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Biodiversity Risk, Corporate Strategy and Financial Implication
No full textBiodiversity loss has become a pressing global issue with far-reaching and multifaceted implications for economic systems, corporate behaviour and financial markets. Given the growing recognition of biodiversity risk as an important factor in corporate decision-making, it becomes essential to investigate how this type of risk influences business operations and firm behaviour. Against this backdrop, this thesis examines the economic impact of biodiversity risk through three interrelated dimensions: auditor risk assessment, bank lending decisions and the financial implications of biodiversity risk index, thereby providing new insights into the strategic significance of biodiversity risk in both corporate governance and financial decision-making.Chapter 2 examines how client exposure to biodiversity risk affects audit fees. Drawing a dataset of Chinese listed firms from 2010 to 2020, this chapter quantifies biodiversity risk through two dimensions: the weighted average geographical proximity to key ecological areas, and the extent of biodiversity-related disclosures in annual reports and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. The results show that increased biodiversity risk correlates with higher audit fees and a deterioration in financial reporting quality. In addition, this chapter investigates how biodiversity-related physical and transitional risks operate as mechanisms influencing the audit process. Subsequent analysis reveals that social awareness; government intervention and firms' proactive environmental strategies mitigate these impacts.Chapter 3 examines banks' perceptions of biodiversity risks in borrowing firms and their impact on the terms of loan agreements. This chapter shows that banks have perceived the material impact of biodiversity risks and have implemented strict loan covenants to address biodiversity risks, and that this effect is stronger when borrowers are exposed to higher biodiversity-related physical risks and transition risks. Further analysis shows that social awareness of biodiversity conservation has a significant impact on banks' perception of biodiversity risks in their lending decisions. Cross-sectional analysis shows that these effects are more pronounced when lending banks are large state-owned banks, have no relationship with their clients, or are located in cities with strict biodiversity regulations, while when borrowing firms have a poor reputation, opaque information, or lack green innovation.Chapter 4 constructs and analyses the global biodiversity risk index, which provides a systematic framework for comparing risk across countries and sectors. Based on the TNFD Biodiversity Disclosure Framework, this chapter develops a multidimensional risk measure including physical risk, transition risk and environmental opportunity using text analysis and machine learning methods. By analysing data from listed firms in major global capital markets from 2010 to 2021, this chapter finds significant differences in biodiversity risk management performance across countries and industries. In addition, firms with higher global biodiversity risk index scores perform better on several dimensions, including ESG performance, carbon control, social giving, ability to raise capital and business performance. This chapter extends the economic analysis of biodiversity risk and highlights the critical role of disclosure and management of such risk in the implementation of corporate strategies.</p
Characterisation of Harmonic Resonance Phenomenon of Multi-Parallel PV Inverter Systems: Modelling and Analysis
No full textSolar PV inverters require output filters to reduce unwanted harmonics in their output, where LCL filters are a more economical choice than larger inductance-only filters. A drawback of these filters is that they can introduce power quality disturbances, especially at higher frequencies (above 2 kHz). This paper investigates and characterises the resonance phenomenon introduced by different filter types, i.e., LC or LCL, and identifies their behavioural change when combined with multiple parallel grid-tied PV inverter systems. MATLAB/Simulink modelling aspects of PV inverter systems related to resonance phenomenon are presented, including establishing resonance at a specific frequency where potentially large variations in the parameter selection across manufacturers may exist. In addition, a method is developed to establish output filter frequency response through measurements, which is used to develop validated solar PV harmonic models for high-frequency analysis. The low-frequency harmonic models can be used up to the resonant frequency where the current flowing through the filter capacitor is insignificant compared to the current flowing into the electricity network.</p
CubeSat Missions from Communication Subsystem Perspective: A review
