Dynamical downscaling for the southwest of Western Australia using the WRF modelling system

The southwest of Western Australia (SWWA) is a region of significant cereal production, with the main crops being winter grown wheat and barley. The most important factors influencing wheat growth and production are temperature extremes and precipitation, and hence, it is critical to have an understanding of how these environmental factors have changed in the past, and how they are likely to change in the future. One method of addressing this important research question is by using regional climate models (RCMs) to dynamically downscale re-analysis products and/or output form Global Circulation Models to a fine resolution. One tool which is being increasingly used for this purpose is the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) Advanced Research (ARW). However, like any modeling system, WRF-ARW requires thorough testing before it is implemented to carry out long-term climate runs. This paper examines the influence of different input data sources, as well as model physics options on simulated precipitation and maximum and minimum temperatures in SWWA by comparing the simulations against an observational gridded dataset. It is found that running WRF3.3 with the 1.0 × 1.0 degree National Center for Environmental Prediction Final analysis (NCEP-FNL), as compared to the 2.5 × 2.5 degree NCEP / National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR or NNRP) results in much improved simulations of precipitation and temperatures. Using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 1.0 × 1.0 degree resolution sea surface temperature (SST) dataset does not result in markedly different results as compared to using the NNRP surface skin temperatures as SSTs. Using the Betts-Miller-Jajic (BMJ) scheme for cumulus/convection parameterisation rather than the more widely used Kain Fritsch (KF) scheme results in slightly higher errors for precipitation, and no marked change in temperatures. The latest version of the Rapid Radiative Transfer Model (RRTMG) is found to result in improved simulations of maximum and minimum temperatures, as compared to the RRTM, Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) 3.0, and Dudhia schemes. Use of the Asymmetric Convective Model as the planetary boundary-layer scheme rather than the more widely used Yonsei University scheme results in over-prediction of maximum and minimum temperatures

Introduction to the themed issue - Corporate power : agency, communication, influence and social policy

This paper introduces this themed issue of Critical Social Policy on the question of corporate power. Corporate power is recognized as an important agent in social policy making and delivery. However, to date there has been comparatively little attention to the crucial role that lobbying and corporate 'spin' play in helping to shape policy making contexts. This special issue of Critical Social Policy is concerned to bring such issues to the mainstream of social policy analysis. It is argued here that the rise of spin and public relations is a key feature of neoliberalism in the past two decades. These have worked to reshape policy making, resulting in pronounced changes in the content and process of policy making and it is argued that these have tended to marginalize or undermine democratic processes

Human Clostridium difficile infection caused by a livestock-associated PCR ribotype 237 strain in Western Australia

Introduction: Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a significant gastrointestinal disease in the developed world and increasingly recognised as a zoonotic infection. In North America and Europe, the PCR ribotype (RT) 078 strain of C. difficile is commonly found in production animals and as a cause of disease in humans although proof of transmission from animals is lacking. This strain is absent in Australian livestock. We report a case of human CDI caused by a strain of C. difficile belonging to known Australian livestock-associated RT 237. Case presentation: A young male was admitted for multiple trauma following a motor vehicle accident and placed on piperacillin/tazobactam for pneumonia. After 4 days of treatment, he developed symptoms of CDI, which was confirmed in the laboratory. His symptoms resolved after 6 days of intravenous metronidazole. The strain of C. difficile isolated was identified as RT 237, an unusual RT previously found in with several Western Australia piggeries. Conclusion: This case of CDI caused by an unusual livestock-associated C. difficile RT 237 supports the hypothesis of zoonotic transmission. The case highlights the potential of livestock to act as reservoir for C. difficile and the need for continued surveillance of CDI in both human and animal populations

Accelerated low-intensity rTMS does not rescue anxiety behaviour or abnormal connectivity in young adult rats following chronic restraint stress

