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Mulavana S Parvathy,1,2 Aditee Parab,3 Balakrishnan Kichu R Nair,1– 3 Carl Matheson,4 Kathy Ingham,1 Lynette Gunning1 1Centre for Medical Professional Development, Hunter New England Local Health District, Newcastle, NSW, Australia; 2School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia; 3John Hunter Hospital, Hunter New England Local Health District, Newcastle, NSW, Australia; 4The Australian Medical Council, Canberra, ACT, AustraliaCorrespondence: Mulavana S Parvathy Email usha.parvathy@newcastle.edu.auIntroduction: Australia depends on international medical graduates (IMGs) to meet workforce shortages. The current standard assessment for IMGs is by clinical examination in observed structured clinical encounter (OSCE) format lasting 200 minutes. There are concerns about adequateness of this assessment as it does not test the qualities required to practice in a new country. We introduced a programmatic performance-based assessment for IMGs to prepare them to meet these challenges. The workplace-based assessment (WBA) program involves six-month longitudinal programmatic assessments comprising of 12 mini-clinical evaluation exercises (Mini-CEX), five case-based discussions (CBD), two in-training assessments (ITAs) and two sets of multisource feedback (MSF) assessments. We assessed 254 IMGs since 2010. We conducted a survey to evaluate the satisfaction with the program and the outcomes of these doctors.Methods: We surveyed 254 candidates from 2010 to 2020. The survey used “SelectSurvey” tool with 12 questions and free-text comments. All candidates were sent the survey link to their last registered mobile phone using “Telstra Instant Messaging Service”. We analysed the data using Microsoft “Excel”.Results: We received 153 (60%) responses. Amongst them, 141 (92%) candidates did not require further supervised practice for general registration and 129 (84%) candidates hold general/specialist registration. The candidates fou

Mungbean is a short-season tropical grain legume grown on some six million hectares each year. Though predominantly a crop of smallholder farmers and subsistence agriculture mungbean is increasingly seen as a high value crop for international markets with broad acre production under modern farming systems established in Australia, South America, West Asia and Africa. Key benefits of mungbean are its nutritional and monetary value. It provides a short duration, flexible disease break when fit into intensive wheat, rice and summer cereal rotations and its self-sufficiency for nitrogen. The short growing season of 55–100 days places a ceiling on productivity which is further impacted by the traditional low-input farming systems where mungbean is most frequently produced; global yield averages are 0.5 tonnes per hectare though 3 tonnes per hectare is considered achievable under favourable conditions. Increased reliability of mungbean in subsistence systems has been achieved by developing shorter duration, more determinate ideotypes and by the manipulation of sowing time. The strategy of reducing exposure to risk was very successful in transforming mungbean rather than identifying and breeding inherent resilience. The major abiotic stresses of mungbean presented here are drought, heat, waterlogging, low temperatures and salinity. Sources of tolerance identified for all of these stresses have been identified in the germplasm collections of cultivated mungbean as well as wild relatives. Future research efforts must combine known sources of genetic variation with the investigation into the biochemical and physiological processes in order to understand and breed for tolerance to abiotic stress in mungbean.

Mungbean is a short-season tropical grain legume grown on some six million hectares each year. Though predominantly a crop of smallholder farmers and subsistence agriculture mungbean is increasingly seen as a high value crop for international markets with broad acre production under modern farming systems established in Australia, South America, West Asia and Africa. Key benefits of mungbean are its nutritional and monetary value. It provides a short duration, flexible disease break when fit into intensive wheat, rice and summer cereal rotations and its self-sufficiency for nitrogen. The short growing season of 55–100 days places a ceiling on productivity which is further impacted by the traditional low-input farming systems where mungbean is most frequently produced; global yield averages are 0.5 tonnes per hectare though 3 tonnes per hectare is considered achievable under favourable conditions. Increased reliability of mungbean in subsistence systems has been achieved by developing shorter duration, more determinate ideotypes and by the manipulation of sowing time. The strategy of reducing exposure to risk was very successful in transforming mungbean rather than identifying and breeding inherent resilience. The major abiotic stresses of mungbean presented here are drought, heat, waterlogging, low temperatures and salinity. Sources of tolerance identified for all of these stresses have been identified in the germplasm collections of cultivated mungbean as well as wild relatives. Future research efforts must combine known sources of genetic variation with the investigation into the biochemical and physiological processes in order to understand and breed for tolerance to abiotic stress in mungbean.

