Auto-inhibition of hydrogen gas evolution on gold in aqueous acid solution

It was demonstrated recently that dramatic changes in the redox behaviour of gold/aqueous solution interfaces may be observed following either cathodic or thermal electrode pretreatment. Further work on the cathodic pretreatment of gold in acid solution revealed that as the activity of the gold surface was increased, its performance as a substrate for hydrogen gas evolution under constant potential conditions deteriorated. The change in activity of the gold atoms at the interface, which was attributed to a hydrogen embrittlement process (the occurrence of the latter was subsequently checked by surface microscopy), was confirmed, as in earlier work, by the appearance of a substantial anodic peak at ca. 0.5 V (RHE) in a post-activation positive sweep. Changes in the catalytic activity of a metal surface reflect the fact that the structure (or topography), thermodynamic activity and electronic properties of a surface are dependent not only on pretreatment but also, in the case of the hydrogen evolution reaction, vary with time during the course of reaction. As will be reported shortly, similar (and often more dramatic) time-dependent behaviour was observed for hydrogen gas evolution on other metal electrodes.

The role of defects, or active states, in surface electrochemistry with particular reference to gold in neutral solution

Metastable, active, or nonequilibrium states due to the presence of abnormal structures and various types of defects are well known in metallurgy. The role of such states at gold surfaces in neutral aqueous media (an important electrode system in the microsensor area) was explored using cyclic voltammetry. It was demonstrated that, as postulated in earlier work from this laboratory, there is a close relationship between premonolayer oxidation, multilayer hydrous oxide reduction and electrocatalytic behaviour in the case of this and other metal electrode systems. Some of the most active, and therefore most important, entities at surfaces (e.g., metal adatoms) are not readily imageable or detectable by high resolution surface microscopy techniques. Cyclic voltammetry, however, provides significant, though not highly specific, information about such species. The main conclusion is that further practical and theoretical work on active states of metal surfaces is highly desirable as their behaviour is not simple and is of major importance in many electrocatalytic processes.

The facile formation of silver dendritic structures in the absence of surfactants and their electrochemical and SERS properties

In this work a simple approach to the creation of highly dispersed electrocatalytically active silver microstructured dendrites on indium tin oxide in the absence of any surface modification or surfactant is presented. It is found that the addition of low concentrations of supporting electrolyte to the AgNO3 solution dramatically influences the morphology of electrodeposited silver which is independent of both the anion and the cation employed. The silver dendrites are characterized by SEM, XRD, XPS as well as by cyclic voltammetry under alkaline conditions. It is found that the surface oxide formation and removal processes are significantly influenced by the microstructured morphology of the silver electrodeposits compared to a smooth macrosized silver electrode. The facile formation of dendritic silver microstructures is also shown to be beneficial for the electrocatalytic oxidation of both formaldehyde and hydrazine and oxygen reduction. The formation of a continuous film of dendritic silver is also investigated for its SERS activity where the connectivity between the individual dendrites is found to be particularly important.

Writing the oriental woman : an examination of the representation of Japanese women in contemporary Australian crime fiction

