Survey of novice motorcycle riders and their riding experience before licensing

Graduated licensing schemes have been found to reduce the crash risk of young novice drivers, but there is less evidence of their success with novice motorcycle riders. This study examined the riding experience of a sample of Australian learner-riders to establish the extent and variety of their riding practice during the learner stage. Riders completed an anonymous questionnaire at a compulsory rider-training course for the licensing test. The majority of participants were male (81%) with an average age of 33 years. They worked full time (81%), held an unrestricted driver's license (81%), and owned the motorcycle that they rode (79%). These riders had held their learner's license for an average of 6 months. On average, they rode 6.4 h/week. By the time they attempted the rider-licensing test, they had ridden a total of 101 h. Their total hours of on-road practice were comparable to those of learner-drivers at the same stage of licensing, but they had less experience in adverse or challenging road conditions. A substantial proportion had little or no experience of riding in the rain (57%), at night (36%), in heavy traffic (22%), on winding rural roads (52%), or on high-speed roads (51%). These findings highlight the differences in the learning processes between unsupervised novice motorcycle riders and supervised novice drivers. Further research is necessary to clarify whether specifying the conditions under which riders should practice during the graduated licensing process would likely reduce or increase their crash risk.

If Big Brother comes to a venue near you! Employee surveillance issues and the communication professional

Todoy's monogers-drowing on the expertise of their IT professiono/s-

The textures of globalization : biopolitics and the closure of xenotourism

In this paper, we explore the tensions around a recent controversial development in medical tourism: xenotourism in Mexico. We take this bioendeavor - now ceased - to be emblematic of the global character of contemporary biomedicine, providing insights into the production and operation of scientific knowledge. We explore this through what we call the “textures of globalization”: the anxiety regarding the extent to which Mexico was understood as an (in)appropriate venue for the generation of novel knowledge on xenotransplantation, and as a location for xenotourism. These tensions, which oscillated between calls for individual freedom (choice) and global regulation (standardization), ultimately led to the closure of xenotourism in Mexico.

MobileMums: A randomized controlled trial of an SMS-based physical activity intervention

Background Postnatal women (<12 months postpartum) are at increased risk of physical inactivity. Purpose To evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of a theory-based physical activity (PA) intervention delivered to postnatal women primarily via mobile telephone short message service (SMS). Methods Eighty-eight women were randomized to the intervention (n=45) or minimal contact control (n=43) condition. The 12-week intervention consisted of a face-to-face PA goal-setting consultation, a goal-setting magnet, three to five personally tailored SMS/week and a nominated support person who received two SMS per week. SMS content targeted constructs of social cognitive theory. Frequency (days/week) and duration (min/week) of PA participation and walking for exercise were assessed via self-report at baseline, 6 and 13 weeks. Results Intervention participants increased PA frequency by 1.82 days/week (SE±0.18) by 13 weeks (F(2,85)=4.46, p=0.038) and walking for exercise frequency by 1.08 days/ week (SE±0.24) by 13 weeks (F(2,85)=5.38, p=0.02). Positive trends were observed for duration (min/week) of PA and walking for exercise. Conclusions Intervention exposure resulted in increased frequency of PA and walking for exercise in postnatal women.

An evaluation framework for sustaining the impact of educational development

Notwithstanding significant efforts by international aid agencies, aid ineffectiveness became apparent in 1990s as the impact of continued development intervention did not endure the expected outcomes. Conventional monitoring and evaluation by those agencies is critiqued for focusing on measuring project outcomes and giving little attention to aspects of sustainability. As a result, devising a rigorous evaluation framework for educational development has been sought in light of recent paradigm shifts in international development. This paper reports on a case study of an Egyptian educational development project highlighting the importance of transforming the evaluation procedures to process evaluation so as to enhance project impact and longevity. This requires building evaluation capacity of the aid recipient country.

Variable structure control for power systems stabilization

The application of variable structure control (VSC) for power systems stabilization is studied in this paper. It is the application, aspects and constraints of VSC which are of particular interest. A variable structure control methodology has been proposed for power systems stabilization. The method is implemented using thyristor controlled series compensators. A three machine power system is stabilized using a switching line control for large disturbances which becomes a sliding control as the disturbance becomes smaller. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the methodology proposed as an useful tool to suppress the oscillations in power systems.

Critical literacy finds a "Place": Writing and social action in a low-income Australian grade 2/3 classroom

In a study of socioeconomically disadvantaged children's acquisition of school literacies, a university research team investigated how a group of teachers negotiated critical literacies and explored notions of social power with elementary children in a suburban school located in an area of high poverty. Here we focus on a grade 2/3 classroom where the teacher and children became involved in a local urban renewal project and on how in the process the children wrote about place and power. Using the students' concerns about their neighborhood, the teacher engaged her class in a critical literacy project that not only involved a complex set of literate practices but also taught the children about power and the possibilities for local civic action. In particular, we discuss examples of children's drawing and writing about their neighborhoods and their lives. We explore how children's writing and drawing might be key elements in developing "critical literacies" in elementary school settings. We consider how such classroom writing can be a mediator of emotions, intellectual and academic learning, social practice, and political activism.

