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Magnetic field characterization of edge currents in quantum spin Hall insulators
No full textQuantum spin Hall (QSH) insulators are materials with nontrivial topological properties, characterized by helical edge currents. In 2D strips, the application of a bias voltage along the edge generates a magnetization that can be measured using quantum sensors and magnetometry techniques. In this work, we calculate the magnetic field in the vicinity of the edge and explore the potential role of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond as local probes for the characterization of QSH edge states in topological insulators. We characterize the magnetic field near the edges produced by both electron currents and spin accumulation at the edge. We focus on identifying the position from the edge at which the effects of spin accumulation become detectable. We observe that a larger gap between the conduction and valence bands, along with a lower Fermi velocity, results in a stronger magnetic field, with the detectable spin accumulation being more concentrated near the edge. Conversely, a smaller gap results in a slight reduction in the magnetic field magnitude, but the field associated with spin accumulation becomes detectable further from the edge. This work provides insights that could be useful for the characterization of topological materials and the development of novel electro-optical devices.</p
Robust Distributed Learning Framework for FDIA Estimation and Mitigation in Grid-Forming Converters
No full textIn modern power distribution systems, the need for information and communication technology (ICT)-integrated control strategies has grown because of the growing use of inverter-based resources (IBRs), especially grid-forming converters (GFMCs). While these technologies enhance grid flexibility and efficiency, they also expand the grid’s vulnerability to cyberattacks, introducing new challenges to the reliability and security of power systems. This article introduces a robust distributed learning framework for stabilizing voltage and frequency and supporting effective power sharing in GFMCs under false data injection attacks (FDIAs). To mitigate the harmful impacts of disturbances and attacks, a distributed control is implemented. By incorporating a learning-based neural network (NN) approximator with distributed robust control, resilience and stability against cyberattacks in the secondary control layer of the GFMC are enhanced. The proposed method employs a learning-based approximator to estimate attack signals, while a distributed robust control attenuates the effects of disturbances to guarantee robust stability. This approach also enables an accurate estimation of the attack signals despite external disturbances, satisfying the -gain condition for the tracking error. The method’s effectiveness is validated through simulation and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing.</p
Shit Flowers
No full textResearch Background Shit Flowers transforms the gallery into a digestive theatre that interrogates care, survival, and symbolic transformation through installation and live performance. Drawing on a sustained engagement with modernist spatial language and occult aesthetics, the work centres on the zinnia flower grown aboard the International Space Station in 2016—the first to bloom in zero gravity. The plant initially failed under strict scientific protocols but thrived when astronaut Scott Kelly shifted from control to intuitive attentiveness. This historical moment becomes a lens through which the installation examines how beauty and meaning persist under conditions of containment, pressure, and potential collapse, treating care not as sentiment but as resistance. Research Contribution This research advances understanding of how intimate, relational practices can function as forms of quiet defiance within institutional frameworks. The installation creates a sealed ecosystem where sculptural arrangements—grey objects topped with selfie lights, ghosted with plastic bags—form spectral blooms within a ceremonial logic that oscillates between séance, shrine, and schoolyard provocation. Through the integration of live performance by Dwyer's daughter Olive during openings and public programs, the work introduces shifting human presence that destabilizes symbolic reading, making intimacy itself infrastructural. The viscous substance smeared across windows literalizes the permeable boundary between inside and outside, waste and renewal, proposing metabolic cycles that refuse linear narratives of disposal or resolution. Research Significance Shit Flowers contributes critical methodologies for engaging with apocalyptic imagination beyond shock or moralisation. By positioning the absurd theatre of space exploration as mirror for terrestrial ritual and improvised meaning-making, the work reveals the erotics embedded in end-times fantasies while insisting on survival strategies rooted in attentiveness rather than control. The suspended question "is it shit?" operates not as provocation but as atmospheric condition, allowing the gallery to function as psychic and social gateway where everyday materials access the unseen. This research demonstrates how theatrical intimacy and playful ambiguity can metabolise cultural anxieties around collapse, offering alternatives to both surrender and rigid insistence in an era defined by environmental and existential precarity.</p
Social Equity Research Centre: Stories of Change
