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A combined virtual element method and the scaled boundary finite element method for linear elastic fracture mechanics

- Adak, Dibyendu, Pramod, ALN, Ooi, Ean Tat, Natarajan, Sundararajan

  • Authors: Adak, Dibyendu , Pramod, ALN , Ooi, Ean Tat , Natarajan, Sundararajan
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements Vol. 113, no. (2020), p. 9-16
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  • Description: In this paper, we propose a framework that combines the recently introduced virtual element method (VEM) and the scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) to evaluate the fracture parameters. The domain is discretized with arbitrary polygons and the element that contains the crack tip is treated within the framework of the SBFEM. This facilitates a semi-analytical treatment of the crack tip singularity allowing the fracture parameters are estimated directly from the definition. The VEM is employed for the rest of the domain. The salient feature of the VEM is that the terms in the stiffness matrix are computed without requiring higher order quadrature schemes. As both the methods satisfy partition of unity and the compatibility condition, the matrices are assembled as in the conventional FEM. The accuracy of the proposed formulation is demonstrated with two standard benchmark examples. The proposed VEM-SBFEM framework yields accurate results. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

A cross-sectional survey of nursing students' patient safety knowledge

- Levett-Jones, Tracy, Andersen, Patrea, Bogossian, Fiona, Cooper, Simon, Guinea, Stephen, Hopmans, Ruben, McKenna, Lisa, Pich, Jacqui, Reid-Searl, Kerry, Seaton, Philippa

  • Authors: Levett-Jones, Tracy , Andersen, Patrea , Bogossian, Fiona , Cooper, Simon , Guinea, Stephen , Hopmans, Ruben , McKenna, Lisa , Pich, Jacqui , Reid-Searl, Kerry , Seaton, Philippa
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Nurse Education Today Vol. 88, no. (2020), p.
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  • Description: Background: Knowledge provides a foundation for safe and effective nursing practice. However, most previous studies have focused on exploring nursing students' self-reported perceptions of, or confidence in, their level of patient safety knowledge, rather than examining their actual levels of knowledge. Objective: The overarching objective of this study was to examine final year nursing students' levels of knowledge about key patient safety concepts. Design: A cross-sectional design was used for this study. Data collection was undertaken during 2018 using a web-based patient safety quiz with 45 multiple choice questions informed by the Patient Safety Competency Framework for Nursing Students. A Modified Angoff approach was used to establish a pass mark or ‘cut score’ for the quiz. Setting and participants: Nursing students enrolled in the final year of a pre-registration nursing program in Australia or New Zealand were invited to participate in the study. Results: In total, 2011 final year nursing students from 23 educational institutions completed the quiz. Mean quiz scores were 29.35/45 or 65.23% (SD 5.63). Participants achieved highest scores in the domains of person-centred care and therapeutic communication, and lowest scores for infection prevention and control and medication safety. Based on the pass mark of 67.3% determined by the Modified Angoff procedure, 44.7% of students (n = 899) demonstrated passing performance on the quiz. For eight of the institutions, less than half of their students achieved a passing mark. Conclusions: Given the pivotal role that nurses play in maintaining patient safety, the results from this quiz raise important questions about the preparation of nursing students for safe and effective clinical practice. The institutional results also suggest the need for increased curricula attention to patient safety. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

A DNA toolbox for non-invasive genetic studies of sambar deer (Rusa unicolor)

- Davies, Chris, Wright, Wendy, Wedrowicz, Faye, Hogan, Fiona

  • Authors: Davies, Chris , Wright, Wendy , Wedrowicz, Faye , Hogan, Fiona
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Australian Mammalogy Vol. 42, no. 1 (2020), p. 58-66
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  • Description: Invasive sambar deer (Rusa unicolor) are having significant detrimental impacts on natural environments in south-eastern Australia. Little, however, is known about their ecology, limiting evidence-based management strategies directed at reducing deer impacts. Genetic data, generated from DNA isolated from deer scats, can be used to fill ecological knowledge gaps. This study outlines a non-invasive genetic sampling strategy by which good-quality DNA from a single deer scat can be used to determine (1) species of origin, (2) sex and (3) a unique DNA profile. DNA from deer tissue and sambar deer scat samples were used to develop and optimise molecular methods to collect reliable genetic information. A DNA toolbox is presented that describes how to find, collect and store scat samples, isolate DNA and use molecular markers to generate informative genetic data. Generating genetic data using this approach will support studies aimed at acquiring ecological knowledge about sambar deer. Such knowledge will be critical for developing evidence-based recommendations to improve on-ground management decisions for sambar deer.

