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Survey data regarding perceived air quality in Australia, Brazil, China, Ghana, India, Iran, Italy, Norway, South Africa, United States before and during Covid-19 restrictions

- Barbieri, Diego, Lou, Baowen, Passavanti, Marco, Hui, Cang, Lessa, Daniela, Maharaj, Brij, Banerjee, Arunabha, Wang, Fusong, Chang, Kevin, Naik, Bhaven, Yu, Lei, Liu, Zhuangzhuang, Sikka, Gaurav, Tucker, Andrew, Mirhosseini, Ali, Naseri, Sahra, Qiao, Yaning, Gupta, Akshay, Abbas, Montasir, Fang, Kevin, Ghasemi, Navid, Peprah, Prince, Goswami, Shubham, Hessami, Amir, Agarwal, Nithin, Lam, Louisa, Adomako, Solomon

The association between esports participation, health and physical activity behaviour

- Trotter, Michael, Coulter, Tristan, Davis, Paul, Poulus, Dylan, Polman, Remco

  • Authors: Trotter, Michael , Coulter, Tristan , Davis, Paul , Poulus, Dylan , Polman, Remco
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Vol. 17, no. 19 (2020), p. 1-14
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  • Description: We investigated the association between obesity, self-reported physical activity, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and perceived health in esports players, and the influence of player in-game rank. Data was collected with an online survey with an international participant sample of esports players representing five esports and all skill levels (n = 1772). Esports players were more likely to be categorized as normal weight, or obesity class 2 and 3 and as non-smokers (92%) and non-drinkers (65.1%) compared to international reference data. Esports players met international physical activity guidelines less than global general population. Esports players ranked in the top 10% were more physically active compared to the remaining esports players. As esports player in-game rank increased, so did the amount of time spent playing esports. Although esports players appear generally healthy, a small group was significantly obese and most esports players did not meet physical activity guidelines, indicating potential future health risks. © 2020, MDPI AG. All rights reserved.

The composition and stability of the faecal microbiota of merino sheep

- Mamun, Mohammed, Sandeman, Mark, Rayment, Philip, Brook-Carter, Phillip, Scholes, Emily, Kasinadhuni, Naga, Piedrafita, David, Greenhill, Andrew

  • Authors: Mamun, Mohammed , Sandeman, Mark , Rayment, Philip , Brook-Carter, Phillip , Scholes, Emily , Kasinadhuni, Naga , Piedrafita, David , Greenhill, Andrew
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Applied Microbiology Vol. 128, no. 1 (2020), p. 280-291
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  • Description: Aims: To determine the composition and temporal stability of the gut (faecal) microbiota of sheep (Ovis aries). Methods and Results: Microbial population dynamics was conducted using ARISA (28 sheep) and 16S rRNA sequencing (11 sheep). Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were the predominant bacterial phyla, constituting ~80% of the total population. The core faecal bacterial microbiota of sheep consisted of 67 of 136 detected families and 91 of 215 detected species. Predominant microbial taxa included Ruminococcaceae, unassigned families in Bacteroidales and Clostridiales, Verrucomicrobiaceae and Paraprevotellaceae. Diversity indices and core microbiota composition demonstrated the stability of the core microbiota over 2–4 weeks. The core microbiota remained similar over ~5 months. Conclusions: Temporal stability of the sheep microbiota is high over 2–4 weeks in the absence of experimental variables. The core microbiota of Merino sheep shares taxa found in other breeds of sheep and other ruminants. Significance and Impact of the Study: Numerous studies seek to investigate the impact of experimental variables on gut microbiota composition. To do so, knowledge of the innate stability (or instability) of the microbiota over an experimental time course is required, independent of other variables. We have demonstrated high stability of the gut microbiota in sheep over 3–4 weeks, with moderate stability over ~5 months. © 2019 The Society for Applied Microbiology

The influences of low protein diet on the intestinal microbiota of mice

- Masuoka, Hiroaki, Suda, Wataru, Tomitsuka, Eriko, Shindo, Chie, Takayasu, Lena, Horwood, Paul, Greenhill, Andrew, Hattori, Masahira, Umezaki, Masahiro, Hirayama, Kazuhiro

