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1-Methyl-1 H-pyrazole-5-carboxamide derivatives exhibit unexpected acute mammalian toxicity

- Preston, Sarah, Garcia-Bustos, Jose, Hall, Liam, Martin, Sheree, Le, Thuy

  • Authors: Preston, Sarah , Garcia-Bustos, Jose , Hall, Liam , Martin, Sheree , Le, Thuy
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Medicinal Chemistry Vol. 64, no. 1 (2021), p. 840-844
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  • Description: A series of 1-methyl-1H-pyrazole-5-carboxamides were synthesized as potent inhibitors of the parasitic nematode of sheep, Haemonchus contortus. These compounds did not show overt cytotoxicity to a range of mammalian cell lines under standard in vitro culture conditions, had high selectivity indices, and were progressed to an acute toxicity study in a rodent model. Strikingly, acute toxicity was observed in mice. Experiments measuring cellular respiration showed a dose-dependent inhibition of mitochondrial respiration. Under these conditions, potent cytotoxicity was observed for these compounds in rat hepatocytes suggesting that the potent acute mammalian toxicity of this chemotype is most likely associated with respiratory inhibition. In contrast, parasite toxicity was not correlated to acute toxicity or cytotoxicity in respiring cells. This paper highlights the importance of identifying an appropriate in vitro predictor of in vivo toxicity early on in the drug discovery pipeline, in particular assessment for in vitro mitochondrial toxicity. © 2020 American Chemical Society. *Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Sarah Preston” is provided in this record**

A case study of grinding coarse 5 mm particles into sand grade particles less than 2.36 mm

- Reed, Aaron, Koroznikova, Larissa, Khandelwal, Manoj

  • Authors: Reed, Aaron , Koroznikova, Larissa , Khandelwal, Manoj
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Vietnam Journal of Earth Sciences Vol. 43, no. 1 (2021), p. 57-70
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  • Description: This paper presents the viability study of utilising a rod or ball mill to grind a ‘5 mm grit’ to 100% passing 2.36 mm and fit in with a desired particle size analysis. The aim is to introduce this grit into the concrete grade sand produced at the Hanson owned Axedale Sand & Gravel quarry to reduce generated waste and improve the process efficiency. A ball mill and rod mill were used to grind the samples at an interval of 5 and 10 minutes. From the laboratory experimental analysis, it was found that a ball mill with 5 minutes grinding time in closed-circuit using a classifier to remove undersize and reintroduce oversize to the mill would be a viable option in an industrial setting. A Bond Ball Mill Grindability Test was undertaken to determine the grindability of the 5 mm grit, which served to determine the power (kWh/t) required to grind it to 100% passing 2.36 mm. The bond ball mill grindability test showed that the grit had a work index value of 17.66 kWh/t. This work index gives an actual work input of 13.54 kWh/t, meaning that for every ton of feed material introduced to the mill, 13.54 kWh of work input is required to grind it to 150 microns. © 2021 Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.

A combination of expert-based system and advanced decision-tree algorithms to predict air-overpressure resulting from quarry blasting

- He, Ziguang, Armaghani, Danial, Masoumnezhad, Mojtaba, Khandelwal, Manoj, Zhou, Jian, Murlidhar, Bhatawdekar

