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Modelling conflict_Hinds_Dissertation2024_Appendix D, E
No full textThese datasets were created as part of Rhonda Hinds’ 2024 HASS 218 project investigating the palimpsest as a framework for interrogating modern conflict landscapes. This was a desktop investigation, utilising text, photographic and cartographic material as information from which the datasets were created. The PDF document reflects the appearance of the data as Appendices D and E in Hinds’ 2024 dissertation
Global estimates on the number of people blind or visually impaired by cataract: a meta-analysis from 2000 to 2020
No full textBACKGROUND: To estimate global and regional trends from 2000 to 2020 of the number of persons visually impaired by cataract and their proportion of the total number of vision-impaired individuals. METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis of published population studies and gray literature from 2000 to 2020 was carried out to estimate global and regional trends. We developed prevalence estimates based on modeled distance visual impairment and blindness due to cataract, producing location-, year-, age-, and sex-specific estimates of moderate to severe vision impairment (MSVI presenting visual acuity RESULTS: In 2020, among overall (all ages) 43.3 million blind and 295 million with MSVI, 17.0 million (39.6%) people were blind and 83.5 million (28.3%) had MSVI due to cataract blind 60% female, MSVI 59% female. From 1990 to 2020, the count of persons blind (MSVI) due to cataract increased by 29.7%(93.1%) whereas the age-standardized global prevalence of cataract-related blindness improved by −27.5% and MSVI increased by 7.2%. The contribution of cataract to the age-standardized prevalence of blindness exceeded the global figure only in South Asia (62.9%) and Southeast Asia and Oceania (47.9%). CONCLUSIONS: The number of people blind and with MSVI due to cataract has risen over the past 30 years, despite a decrease in the age-standardized prevalence of cataract. This indicates that cataract treatment programs have been beneficial, but population growth and aging have outpaced their impact. Growing numbers of cataract blind indicate that more, better-directed, resources are needed to increase global capacity for cataract surgery
Understanding specific ion effects and the Hofmeister series
No full textSpecific ion effects (SIE), encompassing the Hofmeister Series, have been known for more than 130 years since Hofmeister and Lewith’s foundational work. SIEs are ubiquitous and are observed across the medical, biological, chemical and industrial sciences. Nevertheless, no general predictive theory has yet been able to explain ion specificity across these fields; it remains impossible to predict when, how, and to what magnitude, a SIE will be observed. In part, this is due to the complexity of real systems in which ions, counterions, solvents and cosolutes all play varying roles, which give rise to anomalies and reversals in anticipated SIEs. Herein we review the historical explanations for SIE in water and the key ion properties that have been attributed to them. Systems where the Hofmeister series is perturbed or reversed are explored, as is the behaviour of ions at the liquid–vapour interface. We discuss SIEs in mixed electrolytes, nonaqueous solvents, and in highly concentrated electrolyte solutions – exciting frontiers in this field with particular relevance to biological and electrochemical applications. We conclude the perspective by summarising the challenges and opportunities facing this SIE research that highlight potential pathways towards a general predictive theory of SIE
So Many Snakes, So Little Time: Uncovering the Secret Lives of Australia’s Serpents. By Rick Shine. Boca Raton (Florida): CRC Press (Taylor & Francis Group)
No full textPunitive attitudes in Australia: Investigating the rural-urban divide
No full textResearch exploring punitive attitudes across different geographic locations is limited. Available research suggests that rural residents may be less tolerant of crime and more likely to hold punitive attitudes when compared to their urban counterparts. However, we have little understanding of this difference. Drawing on survey data from a representative sample of the Australian public (Urban 77.1 %, N = 401 and Rural 22.9 %, N = 119), this study explores differences in punitive attitudes among rural and urban Australians and examines the factors contributing to this difference. The findings indicate that Australians hold somewhat punitive attitudes, with rural respondents being significantly more punitive than urban respondents. Moreover, increased fear of crime and a lack of confidence in the criminal justice system moderate the difference in punitive attitudes across rural and urban areas. The findings provide support for the role of spatiality in shaping attitudes, including those towards crime and punishment. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed
Carbon myopia: The urgent need for integrated social, economic and environmental action in the livestock sector
No full textLivestock have long been integral to food production systems, often not by choice but by need. While our knowledge of livestock greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions mitigation has evolved, the prevailing focus has been—somewhat myopically—on technology applications associated with mitigation. Here, we (1) examine the global distribution of livestock GHG emissions, (2) explore social, economic and environmental co-benefits and trade-offs associated with mitigation interventions and (3) critique approaches for quantifying GHG emissions. This review uncovered many insights. First, while GHG emissions from ruminant livestock are greatest in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC; globally, 66% of emissions are produced by Latin America and the Caribbean, East and southeast Asia and south Asia), the majority of mitigation strategies are designed for developed countries. This serious concern is heightened by the fact that 80% of growth in global meat production over the next decade will occur in LMIC. Second, few studies concurrently assess social, economic and environmental aspects of mitigation. Of the 54 