  • Authors: Masuoka, Hiroaki , Suda, Wataru , Tomitsuka, Eriko , Shindo, Chie , Takayasu, Lena , Horwood, Paul , Greenhill, Andrew , Hattori, Masahira , Umezaki, Masahiro , Hirayama, Kazuhiro
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Scientific Reports Vol. 10, no. 1 (2020), p.
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  • Description: Recent research suggests that protein deficiency symptoms are influenced by the intestinal microbiota. We investigated the influence of low protein diet on composition of the intestinal microbiota through animal experiments. Specific pathogen-free (SPF) mice were fed one of four diets (3, 6, 9, or 12% protein) for 4 weeks (n = 5 per diet). Mice fed the 3% protein diet showed protein deficiency symptoms such as weight loss and low level of blood urea nitrogen concentration in their serum. The intestinal microbiota of mice in the 3% and 12% protein diet groups at day 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 were investigated by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, which revealed differences in the microbiota. In the 3% protein diet group, a greater abundance of urease producing bacterial species was detected across the duration of the study. In the 12% diet protein group, increases of abundance of Streptococcaceae and Clostridiales families was detected. These results suggest that protein deficiency may be associated with shifts in intestinal microbiota. © 2020, The Author(s).

The Investment Model: Its Antecedents and Predictors of Relationship Satisfaction

- Moore, Kathleen, Campbell, Austin

  • Authors: Moore, Kathleen , Campbell, Austin
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Relationship Research Vol. 11, no. (2020), p.
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  • Description: Intimate relationships are an integral part of our lives, but the rate of relationship breakups is high. We explored the role of the investment model and the traits that influence investments on relationship satisfaction among 146 volunteers (age M = 28.76 years, SD = 10.23). Relationship satisfaction was predicted by investments, which in turn were predicted by attachment, personality and love style. Clinicians working with individuals or couples with relationship issues may benefit from knowing how invested they are in the relationship and their love style. Insight into imbalances in these constructs between partners may be used to facilitate relationship satisfaction.

A configural model of expert judgement as a preliminary epidemiological study of injury problems: An application to drowning

- Morgan, Damian, Ozanne-Smith, Joan

  • Authors: Morgan, Damian , Ozanne-Smith, Joan
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: PLoS ONE Vol. 14, no. 10 (2019), p.
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  • Description: Robust epidemiological studies identifying determinants of negative health outcomes require significant research effort. Expert judgement is proposed as an efficient alternative or preliminary research design for risk factor identification associated with unintentional injury. This proposition was tested in a multi-factorial balanced experimental design using specialist judges (N = 18), lifeguards and surfers, to assess the risk contribution to drowning for swimming ability, surf bathing experience, and wave height. All factors provided unique contributions to drowning risk (p < .001). An interaction (p = .02) indicated that occasional surf bathers face a proportionally increased risk of drowning at increased wave heights relative to experienced surf bathers. Although findings were limited by strict criteria, and no gold standard comparison data were available, the study provides new evidence on causal risk factors for a drowning scenario. Countermeasures based on these factors are proposed. Further application of the method may assist in developing new interventions to reduce unintentional injury. © 2019 Morgan, Ozanne-Smith. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Algorithm development for the non-destructive testing of structural damage

- Noori Hoshyar, Azadeh, Rashidi, Maria, Liyanapathirana, Ranjith, Samali, Bijan

  • Authors: Noori Hoshyar, Azadeh , Rashidi, Maria , Liyanapathirana, Ranjith , Samali, Bijan
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Applied sciences Vol. 9, no. 14 (2019), p. 2810
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  • Description: Monitoring of structures to identify types of damages that occur under loading is essential in practical applications of civil infrastructure. In this paper, we detect and visualize damage based on several non-destructive testing (NDT) methods. A machine learning (ML) approach based on the Support Vector Machine (SVM) method is developed to prevent misdirection of the event interpretation of what is happening in the material. The objective is to identify cracks in the early stages, to reduce the risk of failure in structures. Theoretical and experimental analyses are derived by computing the performance indicators on the smart aggregate (SA)-based sensor data for concrete and reinforced-concrete (RC) beams. Validity assessment of the proposed indices was addressed through a comparative analysis with traditional SVM. The developed ML algorithms are shown to recognize cracks with a higher accuracy than the traditional SVM. Additionally, we propose different algorithms for microwave- or millimeter-wave imaging of steel plates, composite materials, and metal plates, to identify and visualize cracks. The proposed algorithm for steel plates is based on the gradient magnitude in four directions of an image, and is followed by the edge detection technique. Three algorithms were proposed for each of composite materials and metal plates, and are based on 2D fast Fourier transform (FFT) and hybrid fuzzy c-mean techniques, respectively. The proposed algorithms were able to recognize and visualize the cracking incurred in the structure more efficiently than the traditional techniques. The reported results are expected to be beneficial for NDT-based applications, particularly in civil engineering.

Annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum Gaud) competition altered wheat grain quality : A study under elevated atmospheric CO2 levels and drought conditions

- Fernando, Nimesha, Florentine, Singarayer, Naiker, Mani, Panozzo, Joe, Chauhan, Bhagirath

  • Authors: Fernando, Nimesha , Florentine, Singarayer , Naiker, Mani , Panozzo, Joe , Chauhan, Bhagirath
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Food Chemistry Vol. 276, no. (2019), p. 285-290
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  • Description: Annual ryegrass is one of the most serious, costly weeds of winter cropping systems in Australia. To determine whether its competition-mediated plant defence mechanisms effect on wheat grain quality, wheat (cv. Yitpi) and annual ryegrass were grown under two levels of CO2 (400 ppm; (a[CO2]) vs 700 ppm; (e[CO2]), two levels of water (well-watered vs drought) and two types of competition (wheat only; (W), and wheatxannual ryegrass; (W x R) with four replicates. The competitionx[CO2] interaction had a significant effect on wheat grain protein content, where it was increased in W x R under both e[CO2] (+ 17%) and a[CO2] (+ 21%). Grain yield, total grain reducing power and phenolic content were significantly affected by [CO2] x drought x competition. In a summary, annual ryegrass competition significantly altered the wheat grain quality under both [CO2] levels (depending on the soil water level), while also decreasing the grain yield.

Autonomous adaptation to climate-driven change in marine biodiversity in a global marine hotspot

- Pecl, Gretta, Ogier, Emily, Jennings, Sarah, van Putten, Ingrid, Crawford, Christine, Fogarty, Hannah, Frusher, Stewart, Hobday, Alistair, Keane, John, Lee, Emma, MacLeod, Catriona, Mundy, Craig, Stuart-Smith, Jemima, Tracey, Sean

  • Authors: Pecl, Gretta , Ogier, Emily , Jennings, Sarah , van Putten, Ingrid , Crawford, Christine , Fogarty, Hannah , Frusher, Stewart , Hobday, Alistair , Keane, John , Lee, Emma , MacLeod, Catriona , Mundy, Craig , Stuart-Smith, Jemima , Tracey, Sean
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Ambio Vol. 48, no. 12 (2019), p. 1498-1515
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  • Description: While governments and natural resource managers grapple with how to respond to climatic changes, many marine-dependent individuals, organisations and user-groups in fast-changing regions of the world are already adjusting their behaviour to accommodate these. However, we have little information on the nature of these autonomous adaptations that are being initiated by resource user-groups. The east coast of Tasmania, Australia, is one of the world’s fastest warming marine regions with extensive climate-driven changes in biodiversity already observed. We present and compare examples of autonomous adaptations from marine users of the region to provide insights into factors that may have constrained or facilitated the available range of autonomous adaptation options and discuss potential interactions with governmental planned adaptations. We aim to support effective adaptation by identifying the suite of changes that marine users are making largely without government or management intervention, i.e. autonomous adaptations, to better understand these and their potential interactions with formal adaptation strategies. © 2019, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Balancing cost, performance and risk in maintenance and capital expenditure