A dual scaled boundary finite element formulation over arbitrary faceted star convex polyhedra

- Ooi, Ean Tat, Saputra, Albert, Natarajan, Sundararajan, Ooi, Ean Hin, Song, Chongmin

  • Authors: Ooi, Ean Tat , Saputra, Albert , Natarajan, Sundararajan , Ooi, Ean Hin , Song, Chongmin
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Computational Mechanics Vol. 66, no. 1 (2020), p. 27-47
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  • Description: A novel technique to formulate arbritrary faceted polyhedral elements in three-dimensions is presented. The formulation is applicable for arbitrary faceted polyhedra, provided that a scaling requirement is satisfied and the polyhedron facets are planar. A triangulation process can be applied to non-planar facets to generate an admissible geometry. The formulation adopts two separate scaled boundary coordinate systems with respect to: (i) a scaling centre located within a polyhedron and; (ii) a scaling centre on a polyhedron’s facets. The polyhedron geometry is scaled with respect to both the scaling centres. Polygonal shape functions are derived using the scaled boundary finite element method on the polyhedron facets. The stiffness matrix of a polyhedron is obtained semi-analytically. Numerical integration is required only for the line elements that discretise the polyhedron boundaries. The new formulation passes the patch test. Application of the new formulation in computational solid mechanics is demonstrated using a few numerical benchmarks. © 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

A low-complexity equalizer for video broadcasting in cyber-physical social systems through handheld mobile devices

- Solyman, Ahmad, Attar, Hani, Khosravi, Mohammad, Menon, Varun, Jolfaei, Alireza, Balasubramanian, Venki, Selvaraj, Buvana, Tavallali, Pooya

  • Authors: Solyman, Ahmad , Attar, Hani , Khosravi, Mohammad , Menon, Varun , Jolfaei, Alireza , Balasubramanian, Venki , Selvaraj, Buvana , Tavallali, Pooya
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Access Vol. 8, no. (2020), p. 67591-67602
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  • Description: In Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H) devices for cyber-physical social systems, the Discrete Fractional Fourier Transform-Orthogonal Chirp Division Multiplexing (DFrFT-OCDM) has been suggested to enhance the performance over Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems under time and frequency-selective fading channels. In this case, the need for equalizers like the Minimum Mean Square Error (MMSE) and Zero-Forcing (ZF) arises, though it is excessively complex due to the need for a matrix inversion, especially for DVB-H extensive symbol lengths. In this work, a low complexity equalizer, Least-Squares Minimal Residual (LSMR) algorithm, is used to solve the matrix inversion iteratively. The paper proposes the LSMR algorithm for linear and nonlinear equalizers with the simulation results, which indicate that the proposed equalizer has significant performance and reduced complexity over the classical MMSE equalizer and other low complexity equalizers, in time and frequency-selective fading channels. © 2013 IEEE.

A machine learning approach for prediction of pregnancy outcome following IVF treatment

