A qualitative investigation of older pedestrian views of influences on their road crossing safety

With Australia’s population rapidly ageing, older pedestrian safety has begun to receive greater attention from road safety researchers. However, reliance on simulator studies and observational techniques has limited current understanding of why older pedestrians adopt particular crossing behaviours, and how they perceive crossing the road. The current study aimed to investigate the psychological factors that may contribute to older pedestrians’ crash risk by examining their perceptions of the issues they encounter on the road. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with 18 pedestrians aged 55 years and older were conducted, and the interview transcripts underwent thematic analysis. From this analysis, four key themes emerged. Firstly, the physical design of the road was perceived as posing a significant threat for older pedestrians, particularly sloped, semi-mountable kerbs and designated crossings. Secondly, declines in older pedestrians’ confidence in their ability to cross the road were evident through fewer reported risks being taken. Additionally, older pedestrians sensed an increased threat from other road users when crossing the road, particularly from drivers and cyclists. Finally, older pedestrians referred to the informal rules and strategies used to guide their road crossing. The results suggest that the road environment is perceived as increasingly dangerous and hazardous environment for older pedestrians. Implications regarding the physical road design in areas with an existing high proportion of elderly people are discussed

Recent interventions into the referendum debate highlight the difficulties in Alex Salmond’s plans for an independent Scotland

Influential UK and EU politicians have waded into the Scottish independence debate recently, heaping uncertainty onto the crucial issues of currency union, EU membership, and the provision for social security and public services. These interventions present important challenges for the SNP, and the Scottish public will require satisfactory answers to these questions if they are to vote ‘Yes’, writes Mark Shaw

The changing role of the South African intelligence community

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 27 March 1995Intelligence – ‘spying’, in the popular imagination - operates behind an aura of great power and influence. This is particularly so in authoritarian societies, where intelligence gathering is aimed at discovering, monitoring, and acting against opponents of the regime: adjectives such as ‘hated’ and ‘feared’ cling almost automatically to intelligence agencies in this context. This was true of South Africa in the apartheid years – and beyond. At least from the time former prime minister John Vorster appointed his lifelong associate Hendrik van den Bergh to head the appropriately named Bureau of State Security (BOSS), the state's intelligence agencies were assumed to wield immense power. The impression was strengthened by allegations that intelligence services not only gathered information, but also acted in ways which flouted even the government's laws. It was they, it was assumed, who did in secret what their political masters could not order in public. For example, in the 1980s it was the chief of military intelligence, Joffel van der Westhuizen, who ordered the ‘removal from society’ of activist Matthew Goniwe...

The UK’s vote against military action in Syria leaves EU foreign policy more divided than ever.

Last week, the British parliament voted against UK involvement in any military intervention in Syria. Mark Shaw writes on the impact the vote has had elsewhere in the EU. He notes that with France still firmly committed to taking part, Europe remains deeply divided over the issue. This ensures that while the EU took a leading role in imposing sanctions on Syria, it will be largely powerless in shaping the international response going forward

Arsenic Consumption and Health Risk Perceptions in a Rural Western U.S. Area

Churchill County, Nevada had approximately 23,000 residents, with an estimated 13,500 who relied on private wells for water supply in 2002. This study examined exposure to arsenic in water supplies among residents with private domestic wells and factors related to householder choice to consume tap water. It compared opinions and concerns about water quality with consumption habits and observed concentrations from tap water samples. The results from 351 households indicated that a majority (75%) of respondents consumed tap water and that a minority (38%) applied treatment. Approximately 66% of those who consumed tap water were exposed to concentrations of arsenic that exceeded 10 ppb. Water consumption was related to application of treatment. Among 98 respondents who were not at all concerned about the health effects of aqueous arsenic, 59 (60%) reported consuming tap water with concentrations of arsenic exceeding 10 ppb. Conversely, among 86 respondents who were highly concerned about arsenic, 33 (37%) consumed tap water with concentrations of arsenic exceeding 10 ppb. Results from a national sampling effort showed that 620/5304 (11.7%) of private wells sampled had arsenic concentrations above 10 ppb. The paradox of awareness of arsenic in water supplies coupled with consumption of aqueous arsenic in concentrations of >10 ppb may be common in other parts of the nation. Enhanced educational efforts, especially related to tap water sampling and explanations of efficacy of available treatment, may be a useful means of reducing exposure through private water supplies.Health Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

