Do drivers respond emotionally and behaviourally differently to an intentionally anger provoking driving situation than to an ambiguous, but potentially provocative, one? Results of a self-report survey.

Aggressive driving is considered an important road-safety concern for drivers in highly motorised countries. However, understanding of the causes and maintenance factors fundamental to aggressive driving is limited. In keeping with theoretical advances from general aggression research such as the General Aggression Model (GAM), research has begun to examine the emotional and cognitive antecedents of aggressive driving in order to better understand the underlying processes motivating aggressive driving. Early findings in the driving area have suggested that greater levels of aggression are elicited in response to an intentionally aggressive on-road event. In contrast, general aggression research suggests that greater levels of aggression are elicited in response to an ambiguous event. The current study examined emotional and cognitive responses to two hypothetical driving scenarios with differing levels of aggressive intent (intentional versus ambiguous). There was also an interest in whether factors influencing responses were different for hostile aggression (that is, where the action is intended to harm the other) versus instrumental aggression (that is, where the action is motivated by an intention to remove an impediment or attain a goal). Results were that significantly stronger negative emotion and negative attributions, as well as greater levels of threat were reported in response to the scenario which was designed to appear intentional in nature. In addition, participants were more likely to endorse an aggressive behavioural response to a situation that appeared deliberately aggressive than to one where the intention was ambiguous. Analyses to determine if greater levels of negative emotions and cognitions are able to predict aggressive responses provided different patterns of results for instrumental aggression from those for hostile aggression. Specifically, for instrumental aggression, negative emotions and negative attributions were significant predictors for both the intentional and the ambiguous scenarios. In addition, perceived threat was also a significant predictor where the other driver’s intent was clearly aggressive. However, lower rather than higher, levels of perceived threat were associated with greater endorsement of an aggressive response. For hostile aggressive behavioural responses, trait aggression was the strongest predictor for both situations. Overall the results suggest that in the driving context, instrumental aggression is likely to be a much more common response than hostile aggression. Moreover, aggressive responses are more likely in situations where another driver’s behaviour is clearly intentional rather than ambiguous. The results also support the conclusion that there may be different underlying mechanisms motivating an instrumental aggressive response to those motivating a hostile one. In addition, understanding the emotions and cognitions underlying aggressive driving responses may be helpful in predicting and intervening to reduce driving aggression. The finding that drivers appear to regard tailgating as an instrumental response is of concern since this behaviour has the potential to result in crashes.

