Estimating the under-reporting of road crash injuries to police using multiple linked data collections

The reliance on police data for the counting of road crash injuries can be problematic, as it is well known that not all road crash injuries are reported to police which under-estimates the overall burden of road crash injuries. The aim of this study was to use multiple linked data sources to estimate the extent of under-reporting of road crash injuries to police in the Australian state of Queensland. Data from the Queensland Road Crash Database (QRCD), the Queensland Hospital Admitted Patients Data Collection (QHAPDC), Emergency Department Information System (EDIS), and the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit (QISU) for the year 2009 were linked. The completeness of road crash cases reported to police was examined via discordance rates between the police data (QRCD) and the hospital data collections. In addition, the potential bias of this discordance (under-reporting) was assessed based on gender, age, road user group, and regional location. Results showed that the level of under-reporting varied depending on the data set with which the police data was compared. When all hospital data collections are examined together the estimated population of road crash injuries was approximately 28,000, with around two-thirds not linking to any record in the police data. The results also showed that the under-reporting was more likely for motorcyclists, cyclists, males, young people, and injuries occurring in Remote and Inner Regional areas. These results have important implications for road safety research and policy in terms of: prioritising funding and resources; targeting road safety interventions into areas of higher risk; and estimating the burden of road crash injuries.

Real-time traffic state estimation in urban corridors from heterogeneous data

In recent years, rapid advances in information technology have led to various data collection systems which are enriching the sources of empirical data for use in transport systems. Currently, traffic data are collected through various sensors including loop detectors, probe vehicles, cell-phones, Bluetooth, video cameras, remote sensing and public transport smart cards. It has been argued that combining the complementary information from multiple sources will generally result in better accuracy, increased robustness and reduced ambiguity. Despite the fact that there have been substantial advances in data assimilation techniques to reconstruct and predict the traffic state from multiple data sources, such methods are generally data-driven and do not fully utilize the power of traffic models. Furthermore, the existing methods are still limited to freeway networks and are not yet applicable in the urban context due to the enhanced complexity of the flow behavior. The main traffic phenomena on urban links are generally caused by the boundary conditions at intersections, un-signalized or signalized, at which the switching of the traffic lights and the turning maneuvers of the road users lead to shock-wave phenomena that propagate upstream of the intersections. This paper develops a new model-based methodology to build up a real-time traffic prediction model for arterial corridors using data from multiple sources, particularly from loop detectors and partial observations from Bluetooth and GPS devices.

State of Education for Energy Efficiency in Australian Engineering Education - Summary of Questionnaire Results

In 2007 the National Framework for Energy Efficiency provided funding for the first survey of energy efficiency education across all Australian universities teaching engineering education. The survey asked the question, ‘What is the state of education for energy efficiency in Australian engineering education?’. There was an excellent response to the survey, with 48 course responses from lecturers across 27 universities from every state and territory in Australia, and 260 student responses from 18 courses across 8 universities from all 6 states. It is concluded from the survey findings that the state of education for energy efficiency in Australian engineering education is currently highly variable and ad hoc across universities and engineering disciplines.

Ergonomic assessment of hospital bed moving using DHM Siemens JACK

While the indirect and direct cost of occupational musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) causes a significant burden on the health system, lower back pain (LBP) is associated with a significant portion of MSD. In Australia, the highest prevalence of MSD exists for health care workers, such as nurses. The digital human model (DHM) Siemens JACK was used to investigate if hospital bed pushing, a simple task and hazard that is commonly associated with LBP, can be simulated and ergonomically assessed in a virtual environment. It was found that while JACK has implemented a range of common physical work assessment methods, the simulation of dynamic bed pushing remains a challenge due to the complex interface between the floor and wheels, which can only be insufficiently modelle

Numerical investigation of aerosol particle transport and deposition in realistic lung airway

