Are we all on the same page? Teacher, graduate and student perceptions of the importance of skills thought to enhance employability

Graduate employability is a key issue for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), academic faculty and of course for students themselves. It is recognised that to be employable graduates require both discipline specific skills/knowledge and more generic skills for employment. A key step to the development of the latter is an understanding of their significance on the part of those designing courses and the students who take them. Here we compare the perceived importance of key skills from the perspective of teachers, current students and recent graduates. We find that the three groups differ in the relative importance they ascribe to several key skills. Staff rated all skills as being important and saw many as being more important than did their students. With hindsight, graduates prioritized skills that were not seen as being very important by current students. As a result of our synthesizing the views of current undergraduates, employed graduates and lecturing staff, we recommend that proper signposting of the significance of key skills to students is vital

Screening strategies in surveillance and control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

With reports of hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) continuing to increase and therapeutic options decrease, infection control methods are of increasing importance. Here we investigate the relationship between surveillance and infection control. Surveillance plays two roles with respect to control: it allows detection of infected/colonized individuals necessary for their removal from the general population, and it allows quantification of control success. We develop a stochastic model of MRSA transmission dynamics exploring the effects of two screening strategies in an epidemic setting: random and on admission. We consider both hospital and community populations and include control and surveillance in a single framework. Random screening was more efficient at hospital surveillance and allowed nosocomial control, which also prevented epidemic behaviour in the community. Therefore, random screening was the more effective control strategy for both the hospital and community populations in this setting. Surveillance strategies have significant impact on both ascertainment of infection prevalence and its control

Elimination of gender-related employment disparities through statistical process control

This paper proposes a novel approach that has the potential to hasten the eradication of gender disparities in employment. This approach relies upon the concept of statistical process control (SPC) to more systematically remedy disparate employment outcomes for women. SPC also serves as a new vehicle for conceptualizing the influence of industry on equal employment opportunity (EEO) outcomes. Using data from U.S. Current Population Surveys, we compare industries on EEO performance as assessed by a recently developed Systemic Gender Disparity Scorecard. The theory and practice of SPC suggest that further improvement, and by far the greater opportunity for gender-related EEO progress, necessitates fundamental changes in each industry's practices and norms that serve as barriers to gender parity. We recommend more resources to support collaboration between employers and EEO enforcement agencies.Women - Employment

Oxygen Consumption in Sepsis

Background: Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that can lead to septic shock and death. With over 300,000 annual cases (AHRQ, 2011) costing a staggering $1.5 billion (Health Care Utilization Project Brief #185), the importance of sepsis is becoming clear. However, some basic biological mechanisms are poorly understood. Study Purpose: This study investigated the relationships between select demographics, resting energy expenditure (REE), serum lactate, SOFA score mortality index, oxygen consumption [by way of measuring net oxygen consumed, (V02) and net carbon dioxide produced (VC02)], and sepsis. Specific Aims: Aims were to describe 1) patient demographics, serum lactate, SOFA score mortality index, sepsis diagnosis, and 02 consumption; 2) the difference in oxygen consumption in ICU patients with and without a diagnosis of sepsis; 3a) the relationships between gender, age, REE, height, weight, lactate and VO2; 3b) the relationships between gender, age, REE, height, weight, lactate and VCO2; and 4) the relationships between age, gender, height, weight, VO2, VCO2, lactate, SOFA, REE, and sepsis Methods: Data for this quantitative descriptive feasibility study were accessed from two hospital databases. Results: For the total cases (N = 21) mean age was 71.2 years (+/- 14.1) and mostly female (71.4%). There was a difference in oxygen consumption between the two groups of cases (sepsis and non-sepsis) [VO2 (t 3.919, p 0.001), VC02 (η = 608, p = 0.003), and lactate (η = 621, p = 0.003). Implications: Nurses are at the forefront of monitoring patients with sepsis. While this study utilized a small sample size, significant relationships were found among a number of important clinical variables. Further research is needed utilizing larger samples to test predictive models for sepsis so that nurses can intervene to prevent the deterioration of these patients

