Ecological and statistical models to configure flow regime for environment benefit in highly engineered rivers : a case study in the MacKenzie River, Southeast Australia
- Authors: Atazadeh, Ehsan , Gell, Peter , Mills, Keely , Barton, Andrew , Newall, Peter
- Date: 2024
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Environmental Science and Pollution Research Vol. 31, no. 5 (2024), p. 7408-7427
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- Description: Ecological and statistical models were developed using freshwater algal assemblages to assess water quality and ecological health of a regulated river. These models were used to inform configuration of flows to maintain or improve environmental conditions of the waterway whilst meeting consumptive water supply commitments. The flow regime of the MacKenzie River, western Victoria, Australia, has been substantially modified since the construction of a water supply reservoir on its upper reach in 1887. Water is withdrawn at several locations downstream of the reservoir, creating a substantially modified flow regime, impacting key environmental values of the river. To assess the impact of the different flow regimes on river health and ecosystem function, ten sites were repeatedly sampled along the river between February 2012 and April 2014. Physical and chemical characteristics of water, including pH, temperature, turbidity, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total nitrogen, total phosphorous, cations, and anions, were measured. Biological properties of the algal periphyton communities, including dry mass, ash-free dry mass, chlorophyll-a concentration, and species composition, were also measured. Exploration of the algal assemblage and water chemistry data using the computationally unconstrained ordination technique such as principal component analysis principal component analysis (PCA), correspondence analysis (CA), detrended correspondence analysis (DCA), and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) indicated two strong gradients in the data sets. Furthermore, the quantitative ecosystem response models have been developed as the prototype tool to assist in the future configuration of flows in this river. The empirical data and models showed the lower reaches of the river to be in poor condition under low flows, but this condition improved under flows of 35 ML/day, as indicated by the reduction in green algae and cyanobacteria and improvement. Finally, the results are presented to tailor discharge and duration of water volume by amalgamation of consumptive and environmental flows to improve the condition of the stream thereby supplementing the flows dedicated to environmental outcomes. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
Adaptive capacity task offloading in multi-hop D2D-based social industrial IoT
- Authors: Ibrar, Muhammad , Wang, Lei , Akbar, Aamir , Jan, Mian , Balasubramanian, Venki , Muntean, Gabriel-Miro , Shah, Nadir
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering Vol. 10, no. 5 (2023), p. 2843-2852
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- Description: Traditional communication technologies such as cellular networks are facing problems to support high service quality when used for time-critical applications in an Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) context, including real-time data transmission, route dependability, and scalability. To address these problems, device-to-device (D2D) communications based on social relationships can be used, which allow for task-offloading: resource-rich devices share unused computing resources with resource constraint devices. However, unbalanced task offloading in Social IIoT (SIIoT) might actually degrade the overall system performance, which is not desirable. In this paper, we propose an adaptive capacity task offloading solution for D2D-based social industrial IoT (ToSIIoT) which considers devices utilization ratio and strength of social relationships in order to improve resource utilization, increase QoS and achieve better task completion rate. The proposed approach consists of three aspects: social-aware relay selection in a multi-hop D2D communication context, choice of a resource-rich SIIoT device for task offloading, and adaptive redistribution of tasks. The paper proposes heuristic algorithms, as finding optimal solutions to the problems are NP-hard. Extensive experimental results show that the proposed ToSIIoT performs better than existing approaches in terms of utilization ratio, QoS violation, average execution delay, and task completion ratio. © 2013 IEEE.
Citizen science and natural resource management : a social network analysis of two community-based water monitoring programs
- 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.
Climate-driven animal mass mortality events : is there a role for scavengers?
