The enablers and implementation model for mobile KMS in Australian healthcare

In this research project, the enablers in implementing mobile KMS in Australian regional healthcare will be investigated, and a validated framework and guidelines to assist healthcare in implementing mobile KMS will also be proposed with both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The outcomes for this study are expected to improve the understanding the enabling factors in implementing mobile KMS in Australian healthcare, as well as provide better guidelines for this process

Exploratory study to explore the role of ICT in the process of knowledge management in an Indian business environment

In the 21st century and the emergence of a digital economy, knowledge and the knowledge base economy are rapidly growing. To effectively be able to understand the processes involved in the creating, managing and sharing of knowledge management in the business environment is critical to the success of an organization. This study builds on the previous research of the authors on the enablers of knowledge management by identifying the relationship between the enablers of knowledge management and the role played by information communication technologies (ICT) and ICT infrastructure in a business setting. This paper provides the findings of a survey collected from the four major Indian cities (Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Villupuram) regarding their views and opinions about the enablers of knowledge management in business setting. A total of 80 organizations participated in the study with 100 participants in each city. The results show that ICT and ICT infrastructure can play a critical role in the creating, managing and sharing of knowledge in an Indian business environment

Students' views on feedback: insights into conceptions of effectiveness, areas of dissatisfaction and emotional consequences

 The importance of feedback to academic performance and the role it plays in improving students’ knowledge and understanding of their own learning is widely acknowledged. Despite this, there remain many issues surrounding provision and receipt of feedback, some of which are investigated within this study. In depth interviews with a small group of students were held to gain insight into conceptions of effective feedback, to explore emotional reactions to receiving feedback and to consider aspects of communication and interactions between staff and students. Narratives revealed potential for raised anxiety levels, particularly in light of generic feedback - an aspect which is often under-represented in the literature

Conserving living landscapes: investigating the impacts of livestock grazing and assessing rangeland restoration potential in Overberg Renosterveld, South Africa