A pilot study of subjective well-being in colorectal cancer patients and their caregivers

Background: Traditional endpoints in oncology are based on measuring the tumor size and combining this with a time factor. Current studies with immunotherapy show that even when median survival is unaltered, a significant proportion of patients can achieve prolonged survival. Objective tumor response does not always mean “overall” improvement, especially if toxicity is harsh. Novel agents are significantly expensive, and it is therefore crucial to measure the impact on “quality” of life, in addition to “quantity”. Materials and methods: We studied the preferences and experiences of cancer patients and their caregivers, measuring subjective well-being (SWB) ratings, EQ5D descriptions and time trade-off preferences. Results: We studied 99 patients and 88 caregivers. Life satisfaction ratings were similar between the two groups, but daily mood was significantly lower in caregivers (P<0.1). Anxiety/depression affected SWB, while pain and mobility did not. Positive thoughts about health were associated with better daily moods in both groups, and stage IV cancer was associated with lower life satisfaction. Cancer in remission was associated with better daily moods, but, interestingly, not with patient life satisfaction. Patients with better daily mood and positive thoughts about family were less willing to “trade-off” life years. Conclusion: Caregivers are as anxious or depressed as patients, and report similar levels of life satisfaction but lower daily mood. A focus on SWB could provide a valid assessment of treatment benefit. Given the interesting results of this pilot study, we suggest a larger study should be conducted, measuring SWB over time

Textured Surfaces for Ultrasound Haptic Displays

We demonstrate a technique for rendering textured haptic surfaces in mid-air, using an ultrasound haptic display. Our technique renders tessellated 3D `haptic' shapes with different waveform properties, creating surfaces with distinct perceptions

Gold-bismuth occurrences in the Kennedy igneous province, North Queensland: constraints on tectonic, magmatic and hydrothermal processes in intrusion-related gold deposits

