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INTRODUCTION: Longitudinal studies can provide timely and accurate information to evaluate and inform COVID-19 control and mitigation strategies and future pandemic preparedness. The Optimise Study is a multidisciplinary research platform established in the Australian state of Victoria in September 2020 to collect epidemiological, social, psychological and behavioural data from priority populations. It aims to understand changing public attitudes, behaviours and experiences of COVID-19 and inform epidemic modelling and support responsive government policy. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This protocol paper describes the data collection procedures for the Optimise Study, an ongoing longitudinal cohort of ~1000 Victorian adults and their social networks. Participants are recruited using snowball sampling with a set of seeds and two waves of snowball recruitment. Seeds are purposively selected from priority groups, including recent COVID-19 cases and close contacts and people at heightened risk of infection and/or adverse outcomes of COVID-19 infection and/or public health measures. Participants complete a schedule of monthly quantitative surveys and daily diaries for up to 24 months, plus additional surveys annually for up to 48 months. Cohort participants are recruited for qualitative interviews at key time points to enable in-depth exploration of people's lived experiences. Separately, community representatives are invited to participate in community engagement groups, which review and interpret research findings to inform policy and practice recommendations. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The Optimise longitudinal cohort and qualitative interviews are approved by the Alfred Hospital Human Research Ethics Committee (# 333/20). The Optimise Study CEG is approved by the La Trobe University Human Ethics Committee (# HEC20532). All participants provide informed verbal consent to enter the cohort, with additional consent provided prior to any of the sub studies. Study findings will be

University–industry (U–I) collaboration takes on many forms, from research services, teaching and training, to curiosity-led research. In the chemical industries, academic chemists generate new knowledge, address novel problems faced by industry, and train the future workforce in cutting-edge methods. In this study, we examine the dynamic structures of collaborative research contracts and grants between academic and industry partners over a 5-year period within a research-intensive Australian university. We reconstruct internal contract data provided by a university research office as records of its collaborations into a complex relational database that links researchers to research projects. We then structure this complex relational data as a two-mode network of researcher-project collaborations for utilisation with Social Network Analysis (SNA)—a relational methodology ideally suited to relational data. Specifically, we use a stochastic actor-oriented model (SAOM), a statistical network model for longitudinal two-mode network data. Although the dataset is complicated, we manage to replicate it exactly using a very parsimonious and relatable network model. Results indicate that as academics gain experience, they become more involved in direct research contracts with industry, and in research projects more generally. Further, more senior academics are involved in projects involving both industry partners and other academic partners of any level. While more experienced academics are also less likely to repeat collaborations with the same colleagues, there is a more general tendency in these collaborations, regardless of academic seniority or industry engagement, for prior collaborations to predict future collaborations. We discuss implications for industry and academics.

The distribution ranges and spatio-temporal patterns in the occurrence and activity of boreal bats are yet largely unknown due to their cryptic lifestyle and lack of suitable and efficient study methods. We approached the issue by establishing a permanent passive-acoustic sampling setup spanning the area of Finland to gain an understanding on how latitude affects bat species composition and activity patterns in northern Europe. The recorded bat calls were semi-automatically identified for three target taxa; Myotis spp., Eptesicus nilssonii or Pipistrellus nathusii and the seasonal activity patterns were modeled for each taxa across the seven sampling years (2015–2021). We found an increase in activity since 2015 for E. nilssonii and Myotis spp. For E. nilssonii and Myotis spp. we found significant latitude -dependent seasonal activity patterns, where seasonal variation in patterns appeared stronger in the north. Over the years, activity of P. nathusii increased during activity peak in June and late season but decreased in mid season. We found the passive-acoustic monitoring network to be an effective and cost-efficient method for gathering bat activity data to analyze spatio-temporal patterns. Long-term data on the composition and dynamics of bat communities facilitates better estimates of abundances and population trend directions for conservation purposes and predicting the effects of climate change.

