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Beyond survival : strengthening community-based support for parents receiving a family service intervention

- Goff, Rachel, Sadowski, Christina, Bagley, Kerryn

  • Authors: Goff, Rachel , Sadowski, Christina , Bagley, Kerryn
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Child and Family Social Work Vol. 28, no. 2 (2023), p. 491-502
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  • Description: This paper presents parents' experiences of community support and their recommendations for how their communities, and the services within them, might support their families. Generated through a human-centred design methodology and using a desire-centred framework, the findings suggest that parents receiving a family service require support invoking feelings of intimacy, trust, reciprocity, inclusivity, connection and belonging. Parents' recommendations for community support include addressing material and attitudinal constraints impacting on engagement with services; creating non-judgmental services tailored to their needs but accessed as a last resort; and creating peer-based opportunities to support each other. Parents reflect that moving beyond basic survival of risk and vulnerability to a position where thriving is possible requires purposeful integration of parent's existing and desired community into service interventions. Facilitating deliberate change at the intersection of community and service support is pertinent to current and future social work policy and practice. Wider opportunities for understanding and enabling the needs and aspirations of parents, which are often overlooked because of a focus on addressing risk and vulnerability, are considered. © 2022 The Authors. Child & Family Social Work published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Bidialectal CALD learners of English : implications on bilingual language disorders and differential diagnosis1

- Han, Weifeng, Brebner, Chris

  • Authors: Han, Weifeng , Brebner, Chris
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Book chapter
  • Relation: Typical and Atypical Language Development in Cultural and Linguistic Diversity Chapter 10 p. 195-210
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  • Description: Bidialectal learners are found to have better language awareness than monodialectal speakers in their first language (L1). However, few studies have investigated the role of L1 bidialectism in second language (L2) acquisition. Therefore, little is known as to whether error patterns in L2 are caused by learners’ diverse L1 dialectal backgrounds. This study investigates the role of L1 bidialectism on L2, particularly the syntax-semantics interface. Participants were 78 L1-monodialectal (Mandarin) and 79 L1-bidialectal (Mandarin and Wu) English L2 learners. All participants completed a sentence-picture matching task of 40 sentences that were different at the syntax-semantics interface between L1 and L2. The participants performing in the top and bottom 10% were interviewed. The results were both quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. An L1 bidialectal advantage in comprehension at the L2 syntax-semantics interface was found when the interface yields more readings in L2 than in L1. This study provides evidence that L1 bidialectism is an important factor to consider in second language acquisition and speech-language pathology studies. For clinicians, this provides evidence that bidialectism may also impact culturally and linguistically diverse children’s L2 performance and should be considered when making a differential diagnosis between language differences and disorders. © 2024 selection and editorial matter, Weifeng Han and Chris Brebner; individual chapters, the contributors.

Bilateral insider threat detection : harnessing standalone and sequential activities with recurrent neural networks

- Manoharan, Phavithra, Hong, Wei, Yin, Jiao, Zhang, Yanchun, Ye, Wenjie, Ma, Jiangang