- Authors: Barton, Philip , Reboldi, Anna , Bonat, Stefanie , Mateo-Tomás, Patricia , Newsome, Thomas
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Environmental conservation Vol. 50, no. 1 (2023), p. 1-6
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- Description: Summary Animal mass mortality events (MMEs) will increase with weather and climate extremes. MMEs can add significant stress to ecosystems through extraordinary nutrient pulses or contribute to potential disease transmission risks. Given their efficient removal of carrion biomass from landscapes, we argue here for the potential of scavenger guilds to be a key nature-based solution to mitigating MME effects. However, we caution that scavenger guilds alone will not be a silver bullet. It is critical for further research to identify how the composition of scavenger guilds and the magnitude of MMEs will determine when scavengers will buffer the impacts of such events on ecosystems and when intervention might be required. Some MMEs are too large for scavengers to remove efficiently, and there is a risk of MMEs subsidizing pest species, altering nutrient cycling or leading to disease spread. Prioritizing native scavenger taxa in conservation management policies may help to boost ecosystem resilience through preserving their key ecological services. This should be part of a multi-pronged approach to MME mitigation that combines scavenger conservation with practices such as carcass dispersal or removal when exceeding a threshold quantity. Policymakers are urged to identify such thresholds and to recognize both the insects and the vertebrate scavengers that could act as allies for mitigating the emerging problem of climate-driven MMEs.
Diatom index of Galela Lake, Halmahera, Indonesia in relation to human activities
- Authors: Soeprobowati, Tri , Saraswati, Tyas , Jumari, Jumari , Sari, Kenanga , Gell, Peter
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology Vol. 20, no. 7 (2023), p. 7707-7722
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- Description: Diatoms, silicious microalgae, have been used successfully as bioindicators of water quality assessment in aquatic ecosystems. Diatoms have a degree of tolerance to the water quality and some diatoms are a good indicator for several water quality variables. Diatom indices have been developed to assess river water quality, mostly in Europe. This study aims to apply diatom indices developed in Europe for the tropical lake of Galela adjacent to residential areas influenced by human activities. Galela Lake is one of the biggest lakes in Halmahera Utara, Indonesia with its main functions being domestic water supply, irrigation, fisheries, and tourism. Human activities have impacted the area around the lake. The 90-cm and 85-cm long sediment cores were collected using a piston corer from Site 1 and 2, respectively. Sediment samples were sliced every 5 cm, separated from sediment by adding HCl and H2O2. The diatom valves were identified under a microscope with 1,000 × magnification. The water quality status of each layer was inferred with diatom indices performed using OMNIDIA software version 6.0. Forty-nine and 63 diatoms species were identified from Site 1 and Site 2, respectively. The number of species and diversity of diatoms was higher in the lower layers than those in the upper layers. The preserved diatom assemblages reflect past physical and chemical water quality. Generic Diatom Index and Specific Pollution Sensitivity Index provided the best evidence for change in Galela Lake—they integrated 70–100% of the diatom taxa from the sediment core samples. © 2022, The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Iranian Society of Environmentalists (IRSEN) and Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University.
Divergent molecular networks program functionally distinct CD8+skin-resident memory T cells
- Authors: Park, Simone , Christo, Susan , Wells, Alexandria , Gandolfo, Luke , Zaid, Ali , Alexandre, Yannick , Burn, Thomas , Schröder, Jan , Collins, Nicholas , Han, Seong-Ji , Guillaume, Stephane , Evrard, Maximilien , Castellucci, Clara , Davies, Brooke , Osman, Maleika , Obers, Andreas , McDonald, Keely , Wang, Huimeng , Mueller, Scott , Kannourakis, George , Berzins, Stuart , Mielke, Lisa , Carbone, Francis , Kallies, Axel , Speed, Terence , Belkaid, Yasmine , MacKay, Laura
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Science Vol. 382, no. 6674 (2023), p. 1073-1079
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- Description: Skin-resident CD8+T cells include distinct interferon-g-producing [tissue-resident memory T type 1 (TRM1)] and interleukin-17 (IL-17)-producing (TRM17) subsets that differentially contribute to immune responses. However, whether these populations use common mechanisms to establish tissue residence is unknown. In this work, we show that TRM1 and TRM17 cells navigate divergent trajectories to acquire tissue residency in the skin. TRM1 cells depend on a T-bet-Hobit-IL-15 axis, whereas TRM17 cells develop independently of these factors. Instead, c-Maf commands a tissue-resident program in TRM17 cells parallel to that induced by Hobit in TRM1 cells, with an ICOS-c-Maf-IL-7 axis pivotal to TRM17 cell commitment. Accordingly, by targeting this pathway, skin TRM17 cells can be ablated without compromising their TRM1 counterparts. Thus, skin-resident T cells rely on distinct molecular circuitries, which can be exploited to strategically modulate local immunity. © 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved.
