Effect of vitamin D supplementation on antibiotic use : a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Observational data suggested that supplementation with vitamin D could reduce risk of infection, but trial data are inconsistent. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to examine the effect of oral vitamin D supplementation on antibiotic use. DESIGN: We conducted a post hoc analysis of data from pilot D-Health, which is a randomized trial carried out in a general community setting between October 2010 and February 2012. A total of 644 Australian residents aged 60-84 y were randomly assigned to receive monthly doses of a placebo (n = 214) or 30,000 (n = 215) or 60,000 (n = 215) IU oral cholecalciferol for ≤12 mo. Antibiotics prescribed during the intervention period were ascertained by linkage with pharmacy records through the national health insurance scheme (Medicare Australia). RESULTS: People who were randomly assigned 60,000 IU cholecalciferol had nonsignificant 28% lower risk of having antibiotics prescribed at least once than did people in the placebo group (RR: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.48, 1.07). In analyses stratified by age, in subjects aged ≥70 y, there was a significant reduction in antibiotic use in the high-dose vitamin D compared with placebo groups (RR: 0.53; 95% CI: 0.32, 0.90), whereas there was no effect in participants <70 y old (RR: 1.07; 95% CI: 0.58, 1.97) (P-interaction = 0.1). CONCLUSION: Although this study was a post hoc analysis and statistically nonsignificant, this trial lends some support to the hypothesis that supplementation with 60,000 IU vitamin D/mo is associated with lower risk of infection, particularly in older adults. The trial was registered at the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (anzctr.org.au) as ACTRN12609001063202.

Probing the effect of charge transfer enhancement in off resonance mode SERS via conjugation of the probe dye between silver nanoparticles and metal substrates

The charge transfer-mediated surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of crystal violet (CV) molecules that were chemically conjugated between partially polarized silver nanoparticles and optically smooth gold and silver substrates has been studied under off-resonant conditions. Tyrosine molecules were used as a reducing agent to convert silver ions into silver nanoparticles where oxidised tyrosine caps the silver nanoparticle surface with its semiquinone group. This binding through the quinone group facilitates charge transfer and results in partially oxidised silver. This establishes a chemical link between the silver nanoparticles and the CV molecules, where the positively charged central carbon of CV molecules can bind to the terminal carboxylate anion of the oxidised tyrosine molecules. After drop casting Ag nanoparticles bound with CV molecules it was found that the free terminal amine groups tend to bind with the underlying substrates. Significantly, only those CV molecules that were chemically conjugated between the partially polarised silver nanoparticles and the underlying gold or silver substrates were found to show SERS under off-resonant conditions. The importance of partial charge transfer at the nanoparticle/capping agent interface and the resultant conjugation of CV molecules to off resonant SERS effects was confirmed by using gold nanoparticles prepared in a similar manner. In this case the capping agent binds to the nanoparticle through the amine group which does not facilitate charge transfer from the gold nanoparticle and under these conditions SERS enhancement in the sandwich configuration was not observed.

Effect of overload cycles on thin steel roof claddings during cyclonic winds

During an investigation on thin steel roof claddings under simulated cyclonic wind loading, it was found that trapezoidal roof claddings behaved quite differently to corrugated (arc and tangent type) roof claddings due to the presence of overload cycles. The overload cycles caused a reduction in fatigue life for corrugated roofing whereas the reverse occurred for trapezoidal roofing. This contrasting behavior of the two crest-fixed roof claddings was investigated using small scale roofing models instead of the commonly used large scale two-span roof claddings. It was found that overload cycles formed a weaker locally dimpled mechanism around the fastener holes of corrugated roofing and thus accelerated the fatigue-caused pull-through failure. In contrast, a stronger deformed shape was formed in trapezoidal roofing which delayed the pull-through failure. Both laboratory testing and finite element analysis of small scale models were used to study the contrasting behavior of roof claddings.

The effect of consumer education on unit price usage : an early exploratory study

Consumer awareness and usage of Unit Price (UP) information continues to hold academic interest. Originally designed as a device to enable shoppers to make comparisons between grocery products, it is argued consumers still lack a sufficient understanding of the device. Previous research has tended to focus on product choice, effect of time, and structural changes to price presentation. No studies have tested the effect of UP consumer education on grocery shopping expenditure. Supported by distributed learning theories, this is the first study to condition participants over a twenty week period, to comprehend and employ UP information while shopping. A 3x5 mixed factorial design was employed to collect data from 357 shoppers. A 3 (Control, Massed, Spaced) x 5 (Time Point: Week 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20) mixed factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to analyse the data. Preliminary results revealed that the three groups differed in their average expenditure over the twenty weeks. The Control group remained stable across the five time points. Results indicated that both intensive (Massed) and less intensive (Spaced) exposure to UP information achieved similar results, with both group reducing average expenditure similarly by Week 5. These patterns held for twenty weeks, with conditioned groups reducing their grocery expenditure by over 10%. This research has academic value as a test of applied learning theories. We argue, retailers can attain considerable market advantages as efforts to enhance customers’ knowledge, through consumer education campaigns, can have a positive and strong impact on customer trust and goodwill toward the organisation. Hence, major practical implications for both regulators and retailers exist.