- Hassan, Md Rafiul, Al-Insaif, Sadiq, Hossain, Muhammad, Kamruzzaman, Joarder

  • Authors: Hassan, Md Rafiul , Al-Insaif, Sadiq , Hossain, Muhammad , Kamruzzaman, Joarder
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Neural Computing and Applications Vol. 32, no. 7 (2020), p. 2283-2297
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  • Description: Infertility affects one out of seven couples around the world. Therefore, the best possible management of the in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment and patient advice is crucial for both patients and medical practitioners. The ultimate concern of the patients is the success of an IVF procedure, which depends on a number of influencing attributes. Without any automated tool, it is hard for the practitioners to assess any influencing trend of the attributes and factors that might lead to a successful IVF pregnancy. This paper proposes a hill climbing feature (attribute) selection algorithm coupled with automated classification using machine learning techniques with the aim to analyze and predict IVF pregnancy in greater accuracy. Using 25 attributes, we assessed the prediction ability of IVF pregnancy success for five different machine learning models, namely multilayer perceptron (MLP), support vector machines (SVM), C4.5, classification and regression trees (CART) and random forest (RF). The prediction ability was measured in terms of widely used performance metrics, namely accuracy rate, F-measure and AUC. Feature selection algorithm reduced the number of most influential attributes to nineteen for MLP, sixteen for RF, seventeen for SVM, twelve for C4.5 and eight for CART. Overall, the most influential attributes identified are: ‘age’, ‘indication’ of fertility factor, ‘Antral Follicle Counts (AFC)’, ‘NbreM2’, ‘method of sperm collection’, ‘Chamotte’, ‘Fertilization rate in vitro’, ‘Follicles on day 14’ and ‘Embryo transfer day.’ The machine learning models trained with the selected set of features significantly improved the prediction accuracy of IVF pregnancy success to a level considerably higher than those reported in the current literature. © 2018, The Natural Computing Applications Forum.

A narrative review of pharmacotherapy treatment for opioid addiction and application in a community-based model in Victoria, Australia

- Vishwanath, Tejaswini, Cash, Penelope, Penney, Wendy, Cant, Robyn

  • Authors: Vishwanath, Tejaswini , Cash, Penelope , Penney, Wendy , Cant, Robyn
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction Vol. 18, no. 1 (2020), p. 66-76
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  • Description: To review the literature regarding the value and consumer focus of research on opioid replacement therapy (ORT) programs, relevant to the Australian rural context and community pharmacy. We conducted a narrative review of literature published between 1995 and 2015, searching EBSCOhost, PubMed and Google Scholar. Three authors collaborated to screen and synthesise studies. Effectiveness, cost affordability, diversion and retention benefits were reported from pharmacological or prescribers’ or dispensers’ standpoint. Research was fragmented and evaluated contributions of these individual types of stakeholders with less discussion of consumers, or consumers’ everyday experiences of ORT. No studies took into account consumers’ psychosocial aspects or power discourses. We found ORT as a beneficial treatment for opioid dependence is well researched, although overall Australian program evaluation was lacking. A gap within ORT literature should be addressed by making consumer experiences central in designs for future research and for program evaluation. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

A new coupling structure and position detection method for segmented control dynamic wireless power transfer systems

- Li, Xiaofei, Hu, Jiefeng, Wang, Heshou, Dai, Xin, Sun, Yue

  • Authors: Li, Xiaofei , Hu, Jiefeng , Wang, Heshou , Dai, Xin , Sun, Yue
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics Vol. 35, no. 7 (2020), p. 6741-6745
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  • Description: In this letter, a new coupling structure for dynamic wireless power transfer (DWPT) systems is proposed. Bipolar coils are symmetrically placed on the transmitter unipolar coils, resulting in natural decoupling between the bipolar coils and the unipolar coils. This special structure can mitigate the self-couplings between the adjacent unipolar transmitter coils and hence facilitate the design of the compensation circuit. Another remarkable advantage of this design is that it can lead to a stable mutual coupling between the transmitter array and the receiver when the receiver moves along the transmitter, making it a natural fit for DWPT applications. Furthermore, to reduce the electromagnetic interference and power loss, an automatic segmented control scheme is implemented, and a position detection method by monitoring the primary current is developed. The feasibility of the proposed coupling structure and the position detection method are verified on a laboratory prototype with 72-V output voltage. The experimental results show that the power fluctuation is within ±2.5%, and system efficiency is around 90%. (This letter is accompanied by a video demonstrating the experimental test). © 2020 IEEE.

