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Sustainable Supply Chains - Implications for Tourists and Residents in Tropical Destinations
No full textMohammadreza Akbari, Alrence Halibas, Hung Manh Nguyen, and Jenny Panchal explore eco-friendly supply chains (SCs) in the tourism sector, focusing on SC management and environmental protection to understand their impact on tourists and communities. They provide an overview of emerging trends in sustainable tourism SCs, including waste management and circular economy practices, green technology and innovation, policy support and regulatory frameworks, and community empowerment with social inclusion. Their recommendations emphasize adopting an integrated sustainability strategy encompassing all stages of the SC and leveraging digital solutions, such as blockchain technology and data analytics, to improve transparency, traceability, and accountability within SCs. Community engagement and empowerment, multi-stakeholder partnerships, and knowledge-sharing platforms are recognized as effective avenues for fostering collective action toward a more sustainable tourism industry
Fish Communities and Benthic Monitoring of Marra Sea Country in the Gulf of Carpentaria
No full textMarra Land and Sea Country in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria includes the Limmen Marine Park (LMP; Australian Government) and the Limmen Bight Marine Park (LBMP; Northern Territory). The region has biodiverse marine habitats and fish communities, and the shared management aspirations identified within the two marine park management plans and the Marra Healthy Country Plan highlight a need to improve information on habitats and key species.
Benthic habitat monitoring and baseline fish surveys were conducted in Marra Sea Country 19–26 October 2023. The survey was a continuation of the collaboration between researchers from TropWATER James Cook University, Northern Institute Charles Darwin University, Mabunji Aboriginal Resource Indigenous Corporation, li-Anthawirriyarra Sea Rangers, Marra Traditional Owners, Parks Australia and the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission. The 2023 survey builds on previous habitat surveys of LMP, LBMP, and Marra Sea Country in 2021 by commencing year one of habitat monitoring and filling a key information gap in the region's knowledge of demersal fish species.
Our objectives were to (1) Increase understanding of traditional knowledge and collaborate with Indigenous rangers and Traditional Owners to undertake marine park management, such as monitoring, including the development of bilingual maps where possible; (2) Identify any changes/trends in the condition of benthic habitats in the marine park, including seagrass, algal, sponge and coral habitats; (3) Identify demersal fish communities in and adjacent to the marine parks, including consideration of key pressures on these communities and any potential management actions for mitigating impacts.
A total of 194 benthic habitat sites were monitored using camera drops deployed from boats. Of these, 90 habitat sites were within the LMP. The remaining sites were in inshore waters adjacent to the LMP, including part of the LBMP, and in the LBMP at Kurrulinya (Maria Island). Diverse benthic habitats were recorded during the monitoring, including dense coastal and deepwater seagrass, algae, and coral-dominated communities.
Ninety-five Baited Remote Underwater Video Stations (BRUVS) were deployed to survey fish species. Of these, 68 were in the LMP, with the remaining BRUVS in inshore waters adjacent to the LMP. BRUVS were deployed in a range of habitats, including coastal and deepwater seagrass, sponge and soft coral gardens and bare sediment. Ninety-two fish species were recorded. This included 24 species of sharks, rays and wedgefish such as yulmunji (tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvier), tawny sharks (Nebrius ferrugineus) and zebra sharks (Stegostoma fasciatum). Fisheries species included mackerel (Scomberomorus spp.), jawarlawarla (coral trout, Plectropomus spp.) and emperors (Lethrinus spp.).