Exploring public sentiment during COVID-19 : a cross country analysis
- Authors: Yu, Shuo , He, Sihan , Cai, Zhen , Lee, Ivan , Naseriparsa, Mehdi , Xia, Feng
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems Vol. 10, no. 3 (2023), p. 1083-1094
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- Description: COVID-19 has spread all over the world, accounting for countless death and enormous economic loss. Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a pandemic, governments from different countries have made various policies to prevent the pandemic from becoming worse. However, civilian reactions to the pandemic vary when they face similar situations. This behavioral variation creates a challenge when it comes to policy-making. Such differences are generally implicit, hidden in ones' social lives. As a result, it is challenging to analyze such differences when the governments make policies. In this work, we investigate social media posts on Twitter and Weibo in order to effectively explore the difference in reactions across various countries, with the aim to understand national differences. To this end, we employ natural language processing (NLP) methods and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) tools to process six languages in different countries, including the USA, Germany, France, Italy, the U.K., and China. We provide a comprehensive analysis of public reaction differences from the emotional perspective. Our findings verify that the reactions vary noticeably among various countries for some policies. Therefore, sentiment analysis can significantly influence policy-making. Our work sheds light on the mechanism of detecting the reaction differences in various countries, which can be utilized to conduct effective communication and make appropriate policy decisions. © 2014 IEEE.
Fabric : the map of our lives
- Authors: McDonough, Sharon
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture Vol. 21, no. 1 (2023), p. 293-296
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Knowledge mapping of research progress in blast-induced ground vibration from 1990 to 2022 using CiteSpace-based scientometric analysis
- Authors: Zhang, Yulin , He, Haini , Khandelwal, Manoj , Du, Kun , Zhou, Jian
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article , Review
- Relation: Environmental Science and Pollution Research Vol. 30, no. 47 (2023), p. 103534-103555
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- Description: Blasting constitutes an essential component of the mining and construction industries. However, the associated nuisances, particularly blast vibration, have emerged as significant concerns that pose threats to operational stability and the safety of the surrounding areas. Given the increasing emphasis on sustainability, ecological responsibility, safety, and geo-environmental practices, the impact of blast vibration has garnered heightened attention and scrutiny. Nevertheless, the field still lacks comprehensive phase analysis studies. Therefore, it is imperative to elucidate the research progress on blast vibration and discern its current frontiers of investigation. To address this need, this study employs bibliometric methods and the CiteSpace 6.1.R2 software to analyze 3093 papers from the Web of Science database. Through this comprehensive analysis, the study aims to chronicle the developmental trajectory, assess the present research status, and identify future trends in the field of blast vibration. The findings of this study reveal that research on “blasting vibration” is advancing rapidly, with the number of citations exhibiting a J-shaped growth curve over time. China emerges as the leading contributor to this research, followed by India, and the foremost institution in this field is Central South University in China. Cluster analysis identifies the effects of ground vibration, numerical simulation, blast load, blasting vibration and rockburst hazard as the most prominent research areas presently. The primary research directions in this domain revolve around the rock fragmentation, compressive strength, particle swarm optimization, and ann. The emergence of these keywords underscores a dynamic shift towards a more holistic and multidisciplinary approach in the field of blasting-induced ground vibration. Furthermore, this study provides a concise overview of blast vibration, discusses prediction techniques, and proposes measures for its control. Additionally, the discussion delves into the social significance of intelligent blasting systems within the context of artificial intelligence, aiming to address the hazards associated with blast-induced ground vibrations. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
The effect of facial perception and academic performance on social centrality
- Authors: Zhang, Dongyu , Peng, Ciyuan , Chang, Xiaojun , Xia, Feng
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems Vol. 10, no. 3 (2023), p. 970-981
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- Description: Facial perception is of significant influence on the positions of people in social networks. Particularly, students' facial traits can affect their social centrality in educational settings (e.g., students looking intelligent can attract more friends). However, in educational environments, the social biases associated with appearances have alarming consequences, and little research has been done to investigate the effect of facial perception on social networks. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively analyze the influence of perceived facial traits on students' status in social interaction. In this article, we explore the effect of facial perception on the social centrality of students in social networks. Because students' social centrality is based on both their study ability and facial traits, this study does a comparative analysis of how facial perception and academic performance influence the social centrality of students. Subsequently, the experimental results demonstrate that facial perception, as well as academic performance, closely correlates with the social centrality of students. Finally, this study contributes to a comprehensive and deep understanding of social networks by analyzing facial trait-based social biases. © 2014 IEEE.
