Climate change and the future of Australia's country towns
- Authors: Beer, Andrew , Tually, Selina , Kroehn, Michael , Martin, John , Gerritsen, Rolf , Taylor, Mike , Graymore, Michelle , Law, Julia
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Applied Studies in Climate Adaptation p. 332-341
- Full Text: false
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- Description: This chapter presents the future of Australia's country towns in the context of anticipated climate change, where it is assumed Australia faces moderate climate change as predicted by the CSIRO's MK3.5 model. It argues that the future of Australia's country towns is not simply a product of climate change and its manifestation in terms of altered rainfall patterns, increased average temperatures and more frequent extreme events. The chapter discusses Australia's country towns within the context of contemporary and anticipated social, economic and climatic trends, before moving on to discuss the estimation of vulnerability within these communities. It describes both the implications for rural communities and the paths potentially available to governments across Australia. The adaptation and future of Australia's country towns is not simply a story of a changing climate and its impacts. © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved.
An institutional theory perspective on corruption : The case of a developing democracy
- Authors: Pillay, Soma , Kluvers, Ron
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Financial Accountability & Management Vol. 30, no. 1 (2014), p. 95-119
- Full Text: false
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- Description: The purpose of this paper is to use quantitative data to describe corruption in the SANPS, and use Luo's ([Luo, Y., 2005]) institutional theory to gain insights into how corruption develops and remains entrenched despite the introduction of anti‐corruption legislation. A total of 1,500 questionnaires were distributed to public servants in nine provinces, but predominantly in Kwa Zulu Natal and Gauteng. There were 702 returned giving a response rate of 47%. We conclude that the findings discussed in this paper lend support for Luo's theoretical model being able to provide insight into the development of corruption, its consequences and possible remedies.
Family presence during resuscitation : A descriptive study of nurses' attitudes from two Saudi hospitals
- Authors: Al Mutair, Abbas , Plummer, Virginia , Copnell, Beverley
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Nursing in Critical Care Vol. 17, no. 2 (2012), p. 90-98
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Background: The presence of family in the patient care area during resuscitation events is a matter of current debate among health care professionals in many communities. Family presence is highly recommended by many health organizations worldwide for several reasons including patient and family rights. There are no policies or guidelines in Saudi Arabia to guide health professionals in their practice regarding the option of family being present during resuscitations. The purpose of this study was to identify the attitudes of nurses towards family presence during resuscitation in the Muslim community of Saudi Arabia. Design: This is a descriptive survey using data from a convenience sample of 132 nurses using a self-administered questionnaire. The study took place in two major trauma centres in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia. Results: The analysis of the data revealed that nurses (n = 132) had negative attitudes towards family presence during resuscitation. A high percentage (77·2%) agreed that witnessing resuscitation is a traumatic experience for the family members. Almost all participants (92·3%) disagreed with the statement that the practice of allowing family members to be present during the resuscitation of a loved one would benefit the patient and 78% disagreed with the statement that it would benefit families. The majority of the participants (65%) revealed that the presence of family would negatively affect the performance of the resuscitation team. However, almost half of the sample (43·8%) would prefer a written policy allowing the option of family presence during resuscitation in Saudi Arabia. Conclusion: The findings of the study strongly suggest the need for the development of written policies offering families the option to remain with patients during resuscitation in Saudi Arabia. The study further recommends the development of education programs for staff and public for the safe implementation of the practice. © 2012 The Authors. Nursing in Critical Care © 2012 British Association of Critical Care Nurses.
