85000 research outputs found
Sort by
Associations between the urban neighbourhood built and social environment characteristics with physical functioning among mid- and older-aged adults: A systematic review
No full textThere is growing recognition of the association between neighbourhood factors and individuals' health. This systematic review examines the associations between urban neighbourhood built and social environment characteristics with different measures of physical functioning among mid- and older-aged adults over 45 years, focusing on cross-sectional and longitudinal study designs. It responds to the increase in publications on this topic following the COVID-19 pandemic. The systematic review included 25 studies written in English from 2018 onwards sourced from 8 databases. Studies were imported into Covidence and reviewed following the ‘Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis’ (PRISMA) protocols. Findings were assessed according to 13 neighbourhood environment variables: aesthetics, crime safety, greenness and parks, land use mix and destinations, neighbourhood disadvantage, pedestrian/street infrastructure, public transport, residential density, social environment, street connectivity, traffic safety, walkability, and composite variables. Significant associations in the expected direction were found for land use mix and destinations, walkability, crime safety, greenness and parks, social environment, and neighbourhood disadvantage with physical functioning in mid- and older-aged adults. Weaker evidence of expected associations was found for residential density and aesthetics. Future research avenues on this topic include investigating built and social neighbourhood environments in diverse geographies and populations, considering housing status and length of exposure to the neighbourhood environment, using longitudinal surveys over longer time periods and objective measurements.</p
Neighborhood ‘double disadvantage’ and child development in inner city and growth areas
No full textWe examined whether urbanicity – living in inner, middle, outer or growth areas – was associated with children's developmental vulnerability. We also explored effects of neighborhood ‘double disadvantage’, conceptualised as living in an outer or growth area with high neighborhood disadvantage, was associated with children's developmental vulnerability. There seemed to be no relationship between the level of urbanicity and child development, but unsurprisingly children living in the most disadvantaged areas were more likely to be developmentally vulnerable. When taken together, children living in inner city most disadvantaged areas had the poorest developmental outcomes. Consequently, research investigating the impact of urbanicity on child development needs to account for neighborhood disadvantage.</p
An Empirical Investigation of the Antecedents and Outcomes of the Customer Experience for Consumers Purchasing Fashion Products from Social Commerce Platforms in China
No full textSocial commerce is proliferating worldwide, yet it has only attracted scant attention from consumer psychology researchers. Guided by cue utilisation theory, the present study is situated in the context of consumers’ fashion shopping experience in China’s two prominent social commerce formats: live streaming commerce and group buying. This dissertation aims to understand the antecedents to and outcomes of customer experience (CX) by proposing and examining a stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework. To fulfil this goal, the researcher employs a sequential exploratory design approach using mixed methods methodology: that is, quantitative-dominated research led by a qualitative study (qual + QUAN). This dissertation relates to 4 research fields: CX in online retailing, live streaming commerce, group buying, and fashion products-focused consumer studies in social commerce.
After a thorough literature review, 22 CX-relevant factors were pre-selected from the empirical studies by converting their indicators into semi-structured interview questions in Study 1 to understand the content of CX in social commerce and which psychological factors are CX’s stimulators and responses. 26 respondents within live streaming commerce and group buying were interviewed, including 5 industry experts, and 21 fashion consumers. The qualitative data was analysed using the framework method, which included inductive and deductive reasoning. 27 field observations were conducted on various dates throughout the most prominent shopping festival in China. Based on these qualitative data, the researcher proposed a CX theoretical framework in social commerce following the S-O-R framework, associated with 20 hypotheses and 87 sub-hypotheses. Specifically, 6 important antecedents that may shape CX in live streaming commerce and group buying are media richness, interactivity, ease of use, personalisation, parasocial interaction (i.e., friend-like interactions), and price benefit. Furthermore, CX has evolved into a multi-faceted construct, including cognitive, affective, social, and sensory dimensions. Additionally, 5 CX outcomes have been selected based on the qualitative findings of Study 1: urge to buy impulsively, continuance intention (i.e., an intention to use the social commerce format continuously), swift guanxi (guanxi means interpersonal relationship, a Chinese term ‘关系’), trust, and herd behaviour. Moreover, the researcher has also identified the external factors that can influence the proposed model, including formats of social commerce, anchor influence and platforms in live streaming commerce, price benefits and product prices in group buying, and fashion product categories.