Study of the effect of M&A on real estate industry firms' performance

This paper proposes to adopt data envelopment analysis (DEA) based Malmquist total factor productivity (TFP) indices methods to evaluate the effect of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on acquirers in short-term and long-term window. Based on analyzing 32 M&A deals conducted by Chinese real estate firms from 2000-2011, the study result demonstrate that the effect of M&A on developers’ performance is positive. Through M&A, the developers’ Malmquist TFP experienced a steady growth; their technology has got noticeable progress immediately after acquisition; and their technical efficiency has suffered a slight decrease in short-term after acquisition, but then achieved marked increase in the long-term when realization of integration and synergy. However, there is no evidence that the real estate firms have achieved scale efficiency improvement after M&A in either short-term or long-term.

Can water security be achieved in the urban environment through the implementation of the Neo Institutional theory government regulation and legislation?

The research seeks to address the current global water crisis and the built environments effect on the increasing demand for sustainability and water security. The fundamental question in determining the correct approach for water security in the built environment is whether government regulation and legislation could provide the framework for sustainable development and the conscious shift providing that change is the only perceivable option, there is no alternative. This article will attempt to analyse the value of the neo institutional theory as a method for directing individuals and companies to conform to water saving techniques. As is highlighted throughout the article, it will be investigated whether an incentive verse punishment approach to government legislations and regulations would provide the framework required to ensure water security within the built environment. Individuals and companies make certain choices or perform certain actions not because they fear punishment or attempt to conform; neither do they do so because an action is appropriate or feels some sort of social obligation. Instead, the cognitive element of neo institutionalism suggests that individuals make certain choices because they can conceive no alternative. The research seeks to identify whether sustainability and water security can become integrated into all aspects of design and architecture through the perception that 'there is no alternative.' This report seeks to address the omission of water security in the built environment by reporting on a series of investigations, interviews, literature reviews, exemplars and statistics relating to the built environment and the potential for increased water security. The results and analysis support the conclusions that through the support of government and local council, sustainability in the built environment could be achieved and become common practice for developments. Highlighted is the approach required for water management systems integration into the built environment and how these can be developed and maintained effectively between cities, states, countries and cultures.

Innovation through action research in environmental education : from project to praxis