Blockchain and RFID for baggage movement in the aviation industry

- Dubey, Suchi, Singh, Anurag, Riaz, Shoaib, Shukla, Vinod

  • Authors: Dubey, Suchi , Singh, Anurag , Riaz, Shoaib , Shukla, Vinod
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Book chapter
  • Relation: Emerging Applications of Blockchain Technology Chapter 16 p. 291-304
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  • Description: Airlines are liable for lost baggage claims, damaged luggage, or lost baggage in transit. Every year hundreds of millions are lost in settling the claims of the traveler related to baggage. This causes inconvenience and dissatisfaction for the traveler with airlines and baggage movements. For the long-distance multiple stop overs and connecting flights, travelers are always worried about their baggage check in to the connecting flights. With the help of the block chain technology, it is impossible to manipulate and tamper data and records and hence it creates traceability, transparency, and immutability. The paper discusses the proposed model of integrating RFID along with block chain technology in the baggage claim and proposed a conceptual model to trace the journey the baggage so as to locate without delay. The model will integrate various departments, verticals that operate on the airports and create a seamless service of transparency for promoting efficiency and reduces losses. In the proposed model third party service is involved which facilitate traveler in baggage drop off on to their selected point of collection within a city. After required standard operating procedures at the drop off location traveler can directly report to airport as per their reporting time. The baggage will be assigned an RFID and will be put under block chain which will be simultaneously updated with time stamped activity on block chain as per the movement of baggage. As each node will be having a copy of baggage details it is very easy for the airline to track the movement of baggage in a transparent and efficient way. Proposed models discuss a model of baggage drop off on selected location which in turn will be put under block chain for easy traceability. With this model airline companies can improve collaboration, provide more convenient services and above all reduce the cost incurred in baggage claim drastically. The paper discusses the block chain model for traveler which can be applied in cargo handling in future. © 2023 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Blockchain technology and application : an overview

- Dong, Shi, Abbas, Khushnood, Li, Meixi, Kamruzzaman, Joarder

  • Authors: Dong, Shi , Abbas, Khushnood , Li, Meixi , Kamruzzaman, Joarder
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: PeerJ Computer Science Vol. 9, no. (2023), p.
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  • Description: In recent years, with the rise of digital currency, its underlying technology, blockchain, has become increasingly well-known. This technology has several key characteristics, including decentralization, time-stamped data, consensus mechanism, traceability, programmability, security, and credibility, and block data is essentially tamper-proof. Due to these characteristics, blockchain can address the shortcomings of traditional financial institutions. As a result, this emerging technology has garnered significant attention from financial intermediaries, technology-based companies, and government agencies. This article offers an overview of the fundamentals of blockchain technology and its various applications. The introduction defines blockchain and explains its fundamental working principles, emphasizing features such as decentralization, immutability, and transparency. The article then traces the evolution of blockchain, from its inception in cryptocurrency to its development as a versatile tool with diverse potential applications. The main body of the article explores fundamentals of block chain systems, its limitations, various applications, applicability etc. Finally, the study concludes by discussing the present state of blockchain technology and its future potential, as well as the challenges that must be surmounted to unlock its full potential. © Copyright 2023 Dong et al

Bookend : outdoor environmental education in precarious times

- Jukes, Scott

  • Authors: Jukes, Scott
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Book chapter
  • Relation: Learning to confront ecological precarity : engaging with more-than-human worlds Chapter 12 p. 223-232
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  • Description: This final chapter brings an inevitable end to the book, but not necessarily the project. I tie together the many of the ideas touched upon throughout by noting the two main contributions the book offers. Namely, more-than-human pedagogies as an educational offering and immanent praxiography as methodological approach. I present a condensed articulation of the idea of more-than-human pedagogies, linking to the various other chapters and examples. Following this, I discuss immanent praxiography, including some guiding principles for enactment. This chapter ends with a coda that reflects on the project. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Bundle enrichment method for nonsmooth difference of convex programming problems

- Gaudioso, Manilo, Taheri, Sona, Bagirov, Adil, Karmitsa, Napsu

  • Authors: Gaudioso, Manilo , Taheri, Sona , Bagirov, Adil , Karmitsa, Napsu
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Algorithms Vol. 16, no. 8 (2023), p.
  • Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP190100580
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  • Description: The Bundle Enrichment Method (BEM-DC) is introduced for solving nonsmooth difference of convex (DC) programming problems. The novelty of the method consists of the dynamic management of the bundle. More specifically, a DC model, being the difference of two convex piecewise affine functions, is formulated. The (global) minimization of the model is tackled by solving a set of convex problems whose cardinality depends on the number of linearizations adopted to approximate the second DC component function. The new bundle management policy distributes the information coming from previous iterations to separately model the DC components of the objective function. Such a distribution is driven by the sign of linearization errors. If the displacement suggested by the model minimization provides no sufficient decrease of the objective function, then the temporary enrichment of the cutting plane approximation of just the first DC component function takes place until either the termination of the algorithm is certified or a sufficient decrease is achieved. The convergence of the BEM-DC method is studied, and computational results on a set of academic test problems with nonsmooth DC objective functions are provided. © 2023 by the authors.