- Chattopadhyay Gopi

  • Authors: Chattopadhyay Gopi
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IAPQR Transactions Vol. 44, no. 2 (2019), p. 107-126
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  • Description: Asset Management is focused on realisation of value from assets through managing risk and opportunity. ISO standard for asset management ISO55000, 2014 stipulates effective control and governance of assets for desired balancing act of cost, performance and risk. This paper aims to study the maintenance and capital expenditure problems. It proposes how to balance cost, performance and risk for asset management. Decisions need to be based on performance and risk in addition to costs based on whole of life are supported by international standards for asset management. Option analysis and informed decision-making are proposed considering life cycle costs. Recent trend with industries is to align with latest international standards for asset management. Asset management in heavy haul rail network focuses on this by realisation of value from assets through managing risk and opportunity. Model for total cost of maintenance was developed covering risk costs associated with undetected surface/ subsurface cracks causing rail breaks and derailments and wear loss due to gauge face lubrication problems and intervention costs in inspections and interventions using progressive rail grinding and solar powered electric lubricators with remote performance monitoring. Illustrative examples are used to show how actions in inspection and subsequent rail grinding for controlling rolling contact fatigue (RCF) along with gauge face lubrication for controlling wear can be achieved in heavy haul railway. This maintenance and capital investment policy and decisions based on life cycle cost models can be used as reference for capital expenditure (capex) and operational expenditure (opex) balancing in any industry in general and heavy haul in particular.

Belief in conspiracy theories : the predictive role of schizotypy, machiavellianism, and primary psychopathy

- March, Evita, Springer

  • Authors: March, Evita , Springer
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: PLoS ONE Vol. 14, no. 12 (2019), p.
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  • Description: A conspiracy theory refers to an alternative explanation of an event involving a conspirator plot organised by powerful people or organisations. Belief in conspiracy theories is related to negative societal outcomes such as poor medical decisions and a decrease in prosocial behaviour. Given these negative outcomes, researchers have explored predictors of belief in conspiracy theories in an attempt to understand and possibly manage these beliefs. In the current study, we explored the utility of personality in predicting belief in conspiracy theories. The aim of the current study was to explore the utility of the odd beliefs/magical thinking subtype of schizotypy, Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism, primary psychopathy, and secondary psychopathy in predicting belief in conspiracy theories. Participants (N = 230; 44.7% male, 55.3% female) completed an anonymous, confidential online questionnaire which comprised demographics and measures of personality traits and belief in conspiracy theories. The total regression model indicated odd beliefs/magical thinking, trait Machiavellianism, and primary psychopathy were significant, positive predictors of belief in conspiracy theories. No other predictors reached significance. Results of the current study highlight individuals who might be more susceptible to believing conspiracy theories. Specifically, these results indicate that the individual more likely to believe in conspiracy theories may have unusual patterns of thinking and cognitions, be strategic and manipulative, and display interpersonal and affective deficits. © 2019 March, Springer. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Causation analysis of risk coupling of gas explosion accident in chinese underground coal mines

- Zhang, Jinjia, Xu, Kaili, You, Greg, Wang, Beibei, Zhao, Lei

  • Authors: Zhang, Jinjia , Xu, Kaili , You, Greg , Wang, Beibei , Zhao, Lei
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Risk Analysis Vol. 39, no. 7 (2019), p. 1634-1646
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  • Description: The coal mine production industry is a complex sociotechnical system with interactive relationships among several risk factors. Currently, causation analysis of gas explosion accidents is mainly focused on the aspects of human error and equipment fault, while neglecting the interactive relationships among risk factors. A new method is proposed through risk coupling. First, the meaning of risk coupling of a gas explosion is defined, and types of risk coupling are classified. Next, the coupled relationship and coupled effects among risk factors are explored through combining the interpretative structural modeling (ISM) and the NK model. Twenty-eight representative risk factors and 16 coupled types of risk factors are obtained through analysis of 332 gas explosion accidents in coal mines in China. Through the application of the combined ISM-NK model, an eight-level hierarchical model of risk coupling of a gas explosion accident is established, and the coupled degrees of different types of risk coupling are assessed. The hierarchical model reveals that two of the 28 risk factors, such as state policies, laws, and regulations, are the root risk factors for gas explosions; nine of the 28 risk factors, such as flame from blasting, electric spark, and local gas accumulation, are direct causes of gas explosions; whereas 17 of the risk factors, such as three-violation actions, ventilation system, and safety management, are indirect ones. A quantitative analysis of the NK model shows that the probability of gas explosion increases with the increasing number of risk factors. Compared with subjective risk factors, objective risk factors have a higher probability of causing gas explosion because of risk coupling.

