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COVID-19 : psychological distress, fear, and coping strategies among community members across the United Arab Emirates

- Al Dweik, Rania, Rahman, Muhammad Aziz, Ahamed, Fathima, Ramada, Heba, Al Sheble, Yousef, ElTaher, Sondos, Cross, Wendy, Elsori, Deena

COVID-19 effects on public finance and SDG priorities in developing countries : comparative evidence from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

- Colombage, Sisira, Barua, Suborna, Nanayakkara, Madurika, Colombage, Udari

  • Authors: Colombage, Sisira , Barua, Suborna , Nanayakkara, Madurika , Colombage, Udari
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: European Journal of Development Research Vol. 35, no. 1 (2023), p. 85-111
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  • Description: The COVID-19 pandemic, an unprecedented global health crisis, rapidly transferred into a global economic and social crisis. The pandemic has threatened the world’s commitment to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 as governments in developing countries have shifted their priorities from attaining SDGs, to providing urgent financial needs to save lives and prevent recession in hopes for a rapid economic recovery. The rerouting of public funding priorities has undermined the progress and achievement of SDGs. We employed a mixed-method and carried out a comparative study using pre- and post-public financial data of two developing countries in South Asia; Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A threefold analysis was conducted to investigate the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in two countries, the impact of the pandemic on external and internal public finance and the effect of the pandemic in shifting the policy priorities from SDGs to economic survival. This study found that both countries are highly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic and are suffering from the lack of financing from external sources through the private sector as well as an increasing foreign debt. There is mounting pressure on the fiscal balance in both countries. © 2022, The Author(s).

Critical data detection for dynamically adjustable product quality in IIoT-enabled manufacturing

- Sen, Sachin, Karmakar, Gour, Pang, Shaoning

  • Authors: Sen, Sachin , Karmakar, Gour , Pang, Shaoning
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Access Vol. 11, no. (2023), p. 49464-49480
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  • Description: The IIoT technologies, due to the widespread use of sensors, generate massive data that are key in providing innovative and efficient industrial management, operation, and product quality control processes. The significance of data has prompted relevant research communities and application developers how to harness the values of these data in secure manufacturing. Critical data analysis, identification of critical factors to improve the manufacturing process and critical data associated with product quality have been investigated in the current literature. However, the current works on product quality control are mainly based on static data analysis, where data may change, but there is no way to adjust them dynamically. Thus, they are not applicable for product quality control, at which point their adjustment is instantly required. However, many manufacturing systems exist, like beverages and food, where ingredients must be adjusted instantaneously to maintain product quality. To address this research gap, we introduce a method that identifies the critical data based on their ranking by exploiting three criticality assessment criteria that capture the instantaneous product quality change during manufacturing. These three criteria are - (1) correlation, (2) percentage quality change and (3) sensitivity for the assessment of data criticality. The product quality is estimated using polynomial regression (POLY), SVM, and DNN. The proposed method is validated using wine manufacturing data. Our proposed method accurately identifies critical data, where SVM produces the lowest average production quality prediction error (10.40%) compared with that of POLY (11%) and DNN (14.40%). © 2013 IEEE.

Cross disciplinary teaching : a pedagogical model to support teachers in the development and implementation of outdoor learning opportunities

- Neville, Ian, Petrass, Lauren, Ben, Francis

  • Authors: Neville, Ian , Petrass, Lauren , Ben, Francis
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education Vol. 26, no. 1 (2023), p. 1-21
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  • Description: There is a growing body of empirical evidence documenting the positive effects associated with participation in environmental education and outdoor learning for students, teachers and the wider community. Despite this, there has been a substantial reduction in outdoor learning opportunities for school students, possibly due to the focus on evidenced-based outcomes, high-stakes standardised testing programs, and a lack of teacher knowledge, confidence and expertise in teaching and learning outdoors. Accordingly, this study presents an evidenced based model to support teaching practice. The model will assist teachers in the development and implementation of outdoor learning opportunities and offers applied examples that address curriculum outcomes. A comprehensive literature review methodology was implemented to identify peer-reviewed literature on teaching and learning outdoors and outdoor pedagogies. A thematic synthesis and constant comparative technique enabled development of themes, from which three themes emerged: the environment; the learner; and the educator, which inform the proposed model offered by the authors. The three interrelated components (the environment, the learner and the educator) require consideration for students to gain maximum benefit from outdoor learning experiences. The model, coupled with the applied examples, supports teachers to plan and facilitate immersive outdoor experiences that promote learning. © 2022, The Author(s).