No full textStories of Change is an impact booklet from RMIT University's Social Equity Research Centre. It showcases the breadth of our research through “Hearts and Minds” projects that reflect our values of inclusion, justice, and community connection. Each story highlights how evidence and lived experience come together to shape policy, practice, and everyday lives — from supporting youth experiencing housing insecurity to advancing disability-led creative practice, improving dementia care, and influencing global peace operations. This booklet captures how research can touch hearts, shift minds, and transform systems for a more equitable world.</p
Extended Zero-Gradient-Sum Approach for Constrained Distributed Optimization With Free Initialization
No full textThis article proposes an extended zero-gradient-sum (EZGS) approach for solving constrained distributed optimization with free initialization and desired convergence properties. A Newton-based continuous-time algorithm is first designed for general constrained optimization, which is adapted to handle inequality constraints by using log-barrier penalty functions. Then, a general class of EZGS dynamics is developed to address equation-constrained distributed optimization, where an auxiliary dynamics is introduced to ensure the final ZGS property from any initialization. It is demonstrated that for typical consensus protocols and auxiliary dynamics, the proposed EZGS dynamics can achieve the performance with exponential/finite/fixed/prescribed-time (PT) convergence. Particularly, the nonlinear consensus protocols for finite-time EZGS algorithms allow for heterogeneous power coefficients. Significantly, the proposed PT EZGS dynamics is continuous, uniformly bounded, and capable of reaching the optimal solution in a single stage. Furthermore, the barrier method is employed to handle the inequality constraints effectively. Finally, the efficiency and performance of the proposed algorithms are validated through numerical examples, highlighting their superiority over existing methods. In particular, by selecting appropriate protocols, the proposed EZGS dynamics can achieve desired convergence performance.</p
Novel comparison of CellaVision DC-1 and microscopic assessment of blood film morphology in paediatrics
No full textBackground The aim of this study was to evaluate the blood film assessment of CellaVision DC-1 compared to conventional microscopy in stained peripheral blood (PB) films from paediatric samples. Methods Blood films (n = 50) including clinically normal samples as well as common pathological conditions, were collected and examined by conventional microscopy and CellaVision DC-1. Manual microscopy counts vs. automated WBC differentiation and RBC grading via Cellavision, including manual re-classification, were compared to expert morphologist reporting. Using statistical analysis, the following metrics were measured including sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV). Results The reliability of RBC grading ranged between 60-100% sensitivity and 55-74% specificity for CellaVision method compared to 78-93% sensitivity with manual microscopy, demonstrating the latter as the superior method. Additionally, DC-1 misclassified the presence of blasts for lymphocytes, with 67% compared to 100% specificity with the gold standard microscopy. Both pre- and post-classification, re-classifications, and manual microscopy showed strong correlations of WBC differential counts with expert/known readings, mainly for neutrophils and lymphocytes ( 0.60-0.85). In terms of time, CellaVision took 1 min longer to scan and assess each slide than did light microscopy, which could affect timely diagnosis and treatment decisions. Conclusion The use of CellaVision DC-1 may be beneficial to diagnostic laboratories in the adult setting; however, further research should focus on enhancing automated analysis when assessing paediatric samples that demand human intellect and critical thinking. Medical Scientist training and software development are recommended. Manual microscopy is faster and more accurate. Slide signing and DC-1 classifications of unclassified WBCs need scientist intervention.</p
Dwell-time effect on controllability of linear network systems with periodically switching topology
No full textControllability of linear network systems (LNS) is an important topic in control theory and engineering. Especially, for LNS with periodically switching topology (LNS-PST), the effect of dwell time on system controllability is an important problem though not fully studied in the existing literature. To solve this problem, this paper establishes the controllability conditions for LNS-PST and studies the effect of dwell-time on the controllability. Initially, a necessary and sufficient criterion to judge whether the dwell time of each subsystem can affect the m-periodic controllability is obtained by using the algebraic and geometric knowledge of matrix. Next, we further establish several controllability criteria under which the controllability will not be affected by the change of dwell time. Finally, three numerical examples are presented to confirm the theoretical results.</p
Aerogel-based oil sorbents derived from pomelo (Citrus grandis L.) peels as potential gel matrices for food applications: Formation, properties and in-vitro oral processing
