Hear it From the Horses' Mouth: Listening to African Professionals in Australia

The study investigated the growing concern of the African professionals who arrived in Australia since 2007. The ongoing concern was based on the lack of job opportunity in their nominated skilled occupation in post arrival in Australia. The study used demographic questionnaire and semi-structured interview to elicit information from forty (40) participants from Western Australia and Northern Territory cities and regional areas. The data analysed provided the needed perspectives about the extreme frustration of the African skilled migrants lack job opportunities in the post arrival in Australia. Based on the findings, the study made some recommendations, including counselling implications on several pathways on how African professionals could gain recognition for opportunities in their professional areas

Ab-initio investigation of the fundamental properties of metals (X = Be, Mg, and Ca) encapsulated CsXO3 tin-based perovskite materials

Perovskite material are widely used in Solar cell device due to it promising properties and power conversion efficiencies (PCE). Most importantly, properties of the absorber layer such as the band gap, electronic, optical, chemical composition and the grain size of the perovskite absorbed layer are very sacrosanct when determining efficacy of the material for such application. Thus, in this work, the optical, structural stability, electronic, and mechanical properties of non-halide cubic perovskite CsXO3 (X = Mg, Be and Ca) was extensively studied using the first principles Density functional theory (DFT) approach. The structural, electronic and optoelectronic properties was evaluated using Quantum Espresso Simulation Package (QESP) with the plane wave self-consistent field (PWscf) code. The structural computation reveals that the Lattice constant as well as total energy of CsXO3 (X = Be, Mg and Ca) increases as the size of cation X (X = Be, Mg and Ca) increases such that CsCaO3 possess the highest energy. Contrary, the fermi energy decreases with increase in cationic size, however, CsCaO3 has the highest lattice constant value 4.3743 eV. Electronic properties investigation shows that the studied perovskite has a metallic property with no forbidden band. zero band gap materials can adsorb photon across the entire solar spectrum, including lower-energy photons which is an advantage over a non-zero band gap which can only absorb photon with energies higher than the band gap energy can be absorbed and converted into electricity. This enables more efficient utilization of sunlight and increased overall energy conversion. To ascertain the effect of atomic exchange and orbital contribution in the formation of electronic properties, partial density of state (PDOS) was calculated and the result reveal that electron transition occurs mostly from p-orbital oxygen atom having major contribution on the valence band to the d-orbital of Caesium atom having major contribution on the conduction band and X-cation having minor contribution. CsXO3 (X = Be, Mg and Ca) also shows fascinating optical properties and thus can be used to improve solar cell device

What happens to people diagnosed with tuberculosis? A population-based cohort

We examined different patient outcomes following diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). Incident cases were reported to the enhanced surveillance system in the East of England, between 2000 and 2003. For the 575 cases reported in 2001 and 2002, outcomes were assessed 1 year after initiating treatment. The crude clinical incidence rate of TB was 6·0 cases/100 000 person-years (pyr) [95% confidence interval (CI) 5·7–6·4], highest in the 25–29 years age group (14·9, 95% CI 12·9–17·1 cases/100 000 pyr) and among Black Africans (328·6, 95% CI 286·9–374·6 cases/100 000 pyr). Patients born abroad were 2·35 (95% CI 1·03–5·32) times more likely to be lost to follow-up than those born in the United Kingdom. Age at diagnosis (OR 1·05, 95% CI 1·04–1·07) and pulmonary disease (OR 2·73, 95% CI 1·21–6·15) were independently associated with mortality. Elderly patients and those with pulmonary TB appear to have worse outcomes despite treatment. Foreign-born patients may need closer follow-up to ensure favourable outcomes