Trust-aware detection of malicious users in dating social networks
- Authors: Shen, Xingfa , Lv, Wentao , Qiu, Jianhui , Kaur, Achhardeep , Xiao, Fengjun , Xia, Feng
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems Vol. 10, no. 5 (2023), p. 2587-2598
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- Description: Online dating is an increasingly thriving business which boosts billion-dollar revenues and attracts users in the tens of millions. Despite its popularity, internet dating is not exempt from the concerns about privacy and trust posed by the revelation of potentially sensitive data as well as the exposure to self-reported (and hence potentially distorted) information. The increasing popularity of online dating networks leads to an increase in security concerns and challenges, as well as harmful actions and attacks, such as creating fake accounts, phishing on these networks. To maintain the safety of legitimate online dating users, it is critical to recognize and isolate criminal people as soon as possible. However, researchers concerning malicious user detection in dating social networks are merely a few. To address some key challenges in this space, we propose a trust-aware detection framework to detect malicious users based on different kinds of data from a real dating site. In particular, we develop a user trust model to distinguish between malicious and legitimate users. Furthermore, we propose a novel data-balancing method to improve the recall rate of malicious user detection. Extensive experiments have been conducted over real-world datasets. The results show that the proposed approach yields a precision of up to 59.16% and a recall rate of up to 73%, which is significantly higher than other baseline algorithms. © 2014 IEEE.
The Importance of the koala in Aboriginal society in nineteenth-century Queensland (Australia) : a reconsideration of the archival record
- Authors: Cahir, David (Fred) , Schlagloth, Rolf , Clark, Ian
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Anthrozoos Vol. 35, no. 1 (2022), p. 75-89
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- Description: The principal purpose of this study was to gain a greater understanding of the utilitarian and symbolic significance of koalas for Aboriginal communities in Queensland, Australia as recorded by colonists during the early period of colonization and the early twentieth century. It does this primarily through a close examination of the nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century archival records and contemporary publications that relate to Queensland Aboriginal peoples’ associations with koalas. This paper is the third in a series investigating the historic and cultural importance of the koala according to the location in Australia. It likewise employs the historical method approach, which relies on identifying historical sources, evaluating their relative authority, and combining their testimony appropriately in order to construct an accurate and reliable picture of past events and environments. Through a critique of the published historical sources, the distribution of and the etymology of “koala” are briefly discussed before an examination is made of the animal’s spiritual importance, associated cultural traditions, and simultaneous utilitarian role. Mirroring previous studies published by the authors on Victoria and New South Wales, we confirm that the predominately non-Aboriginal historical records reveal that koalas were hunted for food and their skin in some Queensland regions. It shall be seen that the ethno-historical records are inconclusive about the koala’s distribution in Queensland, whether they were hunted across all of the state at the point of colonization and whether they were considered an integral food source in some regions. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that the extent to which they were used varied across regions and between language groups and was subject to certain rules, and that their spiritual significance can be traced directly to epic creation stories. The implications of this paper are consistent with the earlier New South Wales and Victorian studies: regional variations exist in Queensland in relation to the (pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial) historic relationship between Aboriginal communities and koalas and that close consultation with Aboriginal communities needs to be taken into consideration when planning conservation measures relating to koalas. © 2021 International Society for Anthrozoology (ISAZ).
Urban region profiling with spatio-temporal graph neural networks
- Authors: Hou, Mingliang , Xia, Feng , Gao, Haoran , Chen, Xin , Chen, Honglong
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems Vol. 9, no. 6 (2022), p. 1736-1747
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Region profiles are summaries of characteristics of urban regions. Region profiling is a process to discover the correlations between urban regions. The learned urban profiles can be used to represent and identify regions in supporting downstream tasks, e.g., region traffic status estimation. While some efforts have been made to model urban regions, representation learning with awareness of graph-structured data can improve the existing methods. To do this, we first construct an attribute spatio-temporal graph, in which a node represents a region, an edge represents mobility across regions, and a node attribute represents a region's point of interest (PoI) distribution. The problem of region profiling is reformulated as a representation learning problem based on attribute spatio-temporal graphs. To solve this problem, we developed URGENT, a spatio-temporal graph learning framework. URGENT is made up of two modules. The graph convolutional neural network is used in the first module to learn spatial dependencies. The second module is an encoding-decoding temporal learning structure with self-attention mechanism. Furthermore, we use the learned representations of regions to estimate region traffic status. Experimental results demonstrate that URGENT outperforms major baselines in estimation accuracy under various settings and produces more meaningful results. © 2014 IEEE.
