Who paints the picture? Images of health professions in rural and remote student resources

Introduction: Rural and remote Australia has a severe shortage of health professionals and the health of its people is relatively poor. For decades, national and international studies have demonstrated that health professionals who grow up in rural areas are more likely to practise in rural areas when compared with health professionals raised in the city. However, an often unrecognised consequence of the severe shortage of health professionals is the severe shortage of role models to inspire rural and remote school students to go on to become health professionals. So how do these school students paint a picture for themselves of what it would be like to be a health professional? Do they acquire images from school? Career development theorists suggest that children start to shape ideas about careers before preschool and then continue to shape these ideas throughout their school years. They also agree that, to aspire to a career, a student must first know about that career. At the time of writing, no review of primary school curricular materials in rural and remote Australia related to information inspiring students to health professions was available in the literature. Methods: This article reports on an analysis of all the Department of Education set curricular materials studied by rural and remote distance-education school students in years 3–7 in one Australian state. The aim was to look for content relevant to careers in the health professions. Results: Students are provided with very little information to help them build an image of these careers. Some of the information, provided in the students’ curricular materials, painted negative images of health professionals, especially doctors. Conclusions: These findings contribute to an understanding of why relatively few students from rural and remote Australia go on to become health professionals. It is exhilarating to realise these findings are modifiable, with the potential to improve future rural health workforce recruitment and retention

NASA Technology for Next Generation Vertical Lift Vehicles

No abstract availabl

Active control of Boundary Layer Separation & Flow Distortion in Adverse Pressure Gradient Flows via Supersonic Microjets

Inlets to aircraft propulsion systems must supply flow to the compressor with minimal pressure loss, flow distortion or unsteadiness. Flow separation in internal flows such as inlets and ducts in aircraft propulsion systems and external flows such as over aircraft wings, is undesirable as it reduces the overall system performance. The aim of this research has been to understand the nature of separation and more importantly, to explore techniques to actively control this flow separation. In particular, the use of supersonic microjets as a means of controlling boundary layer separation was explored. The geometry used for the early part of this study was a simple diverging Stratford ramp, equipped with arrays of supersonic microjets. Initial results, based on the mean surface pressure distribution, surface flow visualization and Planar Laser Scattering (PLS) indicated a reverse flow region. We implemented supersonic microjets to control this separation and flow visualization results appeared to suggest that microjets have a favorable effect, at least to a certain extent. However, the details of the separated flow field were difficult to determine based on surface pressure distribution, surface flow patterns and PLS alone. It was also difficult to clearly determine the exact influence of the supersonic microjets on this flow. In the latter part of this study, the properties of this flow-field and the effect of supersonic microjets on its behavior were investigated in further detail using 2-component (planar) Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The results clearly show that the activation of microjets eliminated flow separation and resulted in a significant increase in the momentum of the fluid near the ramp surface. Also notable is the fact that the gain in momentum due to the elimination of flow separation is at least an order of magnitude larger (two orders of magnitude larger in most cases) than the momentum injected by the microjets and is accomplished with very little mass flow through the microjets

Partygate raises important questions about rules, guidance and compliance during COVID

Drawing on research in Scotland on the use of Fixed Penalty Notices and patterns of enforcement, Vicky Gorton, Susan McVie and Kath Murray (University of Edinburgh) consider whether in legislating so extensively, governments created the conditions for non-compliance and an attendant loss of moral authority

Adherence to secondary prevention of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in young people: an 11-year retrospective study

Objectives: To evaluate the secondary prevention of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in the Townsville region, Australia. Methods: Adherence to benzathine benzylpenicillin G (BPG) was determined for 196 children and young adults aged under 22 years between January 2009 and December 2019, and factors associated with BPG adherence were analysed. Secondary outcomes included attendance at specialist reviews and echocardiograms. Results: Adequate adherence (80%) to regular BPG injections was met by 51.1% of the cohort. Adequate BPG adherence more likely occurred for those that attended the Paediatric Outreach Clinic (OR4.15, 95%CI:2.13-8.05) or a school delivery program (OR1.87, 95%CI:1.11-3.45). People with moderate/severe RHD had greater BPG adherence (OR1.76,95%CI:1.00-3.10). People in rural/remote areas were less likely to have adequate BPG adherence compared to urban counterparts (OR0.31, 95%CI:0.15-0.65). Adherence to echocardiography was 66% and specialist review attendance was 12.5–50%. Conclusion: Half of the cohort in the Townsville region received adequate BPG prophylaxis to prevent ARF/RHD. Although rates were relatively higher than those reported in other Australian regions, health delivery goals should be close to 100%. Low attendance at specialist services was reported. Implication for public health: Delivery models with dedicated services, case management and family support could improve BPG adherence in individuals with ARF/RHD. Further resources in rural and remote areas are needed

