Impact and energy absorption of portable water-filled road safety barrier system fitted with foam

Portable water-filled barriers (PWFBs) are roadside appurtenances that are used to prevent errant vehicles from penetrating into temporary construction zones on roadways. A numerical model of the composite PWFB, consisting of a plastic shell, steel frame, water and foam was developed and validated against results from full scale experimental tests. This model can be extended to larger scale impact cases, specifically ones that include actual vehicle models. The cost-benefit of having a validated numerical model is significant and this allows the road barrier designer to conduct extensive tests via numerical simulations prior to standard impact tests Effects of foam cladding as additional energy absorption material in the PWFB was investigated. Different types of foam were treated and it was found that XPS foam was the most suitable foam type. Results from this study will aid PWFB designers in developing new generation of roadside structures which will provide enhanced road safety.

Self-determination as a moderator of demands and control : implications for employee strain and engagement

Does job control act as a stress-buffer when employees' type and level of work self-determination is taken into account? It was anticipated that job control would only be stress-buffering for employees high in self-determined and low in non-self-determined work motivation. In contrast, job control would be stress-exacerbating for employees who were low in self-determined and high in non-self-determined work motivation. Employees of a health insurance organization (N = 123) completed a survey on perceptions of role overload, job control, work self-determination, and a range of strain and engagement indicators. Results revealed that, when individuals high in self-determination perceived high job control, they experienced greater engagement (in the form of dedication to their work). In addition, when individuals high in non-self-determination perceived high job demands, they experienced more health complaints. A significant 3-way interaction demonstrated that, for individuals low in non-self-determination, high job control had the anticipated stress-buffering effect on engagement (in the form of absorption in their work). In addition, low job control was stress-exacerbating. However, contrary to expectations, for those high in non-self-determination, high job control was just as useful as low job control as a stress-buffer. The practical applications of these findings to the organizational context are discussed.

Trait and behavioural motor control is associated with resistance to overconsumption

While overall obesity rates are rising, a minority of individuals appear to resist overconsumption and remain lean in spite of an ‘obesogenic’ environment. Studying the factors hypothesised to underpin behaviours associated with resistance to overconsumption may inform weight management strategies in an adverse environment. Trait (BIS-11) and behavioural (response inhibition, GoStop) self control were assessed in the laboratory. Snack food consumption was measured covertly via a sham taste test. Lack of motor control was positively correlated (r = .32, p <. 05) and successful response inhibition was negatively correlated (r = −.35, p <. 05) with snack food intake. Low motor control was also associated with further food intake when satiated (r = .39, p < .01). These relationships were independent of self-reported palatability and perceived reward value of the food. Motor control may be an important factor implicated in ‘mindless’ eating in an environment abundant in palatable, energy-dense snack foods.

Management of periprosthetic joint infection after total hip arthroplasty using a Custom Made Articulating Spacer (CUMARS); the exeter experience

Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) after THA is a major complication with an incidence of 1-3%. We report our experiences with a technique using a custom-made articulating spacer (CUMARS) at the first of two-stage treatment for PJI. This technique uses widely available all-polyethylene acetabular components and the Exeter Universal stem, fixed using antibiotic loaded acrylic cement. Seventy-six hips were treated for PJI using this technique. Performed as the first of a two-stage procedure, good functional results were commonly seen, leading to postponing second stage indefinitely with retention of the CUMARS prosthesis in 34 patients. The CUMARS technique presents an alternative to conventional spacers, using readily available components that are well tolerated, allowing weight bearing and mobility, and achieving comparable eradication rates.

A hypothesis test using bias-adjusted AR estimators for classifying time series in small samples

A new test of hypothesis for classifying stationary time series based on the bias-adjusted estimators of the fitted autoregressive model is proposed. It is shown theoretically that the proposed test has desirable properties. Simulation results show that when time series are short, the size and power estimates of the proposed test are reasonably good, and thus this test is reliable in discriminating between short-length time series. As the length of the time series increases, the performance of the proposed test improves, but the benefit of bias-adjustment reduces. The proposed hypothesis test is applied to two real data sets: the annual real GDP per capita of six European countries, and quarterly real GDP per capita of five European countries. The application results demonstrate that the proposed test displays reasonably good performance in classifying relatively short time series.