Marra Sea Country, encompassing the LMP and LBMP, is ecologically significant, supporting diverse habitats and rich fish and shark communities. The commencement of standardised habitat monitoring enables regional and temporal habitat assessments, providing critical insights into environmental change. Integrating scientific data with Marra Traditional Owners' knowledge strengthens marine park management. It aligns conservation efforts with the Marranbala Land and Sea Country Plan, ensuring both ecological and cultural priorities are met
A compilation of over 100 years of seagrass data in northern Australia
No full textThe northern Australian coastline supports ecologically significant seagrass ecosystems that play a vital role in marine biodiversity and carbon sequestration, and that are culturally significant to Australia’s First Nations peoples. Seagrass ecosystems sustain marine megaherbivores, fish assemblages, and broader coastal resilience. Despite extensive seagrass research in Australia, historical spatial data remains fragmented, poorly curated, and rarely publicly accessible. To address this gap, we have compiled, validated, and synthesised historical seagrass spatial data from 1879 to 2023 along the Western Australian and Northern Territory coastlines. This dataset includes geolocated seagrass presence/absence records, data on 15 seagrass species, substrate type, depth, and collection dates. Our dataset comprises over 147,000 data points and more than 500 seagrass polygons, spanning from Shark Bay, Western Australia, to the Northern Territory/Queensland border. This spatial resource builds on previous seagrass data syntheses for the Gulf of Carpentaria, Torres Strait and the Great Barrier Reef and provides a critical baseline for predictive modelling, identifies biologically important areas, and highlights data-deficient regions where future research efforts should be prioritised across northern Australia
Integrating user demographic parameters for mouse behavioral biometric-based assessment fraud detection in online education platforms
No full textOnline education systems have gained immense popularity due to their ubiquity, flexibility, openness, and accessibility. This has led many higher education institutions to incorporate online courses as part of blended or fully online learning. However, online assessment fraud remains a critical challenge. Conventional assessment fraud detection methods are often one-time, non-repudiable, invasive, expensive, and susceptible to spoofing. Even some advanced systems based on behavioral biometrics report comparatively lower accuracy, underscoring the ongoing challenge of achieving reliable user authentication. Furthermore, few research studies focus on behavioral biometric-based assessment fraud detection in online education platforms. To address these gaps, we introduce the UserID.AGE.GEN framework, which implements a cross-referencing fusion algorithm that integrates user demographic parameters, including age and gender, with mouse behavioral biometrics for user identity verification for online assessment fraud. Additionally, we collect novel task-specific data for our evaluation. Experimental results demonstrate that our method achieves promising results compared to some existing models, highlighting its strong performance and promising potential for broader application and future enhancement. A notable limitation of the proposed model is that it has not yet been evaluated using significantly larger external datasets, which may affect the generalizability of the results. Our evaluation was conducted using internally collected datasets. Additionally, the model has not been tested in real-world settings such as online education platforms, which may limit insights into its practical deployment
Holocene climate changes in tropical Australasia based on branched tetraether lipid evidence from Girraween Lagoon, northern Australia
No full textUnderstanding Holocene natural variability of the climate system is crucial for accurate evaluation of the temporal course of current anthropogenic warming and forecasting future climate trends. However, the patterns and mechanisms of Holocene climate variability in tropical Australasia remain highly controversial, partly due to proxy uncertainties and methodological limitations. In this study, we analyze distributions of branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) in the sediments of Girraween Lagoon from northern Australia to investigate the temperature and hydroclimate changes spanning the past 10.4 ± 0.1 kyr. Our reconstructed Holocene mean annual air temperature using the tropical lake-specific brGDGT calibration displays a long-term warming trend with amplitude of 2 °C. This overall warming pattern is generally consistent with other brGDGT-based terrestrial temperatures, alkenone-derived sea surface temperatures from the tropical Australasia and model simulations, but not with those inferred from planktonic foraminiferal Mg/Ca paleothermometers. The reconstructed pH values suggest a significant acidification process in Girraween Lagoon during the Holocene, which mainly results from a reduction in the input of alkaline waters from the underlying carbonate sinkhole regulated by hydroclimate change in northern Australia, but also an enhancement of acid production from sedimentary organic matter. Combined with other proxy records, we suggest that changes in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation have played an important role in the transition from a cool and wet to a warmer and seasonal drier climate in tropical Australasia over the Holocene. The dual reconstruction of temperature and pH provides a holistic perspective on the possible forcing mechanisms of Holocene hydroclimate in tropical Australasia
Ambulance Attendance in the State of Queensland, Australia: Exploring the Impacts of Heatwaves Using a Retrospective Population-Based Study
No full textObjective:
This study explores the impact of heatwaves on emergency calls for assistance resulting in service attendance in the Australian state of Queensland for the period from January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2019. The study uses data from the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS), a state-wide prehospital health system for emergency health care.
Methods:
A retrospective case series using de-identified data from QAS explored spatial and demographic characteristics of patients attended by ambulance and the reason for attendance. All individuals for which there was an emergency call to “000” that resulted in ambulance attendance in Queensland across the ten years were captured. Demand for ambulance services during heatwave and non-heatwave periods were compared. Incidence rate ratio (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were constructed exploring ambulance usage patterns during heatwaves and by rurality, climate zone, age groups, sex, and reasons for attendance.
Results:
Compared with non-heatwave days, ambulance attendance across Queensland increased by 9.3% during heatwave days. The impact of heatwaves on ambulance demand differed by climate zone (high humidity summer with warm winter; hot dry summer with warm winter; warm humid summer with mild winter). Attendances related to heat exposure, dehydration, alcohol/drug use, and sepsis increased substantially during heatwaves.