A review of code blue activations in a single regional Australian healthcare service : a retrospective descriptive study of RISKMAN data

- Porter, Joanne, Peck, Blake, McNabb, Tiffinee, Missen, Karen

  • Authors: Porter, Joanne , Peck, Blake , McNabb, Tiffinee , Missen, Karen
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Clinical Nursing Vol. 29, no. 1-2 (2020), p. 221-227
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  • Description: Background: In the case of life-threatening conditions such as respiratory or cardiac arrest, or the clinical deterioration of the patient, a Code Blue activation may be instigated. A Code Blue activation involves a team of advanced trained clinicians attending the emergency needs of the patient. Aims and objectives: The aim of the study was to explore the number of cases of Code Blue activations, looking at the timing, clinical ward, diagnosis and activation criteria while noting cases where escalation from a Medical Emergency Team (MET) call occurs in one Regional Healthcare Service in Victoria, Australia, over a six-year period. Methods: A quantitative retrospective descriptive study of Code Blue emergencies over a six-year period from June 2010 to June 2016 was conducted. Data collected from the RISKMAN program operating at a single site was imported into SPSS (V 22) for descriptive statistical analysis. A STROBE EQUATOR checklist was used for this study (see File S1). Findings: The majority of Code Blue activations were male (59%, n = 127) and aged between 70 and 89 years of age (43%, n = 93). A Code Blue activation was more likely to occur at 08:00 hr, 14:00 hr or 22:00 hr, corresponding to the nurses’ change in shift, with the majority of Code Blues (27.8%, n = 60) occurring in the emergency department. Cardiac arrest was the main activation criterion with 54.6% (n = 118) cases followed by respiratory arrest (14%, n = 32). Interestingly, 20% (n = 45) of the Code Blue activations were upgraded from a Medical Emergency Team (MET) call. Conclusion: This project has produced several interesting findings surrounding Code Blue activations at one regional healthcare service which are not present in existing literature and is worthwhile for further investigation. Relevance to clinical practice: Understanding Code Blue activation criteria, common timings (month, time of day) and patient demographics ensures clinicians can remain vigilant in watching for the signs of patient deterioration and improve staff preparedness Code Blue events. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

A shared bus profiling scheme for smart cities based on heterogeneous mobile crowdsourced data

- Kong, Xiangjie, Xia, Feng, Li, Jianxin, Hou, Mingliang, Li, Menglin, Xiang, Yong

  • Authors: Kong, Xiangjie , Xia, Feng , Li, Jianxin , Hou, Mingliang , Li, Menglin , Xiang, Yong
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics Vol. 16, no. 2 (2020), p. 1436-1444
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  • Description: Mobile crowdsourcing (MCS), as an effective and crucial technique of Industrial Internet of Things, is enabling smart city initiatives in the real world. It aims at incorporating the intelligence of dynamic crowds to collect and compute decentralized ubiquitous sensing data that can be used to solve major urbanization problems such as traffic congestion. The shared bus, as a neotype transportation mode, aims at improving the resource utilization rate and maintaining the advantages of convenience and economy. In this article, we provide a scheme to profile shared buses through heterogeneous mobile crowdsourced data (TRProfiling). First, we design an MCS-based shared bus data generation and collection solution to overcome the aforementioned data scarcity issue. Then, we propose a travel profiling to profile resident travel and design a method called multiconstraint evolution algorithm to optimize the routes. Experimental results demonstrate that TRProfiling has an excellent performance in satisfying passengers' travel requirements. © 2005-2012 IEEE.

A Survey on Behavioral Pattern Mining from Sensor Data in Internet of Things

- Rashid, Md Mamunur, Kamruzzaman, Joarder, Hassan, Mohammad, Shahriar Shafin, Sakib, Bhuiyan, Md Zakirul

