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The ongoing global warming has caused unprecedented changes in the climate system, leading to an increase in the intensity and frequency of weather and climate extremes. This study uses the sixth phase of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) data to investigate projected changes in drought events over East Africa (EA) under four Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) emission scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-4.0, and SSP5-8.5). The CMIP6 data are bias-corrected using a quantile mapping method, with the Climatic Research Unit's precipitation dataset as reference. Drought is quantified using the standardized precipitation index and different measures of drought are estimated: drought duration, drought frequency, drought severity, and drought intensity. Evaluating the accuracy and reliability of historical data before and after bias correction demonstrates the importance of the approach. The overall distribution after bias correction depicts a close agreement with observation. Moreover, the multi-model ensemble mean demonstrate superiority over individual Global Circulation Models. Projected future changes show enhancement in precipitation over most parts of EA in the far future under different SSP scenarios. However, the arid and semi-arid regions are expected to receive less amount of precipitation, whereas the highlands and lake regions are expected to receive a larger amount of precipitation increase. Furthermore, the dry areas of EA are likely to experience more frequent drought events with longer duration, stronger intensity, and severity in the far future. Overall, this study identifies possible drought hotspots over EA, enabling early preparation for such events.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11069-022-05341-8.

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Background Catheter ablation is an effective first-line treatment for symptomatic and recurrent supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). The advent of 3D electroanatomic mapping (EAM) has led to a reduction in fluoroscopy use and consequently lower radiation exposure for patients and staff during SVT ablation. Purpose The aims of this study are to demonstrate if the use of EAM during SVT ablation reduces fluoroscopy time (FT), and determine if further reductions in FT are observed longitudinally. We hypothesise that over time, with continued use and wider adoption of EAM, greater operator experience, and technological advancements in EAM, there will be further reductions in radiation exposure as estimated by FT. Methods All cases of atrioventricular nodal re-entry tachycardia (AVNRT), atrioventricular re-entry tachycardia (AVRT), and/or atrial tachycardia (AT) ablation between May 2011 to May 2022 at a tertiary centre were prospectively recruited. FT between the groups with and without EAM were compared. Within the EAM subset, the trend of FT across the years was also analysed. Results Over this 11-year period, there were 1758 cases of SVT ablation (565 without EAM; 1193 with EAM). Between the two groups, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in age, sex, history of structural heart disease and/or ischaemic heart disease, stereotaxis use, and diagnosis (AVNRT, AVRT, AT). Cases using EAM were more likely to have >1 SVT ablated during the procedure (0.04) and require intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) (p < 0.001). The use of EAM was associated with mean reductions in FT and dose area product (DAP) by 19.6 minutes and 18 581 mGy*cm2 respectively (both p < 0.001). EAM was also associated with a longer procedure time (mean +8.8 minutes, p < 0.001). There was no difference in radiofrequency application time between the two groups (p = 0.143). After controlling for potential confounding factors including age, sex, use of stereotaxis, use of ICE, type and number of SVT, history of prior ablation, and structural heart disease and/or ischaemic heart disease, we found over time (2011-2022), further reduction in FT was observed, with a mean reduction of 0.9 minutes year on year (p < 0.001). EAM was gradually adopted through the years with the number of cases per year plateauing after 2017. Between 2011-2017, there was a significant reduction in FT (mean of -1.1 minute year on year, p = 0.020), which was not observed from 2017 onwards (p = 0.088). The greatest reduction in FT was observed after the first year of adoption, with a mean reduction of 6.9 minutes between 2012-2013. Conclusion This demonstrates that use of EAM in SVT ablation reduces FT and fluoroscopy DAP. There was no incremental benefit observed after 6 years of EAM adoption likely related to operator experience. While there is increased interest in zero fluoroscopy SVT ablation, complementary use of fluoroscopy may still be necessary in select complex cases.

