13361 research outputs found
Sort by
Police Fitness: An International Perspective on Current and Future Challenges
Get PDFPoor officer fitness can lead to decreased occupational task performance, injuries, increasedabsenteeism, and a variety of negative health sequalae further adding to the challengesof staffing law enforcement agencies. Optimizing the physical fitness for both servingofficers and new recruits is critical as their loss is, and will increasingly be, difficult toreplace. However, maintaining and recruiting a physically fit workforce faces severalchallenges. For serving officers, shiftwork is known to decrease motivation to exerciseand negatively impact sleep and diet. Additional factors impacting their fitness includesage-related declines in fitness, increasing obesity, long periods of sedentarism, and negativeCOVID-19 effects. Concurrently, recruiting physically fit recruits is challenged by declininglevels of fitness, reduced physical activity, and increasing obesity in community youth.Ability-based training (ABT), individualizing physical conditioning training based on theexisting fitness levels of individuals within a group, offers a potential solution for deliveringphysical conditioning to groups of applicants, recruits, and officers with a range of physicalfitness capabilities. Law enforcement agencies should consider implementing ABT duringacademy training an
Rhythm of the game: how time-of-day and gamification rewards influence Pay-What-You-Want payments
Get PDFPurpose:This paper aims to make a novel proposition that different types of gamification rewards (symbolic versus verbal versus tangible) will have differential impacts on pay-what-you-want (SP.W.Y.W.PWYW) payments. Design/methodology/approach:Three laboratory experiments, along with a field study (N = 255, 838, 561 and 117) were conducted to empirically test the propositions. Findings:Collectively, the findings indicate that symbolic rewards drive the highest SP.W.Y.W.PWYW payments, followed by verbal and tangible rewards. Furthermore, symbolic rewards are most effective in the morning, followed by verbal in the afternoon and tangible in the evening. The effect of reward type and time-of-day jointly influenced SP.W.Y.W.PWYW payments through internal reference price. Research limitations/implications:Future work can study if existing variables known to influence SP.W.Y.W.PWYW prices (e.g. time pressure) can interact with gamification rewards to influence payments. Practical implications:The present work equips managers with a significant tool, i.e. reward type, to encourage higher SP.W.Y.W.PWYW payments. Originality/value:No previous work has proposed and empirically tested how the joint influence of time-of-day and gamification rewards may influence SP.W.Y.W.PWYW payments – a novel contribution of this work
Target firm's integrity culture and M&A performance
No full textThis study investigates whether the attribute of integrity culture (derived from target firms’ annual reports) influences merger and acquisition (M&A) performance. We find that a target firm's integrity culture, measured from its 10-K reports, has a positive and significant effect on market reaction to the bidder firm's M&A announcement. Our study's analysis is found to be robust to sample selection bias by utilising the entropy balancing technique and to endogeneity concerns by employing an instrumental variable approach. Our results are also robust to alternative measures of integrity culture and when controlling for a target firm's religiosity and corporate social responsibility, an acquirer firm's fixed effects, chief executive officer's fixed effects, governance for corporate control and advisor quality. We identify the retention of a target firm's directors and of its customers as channels that underlie our main findings. Furthermore, we find that acquisition synergies improve, with decreased time taken to complete the deal, for acquisitions of target firms with a higher integrity culture.</p
The value of measuring isometric strength in firefighter trainees
Get PDFMaximal strength is often viewed as an essential trait for firefighters, but may be challenging to measure in first responder populations. Dynamic strength tests can be time consuming and may not be appropriate for many trainees due to insufficient training history and increased risk of injury. The isometric midthigh pull (IMTP) could provide a valid strength measure, while also being an efficient test to conduct with first responder trainees who tend to have a wide range of fitness and ability levels. What would further validate the use of the IMTP in first responder populations is comparisons with job-specific tasks. PURPOSE: To determine predictive relationships between isometric strength and other general fitness measures with job-specific tasks in firefighter trainees. METHODS:Data from 47 firefighter trainees (41 men, 6 women) from one fire department were analyzed. General fitness tests included: two countermovement jump trials; two IMTP trials; 2-minute hand release push-ups; and