SUSTAINABLE IT-SPECIFIC HUMAN CAPITAL: COPING WITH THE THREAT OF PROFESSIONAL OBSOLESCENCE

This study contributes to research examining how IT professionals cope with the threat of professional obsolescence. In answering this question, this study draws on theories of occupational stress, specifically the theory of conservation of resources (Hobfoll 2002; Hobfoll and Freedy 1993), to relate the threat of professional obsolescence with IT professionals’ coping behaviors. This study extends the theory of conservation of resources in several directions such as theorizing and testing the job mobility intentions of turnover and turnaway as consequences; and by proposing organizational updating climate as a proximal contextual moderating factor. The results obtained from a large sample of IT professionals are both consistent with and contrary to theorized relationships. We also uncover several new findings pertaining to the role played by organization updating climate and its potential limit in supporting updating activities of IT professionals. We conclude this study with a discussion of the results and propose future research directions

\u27Links2HealthierBubs\u27 cohort study: Protocol for a record linkage study on the safety, uptake and effectiveness of influenza and pertussis vaccines among pregnant Australian women

Introduction: Pregnant women and infants are at risk of severe influenza and pertussis infection. Inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) and diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine (dTpa) are recommended during pregnancy to protect both mothers and infants. In Australia, uptake is not routinely monitored but coverage appears sub-optimal. Evidence on the safety of combined antenatal IIV and dTpa is fragmented or deficient, and there remain knowledge gaps of population-level vaccine effectiveness. We aim to establish a large, population-based, multi-jurisdictional cohort of mother-infant pairs to measure the uptake, safety and effectiveness of antenatal IIV and dTpa vaccines in three Australian jurisdictions. This is a first step toward assessing the impact of antenatal vaccination programmes in Australia, which can then inform government policy with respect to future strategies in national vaccination programmes. Methods and analysis: ‘Links2HealthierBubs’ is an observational, population-based, retrospective cohort study established through probabilistic record linkage of administrative health data. The cohort includes births between 2012 and 2017 (~607 605 mother-infant pairs) in jurisdictions with population-level antenatal vaccination and health outcome data (Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory). Perinatal data will be the reference frame to identify the cohort. Jurisdictional vaccination registers will identify antenatal vaccination status and the gestational timing of vaccination. Information on maternal, fetal and child health outcomes will be obtained from hospitalisation and emergency department records, notifiable diseases databases, developmental anomalies databases, birth and mortality registers. Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval was obtained from the Western Australian Department of Health, Curtin University, the Menzies School of Health Research, the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, and the West Australian Aboriginal Health Ethics Committees. Research findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals, at scientific meetings, and may be incorporated into communication materials for public health agencies and the public

Is there a role of coral bone substitutes in bone repair?

Xenogeneic bone graft materials are an alternative to autologous bone grafting. Among such implants, coralline-derived bone grafts substitutes have a long track record as safe, biocompatible and osteoconductive graft materials. In this review, we present the available literature surrounding their use with special focus on the commercially available graft materials. Corals thanks to their chemical and structural characteristics similar to those of the human cancellous bone have shown great potential but clinical data presented to date is ambiguous with both positive and negative outcomes reported. Correct formulation and design of the graft to ensure adequate osteo-activity and resorption appears intrinsic to a successful outcome

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

A Longitudinal Linked Cohort Study Evaluating Early Childhood Health Outcomes Following Exposure to Seasonal Influenza Vaccine during Pregnancy

Maternal influenza vaccination is highly recommended to pregnant women to provide protection against influenza infection for both the mother and their infants in their first six months of life. Few studies have evaluated the longer-term health outcomes beyond the infant period and into early childhood. My longitudinal, population-based linked cohort studies mostly support the safety of seasonal influenza vaccination during pregnancy and observed potential protection against asthma, anaphylaxis and seizure disorders in young children

Soil-water characteristics curves of sands under one cycle of drying and wetting

The amount of water retained in a soil in equilibrium at a given matric potential is characterized by the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC). For six sandy soils with various grain size distributions, SWCCs for drying and wetting were obtained using a flexible wall apparatus. The test data were best fitted to Fredlund and Xing's (1994) equation. When compared to uniform fine-grained sand, sands with better gradation have higher residual matric suction but lower air- and water-entry values. Additional observations were made based on the findings. Findings from this project show that air-entry values (AEV) were higher in sands with lower D10 values. The investigation also discovered a linear relationship between air-entry value and coefficient of uniformity. The water-entry value, on the other hand, has relationship with grain size distribution parameters. The hysteresis between dry and wetting is strongly affect by the grain size, grain size distribution and void ratio.Bachelor of Engineering (Civil

Perspectives of Internet privacy in Singapore.

The true potential of the Internet has yet to be realized due to issues such as privacy and data security. The perspectives of privacy on the Internet have not been well documented here in Singapore. Thus, our research aims to understand the perceptions of online privacy in the local context

Web mining of Nanyang Business School portal.

In this research project, the web logs of the NBS portal were mined and analysed to find out how the stakeholders of NBS are using the portal. In addition, how the portal was supporting community building was also investigated