Biodiversity is declining faster than at any other time in the Earth's history, driven mostly by land use change and degradation. Overberg Renosterveld, some of the most species diverse mediterranean type shrublands, are no exception with about 95% of their original extent lost to agriculture. Historically, large herds of indigenous grazing mammals roamed these landscapes. Today the Overberg's agricultural lands are fragmented by land cover change and divided by fences. In the contemporary landscape animals, largely domestic livestock, and plant resources are closely coupled, and overgrazing of remaining renosterveld fragments a significant threat, with potential to cause irreversible damage. The Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act (CARA) (Act 43 of 1983) states that farmers must not exceed the grazing capacity of the veld unless it is protected against deterioration and destruction, and that any land that is degraded or denuded must be effectively restored or reclaimed. Despite this legislation, there is little empirical research on the impacts of livestock grazing on renosterveld, as well as on restoration of overgrazed areas. It was the aim of this thesis to contribute to this gap in understanding. The thesis assessed the role of grazing by different livestock types, namely cattle and sheep, on biodiversity, the soil seed bank, and the restoration potential of renosterveld vegetation from resting the veld. The effect of livestock grazing by sheep and cattle on plant species richness and diversity and growth form diversity was assessed using Modified Whittaker plots and presented in Chapter 3. It was hypothesised that livestock grazing by cattle would have less effect on species richness and diversity and growth form diversity than sheep grazing and that both cattle and sheep grazing would lead to a reduction in species richness and diversity in comparison to renosterveld sites with a treatment of no grazing. Thirty sites where either no grazing has taken place or that have been grazed by cattle or sheep were selected with sites being evenly distributed between Eastern, Central and Western Rûens Shale Renosterveld. At each of the thirty sites, vegetation data were collected from a series of nested subplots of ten 1 m2 , two 10 m2 and one 100 m2 subplots nested within a 1 000 m2 plot. One soil sample was also collected from each 1 000 m2 plot to a depth of 10 cm for nutrient analysis. Findings revealed that sites grazed by sheep had significantly lower plant species richness (median richness = 29 species, mean Shannon-Weiner = 3.39) and diversity when compared to sites with a treatment of no grazing (median richness = 49 species, mean Shannon Weiner = 3.83). Sites with a treatment of no grazing had significantly higher richness of geophyte species (mean = 14.7) than sites grazed by cattle (mean = 7.0) and sheep (mean = 7.1) during the study. The results obtained were in line with the hypothesis that livestock grazing by sheep resulted in a reduction in species richness and diversity and vegetation cover in Overberg Renosterveld in comparison to sites where no grazing has taken place. Sites with a treatment of no grazing showed higher species richness and vegetation cover of non-succulent shrubs, annual forbs and perennial forbs than sites grazed by sheep. It was concluded that livestock grazing of Overberg Renosterveld by sheep needs to be done with care. This can be done by adopting a passive adaptive management approach. Here one set of management protocols can be developed and implemented and through science-based monitoring to inform management, these can be adapted as needed based on the key findings. Chapter 4 investigated ecosystem resilience and the restoration potential of Overberg Renosterveld through an exploration of its soil seed bank as a source for potential recovery. A glasshouse germination experiment investigated the effect of livestock grazing by cattle and by sheep in comparison with a grazing treatment of no grazing on the soil seed bank in Overberg Renosterveld, as well as the similarity between the standing vegetation and the soil seed bank. It was hypothesised that cattle and sheep grazing would reduce species richness, species diversity and growth form diversity in the soil seed bank in comparison with sites with a treatment of no grazing. Soil samples were collected from 30 sites that were also used in Chapter 3. The soil was then spread on top of a 6 cm layer of compost in seed trays, and smoke treated to enhance germination. Seedlings were assigned to growth form categories including forbs, geophytes, annuals, graminoids, succulent shrubs and nonsucculent shrubs and then identified to family, genus or species level. The results of the soil seed bank study were correlated with the vegetation results from Chapter 3 to examine the relationship between the standing vegetation and the soil seed bank. A total of 48% of taxa in the standing vegetation had seed present in the germinable seed bank. However, there were no differences in species richness, species diversity or number of individuals between grazing treatments. The results indicated that livestock grazing has a far less significant impact on the composition, species diversity and growth form diversity of the soil seed bank in Overberg Renosterveld than hypothesised. Instead, the results showed that there was a well-developed seed bank comprising mainly indigenous species with a variety of different growth forms including palatable grasses and shrubs. This indicates that Overberg Renosterveld vegetation has high restoration potential. Chapter 5 showed results on the effects of livestock grazing by cattle and sheep over time on plant species richness, diversity and growth form diversity in comparison with sites protected from grazing. Following collection of a baseline dataset, four years of follow up data were collected. A total of 22 fenced plots across Western, Central and Eastern Rûens Shale Renosterveld had a baseline dataset collected prior to being monitored on an annual basis over four years in grazed/ungrazed paired plots. Results on vegetation recovery from the fenced exclosures showed a significant increase in plant cover over time at sites that were not grazed. Mean species richness increased from 20.6 species to 25.4 species at sites with no grazing. Mean vegetation cover increased from 71% at T0 (the baseline time step) to 120% at T4 (the final time step) at the end of the study. Sites grazed by sheep had a decrease in vegetation cover over time each year from T0 to T4 from 75% to 50%. Results from a linear mixed model revealed that species richness between grazing treatments was significantly different at all time steps in the study. However, the significant differences were primarily due to comparisons between grazed sites and sites with a treatment of no grazing. Therefore, livestock grazing by sheep has a significant effect on renosterveld vegetation over time. Findings from this component of the study indicates that Overberg Renosterveld degraded by continuous heavy grazing has significant passive restoration potential by fencing renosterveld patches to facilitate more effective grazing management. Most of the renosterveld of the Overberg has been lost through habitat transformation for agriculture, and the future of that which remains is uncertain. This thesis affirms concerns around the impact of livestock grazing and shows the importance of improved ecological understanding around grazing management. Grazing by sheep was shown to cause greater impacts on renosterveld than other domestic livestock studied and is therefore a threat to renosterveld. These findings warrant closer attention to management practices around sheep grazing. However, the state of renosterveld soil seed banks offer considerable hope. Findings revealed a diverse indigenous seed bank, showing that renosterveld degraded by overgrazing has high restoration potential. Furthermore, fencing renosterveld to exclude livestock improves species richness and diversity over time. These findings highlight the need for caution when grazing renosterveld. However, where the damage has been done, the potential for recovery is high. Harnessing the soil seed bank in combination with excluding livestock grazing by fencing are effective tools in this critically endangered vegetation for achieving restoration and conservation goals

