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Levels and determinants of complementary feeding based on meal frequency among children of 6 to 23 months in Bangladesh

  • Authors: Chowdhury, Mohammad , Rahman, Shafiur , Khan, Mobarak
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: BMC public health Vol. 16, no. 1 (2016), p. 944
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  • Description: Information concerning complementary feeding (CF) practice during infancy and early childhood is still scarce in Bangladesh. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the level of CF among children of 6-23 months and identify individual, household and community level determinants in Bangladesh.

Limited impact of neonatal or early infant schedules of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccination on nasopharyngeal carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae in Papua New Guinean children: A randomized controlled trial

  • Authors: Aho, Celestine , Michael, Audrey , Yoannes, Mition , Greenhill, Andrew , Jacoby, Peter , Reeder, John , Pomat, William , Saleu, Gerard , Namuigi, Pioto , Phuanukoonnon, Suparat , Smith-Vaughan, Heidi , Leach, Amanda , Richmond, Peter , Lehmann, Deborah
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Vaccine Reports Vol. 6, no. (2016), p. 36-43
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  • Description: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a leading cause of pneumonia, the most common cause of childhood death. Papua New Guinean children experience high rates of nasopharyngeal pneumococcal colonization within weeks of birth, predisposing them to pneumococcal disease. In a trial to determine the safety and immunogenicity of early infant vaccination with 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (7vPCV), we investigated the impact of early schedules on pneumococcal carriage. Infants were randomized at birth to receive 7vPCV in a 0–1–2-month (n = 101) or a 1–2–3-month (n = 105) schedule or no 7vPCV (n = 106). All children received 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine at age 9 months. We cultured nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) collected at ages 1, 2, 3, 4 weeks and 3, 9, 18 months, and middle ear discharge if present. Pneumococcal serotypes were identified by the Quellung reaction. A total of 1761 NPS were cultured. The prevalence of pneumococcal carriage was 22% at 1 week of age, rising to 80% by age 3 months and remained >70% thereafter, with high-density carriage in 42% of pneumococcuspositive samples. We identified 63 different serotypes; 43% of isolates from controls were 13vPCV serotypes. There were no significant differences in 7vPCV serotype carriage between 7vPCV recipients and controls at any age (22% vs. 31% at 9 months, p = 0.2). At age 9 months the prevalence of non-7vPCV carriage was 17% higher in 7vPCV recipients (48%) than in controls (25%, p = 0.02). More non-7vPCV serotypes were isolated from ear discharge in 16 7vPCV recipients than from 4 controls (48% vs. 25%, p = 0.13). The limited impact of neonatal or accelerated infant 7vPCV schedules on vaccine serotype carriage is probably due to the early onset of dense carriage of a broad range of pneumococcal serotypes. While serotype-independent pneumococcal vaccines are needed in high-risk populations, the underlying environmental factors and sources of infection must be investigated.

Long-term bird colonization and turnover in restored woodlands

  • Authors: Lindenmayer, David , Lane, P. , Barton, Philip , Crane, Mason , Ikin, Karen
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Biodiversity and Conservation Vol. 25, no. 8 (2016), p. 1587-1603
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  • Description: The long-term effectiveness of restored areas for biodiversity is poorly known for the majority of restored ecosystems worldwide. We quantified temporal changes in bird occurrence in restoration plantings of different ages and geometries, and compared observed patterns with a reference dataset from woodland remnants on the same farms as our plantings. Over time, bird species richness remained unchanged in spring but exhibited modest increases in winter. We found that wider plantings supported significantly greater bird species richness in spring and winter than narrow plantings. There was no evidence of a significant interaction between planting width and time. We recorded major temporal changes in the occurrence of a range of individual species that indicated a clear turnover of species as plantings matured. Our results further revealed marked differences in individual species occurrence between plantings and woodland remnants. Life-history attributes associated with temporal changes in the bird assemblage were most apparent in winter survey data, and included diet, foraging and nesting patterns, movement behaviour (e.g. migratory vs. dispersive), and body size. Differences in bird assemblages between plantings of different ages suggest that it is important that farms support a range of age classes of planted woodland, if the aim is to maximize the number of native bird species in restored areas. Our data also suggest that changes in the bird species occupying plantings of different ages can be anticipated in a broadly predictable way based on planting geometry (especially width) and key life-history attributes, particularly movement patterns and habitat and diet specialisation. © 2016, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. **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**