Cross-sectional study of soil-transmitted helminthiases in black belt region of Alabama, USA

- Poole, Claudette, Barker, Troy, Bradbury, Richard, Capone, Drew, Chatham, Amy, Handali, Sukwan, Rodriguez, Eduardo, Qvarnstrom, Yvonne, Brown, Joe

  • Authors: Poole, Claudette , Barker, Troy , Bradbury, Richard , Capone, Drew , Chatham, Amy , Handali, Sukwan , Rodriguez, Eduardo , Qvarnstrom, Yvonne , Brown, Joe
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Emerging Infectious Diseases Vol. 29, no. 12 (2023), p. 2461-2470
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  • Description: We conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminthiases (STH) in areas of rural Alabama, USA, that have sanitation deficits. We enrolled 777 children; 704 submitted stool specimens and 227 a dried blood spot sample. We microscopically examined stool specimens from all 704 children by using Mini-FLOTAC for helminth eggs. We tested a subset by using molecular techniques: real-time PCR analysis for 5 STH species, TaqMan Array Cards for enteric helminths, and digital PCR for Necator americanus hookworm. We analyzed dried blood spots for Strongyloides stercoralis and Toxocara spp. roundworms by using serologic testing. Despite 12% of our cohort reporting living in homes that directly discharge untreated domestic wastewater, stool testing for STH was negative; however, 5% of dried blood spots were positive for Toxocara spp. roundworms. Survey data suggests substantial numbers of children in this region may be exposed to raw sewage, which is itself a major public health concern. © 2023 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All rights reserved.

Cyan Moon crew preparation for the Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race March 2023

- Porter, Joanne, Simic, Megan, Talpey, Scott, Fenton, Sam, Casey, Meghan, McNeal, Dominic, Statham, Dixie, Prokopiv, Valerie, Miller, Libby

  • Authors: Porter, Joanne , Simic, Megan , Talpey, Scott , Fenton, Sam , Casey, Meghan , McNeal, Dominic , Statham, Dixie , Prokopiv, Valerie , Miller, Libby
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Technical report , Report
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  • Description: The Collaborative Evaluation & Research Centre (formally CERG) evaluated the crew’s experiences pre and post yacht events using a mixed methods approach. The Cyan yacht had a crew of 12 and competed in a number of events in the racing calendar leading up to the Sydney to Hobart race in January 2023. This was the first time that this boat and many of the crew competed in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

Decentralized content sharing in mobile ad-hoc networks : a survey

- Kaisar, Shahriar, Kamruzzaman, Joarder, Karmakar, Gour, Rashid, Md Mamunur

  • Authors: Kaisar, Shahriar , Kamruzzaman, Joarder , Karmakar, Gour , Rashid, Md Mamunur
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article , Review
  • Relation: Digital Communications and Networks Vol. 9, no. 6 (2023), p. 1363-1398
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  • Description: The evolution of smart mobile devices has significantly impacted the way we generate and share contents and introduced a huge volume of Internet traffic. To address this issue and take advantage of the short-range communication capabilities of smart mobile devices, the decentralized content sharing approach has emerged as a suitable and promising alternative. Decentralized content sharing uses a peer-to-peer network among co-located smart mobile device users to fulfil content requests. Several articles have been published to date to address its different aspects including group management, interest extraction, message forwarding, participation incentive, and content replication. This survey paper summarizes and critically analyzes recent advancements in decentralized content sharing and highlights potential research issues that need further consideration. © 2022 Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications

Decoding employee ambidexterity : understanding drivers, constraints, and performance implications for thriving in the evolving work landscapes - a scoping review

