University of the Sunshine Coast
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The Association Between Stress Mindset and Physical and Psychological Wellbeing: Testing a Stress Beliefs Model in Police Officers
No full textObjective: Emergency service workers like police officers experience high levels of stress in the course of their regular duties. Holding particular stress mindsets may help to mitigate the deleterious effects of stress and promote wellbeing in workers experiencing regular stress. The study aimed to examine the processes by which stress mindsets relate to health and wellbeing in police officers. A stress beliefs model in which perceived somatic symptoms and coping behaviours mediate effects of stress mindsets on outcomes was tested. Design: Police officers (N=134) completed an online cross-sectional survey. Main outcome measures: Perceived somatic symptoms, proactive coping behaviours, physical and psychological wellbeing, and perceived stress. Results: Bayesian path analysis with informative priors revealed indirect effects of stress mindsets on psychological wellbeing and perceived stress through proactive coping behaviours and perceived somatic symptoms. Physical and psychological wellbeing, and perceived stress were predicted by stress mindsets directly, and through perceived somatic symptoms. Conclusion: The findings support model predictions that behaviours aimed at proactively meeting demands and perceived somatic symptoms mediated the relationship between stress mindset and health-related outcomes. The findings provide further foundational knowledge on mechanisms through which stress mindset is associated with outcomes and can inform future longitudinal and experimental research
“Even if it doesn't come, you should be prepared”: Natural hazard perception, remoteness, and implications for disaster risk reduction in rural Fiji
No full textNo abstract available
South to South Medical Tourists, the Liminality of Iran?
No full textLiminal spaces of medical tourism remain under-investigated. To address this gap, liminal spaces of Azerbaijani, Armenian and Iraqi medical tourists to Tabriz, Iran are explored. Using a mixed-method approach employing direct observations, interviews and 150 questionnaires of medical tourists, data were collected and analyzed using AMOS (Analysis of a Moment Structures) software. Among the range of factors tested, appropriate infrastructure and medical tourist monitoring had the highest influence on shaping medical tourists’ liminal spaces. Theoretical and managerial outcomes of this research contribute toward a nuanced understanding for destinations catering to existing and future medical tourists
When sexting conflicts with child sexual abuse material: The legal and social consequences for children
No full textWhen children participate in online sexual behaviour, such as ‘sexting’, there can be a range of legal and social consequences. Criminal law in Australia does not consistently address sexting, which means that in some jurisdictions, children who participate in sexting can be liable for offences related to child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Children who are 16 or 17 years old have reached the age to consent to sexual activity, yet the law, in many jurisdictions, does not allow them to participate in sexting. This paper seeks to reconceptualise sexting among older children as a separate practice to possessing and/or distributing CSAM. It explores the socio-legal considerations which arise when older children possess and share intimate online material, including how the age of consent to sexual activity is relevant to their participation in sexting
Key Factors Influencing the Food Choices of Athletes at two Distinct Major International Competitions
No full textThis study aimed to identify the factors influencing the food choices of athletes at the Universiade and Commonwealth Games and explore di erences in the cohort across sport, competition history and demographic characteristics. A sample of 385 athletes (n = 153, 2017 Universiade, Taiwan; n = 232, 2018 Commonwealth Games, Australia), from 69 countries and 29 sports participated in this cross-sectional observational study. Participants rated 36 items from the Athlete Food Choice Questionnaire and 11 additional items (gut comfort, doping risk, availability, location, money, convenience, time of day, hunger, medical conditions, and food allergies) on how frequently (1 never to 5 always) each influences their food choices. “Performance”, “sensory appeal”, “food and health awareness” and “weight control” were reported as most frequently, while the least were “emotional influence”, “influence of others” and “food values and beliefs”. Commonwealth Games athletes were older, more experienced and more likely to report “performance” (median = 4.33 versus 4.00, U = 20250.0, p = 0.012) and less likely to report “emotional influences” (median = 2.80 versus 3.20, U = 14273.0, p = 0.001) than Universiade athletes. Greater numbers of younger athletes were often or always influenced by available money. Athletes across all sports reported frequently considering gut comfort in their food choices. These results can inform nutrition education strategies of high-performance athletes
Organisational Artificial Intelligence Future Scenarios: Futurists Insights and Implications for the Organisational Adaptation Approach, Leader and Team