  • Authors: Rashid, Md Mamunur , Kamruzzaman, Joarder , Hassan, Mohammad , Shahriar Shafin, Sakib , Bhuiyan, Md Zakirul
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Access Vol. 8, no. (2020), p. 33318-33341
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  • Description: The deployment of large-scale wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for the Internet of Things (IoT) applications is increasing day-by-day, especially with the emergence of smart city services. The sensor data streams generated from these applications are largely dynamic, heterogeneous, and often geographically distributed over large areas. For high-value use in business, industry and services, these data streams must be mined to extract insightful knowledge, such as about monitoring (e.g., discovering certain behaviors over a deployed area) or network diagnostics (e.g., predicting faulty sensor nodes). However, due to the inherent constraints of sensor networks and application requirements, traditional data mining techniques cannot be directly used to mine IoT data streams efficiently and accurately in real-time. In the last decade, a number of works have been reported in the literature proposing behavioral pattern mining algorithms for sensor networks. This paper presents the technical challenges that need to be considered for mining sensor data. It then provides a thorough review of the mining techniques proposed in the recent literature to mine behavioral patterns from sensor data in IoT, and their characteristics and differences are highlighted and compared. We also propose a behavioral pattern mining framework for IoT and discuss possible future research directions in this area. © 2013 IEEE.

Academic and clinical performance among nursing students : what's grit go to do with it?

- Terry, Daniel, Peck, Blake

  • Authors: Terry, Daniel , Peck, Blake
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Nurse Education Today Vol. 88, no. (2020), p.
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  • Description: Background: Nursing is both a science and an art and requires students to develop sound scientific foundations for artful application. The at times binary nature of how the way in which the knowledge and skills of nursing are delivered in higher education can be difficult for students to comprehend initially and synchronise for practice and can lead to feelings of being overwhelmed, withdrawal or failure. Understanding what influences student performance in bachelor level nursing studies is imperative so educators can develop programs that straddle the art and science conundrum and lead to graduate success. Grit is a non-cognitive trait, a drive that keeps an individual on task through difficult circumstances for sustained periods of time. Grit might well represent a key factor in our understanding of why one student succeeds while another withdraws. Objectives: To examine measures of grit in the context of demographic characteristics of nursing students and their impact on student self-perceived academic and clinical performance. Design: A cross-sectional design. Setting: A single School of Nursing at a multi-campus, regional, peri-urban Australian University. Participants: All nursing students (n = 2349) studying a three-year bachelor of nursing degree were invited to participate. Methods: Data were collected using a questionnaire that included several demographic items, questions relating to the student's perceived level of academic and clinical performance, and the eight-item Short Grit Scale (Grit-S) used to measure trait-level perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Results: Students, regardless of their year of study or any other demographic factor, showed grit was the only significant predictor of clinical and academic performance. Conclusions: The strength between grit and perceived performance both academically and clinically, makes grit a valuable factor for development in students as a vehicle for success in nursing programs of study. This paper culminates in suggestions for creative approaches to grit development. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd

Almost simplicial polytopes : the lower and upper bound theorems

- Nevo, Eran, Pineda-Villavicencio, Guillermo, Ugon, Julien, Yost, David

  • Authors: Nevo, Eran , Pineda-Villavicencio, Guillermo , Ugon, Julien , Yost, David
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Canadian Journal of Mathematics Vol. 72, no. 2 (2020), p. 537-556
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  • Description: We study -vertex -dimensional polytopes with at most one nonsimplex facet with, say, vertices, called almost simplicial polytopes. We provide tight lower and upper bound theorems for these polytopes as functions of, and, thus generalizing the classical Lower Bound Theorem by Barnette and the Upper Bound Theorem by McMullen, which treat the case where s = 0. We characterize the minimizers and provide examples of maximizers for any. Our construction of maximizers is a generalization of cyclic polytopes, based on a suitable variation of the moment curve, and is of independent interest. © 2018 Canadian Mathematical Society.

An application of high-dimensional statistics to predictive modeling of grade variability

- Hinz, Juri, Grigoryev, Igor, Novikov, Alexander

  • Authors: Hinz, Juri , Grigoryev, Igor , Novikov, Alexander
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Geosciences (Switzerland) Vol. 10, no. 4 (2020), p.
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  • Description: The economic viability of a mining project depends on its efficient exploration, which requires a prediction of worthwhile ore in a mine deposit. In this work, we apply the so-called LASSO methodology to estimate mineral concentration within unexplored areas. Our methodology outperforms traditional techniques not only in terms of logical consistency, but potentially also in costs reduction. Our approach is illustrated by a full source code listing and a detailed discussion of the advantages and limitations of our approach. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

