Environmental tobacco smoke exposure and health disparities: 8-year longitudinal findings from a large cohort of Thai adults

BACKGROUND: In rich countries, smokers, active or passive, often belong to disadvantaged groups. Less is known of tobacco patterns in the developing world. Hence, we seek out to investigate mental and physical health consequences of smoke exposure as well as tobacco-related inequality in transitional middle-income Thailand. METHODS: We studied a nationwide cohort of 87,151 middle-aged and older adults that we have been following for eight years (2005–2013) for emerging chronic diseases. Logistic regression was used to identify attributes associated with passive smoke exposure. Longitudinal associations between smoke exposure and wellbeing (SF-8) or psychological distress (Kessler 6) were investigated with multiple linear regression or multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: A high proportion of cohort members, especially females, were passive smokers at home and at public transport stations; males were more exposed at workplace and recreational places. We observed a social gradient with more passive smoking in poorer people. We also observed a dose response relationship linking graded smoke exposures (current, former, passive, non-exposed) to less wellbeing and more psychological distress (p-trend < 0.001). Female smokers in general had less wellbeing and more distress. CONCLUSION: Our findings add to current knowledge on the impact of active and passive smoking on health in a transitional economy. Promotion of smoking cessation programs both in public and at home could also potentially reduce adverse disparities in health and wellbeing in middle and lower income settings such as Thailand.This study was supported by the International Collaborative Research Grants Scheme with joint grants from the Wellcome Trust UK (GR071587MA) and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (268055), and as a global health grant from the NHMRC (585426)

Transforming multiple stakeholder insights into education action: developing a pragmatic EIT professional advisory framework

BACKGROUND This paper discusses the formation of a stakeholder engagement framework for a Professional Advisory board (PAb). These collaborative undertakings were initially conducted to review post-graduate programs in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology (FEIT) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). This led to the realisation of a pragmatic and collaborative engagement process that benefits industry and the education sector whilst developing students that are able to deal with current and emergent challenges. PURPOSE OR GOAL The PAb is a network of academics, students, alumni and industry members that undertakes to engage, advice and review discipline-specific faculty programs from multiple perspectives to ensure that programs remain relevant and valuable to industry. As the faculty moves towards reengineering their approach to teaching and learning as part of a university-wide initiative known as ‘Learning 2014’ (L2014), this provides the opportunity to shape a more engaged and collaborative teaching and learning culture within its programs. DESIGN/METHODS The collaborative stakeholder process was built upon an intensive series of mixed methods and action research initiatives as engagement mechanisms. These pragmatic and emergent mechanisms involved quantitative surveys, focus groups, in-depth interviews, industry workshops and multiple rounds of academic consultations. RESULTS The PAb framework was piloted in June 2014. Initial results from a feedback survey are also reported. The collaborative framework, whilst promising, engaging and conceptually robust, has not yet reached a stable state. The framework will be extended to other EIT disciplines in order to evaluate its outcomes across various disciplinary contexts and to optimise the framework’s efficacy for future iterations. This paper suggests a pragmatic and robust framework to integrate industry and stakeholder expectations with faculty program deliverables in a way that is valuable, relevant and rewarding. CONCLUSIONS In this initial framework, industry stakeholders and academics are given a voice to share their priorities and interests. More than that, the PAb provides a forum where areas that are less common, untapped or unknown to the rest of the group can be shared, further explored and tested. While the group is new and still evolving, different EIT aspects that have not yet been undertaken in education that may be potentially powerful could be explored in the future to ensure that we are able to support long term value in the various facets of EIT education. The PAb is proving to be a robust and balanced group of professionals and academics that provide technical and practical perspectives to ensure EIT education remains relevant and current

An empirical assessment of the role of organizational citizenship behavior in explaining academic success : Some evidence from East Malaysian sample

Management researchers have consistently reported the significant role of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in predicting individual success in organizational settings. This topic, however, has been largely ignored in the business education environment. Given the demonstrable benefits of OCB enactment in terms of influencing performance evaluations and organizational rewards, we emphasize the importance of examining the role of OCB in predicting student performance and their eventual career success. This endeavor holds important implications for students who are on the threshold of entering the industry. Using a self-administered questionnaire, we collected data from a total of 177 undergraduate students from two different schools in a Malaysian public university. Analysis reveals that of the three distinct dimensions of OCB, only one (consisting of altruism and courtesy items) has influences on both measures of student performance (i.e., productivity and cumulative grade point average). Implications of these findings are discussed

Trace element concentration in mango (Mangifera indica L.), seedless guava (Psidium guajava L.) and papaya (Carica papaya L.) grown on agricultural and ex-mining lands of Bidor, Perak