the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1 (YYIRT1). Job-specific tests comprised: two drags with a 131.8-kg manikin over 40 m; two trials of a 10.67-m (35 feet) ladder extension; and a 5-lap tower climb wearing a 12.9-kg self-contained breathing apparatus while carrying a 24.9-kg, 30.5-m long hose pack. The best of the two trials for the countermovement jump, IMTP, manikin drag, and ladder extension were considered. Only one trial was completed for push-ups, the YYIRT1, and stair climb. Stepwise regression, controlling for sex (coded as 1 = male, 2 = female), derived relationships between the general and job-specific fitness tests (p < 0.05), with a focus on the IMTP. RESULTS: Both the manikin drag and ladder extension were predicted by sex and the IMTP, with approximately 41% and 34% explained variance, respectively (Table 1). The predictive formula for the drag was: manikin drag time (s) = 85.256 + 9.814(Sex) – 0.016(IMTP). For the ladder extension, the predictive formula was: ladder extension time (s) = 21.509 + 3.314(Sex) – 0.004(IMTP). There were no significant predictive relationships for the stair climb. CONCLUSIONS: Casualty or body drags and ladder extensions are essential, physically demanding tasks performed by firefighters that can ensure the safety of the general population and property. The current results show the need for maximal strength in performing these tasks, with the IMTP being involved in significant predictive relationships for 40-m, 131.8-kg manikin drag and 10.67-m ladder extension times. Greater isometric strength could aid the faster performance of these job tasks in trainees. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: The IMTP could be used to predict performance in job-specific tasks such as manikin drags and ladder extension in firefighter trainees. This strength test has the added value of being low-fatiguing and relatively easy to perform regardless of individual training background, so the IMTP could have application for many first responders
Identifying key physiological and clinical factors for traumatic brain injury patient management using network analysis and machine learning
No full textIn the intensive care unit (ICU), managing traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients presents significant challenges due to the dynamic interaction between physiological and clinical markers. This study aims to uncover these subtle interconnections and identify the key ICU markers for the timely care of TBI patients using advanced machine-learning techniques. We combined correlation-based network analysis and graph neural network (GNN) techniques to explore relationships among electrocardiography (ECG) features, vital signs, pathology test results, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores, and demographics from 29 TBI patients admitted to the Gold Coast University Hospital (GCUH). Our findings highlighted that the final GCS index strongly correlated with arterial and diastolic blood pressure variations, patient demographics such as gender and age, and certain heart rate variability (HRV) features. Variability in diastolic blood pressure, GCS, and pNN50 (an HRV measure) demonstrated strong associations with several other physiological and clinical markers during the first 12 hours post-ICU admission. HRV features and variability in physiological signals during the first 12 hours in the ICU are important factors in assessing the severity of TBI patients
A Hybrid Bidirectional Deep Learning Model Using HRV for Prediction of ICU Mortality Risk in TBI Patients
Get PDFAccurately predicting early mortality risk for traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) is crucial for optimizing patient care, allocating resources effectively, and reducing mortality rates. This study introduces an approach to predict mortality risk for TBI patients by analysing heart rate variability from the first 24 h of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. A deep learning hybrid model was developed by integrating a weight predictor with a bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) unit. This hybrid architecture enhances predictive performance by weighting features and capturing patterns in HRV data. This study utilised TBI patient data from the Gold Coast University Hospital and Cerebral Haemodynamic Autoregulatory Information System (CHARIS) for model training and testing. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed hybrid model achieved cross-validation metrics, including an accuracy of 0.933 (95% CI: 0.844–1.000), an area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) of 0.995 (0.978–1.000), and an area under the precision‒recall curve (AUPRC) of 0.998 (0.99–1.000). With the hold-out test dataset, the model obtained a prediction accuracy of 0.917 (0.75–1.000), an AUROC of 0.926 (0.766–1.000), and an AUPRC of 1.0. Comparative analysis with conventional machine learning models confirmed that the proposed model significantly outperformed existing approaches. The results highlight the potential of the proposed model in helping critical care strategies by providing more accurate early predictions of mortality risk through HRV analysis. Since the proposed model relies exclusively on ICU monitoring ECG data, it facilitates straightforward implementation in clinical settings