Currently approved repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) protocols for the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) involve once-daily (weekday) stimulation sessions, with 10 Hz or intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) frequencies, over 4–6 weeks. Recently, accelerated treatment protocols (multiple daily stimulation sessions for 1–2 weeks) have been increasingly studied to optimize rTMS treatments. Accelerated protocols might confer unique advantages for adolescents and young adults but there are many knowledge gaps related to dosing in this age group. Off-label, clinical practice frequently outpaces solid evidence as rigorous clinical trials require substantial time and resources. Murine models present an opportunity for high throughput dose finding studies to focus subsequent clinical trials in humans. This project investigated the brain and behavioural effects of an accelerated low-intensity rTMS (LI-rTMS) protocol in a young adult rodent model of chronic restraint stress (CRS). Depression and anxiety-related behaviours were induced in young adult male Sprague Dawley rats using the CRS model, followed by the 3-times-daily delivery of 10 Hz LI-rTMS, for two weeks. Behaviour was assessed using the Elevated Plus Maze and Forced Swim Test, and functional, chemical, and structural brain changes measured using magnetic resonance imaging techniques. CRS induced an agitated depression-like phenotype but therapeutic effects from the accelerated protocol were not detected. Our findings suggest that the age of rodents may impact response to CRS and LI-rTMS. Future studies should also examine higher intensities of rTMS and accelerated theta burst protocols

Children’s rights in their oral health care: How responsive are oral health professionals to children’s rights

Research on children’s rights in oral health care is lacking, and this study aims to partially fill this gap. In 2015, we conducted research in one region of New Zealand using video methods to explore the rights of 22 children during a specific oral health treatment, the placement of stainless steel crowns. Our findings show that many children did not receive a professional standard of care, there were gaps in the delivery and standard of care, and there were numerous examples of children’s rights’ violations. At the same time, however, some of the children’s dental practitioners’ (CDPs) actions may have been acceptable practice within the profession if children’s rights have not yet fully been embedded into the practice of oral health care workers. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our findings and suggestions for a more rights based standard of oral health care

Psychometric assessment of the short-form Child Perceptions Questionnaire: an international collaborative study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the factor structure and other psychometric characteristics of the most commonly used child oral-health-related quality-of-life (OHRQoL) measure (the 16-item short-form CPQ11-14 ) in a large number of children (N = 5804) from different settings and who had a range of caries experience and associated impacts. METHODS: Secondary data analyses used subnational epidemiological samples of 11- to 14-year-olds in Australia (N = 372), New Zealand (three samples: 352, 202, 429), Brunei (423), Cambodia (244), Hong Kong (542), Malaysia (439), Thailand (220, 325), England (88, 374), Germany (1055), Mexico (335) and Brazil (404). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine the factor structure of the CPQ11-14 across the combined sample and within four regions (Australia/NZ, Asia, UK/Europe and Latin America). Item impact and internal reliability analysis were also conducted. RESULTS: Caries experience varied, with mean DMFT scores ranging from 0.5 in the Malaysian sample to 3.4 in one New Zealand sample. Even more variation was noted in the proportion reporting only fair or poor oral health; this was highest in the Cambodian and Mexican samples and lowest in the German sample and one New Zealand sample. One in 10 reported that their oral health had a marked impact on their life overall. The CFA across all samples revealed two factors with eigenvalues greater than 1. The first involved all items in the oral symptoms and functional limitations subscales; the second involved all emotional well-being and social well-being items. The first was designated the 'symptoms/function' subscale, and the second was designated the 'well-being' subscale. Cronbach's alpha scores were 0.72 and 0.84, respectively. The symptoms/function subscale contained more of the items with greater impact, with the item 'Food stuck in between your teeth' having greatest impact; in the well-being subscale, the 'Felt shy or embarrassed' item had the greatest impact. Repeating the analyses by world region gave similar findings. CONCLUSION: The CPQ11-14 performed well cross-sectionally in the largest analysis of the scale in the literature to date, with robust and mostly consistent psychometric characteristics, albeit with two underlying factors (rather than the originally hypothesized four-factor structure). It appears to be a sound, robust measure which should be useful for research, practice and policy

