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Automatic segmentation of LiDAR point cloud data at different height levels for 3D building extraction C3 - Proceedings - IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo

- Abdullah, S.M., Awrangjeb, Mohammad, Lu, Guojun

  • Authors: Abdullah, S.M. , Awrangjeb, Mohammad , Lu, Guojun
  • Date: 2014
  • Type: Text , Conference proceedings
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  • Description: This paper presents a new LiDAR segmentation technique for automatic building detection and roof plane extraction. First, it uses a height threshold, based on the digital elevation model it divides the LiDAR point cloud into 'ground' and 'non-ground' points. Then, starting from the maximum LiDAR height, and decreasing the height at each iteration, it looks for points to form planar roof segments. At each height level, it clusters the points based on the distance and finds straight lines using the points. The nearest coplanar point to the midpoint of each line is used as a seed point and the plane is grown in a region growing fashion. Finally, a rule-based procedure is followed to remove planar segments in trees. The experimental results show that the proposed technique offers a high building detection and roof plane extraction rates while compared to other recently proposed techniques.

Credit default prediction using a support vector machine and a probabilistic neural network

- Abedin, Mohammad, Guotai, Chi, Colombage, Sisira, Fahmida-E-Moula

  • Authors: Abedin, Mohammad , Guotai, Chi , Colombage, Sisira , Fahmida-E-Moula
  • Date: 2018
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Credit Risk Vol. 14, no. 2 (2018), p. 1-27
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  • Description: The design of consistent classifiers to forecast credit-granting choices is critical for many financial decision-making practices. Although a number of artificial and statistical techniques have been developed to predict customer insolvency, how to provide an inclusive appraisal of prediction models and recommend adequate classifiers is still an imperative and understudied area in credit default prediction (CDP) modeling. Previous evidence demonstrates that the ranking of classifiers varies for different criteria with measures under different circumstances. In this study, we address this methodological flaw by proposing the simultaneous application of support vector machine and probabilistic neural network (PNN)-based CDP algorithms, together with frequently used high-performance models. We fill the gap by introducing a set of multidimensional evaluation measures combined with some novel metrics that are helpful in discovering unseen features of the model’s performance. For effectiveness and feasibility purposes, six real-world credit data sets have been applied. Our empirical study shows that the PNN model is more robust than its rivals, and traditional performance evaluations are more or less consistent with their original counterparts. With these contributions, therefore, our investigations offer several advantages to practitioners of financial risk management.

A new feature selection technique for load and price forecast of electrical power systems

- Abedinia, Oveis, Amjady, Nima, Zareipour, Hamidreza

  • Authors: Abedinia, Oveis , Amjady, Nima , Zareipour, Hamidreza
  • Date: 2017
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE transactions on power systems Vol. 32, no. 1 (2017), p. 62-74
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  • Description: Load and price forecasts are necessary for optimal operation planning in competitive electricity markets. However, most of the load and price forecast methods suffer from lack of an efficient feature selection technique with the ability of modeling the nonlinearities and interacting features of the forecast processes. In this paper, a new feature selection method is presented. An important contribution of the proposed method is modeling interaction in addition to relevancy and redundancy, based on information-theoretic criteria, for feature selection. Another main contribution of the paper is proposing a hybrid filter-wrapper approach. The filter part selects a minimum subset of the most informative features by considering relevancy, redundancy, and interaction of the candidate inputs in a coordinated manner. The wrapper part fine-tunes the settings of the composite filter.

