Establishing links between organizational climate, employee well-being and historical patient outcomes

This research undertaken in collaboration with Queensland Health analysed the links between dimensions of workplace climate/employee well-being contained in a number of Queensland Health databases, including the Patient Satisfaction Survey, the Clinical Incident database, the compliments and complaints database, the Variable Life Adjusted Display (VLAD) Database and the Better Workplaces Staff Opinion Survey database. Queensland Health sought to identify in what ways workplace climate is related to patient outcomes using existing datasets collected within the Queensland Health Centre for Healthcare Improvement. The process of establishing links involved matching aggregated data for specific facilities (where possible), or failing that, larger facilities (e.g. Hospital), or the Health Service District. Once the datasets had been matched on location or facility, correlations were calculated between the aggregated scores. The results demonstrated links between the data sets. These links showed that a better workplace climate is associated with greater reported numbers of clinical incidents, especially “no harm” clinical incidents. There was also a link between workplace climate and patient compliments/complaints which show that unsolicited compliments received from patients and their families are clearly related to a number of positive aspects of workplace climate (workplace morale, role clarity, and appraisal and recognition) and individual morale. The results linking workplace climate and patient satisfaction showed that there is a strong positive relationship between overall patient satisfaction and role clarity, and a negative relationship between overall patient satisfaction and both workplace distress and excessive work demands. While these results relate to historical data and therefore should not be construed to reflect the current state of operation within Queensland Health, they are still indicative of some very important relationships. This is the first study to demonstrate that more positive clinical management practices, better perceptions of the workplace climate and better employee well-being are a reflection of a better incident reporting and learning culture in a health care organization, ultimately resulting in improved patient outcomes

Biomechanical evaluation of prosthetic feet

An evaluation method was developed which can be used generally for the assessment of any prosthetic feet. The two most common prosthetic feet prescribed to below-knee and above-knee amputees are the Uniaxial and SACH feet. A review of prescription practices shows that in the United Kingdom about 80% of the below-knee and above-knee amputees are fitted with a Uniaxial foot, whereas in the United States about 80% are fitted with the SACH foot. These contradictory prescription practices between the two countries, prompted the project to be concentrated on the evaluation of the SACH and Uniaxial feet. The method developed includes a subjective assessment procedure and a biomechanical evaluation on the function of the two prosthetic feet and their effects on whole body gait kinematics and lower limb kinetics. A review of the methods used in gait analysis is presented in the thesis. This forms a basis for the selection of a suitable gait recording system for the project. A background study of lower limb prosthetics in general and a review of prosthetic ankle/foot assemblies in particular are also presented. The methodology and instrumentation used in the project are given. Altogether, six below-knee and five above-knee amputees were tested. Due to insufficient supply of heel bumper stiffness by the manufacturer for the Uniaxial foot, heel bumpers of varying stiffnesses had to be made in the Bioengineering Unit. The development of the analytical procedure for the three-dimensional analysis is presented. A suite of computer programs was written to facilitate the handling of the large amount of data, details of which are included in the Appendix. Results from the analysis of the tests performed are discussed. Although some apparent differences were observed between the SACH and Uniaxial feet, no conclusion can be drawn as to which is better for the function of the amputee.An evaluation method was developed which can be used generally for the assessment of any prosthetic feet. The two most common prosthetic feet prescribed to below-knee and above-knee amputees are the Uniaxial and SACH feet. A review of prescription practices shows that in the United Kingdom about 80% of the below-knee and above-knee amputees are fitted with a Uniaxial foot, whereas in the United States about 80% are fitted with the SACH foot. These contradictory prescription practices between the two countries, prompted the project to be concentrated on the evaluation of the SACH and Uniaxial feet. The method developed includes a subjective assessment procedure and a biomechanical evaluation on the function of the two prosthetic feet and their effects on whole body gait kinematics and lower limb kinetics. A review of the methods used in gait analysis is presented in the thesis. This forms a basis for the selection of a suitable gait recording system for the project. A background study of lower limb prosthetics in general and a review of prosthetic ankle/foot assemblies in particular are also presented. The methodology and instrumentation used in the project are given. Altogether, six below-knee and five above-knee amputees were tested. Due to insufficient supply of heel bumper stiffness by the manufacturer for the Uniaxial foot, heel bumpers of varying stiffnesses had to be made in the Bioengineering Unit. The development of the analytical procedure for the three-dimensional analysis is presented. A suite of computer programs was written to facilitate the handling of the large amount of data, details of which are included in the Appendix. Results from the analysis of the tests performed are discussed. Although some apparent differences were observed between the SACH and Uniaxial feet, no conclusion can be drawn as to which is better for the function of the amputee

Safely dissolvable and healable active packaging films based on alginate and pectin

Extensive usage of long-lasting petroleum based plastics for short-lived application such as packaging has raised concerns regarding their role in environmental pollution. In this research, we have developed active, healable, and safely dissolvable alginate-pectin based biocomposites that have potential applications in food packaging. The morphological study revealed the rough surface of these biocomposite films. Tensile properties indicated that the fabricated samples have mechanical properties in the range of commercially available packaging films while possessing excellent healing effciency. Biocomposite films exhibited higher hydrophobicity properties compared to neat alginate films. Thermal analysis indicated that crosslinked biocomposite samples possess higher thermal stability in temperatures below 120 °C, while antibacterial analysis against E. coli and S. aureus revealed the antibacterial properties of the prepared samples against different bacteria. The fabricated biodegradable multi-functional biocomposite films possess various imperative properties, making them ideal for utilization as packaging material