Background The expanding therapeutic armamentarium for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has drastically improved the clinical outcomes of patients with both Crohn’s Disease (CD), and Ulcerative Colitis (UC). However, data of clinical outcomes in newly diagnosed IBD in the era of biologics in recent decades remains limited. We aim to compare the clinical outcomes of newly diagnosed IBD patients in Singapore between the era of conventional biologics (originator Anti-TNF) with those diagnosed during the era of newer biologics over a 14-year period. Methods This is a multi-centre retrospective observational cohort study. Baseline demographics and treatment histories were obtained from the registries of two tertiary centres in Singapore. Clinical outcomes such as systemic steroid use, IBD-related hospitalizations and IBD-related surgeries were obtained. Anti-TNF, anti-integrin, anti-IL-12/23 and biosimilars were approved for IBD management in 2006, 2016 and 2018 respectively in Singapore. Patients diagnosed with IBD from 2006 to 2019 were included and further subdivided into two cohorts: Pre-2013 (from 2006 to 2012) and post-2013 (from 2013-2019). Results During the study period, 725 patients [CD: 331 (46%), UC: 394 (54%), pre-2013: 291 (40%), post-2013: 434 (60%)] were newly diagnosed with IBD. 625 (86%), 475 (65%), and 241 (33%) patients were exposed to 5-ASA, immunomodulators, and biologics respectively. Compared to the pre-2013 cohort, patients from the post-2013 cohort had less exposure to 5-ASA [277 (95%) vs 348 (80%), p In patients who were started on biologics, the overall median time from diagnosis to biologic initiation was 2.8 (1.1 – 6.3) years. 196 (81.3%) patients started on biologics were initiated from 2016 onwards. Median time to biologic initiation was shorter for the post-2013 cohort, compared to the pre-2013 cohort. (1.4 (0.5 – 2.8) vs 6.9 (4.3 – 9.1) years, p Steroid exposure and IBD-related hospitalizations were higher in the pre-2013 cohort [(OR 1.7 (95% 1.2 – 2.5, p=0.001) and (OR 1.6 (95% 1.2 – 2.3, p=0.003) respectively], but no difference was found in the number of IBD-related surgeries between both cohorts (OR -0.02 (95% -0.4 – 0.4, p=0.934). Conclusion Paralleled with earlier, and increased initiation of biologic agents, there is significant reduction of steroid exposure and IBD-related hospitalizations in patients newly diagnosed with IBD in the era of newer biologics, despite a reduction in 5-ASA and immunomodulator exposure.

Online communities (OCs) have become an increasingly prevalent way for organizations to bring people together to collaborate and create value. However, despite the abundance of extant literature, many studies still point to the lack of long-term sustainability of OCs. We contend that communities become dormant or obsolete over time because of manifestations of ineffectiveness a state of the community that hinders the attainment of individual and collective desired outcomes. While ineffectiveness in OCs is common, it is less apparent why such ineffectiveness persists. Two knowledge gaps are particularly significant here. First, while the multilevel nature of OCs is acknowledged, corresponding difficulties in aligning individual and collective interests and behaviors have often been neglected in past studies. Second, rare longitudinal studies have revealed that community members respond to ineffectiveness with various coping behaviors. However, the impact of these coping behaviors may not turn out as desired. Consequently, we investigate the persistence of ineffectiveness from the perspective of multilevel and coping effects, addressing the following research question: How and why does ineffectiveness persist in online communities? Our critical realist case study offers a three-step explanatory framework: (1) underlying multilevel tensions in the community contribute to usage ineffectiveness (i.e., members are unable to use the OC effectively); (2) misguided coping behaviors contribute to ineffective adaptation (i.e., members are unable to cope with not being able to use the OC effectively); and (3) ineffectiveness persists due to the interaction between usage and adaptation ineffectiveness.

SUMMARY This case report illustrates a minimally invasive segmental rehabilitation of localized anterior tooth wear using a modification of the sandwich technique, a combination of indirect palatal composite veneers and direct labial composite restorations, at an increased occlusal vertical dimension (the Dahl concept).

Over the past decade, marine heatwaves (MHWs) research has been conducted in almost all of the world’s oceans, and their catastrophic effects on the marine environment have gradually been recognized. Using the second version of the Optimal Interpolated Sea Surface Temperature analysis data (OISSTV2) from 1982 to 2014, this study analyzes six MHWs characteristics in the Western North Pacific and Chinese Coastal region (WNPCC, 100°E ∼ 180°E, 0° ∼ 65°N). MHWs occur in most WNPCC areas, with an average frequency, duration, days, cumulative intensity, maximum intensity, and mean intensity of 1.95 ± 0.21 times/year, 11.38 ± 1.97 days, 22.06 ± 3.84 days, 18.06 ± 7.67 °Cdays, 1.84 ± 0.50°C, and 1.49 ± 0.42 °C, respectively, in the historical period (1982 ~ 2014). Comparing the historical simulation results of 19 models of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) with the OISSTV2 observations, five best-performing models (GFDL-CM4, GFDL-ESM4, AWI-CM-1-1-MR, EC-Earth3-Veg, and EC-Earth3) are selected for MHWs projection (2015 ~ 2100). The MHWs characteristics projections from these five models are analyzed in detail under the Shared Socio-economic Pathway (SSP) 1-2.6, 2-4.5 and 5-8.5 scenarios. The projected MHWs characteristics under SSP5-8.5 are more considerable than those under SSP1-2.6 and 2-4.5, except for the MHWs frequency. The MHWs cumulative intensity is 96.36 ± 56.30, 175.44 ± 92.62, and 385.22 ± 168.00 °Cdays under SSP1-2.6, 2-4.5 and 5-8.5 scenarios, respectively. This suggests that different emission scenarios have a crucial impact on MHW variations. Each MHWs characteristic has an obvious increasing trend except for the annual occurrences. The increase rate of MHWs cumulative intensity for these three scenarios is 1.02 ± 0.83, 3.83 ± 1.43, and 6.70 ± 2.61 °Cdays/year, respectively. The MHWs occurrence area in summer is slightly smaller than in winter, but the MHWs average intensity is stronger in summer than in winter.

