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Community bike workshops in Australia:increasing demand for cycling through mutual aid
No full textIn this article, our goal is to analyse a small but growing movement of community bike workshops or 'bike kitchens' in Australia. Bicycles are reliable forms of 'active' travel for short and moderate length journeys, in an age where carbon emissions must be reduced and reuse, recycling and refurbishment of everyday objects like bicycles are increasingly identified as key elements of sustainability transitions in western countries. A community bike workshop is a not-for-profit community-based organization formed around the restoration and maintenance of bicycles. From interviews, surveys and participant-observation over several years in Australia and in Europe, we show how community bike workshops challenge consumerism and reliance on cars (termed, automobility), offering an innovative pathway to increasing bike ridership and acceptance of this mode of transport in urban environments. We find that they additionally support vélonomie, developing confidence among riders to repair a bicycle and to ride it safely. Bike ridership is slowly expanding in Australia, a nation of high carbon emissions per capita and high vehicle ownership. We demonstrate that repair workshops help to increase 'demand' for cycling, by encouraging confidence with mechanical tasks, greater expertise, and convivial sharing of tools and knowledge. As part of increasing ridership and hence demand for cycling provision, they operate in very different ways to more expensive 'supply-side' interventions that tend to dominate planning interventions. Supply-side policies prioritise costly bike lanes, junction treatments, safer streetscapes and bike share schemes. This agenda is favoured by urban authorities, engineers, and planners. By contrast we characterise community workshops, including those we have volunteered at in Australia, as 'mutual aid' organisations, following Kropotkin. We show that although they still have quite limited geographical coverage in Australia centred on Melbourne, they are making a modest contribution to an affordable, more sustainable, and active transportation agenda. In addition, their participants can benefit from their activities across gender, race, age, wealth, and wellness
Hidden bias, overt impact:a systematic review of the empirical literature on racial microaggressions at work
No full textThis article presents a systematic review of literature on workplace racial microaggressions. Increasingly, workplaces around the world have made concerted efforts to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion in their workforces. However, racial discrimination is a social issue that continues to be endemic to the workplace—including, yet not limited to, the prevalence of racial microaggressions. These microaggressions can, at times, be covert, and undertaken sometimes without the explicit awareness or intention of the perpetrator. Yet, the consequences of these can be very real for the person impacted (the target), which include diminished wellbeing, job satisfaction, and career progression. To capture the overall trends and themes that empirical research has examined related to workplace racial microaggressions, a systematic review of 48 scholarly peer-reviewed articles on the topic was conducted. The review highlights how racial microaggressions have been conceptualized and measured in previous work, and critically examines empirical findings to date. The systematic review reveals that more work needs to be done to advance our understanding of this field of inquiry. To address this, a future research agenda based on identified gaps in the literature is articulated which highlights opportunities for advancement of the literature. Addressing these gaps will provide actionable insights for organizations in addressing the insidious social issue of racial microaggressions in the workplace, and support scholars in the development of future work.</p
Trend-cycle decomposition in the presence of large shocks
No full textWe introduce some refinements of the Beveridge-Nelson filter to help address possible distortions from large shocks. We then compare how the Beveridge-Nelson filter and other popular univariate trend-cycle decomposition methods perform given the extreme outliers associated with the Covid recession. Real-time estimates of the output gap based on the Hodrick-Prescott filter are highly unreliable in the years just prior to the pandemic, although the revised estimates during the pandemic are similar to those of the more reliable Beveridge-Nelson filter. The Hamilton filter suffers from base effects that produce a mechanical spike in the estimated output gap exactly two years after the onset of the pandemic, in line with the filter horizon. Given projected data with a simulated Covid-like shock, both the Hodrick-Prescott and Hamilton filters overstate the true reduction in the output gap and fail to capture the implied movements in trend output. The Hodrick-Prescott filter generates a spurious transitory boom just prior to the simulated shock, while the Hamilton filter produces another mechanical spike exactly two years after the simulated shock, as well as an ongoing divergence in forecasted values of the output gap away from zero. Only the Beveridge-Nelson filter correctly forecasts trend and cycle movements when faced with a Covid-like shock
Public pathways to influencing pro-nature decision-making in government:a case study in southeastern Australia