Analysis of water quantity and quality trade-offs to inform selective harvesting of inflows in complex water resource systems
- Authors: Dey, Sayani , Barton, Andrew , Kandra, Harpreet , Bagirov, Adil , Wilson, Kym
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Water Resources Management Vol. 35, no. 12 (2021), p. 4149-4165
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- Description: Challenges faced by water resource systems are multi-faceted. The problem can be even more pronounced in a dry continent like Australia where the water resources can often be afflicted by high salinity and turbidity. Therefore, modern water resource systems require to appropriately manage both water quality and quantity. This study aims to illustrate the trade-offs between water quantity and quality in a reservoir, based on decisions to harvest different inflow sources. Taylors Lake of the Grampians reservoir system in Western Victoria, Australia was chosen as the case study for this research as it is sufficiently complex and includes many of the contemporary water resources challenges seen around the world. Different operational scenarios were analysed which included increasingly stringent water quality criteria before the water was harvested or otherwise allowed to by-pass the storage. The study suggests that selective harvesting of water can be an option to improve the overall and long-term water quality within a reservoir, but stringent water quality measures can lead to an associated loss of overall water quantity. This research study provides useful insight to water planners and stakeholders in similar catchment settings around the world, to identify water harvesting regimes with competing water quality constraints. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. Correction to: Analysis of Water Quantity and Quality Trade‑Offs to Inform Selective Harvesting of Inflows in Complex Water Resource Systems (Water Resources Management, (2021), 35, 12, (4149-4165), 10.1007/s11269-021-02936-x)
Fine-scale spatial variability in organic carbon in a temperate mangrove forest : implications for estimating carbon stocks in blue carbon ecosystems
- Authors: Hu, Yang , Fest, Benedikt , Swearer, Stephen , Arndt, Stefan
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science Vol. 259, no. (2021), p.
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- Description: Mangrove ecosystems have the potential to store large amounts of carbon but detailed studies on the fine scale spatial variability of biomass components and sediment organic carbon (SOC) and their relationships are lacking. Here we investigated the fine-scale spatial variation of SOC, aboveground and belowground biomass using systematic grid sampling in a temperate Avicennia marina ((Forssk.) Vierh) forest in Australia. We estimated aboveground biomass in a 9 × 9 sampling grid within a 0.16 ha plot and measured SOC, fine root biomass and necromass down to 1 m at 81 sampling points in an A. marina forest in Western Port Bay near Melbourne, Australia. We detected large differences in all measured carbon pools. SOC increased from low to high intertidal position but showed no consistent trend with depth. Aboveground biomass carbon was highly variable (mean 84 ± 56 Mg C ha
Industrial heritage agents, actors and outcomes : regional case studies from Broken Hill and the Latrobe Valley
- Authors: Eklund, Erik , Holm, Antoinette , Reeves, Keir
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Australian Studies Vol. 45, no. 4 (2021), p. 524-542
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- Description: This article considers the comparative standing of industrial heritage in two distinctive Australian regional contexts. With a focus on the agents and actors in the heritage-making process, we outline the development of a case for heritage in the mining town of Broken Hill in far western New South Wales, which gained momentum soon after the local mines began a steady decline in the early 1970s. Broken Hill has, to some extent, adapted its mining and labour heritage to form a viable element of the town’s current identity and economic base, especially by seeing those individual sites as part of a heritage landscape. We also consider industrial heritage in the Latrobe Valley in Victoria, a brown coal mining and electricity-generation hub where industrial and mining employment has declined much more recently. Reflecting on these changing political policies and industry privatisation in the early 1990s, we examine the impact on industrial heritage in a region typified by mining and power generation. © 2021 International Australian Studies Association.