Different human activities like combustion of fossil fuels, biomass burning, industrial and agricultural activities, emit a large amount of particulates into the atmosphere. As a consequence, the air we inhale contains significant amount of suspended particles, including organic and inorganic solids and liquids, as well as various microorganism, which are solely responsible for a number of pulmonary diseases. Developing a numerical model for transport and deposition of foreign particles in realistic lung geometry is very challenging due to the complex geometrical structure of the human lung. In this study, we have numerically investigated the airborne particle transport and its deposition in human lung surface. In order to obtain the appropriate results of particle transport and deposition in human lung, we have generated realistic lung geometry from the CT scan obtained from a local hospital. For a more accurate approach, we have also created a mucus layer inside the geometry, adjacent to the lung surface and added all apposite mucus layer properties to the wall surface. The Lagrangian particle tracking technique is employed by using ANSYS FLUENT solver to simulate the steady-state inspiratory flow. Various injection techniques have been introduced to release the foreign particles through the inlet of the geometry. In order to investigate the effects of particle size on deposition, numerical calculations are carried out for different sizes of particles ranging from 1 micron to 10 micron. The numerical results show that particle deposition pattern is completely dependent on its initial position and in case of realistic geometry; most of the particles are deposited on the rough wall surface of the lung geometry instead of carinal region.

Lateralization of temporal lobe epilepsy based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and machine learning

Lateralization of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is critical for successful outcome of surgery to relieve seizures. TLE affects brain regions beyond the temporal lobes and has been associated with aberrant brain networks, based on evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging. We present here a machine learning-based method for determining the laterality of TLE, using features extracted from resting-state functional connectivity of the brain. A comprehensive feature space was constructed to include network properties within local brain regions, between brain regions, and across the whole network. Feature selection was performed based on random forest and a support vector machine was employed to train a linear model to predict the laterality of TLE on unseen patients. A leave-one-patient-out cross validation was carried out on 12 patients and a prediction accuracy of 83% was achieved. The importance of selected features was analyzed to demonstrate the contribution of resting-state connectivity attributes at voxel, region, and network levels to TLE lateralization.

Cost-effectiveness of hospital infection control interventions in resource-limited settings

The aim of this project was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of hand hygiene interventions in resource-limited hospital settings. Using data from north-east Thailand, the research found that such interventions are likely to be very cost-effective in intensive care unit settings as a result of reduced incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection alone. This study also found evidence showing that the World Health Organization's (WHO) multimodal intervention is effective and when adding either goal-setting, reward incentives, or accountability strategies to the WHO intervention, compliance could be further improved.

Assessment of body composition of Sri Lankan Australian children using ethnic specific equations

Since ethnic differences exist in body composition, assessment methods need to be validated prior to use in different populations. This study attempts to validate the use of Sri Lankan based body composition assessment tools on a group of 5 - 15 year old Australian children of Sri Lankan origin. The study was conducted at the Body Composition Laboratory of the Children’s Nutrition Research Centre at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Brisbane, Australia. Height (Ht), weight (Wt), segmental length (Lsegment name) and skinfold thickness (SFT) were measured. The whole body and segmental bio impedance analysis (BIA) were also measured. The body composition determined by the deuterium dilution technique (criterion method) was compared with the assessments done using prediction equations developed on Sri Lankan children. 27 boys and 15 girls were studied. All predictions of body composition parameters, except percentage fat mass (FM) assessed by the SFT-FM equation in girls gave statistically significant correlations with the criterion method. They had a low mean bias and most were not influenced by the measured parameter. Although living in a different socioeconomic state, the equations developed on children of the same ethnic background gives a better predictive value of body composition. This highlights the ethnic influence on body composition.

Patriotism’s impact on cooperation with the state: An experimental study on tax compliance

Although it seems reasonable to assume that activating patriotism might motivate citizens to cooperate with the state in reaching societal goals, the empirical evidence supporting this contention is based mostly on correlational rather than experimental studies. In addition, little is known on whether patriotism can be manipulated without simultaneously triggering nationalism and on the psychological processes which determine the patriotism-cooperation relation. This current article reports results of one survey and three experiments that manipulate patriotism by displaying either a national flag or national landscapes or by priming national achievements. The outcomes indicate that reported and manipulated patriotism indirectly increase tax compliance, although the national flag also increases nationalism. National achievements, on the other hand, seemingly increases trust in national public institutions and the voluntary motivation to cooperate, whereas national landscapes only increase the voluntary motivation to cooperate. Hence, it is possible to increase social capital in the form of trust and cooperation through patriotism without fostering nationalism as well.