An application of high-dimensional statistics to predictive modeling of grade variability

- Hinz, Juri, Grigoryev, Igor, Novikov, Alexander

  • Authors: Hinz, Juri , Grigoryev, Igor , Novikov, Alexander
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Geosciences (Switzerland) Vol. 10, no. 4 (2020), p.
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  • Description: The economic viability of a mining project depends on its efficient exploration, which requires a prediction of worthwhile ore in a mine deposit. In this work, we apply the so-called LASSO methodology to estimate mineral concentration within unexplored areas. Our methodology outperforms traditional techniques not only in terms of logical consistency, but potentially also in costs reduction. Our approach is illustrated by a full source code listing and a detailed discussion of the advantages and limitations of our approach. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

An Australian international teaching practicum in China : exploring multiple perspectives

- Jin, Aijing, Parr, Graham, Cooley, Dean

  • Authors: Jin, Aijing , Parr, Graham , Cooley, Dean
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Australian Educational Researcher Vol. 47, no. 2 (2020), p. 263-281
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  • Description: In the context of increasing interest in international teaching practicums, this study investigated the perceptions of Australian pre-service teachers, Chinese mentor teachers and Chinese school students vis-à-vis an international teaching practicum in Anshan, China. Utilising a case study design and thematic analysis methods, the authors critically investigate how the participants from Australia and China perceived the benefits and challenges associated with that practicum. The analysis draws on data from pre-service teachers’ reflective reports, mentor teachers’ interviews and local student questionnaires. The data show that this international teaching practicum was a mutually beneficial and valuable experience for all participants. However, the study revealed challenges and tensions with respect to the meeting of Australian and Chinese educational systems because of their very different social and cultural contexts. Recommendations are made for improving the experience of all participants in international teaching practicums into the future. © 2019, The Australian Association for Research in Education, Inc.

An enhancement to the spatial pyramid matching for image classification and retrieval

- Karmakar, Priyabrata, Teng, Shyh, Lu, Guojun, Zhang, Dengsheng

  • Authors: Karmakar, Priyabrata , Teng, Shyh , Lu, Guojun , Zhang, Dengsheng
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Access Vol. 8, no. (2020), p. 22463-22472
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  • Description: Spatial pyramid matching (SPM) is one of the widely used methods to incorporate spatial information into the image representation. Despite its effectiveness, the traditional SPM is not rotation invariant. A rotation invariant SPM has been proposed in the literature but it has many limitations regarding the effectiveness. In this paper, we investigate how to make SPM robust to rotation by addressing those limitations. In an SPM framework, an image is divided into an increasing number of partitions at different pyramid levels. In this paper, our main focus is on how to partition images in such a way that the resulting structure can deal with image-level rotations. To do that, we investigate three concentric ring partitioning schemes. Apart from image partitioning, another important component of the SPM framework is a weight function. To apportion the contribution of each pyramid level to the final matching between two images, the weight function is needed. In this paper, we propose a new weight function which is suitable for the rotation-invariant SPM structure. Experiments based on image classification and retrieval are performed on five image databases. The detailed result analysis shows that we are successful in enhancing the effectiveness of SPM for image classification and retrieval. © 2013 IEEE.

Anxiety and Depression After a Cardiac Event: Prevalence and Predictors

- Murphy, Barbara, Le Grande, Michael, Alvarenga, Marlies, Worcester, Marian, Jackson, Alun