- Joseph, Jane, Firmin, Sally, Oseni, Taiwo, Stranieri, Andrew

  • Authors: Joseph, Jane , Firmin, Sally , Oseni, Taiwo , Stranieri, Andrew
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Heliyon Vol. 9, no. 12 (2023), p.
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  • Description: Employee ambidexterity (EA) is becoming increasingly recognised as a significant factor in enhancing individual and organisational performance across diverse industries. Ambidexterity refers to the capacity to exploit and explore organisational resources simultaneously. Scholars from diverse industry sectors have been motivated to delve deeper into the topic of EA due to its growing popularity. The objective of conducting a scoping review was to scrutinise the existing literature and identify the key drivers and constraints that impact EA to thrive in the changing work landscape. The insights gained from this review can assist decision-makers in formulating effective strategies to cultivate the ambidexterity skills of their workforce and achieve desirable outcomes. This review adheres to the PRISMA-ScR protocol. Articles were obtained from databases including Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost (Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete). The body of literature concerning EA is in its nascent stage. 23 articles assessing EA's performance outcomes were identified using targeted search terms and thorough screening. After conducting a thorough thematic analysis using the iterative categorisation (IC) technique, tailored for scoping a review, we successfully identified twenty-nine factors contributing to the enhancement of EA, meticulously organised into five distinct categories: organisational factors, social connectedness, employee behaviour, employee personality, and work environment related factors. Similarly, we discovered four factors that impede EA: functional tenure, team identification, bounded discretion, and conscientiousness. Our findings underscore the profound impact of employee ambidexterity on distinct types of performance. Among the sixteen types of performance reported to be enhanced by EA, ten are linked to individual performance, while six are tied to organisational performance. Notably, our analysis revealed that nearly all studies have relied on cross-sectional research methods except for one. However, we advocate for the exploration of longitudinal studies as they hold the promise of offering a more comprehensive understanding of EA. The paper presents valuable insights into how to cultivate ambidextrous capabilities in the workforce for unparalleled success in today's rapidly evolving work environment. Additionally, it identifies several intriguing avenues for future research that could further elucidate and bridge existing knowledge gaps. © 2023

Deep learning : survey of environmental and camera impacts on internet of things images

- Kaur, Roopdeep, Karmakar, Gour, Xia, Feng, Imran, Muhammad

  • Authors: Kaur, Roopdeep , Karmakar, Gour , Xia, Feng , Imran, Muhammad
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Artificial Intelligence Review Vol. 56, no. 9 (2023), p. 9605-9638
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  • Description: Internet of Things (IoT) images are captivating growing attention because of their wide range of applications which requires visual analysis to drive automation. However, IoT images are predominantly captured from outdoor environments and thus are inherently impacted by the camera and environmental parameters which can adversely affect corresponding applications. Deep Learning (DL) has been widely adopted in the field of image processing and computer vision and can reduce the impact of these parameters on IoT images. Albeit, there are many DL-based techniques available in the current literature for analyzing and reducing the environmental and camera impacts on IoT images. However, to the best of our knowledge, no survey paper presents state-of-the-art DL-based approaches for this purpose. Motivated by this, for the first time, we present a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of existing DL techniques available for analyzing and reducing environmental and camera lens impacts on IoT images. As part of this SLR, firstly, we reiterate and highlight the significance of IoT images in their respective applications. Secondly, we describe the DL techniques employed for assessing the environmental and camera lens distortion impacts on IoT images. Thirdly, we illustrate how DL can be effective in reducing the impact of environmental and camera lens distortion in IoT images. Finally, along with the critical reflection on the advantages and limitations of the techniques, we also present ways to address the research challenges of existing techniques and identify some further researches to advance the relevant research areas. © 2023, The Author(s).