Impact of entry mode on students' approaches to learning: a study of accounting students

- Abhayawansa, Subhash, Tempone, Irene, Pillay, Soma

  • Authors: Abhayawansa, Subhash , Tempone, Irene , Pillay, Soma
  • Date: 2012
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Accounting Education: An International Journal Vol. 21, no. 4 (2012), p. 341-361
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  • Description: This study examines the impact of prior learning experience on students' approaches to learning (SAL). It compares SAL of accounting students admitted to university in Australia on the basis of Institutes of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) qualifications (TAFE-to-university) and through direct entry mode (Year 12-to-university). The motivation for the study lies in the need to understand potential learning differences to inform learning interventions for optimal learning outcomes for all students—regardless of entry mode. The findings suggest that prior TAFE learning experience impacts SAL in university. However, the findings question the stereotypical view of the TAFE learning context as fostering surface approaches to learning, as higher scores on deep and achieving approaches were recorded by TAFE-to-university students. The level of adoption of a surface approach was found to be less among students undertaking predominantly third-year units regardless of entry mode. This study's findings have important implications for designing curricula and assessment for accounting units to cater for all students from different educational pathways, for university teachers to adopt an inclusive approach, and for higher education access policy.

Students’ conceptions of learning in the context of an accounting degree

- Abhayawansa, Subhash, Bowden, Mark, Pillay, Soma

  • Authors: Abhayawansa, Subhash , Bowden, Mark , Pillay, Soma
  • Date: 2017
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Accounting Education Vol. 26, no. 3 (2017), p. 213-241
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  • Description: Students' conceptions of learning (CoL) play an important role in the learning process leading to the development of generic skills. This paper investigates whether CoL of accounting students can be developed by incorporating high-level cognitive skills progressively within the accounting curriculum. First, the study explored, using phenomenography, the variation in accounting students' CoL. The findings highlighted some nuances in accountings students' CoL and that lower-order CoL were prevalent among accounting students. However, more (less) third-year students than second-year students adopted higher- (lower-) order CoL. Upon examining the learning objectives, teaching methods and assessment of all units comprising the accounting major of the host university, evidence was found that CoL are progressively developed and shaped, albeit in a limited way, based on the levels of cognitive domain emphasised within the curriculum. The findings highlight the need for accounting educators to take a whole of the programme approach to developing higher-order CoL. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Variations in accounting students' conceptions of learning

- Abhayawansa, Subhash, Bowden, Mark, Pillay, Soma

  • Authors: Abhayawansa, Subhash , Bowden, Mark , Pillay, Soma
  • Date: 2013
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, RMIT Accounting Educators Conference 2013, Melbourne, Australia, 18th November 2013 p. 1-30
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  • Description: Students’ conceptions of learning or preconceived views of what learning means to students have been found to play a significant role in how they choose to approach their learning. This study investigates conceptions of learning held by accounting students in their second- and third-years in university. The study is based on phenomenographic and content-analytic approaches applied to survey responses of 207 accounting students from an Australian university. In the first phase of the analysis we identify 6 learning conceptions. Learning is conceived as: (1) increase of knowledge; (2) understanding; (3) knowledge acquisition for application; (4) a pathway to success; (5) seeing in new ways; and (6) self-development. Compared to similar studies we did not find evidence of the conception ‘learning as memorisation’. In contrast to prior research ‘learning as understanding’ emerged as a lower- order conception of learning in accounting students in this study. In the second phase we find that, after controlling for a range of factors that are likely to affect students’ conceptions of learning third-year students are more likely to adopt a higher-order conception. However, majority of the students, including third year students, continue to adopt low-order conceptions. These findings highlight the need to extend student learning beyond the acquisition of technical skills and knowledge to instil higher-order learning conceptions which underpin the development of generic skills much demanded of professional accountants. As a result, the findings of this study have implications for curriculum and assessment design, and learning and teaching practice in accounting degree programs.

Religion after work: Christianity, morality, and serious leisure

- Abraham, Ibrahim

  • Authors: Abraham, Ibrahim
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Book chapter
  • Relation: Spirituality, Organization and Neoliberalism Chapter 8 p. 149-170
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  • Description: Through extended retirement, unemployment or underemployment, expanding joblessness is changing the traditional hierarchical balance between work and earned leisure. This chapter explores the implications of such changes in the context of established religious and moral systems, particularly Protestant Christianity, which has been connected to conventional capitalist ideologies of work since Max Weber’s ‘Protestant Ethic’ thesis. Focusing on the concept of ‘serious leisure’, in which an individual makes a systematic commitment to a leisure pursuit, this chapter uses the case study of church-facilitated youth-focused action sports projects in South Africa to explore the ethical challenges of a leisure-driven life. Embodying an autotelic approach to life, emphasizing commitment to one’s own actions, emotions and outcomes, serious leisure can promote a form of neoliberal self-governance. Through its autotelic ethic, serious leisure may be more capable of fulfilling the ideological values of work promoted by earlier Protestant and secular ‘bourgeois’ work ethics, such as authenticity.