Maternal exposure to ambient temperature and the risk of preterm birth and stillbirth in Brisbane, Australia

Almost 10% of all births are preterm and 2.2% are stillbirths globally. Recent research has suggested that environmental factors may be a contributory cause to these adverse birth outcomes. The authors examined the relationship between ambient temperature and preterm birth and stillbirth in Brisbane, Australia between 2005 and 2009 (n = 101,870). They used a Cox proportional hazard model with live birth and stillbirth as competing risks. They also examined if there were periods of the pregnancy where exposure to high temperatures had a greater effect. Exposure to higher ambient temperatures during pregnancy increased the risk of stillbirth. The hazard ratio for stillbirth was 0.3 at 12 °C relative to the reference temperature at 21 °C. The temperature effect was greatest for fetuses of less than 36 weeks of gestation. There was an association between higher temperature and shorter gestation, as the hazard ratio for live birth was 0.96 at 15 °C and 1.02 at 25 °C. This effect was greatest at later gestational ages. The results provide strong evidence of an association between increased temperature and increased risk of stillbirth and shorter gestations.

The meaning of 'material prejudice'

As dictated by s 213 of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (Qld), the seller of a proposed lot is required to provide the buyer with a disclosure statement before the contract is entered into. Where the seller subsequently becomes aware that information contained in the disclosure statement was inaccurate when the contract was entered into or the disclosure statement would not be accurate if now given as a disclosure statement, the seller must, within 14 days, give the buyer a further statement rectifying the inaccuracies in the disclosure statement. Provided the contract has not been settled, where a further statement varies the disclosure statement to such a degree that the buyer would be materially prejudiced if compelled to complete the contract, the buyer may cancel the contract by written notice given to the seller within 14 days, or a longer period as agreed between the parties, after the seller gives the buyer the further statement. The term ‘material prejudice’ was considered by Wilson J in Wilson v Mirvac Queensland Pty Ltd.

Is Dawkins a modern-day Nicodemus?

This article applies a Wittgensteinian approach to the examination of the intelligibility of religious belief, in the wake of the recent attack on the Judeo-Christian religion by Richard Dawkins's book The God Delusion. The article attempts to show that Dawkins has confused religion with superstition, and that while Dawkins's arguments are decisive in the case of superstition, they do not successfully show religion to be a delusion. Religious belief in God is not like belief in the existence of a planet, and genuine religious faith is not like the belief in something for which there is not yet enough evidence, like belief in dark matter. The Christian doctrines of the resurrection and eternal life are misconstrued if they are understood as factual claims because they are then merely shallow superstitions, and not the great religious riddles they are meant to be.

How can soil monitoring networks be used to improve predictions of organic carbon pool dynamics and CO2 fluxes in agricultural soils?

Abstract As regional and continental carbon balances of terrestrial ecosystems become available, it becomes clear that the soils are the largest source of uncertainty. Repeated inventories of soil organic carbon (SOC) organized in soil monitoring networks (SMN) are being implemented in a number of countries. This paper reviews the concepts and design of SMNs in ten countries, and discusses the contribution of such networks to reducing the uncertainty of soil carbon balances. Some SMNs are designed to estimate country-specific land use or management effects on SOC stocks, while others collect soil carbon and ancillary data to provide a nationally consistent assessment of soil carbon condition across the major land-use/soil type combinations. The former use a single sampling campaign of paired sites, while for the latter both systematic (usually grid based) and stratified repeated sampling campaigns (5–10 years interval) are used with densities of one site per 10–1,040 km². For paired sites, multiple samples at each site are taken in order to allow statistical analysis, while for the single sites, composite samples are taken. In both cases, fixed depth increments together with samples for bulk density and stone content are recommended. Samples should be archived to allow for re-measurement purposes using updated techniques. Information on land management, and where possible, land use history should be systematically recorded for each site. A case study of the agricultural frontier in Brazil is presented in which land use effect factors are calculated in order to quantify the CO2 fluxes from national land use/management conversion matrices. Process-based SOC models can be run for the individual points of the SMN, provided detailed land management records are available. These studies are still rare, as most SMNs have been implemented recently or are in progress. Examples from the USA and Belgium show that uncertainties in SOC change range from 1.6–6.5 Mg C ha−1 for the prediction of SOC stock changes on individual sites to 11.72 Mg C ha−1 or 34% of the median SOC change for soil/land use/climate units. For national SOC monitoring, stratified sampling sites appears to be the most straightforward attribution of SOC values to units with similar soil/land use/climate conditions (i.e. a spatially implicit upscaling approach). Keywords Soil monitoring networks - Soil organic carbon - Modeling - Sampling design