Mungbean is a short-season tropical grain legume grown on some six million hectares each year. Though predominantly a crop of smallholder farmers and subsistence agriculture mungbean is increasingly seen as a high value crop for international markets with broad acre production under modern farming systems established in Australia, South America, West Asia and Africa. Key benefits of mungbean are its nutritional and monetary value. It provides a short duration, flexible disease break when fit into intensive wheat, rice and summer cereal rotations and its self-sufficiency for nitrogen. The short growing season of 55–100 days places a ceiling on productivity which is further impacted by the traditional low-input farming systems where mungbean is most frequently produced; global yield averages are 0.5 tonnes per hectare though 3 tonnes per hectare is considered achievable under favourable conditions. Increased reliability of mungbean in subsistence systems has been achieved by developing shorter duration, more determinate ideotypes and by the manipulation of sowing time. The strategy of reducing exposure to risk was very successful in transforming mungbean rather than identifying and breeding inherent resilience. The major abiotic stresses of mungbean presented here are drought, heat, waterlogging, low temperatures and salinity. Sources of tolerance identified for all of these stresses have been identified in the germplasm collections of cultivated mungbean as well as wild relatives. Future research efforts must combine known sources of genetic variation with the investigation into the biochemical and physiological processes in order to understand and breed for tolerance to abiotic stress in mungbean.

Mungbean is a short-season tropical grain legume grown on some six million hectares each year. Though predominantly a crop of smallholder farmers and subsistence agriculture mungbean is increasingly seen as a high value crop for international markets with broad acre production under modern farming systems established in Australia, South America, West Asia and Africa. Key benefits of mungbean are its nutritional and monetary value. It provides a short duration, flexible disease break when fit into intensive wheat, rice and summer cereal rotations and its self-sufficiency for nitrogen. The short growing season of 55–100 days places a ceiling on productivity which is further impacted by the traditional low-input farming systems where mungbean is most frequently produced; global yield averages are 0.5 tonnes per hectare though 3 tonnes per hectare is considered achievable under favourable conditions. Increased reliability of mungbean in subsistence systems has been achieved by developing shorter duration, more determinate ideotypes and by the manipulation of sowing time. The strategy of reducing exposure to risk was very successful in transforming mungbean rather than identifying and breeding inherent resilience. The major abiotic stresses of mungbean presented here are drought, heat, waterlogging, low temperatures and salinity. Sources of tolerance identified for all of these stresses have been identified in the germplasm collections of cultivated mungbean as well as wild relatives. Future research efforts must combine known sources of genetic variation with the investigation into the biochemical and physiological processes in order to understand and breed for tolerance to abiotic stress in mungbean.