Creating flexible mappings between building information models and cost information

During the early design stages of construction projects, accurate and timely cost feedback is critical to design decision making. This is particularly challenging for cost estimators, as they must quickly and accurately estimate the cost of the building when the design is still incomplete and evolving. State-of-the-art software tools typically use a rule-based approach to generate detailed quantities from the design details present in a building model and relate them to the cost items in a cost estimating database. In this paper, we propose a generic approach for creating and maintaining a cost estimate using flexible mappings between a building model and a cost estimate. The approach uses queries on the building design that are used to populate views, and each view is then associated with one or more cost items. The benefit of this approach is that the flexibility of modern query languages allows the estimator to encode a broad variety of relationships between the design and estimate. It also avoids the use of a common standard to which both designers and estimators must conform, allowing the estimator added flexibility and functionality to their work.

Do spoken nonword and sentence repetition tasks discriminate language impairment in children with an ASD?

The primary aim of this paper was to investigate heterogeneity in language abilities of children with a confirmed diagnosis of an ASD (N = 20) and children with typical development (TD; N = 15). Group comparisons revealed no differences between ASD and TD participants on standard clinical assessments of language ability, reading ability or nonverbal intelligence. However, a hierarchical cluster analysis based on spoken nonword repetition and sentence repetition identified two clusters within the combined group of ASD and TD participants. The first cluster (N = 6) presented with significantly poorer performances than the second cluster (N = 29) on both of the clustering variables in addition to single word and nonword reading. The significant differences between the two clusters occur within a context of Cluster 1 having language impairment and a tendency towards more severe autistic symptomatology. Differences between the oral language abilities of the first and second clusters are considered in light of diagnosis, attention and verbal short term memory skills and reading impairment.

The impact of nurse practitioner services on cost, quality of care, satisfaction and wait times in the emergency department: A systematic review

Aims To provide the best available evidence to determine the impact of nurse practitioner services on cost, quality of care, satisfaction and waiting times in the emergency department for adult patients. Background The delivery of quality care in the emergency department is one of the most important service indicators in health delivery. Increasing service pressures in the emergency department have resulted in the adoption of service innovation models: the most common and rapidly expanding of these is emergency nurse practitioner services. The rapid uptake of emergency nurse practitioner service in Australia has outpaced the capacity to evaluate this service model in terms of outcomes related to safety and quality of patient care. Previous research is now outdated and not commensurate with the changing domain of delivering emergency care with nurse practitioner services. Data A comprehensive search of four electronic databases from 2006-­‐2013 was conducted to identify research evaluating nurse practitioner service impact in the emergency department. English language articles were sought using MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase and Cochrane and included two previous systematic reviews completed five and seven years ago. Methods A three step approach was used. Following a comprehensive search, two reviewers assessed identified studies against the inclusion criteria. From the original 1013 studies, 14 papers were retained for critical appraisal on methodological quality by two independent reviewers and data extracted using standardised tools. Results Narrative synthesis was conducted to summarise and report the findings as insufficient data was available for meta-­‐analysis of results. This systematic review has shown that emergency nurse practitioner service has a positive impact on quality of care, patient satisfaction and waiting times. There was insufficient evidence to draw conclusions regarding impact on costs. Conclusion Synthesis of the available research attempts to provide an evidence base for emergency nurse practitioner service to guide healthcare leaders, policy makers and clinicians in reforming emergency department service provision. The findings suggest that further quality research is required for comparative measures of clinical and service effectiveness of emergency nurse practitioner service. In the context of increased health service demand and the need to provide timely and effective care to patients, such measures will assist in delivering quality patient care.

Impact of nitrification inhibitor (DMPP) on soil nitrous oxide emissions from an intensive broccoli production system in sub-tropical Australia

