Pre-licensed driving experience and car crash involvement during the learner and restricted,licence stages of graduated driver licensing: Findings from the New Zealand Drivers Study

Objective

The aim of this study was to determine whether pre-licence driving experiences, that is driving before beginning the licensing process, increased or decreased crash risk as a car driver, during the learner or the restricted licence stages of the graduated driver licensing system (GDLS).

Method

Study participants were 15–24 year old members of the New Zealand Drivers Study (NZDS) – a prospective cohort study of newly licensed car drivers. The interview stages of the NZDS are linked to, the three licensing stages of the GDLS: learner, restricted and full. Baseline demographic (age, ethnicity, residential location, deprivation), personality (impulsivity, sensation seeking, aggression) and, behavioural data, (including pre-licensed driving behaviour), were obtained at the learner licence interview. Data on distance driven and crashes that occurred at the learner licence and restricted licence stages, were reported at the restricted and full licence interviews, respectively. Crash data were also obtained from police traffic crash report files and this was combined with the self-reported crash data. The analysis of the learner licence stage crashes, when only supervised driving is allowed, was based on the participants who had passed the restricted licence test and undertaken the NZDS, restricted licence interview (n = 2358). The analysis of the restricted licence stage crashes, when unsupervised driving is first allowed, was based on those who had passed the full licence test and completed the full licence interview (n = 1428).

Results

After controlling for a range of demographic, personality, behavioural variables and distance driven, Poisson regression showed that the only pre-licence driving behaviour that showed a consistent relationship with subsequent crashes was on-road car driving which was associated with an increased risk of being the driver in a car crash during the learner licence period.

Conclusion

This research showed that pre-licensed driving did not reduce crash risk among learner or restricted licensed drivers, and in some cases (such as on-road car driving) may have increased risk. Young people should be discouraged from the illegal behaviour of driving a car on-road before licensing.     

Examining the alliance using the Psychotherapy Process Q-Set.

The alliance between therapist and patient was investigated using the Psychotherapy Process Q-Set (PQS), an instrument that quantitatively describes therapy sessions in a manner that captures the complexity of the therapy process. More specifically, the PQS was used to examine the treatment processes being assessed by observer ratings on the California Psychotherapy Alliance Scales (CALPAS). Using data from 30 brief psychodynamic psychotherapy treatments (patients aged 20–81 yrs), three PQS factors were found to be associated with alliance: Patient–Therapist Interaction, Patient Capacity/Commitment, and Therapist Countertransference. In multiple regression analyses with scales constructed from these three factors, Patient–Therapist Interaction was found to predict alliance ratings, while the other two aspects of the treatment process did not account for any significant additional variance in the alliance ratings. Results suggest that Patient–Therapist Interaction plays a defining role in the alliance construct, as assessed by the observer version of the CALPAS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Team productivity and contradiction of management policy commitments.

What is the relationship between management consistency of policy and team productivity? "A simulated small industrial plant was the setting for an experiment in which a team of Ss worked together on a manufacturing problem. Their assigned task was to produce different kinds of toys at a profit… . Twenty four-man teams were divided into ten consecutive team pairs, each member of a pair being subjected either to (a) a condition under which the team's expectations of management were contradicted by subsequent events or (b) a condition under which the team's expectations were confirmed. The hypothesis that team productivity would be greater under the confirmation condition was supported by the data. Some theoretical implications of the experiment were suggested." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of inulin on bread: Kinetics and physico-chemical indicators of the formation of volatile compounds during baking

The influence of inulin on the formation and release of white bread volatiles was studied during baking, using an innovative on-line baking extraction device. Kinetic studies were performed to follow the development of crust physical properties and the formation of volatiles responsible for the flavour of breads having different amounts of inulin. It was demonstrated that inulin accelerated the formation of the bread crust and the Maillard reaction. It led to breads with an overall quality similar to that of non-enriched breads, but baked for a shorter time. Correlations between some crust properties and the amount of Maillard volatiles were determined. They showed that crust water activity, moisture and clearness could be good indicators of the Maillard reaction during the baking of bread.     

