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Youth's Experience of Mindful Parenting: Associations With Dispositional and Interpersonal Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, and Ways of Coping With Academic and Social Stress
Get PDFINTRODUCTION: Mindful parenting is associated with youth's better psychological adjustment, suggesting it could also relate to the ways youth cope with stress. This study investigated how youth's experience of their parents' mindful parenting (or their perceived mindful parenting) related to their ways of coping with academic and social stressors directly, while also estimating indirect associations via three interlinked skills of dispositional mindfulness, interpersonal mindfulness, and self-compassion. METHODS: Australian university students (N = 636; aged 16-21 years) completed a survey to report their perceived mindful parenting, and their own dispositional and interpersonal mindfulness, self-compassion, perceived stress, and intentions to use adaptive and maladaptive ways of coping in response to four hypothetical stressful events (2 × academic and 2 × social). RESULTS: Perceived mindful parenting was directly associated with more adaptive and less maladaptive coping intentions across both stressor domains. Further, mindful parenting was indirectly positively associated with adaptive coping through self-compassion and interpersonal mindfulness, and indirectly negatively associated with maladaptive coping through dispositional mindfulness. Self-compassion facilitated the negative link between mindful parenting and maladaptive coping with social, but not academic, stressors. CONCLUSIONS: Youth who perceive more mindful parenting are more mindful and self-compassionate, with these skills in turn playing unique roles in more adaptive (and less maladaptive) coping intentions. These findings could be applied to design support programs for students, helping them to understand and practice personal mindfulness and self-compassion in response to a range of stressors, with a special focus also placed on upskilling youth in interpersonal mindfulness.Full Tex
Phase Locking of 40 Hz Auditory Steady State Responses Is Modulated by Sensory Predictability and Linked to Cerebellar Myelination
Get PDF40 Hz auditory steady-state responses (ASSR) can be evoked by brief auditory clicks delivered at 40 Hz. While the neuropharmacology behind the generation of ASSR is well examined, the link between ASSR and microstructural properties of the brain is unclear. Further, whether the 40 Hz ASSR can be manipulated through processes involving top-down control, such as prediction, is currently unknown. We recorded EEG in 50 neurotypical participants while they engaged in a 40 Hz auditory steady-state paradigm. We manipulated the predictability of the stimuli to test the modulatory effect of prediction on 40 Hz steady-state responses. Further, we acquired T1w and T2w structural MRI on the same individuals and used the T1/T2 ratio as a proxy to determine myelination content in gray matter. The phase locking of the 40 Hz ASSR was indeed modulated by prediction, suggesting that prediction violation directly affects phase locking to the 40 Hz ASSR. We found that the prediction violation of the phase locking at 40 Hz (gamma) was associated with the degree of gray matter myelination in the right cerebellum, such that greater myelin led to less desynchronization induced by prediction violations. We demonstrate that prediction violations modulate steady-state activity at 40 Hz and suggest that the efficiency of this process is promoted by greater cerebellar myelin. Our findings provide a structural-functional relationship for myelin and phase locking of auditory oscillatory activity. These results introduce a framework for investigating the interaction of predictive processes and ASSR in disorders where these processes are impaired, such as in psychosis.Full Tex
Adversarial Contrastive Graph Masked AutoEncoder Against Graph Structure and Feature Dual Attacks
No full textGraph Neural Networks (GNNs) have been shown vulnerable to graph adversarial attacks. Current robust graph representation learning methods mainly defend against graph structure attack, and improves performance of GNNs. However node feature in graph can been easily attacked in reality. The joint defense on graph structure and feature dual attacks remains challenging yet less studied. To fulfill this gap, we propose Adversarial Contrastive Graph Masked AutoEncoder (ACGMAE) to defend against graph structure and feature dual attacks. ACGMAE employs adversarial feature masking for reconstructing node feature to mitigate the influence of feature attack. ACGMAE employs contrastive learning on kNN graph and attacked graph, considers neighbor nodes as positive samples, and further calculates their probabilities being true positive to mitigate the effect of adversarial edges. Extensive experiments on node classification and clustering demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed ACGMAE especially under graph structure and feature dual attacks.No Full Tex