The researcher validated the theoretical framework and examined the proposed hypotheses in Study 2 by conducting an online survey among Chinese consumers who purchased fashion products on live streaming commerce or group buying, and then utilising partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), specifically, SPSS 28.0 and SmartPLS 4.0. Based on a survey with 694 valid consumer data, Study 2 yields some significant results. First, the empirical findings suggest the leading role of parasocial interaction in shaping CX. Following this, price benefit, interactivity, personalisation, and media richness contribute significantly to CX, from high to low. Additionally, CX contributes to continuance intention with significant strength, followed by trust, swift guanxi, herd behaviour, and the least considerable outcome–urge to buy impulsively. Third, CX is critical to mediating all significant antecedents and outcomes. Unexpectedly, ease of use, one of the key factors stimulating CX in Study 1, did not significantly influence CX.
Furthermore, the researcher delved deeply into the established model by examining the effects of social commerce formats and fashion product segments (i.e., apparel and cosmetics) as control variables, and more specifically, anchor & platform types in live streaming commerce, and price-relevant factors in group buying. First, the results demonstrate that CX’s influence mechanism differs between live streaming commerce, group buying, and fashion segments. Media richness only drives CX in group buying, not live streaming commerce. In contrast, as one of CX’s outcomes for fashion products, the urge to buy impulsively is insignificant as a CX outcome in group buying for the apparel and cosmetics segments. The cosmetics segment in group buying shows the weakest matches with the examined model, in which interactivity and price benefit are rejected as the CX antecedents and the urge to buy impulsively dropped out as the CX outcome. Second, the price-related factors in group buying are excluded from moderating the examined model, specifically monetary savings (i.e., price benefits) and low-priced products. Regarding live streaming commerce, social media platforms can enhance the effect of parasocial interaction on CX compared to e-commerce platforms. Unexpectedly, the relationship between CX and swift guanxi (i.e., harmonious interpersonal relationship) is weakened under the moderation role of influential anchors compared to firm affiliate anchors who do not have influence.
Regarding the theoretical implications, the current study is one of the first to establish a CX theoretical model in social commerce for fashion products. The measured antecedents can explain 67.6 per cent of the CX variable variance, demonstrating that this validated model is at the upper range of the moderate realm, higher than the existing CX models. Parasocial interaction dominates all the CX stimulators, followed by price benefit. Compared to continuance intention, the primary result of a positive CX, urge to buy impulsively is the least significant CX outcome. The most significant causal path within the established model is from parasocial interaction to continuance intention through CX, showing that friend-like interactions with the seller and other consumers can enhance the focal consumers’ experience and, in turn, their intention to continuously use social commerce platforms. CX is critical in transferring all influences of consumers’ responses toward sellers’ offerings (e.g., interactivity), so influencing consumers’various decisions and intentions.
The results of this study also provide managerial implications to business practitioners, particularly fashion retailers in China. Social commerce facilitates a new marketing and retailing channel by employing appropriate strategies to enhance significant CX antecedents to better monitor and manage the CX. Livestream sellers should conduct their retailing on social media platforms (e.g., Tiktok) rather than e-commerce platforms (e.g., Etsy). Unexpectedly, collaborating with influential anchors in live streaming commerce harms building swift guanxi between the consumer and retailer. Monetary savings and fashion products with lower prices also do not show any positive moderation effect on group buying. Therefore, fashion sellers must reconsider their influencer marketing and pricing strategies based on their adopted social commerce formats. This study also makes methodological contributions. For instance, future research can test CX following the contrust utilised by current study, either as a reflective or a formative second-order factor.</p
OPENAIR: UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL OF SMART LOW-COST SENSING THROUGH BEST PRACTICE AND HARMONISED CROSS-JURISDICTIONAL DATA SHARING
No full textThe intensity and community impact of poor air quality and extreme heat can
vary significantly at local scales. Data from state-managed ambient air quality
monitoring networks often lacks the spatial and temporal resolution required
for an effective response to community needs. Smart low-cost sensing
technology supports collection of real-time data by local authorities in
locations that are relevant to their constituents and aligned with their own
agency. However, there has been little support and guidance regarding the
use of these technologies, and no way of sharing data from different systems
and jurisdictions in a usable, trusted, or standardised way.
