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Review of thermal behaviour of firebrands and their role in fuel bed and structure ignition
No full textFirebrands or embers are a crucial phenomenon in wildfire behaviour. Firebrands – small, burning or smouldering pieces of wood or other flammable materials – can be carried by wind considerable distances, leading to ignition of new fires ahead of the main fire front. This process, called spotting, significantly contributes to the rapid spread of fires, particularly in wildland–urban interface (WUI) areas. Spot fires pose a severe threat to people and properties. Better understanding the thermal behaviour of firebrands and their ability to ignite various natural fuel beds and structural materials is crucial for developing effective fire prevention and mitigation strategies. This paper presents a comprehensive review of recent studies investigating the thermal behaviour of firebrands and their interaction with natural and structural fuels. These intensive research efforts have focused on predicting firebrand behaviour in spot fires through experimental studies, numerical simulations and statistical modelling to identify factors influencing ignition likelihood. This review explores the mechanisms through which firebrands interact with vegetative and building materials, focusing on ignition and subsequent fire spread. Critical factors, such as material composition, moisture content and firebrand accumulation, are discussed. This study also identifies critical knowledge gaps and proposes future research directions to ultimately contribute to more effective wildfire mitigation and management strategies
Establishing carbapenem resistant organism surveillance, prevention, and control in a middle-income country: implementation of a hospital-based program in Fiji
No full textAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major public health threat with the highest burden being estimated to be in low- and middle-income countries. Fiji is an upper-middle-income country in Oceania. Recent studies from Fiji highlighted the increasing burden of carbapenem resistant organisms (CRO) such as Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli. A project titled Preparing Fiji for Pathogens with Critical Antimicrobial Resistance was undertaken at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital, Fiji's main referral hospital, in 2022 and 2023. The overarching goal was to support the hospital's readiness for prompt detection, management and prevention of infections caused by pathogens with critical AMR including CRO. This paper describes the steps taken to establish CRO surveillance, prevention, and control interventions, outbreak response and healthcare workers' capacity building initiatives tailored to the hospital's need and capacity. It also shares the results, lessons learned and challenges in setting up the systems that may inform actions in other low- and middle-income countries in the Pacific Region and globally
Skin oncology
No full textThis case involves a 68-year-old woman who presented with self-resolving violaceous papules on the abdomen, and nodules and plaques on the back
Challenges and opportunities to improve tuberculosis care for Indonesian children
No full textNo abstract for editorial
“Coming to uni was isolating, a massive culture shock”: the struggle of working-class rural youth for recognition and belonging at a metropolitan university
No full textResearch studies have repeatedly reported the under-representation of rural youth in higher education, mainly focusing on their aspirations as well as opportunities and barriers to accessing university pathways. Less attention has been placed on the experiences of rural young people transitioning through higher education. In this article, we explore working-class rural youth experiences of belonging, recognition and social disrespect in a metropolitan university. Empirically, we draw on data from semi-structured interviews with rural young people attending university and living on campus. Conceptually, we draw on Axel Honneth's third form of recognition, esteem and solidarity, to examine how youth from rural and working-class backgrounds form a sense of belonging and struggle for recognition with other students and the institution. Our data shows that participants experienced social misrecognition and disrespect due to their social class and rural background. Participants negotiate feelings of exclusion and misrecognition by forming friendships and intra-solidarity with other like-minded rural and regional students. While this can be a first step to the construction of a form of belonging, we argue that the disrespect, misrecognition and external judgements of worth from others hindered rural youth's sense of belonging and recognition at university and their potential for self-realization
Everyone, everyday, everywhere: Designing a quantitative measure of information behaviors
No full textMany researchers have qualitatively examined the everyday information behaviors of different populations and developed models to understand such behaviors. However, there is a lack of quantitative research that seeks to understand the prevalence of these everyday information activities. Given the lack of instruments for measuring everyday behaviors, we turn to information literacy instruments as they encompass the skills used to support these behaviors. Often such instruments are tested with tertiary (university and post-secondary) student populations and focus on academic information behaviors. Academic information behaviors take place in conjunction with everyday information behaviors but are different to one another. Further, the instruments do not account for transnational information behaviors even though international students travel across countries and cultures to pursue higher education. Our study addresses these gaps by developing a survey instrument based on existing information behavior models and information literacy competencies. We collect data from 202 tertiary students studying at universities in Victoria, Australia. Following data collection, we run a factor analysis to validate the instrument and understand what factors shape the phenomenon of everyday information behaviors. Our factor analysis reveals eight factors. The factors indicate that interactions with disagreeable information are separate from those with useful information. They also show that transnational information behaviors are part of the everyday. Our prototype instrument is an important contribution to the literature and the factors will be valuable to future researchers studying everyday information behaviors