The Kennedy Igneous Province (KIP) in north Queensland, Australia is host to a gold mineralising event (8.5Moz) associated with Carboniferous–Permian aged magmatism. Gold production was mainly from the shallowly emplaced (<5km) hydrothermal breccia pipe hosted gold deposits like Kidston, Mt Leyshon and Mt Wright. The Kidston and Mt Leyshon deposits share characteristics with intrusion-related gold systems of the Tintina Gold Province, Yukon and Alaska. This suggests north Queensland is prospective for intrusion-related gold deposits or intrusion-related gold systems. The thesis focused on whether two gold occurrences, the Empire Stockworks and Douglas Creek gold mineralisation, share similarities with other intrusion-related gold systems. Empire Stockworks gold mineralisation is temporally and spatially associated with rhyolite dykes located on the eastern margin of the Empire dacite hydrothermal breccia pipe. A number of Empire Stockworks characteristics are similar to other shallow intrusion-related gold systems. The geochemistry of the Empire Stockworks rhyolite dykes suggest they are weakly to strongly oxidised (Fe₂O₃\FeO, 0.5-8), sub-alkaline (1, -ve Eu compared to REECN) intrusions derived from a crustal source (depleted in Ba, Nb, La, Ce, Sr, P and Ti compared to primitive mantle). The veins are associated with potassic alteration and contain <2% sulphide. The mineralising fluid was CO₂ poor with variable salinities from ~5 to 45 equivalent wt. % NaCl. The best estimate of conditions of mineralisation is ~260-437ºC at 1.5kbar. This estimate is based on a primary L-V inclusion entrapment temperatures calculated using an entrapment pressure (1.5kbar) from a primary ms-L-V inclusions, in a Stage 2 quartz K-feldspar vein, that homogenised by halite disappearance. Further work is required to confirm the entrapment conditions. Mineralisation contains gold associated with Bi-chalcogenides, although the bulk geochemistry of the vein samples suggests the correlation is generally low. Based on the timing and, the close spatial relationship between mineralised quartz veins and rhyolite dykes the mineralisation was genetically related to the rhyolite dykes. The dates were not conclusive but suggest an age of ~316Ma (Zircon, ID-TIMS) for a mineralised rhyolite dyke from Empire Stockworks. This age is comparable with the age of the Red Dome deposit, near Chillagoe. The rhyolite dyke post-dates the emplacement of the breccia pipe and provides the upper age limit of the formation of Empire Breccia Pipe complex. The Empire rhyolite dykes are similar to other north Queensland breccia hosted gold deposits that comprise mainly oxidised intrusions (weakly to strongly). This distinguishes them from the reduced intrusions associated with intrusion-related gold deposits. Compared to the larger breccia pipe hosted gold deposits, Empire Stockworks has a number of differences in geological setting. Empire Stockworks had a lower volume of rhyolite intrusions that lack magmatic-hydrothermal transition textures (unidirectional solidification textures). At Empire Stockworks, there is no evidence of a crowded porphyry dyke phase, mineralised tuffisites, miarolitic cavities or porosity filled gold mineralisation, as observed in the larger Kidston and Mt Leyshon deposits. Unlike the larger breccia pipe hosted gold deposits the mineralised quartz veins, at Empire Stockworks were emplaced at the pipe contact and post-date the sealing of the Empire Breccia Pipe. Empire Stockworks and the breccia pipe hosted gold deposits are distinguished from Moporphyry deposits. This is because the main commodity is gold, the tectonic setting of the Kennedy Igneous Province is back-arc with little or no juvenile mantle input, and the intrusions are high-K calc-alkaline. The breccia pipe hosted gold deposits are associated with fractionated metaluminous to peraluminous rhyolites, rather than quartz-monzonite to granodiorite plutons, despite the overlap in emplacement depth of the intrusions (1- 6km). In this respect Empire Stockworks and the breccia hosted gold deposits of north Queensland are a distinct group of deposits that have some affinities with both Mo- Porphyry deposits and intrusion-related gold systems. The Douglas Creek gold-bismuth mineralisation, in the south eastern Hodgkinson Province, comprises gold-bismuth veins temporally and spatially association with Emerald Creek Microgranite at ~314-320Ma. Minor mineralisation is associated with pegmatite and aplite dykes and quartz-aplite veins that post-date W-skarns hosted in the metamorphic aureole of the Emerald Creek Microgranite. Geochemistry of the microgranite suggests it is a sub-alkaline (60wt. % Si₂O), metaluminous to peraluminous, fractionated (Rb/Sr ~1) and reduced (0.1-1 Fe₂O₃/FeO) intrusion derived from a crustal source (depleted in Ba, Nb, La, Ce, P, Zr, Eu and Ti compared to primitive mantle). The mineralising fluid temperature ranged from 100 to 300ºC with salinities from ~1 to 30 equivalent wt. % NaCl and no CO₂. The occurrence is a poorly endowed intrusion-related gold system. New age dating suggests the Douglas South Granite and the Tinaroo Granite are younger than the Emerald Creek Microgranite but older than other Late Carboniferous intrusions in the Hodgkinson Province. A consistent age of 306.6±1.6Ma (muscovite, Ar-Ar) was obtained for the Douglas South Granite and suggests the intrusion is older than rest of the Whypalla Supersuite (282±9Ma, Rb-Sr, Garrad and Bultitude, 1999) and was emplaced at about the same time as the Emerald Creek Microgranite. The Tinaroo Granite is ~ 278Ma based on a consistent relationship between a laser ablation dates of 277.8±1.2Ma and a muscovite Ar-Ar date of 277.7±1.5Ma. There are no large gold deposits associated with the Emerald Creek Microgranite because it is a reduced intrusion with low agpaitic number and lacks volatiles such as CO₂. Sheeted vein deposits similar to Fort Knox or Dublin Gulch in Alaska and the Yukon possibly never formed, as suggested by the vein style and distribution and lack of evidence for formation of transitional hydrothermal textures in the upper carapace of the Emerald Creek Microgranite. Compared to other metamorphic aureole hosted intrusion related gold deposits (e.g. Dublin Gulch, Clear Creek) the veins are irregular in style and are variable in their orientation suggesting that they lacked a homogeneous stress field perhaps owing to variation in the Emerald Creek Microgranite contact. The broad distribution of the veins also suggests the fluid flow was not focused into one structure and a low fluid flux is suggested by the restricted distribution, low abundance and small size of the veins. The deepest eroded portion of the Kennedy Igneous Province is in the Hodgkinson Province where intrusions were emplaced at >7km. There is low potential for deeply emplaced intrusion-related gold deposit styles of mineralisation associated with intrusions in Hodgkinson Province because they are mainly reduced S-type intrusions with low agpaitic numbers and little or no known genetically related gold mineralisation. There are no gold-bismuth occurrences associated with other I-type intrusive suites in the Hodgkinson Province. The use of the Au-Bi-Te association in intrusion-related gold deposits for exploration was investigated at the regional to prospect scale at Pogo gold deposit, Alaska. It was found that Au-Bi-Te correlations and ratios could be used to rank regional prospects. However, the Au-Bi-Te ratio is not useful as a vector towards higher grade mineralisation within an ore zone. This is because the Au-Bi-Te ratio varies due to more than one hydrothermal process such as redox conditions, sulphidation, and cooling and late stage re-mobilisation of gold along faults. For example, the Au-Bi ratio in the Liese 1 Vein, at Pogo, is highly variable both laterally and vertically. Therefore, the Au-Bi ratio of vein could not be used to differentiate a less prospective from a prospective vein set during a prospect drilling program or to determine which direction to drill within a large mineralised vein. The main large scale controls on formation of intrusion-related gold systems include: 1) a distal back-arc tectonic setting comprising a source region with the right range of initial oxidation states or as a result of assimilation; 2) the transfer of volatiles and metal to the crust during exposure to the asthenosphere or upper lithospheric mantle; 3) the formation of a large magmatic belt followed by production of isolated magma chambers with efficient magmatic processes to accumulate the gold

