38139 research outputs found
Sort by
Insights into Ecological Resettlements and Conservation-led Displacements: A Systematic Review
No full textA systematic literature review (SLR) on ecological resettlements and conservation-led displacements (hereafter ‘ER’) is essential for guiding future research and conservation strategies, yet it has not been conducted. We performed a comprehensive two-stage review—a review of reviews and a review of empirical articles from Web of Science and Scopus—using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P). We extracted and analyzed data from 164 research articles, revealing three key themes in ER research: publication trends and geographical distribution, methodological approaches and data types, and thematic focus with associated governance and equity indicators. Notably, we found no systematically reviewed articles on ER, underscoring the pioneering nature of this study. Empirical articles publications began in 2001, despite ER practices dating back to the nineteenth century, covering 108 journals, and reflecting the discipline’s diversity. The articles involved authors from 28 countries, addressing cases in 52 nations, predominantly led by academic institutions (>90%), and featuring diverse cross-institutional collaborations (n = 332). The research examined 96 unique Indigenous and local communities displaced from 12 ecosystem types (both terrestrial and marine) and conservation initiatives globally. A wide range of methodologies was employed, including interviews, field observations, focus groups, and ethnography, with over 80% using a combination of these methods. While 15 data collection tools were explored, the focus mainly targeted human-centric aspects such as livelihoods, cultural shifts, and access limitations (>90%), leaving ER's other dimensions and institutional aspects underexplored. Government-led ER initiatives (n = 149) were prevalent, but concerns regarding informed consent, participatory decision-making, human rights, and forced evictions were frequently reported (>90%), indicating global governance challenges in conservation. The thematic analysis highlighted social inequalities related to livelihoods, rights, and governance, including employment loss and compensation fairness. Eco-environmental challenges explored deforestation, habitat degradation, climate change, and biodiversity impacts, emphasizing the need to enhance ecological value while balancing development and conservation. The publication trend of ER-related articles aligns with international policy discourses on human rights, poverty alleviation, governance, and sustainable development post-2000, suggesting these issues must be considered in global policy discourses. We discuss critical findings and outline future research pathways and conservation strategies that strive for balanced coexistence between humans and nonhuman entities through an equity, justice, and sustainability lens in a pluralistic approach for the Anthropocene and beyond
Automated hip dysplasia detection using novel FlexiLBPHOG model with ultrasound images
No full textThis study focuses on automatically detecting developmental hip dysplasia (DHD) using a novel feature engineering model, FlexiLBPHOG, inspired by the FlexiViT model. The model utilizes five patch types for feature extraction with local binary pattern (LBP) and histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) techniques. During feature extraction, five feature vectors are generated. In the next stage, three feature selection methods—Neighborhood Component Analysis (NCA), Chi-square (Chi2), and ReliefF (RF)—are used to select the top 500 features. Classification is performed using support vector machine (SVM) and k-nearest neighbors (kNN), resulting in 30 outcomes. Information fusion through iterative majority voting (IMV) and a greedy algorithm yields 58 outcomes, from which the best is selected. The FlexiLBPHOG model achieved a classification accuracy of 94.38% in detecting DHD in ultrasound images from a private dataset. The study confirms the effectiveness of the proposed model in image classification by integrating shallow image descriptors
Transparent, intrinsically fire-safe yet impact-resistant poly(carbonates-b-siloxanes) containing Schiff-base and naphthalene-sulfonate
No full textA series of transparent, intrinsically flame-retardant, and impact-resistant poly(carbonates-b-siloxanes) were synthesized by incorporating Schiff-base modified polysiloxanes (DMS-Schiff) and naphthalene-sulfonate units into the polycarbonate (PC) chain. In addition to high transparency, the resultant copolymers (SS-co-PC5, SS-co-PC9, SS-co-PC14, and SS-co-PC20) exhibited remarkable improvements in fire safety and mechanical performance. Compared to pure PC, these copolymers demonstrated significantly enhanced limiting oxygen index (LOI, up to 34.5%) and a UL-94 V-0 rating under a thickness of only 1.6 mm. The incorporation of the polysiloxane blocks not only improved flame retardancy but also enhanced the impact strength, with SS-co-PC9 showing a 48% increase in elongation at break and a 38% rise in impact toughness compared to pure PC. In addition, SS-co-PC9 presented high mechanical strength. The synergistic effects between the naphthalene-sulfonate and polysiloxane blocks, along with the well-controlled polysiloxane phase separation (sulfonate units enabled lower processing viscosity of copolymers), led to superior comprehensive performance. These findings provide a promising pathway to create high-performance copolycarbonates for real-world applications
Closed-Loop Recyclable, Self-Catalytic Transesterification Vitrimer Coatings with Superior Adhesive Strength, Fire Retardancy, and Environmental Stability
No full textThe nondegradability, nonreusability, and flammability of epoxy coatings have brought serious environmental and safety issues. Herein, a multifunctional, fire-retardant epoxy vitrimer coating (DCNC/45PETO) was prepared via curing bis(2,3-epoxypropyl)cyclohex-4-ene-1,2-dicarboxylate (DCNC) with a well-designed phosphaphenanthrene-containing polyethylenimine (PETO) at room temperature. DCNC/45PETO exhibits excellent adhesion to different substrates, with a high adhesive strength of 7.9 MPa on wood, outperforming previous wood coatings/adhesives. The DCNC/45PETO coating endows wood with excellent fire retardancy, including a high limiting oxygen index of 34.0% and a vertical burning (UL-94) V-0 rating. DCNC/45PETO demonstrates durable adhesion and fire-retardant performances in harsh environments. The self-catalytic transesterification within the DCNC/45PETO network effectively avoids the application of extra toxic catalysts, and this coating can be reused for at least 5 times in mild conditions without compromising its performances. This study provides an innovative design strategy for creating multifunctional vitrimer coatings, showing great application potential in the construction field
