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Fake news detection in low-resource languages: A novel hybrid summarization approach
No full textThe proliferation of fake news across languages and domains on social media platforms poses a significant societal threat. Current automatic detection methods for low-resource languages (e.g., Swahili, Indonesian and other low-resource languages) face limitations due to two factors: sequential length restrictions in pre-trained language models (PLMs) like multilingual bidirectional encoder representation from transformers (mBERT), and the presence of noisy training data. This work proposes a novel and efficient multilingual fake news detection (MFND) approach that addresses these challenges. Our solution leverages a hybrid extractive and abstractive summarization strategy to extract only the most relevant content from news articles. This significantly reduces data length while preserving crucial information for fake news classification. The pre-processed data is then fed into mBERT for classification. Extensive evaluations on a publicly available multilingual dataset demonstrate the superiority of our approach compared to state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods. Our analysis, both quantitative and qualitative, highlights the strengths of this method, achieving new performance benchmarks and emphasizing the impact of content condensation on model accuracy and efficiency. This framework paves the way for faster, more accurate MFND, fostering more robust information ecosystems
Assessment of essential oil efficacy in controlling fungal infection in citrus fruits
No full textGreen mould decay by Penicillium digitatum (Pers.: Fr.) Sacc. in citrus fruits is a major postharvest disease causing substantial losses. Chemical fungicides are used for control despite health and environmental concerns. This thesis examined the efficacy of essential oils (EO) derived from oranges, lemon myrtle (LM) and lemon scented tea tree (LSTT) as potential alternatives. Gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GCMS) analysis confirmed limonene as the principal compound in orange EO, neither source was found to inhibit P. digitatum (Pers.: Fr.) Sacc. growth in in vitro studies and in vivo with Navel oranges. Mild oxidation of orange EO by ultraviolet-C (UV-C) irradiation for 24 hr was found to lower limonene by 20% and generate three hydroperoxides, (2S,4R)-p-mentha-6,8-diene-2-hydroperoxide, (1S,4R)-p-mentha-2,8-diene-1-hydroperoxide and (1R,4R)-p-mentha-2,8-diene-1-hydroperoxide. Irradiated limonene also developed the same hydroperoxides. Irradiated orange EO and limonene markedly inhibited mould growth in in vitro tests. In vivo studies with inoculated oranges dipped in irradiated orange EO at 1000 to 4000 μL L-1 inhibited mould growth without any rind injury, with the greatest effect at 4000 μL L-1. The enhanced inhibition efficacy was attributed to the limonene hydroperoxides. GCMS analysis of LM and LSTTE EOs confirmed citral was the major component at about 85% and 64 % of total EO, respectively. Citral is well known to inhibit mould growth and this was confirmed in in vitro and in vivo studies with the pure compound and LM and LSTT EO. Contrary to limonene, UV-C irradiation degraded citral and LM and LSTTE EOs without generation of any hydroperoxide. Inoculated oranges dipped in citral, LM and LSTT EO solutions showed reduced fungal wastage with efficacy being LM > citral > LSTT. The greater effect of LM EO over 100% citral suggests some minor constituent(s) of LM EO also had antifungal activity. Rind injury occurred with the greatest severity at longer dips. A 30 sec dip in 1000 μL L-1 LM EO was considered the optimal treatment as it generated slight rind injury with minimal loss of antifungal activity. It also inhibited fungal wastage in Valencia oranges, mandarins and lemons, without affecting internal quality and sensory attributes. These studies suggest LM EO and UV-C irradiated orange EO as potential alternatives to chemical fungicides against P. digitatum (Pers.: Fr.) Sacc. decay. The source of orange EO could be waste flavedo generated by the orange processing industry
Disseminating health research to public health policy-makers and practitioners: a survey of source, message content and delivery modality preferences
No full textBackground: Understanding the views of policy-makers and practitioners regarding how best to communicate research evidence is important to support research use in their decision-making. Aim: To quantify and describe public health policy-makers and practitioners' views regarding the source, content and form of messages describing public health research findings to inform their decision-making. We also sought to examine differences in preferences between public health policy-makers and practitioners. Methods: A cross sectional, value-weighting survey of policy-makers and practitioners was conducted. Participants were asked to allocate a proportion of 100 points across different (i) sources of research evidence, (ii) message content and (iii) the form in which evidence is presented. Points were allocated based on their rating of influence, usefulness and preference when making decisions about health policy or practice. Results: A total of 186 survey responses were received from 90 policy-makers and 96 practitioners. Researchers and government department agencies were the most influential source of research evidence based on mean allocation of points, followed by knowledge brokers, professional peers and associations. Mean point allocation for perceived usefulness of message content was highest for simple summary of key findings and implications, and then evidence-based recommendations and data and statistical summaries. Finally, based on mean scores, policy-makers and practitioners preferred to receive research evidence in the form of peer-reviewed publications, reports, evidence briefs and plain language summaries. There were few differences in scores between policy-makers and practitioners across source, message content or form assessments or those with experience in different behavioural areas. Conclusions: The findings should provide a basis for the future development and optimization of dissemination strategies to this important stakeholder group