Revolutionary advances in machine and deep learning techniques within the field of computer field have dramatically expanded our opportunities to decipher the merits of digital imagery in the business world. Although extant literature on computer vision has yielded a myriad of approaches for extracting core attributes from images, the esotericism of the advocated techniques hinders scholars from delving into the role of visual rhetoric in driving business performance. Consequently, this tutorial aims to consolidate resources for extracting visual features via conventional machine and/or deep learning techniques. We describe resources and techniques based on three visual feature extraction methods, namely calculation-, recognition-, and simulation-based. Additionally, we offer practical examples to illustrate how image features can be accessed via open-sourced python packages such as OpenCV and TensorFlow.

Burnout is a psychological problem which is becoming more prevalent among medical professionals resulting in various negative outcomes. Physical activity has been found to be an effective method in alleviating burnout. The aim of this study was to determine the association between physical activity and burnout among postgraduate anaesthesia trainees in Malaysia. The study also intended to determine the level of physical activity among trainees, the factors affecting this practice, and the prevalence of burnout among anaesthesia trainees.An online self-administered questionnaire was sent out to all postgraduate anaesthesia trainees between August 2020 and January 2021 via email and respondents were recruited on a voluntary basis.The prevalence of burnout among postgraduate anaesthesia trainees was high (54%). This prevalence was higher among trainees with low a level of physical activity. Half of the trainees (50.8%) engaged in moderate physical activity while only 12% reported a high level of physical activity. The postgraduate study year was found to be a significant factor affecting the practice of physical activity.There is a significant association between physical activity and burnout among postgraduate anaesthesia trainees in Malaysia. Physical activity has the potential to be an essential method of reducing burnout. Hence, measures should be implemented to improve the practice of physical activity among healthcare professionals in order to reduce workplace burnout.

Invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) imposes a significant burden on the global community due to its high case fatality rate (4-20%) and the risk of long-term sequelae for one in five survivors. An expert group meeting was held to discuss the epidemiology of IMD and immunization policies in Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Most of these countries do not include meningococcal immunization in their routine vaccination programs, except for high-risk groups such as immunocompromised people and pilgrims. It is difficult to estimate the epidemiology of IMD in the highly diverse Asia-Pacific region, but available evidence indicate serogroup B is increasingly dominant. Disease surveillance systems differ by country. IMD is not a notifiable disease in some of them. Without an adequate surveillance system in the region, the risk and the burden of IMD might well be underestimated. With the availability of new combined meningococcal vaccines and the World Health Organization roadmap to defeat bacterial meningitis by 2030, a better understanding of the epidemiology of IMD in the Asia-Pacific region is needed.

The North Pacific Subtropical Countercurrent (STCC) region has high mesoscale eddy activities due to its complex circulation structure. This study divides these mesoscale eddies into four types: cyclonic cold-core eddy (CCE), anticyclonic warm-core eddy (AWE), cyclonic warm-core eddy (CWE), and anticyclonic cold-core eddy (ACE) according to the rotation direction of the eddy flow field and the sign of average temperature anomaly within the eddy after spatial high-pass filtering. CCE and ACE are called normal eddies, while CWE and ACE are named abnormal eddies. Using eddy-resolving model data (OFES), this work finds that the abnormal eddy phenomenon mainly occurs in the ocean’s upper layer. The eddy number proportion for CCEs, AWEs, CWEs, and ACEs at the sea surface is 35.60, 32.08, 12.95, and 19.37%. The corresponding average radius is 79.14 ± 3.7, 83.34 ± 3.75, 73.74 ± 4.14, and 79.46 ± 3.89 km, respectively. Each type of eddy’s average amplitude is about 3 cm. Regarding the eddy average eccentricity, the four types of eddies have very close eccentricities, with a range of 0.73 ~ 0.76. If the types of eddies are not distinguished, the eddies generated north of 21°N tend to move southward, while eddies generated south of that latitude tend to move northward. The depth of CCEs, AWEs, CWEs, and ACEs with average eddy nonlinearity larger than one is concentrated in the ocean’s upper layer at 109.0, 116.0, 159.0, and 52.0 m, respectively. This study deepens the understanding of the spatial distribution characteristics of mesoscale eddies in the STCC region.