Retaining permanent and temporary immigrants in rural Australia: Place-based and individual determinants
No full textIn many low-fertility countries, immigration is increasingly seen a solution to the twin problem of rural depopulation and skill shortages. In Australia, this takes the form of regional visa schemes that require both skilled and humanitarian migrants to reside initially in non-metropolitan regions for a minimum of two years. In the absence of nationally representative longitudinal data, the efficacy of this policy is yet to be assessed. Applying survival analysis to novel administrative data from the Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA), this paper establishes the level and determinants of rural retention among immigrants who arrived between January and August 2011 on eight different visas and compares these to the Australian population to the end of 2019. Our results suggest that regional visa schemes are effective in attracting permanent skilled migrants but not in retaining them, even when controlling for socio-demographic characteristics. Migrants on regional skilled visa and temporary skilled workers display a 40 per cent nine-year retention rate compared with over 50 per cent for Australian and New Zealand citizens, permanent family, skilled and humanitarian migrants and 30 per cent for students. In contrast, the low retention of temporary skilled migrants is largely the product of their younger and more educated profile. We identify a negative selection process by which immigrants with less-education, lower incomes, or less English proficiency—including humanitarian migrants—are more likely to stay in non-metropolitan regions. This outcome signifies a process of socio-spatial polarisation and a segmented labour market. At a regional-level, we find that regions with a diverse occupational mix and co-ethnic networks are more likely to retain immigrants whereas those with high housing costs are significantly less likely. These results provide policy levers to boost rural retention
Explainable deeply-fused nets electricity demand prediction model: Factoring climate predictors for accuracy and deeper insights with probabilistic confidence interval and point-based forecasts
No full textElectricity consumption has stochastic variabilities driven by the energy market volatility. The capability to predict electricity demand that captures stochastic variances and uncertainties is significantly important in the planning, operation and regulation of national electricity markets. This study has proposed an explainable deeply-fused nets electricity demand prediction model that factors in the climate-based predictors for enhanced accuracy and energy market insight analysis, generating point-based and confidence interval predictions of daily electricity demand. The proposed hybrid approach is built using Deeply Fused Nets (FNET) that comprises of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Bidirectional Long-Short Term Memory (BILSTM) Network with residual connection. The study then contributes to a new deep fusion model that integrates intermediate representations of the base networks (fused output being the input of the remaining part of each base network) to perform these combinations deeply over several intermediate representations to enhance the demand predictions. The results are evaluated with statistical metrics and graphical representations of predicted and observed electricity demand, benchmarked with standalone models i.e., BILSTM, LSTMCNN, deep neural network, multi-layer perceptron, multivariate adaptive regression spline, kernel ridge regression and Gaussian process of regression. The end part of the proposed FNET model applies residual bootstrapping where final residuals are computed from predicted and observed demand to generate the 95% prediction intervals, analysed using probabilistic metrics to quantify the uncertainty associated with FNETS objective model. To enhance the FNET model’s transparency, the SHapley Additive explanation (SHAP) method has been applied to elucidate the relationships between electricity demand and climate-based predictor variables. The suggested model analysis reveals that the preceding hour’s electricity demand and evapotranspiration were the most influential factors that positively impacting current electricity demand. These findings underscore the FNET model’s capacity to yield accurate and insightful predictions, advocating its utility in predicting electricity demand and analysis of energy markets for decision-making
Powering progress: The interplay of energy security and institutional quality in driving economic growth
Get PDFEnergy security is a crucial determinant of sustainable economic growth, especially in the South Asian region, where persistent energy challenges and institutional shortcomings have stifled developmental potential. This study aims to elucidate the complex interplay between energy security and economic growth, with a focus on how institutional quality moderates and transforms these dynamics to promote more resilient growth in the region. Drawing on data from eight South Asian countries from 2000 to 2022, the study employs a panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) model, reinforced by robust feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) method. The results reveal that energy availability, energy supply capacity, energy demand, and energy efficiency exert negative impacts on economic growth, whereas energy development capacity contributes positively to economic growth. Additionally, the novel aggregate energy security index and institutional quality index demonstrate positive effects on growth, alongside urbanization and foreign direct investment. Conversely, trade openness is found to have a negative influence on economic growth. Crucially, the institutional quality index absorbs the adverse effects of energy availability, energy supply capacity, energy demand, and energy efficiency on growth, while amplifying the positive impacts of both individual elements of energy security and its aggregate index. These results highlight the necessity for urgent policy interventions to simultaneously address existing energy security and institutional quality concerns to achieve sustainable economic growth
Age and Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Chronic Pain and Dementia Among Older Australians
Get PDFObjectives: Chronic pain is a highly debilitating condition that affects older adults and has the potential to increase their odds of experiencing cognitive impairment. The primary objective of this study was to examine the correlation between chronic pain and dementia. Additionally, this research endeavors to ascertain whether the association between chronic pain and dementia differs by age and gender.