Crime concentration in Perth CBD : A comparison of officer predicted hot spots, data derived hot spots and officer GPS patrol data

- Oatley, Giles, Williams, Stephen, Barnes, Geoffrey, Clare, Joseph, Chapman, Brendan

  • Authors: Oatley, Giles , Williams, Stephen , Barnes, Geoffrey , Clare, Joseph , Chapman, Brendan
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences Vol. 51, no. sup1 (2019), p. S136-S140
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  • Description: In an applied criminology context, recent meta-analyses and randomized control trials have demonstrated the benefits of targeting police patrols at hot spots or concentrations of street level crime and disorder. This study asked a group of 79 police officers from Perth to make a prediction, based on their experience, of where hot spots of crime would occur in the near future. Officer-defined hot spots were then compared with hot spots derived from police crime data over the preceding 24 month period. Finally, officer patrol time was tracked using a GPS-enabled smart phone and overlayed against both types of hot spot. This analysis indicates that police officers should be supported with hot spot mapping tools which identify data derived micro-places with persistent issues. Analysis also reveals officers patrol both their own and data-derived hot spots regularly; however, they only stay for a matter of a few minutes. These short stays are contrary to best evidence, which dictates officer patrols in hot spots should last for approximately 15 minutes in order to create both initial and residual deterrence.

DNA barcoding and integrative taxonomy of the heterolepisma sclerophylla species complex (Zygentoma: Lepismatidae: Heterolepismatinae) and the description of two new species

- Smith, Graeme, Mitchell, Andrew, Lee, Timothy, Espinasa, Luis

  • Authors: Smith, Graeme , Mitchell, Andrew , Lee, Timothy , Espinasa, Luis
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Records of the Australian Museum Vol. 71, no. 1 (2019), p. 1-32
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  • Description: We present one of the first studies of DNA barcodes (COI sequences) in the basal insect order Zygentoma, and compare the data with nuclear (28S) and mitochondrial (16S) rDNA sequences and morphology for an integrative taxonomic study of the Heterolepisma sclerophylla Smith species group. DNA sequence analyses identified deep divisions between Queensland and New South Wales populations, and among populations in each state. Detailed morphological and morphometric evaluation of the specimens failed, in most cases, to identify unambiguous morphological characters of diagnostic value for each population, possibly due to the interaction of morphological conservatism with high levels of variability resulting from their continued moulting after reaching sexual maturity. Several strong consistent characters were identified to support the description of a southern Queensland population as a new species (Heterolepisma cooloola sp. nov.). The combined molecular and morphological data support the view that the presence of lanceolate scales and the absence of macrochaetae from the anterior margin of the frons are more significant to phylogeny than the arrangement of styli and the shape of the thoracic sternites in Heterolepisma. Specimens from Glen Davis, NSW, while indistinguishable from H. sclerophylla in all other characters examined, were found to possess one fewer pair of abdominal styli in both sexes and are also described as a new species (Heterolepisma coorongooba sp. nov.). Five lineages are recognized within the remaining NSW material but as reliable (non-overlapping) morphological and morphometric differences could not be identified, they are not described here as new species. Heterolepisma sclerophylla sensu stricto is considered to be a complex of morphologically ill-defined species or perhaps subspecies.

How practitioners integrate decision triggers with existing metrics in conservation monitoring

- Foster, Claire, O'Loughlin, Luke, Sato, Chloe, Westgate, Martin, Barton, Philip

  • Authors: Foster, Claire , O'Loughlin, Luke , Sato, Chloe , Westgate, Martin , Barton, Philip
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Environmental Management Vol. 230, no. (2019), p. 94-101
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  • Description: Decision triggers are defined thresholds in the status of monitored variables that indicate when to undertake management, and avoid undesirable ecosystem change. Decision triggers are frequently recommended to conservation practitioners as a tool to facilitate evidence-based management practices, but there has been limited attention paid to how practitioners are integrating decision triggers into existing monitoring programs. We sought to understand whether conservation practitioners’ use of decision triggers was influenced by the type of variables in their monitoring programs. We investigated this question using a practitioner-focused workshop involving a structured discussion and review of eight monitoring programs. Among our case studies, direct measures of biodiversity (e.g. native species) were more commonly monitored, but less likely to be linked to decision triggers (10% with triggers) than measures being used as surrogates (54% with triggers) for program objectives. This was because decision triggers were associated with management of threatening processes, which were often monitored as a surrogate for a biodiversity asset of interest. By contrast, direct measures of biodiversity were more commonly associated with informal decision processes that led to activities such as management reviews or external consultation. Workshop participants were in favor of including more formalized decision triggers in their programs, but were limited by incomplete ecological knowledge, lack of appropriately skilled staff, funding constraints, and/or uncertainty regarding intervention effectiveness. We recommend that practitioners consider including decision triggers for discussion activities (such as external consultation) in their programs as more than just early warning points for future interventions, particularly for direct measures. Decision triggers for discussions should be recognized as a critical feature of monitoring programs where information and operational limitations inhibit the use of decision triggers for interventions. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Philip Barton” is provided in this record**