Boost UAV-based Object Detection via Scale-Invariant Feature Disentanglement and Adversarial Learning
No full textDetecting objects from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) is often hindered by a large number of small objects, resulting in low detection accuracy. To address this issue, mainstream approaches typically utilize multi-stage inferences. Despite their remarkable detecting accuracies, real-time efficiency is sacrificed, making them less practical to handle real applications. To this end, we propose to improve the single-stage inference accuracy through learning scale-invariant features. Specifically, a Scale-Invariant Feature Disentangling module is designed to disentangle scale-related and scale-invariant features. Then an Adversarial Feature Learning scheme is employed to enhance disentanglement. Finally, scale-invariant features are leveraged for robust UAV-based object detection. Furthermore, we construct a multi-modal UAV object detection dataset, State-Air, which incorporates annotated UAV state parameters. We apply our approach to three lightweight detection frameworks on two benchmark datasets. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our approach can effectively improve model accuracy and achieve state-of-the-art (SoTA) performance on three datasets. Our code and dataset are publicly available at https://github.com/1e12Leon/SIFDAL.Full Tex
Evaluation of Australian offshore wind and wave energy resources for joint exploitation
Get PDFThe diminishing supply of fossil fuels and the critical need for environmental protection have increased the emphasis on renewable energy sources to achieve clean energy. Offshore wind and wave energy resources offer significant potential and consistent availability. This study explores the joint exploitability of these energy resources in the Australian offshore region using a two-stage framework. The first stage identifies hotspots based on energy resources potential, variability, cross-correlation, and their complementarity by providing a heatmap using over four decades of re-analysis and hindcast data. The second stage ranks the selected hotspots by assessing extreme weather conditions and site accessibility for operations and maintenance. The study identifies ten optimal sites, on the western and southern coasts of Australia, with high energy potential, low cross-correlation, low variability, high complementarity, and acceptable accessibility. Finally, the performance of four combinations of offshore wind turbines (OWTs) and wave energy converters (WECs) was analyzed at these hotspots. The results showed that the SWT-Wave Star combination generally outperforms others, while SWT-Wave Dragon is optimal in some cases. These combinations offer higher annual energy production, capacity factor, and manageable power variability, making them ideal for maximizing energy production and operational stability.Full Tex
The quest for sustainable mosques: A paradigm shift with the quadruple bottom line framework
Get PDFThere are over 3.6 million mosques worldwide, and the Muslim population is projected to reach 2.76 billion by 2050. However, significant gaps persist in understanding how mosques contribute to sustainable development and how this benefits the mosque as an organization.
This study investigates the sustainability performance of mosques, which are faith-based organizations, using the Quadruple Bottom Line (QBL) framework: Prosperity, People, Planet, and Prophet. By employing surveys of mosque attendees (n = 719) and managers (n = 97) in Indonesia, this research analyzes the mosques’ QBL performance through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and evaluates their sustainability scores in Jakarta, Indonesia, using the RDAP model.
The results reveal a significant impact from all four dimensions of the 4P framework on sustainability. The "People" dimension has demonstrated the lowest performance. Furthermore, 32 % of mosques exhibit reactive or defensive behaviors, indicating a lack of proactive sustainability initiatives. This research contributes to the development of the QBL framework within the context of non-profit and faith-based organizations. From a practical perspective, it offers valuable insights for mosque managers to identify areas for improvement and align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Additionally, these insights can help mosque managers and policymakers craft strategies to enhance mosque sustainability.Full Tex
Health Care Workers' Perceptions of Hospital Disaster Planning and Preparedness for Building Resilient Healthcare Systems
Get PDFObjective
This study aimed to examine health care workers’ (HCWs) perceptions of hospital disaster planning and preparedness within the context of building resilient health care systems. It also evaluated HCWs’ involvement in the planning process.
