Digital Commons Network^™

Trajectories And Predictors Of Activity Participation Among People With Parkinson Disease: A 3-Year Longitudinal Study, Moon Young Kim, Yejin Lee, Carolyn M Baum, Lisa T Connor, Chih-Hung Chang, Linda Tickle-Degnen, Erin R Foster

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: To investigate how participation changes over time among individuals with Parkinsondisease (PD) and identify factors influencing these changes, focusing on impairment level and social factors.

DESIGN: Secondary analysis of a 3-year prospective cohort study of social self-management of PD. Data were collected during 4 in-person assessments conducted at baseline and then annually thereafter. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze data from the 4 time points.

SETTING: Department of Occupational Therapy Research Laboratory and Department of Neurology Movement Disorder Clinic.

PARTICIPANTS: A total of 86 individuals (N = 86) with idiopathic PD (Hoehn & Yahr stages I-IV; mean age ± …

Real-World Experience With Selexipag In Patients With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Treatment Patterns And Outcomes Across Baseline Risk Strata (Sphere And Exposure Studies), Pilar Escribano Subias, Murali M Chakinala, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Treatment strategies for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) depend on patients' 1-year mortality risk; however, real-world practices and outcomes remain inadequately described.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate real-world experience with selexipag, an oral selective prostacyclin I2 receptor agonist used to treat PAH.

METHODS: This analysis of two large, prospective, observational studies: SPHERE (NCT03278002; USA; completed) and EXPOSURE (EUPAS19085; Europe and Canada; ongoing, data cutoff November 2021) included adults newly initiating selexipag with follow-up available.

RESULTS: Of 1366 selexipag users, 894 met eligibility criteria. At selexipag initiation, the median (Q1-Q3) age was 61 (48-70) years and the time since diagnosis was …

Intraocular Amyloidosis Presenting With Secondary Glaucoma: A Clinical-Pathologic Report And Literature Review, Joseph B Lin, James C Liu, Rajendra S Apte, George J Harocopos

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: We describe a case of intraocular amyloidosis presenting as secondary glaucoma, highlighting the clinical presentation and pathologic correlates. We also review the medical literature on all prior reported cases and discuss the diagnostic challenges pertinent to this particular case.

OBSERVATIONS: We report the case of a 72-year-old man presenting with medically intractable elevations of intraocular pressure. On clinical examination, the anterior segment was unremarkable, but there were significant vitreous opacities. The patient underwent tube shunt surgery, and a simultaneous aqueous humor biopsy was acellular and nondiagnostic. A subsequent pars plana vitrectomy demonstrated amyloid aggregates on histology. Mass spectrometric analysis …

Atypical Superotemporal Iris And Retinal Coloboma, Katina N Patterson, Margaret M Reynolds, Gregg T Lueder

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: To report our findings in a patient with an atypical case of supertemporal iris and retinal coloboma, and to assess its systemic associations and potential genetic causes.

OBSERVATIONS: A premature female infant born at 31 weeks gestation presented a left eye superotemporal coloboma affecting both the iris and retina. Systemic abnormalities included a left multicystic kidney, hypoplastic left kidney, atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, and mild pulmonary valve stenosis. Whole genome sequencing and mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequencing were performed, and both returned negative results.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPORTANCE: The absence of genetic findings from the negative results of …

Single Zonular Fiber Extraction And Characterization: A Platform For Biomechanical, Biochemical And Structural Analyses, Riley Forinash, Sean Staggs, Steven Bassnett, Juan Rodriguez

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Zonular fibers are essential for suspending the lens within the eye and, in primates, for transmitting forces generated by the ciliary body to drive ocular accommodation. Despite their biomechanical importance, the response of these fibers to sudden strains, and the molecular basis of their exceptional durability remain poorly understood. This is due, in part, to the absence of tools for studying them in isolation. Here, we present a custom-built, cost-effective apparatus designed to isolate, manipulate, and characterize individual zonular fibers under controlled physical and chemical conditions. The apparatus enables quantification of elastic moduli, stress-relaxation behavior, Poisson's ratio, and response to …

Recent Trends In The Utilization Of Molecular Breast Imaging In The United States, Ria Dave, Lin Gu, Heather V Garrett, Debbie Bennett, Dustin Stwalley, Sydney Singer, Sherwin Chiu, Michelle V Lee

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess trends in Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI) utilization among privately insured women in the United States (U.S.) from 2017 to 2022.