Tax evasion, inequality, and progressive taxes : a political economy perspective

The standard approach to tax compliance applies the economics-of-crime methodology pioneered by Becker (1968): in its first application, due to Allingham and Sandmo (1972) it models the behaviour of agents as a decision involving a choice of the extent of their income to report to tax authorities, given a certain institutional environment, represented by parameters such as the probability of detection and penalties in the event the agent is caught. While this basic framework yields important insights on tax compliance behavior, it has some critical limitations. Specifically, it indicates a level of compliance that is significantly below what is observed in the data. This thesis revisits the original framework with a view towards addressing this issue, and examining the political economy implications of tax evasion for progressivity in the tax structure. The approach followed involves building a macroeconomic, dynamic equilibrium model for the purpose of examining these issues, by using a step-wise model building procedure starting with some very simple variations of the basic Allingham and Sandmo construct, which are eventually integrated to a dynamic general equilibrium overlapping generations framework with heterogeneous agents. One of the variations involves incorporating the Allingham and Sandmo construct into a two-period model of a small open economy of the type originally attributed to Fisher (1930). A further variation of this simple construct involves allowing agents to initially decide whether to evade taxes or not. In the event they decide to evade, the agents then have to decide the extent of income or wealth they wish to under-report. We find that the ‘evade or not’ assumption has strikingly different and more realistic implications for the extent of evasion, and demonstrate that it is a more appropriate modeling strategy in the context of macroeconomic models, which are essentially dynamic in nature, and involve consumption smoothing across time and across various states of nature. Specifically, since deciding to undertake tax evasion impacts on the consumption smoothing ability of the agent by creating two states of nature in which the agent is ‘caught’ or ‘not caught’, there is a possibility that their utility under certainty, when they choose not to evade, is higher than the expected utility obtained when they choose to evade. Furthermore, the simple two-period model incorporating an ‘evade or not’ choice can be used to demonstrate some strikingly different political economy implications relative to its Allingham and Sandmo counterpart. In variations of the two models that allow for voting on the tax parameter, we find that agents typically choose to vote for a high degree of progressivity by choosing the highest available tax rate from the menu of choices available to them. There is, however, a small range of inequality levels for which agents in the ‘evade or not’ model vote for a relatively low value of the tax rate. The final steps in the model building procedure involve grafting the two-period models with a political economy choice into a dynamic overlapping generations setting with more general, non-linear tax schedules and a ‘cost-of evasion’ function that is increasing in the extent of evasion. Results based on numerical simulations of these models show further improvement in the model’s ability to match empirically plausible levels of tax evasion. In addition, the differences between the political economy implications of the ‘evade or not’ version of the model and its Allingham and Sandmo counterpart are now very striking; there is now a large range of values of the inequality parameter for which agents in the ‘evade or not’ model vote for a low degree of progressivity. This is because, in the ‘evade or not’ version of the model, low values of the tax rate encourages a large number of agents to choose the ‘not-evade’ option, so that the redistributive mechanism is more ‘efficient’ relative to the situations in which tax rates are high. Some further implications of the models of this thesis relate to whether variations in the level of inequality, and parameters such as the probability of detection and penalties for tax evasion matter for the political economy results. We find that (i) the political economy outcomes for the tax rate are quite insensitive to changes in inequality, and (ii) the voting outcomes change in non-monotonic ways in response to changes in the probability of detection and penalty rates. Specifically, the model suggests that changes in inequality should not matter, although the political outcome for the tax rate for a given level of inequality is conditional on whether there is a large or small or large extent of evasion in the economy. We conclude that further theoretical research into macroeconomic models of tax evasion is required to identify the structural relationships underpinning the link between inequality and redistribution in the presence of tax evasion. The models of this thesis provide a necessary first step in that direction.

The effect of warm-up intensity on range of motion and anaerobic performance

Although there is a paucity of scientific support for the benefits of warm-up, athletes commonly warm up prior to activity with the intention of improving performance and reducing the incidence of injuries. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of warm-up intensity on both range of motion (ROM) and anaerobic performance. Nine males (age = 21.7 +/- 1.6 years, height = 1.77 +/- 0.04 m, weight = 80.2 +/- 6.8 kg, and VO2max = 60.4 +/- 5.4 ml/kg/min) completed four trials. Each trial consisted of hip, knee, and ankle ROM evaluation using an electronic inclinometer and an anaerobic capacity test on the treadmill (time to fatigue at 13 km/hr and 20% grade). Subjects underwent no warm-up or a warm-up of 15 minutes running at 60, 70 or 80% VO2max followed by a series of lower limb stretches. Intensity of warm-up had little effect on ROM, since ankle dorsiflexion and hip extension significantly increased in all warm-up conditions, hip flexion significantly increased only after the 80% VO2max warm-up, and knee flexion did not change after any warm-up. Heart rate and body temperature were significantly increased (p < 0.05) prior to anaerobic performance for each of the warm-up conditions, but anaerobic performance improved significantly only after warm-up at 60% VO2max (10%) and 70% VO2max (13%). A 15-minute warm-up at an intensity of 60-70% VO2max is therefore recommended to improve ROM and enhance subsequent anaerobic performance.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of a kidney and cardiovascular disease treatment program in an Australian Aboriginal population

The objective of the study was to assess, from a health service perspective, whether a systematic program to modify kidney and cardiovascular disease reduced the costs of treating end-stage kidney failure. The participants in the study were 1,800 aboriginal adults with hypertension, diabetes with microalbuminuria or overt albuminuria, and overt albuminuria, living on two islands in the Northern Territory of Australia during 1995 to 2000. Perindopril was the primary treatment agent, and other medications were also used to control blood pressure. Control of glucose and lipid levels were attempted, and health education was offered. Evaluation of program resource use and costs for follow-up periods was done at 3 and 4.7 years. On an intention-to-treat basis, the number of dialysis starts and dialysis-years avoided were estimated by comparing the fate of the treatment group with that of historical control subjects, matched for disease severity, who were followed in the before the treatment program began. For the first three years, an estimated 11.6 person-years of dialysis were avoided, and over 4.7 years, 27.7 person-years of dialysis were avoided. The net cost of the program was 1,210 dollars more per person per year than status quo care, and dialyses avoided gave net savings of 1.0 million dollars at 3 years and 3.4 million dollars at 4.6 years. The treatment program provided significant health benefit and impressive cost savings in dialysis avoided.

