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Chinese Herbal Medicine Bath Therapy for Psoriasis Vulgaris: Current State of Evidence, a Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial and Patients’ Experience
No full textBackgroundPsoriasis vulgaris is the most prevalent type of psoriasis worldwide. Conventional therapies are commonly used to manage the disease, but they often provide inadequate long-term symptom relief, are expensive and can lead to undesirable side effects. For centuries, Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been widely used in China and other countries or regions to manage psoriasis. Although the American Academy of Dermatology Clinical Guidelines acknowledge CHM bath therapy as a potential treatment option for psoriasis, they refrain from making recommendations due to a lack of high-level clinical evidence. Systematic reviews reported favourable effects of CHM bath therapy for psoriasis vulgaris; however, they did not provide details regarding the ideal temperature and duration of CHM baths or overall treatment duration. Further, these reviews primarily focused on the add-on effects of combining CHM bath therapy with phototherapy, offering limited evidence on its clinical application as an adjunct to other conventional therapies.The CHM formula fu zheng he fu zhi yang (FZHFZY) has been used as bath therapy for psoriasis for around 15 years at Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine. Clinical observation indicated that it improves psoriasis lesion healing and reduces pruritus. Preclinical studies suggest the formula may possess antiangiogenetic activity, inhibit proliferation and improve epidermal differentiation to manage psoriasis. It may mitigate chronic pruritus in psoriasis by modulating caspase-14 protein expression. However, no rigorously designed randomised controlled trial (RCT) has been conducted to evaluate its efficacy and safety.Feasibility and pilot studies are recommended in the early phase of developing and evaluating complex interventions. Insights gained from qualitative research may help explain the reasons behind pilot study findings, assess the relevance of the underlying theory and guide researchers towards more effective interventions for further investigation. Therefore, a mixed-methods feasibility study of FZHFZY bath therapy is warranted for patients with psoriasis vulgaris.Aims, objectives and research questionsThis project aimed to systematically evaluate the current state of clinical evidence on CHM bath therapy for psoriasis vulgaris and employ rigorous quantitative and qualitative research methodology to determine the feasibility and patient acceptability of conducting RCT using FZHFZY bath therapy for mild-to-moderate psoriasis vulgaris.The specific objectives of this project were to:•conduct systematic reviews of RCTs to evaluate the current state of evidence on CHM bath therapy for psoriasis vulgaris•determine whether it was feasible to conduct a double-blinded RCT of FZHFZY bath therapy for mild-to-moderate psoriasis vulgaris•gather patients’ experiences of participating in the pilot RCT and using bath therapy for psoriasis vulgaris management.The research questions of this project were:•What is the current evidence on CHM bath therapy for psoriasis vulgaris?•Is it feasible to conduct an RCT of FZHFZY bath therapy for psoriasis vulgaris?•What are the patients’ experiences of participating in the pilot RCT and using bath therapy to manage their psoriasis vulgaris?Methods and resultsSystematic reviewsTwo systematic reviews of RCTs were conducted following the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.4 to evaluate the current evidence on CHM bath therapy for psoriasis vulgaris. The first reviewed the effectiveness and safety of adding CHM bath therapy to conventional therapies for psoriasis vulgaris. The second undertook a systematic review and association rule analysis of CHM bath therapy for psoriasis vulgaris using calcipotriol (a first-line treatment) as the comparator. These systematic reviews revealed that CHM bath therapy was clinically beneficial and safe for adult patients when added to conventional treatments or directly compared with calcipotriol. There may be potential correlations between treatment effects and implementation factors, such as longer bath sessions (20–30 mins) for each session, increased bath temperature (≥ 38 °C) and extended course of treatment duration (eight weeks). The reviews also identified the high risk of bias associated with the included studies that may limit the generalisability of these findings. Both systematic reviews have been published.Double-blinded pilot RCTThe double-blinded pilot RCT was a two-arm, randomised and placebo-controlled study. Sixty (60) eligible participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either eight weeks of FZHFZY or placebo bath therapy plus 10% urea cream, with a 12-week post-intervention follow-up phase. FZHFZY trial preparation granules were subject to quality control including assays involving HPCL (high-performance liquid chromatography). The trial adhered to the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials extension to randomised pilot and feasibility trials, issued in 2016. In addition, preliminary data suggested potential clinical benefits and safety. The results demonstrated the feasibility of the trial protocol, as evidenced by high recruitment, retention and adherence rates, high satisfaction scores and a low rate of missed visits. The protocol of this pilot RCT, which includes an embedded qualitative study, has been published.Embedded qualitative studyThe qualitative study, embedded within the pilot