were used to illustrate these comparisons. Four categories of ambulatory care sensitive conditions were measured: total, acute, chronic and vaccine-preventable. Country of birth was used as a proxy indicator of refugee status. Results: When compared with the Australia-born population, hospitalisations for total and acute ambulatory care sensitive conditions were lower among refugee-born persons over the six-year period. Chronic and vaccine-preventable ACSHs were largely similar between the two population groups. Conclusion: Contrary to our hypothesis, preventable hospitalisation rates among people born in refugee-source countries were no higher than Australia-born population averages. More research is needed to elucidate whether low rates of preventable hospitalisation indicate better health status, appropriate health habits, timely and effective care-seeking behaviour and outpatient care, or overall low levels of health care-seeking due to other more pressing needs during the initial period of resettlement. It is important to unpack dimensions of health status and health care access in refugee populations through ad-hoc surveys as the refugee population is not a homogenous group despite sharing a common experience of forced displacement and violence-related trauma.

Preservice teachers��� views : Issues for learning to teach SOSE in an overcrowded curriculum

A cohort of third-year preservice teachers (n=24) was given the opportunity to observe and participate in Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE) in primary classrooms through a series of school visits during a semester-long unit. These visits were designed to give preservice teachers opportunities to connect SOSE teaching theories studied in the university setting to SOSE teaching practices within schools. This study investigates the extent of the preservice teachers��� opportunities to observe SOSE teaching in the primary school. Responses from a survey showed that the majority of preservice teachers only agreed with 6 of the 25 items associated with the six categories (personal-professional skill development, system requirements, teaching practices, student behavior, feedback to students, and reflection on practice). Written responses from the questionnaire concurred that most had not experienced SOSE teaching. Various issues are discussed around providing preservice teachers with SOSE teaching experiences. School executives, teachers and university staff need to be part of the process to ensure preservice teachers are receiving quality SOSE teaching experiences that will assist in their pedagogical development. A wider question is also raised through this paper. If preservice teachers are unable to experience quality SOSE teaching in school visits designed for such a purpose, does this signal a changing emphasis in education that leaves the social sciences and humanities off the education agenda?

A picture is worth a thousand words : an approach to learning about visuals

Students in the middle years encounter an increasing range of unfamiliar visuals. Visual literacy, the ability to encode and decode visuals and to think visually, is an expectation of all middle years curriculum areas and an expectation of NAPLAN literacy and numeracy tests. This article presents a multidisciplinary approach to teaching visual literacy that links the content of all learning areas and encourages students to transfer skills from familiar to unfamiliar contexts. It proposes a classification of visuals in six parts: one-dimensional; two-dimensional; map; shape; connection; and picture, based on the properties, rather than the purpose, of the visual. By placing a visual in one of these six categories, students learn to transfer the skills used to decode familiar visuals to unfamiliar cases in the same category. The article also discusses a range of other teaching strategies that can be used to complement this multi-disciplinary approach.

How do allied health professionals evaluate new models of care? What are we measuring and why?

The aim of this study was to identify what outcome measures or quality indicators are being used to evaluate advanced and new roles in nine allied health professions and whether the measures are evaluating outcomes of interest to the patient, the clinician, or the healthcare provider. A systematic search strategy was used. Medical and allied health databases were searched and relevant articles extracted. Relevant studies with at least 1 outcome measure were evaluated. A total of 106 articles were identified that described advanced roles, however, only 23 of these described an outcome measure in sufficient detail to be included for review. The majority of the reported measures fit into the economic and process categories. The most reported outcome related to patients was satisfaction surveys. Measures of patient health outcomes were infrequently reported. It is unclear from the studies evaluated whether new models of allied healthcare can be shown to be as safe and effective as traditional care for a given procedure. Outcome measures chosen to evaluate these services often reflect organizational need and not patient outcomes. Organizations need to ensure that high-quality performance measures are chosen to evaluate the success of new health service innovations. There needs to be a move away from in-house type surveys that add little or no valid evidence as to the effect of a new innovation. More importance needs to be placed on patient outcomes as a measure of the quality of allied health interventions.

An analysis of the corporate governance practices of smaller listed Australian companies

We examine the corporate governance environment of smaller listed Australian firms to investigate the factors that determine how firms respond to recommendations contained in corporate governance codes. We group corporate governance recommendations into three distinct categories and argue that differences in adoption costs between categories, together with firm specific factors, determine a firm���s decision to conform with the recommendation or to explain the reasons for non-conformance. Analysis of the conformance by smaller firms with governance recommendations highlights substantial differences in adoption rates between categories of recommendations. Our results also reveal that the cost of adopting specific recommendations, together with profitability, external audit quality, and ownership dispersion, jointly explain a firm���s decision to ���comply or explain���. This study provides insights for policy makers and regulators regarding the appropriateness of corporate governance recommendations for smaller firms

An exploration of the professional competencies required in engineering asset management

Engineering asset management (EAM) is a rapidly growing and developing field. However, efforts to select and develop engineers in this area are complicated by our lack of understanding of the full range of competencies required to perform. This exploratory study sought to clarify and categorise the professional competencies required of individuals at different hierarchical levels within EAM. Data from 14 interviews and 61 on-line survey participants has informed the development of an initial Professional Competency Framework. The nine competency categories indicate that Engineers working in this field need to be able to collaborate and influence others, complete objectives within organizational guidelines and be able to manage themselves effectively. Limitations and potential uses in practice and research for this framework are discussed.