With the explosive growth of AI and ML-driven processes, companies are under more pressure than ever to drive innovation. For many, adding a Data Science capability into their organization is the easy part. Deploying models into a large, complex enterprise that is operating at scale is new, unchartered territory and quickly becoming the technology challenge of this decade. This article takes an in-depth look at the primary organizational barriers that have not only hindered success but often prevented organizations from moving beyond just experimentation. These obstacles include challenges with fragmented and siloed enterprise data, rigid legacy systems that cannot easily be infused with AI processes, and insufficient skills needed for data science, engineering and the emerging field of AI-ops. Operationalizing AI is hard, especially at the fast pace at which the business operates today. This paper uses real-world examples to guide a discussion around each of these hurdles and will equip industry leaders with a better understanding of how to overcome the challenges they will face as they navigate their data and AI journey.

Curiosity, a motivational state of exploratory behavior, is conducive to innovation diffusion by encouraging users’ exploration on open innovation platforms. Yet, despite its importance, there is a scarcity of research investigating the mechanism for piquing users’ curiosity. Accordingly, we advance a research model to unravel how platform service quality, in the form of service content quality and service delivery quality, affects users’ epistemic and perceptual curiosity via inducing their trust and distrust in a platform. Taking mobile app stores as our empirical context, we collected data from 431 users to validate our hypothesized relationships. Analytical results indicate that both dimensions of platform service quality positively influence users’ trust in platform, whereas only service delivery quality negatively influences users’ distrust in platform. Furthermore, trust in platform directly triggers curiosity whereas distrust in platform positively influences users’ feeling-of-deprivation, which in turn triggers curiosity. In this sense, our analytical results reveal the mediating roles of distrust in platform and feeling-of-deprivation in the relationship between service delivery quality and curiosity.

Information about likely future patterns of climate variables is important in climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. This study investigates future (2021–2100) changes in rainfall based on CMIP6 datasets over Uganda. The projection period was divided into two sub-periods: 2021–2060 (near future) and 2061–2100 (far future), relative to the baseline period (1985–2014). Two emission scenarios: SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5, were considered. The results reveal a larger decrease (increase) in rainfall during March – April (November – December) under both SSPs. Moreover, an enhanced decline (increase) is projected under SSP2-4.5 (SSP5-8.5). The spatial distribution of future changes in seasonal rainfall reveals a decrease in MAM rainfall in the near future over most parts of the country under both emission scenarios. However, a recovery is exhibited towards the end of the century with more increase in the south-western parts of the country, and a higher magnitude under SSP5-8.5. In contrast, SON rainfall reveals wetter conditions during both timelines and emission scenarios. Maximum (minimum) wet conditions are expected in the north-western parts of the country (around the Lake Victoria basin). The linear trend analysis shows a non-significant (Z = -0.714) decreasing trend for MAM rainfall during the historical period. This pattern is reflected in the near future with z-scores of -0.757 and − 1.281 under SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5, respectively. However, a significant increase for MAM and annual rainfall (z-scores of 2.785 and 3.46, respectively) is projected towards the end of the century under SSP5-8.5. These findings provide guidance to policy makers in devising appropriate adaptation measures to cope with expected changes in the local climate. Given the increase in intensity and frequency of extreme rainfall over the study region, future work should focus on examining projected changes in rainfall extremes under different global warming scenarios with consideration of model performance and independence.

Photon-induced deactivation of traps in MAPbI3 can strongly affect charge relaxation behavior. Charge relaxation associated with photo-induced deactivation of various traps in MAPbI3 films was investigated through steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy under laser excitation at 635 and 430 nm to investigate the properties of the traps. Three types of traps that could be deactivated by photons were observed in the MAPbI3 films, namely TL, TH, and TGB. TL and TH, which were related to MAPbI3 bulk, had low and high photon energy thresholds (red and blue photons) for deactivation, respectively. TGB was related to the traps at grain boundaries in MAPbI3 and had a low photon energy threshold (red photons) for deactivation. The energy level of TGB was higher than that of the conduction band of MAPbI3. Under blue excitation, TGB mediated a fast nonradiative recombination at few nanoseconds, and TL and TH mediated a slow nonradiative recombination at few 100 ns. The fast nonradiative recombination led to a significantly low initial normalized photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) (1/22) under blue excitation, compared with that obtained under red excitation (1/4). The deactivation of TL and TH resulted in increases in both the amplitude of PL and recombination time. The deactivation of TGB resulted only in a significant increase in PLQY of blue excitation.