Exploring the SPHERE nursing and midwifery clinician researcher career pathway: a qualitative study
No full textBackground: There is an urgent need to increase the research capability and capacity within the nursing and midwifery workforce, to underpin evidence-based care. Aim: To explore the perceptions of nursing service leaders and academics of the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise (SPHERE) Nursing and Midwifery Clinician Researcher Career Pathway for acceptability and utility. Methods: Using a qualitative descriptive design, data were collected via an online focus group and one individual semi-structured interview. Content and thematic analyses were undertaken. Findings: Data from 22 participants were included in the analyses. Most participants were female (82%), employed within Local Health Districts (LHDs) (29%), universities (24%), and both LHD and university (47%). There was strong support for the SPHERE Nursing and Midwifery Clinician Researcher Career Pathway. Four major themes were identified: (ⅰ) Current disintegration of the clinician researcher role, (ⅱ) Implementation, (ⅲ) Balancing a clinical and research role: need for protected time, and (ⅳ) Reintegration of the clinician researcher role: growing and stabilising a generation of clinician researchers. Discussion: The SPHERE Nursing and Midwifery Clinician Researcher Career Pathway provides a unique opportunity to develop and sustain the future generation of clinician researchers. To succeed, changes to existing perceptions of clinicians, other health professionals, managers, and consumers are required. Leadership, appropriate language and messaging, and a shared vision is required from a unified professional voice. Protected research time remains the greatest challenge, requiring creative solutions that acknowledge diverse models of care. Conclusion: The SPHERE Nursing and Midwifery Clinician Researcher Pathway provides a vision for the reintegration of the role of clinician and researcher within Australian health services, which may take a generation to transform health service research culture
Modeling and assessing natural cross ventilation in buildings
No full textThis study investigates the impact of wind direction, building height and room level, building orientation, window orientation, window wall and internal partition on natural ventilation performance. Scenario testing was conducted through the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) which were solved numerically using ANSYS-CFX. The Normalized Air Change Rate (NACR), streamlines, Normalized Velocity vector (NVvec) field on the breathing plane and Normalized Local Mean Age (NLMA) of air contours on the breathing plane were used as performance indicators. It was found that the NACR value of a specific level increases with building due to the exposure of higher levels to the wind with higher velocity while it remains independent of other levels’ ventilation state. Unlike window orientation, Wind direction also significantly impacted natural ventilation performance. The ventilation performance was better when windows were directly exposed to the wind direction. The study also highlights the importance of window wall configuration in natural ventilation performance and suggests increasing the fresh air sweeping path from the inlet to the outlet to improve ventilation. Future studies may investigate the effect of large openings and deliberate vertical deviation of entry jet flow for better ventilation performance. This thesis includes 6 chapters in the following order 1- Introduction, 2- Natural Ventilation, 3- Literature Review, 4- Numerical Simulation, 5- Results and Discussion, 6- Conclusions
Submarine landslides along the south-east Australian continental margin: an assessment of their tsunamigenic potential and tsunami hazard
No full textSubmarine landslides (SMLS) are a type of submarine mass movement that occur in a range of geological settings, including the continental slopes of passive margins. Extensive evidence of SMLS events is present along the south-east Australian continental margin (SEACM) and many of the SMLSs have been shown to have tsunamigenic potential. Despite this extensive evidence, the tsunami hazard posed by SMLSs along the SEACM and the role of sedimentology on their tsunamigenic potential is not well understood. This thesis presents an investigation of the tsunami hazard posed by modern SMLS events along the SEACM through the use of idealised and case study numerical modelling and analyses sediment core data from two SMLSs to better constrain their sedimentology, age, and recurrence interval. Sedimentological analysis and radiocarbon dating of six marine sediment cores collected from the upper continental slope offshore from Byron Bay, New South Wales, and Fraser Island, Queensland, indicate that the SEACM region is dynamic and provide strong evidence for mass movement processes occurring during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. In particular, the three cores collected offshore from Fraser Island within the Wide Bay Canyon slide and adjacent open slope present intraformational, mud-clast conglomerates, comprised of sub-angular to rounded, pebbled and cobble-sized clasts of the hemipelagic muds that typically accumulate in this area. These conglomerates are interpreted to be debris flow deposits. One within-slide core and the adjacent open slope core also present coarse-grained, poorly sorted, unconsolidated sand layers that are interpreted to be grain flow