An extended theory of planned behavior intervention for older adults With Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease

A randomized controlled trial evaluated the effectiveness of a 4-wk extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) intervention to promote regular physical activity and healthy eating among older adults diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease (N = 183). Participants completed TPB measures of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention, as well as planning and behavior, at preintervention and 1 wk and 6 wk postintervention for each behavior. No significant time-by-condition effects emerged for healthy eating. For physical activity, significant time-by-condition effects were found for behavior, intention, planning, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norm. In particular, compared with control participants, the intervention group showed short-term improvements in physical activity and planning, with further analyses indicating that the effect of the intervention on behavior was mediated by planning. The results indicate that TPB-based interventions including planning strategies may encourage physical activity among older people with diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The role of mindfulness in an extended TPB framework to understand drivers’ speeding intentions in school zones.

Many researchers have demonstrated the applicability of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) in predicting both intention to speed and actual speeding behaviour. However, there remain shortcomings in the explanatory power of the TPB, with research suggesting that even when drivers had reported an intention to not speed approximately 25% of drivers report behaviour that does not align with their intentions (i.e., they engaged in speeding, Elliott & Armitage, 2006). This research explores the role of a novel and promising construct, mindfulness, in enhancing the explanatory utility of the TPB for the understanding of drivers’ speeding behaviour in school zones. Mindfulness is a concept which has been widely used in studies of consciousness, but has recently been applied to the understanding of behaviour in other areas, including clinical psychology, physical activity, education and business. It has been suggested that mindfulness can also be applied to road safety, though its application within this context currently remains limited. This study was based on an e-survey of the general driving public (N=240). Overall, the results identified mindfulness as a construct which may aid understanding of the relationship between drivers’ intentions and behaviour. Theoretically, the findings may have implications in terms of identifying mindfulness as an additional explanatory construct within a TPB framework. In road safety practice, the findings suggest that efficacious countermeasures around school zones may be those that function to heighten drivers’ mindfulness, such as flashing lights and physical speed reduction measures.

Predictive modelling : parents’ decision making to use online child health information to increase their understanding and/or diagnose or treat their child’s health

Abstract Background The quantum increases in home Internet access and available online health information with limited control over information quality highlight the necessity of exploring decision making processes in accessing and using online information, specifically in relation to children who do not make their health decisions. Objectives To understand the processes explaining parents’ decisions to use online health information for child health care. Methods Parents (N = 391) completed an initial questionnaire assessing the theory of planned behaviour constructs of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control, as well as perceived risk, group norm, and additional demographic factors. Two months later, 187 parents completed a follow-up questionnaire assessing their decisions to use online information for their child’s health care, specifically to 1) diagnose and/or treat their child’s suspected medical condition/illness and 2) increase understanding about a diagnosis or treatment recommended by a health professional. Results Hierarchical multiple regression showed that, for both behaviours, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, (less) perceived risk, group norm, and (non) medical background were the significant predictors of intention. For parents’ use of online child health information, for both behaviours, intention was the sole significant predictor of behaviour. The findings explain 77% of the variance in parents’ intention to treat/diagnose a child health problem and 74% of the variance in their intentions to increase their understanding about child health concerns. Conclusions Understanding parents’ socio-cognitive processes that guide their use of online information for child health care is important given the increase in Internet usage and the sometimes-questionable quality of health information provided online. Findings highlight parents’ thirst for information; there is an urgent need for health professionals to provide parents with evidence-based child health websites in addition to general population education on how to evaluate the quality of online health information.