  • Authors: He, Ziguang , Armaghani, Danial , Masoumnezhad, Mojtaba , Khandelwal, Manoj , Zhou, Jian , Murlidhar, Bhatawdekar
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Natural Resources Research Vol. 30, no. 2 (2021), p. 1889-1903
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  • Description: This study combined a fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) and two advanced decision-tree algorithms to predict air-overpressure (AOp) caused by mine blasting. The FDM was used for input selection. Thus, the panel of experts selected four inputs, including powder factor, max charge per delay, stemming length, and distance from the blast face. Once the input selection was completed, two decision-tree algorithms, namely extreme gradient boosting tree (XGBoost-tree) and random forest (RF), were applied using the inputs selected by the experts. The models are evaluated with the following criteria: correlation coefficient, mean absolute error, gains chart, and Taylor diagram. The applied models were compared with the XGBoost-tree and RF models using the full set of data without input selection results. The results of hybridization showed that the XGBoost-tree model outperformed the RF model. Concerning the gains, the XGBoost-tree again outperformed the RF model. In comparison with the single decision-tree models, the single models had slightly better correlation coefficients; however, the hybridized models were simpler and easier to understand, analyze and implement. In addition, the Taylor diagram showed that the models applied outperformed some other conventional machine learning models, including support vector machine, k-nearest neighbors, and artificial neural network. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that combining expert opinion and advanced decision-tree algorithms can result in accurate and easy to understand predictions of AOp resulting from blasting in quarry sites. © 2020, International Association for Mathematical Geosciences.

A critical review of intrusion detection systems in the internet of things : techniques, deployment strategy, validation strategy, attacks, public datasets and challenges

- Khraisat, Ansam, Alazab, Ammar

  • Authors: Khraisat, Ansam , Alazab, Ammar
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Cybersecurity Vol. 4, no. 1 (2021), p.
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  • Description: The Internet of Things (IoT) has been rapidly evolving towards making a greater impact on everyday life to large industrial systems. Unfortunately, this has attracted the attention of cybercriminals who made IoT a target of malicious activities, opening the door to a possible attack on the end nodes. To this end, Numerous IoT intrusion detection Systems (IDS) have been proposed in the literature to tackle attacks on the IoT ecosystem, which can be broadly classified based on detection technique, validation strategy, and deployment strategy. This survey paper presents a comprehensive review of contemporary IoT IDS and an overview of techniques, deployment Strategy, validation strategy and datasets that are commonly applied for building IDS. We also review how existing IoT IDS detect intrusive attacks and secure communications on the IoT. It also presents the classification of IoT attacks and discusses future research challenges to counter such IoT attacks to make IoT more secure. These purposes help IoT security researchers by uniting, contrasting, and compiling scattered research efforts. Consequently, we provide a unique IoT IDS taxonomy, which sheds light on IoT IDS techniques, their advantages and disadvantages, IoT attacks that exploit IoT communication systems, corresponding advanced IDS and detection capabilities to detect IoT attacks. © 2021, The Author(s).

A field investigation of the relationship between rotating shifts, sleep, mental health and physical activity of Australian paramedics

- Khan, Wahaj, Jackson, Melinda, Kennedy, Gerard, Conduit, Russell

  • Authors: Khan, Wahaj , Jackson, Melinda , Kennedy, Gerard , Conduit, Russell
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Scientific Reports Vol. 11, no. 1 (2021), p.
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  • Description: Paramedics working on a rotating shift are at an increased risk of developing chronic health issues due to continuous circadian rhythm disruption. The acute effects of shift rotation and objectively measured sleep have rarely been reported in paramedics. This study investigated the relationships between a rotating shift schedule and sleep (using actigraphy), subjective reports of sleepiness, mood, stress and fatigue. Galvanic Skin Response, energy expenditure and physical activity (BodyMedia SenseWear Armband) were also recorded across the shift schedule. Paramedics were monitored for a period of eight consecutive days across pre-shift, day shift, night shift, and 2 days off. Fifteen paramedics (M age = 39.5 and SD = 10.7 years) who worked rotational shifts experienced sleep restriction during night shift compared to pre-shift, day shift and days off (p < 0.001). Night shift was also associated with higher levels of stress (p < 0.05), fatigue (p < 0.05), and sleepiness (p < 0.05). One day off was related to a return to pre-shift functioning. Such shift-related issues have a compounding negative impact on an already stressful occupation with high rates of physical and mental health issues. Therefore, there is an urgent need to investigate methods to reduce rotating shift burden on the health of paramedics. This could be through further research aimed at providing recommendations for shift work schedules with sufficient periods for sleep and recovery from stress. © 2021, The Author(s).