Studying Africa in the Australian capital territory: Bureaucratisation, disciplinisation and projectisation
- Authors: Ibrahim, Abraham , Rocco, Weglarz
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: The Australasian review of African studies Vol. 42, no. 2 (2021), p. 54-78
- Full Text: false
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- Description: This article analyses the experiences of scholars of Africa in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), advancing upon critical research on African Studies and contemporary academia. Drawing upon interviews with researchers, this article makes three arguments about the study of Africa in the ACT and Australia. Firstly, that universities have undergone bureaucratisation, altering the way researchers organise their working lives. Secondly, that the study of Africa in the ACT's universities demonstrates disciplinisation such that researchers' methodologies are more important to their identities and career trajectories than their regions of research. Finally, that research practices have undergone projectisation, with scholars increasingly employed on precarious contracts and periodically shifting their focus to or from Africa. It is argued that the African Studies paradigm and Africanist identity are inoperative in the ACT.
A polygon scaled boundary finite element formulation for transient coupled thermoelastic fracture problems
- Authors: Ooi, Ean Tat , Iqbal, M. , Birk, C. , Natarajan, Sundararajan , Ooi, E. H. , Song, C.
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Engineering Fracture Mechanics Vol. 240, no. (2020), p.
- Full Text: false
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- Description: The scaled boundary finite element method is developed for transient thermoelastic fracture analysis. To enable this, a set of novel shape functions are derived considering thermoelastic equilibrium. The salient features of the proposed framework are: (a) can be formulated on polygons with an arbitrary number of sides leading to flexible mesh generation and (b) facilitates an accurate and direct evaluation of the stress intensity factors from their definition without resorting to any post-processing techniques using relatively coarse meshes. Several numerical benchmark problems demonstrate the aforementioned features of the technique. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd
A review on the production of renewable aviation fuels from the gasification of biomass and residual wastes
- Authors: Shahabuddin, M. , Alam, Md Tanvir , Krishna, Bhavya , Bhaskar, Thallada , Perkins, Greg
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article , Review
- Relation: Bioresource Technology Vol. 312, no. (2020), p.
- Full Text: false
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- Description: This article reviews the production of renewable aviation fuels from biomass and residual wastes using gasification followed by syngas conditioning and Fischer-Tropsch catalytic synthesis. The challenges involved with gasifying wastes are discussed along with a summary of conventional and emerging gasification technologies. The techniques for conditioning syngas including removal of particulate matter, tars, sulphur, carbon dioxide, compounds of nitrogen, chlorine and alkali metals are reported. Recent developments in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, such as new catalyst formulations are described alongside reactor technologies for producing renewable aviation fuels. The energy efficiency and capital cost of converting biomass and residual wastes to aviation fuels are major barriers to widespread adoption. Therefore, further development of advanced technologies will be critical for the aviation industry to achieve their stated greenhouse gas reduction targets by 2050. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd
Contrasting insect activity and decomposition of pigs and humans in an Australian environment : a preliminary study
- Authors: Dawson, Blake , Barton, Philip , Wallman, James
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Forensic Science International Vol. 316, no. (2020), p.
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Non-human vertebrate animals, primarily domestic pigs, have been widely used in forensic science research as analogues for humans due to ethical and logistical constraints. Yet the suitability of pigs to mimic human decomposition and entomological patterns remains largely untested, and explicit comparative research in this area is lacking. We compared the decomposition rates and insect communities found at pig and human remains during summer and winter at the Australian Facility for Taphonomic Experimental Research (AFTER). Pigs decomposed faster than humans, with pigs entering active decay earlier in both summer and winter, and humans undergoing desiccation rather than skeletonisation. There was also a delay in the colonisation of humans by both flies and beetles. Species richness of these necrophagous taxa was between two and five times higher during the first two weeks of decomposition on pigs compared to humans during both summer and winter. Insect species composition was also significantly different between pigs and humans in each season. We interpret our findings to mean that the difference between humans and pigs, such as their mass, diet, medical history, or their microbiomes, might be causing different decomposition processes and altered timing or production of chemical cues for insect colonisation. Although preliminary, our results suggest that pigs might not be accurate substitutes for humans in particular fields of taphonomy and forensic entomology. Our findings also have broader implications for the reliability of forensic studies using pigs as models for humans, and highlight the need to recognise intrinsic differences between animal models and humans. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.
- Description: This work was supported in part by the Australian Research Council ( LE150100015 ), as well as by a SMAH Small Project Grant ( University of Wollongong ).