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Articles 1 - 11 of 11

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Relationship Between Driving Anxiety And Driving Skill: A Review Of Human Factors And Anxiety-Performance Theories To Clarify Future Research Needs, Joanne Taylor, Frank P. Deane, John Podd Jan 2008

The Relationship Between Driving Anxiety And Driving Skill: A Review Of Human Factors And Anxiety-Performance Theories To Clarify Future Research Needs, Joanne Taylor, Frank P. Deane, John Podd

Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This article examines theory and identifies gaps in research related to the role of driving skills in driving anxiety. Increasingly, investigators have examined the clinical features of driving anxiety and the more severe situation of driving fear and phobia, but the possible involvement of driving skills has been neglected. This is surprising given the potential implications for skills training and remediation in the assessment and treatment of some of those who experience driving anxiety, fear, and phobia. The largest body of relevant research comes from the driving and human factors literature on the relationship between anxiety and driving performance. The …


Social Capital Renewal And The Academic Performance Of International Students In Australia, Frank V. Neri, Simon Ville Jan 2008

Social Capital Renewal And The Academic Performance Of International Students In Australia, Frank V. Neri, Simon Ville

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

Many believe that social capital fosters the accumulation of human capital. Yet international university students arrive in their host country generally denuded of social capital and confronted by unfamiliar cultural and educational institutions. This study investigates how, and to what extent, international students renew their social networks, and whether such investments are positively associated with academic performance. We adopt a social capital framework and conduct a survey of international students at a typical Australian university in order to categorise and measure investments in social capital renewal, and test a multivariate model of academic performance that includes social capital variables, amongst …


A Model Of Predictors Of Managers Performance, Peter Hosie, Zeenobiyah N. Hannif Jan 2008

A Model Of Predictors Of Managers Performance, Peter Hosie, Zeenobiyah N. Hannif

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

The 'happy-productive worker' thesis is a commonsense theory that has recently evolved into the 'performing-managers' proposition. This paper summarises the research that was conducted to develop a Partial Model of Managers' Affective Wellbeing, Intrinsic Job Satisfaction and Performance. This lays the groundwork for developing a more comprehensive Model of Predictors of Managers' Performance. This represents a far more complete and sophisticated conceptualisation of the predictors of managers' performance than what is currently available in the literature. Job characteristics, role conflict, role overload, role ambiguity, organisational commitment and extrinsic job satisfaction are introduced as logical extensions to the Partial Model, and …


Enhanced Performance Of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Utilizing Platinum Electrodeposit Counter Electrodes, Attila J. Mozer, George Tsekouras, Gordon G. Wallace Jan 2008

Enhanced Performance Of Dye Sensitized Solar Cells Utilizing Platinum Electrodeposit Counter Electrodes, Attila J. Mozer, George Tsekouras, Gordon G. Wallace

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

Enhanced performance was observed for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) utilizing counter electrodes based on Pt electrodeposits compared to counter electrodes based on sputtered Pt. Scanning electron microscopy of Pt electrodeposits revealed that the use of an initial cathodic overpotential pulse followed by steady electrodeposition at a mild cathodic potential yielded ∼40nm particles, compared to ∼600nm particles when no such pulse was used. Cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) of electrode materials suggested that Pt electrodeposits would give enhanced performance as DSSC counter electrodes compared to sputtered Pt, and this was confirmed by device testing. EIS characterization of DSSCs under …


Testosterone Effects On Avian Basal Metabolic Rate And Aerobic Performance: Facts And Artefacts, W A. Buttemer, S Warne, C Bech, Lee Astheimer Jan 2008

Testosterone Effects On Avian Basal Metabolic Rate And Aerobic Performance: Facts And Artefacts, W A. Buttemer, S Warne, C Bech, Lee Astheimer

Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)

We examined the effects of cage size and testosterone (T) levels on basal and peak metabolic rates (BMR and PMR, respectively) and on pectoral and leg muscle masses of male house sparrows (Passer domesticus). Birds were housed either in small birdcages or in flight aviaries for at least 2 weeks prior to the initial metabolic evaluations. They were then implanted with either empty or T-filled silastic capsules and remeasured 5-6 weeks later. Birds treated with single T implants achieved breeding levels (4-6 ng/mL) and one group given double implants reached 10 ng/mL. There was no effect of T on BMR …


Network Structure, Ict Use And Performance Attitudes Of Knowledge Workers, Kon Shing Kenneth Chung, Liaquat Hossain Jan 2008

Network Structure, Ict Use And Performance Attitudes Of Knowledge Workers, Kon Shing Kenneth Chung, Liaquat Hossain