Transnational higher education programs for facilitating inter-university knowledge transfer : University of Indonesia’s experience

This paper explores the impacts and extent of knowledge transfer (KT) in an undergraduate engineering transnational program with an Australian university partner at the University of Indonesia (UI) using an inter-university KT conceptual framework (Sutrisno, Lisana, & Pillay 2012). For the purpose of this paper, the opportunity for KT in curriculum design is examined. Given the explicit nature of curriculum knowledge, assessing each partner’s curriculum was pivotal in allowing UI to enrich its own curriculum. The KT mechanism of face-to-face contact between Indonesian and Australian academics led to not only transfer of knowledge related to the curriculum of the undergraduate program but also to other cooperation beyond the transnational program in the form of joint research and joint supervision of post-graduate theses. Positive inter-university dynamics, such as trust and willingness to work together between the partners were underpinned by the presence of key actors from both sides at the earlier stages of the partnership. Retrospectively exploring the KT process in the UI’s transnational programs with its Australian partner suggests that there have been both structured and unstructured mechanisms, highlighting the ubiquitous and unbounded nature of KT between universities. While initially successful in facilitating KT, due to rapid succession of persons in charge of the program and the increasing focus on revenue generation, the useful lessons and practices unfortunately are being lost. Although the intention to use the transnational program for KT was always implied, it gradually was overlooked by newer staff members. Based on UI’s experience as the first provider of transnational program in Indonesia and other similar cases in China, seemingly transnational programs driven by short-term immediate financial return are unsuccessful in facilitating KT due to sensitivities to unfavourable economic situation. Those that remain operational and contribute to knowledge exchange between the partners apparently have genuine long-term engagement objective.

Proceedings of the Interior Space in Other Places : An IDEA [Interior Design/Interior Architecture Educators Association] Symposium [Edited Volume of Proceedings]

Conference curatorial outline The focus of this symposium was to question whether interior design is changing relative to local conditions, and the effect globalization has on the performance of regional, particularly Southern hemisphere identities. The intention being to understand how theory and practice is transposed to ‘distant lands’, and how ideas shift from one place to another. To this extent the symposium invited papers on the export, translation and adoption of theories and practices of interior design to differing climates, cultures, and landscapes. This process, sometimes referred to as a shift from ‘the centre to the margins’, seeks new perspectives on the adoption of European and US design ideas abroad, as well as their return to their place of origin. Papers were invited from a range of perspectives including the export of ideas/attitudes to interior spaces, history of interior spaces abroad, and the adoption of ideas/processes to new conditions. Paralleling this trafficking of ideas are broader observations about interior space that emerge through specificity of place. These include new and emerging directions and differences in our understanding of interiority; both real and virtual, and an ever-changing relationship to city, suburb and country. Keeping within the Symposium theme the intention was to examine other places, particularly on the margins of the discipline’s domain. Semantic slippage aside, there are a range of approaches that engage outside events and practices enabling a transdisciplinary practice that draws from other philosophical and theoretical frameworks. Moreover as the field expands and new territories are opened up, the virtual worlds of computer gaming, animations, and interactive environments, both rely on and produce new forms of expression. This raises questions about the extent such spaces adopt or translate existing theory and practice, that is the transposition from one area to another and their return to the discipline.

Beyond the 'at risk' individual : housing and the eradication of poverty to prevent homelessness

The 2008 White Paper on Homelessness (Australian Government 2008) constitutes a watershed initiative outlining the future for Australian homelessness policy. This contemporary homelessness policy is diverse and it continues to unfold and evolve during implementation. Nevertheless, it is characterised by the explicit intention to move beyond the former crisis based system, and the espousal of achieving measurable outcomes of permanently ending homelessness (Australian Government 2008).

The roles of procedural justice and social learning in improving self organizing capabilities of local communities for sustainable development in decentralized Indonesia