No full textCubeSats are a class of miniaturized, cost-effective satellites that have recently become pivotal to the space sector. Their small size, lightweight design, coupled with the ability to communicate with each other and with ground stations to support various mission types from earth observation to deep space communication has advanced the space technology sector. Due to their growing popularity and significance, exploring and understanding the communication subsystems of CubeSats is essential for advancing their performance for various missions. To this end, this manuscript categorizes 1,523 CubeSat missions launched between 2017 and 2024 into 26 mission categories to systematically analyze their communication subsystems, including radios, antennas, modulation techniques, downlink frequencies, data rate, and power consumption. We present a comparative analysis based on key evaluation metrics such as data rate, frequency band, power consumption and antenna type, offering deeper insight into communication subsystem trade-offs. This study also introduces a practical flowchart to guide subsystem selection, supported by a UHF-band link budget example for telecommand operations. Emerging challenges such as cybersecurity risks, space debris mitigation, and regulatory compliance are also discussed, broadening the survey’s applicability. This survey bridges existing gaps in literature and offers valuable reference for researchers, engineers and students designing CubeSat communication subsystems aligned with practical mission requirements.</p
Studying the fluoride controversy
No full textInsights from studying the controversy over fluoridation</p
Chemical surface treatment on Titanium alloys for biomedical applications
No full textTitanium alloy Ti6Al4V is widely used for implants because of its strength and corrosion resistance, but its bioinert surface can limit bonding with bone. This study aimed to improve its bioactivity through hydrothermal and anodization treatments. Hydrothermal experiments showed that solution pH strongly influenced phase formation: HA(1) (pH ~4.2) produced hydroxyapatite and monetite, while HA(2) (pH ~7) formed only hydroxyapatite. Anodization in sulfuric acid created porous oxide layers, which supported further calcium phosphate deposition during hydrothermal treatment. Anodization in ethylene glycol with NH₄F produced TiO₂ nanotubes, with 40 minutes giving uniform honeycomb tubes about 1.3–1.5 μm thick. Longer times (110–180 minutes) caused the growth of a second oxide layer and reduced tube quality. High-voltage anodization (0.5 M H₂SO₄, 120 V, 6 min) formed porous oxides that were superhydrophilic (contact angle <10°) and promoted hydroxyapatite formation after 7 days in simulated body fluid. Among the methods, ethylene glycol anodization provided the most ordered nanotube structure, while hydrothermal treatment at neutral pH achieved the most stable hydroxyapatite layer. Together, these results demonstrate that controlled anodization and hydrothermal conditions can create bioactive coatings with improved roughness, wettability, and mineral deposition, offering strong potential for enhanced bone integration.</p
Profile and clinical characteristics of alcohol-related hospital admissions within four public hospitals in New South Wales between 2011 and 2021
No full textObjective: The aim of this study was to describe the 10-year profile of alcohol-related admissions across four public hospitals within a health service in NSW.Methods: Alcohol-related hospital episode data were obtained from the NSW Admitted Patient Data Collection. The sample comprised episodes of patients (aged ≥18 years) admitted to four hospitals within one health service in Sydney between 1 July 2011 and 30 June 2021. The data were descriptively analysed, and binary logistic mixed modelling was performed to explore patient characteristics. Results: The sample comprised 6377 episodes representing 6280 admissions and 3334 individual patients. The sample was predominantly men (n = 2143, 64.3%) in their 40s (n = 792, 23.7%). A 4% significant increase per year in the rate of hospital admissions over the period was observed (incidence rate ratio 1.04, P = 0.005). Most admissions were ≤3 days (n = 4630, 73.7%). Being female and admitted on a Sunday was associated with same-day discharge and is of clinical relevance. Conclusions: Alcohol-related admissions significantly increased over the 10-year period in this Sydney health service. The sample consisted mostly of middle-aged men with alcohol intoxication, suggesting that local screening and interventions for hazardous alcohol consumption are warranted. Given that women are likely to have a shorter length of stay, further case exploration may be needed to ensure adequate and comprehensive care is provided for this subgroup.</p
Tailored magnetic ZIF-67-derived FeCo-LDH for PETase immobilization toward effective removal and biodegradation of high-crystallinity micro- and nano-PET
