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Clinical and genetic risk factors for new-onset diabetes mellitus after transplantation (NODAT) in major transplant centres in Malaysia
No full textTaylor-Robinson, AW ORCiD: 0000-0001-7342-8348Background: New-onset diabetes after transplantation (NODAT) is associated with reduced patient and graft survival. This study examined the clinical and selected genetic factors associated with NODAT among renal-transplanted Malaysian patients
Methods: This study included 168 non-diabetic patients (58% males, 69% of Chinese ethnicity) who received renal transplantation between 1st January 1994 to 31st December 2014, and were followed up in two major renal transplant centres in Malaysia. Fasting blood glucose levels were used to diagnose NODAT in patients who received renal transplantation within 1 year. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), namely; rs1494558 (interleukin-7 receptor, IL-7R) and rs2232365 (mannose-binding leptin-2, MBL2) were selected and genotyped using Sequenom MassArray platform. Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were used to examine the risk of developing NODAT according to the different demographics and clinical covariates, utilizing four time-points (one-month, three-months, six-months, one-year) post-transplant.
Results: Seventeen per cent of patients (>npp< = 0.002). Other demographic (gender, ethnicities, age at transplant) and clinical factors (primary kidney disease, type of donor, place of transplant, type of calcineurin inhibitors, duration of dialysis pre-transplant, BMI, creatinine levels, and daily doses of tacrolimus and prednisolone) were not found to be significantly associated with risk of NODAT. GA genotype of rs1494558 (HR = 3.15 95% CI 1.26, 7.86) and AG genotype of rs2232365 (HR = 2.57 95% CI 1.07, 6.18) were associated with increased risk of NODAT as compared to AA genotypes.
Conclusion: The daily dose of cyclosporine and SNPs of IL-7R (rs1494558) and MBL2 (rs2232365) genes are significantly associated with the development of NODAT in the Malaysian renal transplant population
Evaluation of a nurse-led education program to improve cross-cultural care for older people in aged care
No full textWillis, EM ORCiD: 0000-0001-7576-971XBackground: Cultural diversity is significant in aged care facilities. Registered nurses play a leading role in the care setting. Nurse-led education interventions to improve the cultural competence of aged care workers are in high demand. Aim: The aims of the study were to evaluate the effect of a nurse-led cross-cultural care program on cultural competence of Australian and overseas-born care workers. Design: A pre- and post-evaluation design and a sub-group analysis. Settings and participants: This study was undertaken in four large-sized aged care facilities in Australia. Direct care workers were invited to participate in the study. Methods: The intervention lasted 12 months. Data were collected at baseline, 6 months and 12 months using the Clinical Cultural Competency Questionnaire and site champion reports. One-way ANOVA was applied to determine the changes of outcomes over time for the whole group. A mixed effect linear regression model was applied in the sub-group analyses to compare the differences of outcomes between the Australian-born and overseas-born groups. Results: One hundred and thirteen staff participated in the study including Australian-born (n = 62) and overseas-born (n = 51). Registered nurses were trained as site champions to lead the program. The results showed a statistically significant increase in participants' scores in Knowledge (p = .000), Skills (p = .000), Comfort Level (p = .000), Importance of awareness (p = .01) and Self-Awareness (p = .000) in a 12-month follow-up. The increased scores in the Skills (p = .02) and Comfort Level (p = .001) were higher in the Australian-born group compared to the overseas-born group. The results also showed a statistically significant increase in participants' overall satisfaction scores with the program at 12 months (p = .009). The overseas-born group demonstrated a higher score in Desire to Learn More (p = .016) and Impact of the Program on Practice (p = .014) compared to the Australian-born group. Conclusion: A nurse-led cross-cultural care program can improve aged care workers' cultural competence. © 2020 Elsevier Lt
Activities for arts-based literacy instruction
No full textVanderburg, MA ORCiD: 0000-0003-3769-0394Under the guidance of university lecturer, Michelle A. Vanderburg, two pre-service teachers, Charlotte Logan and Birgit Sambell, have recently explored using arts-based literacy activities in various year-level practicum classrooms. In this paper, the teachers will share their
experiences and how these activities helped to develop their students’
reading and writing skills
Wheel tracker testing of recycled concrete and tyre aggregates in Australia
No full textMirzababaei, M ORCiD: 0000-0002-4801-8811Due to the ever-increasing abundance of discarded by-products, it is imperative to develop innovative engineering applications of waste materials, to manage the capacity of landfills. The disposal and landfilling issues associated with tyre waste have necessitated Australian authorities to find innovative applications of tyre waste in pavement construction. In this research, to examine the efficiency of tyre-derived aggregates (TDAs) as a replacement material for quarry aggregates in pavement subbase applications, a series of repeated load triaxial (RLT) tests and wheel-tracker (WT) tests were undertaken on specimens made of proportioned recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) blended with small-sized TDA (TDA-S) and medium-sized TDA (TDA-M), thus merging these two waste materials into a valued pavement-construction material. The results from the RLT and WT tests confirmed that TDA–RCA blends are a suitable alternative for pavement base/subbase materials. Compared with TDA-S, TDA-M resulted in a lower rutting deformation and permanent deformation in WT and RLT tests, respectively. The resilient modulus (M r) of the RCA + TDA-M mix was also found to be higher than that of the RCA + TDA-S mix, and it was almost comparable with the M r of the control RCA
The tangled web: Psychopathic personality, vulnerability and victim selection
No full textBrooks, NS ORCiD: 0000-0003-1784-099XThis chapter will explore the tendency of psychopathic individuals to deceive others, exploit vulnerability and target victims in pursuit of self-gain, examining the implications of this behaviour in the workplace. The evidence relating to the varied mechanisms that provide psychopaths with the ammunition to coerce, abuse and deceive is presented, based on both empirical studies and case reports
Exploring the potential of nurses in the delivery of care for people living with chronic conditions
No full textHarvey, CL ORCiD: 0000-0001-9016-8840People living with one or more chronic conditions is becoming an everyday occurrence. According to a recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2013), 65% of all global deaths are attributable to chronic illness, with nearly 40% of those deaths being in people between the ages of 30 and 70 years old
Board, audit committee, ownership and financial performance: Emerging trends from Thailand
No full textSun, L ORCiD: 0000-0001-8270-3321Purpose – This study aims to investigate the effects of corporate board and audit committee characteristics and ownership structures on market-based financial performance of listed firms in Thailand.