Saturday night and Sunday morning: value monism and pluralism in contemporary evangelical musicianship

- Abraham, Ibrahim

  • Authors: Abraham, Ibrahim
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of contemporary religion Vol. 36, no. 3 (2021), p. 483-500
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  • Description: Drawing on interviews with, and ethnographic observations of, evangelical Christian musicians with experience of contemporary worship music-as well as secular heavy metal and punk rock-this article analyses the competing value relations underpinning contemporary evangelical musicianship. Developing the work of Joel Robbins on value theory and the anthropology of Christianity and the work of Klisala Harrison on ethnomusicology, this article analyses four examples of different value relations between religious service and expressive individualism: strong monism, stable monism, stable pluralism, unstable pluralism. It is shown through case studies of individual musicians that, whereas strong value monist approaches to evangelical musicianship efface the presence of the subjective self and stable monist approaches suspend its presence, stable pluralism allows both religious and secular vocations to co-exist in separate social spaces, while strong value pluralist approaches to evangelical musicianship emphasise or celebrate the presence of the subjective self and, in so doing, sometimes undermine the ritual aims of congregational worship.

Contemporary Christian Music and Contemporary Worship Music

- Abraham, Ibrahim

  • Authors: Abraham, Ibrahim
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Book chapter
  • Relation: The Routledge International Handbook of Sociology and Christianity Chapter 19 p. 242-253
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  • Description: This chapter offers a critical overview of sociological aspects of and approaches to contemporary Christian music (CCM) and contemporary worship music (CWM), two related genres of abidingly evangelical popular music in which contemporary Christianity engages the spectacular capacities of consumer capitalism. Identifying CCM as musically diverse, yet united by the shifting values of American evangelicalism, and recognizing CWM as a sophisticated congregational practice increasingly integrated into the everyday lives of listeners, this chapter analyzes tensions and contestations in these cultural forms. It also identifies important theoretical concepts pertinent to the study of CCM and CWM: Emile Durkheim’s concept of collective effervescence, Theodor Adorno’s critique of the culture industry, approaches to music-based subcultures, and Christopher Small’s musicking paradigm. © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Dennis Hiebert; individual chapters, the contributors.

Middle-class anxiety and moderate prosperity: South Africa and China in comparative perspective

- Abraham, Ibrahim

  • Authors: Abraham, Ibrahim
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: The Australasian review of African studies Vol. 41, no. 2 (2020), p. 5-26
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  • Description: This article presents the first comparative study of the middle class in Africa and China, drawing on published research from both regions, furnished with analysis of popular culture and ethnographic insights from research on South Africa's new black middle class. This study explores four topics of theoretical and empirical significance. Firstly, definitional debates about the qualitative and quantitative classification of the middle class, including the appropriateness of the term in (South) Africa and China. Secondly, the appropriation of the Chinese concept of xiaokang (moderate prosperity) for the study of Africa. Thirdly, anxiety over social and economic status, related in particular to distinctions between strata within the middle class, building on a distinction between middle-class moderate prosperity and middle-class affluence. Fourthly, anxiety over contradictions between emerging individual desires and traditional familial commitments, impacting South Africa's moderately prosperous in particular, with broader cultural implications for emerging African and Chinese modernities.