deposits derived from continental shelf sands driven over the continental shelf edge by the East Australia Current during the Last Glacial Maximum. A similar grain flow deposit is observed in one of the three sediment cores analysed from within the Byron slide offshore from Byron Bay, but no debris flow deposits analogous to those observed in the Fraser Island region were identified in sediments from the Byron slide, which present as homogenous and uniform in nature. Radiocarbon dating of unique deposits identified in the Wide Bay Canyon slide cores indicates that abrasion and sediment removal during the emplacement of debris flows occurred during several separate events prior to ∼35.1 ka. The sand layers interpreted to be grain flow deposits contain Late Pleistocene age material that was likely re-deposited during the sea level low-stand associated with the Last Glacial Maximum. Paraconformities were identified in one core from the Byron slide and one from the Wide Bay Canyon slide by distinct colour changes which were found to represent distinct radiocarbon age gaps in each core. These paraconfomity surfaces are interpreted to represent the basal surface of these SMLSs, which occurred at least ∼35 ka ago for the Wide Bay Canyon slide and ∼25 ka ago for the Byron slide. The mass failure events documented in this study are separate, distinct events from other SMLSs observed in the region and are consistent with a large, relatively rare intra-plate earthquakes being a likely triggering mechanism of failure. The recurrence interval of dated SMLS events was refined in this thesis through the addition of the Byron and Wide Bay Canyon slide dating results, and is suggested to be 1 in every ∼6,500 years. This recurrence interval is within the range of previously suggested recurrence intervals for SMLSs along the SEACM, with a significantly longer recurrence interval suggested for hazardous tsunamigenic SMLS events. To assess the tsunami hazard posed by SMLS events along the SEACM, the opensource numerical model, Basilisk, was used to model both idealised and real world SMLS-generated tsunami along an idealised margin and four prehistoric SMLS sites. The two-layer Basilisk model was validated against two benchmark test cases, comprising laboratory and field data, and showed good agreement with observations. This model was applied to a Monte Carlo style analysis of SMLS-generated tsunami along an idealised SEACM to assess how a range of SMLS parameters affect tsunamigenic potential. It was found that SMLS volume was the most important parameter in determining SMLS hazard along the idealised margin, with SMLS thickness being the most important individual parameter. SMLS width, length, water depth, and density were shown to have smaller influences on tsunami hazard. When SMLSs were modelled within an idealised canyon, as compared with an idealised open continental slope, the spatial variation of tsunami hazard for adjacent coastlines was greatly increased. High resolution numerical modelling was conducted for four prehistoric SMLSs along the SEACM which had been previously identified as having hazardous tsunamigenic potential for adjacent coastlines. This modelling was done to understand the modern hazard posed by SMLS events such as those that have failed in the geologically recent past and to identify regions of the modern south-east Australian coastline vulnerable to tsunami impacts. Similar trends were observed between the prehistoric modelling results and idealised modelling results. SMLS volume and density were both shown to be important factors in determining tsunamigenic potential, as well as the presence of canyons along the continental slope. It was further confirmed that SMLS-generated tsunami pose a significant hazard for the south-east Australian coastline, with large population centers, such as Sydney, vulnerable to destructive tsunami impacts. In particular, estuarine environments were shown to be disproportionately exposed to the hazard when compared with the open coast. SMLS failure is considered an ongoing process along the SEACM and has been shown to be a dangerous tsunami source for the adjacent coastlines. The work presented in this thesis highlights the importance of understanding SMLS sedimentology and incorporating this information into high resolution site specific numerical modelling to better understand the tsunami hazard posed by these events. This information can be used to facilitate the development of appropriate hazard mitigation strategies for vulnerable coastal communities
Surgeons’ perspectives on artificial intelligence to support clinical decision-making in trauma and emergency contexts: results from an international survey
