The first x-ray diffraction peak of water as a function of temperature in the range 4 – 63 °C

X-ray diffraction structure functions for water flowing in a 1.5 mm diameter siphon in the temperature range 4 – 63 °C were obtained using a 20 keV beam at the Australian Synchrotron. These functions were compared with structure functions obtained at the Advanced Light Source for a 0.5 mm thick sample of water in the temperature range 1 – 77 °C irradiated with an 11 keV beam. The two sets of structure functions are similar, but there are subtle differences in the shape and relative position of the two functions suggesting a possible differences between the structure of bulk and siphon water. In addition, the first structural peak (Q0) for water in a siphon, showed evidence of a step-wise increase in Q0 with increasing temperature rather than a smoothly varying increase. More experiments are required to investigate this apparent difference.

Challenges of recruiting hospice patients with advanced cancer to research : reflections on a delirium screening study

Introduction Delirium research in palliative care, particularly in the dying phase, is possible but is frequently met with ethical and methodological challenges. This paper describes the challenges faced in a previous delirium screening study. Methods Within 72 hours of admission to an acute inpatient specialist palliative care unit one hundred consecutive patients over 18 years of age with advanced cancer were invited to be screened for delirium using validated screening tools. Results Of the 100 consecutive admissions 49 patients were unable to participate including seven who did not meet the inclusion criteria and nine (six families and three patients) who withheld consent. The remaining 33 patients were more unwell and closer to death than those who were recruited. Reasons for non- participation included being too unwell (ten), unresponsive (nine), died (two) or discharged (three) before recruitment and exceeding the 72hour time limit (nine). Conclusion Gate keeping and physical condition of patients were the main obstacles to recruitment and is consistent with barriers faced in previous studies involving palliative care and dying patients. While it is possible and necessary to conduct studies in palliative care, including the terminal phase, as reflective practitioners we must maintain the balance between the demands for evidence-based practice and our compassion and respect for our most vulnerable of patients.

A novel, automated nutrition screening system as a predictor of nutritional risk in an oncology day treatment unit (ODTU)

Purpose Paper-based nutrition screening tools can be challenging to implement in the ambulatory oncology setting. The aim of this study was to determine the validity of the Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) and a novel, automated nutrition screening system compared to a ‘gold standard’ full nutrition assessment using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA). Methods An observational, cross-sectional study was conducted in an outpatient oncology day treatment unit (ODTU) within an Australian tertiary health service. Eligibility criteria were as follows: ≥18 years, receiving outpatient anticancer treatment and English literate. Patients self-administered the MST. A dietitian assessed nutritional status using the PGSGA, blinded to the MST score. Automated screening system data were extracted from an electronic oncology prescribing system. This system used weight loss over 3 to 6 weeks prior to the most recent weight record or age-categorised body mass index (BMI) to identify nutritional risk. Sensitivity and specificity against PG-SGA (malnutrition) were calculated using contingency tables and receiver operating curves. Results There were a total of 300 oncology outpatients (51.7 % male, 58.6±13.3 years). The area under the curve (AUC) for weight loss alone was 0.69 with a cut-off value of ≥1 % weight loss yielding 63 % sensitivity and 76.7 % specificity. MST (score ≥2) resulted in 70.6 % sensitivity and 69.5 % specificity, AUC 0.77. Conclusions Both the MST and the automated method fell short of the accepted professional standard for sensitivity (~≥80 %) derived from the PG-SGA. Further investigation into other automated nutrition screening options and the most appropriate parameters available electronically is warranted to support targeted service provision.

Good Starts for recently arrived youth with refugee backgrounds : promoting wellbeing in the first three years of settlement in Melbourne, Australia

This report describes the key findings of a longitudinal study (2004—2008) investigating the experiences of settlement among a group of 120 recently arrived young people with refugee backgrounds settling in Melbourne, Australia. Each year, less than one per cent of the world’s refugees are offered resettlement in one of 18 countries participating in The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) resettlement programme. Australia offers places to around 13,500 people per year, of whom about 26 per cent are between the ages of 10 and 19. What are the experiences of these young people in their early settlement years? How do they negotiate the transition from childhood to adulthood given the traumas of their past and the challenges of their present and future in Australia? What are the key social determinants of wellbeing and good settlement and what can we learn from these young people about what social policies and services will most effectively support them to make successful lives in their new home? This study explores these questions, the overall aim being to identify the key social determinants of wellbeing and settlement and to describe the lived experiences of these young people as they shape their lives in Australia.