RCT, involved 26 participants who completed the follow-up phase of the trial: 11 in the intervention group and 15 in the control group. Their experiences of participating in the trial and using bath therapy for managing psoriasis were explored through semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis with an inductive approach and the study was reported following the Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research checklist. The findings indicated that the trial interventions were well-received by patients with psoriasis vulgaris. Participants’ motivations for engaging were mainly driven by cultural familiarity with Chinese medicine and personal experiences with psoriasis management. Patient satisfaction was largely shaped by whether the trial met their expectations for treatment outcomes. Most participants found the bath duration, treatment duration, and visit schedule appropriate, but their opinions on the bath frequency and lesion changes varied. Few participants followed the instructions on measuring bath temperature.ConclusionThis project has evaluated the current clinical evidence on CHM bath therapy for psoriasis vulgaris through two systematic reviews that suggested the clinical benefit of CHM for psoriasis vulgaris. The feasibility and acceptability of adding CHM FZHFZY bath therapy to urea cream for patients with psoriasis vulgaris has been confirmed via a mixed-methods study. Further rigorous designed RCTs are warranted to generate additional new evidence of FZHFZY bath therapy for psoriasis vulgaris to support effective clinical decision-making.</p
Intrusion and Inclusion: Towards an ethical death knock practice for Australian journalists
No full textJournalists routinely write stories about people who have died in newsworthy circumstances, regardless of whether they are well known. They seek out official sources such as police and other first responders for information about the person’s death and unofficial sources such as bereaved family and friends for information about the person’s life. Although it is routine work, the intense atmosphere of approaching newly bereaved families is one of the hardest aspects of journalistic work. Journalists call this assignment the death knock because in pre-internet times it required knocking on doors to ask for interviews and photographs. Now, in the digital era, journalists are most likely to start and even complete their newsgathering on social media, where they can quickly and easily access personal information including photographs and tributes to reproduce in their stories. This is sometimes done without the permission or even the knowledge of grieving families, giving rise to new ethical uncertainties for journalists. Unsurprisingly, the digital death knock, as this practice has become known, can compound the trauma already being experienced by bereaved families, but what is less known is that it can also impact journalists, sometimes in the form of moral injury, which occurs when an individual breaches their own moral or ethical code. This thesis proposes a model of an ethical death knock that might mitigate the harm to journalists doing death knocks and, in so doing, also benefit the bereaved people they interview and/or rely on as sources for their stories. It proposes reframing ethical death knock practice as a type of public service journalism. The model emerges from a mixed-methods study of Australian print and digital journalists’ death knock practice which reveals key practices, the impacts of those practices and the journalists’ ethical concerns about those practices. Bourdieu’s field theory is the theoretical framework used to interpret the findings and develop the model and its three dimensions of preparations, precursors and professional identity. The research is timely, as death knock practice is changing with increased social media use, and journalism ethics and journalists’ wellbeing are increasingly in the spotlight.</p
Incarcerating First Nations Women: An Intersectional Approach
No full textThis thesis looks differently at the current crisis of over-incarceration of First Nations women in Australia, developing Kimberlé Crenshaw’s 1989 intersectional lens to reflect a three-point intersection of race, gender, and colonialism. This thesis utilises a Foucauldian “theory of the present” methodology to reimagine this crisis in a way that is different to the commonly accepted reality. Part One of this thesis sets out the problem, with Chapter One presenting an introduction to the problem. Chapter Two conducts a detailed literature review identifying a gap in the literature within which this thesis sits. The literature review is in two parts: the first examining the body of literature addressing the incarceration of First Nations women; the second part considering more specifically the various theoretical approaches taken to the issue. This process identifies a gap in the literature, which in turn invites the development of the intersectional lens beyond the traditional points of race and gender, and the establishment of a three-point intersectional lens situated at the points of race, gender, and colonialism. Chapter Three outlines the methodology adopted by this thesis to full this gap, adopting a “theory of the present” methodology, developed from Foucault’s broader body of work and influenced by theorists including Thomas Kuhn and Friedrich Nietzsche is set out. This chapter also sets out the relevant ethical considerations.Part Two of this thesis is dedicated to the development of a three-point intersectional lens. Chapter Four grounds the crisis in theories of violence, and Chapter Five builds on the violent underpinnings