FT-Raman studies of a range of polyimides subjected to high-energy Radiations at room and elevated temperatures
- Authors: Devasahayam, Sheila , Hill, David , Connell, John
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Applied Polymer Science Vol. 101, no. 3 (2006), p. 1575-1582
- Full Text: false
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- Description: A range of polyimides have been subjected to electron beam radiolysis at different temperatures. These polyimides were chemically designed to suit space applications, being either transparent or having groups which provide oxidation resistance. The structural changes that occur in the polyimides, when subjected to electron beam irradiation doses up to 18.5 MGy and up to temperatures close to their glass transition temperatures, were studied using FT-Raman spectroscopy. The range of polyimides studied included a series of perfluoropolyimides, a silicon-modified polyimide, and Ultem. The changes in the Raman peak intensities of the different groups indicated scission reactions involving the imide rings and ether linkages. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Family needs and involvement in the intensive care unit : A literature review
- Authors: Al Mutair, Abbas , Plummer, Virginia , O'Brien, Anthony , Clerehan, Rosemary
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article , Review
- Relation: Journal of Clinical Nursing Vol. 22, no. 13-14 (2013), p. 1805-1817
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Aims and objectives: To understand the needs of critically ill patient families', seeking to meet those needs and explore the process and patterns of involving family members during routine care and resuscitation and other invasive procedures. Methods: A structured literature review using Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Pubmed, Proquest, Google scholar, Meditext database and a hand search of critical care journals via identified search terms for relevant articles published between 2000 and 2010. Results: Thirty studies were included in the review either undertaken in the Intensive Care Unit or conducted with critical care staff using different methods of inquiry. The studies were related to family needs; family involvement in routine care; and family involvement during resuscitation and other invasive procedures. The studies revealed that family members ranked both the need for assurance and the need for information as the most important. They also perceived their important needs as being unmet, and identified the nurses as the best staff to meet these needs, followed by the doctors. The studies demonstrate that both family members and healthcare providers have positive attitudes towards family involvement in routine care. However, family members and healthcare providers had significantly different views of family involvement during resuscitation and other invasive procedures. Conclusion: Meeting Intensive Care Unit family needs can be achieved by supporting and involving families in the care of the critically ill family member. More emphasis should be placed on identifying the family needs in relation to the influence of cultural values and religion held by the family members and the organisational climate and culture of the working area in the Intensive Care Unit. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Assessing preregistration nursing students' clinical competence : A systematic review of objective measures
- Authors: Cant, Robyn , McKenna, Lisa , Cooper, Simon J.
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Nursing Practice Vol. 19, no. 2 (2013), p. 163-176
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Nursing students are required to develop clinical knowledge, skills and attitudes for professional practice. However, objectivity and parity of students' clinical assessments has been questioned. In the last decade, more objective techniques have been developed, with increased use of Objective Structured Clinical Examinations. We reviewed objective clinical assessment measures used in preregistration nursing courses to determine utilization and the validity and reliability of assessment techniques. A systematic search was made of quantitative research publications between 2000 and May 2011, identifying 16 studies that were subsequently reviewed. The validity and reliability of studies varied, with six studies judged as high quality, using various methodologies. This paper describes methods of instrument development and reports on their application in preregistration nursing programs. © 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.
Factors affecting evidence translation for general practice nurses
- Authors: Mills, Jane , Field, John , Cant, Robyn
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Nursing Practice Vol. 17, no. 5 (2011), p. 455-463
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- Description: This paper explores the domains of influence affecting practice nurses' ability to find, evaluate and use clinical evidence. A cross-sectional survey of general practice nurses (n=590) in Victoria, Australia in 2008 provided data for a principal components analysis. The research replicates a study undertaken in the UK using the Developing Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire. Five domains of influence on nurses' translation of evidence were identified: skills in finding/reviewing evidence; barriers to finding/reviewing evidence; knowledge from published sources; knowledge from other sources; and barriers or facilitators to change. Each domain was interpreted as underlying the relationship of nurses with evidence-based practice and was comparable to the original study's findings when subjected to factor analysis. Findings from this study show that the Developing Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire-Au is a valid and useful instrument in determining the influences on practice nurses' ability to effect knowledge translation and conduct practice based on evidence. Given these findings, a new model is proposed that explains the influence of a number of domains on Australian general practice nurses' translation of knowledge into practice. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.