This thesis is a work-in-progress that articulates my research journey based on the development of a curriculum innovation in environmental education. This journey had two distinct, but intertwined phases: action research based fieldwork, conducted collaboratively, to create a whole school approach to environmental education curriculum planning; and a phase of analysis and reflection based on the emerging findings, as I sought to create personal "living educational theory" about change and innovation. A key stimulus for the study was the perceived theory-practice gap in environmental education, which is often presented in the literature as a criticism of teachers for failing to achieve the values and action objectives of critical environmental education. Hence, many programs and projects are considered to be superficial and inconsequential in terms of their ability to seriously address environmental issues. The intention of this study was to work with teachers in a project that would be an exemplar of critical environmental education. This would be in the form of a whole school "learnscaping" curriculum in a primary school whereby the schoolgrounds would be utilised for interdisciplinary critical environment education. Parallel with the three cycles of action research in this project, my research objectives were to identify and comment upon the factors that influence the generation of successful educational innovation. It was anticipated that the project would be a collaboration involving me, as researcher-facilitator, and many of the teachers in the school as active participants. As the project proceeded through its action cycles, however, it became obvious that the goal of developing a critical environmental education curriculum, and the use of highly participatory processes, were unrealistic. Institutional and organisational rigidities in education generally, teachers' day-to-day work demands, and the constant juggle of work, family and other responsibilities for all participants acted as significant constraints. Consequently, it became apparent that the learnscaping curriculum would not be the hoped-for exemplar. Progress was slow and, at times, the project was in danger of stalling permanently. While the curriculum had some elements of critical environmental education, these were minor and not well spread throughout the school. Overall, the outcome seemed best described as a "small win"; perhaps just another example of the theory-practice gap that I had hoped this project would bridge. Towards the project's end, however, my continuing reflection led to an exploration of chaos/complexity theory which gave new meaning to the concept of a "small win". According to this theory, change is not the product of linear processes applied methodically in purposeful and diligent ways, but emerges from serendipitous events that cannot be planned for, or forecast in advance. When this perspective of change is applied to human organisations - in this study, a busy school - the context for change is recognised not as a stable, predictable environment, but as a highly complex system where change happens all the time, cannot be controlled, and no one can be really sure where the impacts might lead. This so-called "butterfly effect" is a central idea of this theory where small changes or modifications are created - the effects of which are difficult to know, let alone determine - and which can have large-scale impacts. Allied with this effect is the belief that long term developments in an organisation that takes complexity into account, emerge by spontaneous self-organising evolution, requiring political interaction and learning in groups, rather than systematic progress towards predetermined goals or "visions". Hence, because change itself and the contexts of change are recognised as complex, chaos/complexity theory suggests that change is more likely to be slow and evolutionary - cultural change - rather than fast and revolutionary where the old is quickly ushered out by radical reforms and replaced by new structures and processes. Slow, small-scale changes are "normal", from a complexity viewpoint, while rapid, wholesale change is both unlikely and unrealistic. Therefore, the frustratingly slow, small-scale, imperfect educational changes that teachers create - including environmental education initiatives - should be seen for what they really are. They should be recognised as successful changes, the impacts of which cannot be known, but which have the potential to magnify into large-scale changes into the future. Rather than being regarded as failures for not meeting critical education criteria, "small wins" should be cause for celebration and support. The intertwined phases of collaborative action research and individual researcher reflection are mirrored in the thesis structure. The first three chapters, respectively, provide the thesis overview, the literature underpinning the study's central concern, and the research methodology. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 report on each of the three action research cycles of the study, namely Laying the Groundwork, Down to Work!, and The Never-ending Story. Each of these chapters presents a narrative of events, a literature review specific to developments in the cycle, and analysis and critique of the events, processes and outcomes of each cycle. Chapter 7 provides a synthesis of the whole of the study, outlining my interim propositions about facilitating curriculum change in schools through action research, and the implications of these for environmental education.

Strolling the coastline: criminology in everyday life : through ‘landscape’ from gaol to ‘badlands’

Part travelogue, part flight of fancy, this paper recounts a coastline stroll from Maroubra Beach to Bondi in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. The author as ‘travel guide’ points out features of potential interest to two visiting criminological colleagues as they ‘pass by’ scenery of great beauty shadowed by acts of spectacular violence. The everyday acts of walking and talking while passing through a ‘landscape’ serve to constitute a criminology of everyday life, illustrating the way in which a consciousness of crime, crime sites, analyses and theories permeates the ways a ‘tourist trail’ might be experienced and seen, myths made and histories forged. The walk starts with the unseen lines of penal force radiating from Long Bay Gaol, before skirting through surfing and its regulation; the ‘brotherhood’ of the BRA Boys; the Hines killing and the politics of self defence; the shark arm case, the Virgin Mary and the Bali bombing memorial at Coogee; zones of the beach and Jock Young’s Vertigo at Bronte and Tamarama; before finishing at the Marks Park ‘badlands’ at Bondi, scene of a series of mostly unsolved and unpunished homophobic killings, giving rise to reflections on ‘ungrievable lives’, memory, mourning and forgetting.

Cultural flows in an Aboriginal school : deterritorializing textual production through a socially mediated Indigenous heritage