No full textThe biodiversity crisis calls for more collective effort, and a close examination of the tools available to effect change. We documented insider knowledge into how pro-nature decision-making can be influenced in the Australian state of Victoria, focusing on the role of public advocacy targeting government. We interviewed 12 experts who currently or previously held influential roles in government or advocacy-focused environmental non-government organizations (ENGOs) and used thematic analysis to explore their responses. Experts described influence from individuals, grassroots groups, or ENGOs, and factors shaping success. These included attributes of the decision-making context, having resources and commitment to see out long-term change, having relevant networks, and being able to act when opportunities arise. Barriers described included lack of environmental literacy among the public and some decision-makers, biodiversity concern being crowded out by climate change concern, and the difficulty of shifting from incremental to systemic change. Understanding these factors can better equip advocates to have impact. Democratic governments recognize that societies make progress where there is two-way exchange between public and state, so should foster public pathways toward political engagement in conservation.</p
Patients with non-English language preference:data from an Australian healthcare facility on reported use of professional interpreting services
No full textPatients with a non-English language preference (NELP) require services in a language different from that spoken by English-speaking healthcare practitioners. National guidelines advocate professional interpreting services, but little is known about patients’ perspectives and factors that secure interpreting for them. A total of 1,120 NELP patients in Melbourne were surveyed from 2016 to 2020 in their preferred language. Patients report high awareness and utilisation of free interpreting services, predominantly initiated by healthcare staff rather than themselves. This points to cultural competence among healthcare staff as crucial for them to identify the need for interpreters. Alongside this, some patients rely on family members for linguistic mediation. This may result from patients not (self-)reporting their NELP or from contextual considerations. Amongst the latter are patients’ privacy concerns and a lack of understanding that interpreters are bound to observe ethical principles such as confidentiality and impartiality. These responses underscore the need for explicit explanations from healthcare providers and interpreters to patients about their roles and the protocols they observe.</p
Components that influence early career teachers’ practices as inclusive educators in general education settings:an international scoping review
No full textThis paper analyses the findings of a scoping review that sought to ascertain components that influence early career teachers’ practices as inclusive educators in general education settings. This represents a unique contribution to existing scholarship in that it explicitly identifies and defines 18 key components that influence early career teachers’ practices as inclusive educators. Providing a common metalanguage for these components—particularly when used in legislation and policy—is important to mitigate the overwhelming procedures for teachers and researchers who grapple with such processes, and identify their influence on their practice. The aim of this review was to identify, define, categorise and summarise the existing research from February 2011 to February 2023 that ascertains what components influence early career teachers’ practices as inclusive educators. Additionally, this scoping review proposes recommendations for future research also. The JBI Scoping Review Methodology was followed in this review, and 25 articles met the inclusion criteria. Qualitative content analysis was employed, identifying mentorship, support, time, and belief in inclusive education as the most widely discussed components. Our analysis suggests that future research should focus on early career teachers’ attitude, professional dialogue, and induction. The findings of this research have implications for teachers, teacher educators and policy makers.</p
A Blockchain-Based Digital Identity Management System via Decentralized Anonymous Credentials
No full textIn recent years, there has been an increasing trend in data breaches and personal information leakage. Data breaches often occur, in part, because of unintentional human errors. It is, therefore, critical to improve technical solutions to protect personal data. A promising solution to such a global issue is called Decentralized Identity (DID). Different from traditional centralized personal data storage systems, where users have no control over their personal data, individuals in DID management systems have complete control over their personal information. Unfortunately, existing DID solutions fail to achieve full decentralization and meet various needs in real-world applications. For example, previous DID protocols focus on privacy protection without considering that users may need to claim the same credential multiple times in some cases. Due to such an observation, in this paper, we build a blockchain-based digital identity management (BDIdM) system from a Decentralized Anonymous Credential (DAC) scheme, achieving a level of linkability to reuse certain credentials without weakening the security in the DAC scheme.</p
Improved limit of detection for zoonotic <i>Plasmodium knowlesi</i> and <i>P. cynomolgi</i> surveillance using reverse transcription for total nucleic acid preserved samples or dried blood spots