No full textThe environments that organisations operate within are constantly adapting in response to external and internal stimuli. Artificial Intelligence will result in new challenges for both the ecology of organisations as well as the adaptation approach applied. This article outlines five themes and key insights generated after two dynamic futures research workshop processes conducted at the 4th Asia Pacific Futures Network Conference in Bangkok. Themes reflect the definition of AI linked to fiction and data, leader challenges around disbursing power structures and teamformation taking on newforms of inclusivity. The adaptation approach to be one of guided, insight driven experimentatio
Social Justice
No full textSocial justice is a central obligation of civil society where the measure of the ethical integrity of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable members. Rawls’ (1971) theory of justice as fairness in the context of political liberalism has been influential in modern western capitalist societies. Rawlsian justice is based on the principle that free and rational people accept the rightness of equality for all members of society as the basis for all other agreements, social cooperation, and forms of government. It presumes that justice will be achieved by a redistribution of societal resources to ensure fairness for all. Feminist scholars have criticized his theory for not giving sufficient regard to emotions in his rational ethic of justice and for not asking the question – fairness for whom
Evaluating the Prevent Effect of Human Papillomavirus 16E7 Peptide-Based Therapeutic Vaccine Utilizing an Orthotopic TC-1 Cervical Tumour Model by 3.0T Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Mice
No full textThe goal of this paper is to investigate whether a 3.0T magnetic resonance scanner with a small animal coil can monitor the orthotopic TC-1 cell Cervical Tumour (CT) growth in mice, and to evaluate the tumour growth prevent effect of Human Papillomavirus (HPV)16E7 peptide-based therapeutic vaccine. The TC-1 cells were implanted into cervical cavity of 52 female C57BL/6J mice (6 experiments), and followed by subcutaneously immunization of HPV16E7 peptide-based with interleukin 10 receptor antibody in 18 mice (3 groups) to observe the efficacy of the therapeutic vaccine. The same Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) equipment and protocols were performed through the entire experiments. Images of each tumour-bearing mice were compared with blank mice to determine when the CTs can be determined by MRI. The Tumour Volume (TV) of each mice was monitored including 3 contrast enhanced tumors. The TV changes were evaluated by comparing the size on the same coronal MR images, and Signal Intensity (SI) measurement was adopted on 6 mice to predict the tumour growth trend. This study showed that the average CTs success rate was 90.38% (47/52), the tumour could be clearly detected on average 10 days. The maximum average SI values of tumour-bearing mice on day 4 was 2447, which was significantly higher than that of the blank mice, and increasing from day4 to day12. This study concluded that clinical 3.0T MRI scanner with small animal coil can be used to monitor the CTs, and to evaluate the CTs growth inhibitory effect of HPV16E7 peptide-based therapeutic vaccine, SI values may be used to predict cervical tumour growth and reliable than visual observation of early tumour images
Neural remodelling in spiny lobster larvae is characterized by broad neuropeptide suppression
No full textNeuropeptides are ancient endocrine components which have evolved to regulate many aspects of biology across the animal kingdom including behaviour, development and metabolism. To supplement current knowledge, we have utilized a transcriptome series describing larval development in the ornate spiny lobster, Panulirus ornatus. The biology of this animal has been leveraged to provide insights into the roles of molting, metamorphosis and metabolism across the neuropeptide family. We report an extensive list of neuropeptides across three distinct life phases of the animal. We show distinct groups of neuropeptides with differential expression between larval phases, indicating phase-specific roles for these peptides. For selected neuropeptides, we describe and discuss expression profiles throughout larval development and report predicted peptide cleavage sites and mature peptide sequences. We also report the neuropeptide nesfatin for the first time in a crustacean, and report secondary peptide products with a level of evolutionary conservation similar to the conventional mature peptide nesfatin-1, indicating a conserved role in these secondary products which are widely regarded as biologically inactive. In addition, we report a trend of downregulation in the neuropeptides as the animal undergoes extensive neural remodelling in fulfillment of metamorphosis. We suggest that this downregulation in neuropeptides relates to the brief, yet dramatic changes in morphology experienced by the central nervous system in the process of metamorphosis
Northern Forestry & Forest Products Industry Situational Analysis: Northern forest products industry opportunities final report: Final report #2.55
No full textThis report provides a high-level synopsis on the northern Australian forestry and forest products industry, and describes its challenges, and potential solutions and opportunities for further policy development, research or investment. The following sections of the report should be informed by and read in conjunction with the literature review, workshop reports, more detailed indigenous literature review and image library, included as appendices.Project Number - A.1.171812