Flows of cultural heritage in textual practices are vital to sustaining Indigenous communities. Indigenous heritage, whether passed on by oral tradition or ubiquitous social media, can be seen as a “conversation between the past and the future” (Fairclough, 2012, xv). Indigenous heritage involves appropriating memories within a cultural flow to pass on a spiritual legacy. This presentation reports ethnographic research of social media practices in a small independent Aboriginal school in Southeast Queensland, Australia that is resided over by the Yugambeh elders and an Aboriginal principal. The purpose was to rupture existing notions of white literacies in schools, and to deterritorialize the uses of digital media by dominant cultures in the public sphere. Examples of learning experiences included the following: i. Integrating Indigenous language and knowledge into media text production; ii. Using conversations with Indigenous elders and material artifacts as an entry point for storytelling; iii. Dadirri – spiritual listening in the yarning circle to develop storytelling (Ungunmerr-Baumann, 2002); and iv. Writing and publicly sharing oral histories through digital scrapbooking shared via social media. The program aligned with the Australian National Curriculum English (ACARA, 2012), which mandates the teaching of multimodal text creation. Data sources included a class set of digital scrapbooks collaboratively created in a multi-age primary classroom. The digital scrapbooks combined digitally encoded words, images of material artifacts, and digital music files. A key feature of the writing and digital design task was to retell and digitally display and archive a cultural narrative of significance to the Indigenous Australian community and its memories and material traces of the past for the future. Data analysis of the students’ digital stories involved the application of key themes of negotiated, material, and digitally mediated forms of heritage practice. It drew on Australian Indigenous research by Keddie et al. (2013) to guard against the homogenizing of culture that can arise from a focus on a static view of culture. The interpretation of findings located Indigenous appropriation of social media within broader racialized politics that enables Indigenous literacy to be understood as a dynamic, negotiated, and transgenerational flows of practice. The findings demonstrate that Indigenous children’s use of media production reflects “shifting and negotiated identities” in response to changing media environments that can function to sustain Indigenous cultural heritages (Appadurai, 1696, xv). It demonstrated how the children’s experiences of culture are layered over time, as successive generations inherit, interweave, and hear others’ cultural stories or maps. It also demonstrated how the children’s production of narratives through multimedia can provide a platform for the flow and reconstruction of performative collective memories and “lived traces of a common past” (Giaccardi, 2012). It disrupts notions of cultural reductionism and racial incommensurability that fix and homogenize Indigenous practices within and against a dominant White norm. Recommendations are provided for an approach to appropriating social media in schools that explicitly attends to the dynamic nature of Indigenous practices, negotiated through intercultural constructions and flows, and opening space for a critical anti-racist approach to multimodal text production.

Improving the performance of nutrition screening through a series of quality improvement initiatives

Background Nutrition screening identifies patients at risk of malnutrition to facilitate early nutritional intervention. Studies have reported incompletion and error rates of 30-90% for a range of commonly used screening tools. This study aims to investigate the incompletion and error rates of 3-Minute Nutrition Screening (3-MinNS) and the effect of quality improvement initiatives in improving the overall performance of the screening tool and the referral process for at risk patients. Methods Annual audits were carried out from 2008-2013 on 4467 patients. Value Stream Mapping, Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle and Root Cause Analysis were used in this study to identify gaps and determine the best intervention. The intervention included 1) implementing a nutrition screening protocol, 2) nutrition screening training, 3) nurse empowerment for online dietetics referral of at-risk cases, 4) closed-loop feedback system and 5) removing a component of 3-MinNS that caused the most error without compromising its sensitivity and specificity. Results Nutrition screening error rates were 33% and 31%, with 5% and 8% blank or missing forms, in 2008 and 2009 respectively. For patients at risk of malnutrition, referral to dietetics took up to 7.5 days, with 10% not referred at all. After intervention, the latter decreased to 7% (2010), 4% (2011) and 3% (2012 and 2013), and the mean turnaround time from screening to referral was reduced significantly from 4.3 ± 1.8 days to 0.3 ± 0.4 days (p < 0.001). Error rates were reduced to 25% (2010), 15% (2011), 7% (2012) and 5% (2013) and percentage of blank or missing forms reduced to and remained at 1%. Conclusion Quality improvement initiatives are effective in reducing the incompletion and error rates of nutrition screening, and led to sustainable improvements in the referral process of patients at nutritional risk.

Age and curing effect on the bond strength of thin bed concrete masonry with polymer cement mortar

Bond characteristics of masonry are partly affected by the type of mortar used, the techniques of dispersion of mortar and the surface texture of the concrete blocks. Additionally it is understood from the studies on conventional masonry, the bond characteristics are influenced by masonry age and curing methods as well as dryness/dampness at the time of testing. However, all these effects on bond for thin bed masonry containing polymer cement mortar are not well researched. Therefore, the effect of ageing and curing method on bond strength of masonry made with polymer cement mortar was experimentally investigated as part of an ongoing bond strength research program on thin bed concrete masonry at Queensland University of technology. This paper presents the experimental investigation of the flexural and shears bond characteristics of thin bed concrete masonry of varying age/ curing methods. Since, the polymer cement mortar is commonly used in thin bed masonry; bond development through two different curing conditions (dry/wet) was investigated in this research work. The results exhibit that the bond strength increases with the age under the wet and dry curing conditions; dry curing produce stronger bond and is considered as an advantage towards making this form of thin bed masonry better sustainable.