The intergenerational transmission of at-risk/problem gambling : the moderating role of parenting practices
- Authors: Dowling, Nicki , Shandley, Kerrie , Oldenhof, Erin , Affleck, Julia , Thomas, Shane
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: American Journal on Addictions Vol. 26, no. 7 (2017), p. 707-712
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Background and Objectives: Although parenting practices are articulated as underlying mechanisms or protective factors in several theoretical models, their role in the intergenerational transmission of gambling problems has received limited research attention. This study therefore examined the degree to which parenting practices (positive parenting, parental involvement, and inconsistent discipline) moderated the intergenerational transmission of paternal and maternal problem gambling. Methods: Students aged 12–18 years (N = 612) recruited from 17 Australian secondary schools completed a survey measuring parental problem gambling, problem gambling severity, and parenting practices. Results: Participants endorsing paternal problem gambling (23.3%) were 4.3 times more likely to be classified as at-risk/problem gamblers than their peers (5.4%). Participants endorsing maternal problem gambling (6.9%) were no more likely than their peers (4.0%) to be classified as at-risk/problem gamblers. Paternal problem gambling was a significant predictor of offspring at-risk/problem gambling after controlling for maternal problem gambling and participant demographic characteristics. The relationship between maternal problem gambling and offspring at-risk/problem gambling was buffered by parental involvement. Discussion and Conclusions: Paternal problem gambling may be important in the development of adolescent at-risk/problem gambling behaviours and higher levels of parental involvement buffers the influence of maternal problem gambling in the development of offspring gambling problems. Further research is therefore required to identify factors that attenuate the seemingly greater risk of transmission associated with paternal gambling problems. Scientific Significance: Parental involvement is a potential candidate for prevention and intervention efforts designed to reduce the intergenerational transmission of gambling problems. (Am J Addict 2017;26:707–712). © 2017 American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Shane Thomas” is provided in this record**
Fundamentals of Reliability Engineering : Applications in Multistage Interconnection Networks
- Authors: Gunawan, Indra
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Book
- Relation: Performability Engineering Series
- Full Text: false
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- Description: This book presents fundamentals of reliability engineering with its applications in evaluating reliability of multistage interconnection networks. In the first part of the book, it introduces the concept of reliability engineering, elements of probability theory, probability distributions, availability and data analysis. The second part of the book provides an overview of parallel/distributed computing, network design considerations, and more. The book covers a comprehensive reliability engineering methods and its practical aspects in the interconnection network systems. Students, engineers, researchers, managers will find this book as a valuable reference source. © 2014 Scrivener Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.
A hybrid precoding- and filtering-based uplink MC-LNOMA scheme for 5G cellular networks with reduced PAPR
- Authors: Baig, Imran , Farooq, Umer , Ahmed, Ejaz , Imran, Muhammad , Shoaib, Muhammad
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies Vol. 29, no. 10 (2018), p.
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Uplink multicarrier localized nonorthogonal multiple access (MC-LNOMA) is a variant of hybrid nonorthogonal multiple access, where subcarrier mapping is performed in localized mode. MC-LNOMA is one of the most prominent emerging schemes and likely to be employed in the forthcoming fifth-generation cellular networks due to its massive connectivity, spectral efficiency, better cell coverage capability, and higher data rate. It may employ orthogonal frequency-division multiple access due to the technical ripeness. However, schemes based on orthogonal frequency-division multiple access all suffer from the high peak-to-average power ratio problem. Therefore, in this paper, a new finite impulse response filter–based discrete cosine transform–precoded uplink MC-LNOMA scheme is presented for peak-to-average power ratio reduction. MATLAB simulations demonstrate the performance supremacy of the proposed scheme compared to contemporary schemes such as discrete cosine transform–precoded uplink MC-LNOMA and nonprecoded uplink MC-LNOMA. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Zinc transporters maintain longevity by influencing insulin/IGF-1 activity in Caenorhabditis elegans
- Authors: Novakovic, Stevan , Molesworth, Luke , Gourley, Taylin , Boag, Peter , Davis, Gregory
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: FEBS Letters Vol. 594, no. 9 (2020), p. 1424-1432
- Full Text:
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- Description: Adequate dietary intake of essential metals such as zinc is important for maintaining homeostasis. Abnormal zinc intake in Caenorhabditis elegans has been shown to increase or decrease normal lifespan by influencing the insulin/IGF-1 pathway. Distribution of zinc is achieved by a family of highly conserved zinc transport proteins (ZIPT in C. elegans). This study investigated the role of the zipt family of genes and showed that depletion of individual zipt genes results in a decreased lifespan. Moreover, zipt-16 and zipt-17 mutants synthetically interact with the insulin/IGF cofactors daf-16 and skn-1, and cause abnormal localisation of DAF-16. This study suggests that the zipt family of genes are required for maintaining normal lifespan through influencing the insulin/IGF-1 pathway. © 2019 Federation of European Biochemical Societies
- Description: This study was supported by the resources at Federation University; no external funding was used to fund this study. We acknowledge the Caenorhabditis elegans Genetics Centre for the strains used in this study and Hannah Tatnell (Federation University) for technical assistance.