Scalable and sustainable manufacturing of ultrathin metal–organic framework nanosheets (MONs) for solar cell applications

Metal-organic framework nanosheets (MONs) are an emerging class of 2D materials whose tunable chemistry make them ideal for a wide range of sensing, catalytic, electronics and separation applications. However, creating scalable routes to the synthesis of high quality, ultrathin nanosheets remains challenging and little consideration has been given to the economics of making these materials. Here, we demonstrate a scalable synthesis of zinc-porphyrin based nanosheets, Zn2(H2TCPP), for use in organic solar cells and conduct a techno-economic analysis of their pilot-plant scale manufacture. A thorough investigation of the process chemistry of the solvothermal synthesis enabled reduction of reaction time, increased solid content and scale-up of the reaction in batch. Significantly, the addition of triethylamine accelerated the reaction kinetics, which enabled the synthesis temperature to be dropped from > 80 °C to room temperature. Application of these new reaction conditions in a continuous stirred-tank reactor directly formed monolayer MONs at 99 % yield with a space–time yield of 16 kg m−3 day−1, an approximately 20-fold increase in yield compared to adapting the literature procedure. Techno-economic analysis showed a 94 % reduction in the production costs compared to the literature reaction conditions and indicated that the production cost was dominated by ligand price. The general applicability of the method was demonstrated through synthesis of related Cu2(H2TCPP) MONs and tunability through metalation of the porphyrin units with six different metal ions. Finally, the value of the nanosheets was demonstrated through a near doubling in the power conversion efficiency of organic photovoltaic devices when the MONs were incorporated into the active layer. Overall, this work demonstrates the first scalable and sustainable route to producing monolayer nanosheets for high value applications

Structural Determinants and Children's Oral Health: A Cross-National Study

Much research on children's oral health has focused on proximal determinants at the expense of distal (upstream) factors. Yet, such upstream factors-the so-called structural determinants of health-play a crucial role. Children's lives, and in turn their health, are shaped by politics, economic forces, and social and public policies. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between children's clinical (number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth) and self-reported oral health (oral health-related quality of life) and 4 key structural determinants (governance, macroeconomic policy, public policy, and social policy) as outlined in the World Health Organization's Commission for Social Determinants of Health framework. Secondary data analyses were carried out using subnational epidemiological samples of 8- to 15-y-olds in 11 countries ( N = 6,648): Australia (372), New Zealand (three samples; 352, 202, 429), Brunei (423), Cambodia (423), Hong Kong (542), Malaysia (439), Thailand (261, 506), United Kingdom (88, 374), Germany (1498), Mexico (335), and Brazil (404). The results indicated that the type of political regime, amount of governance (e.g., rule of law, accountability), gross domestic product per capita, employment ratio, income inequality, type of welfare regime, human development index, government expenditure on health, and out-of-pocket (private) health expenditure by citizens were all associated with children's oral health. The structural determinants accounted for between 5% and 21% of the variance in children's oral health quality-of-life scores. These findings bring attention to the upstream or structural determinants as an understudied area but one that could reap huge rewards for public health dentistry research and the oral health inequalities policy agenda

Cosmological evolution of interacting dark energy in Lorentz violation

The cosmological evolution of an interacting scalar field model in which the scalar field interacts with dark matter, radiation, and baryon via Lorentz violation is investigated. We propose a model of interaction through the effective coupling $\bar{\beta}$. Using dynamical system analysis, we study the linear dynamics of an interacting model and show that the dynamics of critical points are completely controlled by two parameters. Some results can be mentioned as follows. Firstly, the sequence of radiation, the dark matter, and the scalar field dark energy exist and baryons are sub dominant. Secondly, the model also allows the possibility of having a universe in the phantom phase with constant potential. Thirdly, the effective gravitational constant varies with respect to time through $\bar{\beta}$. In particular, we consider a simple case where $\bar{\beta}$ has a quadratic form and has a good agreement with the modified $\Lambda$CDM and quintessence models. Finally, we also calculate the first post--Newtonian parameters for our model.Comment: 14 pages, published versio