Quantifying the state of populations and effects of disturbances at large spatio-temporal scales: The case of coral populations in the great barrier reef

This project was a step forward in applying statistical methods and models to provide new insights for more informed decision-making at large spatial scales. The model has been designed to address complicated effects of ecological processes that govern the state of populations and uncertainties inherent in large spatio-temporal datasets. Specifically, the thesis contributes to better understanding and management of the Great Barrier Reef.

Do human rhinovirus infections and food allergy modify grass pollen-induced asthma hospital admissions in children?

Asthma prevalence in children has remained relatively constant in many Western countries, but hospital admissions for younger age groups have increased over time.1 Although the role of outdoor aeroallergens as triggers for asthma exacerbations requiring hospitalization in children and adolescents is complex, there is evidence that increasing concentrations of grass pollen are associated with an increased risk of asthma exacerbations in children.2 Human rhinovirus (HRV) infections are implicated in most of the serious asthma exacerbations in school-age children.3 In previous research, HRV infections and aeroallergen exposure have usually been studied independently. To our knowledge, only 1 study has examined interactions between these 2 factors,4 but lack of power prevented any meaningful interpretation...

Rehabilitation of individuals with bone-anchored prosthesis: State-of-the-art and challenges

Individuals with limb amputation fitted with conventional socket-suspended prostheses often experience socket-related discomfort leading to a significant decrease in quality of life. Bone-anchored prostheses are increasingly acknowledged as viable alternative method of attachment of artificial limb. In this case, the prosthesis is attached directly to the residual skeleton through a percutaneous fixation. To date, a few osseointegration fixations are commercially available. Several devices are at different stages of development particularly in Europe and the US.[1-15] Clearly, surgical procedures are currently blooming worldwide. Indeed, Australia and Queensland in particular have one of the fastest growing populations. Previous studies involving either screw-type implants or press-fit fixations for bone-anchorage have focused on fragmented biomechanics aspects as well as the clinical benefits and safety of the procedure. However, very few publications have synthetized this information and provided an overview of the current developments in bone-anchored prostheses worldwide, let alone in Australia. The purposes of the presentation will be: 1. To provide an overview of the state-of-art developments in bone-anchored prostheses with as strong emphasis on the design of fixations, treatment, benefits, risks as well as future opportunities and challenges, 2. To present the current international developments of procedures for bone-anchored prostheses in terms of numbers of centers, number of cases and typical case-mix, 3. To highlight the current role Australia is playing as a leader worldwide in terms of growing population, broadest range of case-mix, choices of fixations, development of reimbursement schemes, unique clinical outcome registry for evidence-based practice, cutting-edge research, consumer demand and general public interest.

Differences in identifying healthcare associated infections using clinical vignettes and the influence of respondent characteristics: A cross-sectional survey of Australian infection prevention staff

Background Australia has commenced public reporting and benchmarking of healthcare associated infections (HAIs), despite not having a standardised national HAI surveillance program. Annual hospital Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream (SAB) infection rates are released online, with other HAIs likely to be reported in the future. Although there are known differences between hospitals in Australian HAI surveillance programs, the effect of these differences on reported HAI rates is not known. Objective To measure the agreement in HAI identification, classification, and calculation of HAI rates, and investigate the influence of differences amongst those undertaking surveillance on these outcomes. Methods A cross-sectional online survey exploring HAI surveillance practices was administered to infection prevention nurses who undertake HAI surveillance. Seven clinical vignettes describing HAI scenarios were included to measure agreement in HAI identification, classification, and calculation of HAI rates. Data on characteristics of respondents was also collected. Three of the vignettes were related to surgical site infection and four to bloodstream infection. Agreement levels for each of the vignettes were calculated. Using the Australian SAB definition, and the National Health and Safety Network definitions for other HAIs, we looked for an association between the proportion of correct answers and the respondents’ characteristics. Results Ninety-two infection prevention nurses responded to the vignettes. One vignette demonstrated 100 % agreement from responders, whilst agreement for the other vignettes varied from 53 to 75 %. Working in a hospital with more than 400 beds, working in a team, and State or Territory was associated with a correct response for two of the vignettes. Those trained in surveillance were more commonly associated with a correct response, whilst those working part-time were less likely to respond correctly. Conclusion These findings reveal the need for further HAI surveillance support for those working part-time and in smaller facilities. It also confirms the need to improve uniformity of HAI surveillance across Australian hospitals, and raises questions on the validity of the current comparing of national HAI SAB rates.