2,266 research outputs found
Hepatitis in refugees who settle in Australia
Copyright to Australian Family Physician. Reproduced with permission. Permission to reproduce must be sought from the publisher, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.BACKGROUND The World Health Organisation estimates that 2 billion people have been infected with hepatitis B and about 180 million people infected with hepatitis C worldwide. More than 350 million have chronic hepatitis B and 130 million have chronic hepatitis C infection. Most infections of hepatitis B and C are from unsafe injection practices, both medical and nonmedical; from household contacts; or, in the case of hepatitis B, from âverticalâ transmission from mother to child. OBJECTIVE This article discusses screening and management of hepatitis B and C in refugees who settle in Australia. DISCUSSION Most people carrying hepatitis will be asymptomatic with infection detected by screening. Refugees need counselling, education and support to come to terms with the implications of hepatitis B and C for both themselves and their families. In Australia both viruses can be treated in those with active infection and general practitioners can be involved in diagnosis, follow up and shared care management.Jill Benson, William Donohu
Study of flight management requirements during SST low visibility approach and landing operations. Volume 1 - Definition of baseline SST landing system
Baseline instrument landing system for low visibility approach and landing of supersonic transport
Research into the psychological contract: Two Australian perspectives
Despite their increasing relevance, employeesâ psychological contracts have
attracted little research attention in Australia. The present paper presents two studies, which
examined the psychological contracts of specific cohorts of professional employees and those in a
managerial career track. The first study was an in-depth qualitative investigation of research
scientists in an Australian public sector research organisation. They were found to have a strong
professional affiliation and had developed psychological contracts that were best understood by
reference to the âideological currencyâ of the scientific community. The second study was a
quantitative examination of 156 MBA students at an Australian university, and how their
psychological contracts could be related to perceptions of the contextual variables of
organisational justice, perceived organisational support and external employability. Organisational
justice and perceived organisational support were found to be related to the nature of the
psychological contracts measured, but perceptions of external employability were not
Aerothermodynamic radiation studies
We have built and made operational a 6 in. electric arc driven shock tube which alloys us to study the non-equilibrium radiation and kinetics of low pressure (0.1 to 1 torr) gases processed by 6 to 12 km/s shock waves. The diagnostic system allows simultaneous monitoring of shock radiation temporal histories by a bank of up to six radiometers, and spectral histories with two optical multi-channel analyzers. A data set of eight shots was assembled, comprising shocks in N2 and air at pressures between 0.1 and 1 torr and velocities of 6 to 12 km/s. Spectrally resolved data was taken in both the non-equilibrium and equilibrium shock regions on all shots. The present data appear to be the first spectrally resolved shock radiation measurements in N2 performed at 12 km/s. The data base was partially analyzed with salient features identified
Changing patterns in long-acting bronchodilator trials in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Developments in the understanding of COPD have led to standard guidelines for diagnosis, treatment, and spirometry assessments, which have in turn influenced trial designs and inclusion criteria. Substantial clinical evidence has been gained from clinical trials and supports a positive approach to COPD management. However, there appear to be changing trends in recent trials. Large bronchodilator studies have reported lower improvements in trough forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) values versus placebo than were observed in earlier studies, while the rate of FEV1 decline seems to be lower in more recent trials. In addition, recent evidence has called into question the usefulness of bronchodilator reversibility testing as a trial inclusion criterion. Baseline patient populations and use of concomitant medications have also changed over recent years due to increased treatment options. The impact of these many variables on clinical trial results is explored, with a particular focus on changes in inclusion criteria and patient baseline demographics
Self-assembly of the simple cubic lattice with an isotropic potential
Conventional wisdom presumes that low-coordinated crystal ground states
require directional interactions. Using our recently introduced optimization
procedure to achieve self-assembly of targeted structures (Phys. Rev. Lett. 95,
228301 (2005), Phys. Rev. E 73, 011406 (2006)), we present an isotropic pair
potential for a three-dimensional many-particle system whose classical
ground state is the low-coordinated simple cubic (SC) lattice. This result is
part of an ongoing pursuit by the authors to develop analytical and
computational tools to solve statistical-mechanical inverse problems for the
purpose of achieving targeted self-assembly. The purpose of these methods is to
design interparticle interactions that cause self-assembly of technologically
important target structures for applications in photonics, catalysis,
separation, sensors and electronics. We also show that standard approximate
integral-equation theories of the liquid state that utilize pair correlation
function information cannot be used in the reverse mode to predict the correct
simple cubic potential. We report in passing optimized isotropic potentials
that yield the body-centered cubic and simple hexagonal lattices, which provide
other examples of non-close-packed structures that can be assembled using
isotropic pair interactions.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review
ZnSe/GaAs(001) heterostructures with defected interfaces: structural, thermodynamic and electronic properties
We have performed accurate \emph{ab--initio} pseudopotential calculations for
the structural and electronic properties of ZnSe/GaAs(001) heterostructures
with interface configurations accounting for charge neutrality prescriptions.
Beside the simplest configurations with atomic interdiffusion we consider also
some configurations characterized by As depletion and cation vacancies,
motivated by the recent successfull growth of ZnSe/GaAs pseudomorphic
structures with minimum stacking fault density characterized by the presence of
a defected (Zn,Ga)Se alloy in the interface region. We find that--under
particular thermodynamic conditions--some defected configurations are favoured
with respect to undefected ones with simple anion or cation mixing, and that
the calculated band offsets for some defected structures are compatible with
those measured. Although it is not possible to extract indications about the
precise interface composition and vacancy concentration, our results support
the experimental indication of (Zn,Ga)Se defected compounds in high-quality
ZnSe/GaAs(001) heterojunctions with low native stacking fault density. The
range of measured band offset suggests that different atoms at interfaces
rearrange, with possible presence of vacancies, in such a way that not only
local charges but also ionic dipoles are vanishing.Comment: 26 pages. 5 figures, revised version, in press (Physical Review B
New Pseudo-Phase Structure for -Pu
In this paper we propose a new pseudo-phase crystal structure, based on an
orthorhombic distortion of the diamond structure, for the ground-state
-phase of plutonium. Electronic-structure calculations in the
generalized-gradient approximation give approximately the same total energy for
the two structures. Interestingly, our new pseudo-phase structure is the same
as the Pu -phase structure except with very different b/a and c/a
ratios. We show how the contraction relative to the phase, principally
in the direction, leads to an -like structure in the [0,1,1] plane.
This is an important link between two complex structures of plutonium and opens
new possibilities for exploring the very rich phase diagram of Pu through
theoretical calculations
Mott-Superfluid transition in bosonic ladders
We show that in a commensurate bosonic ladder, a quantum phase transition
occurs between a Mott insulator and a superfluid when interchain hopping
increases. We analyse the properties of such a transition as well as the
physical properties of the two phases. We discuss the physical consequences for
experimental systems such as Josephson Junction arrays.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, revtex
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