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Measuring the quality of nursing clinical placements and the development of the Placement Evaluation Tool (PET) in a mixed methods co-design project
No full textReid-Searl, KA ORCiD: 0000-0001-5808-9296; Ryan, CL ORCiD: 0000-0002-1126-3901Background: The quality of nursing clinical placements has been found to vary. Placement evaluation tools for nursing students are available but lack contemporary reviews of clinical settings. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a feasible, valid and reliable clinical placement evaluation tool applicable to nursing student placements in Australia. Methods: An exploratory mixed methods co-design project. Phase 1 included a literature review; expert rating of potential question items and Nominal Group Technique meetings with a range of stakeholders for item development. Phase 2 included on-line pilot testing of the Placement Evaluation Tool (PET) with 1263 nursing students, across all year levels at six Australian Universities and one further education college in 2019–20, to confirm validity, reliability and feasibility. Results: The PET included 19-items (rated on a 5-point agreement scale) and one global satisfaction rating (a 10-point scale). Placements were generally positively rated. The total scale score (19 items) revealed a median student rating of 81 points from a maximum of 95 and a median global satisfaction rating of 9/10. Criterion validity was confirmed by item correlation: Intra-class Correlation Co-efficient ICC =.709; scale total to global score r =.722; and items to total score ranging from.609 to.832. Strong concurrent validity was demonstrated with the Clinical Learning Environment and Supervision Scale (r =.834). Internal reliability was identified and confirmed in two subscale factors: Clinical Environment (Cronbach’s alpha =.94) and Learning Support (alpha =.96). Based on the short time taken to complete the survey (median 3.5 min) and students’ comments, the tool was deemed applicable and feasible. Conclusions: The PET was found to be valid, reliable and feasible. Use of the tool as a quality assurance measure is likely to improve education and practice in clinical environments. Further international evaluation of the instrument is required to fully determine its psychometric properties. © 2020, The Author(s)
Event-triggered dissipative filtering for network-based stochastic genetic regulatory networks under aperiodic sampling
No full textLin, Y ORCiD: 0000-0003-1373-847X© 2020 IEEE. Based on event-triggered mechanism, networked dissipative filtering of stochastic genetic regulatory networks is investigated under aperiodic sampling. The states of the genetic regulatory network are sampled aperiodically and transmitted via a communication network to filters to estimate the expression levels of the mRNA and protein. In order to make better use of limited communication resources, a novel communication scheme is proposed. Then considering both network-induced delays and aperiodic sampling simultaneously, the filtering error dynamics are modeled in the form of a stochastic system with a time-varying delay. By Lyapunov theory and Wirtinger-based integral inequalities in a stochastic setting, asymptotical stability and dissipativity of the error dynamic system can be ensured. Based on the derived criterion, suitable dissipative filters are designed such that a set of inequalities are satisfied. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated by a simulation example
Illuminating the Sydney Opera House: Lighting, theatricality and Jørn Utzon’s ‘Journey’, 1965-2015
No full textGood architectural lighting strives for much more than functional illumination. Such lighting aspires to a seamless integration with the building; light provides an extension of a structure’s aesthetic qualities and serves a variety of practical functions including safety and wayfinding. This thesis examines the story of lighting the Sydney Opera House with a particular focus on Jørn Utzon’s concept of the ‘journey’ and how entering what is now one of the world’s most famous performing arts complexes is a transition from the ‘everyday’ to the extraordinary, from the routine to the theatrical. Moreover, this thesis demonstrates how the efforts of lighting designer John Waldram who, with architect Peter Hall, produced a timeless scheme drawing on Utzon’s concepts which illuminate the external structure and the internal areas, innovatively integrating lighting and architecture for a building conceived of as a sculpture. This case study investigates the lighting of the Sydney Opera House’s famous ‘shells’ as well as exploring the public stages and private spaces within the complex. The public stages comprise six internal venues and one flexible external venue connected by a variety of public spaces such as broad walks, foyers, restaurants and retail outlets. There are also over 2,000 private spaces including dressing rooms, administration offices, support and ancillary areas, underpinning the various activities that take place on the stages and in the public areas. Light guides artists, patrons and the vast array of workers that bring this well-known building, and the activities performed within it, to life, offering visual clues for amenities, revealing unique combinations of construction fabrics and regularly reiterating the theatricality of the ‘journey’ and so reinforcing the building’s primary purpose. There are many competing, and controversial, stories around this icon of the built environment. This case study privileges the, often-overlooked, contribution that lighting has made to the unique edifice that is the Sydney Opera House and how light is, too, a storyteller
