Values and challenges in rapid prototyping of global health policies

This paper identifies the value and challenges in introducing rapid prototyping of policy to design non-expert and expert groups by analysing an online workshop series that was conducted with early-career professionals, policy makers, and design researchers. The COVID-19 pandemic evidenced, even more, the need for situated policies in the area of health as global health policies were ineffective in addressing livelihood diversity, particularly of underserved communities. Therefore, the untapped potential of rapid prototyping for policy making in the area of global health is explored. We particularly analyse the creativity of the different groups who joined the workshop series and point out implications for the rapid prototype of situated global health policies in international low-resourceful settings

Children’s temperament and parenting practices in the first five years of life and cognitive, academic and adiposity outcomes in later childhood and adolescence

The aims of this thesis are to examine the associations between children’s temperament, parenting practices and three important public health outcomes: cognitive ability, academic achievement and adiposity. While there have been decades of psychological research in this area, this thesis takes a contemporary epidemiological approach to the topic and addresses some of the methodological limitations of past studies by using more advanced methods and longitudinal data from both Australia and the UK. There are four papers in this thesis. The first study examined whether norms in the Revised Infant Temperament Questionnaire (RITQ) were suitable for use in a population sample of UK infants. The RITQ was normed on a small group of US infants in 1978 and has never been updated. Findings showed that 15% of children would be classified as temperamentally difficult using norms empirically derived from the UK infant data, compared to 24% using RITQ’s norms, suggesting that potential misclassification of infant temperament occurred from using different norms. This study highlighted the need for more recent and culturally-specific temperament norms to categorise infant temperament. Temperament categories defined using the norms in this study were used in subsequent analyses in study 3 and 4. Children’s temperament may influence parenting, which is known to affect cognitive and academic outcomes. Most studies of temperament have not adequately accounted for parenting practices when examining the effect of temperament on cognitive and academic outcomes. To properly handle parenting practices at age 4 to 5 years as an intermediate variable, the second study used a marginal structural model to examine the controlled direct effects of temperament at 2 to 3 years on cognitive and academic outcomes at 6 to 7 years in a nationally representative sample of Australian children. Temperament dimensions measured in this study were reactivity, approach, and persistence. This study found that the controlled direct effects of temperament on cognitive and academic outcomes was small. The largest effect (0.11 SD) was for persistence on verbal ability. Since temperament had such a small influence on children’s cognitive and academic outcomes, this thesis then examined parenting as the exposure, as parenting may have a greater influence on cognitive ability than temperament. The associations between parenting practices (warmth and control) and children’s IQ in the UK cohort were explored in study 3. Temperament was contextualised as an effect-measure modifier, a variable that may modify the associations between warmth, control and IQ. Low parental warmth and high parental control at 24 to 47 months were associated with lower IQ at age 8 years. Effect sizes for warmth and control were 0.03 SD and 0.15 SD, respectively. Counter to the study’s hypothesis, temperamentally easier children were more susceptible to the negative effects of low warmth and high control parenting than temperamentally difficult children. Besides cognitive and academic outcomes, there is some evidence that parenting and temperament may influence children’s adiposity. The fourth study focused on two more specific dimensions of parenting, namely parental feeding control and using food to soothe a child. The associations between feeding control, using food to soothe, and body mass index (BMI) and fat mass were explored in the UK cohort. Whether these associations differed for children with different temperaments were examined using an analysis of effect-measure modification. Contrary to some studies, higher parental feeding control at age 42 to 65 months was associated with lower BMI at ages 7 and 15 years and fat mass at age 15 years. No association between using food to soothe (42 months) and BMI (7 and 15 years) or fat mass (15 years) were found. Using two large, longitudinal observational studies from different countries, different temperament tools, and measures of temperament at different ages, the research in this thesis indicated that the effect sizes for temperament on cognitive, academic and adiposity outcomes are at best, very small. The differential susceptibility theory suggested by previous psychological studies, that temperamentally difficult children were more vulnerable to the detrimental effects of negative parenting, was not supported in the UK cohort and using contemporary epidemiological methods. It is recommended that future studies adjust rigorously for important confounders and use large, representative samples when examining the effect-measure modification by temperament of the associations between parenting and cognitive, academic and adiposity outcomes.Thesis (Ph.D.) (Research by Publication) -- University of Adelaide, School of Public Health, 2016

Institutional shareholders and corporate governance

Our paper focus on institutional investors and the role that they play in corporate governance. An empirical analysis is done on institutions' shareholdings in all mainboard companies listed on the Singapore Exchange