No full textBACKGROUND: Zoonotic P. knowlesi and P. cynomolgi symptomatic and asymptomatic infections occur across endemic areas of Southeast Asia. Most infections are low-parasitemia, with an unknown proportion below routine microscopy detection thresholds. Molecular surveillance tools optimizing the limit of detection (LOD) would allow more accurate estimates of zoonotic malaria prevalence. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: An established ultra-sensitive Plasmodium genus quantitative-PCR (qPCR) assay targeting the 18S rRNA gene underwent LOD evaluation with and without reverse transcription (RT) for P. knowlesi, P. cynomolgi and P. vivax using total nucleic acid preserved (DNA/RNA Shield) isolates and archived dried blood spots (DBS). LODs for selected P. knowlesi-specific assays, and reference P. vivax- and P. cynomolgi-specific assays were determined with reverse transcription (RT). Assay specificities were assessed using clinical malaria samples and malaria-negative controls. The use of reverse transcription improved Plasmodium species detection by up to 10,000-fold (Plasmodium genus), 2759-fold (P. knowlesi) and 1000-fold (P. vivax and P. cynomolgi). The Kamau et al. Plasmodium genus RT-qPCR assay was highly sensitive for P. knowlesi detection with a median LOD of ≤0.0002 parasites/μL compared to 0.002 parasites/μL for P. cynomolgi and P. vivax. The LODs with RT for P. knowlesi-specific PCRs were enhanced for the Imwong et al. 18S rRNA (0.0007 parasites/μL) and Divis et al. real-time 18S rRNA (0.0002 parasites/μL) assays, but not for the Lubis et al. hemi-nested SICAvar (1.1 parasites/μL) and Lee et al. nested 18S rRNA (11 parasites/μL). The LOD for P. vivax- and P. cynomolgi-specific assays with RT were moderately improved at 0.02 and 0.002 parasites/μL, respectively (1000-fold change). For DBS P. knowlesi samples the use of RT also markedly improved the Plasmodium genus qPCR LOD from 19.89 to 0.08 parasites/μL (249-fold change); no LOD improvement was demonstrated in DBS archived beyond 6 years. The Plasmodium genus and P. knowlesi-assays were 100% specific for Plasmodium species and P. knowlesi detection, respectively, from 190 clinical infections and 48 healthy controls. Reference P. vivax-specific primers demonstrated known cross-reactivity with P. cynomolgi. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings support the use of an 18S rRNA Plasmodium genus qPCR and species-specific nested PCR protocol with RT for highly-sensitive surveillance of zoonotic and human Plasmodium species infections.</p
Integrating the balanced scorecard and enterprise risk management:exploring the dynamics between management control anchor practices and subsidiary practices
No full textThis paper analyses the interplay between the balanced scorecard (BSC) and enterprise risk management (ERM) by employing a longitudinal case study of a large energy corporation (Global Energy). In contrast to prior research largely focusing on the ‘why’ question of BSC-ERM integration (i.e., benefits and potential pitfalls), we shift our attention to the ‘how’ question – unpacking processes underlying BSC-ERM integration over time, and the potential difficulties experienced by organisational actors during such processes. At the heart of our empirical findings was a hierarchically arranged management control infrastructure. The BSC served as the management control anchor practice (Ahrens, 2018), which was highly visible, including at the local business unit level. ERM, in comparison, assumed the role of a subsidiary practice struggling to gain visibility and traction, especially at the local level. BSC-ERM integration efforts spurred antagonistic social relationships among different actors, with our case highlighting two key additional factors – organisational structure and common mindset – that were of importance in analysing how BSC-ERM integration played out. Whilst prior work cautions that integration between ERM and other control practices may suppress alternative and potentially useful perspectives on risk, we found no such ill effects. Instead, ERM as a subsidiary control practice significantly increased its impact in Global Energy when integrated with the more established and impactful BSC anchor practice. We also extend prior literature on management control anchor practices by showing how ERM, as the subsidiary practice, did not simply execute predefined scripts determined by the anchor practice, but substantially influenced and changed the BSC anchor practice. The literature generally assumes that the anchor practice remains stable. However, in our case, input from ERM managers and the ERM practice led to significant changes in BSC performance evaluation.</p
The Presenter in the Browser:Design and Evaluation of Human Interactive Overlays with Web Content
No full textThis research explores the design and evaluation of a webcam-based presentation tool that enables presenters to directly interact with web content via free-hand gestures. Our approach consists of overlaying the webcam video feed on top of web browser content to enable live presentations of any webpage. To support interactive presentations, we designed free-hand gesture interactions with the webpage to enable pointing, clicking, panning, and zooming interactions. We propose three alternatives to enable free-hand clicking: dwell time, modal key control, and a pinching interaction technique. We conducted an exploratory user study of these alternative designs to gather insights on the usability of such systems from a presenter point of view, with a focus on understanding the impact of the three techniques on flow interruptions. The results indicate that the system we propose can be used to deliver presentations effectively and that natural gestures do not disturb the flow of the presentation.</p