Handbook of railway vehicle dynamics
No full textCole, CR ORCiD: 0000-0001-8840-7136; Mcsweeney, TC ORCiD: 0000-0003-3098-2423; Spiryagin, M ORCiD: 0000-0003-1197-898XHandbook of Railway Vehicle Dynamics, Second Edition, provides expanded, fully updated coverage of railway vehicle dynamics. With chapters by international experts, this work surveys the main areas of rolling stock and locomotive dynamics
Social report innovation: Evidence from a major Italian bank 2007-2012
No full textSardesai, AV ORCiD: 0000-0001-6794-4549Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it traces the development of social and environmental disclosure (SED) by identifying and reporting what national and international guidelines aligned to the voluntary disclosures of a major Italian case study organisation, a Bank. It will address the gap in relation to empirical SED studies in banking industries by reviewing in detail the case study Bank’s social report, for the period 2007 to 2012, thus giving insights into the phases of the SED journey. Second, the paper assesses how the social reports have changed over time and identifies the reasons for the change in form and content of disclosure over the period. As a rapidly developing accounting regulatory arena, studies of SED have the potential to examine many aspects of the development of accounting regulation. Design/methodology/approach: The paper develops a theoretically informed analysis to track the history of social reports using the Idea Journey framework. The paper undertakes a content analysis of the Bank’s social reports to gain an understanding how and why the changes in social reports occurred during the period. Data sources for the study included historical data from academic literature, policy documents alongside the 2006 version of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the 2008 GRI Financial Services Sector Supplements. Findings: The findings reveal that the Bank’s social report was aligned to a variety of national and international institution’s directives and guidelines. It identifies the various elements that were at play in the preparation of the social report. The paper provides useful insights for academics, regulators and reporting organisations and highlights the need for a better understanding of social reporting practices, an antecedent to integrated reporting and the European directive and now regulation for non-financial information. Research limitations/implications: This study provides a foundation for future research into the practices of Italian companies who produce integrated report and social and environmental reporting generally in light of the introduction of legislation mandating non-financial reporting. Originality/value: The paper helps inform improvements in research, policy and practice by providing rich information in the stages in the development of social report, which has received limited attention in the extant literature. It also builds on innovation literature showing how the idea journey framework can be used to shape accounting research. © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited
Increasing level of neuromusculoskeletal model personalisation to investigate joint contact forces in cerebral palsy: A twin case study
No full textObst, SJ ORCiD: 0000-0003-4299-9628Background: Cerebral palsy is a complex neuromuscular disorder that affects the sufferers in multiple different ways. Neuromusculoskeletal models are promising tools that can be used to plan patient-specific treatments for cerebral palsy. However, current neuromusculoskeletal models are typically scaled from generic adult templates that poorly represent paediatric populations. Furthermore, muscle activations are commonly computed via optimisation methods, which may not reproduce co-contraction observed in cerebral palsy. Alternatively, calibrated EMG-informed approaches within OpenSim can capture pathology-related muscle activation abnormalities, possibly enabling more feasible estimations of muscle and joint contact forces. Methods: Two identical twin brothers, aged 13, one with unilateral cerebral palsy and the other typically developing, were enrolled in the study. Four neuromusculoskeletal models with increasing subject-specificity were built in OpenSim and CEINMS combining literature findings, experimental motion capture, EMG and MR data for both participants. The physiological and biomechanical validity of each model was assessed by quantifying its ability to track experimental joint moments and muscle excitations. Findings: All developed models accurately tracked external joint moments; however EMG-informed models better tracked muscle excitations compared to neural solutions generated by static optimisation. Calibrating muscle-tendon unit parameters with EMG data allowed for more physiologically plausible joint contact forces estimates. Further scaling the maximal isometric force of muscles with MR-derived muscle volumes did not affect model predictions. Interpretation: Given their ability to identify atypical joint contact forces profiles and accurately reproduce experimental data, calibrated EMG-informed models should be preferred over generic models using optimisation methods in informing the management of cerebral palsy. © 2019 Elsevier Lt
Effect of constant contact side bearing design on dynamic performances of wagon with two conventional three-piece bogies
