title: Clinician knowledge of driving restrictions following a stroke event.

authors: Stratton, Laura

subjects: Attention

abstract: AIM: To investigate the knowledge and practice of health professionals when advising persons on driving restrictions after a transient ischaemic attack (TIA) or stroke in a tertiary hospital in New Zealand. 
METHODS: Health professionals working in the area of stroke care across the acute and rehabilitation services in a large tertiary hospital were invited to complete an electronic survey around knowledge of driving restrictions based on the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) guidelines. Knowledge was assessed for both private and commercial vehicle use. The other information gathered included participant profession, level of seniority and experience working in stroke care, previous education around medical-related driving restrictions and how and what driving recommendations were discussed with patients. Knowledge of driving restrictions was established by the number and percentage of correct responses for each condition (single TIA, multiple TIA and stroke with full recovery) relating to the recommended restrictions in both private and commercial vehicle use. 
RESULTS: Forty-nine participants' surveys were analysed with representation from across all the health professions (24.5% [12/49] doctors, 38.8% [19/49] nurses and 36.7% [18/49] allied health). Only 38.8% reported having had received training around post-stroke driving restrictions. Knowledge around driving restrictions was highest for a single episode TIA for private vehicle use (73.5% [36/49]). For all other categories, fewer than 50% of participants answered correctly, with knowledge of commercial vehicle restrictions being the least accurate. 
CONCLUSIONS: Many health professionals have discussions with people about driving restrictions following a TIA or stroke. However, there appears to be limited knowledge of all the restrictions for each condition as they relate to either private or commercial vehicle use. Insufficient training and education for clinicians might explain this gap.

text: Clinician knowledge of driving restrictions following a stroke event. AIM: To investigate the knowledge and practice of health professionals when advising persons on driving restrictions after a transient ischaemic attack (TIA) or stroke in a tertiary hospital in New Zealand. 
METHODS: Health professionals working in the area of stroke care across the acute and rehabilitation services in a large tertiary hospital were invited to complete an electronic survey around knowledge of driving restrictions based on the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) guidelines. Knowledge was assessed for both private and commercial vehicle use. The other information gathered included participant profession, level of seniority and experience working in stroke care, previous education around medical-related driving restrictions and how and what driving recommendations were discussed with patients. Knowledge of driving restrictions was established by the number and percentage of correct responses for each condition (single TIA, multiple TIA and stroke with full recovery) relating to the recommended restrictions in both private and commercial vehicle use. 
RESULTS: Forty-nine participants' surveys were analysed with representation from across all the health professions (24.5% [12/49] doctors, 38.8% [19/49] nurses and 36.7% [18/49] allied health). Only 38.8% reported having had received training around post-stroke driving restrictions. Knowledge around driving restrictions was highest for a single episode TIA for private vehicle use (73.5% [36/49]). For all other categories, fewer than 50% of participants answered correctly, with knowledge of commercial vehicle restrictions being the least accurate. 
CONCLUSIONS: Many health professionals have discussions with people about driving restrictions following a TIA or stroke. However, there appears to be limited knowledge of all the restrictions for each condition as they relate to either private or commercial vehicle use. Insufficient training and education for clinicians might explain this gap.

year: 2021

title: Synthesis, characterisation, and properties of powder metallurgy transition metal-based high entropy alloys for electrocatalytic application