Sincere performance in pentecostal megachurch music

- Abraham, Ibrahim

  • Authors: Abraham, Ibrahim
  • Date: 2018
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Religions Vol. 9, no. 6 (2018), p. 192
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  • Description: Drawing on the work of Webb Keane and Joel Robbins in the anthropology of Christianity, furnished with the influential work of Charles Hirschkind in the anthropology of Islam, and the ethnographic studies of Tom Wagner and Mark Jennings on Pentecostal worship music, this article critically examines ideas of sincerity in the musical practices of Pentecostal megachurches. Making use of ethnographic data from research on congregational music in South Africa, including interviews with a variety of Pentecostal musicians, this article argues that the question of Protestant sincerity, understood following Keane as emphasizing individual moral autonomy and suspicion of external material religious forms for expressing one’s inner state, is particularly acute in the case of the Hillsong megachurch. Employing the full array of spectacular possibilities made available by the contemporary culture industry, Hillsong churches centralize cultural production and standardize musical performance whilst simultaneously emphasizing individual religious experience. It is argued that Pentecostal megachurches seek to realize a form of sincere mimicry grounded in learned and embodied practices.

Can optimum solar radiation exposure or supplemented vitamin D intake reduce the severity of COVID-19 symptoms?

- Abraham, Joji, Dowling, Kim, Florentine, Singarayer

  • Authors: Abraham, Joji , Dowling, Kim , Florentine, Singarayer
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article , Review
  • Relation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Vol. 18, no. 2 (2021), p. 1-21
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  • Description: The foremost mortality-causing symptom associated with COVID-19 is acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). A significant correlation has been identified between the deficiency in vitamin D and the risk of developing ARDS. It has been suggested that if we can reduce or modify ARDS in COVID-19 patients, we may significantly reduce the severity of COVID-19 symptoms and associated mortality rates. The increased mortality of dark-skinned people, who have a reduced UV absorption capacity, may be consistent with diminished vitamin D status. The factors associated with COVID-19 mortality, such as old age, ethnicity, obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, are all found to be linked with vitamin D deficiency. Based on this review and as a precautionary measure, it is suggested that the adoption of appropriate and safe solar exposure and vitamin D enriched foods and supplements should be considered to reduce the possible severity of COVID-19 symptoms. Safe sun exposure is deemed beneficial globally, specifically in low and middle- income countries, as there is no cost involved. It is also noted that improved solar exposure and vitamin D levels can reduce the impact of other diseases as well, thus assisting in maintaining general human well-being. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

The influence of controlled fire on the mobilization of Potentially Toxic Elements (PTE) in a mined landscape : Implications for land management and environmental health

- Abraham, Joji

  • Authors: Abraham, Joji
  • Date: 2018
  • Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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  • Description: Controlled fires conducted in fire prone areas are an efficient and economic option to reduce the frequency and intensity of wild fires that result in damage to human property, infrastructure and ecosystems. However, in a similar way to wild fires, controlled fires affect many of the physical and bio-geochemical properties of the forest soil, and may remobilize Potentially Toxic Elements (PTE) from vegetation and soil organic matter. The objective of this study is to investigate the mobilization of PTEs in a mined landscape after a controlled fire and to describe their temporal variations in concentrations. Soil samples were collected two days before and two days after the controlled fire, at the end of each season, and after a major rainfall in September 2016, from a legacy mine site in Maldon, Central Victoria, Australia, and analysed for PTE concentrations. The results revealed PTE mobility after the controlled fire, and most of the PTEs (As, Cd, Cu, Mn, and Zn) evidenced an increase in concentration (1.2, 1.5, 1.1, 2.9, and 1.7 times respectively) and other PTEs (Hg, Cr and Pb) shown a decrease (1.4, 1.1 and 1.1 times respectively) immediately after the fire. The increase in PTE concentration immediately after the fire is postulated to be associated with the addition of PTE enriched ash to the soil and the reduction is due to the volatilization of elements during fire. The PTEs, which increased their concentrations immediately after the fire show a temporal decrease in concentration in the post-fire soil environment due to the removal of ash and surface soil by rainfall runoff, leaching and wind activity. However, Hg shows an increase in concentration after the major rainfall event. Although, median concentrations of As, Hg, Pb, Cu and Zn exceeded the Australian and Victorian top soil averages, only As and Hg are considered to be a risk to human and aquatic ecosystems health due to their elevated concentration and toxicity. Climate change and the resulting projection for increased forest fire frequency illustrates a growing concern given the expected concomitant increase in PTE mobilization. Preparing appropriate land and water management strategies, and addressing environmental health practice and policy, specifically at the legacy mining areas require a review. This study highlights the significant risk these sites pose.
  • Description: Doctor of Philosophy