Lossless hyperspectral image compression using binary tree based decomposition

  • Authors: Shahriyar, Shampa , Paul, Manoranjan , Murshed, Manzur , Ali, Mortuza
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Conference proceedings
  • Relation: 2016 International Conference on Digital Image Computing: Techniques and Applications (Dicta); Gold Coast, Australia; 30th November-2nd December 2016 p. 428-435
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  • Description: A Hyperspectral (HS) image provides observational powers beyond human vision capability but represents more than 100 times data compared to a traditional image. To transmit and store the huge volume of an HS image, we argue that a fundamental shift is required from the existing "original pixel intensity"based coding approaches using traditional image coders (e.g. JPEG) to the "residual" based approaches using a predictive coder exploiting band-wise correlation for better compression performance. Moreover, as HS images are used in detection or classification they need to be in original form; lossy schemes can trim off uninteresting data along with compression, which can be important to specific analysis purposes. A modified lossless HS coder is required to exploit spatial- spectral redundancy using predictive residual coding. Every spectral band of an HS image can be treated like they are the individual frame of a video to impose inter band prediction. In this paper, we propose a binary tree based lossless predictive HS coding scheme that arranges the residual frame into integer residual bitmap. High spatial correlation in HS residual frame is exploited by creating large homogeneous blocks of adaptive size, which are then coded as a unit using context based arithmetic coding. On the standard HS data set, the proposed lossless predictive coding has achieved compression ratio in the range of 1.92 to 7.94. In this paper, we compare the proposed method with mainstream lossless coders (JPEG-LS and lossless HEVC). For JPEG-LS, HEVCIntra and HEVCMain, proposed technique has reduced bit-rate by 35%, 40% and 6.79% respectively by exploiting spatial correlation in predicted HS residuals.

Lossless image coding using hierarchical decomposition and recursive partitioning

  • Authors: Ali, Mortuza , Murshed, Manzur , Shahriyar, Shampa , Paul, Manoranjan
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: APSIPA Transactions on Signal and Information Processing Vol. 5, no. (2016), p. 1-11
  • Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP130103670
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  • Description: State-Of-The-Art lossless image compression schemes, such as JPEG-LS and CALIC, have been proposed in the context-adaptive predictive coding framework. These schemes involve a prediction step followed by context-adaptive entropy coding of the residuals. However, the models for context determination proposed in the literature, have been designed using ad-hoc techniques. In this paper, we take an alternative approach where we fix a simpler context model and then rely on a systematic technique to efficiently exploit spatial correlation to achieve efficient compression. The essential idea is to decompose the image into binary bitmaps such that the spatial correlation that exists among non-binary symbols is captured as the correlation among few bit positions. The proposed scheme then encodes the bitmaps in a particular order based on the simple context model. However, instead of encoding a bitmap as a whole, we partition it into rectangular blocks, induced by a binary tree, and then independently encode the blocks. The motivation for partitioning is to explicitly identify the blocks within which the statistical correlation remains the same. On a set of standard test images, the proposed scheme, using the same predictor as JPEG-LS, achieved an overall bit-rate saving of 1.56% against JPEG-LS. © 2016 The Authors.

Lost in translation: the validity of a systemic accident analysis method embedded in an incident reporting software tool

  • Authors: Goode, Natassia , Salmon, Paul , Taylor, Natalie , Lenné, Michael , Finch, Caroline
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science Vol. 17, no. 5-6 (2016), p. 483-506
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  • Description: ABSTRACT Despite the proposed advantages of systems accident analysis (SAA) methods for understanding incident causation, they have not been widely adopted by practitioners. The aim of this study was to evaluate the criterion-referenced validity of an SAA method embedded within an incident reporting software tool. Thirteen practitioners used the tool to collect and analyse incident data within their organisation. The incident data were then analysed by researchers experienced in using the SAA method. Overall, there were low levels of agreement between participants and researchers regarding the identification and classification of factors and relationships. The findings indicate the systems thinking principles underpinning the SAA method may have been ‘lost in translation’, in that participants often identified only one or two factors and showed a poor understanding of how to identify relationships between factors. The methodological developments required to ensure that practitioners can validly apply the SAA method are discussed.