A new global index for short term voltage stability assessment

- Alshareef, Abdulrhman, Shah, Rakibuzzaman, Mithulananthan, Nadarajah, Alzahrani, Saeed

  • Authors: Alshareef, Abdulrhman , Shah, Rakibuzzaman , Mithulananthan, Nadarajah , Alzahrani, Saeed
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Access Vol. 9, no. (2021), p. 36114-36124
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  • Description: The utility scale of non-conventional generators (NCGs), such as wind and photovoltaic (PV) plants, are competitive alternatives to synchronous machines (SMs) for power generation. Higher penetration of NCGs has been respondent of causing several recent incidents leading up to voltage collapse in power systems due to the distinct characteristics of NCGs under different operating conditions. Consequently, the so-called system strength has been reduced with higher NCGs penetration. A number of indices have been developed to quantify system strength from the short-term voltage stability (STVS) perspective. None of the indices capture the overall performances of power systems on dynamic voltage recovery. In this paper, an improvement in one of the STVS indices namely, the Voltage Recovery Index (VRI), is proposed to overcome shortcomings in the original index. Moreover, the improved index is globalized to establish a new index defined as system voltage recovery index (VRIsys) to quantify STVS at the system level. The amended VRI and developed VRIsys are used in systematic simulations to quantify the impact and interaction of various factors that could affect system strength. The assessment was conducted using time-domain simulation with direct connected induction motors (DCIMs) and a proliferation of converter-based technologies on both the generation and load sides, namely, NCGs and Variable Speed Drives (VSDs), respectively. © 2013 IEEE.

A survey of early-career researchers in Australia

- Christian, Katherine, Johnstone, Carolyn, Larkins, Jo-ann, Wright, Wendy, Doran, Michael

  • Authors: Christian, Katherine , Johnstone, Carolyn , Larkins, Jo-ann , Wright, Wendy , Doran, Michael
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: eLife Vol. 10, no. (2021), p. 1-19
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  • Description: Early-career researchers (ECRs) make up a large portion of the academic workforce and their experiences often reflect the wider culture of the research system. Here we surveyed 658 ECRs working in Australia to better understand the needs and challenges faced by this community. Although most respondents indicated a ‘love of science’, many also expressed an intention to leave their research position. The responses highlight how job insecurity, workplace culture, mentorship and ‘questionable research practices’ are impacting the job satisfaction of ECRs and potentially compromising science in Australia. We also make recommendations for addressing some of these concerns. © Christian et al.

Aggregate subgradient method for nonsmooth DC optimization

- Bagirov, Adil, Taheri, Sona, Joki, Kaisa, Karmitsa, Napsu, Mäkelä, Marko

  • Authors: Bagirov, Adil , Taheri, Sona , Joki, Kaisa , Karmitsa, Napsu , Mäkelä, Marko
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Optimization Letters Vol. 15, no. 1 (2021), p. 83-96
  • Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP190100580
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  • Description: The aggregate subgradient method is developed for solving unconstrained nonsmooth difference of convex (DC) optimization problems. The proposed method shares some similarities with both the subgradient and the bundle methods. Aggregate subgradients are defined as a convex combination of subgradients computed at null steps between two serious steps. At each iteration search directions are found using only two subgradients: the aggregate subgradient and a subgradient computed at the current null step. It is proved that the proposed method converges to a critical point of the DC optimization problem and also that the number of null steps between two serious steps is finite. The new method is tested using some academic test problems and compared with several other nonsmooth DC optimization solvers. © 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

Agile ageing – A modifiable vital sign to mitigate the risk of falls in older adults?

