Achieving safe road use in a rapidly motorising country : The influence of longstanding beliefs on risky driver behaviour in Pakistan

Road crashes are one of the most significant public health problems in Pakistan; however the factors that contribute to road crashes in Pakistan are not well-researched. Traditional beliefs and values can act as a barrier to health-promoting and injury prevention behaviours, in general and especially in relation to road safety, and may also contribute to risk-taking behaviours. Such beliefs can present significant challenges for health advocates who aim to change behaviour in order to avert road crashes and diminish their consequences. Qualitative research was undertaken in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore with a range of drivers, religious orators, police and policy makers to explore cultural and religious beliefs and their association with risky road use, and to understand how they might affect development of road safety interventions. The findings highlight a range of issues, including the identification of aspects of beliefs that have complex social implications when designing safety intervention strategies. The pervasive nature of religious and superstitious beliefs in Pakistan can affect road user behaviour by reinforcing the presumption that the individual has no part to play in safety, thereby supporting continued risk taking behaviour. It is anticipated that the findings could be used to inform the design of interventions aimed at influencing broad-spectrum health attitudes and practices among the communities where such beliefs are prevalent.

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.

Factors that influence Chinese TEFL academics' research capacity building : an institutional case study

Research capacity building has become a prominent theme in higher education institutions across the world. To build research capacity, it is necessary to identify areas of challenges academics face within the academia. This case study focuses on Chinese teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) academics with the purpose of identifying factors that influence their research capacity building. Six TEFL academics from a Chinese national university were interviewed and institutional research documents were analysed. Findings showed that obstacles and difficulties in conducting research were more related to departmental factors than individual characteristics. The institution was keen on developing a research culture, and encouraged research and publications. Departmental support for research was improving, but it seems that it was more generic than tailored to individual needs. The findings of this study provide implications for research administrators in further supporting TEFL academics’ research capacity building.

Are we keeping the bastards honest? Perceptions of corruption, integrity and influence on politics

The words of the late Don Chipp, the founder of the Australian Democrats, have a perennial relevance to politics. When Chipp talked about ‘keeping the bastards honest’, it related to a minor political party playing a role of keeping the major political parties true to their word (Warhurst 1997). Yet it is also a democratic role that citizens play on an ongoing basis, particularly through the mechanism of elections. At the ballot box, governments that are widely perceived to have acted with a lack of integrity are roundly punished. This chapter explores public opinion on issues of integrity, corruption, influence and trust in politics and politicians in Australia. The evidence paints a differentiated picture of a public which sees little sign of overtly corrupt political practices but on the other hand does not feel terribly influential and is not always confident of fair treatment from public officials...

The influence of parental health beliefs on child restraint practices in a regional centre in Queensland

Since March 2010 in Queensland, legislation has specified the type of restraint and seating row for child passengers under 7 years according to age. The following study explored regional parents’ child restraint practices and the influence of their health beliefs over these. A brief intercept interview was verbally administered to a convenience sample of parent-drivers (n = 123) in Toowoomba in February 2010, after the announcement of changes to legislation but prior to enforcement. Parents who agreed to be followed-up were then reinterviewed after the enforcement (May-June 2010). The Health Beliefs Model was used to gauge beliefs about susceptibility to crashing, children being injured in a crash, and likely severity of injuries. Self-efficacy and perceptions about barriers to, and benefits of, using age-appropriate restraints with children, were also assessed. Results: There were very high levels of rear seating reported for children (initial interview 91%; follow-up 100%). Dedicated child restraint use was 96.9% at initial interview, though 11% were deemed inappropriate for the child’s age. Self-reported restraint practices for children under 7 were used to categorise parental practices into ‘Appropriate’ (all children in age-appropriate restraint and rear seat) or ‘Inappropriate’ (≥1 child inappropriately restrained). 94% of parents were aware of the legislation, but only around one third gave accurate descriptions of the requirements. However, 89% of parents were deemed to have ‘Appropriate’ restraint practices. Parents with ‘Inappropriate’ practices were significantly more likely than those with ‘Appropriate’ practices to disagree that child restraints provide better protection for children in a crash than adult seatbelts. For self-efficacy, parents with ‘Appropriate’ practices were more likely than those with ‘Inappropriate’ practices to report being ‘completely confident’ about installing child restraints. The results suggest that efforts to increase the level of appropriate restraint should attempt to better inform them about the superior protection offered by child restraints compared with seat belts for children.

