University of the Sunshine Coast
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The discourses of climate change science: Scientific reporting, climate negotiations and the case of Papua New Guinea
No full textThis paper analyses climate science as a discourse to reveal how it enables and constrains climate change negotiations and action. Focusing on long-term outcomes projected in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment Report and the World Bank's “Turn Down the Heat” reports, this paper examines processes of discourse structuration and institutionalization to identify the dominant discourses which frame climate action. We trace the dominant discourses identified in the scientific reports – Survivalism, Ecological Modernisation and Economic Rationalism – through the Paris Agreement and selected Leader Statements and Intended Nationally Determined Contributions from COP21. From the 24 states included in this analysis, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is developed as a case study to investigate the hybridity and institutionalization of discourses. Even though PNG's rhetoric and commitments at COP21 express Survivalism, the state's policy frameworks rarely move beyond solutions found in Economic Rationalism and Ecological Modernisation. This suggests that states strategically adopt hybrid discourses drawn from climate science in line with their positionality, political economy and interests. Understanding how discourses drawn from climate science manifest in national policies has significant implications not only for how science is communicated at the international level but also for understanding different state positions in the global climate governance regime
Timber royalty reform to improve the livelihoods of forest resource owners in Papua New Guinea
No full textInequitable timber resource rents are a problem that has plagued tropical forest management in countries throughout the world, including Papua New Guinea (PNG), which exported 21% of the world's tropical hardwood logs during the last decade. Rural tropical forest resource owners (FROs) often have limited economic resources and resource rents from timber harvests can help them access goods and services that they otherwise cannot afford. This paper uses historical log export data and timber royalty rates to compare the timber resource rents received by FROs in PNG to log export duties and levies collected by the PNG government and the residual cash flows collected by logging companies from log exports. Between 2007 and 2017, PNG's FROs received an annual average of 6.1% of the market value of the logs harvested. By comparison, the PNG government received an annual average of 42.3% from duties and levies and the logging industry received 51.6% for its costs/profits. We also found that the real value of royalties for different timber species has declined by between 32% and 66% since 1991 due to the use of the fixed-rate system. We recommend that future royalty payments in PNG be calculated as a percentage of market value and that there be greater public participation in the determination of the appropriate income split to provide a more equitable distribution of timber harvest revenues between different actors
What's in a Name? Clarifying the Nomenclature of Virtual Simulation
No full textClinical simulation is an essential component of health professional education. Digital technologies can provide students with near-reality, interactive virtual simulation learning experiences on static and mobile appliances. Clarification is needed, however, regarding the various types of virtual simulation and the different program components. We drew on published literature to define virtual simulation modalities and to offer definitive terminology to clarify the nomenclature and composition of virtual simulation. Reporting should include description of ‘Fidelity’, ‘Immersion’, and ‘Patient’ to add clarity and utility to research in the field
Aquaculture Systems Design
No full textThis new edition of Aquaculture: Farming Aquatic Animals and Plants covers important aspects of the culture of fish, shellfish, and algae in freshwater and marine environments. Subject areas covered include principles of aquaculture, water quality, environmental impacts of aquaculture, desert aquaculture, reproduction, life cycles and growth, genetics and stock improvement, nutrition and feed production, diseases, vaccination, post-harvest technology, economics and marketing, and future developments of aquaculture. Separate chapters also cover the culture of algae, carps, salmonids, tilapias, catfish, marine and brackish fishes, soft-shelled turtles, barramundi, marine shrimp, mitten crabs, and other decapod crustaceans, bivalves, gastropods, and ornamental species. This edition also provides greater coverage of aquaculture in China, reflecting the country’s importance in the global scene. Providing core scientific and commercially useful information, and written by 35 eminent international authors, this expanded and fully updated Third Edition of Aquaculture is essential reading for all students and professionals studying and working in aquaculture. Fish farmers, hatchery managers, and those in aquaculture support and supply industries, such as feed manufacturing, will find an abundance of commercially useful information within this important and now established book. [Book Synopsis
Reproduction, Life Cycles and Growth
No full textThis new edition of Aquaculture: Farming Aquatic Animals and Plants covers important aspects of the culture of fish, shellfish, and algae in freshwater and marine environments. Subject areas covered include principles of aquaculture, water quality, environmental impacts of aquaculture, desert aquaculture, reproduction, life cycles and growth, genetics and stock improvement, nutrition and feed production, diseases, vaccination, post-harvest technology, economics and marketing, and future developments of aquaculture. Separate chapters also cover the culture of algae, carps, salmonids, tilapias, catfish, marine and brackish fishes, soft-shelled turtles, barramundi, marine shrimp, mitten crabs, and other decapod crustaceans, bivalves, gastropods, and ornamental species. This edition also provides greater coverage of aquaculture in China, reflecting the country’s importance in the global scene. Providing core scientific and commercially useful information, and written by 35 eminent international authors, this expanded and fully updated Third Edition of Aquaculture is essential reading for all students and professionals studying and working in aquaculture. Fish farmers, hatchery managers, and those in aquaculture support and supply industries, such as feed manufacturing, will find an abundance of commercially useful information within this important and now established book. [Book Synopsis
Force during functional exercises on land and in water in older adults with and without knee osteoarthritis: Implications for rehabilitation
No full textBackground:
Closed kinetic chain and plyometric exercises are commonly used in aquatic rehabilitation because they are believed to reduce joint loading whilst replicating functional tasks. However, the forces and relationship to land-based functional movement is unknown. This study aims to compare vertical ground reaction force during squats, calf raises and jumping in older adults with and without knee osteoarthritis on land and in water.