Caffeine does not influence persistent inward current contribution to motoneuron firing

- Mackay, Karen, Orssatto, Lucas, Polman, Remco, Van der Pols, Jolieke, Trajano, Gabriel

  • Authors: Mackay, Karen , Orssatto, Lucas , Polman, Remco , Van der Pols, Jolieke , Trajano, Gabriel
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Neurophysiology Vol. 130, no. 6 (2023), p. 1529-1540
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  • Description: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether caffeine consumption would change persistent inward current (PIC) contribution to motoneuron firing at increased contraction intensities and after repetitive sustained maximal contractions. Before and after the consumption of 6 mg·kg-1 of caffeine or placebo, 16 individuals performed isometric triangular-shaped ramp dorsiflexion contractions (to 20% and 40% of peak torque), followed by four maximal contractions sustained until torque production dropped to 60% of maximum, and consecutive 20% triangular-shaped contractions. Tibialis anterior motor unit firing frequencies were analyzed from high-density surface electromyograms. PIC contribution to motor unit firing was estimated by calculating the delta frequency (DF) using the paired motor unit technique. Motoneuron peak firing frequencies at 20% and 40% contractions and total torque-time integral during the repetitive sustained maximal contractions were also assessed. DF increased 0.69 peaks per second (pps) (95% CI ¼ -0.98, -0.405; d ¼ -0.87) from 20% to 40% contraction intensities and reduced 0.85 pps (95% CI ¼ 0.66, 1.05; d ¼ 0.99) after the repetitive sustained maximal contractions, regardless of caffeine consumption. Participants produced 337 Nm·s (95% CI ¼ 49.9, 624; d ¼ 0.63) more torque integral during the repetitive sustained maximal contractions after caffeine consumption. A strong repeated-measures correlation (r ¼ 0.61; 95% CI ¼ 0.49, 0.69) was observed between reductions of DF and peak firing frequencies after the repetitive sustained maximal contractions. PIC contribution to motoneuron firing increases from 20% to 40% contraction intensities, with no effect of caffeine (on rested tibialis anterior). Repetitive sustained maximal contractions reduced PIC contribution to motoneuron firing, regardless of caffeine or placebo consumption, evidencing that changes in intrinsic motoneuron properties contributed to performance loss. Caffeine-attenuated reduction of torque production capacity was unlikely mediated by PICs. © 2023 American Physiological Society. All rights reserved.

Cancer classification utilizing voting classifier with ensemble feature selection method and transcriptomic data

- Khatun, Rabea, Akter, Maksuda, Islam, Md Manowarul, Uddin, Md Ashraf, Talukder, Md Alamin, Kamruzzaman, Joarder, Azad, Akm, Paul, Bikash, Almoyad, Muhammad, Aryal, Sunil, Moni, Mohammad

