Griffith University

About: Griffith University is a education organization based out in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 13830 authors who have published 49318 publications receiving 1420865 citations.

Linking Balanced Scorecard Measures to Size and Market Factors: Impact on Organizational Performance

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between organization size, product life‐cycle stage, market position, balanced scorecard (BSC) usage and organizational performance. Using financial and nonfinancial measures, the BSC appraises four dimensions of performance: customers, financial (or shareholders), learning and growth, and internal aspects. Based on a survey of 66 Australian manufacturing companies, the paper suggests that larger firms make more use of a BSC. In addition, firms that have a higher proportion of new products have a greater tendency to make use of measures related to new products. A firm's market position has not been found to be associated significantly with greater BSC usage. The paper also suggests that greater BSC usage is associated with improved performance, but this relationship does not depend significantly on organization size, product life cycle, or market position.

Family Treatment of Childhood Anxiety: A Controlled Trial

Abstract: randomly allocated to 3 treatment conditions: cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), CBT plus family management (CBT -f FAM), and waiting list. The effectiveness of the interventions was evaluated at posttreatment and at 6 and 12 months follow-up. The results indicated that across treatment conditions, 69.8% of the children no longer fulfilled diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder, compared with 26% of the waiting-list children. At the 12-month follow-up, 70.3% of the children in the CBT group and 95.6% of the children in the CBT + FAM group did not meet criteria. Comparisons of children receiving CBT with those receiving CBT + FAM on self-report measures and clinician ratings indicated added benefits from CBT + FAM treatment. Age and gender interacted with treatment condition, with younger children and female participants responding better to the CBT + FAM condition.

Development of a critical appraisal tool to assess the quality of cross-sectional studies (AXIS)

Abstract: Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop a critical appraisal (CA) tool that addressed study design and reporting quality as well as the risk of bias in cross-sectional studies (CSSs). In addition, the aim was to produce a help document to guide the non-expert user through the tool. Design: An initial scoping review of the published literature and key epidemiological texts was undertaken prior to the formation of a Delphi panel to establish key components for a CA tool for CSSs. A consensus of 80% was required from the Delphi panel for any component to be included in the final tool. Results: An initial list of 39 components was identified through examination of existing resources. An international Delphi panel of 18 medical and veterinary experts was established. After 3 rounds of the Delphi process, the Appraisal tool for Cross-Sectional Studies (AXIS tool) was developed by consensus and consisted of 20 components. A detailed explanatory document was also developed with the tool, giving expanded explanation of each question and providing simple interpretations and examples of the epidemiological concepts being examined in each question to aid non-expert users. Conclusions: CA of the literature is a vital step in evidence synthesis and therefore evidence-based decision-making in a number of different disciplines. The AXIS tool is therefore unique and was developed in a way that it can be used across disciplines to aid the inclusion of CSSs in systematic reviews, guidelines and clinical decision-making.

Tourism Destination Loyalty

Abstract: Despite the widespread acceptance that loyalty is a major driving force in successful companies, tourism destination loyalty has not been investigated. This study explores the application and usefulness of destination loyalty. Based on the brand loyalty literature, a number of loyalty measurements are suggested. The application of two measurement approaches to primary data on lifelong travel patterns by New Zealand residents indicate their validity. Through the collection and analysis of data on tourists’ destination loyalty, destinations will be able to determine the composition of its customers with respect to their destination loyalty. It will also facilitate a better forecasting and demand estimation.

Local Derivative Pattern Versus Local Binary Pattern: Face Recognition With High-Order Local Pattern Descriptor

Abstract: This paper proposes a novel high-order local pattern descriptor, local derivative pattern (LDP), for face recognition. LDP is a general framework to encode directional pattern features based on local derivative variations. The nth-order LDP is proposed to encode the (n-1)th -order local derivative direction variations, which can capture more detailed information than the first-order local pattern used in local binary pattern (LBP). Different from LBP encoding the relationship between the central point and its neighbors, the LDP templates extract high-order local information by encoding various distinctive spatial relationships contained in a given local region. Both gray-level images and Gabor feature images are used to evaluate the comparative performances of LDP and LBP. Extensive experimental results on FERET, CAS-PEAL, CMU-PIE, Extended Yale B, and FRGC databases show that the high-order LDP consistently performs much better than LBP for both face identification and face verification under various conditions.