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Family experiences in the context of methamphetamine use: a narrative systematic review by family role
No full textIntroduction: There is growing interest in how a loved one’s methamphetamine use can contribute to family members’ diminished emotional and social well-being. However, previous reviews explore broader substance use, rather than methamphetamine specifically, and rarely distinguish findings by family role. We synthesized the literature describing the experiences of family members of people who use methamphetamine according to family role. Methods: We searched databases for peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2000 and 2023. Data on family relationships and functioning, family members’ well-being, and sources of support from the perspective of family members were narratively synthesized. Results: Eighteen qualitative (k = 9), quantitative (k = 4) and mixed-methods (k = 5) studies were included. Children (k = 7), all minors involved with protective services, described turbulent and often violent home lives. Social support, especially from grandparents, helped children cope. Parents (k = 2) expressed concerns for children’s safety, financial issues, and uncertainty in addressing the methamphetamine use. Data on partners (k = 2) focused on intimate partner violence or women seeking advice on supporting male partners. One sibling described distancing themselves from their family. The perspectives of other family members were absent from the literature. Discussion: We synthesized the distinct experiences of family members of people who use methamphetamine from various roles. We found widespread disruption to family functioning, including perceived relationship loss, violence, unpredictability, and uncertainty, that reduced families’ emotional well-being. A deeper understanding of the perspectives of other family members, including siblings and children outside of protective services, is required to develop appropriately tailored supports for families of people who use methamphetamine.No Full Tex
Collective autonomy of small-scale farmers and the shared responsibility of transitions to fairer and more just food systems
Full text linkSmall-scale farmers provide essential contributions to society through reciprocal connections to the land and knowledge of sustainable food production, local ecologies, and communities, yet face significant unfair and unjust conditions in existing unsustainable and industrial food systems. Asking 1) How do small-scale farmers lived experiences influence their participation in societal transitions to sustainable food systems and contributions to social and ecological resilience? and 2) How can societal transitions to sustainable food systems be fair and just for small-scale farmers?, we investigated the lived experiences of 24 small-scale farmers across 16 local and ecologically sustainable farms in South-East Queensland and Northern Rivers New South Wales regions of Australia. Demonstrating a largely collective narrative aligning with the growing ‘new peasantry’ movement, these lived experiences reflect participants' environmental and social values, challenges and opportunities, and contributions to the social-ecological resilience to communities. Viewed through the lens of collective autonomy, this research explores how farmers' values, sense of autonomy and empowerment influence their motivations to farm, ability to contribute to social and ecological resilience, cope with challenges, risks and responsibilities, and visions for fairer and more just food systems that value food, land, people and community. Based upon the significant challenges, risks and responsibilities these farmers face, there is need for greater shared responsibility that re-perceives autonomy and participation between individuals, communities, organizations, and governments. These re-perceptions of autonomy and participation via shared responsibility are explored through collective paradigm shifts, Community-Supported Agriculture and Universal Basic Income.Full Tex
Set-Membership Global Estimation for Multi-Sensor Asynchronous Sampling Systems: A Soft Actor–Critic-Based Approach
No full textThis paper investigates a novel set-membership global estimation method for a class of discrete time-varying systems with unknown-but-bounded noises. Firstly, in order to improve the accuracy of the state estimation, a multi-sensor network structure is deployed for the considered system, in which the adjacent sensors can communicate with each other. Considering the different sampling rates of multiple sensors, a resampling strategy is proposed to transform the asynchronous sampling system into a synchronous one. Additionally, the unknown-but-bounded noises and system parameter variations are considered. A novel distributed set-membership filter with parameter variation is designed, and the optimal local state estimation ellipsoid is obtained by developing a convex optimization method. Subsequently, a soft actor-critic algorithm based on reinforcement learning is proposed, which fuses all local estimation ellipsoids from each sensor to obtain global estimation results, providing a solution for the considered system. Finally, a port crane system is employed for performance analysis to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.No Full Tex
A Concept Analysis of the Dynamics of Risk, Midwifery Agency and the Maternity Early Warning Tool
No full textAim: To examine the concept of midwifery agency when using Maternity Early Warning Tools. Design: Concept analysis using Rogers' evolutionary method. Methods: Data were collected from interviews with midwives working in various Australian maternity settings. A subset of the dataset was collected and analysed (2021–2022) to examine how agency functions when midwives use Maternity Early Warning Tools. Results: Three conceptual attributes fundamental to agency were identified: considered judgement, reasoned clinical decision-making, and collaborative action. These attributes reveal how midwives navigate the interface between structured risk management tools and relational, woman-centred care. Conclusions: Maternity Early Warning Tools can either limit or enhance professional agency. When used reflexively, they become artefacts that support learning, communication, and sound clinical judgement. Viewing these tools as enablers rather than enforcers sustains midwifery expertise and strengthens interdisciplinary collaboration. Implications for the Profession and/or Patient: Sustaining midwifery agency protects both professional integrity and the quality of woman-centred care. Impact: What problem did the study address? How the use of Maternity Early Warning Tools influences midwives' agency.No Full Tex
Géographies de rencontres gênantes : moments perturbants pour les femmes dans des espaces de loisirs actifs dans le sud-est du Queensland, Australie
No full textThis article considers how women register, experience and negotiate awkward affects through active leisure practices in spaces of fitness and physical activities. Using a feminist new materialist perspective and geographies of affect, it examines the value of dwelling on moments of awkwardness as an affective register that women experience within the context of their immediate materialities of fitness. Situated on the Gold Coast and Brisbane in Southeast Queensland, Australia, the research draws on the reflexive accounts of movements for active leisure of twenty-first generation migrant women. In doing so, the article explores the geographies of ‘awkward affects’ at the crossroads of new materialist feminist thinking, geographical research, leisure and fitness cultures, to demonstrate the value of approaching awkwardness as neither positive nor negative affect. This article makes a novel theorisation of awkwardness as an ambivalent affect within the context of active leisure and fitness among migrant women in Australia.