This study considers the challenges in representing women from other cultures in the crime fiction genre. The study is presented in two parts; an exegesis and a creative practice component consisting of a full length crime fiction novel, Batafurai. The exegesis examines the historical period of a section of the novel—post-war Japan—and how the area of research known as Occupation Studies provides an insight into the conditions of women during this period. The exegesis also examines selected postcolonial theory and its exposition of representations of the 'other' as a western construct designed to serve Eurocentric ends. The genre of crime fiction is reviewed, also, to determine how characters purportedly representing Oriental cultures are constricted by established stereotypes. Two case studies are examined to investigate whether these stereotypes are still apparent in contemporary Australian crime fiction. Finally, I discuss my own novel, Batafurai, to review how I represented people of Asian background, and whether my attempts to resist stereotype were successful. My conclusion illustrates how novels written in the crime fiction genre are reliant on strategies that are action-focused, rather than character-based, and thus often use easily recognizable types to quickly establish frameworks for their stories. As a sub-set of popular fiction, crime fiction has a tendency to replicate rather than challenge established stereotypes. Where it does challenge stereotypes, it reflects a territory that popular culture has already visited, such as the 'female', 'black' or 'gay' detective. Crime fiction also has, as one of its central concerns, an interest in examining and reinforcing the notion of societal order. It repeatedly demonstrates that crime either does not pay or should not pay. One of the ways it does this is to contrast what is 'good', known and understood with what is 'bad', unknown, foreign or beyond our normal comprehension. In western culture, the east has traditionally been employed as the site of difference, and has been constantly used as a setting of contrast, excitement or fear. Crime fiction conforms to this pattern, using the east to add a richness and depth to what otherwise might become a 'dry' tale. However, when used in such a way, what is variously eastern, 'other' or Oriental can never be paramount, always falling to secondary side of the binary opposites (good/evil, known/unknown, redeemed/doomed) at work. In an age of globalisation, the challenge for contemporary writers of popular fiction is to be responsive to an audience that demands respect for all cultures. Writers must demonstrate that they are sensitive to such concerns and can skillfully manage the tensions caused by the need to deliver work that operates within the parameters of the genre, and the desire to avoid offence to any cultural or ethnic group. In my work, my strategy to manage these tensions has been to create a back-story for my characters of Asian background, developing them above mere genre types, and to situate them with credibility in time and place through appropriate historical research.

Application of texture analysis in tear film surface assessment based on videokeratoscopy

Purpose Videokeratoscopy images can be used for the non-invasive assessment of the tear film. In this work the applicability of an image processing technique, textural-analysis, for the assessment of the tear film in Placido disc images has been investigated. Methods In the presence of tear film thinning/break-up, the reflected pattern from the videokeratoscope is disturbed in the region of tear film disruption. Thus, the Placido pattern carries information about the stability of the underlying tear film. By characterizing the pattern regularity, the tear film quality can be inferred. In this paper, a textural features approach is used to process the Placido images. This method provides a set of texture features from which an estimate of the tear film quality can be obtained. The method is tested for the detection of dry eye in a retrospective dataset from 34 subjects (22-normal and 12-dry eye), with measurements taken under suppressed blinking conditions. Results To assess the capability of each texture-feature to discriminate dry eye from normal subjects, the receiver operating curve (ROC) was calculated and the area under the curve (AUC), specificity and sensitivity extracted. For the different features examined, the AUC value ranged from 0.77 to 0.82, while the sensitivity typically showed values above 0.9 and the specificity showed values around 0.6. Overall, the estimated ROCs indicate that the proposed technique provides good discrimination performance. Conclusions Texture analysis of videokeratoscopy images is applicable to study tear film anomalies in dry eye subjects. The proposed technique appears to have demonstrated its clinical relevance and utility.

Integrated Lean Six Sigma approach for patient flow improvement in hospital emergency department

Because of increased competition between healthcare providers, higher customer expectations, stringent checks on insurance payments and new government regulations, it has become vital for healthcare organisations to enhance the quality of the care they provide, to increase efficiency, and to improve the cost effectiveness of their services. Consequently, a number of quality management concepts and tools are employed in the healthcare domain to achieve the most efficient ways of using time, manpower, space and other resources. Emergency departments are designed to provide a high-quality medical service with immediate availability of resources to those in need of emergency care. The challenge of maintaining a smooth flow of patients in emergency departments is a global problem. This study attempts to improve the patient flow in emergency departments by considering Lean techniques and Six Sigma methodology in a comprehensive conceptual framework. The proposed research will develop a systematic approach through integration of Lean techniques with Six Sigma methodology to improve patient flow in emergency departments. The results reported in this paper are based on a standard questionnaire survey of 350 patients in the Emergency Department of Aseer Central Hospital in Saudi Arabia. The results of the study led us to determine the most significant variables affecting patient satisfaction with patient flow, including waiting time during patient treatment in the emergency department; effectiveness of the system when dealing with the patient’s complaints; and the layout of the emergency department. The proposed model will be developed within a performance evaluation metric based on these critical variables, to be evaluated in future work within fuzzy logic for continuous quality improvement.