Methods
Thirteen HCWs from 2 Queensland hospitals participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews. These interviews were audio-recorded with participant consent and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts, recordings, and participant details were coded for confidentiality. Thematic analysis was used to identify essential patterns in the data and make sense of them.
Results
HCWs’ perspectives on disaster planning underscored the importance of comprehensive planning, business continuity, proactive approaches emphasizing anticipation and risk mitigation, and implementation of established plans through training, resource management, and operational readiness. HCWs’ participation in planning ranged from high engagement through collaboration and continuous improvement to moderate or lower levels focusing on regulatory compliance and resource allocation.
Conclusions
This study highlights HCWs’ views regarding disaster planning and preparedness for building resilient health care systems. HCWs emphasised comprehensive planning and proactive preparedness, aligning with global priorities for disaster risk reduction. They stress the importance of education, training, operational readiness, and continuous improvement. This study underlines the vital role of HCWs’ participation in disaster planning and the need for comprehensive training initiatives.Full Tex
Not Just a Storm in a Tea Cup: Reframing ‘Home’ Through Socially Engaged Circus Work With Survivors of Domestic Violence
No full textThis chapter discusses the work of Vulcana Circus, a feminist community circus in Brisbane, Australia. Drawing primarily on interviews, I reflect on Vulcana’s most recent community project, Circus in a Tea Cup (2021), which brought together women from the Vulcana community and survivors of gender-based and domestic violence to create stories of survival through circus and physical storytelling. In doing so, I engage with the concept of ‘home’ as a contested category in the context of domestic violence, especially within the field of feminist geographies. For instance, home is seen as a site of dominance and resistance, where hegemonic ideologies of home need to be challenged through alternative interpretations. I thus consider how the circus work reframed the images of home by creating an undomesticated ground upon which the female body could resist and trouble the notion of the docile body produced through domestic violence. By focusing on the experiences of the women involved, I also propose how home can be re-imagined through the landscapes of relationality that are developed as part of creating performance work together.No Full Tex
Understanding Dynamic Molecular Responses Is Key to Designing Environmental Stress Experiments: A Review of Gene and Protein Expression in Cnidaria Under Stress
Get PDFGene and protein expression analyses are powerful tools to investigate the responses of cnidarians to stress, providing information on both genetic and functional variation and capturing dynamic shifts in organismal physiology. As the use of high throughput sequencing to understand responses of cnidarians to stressors is still relatively new, standard experimental protocols have not yet been established, which limits the ability to compare studies. We (1) systematically reviewed the literature of cnidarian gene and protein expression studies related to environmental stressors to determine how the laboratory experiments were designed and (2) investigated the consistency in responses of genes commonly used as biomarkers within stress experiments conducted on the five most-studied cnidarian genera. Duration of exposure to the stressor, acclimation period and intensity of stress varied greatly among experiments, and most studies did not sample during acclimation and recovery. Before designing experiments that aim to characterise molecular responses to a specific environmental stress, research efforts need to focus on understanding the plasticity of whole transcriptome responses, as gene expression can vary under different stress intensities and durations of exposure. Additionally, only seven genes that were tested in at least two different genera showed a consistent response under heat stress (CuZn-SOD, c-type lectin, FGFR1, MMP, Zn-MP, NF-κB and SLC26). These genes have the potential to standardise evaluations of temperature stress across experiments on cnidarians, and we suggest exploring their use as general cnidarian biomarkers of temperature stress (cBATS).Full Tex
A contingency-coping framework for tourism decision-making strategies under adverse weather
Get PDFWeather adversity poses a considerable stressor for tourists, shaping their coping strategies and the responses of tourism companies. However, the full extent of this impact remains underexplored. This paper investigates the effects of adverse weather on the tourism sector, with a focus on the adaptive strategies employed by both businesses and tourists. Using a social constructivist approach, we analyse interviews with tourism business representatives and tourists’ written narratives through the theoretical lenses of coping and contingency theory. The findings offer a theory-driven integration that captures the nuanced effects of weather on tourism, providing empirical support for the contingency-coping framework.Full Tex