authors: Kumar, Ashok

subjects: Powder metallurgy

abstract: Water electrolysis is an eco-friendly route for hydrogen production when compared to other routes such as steam reforming, coal gasification, biomass gasification etc, however only 4% of hydrogen is being produced through water electrolysis. Water electrolysis proceeds via two half-cell reactions namely oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). HER is a two-electron transfer process while OER is a four electron/proton transfer process. Hence OER is energy intensive and affects the overall efficiency of water electrolysis. To improve the efficiency of water electrolysis, it is necessary to develop an efficient electrocatalyst for OER process. Ir and Ru based oxides are the state-of-the-art electrocatalysts for OER, however their natural abundance is minuscule, hence they are expensive. Transition metal based electrocatalysts are emerging materials for OER applications due to their high natural abundance and low cost. However, these materials exhibit poor conductivity and consequently poor catalytic activity. Hence to overcome the shortcomings of conventional electrocatalysts a new class of multi component alloys termed as high entropy alloys (HEAs) are getting popular for electrocatalytic applications. However, most of the HEAs for OER are not self-supporting and being synthesised in powder form are often coated onto conductive substrates such as Ni foam and carbon fibre. Hence this powder based electrocatalysts are not suitable for industrial scale hydrogen production. In addition, most synthesised HEAs consist of Co which is an inherently expensive material. To overcome these current drawbacks in this field, this thesis considered three Co free self-supporting HEA combinations namely NiMnFeCu, NiMnFeCrCu and NiMnFeCr which were successfully synthesized. Among the synthesized HEAs examined, NiMnFeCr was found to exhibit an overpotential of 300 mV after it was subjected to 100 cycles of cyclic voltammetry (CV) activation. Furthermore, the NiMnFeCr HEA synthesised exhibited a compressive yield stress of 306 MPa manifesting the excellent combined properties of not only catalytic activity but also mechanical strength. The research showed that NiMnFeCr was a suitable candidate material for industrial scale water electrolysis and hence can be considered as a potential replacement for the conventional, prominently used electrocatalysts such as Raney nickel, Ir and Ru oxide- based catalysts. The excellent catalytic activity demonstrated by the HEA NiMnFeCr could also be attributed to its work function of 3.02 eV which is the lowest value of work function of other studied HEAs.

text: Synthesis, characterisation, and properties of powder metallurgy transition metal-based high entropy alloys for electrocatalytic application Water electrolysis is an eco-friendly route for hydrogen production when compared to other routes such as steam reforming, coal gasification, biomass gasification etc, however only 4% of hydrogen is being produced through water electrolysis. Water electrolysis proceeds via two half-cell reactions namely oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). HER is a two-electron transfer process while OER is a four electron/proton transfer process. Hence OER is energy intensive and affects the overall efficiency of water electrolysis. To improve the efficiency of water electrolysis, it is necessary to develop an efficient electrocatalyst for OER process. Ir and Ru based oxides are the state-of-the-art electrocatalysts for OER, however their natural abundance is minuscule, hence they are expensive. Transition metal based electrocatalysts are emerging materials for OER applications due to their high natural abundance and low cost. However, these materials exhibit poor conductivity and consequently poor catalytic activity. Hence to overcome the shortcomings of conventional electrocatalysts a new class of multi component alloys termed as high entropy alloys (HEAs) are getting popular for electrocatalytic applications. However, most of the HEAs for OER are not self-supporting and being synthesised in powder form are often coated onto conductive substrates such as Ni foam and carbon fibre. Hence this powder based electrocatalysts are not suitable for industrial scale hydrogen production. In addition, most synthesised HEAs consist of Co which is an inherently expensive material. To overcome these current drawbacks in this field, this thesis considered three Co free self-supporting HEA combinations namely NiMnFeCu, NiMnFeCrCu and NiMnFeCr which were successfully synthesized. Among the synthesized HEAs examined, NiMnFeCr was found to exhibit an overpotential of 300 mV after it was subjected to 100 cycles of cyclic voltammetry (CV) activation. Furthermore, the NiMnFeCr HEA synthesised exhibited a compressive yield stress of 306 MPa manifesting the excellent combined properties of not only catalytic activity but also mechanical strength. The research showed that NiMnFeCr was a suitable candidate material for industrial scale water electrolysis and hence can be considered as a potential replacement for the conventional, prominently used electrocatalysts such as Raney nickel, Ir and Ru oxide- based catalysts. The excellent catalytic activity demonstrated by the HEA NiMnFeCr could also be attributed to its work function of 3.02 eV which is the lowest value of work function of other studied HEAs.

year: 2023

title: Ōpōtiki Mai Tawhiti Kapa Haka

authors: Maxwell, Te Kahautu

abstract: Te Matatini is the World Champion Competition. Ōpōtiki Mai Tawhiti; Pool performance on Day 1 of the Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Competition. Ōpōtiki Mai Tawhiti placed second in the pool and qualified for the Top 9 Finals on Sunday 24th February 2013. Overall in the Pool qualifiers ŌpōTiki Mai Tawhiti placed 5th out of 41.

text: Ōpōtiki Mai Tawhiti Kapa Haka Te Matatini is the World Champion Competition. Ōpōtiki Mai Tawhiti; Pool performance on Day 1 of the Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Competition. Ōpōtiki Mai Tawhiti placed second in the pool and qualified for the Top 9 Finals on Sunday 24th February 2013. Overall in the Pool qualifiers ŌpōTiki Mai Tawhiti placed 5th out of 41.

year: 2013-02-21