  • Authors: Khatun, Rabea , Akter, Maksuda , Islam, Md Manowarul , Uddin, Md Ashraf , Talukder, Md Alamin , Kamruzzaman, Joarder , Azad, Akm , Paul, Bikash , Almoyad, Muhammad , Aryal, Sunil , Moni, Mohammad
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Genes Vol. 14, no. 9 (2023), p.
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  • Description: Biomarker-based cancer identification and classification tools are widely used in bioinformatics and machine learning fields. However, the high dimensionality of microarray gene expression data poses a challenge for identifying important genes in cancer diagnosis. Many feature selection algorithms optimize cancer diagnosis by selecting optimal features. This article proposes an ensemble rank-based feature selection method (EFSM) and an ensemble weighted average voting classifier (VT) to overcome this challenge. The EFSM uses a ranking method that aggregates features from individual selection methods to efficiently discover the most relevant and useful features. The VT combines support vector machine, k-nearest neighbor, and decision tree algorithms to create an ensemble model. The proposed method was tested on three benchmark datasets and compared to existing built-in ensemble models. The results show that our model achieved higher accuracy, with 100% for leukaemia, 94.74% for colon cancer, and 94.34% for the 11-tumor dataset. This study concludes by identifying a subset of the most important cancer-causing genes and demonstrating their significance compared to the original data. The proposed approach surpasses existing strategies in accuracy and stability, significantly impacting the development of ML-based gene analysis. It detects vital genes with higher precision and stability than other existing methods. © 2023 by the authors.

Catching the catfish : exploring gender and the dark tetrad of personality as predictors of catfishing perpetration

- Lauder, Cassandra, March, Evita

  • Authors: Lauder, Cassandra , March, Evita
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Computers in Human Behavior Vol. 140, no. (2023), p.
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  • Description: Catfishing, the act of deceiving and exploiting another person online, can have significant negative impact on the target. To date, limited research has explored individual differences in perpetration of catfishing. We address this paucity by adopting an evolutionary psychology theoretical framework (the “cheater strategy” hypothesis) and exploring the utility of gender and the “Dark Tetrad” personality traits of psychopathy, sadism, Machiavellianism, and narcissism to predict catfishing perpetration. A sample of 664 participants (55.8% men, 40.3% women) with an average age of 28.84 years (SD = 9.60) were recruited via social media and completed an anonymous online questionnaire which comprised measures of personality and catfishing behaviours. Combined, the variables explained 62.6% of variance in catfishing perpetration. Results partially supported the hypotheses, with only psychopathy, sadism, and narcissism emerging as positive predictors of catfishing perpetration. Findings of the current study indicate that evolutionary psychology may be a useful theoretical framework when exploring antisocial online behaviours. Further, these findings provide crucial information regarding the psychological profile of a “catfish” and may have important practical implications by informing the prevention and management of this online behaviour. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

CenGCN : centralized convolutional networks with vertex imbalance for scale-free graphs

- Xia, Feng, Wang, Lei, Tang, Tao, Chen, Xin, Kong, Xiangjie, Oatley, Giles, King, Irwin

  • Authors: Xia, Feng , Wang, Lei , Tang, Tao , Chen, Xin , Kong, Xiangjie , Oatley, Giles , King, Irwin
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering Vol. 35, no. 5 (2023), p. 4555-4569
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  • Description: Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) have achieved impressive performance in a wide variety of areas, attracting considerable attention. The core step of GCNs is the information-passing framework that considers all information from neighbors to the central vertex to be equally important. Such equal importance, however, is inadequate for scale-free networks, where hub vertices propagate more dominant information due to vertex imbalance. In this paper, we propose a novel centrality-based framework named CenGCN to address the inequality of information. This framework first quantifies the similarity between hub vertices and their neighbors by label propagation with hub vertices. Based on this similarity and centrality indices, the framework transforms the graph by increasing or decreasing the weights of edges connecting hub vertices and adding self-connections to vertices. In each non-output layer of the GCN, this framework uses a hub attention mechanism to assign new weights to connected non-hub vertices based on their common information with hub vertices. We present two variants CenGCN_D and CenGCN_E, based on degree centrality and eigenvector centrality, respectively. We also conduct comprehensive experiments, including vertex classification, link prediction, vertex clustering, and network visualization. The results demonstrate that the two variants significantly outperform state-of-the-art baselines. © 1989-2012 IEEE.