Profiling the Physiological Demands of a Wilderness Paramedics Selection Course
Get PDFWilderness paramedics are specialised paramedics who are responsible for attending to medical emergencies in remote regions with limited accessibility. Entry to the wilderness paramedic units, like many other specialist first responder units, is governed by a selection course however little is known about these selection courses. A total of eight candidates completed an initial track walk of 4.8km wearing 20.4kg of load, and 10 candidates completed a follow on 9km mountain walk across various undulating terrains wearing 15kg of load. Participants were monitored with Polar Team Pro physiological harnesses to profile each walk, monitoring distance, speed, and heart rate response. Candidates were significantly quicker in the track walk than the mountain walk, average speeds were significantly higher in the track walk (7.6km/hr) than the mountain walk (3.6km/hr), however maximum speed was significantly higher in the mountain walk (13.7km/hr vs 10.4km/hr). Maximum heart rates were similar (track walk 179.0±12.7bpm, mountain walk 179.7±15.8 bpm), average heart rates slightly higher in the track walk (163.6±15.5bpm, mountain walk 156.6±14.7bpm) and minimum heart rates higher in the track walk (123.3±18.8bpm) when compared to the mountain walk (97.9±20.6bpm). Despite the differences both walks elicited a similarly high physiological response as measured by high peak heart rates. As such, the track work can serve as a precursor to the mountain walk, which is conducted in a more austere environment. Both walks appear to be occupationally relevant with candidates adopting different strategies based on terrain
Corporate modern slavery and worker rights reporting: what does corporate board? Evidence from emerging economy
Get PDFPurpose:This study investigates the prevalence of corporate reporting on modern slavery and worker rights reporting (MSWRR) within the context of countries facing an elevated risk of modern slavery. Furthermore, it explores the impact of corporate governance mechanisms on enhancing MSWRR practices in such high-risk environments.Design/methodology/approach:Grounded in stakeholder theory, we employed a sample comprising 300 firm-year observations from the textile industries of three South Asian countries (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh). The robustness of our findings, validated through a two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM), substantiates the significant contribution of this study to the corporate governance and MSWRR literature in developing economies.Findings:The findings reveal a notably limited extent of modern slavery disclosure (MSD). Our results indicate a positive and statistically significant association between MSWRR and corporate governance elements such as directors engaged in social issues, directors with political connections and the presence of an audit committee. Conversely, a board with a concentrated family ownership structure is found to exert a significant negative influence on MSWRR.Originality/value:In light of the imperative nature of the subject matter, a dearth of scholarly inquiry is evident within the corporate domain pertaining to contemporary slavery and the reporting of worker rights. Addressing this gap, our study underscores the role of stakeholder pressures in fostering improvements in corporate governance mechanisms, thereby strengthening corporate initiatives aimed at mitigating modern slavery risks and promoting worker rights
Australia Plays 2025
Get PDFThe 2025 Australia Plays report is the 11th in a series of studies that IGEA and Bond University have published since 2005. The purpose of this research has been to provide evidence and encourage conversation about who among us plays video games, why we play, how we play and what we think of this dynamic and often breathtaking medium
The case for Helicobacter pylori screening in migrant populations
No full textHelicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is a global health concern, affecting over half of the world’s population, with particularly high prevalence among refugees and immigrants. The infection is strongly associated with chronic gastritis, peptic ulcers, dyspepsia, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma, and gastric cancer. Migrants are at increased risk due to their origins in high-prevalence regions and may face barriers to healthcare access, leading to delayed diagnosis and treatment. This article discusses the importance of screening migrants (refugees, asylum seekers, and other immigrants) for H. pylori infection and provides an overview of available testing methods. Early detection and treatment can mitigate long-term complications and reduce the burden on healthcare systems in host countries