The prevalence of mandated and voluntary health information on alcohol products in Australia
No full textObjective: Regulations to restrict alcohol promotion and requirements for mandatory display of information about health risks associated with alcohol use have been minimal and hard-won in Australia. This study (i) outlines an approach to monitoring alcohol industry use of health messages on alcohol products and (ii) reports prevalence and nature of government-mandated health-related information and voluntary health messages on alcohol products. Methods: Images of 5,923 alcohol products sold in four large alcohol stores in Sydney were captured. Data were collected in-store and via web-scraping. Label content was extracted from the images. Results: There was high compliance (97%-99%) with government-mandated requirements other than the pregnancy warning label (63%). Presence of voluntary health-related messages was common (65%), but typically present in the form of DrinkWise (an industry-led social aspects/public relations organisation) statements that are unlikely to be effective. Conclusions: This study provides a unique and systematic approach to examining alcohol industry compliance with government-mandated on-product information requirements and voluntary inclusion of other health-related messages. Implications for Public Health: The results demonstrate the need for ongoing monitoring to enforce alcohol industry compliance with Australia's existing and future labelling regulations and to assess the industry's voluntary use of other forms of health messaging
Formation of Ni-rich Ni-Ga alloy clusters on the (221) surface of Ni5Ga3 intermetallic compounds during CO2 hydrogenation: An in-situ TEM study
No full textNi-Ga alloys are the most promising bimetallic alloy catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation due to their high activity and selectivity. This study used in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to clarify the structural changes in the Ni5Ga3 intermetallic compound catalysts during the CO2 oxidation and CO2 hydrogenation processes. The results showed that as the temperature increased from 50 °C to 300 °C under CO2 conditions, crystalline Ga oxides, primarily the β-Ga2O3 phase, formed on the Ni5Ga3(211) surface, resulting in the formation of parallel moiré fringes. At the same time, Ni-rich Ni-Ga alloy nanoclusters appeared due to the excess Ni on the surface. Under H2/CO2 conditions, Ni-rich Ni-Ga alloy nanoclusters were also observed, but the formation of Ga oxide was limited. Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) analysis also revealed the presence of Ga oxide but not Ni oxide phase
Baseline cohort data from HARMONY, a cluster randomised controlled trial of culturally safe domestic violence management in general practice
No full textBACKGROUND: Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is a globally prevalent, health damaging problem. In high income countries, migrant /refugee populations from low/middle income countries often consist of young families. DVA is more prevalent, and barriers to disclosure greater among migrant/refugee than native-born families. Consequently, general practice (GP) patient populations are increasingly diverse, but evidence for culturally safe and effective GP management is minimal. The HARMONY study tested a culturally safe DVA intervention to improve GP identification and referral among South Asian families. METHODS: HARMONY was a pragmatic cluster RCT in 19 GP clinics in two regions of Melbourne, Australia. Eligible practices required ≥ 1 South Asian GP; used one of two common software programs; and agreed to have GrHanite™ software on practice computers. This analysis investigated baseline DVA and ethnicity identification in routine electronic GP data. Deidentified aggregated data for female patients aged ≥ 18 with DVA identification, referral, and South Asian ethnicity data were extracted from medical records. Chi Square for comparison of proportions. RESULTS: Twenty-four clinics were recruited and randomised, but five dropped out due to Covid. Fifty-two percent (50/96) of 19 clinics' staff were South Asian. While 46.7% of female patients (21,220/45,438) were aged 26-45 years, 17.6% (7,874/45,438) were South Asian. There were more South Asian patients in Comparison 20.6% (4,193/20,312) than Intervention 14.7% (3,681/25,126) clinics. South Asian women had less access to Medicare (83% vs 97%) and pensions (13% vs 22%). At baseline, clinicians recorded 0.58% (265/45,438) DVA-affected women. Notably, they identified fewer South Asian (0.38%) (28/7,874) than non-South Asian women experiencing DVA (0.63%) (237/37,564),-0.28% (0.12%-0.43%), p = 0.004. No referrals were identified. CONCLUSION: DVA was notably under-identified in these patient populations, but worse among South-Asian female patients. While almost one in six of HARMONY's female population were South Asian, fewer than four in 1000 South Asian women were identified as experiencing DVA. Greater effort to regularly train and to support GP clinics to better identify DVA is vital but even more important in diverse communities to provide culturally safe DVA identification, care and documentation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12618001845224 on 13/11/2018
Improving low-order modelling of cryogenic hydrogen releases
No full textEnsuring the safety of storage facilities and transportation is essential for the development and widespread adoption of hydrogen as a clean and sustainable fuel. Accurate predictions of the size of potential hazards are vital for ensuring optimal storage infrastructure design and comprehensive safety regulations. This study introduces an improved approach for low-order modelling of cryogenic hydrogen release scenarios. The improved approach explicitly assumes a Gaussian profile for temperature in the self-similar region of the jet, consistent with existing experimental and numerical observations. In addition, the Peng–Robinson equation of state is used to determine the properties of hydrogen–air mixtures. Model accuracy is evaluated by comparing its predictions with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and experimental data across a pressure range of 2–7 bar and cryogenic temperatures of 50–70 K. The results show that the new model provides better predictions of mole fraction and temperature profiles, reducing root mean square error (RMSE) compared to the existing models. Furthermore, the minimum ignition energy (MIE) obtained by the new approach provides a more accurate assessment of ignition risks than the existing model. This improvement makes low-order modelling a more reliable tool for developing safety guidelines and standards for hydrogen storage infrastructure