A pastoral paradigm of Catholic health care

Catholic hospitals and other health services provide invaluable care to many in the community. This article accentuates the pastoral nature of Catholic health care, which is definitive to its Catholic identity. Discussing contemporary Catholic health care in conjunction with the works of Henri Nouwen we explore the challenges faced by today’s Catholics in Catholic health care and respond to these issues. In support of the discussion are the results of qualitative research into the perceptions Perth Parishioners have of Catholic health care’s pastoral nature and Catholic identity. This research aims towards understanding the challenges facing catholic health care providing pastoral care within its Catholic identity

Eagles Circle the Drum

Mark Shaw’s Eagles Circle the Drum: A Novel My thesis, for the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Missouri—St. Louis, is a Native American Literary Novel. When Jimmy Moses—a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Nation—dies, his mother chooses to have a Christian funeral instead of an American Indian burial ceremony. The reservation community becomes upset, particularly Johnny Bear Moses, her son and Jimmy’s older brother. The novel shifts between various points of view, including Reylene Fisherman, the mother; Johnny Bear; and his daughter, Akasha. These three major characters represent a different opinion of creed and culture for their respective generation. Also, they all have various beliefs regarding what it means to be a Native American in the Twenty-first Century. The race and religion debate that occurs in this novel and in Indian Country is a microcosm of what happens throughout the United States and all over the world. People fight, in big ways and small ways, over these schisms and wounds develop that are centuries deep. The novel also tells stories that have never been told about Native Americans. Reservations are fascinating, exotic, dangerous, ugly, beautiful, and broken. Otherworldly things happen in these societies and very few people know about them (even in their neighboring districts). Stories have the ability to express injustices and truths about humanity in a way that no other medium can. They bring awareness, understanding, and empathy to the world and that is why fiction is important. This is why American Indian Literature is valuable. The Indigenous voice is rarely heard in the United States and in the world

Evaluating the 1931 CIE color matching functions

The use of colorimetry within industry has grown extensively in the last few decades. Central to many of today\u27s instruments is the work of the CIE system, established in 1931. Many have questioned the validity of the assumptions made by Wright (1928-29) and Guild (1931), some suggesting that the 1931 color matching functions are not the best representation of the human visual systems\u27 cone responses. A computational analysis was performed to evaluate the 1931 color matching functions against other responsivity functions using metameric data. The underlying principle is that an optimal set of responsivity functions will yield minimal color difference errors between pairs of visually matched metamers. The difference of average color differences found in the six chosen sets of responsivity functions were small. The CIE 1931 2 color matching functions, on average, provided the largest color difference, 4.56 AE*ab. With the best performance coming from the CIE 1964 10 color matching functions, yielding an average color difference of 4.02 AE*ab. An optimization was then performed on the CIE 193 1 color matching functions. The concept was that color differences between metamers can be used to improve predictions of color matching functions. If one is to take all pairs, and perform an optimization that globally minimizes the average color difference, then one can hope to obtain an optimal set of responsivity functions. The optimum solution was to use a weighted combination of each of the different sets of responsivity functions. The optimized set, the \u27Shaw and Fairchild\u27 responsivity functions, were able to reduce the average color difference down to 3.92 AE ab. The final part of the work was to build a computer based simulation of the color differences between the different sets of responsivity functions. This simulation allows a user to load a spectral radiance, or reflectance, data file and display the tristimulus match predicted by each of the seven sets of responsivity functions