Challenging court landscapes and opportunities for change

- Camilleri, Marg, Harkness, Alistair

  • Authors: Camilleri, Marg , Harkness, Alistair
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Book chapter
  • Relation: Australian Courts : controversies, challenges and change Chapter 16 p. 367-390
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  • Description: Courts are complex institutions which must constantly adjust to ensure that they are fulfilling their responsibilities to defendants, victims, witnesses, society and others who enter court spaces either virtually or physically. Courts must also manage their relationships with other agencies (whether justice or community) on whom they rely. Courts face an array of challenges in contemporary Australia, including the COVID-19 pandemic which has necessitated courts to pivot from inherently complex systems which are primarily public facing to virtual spaces which must continue to maintain the rule of law and to be open, transparent and subject to scrutiny. This chapter considers other challenges, too, which various courts and those who work in, with or appear before are facing. It assesses a suite of potential micro and macro reforms, advocating for ongoing systemic and structural change.

Changes in grit and psychological capital at the time of major crisis : nursing students' perseverance, resources, and resilience

- Terry, Daniel, Peck, Blake, Biangone, Marianne

  • Authors: Terry, Daniel , Peck, Blake , Biangone, Marianne
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship Vol. 20, no. 1 (2023), p.
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  • Description: Objectives: To examine changes in grit and psychological capital among nursing students prior to, during the height of the pandemic, and more than 12 months after the initial pandemic announcement. Methods: A cross-sectional study design addressed the aim of the study. Nursing students undertaking a three-year baccalaureate degree between 2019 and 2021 were included. Results: Mean grit levels among the n=818 unique student participants were significantly lower in 2020 than in 2019 and 2021; however, no significant difference was detected for psychological capital over the same period. Conclusions: Although normative day-to-day challenges may aid grit development, a major event has a negative impact yet has a buffering effect of negative life events at the time of a crisis. The study further placates that psychological capital remains malleable and open to change at the time of a crisis and may be an essential mechanism to mediate grit and has the capacity to influence student performance over time. It remains essential to develop grit through the mediating elements of psychological capital to enable nursing student to undertake academic studies, particularly in the event of major challenges, such approaches may further enable students' endurance to withstand major crises as they enter the workforce. © 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.

Changes in lesson plans as teachers participate in a professional development on statistical literacy

- Tran, Dung, Nguyen, An Thi, Nguyen, Duyen, Ta, Phuong, Pham, Nga, Huynh, Binh

  • Authors: Tran, Dung , Nguyen, An Thi , Nguyen, Duyen , Ta, Phuong , Pham, Nga , Huynh, Binh
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 22, no. 5 (2023), p. 281-301
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  • Description: Research on mathematics teacher knowledge has gained momentum recently; however, research on teacher planning is scarce, especially using lesson plans as the primary data source. This study examines how teachers' lesson plans change as they participate in a professional development, supporting them in implementing the Vietnamese reformed Curriculum 2018. Using a design-based research methodology, we developed a research-informed framework that assesses teachers' lesson plans for developing students' statistical literacy as emphasized in the mathematics Curriculum. Informed by research literature and data collected from teachers, the framework including seven criteria was shared and used by 61 teachers to reflect on the quality of their lessons. The analysis of 38 lesson plans shows all criteria have improved from pre- to post-lesson plans. The teachers included more explicit and comprehensive learning intentions in their post-lessons. Tasks in the post-lesson plans afforded more opportunities for students to develop statistical literacy, helped them engage in the statistical investigation using real data, and included multiple representations. Finally, the post-lesson plans tended to follow the constructivist teaching principles. Implications on ways to develop teachers' planning competence and suggestions for future studies are included. © 2023 Authors.