Methods: Cross-sectional data were derived from the Survey of Disability, Ageing, and Carers. A total of 20 671 and 20 081 participants aged 65 years and older in 2015 and 2018, respectively, were included in this study. The pooled association between chronic pain and dementia was assessed using a multivariable logistic regression model. Furthermore, the study also examined the multiplicative interaction effects between chronic pain and age, as well as chronic pain and gender, with dementia.
Results: The pooled analysis demonstrated that chronic pain was associated with a heightened odds of dementia (adjusted odds ratio 1.95; 95% CI 1.85-2.05) among older Australians compared with their counterparts without chronic pain. The interaction effect indicated that individuals with chronic pain across all age groups exhibited increased odds of living with dementia. Additionally, women with chronic pain had higher odds of dementia compared with their counterparts without chronic pain and being male.
Conclusions: A continuous, coordinated, and tailored healthcare strategy is necessary to determine the pain management goals and explore early treatment options for chronic pain in older adults, particularly in groups with the greatest need
University students' access and use of sexual and reproductive health services in Australia
No full textUniversity attendance can lead to changes in sexual behaviour that place people at increased risk of negative sexual and reproductive health (SRH) experiences; however, relatively few studies have explored access to and use of SRH services by university students in Australia. A convenience sample of students (N = 4291) from five universities completed an online survey to examine barriers and facilitators to accessing SRH services. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse variations by gender, sexuality, and enrolment status. Content analyses were conducted on responses to two open-ended questions. Over half (59%, 2934) had never spoken to a health professional about SRH issues. Of the 41% (1357) who had, female, non-binary/gender diverse, and Australian-born students were significantly more likely to have done so than students identifying as male, heterosexual, or as an international student. Frequently reported barriers to use of SRH services were ‘feeling embarrassed’, ‘being judged’ and ‘not knowing where to go’. LGBTQIA+ students along with international and overseas-born domestic students faced specific access barriers. Recommendations targeting student-identified barriers to access are offered, calling for universities to support student wellbeing by providing supportive, non-judgemental, and inclusive SRH promotion and health services that cater to needs of diverse student cohorts
Soil microbial communities in Southeast Asian peatlands: a review
Get PDFPeatlands in Southeast Asia are considered biodiversity hotspots that contribute significantly to the global carbon cycle. Land-use change on these tropical peatlands alters chemical and physical properties of the peat which directly affect plant health and the composition, diversity and functioning of soil microbial communities. Soil microbial diversity in tropical peatlands is considerably less understood than in boreal peatlands. The aim of this study was to investigate published English-language literature on soil microbial communities in the peatlands of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei using a systematic quantitative literature review approach, focusing on their fungal, bacterial and archaeal soil or rhizosphere communities. Data extracted from the articles (published between 2001 and 2023) included the study location, peatland condition, peat depth, context of the research, soil microbial communities and microbial functions studied, and soil abiotic processes assessed. We found 75 studies that met the review criteria, of which the majority (45) were from Indonesia, 29 from Malaysia and one from Brunei. Soil bacteria were reported in 43 % compared to soil fungi in 32 % of these studies. Both bacteria and fungi were reported in 17 % of studies, while only 8 % of studies reported archaea, bacteria and fungi. Soil microbial functions were assessed in 52 % of studies, with considerable emphasis on enzyme activity, respiration and decomposition. Agriculture was the most common research focus (29 % of studies), followed by biodiversity (23 %) and forestry (8 %). Many studies integrated microbial richness and diversity metrics with putative functional attributes, which is an important step towards better understanding microbial activity in peatlands. Future challenges involve better understanding soil archaeal and fungal communities in Southeast Asian peatlands and the roles that they play in peatland ecosystem processes