Cumulative data suggest the involvement of Fyn tyrosine kinase in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Previously, our group has shown increased immunoreactivities of the FynT isoform in AD neocortex (with no change in the alternatively spliced FynB isoform) which associated with neurofibrillary degeneration and reac-tive astrogliosis. Since both the aforementioned neuropathological features are also variably found in Lewy Body dementias (LBD), we investigated potential perturbations of Fyn expression in the post-mortem neocortex of patients with AD, as well as those diagnosed as having one of the two main subgroups of LBD: Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). We found selective upregulation of FynT expression in AD, PDD, and DLB which also correlated with cognitive impairment. Furthermore, increased FynT expression correlated with hallmark neuropathological lesions, soluble β-amyloid, and phosphorylated tau, as well as markers of microglia and as-trocyte activation. In line with the human post-mortem studies, cortical FynT expression in aged mice transgenic for human P301S tau was upregulated and further correlated with accumulation of aggregated phosphorylated tau as well as with microglial and astrocytic markers. Our findings provide further evi-dence for the involvement of FynT in neurodegenerative dementias, likely via effects on tauopathy and neuroinflammation.

No abstract available.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) is one of the economically important crops in the domestic and global markets due to its versatile properties as a spice, flavoring agent and traditional medicine. Conventional ginger cultivation required a longer time frame to harvest and for soil restoration, which limited the productivity of ginger. Hydroponic systems represent a valuable solution for the problem of land availability with the benefits of shortened time frame, increased production yield and thereby increase the productivity of ginger farming. Besides that, many synthetic fertilizers have low nutrient use efficiency (NUE). Nanofertilizers with the characteristic of delivering nutrients in a controlled manner showed the potential to overcome this problem. The study aims to determine the effects of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (HANP) on the growth and yield of ginger. In this study, hydroxyapatite nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized. Experiments were conducted to study the effect of different concentrations of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles on the growth, yield, chlorophyll contents and photosynthetic rate of hydroponically cultivated ginger. Cocopeat was selected as the planting medium and the Hoagland solution with modified formula was used for regular fertigation. The results showed that the increment (P

Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are persistent, discrete, extreme high-temperature events in the ocean, which can destructively affect marine ecosystems. Using satellite remote sensing data and reanalysis data from 1982 to 2021, we find that six indices characterizing the MHWs are in a remarkable increasing trend in the Japan/East Sea (JES), which shows that the most severe MHW events take place in the East Korean Bay (EKB) in the summer of 2021. Based on this finding, the present study focuses on the characteristics and mechanisms of the MHWs in the EKB and its adjacent areas from June to August 2021. The analysis reveals that the total days and mean intensity of MHWs that occur in the EKB are 1.84 and 1.47 times more than those averaged in the JES, respectively. It is shown that mechanisms for the occurrences of the MHWs in the summer of 2021 are caused by the atmospheric high-pressure system moving to the EKB area. Other reasons also decrease the water cooling: the net positive lateral heat fluxes across open boundaries, and the weak sea surface wind over the EKB area. Other possible reasons which cause the summer MHW events in 2021 need the oceanic numerical models to further investigate the issue.

The demand for construction firms’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been growing in response to the different expectations and needs of organizational stakeholders. Given the compl...

Shallow dimples have shown a great potential to reduce turbulent drag in several experiments. However, the mechanism underlying their effects on turbulence dynamics remains a subject of deliberation. In this numerical study, a vorticity transport perspective is adopted to elucidate the geometric effects of shallow dimples on the turbulence dynamics in a fully-developed turbulent channel flow. The geometric modifications considered in the present direct numerical simulation at a bulk Reynolds number of 2800 include changing the planform design and modulating the streamwise wall slope. The planform design had a significant impact on the mean flow topology and the drag property. Out of the five planform designs, diamond (shape) dimples produced the highest amount of total drag reduction of $$\approx 7\%$$, whereas symmetric circular dimples caused the greatest increase in total drag by $$\approx 6\%$$. Results revealed that geometric modifications of shallow dimples mainly affect the vorticity redistribution process that predominates in the inner region of a turbulent boundary layer, and in turn the generation of Reynolds stress. The drag property of a dimpled surface was found to scale with the velocity–vorticity correlation term representing the physical process of vorticity stretching and reorientation. The occurrence of flow separation near the leading edge of the dimple altered the vorticity dispersion process in the outer region, thereby modifying the generation of Reynolds stress in the bulk flow. On the other hand, the vortex dispersion process in the inner layer can be altered by modulating the streamwise wall slope. Accordingly, the vorticity redistribution process was modified but the near-wall generation of Reynolds stress was unaffected. Thus, only the form drag varied with the streamwise wall slope, while the viscous drag remained largely the same.