Deep learning and federated learning for screening COVID-19 : a review

- Mondal, M., Bharati, Subrato, Podder, Prajoy, Kamruzzaman, Joarder

  • Authors: Mondal, M. , Bharati, Subrato , Podder, Prajoy , Kamruzzaman, Joarder
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article , Review
  • Relation: BioMedInformatics Vol. 3, no. 3 (2023), p. 691-713
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  • Description: Since December 2019, a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has infected millions of individuals. This paper conducts a thorough study of the use of deep learning (DL) and federated learning (FL) approaches to COVID-19 screening. To begin, an evaluation of research articles published between 1 January 2020 and 28 June 2023 is presented, considering the preferred reporting items of systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. The review compares various datasets on medical imaging, including X-ray, computed tomography (CT) scans, and ultrasound images, in terms of the number of images, COVID-19 samples, and classes in the datasets. Following that, a description of existing DL algorithms applied to various datasets is offered. Additionally, a summary of recent work on FL for COVID-19 screening is provided. Efforts to improve the quality of FL models are comprehensively reviewed and objectively evaluated. © 2023 by the authors.

Deep learning-based digital image forgery detection using transfer learning

- Qazi, Emad, Zia, Tanveer, Imran, Muhammad, Faheem, Muhammad

  • Authors: Qazi, Emad , Zia, Tanveer , Imran, Muhammad , Faheem, Muhammad
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Intelligent Automation and Soft Computing Vol. 38, no. 3 (2023), p. 225-240
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  • Description: Deep learning is considered one of the most efficient and reliable methods through which the legitimacy of a digital image can be verified. In the current cyber world where deepfakes have shaken the global community, confirming the legitimacy of a digital image is of great importance. With the advancements made in deep learning techniques, now we can efficiently train and develop state-of-the-art digital image forensic models. The most traditional and widely used method by researchers is convolution neural networks (CNN) for verification of image authenticity but it consumes a considerable number of resources and requires a large dataset for training. Therefore, in this study, a transfer learning based deep learning technique for image forgery detection is proposed. The proposed methodology consists of three modules namely; preprocessing module, convolutional module, and the classification module. By using our proposed technique, the training time is drastically reduced by utilizing the pre-trained weights. The performance of the proposed technique is evaluated by using benchmark datasets, i.e., BOW and BOSSBase that detect five forensic types which include JPEG compression, contrast enhancement (CE), median filtering (MF), additive Gaussian noise, and resampling. We evaluated the performance of our proposed technique by conducting various experiments and case scenarios and achieved an accuracy of 99.92%. The results show the superiority of the proposed system. © 2023, Tech Science Press. All rights reserved.

Defending SDN against packet injection attacks using deep learning

- Phu, Anh, Li, Bo, Ullah, Faheem, Ul Huque, Tanvir, Naha, Ranesh, Babar, Muhammad, Nguyen, Hung

  • Authors: Phu, Anh , Li, Bo , Ullah, Faheem , Ul Huque, Tanvir , Naha, Ranesh , Babar, Muhammad , Nguyen, Hung
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Computer Networks Vol. 234, no. (2023), p.
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  • Description: The (logically) centralized architecture of software-defined networks makes them an easy target for packet injection attacks. In these attacks, the attacker injects malicious packets into the SDN network to affect the services and performance of the SDN controller and overflows the capacity of the SDN switches. Such attacks have been shown to ultimately stop the network functioning in real-time, leading to network breakdowns. There have been significant works on detecting and defending against similar DoS attacks in non-SDN networks, but detection and protection techniques for SDN against packet injection attacks are still in their infancy. Furthermore, many of the proposed solutions have been shown to be easily bypassed by simple modifications to the attacking packets or by altering the attacking profile. In this paper, we develop novel Graph Convolutional Neural Network models and algorithms for grouping network nodes/users into security classes by learning from network data. We start with two simple classes — nodes that engage in suspicious packet injection attacks and nodes that are not. From these classes, we then partition the network into separate segments with different security policies using distributed Ryu controllers in an SDN network. We show in experiments on an emulated SDN that our detection solution outperforms alternative approaches with above 99% detection accuracy for various types (both old and new) of injection attacks. More importantly, our mitigation solution maintains continuous functions of non-compromised nodes while isolating compromised/suspicious nodes in real-time. All code and data are publicly available for the reproducibility of our results. © 2023 The Author(s)