of the crisis by examining the role and adaptability of the intersectional lens in the Australian context. Chapter Five, Chapter Six, and Chapter Seven are dedicated to Critical Race Theory, Feminist Legal Theory, and Post-Colonial Theory respectively. These chapters ground the three points of intersection implicated in the three-point lens in the appropriate theory and explore how a theoretical understanding of these intersecting points assist in reimagining the problem.Part Three of this thesis applies the three-point intersectional lens established in Part Two to a practical example. Chapter Nine takes the form of a case study; taking the death in custody of First Nations woman Veronica Nelson, this chapter applies the three-point intersectional lens to determine how such an analysis assists in thinking differently about the crisis. The final chapter, Chapter Ten, concludes this thesis and sets out areas for future research.</p
Smart Head-mount Obstacle Avoidance Wearable for the Vision Impaired
No full textBlind and visually impaired (BVI) individuals face numerous challenges in navigation, including detecting obstacles, interpreting ground information, recognizing path boundaries, and obtaining spatial and directional data. Traditional tools like white canes are widely used due to their simplicity and effectiveness in detecting ground-level obstacles. However, these canes have limitations in providing information about higher-level obstacles or distant objects, which can lead to collisions and hinder independent mobility. Therefore, recognizing and avoiding obstacles, particularly those at head height or in crowded areas, remains a key challenge.Technological advancements have led to the development of assistive devices aimed at enhancing navigation safety and independence. Many Electronic Travel Aids (ETAs) have emerged, utilizing radar, ultrasound, electromagnetic technology, image and other sensing technologies to assist users with safe navigation and obstacle avoidance. Despite the advancements, there are still significant gaps in the effectiveness and user adoption of ETAs. Most approaches have been product-centric or technology-centric, overlooking crucial aspects of user preferences and expectations. The challenges include optimizing system cost-efficiency, minimizing latency, enhancing sustainability, improving device compactness, and achieving high detection accuracy. Therefore, in this research, we focus on BVI users’ expectations to develop solutions that enable comprehensive environmental awareness with a real-time, low-cost and energy efficient detection mechanism within a compact and portable device.Firstly, we propose a unique head-mount hardware system including an ultrasound array and an inertial measurement unit to address human behavioural issues such as erroneous readings and head turns. A dataset collected from real-world scenarios validates the accuracy of the hardware in detecting obstacles while accommodating head movements. We use multiple machine learning classifiers to verify the reliability of the collected data and confirm the effectiveness of the designed prototype. The investigation focuses on developing low-cost, real-time detection mechanisms for resource-constrained wearable devices. The results prove that the proposed smart and efficient wearable solution, as a viable option for BVI individuals, is feasible. In addition, we investigate the actual energy consumption of the machine learning models to ensure long operational times with limited battery power on the proposed device. The energy efficiency research is conducted to identify models balancing accuracy, real-time performance, and energy consumption. While high-performance deep learning algorithms excel in complex tasks, their deployment on wearable devices struggles due to limited battery power and computing capabilities. It is found that even small deep learning models, despite their high performance, are not satisfactory due to the computational cost and latency.We further study the challenge faced by portable devices in maintaining sustainable real-time performance due to limited computational resources and battery capacity. Leveraging genetic programming for feature construction, we develop more energy-efficient models that enhance real-time obstacle detection. More condensed features are found by genetic programming, ensuring cost-effectiveness and sustainability without compromising accuracy. These models are validated on actual portable boards and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) simulations, and comparative analyses are conducted using various performance metrics, including hardware resource utilization. The results show that genetic programming constructed models significantly reduce energy consumption and inference time with minimal accuracy loss. Moreover, these models can achieve higher accuracy than benchmarks, offering flexibility in balancing energy usage and accuracy based on user needs. We also investigated FPGA-based spiking neural network hardware accelerators for obstacle avoidance. These implementations achieved significant reductions in both cost and power consumption compared to spiking neural network implementations using high-end CPUs or GPUs.</p
Defending Ethereum and The Like from Crypto Scams