Socioeconomic disadvantage in infancy and academic and self-regulation outcomes

OBJECTIVES: A comprehensive understanding of how timing of exposure to disadvantage affects long-term developmental risk is needed for greater precision in child health policy. We investigated whether socioeconomic disadvantage in infancy (age 0–1 years) directly affects academic and self-regulation problems in late childhood (age 10–12 years), independent of disadvantage at school entry (age 4–6 years). METHODS: Analyses were replicated in 2 population-based cohorts: the Australian Temperament Project (ATP; N = 2443) and the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC; N = 5107). Generalized linear models were used to estimate the crude and adjusted effects. Marginal structural models were used to estimate the controlled direct effect of socioeconomic disadvantage in infancy on academic and self-regulation outcomes in late childhood, independent of disadvantage at school entry. RESULTS: In both cohorts, socioeconomic disadvantage in infancy and at school entry was associated with poorer academic and self-regulation outcomes. Socioeconomic disadvantage in infancy had a direct effect on academic outcomes not mediated by disadvantage at school entry (ATP: risk ratio [RR] = 1.42; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.09–1.86; LSAC: RR = 1.87; 95% CI: 1.52–2.31). Little evidence was found for a direct effect of disadvantage in infancy on self-regulation (ATP: RR = 1.22; 95% CI: 0.89–1.65; LSAC: RR = 1.19; 95% CI: 0.95–1.49). CONCLUSIONS: Socioeconomic disadvantage in infancy had a direct effect on academic but not self-regulation outcomes in late childhood. More precise public policy responses are needed that consider both the timing of children’s exposure to disadvantage and the specific developmental domain impacted.Funded by Murdoch Children’s Research Institute theme funding and the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Support Program. Prof Goldfeld is supported by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Practitioner Fellowship (APP1155290). Prof Olsson is supported by an Australian Research Council Principal Research Fellowship (DP130101459). Dr Hutchinson is supported by an Australian Unity Industry Partner Senior Research Fellowship

Realisation of Solid-State Electrochromic Devices Based on Gel Electrolyte

In the last decade, there has been much interest in the area of solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) to address the issues of electrolyte leakage and evaporation in electrochromic devices (ECD). ECD is a state-of-the-art technology having the ability to change from transparent state to opaque state under the influence of a small applied voltage for energy saving applications. Methods: In this work, tungsten oxide (WO3) films were fabricated via the sol-gel spin-coating method. Subsequently, ECDs were assembled based on SPE and liquid polymer electrolyte (LPE), respectively using indium doped tin oxide (ITO) coated glass as conducting electrodes and WO3 films as working electrode

Experiences of racial discrimination and cardiometabolic risk among Australian children

Cardiometabolic disease is a leading cause of adult morbidity and mortality globally. There is considerable evidence that childhood adversity is associated with markers of cardiometabolic disease risk in childhood, including obesity, blood pressure trajectories, and chronic inflammation. Experiences of racial discrimination may be an important, yet under explored, form of childhood adversity influencing childhood cardiometabolic risk. This study aimed to examine associations between self-reported racial discrimination and cardiometabolic risk markers among children. A total of 124 children (73 female) aged 11.4 years (SD 0.71) participated in the study. Most children (n = 79) identified as being from an Indigenous or an ethnic minority background. Markers of cardiometabolic risk were BMI, waist circumference, weight height ratio, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and five inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein (CRP), Interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α). Results showed that two or more reported experiences of racial discrimination were associated with increased BMI z-score (Beta 0.58, 95% CI 0.18, 0.99), waist circumference (Beta 4.91 cm, 95% CI 0.71, 9.1), systolic blood pressure (Beta 2.07 mmHg, 95% CI 0.43, 3.71) and IL-6 (Beta 0.13, 95% CI 0.00, 0.27) and marginally associated with TNF-α (Beta 0.22, 95% CI -0.09, 0.54) after adjusting for socio-demographic covariates. Findings from this study suggest the need to address racism and racial discrimination as important social determinants of cardiometabolic risk and of the inequitable burden of cardiometabolic disease experienced by those from Indigenous and minoritized ethnic backgrounds

Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses of the Short Grit Scale (Grit-S) for Malaysian Undergraduate Students

The 8-item Short Grit Scale (Grit-S; Duckworth & Quinn, 2009) is a measure of the two aspects of grit: consistency of interests and perseverance of effort. While the majority of the past studies supported the two-factor model, some found cultural differences. Two studies were carried out to test the factor structure of the Grit-S in a sample of Malaysian undergraduate students (total N = 1109). Exploratory factor analysis (Study 1) revealed two factors. Item 2 for perseverance subscale was removed due to unsatisfactory factor loading. Further analysis of the seven items supported the two-factor model. Confirmatory factor analyses (Study 2) supported the superiority of the two correlated-factor model with 7 items. Moreover, the consistency and perseverance scores showed acceptable internal consistency. The current research contributes to the literature by lending further support to the theoretical two-factor structure of the Grit-S and revealing potential cultural differences in the items. Future studies are thus recommended to address these cultural differences and confirm the usability of the 7-item Grit-S in the Malaysian context