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

In this study, we examine the effect of social network structure and information and communication technologies (ICT) use on performance attitudes of knowledge-intensive workers in dispersed occupational communities. We first develop a theoretical framework and use it to develop a valid and reliable survey instrument. Secondly, we apply structural hole measures (constraint and efficiency) for exploring the association with ICT use and attitudes to performance. Empirical results suggest that density of knowledge workers' professional network is positively associated with ICT use whereas network efficiency is negatively correlated with ICT use at both task and communication-structure level. The findings show that …


Performance Analysis Of Ofdm-Idma Systems With Peak-Power Limitation, Jun Tong, Qinghua Guo, Li Ping Jan 2008

Performance Analysis Of Ofdm-Idma Systems With Peak-Power Limitation, Jun Tong, Qinghua Guo, Li Ping

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This paper is concerned with orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing interleave-division multiple-access (OFDM-IDMA) systems over frequency-selective fading channels. Deliberate clipping is applied to reduce the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of each user's transmitted signal. An iterative multiuser detection (MUD) technique is developed to recover the performance loss due to clipping. A semi-analytical signal-to- noise ratio (SNR) evolution technique is proposed, which can provide quick and accurate prediction of the iterative MUD performance. Numerical results show that the performance of OFDM-IDMA is not sensitive to the frequency selectivity of channels, and OFDM-IDMA is more power-efficient than other alternative multi-carrier transmission techniques. © 2008 …


Tangential Sphere Bounds On The Ensemble Performance Of Ml Decoded Gallager Codes Via Their Exact Ensemble Distance Spectrum, Sheng Tong Jan 2008

Tangential Sphere Bounds On The Ensemble Performance Of Ml Decoded Gallager Codes Via Their Exact Ensemble Distance Spectrum, Sheng Tong

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

An efficient numerical approach to the exact ensemble distance spectrum of Gallager codes has been developed by evaluating powers of polynomials. With the exact ensemble distance spectrum of Gallager codes, tangential sphere upper bounds on their maximum likelihood (ML) decoding performance over binary input AWGN channels are investigated. Numerical results indicate improved bounds have been obtained, better than Sason and Shamai's results (which are based on Gallager's upper bound on the ensemble distance spectrum), especially in the error floor region. Furthermore, some critical properties of Gallager codes, including typical minimum distance and the performance tradeoff in the waterfall and error …


Study Of The Energy Performance Of Korean Apartment Buildings With Alternative Balcony Configurations, Jo Clarke, Cameron Johnstone, Jaemin Kim, Georgios Kokogiannakis, Paul Strachan, Kyung-Hun Woo, Boo-Sik Kang Jan 2008

Study Of The Energy Performance Of Korean Apartment Buildings With Alternative Balcony Configurations, Jo Clarke, Cameron Johnstone, Jaemin Kim, Georgios Kokogiannakis, Paul Strachan, Kyung-Hun Woo, Boo-Sik Kang

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of the new regulations design changes on heating loads of apartment buildings and identify the construction configurations (e.g. glazing types, thermal properties, window area ratio, etc.) of the new designs that will ensure the energy performance is at least on the same level as those with a traditional balcony configuration.


Performance Analysis Of Multi-Ary Systems With Iterative Linear Minimum-Mean-Square-Error Detection, Li Ping, Jun Tong, Xiaojun Yuan, Qinghua Guo Jan 2008

Performance Analysis Of Multi-Ary Systems With Iterative Linear Minimum-Mean-Square-Error Detection, Li Ping, Jun Tong, Xiaojun Yuan, Qinghua Guo

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

This paper is concerned with coded multi-ary systems over linear channels. Based on a semi-analytical evolution technique, the impact of signaling schemes on the performance of low-cost iterative linear minimum-mean-square-error (LMMSE) detection is studied. It is shown that superposition coded modulation (SCM) maximizes the output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of LMMSE detectors. Consequently, SCM may potentially outperform other conventional signaling schemes when LMMSE detectors are used. Numerical examples are provided to verify the theoretical analysis. © 2008 IEEE.


Ambitious Angel: Jean Batten And The Performance Of Gender In A Man's Country, Anne A. Collett Jan 2008

Ambitious Angel: Jean Batten And The Performance Of Gender In A Man's Country, Anne A. Collett

Faculty of Arts - Papers (Archive)

Sydney has witness similar demonstrations of enthusiasm, but never one that was more spontaneous, wrote one Sydney reportetr of Jean Battens arrivalo in Mascot in October 1936 on completion of her record breaking solo-flight from England to Australia. Batten greeted the crowd that had waited long hours for her arrival, with and apology and the reminder that it was of course a womens prerogative to be a little late.