No full textBackground: Artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining traction in medicine and surgery. AI-based applications can offer tools to examine high-volume data to inform predictive analytics that supports complex decision-making processes. Time-sensitive trauma and emergency contexts are often challenging. The study aims to investigate trauma and emergency surgeons’ knowledge and perception of using AI-based tools in clinical decision-making processes. Methods: An online survey grounded on literature regarding AI-enabled surgical decision-making aids was created by a multidisciplinary committee and endorsed by the World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES). The survey was advertised to 917 WSES members through the society’s website and Twitter profile. Results: 650 surgeons from 71 countries in five continents participated in the survey. Results depict the presence of technology enthusiasts and skeptics and surgeons’ preference toward more classical decision-making aids like clinical guidelines, traditional training, and the support of their multidisciplinary colleagues. A lack of knowledge about several AI-related aspects emerges and is associated with mistrust. Discussion: The trauma and emergency surgical community is divided into those who firmly believe in the potential of AI and those who do not understand or trust AI-enabled surgical decision-making aids. Academic societies and surgical training programs should promote a foundational, working knowledge of clinical AI
“I Guess You Could Call it Plant Racism” – Making Kin in Australian Environmental Workfare
No full textSome scholars have drawn associations between Australian environmentalism and racism. Others have argued that natural resource management policies go beyond the science in justifying policies that have their real foundation in Australian nationalism. Yet applying semiotic analyses to focus upon such associations can risk obscuring efforts to actively loosen the nature-culture binary. Australia has a unique history of three decades of national environmental youth training programs such as Green Corps and Green Army. Such environmental workfare engages a diverse range of actors: from university-qualified scientists to unemployed urban and rural youth. If any workplace culture is likely to generate a naïve environmentalist eco-nationalism, then the pseudo-military setting of national environmental workfare programs would be worthy of close examination. Based upon data collected from participants in Australian environmental workfare programs, this article explores how young workers displayed critical reflexivity, engaging creatively and ironically, embracing the more obscure Others. While attempting to generate cultural capital, particularly in the field of environmental science, they actively spurned naïve environmentalism. From the midst of the Australian bush, young people answered Haraway’s call to “make kin in the Chthulucene”
Combat-related distress, quality-of-life in veterans, posttrauma growth: a systematic review
No full textFunctional improvement and quality-of-life concepts such as captured in the domains of posttrauma growth, are poorly understood and not embedded in recovery programs designed to mitigate combat-related distress in veterans. In fact, quality-of-life, a factor encapsulated in the Complex PTSD category in the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11), is not currently targeted for improvement in programs. This may be related to the narrow focus on diagnostic outcomes following combat-related posttrauma distress. This systematic review evaluated the role of posttrauma/posttraumatic growth in quality-of-life outcomes for veteran populations by summarising the volume, characteristics, and findings of research to date. It was undertaken using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist and included studies addressing four key themes: combat veterans, posttrauma distress, posttrauma growth and quality-of-life. A narrative assessment of studies identified trends and synergies in both time and topic and to understand if a body of evidence exists to support posttrauma growth processes to increasing quality-of-life for veterans with combat-related posttrauma distress. There is general support for the finding that posttrauma growth processes increase quality-of-life for veterans. However, research approaches vary widely and no trends are observed in the way posttrauma growth processes are integrated in programs or assessed. This may indicate that, despite calls for interventions based on posttrauma growth, research in this area has stalled. This body of work lays the foundation for future directions in research to improve outcomes for combat veterans
The evolution and social cost of herding mentality promote cooperation
No full textHerding behavior has a social cost for individuals not following the herd, influencing human decision-making. This work proposes including a social cost derived from herding mentality into the payoffs of pairwise game interactions. We introduce a co-evolutionary asymmetric model with four individual strategies (cooperation vs. defection and herding vs. non-herding) to understand the co-emergence of herding behavior and cooperation. Computational experiments show how including herding costs promotes cooperation by increasing the parameter space under which cooperation persists. Results demonstrate a synergistic relationship between the emergence of cooperation and herding mentality: the highest cooperation is achieved when the herding mentality also achieves its highest level. Finally, we study different herding social costs and its relationship to cooperation and herding evolution. This study points to new social mechanisms, related to conformity-driven imitation behavior, that help to understand how and why cooperation prevails in human groups