Influence of controlled burning on the mobility and temporal variations of potentially toxic metals (PTMs) in the soils of a legacy gold mine site in Central Victoria, Australia

- Abraham, Joji, Dowling, Kim, Florentine, Singarayer

  • Authors: Abraham, Joji , Dowling, Kim , Florentine, Singarayer
  • Date: 2018
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Geoderma Vol. 331, no. (2018), p. 1-14
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  • Description: Controlled burns also known as managed burns or prescribed fires conducted in fire-prone areas are an efficient and economic option to reduce the frequency and intensity of wildfires. The objective of this study is to investigate the remobilization of potentially toxic metals (PTMs) in the soils of a legacy gold mine site in Central Victoria, Australia after a controlled burn and to describe their temporal variations in concentrations. Soil samples were collected two days before, two days after and five times later (3, 6, 9, 12 months and after major rainfall) in the post-burn environment after a controlled burn, from the Maldon legacy mine site and analysed for PTM concentrations. The results revealed PTM mobilization after the burn and most of the PTMs (As, Cd, Cu, Mn, Ni, and Zn) evidenced an increase immediately after the burn but a reduction in the subsequent post-burn environment. The increase is postulated to be associated with addition of PTM enriched ash to the soil, while the decrease is due to the removal of ash and surface soil by wind activity as well as rainfall runoff and leaching. The PTM mobility is of specific concern due to the negative impacts on human and ecosystems health. Climate change and the resulting projection of increased forest fire frequency highlight the environmental significance, given the expected concomitant increase in PTM mobilization through wildfires and controlled burns. Hence, the practice of controlled burning should be carefully considered as a forest management option in any legacy mining areas and indeed in other areas where PTM contamination is reported. © 2018

Effects of prescribed fire and post-fire rainfall on mercury mobilization and subsequent contamination assessment in a legacy mine site in Victoria, Australia

- Abraham, Joji, Dowling, Kim, Florentine, Singarayer

  • Authors: Abraham, Joji , Dowling, Kim , Florentine, Singarayer
  • Date: 2018
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Chemosphere Vol. 190, no. (2018), p. 144-153
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  • Description: Prescribed fire conducted in fire-prone areas is a cost-effective choice for forest management, but it also affects many of the physicochemical and bio-geological properties of the forest soil, in a similar manner to wild fires. The aim of this study is to investigate the nature of the mercury mobilization after a prescribed fire and the subsequent temporal changes in concentration. A prescribed fire was conducted in a legacy mine site in Central Victoria, Australia, in late August 2015 and soil sample collection and analyses were carried out two days before and two days after the fire, followed by collection at the end of each season and after an intense rainfall event in September 2016. Results revealed the occurrence of mercury volatilization (8.3–97%) during the fire, and the mercury concentration displayed a significant difference (p < 0.05) before and immediately after the fire. Integrated assessment with number of pollution indices has shown that the study site is extremely contaminated with mercury during all the sampling events, and this poses a serious ecological risk due to the health impacts of mercury on human and ecosystems. In times of climate fluctuation with concomitant increase in forest fire (including prescribed fire), and subsequent precipitation and runoff, the potential for an increased amount of mercury being mobilized is of heighted significance. Therefore, it is recommended that prescribed fire should be cautiously considered as a forest management strategy in any mercury affected landscapes. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