- Ogilvie, Madeleine, Wallen, Matthew, Talpey, Scott

  • Authors: Ogilvie, Madeleine , Wallen, Matthew , Talpey, Scott
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Medical Hypotheses Vol. 148, no. (2021), p.
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  • Description: Falls prevention in older adults is a targeted priority because a fall can lead to disability, institutionalisation and presents a signficant financial burden. Falls are multifactoral in nature however, impairments in both physical and cognitive functioning have been linked to their occurrence. Currently, testing and exercise training for falls prevention focuses on physical qualities such as balance and strength. Agility is a unique physical quality that couples an individuals perceptual cognitive ability with the ability to produce a quick and accurate movement. Agility is relatively well understood in a sporting context however, its application to falls prevention has been minimal. Because a fall may occur while an individual is perceiving information from the dynamic environment around them while attempting to execute a rapid and accurate movement it is hypothesised that concepts and methods used to assess and train agility in athlete populations can be use to improve practices related to the screening and training to mitigate the risk of a fall in an older adult. © 2021

An efficient hybrid system for anomaly detection in social networks

- Rahman, Md Shafiur, Halder, Sajal, Uddin, Ashraf, Acharjee, Uzzal

  • Authors: Rahman, Md Shafiur , Halder, Sajal , Uddin, Ashraf , Acharjee, Uzzal
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Cybersecurity Vol. 4, no. 1 (2021), p.
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  • Description: Anomaly detection has been an essential and dynamic research area in the data mining. A wide range of applications including different social medias have adopted different state-of-the-art methods to identify anomaly for ensuring user’s security and privacy. The social network refers to a forum used by different groups of people to express their thoughts, communicate with each other, and share the content needed. This social networks also facilitate abnormal activities, spread fake news, rumours, misinformation, unsolicited messages, and propaganda post malicious links. Therefore, detection of abnormalities is one of the important data analysis activities for the identification of normal or abnormal users on the social networks. In this paper, we have developed a hybrid anomaly detection method named DT-SVMNB that cascades several machine learning algorithms including decision tree (C5.0), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Naïve Bayesian classifier (NBC) for classifying normal and abnormal users in social networks. We have extracted a list of unique features derived from users’ profile and contents. Using two kinds of dataset with the selected features, the proposed machine learning model called DT-SVMNB is trained. Our model classifies users as depressed one or suicidal one in the social network. We have conducted an experiment of our model using synthetic and real datasets from social network. The performance analysis demonstrates around 98% accuracy which proves the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed system. © 2021, The Author(s).

An Investigation of alternative factor models of Impulsivity using the UPPS-P

- Teese, Robert, Willie, Christopher, Jago, Andrew, Gill, Peter

  • Authors: Teese, Robert , Willie, Christopher , Jago, Andrew , Gill, Peter
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Personality Assessment Vol. 103, no. 3 (2021), p. 324-331
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  • Description: The UPPS-P measures impulsivity as a five-factor construct (lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, positive urgency, negative urgency and sensation seeking). Drawing on a number of theoretical considerations and alternative conceptions of impulsivity, the current study used confirmatory factor analysis (N = 1635) and multiple regression to evaluate and test alternative models comprising three, five, and a hierarchical model containing latent factors. The five factor and hierarchical models were shown to be valid and of near identical fit, whereas the three-factor model fit the data poorly. The current findings suggest that both the five factor and hierarchical models are useful applications of the UPPS-P. Depending on the purpose of future research, both models demonstrate utility in both risk assessment and treatment development. Multiple regression analysis revealed that positive urgency predicted problem gambling, which supports the predictive utility of impulsivity as a five-factor construct. While the latent factors of the hierarchical model are consistent with emerging theory, those using the UPPS-P should not overlook the unique contributions of the five factors. As the current study found meaningful predictive distinctions between positive and negative urgency, utilizing all five factors may increase measurement sensitivity and predictive utility. © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Ant community responses to farmland use and revegetation in a fragmented agricultural landscape

- Ng, Katherine, Nowrouzi, Somayeh, Staunton, Kyran, Barton, Philip, Driscoll, Don

