Translating vision research into policy and practice to improve the visibility, and hence safety, or road workers at night

The process of translating research into policy and practice is not well understood. This paper uses a case study approach to interpret an example of translation with respect to theoretical approaches identified in the literature. The case study concerns research into “biological motion” or “biomotion”: when lights are placed on the moveable joints of the body and the person moves in a dark setting, there is immediate and accurate recognition of the human form although only the lights can be seen. QUT was successful in gaining Australian Research Council funding with the support of the predecessors of the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) to research the biomotion effect in road worker clothing using reflective tape rather than lights, and this resulted in the incorporation of biomotion marking into AS/NZS 4602.1 2011. The most promising approach to understanding the success of this translation, SWOV’s “knowledge utilisation approach” provided some insights but was more descriptive than predictive and provided “necessary but not sufficient” conditions for translation. In particular, the supportive efforts of TMR staff engaged in the review and promulgation of national standards were critical in this case. A model of the conclusions is presented. The experiences gained in this case should provide insights into the processes involved in effectively translating research into practice.

Knowledge and behaviours of drunk driving offenders in Guangzhou, China

Background Alcohol is a major contributor to road crashes in China (Li, Xie, Nie, & Zhang, 2012; Cochrane, & Chen, 2003). Two levels of offence are defined in legislation: the lower level is driving under the influence (DUI, also translated as “drink driving”) and the higher level is driving while intoxicated (DWI, also translated as “drunk driving”, where the driver has BAC>0.08mg/100ml). This study focuses on a 2011 legislative amendment that made drunk driving (DWI) a criminal offence. However, it is not known whether drivers are aware of the law, and whether this knowledge, their exposure to enforcement and the existence of alcohol use disorders relate to their drink driving behaviour. This study explored these relationships in a sample of convicted drunk drivers. Method A survey collected information about offenders’ knowledge and practices related to drunk driving in Guangzhou. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) (Babor, & Grant, 1989; Chen, & Cheng, 2005) assessed hazardous drinking levels. In total, 101 drunk driving offenders were recruited while in detention. Results Males represented 90% of the sample; the average age was 33.6 years (SD=8.7; range 17-59 years). The average age at which offenders reported starting to drink alcohol was 19.5 years (SD=4.1; range 8-30 years). Driver’s licences had been held for a median of 7 years. Knowledge about legal limits for DUI and DWI offences was surprisingly low, at 27.7% and 40.6% respectively. On average, offenders had experienced 1.5 police alcohol breath tests in the previous year (SD=1.3; range 1-10). AUDIT scores indicated that a substantial proportion of the offenders had high levels of alcohol use disorders. Higher AUDIT scores were found among the least experienced drivers, those with lack of knowledge about the legal limits, and recidivist drunk drivers. Discussion and conclusions Limited awareness of legal alcohol limits might contribute to offending; high levels of alcohol consumption by many offenders suggest that hazardous drinking levels may also contribute. Novice drivers are a concern and their higher AUDIT scores merit some followup. Overall, this study provides important information to assist in refining community education and prevention efforts to align with China’s new regulations.

Histone deacetylase inhibitors target diabetes via chromatin remodeling or as chemical chaperones?

Globally, obesity and diabetes (particularly type 2 diabetes) represents a major challenge to world health. Despite decades of intense research efforts, the genetic basis involved in diabetes pathogenesis & conditions associated with obesity are still poorly understood. Recent advances have led to exciting new developments implicating epigenetics as an important mechanism underpinning diabetes and obesity related disease. One epigenetic mechanism known as the "histone code" describes the idea that specific patterns of post-translational modifications to histones act like a molecular "code" recognised and used by non-histone proteins to regulate specific chromatin functions. One modification which has received significant attention is that of histone acetylation. The enzymes which regulate this modification are described as lysine acetyltransferases or KATs and histone deacetylases or HDACs. Due to their conserved catalytic domain HDACs have been actively targeted as a therapeutic target. Some of the known inhibitors of HDACs (HDACi) have also been shown to act as "chemical chaperones" to alleviate diabetic symptoms. In this review, we discuss the available evidence concerning the roles of HDACs in regulating chaperone function and how this may have implications in the management of diabetes. © 2009 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.

Much ado about nothing? Tracing the progress of innovations borne on enterprise social network sites

Enterprise social networks are organizationally bounded online platforms for users to interact with another and maintain interpersonal relationships. The allure of these technologies is often seen in intra-organizational communication, collaboration and innovation. How these technologies actually support organizational innovation efforts remains unclear. A specific challenge is whether digital content on these platforms converts to actual innovation development efforts. In this study we set out to examine innovation-centric content flows on enterprise social networking platforms, and advance a conceptual model that seeks to explain which innovation conveyed in the digital content will traverse from the digital platform into regular processes. We describe important constructs of our model and offer strategies for the operationalization of the constructs. We conclude with an outlook to our ongoing empirical study that will explore and validate the key propositions of our model, and we sketch some potential implications for industry and academia.