Playing with Grammar in the Early Years : Learning about Language in the Australian Curriculum : English

As teacher/researchers interested in the pursuit of socially-just outcomes in early childhood education, the form and function of language occupies a special position in our work. We believe that mastering a range of literacy competences includes not only the technical skills for learning, but also the resources for viewing and constructing the world (Freire and Macdeo, 1987). Rather than seeing knowledge about language as the accumulation of technical skills alone, the viewpoint to which we subscribe treats knowledge about language as a dialectic that evolves from, is situated in, and contributes to a social arena (Halliday, 1978). We do not shy away from this position just because children are in the early years of schooling. In ‘Playing with Grammar’, we focus on the Foundation to Year 2 grouping, in line with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s (hereafter ACARA) advice on the ‘nature of learners’ (ACARA, 2013). With our focus on the early years of schooling comes our acknowledgement of the importance and complexity of play. At a time where accountability in education has moved many teachers to a sense of urgency to prove language and literacy achievement (Genishi and Dyson, 2009), we encourage space to revisit what we know about literature choices and learning experiences and bring these together to facilitate language learning. We can neither ignore, nor overemphasise, the importance of play for the development of language through: the opportunities presented for creative use and practice; social interactions for real purposes; and, identifying and solving problems in the lives of young children (Marsh and Hallet, 2008). We argue that by engaging young children in opportunities to play with language we are ultimately empowering them to be active in their language learning and in the process fostering a love of language and the intricacies it holds. Our goal in this publication is to provide a range of highly practical strategies for scaffolding young children through some of the Content Descriptions from the Australian Curriculum English Version 5.0, hereafter AC:E V5.0 (ACARA, 2013). This recently released curriculum offers a new theoretical approach to building children’s knowledge about language. The AC:E V5.0 uses selected traditional terms through an approach developed in systemic functional linguistics (see Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004) to highlight the dynamic forms and functions of multimodal language in texts. For example, the following statement, taken from the ‘Language: Knowing about the English language’ strand states: English uses standard grammatical terminology within a contextual framework, in which language choices are seen to vary according to the topics at hand, the nature and proximity of the relationships between the language users, and the modalities or channels of communication available (ACARA, 2013). Put simply, traditional grammar terms are used within a functional framework made up of field, tenor, and mode. An understanding of genre is noted with the reference to a ‘contextual framework’. The ‘topics at hand’ concern the field or subject matter of the text. The ‘relationships between the language users’ is a description of tenor. There is reference to ‘modalities’, such as spoken, written or visual text. We posit that this innovative approach is necessary for working with contemporary multimodal and cross-cultural texts (see Exley and Mills, 2012). We believe there is enormous power in using literature to expose children to the richness of language and in turn develop language and literacy skills. Taking time to look at language patterns within actual literature is a pathway to ‘…capture interest, stir the imagination and absorb the [child]’ into the world of language and literacy (Saxby, 1993, p. 55). In the following three sections, we have tried to remain faithful to our interpretation of the AC:E V5.0 Content Descriptions without giving an exhaustive explanation of the grammatical terms. Other excellent tomes, such as Derewianka (2011), Humphrey, Droga and Feez (2012), and Rossbridge and Rushton (2011) provide these more comprehensive explanations as does the AC:E V5.0 Glossary. We’ve reproduced some of the AC:E V5.0 glossary at the end of this publication. Our focus is on the structure and unfolding of the learning experiences. We outline strategies for working with children in Foundation, Year 1 and Year 2 by providing some demonstration learning experiences based on texts we’ve selected, but maintain that the affordances of these strategies will only be realised when teaching and learning is purposively tied to authentic projects in local contexts. We strongly encourage you not to use only the resource texts we’ve selected, but to capitalise upon your skill for identifying the language features in the texts you and the children are studying and adapt some of the strategies we have outlined. Each learning experience is connected to one of the Content Descriptions from the AC:E V5.0 and contains an experience specific purpose, a suggested resource text and a sequence for the experience that always commences with an orientation to text followed by an examination of a particular grammatical resource. We expect that each of these learning experiences will take a couple if not a few teaching episodes to work through, especially if children are meeting a concept for the first time. We hope you use as much, or as little, of each experience as is needed. Our plans allow for focused discussion, shared exploration and opportunities to revisit the same text for the purpose of enhancing meaning making. We do not want the teaching of grammar to slip into a crisis of irrelevance or to be seen as a series of worksheet drills with finite answers. Strategies for effective practice, however, have much portability. We are both very keen to hear from teachers who are adopting and adapting these learning experiences in their classrooms. Please email us on b.exley@qut.edu.au or lkervin@uow.edu.au. We’d love to continue the conversation with you over time.