  • Authors: Ng, Katherine , Nowrouzi, Somayeh , Staunton, Kyran , Barton, Philip , Driscoll, Don
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment Vol. 311, no. (May 2021), p. 8
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  • Description: Recent alarming losses of insects from agricultural landscapes in multiple countries around the world have brought into sharp focus the urgent need to identify ways to manage these landscapes to avoid further biodiversity decline. Identifying the drivers of insect declines, such as land use change, is critical to this effort. We examined ant communities at the interface between remnant vegetation patches and three adjoining farmland types (wheat crop, rested from cropping and restoration plantings) in a fragmented landscape in temperate Australia. We asked: do ant communities and occurrence of individual species differ between remnant patches and farmlands with more intensive farmland use (restoration plantings < rested farmlands < wheat crop)? We recorded 13,283 ants belonging to 102 species from 30 genera. Excluding 21 singletons, 27 species only occurred in remnant patches compared to ten species found only in farmlands. Ant community composition in wheat crop and rested farmlands significantly differed from their adjacent remnant patches and were more homogeneous. In contrast, ant communities from restoration plantings in farmland were not significantly different in composition from those in the adjacent remnant patch. The large, aggressive Australian meat ant (Iridomyrmex purpureus) showed significantly higher occurrence in the remnant patch than all farmland types, and we suggest that the absence of this strongly interacting species from farmlands may have contributed to biotic homogenisation. Our findings show that native vegetation provides crucial habitat resources for many ant species that are not provided by farmlands, and native plantings can, in some cases, ameliorate negative effects of farmland clearing over relatively short time scales (<7 years). Agricultural intensification that involves loss of remnant native vegetation or reduced revegetation will contribute to ongoing losses and changes to ant biodiversity in farming landscapes. However, replanting native vegetation can lead to rapid restoration, signifying a possible simple remedy to insect declines.

Application of adaptive phase-field scaled boundary finite element method for functionally graded materials

- Pramod, Aladurthi, Hirshikesh, Natarajan, Sundararajan, Ooi, Ean Tat

  • Authors: Pramod, Aladurthi , Hirshikesh , Natarajan, Sundararajan , Ooi, Ean Tat
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International Journal of Computational Methods Vol. 18, no. 3 (2021), p.
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  • Description: In this paper, an adaptive phase-field scaled boundary finite element method for fracture in functionally graded material (FGM) is presented. The model accounts for spatial variation in the material and fracture properties. The quadtree decomposition is adopted for refinement, and the refinement is based on an error indicator evaluated directly from the solutions of the scaled boundary finite element method. This combination makes it a suitable choice to study fracture using the phase field method, as it reduces the mesh burden. A few standard benchmark numerical examples are solved to demonstrate the improvement in computational efficiency in terms of the number of degrees of freedom. © 2021 World Scientific Publishing Company.

Assessing the conservation and enhancement value of revegetated strips on arthropod assemblages in a pasture landscape

- O'Donnell, Peter, Wright, Wendy

  • Authors: O'Donnell, Peter , Wright, Wendy
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Environmental Management Vol. 278, no. (2021), p.
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  • Description: Examining population dynamics of arthropod communities in habitats neighboring arable lands is essential to understanding how agroecosystems can be engineered to enhance ecosystem services and contribute to sustainable intensification. Arthropods comprise the bulk of faunal biomass on farms, are taxonomically diverse, and are the main drivers of many ecosystem functions. This study aimed to compare arthropod assemblages in revegetated strips of native plants and exotic pastures, and examine taxa of beneficial arthropods in revegetated strips and adjacent pasture in early spring (September 2009) and mid-summer (December 2009–January 2010) on two farms in southeastern Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. Arthropod community assemblages were distinctly different between revegetated strips and adjacent pasture with the exception of functional groups in early spring. Several taxa of beneficial arthropods including Carabidae (ground beetles) and Syrphidae (hoverflies) were of similar abundance in the two habitats. Only Formicidae (ants) were of higher abundances in revegetated strips compared to adjacent pasture in both seasons. Five of the 10 ant genera present, seven spider families and Dolichopodidae flies (long-legged flies) were found exclusively in revegetated strips. Apidae (bees) and Tachinidae (tachinid flies) had higher abundances in revegetated strips compared to 80 m into the adjacent pasture in mid-summer. Lycosidae (wolf spiders) were more abundant along the edge of revegetated strips and 20 m into adjacent pasture compared to the center (core) of revegetated strips and 80 m into pasture. These results illustrate that beneficial arthropods use revegetated strips as refugia and that revegetated strips clearly enhanced biological conservation of arthropods in pasturelands. Relevance of findings to enhanced biological control is also discussed. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Behaviour tracking : using geospatial and behaviour sequence analysis to map crime