Fruits namely mango, papaya, and seedless guava grown on agricultural and ex-mining lands in Bidor were sampled for analyse of heavy metal contamination. The concentration of mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) in the fruits were analysed. The results showed that, with the exception of Hg in mango and Pb in guava, fruits grown on agricultural land have higher levels of heavy metals than those grown on ex-mining land. The concentration of heavy metal in all fruits of both soil types ranged from 0.06 to 0.55 mg kgI for Cd, 0.02 to 0.78 mg kgI for Hg, 0.63 to 8.71 mg kgI for Pb, 5.20 to 12.22 mg kgI for Zn, and 2.01 to 5.74 mg kgI for Cu. Both Cr and Ni were not detected in papaya grown on mine spoils, whilst As was not detected in all fruits grown on both types of soils. The findings indicate that all fruits contained unacceptably high levels of Hg and Pb. The probable causes of contamination are discussed. Further studies are required to investigate the cause of heavy metal contamination in these fruits

Highly Efficient Midinfrared On-Chip Electrical Generation of Graphene Plasmons by Inelastic Electron Tunneling Excitation

Inelastic electron tunneling provides a low-energy pathway for the excitation of surface plasmons and light emission. We theoretically investigate tunnel junctions based on metals and graphene. We show that graphene is potentially a highly efficient material for tunneling excitation of plasmons because of its narrow plasmon linewidths, strong emission, and large tunability in the midinfrared wavelength regime. Compared to gold and silver, the enhancement can be up to 10 times for similar wavelengths and up to 5 orders at their respective plasmon operating wavelengths. Tunneling excitation of graphene plasmons promises an efficient technology for on-chip electrical generation and manipulation of plasmons for graphene-based optoelectronics and nanophotonic integrated circuits.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Least-Cost Feed Formulation for Juvenile Macrobrachium rosenbergii (De Man) by Using the Linear Programming Technique

Linear least-cost programming was used in juvenile M. rosenbergii feed formulation using locally available feed ingredients (fish meal, shrimp meal, copra meal, soybean meal, wheat flour and palm oil). The following constraints were established: the essential amino acid contents were closely similar to those of juvenile M. rosenbergii, crude fat 5-10% and gross energy 4,400 cal/g with least cost. Four types offeed were produced with protein ranges from 25% to 50%. Growth responses of juvenile M. rosenbergii fed these formulated feeds showed that the 40% protein feed (P40) supported the best specific growth rate and feed conversion ratio. P40 feed is recommended for juvenile M. rosenbergii

Assessment of the feasibility of an ultra-low power, wireless digital patch for the continuous ambulatory monitoring of vital signs.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Vital signs are usually recorded at 4–8 h intervals in hospital patients, and deterioration between measurements can have serious consequences. The primary study objective was to assess agreement between a new ultra-low power, wireless and wearable surveillance system for continuous ambulatory monitoring of vital signs and a widely used clinical vital signs monitor. The secondary objective was to examine the system's ability to automatically identify and reject invalid physiological data. SETTING: Single hospital centre. PARTICIPANTS: Heart and respiratory rate were recorded over 2 h in 20 patients undergoing elective surgery and a second group of 41 patients with comorbid conditions, in the general ward. OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcome measures were limits of agreement and bias. The secondary outcome measure was proportion of data rejected. RESULTS: The digital patch provided reliable heart rate values in the majority of patients (about 80%) with normal sinus rhythm, and in the presence of abnormal ECG recordings (excluding aperiodic arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation). The mean difference between systems was less than ±1 bpm in all patient groups studied. Although respiratory data were more frequently rejected as invalid because of the high sensitivity of impedance pneumography to motion artefacts, valid rates were reported for 50% of recordings with a mean difference of less than ±1 brpm compared with the bedside monitor. Correlation between systems was statistically significant (p<0.0001) for heart and respiratory rate, apart from respiratory rate in patients with atrial fibrillation (p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Overall agreement between digital patch and clinical monitor was satisfactory, as was the efficacy of the system for automatic rejection of invalid data. Wireless monitoring technologies, such as the one tested, may offer clinical value when implemented as part of wider hospital systems that integrate and support existing clinical protocols and workflows

Sputter Deposition and Thallination of Ti-Ba-Ca-Cu-O Superconducting Thin Films

Thallination techniques used for the fabrication of sputter-deposited TI2Ba2CaCu 2Ox and TI2Ba2Ca2Cu3Ox superconducting thin films were investigated. Differences in elemental composition of precursor Ba-Ca-Cu-O sputtering targets were found to yield different superconducting phases. Thallination conditions which yielded transition temperatures as high as 122 K for samples annealed in air are described. Finally, reactive ion etching of films using a mixture of chlorine and argon gases is discussed