Cet article considère comment les femmes réalisent, éprouvent et négocient des affects gênants à travers les pratiques de loisirs actifs dans des espaces de conditionnement et d’activités physiques. En adoptant une perspective du néo-matérialisme féministe et des géographies des affects, il examine la valeur de réflexion sur les moments de malaise comme un registre affectif qu’éprouvent les femmes dans le contexte de leurs matérialités immédiates de conditionnement physique. Effectuées à la Gold Coast et à Brisbane dans le sud-est du Queensland, Australie, les recherches s’appuient sur des comptes réflexifs des mouvements de femmes migrantes du vingt-et-unième siècle vers des loisirs actifs. Cela faisant, l’article explore les géographies des « affects gênants » au carrefour entre la pensée du néo-matérialisme féministe, la recherche géographique, les cultures des loisirs et du conditionnement physique, pour démontrer la valeur de penser le malaise comme un affect ni positif ni négatif.
Este artículo analiza cómo las mujeres registran, experimentan y gestionan los afectos incómodos a través de prácticas de ocio activo en espacios de fitness y actividades físicas. Desde una perspectiva feminista neomaterialista y geografías del afecto, examina el valor de insistir en los momentos de incomodidad como un registro afectivo que las mujeres experimentan en el contexto de sus materialidades inmediatas de fitness. Situada en Gold Coast y Brisbane, en el sudeste de Queensland, Australia, la investigación se basa en los relatos reflexivos de los movimientos de ocio activo de mujeres migrantes de la primera generación. De este modo, el artículo explora las geografías de los “afectos incómodos” en la intersección del pensamiento feminista neomaterialista, la investigación geográfica y las culturas del ocio y el fitness, para demostrar el valor de abordar la incomodidad como un afecto ni positivo ni negativo.No Full Tex
Environmental Features and Trajectories of Physical Activity Over 10 Years in Mid-Age Australian Adults
No full textBackground: Our aim was to determine adult’s trajectories of meeting 150 minutes per week of physical activity (PA) and assess associations between environmental features (and changes in these) with trajectory membership. Methods: We used data from the How Areas in Brisbane Influence HealTh and AcTivity (HABITAT) cohort study, Australia. Data on PA were assessed in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2016 among individuals aged 45–60 years. At each survey, data on length of bike paths, area of parks, residential density, street connectivity, land use mix, and number of street lights were measured. PA trajectories were determined using group-based trajectory modeling. Group differences were analyzed based on median and interquartile range (IQR) of environmental features and associations were assessed through multinomial logistic regression. Results: We identified 4 trajectories of meeting PA guidelines: low (14.4%), decreasing (13.7%), increasing (30.4%), and high (41.5%). Median (IQR) values of environmental features were very similar among trajectory groups (P > .05) with relatively little change between initial (2007) and final (2016) timepoints. Associations with trajectory membership were observed for bike path length among participants in the mid-tertile of the low trajectory group compared with the high trajectory (odds ratio [OR] = 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.36–0.84); and for street connectivity in the low (OR = 0.67; 95% CI, 0.51–0.87), and increasing trajectory groups (OR = 0.76; 95% CI, 0.61–0.94). Conclusion: In the context of this “livable city,” environmental features did not thoroughly predict patterns of PA among mid-age adults. Environmental predictors of PA deserve further attention, especially in low-income and middle-income countries, as active friendly environments have important connotations for various types of PA.No Full Tex
Feasibility of fly ash-based geopolymer as a sustainable alternative to cement in concrete production
No full textThis study evaluates the potential of superhydrophobic fly ash-based geopolymers as sustainable substitutes for cement in concrete production. Three fabrication methods using PFDS, CS, and WFNS, were compared for their effects on physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of cement specimens. FA-PFDS and FA-WFNS demonstrated significant superhydrophobicity, attributed to surface modification with low-energy groups, as confirmed by wettability tests. Water absorption and compressive strength assessments revealed that modified FA, particularly FA-PFDS and FA-WFNS, exhibited enhanced water resistance and mechanical performance compared to unmodified FA. In contrast, FA-CS did not effectively decrease water absorption and adversely affected compressive strength. Microstructural analysis via XRD and FTIR supported these findings. Notably, cement specimens containing 40 % FA-PFDS and FA-WFNS achieved compressive strengths of 16.3 MPa and 15.1 MPa, respectively, surpassing those with 40 % unmodified FA (12.6 MPa). These results indicate that modified FA-based geopolymers offer a promising, durable, and sustainable alternative to conventional cement.No Full Tex