Background For patients presenting with symptomatic internal carotid artery stenosis, carotid endarterectomy (CEA) surgery is recommended to be performed generally within a 48-hr to 14-day window. This study aimed to assess timeliness of delivery, and outcomes, of CEA surgery in a tertiary vascular centre. Method Patients with symptomatic internal carotid artery stenosis who underwent CEA between 1 June 2014 and 31 June 2017 were identified and data were obtained from hospital records. The timeline of their journey from presentation to surgery was then mapped together with their outcomes. Results One hundred and seventy-two cases were included in the study. Overall, the median time from development of presenting symptoms to surgery was 9 days and 119 (69%) cases were operated on within 14 days. The median time from development of presenting symptoms to ultrasound imaging was 2 days and the median time from symptoms to vascular referral was also 2 days. There were no deaths, strokes or transient ischaemic attacks within 30 days of CEA. At 1 year, survival was 100% but 15 (8.7%) had experienced at least one transient ischaemic attack or stroke. In the 53 cases operated upon beyond 14 days the dominant cause of delay in 32 (60%) was accessing surgery after review by the vascular service. Conclusion The aim of delivering CEA within 14 days of developing relevant symptoms was achieved in most cases with good outcomes. Nevertheless, points of delay in the patient journey that could be targeted for future quality improvement were identified.

While women are an untapped resource to meet the workforce demand for both professional roles and skilled tradesmen in the construction industry worldwide, the presence of tradeswomen in the indust...

Contributing to the development of employment requirements as an emerging theme in social procurement theory and addressing the evidence vacuum in social procurement research and policy relating to...

New urban strategies encourage compact city and higher density urban development due to unprecedented city growth and rapid urbanisation. This has led to greater attention to multi-dimensional representation, modelling and analytics of urban settings among urban planners, decision makers, and researchers. Nowadays, urban planning and urban design practitioners and scholars leverage the advancements in computer technology and multi-dimensional visualisation in examining the development scenarios from physical, environmental, social, and economic aspects. However, many urban planners still rely on two-dimensional (2D) land information and urban designers use three-dimensional (3D) graphic-based engines to asses a proposed building or assess the impact of changing development regulations. This limits the decision makers from a holistic approach through integrating the urban systems with other application domains such as transport, environmental, and disaster management to ensure the liveability of cities. This paper describes the design, and development of a multi-dimensional and spatially enabled platform to support liveability planning in Singapore. A Quantitative Urban Environment Simulation Tool (QUEST), developed in Singapore, leveraged 3D mapping data captured under the Singapore Land Authority’s (SLA) 3D National Topographic Mapping project. SLA's 3D data including Building Information Model (BIM), CityGML, and other geospatial data (building footprints and land use) were processed and adapted as a service for a series of urban analytics. The paper concludes that the prerequisites for any urban environmental simulation system to be integrated with other application domains are 3D mapping data and a digital urban model, which must be spatially accurate and based on open data standards.

Two centuries of studies have demonstrated the importance of understanding the interaction between air temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which can impact the climate system and human life in various ways, and across different timescales. While historical interactions have been consistently studied, the nature of future interactions and the impacts of confounding factors still require more investigation in keeping with the continuous updates of climate projections to the end of the 21st century. Phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), like its earlier projects, provides ScenarioMIP multi-model projections to assess the climate under different radiative forcings ranging from a low-end (SSP1–2.6) to a high-end (SSP5–8.5) pathway. In this study, we analyze the localized causal structure of CO2, and near-surface mean air temperature (meanT) interaction for four scenarios from three CMIP6 models using a rigorous multivariate information flow (IF) causality, which can separate the cause from the effect within the interaction (CO2–meanT and meanT–CO2) by measuring the rate of IF between parameters. First, we obtain patterns of the CO2 and meanT causal structures over space and time. We found a contrasting emission-based impact of soil moisture (SM) and vegetation (leaf area index (LAI)) changes on the meanT–CO2 causal patterns. That is, SM influenced CO2 sink regions in SSP1–2.6 and source regions in SSP5–8.5, and vice versa found for LAI influences. On the other hand, they function similarly to constrain the future CO2 impact on meanT. These findings are essential for improving long-term predictability where climate models might be limited.

