The Utilisation and Perceived Value of Archives: New Zealand’s Recordkeeping Standards by Public Sector Recordkeepers

Archives New Zealand has issued and revised seven recordkeeping standards since the passing of the Public Records Act 2005, four of which are mandatory compliance standards for all public offices and local authorities. Public sector recordkeepers are charged with achieving their organisations’ compliance with the Public Records Act but no research has been done into the utilisation and perceived value of these standards by this group. This project aimed to reveal how widespread utilisation of Archives New Zealand’s recordkeeping standards is and how valuable public sector recordkeepers believe the standards are by seeking evidence of utilisation of the standards, reasons behind this utilisation or lack thereof, and perceived drivers and/or barriers to the standards’ utilisation. A quantitative survey research approach was taken to obtain data from public sector recordkeepers. The research found that the standards are being used by many recordkeepers and for multiple purposes within organisations. The mandatory standards are the most utilised and compliance to the Public Records Act the biggest driver behind utilisation. Overall the standards are deemed valuable, but opinions are conflicting concerning the style and content of the standards. Further research into this area is recommended to provide more detailed results about the standards as individual entities

Marketing Sustainability to Amika, Eva NYC, and Ethique Consumers

Course Code: ENR 4567Amika, Eva NYC, and Ethique have notable ESG strategies and sustainability certifications. The brands want to convey the importance of these efforts to their consumers. This involves communicating the brands ESG strategies, sustainability certifications, and values in a way that is approachable and engaging to their consumers. The aim of this project is to provide realistic recommendations to the brands' on how to convey their sustainability achievements, certifications, and ESG strategies with consideration for individual brand identity and consumer platforms.Academic Major: Environment, Economy, Development, and SustainabilityAcademic Major: Spanis

Oxidative dehydrogenation of 1-butene to 1,3-butadiene over metal ferrite catalysts

The oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of 1-butene to 1,3-butadiene was studied over a series of AFe2O4 catalysts, where A = Zn, Mn, Ni, Cu, Mg and Fe. The catalysts were characterised by XPS, EPR spectroscopy, BET surface area analysis, Raman spectroscopy and XRD. All the ferrites were active for ODH and gave an order of activity after 80 h on-stream of ZnFe2O4 > NiFe2O4 > MnFe2O4 > MgFe2O4 > CuFe2O4 > FeFe2O4. All catalysts lost significant surface area (up to ~ 80%) under reaction conditions of 0.75:1:15 oxygen:1-butene:steam with an overall GHSV of 10,050 h−1 at 693 K. Fe3O4 was unstable under reaction conditions and was converted to Fe2O3, which showed very low activity. Nickel ferrite was the only material that gave carbon dioxide as a significant product, all others were selective to 1,3-butadiene. Zinc ferrite gave a steady-state yield of 1,3-butadiene of ~ 80%. Inversion parameters were determined for the ferrites from XPS and a correlation was obtained between 1,3-butadiene yield and inversion parameter, indicating that Fe3+ in an octahedral hole is a key species in the mechanism of oxidative dehydrogenation. Butene isomerisation and ODH were shown to occur on different sites

The net effects of medical malpractice tort reform on health insurance losses: the Texas experience

In this paper, we examine the influence of medical malpractice tort reform on the level of private health insurance company losses incurred. We employ a natural experiment framework centered on a series of tort reform measures enacted in Texas in 2003 that drastically altered the medical malpractice environment in the state. The results of a difference-in-differences analysis using a variety of comparison states, as well as a difference-in-difference-in-differences analysis, indicate that ameliorating medical malpractice risk has little effect on health insurance losses incurred by private health insurers

Cross-centre replication of suppressed burrowing behaviour as an ethologically relevant pain outcome measure in the rat : a prospective multicentre study

Acknowledgements This Europain project has received support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) Joint Undertaking (under grant agreement number 115007), resources of which are composed of financial contributions from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/20072013) and European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) companies in-kind contribution (see http://www.imieuropain.org/ for details). Eli Lilly and Company United Kingdom: We would like to thank Dr Gary Gilmour for his assistance in bringing forward this publication. Karolinska Institute: A. Delaney also received funding from Ulla & Gustaf af Ugglas Foundation; EU Project FP7-Health-2013-Innovation-1602919-2. Boehringer Ingelheim: We would like to thank Stacey Gould for technical assistance.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A case study of physical and social barriers to hygiene and child growth in remote Australian Aboriginal communities

Background\ud Despite Australia's wealth, poor growth is common among Aboriginal children living in remote communities. An important underlying factor for poor growth is the unhygienic state of the living environment in these communities. This study explores the physical and social barriers to achieving safe levels of hygiene for these children.\ud \ud Methods\ud A mixed qualitative and quantitative approach included a community level cross-sectional housing infrastructure survey, focus groups, case studies and key informant interviews in one community.\ud \ud Results\ud We found that a combination of crowding, non-functioning essential housing infrastructure and poor standards of personal and domestic hygiene underlie the high burden of infection experienced by children in this remote community.\ud \ud Conclusion\ud There is a need to address policy and the management of infrastructure, as well as key parenting and childcare practices that allow the high burden of infection among children to persist. The common characteristics of many remote Aboriginal communities in Australia suggest that these findings may be more widely applicable

Extending light WIMP searches to single scintillation photons in LUX

We present a novel analysis technique for liquid xenon time projection chambers that allows for a lower threshold by relying on events with a prompt scintillation signal consisting of single detected photons. The energy threshold of the LUX dark matter experiment is primarily determined by the smallest scintillation response detectable, which previously required a twofold coincidence signal in its photomultiplier arrays, enforced in data analysis. The technique presented here exploits the double photoelectron emission effect observed in some photomultiplier models at vacuum ultraviolet wavelengths. We demonstrate this analysis using an electron recoil calibration dataset and place new constraints on the spin-independent scattering cross section of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) down to 2.5 GeV/c2 WIMP mass using the 2013 LUX dataset. This new technique is promising to enhance light WIMP and astrophysical neutrino searches in next-generation liquid xenon experiments

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Increasing frailty is associated with higher prevalence and reduced recognition of delirium in older hospitalised inpatients: results of a multi-centre study

Purpose: Delirium is a neuropsychiatric disorder delineated by an acute change in cognition, attention, and consciousness. It is common, particularly in older adults, but poorly recognised. Frailty is the accumulation of deficits conferring an increased risk of adverse outcomes. We set out to determine how severity of frailty, as measured using the CFS, affected delirium rates, and recognition in hospitalised older people in the United Kingdom. Methods: Adults over 65 years were included in an observational multi-centre audit across UK hospitals, two prospective rounds, and one retrospective note review. Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), delirium status, and 30-day outcomes were recorded. Results: The overall prevalence of delirium was 16.3% (483). Patients with delirium were more frail than patients without delirium (median CFS 6 vs 4). The risk of delirium was greater with increasing frailty [OR 2.9 (1.8–4.6) in CFS 4 vs 1–3; OR 12.4 (6.2–24.5) in CFS 8 vs 1–3]. Higher CFS was associated with reduced recognition of delirium (OR of 0.7 (0.3–1.9) in CFS 4 compared to 0.2 (0.1–0.7) in CFS 8). These risks were both independent of age and dementia. Conclusion: We have demonstrated an incremental increase in risk of delirium with increasing frailty. This has important clinical implications, suggesting that frailty may provide a more nuanced measure of vulnerability to delirium and poor outcomes. However, the most frail patients are least likely to have their delirium diagnosed and there is a significant lack of research into the underlying pathophysiology of both of these common geriatric syndromes