Motorcycle Safety Research Project Interim Summary Report 3 : Training and Licensing Interventions for Risk Taking and Hazard Perception for Motorcyclists

Motorcycle trauma is a serious road safety issue in Queensland and throughout Australia. In 2009, Queensland Transport (later Transport and Main Roads or TMR) appointed CARRS-Q to provide a three-year program of Road Safety Research Services for Motorcycle Rider Safety. Funding for this research originated from the Motor Accident Insurance Commission. This program of research was undertaken to produce knowledge to assist TMR to improve motorcycle safety by further strengthening the licensing and training system to make learner riders safer by developing a pre-learner package (Deliverable 1), and by evaluating the QRide CAP program to ensure that it is maximally effective and contributes to the best possible training for new riders (Deliverable 2). The focus of this report is Deliverable 3 of the overall program of research. It identifies potential new licensing components that will reduce the incidence of risky riding and improve higher-order cognitive skills in new riders.

Risks of Carbon Fraud

Carbon credit markets are in the early stages of development and media headlines such as these illustrate emerging levels of concern and foreboding over the potential for fraudulent crime within these markets. Australian companies are continuing to venture into the largely unregulated voluntary carbon credit market to offset their emissions and / or give their customers the opportunity to be ‘carbon neutral’. Accordingly, the voluntary market has seen a proliferation of carbon brokers that offer tailored offset carbon products according to need and taste. With the instigation of the Australian compliance market and with pressure increasing for political responses to combat climate change, we would expect Australian companies to experience greater exposure to carbon products in both compliance and voluntary markets. This paper examines the risks of carbon fraud in these markets by reviewing cases of actual fraud and analysing and identifying contexts where risks of carbon fraud are most likely.

Innovative Products Focus Group Report 2012. Brisbane: QUT

This report presents the results of Phase 3 of the Innovative Road Products Project: National Focus Groups. The groups developed solutions to address the most important obstacles constraining the adoption of innovative products in Australian road construction projects. The Innovative Products Survey, the major Project deliverable in 2011, and the largest innovation survey ever undertaken in the Australian road consutrction industry, results in the identification of key obstacles constraining the adoption of innovative products on road projects.

Innovative Products Survey Report

This report presents the results of the 2011 Australian road and bridge product innovation survey, the largest survey of its kind ever undertaken. The survey sample was defined as key organisations involved in the Australian road and bridge construction industry. The survey focused on four sectors across the road and bridge product supply chain: suppliers (comprising manufacturers and distributors), consultants (primarily engineering consultant firms), contractors (comprising head and trade contractors and subcontractors) and clients (state government road agencies). The sample comprised the four sectors in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

Research report : computer surfaces and cross-infection

The computer is fast becoming part of the furniture in many hospital settings. Increasing reliance on the computer for documentation and dissemination of information in patient-care areas has increased the need to consider this equipment as a potential environmental reservoir for microorganisms. This paper reports on a small experimental study which investigated the potential role of computers in cross-infection. The results indicate that computer surfaces are similar to other environmental surfaces and carry the same risks for cross-infection.

The role of the Internet on export market growth : an empirical study in Latin America

The Internet has been shown to positively influence the export activities of firms from developed countries. However, the literature is vague as to whether the Internet has an impact on the export market growth of firms form developing countries. This paper examines of a cross-national sample of 204 firms from a Latin American country (Chile). The results show that Internet marketing activities positively influence information availability and business relationships, which lead to an increase in export market growth. The findings indicate that the Internet influences not only information availability for export performance but also business relationships generally thought to be face to face interactions in nature.

Orthopaedics and Trauma Queensland Annual Report 2011

Orthopaedics and Trauma Queensland, a Centre for Research and Education in Musculoskeletal Disorders, is an internationally recognised research group that is developing into an international leader in research and education. It provides a stimulus for research, education and clinical application within the international orthopaedic and trauma communities. Orthopaedics and Trauma Queensland develops and promotes the innovative use of engineering and technology, in collaboration with surgeons, to provide new techniques, materials, procedures and medical devices. Its integration with clinical practice and strong links with hospitals ensure that the research will be translated into practical outcomes for patients. The group undertakes clinical practice in orthopaedics and trauma and applies core engineering skills to challenges in medicine. The research is built on a strong foundation of knowledge in biomedical engineering, and incorporates expertise in cell biology, mathematical modelling, human anatomy and physiology and clinical medicine in orthopaedics and trauma. New knowledge is being developed and applied to the full range of orthopaedic diseases and injuries, such as knee and hip replacements, fractures and spinal deformities.