The unquantified risk of post-fire metal concentration in soil : A Review

- Abraham, Joji, Dowling, Kim, Florentine, Singarayer

  • Authors: Abraham, Joji , Dowling, Kim , Florentine, Singarayer
  • Date: 2017
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Water, Air, and Soil Pollution Vol. 228, no. 5 (2017), p. 1-33
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  • Description: Forest fire is a natural disturbance that occurs in many terrestrial ecosystems specifically in the semi-arid environments and is considered to be an important cause of environmental change. Though many causes of fire are identified, including lightning, volcanic eruption, power line sparks, etc., human involvement is the most significant factor. Fire events are able to alter the physical, chemical and biogeochemical properties of the soil and surface materials and are able to release major and trace metals into the environment. This may be more significant in mining-affected and industrial landscapes, where elevated concentrations of metals present in the soil. After the fire event, metals become more mobile due to the increase in soil surface exposure and the mobility associated with ash dispersal. This mobility may increase the bioavailability of the metals, which may generate water quality issues and may contribute to human and environmental health concerns. Even though, the influences of fire on many soil properties are well established, the behaviour of metals with respect to fire is not well investigated. However, a few studies report that major and trace metals include Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn and As are mobilized after fire with increased concentrations in soil and water resources and this might pose a risk to human health and ecosystems. Climate change may increase the intensity, frequency and areal extend of fire events and hence increase the metal concentrations and their potential health impacts. This paper reviews post-fire (wild fire) mobility of metals in soil common in contaminated forest ecosystems. The human and ecological health risks of these metals are also considered. © 2017, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.

Assessment of potentially toxic metal contamination in the soils of a legacy mine site in Central Victoria, Australia

- Abraham, Joji, Dowling, Kim, Florentine, Singarayer

  • Authors: Abraham, Joji , Dowling, Kim , Florentine, Singarayer
  • Date: 2018
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Chemosphere Vol. 192, no. (2018), p. 122-132
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  • Description: The environmental impact of toxic metal contamination from legacy mining activities, many of which had operated and were closed prior to the enforcement of robust environmental legislation, is of growing concern to modern society. We have carried out analysis of As and potentially toxic metals (Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in the surface soil of a legacy gold mining site in Maldon, Victoria, Australia, to reveal the status of the current metal concentration. The results revealed the median concentrations of metals from highest to lowest, in the order: Mn > Zn > As > Cr > Cu > Pb > Ni > Co > Hg > Cd. The status of site was assessed directly by comparing the metal concentrations in the study area with known Australian and Victorian average top soil levels and the health investigation levels set by the National Environmental Protection Measures (NEPM) and the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) of the State of Western Australia. Although, median concentrations of As, Hg, Pb, Cu and Zn exceeded the average Australian and Victorian top soil concentrations, only As and Hg exceeded the ecological investigation levels (EIL) set by DEC and thus these metals are considered as risk to the human and aquatic ecosystems health due to their increase in concentration and toxicity. In an environment of climate fluctuation with increased storm events and forest fires may mobilize these toxic metals contaminants, pose a real threat to the environment and the community. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

Controlled burn and immediate mobilization of potentially toxic elements in soil, from a legacy mine site in Central Victoria, Australia

- Abraham, Joji, Dowling, Kim, Florentine, Singarayer

  • Authors: Abraham, Joji , Dowling, Kim , Florentine, Singarayer
  • Date: 2018
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Science of the Total Environment Vol. 616-617, no. (2018), p. 1022-1034
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  • Description: Conducting controlled burns in fire prone areas is an efficient and economic method for forest management, and provides relief from the incidence of high severity wild fires and the consequent damage to human property and ecosystems. However, similar to wild fires, controlled burns also affect many of the physical and biogeochemical properties of the forest soil and may facilitate remobilization of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) sequestered in vegetation and soil organic matter. The objective of the current study is to investigate the mobilization of PTEs, in Central Victorian forest soils in Australia after a controlled burn. Surface soil samples were collected two days before and after the controlled burn to determine the concentration of PTEs and to examine the physicochemical properties. Results show that As, Cd, Mn, Ni and Zn concentrations increased 1.1, 1.6, 1.7, 1.1 and 1.9 times respectively in the post-burn environment, whereas the concentrations of Hg, Cr and Pb decreased to 0.7, 0.9 and 0.9 times respectively, highlighting considerable PTE mobility during and after a controlled burn. Whilst these results do not identify very strong correlations between physicochemical properties of soil and PTEs in the pre- and post-burn environments, PTEs themselves demonstrated very strong and significant correlations. The mobilization of As, Hg and other toxic elements raise potential health concerns as the number of controlled burns are projected to increase in response to climate change. Due to this increased level of PTE release and remobilization, the use of any kinds of controlled burn must be carefully considered before being used as a forest management strategy in mining-affected landscapes which include areas with high PTE concentrations. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.