METHODS: The utilization of MBI among women aged 25-64 years from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2022, was obtained using the Merative MarketScan Commercial Database. MBI utilization was captured from the outpatient services file using Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) or Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) codes for MBI.

RESULTS: During the 6-year retrospective claims analysis, 3024 study-eligible women underwent 3648 MBI exams. The overall trend in MBI utilization was …

Single-Cell Multi-Omic Techniques Highlight The Diverse Composition And Intercellular Interactions Of The Vestibular Schwannoma Tumor Microenvironment, Shree S Pari, Sangami Pugazenthi, Albert H Kim, Bhuvic Patel

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Vestibular schwannomas (VS) are tumors arising from Schwann cells of the vestibulocochlear nerve, often leading to hearing loss, gait imbalance, and other neurological complications. Recently, molecular profiling of VS using bulk and single-cell transcriptional and epigenetic approaches has reshaped our understanding of VS pathogenesis and challenged the long-standing view of VS being molecularly homogeneous. These integrative, multi-omic approaches reveal significant differences within VS and highlight diverse Schwann cell subpopulations and their interactions with the tumor microenvironment. Interestingly, these analyses also uncover 2 molecularly distinct groups of VS, one containing Schwann cells with an "Injury-like" phenotype that drives VS progression through …

Finding Significant Hits In Networks: A Network-Based Tool For Analyzing Gene-Level P-Values To Identify Significant Genes Missed By Standard Methods, Sandeep Acharya, Vaha Akbary Moghaddam, Wooseok J Jung, Yu S Kang, Shu Liao, Michael A Province, Michael R Brent

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Finding Significant Hits in Networks (FISHNET) uses prior biological knowledge, represented as gene interaction networks and gene function annotations, to identify genes that do not meet the genome-wide significance threshold but replicate, nonetheless. Its input is gene-level P-values from any source, including omicsWAS, aggregation of genome-wide association studies P-values, CRISPR screens, or differential expression analysis. It is based on the idea that genes whose P-values are low purely by chance are distributed randomly across networks and functions, so genes with suggestive P-values that cluster in densely connected subnetworks and share common functions are less likely to reflect chance and more …

Comparison Of Variant Callers Using 60 532 Multi-Ancestry Whole Genome Sequences, Hufeng Zhou, Nathan O Stitziel, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Whole genome sequencing (WGS) studies play a pivotal role in studying the genetic underpinnings of human diseases and traits. High quality and reproducible variant calling is the cornerstone for the success of downstream analyses, including WGS association studies and polygenic risk prediction. This paper compares the data quality, performance, and concordance of two widely used WGS variant callers, the Genome Analysis Toolkit (GATK) and Variant Tool set that discovers short variants (VT), using 60 532 multi-ancestry whole genomes sequenced by the Centers for Common Disease Genomics (CCDGs) of the NHGRI Genome Sequencing Program. Our findings show that both QCed GATK …

Astrocyte-Specific Deletion Of Lrrc8a Causes Neurological Dysfunction But Not Chronic White Matter Edema, Sven Kerst, Leoni Hoogterp, Marjolein Breur, Gemma M Van Rooijen-Van Leeuwen, Marianna Bugiani, Rajan Sah, Huibert D Mansvelder, Marjo S Van Der Knaap, Rogier Min

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Volume-regulated anion channels (VRACs) are central to cell volume homeostasis. They mediate swelling-induced efflux of chloride and organic osmolytes to drive regulatory volume decrease. In the brain, VRACs have been proposed to play a key role in astrocytic volume regulation. Genetic defects in astrocytic VRAC modulating proteins (MLC1, GlialCAM, Aquaporin-4, GPRC5B) cause the leukodystrophy Megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy with subcortical cysts (MLC), characterized by chronic white matter edema and myelin vacuolization. Disrupted VRAC activity in MLC-patient-derived lymphoblasts and primary astrocytes from MLC mice further supports a pathogenic link between defective VRAC activity and MLC. Here, we studied the physiological and pathological consequences …