CIRCADIAN ENTRAINMENT IN MILITARY PILOTS: TRANSITIONING FROM DAY TO NIGHT FLIGHTS

This study assessed the effectiveness of light exposure in transitioning aviation schedules from days to nights. We hypothesized that a single night of light treatment will delay melatonin onset and improve performance in a simulated flight task. Study participants were military pilots who flew four simulated flights: one baseline daytime flight and three consecutive night flights. Pilots were exposed to four hours of high energy visible (HEV) light (1,000 lux) on the second night but remained in dim light on the first and third nights. Saliva samples for determining melatonin levels were collected every half hour during the three nighttime data collections. Participants also completed questionnaires to include the Bedford Workload Scale and the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale. We tracked each participant’s circadian rhythm using their melatonin onset profiles over the three nights of the study. Pilot performance in a flight simulator was assessed for each of the three data collection sessions using three flight profiles of progressing difficulty. Results showed an average delay in melatonin onset mean of 1.33 hr (SD = .36 hr). Flight performance over the testing period did not show any significant changes. This study showed that light can be used to effectively delay the onset of melatonin, potentially providing a substantive advantage to personnel who must rapidly transition to new work schedules. Further study is recommended before implementing in operational conditions.Lieutenant Commander, United States Coast GuardApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Characterizing movement and searching behavior of humpback whales at the North-Norwegian coast

Studying movement patterns of individual animals over time can give insight into how they interact with the environment and optimize their foraging strategies. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) undertake long seasonal migrations between feeding areas in polar regions during summer/early winter and breeding areas in more tropical areas during late winter/spring. The Norwegian Sea is a part of the humpback whale migration route between the Barents Sea and their southern breeding grounds, and during the last decade several individuals have had up to a three month stop-over period around some specific fjord areas in Northern Norway. Here they feed on Norwegian spring-spawning (NSS-) herring (Culpea harengus L.) to seemingly re-fuel before continuing their southwards breeding migration. Their smaller scale movement and individual variation in behavioral patterns during this stop-over period are not well understood, including why some whales have been observed to leave the fjords and then later return within the same season. Therefore, this study used data from 12 satellite tagged humpback whales and for the first time segmented their tracks into five distinct movement modes; ranging, encamped, nomadic, roundtrip and semi-roundtrip. This was done by using a behavioral change point analysis (BCPA) to pick out homogeneous segments based on persistence velocity at relatively small scales, and then modeled the net squared displacement (NSD) over time to differentiate movement modes. This study also visually identified longer roundtrips away from the fjords that lasted several days and examined movement modes within these. The most common movement mode was ranging behavior (54%), particularly seen during the start of their southwards migration and in areas outside the fjord systems in late winter, indicating when the whales moved over larger distances in the offshore habitat. Inside the fjord systems, encamped, nomadic, round and semi-roundtrip modes were more prevalent in December-January, suggesting the whales are mainly foraging on overwintering NSS-herring in this area. Half of the whales left the fjords and came back again during the same winter seasons, and these trips lasted from 4-22 days and were conducted in late December or January. During these trips, 60% of their behavior consisted of ranging behavior, sometimes split by shorter periods of encamped, roundtrips or nomadic behavior. We hypothesize that these trips may serve as “searching trips” where the whales search for better feeding opportunities outside the fjord systems, and if better foraging conditions are not found, they return to the fjords to continue their feeding. This study serves as a baseline for future studies investigating both this theory and humpback whale behavior in general, and confirms that the method is useful to analyze smaller scale movement patterns of satellite tagged whales

The Mechanism and Timescales of Soil Formation in the Hyper-arid Atacama Desert, Chile