- Keatley, David, Arntfield, Michael, Gill, Paul, Clare, Joe, Oatley, Giles, Bouhana, Noemie, Clarke, David

  • Authors: Keatley, David , Arntfield, Michael , Gill, Paul , Clare, Joe , Oatley, Giles , Bouhana, Noemie , Clarke, David
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Security Journal Vol. 34, no. 1 (2021), p. 184-201
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  • Description: Crime is a complex phenomenon. To understand the commission of crime, researchers must map both the temporal and the spatial processes involved. The current research combines a temporal method of analysis, Behaviour Sequence Analysis, with geospatial mapping, to outline a new method of integrating temporal and spatial movements of criminals. To show how the new method can be applied, a burglary scenario was used, and the movements and behaviours of a criminal tracked around the property. Results showed that combining temporal and spatial analyses allows for a clearer account of the process of a crime scene. The current method has application to a large range of other crimes and terrorist movements, for instance between cities and movements within each city. Therefore, the current research provides the foundation framework for a novel method of spatio-temporal analyses of crime. © 2019, Springer Nature Limited.

Cable disc elevator : static friction investigation

- Webb, Colin, Tuck, Michael

  • Authors: Webb, Colin , Tuck, Michael
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration Vol. 38, no. 2 (2021), p. 979-994
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  • Description: This paper describes the application of a cable disc elevator to continuous lift ore vertically from underground mines. Application of this system requires the tensions developed within the cable must remain within the carrying capacity of the cable including applicable safety margins. A critical element occurs at starting the system when it is fully loaded which requires the force developed by the system to exceed the static friction forces. This paper describes the laboratory rig developed to investigate the static friction forces. Details of the results of tests on three different ores for both dry and wet conditions are given. These results are discussed. © 2020, Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc.

Can optimum solar radiation exposure or supplemented vitamin D intake reduce the severity of COVID-19 symptoms?

- Abraham, Joji, Dowling, Kim, Florentine, Singarayer

  • Authors: Abraham, Joji , Dowling, Kim , Florentine, Singarayer
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article , Review
  • Relation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Vol. 18, no. 2 (2021), p. 1-21
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  • Description: The foremost mortality-causing symptom associated with COVID-19 is acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). A significant correlation has been identified between the deficiency in vitamin D and the risk of developing ARDS. It has been suggested that if we can reduce or modify ARDS in COVID-19 patients, we may significantly reduce the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and associated mortality rates. The increased mortality of dark-skinned people, who have a reduced UV absorption capacity, may be consistent with diminished vitamin D status. The factors associated with COVID-19 mortality, such as old age, ethnicity, obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, are all found to be linked with vitamin D deficiency. Based on this review and as a precautionary measure, it is suggested that the adoption of appropriate and safe solar exposure and vitamin D enriched foods and supplements should be considered to reduce the possible severity of COVID-19 symptoms. Safe sun exposure is deemed beneficial globally, specifically in low and middle- income countries, as there is no cost involved. It is also noted that improved solar exposure and vitamin D levels can reduce the impact of other diseases as well, thus assisting in maintaining general human well-being. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Canonical duality theory and algorithm for solving bilevel knapsack problems with applications

