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This paper profiles Australian universities’ website communications about sustainability initiatives, especially relating to Talloires Declaration signification and the ten recommended actions. The research involves a content study of Talloires signatories’ websites and their semiotic and signaling theory aspects across time. The source is publicly available information (time period 2014 and 2015 respectively) in context with education for sustainable development (ESD) in society and the transaction model in communication theory. It is found that some of the signatory universities in Australia exemplify a few of the Talloires ten agreed actions in their public communications, but each point is not emphasised with equal priority. The variance may be due to divergent underlying objectives; such as public communication of Talloires toward genuine benefit for the environment, or to create a strategic positioning tool to signal the university as an environmental champion within the broader society. Focusing upon secondary data from signatory university websites in Australia, the paper provides a study of higher education signification of Talloires. It assists the initial understanding of signaling theory in the public communication transactions that promote Talloires action and implementation. The findings encourage further studies of related communication issues in universities in other countries. The paper also deepens local and global understanding of perceptions of sustainability and contributes to the body of comparative literature of sustainability in higher education as a development component of strategic management of ESD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We will monitor compliance with the intervention and adverse events. • Data will be analyzed following intention-to-treat principles. • A cost-effectiveness analysis will be performed. This a priori statistical analysis plan describes the methods of analysis for the Trial Of Prevention Strategies for low back pain (TOPS). TOPS aimed to investigate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of exercise and education classes compared with a minimal intervention control in preventing recurrence of low back pain (LBP) in people who have recently recovered from an episode of LBP. TOPS is a superiority, pragmatic, parallel-group randomized controlled trial with allocation concealment, blinded outcome assessors, and intention-to-treat analysis. Participants were randomized to a physical therapist-led exercise and education program for 12 weeks or minimal intervention. The primary outcome was days to recurrence of an episode of LBP. The three key secondary outcomes were days to recurrence of an episode of LBP resulting in (1) activity limitation, (2) care seeking for LBP; and (3) work absence of at least 1 day. Differences in survival curves for the primary (days to recurrence) and secondary outcome (days to LBP with activity limitation, days to care seeking due to LBP, and days to work absence due to LBP) will be compared using Cox regression. Hazard ratios (HRs) and median survival times with 95% confidence intervals (CI) will be calculated. The number of adverse events, including serious adverse events will be reported and the proportion of adverse events between groups will be compared using a Chi-squared test. This paper will provide a detailed description of the planned analyses for the TOPS trial. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12615000939594). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purposes: This study aimed to compare between electronic medication administration records and paper-based records in the nursing time spent on various activities in a medication round and the medication administration processes followed by nurses in an Australian residential aged care home. It also aimed to identify the benefits and unintended adverse consequences of using the electronic medication administration records.Methods: Time-motion observation, taking of field notes, informal conversation and document review were used to collect data in two units of a residential aged care home. Each unit had one nurse administer medication. Seven nurses were observed over 12 morning shifts. Unit 1 used electronic medication administration records and Unit 2 used paper-based records.Results: No significant difference between the two units was found in the nursing time spent on various activities in a medication round, including documentation, verbal communication, medication administration, infection control and transit. Comparison of the medication administration processes between the electronic and paper-based medication administration records identified a procedural problem which violated the organization's documentation requirement. This problem was documenting before providing medication to a resident when using the paper-based records. It was not observed with the electronic medication administration records. Benefits of introducing the electronic medication administration records included improving nurses' compliance with documentation requirements, freedom from the error of signing twice, reducing the possibility of forgetting to medicate a resident, facilitating nurses to record the time of medication administration to a resident and increasing documentation space. Unintended adverse consequences of introducing the electronic medication administration records included inadequate information about residents, late addition of a new resident's medication profile in the records and nurses' forgetting to medicate a resident due to power outage of the portable device.Conclusions: The electronic medication administration records may not change nursing time spent on various activities in a medication round or substantially alter the medication administration processes, but can generate both benefits and unintended adverse consequences. Future research may investigate whether and how the adverse consequences can be prevented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ambient ultrafine particle number concentrations (PNC) have inhomogeneous spatio-temporal distributions and depend on a number of different urban factors, including background conditions and distant sources. This paper quantitatively compares exposure to ambient ultrafine particles at urban schools in two cities in developed countries, with high insolation climatic conditions, namely Brisbane (Australia) and Barcelona (Spain). The analysis used comprehensive indoor and outdoor air quality measurements at 25 schools in Brisbane and 39 schools in Barcelona. PNC modes were analysed with respect to ambient temperature, land use and urban characteristics, combined with the measured elemental carbon concentrations, NO x (Brisbane) and NO 2 (Barcelona). The trends and modes of the quantified weekday average daily cycles of ambient PNC exhibited significant differences between the two cities. PNC increases were observed during traffic rush hours in both cases. However, the mid-day peak was dominant in Brisbane schools and had the highest contribution to total PNC for both indoors and outdoors. In Barcelona, the contribution from traffic was highest for ambient PNC, while the mid-day peak had a slightly higher contribution for indoor concentrations. Analysis of the relationships between PNC and land use characteristics in Barcelona schools showed a moderate correlation with the percentage of road network area and an anti-correlation with the percentage of green area. No statistically significant correlations were found for Brisbane. Overall, despite many similarities between the two cities, school-based exposure patterns were different. The main source of ambient PNC at schools was shown to be traffic in Barcelona and mid-day new particle formation in Brisbane. The mid-day PNC peak in Brisbane could have been driven by the combined effect of background and meteorological conditions, as well as other local/distant sources. The results have implications for urban development, especially in terms of air quality mitigation and management at schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]