Experimental and numerical modelling of the ventriculosinus shunt (El-Shafei shunt)

This study assesses malresorptive hydrocephalus treatment by ventriculosinus shunting with the shunt in the antegrade or retrograde position. First, an experimental model of the cerebral ventricles, the arachnoid villi, the cortical veins, and the superior sagittal sinus was built. For this purpose, the compliance of a human cortical vein was measured and then modelled by means of Penrose tubes. The dimensions of the superior sagittal sinus were determined in vivo by measurements on magnetic resonance imaging scans of 21 patients. Second, a numerical model of the cortical veins and the superior sagittal sinus was built. The numerical results were validated with the results from the experimental model. The experimental and numerical pressure difference between the intracranial pressure and the static sinus pressure was small (0-20 Pa) and corresponded to the theoretically expected values. No overdrainage was found in either the antegrade or the retrograde position of the shunt. Blood reflow was only found while mimicking lumbar puncture or changes in position with the experimental model (lowering the intracranial pressure or increasing the sinus pressure rapidly). Optimal results can be obtained with the shunt positioned in the most downstream half of the superior sagittal sinus. The experimental and numerical results confirm the potential of ventriculosinus shunting as therapy for malresorptive hydrocephalus patients. The ventriculosinus shunt thus proves to be a promising technique.     

Automated Buildup of Biomimetic Films in Cell Culture Microplates for High‐Throughput Screening of Cellular Behaviors

An automatic method is established for layer‐by‐layer (LbL) assembly of biomimetic coatings in cell culture microplates using a commercial liquid‐handling robot. Highly homogeneous thin films are formed at the bottom of each microwell. The LbL film‐coated microplates are compatible with common cellular assays, using microplate readers and automated microscopes. Cellular adhesion is screened on crosslinked and peptide‐functionalized LbL films and stem cell differentiation in response to increasing doses of bone morphogenetic proteins (2, 4, 7, 9). This method paves the way for future applications of LbL films in cell‐based assays for regenerative medicine and high‐throughput drug screening.     

Oxidation resistance of β-Sialon/TiN composites: an ion beam analysis (IBA) study

The oxidation resistance of β-Sialon processed with Y₂O₃ sintering additive and β-Sialon/TiN composites containing 1–10 wt% TiN was studied using ion beam analysis (IBA) techniques, augmented by XRD and SEM measurements. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry was used to monitor the diffusion of Y and Ti in the oxidised samples, and the diffusion of oxygen and nitrogen was observed by particle-induced gamma emission and nuclear reaction analysis. These techniques showed that in the Sialon control sample without TiN, oxygen was the first element to migrate at 1000 °C, followed by Y and N at 1100 °C. At 1200 °C, a N-poor, Y- and O-rich oxidised layer was formed, containing crystalline Y₂Si₂O₇. In the TiN-containing samples, Si, Al, Y and Ti were very mobile even at 1000 °C and the surface nitrogen was depleted by 1250 °C. The combined presence of yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG) and TiN protects the β-Sialon phase by forming an oxygen-rich crystalline barrier layer. The oxidation products of TiN in these composites are TiO₂ and Y₂Ti₂O_7. The details of the oxidation mechanism of the β-Sialon/TiN composites provided by these IBA studies (movement of yttrium and titanium, replacement of nitrogen by oxygen in the glassy yttrium phase and major crystalline and chemical changes in an outer oxidised layer) could not readily have been obtained by any other techniques, and illustrate the value of IBA for oxidation studies of non-oxide ceramics.     

The Role of Housing Stock Transfer Organisations in Neighbourhood Regeneration: Exploring the Relationship between Regeneration, ‘New Localism’ and Social Networks

This paper defines stock transfer organisations and argues that they have a pivotal role in accessing funding for the social and economic regeneration of their communities. It places housing and regeneration policy within the changing policy context of ‘new localism’, which, at least rhetorically, emphasises improvement in public services, multi-level governance structures and devolution of decision making. For stock transfer housing organisations this means an increasing need to engage in a wide range of partnerships and policy forums. Bourdieu's notion of habitus, i.e. social, economic and cultural capital, is used to explore the possible reasons for the differential approach of stock transfer organisations to regeneration and the variable success at engaging in a wide range of regeneration activity and attracting additional resources.