Successful outcomes in vocational education and training courses : how pedagogy and expectations influence achievement

This paper reports on a four year Australian Research Council funded Linkage Project titled Skilling Indigenous Queensland, conducted in regional areas of Queensland, Australia from 2009 to 2013. The project sought to investigate vocational education, training (VET) and teaching, Indigenous learners’ needs, employer cultural and expectations and community culture and expectations to identify best practice in numeracy teaching for Indigenous VET learners. Specifically it focused on ways to enhance the teaching and learning of courses and the associated mathematics in such courses to benefit learners and increase their future opportunities of employment. To date thirty-nine teachers/trainers/teacher aides and two hundred and thirty-one students consented to participate in the project. Nine VET courses were nominated to be the focus on the study. This paper focuses on questionnaire and interview responses from four trainers, two teacher aides and six students. In recent years a considerable amount of funding has been allocated to increasing Indigenous Peoples’ participation in education and employment. This increased funding is predicated on the assumption that it will make a difference and contribute to closing the education gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (Council of Australia Governments, 2009). The central tenet is that access to education for Indigenous People will create substantial social and economic benefits for regional and remote Indigenous People. The project’s aim is to address some of the issues associated with the gap. To achieve the aims, the project adopted a mixed methods design aimed at benefitting research participants and included: participatory collaborative action research (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988) and, community research (Smith, 1999). Participatory collaborative action research refers to a is a “collective, self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own social and educational practices” (Kemmis et al., 1988, p. 5). Community research is described as an approach that “conveys a much more intimate, human and self-defined space” (p. 127). Community research relies on and validates the community’s own definitions. As the project is informed by the social at a community level, it is described as “community action research or emancipatory research” (Smith, 1999, p. 127). It seeks to demonstrate benefit to the community, making positive differences in the lives of Indigenous People and communities. The data collection techniques included survey questionnaires, video recording of teaching and learning processes, teacher reflective video analysis of teaching, observations, semi-structured interviews and student numeracy testing. As a result of these processes, the findings indicate that VET course teachers work hard to adopt contextualising strategies to their teaching, however this process is not always straight forward because of the perceptions of how mathematics has been taught and learned historically. Further teachers, trainers and students have high expectations of one another with the view to successful outcomes from the courses.

The influence of online reviews on consumers’ attributions of service quality and control for service standards in hotels

Online travel reviews are emerging as a powerful source of information affecting tourists' pre-purchase evaluation of a hotel organization. This trend has highlighted the need for a greater understanding of the impact of online reviews on consumer attitudes and behaviors. In view of this need, we investigate the influence of online hotel reviews on consumers' attributions of service quality and firms' ability to control service delivery. An experimental design was used to examine the effects of four independent variables: framing; valence; ratings; and target. The results suggest that in reviews evaluating a hotel, remarks related to core services are more likely to induce positive service quality attributions. Recent reviews affect customers' attributions of controllability for service delivery, with negative reviews exerting an unfavorable influence on consumers' perceptions. The findings highlight the importance of managing the core service and the need for managers to act promptly in addressing customer service problems.

A study of Beijing‘s competitive advantage as an emergent media capital

The development of creative industries has been connected to urban development since the end of the 20th century. However, the causality of why creative industries always cluster and develop in certain cities hasn‘t been adequately demonstrated, especially as to how various resources grow, interact and nurture the creative capacity of the locality. Therefore it is vital to observe how the local institutional environment nurtures creative industries and how creative industries consequently change the environment in order to better address the connection between creative industries and localities. In Beijing, the relocation of CCTV, BTV and Phoenix to Chaoyang District raises the possibility of a new era for Chinese media, one in which the stodginess of propaganda content will give way to exciting new forms and genres. The mixing of media companies in an open commercial environment (away from the political power district of Xicheng) holds the promise of more freedom of expression and, ultimately, to a =media capital‘ (Curtin, 2003). These are the dreams of many media practitioners in Beijing. But just how realistic are their expectations? This study adopts the concept of =media capital‘ to demonstrate how participants, including state-media organisations, private media companies and international media conglomerates, are seeking out space and networks to survive in Beijing. Drawing on policy analysis, interviews and case studies, this study illustrates how different agents meet, confront and adapt in Beijing. This study identifies factors responsible for the media industries clustering in China, and argues that Beijing is very likely to be the next Chinese media capital, after enough accumulation and development, although as a lower tier version compared to other media capitals in the world. This study contributes to Curtin‘s =media capital‘ concept, develops his interpretation on the relationship of media industries and the government, and suggests that the influence over the government of media companies and professionals should be acknowledged. Therefore, empirically, this study assists media practitioners in understanding how the Chinese government perceives media industries and, consequently, how media industries are operated in China. The study also reveals that despite the government‘s aspirations, China‘s media industries are still greatly constrained by institutional obstacles. Hence Beijing really needs to speed up its pace on the path of media reform, abandon the old mindset and create more room for creativity. Policy-makers in China should keep in mind that the only choice left to them is to further the reform.