Depth-based sampling and steering constraints for memoryless local planners

- Nguyen, Binh, Nguyen, Linh, Choudhury, Tanveer, Keogh, Kathleen, Murshed, Manzur

  • Authors: Nguyen, Binh , Nguyen, Linh , Choudhury, Tanveer , Keogh, Kathleen , Murshed, Manzur
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems: Theory and Applications Vol. 109, no. 3 (2023), p.
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  • Description: By utilizing only depth information, the paper introduces a novel two-stage planning approach that enhances computational efficiency and planning performances for memoryless local planners. First, a depth-based sampling technique is proposed to identify and eliminate a specific type of in-collision trajectories among sampled candidates. Specifically, all trajectories that have obscured endpoints are found through querying the depth values and will then be excluded from the sampled set, which can significantly reduce the computational workload required in collision checking. Subsequently, we apply a tailored local planning algorithm that employs a direction cost function and a depth-based steering mechanism to prevent the robot from being trapped in local minima. Our planning algorithm is theoretically proven to be complete in convex obstacle scenarios. To validate the effectiveness of our DEpth-based both Sampling and Steering (DESS) approaches, we conducted experiments in simulated environments where a quadrotor flew through cluttered regions with multiple various-sized obstacles. The experimental results show that DESS significantly reduces computation time in local planning compared to the uniform sampling method, resulting in the planned trajectory with a lower minimized cost. More importantly, our success rates for navigation to different destinations in testing scenarios are improved considerably compared to the fixed-yawing approach. © 2023, The Author(s).

Determination of munsell soil colour using smartphones

- Nodi, Sadia, Paul, Manoranjan, Robinson, Nathan, Wang, Liang, Rehman, Sabih

  • Authors: Nodi, Sadia , Paul, Manoranjan , Robinson, Nathan , Wang, Liang , Rehman, Sabih
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Sensors Vol. 23, no. 6 (2023), p.
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  • Description: Soil colour is one of the most important factors in agriculture for monitoring soil health and determining its properties. For this purpose, Munsell soil colour charts are widely used by archaeologists, scientists, and farmers. The process of determining soil colour from the chart is subjective and error-prone. In this study, we used popular smartphones to capture soil colours from images in the Munsell Soil Colour Book (MSCB) to determine the colour digitally. These captured soil colours are then compared with the true colour determined using a commonly used sensor (Nix Pro-2). We have observed that there are colour reading discrepancies between smartphone and Nix Pro-provided readings. To address this issue, we investigated different colour models and finally introduced a colour-intensity relationship between the images captured by Nix Pro and smartphones by exploring different distance functions. Thus, the aim of this study is to determine the Munsell soil colour accurately from the MSCB by adjusting the pixel intensity of the smartphone-captured images. Without any adjustment when the accuracy of individual Munsell soil colour determination is only (Formula presented.) for the top 5 predictions, the accuracy of the proposed method is (Formula presented.), which is significant. © 2023 by the authors.

Developing entrustable professional activities to enhance application of an aggression prevention protocol

- Maguire, Tessa, Willetts, Georgina, McKenna, Brian, Daffern, Michael, Garvey, Loretta

  • Authors: Maguire, Tessa , Willetts, Georgina , McKenna, Brian , Daffern, Michael , Garvey, Loretta
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Nurse Education in Practice Vol. 73, no. (2023), p.
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  • Description: Aim: The research aim of this study was to seek feedback from prevention of aggression training experts about the suitability of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) as an assessment tool for an Aggression Prevention Protocol. The protocol was designed to structure intervention to prevent aggression and reduce the use of restrictive practices following risk assessment using a validated instrument (the Dynamic Appraisal of Situational Aggression). Background: Preventing aggression and limiting the use of restrictive practices are key priorities for inpatient mental health services. Assessing clinical activities using a competence framework has limitations, particularly when determining complex interventions. EPAs could provide a suitable method for assessing complex clinical activities like de-escalation and limit setting, which comprise some of the interventions in the Aggression Prevention Protocol. EPAs are new to forensic mental health nursing; therefore, feedback was sought regarding the utility of EPAs to assess aggression prevention interventions. Methods: Data were collected via focus groups including 11 aggression prevention experts from Australia and New Zealand. A thematic analysis, comparative analysis and a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats analysis was conducted. Results: Three themes were interpreted from the data: 1) Frameworks such as the APP are needed to work towards elimination of restrictive practices; 2) APP-EPAs afford an opportunity to set the standard for practice; and 3) ‘who watches the watchers’, were identified by the experts as well as areas to enhance EPAs prior to introduction into practice. Conclusions: EPAs address a practice-gap and offer a framework to assist movement towards elimination of restrictive practices, while prompting best-practice, self-reflection and practice improvement guidance. © 2023