Making the invisible visible : The impact of federating groundwater data in Victoria, Australia

  • Authors: Dahlhaus, Peter , Murphy, Angela , MacLeod, Andrew , Thompson, Helen , McKenna, Kirsten , Ollerenshaw, Alison
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Hydroinformatics Vol. 18, no. 2 (2016), p. 238-255
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  • Description: The Visualising Victoria's Groundwater (VVG) web portal federates groundwater data for the State of Victoria, Australia, thus making legacy data, government datasets, research data and community sourced data and observations visible to the public. The portal is innovative because it was developed outside of the government and offers real-time accessto remote authoritative databases by integrating the interoperable web services they each provide. It includes tools for data querying and 3D visualisations that were designed to meet end-user needs and educate the broader community about a normally invisible resource. The social impact of the web portal was measured using multidisciplinary research that employed survey instruments, expert reference groups, and internet analytics to explore the extent to which the web portal has supported decision making by governments, industry, researchers and the community. The research found that single access, multiple data set web portals enhance capacity by providing timely, informed and accurate responses to answer queries and increase productivity by saving time. The provision of multiple datasets from disparate sources within a single portal has changed practices in the Victorian groundwater industry. © 2016 The Authors.

Management of type 2 diabetes in China : the happy life club, a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial using health coaches

  • Authors: Browning, Colette , Chapman, Anna , Yang, Hui , Liu, Shuo , Zhang, Tuohong , Enticott, Joanne , Thomas, Shane
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: BMJ Open Vol. 6, no. 3 (2016), p.
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  • Description: Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a coach-led motivational interviewing (MI) intervention in improving glycaemic control, as well as clinical, psychosocial and self-care outcomes of individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) compared with usual care. Design: Pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT). Setting: Community Health Stations (CHSs) in Fengtai district, Beijing, China. Participants: Of the 41 randomised CHSs (21 intervention and 20 control), 21 intervention CHSs (372 participants) and 18 control CHSs (296 participants) started participation. Intervention: Intervention participants received telephone and face-to-face MI health coaching in addition to usual care from their CHS. Control participants received usual care only. Medical fees were waived for both groups. Outcome measures: Outcomes were assessed at baseline, 6 and 12 months. Primary outcome measure was glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c). Secondary outcomes included a suite of anthropometric, blood pressure (BP), fasting blood, psychosocial and self-care measures. Results: At 12 months, no differential treatment effect was found for HbA1c (adjusted difference 0.02, 95% CI -0.40 to 0.44, p=0.929), with both treatment and control groups showing significant improvements. However, two secondary outcomes: psychological distress (adjusted difference -2.38, 95% CI -4.64 to -0.12, p=0.039) and systolic BP (adjusted difference -3.57, 95% CI -6.08 to -1.05, p=0.005) were robust outcomes consistent with significant differential treatment effects, as supported in sensitivity analyses. Interestingly, in addition to HbA1c, both groups displayed significant improvements in triglycerides, LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol. Conclusions: In line with the current Chinese primary healthcare reform, this study is the first large-scale cluster RCT to be implemented within real-world CHSs in China, specifically addressing T2DM. Although a differential treatment effect was not observed for HbA1c, numerous outcomes (including HbA1c) improved in both groups, supporting the establishment of regular, free clinical health checks for people with T2DM in China. Trial registration number: ISRCTN01010526; Preresults.