Background: Childhood exposure to dyslipidemia is associated with adult atherosclerosis, but it is unclear whether the long‐term risk associated with dyslipidemia is attenuated on its resolution by adulthood. We aimed to address this question by examining the links between childhood and adult dyslipidemia on carotid atherosclerotic plaques in adulthood. Methods and Results: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study is a prospective follow‐up of children that began in 1980. Since then, follow‐up studies have been conducted regularly. In 2001 and 2007, carotid ultrasounds were performed on 2643 participants at the mean age of 36 years to identify carotid plaques and plaque areas. For childhood lipids, we exploited several risk factor measurements to determine the individual cumulative burden for each lipid during childhood. Participants were categorized into the following 4 groups based on their childhood and adult dyslipidemia status: no dyslipidemia (reference), incident, resolved, and persistent. Among individuals with carotid plaque, linear regression models were used to study the association of serum lipids with plaque area. The prevalence of plaque was 3.3% (N=88). In models adjusted for age, sex, and nonlipid cardiovascular risk factors, the relative risk for carotid plaque was 2.34 (95% CI, 0.91–6.00) for incident adult dyslipidemia, 3.00 (95% CI, 1.42–6.34) for dyslipidemia resolved by adulthood, and 5.23 (95% CI, 2.57–10.66) for persistent dyslipidemia. Carotid plaque area correlated with childhood total, low‐density lipoprotein, and non–high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Conclusions: Childhood dyslipidemia, even if resolved by adulthood, is a risk factor for adult carotid plaque. Furthermore, among individuals with carotid plaque, childhood lipids associate with plaque size. These findings highlight the importance of primordial prevention of dyslipidemia in childhood to reduce atherosclerosis development.

Tiivistelmä. Varhaiskasvatus koki elokuussa 2022 muutoksia, kun varhaiskasvatuslakiin (540/2018) tehtiin lakimuutos (1183/2021). Lakimuutoksen tavoitteena on parantaa lasten oikeutta tuen saamiseen ja sen toteutumiseen varhaiskasvatuksessa inklusiivisin periaattein. Merkittävin muutos on tuen järjestämiseen perustuva kolmitasoinen tuki, joka sisältää yleisen, tehostetun ja erityisen tuen muodot. Tämän pro gradu -tutkielman tarkoituksena on selvittää varhaiskasvatuksen erityisopettajien ja varhaiskasvatuksen opettajien näkemyksiä lakimuutoksen tarpeellisuudesta, tuen toteutumisesta sekä vaikutuksesta varhaiskasvatuksen erityisopettajan työnkuvaan. Tutkielman teoreettisessa viitekehyksessä tarkastellaan inklusiivisen varhaiskasvatuksen kehitystä, varhaiskasvatuslakeja, uusinta varhaiskasvatussuunnitelmaa sekä varhaiskasvatuksen erityisopettajan työnkuvaa. Tutkimuksen aineisto kerättiin Webropol -kyselyllä maaliskuussa 2023. Tutkimukseen vastasi 50 varhaiskasvatuksen erityisopettajaa ja 65 varhaiskasvatuksen opettajaa. Kyselyllä mitattiin mielipiteitä ja kokemuksia lakimuutokseen liittyen. Kyselyn rakennetta tarkasteltiin eksploratiivisella faktorianalyysilla, ilmiöiden yhteyksiä tarkasteltiin korrelaatioanalyysillä ja ammattiryhmien eroja tarkasteltiin t-testillä. Tutkimustulosten perusteella lakimuutos on koettu molempien ammattiryhmien näkökulmasta tarpeellisena uudistuksena. Varhaiskasvatuksen erityisopettajan työnkuvan osalta ammattiryhmien välillä ilmeni näkemyseroja (d=.827). Erot liittyivät yhteistyön ja varhaiskasvatuksen erityisopettajaresurssien riittämättömyyteen. Tämän tutkimuksen perusteella muun muassa ammatillinen lisäkoulutus tukisi molempien ammattiryhmien asiantuntijuutta ja yhteistyötä. Lisäksi varhaiskasvatuksen erityisopettajan työtehtävissä ja työn suunnittelussa olisi hyvä huomioida molempien ammattiryhmien tarpeet ja vahvistaa yhteistyötä esimerkiksi kehittämällä yhteisopettajuusmalleja.