No full textTo address the persistent environmental challenge posed by highly crystalline micro- and nano-PET (MP/NPs) pollution, a robust strategy was proposed for their synergistic removal and enzymatic degradation. This approach utilizes tailored magnetic zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 (ZIF-67)-derived FeCo layered double hydroxide (FeCo-LDH) as an immobilization platform for the engineered polyethylene terephthalate hydrolase (PETase) variant ICCG (F-C). The composites were functionalized with tannic acid (TA) and sodium alginate (SA) to achieve improved F-C loading and significantly improve MP/NPs removal efficiency. Comprehensive characterization confirmed successful structural transformation, increased pore size, and favorable magnetic responsiveness. Compared to the free F-C, the immobilized F-C—particularly in TA-modified composites—exhibited significantly enhanced alkaline pH tolerance, thermal stability, and reusability. Most notably, under simulated seawater conditions, the F-C@TA@FeCo-LDH achieved specific activity of up to 50.89 IU/mg and 46.19 IU/mg for highly crystalline (crystallinity degree, Xc = 50 %) NPs and MPs within 96 h, nearly 16 folds that of free F-C. This demonstrates a magnetically recoverable biocatalyst system with strong potential for sustainable MP/NPs removal and degradation under mild conditions.</p
Development of Motion Management Techniques for Lung Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy Treatment on TomoTherapy
No full textStereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) delivers high, conformal doses of radiation in 1-5 fractions with submillimetre accuracy, sparing healthy tissues. It is now recognised as the standard of care for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer and recurrent pulmonary lesions, and is expanding to liver, prostate, spine, and other sites.TomoTherapy (Accuray, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) combines continuous gantry rotation with a translating couch to produce helical IMRT arcs. A 6 MV fan beam (1-5 cm longitudinal, 40 cm lateral) is modulated by a binary 64-leaf MLC, while the same accelerator produces low-dose MVCT for image guidance. Additionally, TomoTherapy is capable of treating targets up to 160 cm without field junctions. Its demonstrated sub-millimetre delivery accuracy makes it particularly well-suited for lung SABR.Respiratory motion remains a significant challenge for lung SABR. AAPM TG-76 classifies five motion-management strategies, namely motion-encompassing, gating, breath-hold, shallow breathing, and respiration-synchronized delivery. Among these five techniques, the candidate has identified two methods, namely motion encompassing and shallow breathing, as potentially implementable motion management techniques for lung SABR treatment on TomoTherapy. Evolving around this topic, the thesis first investigates whether the image quality of MVCT on TomoTherapy is sufficient to support accurate dose calculation. It then examines the potential of robust optimization, an advanced optimization approach that accounts for respiratory motion, to enhance dosimetric outcomes and deliver clinical benefits in lung SABR. Next, following the demonstration of the positive effects of shallow breathing on target coverage, normal tissue sparing, and delivery accuracy, the thesis validates the clinical use of a novel audiovisual biofeedback system to assist with the clinical implementation of shallow breathing on TomoTherapy. Finally, the thesis assesses an individualised quality assurance method for detecting acquisition errors in 4DCT, an essential imaging modality in lung SABR, and quantifies their dosimetric impact.Employing a thesis-by-compilation format, the findings of this thesis are presented through five peer- reviewed publications Collectively, these papers demonstrate (1) the feasibility of using MVCT imaging on TomoTherapy for high-fidelity dose calculations; (2) the dosimetric advantages and clinical implications of incorporating respiratory motion directly into treatment planning for lung SABR; (3) the impact of guided shallow breathing on tumour coverage and normal-tissue sparing in TomoTherapy; (4) the performance of a novel audiovisual biofeedback system in guiding shallow breathing on TomoTherapy; and (5) methods for rapid detection of 4DCT acquisition errors and quantifying their dosimetric implications. By integrating these insights, the thesis not only advances technical best practices for lung SABR on TomoTherapy but also empowers clinicians to make data-driven decisions that enhance treatment precision and ultimately improve patient outcomes.</p
AI-Enabled Framework for Fresh Food Supply to Reduce Waste and Enhance Resilience
No full textFood is essential for human sustenance, and the food supply chain has a crucial role in society's well-being and stability. Food safety is one of the most important aspects of 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDG) The sustainability of food supply chain systems is gaining increasing attention, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. A food supply system that simultaneously prioritizes resilience and minimizes waste is crucial for achieving sustainability and streamlining supply chain operations.Despite the significant number of studies proposed to reduce food waste, the Food and Agriculture Organization has reported that 14% of global food is wasted annually across various stages of the supply chain. The Food and Agriculture Organization has further revealed that offering sufficient food to the global population by 2050 presents a significant challenge. Furthermore, the global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the limitations of the resilient approaches currently utilized within existing food systems, ultimately highlighting the urgent need to develop resilient and adaptive systems. It has been found that many studies have explored reducing food waste