Sensors and control for mining robotics

This paper discusses some of the sensing technologies and control approaches available for guiding robot manipulators for a class of underground mining tasks including drilling jumbos, bolting arms, shotcreters or explosive chargers. Data acquired with such sensors, in the laboratory and underground, is presented.

Plain packaging for the Pacific Rim: The Trans-Pacific Partnership and tobacco control

Big Tobacco has been engaged in a dark, shadowy plot and conspiracy to hijack the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) and undermine tobacco control measures – such as graphic health warnings and the plain packaging of tobacco products... In the context of this heavy lobbying by Big Tobacco and its proxies, this chapter provides an analysis of the debate over trade, tobacco, and the TPP. This discussion is necessarily focused on the negotiations of the free trade agreement – the shadowy conflicts before the finalisation of the text. This chapter contends that the trade negotiations threaten hard-won gains in public health – including international developments such as the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and domestic measures, such as graphic health warnings and the plain packaging of tobacco products. It maintains that there is a need for regional trade agreements to respect the primacy of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. There is a need both to provide for an open and transparent process regarding such trade negotiations, as well as a due and proper respect for public health in terms of substantive obligations. Part I focuses on the debate over the intellectual property chapter of the TPP, within the broader context of domestic litigation against Australia’s plain tobacco packaging regime and associated WTO disputes. Part II examines the investment chapter of the TPP, taking account of ongoing investment disputes concerning tobacco control and the declared approaches of Australia and New Zealand to investor-state dispute settlement. Part III looks at the discussion as to whether there should be specific text on tobacco control in the TPP, and, if so, what should be its nature and content. This chapter concludes that the plain packaging of tobacco products – and other best practices in tobacco control – should be adopted by members of the Pacific Rim.

Job uncertainty and personal control during downsizing: A comparison of survivors and victims

This study developed and tested a model of job uncertainty for survivors and victims of downsizing. Data were collected from three samples of employees in a public hospital, each representing three phases of the downsizing process: immediately before the announcement of the redeployment of staff, during the implementation of the downsizing, and towards the end of the official change programme. As predicted, levels of job uncertainty and personal control had a direct relationship with emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. In addition, there was evidence to suggest that personal control mediated the relationship between job uncertainty and employee adjustment, a pattern of results that varied across each of the three phases of the change event. From the perspective of the organization’s overall climate, it was found that levels of job uncertainty, personal control and job satisfaction improved and/or stabilized over the downsizing process. During the implementation phase, survivors experienced higher levels of personal control than victims, but both groups of employees reported similar levels of job uncertainty. We discuss the implications of our results for strategically managing uncertainty during and after organizational change.

Responses to an in-basket activity: The role of work stress, behavioral control, and informational control

This study was undertaken to examine the main and interactive effects of work stress and work control on levels of adjustment. Work stress, behavioral control, and informational control were manipulated in an experimental setting in which participants (N = 192) completed an in-basket activity. Although minimal support was found for the main and interactive effects of objective work stress, behavioral control, and informational control on adjustment, analyses involving the subjective measures of these variables revealed strong support for the proposal that work stress, behavioral control, and informational control would exert main effects on adjustment. There was also evidence that subjective levels of behavioral control buffered the negative effects of subjective work stress on positive mood, subjective task performance, and task satisfaction.

Employee reactions to behavioural control under conditions of stress: The moderating role of self-efficacy

Extensive research conducted in the occupational stress literature has failed to provide convincing support for the stress-buffering effects of work control on employee adjustment. Drawing on research conducted in the laboratory context, it was proposed that the stress-buffering effects of work control on employee adjustment would be more marked at high, rather than low, levels of self-efficacy. In a sample of 100 customer service representatives, a significant three-way interaction among role conflict, work control and self-efficacy (measured at Time 1) was observed on (low) depersonalization (measured at Time 2). Consistent with expectations, work control reduced the negative effects of work stress on this outcome measure only for employees who perceived high levels of self-efficacy at work. In addition, there was evidence to suggest that self-efficacy moderated the main effects of work control on job satisfaction and somatic health. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical contribution to the job strain model, and also in relation to workplace interventions designed to improve levels of employee adjustment.

An experimental study of the effects of work stress, work control, and task information on adjustment

The present study was designed to examine the main and interactive effects of task demands, work control, and task information on levels of adjustment. Task demands, work control, and task information were manipulated in an experimental setting where participants completed a letter-sorting activity (N= 128). Indicators of adjustment included measures of positive mood, participants' perceptions of task performance, and task satisfaction. Results of the present study provided some support for the main effects of objective task demands, work control, and task information on levels of adjustment. At the subjective level of analysis, there was some evidence to suggest that work control and task information interacted in their effects on levels of adjustment. There was minimal support for the proposal that work control and task information would buffer the negative effects of task demands on adjustment. There was, however, some evidence to suggest that the stress-buffering role of subjective work control was more marked at high, rather than low, levels of subjective task information.

The effects of prediction, understanding, and control: A test of the stress antidote model

A study was undertaken to examine further the effects of perceived work control on employee adjustment. On the basis of the stress antidote model, it was proposed that high levels of prediction, understanding, and control of work-related events would have direct, indirect, and interactive effects on levels of employee adjustment. These hypotheses were tested in a short-term longitudinal study of 137 employees of a large retail organization. The stress antidote measures appeared to be indirectly related to employee adjustment, via their effects on perceptions of work stress. There was weak evidence for the proposal that prediction, understanding, and control would buffer the negative effects of work stress. Additional analyses indicated that the observed effects of prediction, understanding, and control were independent of employees' generalized control beliefs. However, there was no support for the proposal that the effects of the stress antidote measures would be dependent on employees' generalized control beliefs.