Gold-bismuth occurrences in the Kennedy igneous province, North Queensland: constraints on tectonic, magmatic and hydrothermal processes in intrusion-related gold deposits

The Kennedy Igneous Province (KIP) in north Queensland, Australia is host to a gold mineralising event (8.5Moz) associated with Carboniferous–Permian aged magmatism. Gold production was mainly from the shallowly emplaced (<5km) hydrothermal breccia pipe hosted gold deposits like Kidston, Mt Leyshon and Mt Wright. The Kidston and Mt Leyshon deposits share characteristics with intrusion-related gold systems of the Tintina Gold Province, Yukon and Alaska. This suggests north Queensland is prospective for intrusion-related gold deposits or intrusion-related gold systems. The thesis focused on whether two gold occurrences, the Empire Stockworks and Douglas Creek gold mineralisation, share similarities with other intrusion-related gold systems. Empire Stockworks gold mineralisation is temporally and spatially associated with rhyolite dykes located on the eastern margin of the Empire dacite hydrothermal breccia pipe. A number of Empire Stockworks characteristics are similar to other shallow intrusion-related gold systems. The geochemistry of the Empire Stockworks rhyolite dykes suggest they are weakly to strongly oxidised (Fe₂O₃\FeO, 0.5-8), sub-alkaline (1, -ve Eu compared to REECN) intrusions derived from a crustal source (depleted in Ba, Nb, La, Ce, Sr, P and Ti compared to primitive mantle). The veins are associated with potassic alteration and contain <2% sulphide. The mineralising fluid was CO₂ poor with variable salinities from ~5 to 45 equivalent wt. % NaCl. The best estimate of conditions of mineralisation is ~260-437ºC at 1.5kbar. This estimate is based on a primary L-V inclusion entrapment temperatures calculated using an entrapment pressure (1.5kbar) from a primary ms-L-V inclusions, in a Stage 2 quartz K-feldspar vein, that homogenised by halite disappearance. Further work is required to confirm the entrapment conditions. Mineralisation contains gold associated with Bi-chalcogenides, although the bulk geochemistry of the vein samples suggests the correlation is generally low. Based on the timing and, the close spatial relationship between mineralised quartz veins and rhyolite dykes the mineralisation was genetically related to the rhyolite dykes. The dates were not conclusive but suggest an age of ~316Ma (Zircon, ID-TIMS) for a mineralised rhyolite dyke from Empire Stockworks. This age is comparable with the age of the Red Dome deposit, near Chillagoe. The rhyolite dyke post-dates the emplacement of the breccia pipe and provides the upper age limit of the formation of Empire Breccia Pipe complex. The Empire rhyolite dykes are similar to other north Queensland breccia hosted gold deposits that comprise mainly oxidised intrusions (weakly to strongly). This distinguishes them from the reduced intrusions associated with intrusion-related gold deposits. Compared to the larger breccia pipe hosted gold deposits, Empire Stockworks has a number of differences in geological setting. Empire Stockworks had a lower volume of rhyolite intrusions that lack magmatic-hydrothermal transition textures (unidirectional solidification textures). At Empire Stockworks, there is no evidence of a crowded porphyry dyke phase, mineralised tuffisites, miarolitic cavities or porosity filled gold mineralisation, as observed in the larger Kidston and Mt Leyshon deposits. Unlike the larger breccia pipe hosted gold deposits the mineralised quartz veins, at Empire Stockworks were emplaced at the pipe contact and post-date the sealing of the Empire Breccia Pipe. Empire Stockworks and the breccia pipe hosted gold deposits are distinguished from Moporphyry deposits. This is because the main commodity is gold, the tectonic setting of the Kennedy Igneous Province is back-arc with little or no juvenile mantle input, and the intrusions are high-K calc-alkaline. The breccia pipe hosted gold deposits are associated with fractionated metaluminous to peraluminous rhyolites, rather than quartz-monzonite to granodiorite plutons, despite the overlap in emplacement depth of the intrusions (1- 6km). In this respect Empire Stockworks and the breccia hosted gold deposits of north Queensland are a distinct group of deposits that have some affinities with both Mo- Porphyry deposits and intrusion-related