Managing risk and enhancing corporate sustainability in the Australian extractive sector : An exploratory study of leading mining and oil & gas firms in Australia

  • Authors: Andeobu, Lynda
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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  • Description: Risk is an unavoidable issue in most activities of life, including business. Risk-management is increasingly a hot-button issue for stakeholders and the general public. As such, it is of rising importance in the high-risk extractive industries of mining and oil & gas. Specifically, risk-management can help firms reduce business failure-rates and enhance corporate sustainability. However, the integration of risk-management and corporate sustainability within planning, financing, and operations remains a key challenge for the sector. This research seeks to fill this gap by investigating and evaluating the current use of risk-management by extractive-sector firms to add value to stakeholders. Given that risk- management and its impact on corporate sustainability is enormous, this study will provide useful insights into the risk-management practices undertaken by extractive-sector firms in Australia and how cost-effective risk-management practices contribute to the overall enhancement of financial performance, stakeholder value and corporate sustainability of those firms. This study, after drawing data from Australia’s top 10 mining/metals firms and top 10 energy/utilities firms, uses: i) Questionnaires to give a background/context for the study, and ii) Interviews to further probe issues raised and gain a deeper understanding. The analysis in this study found that risk-management practices are: i) Perceived by management practices to contribute significantly to financial performance, stakeholder value and corporate sustainability of their firms ii) Very similar across mining firms and those in oil & gas, and iii) Too limited in application in the extractive-sector and should be extended beyond traditional hazards. Overall, it was found that risk-management systems appear to be comparable across Australia’s large mining firms and oil & gas firms. However, at a detailed level, these basic systems and structures of risk-management are adjusted and adapted to meet specific needs, corporate strategies, organisational objectives and environmental pressures. NOTE: At the request of the author, Chapters 2-12 and Appendix 7 have been removed.
  • Description: Doctor of Philosophy

Manipulative silences and the politics of representation of boat children in Australian print media

  • Authors: McLaren, Helen , Patil, Tejaswini
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Continuum Vol. 30, no. 6 (2016), p. 602-612
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  • Description: There is substantial literature on media representations of asylum seeker policy in Australia from a number of theoretical standpoints, namely moral panic theory, whiteness studies and belonging and citizenship. While many of these studies use discourse analysis of textual media as a methodology, there is scant attention to the contribution of manipulative silences in media texts on asylum seeker children. Using a form of discourse analysis to explore the idea of manipulative silences, we demonstrate how media representations may steer public attention towards asylum seeker children in two dominant ways: (i) in discourses of deviancy by association with adults and (ii) the rights of boat children in association with immigration detention. Both generate confusion between rights, compassion and deviancy and, by shifting public attention, they serve to silence more essential concerns for the children. We seek to analyses these manipulative silences in the context of Australian asylum seeker policies of the Abbott government. In elucidating the use of textual silences to manipulate discourse, it is possible to see how Australian media representations may be skewing dialogue in the public sphere away from core political, legal and humanitarian issues that are imperative for the well-being of asylum seeker children. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Mathematical formulas for prion all cross-structures listed in the Protein Data Bank

  • Authors: Zhang, Jiapu
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Medicinal Chemistry Vol. 6, no. 3 (2016), p. 1-10
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  • Description: Prion protein (PrP) has two regions: unstructured region PrP(1-120) and structured region PrP(119-231). In the structured region, there are many segments which have the property of amyloid fibril formation. By theoretical calculations, PrP(126-133), PrP(137-143), PrP(170-175), PrP(177-182), PrP(211-216) have the amyloid fibril forming property. PrP(142-166) has a X-ray crystallography experimental

Mathematical formulas for some cross-B structures of human Aβ protein

  • Authors: Zhang, Jiapu
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Medicinal chemistry Vol. 6, no. 5 (2016), p. 1-7
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  • Description: For amyloid fibril cross-β structures of Aβ human protein, we find theoretical calculations are agreeing with laboratory X-ray crystallography experiments. This mini article summarized mathematical formulas of amyloid fibril cross-β structures of segments of human Aβ protein. These formulas are accurate and correct some data in the Protein Data Bank (PDB). However, more mathematical formulas for core Chains AB (PDB IDs: 3OW9, 3PZZ, 2OKZ), or ABGH (PDB IDs: 3OVJ, 2Y3J, 2Y3K, 2Y3L) (or ABCD (PDB ID: 2ONA)) are still needed to present and optimize.
  • Description: For amyloid fibril cross-