Nanocellulose has emerged as a promising green dispersant for carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and there is an increasing trend in developing nanocellulose/CNT hybrid materials for electrochemical detection of various small molecules. However, there have been very few comprehensive studies investigating the role of nanocellulosic material properties upon the electroanalytical performance of the resultant hybrid electrodes. In this work, we demonstrate the influence of both nanocellulose functionalization and geometry, utilizing sulfated cellulose nanocrystals, sulfated cellulose nanofibers, and TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibers. Transmission electron microscopy tomography enables direct visualization of the effect of nanocellulosic materials on the hybrid architectures. High resolution X-ray absorption spectroscopy verifies that the chemical nature of CNTs in the different hybrids is unmodified. Electroanalytical performances of the different nanocellulose/CNT hybrid electrodes are critically evaluated using physiologically relevant biomolecules with different charge such as, dopamine (cationic), paracetamol (neutral), and uric acid (anionic). The hybrid electrode containing fibrillar nanocellulose geometry with a high degree of sulfate group functionalization provides the highest electroanalytical sensitivity and strongest enrichment towards all studied analytes. These results clearly demonstrate for the first time, the extent of tailorability upon the electroanalytical response of nanocellulose/CNT hybrid electrodes towards different biomolecules, offered simply by the choice of nanocellulosic materials.

Customer survey data is critical to supporting customer preference modeling in engineering design. We present a framework of information retrieval and survey design to ensure the collection of quality customer survey data for analyzing customers' preferences in their consideration-then-choice decision-making and the related social impact. The utility of our approach is demonstrated through the survey design for customers in the vacuum cleaner market. Based on the data, we performed descriptive analysis and network-based modeling to understand customers' preferences in consideration and choice.

To associate specimens identified by molecular characters to other biological knowledge, we need reference sequences annotated by Linnaean taxonomy. In this study, we (1) report the creation of a comprehensive reference library of DNA barcodes for the arthropods of an entire country (Finland), (2) publish this library, and (3) deliver a new identification tool for insects and spiders, as based on this resource. The reference library contains mtDNA COI barcodes for 11,275 (43%) of 26,437 arthropod species known from Finland, including 10,811 (45%) of 23,956 insect species. To quantify the improvement in identification accuracy enabled by the current reference library, we ran 1000 Finnish insect and spider species through the Barcode of Life Data system (BOLD) identification engine. Of these, 91% were correctly assigned to a unique species when compared to the new reference library alone, 85% were correctly identified when compared to BOLD with the new material included, and 75% with the new material excluded. To capitalize on this resource, we used the new reference material to train a probabilistic taxonomic assignment tool, FinPROTAX, scoring high success. For the full-length barcode region, the accuracy of taxonomic assignments at the level of classes, orders, families, subfamilies, tribes, genera, and species reached 99.9%, 99.9%, 99.8%, 99.7%, 99.4%, 96.8%, and 88.5%, respectively. The FinBOL arthropod reference library and FinPROTAX are available through the Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility (www.laji.fi) at https://laji.fi/en/theme/protax. Overall, the FinBOL investment represents a massive capacity-transfer from the taxonomic community of Finland to all sectors of society.

AIMS: To investigate the association between overweight/obesity and fatty liver index (FLI) on the odds of incident prediabetes/type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in 2020 participants after 10 years follow up. METHODS: At baseline (in 2001) 2020 participants, males and females, aged 24-39 years, were stratified according to body mass index (BMI), normal weight (<25 kg/m2), overweight (≥25-<30 kg/m2), or obese (≥30 kg/m2) and FLI (as high FLI ≥60 or low FLI <60). We examined the incidence of prediabetes/type 2 diabetes and NAFLD (ultrasound assessed) over 10 years to 2011 to determine the relative impact of FLI and BMI. RESULTS: 514 and 52 individuals developed prediabetes and type 2 diabetes during follow-up. Such individuals were older, with higher BMI, serum glucose, insulin, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and triglyceride (TG) concentrations than those who did not develop prediabetes or type 2 diabetes (n = 1454). The additional presence of high FLI significantly increased the risk of developing prediabetes and type 2 diabetes above the risk of being overweight/obese. Compared with normal weight, low FLI participants, the odds of prediabetes were ∼2-fold higher and the odds of type 2 diabetes were 9-10-fold higher respectively in the overweight/obese, high FLI group. No difference was observed between normal weight, low FLI and overweight/obese and low FLI groups. CONCLUSIONS: An increased FLI significantly increases the odds of incident prediabetes, type 2 diabetes and NAFLD in individuals with overweight/obese highlighting the contributory role of liver fat accumulation in the pathophysiology of prediabetes/type 2 diabetes.Key messagesObesity is a risk factor for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.Additionally, NAFLD is more prevalent in people with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes when compared to age- and BMI-matched individuals.The presence of a raised fatty liver index (FLI) confers a signifi