Design/methodology/approach – It applies system GMM (generalized method of moments) as the
baseline estimator approach, and ordinary least squares and fixed effects for robustness checks on a sample of 452 firms listed on the Thai Stock Exchange for the period 2000-2016.
Findings – Relying mainly on the system GMM estimator, the empirical results indicate some emerging trends in the Thai economy. Contrary to expectations for an emerging market and prior research findings,
ownership structures, particularly ownership concentration and family ownership, appear to have no significant influence on market-based firm performance, while managerial ownership exerts a positive effect
on performance. Moreover, as expected, board structure variables such as board independence; size; meeting and dual role; and audit committee meeting show significant explanatory power on market-based firm
performance in Thai firms.
Practical implications – These findings are important for policymakers in constructing an appropriate set of governance mechanisms in an emerging market context, and for corporate entities and investors in
shaping their understanding of corporate governance in the Thai institutional context.
Originality/value – Unlike previous literature on the Thai market, this study is the first to use the more advanced econometric method known as system GMM estimator for addressing causality/endogeneity issues
in governance–performance relationships. The findings indicate new trends in the explanatory power of ownership structure variables on market-based firm performance in Thai-listed firms
Centrifuge modeling of axial pipe-soil interaction of deep-water pipelines
No full textUllah, S ORCiD: 0000-0002-5522-5341This article describes equipment primarily developed for modeling axial pipe-soil interaction of offshore pipelines in a beam centrifuge. The equipment can displace the pipe axially and simulate vertical forces or oscillations acting on the pipe while the pipe is instrumented to measure the contact stresses, pore pressure, and sliding resistance. Axial motion is actuated by a servomotor actuator coupled to a chain-drive system that moves the pipe in the axial direction relative to the soil bed. A closed-loop servo-driven vertical actuator simulates the vertical forces or oscillations acting on the pipe. The centrifuge model tests were conducted under 10-g model gravity. The pipe penetration response, axial pipe-soil resistance, and pore pressure behavior beneath the pipe were investigated. A higher axial pipe-soil resistance was measured for axial shearing of the pipe that was relatively slow compared to rapid axial hearing. For rapid pipe shearing, high excess pore pressure was generated at the pipe invert compared to relatively low pore water pressure for slower movement of the pipe. The results show that the developed equipment is capable of producing highly consistent results over the range of drained and
undrained response, which also agree well with recently reported finite
element studies and shear box tests conducted to explore long-term axial friction. This makes the equipment potentially useful for generating high-quality data under controlled conditions in the centrifuge for mechanistic and validation studies
A comparison of different solarisation systems and their impacts on soil thermal characteristics: An application in cultivated soils close to Baghdad, a highly populated city in Iraq
No full textGyasi-Agyei, Y ORCiD: 0000-0002-2671-1180Solarisation application by mulching the soil with a polyethene plastic film has a significant influence on soil thermal characteristics (TCs), which, in turn, show a strong impact on soil energy balance and agricultural productivity. In countries like Iraq with highly populated cities, such as Baghdad, that need large quantities of agriproducts, this kind of clean energy should play a key role in sustainable agricultural production. However, little is known about the effects of different soil solarisation systems in specific cultivated fields for this country characterised by an arid climate and silty clay soils. Therefore, an experimental study was conducted to investigate changes in soil TCs under different soil solarisation systems (black and clear plastics) at three different soil depths in a two-factor factorial design. Also, both the black and clear plastic plots were compared with a control (without mulch) plot treatment. Three different soil TCs were assessed, namely soil thermal flux (qℎ), soil thermal conductivity (k), and soil volumetric heat capacity (Cv). The results of this study indicated that the soil solarisation application had a significant influence on soil TCs. Soil qℎ decreased with increasing soil depth, while k and Cv exhibited an opposite trend. The black plastic mulch treatment produced higher soil qℎ, k, and Cv values than both the clear plastic and the control treatments. Moreover, high diurnal variability of the TCs was also registered, and the clear plastic conserved a higher temperature than the black one during the night hours. During daylight, the black mulch reached a maximum temperature of 70 °C. It is recommended that more research should be conducted to get new insights on the interplay of the different seasons, and different crops and soil types. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG
An electrothermally actuated MEMS braille dot
No full textAlbermani, F ORCiD: 0000-0001-8540-1724; Preethichandra, DM ORCiD: 0000-0001-6802-2212With some recent attempts on development of micro tactile displays, the realization of portable Braille is becoming more feasible. Such tactile displays can help visually impaired individuals to read and comprehend patterns by using the sense of touch. The current proposed designs for such tactile displays mainly use fluid expansion to enhance the out of plane displacements of the Braille dots. These methods render some challenge in terms of fabrication and size. In this work, we propose a design based on electrothermal actuation of a micro Braille dot. The ultimate goal of the research is to work towards a wearable system that can be connected to a computer for reading text files. The proposed design can generate out of plane displacements of 250 µm at a 58 ℃ rise from ambient. The dot can be actuated by low input voltage of 1.36 V and can apply a force of 5 mN. Physical displacement and temperature can reinforce a valid dot detection