No full textCole, CR ORCiD: 0000-0001-8840-7136; Spiryagin, M ORCiD: 0000-0003-1197-898XDynamic performance - hunting stability and dynamic curving of a freight container wagon with two conventional three-piece bogies has been compared with the same wagon with improved bogies through the simulations. A typical wagon popularly used in Australia is modelled for simulations using the Gensys software. The improvement on the conventional three-piece bogie is only focused on side bearings, which are replaced with the long-travel constant contact side bearings. The simulation results show that the improved bogies significantly increase the wagon dynamic hunting stability performance
The variable impacts of extreme weather events on fruit production in subtropical Australia
No full textAkbar, DH ORCiD: 0000-0002-2269-5056; Kinnear, SH ORCiD: 0000-0002-2734-8547The frequency and severity of extreme weather events (EWEs) has recently been increased in coastal subtropical regions in Australia. These EWEs particularly affect agricultural production through disruptions to the entire agricultural supply chain. Central Queensland (CQ) is a large sub-tropical region in Australia and has been frequently affected by various types of EWEs, particularly since 1999. This study examines the impact of EWEs on the production of three tropical fruits (i.e., pineapple, mango and lychee) in CQ. Meteorological and fruit production data were collected from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and Australian Bureau of Statistics respectively. An Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model was used to identify the relationship(s) between EWEs and the production volumes of the three selected fruits. This study found that EWEs moderately affected mango, lychee and pineapple production. A significant relationship was also observed between the fruit production volume and population growth of CQ as well as that of
the broader state of Queensland. However, the results should be interpreted with caution given that this case study was limited to localised flood data, rather than using comprehensive modelling of regional rainfall and other variables, which would better reflect the geography and climate of the fruit production areas. The results derived from this study would be beneficial for tropical fruit industries worldwide, as they make plans to response to increasingly extreme weather; with a key finding being the important of understanding not only the occurrence, but also the seasonality of EWEs and comparing this with the growing and harvesting periods for global fruit production
Research-informed practice
No full textGerace, A ORCiD: 0000-0001-8272-8799This chapter examines how psychological and health research findings influence healthcare practice and provides an overview of research paradigms, methodologies and methods. It is not within the scope of this chapter to provide a detailed account of how to conduct research. This is covered in more detail and depth elsewhere in your course and in specific research textbooks. Rather, this chapter focuses on how research findings influence healthcare practice and how health professionals can use research in their day-to-day clinical practice and, thereby, be competent consumers of research (Schneider et al. 2016). Being a competent consumer of research involves knowing how to access, critique and utilise research findings to inform your everyday work. Finally, the role of the health professional in the ethical conduct of research is addressed
Statins with different lipophilic indices exert distinct effects on skeletal, cardiac and vascular smooth muscle
No full textIrwin, JC ORCiD: 0000-0001-9427-6347AIMS: Data concerning the influence of statin lipophilicity on the myotoxic and pleiotropic effects of statins is conflicting, and mechanistic head-to-head comparison studies evaluating this parameter are limited. In order to address the disparity, this mechanistic investigation aimed to assess the effects of two short-acting statins with different lipophilic indices on skeletal, cardiac and vascular smooth muscle physiology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Young female Wistar rats were randomised to simvastatin (80 mg kg-1 day-1), pravastatin (160 mg kg-1 day-1) or control treatment groups. Changes in functional muscle performance were assessed, as well as mRNA levels of genes relating to atrophy, hypertrophy, mitochondrial function and/or oxidative stress. KEY FINDINGS: There were no significant differences in the mRNA profiles of isolated skeletal muscles amongst the treatment groups. In terms of skeleletal muscle performance, simvastatin reduced functionality but treatment with pravastatin significantly improved force production. Rodents given simvastatin demonstrated comparable myocardial integrity to the control group. Conversely, pravastatin reduced left ventricular action potential duration, diastolic stiffness and Mhc-β expression. Pravastatin improved endothelium-dependent relaxation, particularly in muscular arteries, but this effect was absent in the simvastatin-treated rats. The responsiveness of isolated blood vessels to noradrenaline also differed between the statin groups. The findings of this study support that the effects of statins on skeletal, cardiac and vascular smooth muscle vary with their lipophilic indices. SIGNIFICANCE: The results of this work have important implications for elucidating the mechanisms responsible for the myotoxic and pleiotropic effects of statins