Developing rights-based standards for children having tests, treatments, examinations and interventions: using a collaborative, multi-phased, multi-method and multi-stakeholder approach to build consensus

- Bray, Lucy, Carter, Bernie, Kiernan, Joann, Horowicz, Ed, Dixon, Katie, Ridley, James, Robinson, Carol, Simmons, Anna, Craske, Jennie, Sinha, Stephanie, Morton, Liza, Nafria, Begonya, Forsner, Maria, Rullander, Anna-Clara, Nilsson, Stefan, Darcy, Laura, Karlsson, Katarina, Hubbuck, Cath, Brenner, Maria, Spencer-Little, Sian, Evans, Kath, Rowland, Andrew, Hilliard, Carol, Preston, Jennifer, Leroy, Piet, Roland, Damian, Booth, Lisa, Davies, Jean, Saron, Holly, Peck, Blake

  • Authors: Bray, Lucy , Carter, Bernie , Kiernan, Joann , Horowicz, Ed , Dixon, Katie , Ridley, James , Robinson, Carol , Simmons, Anna , Craske, Jennie , Sinha, Stephanie , Morton, Liza , Nafria, Begonya , Forsner, Maria , Rullander, Anna-Clara , Nilsson, Stefan , Darcy, Laura , Karlsson, Katarina , Hubbuck, Cath , Brenner, Maria , Spencer-Little, Sian , Evans, Kath , Rowland, Andrew , Hilliard, Carol , Preston, Jennifer , Leroy, Piet , Roland, Damian , Booth, Lisa , Davies, Jean , Saron, Holly , Peck, Blake
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: European Journal of Pediatrics Vol. 182, no. 10 (2023), p. 4707-4721
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  • Description: Children continue to experience harm when undergoing clinical procedures despite increased evidence of the need to improve the provision of child-centred care. The international ISupport collaboration aimed to develop standards to outline and explain good procedural practice and the rights of children within the context of a clinical procedure. The rights-based standards for children undergoing tests, treatments, investigations, examinations and interventions were developed using an iterative, multi-phased, multi-method and multi-stakeholder consensus building approach. This consensus approach used a range of online and face to face methods across three phases to ensure ongoing engagement with multiple stakeholders. The views and perspectives of 203 children and young people, 78 parents and 418 multi-disciplinary professionals gathered over a two year period (2020–2022) informed the development of international rights-based standards for the care of children having tests, treatments, examinations and interventions. The standards are the first to reach international multi-stakeholder consensus on definitions of supportive and restraining holds. Conclusion: This is the first study of its kind which outlines international rights-based procedural care standards from multi-stakeholder perspectives. The standards offer health professionals and educators clear evidence-based tools to support discussions and practice changes to challenge prevailing assumptions about holding or restraining children and instead encourage a focus on the interests and rights of the child. What is Known: • Children continue to experience short and long-term harm when undergoing clinical procedures despite increased evidence of the need to improve the provision of child-centred care. • Professionals report uncertainty and tensions in applying evidence-based practice to children’s procedural care. What is New: • This is the first study of its kind which has developed international rights-based procedural care standards from multi-stakeholder perspectives. • The standards are the first to reach international multi-stakeholder consensus on definitions of supportive and restraining holds. © 2023, The Author(s). **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 30 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Blake Peck” is provided in this record**