Increased Clinical Frailty Is Associated With Aortic-Related Mortality Following Fenestrated And Branched Endovascular Repair For Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysm, Silvia Chen, Elizabeth Ramirez, Blake E Murphy, Anjali Sribalaskandarajah, Martin Bunker, Joel Kruger, Karina A Newhall, Rebecca A Sorber, Sara L Zettervall, Matthew P Sweet

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: Clinical frailty is associated with reduced long-term survival after fenestrated and branched endovascular aortic repair (F/BEVAR). This study assesses the impact of phenotypic clinical frailty on perioperative outcomes and cause of death following F/BEVAR for thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm.

METHODS: Patients who underwent F/BEVAR at a single institution from 2012 to 2024 were identified. The clinical frailty scale (CFS) was used to determine phenotypic frailty. Patients with a preoperative CFS of ≥4 (vulnerable) and a CFS of < 4 were compared. We used χ

RESULTS: We included 233 patients; 60 (25.8%) had a CFS of ≥4 and 173 (74.2%) had a CFS of < 4. Patients with a CFS of ≥4 were more likely to have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (53% vs 27%) and were treated for slightly larger aneurysms (72 mm vs 68 mm; P = .04). There were no differences in symptomatic presentation, aneurysm extent, or operative complexity between patient groups. Additionally, there were no differences in perioperative complications including 30-day mortality, stroke, and spinal cord ischemia. Patients with a CFS of ≥4 had an increased length of hospitalization (11.3 days vs 6.9 days; P < .01) and were less likely to return to preoperative functional status (62.7% vs 86.1%; P < .01). The 3-year all-cause and aortic-related mortality rates were 35.2% and 5.7%, respectively. Patients with a CFS of ≥4 had a lower survival at 1 year (74% vs 89%), 3 years (39% vs 73%), and 5 years (25% vs 56%), compared with patients with a CFS of < 4 (P < .01). The most common causes of death among both groups were pulmonary comorbidities (14.0%), oncologic conditions (14.0%), cardiovascular comorbidities (11.2%), and procedure-related complications (11.2%). Patients with a CFS of ≥4 were more likely to die from aortic-related mortality (10.3% vs 5.9%; P = .02), pulmonary comorbidities (15.4 vs 13.2%; P = .04), systemic decline (7.7% vs 1.5%; P = .02), and infection (12.8% vs 7.4%; P = .03). Aortic-related mortality for the entire patient cohort was 2.2% and 5.7% at 1 year and 3 years, respectively. Aortic-related deaths among clinically frail patients were often due to an inability to tolerate further aortic operations (eg, arch repair), and secondary to follow-up nonadherence in patients with a CFS of < 4.

CONCLUSIONS: In an expanded …

The Win Ratio For Evaluating Edoxaban Vs Dalteparin For Cancer-Associated Venous Thromboembolism: An Analysis Of The Randomized Hokusai Venous Thromboembolism Cancer Trial, Nick Van Es, Luuk J J Scheres, Kristen M Sanfilippo, Harry Büller, Marc Carrier, Marcello Di Nisio, Michael Grosso, Renato D Lopes, William F Mcintyre, Bjorn Redfors, Annelise Segers, Peter Verhamme, Jeffrey I Weitz, Patrick M Bossuyt, Deborah M Siegal

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: The Hokusai Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) Cancer trial demonstrated that edoxaban was noninferior to dalteparin for the treatment of cancer-associated venous VTE.

OBJECTIVES: We reanalyzed the trial using the win ratio, an approach that evaluates a composite of outcomes in a hierarchical order.