The influence of neighbourhood disadvantage on smoking cessation and its contribution to inequalities in smoking status

Introduction and aims: Individual smokers from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to quit, which contributes to widening inequalities in smoking. Residents of disadvantaged neighbourhoods are more likely to smoke, and neighbourhood inequalities in smoking may also be widening because of neighbourhood differences in rates of cessation. This study examined the association between neighbourhood disadvantage and smoking cessation and its relationship with neighbourhood inequalities in smoking. Design and methods: A multilevel longitudinal study of mid-aged (40-67 years) residents (n=6915) of Brisbane, Australia, who lived in the same neighbourhoods (n=200) in 2007 and 2009. Neighbourhood inequalities in cessation and smoking were analysed using multilevel logistic regression and Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation. Results: After adjustment for individual-level socioeconomic factors, the probability of quitting smoking between 2007 and 2009 was lower for residents of disadvantaged neighbourhoods (9.0%-12.8%) than their counterparts in more advantaged neighbourhoods (20.7%-22.5%). These inequalities in cessation manifested in widening inequalities in smoking: in 2007 the between-neighbourhood variance in rates of smoking was 0.242 (p≤0.001) and in 2009 it was 0.260 (p≤0.001). In 2007, residents of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods were 88% (OR 1.88, 95% CrI 1.41-2.49) more likely to smoke than residents in the least disadvantaged neighbourhoods: the corresponding difference in 2009 was 98% (OR 1.98 95% CrI 1.48-2.66). Conclusion: Fundamentally, social and economic inequalities at the neighbourhood and individual-levels cause smoking and cessation inequalities. Reducing these inequalities will require comprehensive, well-funded, and targeted tobacco control efforts and equity based policies that address the social and economic determinants of smoking.

Influence of grain boundaries on the vibrational properties of silver nanowires

Metal and semiconductor nanowires (NWs) have been widely employed as the building blocks of the nanoelectromechanical systems, which usually acted a resonant beam. Recent researches reported that nanowires are often polycrystalline, which contains grain boundaries (GBs) that transect the whole nanowire into a bamboo like structure. Based on the larger-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, a comprehensive investigation of the influence from grain boundaries on the vibrational properties of doubly clamped Ag NWs is conducted. It is found that, the presence of grain boundary will result in significant energy dissipation during the resonance of polycrystalline NWs, which leads a great deterioration to the quality factor. Further investigation reveals that the energy dissipation is originated from the plastic deformation of polycrystalline NWs in the form of the nucleation of partial dislocations or the generation of micro stacking faults around the GBs and the micro stacking faults is found to keep almost intact during the whole vibration process. Moreover, it is observed that the closer of the grain boundary getting to the regions with the highest strain state, the more energy dissipation will be resulted from the plastic deformation. In addition, either the increase of the number of grain boundaries or the decrease of the distance between the grain boundary and the highest strain state region is observed to induce a lower first resonance frequency. This work sheds lights on the better understanding of the mechanical properties of polycrystalline NWs, which benefits the increasing utilities of NWs in diverse nano-electronic devices.