Development of a long-term climatology of tropical 1 cyclones and depressions for the South Pacific 2 Ocean basin

- Yeasmin, Alea

  • Authors: Yeasmin, Alea
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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  • Description: Tropical cyclones (TCs) are one of the most destructive synoptic systems that can cause enormous loss of life and property damages in the South Pacific Island nations. The impact of tropical depressions (TDs, i.e., weaker systems that do not develop into TCs) can also be staggering in the region in terms of heavy flooding and landslides, but a lack of complete records (reliable data prior to 1950) often hinders research involving TD impacts. A methodology has been developed here to detect TDs in the ERA-5 (the fifth generation European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts-ECMWF atmospheric reanalysis of the global climate) and 20CR (the Twentieth Century Reanalysis) dataset using the Okubo–Weiss–Zeta parameter (OWZP) detection scheme. The new South Pacific Enhanced Archive for Tropical Cyclones dataset (SPEArTC), the Dvorak analysis of satellite-based cloud patterns over the South Pacific Ocean basin, rainfall dataset for various stations in the South Pacific and historical archives have been utilised to validate ERA5/20CR-derived TCs and TDs. Results indicate that the OWZP method shows substantial skill in capturing the realistic climatological distribution of TCs and TDs for the South Pacific Ocean in both reanalyses dataset. The 20CR-derived TCs and TDs resemble several key characteristics of the observational records, including spatial distribution of genesis locations and track shapes. This gives us confidence that the 20CR-derived long-term records of TCs and TDs can serve as an effective tool for examining historical changes in various characteristics of TCs and TDs, particularly in the context of anthropogenic climate change. Utilizing the reconstructed proxies of TCs and TDs, their climatic connections with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO), and the combined ENSO-IPO phases have been examined. Results show clear spatial shifts in TC activity between La Niña and El Niño phases with activity in the region 1400-1700E (1700-2200E) occurring during La Niña (El Niño) events. However, when IPO is considered synergistically with ENSO phases, we found that the combination of El Niño and the positive phase of IPO (+IPO) substantially enhances TC numbers (may be artifact influence) in both domains, noting the modulation between the two phases themselves. Similarly, La Niña and the negative phase of the IPO (-IPO) is found to enhance TC numbers in 1400-1700E. It is shown for the first time that the combined phases of El Niño and +IPO account for increased TC activity, as opposed to the combined phase of La Niña and -IPO, in the eastern sub-region. Similarly, the combined phase of La Niña and +IPO, as opposed to the combined phase of El Niño and -IPO, account for increased TC activity in the western sub-region. However, unlike TCs, the patterns of ENSO variability seem to be reversed for TDs. Changes in large-scale environmental conditions, such as environmental vertical wind shear, low-level cyclonic relative vorticity, mid-tropospheric relative humidity and sea surface temperature are linked to the various modes of variability patterns and their synergistic relationships. Results can have substantial implications, particularly on the predictability of TCs and TDs associated with the two important modes of natural variability in the South Pacific.
  • Description: Doctor of Philosophy

Development of a short form of the cardiac distress inventory

- Le Grande, Michael, Murphy, Barbara, Rogerson, Michelle, Ski, Chantal, Amerena, John, Smith, Julian, Hoover, Valerie, Alvarenga, Marlies, Higgins, Rosemary, Thompson, David, Jackson, Alun

