50716 research outputs found
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Facilitating an Immersive Performance Environment in Virtual Production
No full textIn recent years, there has been a significant surge in the support and adoption of virtual production within the entertainment industry. This innovative production technique has transformed the landscape of film, television, games, and media creation. Despite its growing popularity, virtual production still poses challenges for actors, particularly in terms of their perception and understanding of the virtual world during a performance. This has been an ongoing topic of concern among professional actors, who have attributed their limited perception to the intrusiveness of the systems used in virtual production as well as the lack of stimuli during a performance. Consequently, actors often find themselves responsible for overcoming these limitations to meet the requirements of the technological systems found in virtual productions. This study aims to rectify this gap by expanding on the existing Immersive Performance Environment Framework to incorporate Social Immersion as a fundamental dimension of an actor’s experience during their performance in a virtual production. In addition, minor refinements have been made to bolster the framework’s conceptual clarity and overall effectiveness. Through the integration of Social Immersion and subtle adjustments for clarity, this research broadens the framework’s scope. As a result, the expanded framework further facilitates the identification and enhancement of an actor’s immersion levels within virtual production settings, which can help mitigate the perceptual limitations encountered during their performances
Does walking for transport contribute to the longitudinal association between neighbourhood walkability and body mass index among mid-to older-aged Australian adults?
No full textIntroduction: Studies examining the associations between neighbourhood walkability and adult body weight, as well as the potential mediating role of walking for transport (WfT), are mainly cross-sectional, and longitudinal evidence is lacking. This study investigated the longitudinal association between walkability and body mass index (BMI) and assessed the contribution of WfT to this association. Methods: Data from the HABITAT multilevel longitudinal (2007–16) study of 11,035 middle-aged adult residents of 200 neighbourhoods in Brisbane, Australia, were used. Neighbourhood walkability within a 1 km network buffer around residents’ homes was objectively measured using land use mix, street connectivity, and residential density, and BMI was measured using self-reported height and weight. At each wave (2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2016), respondents estimated the duration (minutes) of WfT in the previous 7 days, which was modelled as both a binary and continuous measure. Mixed-effects regression models were used to examine whether any WfT (yes/no) contributed to the association between walkability and BMI, and generalised structural equation modelling was used to estimate the mediating effect of minutes WfT on this relationship. The models were adjusted for age, sex, education, occupation, household income, neighbourhood disadvantage, survey year, and residential self-selection. Results: Living in a walkable neighbourhood was significantly associated with greater odds of engaging in any WfT and more minutes of walking, and each measure of walking was associated with a lower BMI. Any WfT made no apparent contribution to the association between walkability and BMI, whereas minutes spent walking explained approximately 7.8 % of this relationship. Conclusions: Walkable neighbourhoods may help reduce BMI at the population and individual levels by promoting WfT. Creating walkable communities to support WfT holds the potential for maintaining a healthy body weight and preventing the onset of weight-related chronic conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.</p
Developing physical Activity and Sedentary behaviour thresholds for the Secondary prevention of Heart disease (DASSH):a cohort mortality survival tree analysis
No full textBackground: The dose–response relationship between physical activity and sedentary behaviour (SB) with mortality in people with coronary heart disease (CHD) is unclear. The aim was to identify moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and SB thresholds for mortality risk. Methods: This prospective cohort study comprised Australian participants aged ≥ 45 years with self-reported CHD (2006–2020). Self-reported MVPA (min/wk) and SB (hr/day) were the exposures. Cardiac and all-cause mortality were the main outcomes. Survival regression trees identified MVPA and SB thresholds influencing mortality survival rate. Cox regression models and the C-statistic were used to examine the thresholds, comparing them to public health guidelines. Results: The cohort included 40,156 participants (mean (SD) age, 70.3(10.3) years; 15,278 females (38%)). During a median follow-up of 11.1 (IQR,6.2–14.4) years, 2,497 cardiac and 12,240 all-cause deaths were recorded. The threshold for MVPA and all-cause and cardiac mortality was ≥ 146 min/wk and ≥ 96 min/wk, respectively. For SB, the threshold for mortality was < 5–6 h/day. Sex-specific differences in thresholds for MVPA and SB were found. All MVPA and SB thresholds had equivalent associated risk reductions and predictive abilities for cardiac and all-cause mortality to the public health guidelines. Conclusion: The newly identified thresholds suggest that the public health physical activity guidelines are suitable for reducing risks of all-cause mortality in people with CHD. For reducing risks of cardiac mortality, the threshold is suggested to be much lower. The SB suggested thresholds for reducing risks of mortality are 5–6 h/day. Further research is required to explore these thresholds and sex-specific differences.</p
Impact of employees’ self-related constructs on job satisfaction and perspective-taking intention: Customer incivility as a moderator
No full textUsing self-determination theory, this study investigated the impact of employees’ self-related constructs (i.e., self-esteem, self-efficacy, and work ethics) on their perspective-taking intention in the workplace, using customer incivility as a moderator. The partial least squares method was used to analyze data collected in a survey of 412 employees from diverse industries in Australia. Findings showed the strong impact of self-esteem, self-efficacy, and work ethics on job satisfaction and perspective-taking intention. Customer incivility was found to be a significant moderator of the relationships of self-esteem with self-efficacy and with work ethics, but not of the self-esteem—employee job satisfaction link. Thus, employees with a higher internal locus of control, when exposed to emotional turmoil as a consequence of customer incivility, were found to have a greater level of control