No full textThis study demonstrates the transformation of pomelo peel (PP) into aerogel templates for efficient rice bran oil absorption, producing effective oil sorbents. PP powder (5–10% w/w) of 125 and 250 μm particle sizes was emulsified with water, treated hydrothermally at 95 °C for 2 h, and freeze-dried to form aerogels. Upon immersion in oil, these templates formed gel-like sorbents. Aerogels with higher PP content exhibited an increase in density (from 26.65 to 77.75 mg/cm³), porosity (from 90.54% to 96.51%), and hardness (from 14.27 to 169.76 N), while cohesiveness decreased (from 40.00% to 21.59%) due to particle-to-particle interactions. The 250 μm PP-based aerogels with 5%–7% PP content demonstrated superior oil-holding capacity compared to the 125 μm ones; however, this capacity decreased as PP content increased from 8% to 10%. Microstructural analysis revealed a mix of mesopores and micropores, with mesopores dominating at lower PP concentrations. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis confirmed chemical changes post-treatment, yet no new peaks emerged after oil sorption, indicating a mainly physical process. Sorbents with lower PP content (5–6%) exhibited greater cohesiveness, increasing from 27.01% to 40.00%, due to particle-to-oil interaction, making them more suitable for food applications, as they broke down fully during in-vitro oral processing. Higher PP content (8%–10%) resulted in a high friction coefficient, rendering it unsuitable as a fat replacer. In contrast, sorbents with lower PP content sorbents (5%–7%) exhibited a decrease in lubrication as PP content increased, as indicated by measurements of oil release, droplet size, tribology, bolus fragmentation, and viscosity. This method offers potential for fat replacers and functional food ingredients.</p
A critical review of methodological aspects influencing life cycle assessment results of food waste reduction strategies
No full textFood waste (FW) is a global challenge with severe environmental, social, and economic consequences, demanding immediate and effective reduction strategies. FW prevention, redistribution, reuse for animals, and valorisation are promising strategies to reduce FW generation. Life cycle assessment (LCA) serves as a key decision-support tool for identifying environmentally optimal FW reduction strategies; however, such studies exhibit significant variation in methodological approaches. Currently, there is a lack of studies that systematically review methodological aspects and their influence on LCA results. While many studies focus on one or a few methodological aspects, few have provided a holistic assessment that spans multiple FW reduction strategies. This study aims to fill that knowledge gap by reviewing methodological aspects that influence the results of FW reduction LCAs, with a focus on climate change impact, by analysing 101 articles from scholarly and grey literature published between 2012 and 2024. One hundred and six FW reduction strategies were recorded, 72 % of the strategies focused on FW prevention and valorisation. The bibliographic analysis indicates that Europe leads in the application of LCAs for FW reduction strategies. Most studies have focused on FW generated from the processing, retail, and household stages of the food supply chain. The meta-analysis indicates that decisions made during the goal and scope definition and life cycle inventory phases have a significant influence on the LCA results. Key aspects in the goal and scope definition phase include the selection of functional unit(s) and activities included within the system boundary, particularly the transportation of FW, avoided products in attributional LCA models, and consumer behaviour and implementation measures for FW prevention. In the life cycle inventory phase, the choice of the LCA model, the upstream and downstream allocation methods, and the composition of FW are critical. Despite the study's limitations, this study provides recommendations to improve the consistency, comparability, and reliability of LCAs focused on FW reduction strategies. Future research can extend this analysis to other impact categories, such as land use, water use, and biodiversity, through quantitative meta-analysis as more data become available.</p
Gaps in Human Behaviour in Fires Research: A Scoping Review
No full textWhen developing a research roadmap for human behaviour in fires, it is necessary to identify areas that require additional research. A general overview – from a multidisciplinary perspective – of gaps in human behaviour in fires research across multiple contexts is missing. The goal of this paper was to perform a scoping review to identify research gaps and themes in all aspects of human behaviour in fires across contexts. This scoping review included 17 articles. In total, 37 research gaps and 11 research themes for the built environment and community context were identified. The main research gaps are related to cognitive factors, behavioural responses, environmental factors and physical/physiological factors. Also, for all research themes, additional research involving heterogenous populations is required. Furthermore, there is an imbalance in human behaviour in fires studies: most articles were focused on the built environment rather than the community context. Finally, the topic of intoxication has received limited research attention, and data collection methods lack diversity. Future research should not only be done from a multidisciplinary perspective but also interdisciplinary research efforts are required. The availability of more data and knowledge on human behaviour and responses in fires could be beneficial to simulation model developers/users, the general public and fire safety managers.</p