Atomistic simulation of interfacial behaviour in graphene-polymer nanocomposites

Graphene–polymer nanocomposites have promising properties as new structural and functional materials. The remarkable mechanical property enhancement in these nanocomposites is generally attributed to exceptional mechanical property of graphene and possible load transfer between graphene and polymer matrix. However, the underlying strengthening and toughening mechanisms have not been well understood. In this work, the interfacial behavior of graphene-polyethylene (PE) was investigated using molecular dynamics (MD) method. The interfacial shear force (ISF) and interfacial shear stress (ISS) between graphene and PE matrix were evaluated, taking into account graphene size, the number of graphene layers and the structural defects in graphene. MD results show that the ISS at graphene-PE interface mainly distributes at each end of the graphene nanofiller within the range of 1 nm, and much larger than that at carbon nanotube (CNT)-PE interface. Moreover, it was found that the ISS at graphene-PE interface is sensitive to the layer number.

The sound of silence : the absence of voice in determining flexible working arrangements

In the context of a dramatically reconfigured labour market characterized by an individualistic culture and increasingly enmeshed life domains of employees, there is raised awareness of how employees may shape or modify their work arrangements. A small component of broader scholarship addressing issues that affect the social context in which individuals work, has focused on the role of ‘employee voice' in determining flexible-work outcomes (Donnelly et al., 2012). Employee voice is a broad term incorporating a spectrum of different practices designed to give employees a say in organisational issues and decisions (Dundon et al., 2004). This article extends work on voice and workplace flexibility by focusing not simply on ‘voice' but on its antithesis: employee silence. Silence is defined here, (following Van Dyne et al., 2003), as the intentional withholding of ideas, information and opinions. The consequences of employee silence in achieving work-life preferences are likely to be significant for both individuals and organizations, in achieving for example, the goals of business efficiency and facilitating employees' needs to fulfill multiple roles and minimize work-life interference.

Ureaplasma parvum undergoes selection in utero resulting in genetically diverse isolates colonising the chorioamnion of fetal sheep

Ureaplasmas are the microorganisms most frequently isolated from the amniotic fluid of pregnant women and can cause chronic intrauterine infections. These tiny bacteria are thought to undergo rapid evolution and exhibit a hypermutatable phenotype; however, little is known about how ureaplasmas respond to selective pressures in utero. Using an ovine model of chronic intra-amniotic infection, we investigated if exposure of ureaplasmas to sub-inhibitory concentrations of erythromycin could induce phenotypic or genetic indicators of macrolide resistance. At 55 days gestation, 12 pregnant ewes received an intra-amniotic injection of a non-clonal, clinical U. parvum strain, followed by: (i) erythromycin treatment (IM, 30 mg/kg/day, n=6); or (ii) saline (IM, n=6) at 100 days gestation. Fetuses were then delivered surgically at 125 days gestation. Despite injecting the same inoculum into all ewes, significant differences between amniotic fluid and chorioamnion ureaplasmas were detected following chronic intra-amniotic infection. Numerous polymorphisms were observed in domain V of the 23S rRNA gene of ureaplasmas isolated from the chorioamnion (but not the amniotic fluid), resulting in a mosaic-like sequence. Chorioamnion isolates also harboured the macrolide resistance genes erm(B) and msr(D) and were associated with variable roxithromycin minimum inhibitory concentrations. Remarkably, this variability occurred independently of exposure of ureaplasmas to erythromycin, suggesting that low-level erythromycin exposure does not induce ureaplasmal macrolide resistance in utero. Rather, the significant differences observed between amniotic fluid and chorioamnion ureaplasmas suggest that different anatomical sites may select for ureaplasma sub-types within non-clonal, clinical strains. This may have implications for the treatment of intrauterine ureaplasma infections.