METHODS: Forty-nine thrombosis experts ranked 10 outcomes in order of clinical importance from all-cause death (most important) to clinically relevant nonmajor bleeding (least important). We performed unmatched pairwise comparisons between participants on edoxaban and those on dalteparin at 6- and 12-month follow-up. Within each pair, edoxaban was assigned a win, loss, or tie according to the hierarchy …

Longitudinal Analysis Of Rotator Cuff Repair: Joint Kinematics And Clinical Outcomes, Sujata Khandare, Rebekah L Lawrence, Alena Jalics, Roger Zauel, Vasilios Moutzouros, Eric C Makhni, Stephanie Muh, Michael J Bey

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Rotator cuff repair is a common surgical procedure, but postoperative outcomes can be highly variable, and postoperative repair tissue healing remains a significant clinical challenge. Furthermore, the biomechanical effects of rotator cuff repair are not fully understood.

METHODS: Twenty-two participants scheduled for arthroscopic rotator cuff repair were evaluated preoperatively and at 3, 12, and 24 months postsurgery. The following data were recorded at each time point: glenohumeral and scapulothoracic kinematics, shoulder strength, and patient-reported measures of pain and function. Postoperative repair integrity was assessed via magnetic resonance imaging at 3 months and 24 months postsurgery.

RESULTS: At 3 months …

Reimagining Nerve Injury Care Through Digital Twins: A Conceptual Framework, Ethan Blum, Christopher J Dy

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

A Quantitative Cell-Based Reporter Links Tdp-43 Aggregation And Dysfunction To Define Pathogenic Mechanisms, Lohany Diax Mamede, Miwei Hu, Jaime Vaquer-Alicea, Amanda R. Titus, Patricia M. Passos, Erica Lantelme, Rachel L French, Paige A. Kirschner, Marc I. Diamond, Timothy M. Miller, Yuna M. Ayala

2020-Current year OA Pubs

TDP-43 pathology is a hallmark of fatal neurodegenerative disorders, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43-encephalopathy (LATE). In affected patients, cytoplasmic TDP-43 aggregates are accompanied by disruption of its normal nuclear localization and function. Because TDP-43 is an RNA binding protein that controls transcript processing, including repression of cryptic exon splicing, its loss leads to dysregulation of gene expression. Despite its central significance in disease, the connection between TDP-43 aggregation and dysfunction remains poorly understood, and models to study the underlying mechanisms are limited. Here, we characterize a robust and quantitative cell-based reporter that captures …

Predicting Onset Of Symptomatic Alzheimer's Disease With Plasma P-Tau217 Clocks, Kellen K Petersen, Yan Li, Chengjie Xiong, Benjamin Saef, Carlos Cruchaga, Eric Mcdade, David M Holtzman, John C Morris, Randall J Bateman, Suzanne E Schindler, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Predicting not just if, but also when, cognitively unimpaired individuals are likely to develop onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD) symptoms would be useful to clinical trials and, eventually, clinical practice. Although clock models based on amyloid and tau positron emission tomography have shown promise in predicting the onset of AD symptoms, a model based on plasma biomarkers would be more accessible. Using longitudinal plasma %p-tau217 (the ratio of phosphorylated to non-phosphorylated tau at position 217) from two independent cohorts (n = 258 and n = 345), clock models were used to estimate the age at plasma %p-tau217 positivity. The estimated …

Addressing System Strength And Reliability Concerns In Renewable Energy-Based Weak Grids Using Synchronous Condensers Determined By Hybrid Gru-Classical Optimization Method, Md Ohirul Qays, Iftekhar Ahmad, Daryoush Habibi, Mohammad A.S. Masoum, Thair Mahmoud

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Owing to the higher-integration of renewable energy generators (REGs), conventional coal-based synchronous generators are being decommissioned from generation fleets, resulting in system strength and reliability concerns. Along with the increasing load demand, deficiency of system strength can be a huge risk to system stability and can eventually lead to blackouts by disconnecting REGs from grid systems. In the literature, researchers and power engineers have proposed to deploy synchronous condensers (SynCons) as a mitigation strategy to address the system strength and reliability challenges. SynCons are, however, expensive and require investigation for higher reliability results before installation. To address the concerns, SynCons’ …