Nurses’ willingness to report medication administration errors in Saudi Arabia

Reporting of medication administration errors (MAEs) is one means by which health care facilities monitor their practice in an attempt to maintain the safest patient environment. This study examined the likelihood of registered nurses (RNs) reporting MAEs when working in Saudi Arabia. It also attempted to identify potential barriers in the reporting of MAE. This study found that 63% of RNs raised concerns about reporting of MAEs in Saudi Arabia—nursing administration was the largest impediment affecting nurses' willingness to report MAEs. Changing attitude to a non-blame system and implementation of anonymous reporting systems may encourage a greater reporting of MAEs.

Validity and use of the UV index : Report from the UVI working group, Schloss Hohenkammer, Germany, 5-7 December 2011

The adequacy of the UV Index (UVI), a simple measure of ambient solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation, has been questioned on the basis of recent scientific data on the importance of vitamin D for human health, the mutagenic capacity of radiation in the UVA wavelength, and limitations in the behavioral impact of the UVI as a public awareness tool. A working group convened by ICNIRP and WHO met to assess whether modifications of the UVI were warranted and to discuss ways of improving its effectiveness as a guide to healthy sun-protective behavior. A UV Index greater than 3 was confirmed as indicating ambient UV levels at which harmful sun exposure and sunburns could occur and hence as the threshold for promoting preventive messages. There is currently insufficient evidence about the quantitative relationship of sun exposure, vitamin D, and human health to include vitamin D considerations in sun protection recommendations. The role of UVA in sunlight-induced dermal immunosuppression and DNA damage was acknowledged, but the contribution of UVA to skin carcinogenesis could not be quantified precisely. As ambient UVA and UVB levels mostly vary in parallel in real life situations, any minor modification of the UVI weighting function with respect to UVA-induced skin cancer would not be expected to have a significant impact on the UV Index. Though it has been shown that the UV Index can raise awareness of the risk of UV radiation to some extent, the UVI does not appear to change attitudes to sun protection or behavior in the way it is presently used. Changes in the UVI itself were not warranted based on these findings, but rather research testing health behavior models, including the roles of self-efficacy and self-affirmation in relation to intention to use sun protection among different susceptible groups, should be carried out to develop more successful strategies toward improving sun protection behavior. Health Phys. 103(3):301-306; 2012

Towards equity in the futures market : curriculum as a condition of access

This article provides a consideration of the problem of equity in education. In the first part of the discussion, the author draws on philosophical and sociological literatures to consider what equity means and its implications for education. Drawing on work by Burbules, Lord & Sherman, she looks to curriculum as a condition of access and the importance of learning support structures in bringing about equitable educational outcomes, conceived in terms of Amy Gutmanns’s democratic threshold. The paper offers a conceptual-theoretical model for thinking about the resourcing and curricular requirements for equity in contemporary liberal democratic societies, contrasting the social and economic policy mixes employed by governments situated at different points along a liberty/equality continuum.

Corporate social responsibility–oriented compliances and SMEs access to global market : evidence from Bangladesh

The convergence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate governance has immense impact on the participants in global supply chains. The global buyers and retailers tend to incorporate CSR in all stages of product manufacturing within their supply chains. The incorporated CSR thus creates the difficulty to small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMEs). Incompetence in standardized CSR practices is an important issue that causes SMEs either losing their scope to access global market directly or serving as subcontractors to large enterprises. This article explores this issue by focusing on Bangladeshi SMEs under the CSR requirement of the important global buyer.

Academic wage structure by gender : the roles of peer review, performance, and market forces

We focus on understanding the role of productivity in determining wage structure differences between men and women in academia. The data arise from a pay-equity study carried out in a single Midwestern U.S. university over the 1996–7 academic year. Econometric results confirm that external market forces exert influence over both male and female salary. But peer review ratings play a significant role in male but not female earnings determination, with similar results for objective measures of research, teaching and service.

Modeling destination brand equity in an emerging long haul market

The destination branding literature emerged as recently as 1998, and there remains a dearth of empirical data that tests the effectiveness of brand campaigns over time. This paper reports the results of an investigation into consumer-based brand equity for Australia as a long haul destination in an emerging South American market. In spite of the high level of academic interest in the measurement of perceptions of destinations since the 1970s, few previous studies have examined perceptions held by South American consumers. Findings suggest that destination brand awareness, brand image, and brand value are positively related to brand loyalty for a long-haul destination. The results also indicate that Australia is a more compelling destination brand for previous visitors compared to non-visitors.

Open source information retrieval : a report on the SIGIR 2012 workshop

On August 16, 2012 the SIGIR 2012 Workshop on Open Source Information Retrieval was held as part of the SIGIR 2012 conference in Portland, Oregon, USA. There were 2 invited talks, one from industry and one from academia. There were 6 full papers and 6 short papers presented as well as demonstrations of 4 open source tools. Finally there was a lively discussion on future directions for the open source Information Retrieval community. This contribution discusses the events of the workshop and outlines future directions for the community.