gold systems. The Douglas Creek gold-bismuth mineralisation, in the south eastern Hodgkinson Province, comprises gold-bismuth veins temporally and spatially association with Emerald Creek Microgranite at ~314-320Ma. Minor mineralisation is associated with pegmatite and aplite dykes and quartz-aplite veins that post-date W-skarns hosted in the metamorphic aureole of the Emerald Creek Microgranite. Geochemistry of the microgranite suggests it is a sub-alkaline (60wt. % Si₂O), metaluminous to peraluminous, fractionated (Rb/Sr ~1) and reduced (0.1-1 Fe₂O₃/FeO) intrusion derived from a crustal source (depleted in Ba, Nb, La, Ce, P, Zr, Eu and Ti compared to primitive mantle). The mineralising fluid temperature ranged from 100 to 300ºC with salinities from ~1 to 30 equivalent wt. % NaCl and no CO₂. The occurrence is a poorly endowed intrusion-related gold system. New age dating suggests the Douglas South Granite and the Tinaroo Granite are younger than the Emerald Creek Microgranite but older than other Late Carboniferous intrusions in the Hodgkinson Province. A consistent age of 306.6±1.6Ma (muscovite, Ar-Ar) was obtained for the Douglas South Granite and suggests the intrusion is older than rest of the Whypalla Supersuite (282±9Ma, Rb-Sr, Garrad and Bultitude, 1999) and was emplaced at about the same time as the Emerald Creek Microgranite. The Tinaroo Granite is ~ 278Ma based on a consistent relationship between a laser ablation dates of 277.8±1.2Ma and a muscovite Ar-Ar date of 277.7±1.5Ma. There are no large gold deposits associated with the Emerald Creek Microgranite because it is a reduced intrusion with low agpaitic number and lacks volatiles such as CO₂. Sheeted vein deposits similar to Fort Knox or Dublin Gulch in Alaska and the Yukon possibly never formed, as suggested by the vein style and distribution and lack of evidence for formation of transitional hydrothermal textures in the upper carapace of the Emerald Creek Microgranite. Compared to other metamorphic aureole hosted intrusion related gold deposits (e.g. Dublin Gulch, Clear Creek) the veins are irregular in style and are variable in their orientation suggesting that they lacked a homogeneous stress field perhaps owing to variation in the Emerald Creek Microgranite contact. The broad distribution of the veins also suggests the fluid flow was not focused into one structure and a low fluid flux is suggested by the restricted distribution, low abundance and small size of the veins. The deepest eroded portion of the Kennedy Igneous Province is in the Hodgkinson Province where intrusions were emplaced at >7km. There is low potential for deeply emplaced intrusion-related gold deposit styles of mineralisation associated with intrusions in Hodgkinson Province because they are mainly reduced S-type intrusions with low agpaitic numbers and little or no known genetically related gold mineralisation. There are no gold-bismuth occurrences associated with other I-type intrusive suites in the Hodgkinson Province. The use of the Au-Bi-Te association in intrusion-related gold deposits for exploration was investigated at the regional to prospect scale at Pogo gold deposit, Alaska. It was found that Au-Bi-Te correlations and ratios could be used to rank regional prospects. However, the Au-Bi-Te ratio is not useful as a vector towards higher grade mineralisation within an ore zone. This is because the Au-Bi-Te ratio varies due to more than one hydrothermal process such as redox conditions, sulphidation, and cooling and late stage re-mobilisation of gold along faults. For example, the Au-Bi ratio in the Liese 1 Vein, at Pogo, is highly variable both laterally and vertically. Therefore, the Au-Bi ratio of vein could not be used to differentiate a less prospective from a prospective vein set during a prospect drilling program or to determine which direction to drill within a large mineralised vein. The main large scale controls on formation of intrusion-related gold systems include: 1) a distal back-arc tectonic setting comprising a source region with the right range of initial oxidation states or as a result of assimilation; 2) the transfer of volatiles and metal to the crust during exposure to the asthenosphere or upper lithospheric mantle; 3) the formation of a large magmatic belt followed by production of isolated magma chambers with efficient magmatic processes to accumulate the gold