Orthogonal Time Frequency Space Modulation For Underwater Acoustic Communication Systems: A Review, Bevek Subba, Quoc Viet Phung, Stefan Lachowicz, Walid K. Hasan, Muhammad Haziq, Daryoush Habibi, Iftekhar Ahmad

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Underwater Acoustic Communication (UAC) has garnered significant attention due to its applications in marine science, defence, and exploration. With the vast majority of the Earth's surface covered by water, there is a growing demand for reliable and effective communication techniques in underwater environments. However, the underwater acoustic channel is the most challenging channel due to its harsh characteristics, which significantly hinder the reliability and performance of UAC systems. Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS) modulation has emerged as a promising solution for next-generation UAC systems to address high Doppler and high mobility scenarios. It has demonstrated tolerance to fast time-varying channel …

Shear Stability Enhancement In Fracture Plugging Zones: Unveiling Failure Mechanisms And Adhesive Benefits Through Photoelastic Analysis, Haoran Jing, Yili Kang, Chengyuan Xu, Lei Liu, Xiaopeng Yan, Zhenjiang You

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Addressing lost circulation during drilling operations typically involves the utilization of lost circulation materials (LCMs) to create a fracture plugging zone (FPZ), which effectively decouples the wellbore fluid column pressure (Pw) from the formation pressure (Pf). This FPZ, comprised of aggregated granular LCM particles, frequently succumbs to shear stress, with shear failure being the predominant mode of structural failure, leading to ongoing fluid losses. To illuminate the failure mechanisms of the FPZ under conditions of escalating drilling differential pressure (Pw - Pf), we utilized photoelastic experiments to capture and visualize the evolving mesoscopic mechanical structure of the FPZ. Photoelastic images …

A High-Fidelity Multimodal Synthetic Dataset Generation Framework For Off-Road Unstructured Terrain Navigation Training Of Autonomous Robots, Liyana Wijayathunga, Dulitha Dabare, Alexander Rassau, Douglas Chai, Syed Mohammed Shamsul Islam

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The success of deep learning methods in a wide range of application areas has inspired many recent developments in the urban and off-road autonomous navigation domain. In particular, techniques for semantic scene understanding, a key aspect of the navigation pipeline, have been researched extensively, resulting in many real-world and synthetic datasets. However, in comparison to urban semantic segmentation datasets, the availability of datasets for off-road environments remains sparse. In this paper, we aim to overcome this challenge by introducing a methodology capable of efficiently generating photorealistic synthetic datasets for off-road environments with support for multiple sensor modalities. The developed approach …

Automated Abdominal Aortic Calcification Scores And Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease In The Uk Biobank Imaging Study, Marc Sim, James Webster, Cassandra Smith, Afsah Saleem, Syed Zulqarnain Gilani, Carlos J. Toro-Huamanchumo, David Suter, Gemma Figtree, Anne Karine Lagendijk, Emma L. Duncan, Carl Schultz, Pawel Szulc, Joseph Hung, Wai H. Lim, Parminder Raina, Nicola P. Bondonno, Richard Woodman, Jonathan M. Hodgson, Douglas P. Kiel, Richard L. Prince, William D. Leslie, John P. Kemp, Nicholas C. Harvey, John T. Schousboe, Joshua R. Lewis

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) is a subclinical measure of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). AAC can be captured on lateral spine images obtained from bone density machines during routine osteoporosis screening. Identifying individuals with AAC provides a new opportunity to prevent disease progression. Objectives: The aim of the study was to externally validate a machine learning-derived AAC 24-point algorithm (ML-AAC24) with incident ASCVD. Methods: Middle-aged individuals from the UK Biobank Imaging Study with lateral spine images, obtained via dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, were included. ML-AAC24 scores were grouped as low (<2), moderate (2 to <6), and high (≥6). Linked health records were used to identify ASCVD-associated events, including hospitalizations and death. Results: Among 53,611 participants (52% female; mean age 65 years), 78.2% had low, 16.4% had moderate, and 5.4% had high ML-AAC24. After excluding people with prevalent ASCVD or missing data, 1,163 (2.3%) of 50,923 people had an incident ASCVD event over a median follow-up of 4.1 [3.0-5.5] years. In age- and sex-adjusted analysis, compared to those with low ML-AAC24, those with moderate (HR: 1.80 [95% CI: 1.57-2.08]) and high ML-AAC24 (HR: 2.87 [95% CI: 2.39-3.44]) had a higher HR for incident ASCVD. Results remained comparable after adjustment for established ASCVD risk factors. Consistent patterns were observed when considering incident coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, and stroke. Conclusions: Assessing ML-AAC24 on lateral spine images offers a new and promising screening method to identify people with higher risk of incident ASVD events.