Changes in soil physicochemical and water properties in response to exotic acacia invasion in a Bornean coastal heath forest

- Ibrahim, Mohamad, Sukri, Rahayu, Tennakoon, Kushan, Rosli, Nurul, Metali, Faizah

  • Authors: Ibrahim, Mohamad , Sukri, Rahayu , Tennakoon, Kushan , Rosli, Nurul , Metali, Faizah
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition Vol. 23, no. 3 (2023), p. 3393-3406
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  • Description: This study investigates the impacts of Acacia invasion on Bornean heath forest (HF) soils. Soil profiles and water properties at one soil depth (< 1 m) and physicochemical properties with Soil Fertility Index(SFI) and Soil Evaluation Factor (SEF) from the topsoil or three soil depths of Acacia-invaded and non-invaded HF were assessed. Acacia invasion modified soil profiles by producing thicker horizons O and B but waning horizon E. Thick leaf litter layer in invaded HF was associated with a significant decrease in soil bulk density, moisture, organic matter (OM), total organic carbon, water volume, and NH4+ but a significant increase in soil temperature, and soil water pH, NO3

Characterizing Australia's east coast cyclones (1950–2019)

- Gray, Jessie, Verdon-Kidd, Danielle, Jaffrés, Jasmine, Hewson, Michael, Clarke, John, Sharma, Krishneel, English, Nathan

  • Authors: Gray, Jessie , Verdon-Kidd, Danielle , Jaffrés, Jasmine , Hewson, Michael , Clarke, John , Sharma, Krishneel , English, Nathan
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International Journal of Climatology Vol. 43, no. 7 (2023), p. 3324-3352
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  • Description: East coast cyclones (ECCs) provide an essential reprieve from dry periods across eastern Australia. They also deliver flood-producing rains with significant economic, social and environmental impacts. Assessing and comparing the influence of different types of cyclones is hindered by an incomplete understanding of ECC typology, given their widely variable spatial and temporal characteristics. This study employs a track-clustering method (probabilistic, curve-aligned regression model) to identify key cyclonic pathways for ECCs from 1950 to 2019. Six spatially independent clusters were successfully distinguished and further sub-classified (coastal, continental and tropical) based on their genesis location. The seasonality and long-term variability, intensity (maximum Laplacian value ± 2 days) and event-based rainfall were then evaluated for each cluster to quantify the impact of these lows on Australia. The highest quantity of land-based rainfall per event is associated with the tropical cluster (Cluster 6), whereas widespread rainfall was also found to occur in the two continental clusters (clusters 4 and 5). Cyclone tracks orientated close to the coast (clusters 1, 2 and 3) were determined to be the least impactful in terms of rainfall and intensity, despite being the most common cyclone type. In terms of interannual variability, sea surface temperature anomalies suggest an increased cyclone frequency for clusters 1 (austral winter) and 4 (austral spring) during a central Pacific El Niño. Furthermore, cyclone incidence during IOD-negative conditions was more pronounced in winter for clusters 1, 2, 3— and clusters 4 and 5 in spring. All cyclones also predominantly occurred in SAM-positive conditions. However, winter ECCs for clusters 1 and 3 had a higher frequency in SAM-negative. This new typology of ECCs via spatial clustering provides crucial insights into the systems that produce extreme rainfall across eastern Australia and should be used to inform future hazard management of cyclone events. © 2023 The Authors. International Journal of Climatology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Meteorological Society.

Charophytes of Australia’s Northern Territory – I. Tribe Chareae

- Casanova, Michelle, Karol, Kenneth

  • Authors: Casanova, Michelle , Karol, Kenneth
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Australian Systematic Botany Vol. 36, no. 1 (2023), p. 38-79
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  • Description: This study of Northern Territory charophytes documents 22 species in 3 of the genera in tribe Chareae, family Characeae, including 15 previously described species (Chara benthamii, C. erythrogyna, C. globularis, C. karolii, C. lucida, C. porteri, C. protocharoides, C. setosa, C. submollusca, C. wightii, C. zeylanica, Lamprothamnium capitatum, L. compactum, L. stipitatum, Lychnothamnus barbatus) of which 2 are new for the Australian flora (C. erythrogyna and C. wightii), as well as 5 varieties raised to species rank (C. aridicola, C. arnhemensis, C. bancroftii, C. behriana, C. duriuscula), and 2 newly described species (C. lamprothamniformis, C. schultae). Three previously reported species in the tribe (C. braunii, C. corallina, C. fibrosa) are not recorded from the Northern Territory in this study, as previous records were based on erroneous identifications or localities. Although Northern Territory specimens of Lychnothamnus barbatus have not been seen, it has been included in this treatment, because it occurs in south-eastern Queensland, the Gulf of Carpentaria, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste. A key, illustrations and descriptions of all the species are provided.