No full textBlockchain technology has revolutionised how currencies and digital assets can be transferred and exchanged among anonymous participants, providing significantly higher privacy protection and reducing the transaction-latency. With the invention of smart contracts, blockchain has expanded its applicability to many sectors, including supply chain, data sharing, games, and the Internet of Things. The rapid development of blockchain has led to more and more funding pouring into the cryptocurrency market. However, this phenomenal success of blockchain technology in digital finance has also led to a rising number of cybercrimes, resulting in blockchains becoming a paradise for a plethora of devastating crypto scams, most notably Ponzi schemes, Honeypots, Phishing, Pump and Dump, and Rug Pull. The rise of crypto scams has drawn great attention to not only academia but also governments around the world. This motivated our research to develop effective detection techniques and analytical tools for identifying and understanding crypto scam behaviours on blockchain platforms. We started our research by improving methods for detecting the Ponzi scheme, an old-fashioned but popular fraud on Ethereum. Most of the proposed detection methods in the literature are based on smart contract source codes. This contract-code-based approach, while achieving very high accuracy, is not robust because a Ponzi developer can fool a detection model by obfuscating the opcode or inventing a new profit distribution logic that cannot be detected. In contrast, a transaction-based approach could improve the robustness of detection because transactions are harder to manipulate. However, the current transaction-based detection models achieve fairly low accuracy. In this work, we aim to improve the accuracy of the transaction-based models by employing time-series features, which turn out to be crucial in capturing the lifetime behaviour of a Ponzi application but were completely overlooked in previous works. We propose a new set of 85 features that allows off-the-shelf machine learning algorithms to achieve up to 30% higher F1 scores compared to existing works. In the second part of our research, we investigate Trapdoor tokens, which have cost investors billions of US dollars on Uniswap, the largest decentralised exchange on Ethereum, from 2020 to 2023. In essence, Trapdoor tokens allow users to buy but prevent them from selling by embedding logical bugs and/or owner-only features in their smart contracts. By manually inspecting a number of Trapdoor samples, we established the first systematic classification of Trapdoor tokens and a comprehensive list of techniques that scammers used to embed and conceal malicious codes in their scam contracts. In particular, we developed TrapdoorAnalyser, a semantic and behavioural detection tool, to reliably identify a Trapdoor token. TrapdoorAnalyser not only outperforms the state-of-the-art commercial tool GoPlus in accuracy but also provides traces of malicious code with a full explanation, which most of the existing tools lack. Using TrapdoorAnalyser, we constructed the very first dataset of about 30,000 Trapdoor and non-Trapdoor tokens on UniswapV2, which allows us to train several machine learning algorithms that can detect with very high accuracy, even Trapdoor tokens without available source codes. Ultimately, in the third part, we explored the ubiquitous phenomenon of serial scammers who deployed thousands of addresses to conduct a series of similar Rug Pulls. We first constructed two datasets of around 384,000 scammer addresses behind Rug Pulls on Uniswap and Pancakeswap. We also identified four distinctive scam patterns that reveal typical ways scammers run multiple Rug Pulls and organize the money flow among different scam addresses. We then studied the more general concept of scam cluster, which comprises scammer addresses linked together via coin and token transfers or behind the same malicious DEX exchange pools. We found that scam token contracts are highly similar within each cluster and dissimilar across different clusters, corroborating our view that each cluster belongs to the same scam organization. Lastly, we analyze the scam profit by employing a novel cluster-aware profit formula that takes into account the important role of wash traders. The analysis shows that the existing formula inflates the profit by at least 32% on Uniswap and by 24% on Pancakeswap.</p
Minimizing the Side Effects of Juxtamembrane Mimic Peptide 2 (JM2) on Healthy Cells Through Surface Acoustic Waves (SAW)
No full textThe Juxtamembrane mimic 2 (JM2) peptide has been shown to be highly effective on killing cancer cells, yet they seem to be most rewarding at higher concentrations. At higher concentrations of JM2, healthy cells also die, which threatens the potential of using JM2 as an anticancer drug. Surface acoustic waves, or SAW, is high frequency acoustic nano-vibrations made on a piezoelectric crystal. These waves have been used in a plethora of ways and is currently being further researched for its use in lab-on-chip (amongst other things). Researchers have previously used SAW for intracellular delivery, which shows an enhanced intracellular delivery of nanoparticles without affecting cell viability of HEK293T cells (kidney cells). Using this idea, we plan to further expand on this paper and attempt to reduce the effective concentration of JM2 against cancer cells, while reducing the impact on healthy cells.</p
Designing neighbourhoods to support early childhood development: Neighbourhood 'double disadvantage' and child development in inner city and growth areas
No full textGrowth area suburbs on the urban fringe may lack essential services and infrastructure, raising concerns about how healthy these settings are for young children. Child development and wellbeing might look different for a child growing up in the inner city vs. outer and growth areas. Understanding the influence of urbanicity and neighbourhood disadvantage is important for promoting children’s lifelong health, development, and wellbeing.</p