Hospital-Presenting Self-Harm And Suicide Among Justice-Involved Adolescents On Community-Based Orders: A Population-Based Cohort Study, Emaediong I. Akpanekpo, George Karystianis, Jocelyn Jones, Tony Butler

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Objective To estimate the incidence and identify risk factors for hospital-presenting self-harm and suicide among justice-involved adolescents serving community-based orders in New South Wales, Australia. Method We conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study of 44,887 adolescents aged 10–17 years at first proven offence who received community-based orders between 1994 and 2020. Hospital and emergency department records were linked with mortality, child protection, and justice data. Cox regression estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for self-harm, and Fine-Gray models estimated subdistribution HRs for suicide, accounting for competing risks. Results Over 163,676 person-years, 1901 adolescents had a first self-harm episode (11.6 per 1000 person-years), …

Numerical Investigation On Enhancing The Performance Of A Parabolic Trough Collector Using A Threaded Absorber Tube, Shayan Pourhemmati, Abdellah M. Shafieian, Hussein A. Mohammed, Barun Kumar Das, Majid Tolouei-Rad

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The growing global demand for energy and heightened environmental concerns have elevated the importance of solar energy harvesting in recent years. Parabolic trough collectors (PTCs) are widely utilized for capturing direct solar radiation; however, conventional PTC efficiency is limited by low convection heat transfer rate in the absorber section, which is then delivered to heat transfer fluid (HTF). This study numerically investigates the use of a threaded tube as a fluid flow disruption technique to enhance heat transfer rate within the absorber, with Reynolds numbers ranging from 4000 to 10,000. Three key geometric parameters of the thread: pitch (300, 150 …

Participatory Action Research (Par) In Designing A Supplementary Animated Teaching Resource To Support Learning Cervical Assessment, Michelle Gray, Shelley Stuart, Melanie Welfare

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Aim: To create an education resource that assists students to understand the movement of the cervix during labour from a posterior retroverted position to a central location, cervical effacement, dilatation of the cervix and descent of the fetal skull. Background: Learning about anatomy and physiology in relation to cervical effacement and dilatation are abstract concepts that are difficult to understand from reading alone. Diagrams are of little assistance however 3D animation has the potential to improve students learning experiences. Design: Participatory Action Research (PAR) using the 7 C's Feekery Framework approach was adopted. Participants became coresearchers in conceptualising the learning …

State Of Charge Estimation Of Ev Secondary Battery Pack Using Hybrid Hedge Feedforward Feedback-Based Gated Recurrent Unit To Extend Lifespan, Md Ohirul Qays, Iftekhar Ahmad, Daryoush Habibi, Mohammad A.S. Masoum, Paul Moses

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Accurate estimation of state of charge (SoC) and maintaining balanced charge levels across secondary battery cells are crucial in battery management systems (BMSs) to extend battery life while improving the performance and thermal stability of Li-ion batteries (LIBs) in electric vehicles (EVs). However, there are still underexplored challenges associated with circulating currents in electrochemical cells during continuous operation which can overheat battery packs, reducing their life span or result in dangerous thermal runaways. This paper investigates SoC estimation using various real-world charging and discharging profiles, along with charge-balancing strategies to enhance the longevity of parallel-connected Li-ion battery cells. A newly …

User Experience (Ux) Meets Bureaucracy: Lessons From A Government Intranet Prototype, Scott Pelham, Jo Jung, Christopher Kueh

