University of Wollongong

About: University of Wollongong is a education organization based out in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 15674 authors who have published 46658 publications receiving 1197471 citations. The organization is also known as: UOW & Wollongong University.

Prevalence and Correlates of Low Fundamental Movement Skill Competency in Children

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To describe the demographic and health-related characteristics of school-aged children with low competency in fundamental movement skills (FMS). METHODS: Cross-sectional representative school-based survey of Australian elementary and high school students ( n = 6917) conducted in 2010. Trained field staff measured students’ height, weight, and assessed FMS and cardiorespiratory endurance (fitness). Information on students’ demographics and physical activity was collected by questionnaire. RESULTS: Overall, the prevalence of students with low motor skill competency was high. Girls with low socioeconomic status (SES) were twice as likely to be less competent in locomotor skills compared with high SES peers. Among boys, there was a strong association between low competency in FMS and the likelihood of being from non–English-speaking cultural backgrounds. There was a clear and consistent association between low competency in FMS and inadequate cardiorespiratory fitness. For boys, there was a clear association between low competency in object-control skills and not meeting physical activity recommendations. Conversely, the odds of being inactive were double among girls who had low competency in locomotor skills. CONCLUSIONS: Low competency in FMS is strongly associated with lower cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity levels in children and adolescents. The characteristics of students with competency in FMS differ by gender and skills types and show that interventions need to target girls from low SES backgrounds and boys from non–English-speaking cultural backgrounds. The high prevalence of low competency in FMS among Grade 4 students indicates that FMS interventions need to start during the preschool and early school years. * Abbreviations: CI — : confidence interval FMS — : fundamental movement skills NSW — : New South Wales OR — : odds ratio SES — : socioeconomic status

A note on corporate social disclosure practices in developing countries: the case of malaysia and singapore*

Abstract: Most studies on corporate social disclosure (CSD) have focused on the industrialised countries of Europe, United States and Australia (for example, Dierkes & Preston, 1977; Beresford & Cowen, 1979; Brockhoff, 1979). Even international comparative studies of CSD concentrated on analyses of the similarities and differences of CSD practices in these countries (for example, Schoenfeld, 1978; Ernst & Ernst, 1979; Guthrie & Parker, 1988). There is however, a paucity of CSD literature on practices in the developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to address this imbalance by examining CSD practices in Malaysian and Singapore companies. Within the CSD literature on developed countries, there is evidence that a positive correlation existed between corporate size and CSD (Trotman, 1979). More recently additional evidence was found concerning the themes, methods, extent of CSD in the annual reports, as well as the relationship between CSD and industry groupings (Guthrie, 1983). In the few studies available on developing countries, Teoh & Thong (1984) and Singh & Ahuja (1983) f ound broadly similar evidence. The data reported in this paper is intended to be purely descriptive. The paper explored the CSD characteristics mentioned above and assessed the

A review of loading conditions for railway track structures due to train and track vertical interaction

Abstract: Train and track interactions during services normally generate substantial forces on railway tracks. Such forces are transient by nature and of relatively large magnitude and are referred to as impact loading. There has been no comprehensive review of the typical characteristics of the loading conditions for railway track structures, in particular, impact loads due to the wheel/rail interaction, published in the literature. This paper presents a review of basic design concepts for railway tracks, abnormalities on tracks, and a variety of typical dynamic impact loadings imparted by wheel/rail interaction and irregularities. The characteristics of typical impact loads due to wheel and rail irregularities, e.g. rail corrugation, wheel flats and shells, worn wheel and rail profiles, bad welds or joints, and track imperfections, are presented with particular emphasis on the typical shapes of the impact load waveforms generally found on railway tracks. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Fundamentals of Computer Security

Abstract: From the Publisher: The book studies modern concepts of Computer Security. It is selfcontained in the sense that it introduces the basic mathematical background necessary to follow computer security concepts. Next we examine modern developments in Cryptography starting from private-key and public-key encryption, going through hashing, digital signatures, authentication, secret sharing, group-oriented cryptography, pseudorandomness, key establishment protocols, zero-knowledge protocols, identification and finishing with an introduction to modern e-business systems based on digital cash. Intrusion detection and access control provide examples of security systems implemented as a part of operating system. Database and network security is also discussed.