  • Authors: Murphy, Barbara , Le Grande, Michael , Alvarenga, Marlies , Worcester, Marian , Jackson, Alun
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Frontiers in Psychology Vol. 10, no. (2020), p.
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  • Description: Introduction: Patients who are anxious or depressed after an acute cardiac event are at increased risk of a subsequent event and premature death. It is therefore important to identify these patients early in order to initiate supportive or even preventive measures. In the present study, we report on the prevalence of anxiety and depression during the first 12 months after an acute cardiac event, and the patient characteristics predictive of increased anxiety and depression risk in early and late convalescence. Methods: We recruited a sample of 911 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and/or unstable angina (UA), and/or undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABGS). Patients completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) close to the time of their event, and again during early (2–4 months post-event) and late (6–12 months post-event) convalescence. Using HADS-A and HADS-D cut-offs of 8+, prevalence rates for anxiety, depression, and comorbid anxiety and depression were determined for each timepoint. Chi-square tests and odds ratios were used to identify baseline patient characteristics associated with increased anxiety and depression risk over 12 months. Results: Anxiety rates were 43, 28, and 27% at the time of the event, early, and late convalescence. Depression rates were 22, 17, and 15%, respectively. Factors consistently associated with increased anxiety and depression risk were history of depression, financial strain, poor self-rated health, low socioeconomic status, younger age (<55 years), and smoking. Obesity, diabetes, and social isolation (living alone or being unpartnered) were identified as important albeit less significant risk factors. Neither sex nor event type were predictive of anxiety or depression. Conclusion: This large patient sample provided the opportunity to identify rates of anxiety and depression during the 12 months after a cardiac event and key patient characteristics for increased risk. These risk factors are easily identifiable at the time of the event, and could be used to guide the targeting of support programs for patients at risk. © Copyright © 2020 Murphy, Le Grande, Alvarenga, Worcester and Jackson.

Application of thermal fragmentation in Australian hard rock underground narrow-vein mining

- Drake, Bradley, Koroznikova, Larissa, Tuck, Michael, Durkin, Steve

  • Authors: Drake, Bradley , Koroznikova, Larissa , Tuck, Michael , Durkin, Steve
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration Vol. 37, no. 1 (2020), p. 219-229
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  • Description: This paper presents the results from the investigation of the application of thermal fragmentation in Australian hard rock underground narrow-vein mining. Two geologically similar samples from an underground narrow-vein hard rock gold mine were collected to obtain a measure of the technology’s ability to recover ore by the creation of large thermal openings to assess the applicability of the thermal method. Particle size distribution showed a higher generation of fine product, − 2 mm, by thermal fragmentation compared with selective blasting by 31%. The Bond work index for thermal ore (12.62 kWh/t) is half to that of the blasted ore value (25.32 kWh/t). The average grindability obtained for the thermal ore sample was greater than the blasted sample by a factor of 2.44, a higher value indicating a decrease in the energy required to grind. The thermal fragmentation method generates product with higher dissolution of gold in cyanide, by 14% for the − 9.5 + 2 mm size fraction samples. Additionally, the thermal fragmentation results in higher production of − 9.5 + 2 mm material by 15 % compared with selective blasting. © 2019, Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc.

Assessing cohesion of the rocks proposing a new intelligent technique namely group method of data handling

- Chen, Wusi, Khandelwal, Manoj, Murlidhar, Bhatawdekar, Bui, Dieu, Tahir, Mahmood, Katebi, Javad

  • Authors: Chen, Wusi , Khandelwal, Manoj , Murlidhar, Bhatawdekar , Bui, Dieu , Tahir, Mahmood , Katebi, Javad
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Engineering with Computers Vol. 36, no. 2 (2020), p. 783-793
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  • Description: In this study, evaluation and prediction of rock cohesion is assessed using multiple regression as well as group method of data handling (GMDH). It is a well-known fact that cohesion is the most crucial rock shear strength parameter, which is a key parameter for the stability evaluation of some geotechnical structures such as rock slope. To fulfill the aim of this study, a database of three model input parameters, i.e., p wave velocity, uniaxial compressive strength and Brazilian tensile strength and one model output, which is cohesion of limestone samples was prepared and utilized by GMDH. Different GMDH models with neurons and layers and selection pressure were tested and assessed. It was found that GMDH model number 4 (with 8 layers) shows the best performance among all of tested models between the input and output parameters for the prediction and assessment of rock cohesion with coefficient of determination (R2) values of 0.928 and 0.929, root mean square error values of 0.3545 and 0.3154 for training and testing datasets, respectively. Multiple regression analysis was also performed on the same database and R2 values were obtained as 0.8173 and 0.8313 between input and output parameters for the training and testing of the models, respectively. The GMDH technique developed in this study is introduced as a new model in field of rock shear strength parameters. © 2019, Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature.