Excess deaths during the 2004 heatwave in Brisbane, Australia

The paper examines whether there was an excess of deaths and the relative role of temperature and ozone in a heatwave during 7–26 February 2004 in Brisbane, Australia, a subtropical city accustomed to warm weather. The data on daily counts of deaths from cardiovascular disease and non-external causes, meteorological conditions, and air pollution in Brisbane from 1 January 2001 to 31 October 2004 were supplied by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, and Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, respectively. The relationship between temperature and mortality was analysed using a Poisson time series regression model with smoothing splines to control for nonlinear effects of confounding factors. The highest temperature recorded in the 2004 heatwave was 42°C compared with the highest recorded temperature of 34°C during the same periods of 2001–2003. There was a significant relationship between exposure to heat and excess deaths in the 2004 heatwave estimated increase in non-external deaths: 75 [(95% confidence interval, CI: 11–138; cardiovascular deaths: 41 (95% CI: −2 to 84)]. There was no apparent evidence of substantial short-term mortality displacement. The excess deaths were mainly attributed to temperature but exposure to ozone also contributed to these deaths.

Valuing the impact of the teacher librarian from an evidence base

Evidence-based practice as it applies to the Library and Information (LIS) sector and in particular teacher librarians is the focus of this research investigation. The context for this research is Australian school libraries and teacher librarians. This is a research in progress and the report here will include some very early findings and lessons learned from the initial pilot study. The contributions of this research will be in developing a framework for the library and information sector with a particular application for teacher librarians. Providing meaningful evidence of work practices that demonstrate contributions to the schools goals and mission statements in conjunction with contributions to student academic, social and cultural achievements are crucial for the future of the teacher librarian.

Excess length of stay due to central line–associated bloodstream infection in intensive care units in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico

Objective.To estimate the excess length of stay in an intensive care unit (ICU) due to a central line–associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI), using a multistate model that accounts for the timing of infection. Design.A cohort of 3,560 patients followed up for 36,806 days in ICUs. Setting.Eleven ICUs in 3 Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Patients.All patients admitted to the ICU during a defined time period with a central line in place for more than 24 hours. Results.The average excess length of stay due to a CLABSI increased in 10 of 11 ICUs and varied from −1.23 days to 4.69 days. A reduction in length of stay in Mexico was probably caused by an increased risk of death due to CLABSI, leading to shorter times to death. Adjusting for patient age and Average Severity of Illness Score tended to increase the estimated excess length of stays due to CLABSI. Conclusions.CLABSIs are associated with an excess length of ICU stay. The average excess length of stay varies between ICUs, most likely because of the case‐mix of admissions and differences in the ways that hospitals deal with infections.

Evaluating sustainability of urban development and its contribution to a knowledge-base development

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to discuss the components of urban sustainability as to their implications about knowledge-base economy and society Design/methodology/approach – An indexing model which can be used by the local government specifically in Australia is presented to generate sustainable urban development policies. The model consists of sustainable neighbourhood indicators and employs a spatial indexing method to measure the sustainability performance of the urban settings Originality/value – This methodology puts in evidence about the use of indexing methodology in the assessment of sustainable neighbourhood performance Practical implications – This model could be considered as a practical decision aid tool for local government planning agencies for the evaluation of development scenarios Keywords – knowledge-based urban development, sustainable urban development, sustainable transport, sustainability assessment Paper type – Academic Research Paper

The role of the built environment in the creation, cultivation and acquisition of a knowledge-base

This chapter explores the role of the built environment in the creation, cultivation and acquisition of a knowledge base by people populating the urban landscape. It examines McDonald’s restaurants as a way to comprehend the relevance of the physical design in the diffusion of codified and tacit knowledge at an everyday level. Through an examination of space at a localised level, this chapter describes the synergies of space and the significance of this relationship in navigating the global landscape.

Convexity, Classification, and Risk Bounds

Many of the classification algorithms developed in the machine learning literature, including the support vector machine and boosting, can be viewed as minimum contrast methods that minimize a convex surrogate of the 0–1 loss function. The convexity makes these algorithms computationally efficient. The use of a surrogate, however, has statistical consequences that must be balanced against the computational virtues of convexity. To study these issues, we provide a general quantitative relationship between the risk as assessed using the 0–1 loss and the risk as assessed using any nonnegative surrogate loss function. We show that this relationship gives nontrivial upper bounds on excess risk under the weakest possible condition on the loss function—that it satisfies a pointwise form of Fisher consistency for classification. The relationship is based on a simple variational transformation of the loss function that is easy to compute in many applications. We also present a refined version of this result in the case of low noise, and show that in this case, strictly convex loss functions lead to faster rates of convergence of the risk than would be implied by standard uniform convergence arguments. Finally, we present applications of our results to the estimation of convergence rates in function classes that are scaled convex hulls of a finite-dimensional base class, with a variety of commonly used loss functions.