Influence of electrolyte cations on electron transport and electron transfer in dye-sensitized solar cells

The influence of different electrolyte cations ((Li+, Na+, Mg2+, tetrabutyl ammonium (TBA+)) on the TiO2 conduction band energy (Ec) the effective electron lifetime (τn), and the effective electron diffusion coefficient (Dn) in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) was studied quantitatively. The separation between Ec and the redox Fermi level, EF,redox, was found to decrease as the charge/radius ratio of the cations increased. Ec in the Mg2+ electrolyte was found to be 170 meV lower than that in the Na+ electrolyte and 400 meV lower than that in the TBA+ electrolyte. Comparison of Dn and τn in the different electrolytes was carried out by using the trapped electron concentration as a measure of the energy difference between Ec and the quasi-Fermi level, nEF, under different illumination levels. Plots of Dn as a function of the trapped electron density, nt, were found to be relatively insensitive to the electrolyte cation, indicating that the density and energetic distribution of electron traps in TiO2 are similar in all of the electrolytes studied. By contrast, plots of τn versus nt for the different cations showed that the rate of electron back reaction is more than an order of magnitude faster in the TBA+ electrolyte compared with the Na+ and Li+ electrolytes. The electron diffusion lengths in the different electrolytes followed the sequence of Na+ > Li+ > Mg2+ > TBA+. The trends observed in the AM 1.5 current–voltage characteristics of the DSCs are rationalized on the basis of the conduction band shifts and changes in electron lifetime.

Disaster resilience and local adaptation capacity in coastal Queensland

The 2011 floods illustrated once again Queensland’s vulnerability to flooding and similar disasters. Climate change will increase the frequency and magnitude of such events and will have a variety of other impacts. To deal with these impacts governments at all levels need to be prepared and work together. Like the rest of the nation most of the population of the state is located in the coastal areas and these areas are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. This paper examines climate change adaptation efforts in coastal Queensland. The aim is increasing local disaster resilience of people and property through fostering coordination between local and state government planning activities in coastal high hazard areas. By increasing the ability of local governments and state agencies to coordinate planning activities, we can help adapt to impacts of climate change. Towards that end, we will look at the ways that these groups currently interact, especially with regard to issues involving uncertainty related to climate change impacts. Through an examination of climate change related activities by Queensland’s coastal local governments and state level planning agencies and how they coordinate their planning activities at different levels we aim to identify the weaknesses of the current planning system in responding to the challenges of climate change adaptation and opportunities for improving the ways we plan and coordinate planning, and make recommendations to improve resilience in advance of disasters so as to help speed up recovery when they occur.

Framing local stories for community consumption facilitation and evaluation in narrative driven arts-based projects

Cyclone Yasi struck the Cassowary Coast of Queensland in the early hours of Feb 3, 2011, destroying many homes sand property, including the destruction of the Cardwell and district historical society’s premises. With their own homes flattened, many were forced to live in mobile accommodation, with extended family, or leave altogether. The historical society members however were more devastated by their flattened foreshore museum and loss of their collection material. A call for assistance was made through the OHAA Qld branch, who along with QUT sponsored a trip to somehow plan how they could start to pick up the pieces to start again. This presentation highlights the need for communities to gather, preserve and present their own stories, in a way that is sustainable and meaningful to them, but that good advice and support along the way is important. Two 2 day workshops were held in March and then September, augmented by plenty of email correspondence and phone calls in between. Participants learnt that if they could conduct quality oral history interviews, they could later use these in many exhibitable ways including: documentary pieces; digital stories; photographic collections; creative short stories; audio segments –while also drawing closely together a suffering community. This story is not only about the people who were interviewed about the night Yasi struck, but the amazing women (all over 50) of the historical society who were willing to try and leap the digital divide that faces older Australians, especially those in rural Australia, so that their older local stories would not be lost and so that new stories could also be remembered.

Influence of damping systems on building structures subject to seismic effects

This paper investigates the response of multi-storey structures under simulated earthquake loads with friction dampers, viscoelastic dampers and combined friction-viscoelastic damping devices strategically located within shear walls. Consequently, evaluations are made as to how the damping systems affect the seismic response of these structures with respect to deflections and accelerations. In particular, this paper concentrates on the effects of damper types, configurations and their locations within the cut-outs of shear walls. The initial stiffness of the cut out section of the shear wall is removed and replaced by the stiffness and damping of the device. Influence of parameters of damper properties such as stiffness, damping coefficient, location, configuration and size are studied and evaluated using results obtained under several different earthquake scenarios. Structural models with cut outs at different heights are treated in order to establish the effectiveness of the dampers and their optimal placement. This conceptual study has demonstrated the feasibility of mitigating the seismic response of building structures by using embedded dampers.