Psychological screening and injury among elite athletes

The purpose of the present investigation was to evaluate the effectiveness of the psychological component of the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) Health Screening Questionnaire in screening for injury/illness characteristics among elite athletes. In total, 793 scholarship athletes (409 females and 384 males) ranging in age from 11 to 41 years (M = 19, SD = 4.4) across 20 sports at the QAS in Brisbane, Australia, completed the QAS Health Screening Questionnaire. Psychological risk factors examined were life stress and mood, as measured by the Perceived Stress Scale - 10 (PSS-10) and the Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS) respectively, in addition to disordered eating behaviours and history of diagnosed psychological disorders. Medical risk factors examined included asthma and back pain. Single-factor MANOVAs showed multivaritate effects for injury, second injury, back pain, asthma, anxiety disorder diagnosis, and fasting. Discriminant function analyses demonstrated that life stress and mood scores had significant utility in correctly classifying injury and second injury status, asthma, back pain, anxiety, and eating disorder diagnosis, in addition to the use of fasting and vomiting as weight control methods. The present findings suggest that the psychology component of the QAS Health Screening Questionnaire demonstrates significant utility as a screening tool regarding injury/illness characteristics among elite athletes.

Poly(2-oxazoline) hydrogels as next generation three dimensional cell supports

Synthetic hydrogels selectively decorated with cell adhesion motifs are rapidly emerging as promising substrates for 3D cell culture. When cells are grown in 3D they experience potentially more physiologically relevant cell-cell interactions and physical cues compared with traditional 2D cell culture on stiff surfaces. A newly developed polymer based on poly(2-oxazoline)s has been used for the first time to control attachment of fibroblast cells and is discussed here for its potential use in 3D cell culture with particular focus on cancer cells towards the ultimate aim of high throughput screening of anti-cancer therapies. Advantages and limitations of using poly(2-oxazoline) hydrogels are discussed and compared with more established polymers, especially polyethylene glycol (PEG).

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.

Psychological symptoms : a review of screening practices for patients with coronary heart disease (CHD)

Background/Aims: Coronary heart disease (CHD) and coronary events have been strongly linked to psychological symptoms in patients during hospitalisation and post-discharge. Within Australia CHD average length of stay is decreasing and symptoms often do not present until discharge. Early screening and treatment of psychological symptoms has been recommended to reduce mortality and identify anxiety and depression. This literature review was undertaken to evaluate and describe current screening practices to identify psychological symptoms in these patients.

Heat transfer measurements on the first experimental layer of the FIRE II reentry vehicle in expansion tubes

The present study focused on simulating a trajectory point towards the end of the first experimental heatshield of the FIRE II vehicle, at a total flight time of 1639.53s. Scale replicas were sized according to binary scaling and instrumented with thermocouples for testing in the X1 expansion tube, located at The University of Queensland. Correlation of flight to experimental data was achieved through the separation, and independent treatment of the heat modes. Preliminary investigation indicates that the absolute value of radiant surface flux is conserved between two binary scaled models, whereas convective heat transfer increases with the length scale. This difference in the scaling techniques result in the overall contribution of radiative heat transfer diminishing to less than 1% in expansion tubes from a flight value of approximately 9-17%. From empirical correlation's it has been shown that the St √Re number decreases, under special circumstances, in expansion tubes by the percentage radiation present on the flight vehicle. Results obtained in this study give a strong indication that the relative radiative heat transfer contribution in the expansion tube tests is less than that in flight, supporting the analysis that the absolute value remains constant with binary scaling.

First full-scale trials of pebble matrix filtration

Protecting slow sand filters from high turbidity waters by pre-treatment using Pebble Matrix Filtration (PMF) has been studied in the laboratory at University College London followed by pilot field trials in Papua New Guinea and Serbia. Subsequently, the construction of two full-scale PMF units, one out of concrete (4.8m x4.8m x 3.0m high) and the other using pre-cast Ferro-cement panels (900mm x 1600mm x 20mm thick) with an effective diameter of 4.7m and 3m height, and the combined effective plan area of 40 m2 was completed to protect an existing Slow Sand Filter system at the National Water Supply Drainage Board (NWSDB) in Sri Lanka. Although the plant was completed in April 2008 due to some major repairs to address some leaks and other construction defects in both filters, monitoring was intermittent until November 2008. The results on the plant performance are presented here along with some of the construction problems encountered during the project.