Influence of soil moisture regimes on growth, photosynthetic capacity, leaf biochemistry and reproductive capabilities of the invasive agronomic weed; Lactuca serriola

- Chadha, Aakansha, Florentine, Singarayer, Chauhan, Bhagirath, Long, Benjamin, Jayasundera, Mithila

  • Authors: Chadha, Aakansha , Florentine, Singarayer , Chauhan, Bhagirath , Long, Benjamin , Jayasundera, Mithila
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: PLoS ONE Vol. 14, no. 6 (2019), p. 1-17
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  • Description: Global temperatures are predicted to increase by 1.5–5.9C during this century, and this change is likely to impact average rainfall, with predictions that water deficit will perhaps be the most severe threat to sustainable agriculture. In this respect, invasive weeds, which have traits better adapted to drought stress than crops, add to concerns regarding crop sustainability. Lactuca serriola, an aggressive agronomic weed is thought to be a successful weed because of its ability to maintain high water use efficiency under drought conditions. In this study, experiments were conducted to examine the influence of different soil moisture regimes (100%, 75%, 50% and 25% water holding capacity (WHC)) on growth, photosynthetic capacity, leaf biochemistry and reproduction of this species. Soil moisture significantly affected plant’s height, stem diameter, number of leaves and biomass. The highest plant height (115.14 cm ± 11.64), shoot diameter (9.4 mm ± 0.18), leaf area (1206.5 mm2 ± 73.29), plant fresh weight (83.1 ± 3.98) and dry weight (22.38 ± 1.24) were recorded at 75% soil moisture content. A fundamental adaptation to drought was observed as plants in the 25% WHC treatment had the highest root: shoot ratio. Soluble sugars and total phenolic content were highest in the 25% WHC treatment and significantly different to 100% WHC which was a response to soil moisture stress to ameliorate the damaging effects of reactive oxygen species produced under stress conditions. Results also indicate that L. serriola can survive and produce seeds under water stress as more than 6000 seeds were produced per plant in all WHC treatments. In this study, there was no significant difference in the seed weight, number of seeds produced and their germination ability. This can have a huge impact on agricultural systems as the species can survive both under low and high soil moisture conditions. We therefore suggest that the demonstrated ability of L. serriola to complete its life cycle and produce biomass and seeds under water stressed conditions leads to the introduction of strategies that minimize weed survival while maximizing irrigation efficiency for the crop. A clear understanding of the ecological and biological characteristics of this weed will help land managers take appropriate control measures to mitigate the effect of this species on economic crop productivity.

Leaders' creation of shared identity impacts group members' effort and performance : evidence from an exercise task

- Stevens, Mark, Rees, Tim, Steffens, Niklas, Haslam, S., Coffee, Pete, Polman, Remco

  • Authors: Stevens, Mark , Rees, Tim , Steffens, Niklas , Haslam, S. , Coffee, Pete , Polman, Remco
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: PLoS ONE Vol. 14, no. 7 (2019), p.
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  • Description: There is growing evidence that leaders' effectiveness derives in part from their creation of a sense of identity that is shared by members of a group they are attempting to lead (i.e., their identity entrepreneurship). Little is known, however, about the impact of identity entrepreneurship in sport and exercise settings, particularly in relation to its effect on group members' effort and performance. Using a pre-post between subjects experimental design, we examined the effect of leaders' identity entrepreneurship on group members' effort and performance during 5km cycling time trials. Following a baseline session (in which time trials were completed individually), participants (N = 72) were randomly allocated to either a high or low identity entrepreneurship condition, and further randomly divided into groups of five (including a leader who was a confederate). In the subsequent test sessions (which participants attended with their fellow group members), leaders displayed either high or low identity entrepreneurship behaviors. Results indicated that, compared to participants in the low identity entrepreneurship condition, those in the high identity entrepreneurship condition maintained greater effort (maximum heart rate), and demonstrated improved (rather than poorer) performance (average power output in the first 60 seconds of time trials). Examination of pacing showed that the largest increases in participants' average power output occurred in the early stages of their second time trials for those in the high identity entrepreneurship condition only. Results provide causal evidence that leaders who create a shared sense of identity among team members are able to inspire greater participant effort and performance. © 2019 Stevens et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Lower dormancy with rapid germination is an important strategy for seeds in an arid zone with unpredictable rainfall