Methods:
Forty one participants (Healthy n = 21; Knee osteoarthritis n = 20; Age 68.5 (4.4) years) completed squats and calf raises at slow, medium and maximal speeds and jumping at maximal speed on land and in waist and chest depth water. Vertical ground reaction force and pain rating was measured in each environment.
Results:
Force in all exercises was significantly greater on land than in chest depth water (p < 0.005). Peak force was significantly greater at maximal speed compared to slow speed (p < 0.001). The pattern of force in squats at slow speed in water was different to on land, with force highest at the start and end of the exercise and decreasing in the central phase. Pain ratings were significantly lower (p < 0.001) in water compared to on land in squats.
Conclusions:
Closed kinetic chain exercises offer inherently different loading in an aquatic environment. Body weight squats and calf raises in water could be defined as either neuromotor or low load, high velocity training. Maximal speed exercise in water produces higher relative load compared to slow speed and minimal pain providing an opportunity for clinicians to use greater speed to address power deficits
Dynamic balance and instrumented gait variables are independent predictors of falls following stroke
No full textBackground:
Falls are common following stroke and are frequently related to deficits in balance and mobility. This study aimed to investigate the predictive strength of gait and balance variables for evaluating post-stroke falls risk over 12 months following rehabilitation discharge.
Methods:
A prospective cohort study was undertaken in inpatient rehabilitation centres based in Australia and Singapore. A consecutive sample of 81 individuals (mean age 63 years; median 24 days post stroke) were assessed within one week prior to discharge. In addition to comfortable gait speed over six metres (6mWT), a depth-sensing camera (Kinect) was used to obtain fast-paced gait speed, stride length, cadence, step width, step length asymmetry, gait speed variability, and mediolateral and vertical pelvic displacement. Balance variables were the step test, timed up and go (TUG), dual-task TUG, and Wii Balance Board-derived centre of pressure velocity during static standing. Falls data were collected using monthly calendars.
Results:
Over 12 months, 28% of individuals fell at least once. The faller group had increased TUG time and reduced stride length, gait speed variability, mediolateral and vertical pelvic displacement, and step test scores (P < 0.001–0.048). Significant predictors, when adjusted for country, prior falls and assistance (i.e., physical assistance and/or gait aid use) were stride length, step length asymmetry, mediolateral pelvic displacement, step test and TUG scores (P < 0.040; IQR-odds ratio(OR) = 1.37–7.85). With comfortable gait speed as an additional covariate, to determine the additive benefit over standard clinical assessment, only mediolateral pelvic displacement, TUG and step test scores remained significant (P = 0.001–0.018; IQR-OR = 5.28–10.29).
Conclusions:
Reduced displacement of the pelvis in the mediolateral direction during walking was the strongest predictor of post-stroke falls compared with other gait variables. Dynamic balance measures, such as the TUG and step test, may better predict falls than gait speed or static balance measures
Biodegradable Thermogelling Polymers for Drug Delivery
No full textRecent developments of biodegradable thermogelling polymers for drug delivery are reviewed, focusing on the properties of different thermogel systems and how those properties correlate with drug delivery behavior with the goal of controlled, sustained release for the treatment of diseases such as diabetes, glaucoma and cancer
Degradation Behaviour of Biodegradable Thermogels
No full textThe unique properties of hydrogels make them attractive materials for numerous biomedical applications. Their high water content bears similarities to that of biological tissues. They can also be tuned to achieve different mechanical properties and rates of degradation. Thermogels are actively being developed for a variety of applications, ranging from carriers of drugs or cells to scaffolds for tissue engineering, and particularly for cancer chemotherapy. The rate and mechanism of degradation is fundamental to these possible applications and is therefore the focus of this chapter. Thermogels, techniques to tune their degradability and methods to study this degradation behaviour are discussed together with a summary of efforts to achieve the ideal thermogel with appropriate degradation profiles for different applications
Biodiversity of leaf litter fungi in streams along a latitudinal gradient
No full textGlobal patterns of biodiversity have emerged for soil microorganisms, plants and animals, and the extraordinary significance of microbial functions in ecosystems is also well established. Virtually unknown, however, are large-scale patterns of microbial diversity in freshwaters, although these aquatic ecosystems are hotspots of biodiversity and biogeochemical processes. Here we report on the first large-scale study of biodiversity of leaf-litter fungi in streams along a latitudinal gradient unravelled by Illumina sequencing. The study is based on fungal communities colonizing standardized plant litter in 19 globally distributed stream locations between 69°N and 44°S. Fungal richness suggests a hump-shaped distribution along the latitudinal gradient. Strikingly, community composition of fungi was more clearly related to thermal preferences than to biogeography. Our results suggest that identifying differences in key environmental drivers, such as temperature, among taxa and ecosystem types is critical to unravel the global patterns of aquatic fungal diversity