Medical students need a core curriculum based on CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages)

  • Authors: Nguyen Thi , Nguyen Van Huy , Nguyen Manh , Gallup, John , Debattista, Joseph , Hoat, Luu
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Asian Journal of Educational Research Vol. 4, no. 5 (2016), p. 14-23
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  • Description: Literature Review: The traditional approach to teaching English in Vietnamese medical schools prioritises grammar over communication skills, the effectiveness of which is increasingly under consideration. The objective of this study was to assess undergraduate medical students' satisfaction and needs with their current English training in order to evaluate the appropriateness of a training program based on CEFR. Methods: In a crosssectional survey utilizing a self-reported structured questionnaire, a sample of 487 students was selected from the students of Hanoi Medical University. Results: Forty-two percent of students reported they were not satisfied with the existing English curriculum with 77.2% and 55.4% of students identifying a disproportionate focus on medical terminology and grammar respectively, rather than on listening and communication skills. Most (83%) preferred a CEFR-based English program with extra course focusing on medical disciplines in active manners (pair work, group work, role play). All undergraduate student groups preferred CEFR-based training (ranging from 77.92% among general medical doctors up to 94.44% among bachelor of public health). The perceived need for English language skills was high with almost 60% of students wanting English courses focusing on the communication skills of reading, listening, speaking and writing. Conclusions: The results of this study highlight the need for a review and revision of the English language curriculum as taught within Vietnamese Medical Schools with an emphasis on the design of new teaching materials that meet the needs of both medical students and society. The curriculum should prioritize the communication skills of reading, listening, speaking and writing. It should cover topics related to medicine such as human anatomy, surgery and medical advances and offer learners a wide range of exercises including true/false, matching, multiple choice and gap-filling questions.

Mental health literacy and social work education

  • Authors: Martin, Jennifer
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education Vol. 18, no. 1 (2016), p. 103-120
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  • Description: The aim of this article is to investigate the relevance of mental health literacy for social work education by presenting the findings of a three-stage study conducted in 2014. In Stage 1, the Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) mental health literacy course was mapped against the mental health curricula required for social work degree programs accredited by the professional body, the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). During Stage 2, a scoping study was undertaken to ascertain what Mental Health First Aid courses were being taught in social work and human service programs across Australia. Survey responses from bachelor and master’s social work students commenting on the newness and relevance of the YMHFA course content are presented in Stage 3. The results of this study suggest that coursework in mental health literacy is of benefit to social work students and that the YMHFA course meets a considerable amount of the AASW required content. It is concluded that studies in mental health literacy provide social work students with a strong basic foundation in mental health knowledge, values and skills.

Metabolic profiling and in vitro assessment of anthelmintic fractions of Picria fel-terrae Lour

  • Authors: Kumarasingha, Rasika , Karpe, Avinash , Preston, Sarah , Yeo, Tiong-Chia , Lim, Diana , Tu, Chu-Lee , Luu, Jennii , Simpson, Kaylene , Shaw, Jillian , Gasser, Robin , Beale, David , Morrison, Paul , Palombo, Enzo , Boag, Peter
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and Drug Resistance Vol. 6, no. 3 (2016), p. 171-178
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  • Description: Anthelmintic resistance is widespread in gastrointestinal nematode populations, such that there is a consistent need to search for new anthelmintics. However, the cost of screening for new compounds is high and has a very low success rate. Using the knowledge of traditional healers from Borneo Rainforests (Sarawak, Malaysia), we have previously shown that some traditional medicinal plants are a rich source of potential new anthelmintic drug candidates. In this study, Picria fel-terrae Lour. plant extract, which has previously shown promising anthelmintic activities, was fractionated via the use of a solid phase extraction cartridge and each isolated fraction was then tested on free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and the parasitic nematode Haemonchus contortus. We found that a single fraction was enriched for nematocidal activity, killing ≥90% of C. elegans adults and inhibiting the motility of exsheathed L3 of H. contortus, while having minimal cytotoxic activity in mammalian cell culture. Metabolic profiling and chemometric analysis of the effective fraction indicated medium chained fatty acids and phenolic acids were highly represented. Image 1 •Chemical fractionation of Picria fel-terrae Lour. plant extract.•Anthelmintic activity against Caenorhabditis elegans and Haemonchus contortus.•Metabolic profiling and chemometric analysis of active fraction.•Active fraction has minimal mammalian cytotoxicity.