DPBPRMF: A rigorous differential privacy scheme with Bayesian personalized ranking for implicit recommendation
No full textThe large-scale and sensitive data collection and processing in recommender systems (RSs) cause privacy issues to take a prior stage. Approaches have employed differential privacy (DP) in matrix factorization (MF) models, which play a core role in privacy-protected RSs. However, these existing methods are not well-suited for implicit feedback data. Moreover, quantitatively analyzing the sensitivity of DP under the implicit context is challenging, and the difficulty in determining the upper bound may lead to waste of the privacy budget. Thus, we propose DPBPRMF, a rigorous and implicit differential privacy MF recommendation algorithm. It leverages the Bayesian personalized ranking (BPR) and sampling techniques to enhance the efficiency of implicit data utilization. To our knowledge, the privacy loss calculation is the first meticulous analysis of the BPR-MF framework. We further present a gradient perturbation strategy to achieve ϵ-DP, meeting users’ high privacy demands. Finally, theoretical arguments and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method provides strong privacy protection while maintaining recommendation quality.No Full Tex
Low carbon transition dynamics for hydrocarbon-dependent rentier states
No full textThere is a global need to decarbonize energy systems and infrastructure to achieve carbon neutrality, also known as “net-zero” status, by 2050. For countries known as “hydrocarbon dependent rentier states” (HDRSs), the challenge is twofold: moving away from hydrocarbons as the main source of domestic energy supply and moving away from the extraction and processing of hydrocarbons (fossil fuels) as the main contributor to national income. This paper draws on expert interviews and combines the multi-level perspective and political economy frameworks in examining the dynamics of sustainability transition in the rentier states. In the absence of documented precedents, this paper presents the results of interviews with experts in which the options for transitioning to a net-zero path are explored, focusing on a case study of Qatar. Multi-level perspective, rentier state, and resource curse theories were used as an analytical lens to assess how this knowledge can inform a transition agenda where hydrocarbons dominate current economic and socio-technical systems. This study identified eighteen factors that could have a significant influence on resistance or reversal of transition pathways in HDRS. The research found that landscape or exogenous factors play a major role in small, hydrocarbon-dependent economies because they are dependent on the export market and vulnerable to global commodity price cycles. Steady decline in demand, price volatility, cheaper alternative energy sources and ambitious net-zero plans are some of the main landscape (exogenous) factors that are likely to be influential in creating potential pressure on the regime for low carbon transition in rentier states. However, the results also reveal that the states resist major changes and hold on to the existing regime to avoid major distributional impact on their economy and society at large.No Full Tex
Boom, bust, and Fission: A Deep Dive into Uranium price explosiveness
No full textWe adopt a data-driven approach to examine uranium price explosiveness. We detect explosive episodes across varying durations and apply a LASSO-Logit framework to uncover key variables associated with price explosiveness. Our findings reveal that uranium price explosiveness is persistent, with positive explosiveness dominating and lasting an average of ten months. Variables such as dividend growth, monetary conditions, and expansion in the uranium sector significantly increase the likelihood of explosiveness. Additionally, uncertainty and geopolitical risks shape market dynamics. A local projections approach highlights that monetary tightening and uranium price momentum can sustain upward price pressures, while economic activity and sovereign debt risks exert downward forces. As uranium becomes increasingly vital to the transition toward a net-zero economy, our findings help bring greater transparency to a traditionally opaque commodity market.No Full Tex