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.

Environmental Responsibility and Firm Performance: The Application of an Environmental, Social and Governance Model

Abstract: This paper investigates the way in which environmental responsibility impacts on corporate financial performance, measured by return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA). Using a sample of Korean firms covering the period 2011–2012, and employing two different test methods, namely the OLS and 2SLS methods, we show that the relationships between environmental responsibility performance and firms’ ROE and ROA are positive and statistically significant. However, we show that research and development (R&D) intensity (expenditure) does not affect either environmental responsibility or corporate financial performance. The results of this analysis encourage further empirical analysis of the industries, as well as the use of more than one estimation method to determine environmental responsibility and corporate financial performance within firms. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Critical incident technique: a user's guide for nurse researchers.

Abstract: Title Critical incident technique: a user’s guide for nurse researchers Aim This paper is a description of the development and processes of the critical incident technique and its applicability to nursing research, using a recently-conducted study of the Australian nursing workforce as an exemplar Issues are raised for consideration prior to the technique being put into practice Background Since 1954, the critical incident technique has been used to study people’s activities in a variety of professions This five-step technique can be modified for specific settings and research questions The fruitfulness of a study using the technique relies on gaining three important pieces of information First, participants’ complete and rich descriptions of the situation or event to be explored; secondly, the specific actions of the person/s involved in the event to aid understanding of why certain decisions were made; thirdly, the outcome of the event, to ascertain the effectiveness of the behaviour As in other qualitative methodologies, an inductive analysis process can be used with the critical incident technique Findings Rich contextual information can be obtained using this technique It generates information and uncovers tacit knowledge through assisting participants to describe their thought processes and actions during the event Use of probing questions that determine how participants take part in certain events, or act in the ways they do, greatly enhances the outcome A full interpretation of the event can only occur when all its aspects are provided Conclusion The critical incident technique is a practical method that allows researchers to understand complexities of the nursing role and function, and the interactions between nurses and other clinicians

Biological processes in running waters and their implications for the assessment of ecological integrity.

Abstract: Although biomonitoring approaches are being increasingly used in the measurement of stream and river health, critical assumptions about the nature of biological populations and communities that underpin them are often ignored. Many approaches based on pattern detection in plant and animal communities assume high temporal persistence in the absence of anthropogenic disturbances. However, this has been rarely tested with long-term data sets and there is evidence that this assumption is not true in some river systems. Biological processes, such as predation and recruitment, can account for considerable spatial and temporal variation in the structure of some stream communities. These processes may prevent the development of robust predictive models or indices based on pattern detection. Measurements of population or community attributes also are often used to infer ecosystem processes, yet the link between pattern and process has rarely been demonstrated. Many goals of river management relate to the maintenance of natural ecological processes and ecosystem function; direct measurement of these processes is, however, often neglected in assessment programs. Such measures are often sensitive to causal factors that are known to affect river health and it is possible to develop simple but powerful predictive models. Perhaps more importantly, should an impact to be detected, strategies for remediation are more obvious as the causal processes are generally better known. The ultimate success of biomonitoring approaches depends on how well we understand the biophysical processes that influence the structure and dynamics of stream and river systems, and the way they function.

On the Impact of Cooperative Autonomous Vehicles in Improving Freeway Merging: A Modified Intelligent Driver Model-Based Approach

Abstract: Transport researchers and practitioners have long been seeking capable solutions to deal with the traffic oscillations caused by freeway merging. Although existing approaches based on ramp metering have improved the overall efficiency of on-ramps, their performance is still far below the theoretical capacity. The recently proposed detecting technology of autonomous vehicles (AVs) provides an alternative for maximizing the merging efficiency by developing and using appropriate controllers for AVs. In this paper, we develop a cooperative intelligent driver model in order to examine the system performance under different proportions of AVs. The results show that, with a proper vehicle-to-vehicle controlling mechanism, an increasing percentage of AVs will reduce the total travel time and smooth traffic oscillations.