Microencapsulation of omega-3 fatty acids from flaxseed oil in flaxseed protein and flaxseed gum based matrix

  • Authors: Kaushik, Pratibha
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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  • Description: The overarching goal of this research was to develop microencapsulated flaxseed oil as a plant based source of omega-3 fatty acids. To accomplish this, flaxseed oil was microencapsulated in a novel matrix composed of flaxseed protein isolate (FPI) and flaxseed gum (FG) and converted into a powder by freeze drying and spray drying. The primary objectives were: a) To evaluate the physicochemical and functional properties of FPI and FG; b) to optimise the process of complex coacervation between FPI and FG to maximise the yield of complex coacervates; c) to characterise the flaxseed oil microcapsules obtained through complex coacervation followed by freeze drying or spray drying. FPI and FG were extracted from whole flaxseeds at optimised temperatures to obtain 90% purity. The physicochemical and functional properties of FPI were found superior to most of the commonly used proteins. Lower extraction temperatures (30, 50 °C) of FG yielded higher levels of neutral monosaccharides and lower levels of acidic monosaccharides. The functional properties of FG, such as EAI and WAC, were negatively affected by the rise in extraction temperature. Electrostatic complexation studies between these two biopolymers showed that the optimum FPI-to-FG ratio is 3:1 and the optimum pH is 3.1. The complex coacervates of FPI-FG were used to microencapsulate flaxseed oil at different core to wall ratios (1:2, 1:3 and 1:4), and converted to powder through spray drying and freeze drying. The spray dried solid microcapsules had higher oil microencapsulation efficiency, lower surface oil content and higher oxidation stability compared to the freeze dried microcapsules. The oxidation stability obtained from spray dried microcapsules at core-to-wall ratio of 1:4 was nearly double to that of the unencapsulated flaxseed oil. This study affirms the potential of a solely plant based encapsulating matrix that returns superior nutritional outcomes to other commonly used wall materials.
  • Description: Doctor of Philosophy

Mining a rich lode : The making of the Springdallah Deep Lead Goldfield communities

  • Authors: Hunt, Joan
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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  • Description: Although little material evidence survives other than mullock heaps and the occasional ruined building, a large body of archival documentation exists to help reveal the history of the deep lead gold mining communities at Springdallah. This thesis reconstructs the discovery, rise and progress of that goldfield, 30km south-west of Ballarat, through a study of family formation and community building, facilitated by micro-study tools including prosopographical and genealogical databases. At its prosperous and productive peak in the 1860s and 1870s, the communities relied totally on the mining industry for their existence. This thesis positions the alluvial deep lead gold mining industry firmly within the long but disparate historiography of Australian, and particularly Victorian, gold seeking. Unlike the many regional histories that celebrate the growth from goldfields to city status, it focuses on the miners who worked the deep leads of buried river beds, and how they and their families effected material and social change to benefit the communities they created. The findings of this thesis reveal that, in contrast to the strong Cornish presence on many Victorian goldfields, miners at Springdallah came mainly from northern England, south-west Ireland, and the lowlands of Scotland, often with extensive kinship networks. The study demonstrates that this network of communities attracted workers, usually with coal and lead mining experience, who had skills suited to conditions in the deep lead alluvial gold mining industry. According to the findings of this thesis, miners gained power within the Springdallah communities by becoming members of committees, councils, and boards of local and wider institutions. This study found that the Springdallah families were youthful, adapted well to their changed circumstances, were agents of change within their communities, and quickly took advantage of Victorian land legislation, particularly the 1869 Land Act, to take up farming properties both locally and in the north and east of the State.
  • Description: Doctor of Philosophy