Perspectives of aboriginal issues among non-aboriginal residents of rural Victorian communities
- Authors: Bourke, Lisa , Malatzky, Christina , Terry, Daniel , Nixon, Raelene , Ferguson, Karyn , Ferguson, Peter
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Social Issues Vol. 52, no. 3 (2017), p. 278-293
- Full Text:
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- Description: Racism, in various forms, remains a dominant feature in Australian society. Aboriginal Australians are commonly targets of racial discrimination. However, understanding racism is difficult given that racial attitudes vary towards particular groups of people, across place and time and are difficult to measure. This paper presents responses of residents across four rural shires in Victoria to questions about attitudes towards Aboriginal people/issues. Responses indicated that attitudes towards Aboriginal people were diverse and that individuals varied in their attitudes on specific items. There were subtle differences between the four sites and association between demographic characteristics and some items in particular sites. This suggests that respondents are inconsistent in their attitudes relating to Aboriginal people/issues and that there are place-based influences on these attitudes. We conclude that the many varied understandings of racism and Aboriginal Australians allow the discourses of exclusion, disempowerment and othering to be maintained. © 2017 Australian Social Policy Association.
Patterns in the occurrence of fecal bacterial indicators at Public Mineral Springs of Central Victoria, 1986-2013
- Authors: Shugg, Andrew
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Threats to Springs in a Changing World: Science and Policies for Protection Chapter 14 p. 199-207
- Full Text: false
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- Description: In central Victoria monitoring of the fecal indicators Total Coliform and Escherichia Coliform at around 50 mineral spring sites over a period of more than three decades show distinct patterns in contamination. Criteria for examination include both the count levels and occurrence of positive readings. Initially, the springs were unsanitary dug wells, pits, and shallow 3-7 m deep bores. To overcome the recidivism, a replacement program utilizing 30-150 m deep bores was initiated. All the springs had been sited near evidence of subaqueous discharge or exfiltration of mineralized water in the base of highland valleys. Mineral water evolves and circulates in conductive fissure fault and joint systems in the bedrock. Historically a gold-mining region, nearly all sites owe their discovery to alluvial mining activities. Situated in seasonally active mixing zones at the confluence of flow systems, the vulnerability has been reflected in both the development technique and the bacteriological ambience. Catchment use, forest practices, urbanization, subdivision, and the increasing sewerage backlog in settled areas now contribute to a fecal bacterial load in the catchments of the springs and, in particular, the proximal streams and gullies. Within the data set, distinct seasonal patterns appear in the presence, count, ratio between indicators, and/or the absence of fecal bacteria. Spring contamination and bacterial predominance correlate with seasonal catchment hydrodynamics, in spite of event-related episodes. Deep replacement bores reduce or extinguish the occurrence of scherichia Coliform, while some sites may return positive Total Coliform counts, which suggests the need for disinfection during maintenance procedures. © 2023 American Geophysical Union.