Risk of post-fire metal mobilization into surface water resources : A review

- Abraham, Joji, Dowling, Kim, Florentine, Singarayer

  • Authors: Abraham, Joji , Dowling, Kim , Florentine, Singarayer
  • Date: 2017
  • Type: Text , Journal article , Review
  • Relation: Science of the Total Environment Vol. 599-600, no. (2017), p. 1740-1755
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  • Description: One of the significant economic benefits to communities around the world of having pristine forest catchments is the supply of substantial quantities of high quality potable water. This supports a saving of around US$ 4.1 trillion per year globally by limiting the cost of expensive drinking water treatments and provision of unnecessary infrastructure. Even low levels of contaminants specifically organics and metals in catchments when in a mobile state can reduce these economic benefits by seriously affecting the water quality. Contamination and contaminant mobility can occur through natural and anthropogenic activities including forest fires. Moderate to high intensity forest fires are able to alter soil properties and release sequestered metals from sediments, soil organic matter and fragments of vegetation. In addition, the increase in post-fire erosion rate by rainfall runoff and strong winds facilitates the rapid transport of these metals downslope and downstream. The subsequent metal deposition in distal soil and water bodies can influence surface water quality with potential impacts to the larger ecosystems inclusive of negative effects on humans. This is of substantial concern as 4 billion hectares of forest catchments provide high quality water to global communities. Redressing this problem requires quantification of the potential effects on water resources and instituting rigorous fire and environmental management plans to mitigate deleterious effects on catchment areas. This paper is a review of the current state of the art literature dealing with the risk of post-fire mobilization of the metals into surface water resources. It is intended to inform discussion on the preparation of suitable management plans and policies during and after fire events in order to maintain potable water quality in a cost-effective manner. In these times of climate fluctuation and increased incidence of fires, the need for development of new policies and management frameworks are of heighted significance. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.

Licorice (glycyrrhiza glabra) extracts-suitable pharmacological interventions for covid-19? a review

- Abraham, Joji, Florentine, Singarayer

  • Authors: Abraham, Joji , Florentine, Singarayer
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Journal article , Review
  • Relation: Plants Vol. 10, no. 12 (2021), p.
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  • Description: Even though vaccination has started against COVID-19, people should continue maintaining personal and social caution as it takes months or years to get everyone vaccinated, and we are not sure how long the vaccine remains efficacious. In order to contribute to the mitigation of COVID-19 symptoms, the pharmaceutical industry aims to develop antiviral drugs to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 replication and produce anti-inflammatory medications that will inhibit the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which is the primary cause of mortality among the COVID-19 patients. In reference to these tasks, this article considers the properties of a medicinal plant named licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), whose phytochemicals have shown both antiviral and anti-inflammatory tendencies through previous studies. All the literature was selected through extensive search in various databases such as google scholar, Scopus, the Web of Science, and PubMed. In addition to the antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties, one of the licorice components has an autophagy-enhancing mechanism that studies have suggested to be necessary for COVID-19 treatment. Based on reviewing relevant professional and historical literature regarding the medicinal properties of licorice, it is suggested that it may be worthwhile to conduct in vitro and in vivo studies, including clinical trials with glycyrrhizic and glycyrrhetinic acids together with other flavonoids found in licorice, as there is the potentiality to provide natural interventions against COVID-19 symptoms. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.