Mitigating ventilation air methane cost-effectively from a colliery in Australia

  • Authors: Holmes, Robert
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Applied Engineering Sciences Vol. 6, no. 19 (2016), p. 41-50
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  • Description: Methane has been controlled in collieries in the past only for safety and statutory compliance reasons; however concerns over greenhouse gas emissions mean that this is now changing. About 65% of greenhouse emissions associated with underground coal mining come from ventilation air methane (VAM). The machinery to mitigate these fugitive emissions once the VAM exits the mine fans is expensive, has safety concerns and is not widely used at present. Consider these factors; more collieries are mining lower seams, methane content increases with depth, VAM mitigation plants are not widely used, most mine emissions are VAM, and widespread concern over greenhouse gases mean that it is desirable to lower VAM emissions now. One solution would be a method to prevent more methane from entering the mine airstream and becoming VAM in the first place. Recently, in a colliery in the Hunter Valley, this mitigation method underwent a 12-month trial, and involved six different measures. Measurements were taken to assess the emissions mitigation which was achieved, and the cost of the works; all the results are detailed herein. A reduction in fugitive emissions of 80,307 t/CO2-e below that which was projected for the next 12-month period was quantified, at an average cost of A$1.28c t/CO2-e. The mitigation measure outlined here represent a first attempt to the author’s knowledge, in an operating mine, to lower a collieries’ environmental footprint by preventing methane from entering the mine airstream and becoming VAM gas by the deliberate use of mitigation measures.

Mobile crowd sensing for traffic prediction in internet of vehicles

  • Authors: Wan, Jiafu , Liu, Jianqi , Shao, Zehui , Vasilakos, Athanasios , Imran, Muhammad , Zhou, Keliang
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Sensors (Switzerland) Vol. 16, no. 1 (2016), p.
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  • Description: The advances in wireless communication techniques, mobile cloud computing, automotive and intelligent terminal technology are driving the evolution of vehicle ad hoc networks into the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) paradigm. This leads to a change in the vehicle routing problem from a calculation based on static data towards real-time traffic prediction. In this paper, we first address the taxonomy of cloud-assisted IoV from the viewpoint of the service relationship between cloud computing and IoV. Then, we review the traditional traffic prediction approached used by both Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communications. On this basis, we propose a mobile crowd sensing technology to support the creation of dynamic route choices for drivers wishing to avoid congestion. Experiments were carried out to verify the proposed approaches. Finally, we discuss the outlook of reliable traffic prediction. © 2016 by the authors, licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Modeling induction and routing to monitor hospitalized patients in multi-hop mobility-aware body area sensor networks

  • Authors: Javaid, Nadeem , Ahmad, Ashfaq , Tauqir, Anum , Imran, Muhammad , Guizani, Mohsen , Khan, Zahoor , Qasim, Umar
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Eurasip Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking Vol. 2016, no. 1 (2016), p.
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  • Description: In wireless body area sensor networks (WBASNs), energy efficiency is an area of extreme significance. At first, we present a mathematical model for a non-invasive inductive link which is used to recharge the battery of an implanted biomedical device (pacemaker). Afterwards, we propose a distance-aware relaying energy-efficient (DARE) and mutual information-based DARE (MI-DARE) routing protocols for multihop mobility-aware body area sensor networks (MM-BASNs). Both the routing protocols and the non-invasive inductive link model are tested with the consideration of eight patients in a hospital unit under different topologies, where the vital signs of each patient are monitored through seven on-body sensors and an implanted pacemaker. To reduce energy consumption of the network, the sensors communicate with a sink via an on-body relay which is fixed on the chest of each patient. The behavior (static/mobile) and position of the sink are changed in each topology, and the impact of mobility due to postural changes of the patient(s) arms, legs, and head is also investigated. The MI-DARE protocol further prolongs the network lifetime by minimizing the number of transmissions. Simulation results show that the proposed techniques outperform contemporary schemes in terms of the selected performance metrics. © 2016, Javaid et al.