NeuroSafeDrive:An Intelligent System Using fNIRS for Driver Distraction Recognition
No full textDriver distraction remains a critical factor in road accidents, necessitating intelligent systems for real-time detection. This study introduces a novel fNIRS-based method to to classify varying levels of driver distraction across diverse simulated scenarios, including cognitive, visual–manual, and auditory sources of inattention. Unlike previous work, we evaluated multiple neurophysiological metrics—including oxygenated, deoxygenated, and combined haemoglobin—to identify the most reliable biomarker for distraction detection. Neurophysiological data were collected, and three multi-class classifiers (SVM, KNN, decision tree) were applied across different fNIRS metrics. Our results show that oxygenated haemoglobin outperforms other signals in distinguishing distracted from non-distracted states, while the combined signal performs best in differentiating distraction from baseline. The proposed SVM model achieved ≈ 77.9% accuracy in detecting distracted and relaxed driving states based on brain oxygen levels. Our findings also show that increased distraction correlates with elevated activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and premotor cortex, whereas driving without distraction exhibits lower neurovascular engagement. This study contributes to affective computing and intelligent transportation systems and could support the development of future driver distraction monitoring systems for safer and more adaptive vehicle control.</p
GLOBal river SALiniTy and associated ions (GlobSalt)
No full textFreshwater salinization (FS) is a threat to freshwater ecosystems, but its impact remains relativelypoorly understood compared to other stressors (e.g. nutrient pollution), with some regions (e.g.Asia, Africa) remaining poorly explored. To assess how pervasive this issue is globally and identifysalinization hotspots, we compiled global data on river salinity and associated ions. We retrievedinformation from different sources, harmonized it and merged it with HydroATLAS watersheds. Ourglobal data set (GlobSalt) features 13 parameters, including electrical conductivity (EC), major ions,and nutrients. GlobSalt contains approximately fifteen million records on a monthly scale for riverstations from 1980 to 2023 from all continents except Antarctica. The global median EC was 509 ± 205μS cm−1, with 60% of rivers falling in the range of 50 to 500 μS cm−1, which is within the salinity niche of most freshwater organisms. We found a large spatial variability in EC, with some regions such asthe Mediterranean, the Midwest of the US, arid regions of Argentina and Chile and SouthwesternAustralia having high mean salinity values. Temporally, EC was fairly stable. GlobSalt represents acritical resource for improving our understanding of FS dynamics, identifying regions at high risk and informing management strategies
Environmental Sustainability of Advanced Structures:A Descriptive and Thematic Analysis
No full textThis systematic review explores how environmental sustainability is addressedin advanced structural systems that utilize innovative materials and technologies such as lightweight designs, adaptive mechanisms, and energy-efficient components. Despite their growing adoption, significant gaps persist across the design–construction–operation continuum, particularly concerning embodied carbon, energy efficiency, material performance, and long-term durability. A total of 61 peer-reviewed studies published between 2013 and 2025 were identified from Scopus and Google Scholar using the PRISMA methodology. The review employed a dual-method approach: a descriptive analysis to examine literature outlets,publication trends, and the frequency of advanced structural topics such as lightweight systems, long-span designs, form and aesthetics, and structural safety, and a thematic analysis using NVivo 14 software, which identified ten key environmental sustainability themes—carbon emissions, thermal performance, energy efficiency, construction waste, life cycle assessment, green certifications, material use, air quality, site and land use, and green environment. While research interest is expanding, limited studies offer comprehensive assessments of Tensile Membrane Structures (TMSs) or Long Span Structures (LSSs), with key challenges including inadequate material optimization and performance under extremeconditions. This review contributes a novel synthesis of existing knowledge by combining a PRISMA-guided selection, descriptive trend analysis, and thematic coding to identify critical gaps and emerging directions, offering a structured foundation for future research and practical strategies in designing environmentally sustainable advanced structures
Master of Nursing Students’ (MNS) Experiences With Online Learning During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study in an Australian University
No full textAim: To explore and collectively describe Master of Nursing Students’ (MNS) experiences with online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.Background: While undergraduate nursing students experiences with online learning are well-reported, there remains a lacuna in the literature about MNS experiences.Design: Descriptive, qualitative study guided by phenomenological approach.Methods: MNS participants were purposively recruited (n = 12) during the first and second semester of 2020-2021 academic year in an Australian university. We conducted five virtual, semistructured interviews and two focus group discussions. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were thematically analysed and validated via correspondence.Results: We identified five key themes: (1) “Kind of lost”: Unprepared for online learning, (2) “Out of control”: Longing for normality, (3) “I ended up enjoying it”: Adapting to online learning, (4) Opportunities to build connections, and (5) “Making it meaningful”: Connecting student with content.Conclusion: While initially felt unprepared and experienced challenges, participants adapted to the new online learning approach over time by gaining new digital literacy skills and self-regulated study habits