Conclusion:
Heatwaves are a driver of increased ambulance demand in Queensland. The data raise questions about climatic conditions and heat tolerance, and how future cascading and compounding heat disasters may influence work practices and demands on the ambulance service. Understanding the implications of heatwaves in the prehospital setting is important to inform community, service, and system preparedness
Normalising Choice: An Observational Study of Australian Clinicians' Perspectives on Written Informed Consent for Vaginal Birth
No full textBackground: The NSW Birth Trauma Report identified flawed consent processes and poor calibre antenatal information to have harmed birthing women. Written informed consent for vaginal birth may improve carer accountability and is currently applied in limited circumstances, for example, vaginal birth after caesarean section (VBAC).
Aims: This study explores how informed women are about birth, as perceived by clinicians, and perspectives on the implications of written informed consent for vaginal birth.
Materials and Methods: This study uses survey-based research for quantitative data and inductive content analysis for open-ended questions. Main outcome measures include carer perceptions on consent to the mode and/or location of birth and arguments against/in favour of written informed consent.
Results: One thousand two hundred and seventy-one responses were analysed for the final results, with 851 (67%) obstetric (Obs) and 420 (33%) midwifery (MW) respondents. Obs were eight times likelier to believe that women are never/rarely fully informed regarding vaginal birth (p < 0.001). The majority in both cohorts agreed women are frequently/always fully informed about VBAC. However, only 49 (6.6%) Obs and 20 (6%) MW were aware of written informed consent forms in use for vaginal birth. Themes developed include—‘helpless clinicians’ facing impediments to consent, flawed understanding of consent, rejection of consent requirements, juxtaposing consent with normality, disruption to collaboration and antenatal information undermining consent.
Conclusions: Maternity carers in this Australian survey agree women are not fully informed regarding the risks and benefits of birth. Written informed consent alongside adjuncts like birth plans or technology-based platforms may offer a way ahead for the future
The Long Sentence
No full text[Extract] Record rainfall in northern Australia meant it rained in Cairns before I left, and every day while I was away, and continued raining on my return, so that now the towels my husband had washed remain sodden on the line, and black ants have amassed on a damp cloth in the kitchen ..
Unravelling the influence of light on inshore coral and sponge recruits and their substrate communities
No full textRecruitment of progeny to coral reef populations involves complex ecological interactions, influenced by environmental factors such as altered underwater light conditions associated with poor water quality. Here, we exposed newly settled corals (Acropora millepora and Acropora cf. tenuis), the sponge (Phyllospongia foliascens), and their substrate communities to various light intensities and spectral profiles relevant to turbid inshore reefs. Coral and sponge recruit survivorship and growth generally exhibited an inverted U-shaped response to light intensity, suggesting environmental optima at lower light levels, while the influence of light spectra remained less clear within environmentally realistic treatment combinations. Crustose coralline algae cover similarly peaked at lower light levels, whereas turf algae increased with higher light conditions. Competitive interactions between the substrate communities and the recruits, along with photophysiological responses, were also assessed. Our results suggest that altered light characteristics associated with turbidity for periods up to six weeks may not be as detrimental to early coral and sponge recruits as other sediment-related stressors
ChatGPT and higher education student well-being: role of subjective norm and anthropomorphism with TAM
No full textPurpose:
There continues to be important discussion on how ChatGPT can be effectively integrated into the student learning environment in higher education. However, less is known about how social influences faced by students and the anthropomorphic features of ChatGPT affect technology adoption and student well-being. This study aims to develop and test a model that integrates the seminal technology acceptance model with subjective norm and anthropomorphism.
Design/methodology/approach:
Data from a sample size of 128 higher education students in Singapore was collected using a self-administered survey and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling, which is a useful method for estimating relationships between model variables.
Findings:
Results indicate that subjective norm and anthropomorphism can influence the technology acceptance of ChatGPT, with anthropomorphism playing a significant role in driving the perceived usefulness and the perceived ease of using ChatGPT. The resulting intention to use ChatGPT can affect the subjective well-being of higher education students.
Originality/value:
This study introduces a design typology that offers managerial implications on the key roles of subjective norm and anthropomorphism in the context of ChatGPT in higher education. In addition to authors’ Policy-Empowerment-Novelty (PEN) framework, their empirical results show how the meaningful design of both the social environment and artificial intelligence applications in higher education can encourage ChatGPT usage and improve the well-being of students