Risk assessment of SARS-CoV-2 in Antarctic wildlife
- Barbosa, Andres, Varsani, Arvind, Morandini, Virginia, Grimaldi, Wray, Vanstreels, Ralph, Diaz, Julia, Boulinier, Thierry, Dewar, Meagan, González-Acuña, Daniel, Gray, Rachael, McMahon, Clive, Miller, Gary, Power, Michelle, Gamble, Amandine, Wille, Michelle
- Authors: Barbosa, Andres , Varsani, Arvind , Morandini, Virginia , Grimaldi, Wray , Vanstreels, Ralph , Diaz, Julia , Boulinier, Thierry , Dewar, Meagan , González-Acuña, Daniel , Gray, Rachael , McMahon, Clive , Miller, Gary , Power, Michelle , Gamble, Amandine , Wille, Michelle
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Science of the Total Environment Vol. 755, no. 2 (2021), p. 1-8
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This pathogen has spread rapidly across the world, causing high numbers of deaths and significant social and economic impacts. SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus with a suggested zoonotic origin with the potential for cross-species transmission among animals. Antarctica can be considered the only continent free of SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, concerns have been expressed regarding the potential human introduction of this virus to the continent through the activities of research or tourism to minimise the effects on human health, and the potential for virus transmission to Antarctic wildlife. We assess the reverse-zoonotic transmission risk to Antarctic wildlife by considering the available information on host susceptibility, dynamics of the infection in humans, and contact interactions between humans and Antarctic wildlife. The environmental conditions in Antarctica seem to be favourable for the virus stability. Indoor spaces such as those at research stations, research vessels or tourist cruise ships could allow for more transmission among humans and depending on their movements between different locations the virus could be spread across the continent. Among Antarctic wildlife previous in silico analyses suggested that cetaceans are at greater risk of infection whereas seals and birds appear to be at a low infection risk. However, caution needed until further research is carried out and consequently, the precautionary principle should be applied. Field researchers handling animals are identified as the human group posing the highest risk of transmission to animals while tourists and other personnel pose a significant risk only when in close proximity (< 5 m) to Antarctic fauna. We highlight measures to reduce the risk as well as identify of knowledge gaps related to this issue. © 2020 The Authors
- Authors: Barbosa, Andres , Varsani, Arvind , Morandini, Virginia , Grimaldi, Wray , Vanstreels, Ralph , Diaz, Julia , Boulinier, Thierry , Dewar, Meagan , González-Acuña, Daniel , Gray, Rachael , McMahon, Clive , Miller, Gary , Power, Michelle , Gamble, Amandine , Wille, Michelle
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Science of the Total Environment Vol. 755, no. 2 (2021), p. 1-8
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This pathogen has spread rapidly across the world, causing high numbers of deaths and significant social and economic impacts. SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus with a suggested zoonotic origin with the potential for cross-species transmission among animals. Antarctica can be considered the only continent free of SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, concerns have been expressed regarding the potential human introduction of this virus to the continent through the activities of research or tourism to minimise the effects on human health, and the potential for virus transmission to Antarctic wildlife. We assess the reverse-zoonotic transmission risk to Antarctic wildlife by considering the available information on host susceptibility, dynamics of the infection in humans, and contact interactions between humans and Antarctic wildlife. The environmental conditions in Antarctica seem to be favourable for the virus stability. Indoor spaces such as those at research stations, research vessels or tourist cruise ships could allow for more transmission among humans and depending on their movements between different locations the virus could be spread across the continent. Among Antarctic wildlife previous in silico analyses suggested that cetaceans are at greater risk of infection whereas seals and birds appear to be at a low infection risk. However, caution needed until further research is carried out and consequently, the precautionary principle should be applied. Field researchers handling animals are identified as the human group posing the highest risk of transmission to animals while tourists and other personnel pose a significant risk only when in close proximity (< 5 m) to Antarctic fauna. We highlight measures to reduce the risk as well as identify of knowledge gaps related to this issue. © 2020 The Authors
New diagonal bundle method for clustering problems in large data sets
- Karmitsa, Napsu, Bagirov, Adil, Taheri, Sona
- Authors: Karmitsa, Napsu , Bagirov, Adil , Taheri, Sona
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: European Journal of Operational Research Vol. 263, no. 2 (2017), p. 367-379
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP140103213
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Clustering is one of the most important tasks in data mining. Recent developments in computer hardware allow us to store in random access memory (RAM) and repeatedly read data sets with hundreds of thousands and even millions of data points. This makes it possible to use conventional clustering algorithms in such data sets. However, these algorithms may need prohibitively large computational time and fail to produce accurate solutions. Therefore, it is important to develop clustering algorithms which are accurate and can provide real time clustering in large data sets. This paper introduces one of them. Using nonsmooth optimization formulation of the clustering problem the objective function is represented as a difference of two convex (DC) functions. Then a new diagonal bundle algorithm that explicitly uses this structure is designed and combined with an incremental approach to solve this problem. The method is evaluated using real world data sets with both large number of attributes and large number of data points. The proposed method is compared with two other clustering algorithms using numerical results. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.
- Abraham, Joji, Dowling, Kim, Florentine, Singarayer
- Authors: Abraham, Joji , Dowling, Kim , Florentine, Singarayer
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Science of the Total Environment Vol. 616-617, no. (2018), p. 1022-1034
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Conducting controlled burns in fire prone areas is an efficient and economic method for forest management, and provides relief from the incidence of high severity wild fires and the consequent damage to human property and ecosystems. However, similar to wild fires, controlled burns also affect many of the physical and biogeochemical properties of the forest soil and may facilitate remobilization of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) sequestered in vegetation and soil organic matter. The objective of the current study is to investigate the mobilization of PTEs, in Central Victorian forest soils in Australia after a controlled burn. Surface soil samples were collected two days before and after the controlled burn to determine the concentration of PTEs and to examine the physicochemical properties. Results show that As, Cd, Mn, Ni and Zn concentrations increased 1.1, 1.6, 1.7, 1.1 and 1.9 times respectively in the post-burn environment, whereas the concentrations of Hg, Cr and Pb decreased to 0.7, 0.9 and 0.9 times respectively, highlighting considerable PTE mobility during and after a controlled burn. Whilst these results do not identify very strong correlations between physicochemical properties of soil and PTEs in the pre- and post-burn environments, PTEs themselves demonstrated very strong and significant correlations. The mobilization of As, Hg and other toxic elements raise potential health concerns as the number of controlled burns are projected to increase in response to climate change. Due to this increased level of PTE release and remobilization, the use of any kinds of controlled burn must be carefully considered before being used as a forest management strategy in mining-affected landscapes which include areas with high PTE concentrations. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.
Risk of post-fire metal mobilization into surface water resources : A review
- Abraham, Joji, Dowling, Kim, Florentine, Singarayer
- Authors: Abraham, Joji , Dowling, Kim , Florentine, Singarayer
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article , Review
- Relation: Science of the Total Environment Vol. 599-600, no. (2017), p. 1740-1755
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: One of the significant economic benefits to communities around the world of having pristine forest catchments is the supply of substantial quantities of high quality potable water. This supports a saving of around US$ 4.1 trillion per year globally by limiting the cost of expensive drinking water treatments and provision of unnecessary infrastructure. Even low levels of contaminants specifically organics and metals in catchments when in a mobile state can reduce these economic benefits by seriously affecting the water quality. Contamination and contaminant mobility can occur through natural and anthropogenic activities including forest fires. Moderate to high intensity forest fires are able to alter soil properties and release sequestered metals from sediments, soil organic matter and fragments of vegetation. In addition, the increase in post-fire erosion rate by rainfall runoff and strong winds facilitates the rapid transport of these metals downslope and downstream. The subsequent metal deposition in distal soil and water bodies can influence surface water quality with potential impacts to the larger ecosystems inclusive of negative effects on humans. This is of substantial concern as 4 billion hectares of forest catchments provide high quality water to global communities. Redressing this problem requires quantification of the potential effects on water resources and instituting rigorous fire and environmental management plans to mitigate deleterious effects on catchment areas. This paper is a review of the current state of the art literature dealing with the risk of post-fire mobilization of the metals into surface water resources. It is intended to inform discussion on the preparation of suitable management plans and policies during and after fire events in order to maintain potable water quality in a cost-effective manner. In these times of climate fluctuation and increased incidence of fires, the need for development of new policies and management frameworks are of heighted significance. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.
A global-scale screening of non-native aquatic organisms to identify potentially invasive species under current and future climate conditions
- Vilizzi, Lorenzo, Copp, Gordon, Hill, Jeffrey, Adamovich, Boris, Lloyd, Lance
- Authors: Vilizzi, Lorenzo , Copp, Gordon , Hill, Jeffrey , Adamovich, Boris , Lloyd, Lance
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Science of the Total Environment Vol. 788, no. (2021), p.
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- Description: The threat posed by invasive non-native species worldwide requires a global approach to identify which introduced species are likely to pose an elevated risk of impact to native species and ecosystems. To inform policy, stakeholders and management decisions on global threats to aquatic ecosystems, 195 assessors representing 120 risk assessment areas across all six inhabited continents screened 819 non-native species from 15 groups of aquatic organisms (freshwater, brackish, marine plants and animals) using the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit. This multi-lingual decision-support tool for the risk screening of aquatic organisms provides assessors with risk scores for a species under current and future climate change conditions that, following a statistically based calibration, permits the accurate classification of species into high-, medium- and low-risk categories under current and predicted climate conditions. The 1730 screenings undertaken encompassed wide geographical areas (regions, political entities, parts thereof, water bodies, river basins, lake drainage basins, and marine regions), which permitted thresholds to be identified for almost all aquatic organismal groups screened as well as for tropical, temperate and continental climate classes, and for tropical and temperate marine ecoregions. In total, 33 species were identified as posing a ‘very high risk’ of being or becoming invasive, and the scores of several of these species under current climate increased under future climate conditions, primarily due to their wide thermal tolerances. The risk thresholds determined for taxonomic groups and climate zones provide a basis against which area-specific or climate-based calibrated thresholds may be interpreted. In turn, the risk rankings help decision-makers identify which species require an immediate ‘rapid’ management action (e.g. eradication, control) to avoid or mitigate adverse impacts, which require a full risk assessment, and which are to be restricted or banned with regard to importation and/or sale as ornamental or aquarium/fishery enhancement. © 2021 The Authors. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Lance Lloyd" is provided in this record**
- Authors: Vilizzi, Lorenzo , Copp, Gordon , Hill, Jeffrey , Adamovich, Boris , Lloyd, Lance
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Science of the Total Environment Vol. 788, no. (2021), p.
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The threat posed by invasive non-native species worldwide requires a global approach to identify which introduced species are likely to pose an elevated risk of impact to native species and ecosystems. To inform policy, stakeholders and management decisions on global threats to aquatic ecosystems, 195 assessors representing 120 risk assessment areas across all six inhabited continents screened 819 non-native species from 15 groups of aquatic organisms (freshwater, brackish, marine plants and animals) using the Aquatic Species Invasiveness Screening Kit. This multi-lingual decision-support tool for the risk screening of aquatic organisms provides assessors with risk scores for a species under current and future climate change conditions that, following a statistically based calibration, permits the accurate classification of species into high-, medium- and low-risk categories under current and predicted climate conditions. The 1730 screenings undertaken encompassed wide geographical areas (regions, political entities, parts thereof, water bodies, river basins, lake drainage basins, and marine regions), which permitted thresholds to be identified for almost all aquatic organismal groups screened as well as for tropical, temperate and continental climate classes, and for tropical and temperate marine ecoregions. In total, 33 species were identified as posing a ‘very high risk’ of being or becoming invasive, and the scores of several of these species under current climate increased under future climate conditions, primarily due to their wide thermal tolerances. The risk thresholds determined for taxonomic groups and climate zones provide a basis against which area-specific or climate-based calibrated thresholds may be interpreted. In turn, the risk rankings help decision-makers identify which species require an immediate ‘rapid’ management action (e.g. eradication, control) to avoid or mitigate adverse impacts, which require a full risk assessment, and which are to be restricted or banned with regard to importation and/or sale as ornamental or aquarium/fishery enhancement. © 2021 The Authors. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Lance Lloyd" is provided in this record**
Clusterwise support vector linear regression
- Joki, Kaisa, Bagirov, Adil, Karmitsa, Napsu, Mäkelä, Marko, Taheri, Sona
- Authors: Joki, Kaisa , Bagirov, Adil , Karmitsa, Napsu , Mäkelä, Marko , Taheri, Sona
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: European Journal of Operational Research Vol. 287, no. 1 (2020), p. 19-35
- Full Text:
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- Description: In clusterwise linear regression (CLR), the aim is to simultaneously partition data into a given number of clusters and to find regression coefficients for each cluster. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to model and solve the CLR problem. The main idea is to utilize the support vector machine (SVM) approach to model the CLR problem by using the SVM for regression to approximate each cluster. This new formulation of the CLR problem is represented as an unconstrained nonsmooth optimization problem, where we minimize a difference of two convex (DC) functions. To solve this problem, a method based on the combination of the incremental algorithm and the double bundle method for DC optimization is designed. Numerical experiments are performed to validate the reliability of the new formulation for CLR and the efficiency of the proposed method. The results show that the SVM approach is suitable for solving CLR problems, especially, when there are outliers in data. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.
- Description: Funding details: Academy of Finland, 289500, 294002, 319274 Funding details: Turun Yliopisto Funding details: Australian Research Council, ARC, (Project no. DP190100580 ).
- Authors: Joki, Kaisa , Bagirov, Adil , Karmitsa, Napsu , Mäkelä, Marko , Taheri, Sona
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: European Journal of Operational Research Vol. 287, no. 1 (2020), p. 19-35
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: In clusterwise linear regression (CLR), the aim is to simultaneously partition data into a given number of clusters and to find regression coefficients for each cluster. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to model and solve the CLR problem. The main idea is to utilize the support vector machine (SVM) approach to model the CLR problem by using the SVM for regression to approximate each cluster. This new formulation of the CLR problem is represented as an unconstrained nonsmooth optimization problem, where we minimize a difference of two convex (DC) functions. To solve this problem, a method based on the combination of the incremental algorithm and the double bundle method for DC optimization is designed. Numerical experiments are performed to validate the reliability of the new formulation for CLR and the efficiency of the proposed method. The results show that the SVM approach is suitable for solving CLR problems, especially, when there are outliers in data. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.
- Description: Funding details: Academy of Finland, 289500, 294002, 319274 Funding details: Turun Yliopisto Funding details: Australian Research Council, ARC, (Project no. DP190100580 ).
A review of sediment carbon sampling methods in mangroves and their broader impacts on stock estimates for blue carbon ecosystems
- Fest, Benedikt, Swearer, Stephen, Arndt, Stefan
- Authors: Fest, Benedikt , Swearer, Stephen , Arndt, Stefan
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article , Review
- Relation: Science of the Total Environment Vol. 816, no. (2022), p.
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs), such as mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrasses, are attracting interest for their potential to mitigate climate change arising from their high rates of carbon accumulation and the significant carbon stocks in their sediments. However, current sediment carbon sampling methods present a mixture of approaches adopted from paleoenvironmental methods focused on historical reconstruction of carbon accumulation, and from soil science methods developed to provide highly accurate and spatially representative carbon stock measurements. Currently, no international standard method for sediment carbon stock analysis exists. Consequently, current estimates of sediment carbon stock values for BCEs may have large uncertainties due to variable methodology. We reviewed and analysed the methods used 217 studies included in two recent global syntheses of carbon stocks in mangrove forest ecosystems to illustrate a lack of consistency in sediment sampling. We then outline how the choice of study design and field sampling methods can introduce inaccuracies and uncertainties in sediment carbon stock analysis. We conclude with examples of how each of these challenges can be resolved and how greater carbon stock quantification accuracy and higher spatial integration can be achieved for blue carbon ecosystems in the future. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.
- Authors: Fest, Benedikt , Swearer, Stephen , Arndt, Stefan
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article , Review
- Relation: Science of the Total Environment Vol. 816, no. (2022), p.
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Blue carbon ecosystems (BCEs), such as mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrasses, are attracting interest for their potential to mitigate climate change arising from their high rates of carbon accumulation and the significant carbon stocks in their sediments. However, current sediment carbon sampling methods present a mixture of approaches adopted from paleoenvironmental methods focused on historical reconstruction of carbon accumulation, and from soil science methods developed to provide highly accurate and spatially representative carbon stock measurements. Currently, no international standard method for sediment carbon stock analysis exists. Consequently, current estimates of sediment carbon stock values for BCEs may have large uncertainties due to variable methodology. We reviewed and analysed the methods used 217 studies included in two recent global syntheses of carbon stocks in mangrove forest ecosystems to illustrate a lack of consistency in sediment sampling. We then outline how the choice of study design and field sampling methods can introduce inaccuracies and uncertainties in sediment carbon stock analysis. We conclude with examples of how each of these challenges can be resolved and how greater carbon stock quantification accuracy and higher spatial integration can be achieved for blue carbon ecosystems in the future. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.
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