NASA Vertical Flight Research

Overview of NASA Vertical Flight Research

Metrics for NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) Strategic Thrust 3B Vertical Lift Strategic Direction

The NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) Strategic Implementation Plan details an ambitious plan for aeronautical research for the next quarter century and beyond. It includes a number of advanced technologies needed to address requirements of the overall aviation community (domestic and international), with an emphasis on safety, efficiency, operational flexibility, and alternative propulsion air transport options. The six ARMD Strategic Thrust Areas (STAs) represent a specific set of multi-decade research agendas for creating the global aviation improvements most in demand by the aviation service consumers and the general public. To provide NASA with a measurement of the preeminent value of these research areas, it was necessary to identify and quantify the measurable benefits to the aviation community from capabilities delivered by the research programs. This paper will describe the processes used and the conclusions reached in defining the principal metrics for ARMD Strategic Thrust Area 3B "Vertical Lift Strategic Direction.

Boundary-Layer-Ingesting Inlet Flow Control

An experimental study was conducted to provide the first demonstration of an active flow control system for a flush-mounted inlet with significant boundary-layer-ingestion in transonic flow conditions. The effectiveness of the flow control in reducing the circumferential distortion at the engine fan-face location was assessed using a 2.5%-scale model of a boundary-layer-ingesting offset diffusing inlet. The inlet was flush mounted to the tunnel wall and ingested a large boundary layer with a boundary-layer-to-inlet height ratio of 35%. Different jet distribution patterns and jet mass flow rates were used in the inlet to control distortion. A vane configuration was also tested. Finally a hybrid vane/jet configuration was tested leveraging strengths of both types of devices. Measurements were made of the onset boundary layer, the duct surface static pressures, and the mass flow rates through the duct and the flow control actuators. The distortion and pressure recovery were measured at the aerodynamic interface plane. The data show that control jets and vanes reduce circumferential distortion to acceptable levels. The point-design vane configuration produced higher distortion levels at off-design settings. The hybrid vane/jet flow control configuration reduced the off-design distortion levels to acceptable ones and used less than 0.5% of the inlet mass flow to supply the jets

Design Optimization Tool for Synthetic Jet Actuators Using Lumped Element Modeling

The performance specifications of any actuator are quantified in terms of an exhaustive list of parameters such as bandwidth, output control authority, etc. Flow-control applications benefit from a known actuator frequency response function that relates the input voltage to the output property of interest (e.g., maximum velocity, volumetric flow rate, momentum flux, etc.). Clearly, the required performance metrics are application specific, and methods are needed to achieve the optimal design of these devices. Design and optimization studies have been conducted for piezoelectric cantilever-type flow control actuators, but the modeling issues are simpler compared to synthetic jets. Here, lumped element modeling (LEM) is combined with equivalent circuit representations to estimate the nonlinear dynamic response of a synthetic jet as a function of device dimensions, material properties, and external flow conditions. These models provide reasonable agreement between predicted and measured frequency response functions and thus are suitable for use as design tools. In this work, we have developed a Matlab-based design optimization tool for piezoelectric synthetic jet actuators based on the lumped element models mentioned above. Significant improvements were achieved by optimizing the piezoceramic diaphragm dimensions. Synthetic-jet actuators were fabricated and benchtop tested to fully document their behavior and validate a companion optimization effort. It is hoped that the tool developed from this investigation will assist in the design and deployment of these actuators

Policing the pandemic in Scotland: Using administrative data to measure underlying inequalities

Objectives In March 2020, police were given temporary powers to enforce the new Coronavirus Health Protection Regulations. Our research asks: • How was non-compliance (as measured through police-issued fines) related to other underlying health and social inequalities? • What level of COVID-19 risk did those who failed to comply pose? Methods This project securely links, at an individual level, a dataset of all COVID fines issued by Police Scotland to a range of health and social administrative data. This data includes: information from healthcare settings on mental ill health, alcohol problems and drug addictions; geographic data on household type and occupancy; and government data on deprivation and deaths. The dataset has also been linked to a matched sample of controls (individuals who were not fined), and to COVID testing data, allowing us to examine the extent to which individuals who were fined posed a health risk to wider society. Results Our results show that those who were fined were more likely to be living with underlying health and social inequalities than the matched controls. However, these differences did reduce over the course of the pandemic, most likely reflecting a combination of changing policing practice and weakening public compliance with the restrictions. Although not without limitations, testing data suggests that those who were fined were not substantially more likely to test positive for COVID during the pandemic than matched controls who were not fined. This raises questions about the role of police enforcement during a pandemic. Conclusion This research is the first time police data has been linked to health and social care data in Scotland. Our findings demonstrate the considerable value of data linkage for understanding the challenges of policing public health whilst also allowing the empirical evaluation of policy decisions at scale