Excessive ultraviolet light (UV) can cause premature skin aging and potentially skin cancer. Currently there is a lack of awareness among health care professionals and the public on sun protection. The objectives of this study were to determine knowledge on sunscreen and skin cancer among health care professionals, to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, practice and perception of doctors and pharmacists toward the usage of sunscreen as protection against UV radiation.This is a cross-sectional study conducted among doctors and pharmacists in Hospital Sultanah Nora Ismail, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia. Questionnaires were used in this study.A total of 384 participants completed the questionnaires. The participants consisted of 323 doctors (84.1%) and 61 pharmacists (15.9%). The age group of the participants ranged between 25 till 55 years old. Ninety doctors (27.9%) and thirty-one pharmacists (51.0%) reported used sunscreen daily (p0.001). This finding showed that there was a deficit in the practice of sun protection. Pharmacists scored a higher knowledge score of median 12 (IQR=3.0) while the doctors scored 11 (IQR=2.0). This study showed a significant association between ethnicity and skin cancer knowledge (p0.05).This study demonstrated a lack of knowledge of sunscreen and skin cancer prevention among health care practitioners. This finding supports better medical education program on this topic.

With the increasing number of satellite altimeters in orbit, the effective resolution of merged multiple satellite altimetry data can be improved. We implement a two-dimensional variational (2-DVar) method to merge multiple satellite altimetry data and produce a daily gridded absolute dynamic topography (ADT) dataset with a grid size of 0.08 degrees. We conduct an observing system simulation experiment (OSSE), and the results show that the merged ADT dataset has an effective resolution of about 210 km. Compared with an independent sea surface temperature (SST) data, fine-scale structures can also be observed in the geostrophic flow of the new dataset. A relationship between effective resolution and the radius of a detected eddy is established and used for eddy analysis in the East China Sea (ECS) region. We observe that eddies in the open ocean are more numerous, have larger radii and live longer than those in other areas.

Drought severity still remains a serious concern across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) due to the destructive impact on multiple sectors of our society The interannual variability and trends in the changes of self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index based on Penman–Monteith (scPDSIPM) and Thornthwaite (scPDSITH) methods for potential evapotranspiration (PET), precipitation (P) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) anomalies, and sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly were investigated through statistical analysis of modelled and remote sensing data. It is shown that scPDSIPM and scPDSITH differed in the representation of drought characteristics over SSA. The scPDSI and remotely-sensed-based anomalies of P and NDVI showed wetting and drying trends over the period 1980-2012. The trend analysis showed increased drought events in the semi-arid and arid regions of SSA over the same period. A correlation analysis reveals a strong relationship between scPDSI variability and P, and NDVI anomalies for monsoon and pre-monsoon seasons. The correlation analysis of scPDSI variability with SST anomalies indicates significant positive and negative relationships, respectively. This study has demonstrated the applicability of multiple data sources for drought assessment and provides useful information for regional drought predictability and mitigation strategies.

There are increasing reports of methanol poisoning (MP) incidence worldwide. In Malaysia, the largest first methanol poisoning was reported in Selangor in 2013 with a total of 41 patients and cluster of cases been reported from the country since then. Often MP involved adulterated alcohol containing more than the legal permissible concentration of methanol. Methanol is rapidly absorbed and metabolised into formic acid which causes variable symptoms of the central nervous system such as blindness, seizure, coma and gastrointestinal disturbances. Mortality could reach up to 83% as reported using the coma state, pH and pCO2 level in the worst-case scenario.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained increasing attention in the construction industry. The implementation of CSR integrates the desires of construction enterprises to achieve competitive advantages and demonstrate their commitments to be socially responsible. Previous studies have mainly explored the factors influencing CSR implementation in a broader field of management, recognizing that there are discrete sets of influencing factors for different industry sectors. Based on a systematic review of 69 relevant CSR research in construction, this study aims to identify and conceptualize the influencing factors - drivers, motivations, and barriers - for CSR implementation by construction enterprises. The descriptive analysis shows an increasing trend in CSR studies in construction with studies focused on both developed and developing countries. The content analysis results show that the drivers can be categorized into three sub-themes: policy pressure, market pressure, and innovation and technology development. The key motivations include: financial benefits, branding, reputation and image, relationship building, organizational culture, and strategic business direction. Next, the barriers were grouped into five perspectives, namely: government policy, construction enterprise, the attributes of CSR, the stakeholder perspective, and the construction industry. To conceptualize these influencing factors, this study proposed a theoretical perspective that combined the stakeholder, institutional and self-determination theories. The findings have implications for government agencies in the development of relevant policies to encourage the adoption of CSR practices in the industry. For construction enterprises, the findings have implications to their new or existing CSR practices in enhancing organizational competitive advantages and in achieving their goals to be socially responsible.