How accurate is the identification of serious traffic injuries by Police? The concordance between Police and hospital reported traffic injuries

Police reported crash data are the primary source of crash information in most jurisdictions. However, the definition of serious injury within police-reported data is not consistent across jurisdictions and may not be accurate. With the Australian National Road Safety Strategy targeting the reduction of serious injuries, there is a greater need to assess the accuracy of the methods used to identify these injuries. A possible source of more accurate information relating to injury severity is hospital data. While other studies have compared police and hospital data to highlight the under-reporting in police-reported data, little attention has been given to the accuracy of the methods used by police to identify serious injuries. The current study aimed to assess how accurate the identification of serious injuries is in police-reported crash data, by comparing the profiles of transport-related injuries in the Queensland Road Crash Database with an aligned sample of data from the Queensland Hospital Admitted Patients Data Collection. Results showed that, while a similar number of traffic injuries were recorded in both data sets, the profile of these injuries was different based on gender, age, location, and road user. The results suggest that the ‘hospitalisation’ severity category used by police may not reflect true hospitalisations in all cases. Further, it highlights the wide variety of severity levels within hospitalised cases that are not captured by the current police-reported definitions. While a data linkage study is required to confirm these results, they highlight that a reliance on police-reported serious traffic injury data alone could result in inaccurate estimates of the impact and cost of crashes and lead to a misallocation of valuable resources.

Productive and inclusive? How documentation concealed racialising practices in a diversity project

This article examines how documentation concealed racialising practices in a diversity project that was seen to be productive and inclusive. Documentation examples are taken from a doctoral study about embedding Indigenous perspectives in early childhood education curricula in two Australian urban childcare centres. In place of reporting examples of ‘good’ early childhood education practice, the study labelled racialising practices in educators’ work. The primary aim was to understand how racialising practices are mobilised in professional practices, including documentation, even when educators’ work is seen to be high quality. Extracts from two communal journals that captured an action research process around embedding practices are examined to show how racism and whiteness were concealed within the documentation. This enables understanding about how documentation can provide evidence to stakeholders that diversity work in mainstream childcare centres is productive and inclusive, despite disparity between what is recorded and what occurs in practice.

An analysis for the causes of accidents of repair, maintenance, alteration and addition works in Hong Kong

This study unveils causes of accidents in repair, maintenance, alteration and addition (RMAA) work. RMAA work is playing an increasingly important role in developed societies, including Hong Kong. Safety problems associated with RMAA work in Hong Kong has reached an alarming level. In view of rapid expansion of the RMAA sector and rising proportion of accidents in the construction industry, there is a pressing need to investigate causes of RMAA accidents. Structured interviews were conducted with RMAA contractors to explore causes of accidents in the RMAA sector. A two-round Delphi method with 13 safety experts was subsequently employed to verify the interview findings and rank the relative degree of importance for various causes of accidents. Accidents happen in RMAA work due to intersection of reasons. One of the root causes of accidents in RMAA works is low safety awareness of RMAA workers; however, wider organizational and industrial factors are not negligible. This study sheds light on why accidents happen in the RMAA sector. Only when the factors leading to accidents are identified can effective measures be made.

Empirical study to investigate the difficulties of implementing safety practices in the repair and maintenance sector in Hong Kong

Repair, maintenance, minor alteration, and addition work (RMAA) has become more and more important in developed societies, but its safety performance is alarming. For example, RMAA projects accounted for 53.2% of the total construction market and the percentage of RMAA accidents to all construction accidents in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) increased considerably in 2007. The RMAA sector has a huge potential for safety improvement. This study aims to explore and evaluate the difficulties of implementing safety practices in RMAA work. The mixed methods approach was adopted, and semistructured interviews and a two-round Delphi survey were conducted for the data collection. Major difficulties were identified, including limited safety resources for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), difficulty in changing the mindset of RMAA workers, and difficulty in performing safety supervision. These obstacles for implementing safety practices in the RMAA sector, if successfully removed, could significantly improve the safety performance of the RMAA sector and the construction industry as a whole.