Objectives: Solubility parameters have been used for decades in various scientific fields including pharmaceutics. It is, however, still a field of active research both on a conceptual and experimental level. This work addresses the need to review solubility parameter applications in pharmaceutics of poorly water-soluble drugs. Key findings: An overview of the different experimental and calculation methods to determine solubility parameters is provided, which covers from classical to modern approaches. In the pharmaceutical field, solubility parameters are primarily used to guide organic solvent selection, cocrystals and salt screening, lipid-based delivery, solid dispersions and nano- or microparticulate drug delivery systems. Solubility parameters have been applied for a quantitative assessment of mixtures, or they are simply used to rank excipients for a given drug. Summary: In particular, partial solubility parameters hold great promise for aiding the development of poorly soluble drug delivery systems. This is particularly true in early-stage development, where compound availability and resources are limited. The experimental determination of solubility parameters has its merits despite being rather labour-intensive because further data can be used to continuously improve in silico predictions. Such improvements will ensure that solubility parameters will also in future guide scientists in finding suitable drug formulations. © 2018 Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Objectives: This review highlights aspects of drug hydrophobicity and lipophilicity as determinants of different oral formulation approaches with specific focus on enabling formulation technologies. An overview is provided on appropriate formulation selection by focussing on the physicochemical properties of the drug. Key findings: Crystal lattice energy and the octanol–water partitioning behaviour of a poorly soluble drug are conventionally viewed as characteristics of hydrophobicity and lipophilicity, which matter particularly for any dissolution process during manufacturing and regarding drug release in the gastrointestinal tract. Different oral formulation strategies are discussed in the present review, including lipid-based delivery, amorphous solid dispersions, mesoporous silica, nanosuspensions and cyclodextrin formulations. Summary: Current literature suggests that selection of formulation approaches in pharmaceutics is still highly dependent on the availability of technological expertise in a company or research group. Encouraging is that, recent advancements point to more structured and scientifically based development approaches. More research is still needed to better link physicochemical drug properties to pharmaceutical formulation design. © 2018 Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Automation and the Internet of Things (IoT) has become a hot topic in the present tech-driven world. Smart security solutions, smart home automation, smart health care, smart wearable’s etc. are in-trend applications of IoT, and by the near future we expect to see its application to a city's transportation system or smart power grids.. Nowadays there are lots of automation products that are available in the market but the cost of which is not affordable to the common man to use it at home or office. Home automation have various applications such as: Lighting control system, Appliance control and integration, Security, Leak and smoke detection, Home automation for the elderly and disabled etc[2]. Mostly all automation products needs special wiring and is not retro fit to their current switches. Automation for both smart and those who are not that smart should also be able to use automation. The research aims at finding sensors and IC’s that are cheap and with little modification on the software will reduce cost and making it small enough to fit into the current switch box so the little wiring will convert the current system to smart automatic system. It works on the principle of IOT with a central server to allow access from outside the premises of the system using mobile with internet connectivity. The energy meter also provides all the active and reactive power components of the equipment's connected to the system. In this project most of the objectives were achieved including features and cost optimization. Further research needs to incorporate camera and other security features.

Automation and the Internet of Things (IoT) has become a hot topic in the present tech-driven world. Smart security solutions, smart home automation, smart health care, smart wearable’s etc. are in-trend applications of IoT, and by the near future we expect to see its application to a city's transportation system or smart power grids.. Nowadays there are lots of automation products that are available in the market but the cost of which is not affordable to the common man to use it at home or office. Home automation have various applications such as: Lighting control system, Appliance control and integration, Security, Leak and smoke detection, Home automation for the elderly and disabled etc[2]. Mostly all automation products needs special wiring and is not retro fit to their current switches. Automation for both smart and those who are not that smart should also be able to use automation. The research aims at finding sensors and IC’s that are cheap and with little modification on the software will reduce cost and making it small enough to fit into the current switch box so the little wiring will convert the current system to smart automatic system. It works on the principle of IOT with a central server to allow access from outside the premises of the system using mobile with internet connectivity. The energy meter also provides all the active and reactive power components of the equipment's connected to the system. In this project most of the objectives were achieved including features and cost optimization. Further research needs to incorporate camera and other security features.

Automation and the Internet of Things (IoT) has become a hot topic in the present tech-driven world. Smart security solutions, smart home automation, smart health care, smart wearable’s etc. are in-trend applications of IoT, and by the near future we expect to see its application to a city's transportation system or smart power grids.. Nowadays there are lots of automation products that are available in the market but the cost of which is not affordable to the common man to use it at home or office. Home automation have various applications such as: Lighting control system, Appliance control and integration, Security, Leak and smoke detection, Home automation for the elderly and disabled etc[2]. Mostly all automation products needs special wiring and is not retro fit to their current switches. Automation for both smart and those who are not that smart should also be able to use automation. The research aims at finding sensors and IC’s that are cheap and with little modification on the software will reduce cost and making it small enough to fit into the current switch box so the little wiring will convert the current system to smart automatic system. It works on the principle of IOT with a central server to allow access from outside the premises of the system using mobile with internet connectivity. The energy meter also provides all the active and reactive power components of the equipment's connected to the system. In this project most of the objectives were achieved including features and cost optimization. Further research needs to incorporate camera and other security features.

India has been reluctantly urbanizing. The caricature of “urban” in India today is mired in numerous contradictions — both physical and visual — to coalesce in a “landscape of pluralism” (Mehrotra, 2008). Urban migration has added 20 million to cities during the last decade but the charm of big cities is fading away (Pradhan, 2013). This is when only 31 per cent of the country is urbanized, far below other developing countries like China (50.6 per cent). There have been concerted efforts from state and central government to mainstream slums and informal sectors in urban India. Yet there are attempts to clean up Indian cities by ridding streets and public lands of squatters and slums and reclaiming public spaces for the use of “proper citizens”. Even as these public spaces are reclaimed for general use, there is still a proliferation of segregated and protected spaces for elite consumption (Chatterjee, 2004).