  • Authors: Le Grande, Michael , Murphy, Barbara , Rogerson, Michelle , Ski, Chantal , Amerena, John , Smith, Julian , Hoover, Valerie , Alvarenga, Marlies , Higgins, Rosemary , Thompson, David , Jackson, Alun
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: BMC Cardiovascular Disorders Vol. 23, no. 1 (2023), p.
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  • Description: Background: Cardiac distress may be viewed as a persistent negative emotional state that spans multiple psychosocial domains and challenges a patient’s capacity to cope with living with their heart condition. The Cardiac Distress Inventory (CDI) is a disease-specific clinical assessment tool that captures the complexity of this distress. In busy settings such as primary care, cardiac rehabilitation, and counselling services, however, there is a need to administer briefer tools to aid in identification and screening. The aim of the present study was to develop a short, valid screening version of the CDI. Methods: A total of 405 participants reporting an acute coronary event in the previous 12 months was recruited from three hospitals, through social media and by direct enrolment on the study website. Participants completed an online survey which included the full version of the CDI and general distress measures including the Kessler K6, Patient Health Questionnaire-4, and Emotion Thermometers. Relationship of the CDI with these instruments, Rasch analysis model fit and clinical expertise were all used to select items for the short form (CDI-SF). Construct validity and receiver operating characteristics in relation to the Kessler K6 were examined. Results: The final 12 item CDI-SF exhibited excellent internal consistency indicative of unidimensionality and good convergent and discriminant validity in comparison to clinical status measures, all indicative of good construct validity. Using the K6 validated cutoff of

Device agent assisted blockchain leveraged framework for Internet of Things

- Nasrullah, Tarique, Islam, Md Manowarul, Uddin, Md Ashraf, Khan, Md Anisauzzaman, Layek, Md Abu, Stranieri, Andrew, Huh, Eui-Nam

  • Authors: Nasrullah, Tarique , Islam, Md Manowarul , Uddin, Md Ashraf , Khan, Md Anisauzzaman , Layek, Md Abu , Stranieri, Andrew , Huh, Eui-Nam
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Access Vol. 11, no. (2023), p. 1254-1268
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  • Description: Blockchain (BC) is a burgeoning technology that has emerged as a promising solution to peer-to-peer communication security and privacy challenges. As a revolutionary technology, blockchain has drawn the attention of academics and researchers. Cryptocurrencies have already effectively utilized BC technology. Many researchers have sought to implement this technique in different sectors, including the Internet of Things. To store and manage IoT data, we present in this paper a lightweight BC-based architecture with a modified raft algorithm-based consensus protocol. We designed a Device Agent that executes a novel registration procedure to connect IoT devices to the blockchain. We implemented the framework on Docker using the Go programming language. We have simulated the framework on a Linux environment hosted in the cloud. We have conducted a detailed performance analysis using a variety of measures. The results demonstrate that our suggested solution is suitable for facilitating the management of IoT data with increased security and privacy. In terms of throughput and block generation time, the results indicate that our solution might be 40% to 45% faster than the existing blockchain. © 2013 IEEE.

Dexamethasone leads to Zn2+ accumulation and increased unbound Zn2+ in C2C12 muscle and 3T3-L1 adipose cells

- Maier, Michelle, Nankervis, Scott, Wallace, Morgan, Develyn, Tamekha, Myers, Mark

  • Authors: Maier, Michelle , Nankervis, Scott , Wallace, Morgan , Develyn, Tamekha , Myers, Mark
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Cellular Biochemistry Vol. 124, no. 3 (2023), p. 409-420
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  • Description: Skeletal muscle atrophy is associated with increases in circulating glucocorticoid levels and insulin resistance. Zinc accumulates in atrophic muscle, but the relationship between atrophy, insulin resistance, and Zn2+ homeostasis remains unclear. In this study, the effect of the glucocorticoid dexamethasone (DEX) on insulin and Zn2+ homeostasis was explored. Treatment of differentiated C2C12 skeletal myotubes and 3T3-L1 adipocytes with DEX significantly increased mRNA expression of the metal-binding proteins Mt1 and 2 and altered energy storage as shown by the increased size of lipid droplets in 3T3-L1 cells. In C2C12 cells the total cellular Zn2+ was higher after DEX treatment, and in both C2C12 and 3T3-L1 adipocytes, free unbound Zn2+ was increased. Insulin treatment led to a gradual increase in free Zn2+ in C2C12 cells, and no significant change in DEX-treated cells such that concentrations were similar 10 min after insulin treatment. These data demonstrate that DEX disturbs Zn2+ homeostasis in muscle and fat cells. Further study of the molecular pathways involved to identify novel therapeutic targets for treatment of skeletal muscle atrophy is warranted. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of Cellular Biochemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.