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Implementing user experience (UX) methodologies within government settings is both possible and powerful – but fraught with systemic and cultural complexities. This report presents insights from the redesign of a government intranet for a prominent Australian emergency services organisation, using a human-centred design approach grounded in the Double Diamond framework. The research reveals a series of challenges: bureaucracy, opinion bias, overwhelming content volume with minimal organisational value, a governance paradox where design rules are desired but selectively applied, a disconnect in engagement from key stakeholders, and the impact of a design by committee approach. While these challenges were significant, they …

A Joint Effort: Stakeholders' Perspectives Of Medication Management Reviews In Australian Residential Aged Care, Rajendra Gyawali, Marea O'Donnell, Rachel Jenkins, Amy D. Nguyen, Lalit Yadav, Rosemary Saunders, Fiona J. Clay, Johanna I. Westbrook, Karla Seaman, Magdalena Z. Raban

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Objective: Residential Medication Management Review (RMMR) is a government-funded pharmacist-led service to address medication-related problems, such as polypharmacy, which are prevalent in aged care. Despite known benefits, concerns remain about the service's effective implementation to benefit residents. We aimed to explore stakeholders' perspectives of the service and identify challenges and improvement opportunities. Method: A qualitative study was conducted using individual interviews and focus groups with 21 stakeholders, including general practitioners (GPs), a nurse practitioner, registered nurses, pharmacists and consumers. Audio transcripts of the discussions were thematically analysed using inductive coding. Results: Seven interconnected themes were identified, highlighting complexities in RMMR …

Comparing Methods For Measuring 210po In Seawater: Fe(Oh)3 Can Extract Less 210po Than Co-Apdc And Thus Overestimate Poc Export Fluxes, Harold Carrasco, J. Kirk Cochran, Beat Gasser, Inés Sanz-Alvarez, Montserrat Roca-Martí, Christina Heilbrun, Nicholas S. Fisher, Jana Friedrich, Pere Masqué

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Over six decades of research, two methods have been used to extract the natural radionuclides ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po from seawater- the precipitation of iron hydroxide (Fe(OH)3) and coagulation of cobalt ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (Co-APDC). Although the two methods had been intercompared for ²¹⁰Pb and shown to agree, they were never intercompared for ²¹⁰Po until Roca-Martí et al. (2021) , in which only unfiltered samples were used. Here we document that Fe(OH)3 may be less effective in extracting ²¹⁰Po from a seawater sample than Co-APDC. We hypothesize that cycling of ²¹⁰Po through the marine food …

Dietary Flavonoid Intake And Psychological Well-Being – A Bidirectional Relationship, Alysha S. Thompson, Nicola P. Bondonno, Yan Lydia Liu, Farah Qureshi, Laura D. Kubzansky, Claudia Trudel-Fitzgerald, Julia K. Boehm, Eric B. Rimm, Aedín Cassidy

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background and aim: Higher dietary flavonoid intake has been associated with lower risks of mortality and major chronic disease, yet its relationship with psychological well-being (PWB), a key contributor to health and quality of life, remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate bidirectional associations between dietary flavonoid intake and two PWB facets: happiness (positive emotional state) and optimism (generalized expectation of positive outcomes). Specifically, we examined whether (1) overall flavonoid-rich dietary patterns (flavodiet score), (2) intake of specific flavonoid-rich foods, and (3) total flavonoid and subclass intakes were each associated with happiness and optimism over time. Methods: Data were drawn …

Explainable Artificial Intelligence Models For Detecting Suspicious Bank Transactions, Narasimha Kumar Narasapuram, Syed Afaq Ali Shah, Mohd Fairuz Shiratuddin, Ferdous Sohel

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Detecting financial crime is a complex challenge due to evolving criminal strategies and fragmented detection systems, particularly in the areas of money laundering and fraud. While it is easy to implement, traditional rule-based approaches lack adaptability to new threats, and machine learning models, though more effective, often function as opaque "black boxes," limiting their practical use in regulated domains like banking, where interpretability and accountability are essential. This research presents a novel framework that combines intrinsic and post-hoc XAI techniques to detect suspicious bank transactions. Intrinsic methods provide model-inherent transparency, while post-hoc methods offer behavior-level explanations, enabling robust cross-verification of …