- Gao, David

  • Authors: Gao, David
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems Vol. 51, no. 2 (2021), p. 893-904
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  • Description: A novel canonical duality theory (CDT) is presented for solving general bilevel mixed integer nonlinear optimization governed by linear and quadratic knapsack problems. It shows that the challenging knapsack problems can be solved analytically in term of their canonical dual solutions. The existence and uniqueness of these analytical solutions are proved. NP-hardness of the knapsack problems is discussed. A powerful CDT algorithm combined with an alternative iteration and a volume reduction method is proposed for solving the NP-hard bilevel knapsack problems. Application is illustrated by benchmark problems in optimal topology design. The performance and novelty of the proposed method are compared with the popular commercial codes. © 2013 IEEE.

Chinese mental health professionals’ perceptions of shared decision-making regarding people diagnosed with schizophrenia : a qualitative study

- Huang, Chongmei, Lam, Louisa, Zhong, Yaping, Plummer, Virginia, Cross, Wendy

  • Authors: Huang, Chongmei , Lam, Louisa , Zhong, Yaping , Plummer, Virginia , Cross, Wendy
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International Journal of Mental Health Nursing Vol. 30, no. 1 (2021), p. 189-199
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  • Description: The implementation of shared decision-making regarding people diagnosed with schizophrenia is limited, although it is reported to have a positive impact on improving treatment adherence, therapeutic relationships and saving medical costs. The successful implementation of it is mainly dependent on the active engagement of mental health professionals. This study aims to identify mental health professionals’ perceptions of shared decision-making regarding people diagnosed with schizophrenia in collectivist cultures such as Chinese culture. A qualitative descriptive approach was used, involving ten individual interviews with psychiatrists and four focus groups with twenty-three mental health nurses from the psychiatry department of a tertiary hospital in mainland China. An inductive thematic approach was used to analyze the data. Two main themes with five subthemes generated: willingness to engage in shared decision-making and perceiving shared decision-making as unachievable. The last theme included five subthemes: (i) deference to authority, (ii) tension between family decision-making and patient autonomy, (iii) uncertainty of trusting therapeutic relationships, (iv) implicit persuasion and (v) insufficient consultation time. Patients often lack opportunity and support to engage in decision-making. Mental health nurses in other countries need to be aware that Chinese patients and patients with a similar background are not knowledgeable about or value shared decision-making to the extent that other countries might. They need to evaluate and support them, including encouraging them to engage in decision-making as well as providing appropriate information. Mental health nurses need to collaborate with patients and their families to achieve patient-centred care when family involvement is expected. © 2020 Australian College of Mental Health Nurses Inc.

Daddy issues : friends rather than fathers influence adult men's hegemonic masculinity

- Van Doorn, George, Dye, Jacob, de Gracia, Ma Regina

  • Authors: Van Doorn, George , Dye, Jacob , de Gracia, Ma Regina
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Personality and Individual Differences Vol. 171, no. (2021), p.
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  • Description: Hegemonic masculinity often refers to negative and socially aversive traits and behaviours associated with idealised masculine norms. Extant literature suggests that several social determinants might influence men's conformity to negative and socially-averse masculine norms, but studies are limited. The present study examined whether the quality of the father-son relationship in childhood impacts hegemonic masculinity in adulthood. In addition, we also determined whether adverse childhood experiences, mother-son relationship quality, as well as familial and peer support explained any additional variance in hegemonic masculinity after controlling for the quality of a man's relationship with his father. A sample of 188 men (aged 18 to 62 years) completed an online survey that included the K-Short Form-42, the Adverse Childhood Experiences scale, and the Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory-29. Results from a hierarchical regression analysis showed that the self-reported quality of the father-son relationship did not predict hegemonic masculinity. Adverse childhood experiences, mother-son relationship quality, and family support also failed to predict hegemonic masculinity. However, a decrease in support from friends was associated with an increase in hegemonic masculinity, even after controlling for all other variables. The importance of peer relationships in developing and maintaining a man's adherence to traditional masculine norms is underscored. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd