19325 research outputs found
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Religion, health, and life satisfaction: evidence from Australia
No full textIn this article, we examine the influence of religion on health and life satisfaction while controlling for an extensive range of demographic characteristics and life conditions-marital satisfaction, job satisfaction, financial stress, and social resources-using data drawn from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. Our findings suggest that, on average, high levels of faith and attendance at religious services are associated with lower health. In contrast, however, we find no relationship between high levels of faith, attendance, and life satisfaction. Further research is required to unravel how faith and attendance influence health and life satisfaction
Wild origins of macadamia domestication identified through intraspecific chloroplast genome sequencing
No full textIdentifying the geographic origins of crops is important for the conservation and utilization of novel genetic variation. Even so, the origins of many food crops remain elusive. The tree nut crop macadamia has a remarkable domestication history, from subtropical rain forests in Australia through Hawaii to global cultivation all within the last century. The industry is based primarily on Macadamia integrifolia and M. integrifolia– M. tetraphylla hybrid cultivars with Hawaiian cultivars the main contributors to world production. Sequence data from the chloroplast genome assembled using a genome skimming strategy was used to determine population structure among remnant populations of the main progenitor species, M. integrifolia. Phylogenetic analysis of a 506 bp chloroplast SNP alignment from 64 wild and cultivated accessions identified phylogeographic structure and deep divergences between clades providing evidence for historical barriers to seed dispersal. High levels of variation were detected among wild accessions. Most Hawaiian cultivars, however, shared a single chlorotype that was also present at two wild sites at Mooloo and Mt Bauple from the northernmost distribution of the species in south-east Queensland. Our results provide evidence for a maternal genetic bottleneck during early macadamia domestication, and pinpoint the likely source of seed used to develop the Hawaiian cultivars. The extensive variability and structuring of M. integrifolia chloroplast genomic variation detected in this study suggests much unexploited genetic diversity is available for improvement of this recently domesticated crop
Improving efficiency of piezoelectric based energy harvesting from human motions using double pendulum system
No full textHarvesting electrical energy from various human motions using piezoelectric energy harvesters (PEH) is gaining research attention in recent years. The energy harvested could potentially power hand held electronic devices and medical devices without the need of external power source for recharging batteries. In this study, an attempt is made to improve the efficiency of PEH to harvest energy from human motions by adopting a double pendulum system coupled with magnetic force interactions. For the purpose of comparison, three configurations of PEH which includes the conventional PEH with cantilever beam (PEHCB), the PEH with single pendulum system (PEHSP) and the PEH with double pendulum system (PEHDP) are experimentally studied. Excitations by both mechanical shaker and major human body parts during walking and jogging motions are investigated. The performance of each configuration, in terms of voltage and power produced as well as the idle time between each cycle, are analysed, compared and discussed. ANSYS© software is used to analyse the proposed model and MATLAB© software is used to calculate the output power. The results demonstrate that, with the use of the proposed double pendulum system, multiple impacts in each motion cycle is generated, thus producing higher voltage and power as compared to the conventional PEHCB. The idle time between each motion cycle is also effectively reduced. The efficiency of the PEH is thus significantly increased
Demographic and psychosocial predictors of housing security in older lesbian and gay Australians
No full textThis study examined housing security among 679 lesbian women and gay men aged 60 years and older living in Australia. We examined a range of potential demographic and psychosocial predictors of whether participants felt that their housing situation was secure. Overall, most participants (89%) felt that their housing situation was secure. We found that the sense of housing security was greater among those who were younger, had people they felt they could depend on, had better self-rated health, and had fewer experiences of sexual orientation discrimination over the past year. In addition, housing security was greater among those who owned their own home and had no mortgage, compared with those who had a mortgage, were renting, or had some other living arrangement. No other demographic variables were significant predictors of housing security. These results can be useful in targeting groups that may be particularly vulnerable to a lack of housing security
Trauma informed care
No full textThis research briefing aims to define and clarify what trauma, complex trauma and trauma informed care are. Extensive literature has now surmised that exposure to adverse experiences such as child abuse, neglect, abandonment, violence, deprivation of care and domestic violence has immediate and long term consequences for children and young people. As such policies and service providers need to adopt appropriate interventions that are aimed at noticing and healing trauma. Academic and practice based arguments continue to highlight the need for developing a consensus around the classification of different traumas and their implications to children and young people. As Wall, Higgins and Hunter (2016, pg. 1) state “any discussion of trauma-informed service delivery requires consideration of the vast array of definitions and terminology that arises around trauma”. This research briefing therefore, clarifies some of the various terms, phrases and concepts that are developing in literature to describe what trauma and traumainformed care is
Arranging sensations: smell and taste in augmented and virtual reality
No full textThe development of digital taste and smell underscores the importance of cultural dimensions of bodily perception in augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) devices. This can be seen in Vocktail and Season Traveller, two digital devices incorporating taste and smell. Vocktail is an AR technology that augments the experience of drinking water, or even air, through the electrical stimulation of tastebuds and the manipulation of color and smell. Season Traveller is a VR game in which the user moves through four seasonal landscapes. It uses wind, odor, and temperature in addition to the more standard audio-visual displays. The cultural dimensions of these devices can be examined using phenomenological terms. They instigate perceptual circuits, and call on and create sedimented habits. Although VR and AR are often thought of in terms of their similitude to reality, understanding Vocktail and Season Traveller this way illustrates the world-creating dimension of multisensory devices. These technologies structure and shift thresholds of taste and smell, reworking past perceptual styles and habits to develop new perceptual experiences. In so doing, Season Traveller and Vocktail throw to the fore questions about the conditions according to which people exercise their senses in digitally dominated environments
Development of a position statement for Australian critical care nurse education
No full textPosition statements are used by large organisations such as the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses to publically present an official philosophy or beliefs and to propose recommendations. Position statements are increasingly used by health departments and healthcare facilities to allocate resources and to guide and audit nursing practice, yet there are limited resources on the process of their development. A position statement should help readers better understand the issue, communicate solutions to problems, and inform decision-making. It should be supported by the highest level of evidence available and reflect the organisation\u27s governing objectives and goals. In this article, we describe the structured approach used to develop a position statement for Australian critical care nurse education. The formation of an expert advisory panel, synthesis of available evidence using Whittemore and Knafl\u27s integrative review methodology, use of Donabedian\u27s structure-process-outcomes quality framework as a theoretical approach, and multiple layers of consensus building and consultation enabled the development of an important critical care document and informed an implementation plan. The framework and processes we have outlined in this discussion article may provide a useful starting point for other professional organisations wishing to develop similar position statements
Signature verification approach using fusion of hybrid texture features
No full textIn this paper, a writer-dependent signature verification method is proposed. Two different types of texture features, namely discrete wavelet and local quantized patterns (LQP) features, are employed to extract two kinds of transform and statistical-based information from signature images. For each writer, two separate signature models, corresponding to each set of LQP and wavelet features, using one-class support vector machines (SVMs) are created to obtain two different authenticity scores for a given signature. Finally, a score-level classifier fusion based on the average method is performed to integrate the scores obtained from the two one-class SVMs and achieve the final verification score. To train the one-class SVMs in the proposed system, only genuine signatures are considered. The proposed signature verification method was tested using four different publicly available datasets to demonstrate the generality of the proposed method. The evaluation results indicate that the proposed system outperforms other existing systems in the literature
What is effective therapeutic care?
No full textThis research briefing is an introduction to therapeutic care as a preferred response for children and young people who have experienced complex trauma and are unable to live at home. Whilst therapeutic care programs have been in existence throughout the United States of America, the United Kingdom, in the Nordic countries and other parts of Europe for many decades, they are a relatively new approach in the out of home care context in Australia. There is little agreement in the literature about what is effective therapeutic care, with strongly held views expressed against and for models of group care (Ainsworth & Hansen, 2018; Hurley, Lambert, Gross, Thompson & Farmer, 2017). What follows is an overview of the emerging research knowledge in this complex arena, messages from young people who have experienced care and a summary of messages from the research