interventions reviewed, only 16 had triple-bottom line benefit with medium–high mitigation potential. Third, while efforts designed to stimulate the adoption of strategies allowing both emissions reduction (ER) and carbon sequestration (CS) would achieve the greatest net emissions mitigation, CS measures have greater potential mitigation and co-benefits. The scientific community must shift attention away from the prevailing myopic lens on carbon, towards more holistic, systems-based, multi-metric approaches that carefully consider the raison d'être for livestock systems. Consequential life cycle assessments and systems-aligned 'socio-economic planetary boundaries' offer useful starting points that may uncover leverage points and cross-scale emergent properties. The derivation of harmonized, globally reconciled sustainability metrics requires iterative dialogue between stakeholders at all levels. Greater emphasis on the simultaneous characterization of multiple sustainability dimensions would help avoid situations where progress made in one area causes maladaptive outcomes in other areas
Deambulatory of His Holiness
No full textDeambulatory of his Holiness is an example of musical ekphrasis. Musical ekphrasis describes when one artform remediates another and rearticulates its aesthetic content in new forms. This is part of a musical trend from the past 100 years that helps characterise music's relationship predominantly with poetry, novels and painting. This piece of music contributes to and extends this practice by drawing on a more contemporary artform, the video game, and in particular musical responds to the way that video games present religious themes. The title of the work comes from the video game, 'Blasphemous'. The work is written for one player of toy piano and piano simultaneously where the toy piano presents heavenly sonorities against the darker sounding piano
Analysis of Variants of KNN for Disease Risk Prediction
No full textAs we all know, Supervised Machine learning algorithms are gaining a lot of attention these days and are used in various fields. These algorithms play a great role in classifying, handling and predicting the data with the help of machine learning and makes use of a labelled dataset to predict and classify any given unlabeled data. KNN is one of the most popular supervised learning algorithms that delivers excellent results and is widely used these days for predicting the risk of certain diseases. Different variants of KNN are being introduced by different researchers due to distinct inadequacies of the standard KNN. The goal of this research is to evaluate the performance of such KNN variants in disease risk prediction by taking into account various factors such as performance, accuracy and so on. These variants which are already being proposed by different researchers will be reviewed and analyzed in this study. All these variants of K Nearest neighbor are implemented in Python Programming Language on different medical datasets taken from Kaggle. Extensive efforts are being made to analyze the different variants of KNN with respect to disease risk prediction and after implementation, it was noticed that some variants worked really well for some datasets. Out of all, Generalized KNN turned out to be one of the most efficient variants of KNN as it gave a good accuracy of 90.15% for mole cancer dataset. Also, it gave a precision of 90.13%, recall of 94.67% and AUC of 88.61% which overall is a very good performance. It was noticed that the Genetic KNN with GA Algorithm gave an accuracy of 99% for both Chronic Kidney Disease datasets. This study will be really beneficial for other researchers as well in the health industry and will also help in improvising their studies
Indigenous Knowledge and Culture in Australia — The Case for Sui Generis Legislation
No full textThis article makes the case for the implementation of sui generis legislation in Australia for the protection of Indigenous knowledge and culture. The article commences with a review of Australia’s historical engagement with the issue of protecting Indigenous knowledge and culture, and then considers Australia’s international obligations within this context. The article then provides an analysis of what has been implemented across Australia in response to its international obligations. The key issues regarding the protection of Indigenous knowledge and culture are considered together with an analysis of how international developments and domestic studies and reports are addressing those issues. Based on this experience, the authors argue for a sui generis legislative regime to protect Indigenous knowledge and culture in Australia
Biofilms as food for decapods (Atyidae, Palaemonidae) in the River Murray, South Australia
No full textStable water levels and turbidity associated with flow regulation in the River Murray have promoted the growth of filamentous green algae and Cyanobacteria in biofilms on submerged wood. We investigated the assimilation of biofilm algae by two dominant consumers, the decapod crustaceans Macrobrachium australiense (Palaemonidae) and Paratya australiensis (Atyidae), in two river reaches differing in the extent of floodplain development, hence wetland connectivity. Filamentous Cyanobacteria, a major part of the biofilms assimilated in combination with other foods, were up to 83% of the algal component of the gut content volume of P. australiensis and 44% that of M. australiense. Cyanobacteria have not previously been reported as a major source of nutrition for adult decapods. There was little difference between the stable isotopic signatures (13C/12C, 15N/14N) of the two decapod species, or between decapods in the two reaches. Coarse and fine particulate organic matter from the gorge had similar isotopic signatures to those from upstream and so were likely derived from macrophyte detritus rather than local willows. Red gum leaves and wood were too depleted in both δ13C and δ15N to register in the diets of either decapod in gorge or floodplain reaches. The most likely food sources for the decapods are littoral plants in the gorge reach and fine particulate organic matter material processed upstream. This is consistent with current hypotheses of organic matter flux in large river systems