These challenges have been addressed by the Operational Network of Air
Quality Impact Resources (OPENAIR) project. OPENAIR developed
extensive best practice resources relating to the use of smart sensing
technology and the management of air quality data. The project established a
community of practice for local government leadership on air quality issues in
NSW, through facilitation and support of an active cohort of Council
participants. The project also demonstrated a pilot data feed and platform for
sharing and harmonising air quality data streams from multiple commercial
monitoring systems, which has the potential to scale into state and national
public data infrastructure.
This paper provides an overview of project activities and grounds them in a
transdisciplinary mix of literature on smart cities, communities of practice, and
data sharing. It makes a case for the value and relevance of OPENAIR and
discusses its prospective future impact.</p
Non-Convex Optimisation: A Finite-Time Dynamics Approach
No full textOptimisation is a task of finding the best set of admissible conditions to achieve desirable objectives. In the era of big data, the rapidly increasing volume of data and the high dimensionality of decision variables pose significant challenges to optimisation algorithms, often hindering their ability to efficiently find accurate and reliable optimal solutions. In this research, we focus on
developing innovative dynamics approaches and novel techniques for solving optimisation problems arising in important application areas such as data science and machine learning.
Firstly, fixed-time gradient dynamics with time-varying coefficients are proposed to improve the fixed-time convergence of gradient-based optimisation search. To this end, we extend the Lyapunov function method to derive the Lyapunov stability conditions for fixed-time stability of time-varying dynamical systems. These conditions are then applied to construct first-order
dynamical systems with time-varying coefficients to deliver fixed-time convergence guarantees for optimisation problems.
Secondly, we introduce novel second-order dynamical systems with fixed-time convergence guarantees for both smooth and non-smooth optimisation problems. Specifically, we propose second-order dynamical systems designed to find fixed points of Lipschitz operators within a fixed time and extend our analysis to address additive composite optimisation problems. By utilising time-varying coefficients, our methods provide flexibility in parameter selection.
Finally, we develop a discrete-time accelerated gradient algorithm using non-monotone line search technique and dry-like friction which can stabilise mechanical systems in finite time. We ensure the convergence of the entire sequence to a critical point in both smooth and non-smooth settings, based on the Kurdyka-Łojasiewicz (KL) assumption. Additionally, we unify and extend recent results on the KL exponent of the Moreau envelope of weakly convex functions.</p
eDNA metabarcoding reveals biodiversity and depth stratification patterns of dinoflagellate assemblages within the epipelagic zone of the western Coral Sea
No full textBackgroundDinoflagellates play critical roles in the functioning of marine ecosystems but also may pose a hazard to human and ecosystem health by causing harmful algal blooms (HABs). The Coral Sea is a biodiversity hotspot, but its dinoflagellate assemblages in pelagic waters have not been studied by modern sequencing methods. We used metabarcoding of the 18 S rRNA V4 amplicon to assess the diversity and structure of dinoflagellate assemblages throughout the water column to a depth of 150 m at three stations in the Western Coral Sea. Additionally, at one station we compared metabarcoding with morphological methods to optimise identification and detection of dinoflagellates. ResultsStratification of dinoflagellate assemblages was evident in depth-specific relative abundances of taxonomic groups; the greatest difference was between the 5–30 m assemblages and the 130–150 m assemblages. The relative abundance of Dinophyceae (photosynthetic and heterotrophic) decreased with increasing depth, whereas that of Syndiniales (parasitic) increased with increasing depth. The composition of major taxonomic groups was similar among stations. Taxonomic richness and diversity of amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were similar among depths and stations; however, the