Introduction to the first international workshop on process management for highly dynamic and pervasive scenarios(PM4HDPS 2008)

Nowadays, process management systems (PMSs) are widely used in many business scenarios, e.g. by government agencies, by insurance companies, and by banks. Despite this widespread usage, the typical application of such systems is predominantly in the context of static scenarios, instead of pervasive and highly dynamic scenarios. Nevertheless, pervasive and highly dynamic scenarios could also benefit from the use of PMSs.

Analysis of steel structures for first- and second-order element (displacement and force) solutions

Finite element method (FEM) relies on an approximate function to fit into a governing equation and minimizes the residual error in the integral sense in order to generate solutions for the boundary value problems (nodal solutions). Because of this FEM does not show simultaneous capacities for accurate displacement and force solutions at node and along an element, especially when under the element loads, which is of much ubiquity. If the displacement and force solutions are strictly confined to an element’s or member’s ends (nodal response), the structural safety along an element (member) is inevitably ignored, which can definitely hinder the design of a structure for both serviceability and ultimate limit states. Although the continuous element deflection and force solutions can be transformed into the discrete nodal solutions by mesh refinement of an element (member), this setback can also hinder the effective and efficient structural assessment as well as the whole-domain accuracy for structural safety of a structure. To this end, this paper presents an effective, robust, applicable and innovative approach to generate accurate nodal and element solutions in both fields of displacement and force, in which the salient and unique features embodies its versatility in applications for the structures to account for the accurate linear and second-order elastic displacement and force solutions along an element continuously as well as at its nodes. The significance of this paper is on shifting the nodal responses (robust global system analysis) into both nodal and element responses (sophisticated element formulation).

Residential balconies with road traffic noise : a combined source image and radiosity model

Several significant studies have been made in recent decades toward understanding road traffic noise and its effects on residential balconies. These previous studies have used a variety of techniques such as theoretical models, scale models and measurements on real balconies. The studies have considered either road traffic noise levels within the balcony space or inside an adjacent habitable room or both. Previous theoretical models have used, for example, simplified specular reflection calculations, boundary element methods (BEM), adaptations of CoRTN or the use of Sabine Theory. This paper presents an alternative theoretical model to predict the effects of road traffic noise spatially within the balcony space. The model includes a specular reflection component by calculating up to 10 orders of source images. To account for diffusion effects, a two compartment radiosity component is utilised. The first radiosity compartment is the urban street, represented as a street with building facades on either side. The second radiosity compartment is the balcony space. The model is designed to calculate the predicted road traffic noise levels within the balcony space and is capable of establishing the effect of changing street and balcony geometries. Screening attenuation algorithms are included to determine the effects of solid balcony parapets and balcony ceiling shields.

Identification of broad specificity P450CAM variants by primary screening against indole as substrate

High-throughput screening of cytochrome P450CAM libraries, for their ability to oxidise indole to indigo and indirubin, has resulted in the identification of variants with activity towards the structurally unrelated substrate diphenylmethane.

Rapid identification of cytochrome P450cam variants by in vivo screening of active site libraries

The selection of cytochrome P450 enzymes from large variant libraries, and the subsequent use of these enzymes in preparative scale biotransformations, remains a formidable challenge due to the complexities of the associated electron transport systems. Here, a powerful approach for the generation and screening of P450cam libraries for new function is presented that is both flexible and robust. A targeted library was generated wherein only the P450cam active-site amino acids Y96 and F98 were fully randomized and biotransformations, using a novel P450cam whole-cell system, were screened by GC–MS for the hydroxylation of diphenylmethane. One in 50 of the reactions screened, including 16 different variants, produced 4-hydroxydiphenylmethane with up to 92% conversion observed in the case of the Y96A variant. These results demonstrate a primary example of the screening of P450cam libraries in a format that is compatible with extension to preparative scale reactions.