Aims: To investigate the association between overweight/obesity and fatty liver index (FLI) on the odds of incident prediabetes/type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in 2020 participants after 10 years follow up. Methods: At baseline (in 2001) 2020 participants, males and females, aged 24–39 years, were stratified according to body mass index (BMI), normal weight (<25 kg/m²), overweight (≥25–<30 kg/m²), or obese (≥30 kg/m²) and FLI (as high FLI ≥60 or low FLI <60). We examined the incidence of prediabetes/type 2 diabetes and NAFLD (ultrasound assessed) over 10 years to 2011 to determine the relative impact of FLI and BMI. Results: 514 and 52 individuals developed prediabetes and type 2 diabetes during follow-up. Such individuals were older, with higher BMI, serum glucose, insulin, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and triglyceride (TG) concentrations than those who did not develop prediabetes or type 2 diabetes (n = 1454). The additional presence of high FLI significantly increased the risk of developing prediabetes and type 2 diabetes above the risk of being overweight/obese. Compared with normal weight, low FLI participants, the odds of prediabetes were ∼2-fold higher and the odds of type 2 diabetes were 9–10-fold higher respectively in the overweight/obese, high FLI group. No difference was observed between normal weight, low FLI and overweight/obese and low FLI groups. Conclusions: An increased FLI significantly increases the odds of incident prediabetes, type 2 diabetes and NAFLD in individuals with overweight/obese highlighting the contributory role of liver fat accumulation in the pathophysiology of prediabetes/type 2 diabetes.

Successful deployment of carbon nanomaterials in many applications, such as sensing, energy storage, and catalysis, relies on the selection, synthesis, and tailoring of the surface properties. Predictive analysis of the behavior is difficult without detailed knowledge of the differences between various carbon nanomaterials and their surface functionalization, thus leaving the selection process to traditional trial-and-error work. The present characterization fills this knowledge gap for carbon nanomaterial surface properties with respect to chemical states and functionalization. We present an overview of the chemical trends that can be extracted from soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) spectra on an extended set of nonideal carbon nanomaterials as a function of sp2 bonded carbon and bond ordering. In particular, the surface chemical state, the presence of long-range order in the carbon matrix, and a qualitative estimation of the amount of oxygen and nitrogen and their respective functional group formation on the material surface, together with the detailed material fabrication parameters, are reported. The results expand our understanding of carbon nanomaterial functionalization, which can support material selection in practice, provided that the specifications of the application are known.

Biofouling imposes a significant threat for sensing probes used in vivo. Antifouling strategies commonly utilize a protective layer on top of the electrode but this may compromise performance of the electrode. Here, we investigated the effect of surface topography and chemistry on fouling without additional protective layers. We have utilized two different carbon materials; tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) and SU-8 based pyrolytic carbon (PyC) in their typical smooth thin film structure as well as with a nanopillar topography templated from black silicon. The near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectrum revealed striking differences in chemical functionalities of the surfaces. PyC contained equal amounts of ketone, hydroxyl and ether/epoxide groups, while ta-C contained significant amounts of carbonyl groups. Overall, oxygen functionalities were significantly increased on nanograss surfaces compared to the flat counterparts. Neither bovine serum albumin (BSA) or fetal bovine serum (FBS) fouling caused major effects on electron transfer kinetics of outer sphere redox (OSR) probe Ru(NH3)63+ on any of the materials. In contrast, negatively charged OSR probe IrCl62− kinetics were clearly affected by fouling, possibly due to the electrostatic repulsion between redox species and the anionically-charged proteins adsorbed on the electrode and/or stronger interaction of the proteins and positively charged surface. The OSR probe kinetics were less affected by fouling on PyC, probably due to conformational changes of proteins on the surface. Dopamine (DA) was tested as an inner sphere redox (ISR) probe and as expected, the kinetics were heavily dependent on the material; PyC had very fast electron transfer kinetics, while ta-C had sluggish kinetics. DA electron transfer kinetics were heavily affected on all surfaces by fouling (ΔEp increase 30—451%). The effect was stronger on PyC, possibly due to the more strongly adhered protein layer limiting the