abundance of dominant taxa was highest within 0–30 m, and the abundance of rare taxa was highest within 130–150 m, indicating adaptations to specific depth strata. The number of unclassified ASVs at the family and species levels was very high, particularly for Syndinian representatives. ConclusionsDinoflagellate assemblages in open water of the Coral Sea are highly diverse and taxonomically stratified by depth; patterns of relative abundance along the depth gradient reflect environmental factors and ecological processes. Metabarcoding detects more species richness than does traditional microscopical methods of sample analysis, yet the methods are complementary, with morphological analysis revealing additional richness. The large number of unclassified dinoflagellate-ASVs indicates a need for improved taxonomic reference databases and suggests presence of dinoflagellate-crypto and–morphospecies.</p
The Native Princess of Sri Lanka: The Thematic Metaphorical Approach in Symbolizing Characteristics of Folklore of Kuweni
No full textA cherished Sri Lankan tradition comprising tales from different regions, stories about Kuweni recount how Prince Vijaya from North India took power in Sri Lanka with the help of Kuweni, a native young woman. This study introduces a qualitative thematic metaphorical approach to analyze Kuweni’s legend. The findings presented in “Kuweni’s Folklore Characteristics Onion” offer a layered analysis that demonstrates the significance of symbols and metaphors in folklore, offering valuable insights to various creative disciplines.</p
Understanding Textiles
No full textBloodstains are commonly deposited on textiles during violent crimes and those bloodstains, particularly when deposited on clothing and footwear, can provide important evidence connecting the wearer to a crime scene or to a victim of crime and provide insight to the mechanisms that led to the bloodstain deposition. In many cases, the established criteria commonly used to classify bloodstains on non-porous surfaces typically found at crime scenes may not apply to certain textiles. Textiles generally have a textured surface and are porous, so blood will react differently when compared to how blood reacts with smooth, non-porous surfaces. Resultant bloodstains on textiles will often vary in shape and appearance when compared to similar bloodstains caused by the same deposition mechanism but deposited on non-porous surfaces.</p
From Resistor-Only to Resistor-to-Schottky Barrier Ohmic Contact Model to Investigate Current-Voltage Characteristics of Ohmic Contacts
No full textLow-resistance metal-to-semiconductor ohmic contacts are critical for modern semiconductor devices. As transistor dimensions shrink, contact resistance has an increasingly significant effect on power consumption and switching speeds. Ohmic contact test structures are commonly used to characterise Specific Contact Resistivity, a key metric of contact quality. However, conventional resistive-only network models often overlook quantum physics principles critical to metal-semiconductor interfaces, leading to inaccuracies in modelling advanced devices. This thesis addresses these limitations by integrating quantum mechanical tunnelling and Fermi-Dirac statistics into a revised current-transport model. Using Synopsys Sentaurus TCAD, a 3D two-contact circular test structure is modelled and compared with conventional resistive-only models, revealing significant deviations due to non-linear behaviour. The revised model accurately describes the current voltage characteristics and SCR, with validation through TCAD simulations and published experimental data across varying parameters, including doping levels, Schottky barrier heights, and operating temperatures. A key contribution of this work is the introduction of the Resistor-to-Schottky Barrier (RSB) model, a novel analytical framework for Transmission Line Model test structures. By incorporating miniature Schottky barriers in its distributed network, the RSB model overcomes the limitations of traditional resistive-only test structures. Validation confirms its reliability, while analyses highlight phenomena such as high current density at contact edges and its implications for contact lifetime. The RSB model offers a robust tool for comprehensively understanding quantum effects in metal-semiconductor contacts and has the potential for broader applications in contact characterisation and design.</p