New strategy toward dioxin risk reduction for local residents surrounding severe dioxin hotspots in Vietnam

Background A public health intervention program with active involvement of local related stakeholders was piloted in the Bien Hoa dioxin hot spot (2007-2009), and then expanded to the Da Nang dioxin hot spot in Vietnam (2009-2011). It aimed to reduce the risk of dioxin exposure through foods for local residents. This article presents the results of the intervention in Da Nang. Methodology To assess the results of this intervention program, pre-intervention and post-intervention knowledge-attitude-practice (KAP) surveys were implemented in 400 households, randomly selected from four wards surrounding Da Nang Airbase in 2009 and 2011, respectively. Results After the intervention, the knowledge on the existence of dioxin in food, dioxin exposure pathways, potential high risk foods and preventive measures significantly increased (p < 0.05). 98% were willing to follow advice on preventing dioxin exposure. Practices to reduce the risk of dioxin exposure also statistical significantly improved (p<0.05). After intervention, 60.4% of households undertook exposure preventive measures, significantly higher than that of the pre-intervention survey (39.6%; χ2 =40.15 , P<0.001). High risk foods had quite low rates of daily consumption (from 0% to 2.5%) and were significantly reduced (p<0.05). Conclusions This is seen as an effective intervention strategy toward reducing the risk of human exposure to dioxin at dioxin hot spots. While greater efforts are needed for remediating dioxin polluted areas inside airbases, there is also evidence to suggest that, during the past four decades, pollution has been expanding to the surrounding areas. For this reason, this model should be quickly expanded to the remaining dioxin hot spots in Vietnam to further reduce the exposure risk in these areas.

Could MOOCs answer the problems of teaching AQF required skills in Australian tertiary programmes?

From 2015, Australian universities will be required to demonstrate that their programmes explicitly teach, and assess achievement of, knowledge and skills and the application of both as specified by the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). Over the last twenty years, the sector has applied significant effort and resource to embedding the development of skills through tertiary programmes. Despite these national and institutional efforts, employer and industry concerns remain about the quality of graduate skills. The authors propose a ‘massive open online course’ (MOOC) approach to teaching and assessing AQF required skills. As an example the paper identifies the skills modules that would need to be developed by experts in each skill area for AQF level 9 master’s by coursework programmes. The proposed MOOC would include assessment tasks and rubrics allowing students to develop and demonstrate achievement of the AQF required skills. The assessment tasks could be used by institutions to provide evidence of attainment of coursework master’s standards.

A proposed approach to monitor private-sector policies and practices related to food environments, obesity and non-communicable disease prevention

Private-sector organizations play a critical role in shaping the food environments of individuals and populations. However, there is currently very limited independent monitoring of private-sector actions related to food environments. This paper reviews previous efforts to monitor the private sector in this area, and outlines a proposed approach to monitor private-sector policies and practices related to food environments, and their influence on obesity and non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention. A step-wise approach to data collection is recommended, in which the first (‘minimal’) step is the collation of publicly available food and nutrition-related policies of selected private-sector organizations. The second (‘expanded’) step assesses the nutritional composition of each organization's products, their promotions to children, their labelling practices, and the accessibility, availability and affordability of their products. The third (‘optimal’) step includes data on other commercial activities that may influence food environments, such as political lobbying and corporate philanthropy. The proposed approach will be further developed and piloted in countries of varying size and income levels. There is potential for this approach to enable national and international benchmarking of private-sector policies and practices, and to inform efforts to hold the private sector to account for their role in obesity and NCD prevention.

Monitoring and benchmarking population diet quality globally : a step-wise approach

INFORMAS (International Network for Food and Obesity/non-communicable diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support) aims to monitor and benchmark the healthiness of food environments globally. In order to assess the impact of food environments on population diets, it is necessary to monitor population diet quality between countries and over time. This paper reviews existing data sources suitable for monitoring population diet quality, and assesses their strengths and limitations. A step-wise framework is then proposed for monitoring population diet quality. Food balance sheets (FBaS), household budget and expenditure surveys (HBES) and food intake surveys are all suitable methods for assessing population diet quality. In the proposed ‘minimal’ approach, national trends of food and energy availability can be explored using FBaS. In the ‘expanded’ and ‘optimal’ approaches, the dietary share of ultra-processed products is measured as an indicator of energy-dense, nutrient-poor diets using HBES and food intake surveys, respectively. In addition, it is proposed that pre-defined diet quality indices are used to score diets, and some of those have been designed for application within all three monitoring approaches. However, in order to enhance the value of global efforts to monitor diet quality, data collection methods and diet quality indicators need further development work.

Investigating attitudes towards three South American destinations in an emerging long haul market using a model of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE)

Despite the importance of destination image in market competitiveness, and the popularity of the field within tourism literature, there remains a dearth of published research examining travellers’ perceptions of destinations in South America. This manuscript addresses this gap by testing a model of consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) associated with three South American countries; Chile, Brazil and Argentina. The introduction of direct air links and a free trade agreement in 2008 has led destination marketing organisations (DMOs) in these countries to increase promotional efforts in the Australian market. This study shows that the CBBE model is an appropriate tool to explore consumers’ attitudes in the long haul travel context. The findings provide DMOs of the three countries studied, with benchmarks against which to compare the impact of future marketing communications in Australia. The results provide increased transparency and accountability to stakeholders, such as South American tourism businesses and Australian travel intermediaries.

