Technology Acceptance, Adoption and Workforce on Australian Cotton Farms

The future of work is influenced by the digital transformation of industries, including agriculture. The current study aimed to understand the social drivers of automated technology acceptance and adoption in Australian cotton farms. The study employed a mixed-methods approach to compare those who were (a) currently using automated technology, (b) not currently using automated technology but considering adoption, and (c) not currently using automated technology and no intention to adopt. The research found that social factors and workforce considerations influence growers’ motivation to adopt automated technology on farms. Furthermore, differences on appraisals of perceived usefulness were observed when comparing growers with no intention to adopt automated technology with those considering adoption or who have adopted automated technology. Both perceived usefulness and ease of use barriers are challenges for those considering adoption of automated technology. Support that improves ease of use for those who have adopted automated technology is important for continued appraisals of perceived usefulness of automated technology. Further research to understand antecedents to appraisals of perceived usefulness and ease of use, and how these interact to influence acceptance and automated technology, is required to inform strategic workforce interventions that support the digital transformation of cotton farms

Priority strategies to improve gender equity in Canadian emergency medicine: proceedings from the CAEP 2021 Academic Symposium on leadership

Objectives: Gender inequities are deeply rooted in our society and have significant negative consequences. Female physicians experience numerous gender-related inequities (e.g., microaggressions, harassment, violence). These inequities have far-reaching consequences on health, well-being and career longevity and may result in the devaluing of various strengths that female emergency physicians bring to the table. This, in turn, has an impact on patient healthcare experience and outcomes. During the 2021 Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) Academic Symposium, a national collaborative sought to understand gender inequities in emergency medicine in Canada. Methods: We used a multistep stakeholder-engagement-based approach (harnessing both quantitative and qualitative methods) to identify and prioritize problems with gender equity in emergency medicine in Canada. Based on expert consultation and literature review, we developed recommendations to effect change for the higher priority problems. We then conducted a nationwide consultation with the Canadian emergency medicine community via online engagement and the CAEP Academic Symposium to ensure that these priority problems and solutions were appropriate for the Canadian context. Conclusion: Via the above process, 15 recommendations were developed to address five unique problem areas. There is a dearth of research in this important area and we hope this preliminary work will serve as a starting point to fuel further research. To facilitate these scholarly endeavors, we have appended additional documents identifying other key problems with gender equity in emergency medicine in Canada as well as proposed next steps for future research

Are community forestry principles at work in Ontario’s County, Municipal, and Conservation Authority forests?

Ontario’s County, Municipal and Conservation Authority forests have received little attention within the academic literature on community forestry in Canada. These “Agreement Forests”, as they were once called, are a product of the early 20th century and have been under local government management since the 1990s. Most are situated in Southern Ontario. In this article we investigate the extent to which community forestry principles are at work in these forests. Three principles—participatory governance, local benefits and multiple forest use—are analyzed using a composite score approach derived from survey data collected from nearly all of these forest organizations (response rate = 80%). Results indicate that most of these organizations do display attributes associated with community forestry principles, including a local governance process, public participation activities, local employment and multiple-use management. Traditional forestry employment is less strong than in similar studies of Crown land community forests; however, there is an important emphasis on non-timber activities. The article concludes that the County, Municipal and Conservation Authority forests represents a unique approach, which reflects the specific geographic and socio-economic context in which it resides. / Les forêts cantonales, municipales et des offices de conservation de l’Ontario n’ont reçu qu’une faible couverture dans la littérature scientifique sur la foresterie communautaire au Canada. Ces « forêts d’entente (Agreement Forests) », comme on les appelait avant, ont été créées au début du XXe siècle et gérées par les autorités locales depuis les années 1990. La majeure partie de ces forêts sont situées dans le sud de l’Ontario. Dans cet article, nous cherchons à voir jusqu’à quel point les principes de foresterie communautaire sont mis en application dans ces forêts. L’étude porte sur trois principes – la gouvernance participative, les bénéfices locaux et l’utilisation polyvalente de la forêt – qui furent analysés avec l’approche de résultats combinés utilisant les données d’un sondage effectué auprès de presque toutes ces organisations forestières (taux de réponse = 80 %). Les résultats indiquent que la plupart de ces organisations présentent effectivement certains attributs rappelant les principes de la foresterie communautaire, incluant un processus de gouvernance locale, des activités de participation du public, l’embauche locale et l’aménagement à des fins d’utilisation polyvalente. Les emplois forestiers traditionnels ont moins d’importance que dans les études similaires des forêts communautaires établies sur des terres publiques; par contre, on accorde beaucoup d’importance aux activités sans prélèvement de bois. L’article conclut que les forêts cantonales, municipales et des offices de conservation constituent une approche unique qui reflète bien le contexte géographique et socio-économique spécifique dans lequel elles sont établies.Financial support from the Fonds québécois de la recherché sur la société et la culture and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.http://pubs.cif-ifc.org/doi/10.5558/tfc2012-13

Expatriation and Incapacity created by a Multitude of Hidden Inequalities

The ability of UK based Academics to function within collaborative partnerships is becoming an important part of the UK Universities internationalisation agenda. This chapter offers an auto-ethnographical academic expatriate experience detailing some of the challenges faced when moving to work in a ‘UK environment positioned abroad’, specifically in China. It will provide HR personnel with alternative understandings of possible support strategies that could assist individuals in dealing with a variety of hidden inequalities that surface. These hidden inequalities can contribute to a possible shortening of the assignment due to cultural contexts in which they are operating (Foster 1997; Wang and Varma 2017)

My Career Chapter: Guidance Counsellors' Appraisal of its Suitability for Adolescents

This paper presents an investigation into the properties of a new narrative technique for career assessment and counselling, My Career Chapter: A Dialogical Autobiography. This technique is used to facilitate clients' construction of a meaningful career-related autobiography. Previous research indicates the usefulness of My Career Chapter for adult clients and its alignment with recommendations for the development and application of qualitative assessment and counselling techniques. This study specifically commences research into the technique's applicability for adolescents. A focus group, comprised of guidance counselling professionals whose work primarily pertained to the needs of adolescents, found that there is potential to develop a version of My Career Chapter that is suitable for adolescents

PED: Pedestrian Environment Designer

Pedestrian simulations have many uses, from pedestrian planning for architecture design through to games and entertainment. However, it is still challenging to efficiently author such simulations, especially for non-technical users. Direct pedestrian control is usually laborious, and, while indirect, environment-level control is often faster, it currently lacks the necessary tools to create complex environments easily and without extensive prior technical knowledge. This paper describes an indirect, environment-level control system in which pedestrians' behaviour can be specified efficiently and then interactively tuned. With the Pedestrian Environment Designer (PED) interface, authors can define environments using tools similar to those found in raster graphics editing software such as PhotoshopTM. Users paint on two-dimensional bitmap layers to control the behaviour of pedestrians in a three-dimensional simulation. The layers are then compiled to produce a live, agent-based pedestrian simulation using the FLAME GPU framework. Entrances and exits can be inserted, collision boundaries defined, and areas of attraction and avoidance added. The system also offers dynamic simulation updates at runtime giving immediate author feedback and enabling authors to simulate scenarios with dynamic elements such as barriers, or dynamic circumstances such as temporary areas of avoidance. As a result, authors are able to create complex crowd simulations more effectively and with minimal training

Pre-operative patient preparation

No abstract available