The development planning process under Law No. 25/2004 is said to be a new approach to increase public participation in decentralised Indonesia. This Law has introduced planning mechanisms, called Musyawarah Perencanaan Pembangunan (Musrenbang), to provide a forum for development planning. In spite of the expressed intention of these mechanisms to improve public participation, some empirical observations have cast doubt on the outcomes. As a result, some local governments have tried to provide alternative mechanisms to promote for participation in local development planning. Since planning is often said to be one of the most effective ways to improve community empowerment, it is of particular concern, to examine the extent to which the current local development planning processes in Indonesia provide sufficient opportunities to improve the self organising capabilities of communities to sustain development programs to meet local needs. With this objective in mind, this paper examines problems encountered by the new local planning mechanism (Musrenbang) in increasing local community empowerment particularly regarding their self organising capabilities. The concept of community empowerment as a pathway to social justice is explored to identify its key elements and approaches and to show how they can be incorporated within planning processes. Having discussed this, it is then argued that to change current unfavorable outcomes, procedural justice and social learning approaches need to be adopted as pathways to community empowerment. Lastly it is also suggested that an alternative local planning process, called Sistem Dukungan (SISDUK), introduced in South Suluwezi in collaboration with JAICA in 2006 (?) offers scope to incorporate such procedural justice and social learning approaches to improve the self organizing capabilities of local communities.

Designing the future in wound care : the role of the nurse practitioner

The nurse practitioner is emerging as a new level and type of health care. Increasing specialisation and advanced educational opportunities in nursing and the inequality in access to health care for sectors of the community have established the conditions under which the nurse practitioner movement has strengthened both nationally and internationally. The boundaries of responsibility for nurses are changing, not only because of increased demands but also because nurses have demonstrated their competence in varied extended and expanded practice roles. The nurse practitioner role reflects the continuing development of the nursing profession and substantially extends the career path for clinical nurses. This paper describes an aspect of a large-scale investigation into the feasibility of the role of the nurse practitioner in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) health care system. The paper reports on the trial of practice for a wound care nurse practitioner model in a tertiary institution. In the trial the wound care nurse practitioner worked in an extended practice role for 10 months. The nurse practitioner practice was supported, monitored and mentored by a clinical support team. Data were collected relating to a range of outcomes including definition of the scope of practice for the model, description of patient demographics and outcomes and the efficacy of the nurse practitioner service. The findings informed the development of clinical protocols that define the scope of practice and the parameters of the wound care nurse practitioner model and provided information on the efficacy of this model of health care for the tertiary care environment. The findings further suggest that this model brings expert wound care and case management to an at-risk patient population. Recommendations are made relating to ongoing research into the role of the wound care nurse practitioner model in the ACT health care system.

Dying in hospital: medical failure or natural outcomes?

The purpose of this study was to describe patterns of medical and nursing practice in the care of patients dying of oncological and hematological malignancies in the acute care setting in Australia. A tool validated in a similar American study was used to study the medical records of 100 consecutive patients who died of oncological or hematological malignancies before August 1999 at The Canberra Hospital in the Australian Capital Territory. The three major indicators of patterns of end-of-life care were documentation of Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders, evidence that the patient was considered dying, and the presence of a palliative care intention. Findings were that 88 patients were documented DNR, 63 patients' records suggested that the patient was dying, and 74 patients had evidence of a palliative care plan. Forty-six patients were documented DNR 2 days or less prior to death and, of these, 12 were documented the day of death. Similar patterns emerged for days between considered dying and death, and between palliative care goals and death. Sixty patients had active treatment in progress at the time of death. The late implementation of end-of-life management plans and the lack of consistency within these plans suggested that patients were subjected to medical interventions and investigations up to the time of death. Implications for palliative care teams include the need to educate health care staff and to plan and implement policy regarding the management of dying patients in the acute care setting. Although the health care system in Australia has cultural differences when compared to the American context, this research suggests that the treatment imperative to prolong life is similar to that found in American-based studies.

Nambour : the model rural school

This paper examines the Rural Schools of Queensland. Starting with Nambour in 1917, the scheme incorporated thirty schools, and operated for over forty years. The rhetoric of the day was that boys and girls from the senior classes of primary school would be provided with elementary instruction of a practical character. In reality, the subjects taught were specifically tailored to provide farm skills to children in rural centres engaged in farming, dairying or fruit growing. Linked to each Rural School was a number of smaller surrounding schools, students from which travelled to the Rural School for special agricultural or domestic instruction. Through this action, the Queensland Department of Public Instruction left no doubt it intended to provide educational support for agrarian change and development within the state; in effect, they had set in motion the creation of a Queensland yeoman class. The Department’s intention was to arrest or reverse the trend toward urbanisation — whilst increasing agricultural productivity — through the making of a farmer born of the land and accepting of the new scientific advances in agriculture.