Charophytes of Australia’s Northern Territory – II. Tribe Nitelleae

- Casanova, Michelle, Karol, Kenneth

  • Authors: Casanova, Michelle , Karol, Kenneth
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Australian Systematic Botany Vol. 36, no. 4 (2023), p. 322-353
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  • Description: This study of Northern Territory charophytes deals with the tribe Nitelleae in family Characeae. We recognise 16 species of Nitella for the Territory. The list includes seven previously described species (Nitella belangeri, N. biformis, N. congesta, N. heterophylla, N. micklei, N. myriotricha and N.tumulosa, of which N. belangeri and N. tumulosa are newly recorded for the Australian flora), and nine newly described species (N. acanthospora, N. boreali-australis, N. crocodylus, N. limosa, N.martinii, N. nitida, N. oollooensis, N. silicea and N. townsendii). Of the five previously reported Nitella species in the Northern Territory (N. hyalina, N. myriotricha, N. penicillata, N. pseudoflabellata and N. subtilissima), only N. myriotricha is recorded in this study, because the other records were based on erroneous identifications or localities. All Nitella species described here can be distinguished on the basis of their morphology and reproductive arrangement. Keys, illustrations and descriptions of all the species are provided.

Chinese students’ decisions to study in Australia after the COVID pandemic-based on the PESTLE factor analysis

- Paynter, Merryn, Sharpe, Wen, Halabi, Abdel, Reimers, Vaughan, Ma, Hongming, Johnstone, Carolyn

  • Authors: Paynter, Merryn , Sharpe, Wen , Halabi, Abdel , Reimers, Vaughan , Ma, Hongming , Johnstone, Carolyn
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International Journal of Intercultural Relations Vol. 96, no. (2023), p.
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  • Description: The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of the PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental) framework on the motivations of Chinese students to pursue a higher education degree at Australian universities following the COVID-19 pandemic. We conduct a survey with a unique sample of 446 Chinese undergraduate students who are looking to study a postgraduate degree abroad. Seldom used in an educational setting, our empirical findings show a positive effect of PESTLE, particularly the economic factor, on students’ choice to study abroad, which is contrary to the null hypothesis. This study has broader implications for university administrators as it suggests that the PESTLE model can be a useful tool in analyzing education choices at a time of uncertainty. © 2023 The Authors

Citizen science and natural resource management : a social network analysis of two community-based water monitoring programs

- Bonney, Patrick, Hansen, Birgita, Baldwin, Claudia

  • Authors: Bonney, Patrick , Hansen, Birgita , Baldwin, Claudia
  • Date: 2023
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Society and Natural Resources Vol. 36, no. 6 (2023), p. 600-621
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  • Description: In natural resource management contexts, citizen science programs often involve a diversity of actors collaborating in broad social networks. However, the characteristics and functioning of these networks has received limited attention. In this article, we demonstrate the benefits of applying social network research to citizen science practice. Through a mixed methods approach, we compare data sharing and collaboration networks of two community-based water monitoring programs in Australia. The quantitative component revealed that despite similarities in actor diversity and activities, both programs have created divergent network structures (centralized vs decentralized) corresponding to their scale of influence in environmental decision-making (regional vs local impacts). The qualitative component showed how individuals navigated their relationships and managed key tensions inherent to network functioning. This study provides new insights on the role of social networks in citizen science and concludes by recommending program leaders adopt a “networking mindset” to maximize their sphere of influence. © 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.