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Is community mobility contingent upon driving? Attitudes toward and intentions to use alternative modes of transport according to a mixed-aged sample
No full textBackground: Community mobility, the ability to move about one's community by any mode of transportation, is vital to social participation and wellbeing, especially for older adults, however it is heavily reliant on private motor vehicles. Biopsychosocial risk factors mean that drivers may eventually need to stop driving. Preparation and gradual cessation have been identified as being key in the transition to non-driving; however, little is known about variation in drivers' activities across age groups, and whether drivers contemplate or plan for driving cessation. The aims of this study were to determine any age differences relating to mobility and social engagement patterns, driver identity, whether drivers recognise a need to adapt to non-driving futures, and how mobility needs might be met without driving.Method: Participants were recruited from university participant pools and massive open online course (MOOC) platforms, social media, research participation databases, and snowball sampling. Respondents completed an online self-reported questionnaire, consisting of items assessing the travel patterns and transport preferences across a sample of 605 participants, aged 18–85 years. Differences in social participation, mobility and recognising and/or planning for driving cessation were explored across age groups.Results: Drivers identified personally important places accessed by driving. Content analysis revealed two themes. The first of these we titled Routine and Practical, which contained few codes but was frequently endorsed. The second theme, Life Enriching, contained many codes and demonstrated the richness of drivers’ community activities. Analysis of quantitative data revealed older drivers perceived greater life change due to driving cessation and were more aware of potential future driving cessation, but were less willing to move house to be closer to transport and services. Frequency of and satisfaction with socialising were comparable for age groups, highlighting the importance of discretionary travel across the lifespan. No significant differences were found for driving cessation planning between age groups; despite greater awareness of driving cessation, older drivers engaged in the same amount of cessation planning as other groups.Discussion: The present study demonstrates the similarities across age groups in terms of variety in social activities, providing a timely reminder of the need to consider discretionary mobility of all age groups, and a need to provide appropriate resources to prompt driving cessation planning
Site-scale Urban Water Mass Balance Assessment (SUWMBA) to quantify water performance of urban design-technology-environment configurations
No full textHistorically, little consideration has been given to water performance of urban developments such as “hydrological naturalness” or “local water self-sufficiency”. This has led to problems with increased stormwater runoff, flooding, and lack of local contributions to urban water security. Architectural design, water servicing technologies and environmental conditions are each known to influence water performance. However, most existing models have overlooked the integration of these factors. In this work, we asked ‘how the water performance of urban developments at site-scale can be quantified, with joint consideration of architectural design, water servicing technologies, and environmental context (i.e. climate and soil)’. Answering this question led to the development of a new method and tool called Site-scale Urban Water Mass Balance Assessment (SUWMBA). It uses a daily urban water mass balance to simulate design-technology-environment configurations. Key features include: (i) a three-dimensional boundary focussed on the “entity” of development (ii) a comprehensive water balance accounting for all urban water flows, (iii) methods that include key variables capturing the interactions of natural, built-environment and socio-technological systems on water performance. SUWMBA's capabilities were demonstrated through an evaluation of a residential infill development case study with alternative design-technology-environment configurations, combining three dwelling designs, seven water technologies and three environmental contexts. The evaluation showed how a configuration can be identified that strikes a balance between the conflicting objectives of achieving the desired dwelling densities whilst simultaneously improving water performance. For two climate zones, the optimal configuration increases the total number of residents by 300% while reducing the imported water per capita and stormwater discharge by 45% and 15%, respectively. We infer that SUWMBA could have strong potential to contribute to performance-based urban design and planning by enabling the water performance of dwelling designs to be quantified, and by facilitating the setting of locally-specific water performance objectives and targets
Microsampling methods for simultaneous estimation of tacrolimus, mycophenolic acid and prednisolone concentrations in adult kidney transplant recipients.
No full textSodium transition metal oxides: the preferred cathode choice for future sodium-ion batteries?