Effect of culture conditions and calcium phosphate coating on ectopic bone formation

This study investigated the effect of a calcium phosphate (CaP) coating onto a polycaprolactone melt electrospun scaffold and in vitro culture conditions on ectopic bone formation in a subcutaneous rat model. The CaP coating resulted in an increased alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP) in ovine osteoblasts regardless of the culture conditions and this was also translated into higher levels of mineralisation. A subcutaneous implantation was performed and increasing ectopic bone formation was observed over time for the CaPcoated samples previously cultured in osteogenic media whereas the corresponding non-coated samples displayed a lag phase before bone formation occurred from 4 to 8 weeks post-implantation. Histology and immunohistochemistry revealed bone fill through the scaffolds 8 weeks post-implantation for coated and non-coated specimens and that ALP, osteocalcin and collagen 1 were present at the ossification front and in the bone tissues. Vascularisation in the vicinity of the bone tissues was also observed indicating that the newly formed bone was not deprived of oxygen and nutrients.We found that in vitro osteogenic induction was essential for achieving bone formation and CaP coating accelerated the osteogenic process. We conclude that high cell density and preservation of the collagenous and mineralised extracellular matrix secreted in vitro are factors of importance for ectopic bone formation.

The effect of high voltage, high frequency pulsed electric field on slain ovine cortical bone

High power, high frequency pulsed electric fields known as pulsed power (PP) has been applied recently in biology and medicine. However, little attention has been paid to investigate the application of pulse power in musculoskeletal system and its possible effect on functional behavior and biomechanical properties of bone tissue. This paper presents the first research investigating whether or not PP can be applied safely on bone tissue as a stimuli and what will be the possible effect of these signals on the characteristics of cortical bone by comparing the mechanical properties of this type of bone pre and post expose to PP and in comparison with the control samples. A positive buck‑boost converter was applied to generate adjustable high voltage, high frequency pulses (up to 500 V and 10 kHz). The functional behavior of bone in response to pulse power excitation was elucidated by applying compressive loading until failure. The stiffness, failure stress (strength) and the total fracture energy (bone toughness) were determined as a measure of the main bone characteristics. Furthermore, an ultrasonic technique was applied to determine and comprise bone elasticity before and after pulse power stimulation. The elastic property of cortical bone samples appeared to remain unchanged following exposure to pulse power excitation for all three orthogonal directions obtained from ultrasonic technique and similarly from the compression test. Nevertheless, the compressive strength and toughness of bone samples were increased when they were exposed to 66 h of high power pulsed electromagnetic field compared to the control samples. As the toughness and the strength of the cortical bone tissue are directly associated with the quality and integrity of the collagen matrix whereas its stiffness is primarily related to bone mineral content these overall results may address that although, the pulse power stimulation can influence the arrangement or the quality of the collagen network causing the bone strength and toughness augmentation, it apparently did not affect the mineral phase of the cortical bone material. The results also confirmed that the indirect application of high power pulsed electric field at 500 V and 10 kHz through capacitive coupling method was safe and did not destroy the bone tissue construction.

Entrepreneurial bricolage and young firm performance : the moderating effect of team composition

Many young firms face significant resource constraints during attempts to develop and grow. One promising theory that explicitly links to resource constraints is bricolage: a construct developed by Levi Strauss (1967). Bricolage aligns with notions of resourcefulness: using what’s on hand, through making do, and recombining resources for new or novel purposes. In this paper we further theorize and test the moderating effects of ownership team composition on bricolage and firm performance. Our findings suggest that team size, strong network ties, and functionality enhance the effects of bricolage in young firm performance.

Effect of joint mechanism on vehicle redirectional capability of water-filled road safety barrier systems

Portable water-filled barriers (PWFBs) are roadside appurtenances that prevent vehicles from penetrating into temporary construction zones on roadways. PWFBs are required to satisfy the strict regulations for vehicle re-direction in tests. However, many of the current PWFBs fail to re-direct the vehicle at high speeds due to the inability of the joints to provide appropriate stiffness. The joint mechanism hence plays a crucial role in the performance of a PWFB system at high speed impacts. This paper investigates the desired features of the joint mechanism in a PWFB system that can re-direct vehicles at high speeds, while limiting the lateral displacement to acceptable limits. A rectangular “wall” representative of a 30 m long barrier system was modeled and a novel method of joining adjacent road barriers was introduced through appropriate pin-joint connections. The impact response of the barrier “wall” and the vehicle was obtained and the results show that a rotational stiffness of 3000 kNm/rad at the joints seems to provide the desired features of the PWFB system to re-direct impacting vehicles and restrict the lateral deflection. These research findings will be useful to safety engineers and road barrier designers in developing a new generation of PWFBs for increased road safety.