The planetary surfaces that evolve in the near absence of water are strikingly different from surfaces where water is abundant, but their formation is poorly documented. This research is an in-depth exemplary work in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile to understand the soil formation in hyper-arid environments, as an analog for planetary surfaces such as the Mars. In detail, the basic mechanism regarding the source material, timescale, paleo-climatic settings and the role of crypto-biotic crusts have been investigated to constrain the Atacama soil development. The geochemical, isotopic and mineralogical composition of atmospheric dust deposited along a West-East transect in the Atacama Desert, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Andean Altiplano, was evaluated. Results suggested that the deposited salts are mainly sourced from marine aerosol, as well as fog, local entrainment of surface material and secondary reactions. A comparison of the deposition data with the geochemistry of a paleosol in the hyper-arid core of the Atacama showed that the total paleosol ion composition can be explained by long-term accumulation of atmospheric deposition, while post-depositional leaching and salt precipitation account for the ion segregation typically found in the Atacama soil profiles. This has led to a proposed soil formation mechanism in hyper-arid environments consisting of four stages of development: 1) initiation of soil development on regional bedrock material induced by salt fracturing, 2) maturation of soil sequence featured by a continuous trapping of atmospheric dust and salts and the salt segregation into discrete ionic zones, 3) termination of soil accretion due to the formation of surface blocky layer, and 4) unexpected alteration of soil accumulation induced by anthropogenic disturbance. A combination of two long-lived radioactive nuclides (10Be and 36Cl) was used to constrain the timescale of a 225-cm-deep soil profile from the hyper-arid core of the Atacama. Considering the differences of 10Be and 36Cl nuclides in the half-life and mobility in the soil, 10Be could indicate the fate of insoluble silicate dust (dominant in the soil matrix) because it readily adsorbs to soil particles, while 36Cl could be used to trace the transport and fate of salts considering the chlorine\u27s solubility. Soil 10Be concentrations showed a systematic decline from surface to 225 cm deep, which has been reproduced using a simple model that assumes the soil matrix, including 10Be, builds up as layers over time while 10Be decays in situ. This concurs with the essence of the soil formation mechanism proposed above, i.e. the net soil accumulation via atmospheric deposition. The model estimates an age of ~6.6±0.4 Ma for the total soil profile. Likewise, the 36Cl/Cl ratios showed a systematic decline with depth and a simple accumulation model that chloride builds up over time via atmospheric inputs and 36Cl radioactively decays in situ also reproduces the data remarkably well. This model suggests the atmospheric origin of soil chloride and the chloride age at 225 cm of 860 (±90) ky. Paleo-precipitation variations, which can potentially impact soil formation, were first detected from the deviations of the observed 10Be concentrations from the above model estimates that are likely mainly due to changes in 10Be delivery rates impacted by invariant precipitation rates. The 10Be data suggested a drying after ~4.7 Ma, likely due to Andean uplift, and the returning to an insignificant wet period at ~1 Ma, possibly connected to global climate change. Similarly, 36Cl discontinuities with depth also suggested the interruption of long-term hyper-aridity by brief wet periods that induced chloride migration. To investigate the timescale of salt accumulation (36Cl age: ~860 ky), a new precipitation proxy (soil NO3- cap-delta 17O) was calibrated using the stable oxygen isotope measurements in nitrates from four deserts with different mean annual precipitation rates. The paleo-precipitation history for the formation of the 225-cm deep trench soil profile was then reconstructed based on the soil NO3- cap-delta 17O proxy, indicating seven wet-dry cycles, likely corresponding to possible glacial-interglacial cycles operating on the 100 ky scale. Crypto-biotic crusts (CBC), a consortium of pioneer species in hostile environments, may play an important role in soil evolution. Preliminary data from a CBC distribution transect indicated that CBCs can enhance dust trapping and physical protection of the dust from wind erosion, leading to the thickened loose soil profile beneath CBCs compared to at nearby sites without CBCs. Fine particle fractions in the soil under CBCs were higher beneath CBC than those in non-CBC sites, and this was probably related to the enhanced small dust particle trapping or in situ weathering. That the profile beneath CBCs had fewer soluble ions compared to sites without CBCs suggested an enhanced leaching at sites with CBCs, though it is still unclear whether the enhanced leaching was the cause or the reason of the presence of CBCs. The bomb spike with the 36Cl/Cl ratio of 398 × 10-15 was preserved on the surface at a CBC site over the past ~60 years, while the subsurface 36Cl/Cl ratios were likely homogenized due to the past more significant wet events

Policy Patterns for Usage Control in Data Spaces

Data-driven technologies have the potential to initiate a transportation related revolution in the way we travel, commute and navigate within cities. As a major effort of this transformation relies on Mobility Data Spaces for the exchange of mobility data, the necessity to protect valuable data and formulate conditions for data exchange arises. This paper presents key contributions to the development of automated contract negotiation and data usage policies in the Mobility Data Space. A comprehensive listing of policy patterns for usage control is provided, addressing common requirements and scenarios in data sharing and governance. The use of the Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) is proposed to formalize the collected policies, along with an extension of the ODRL vocabulary for data space-specific properties.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, 2 listing