Implementation of a herd management system with wireless sensor networks

This paper investigates an adaptation of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) to cattle monitoring applications. The proposed solution facilitates the requirement for continuously assessing the condition of individual animals, aggregating and reporting this data to the farm manager. There are several existing approaches to achieving animal monitoring, ranging from using a store and forward mechanism to employing GSM-based techniques; these approaches only provide sporadic information and introduce a considerable cost in staffing and physical hardware. The core of this study is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks by using alternative cheap, low power consumption sensor nodes capable of providing real-time communication at a reasonable hardware cost. In this paper, both the hardware and software has been designed to provide a solution which can obtain real-time data from dairy cattle whilst conforming to the limitations associated with WSNs implementations

Effects of chronic exposure to low doses of trichloroethylene on steroid hormone and insulin levels in normal men.

The aim of this study was to examine the serum levels of insulin and some adrenal steroid hormones in men chronically exposed to low doses of trichloroethylene (TCE). A total of 85 workers participated in this study. Each worker had urine collected and analyzed for trichloroacetic acids (UTCA) on the same day that a blood sample was taken for analyses of serum testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), androstenedione, cortisol, aldosterone, and insulin. The mean concentration of environmental TCE was 29.6 ppm and the mean UTCA was 22.4 mg/g creatinine (range 0.8-136.4). TCE exposure did not cause any significant changes to the adrenal steroid hormone productions. The results showed that UTCA was significantly correlated to serum insulin levels. Insulin and SHBG responded in tandem, with the highest levels found in workers exposed to TCE for less than 2 years; levels of both parameters were significantly lowered in those exposed for more than 2 years. A triphasic response in insulin levels to TCE, which depended on the duration of exposure, was noted. Initial exposure caused an acute rise in insulin levels. This was followed by a fall to normal levels in those exposed 2-4 years and then a slight rise in those exposed for more than 6 years. The mechanism for this pattern of response to TCE exposure is yet unknown

Positioning system for wireless sensor networks with location fingerprinting

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are networks that deploy hundreds or thousands of wireless sensors in a pre-defined area that can communicate with each other to detect, for example the ambient environment. Each sensor is composed of the four basic elements: transmitting unit, processing unit, power unit and sensing unit. The main task of each sensor is to detect events, perform a restricted set of local data processing tasks and then transmit the data. This technology still in its early stage new researches are being conducted intensively in MAC protocols, network and routing layer, and adaptation into various domains applications. In this proposal, the focus is placed to investigate algorithms in mapping the location of sensor nodes. Knowing the location of the sensor node is critically important; the knowledge of the location of the sensor node that reported a detected event can reduce the time for assistants reaching to the outbreak point. This can potentially save life or can bring the outbreak event under control in shortest time. As the sensor node's physical hardware is mainly comprises of low specification and low cost componentry to facilitate mass production hence affordable to be applied intensively in monitoring zone. This has created a tough challenge in mapping the locations of sensor nodes as the hard-ware can not provide precise timing in calculating time of flight of a packet which is an important parameter in estimating distance between transmitting node and receiving node. In general the sensor node is only equipped with a single antenna which has also rule out the possibility of using techniques rely on angle of arrival packet. Therefore, the research is limited to use the received signal strength as the main source in estimating the travelling distance for the received packet. This paper investigates positioning algorithms that based on received signal strength i.e., location fingerprinting. In positioning systems, location fingerprinting is also referred as pattern matching of radio signature. The advantages of using RF fingerprinting are it does not require any hardware modifications to the sensor node and in comparison to other algorithms it is immune environmental influences that caused signal attenuation such as multipath, fading, reflection, non line of sight, and etc. This paper focuses on challenges that relate specifically to the location mapping of wireless sensor node including radio propagation of low specification WSN hardware, accuracy, operational range and impact of environmental factors. The optimized positioning system for WSN is documented, and results gained from experiment based on IEEE 802.15.4 WSN platform is provided

Teleportation of continuous quantum variables using squeezed-state entanglement

We report recent developments in our experiment to teleport light beams by utilizing Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) entanglement for continuous quantum variables. We describe details of our experimental apparatus, including the generation of EPR entanglement from squeezed states of light. In addition, we have developed an explicit model for the teleportation of coherent states that includes the effect of diverse loss factors and limited degrees of entanglement, and that enables us to project the possibilities for achieving yet higher fidelities beyond the currently achieved value of 62% with our apparatus. Propects for other teleportation schemes will also be discussed

Emergence of skew distributions in controlled growth processes

Starting from a master equation, we derive the evolution equation for the size distribution of elements in an evolving system, where each element can grow, divide into two, and produce new elements. We then probe general solutions of the evolution quation, to obtain such skew distributions as power-law, log-normal, and Weibull distributions, depending on the growth or division and production. Specifically, repeated production of elements of uniform size leads to power-law distributions, whereas production of elements with the size distributed according to the current distribution as well as no production of new elements results in log-normal distributions. Finally, division into two, or binary fission, bears Weibull distributions. Numerical simulations are also carried out, confirming the validity of the obtained solutions.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure