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Energising the Future: A Dynamic Capabilities Approach to Vietnam’s Renewable Energy Industry From the Supply and Demand Side
No full textIncorporating the underpinnings of the dynamic capabilities framework and an inductive approach, the sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring elements of renewable energy usage are examined through interviews with 24 representatives of the supply and consumer sides. The data analysis reveals 18 dimensions providing conceptual and empirical guidance. Among these dimensions, the performance-seeking aims and high-order burdens intricately uncover the nuances of sensing opportunities and challenges. Simultaneously, the knowledge-enrichment mindset and technical continuity path shed light on pivotal aspects of seizing and reconfiguring. The analysis and dimensional exploration culminate in a refined framework, fortifying the theoretical and practical underpinnings of renewable energy’s utilisation within an emerging economy. Moreover, the study establishes meaningful connections with the dynamic capabilities framework, offering implications for the research community, stakeholders in the renewable energy sector and governmental representatives alike
De Novo Transcriptomic Analyses to Identify and Compare Allergens in Foods
Get PDFFood allergens have been traditionally identified using biomolecular and immunological approaches. However, the techniques used in extracting proteins from the food source to be analyzed may hinder the availability of all proteins when assessing immunological allergenicity. Additionally, depending on the number and pool of patient sera used to detect the IgE antibody-binding allergens, some allergens may not be detected if not all the patients in the pool are sensitized to all the allergens. To overcome these limitations, we describe an additional approach before the in vitro approaches, by analyzing the transcriptome in silico for all putative allergens within the analyzed food source
Parent and Family Peer Advocacy in Child Welfare: Transforming Research, Policy and Practice
No full textThis chapter defines and argues for critically informed peer parent and family advocacy (parent advocacy) in child welfare, where parents with experience of child welfare processes help other parents to navigate these processes. Parent advocacy occurs at four levels in child welfare: individual, group, community and systems. Participatory processes, including parent advocacy, challenge oppressive structures and have transformative potential. While gaps remain, research into parent advocacy is growing and has linked parent advocacy to reunification, parent and family participation and other positive outcomes.
Three contemporary research studies about child welfare experiences are described and demonstrate different parent roles and participation in research. Research in Newcastle, Australia, firstly explored parent experiences in child welfare. The findings of this study then contributed to the development of a pilot parent advocacy service and a second study exploring the experiences of parent advocates. The third study, participatory action research in New York City, USA, had parent advocates as researchers. It explored families’ child welfare experiences and change ideas.
A reconceptualised role for parents and parent advocates features in a proposed participatory practice, policy and research agenda for parent advocacy in child welfare. It is proposed that participatory methods of researching parent advocacy have the potential to fill significant research gaps and mirror the participatory approaches that are needed in practice. Parent advocacy offers social workers an important opportunity to partner with lived experience, with transformative potential in child welfare
Validation of urinary nephrin assay as a novel biomarker for determining early glomerular injury
Get PDFBelete's studies validated urinary nephrin as a marker for early glomerular injury. He then investigated the use of urinary nephrin in pregnant women and longitudinally in neonates for up to 2 years. His finding could aid early identification of pregnant women and neonates at risk of early glomerular injury
Resistance and reprisals: The Ewamian Frontier Wars 1863–98
Get PDFFirst Nations perspectives on the Frontier Wars are gaining increasing interest in historical, academic, political and social spheres. The arrival of squatters and miners brought momentous change to Ewamian people in Queensland’s Gulf savannah. Aboriginal resistance was followed by European reprisals, a pattern seen across Australia. A key aim of our paper is to address the dominant view of how Ewamian contact history is presented – Ewamian people did not passively accept the arrival of Europeans; the historic sources describe a resistance that continued over 35 years in three distinct phases. This paper has two aims. First, we challenge the colonial narrative that describes Ewamian as passive respondents to European colonialism. Second, we reinterpret the colonial narratives to identify three phases of resistance in the Ewamian estate in response to the changing nature of the colonial frontier in Queensland’s Gulf savannah
Chloramphenicol Residues and Bacterial Contamination in Farmed African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) from Banyuwangi Traditional Markets: A Risk Assessment
Get PDFThis study aimed to determine chloramphenicol residues and bacterial contamination (Aerobic Plate Count-APC, Escherichia coli count, Salmonella sp., and Vibrio cholerae) in farmed African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) that are marketed in Banyuwangi, Indonesia. A total of ninety samples of C. gariepinus were collected from several markets in Banyuwangi, namely, Kertosari, Blambangan, and Banyuwangi Kota. Using standard procedures, APC, E. coli count, Salmonella sp.,V. cholerae, and chloramphenicol residues were determined. 36.37% of samples from Kertosari markets; 23.33% of samples from Banyuwangi Kota markets; and 16.67% of samples from Blambangan markets contained chloramphenicol residues, but less than 0.3 ppb. Only 40% of samples from Kertosari markets, 36.67% of samples from Banyuwangi Kota markets, and 26.67% of samples from Blambangan markets were contaminated by E. coli, but were less than 3 MPNg-1. The highest APC was from Banyuwangi Kota, followed by Kertosari and Blambangan. No samples were contaminated by Salmonella sp. and V. cholerae from any of the markets, and there was no significant difference between all markets in APC, E. coli count, or chloramphenicol residues. All farmed catfish marketed in Banyuwangi were safe to eat because no samples exceeded the maximum chloramphenicol residue and bacterial contaminant standards. Further studies are needed to detect other antibiotic residues used in aquaculture, including tetracycline, sulphonamide, enrofloxacin, and nitrofuran
Late Pleistocene scaphopod beads from Boodie Cave and deep time traditions of personal ornamentation in northwest Australia
Get PDFTubular segments of Scaphopoda (tusk shell) were traditionally used by Aboriginal peoples in the manufacture of ornate bead necklaces across northwest Australia. Twenty-seven scaphopod shell beads were recovered from Boodie Cave on Barrow Island dating to between 13,500 and 10,600 cal BP. We compare the Boodie Cave bead assemblage to historical necklace collections as well as experimental studies on scaphopod blanks to characterise bead manufacture, breakage, use-wear, and placement patterns. Results demonstrate that the Boodie Cave beads are larger than other northwest Australian collections; have been manufactured by an anvil-rested percussion technique; have signs of use-wear in the form of polish and rounding but are less curated than specimens from the inland Kimberley. The use-wear study identified that the Boodie Cave beads were strung in a series in a pattern not observed in historical scaphopod necklaces from northern Australia. This patterning may represent a regional variation in display and technological organisation and was likely part of wider ornamental practices documented in historical sources. In all, the Boodie Cave beads provide early and additional evidence for the trade, wearing, and loss of scaphopod beads by mobile hunter-gathers on a dynamic coastline
Optimization and application of bacterial environmental DNA and RNA isolation for qualitative and quantitative studies
Get PDFMolecular detection of environmental DNA (eDNA) and RNA (eRNA) allows highly sensitive qualitative (i.e., presence or absence) and quantitative (i.e., abundance) monitoring of aquatic bacteria. However, bacterial molecular diagnostics are limited by low positive predictive values. Protocols for bacterial eDNA and eRNA molecular monitoring have primarily focused on optimizing specimen collection, and the optimal method to purify bacterial nucleic material from postcollection aquatic specimens to maximize the analytical sensitivity of molecular diagnostics remains poorly defined. Accordingly, strategies to isolate bacterial eDNA and eRNA from fresh and saltwater were investigated. We evaluated two filtration and four nucleic acid purification systems as representative of current generation bacterial eDNA and eRNA isolation strategies for capacity to isolate bacterial eDNA and eRNA from prelysed (i.e., free-nucleic acids) and viable (i.e., colony forming units, CFU) bacterial cells. We also compared the sensitivities of reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and metagenomic shotgun microbiome sequencing. The optimal protocol used 0.7 μm borosilicate glass filters (Whatman plc) followed by extraction with the RNeasy PowerWater kit (Qiagen). The protocol had a very high analytical sensitivity (10−3–100 ng and 102–101 CFU detected in 500 mL) across multiple species of bacteria, when tested with either RTqPCR or metagenomic sequencing. Importantly, this study highlighted several limitations which are restrictive to both qualitative and quantitative bacterial eDNA and eRNA studies. First, a 12-h time course between sampling and extraction revealed significant species-specific changes in cell number and free-nucleic acid concentrations can occur postspecimen collection. Second, we found Gram-positive bacteria yielded less nucleic material compared to Gram-negative bacteria suggesting bacterial eDNA and eRNA studies could be biased by microorganism genome stability and extraction efficiency. This study highlights the need to define the species-specific diagnostic sensitivity of a protocol when monitoring aquatic bacterial eDNA and eRNA with molecular diagnostics
The effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on depression, PTSD, and mindfulness among military veterans: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Get PDFThirteen studies were included in the current systematic review and meta-analysis with 1131 participants. Both within- and between-group comparisons demonstrated reductions in depressive and PTSD symptoms with medium effect sizes post MBSR intervention. Additionally, MBSR demonstrated small effects in improving mindfulness in veterans at post-intervention. Maintenance of treatment effects were observed at follow-up for the three outcomes during within-group comparisons. Treatment effects were maintained at follow-up between-groups for depression and mindfulness, but not for PTSD symptoms. Furthermore, there were no significant differences between MBSR and cognitive behavioural therapy/person-centred group therapy intervention groups in the three outcomes
Misapprehensions of a Caustic Eye: A. D. Hope, Max Harris, and the Angry Penguins
Get PDFThis presentation reconsiders A.D. Hope’s cutting appraisal of the group of young poets and artists from the University of Adelaide who have come to be known colloquially as “the Angry Penguins.” Setting aside the influence of the Ern Malley affair on the Penguins’ perceived importance, the paper proposes that Hope has contributed fundamental misrepresentations about both the identities of the Penguins cohort and their aspirations for Australian literary identity. While he was not directly responsible for the hoax in 1943, Hope emerged as an early and extreme opponent of Max Harris and the other contributors to Angry Penguins, and his vitriolic commentary about the group serves as an archetypal example of his capacity for cruelty in the field of literary criticism:
An arrogant and stupid literary magazine was jointly produced by Max Harris and John Reid [sic] under the title of Angry Penguins. It aimed to be more avant-garde than most progressive theories of the day and among these Surrealism, for some time established in Europe and America, had just hit Darkest Australia. Angry Penguins had summarily dismissed all contemporary poetry in this country, especially that practised by McAuley, Stewart, Hope and so on as academic, out-of-date and entirely contemptible. (Chance Encounters 91–2)
Hope’s claims that the Penguins were the mouthpiece of an ill-conceived Australian brand of surrealism were rife with misrepresentation about the range of poetry that was produced by the group. Furthermore, Hope’s depiction of the Penguins ignores the possibility that the group’s cosmopolitan approach to literature might have provided a viable model for Australian modernism had not many of the groups founding members left due to the Second World War. Contrary to Hope’s opinion, the Angry Penguins—at least in the initial phase of their development—were not purveyors of an impenetrable brand of Australian surrealism, but were, rather, a group of diverse young poets advocating for the internationalisation of Australian cultural identity