Manipulating the data: Teaching and NAPLAN in the control society

High-stakes testing is changing what it means to be a ‘good teacher’ in the contemporary school. This paper uses Deleuze and Guattari's ideas on the control society and dividuation in the context of National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing in Australia to suggest that the database generates new understandings of the ‘good teacher’. Media reports are used to look at how teachers are responding to the high-stakes database through manipulating the data. This article argues that manipulating the data is a regrettable, but logical, response to manifestations of teaching where only the data counts.

Spinning in the NAPLAN ether: 'Postscript on the Control Societies' and the seduction of education in Australia

This paper applies concepts Deleuze developed in his ‘Postscript on the Societies of Control’, especially those relating to modulatory power, dividuation and control, to aspects of Australian schooling to explore how this transition is manifesting itself. Two modulatory machines of assessment, NAPLAN and My Schools, are examined as a means to better understand how the disciplinary institution is changing as a result of modulation. This transition from discipline to modulation is visible in the declining importance of the disciplinary teacher–student relationship as a measure of the success of the educative process. The transition occurs through seduction because that which purports to measure classroom quality is in fact a serpent of modulation that produces simulacra of the disciplinary classroom. The effect is to sever what happens in the disciplinary space from its representations in a luminiferous ether that overlays the classroom.

Gene regulation by translational inhibition is determined by Dicer partnering proteins

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small regulatory RNAs produced by Dicer proteins that regulate gene expression in development and adaptive responses to the environment1,​2,​3,​4. In animals, the degree of base pairing between a miRNA and its target messenger RNA seems to determine whether the regulation occurs through cleavage or translation inhibition1. In contrast, the selection of regulatory mechanisms is independent of the degree of mismatch between a plant miRNA and its target transcript5. However, the components and mechanism(s) that determine whether a plant miRNA ultimately regulates its targets by guiding cleavage or translational inhibition are unknown6. Here we show that the form of regulatory action directed by a plant miRNA is determined by DRB2, a DICER-LIKE1 (DCL1) partnering protein. The dependence of DCL1 on DRB1 for miRNA biogenesis is well characterized7,​8,​9, but we show that it is only required for miRNA-guided transcript cleavage. We found that DRB2 determines miRNA-guided translational inhibition and represses DRB1 expression, thereby allowing the active selection of miRNA regulatory action. Furthermore, our results reveal that the core silencing proteins ARGONAUTE1 (AGO1) and SERRATE (SE) are highly regulated by miRNA-guided translational inhibition. DRB2 has been remarkably conserved throughout plant evolution, raising the possibility that translational repression is the ancient form of miRNA-directed gene regulation in plants, and that Dicer partnering proteins, such as human TRBP, might play a similar role in other eukaryotic systems.

Latinos and political advocacy for cancer control in a United States-Mexico border community

Health policy interventions provide powerful tools for addressing health disparities. The Latino community is one of the fastest growing communities in the United States yet is largely underrepresented in government and advocacy efforts. This study includes 42 Latino adults (M age 5 45 years) who participated in focus group discussions and completed a brief questionnaire assessing their experiences with political health advocacy. Qualitative analyses revealed participants considered cancer a concern for the Latino community, but there was a lack of familiarity with political advocacy and its role in cancer control. Participants identified structural, practical, cultural, and contextual barriers to engaging in political health advocacy. This article presents a summary of the findings that suggest alternative ways to engage Latinos in cancer control advocacy.

Supporting staff to identify residents in pain: A controlled pretest-posttest study in residential aged care

Practical strategies are needed to improve pain awareness among aged care staff and promote a systematic approach to pain identification using evidence-based tools. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a pain identification tool for use by nursing and non-professional staff in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). A controlled pretest-posttest intervention design was conducted in two RACFs in Brisbane, Australia. Completed surveys were returned by 216 staff and 74 residents at baseline and 218 staff and 94 residents at 3-month follow-up. Chart audits were conducted on 308 residents at baseline and 328 at follow-up. Groups were compared on: (1) staff knowledge and attitudes regarding pain, perceived confidence and skills for pain assessment, and perceived quality of pain management, (2) frequency of pain assessments and use of pain interventions, and (3) residents’ perceptions of the quality of pain management. Both groups had high knowledge scores and reported high levels of confidence, skills and perceived quality of pain management at baseline and follow-up. The intervention group showed significant improvement in routine pain assessment and use of non-drug pain interventions. However, due to unexpected changes in control group conditions, both groups increased episodic pain assessment. Overall, staff believed the intervention was clinically useful and fostered a team approach to pain assessment. We found the introduction of pain identification resources with implementation strategies to support frontline staff was partially effective in improving staff and resident outcomes. Nonetheless, our findings confirm the need for change and importance of translational pain research in RACFs.

The plain truth: Australia, tobacco control, and Southeast Asia

As of December 2012, Australia will be the first country in the world where tobacco products will be sold in olive plain packaging without branding. There has been much discussion as to whether this pioneering initiative will spark an ‘Olive Revolution’ around the world — with other countries adopting the plain packaging of tobacco products. Australia’s neighbours in Southeast Asia would particularly benefit from tobacco control measures such as the plain packaging.

Reliability control of GNSS carrier-phase integer ambiguity resolution

This research investigates how to obtain accurate and reliable positioning results with global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). The work provides a theoretical framework for reliability control in GNSS carrier phase ambiguity resolution, which is the key technique for precise GNSS positioning in centimetre levels. The proposed approach includes identification and exclusion procedures of unreliable solutions and hypothesis tests, allowing the reliability of solutions to be controlled in the aspects of mathematical models, integer estimation and ambiguity acceptance tests. Extensive experimental results with both simulation and observed data sets effectively demonstrate the reliability performance characteristics based on the proposed theoretical framework and procedures.