The present paper examines the importance of integrating geographical effects into the analysis of social networks. Specifically, we study the impacts of spatial distance and territorial borders on information exchange within two European cross‐border regions where there is evidence of extensive cross‐border political interaction in the domain of public transportation. We use exponential random graph models to review how these spatial factors influence policy interaction. We show how the effect of distance on the exchange of information between organizations is less obvious than it seems at first sight, when we control for endogenous networks effects with which it tends to be confounded. We also explore moderating effects among the spatial factors studied and in particular how the effect of distance affects information exchange by territoriality. While the probability of interaction decreases with distance in the context of domestic ties, distance does not exert the same friction when it comes to cross‐border ties. These findings suggest that borders are not necessarily a barrier to interaction and that peripheral actors located in border regions may bridge distance in order to access strategic information they do not have access to within their territorial jurisdiction and is likely concentrated in foreign decision centers.

International education provides students with an opportunity to develop new social networks while they fit in to the new culture. In a three-wave longitudinal study, we investigated how social networks and psychological adjustment coevolve within a group of international students enrolled in a coursework degree at the tertiary level. Using the Stochastic Actor-Oriented Model (SAOM), we identified the occurrences of social selection based on the levels of psychological and sociocultural adjustment. More specifically, students tended to deselect classmates who were dissimilar in their level of psychological adjustment and to befriend those who differed in their levels of sociocultural adjustment. In contrast, little evidence was found to suggest that features of social networks influenced students’ adjustment. Potential applications of this new method to future acculturation research are suggested.

Stainless steelmaking produces different types of slags which need to be cooled, stored, and pretreated before further use. In current practice, the slag is cooled in an air atmosphere, but water cooling has been envisaged to speed up cooling. The aim of this article is to simulate the cooling of argon‐oxygen decarburization (AOD) slag under the conditions of ambient cooling and water cooling. The effects of the thickness and initial temperature of the slag layer are also studied. Finally, practical means to improve the cooling practice are evaluated based on the model predictions.

Digitalizing business analytics by generating relevant information from data to gain valuable insights and to enhance decision-making is a key ability for companies. We describe a potential concept for digitizing company analytics to enable data-driven approach by providing a path from information needs to visualizing the analysis results, including the consideration of analysis logic, relevant data, and necessary data model. Company business processes, IT applications, and data assets provide the foundations to build upon. The developed concept may enable practitioners to consider possible applications and the needed, already existing technologies.

Background and aims: Carotid plaque is a specific sign of atherosclerosis and adults with carotid plaque are at increased risk for cardiovascular outcomes. Atherosclerosis has roots in childhood and pediatric guidelines provide cut-off values for cardiovascular risk factors. However, it is unknown whether these cut-offs predict adulthood advanced atherosclerosis. Methods: The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study is a follow-up of children that begun in 1980 when 2653 participants with data for the present analyses were aged 3—18 years. In 2001 and 2007 follow-ups, in addition to adulthood cardiovascular risk factors, carotid ultrasound data was collected. Long-term burden, as the area under the curve, was evaluated for childhood (6—18 years) risk factors. To study the associations of guideline-based cut-offs with carotid plaque, both childhood and adult risk factors were classified according to clinical practice guidelines. Results: Carotid plaque, defined as a focal structure of the arterial wall protruding into lumen <50% compared to adjacent intima-media thickness, was present in 88 (3.3%) participants. Relative risk for carotid plaque, when adjusted for age and sex, was 3.03 (95% CI, 1.76—5.21) for childhood dyslipidemia, 1.51 (95% CI, 0.99—2.32) for childhood elevated systolic blood pressure, and 1.93 (95% CI, 1.26—2.94) for childhood smoking. Childhood dyslipidemia and smoking remained independent predictors of carotid plaque in models additionally adjusted for adult risk factors and family history of coronary heart disease. Carotid plaque was present in less than 1% of adults with no childhood risk factors. Conclusions: Findings reinforce childhood prevention efforts and demonstrate the utility of guideline-based cut-offs in identifying children at increased risk for adulthood atherosclerosis.