and increasing supply chain resilience as separate objectives; however, there is limited research that has investigated both issues simultaneously.Literature studies have emphasized the significant roles that emerging technologies play in reducing food waste, enhancing system resilience, and developing sustainable systems. However, prior research still lacks the practical adoption of emerging technologies to reduce food waste and enhance resilience jointly in food supply chain systems. This thesis develops and validates a novel technology-based framework for future sustainable food supply chains that addresses the issues related to product waste reduction and resilience enhancement for the first time. Particularly, this thesis develops an integrated framework of 4 stages and validates it using bananas as a case study, leveraging the predictive capabilities of machine learning within the demand forecasting field.Developing effective demand forecasting is crucial for better planning and ensuring sustainability within food systems. The food industry has received the least attention for building demand forecasting approaches. While some models have achieved accurate predictions, they are not assessed for their impact on waste reduction or resilience enhancement.To bridge this gap, this thesis develops an integrated framework in which the output from each stage serves as input to the next one. The first stage performs intensive data processing and analysis on datasets collected from real-world experiments, extracting critical insights about the freshness and remaining shelf life of bananas. The second stage utilizes the processed dataset from the previous stage to train and test two models: (1) a classification model to classify food products based on their freshness quality into three classes, and (2) a multiple linear regression model to predict the remaining shelf-life period. Different from existing literature studies, the processed real dataset and the derived insights are integrated into demand forecasting in the third stage. The third stage develops an ensemble stacking model combining the random forest, support vector regression, eXtreme gradient boosting, long short-term memory models as base learners, and Ridge regression as a meta-learner. The developed model is trained and tested on a simulated dataset combined with the real processed dataset from the previous stage to predict the daily demand for fresh food items for a retailer. Finally, several disruption scenarios are developed and tested to assess the forecasting model’s impact on reducing waste and enhancing resilience through utilizing the predicted demand to inform inventory replenishment orders. The promising results indicate the effectiveness of implementing the integrated framework in developing resilient, dynamic, and flexible systems that consider changing conditions and reduce food waste.Overall, this thesis highlights the potential of the developed integrated approach to building a model that can effectively reduce waste and enhance resilience jointly in FSCs. This approach enables decision-makers (e.g., food retailers) to track the remaining shelf-life and freshness quality of food products in real-time and feed this information directly into a demand forecasting model. This approach provides critical and up-to-date information that decision-makers use to mitigate disruptions, reduce waste, and enhance the planning process.</p
Resourcing GPNs: multi-scalar state derisking of energy transition minerals at a time of polycrisis
No full textThere is a tendency in global production network (GPN) analyses to primarily focus on manufacturing and distribution, rather than tracking back to their raw material origins. This risks missing important insights at a time when the sourcing of key energy transition materials (ETMs) has become an area of acute geopolitical-economic importance. This article investigates efforts to facilitate the production and processing of ETMs in Australia, and specifically the role played by state actors, in response to polycrisis drivers of geopolitical tensions and climate emergency. The strategies pursued by Australian state entities to develop mining and processing take a ‘derisking’ approach. We detail six forms of risk to ETM projects (technical; investment; market; environmental/social; workforce; regulatory) and three state derisking strategies, operating at distinct yet interconnected spatial scales: (1) financial support mechanisms designed to derisk projects for the private sector proponents (the subsidising role of state actors); (2) the designation of regional ‘hubs’ for ETMs with infrastructural support and expedited planning approvals (the streamlining role of state actors); and (3) transnational networking activities to connect projects to both international funders and markets in the context of geopolitical rifts (the brokering role of state actors). Such derisking strategies are central to connecting Australian firms with international investors and buyers to thereby resource alternate ‘Western’ GPNs. Critical engagement with the concept of derisking offers a productive understanding of the evolving role of state actors in resourcing new and alternate GPNs, while simultaneously spatializing understandings of the ‘derisking state’.</p