The Application of a Dendric Cell Algorithm to a Robotic Classifier

The dendritic cell algorithm is an immune-inspired technique for processing time-dependant data. Here we propose it as a possible solution for a robotic classification problem. The dendritic cell algorithm is implemented on a real robot and an investigation is performed into the effects of varying the migration threshold median for the cell population. The algorithm performs well on a classification task with very little tuning. Ways of extending the implementation to allow it to be used as a classifier within the field of robotic security are suggested

Utility of B-type natriuretic peptide in predicting medium-term mortality in patients undergoing major non-cardiac surgery

We assessed the ability of pre-operative B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels to predict medium-term mortality in patients undergoing major noncardiac surgery. During a median 654 days follow-up 33 patients from a total cohort of 204 patients (16%) died. The optimal cut-off in this cohort, determined using a receiver operating characteristic curve, was >35pg.mL-1. This was associated with a 3.47-fold increase in the hazard of death (p=0.001) and had a sensitivity of 70% and a specificity of 68% for this outcome. These findings extend recent work demonstrating that BNP levels obtained before major noncardiac surgery can be used to predict peri-operative morbidity, and indicate that they also forecast medium-term mortality.This work was supported by a grant from TENOVUS Scotland. The Health Services Research Unit is core-funded by the Chief Scientists Office of the Scottish Executive Health Department.Peer reviewedAuthor versio