Towards a governance roadmap for educational technology in Australian schools
No full textInternationally, there has been increasing interest in the governance of educational technology (EdTech) in schools. While other nation states have legislative frameworks that address privacy and related concerns (often referred to as ‘hard’ regulation), Australia has largely depended on ‘soft’ regulation in the form of policy and guidelines to govern EdTech. With thousands of EdTech products and services already being used in Australian schools, there is a need for all stakeholders to better understand the privacy and related risks associated with EdTech to sharpen our collective focus on governance in the context of emerging legislative progress. Bringing together research from the fields of education and computer and data sciences, this article contributes an extensive interdisciplinary analysis of EdTech data practices and the risks to students and their families associated with these practices. Moreover, the article provides a comprehensive mapping of how EdTech is governed in Australia, setting this against international regulatory approaches. The article concludes with a new initial road map to progress transparent and accountable governance of EdTech in Australian schooling.</p
Taxpayers’ Non-Compliance in the Digital Era
No full textGovernments continue to face challenges in securing high levels of tax compliance, despite tax revenue being central to public finance. Incremental technological developments, such as data matching and electronic lodgement (myTax) in Australia, have reshaped compliance enforcement and prompted renewed attention to the drivers of taxpayer non-compliance. This thesis develops and tests the Taxpayer Propensity to Offend (TPtO) model to explain intentional tax non-compliance in the digital era, comparing behaviours between those lodging via myTax and those lodging via tax agents. The thesis employed a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design across three studies. Study One analysed longitudinal ATO sample-file data (2003-04 to 2019-20) to compare demographic and deduction behaviours across lodgement methods, confirming systematic differences between myTax and tax agent users. Study Two introduced a vignette-based survey (n = 310) to test 14 hypotheses of the TPtO model using Structural Equation Modelling. The findings revealed that perceived severity is the most consistent deterrent, while other drivers – fear of apprehension and perceived fairness – differ significantly by lodgement method. The model also required refinement, as tax morality was highly correlated with fairness and lacked discriminant validity. Study Three conducted 20 in-depth interviews, analysed using grounded theory, which validated and enriched the survey results. Participants viewed compliance as shaped not only by deterrence but also by perceptions of fairness and trust and confirmed that tax morality is embedded within fairness rather than a standalone driver. The refined TPtO model therefore integrates six constructs – perceived severity, perceived certainty, perceived control, fear of apprehension, perceived fairness, and propensity to offend – while recognising lodgement method as a moderating variable. Theoretically, this advances compliance research by bridging cognitive, emotional, and persuasive dimensions within a digitalised context. Methodologically, it demonstrates the utility of vignette-based surveys complemented by qualitative validation. Practically, the findings provide evidence for policymakers and the ATO on tailoring compliance strategies: technological deterrence is most effective for myTax users, while fairness-based messaging resonates more with tax agent clients. Limitations include the focus on individual Australian taxpayers (excluding entities), the Australia-specific context which may limit international generalisability, and the online survey design which may under-represent less technologically literate taxpayers. Nonetheless, the results offer valuable insights for tax authorities in developed countries on tailoring strategies to diverse lodgement methods to mitigate non-compliance. Future research could extend the TPtO model to businesses and other jurisdictions, and track taxpayers’ behaviour over time as digital enforcement matures.</p
QR code-enabled tips to street performers at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
No full text“Hat lines” such as “take one or two pounds out of the wallet…and give me the rest” have been passed down and perfected by generation after generation of street performers. The recent rise of mobile payments has forced them to radically change tack, displaying signage with quick response (QR) codes that lead to cashless tips. We analysed data from the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival to investigate factors that influence the audience use of QR code signs displayed by performers and subsequent tipping activity. We find that what type of act is performing, when and where, and the sign(s) on display are associated with audience activity through QR code scans. Once a code is scanned, we find what type of act is performing, when and where, the sign(s) displayed, and the configuration of the webpage they are directed to are associated with tip activity. Our results provide insights into digital tipping and may help the current generation of street performers, beyond the Edinburgh Fringe, to understand how to incorporate digital payments into their shows and provide insights in other contexts where voluntary donations are sought through scans or tap-to-tip payments terminals.</p