Vegetable cropping systems are often characterised by high inputs of nitrogen fertiliser. Elevated emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) can be expected as a consequence. In order to mitigate N2O emissions from fertilised agricultural fields, the use of nitrification inhibitors, in combination with ammonium based fertilisers, has been promoted. However, no data is currently available on the use of nitrification inhibitors in sub-tropical vegetable systems. A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of the nitrification inhibitor 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) on N2O emissions and yield from broccoli production in sub-tropical Australia. Soil N2O fluxes were monitored continuously (3 h sampling frequency) with fully automated, pneumatically operated measuring chambers linked to a sampling control system and a gas chromatograph. Cumulative N2O emissions over the 5 month observation period amounted to 298 g-N/ha, 324 g-N/ha, 411 g-N/ha and 463 g-N/ha in the conventional fertiliser (CONV), the DMPP treatment (DMPP), the DMMP treatment with a 10% reduced fertiliser rate (DMPP-red) and the zero fertiliser (0N), respectively. The temporal variation of N2O fluxes showed only low emissions over the broccoli cropping phase, but significantly elevated emissions were observed in all treatments following broccoli residues being incorporated into the soil. Overall 70–90% of the total emissions occurred in this 5 weeks fallow phase. There was a significant inhibition effect of DMPP on N2O emissions and soil mineral N content over the broccoli cropping phase where the application of DMPP reduced N2O emissions by 75% compared to the standard practice. However, there was no statistical difference between the treatments during the fallow phase or when the whole season was considered. This study shows that DMPP has the potential to reduce N2O emissions from intensive vegetable systems, but also highlights the importance of post-harvest emissions from incorporated vegetable residues. N2O mitigation strategies in vegetable systems need to target these post-harvest emissions and a better evaluation of the effect of nitrification inhibitors over the fallow phase is needed.

Towards a phylogeny of the Tenebrionoidea (Coleoptera)

The phylogenetic relationships of the beetle superfamily Tenebrionoidea are investigated using the most comprehensive genetic data set compiled to date. With ∼34,000 described species in approximately 1250 genera and 28 families, Tenebrionoidea represent one of the most diverse and species-rich superfamilies of beetles. The interfamilial relationships of the Tenebrionoidea are poorly known; previous morphological and molecular phylogenies recovered few well-supported and often conflicting relationships between families. Here we present a molecular phylogeny of Tenebrionoidea based on genes commonly used to resolve family and superfamily-level phylogenies of beetles (18S, 28S, 16S, 12S, tRNA Val and COI). The alignment spanned over 6.5 KB of DNA sequence and over 300 tenebrionoid genera from 24 of the 28 families were sampled. Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analysis could not resolve deeper level divergences within the superfamily and very few relationships between families were supported. Increasing gene coverage in the alignment by removing taxa with missing data did not improve clade support but when rogue taxa were removed increased resolution was recovered. Investigation of signal strength suggested conflicting phylogenetic signal was present in the standard genes used for beetle phylogenetics, even when rogue taxa were removed. Our study of Tenebrionoidea highlights that even with relatively comprehensive taxon sampling within a lineage, this standard set of genes is unable to resolve relationships within this superfamily.

Sequential monitoring of hospital adverse events when control charts fail : the example of fall injuries in hospitals

Objective To evaluate methods for monitoring monthly aggregated hospital adverse event data that display clustering, non-linear trends and possible autocorrelation. Design Retrospective audit. Setting The Northern Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. Participants 171,059 patients admitted between January 2001 and December 2006. Measurements The analysis is illustrated with 72 months of patient fall injury data using a modified Shewhart U control chart, and charts derived from a quasi-Poisson generalised linear model (GLM) and a generalised additive mixed model (GAMM) that included an approximate upper control limit. Results The data were overdispersed and displayed a downward trend and possible autocorrelation. The downward trend was followed by a predictable period after December 2003. The GLM-estimated incidence rate ratio was 0.98 (95% CI 0.98 to 0.99) per month. The GAMM-fitted count fell from 12.67 (95% CI 10.05 to 15.97) in January 2001 to 5.23 (95% CI 3.82 to 7.15) in December 2006 (p<0.001). The corresponding values for the GLM were 11.9 and 3.94. Residual plots suggested that the GLM underestimated the rate at the beginning and end of the series and overestimated it in the middle. The data suggested a more rapid rate fall before 2004 and a steady state thereafter, a pattern reflected in the GAMM chart. The approximate upper two-sigma equivalent control limit in the GLM and GAMM charts identified 2 months that showed possible special-cause variation. Conclusion Charts based on GAMM analysis are a suitable alternative to Shewhart U control charts with these data.