Scavenging is a common phenomenon, particularly amongst carnivorous vertebrates. By consuming carrion, vertebrate scavengers reduce resource availability for both pathogenic bacteria and their insect vectors. We investigated the ability of wild vertebrate scavengers to control agents of human diarrheal diseases (specifically Salmonella spp. and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli [STEC]) in oil palm plantations in Sabah (East Malaysia), and the existence of spillover effect whereby additional vertebrate scavengers from adjacent forest patches result in greater disease control in plantation sections near these forest edges. Experimental carcasses were removed by common scavengers (Varanus salvator, Canis lupus familiaris, and Viverra tangalunga) at different time points, and this determined the length of time that the carcasses persisted in the environment. The amount of pathogenic bacteria on the surfaces of filth flies collected above the experimental carcasses was positively correlated to the duration of carcass persistence, and reduction in pathogenic bacterial abundances was largely due to carcass consumption by these vertebrate scavengers. Instead of a predicted positive spillover effect (greater scavenger activity near forest edges, hence reduced pathogen abundance), we detected a weak inverse spillover effect in which STEC counts were marginally higher in plantation sections near forest patches, and human hunting along the forest-plantation boundaries could explain this. We propose that making oil palm plantations scavenger-friendly could yield great human health benefits for the millions of workers employed in this rapidly-expanding industry, without drastically changing current management practices.

Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) usually occurs in adolescents and young adults, and most frequently arises in the extremities.We present a rare case of metastatic alveolar RMS from a nasal primary to cervical lymph nodes (LNs) in an elderly patient, diagnosed on the fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy. Smears showed malignant round cells featuring focal rhabdoid appearance, with rhabdomyoblastic differentiation further supported by immunocytochemical stains. Diagnosis of alveolar RMS was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) identifying FOXO1 gene involvement with dual colour break-apart probes at locus 13q14.The differential diagnosis for a small round blue cell tumour in the elderly generally includes metastatic small cell carcinoma, lymphoma, malignant melanoma, RMS, desmoplastic small round cell tumour and Ewing's sarcoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumour. Subtle morphological analysis and expression pattern of immunostaining for skeletal muscle differentiation led to the diagnosis of RMS. Cytogenetic testing on the FOXO1 gene rearrangement helps definite subtyping of alveolar RMS.

This study investigated the capability of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to simulate seven different heavy precipitation (PRE) events that occurred across East Africa in the summer of 2020. The WRF model outputs were evaluated against high-resolution satellite-based observations, which were obtained from prior evaluations of several satellite observations with 30 stations’ data. The synoptic conditions accompanying the events were also investigated to determine the conditions that are conducive to heavy PRE. The verification of the WRF output was carried out using the area-related root mean square error (RMSE)-based fuzzy method. This method quantifies the similarity of PRE intensity distribution between forecast and observation at different spatial scales. The results showed that the WRF model reproduced the heavy PRE with PRE magnitudes ranging from 6 to >30 mm/day. The spatial pattern from the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks-Cloud Classification-Climate Data Record (PERSIANN-CCS-CDR) was close to that of the WRF output. The area-related RMSE with respect to observation showed that the error in the model tended to reduce as the spatial scale increased for all the events. The WRF and high-resolution satellite data had an obvious advantage when validating the heavy PRE events in 2020. This study demonstrated that WRF may be used for forecasting heavy PRE events over East Africa when high resolutions and subsequent simulation setups are used.

White-eyes (Zosterops spp.) are a group of small passerines distributed across the Eastern Hemisphere that have become a textbook example of rapid speciation. However, traditional taxonomy has relied heavily on conservative plumage features to delimit white-eye species boundaries, resulting in several recent demonstrations of misclassification. Resolution of confused taxonomy is important in order to correctly delimit species and identify taxa which may require conservation, particularly in Asia where the songbird trade is decimating wild populations. In this study, we aim to untangle multiple instances of confused taxonomic treatment in three large, widespread Asian wastebasket species complexes of white-eye (Oriental White-eye Zosterops palpebrosus, Japanese White-eye Zosterops japonicus and Mountain White-eye Zosterops montanus) renowned for their conservative morphology. Using mitochondrial DNA from 173 individuals spanning 42 taxa, we uncovered extensive polyphyly in Z. palpebrosus and Z. japonicus and propose some radically revised species limits under which former members of Z. palpebrosus and Z. japonicus would be reassigned into four and two different species, respectively. The revised taxonomy results in a net loss of two previously recognized species and a net gain of two newly recognized species, leading to significant taxonomic change but a lack of additional species-level diversity. One of the newly elevated species, Zosterops melanurus from Java and Bali, is also the world’s most heavily traded songbird and requires urgent conservation attention.