- Duncan, Corrine, Schultz, Nick, Lewandrowski, Wolfgang, Good, Megan, Cook, Simon

  • Authors: Duncan, Corrine , Schultz, Nick , Lewandrowski, Wolfgang , Good, Megan , Cook, Simon
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: PLoS ONE Vol. 14, no. 9 (2019), p.
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  • Description: Seed germination traits are key drivers of population dynamics, yet they are under-represented in community ecology studies, which have predominately focussed on adult plant and seed morphological traits. We studied the seed traits and germination strategy of eight woody plant species to investigate regeneration strategies in the arid zone of eastern Australia. To cope with stochastic and minimal rainfall, we predict that arid seeds will either have rapid germination across a wide range of temperatures, improved germination under cooler temperatures, or dormancy and/or longevity traits to delay or stagger germination across time. To understand how temperature affects germination responses, seeds of eight keystone arid species were germinated under laboratory conditions, and under three diurnal temperatures (30/20°C, 25/15°C and 17/7°C) for 30 days. We also tested for decline in seed viability across 24 months in a dry-aging treatment (

Managing uncertainty in movement knowledge for environmental decisions

- Smith, Annabel, Kujala, Heini, Lahoz-Monfort, José, Guja, Lydia, Barton, Philip

  • Authors: Smith, Annabel , Kujala, Heini , Lahoz-Monfort, José , Guja, Lydia , Barton, Philip
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Conservation Letters Vol. 12, no. 3 (2019), p.
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  • Description: Species’ movements affect their response to environmental change but movement knowledge is often highly uncertain. We now have well-established methods to inte-grate movement knowledge into conservation practice but still lack a framework to deal with uncertainty in movement knowledge for environmental decisions. We provide a framework that distinguishes two dimensions of species’ movement that are heavily influenced by uncertainty: knowledge about movement and relevance of movement to environmental decisions. Management decisions can be informed by their position in this knowledge-relevance space. We then outline a framework to support decisions around (1) increasing understanding of the relevance of movement knowledge, (2) increasing robustness of decisions to uncertainties and (3) improving knowledge on species’ movement. Our decision-support framework provides guid-ance for managing movement-related uncertainty in systematic conservation plan-ning, agri-environment schemes, habitat restoration and international biodiversity policy. It caters to different resource levels (time and funding) so that species’ movement knowledge can be more effectively integrated into environmental decisions. © 2018 The Authors. Conservation Letters published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Modelling strong and weak discontinuities with the scaled boundary finite element method through enrichment

- Jiang, Shou-yan, Du, Chengbin, Ooi, Ean

  • Authors: Jiang, Shou-yan , Du, Chengbin , Ooi, Ean
  • Date: 2019
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Engineering Fracture Mechanics Vol. 222, no. (Dec 2019), p. 25
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  • Description: In this paper, a technique to model strong and weak discontinuities with the scaled boundary finite element method through enrichment is proposed. The main advantage of the method is that the enriched elements, in the spirit of the extended finite element method (XFEM), do not need to physically conform to the geometry of features, e.g. internal interfaces and cracks, and remeshing is unnecessary as the interfaces evolve. All the advantages of the SBFEM and the XFEM are retained. The stress singularity at the crack tip can be captured accurately and the stress intensity factors (SIFs) can be directly computed based on the singular displacement or stress at the crack tip within the framework of the SBFEM. The numerical properties and performance for the proposed method are assessed using several numerical examples. In particular, problems with discontinuities, e.g. voids, inclusions, and cracks are analysed. The results show that the accuracy and convergence rate of the new approach for solving void or inclusion problems are identical to those of the XFEM, but requires less number of degrees-of-freedom than the XFEM. For crack problems, compared with the XFEM with topological enrichment, the developed method is superior.