Compilation of somatic mutations of the CDKN2 gene in human cancers : non-random distribution of base substitutions

The CDKN2 gene, encoding the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p16, is a tumour suppressor gene that maps to chromosome band 9p21-p22. The most common mechanism of inactivation of this gene in human cancers is through homozygous deletion; however, in a smaller proportion of tumours and tumour cell lines intragenic mutations occur. In this study we have compiled a database of over 120 published point mutations in the CDKN2 gene from a wide variety of tumour types. A further 50 deletions, insertions, and splice mutations in CDKN2 have also been compiled. Furthermore, we have standardised the numbering of all mutations according to the full-length 156 amino acid form of p16. From this study we are able to define several hot spots, some of which occur at conserved residues within the ankyrin domains of p16. While many of the hotspots are shared by a number of cancers, the relative importance of each position varies, possibly reflecting the role of different carcinogens in the development of certain tumours. As reported previously, the mutational spectrum of CDKN2 in melanomas differs from that of internal malignancies and supports the involvement of UV in melanoma tumorigenesis. Notably, 52% of all substitutions in melanoma-derived samples occurred at just six nucleotide positions. Nonsense mutations comprise a comparatively high proportion of mutations present in the CDKN2 gene, and possible explanations for this are discussed.

Developing a knowledge base for enterprise system success: the role of management and operational staff

Knowledge base is one of the emerging concepts in the Knowledge Management area. As there exists no agreed- upon standard definition of a knowledge base, this paper defines a knowledge base in terms of our research of Enterprise Systems (ES). The knowledge base is defined with reference to Learning Network Theory. Using this theoretical framework, we investigate the roles of management and operational staff in organisations and how their interactions can create a better ES-knowledge base to contribute to ES success. We focus on the post- implementation phase of ES as part of the ES lifecycle. Our findings will facilitate future research directions and contribute to better understandings of how the knowledge base can be integrated and how this integration leads to Enterprise System success.

Internet-enabled international entrepreneurship : a conceptual exploration of the link between a firm’s resource base, dynamic capabilities and international market performance

It has been suggested that the accumulation of valuable resources and capabilities, such as Internet application, is not enough to support a firm’s sustainable competitive advantage, especially for high technology-mediated firms; which often operate in fast changing dynamic environments. While the idea of ‘Internet-enabled resources and capabilities’ has been recognised by RBV theorists, the notion has largely been ignored in conceptual and empirical studies. Given this finding, a conceptual framework is constructed and research issues are then developed in order to focus attention on the relationship between, the Internet and a firm’s resource base, dynamic capabilities and international market performance. We postulate that successful Internet-enabled market performance arises from those international entrepreneurial-oriented firms which encompass: international vision, international business experience, Internet-international marketing capabilities and international networking capabilities. Recommendations for future theory development are presented, along with the implications for international entrepreneurial managers in Australian small and medium sized firms

Tax concessions for charities : competitive neutrality, the tax base and "public goods" choice

It is argued that concerns arise about the integrity and fairness of the taxation regime where charitable organizations, which avail themselves of the tax exemption status while undertaking commercial activities, compete directly with the for-profit sector. The appropriateness of the tax concessions granted to charitable organizations is considered in respect of income derived from commercial activities. It is principally argued that the traditional line of reasoning for imposing limitations on tax concessions focuses on an incorrect underlying inquiry. Traditionally, it is argued that limitations should be imposed because of unfair competition, lack of competitive neutrality, or an arbitrary decision relating to a lack of deserving. However, it is argued that a more appropriate question from which to base any limitations is one which considers the value attached to the integrity of the taxation regime as a whole, and the tax base specifically compared to the public good of charities. When the correct underlying question is asked, sound taxation policy ensues, as a less arbitrary approach may be adopted to limit the scope of tax concessions available to charitable organizations.

Challenges in the construction of a lunar base

The construction of a Lunar Base is seen as achievable. The paper provides a useful summary of challenges facing pioneers of lunar base construction. It highlights important aspects of the location and use of the facility, the local environment, the human physiological adaptation process, and a principal concern for the construction industry—construction materials and methods required to erect the facility. Specific emphasis is placed on the latter two major issues. The authors believe that a lunar base will be built, operated and maintained by humans. It may be the next generation that carry out these dreams, but it is research of the type reported in this paper that will make these dreams a reality.

Modeling random effect and excess zeros in road traffic accident prediction

Poisson distribution has often been used for count like accident data. Negative Binomial (NB) distribution has been adopted in the count data to take care of the over-dispersion problem. However, Poisson and NB distributions are incapable of taking into account some unobserved heterogeneities due to spatial and temporal effects of accident data. To overcome this problem, Random Effect models have been developed. Again another challenge with existing traffic accident prediction models is the distribution of excess zero accident observations in some accident data. Although Zero-Inflated Poisson (ZIP) model is capable of handling the dual-state system in accident data with excess zero observations, it does not accommodate the within-location correlation and between-location correlation heterogeneities which are the basic motivations for the need of the Random Effect models. This paper proposes an effective way of fitting ZIP model with location specific random effects and for model calibration and assessment the Bayesian analysis is recommended.