Geographical distribution of human Schistosoma japonicum infection in the Philippines : tools to support disease control and further elimination

S. japonicum infection is believed to be endemic in 28 of the 80 provinces of the Philippines and the most recent data on schistosomiasis prevalence have shown considerable variability between provinces. In order to increase the efficient allocation of parasitic disease control resources in the country, we aimed to describe the small scale spatial variation in S. japonicum prevalence across the Philippines, quantify the role of the physical environment in driving the spatial variation of S. japonicum, and develop a predictive risk map of S. japonicum infection. Data on S. japonicum infection from 35,754 individuals across the country were geo-located at the barangay level and included in the analysis. The analysis was then stratified geographically for Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. Zero-inflated binomial Bayesian geostatistical models of S. japonicum prevalence were developed and diagnostic uncertainty was incorporated. Results of the analysis show that in the three regions, males and individuals aged ≥ 20 years had significantly higher prevalence of S. japonicum compared with females and children <5 years. The role of the environmental variables differed between regions of the Philippines. S. japonicum infection was widespread in the Visayas whereas it was much more focal in Luzon and Mindanao. This analysis revealed significant spatial variation in prevalence of S. japonicum infection in the Philippines. This suggests that a spatially targeted approach to schistosomiasis interventions, including mass drug administration, is warranted. When financially possible, additional schistosomiasis surveys should be prioritized to areas identified to be at high risk, but which were underrepresented in our dataset.

Injury prevention among friends : the benefits of school connectedness

Unsafe road behaviors, violence and alcohol use, are primary contributors to adolescent injury. Research suggests that adolescents look out for their friends and engage in protective behavior to reduce others' risk-taking and that school connectedness is associated with reduced injury-risks. This study examined the role of school connectedness in willingness to protect and prevent friends from involvement in alcohol use, fights and unlicensed driving. Surveys were completed at two time points, six months apart, by 545 13-14 year olds from seven Australian high schools. Females were significantly more likely than males to report willingness to protect their friends. School connectedness significantly and positively predicted willingness to protect across all three injury-risk behaviors, after accounting for sex and own involvement in injury-risk behaviors. School connectedness may therefore be an important factor to target in school-based prevention programs, both to reduce adolescents' own injury-risk behavior and to increase injury prevention among friends.

The effects of sleep restriction on executive inhibitory control and affect in young adults

Purpose: Young adults regularly experience restricted sleep due to a range of social, educational and vocational commitments. Evidence suggests that extended periods of sleep deprivation negatively impact affective and inhibitory control mechanisms leading to behavioural consequences such as increased emotional reactivity and impulsive behaviour. It is less clear whether acute periods of restricted sleep produce the same behavioural consequences. Methods: Nineteen young adults (m = 8, f = 12) with habitual late bed-time (after 22:30 h) and wake-time (after 06:30 h) completed a range of objective and subjective measures assessing sleepiness (Psychomotor Vigilance Task, Karolinska Sleepiness Scale), inhibitory control (Emotional Go/No-go Task and a Balloon Analog Risk Task) and affect (Positive and Negative Affective Schedule). Testing was counterbalanced across participants, and occurred on two occasions once following restricted sleep and once following habitual sleep one week apart. Results: Compared to habitual sleep, sleep restriction produced significantly slower performance on the Psychomotor Vigilance Task, and higher subjective ratings of sleepiness on the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale. Sleep restriction also caused a significant decrease in positive affect, but no change in negative affect on the Affective Schedule. Inhibitory control efficiency was significantly differentiated, with participants showing an increase in risk taking on the Balloon Analog Risk Task, but there was no evidence of increased reactivity to negative stimuli on the Emotional Go/No-go task. Conclusions: Results suggest that even acute periods of sleep loss may cause deficits in affective experiences and increase impulsive and potentially high risk behaviour in young adults.

Continuing to drive while sleepy : the influence of sleepiness countermeasures, motivation for driving sleepy, and risk perception

Driver sleepiness is a major contributor to road crashes. The current study sought to examine the association between perceptions of effectiveness of six sleepiness countermeasures and their relationship with self-reports of continuing to drive while sleepy among 309 drivers after controlling for the influence of age, sex, motivation for driving sleepy, and risk perception of sleepy driving. The results demonstrate that the variables of age, sex, motivation, and risk perception were significantly associated with self-reports of continuing to drive while sleepy and only one countermeasure was associated with self-reports of continuing to drive while sleepy. Further, it was found that age differences in self-reports of continuing to drive while sleepy was mediated by participants’ motivation and risk perception. These findings highlight modifiable factors that could be focused on with interventions that seek to modify drivers’ attitudes and behaviours of driving while sleepy.