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Exploring the effect of tillers on the water economy, plant growth and kernel set of low-density maize crops
No full textIn semi-arid production regions having a high inter-annual rainfall variability, farmers use low plant densities, that promote tillering in maize (Zea mays L.). Tillering in maize is a scarcely researched trait, even though it offers vegetative and reproductive plasticity. However, the production of tillered maize crops may be risky due to a possible early soil water depletion and/or low reproductive efficiency. Here, we explored the potential effects of tillers (0, 1 and 2 tillers pl) on the water economy, plant growth and kernel set of maize crops at a low plant density (2 pl m) through the combination of simulations (using an adapted version of APSIM Sorghum model) and field experiments. The simulated scenarios included six locations across Argentina and Australia and three levels of available soil water content at sowing (50 %, 70 % and 90 %). In humid environments, simulated crops with increased number of tillers pl expressed high vegetative plasticity (up to three-fold increases in leaf area index at flowering), driving high values of crop evapotranspiration during the pre-flowering period (Eta). In drier environments, simulated Eta was similar between crops with different tiller number pl. Manipulative field experiments were established to parameterize the function between kernel number per plant (KNP) as a function of plant growth rate around flowering (PGR) for tillered and non-tillered plants. At low PGR, tillered plants had lower KNP than non-tillered plants, though the opposite was evident at high PGR. Interestingly, when simulated PGR values were used to predict kernel number m (KN m), increases in KN m of tillered maize crops in humid environments were larger than the decreases in drier environments. Consequently, farmers could benefit by choosing tillering maize genotypes in the long term when sowing low plant densities
Effect of long-term no-tillage and nitrogen fertilization on phosphorus distribution in bulk soil and aggregates of a Vertisol
No full textMuch remains unknown regarding the behaviour of P in cropping soils. We have examined a low-input long-tern cropping system not receiving P fertilizers in subtropical Queensland (Australia) in order to determine how, after 50 y, P concentration and distribution in bulk soils and in soil aggregates is affected by tillage practices (no tillage [NT] and conventional tillage [CT]) and by N fertilization. For the bulk soil, neither the tillage practice nor N fertilization altered concentrations of total P, inorganic P (P), or organic P (P) despite soil organic C concentrations differing significantly depending upon both tillage and N fertilization. Although bulk concentrations of P did not differ significantly, we observed significant changes in NaHCO-P, 1 M HCl-P, NaOH-P, NaOH-P determined using sequential extraction, seemingly due to changes in pH associated with N fertilization. We also used sequential fractionation to examine the forms of P in the various water-stable aggregate sizes, finding that the tillage practices and N fertilization did not cause significant changes in either the distribution of the various aggregate sizes nor did it cause marked changes in the forms of P in these various aggregates. Thus, our data illustrate that even though the long-term usage of NT in low-input soils may cause a comparative increase in TOC, there was not a concomitant increase in P, with this being important for soil fertility and functioning. This information assists in understanding how management practices alter P behaviour in long-term, low-input subtropical cropping soils, as is required to manage these soils more appropriately
Extracellular electron transfer by Microcystis aeruginosa is solely driven by high pH
No full textExtracellular electron transfer (EET) by the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa was investigated. Observations indicate that EET onto an electrode poised at + 0.6 vs. standard hydrogen electrode (SHE) is triggered by high pH, more evidently at pH levels above 9. Light intensity does not appear to affect electricity generation, indicating that this may not be a “biophotovoltaic” process. The generated current density was amplified with stepwise pH increases from approximately 5 mA m at pH 7.8 to 30 mA m at pH 10.5, for dense (0.4 mg mL dry weight) Microcystis aeruginosa suspensions with dissolved CO and O approaching equilibrium with atmospheric concentrations. The upsurge in current density was more pronounced (from 5 mA m at pH 7.8 to 40 mA m at pH 10.2) in the absence of the cells’ natural electron acceptors, dissolved CO and O. However, the latter effect is more likely due to competition for electrons by oxygen than to reductive stress. EET in this species is therefore a light-independent process that is enhanced by increasing pH, with reasons that are still unknown, but either related to the involvement of protons in the last step of electron transfer, or to intracellular pH control
Audience management, online turbulence and lurking in social networking services: A transactional process of stress perspective
No full textIn social networking services (SNSs), users’ unclear understanding of the large and invisible audience increases the chances of online turbulence, which is a key source of SNS-induced stress. This growing phenomenon has gained increasing attention in academia and industry due to the undesirable consequences for users and SNS platforms. In this study, we draw from the transactional model of stress to examine how audience management strategies impact online turbulence and lead to neglected unintended audience concern and lurking. We also investigate the role of self-monitoring as a stress inhibitor. We test our model with data collected from 301 SNS users. The results show that the four types of audience management strategies have different effects on online turbulence, which significantly impacts neglected unintended audience concern especially when users have high self-monitoring skills. We believe that this work contributes, both from scientific and practical standpoints, to the understanding of the interventions and stressful responses of online turbulence in SNSs
What does it mean to say that cultured meat is unnatural?
No full textCultured meat offers a potential alternative to factory farming and its associated problems. Despite this, public opinion about cultured meat is mixed. One concern cited by many potential consumers is that cultured meat is “unnatural”. Although there has been much interest in this perspective, there has been virtually no research exploring the psychological factors that motivate this view. The current study (N = 904) examines the beliefs, worldviews, and attitudes associated with the conclusion that cultured meat is unnatural. We found little evidence that naturalness perceptions flowed from a process of analytic reasoning; rather, ratings of unnaturalness appear to be grounded in affective mechanisms such as disgust and fear. This suggests that acceptance strategies that target analytic processing (e.g. information) may have limited success, which has indeed been the case with the strategies tested to date. Our findings are informative for research programs and cultured meat marketing strategies going forward
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