A theory of process modelling impact

Process modelling – the design and use of graphical documentations of an organisation’s business processes – is a key method to document and use information about business processes. Still, despite current interest in process modelling, this research area faces essential challenges. Key unanswered questions concern the impact of process modelling in organisational practice, and the mechanisms through which impacts are developed. To answer these questions and to provide a better understanding of process modelling impact, I turn to the concept of affordances. Affordances describe the possibilities for goal-oriented action that technical objects offer to specified users. This notion has received growing attention from IS researchers. I report on my efforts to further develop the IS discipline’s understanding of affordances and impacts from informational objects, such as process models used by analysts for purposes of information systems analysis and design. Specifically, I seek to extend existing theory on the emergence and actualisation of affordances. I develop a research model that describes the process by which affordances are perceived and actualised and explain their dependence on available information and actualisation effort. I present my plans for operationalising and testing this research model empirically, and provide details about my design of a full-cycle, mixed methods study currently in progress.

Making prevention matter : a survey of child sexual abuse prevention programs in Australia

Throughout Australia, there is considerable concern about the prevalence of child sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is experienced by over 3,500 Australian children each year, causing long-term psychological, health and social problems to children, their families and communities, and significant economic costs to society as a whole. In many countries, the provision of school-based programs has been a core strategy in efforts to prevent child sexual abuse. However, little is known about the range of programs in use in Australia, the numbers of children who have received programs, and the contents and methods used in program delivery. This presentation reports on a detailed National survey of child sexual abuse prevention programs currently used in Australian primary schools. An online survey was conducted over a six-month period from November 2011 to April 2012 yielding detailed data from 38 programs. The presentation will provide an overview of: the scope and reach of programs; program content, teaching strategies and resources; barriers and facilitators to program adoption by schools; and program evaluation strategies.

The bioeconomics of nutritional poverty and child labour

This paper provides a bio-economic foundation of fertility and child labor. Drawing on the clinical and physiological literature, the model highlights the interaction between work efforts of adults and children, their subsistence consumption, and fertility. The subsistence consumption requirements are endogenous to physical efforts. Parents engaged in physically demanding occupations (e.g. non-mechanized agriculture) are likely to suffer from energy deficiency, leading to reduced future work-capacity. Consumption smoothing occurs through bearing a large number of children who provide income support as adults. Although net cost of an additional child is positive, the cost is balanced by the additional income accruing though child employment. In contrast, parents in low-physical effort occupations are less likely to su¤er from nutritional deficiency, and thus tend to have lower fertility and child labor.

Reconciling folksonomic tagging with taxa for bioacoustic annotations

Acoustic sensors are increasingly used to monitor biodiversity. They can remain deployed in the environment for extended periods to passively and objectively record the sounds of the environment. The collected acoustic data must be analyzed to identify the presence of the sounds made by fauna in order to understand biodiversity. Citizen scientists play an important role in analyzing this data by annotating calls and identifying species. This paper presents our research into bioacoustic annotation techniques. It describes our work in defining a process for managing, creating, and using tags that are applied to our annotations. This paper includes a detailed description of our methodology for correcting and then linking our folksonomic tags to taxonomic data sources. Providing tools and processes for maintaining species naming consistency is critical to the success of a project designed to generate scientific data. We demonstrate that cleaning the folksonomic data and providing links to external taxonomic authorities enhances the scientific utility of the tagging efforts of citizen scientists.

Creating a Sustainability Scorecard as a predictive tool for measuring the complex social, economic and environmental impacts of industries, a case study : assessing the viability and sustainability of the dairy industry

Sustainability is a key driver for decisions in the management and future development of industries. The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987) outlined imperatives which need to be met for environmental, economic and social sustainability. Development of strategies for measuring and improving sustainability in and across these domains, however, has been hindered by intense debate between advocates for one approach fearing that efforts by those who advocate for another could have unintended adverse impacts. Studies attempting to compare the sustainability performance of countries and industries have also found ratings of performance quite variable depending on the sustainability indices used. Quantifying and comparing the sustainability of industries across the triple bottom line of economy, environment and social impact continues to be problematic. Using the Australian dairy industry as a case study, a Sustainability Scorecard, developed as a Bayesian network model, is proposed as an adaptable tool to enable informed assessment, dialogue and negotiation of strategies at a global level as well as being suitable for developing local solutions.

The effect of retail store managers on aboriginal diet in remote communities

Key nutrient densities of the diet of two remote northern coastal Aboriginal communities were measured using the store-turnover method during the periods that three store managers were responsible for each store respectively. Individual store managers were a greater determinant of nutrient density than the community itself. Furthermore, nutrient densities tended to be highest in both communities when their stores were administered by one particular store manager. The results support the notion that store managers wield considerable power over the food supply of remote Aboriginal communities, and raise questions concerning the ability of Aboriginal community members to influence their own food supplies in retail stores. However, the study also confirms that store managers can be important allies in efforts to improve Aboriginal dietary intake.