Urban discourse in India as an object of study is of recent origin, despite India being one of the earliest urban civilizations known to mankind. The urban question in India’s early decades of development planning after independence typically started with a stopper: “but the urban environment is not important, it is in the villages that India must succeed or die… investments of time, capital or planning in the cities only aggravates things by attracting more innocent from their villages” (Benninger, 1971, p.12). While it is true even today that the majority of India’s population live in rural areas, it is, however, unreasonable to accept the “polemical discourse” of the after independence development planning that forces upon the country a policy of urban neglect. Urban development policies formulated “reluctantly”, based on these arguments, are, as we argue in this chapter, often counterproductive to not only the urban poor but also the rural poor (Ibid.).

Is India actually “shining” or is it a mirage preserved intentionally? India is boasting about its burgeoning urbanization, which is often linked with economic growth, but the actuality is that the pace of urbanization is slow, as is the pace of economic growth and infrastructure development in the country. Small patches of development concentrated in few primate cities cannot be the true representation of the holistic picture of the country. With only 2.5 per cent urban land area, the outcry about the availability and affordability of land for development of cities is appearing very illusive. To exaggerate the misery of cities, the solution to the problem of growing population inside cities, if it is considered a problem at all, is addressed by the creation of policy-level checks, and the rationale behind doing that is often linked with existing congestion and high density in most Indian cities. The question then arises whether policy control over population growth of cities is the best thing to do? A broad answer to this can be stated simply by appreciating the fact that cities are emerging as modern centres of growth and development, offering better work opportunities and quality of life, and therefore shall be expanded in all dimensions so as to cater to the emerging needs of its original inhabitants as well as the newcomers.

Problem statement: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is one of the worst pandemics affecting and spreading quickly all over the world with a high mortality rate. AIDS has been able to kill so many people due to the unique property of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) virus. It attacks the immune system of the victim there by not allowing the immune system to fight against the infection. Till today there has been no vaccine or medicine invented against AIDS and thus the syndrome remains incurable. Approach: In the present study, automated docking was performed by comparing two natural compounds namely ellagic acid, quercitine against a synthetic drug namely nevirapine on Cluster of Differentiation 4 (CD4), which serves as the high-affinity receptor for cellular attachment and entry of the HIV which is responsible for AIDS. Using the available Bioinformatics tools and techniques a comparative study between the natural and the synthetic drug was done. Results: From the results, it was found that the natural compounds showed more inhibiting activity towards CD4 than the already available drug. Perhaps the quercitine could be used as a potential lead compound that has an activity on the target and could be modified to improve its pharmaceutical features in the drug discovery process for AIDS. Conclusion: However the results from clinical studies were always the limiting step to the entrance of the novel drugs into the market. This research was an attempt to take a good step towards the drug discovery against AIDS.

Problem statement: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is one of the worst pandemics affecting and spreading quickly all over the world with a high mortality rate. AIDS has been able to kill so many people due to the unique property of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) virus. It attacks the immune system of the victim there by not allowing the immune system to fight against the infection. Till today there has been no vaccine or medicine invented against AIDS and thus the syndrome remains incurable. Approach: In the present study, automated docking was performed by comparing two natural compounds namely ellagic acid, quercitine against a synthetic drug namely nevirapine on Cluster of Differentiation 4 (CD4), which serves as the high-affinity receptor for cellular attachment and entry of the HIV which is responsible for AIDS. Using the available Bioinformatics tools and techniques a comparative study between the natural and the synthetic drug was done. Results: From the results, it was found that the natural compounds showed more inhibiting activity towards CD4 than the already available drug. Perhaps the quercitine could be used as a potential lead compound that has an activity on the target and could be modified to improve its pharmaceutical features in the drug discovery process for AIDS. Conclusion: However the results from clinical studies were always the limiting step to the entrance of the novel drugs into the market. This research was an attempt to take a good step towards the drug discovery against AIDS.

Group photo of Ewing Hall Groups.