19683 research outputs found
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High connectivity and human movement limits the impact of travel time on infectious disease transmission
No full textThe speed of spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlights the importance of understanding how infections are transmitted in a highly connected world. Prior to vaccination, changes in human mobility patterns were used as non-pharmaceutical interventions to eliminate or suppress viral transmission. The rapid spread of respiratory viruses, various intervention approaches, and the global dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 underscore the necessity for epidemiological models that incorporate mobility to comprehend the spread of the virus. Here, we introduce a metapopulation susceptible-exposed-infectious-recovered model parametrized with human movement data from 340 cities in China. Our model replicates the early-case trajectory in the COVID-19 pandemic. We then use machine learning algorithms to determine which network properties best predict spread between cities and find travel time to be most important, followed by the human movement-weighted personalized PageRank. However, we show that travel time is most influential locally, after which the high connectivity between cities reduces the impact of travel time between individual cities on transmission speed. Additionally, we demonstrate that only significantly reduced movement substantially impacts infection spread times throughout the network
Understanding women's perspectives on take-home naloxone to support equitable overdose prevention
No full textSince the late 1990s, Australia has experienced increasing number of opioid overdose hospital admissions and deaths. One response has been the implementation of take-home naloxone initiatives, which involve providing naloxone (a drug that reverses opioid overdose) products and training to those most likely to encounter overdose. Despite its life-saving potential, the administration of naloxone can precipitate opioid withdrawal, an experience associated with a range of undesirable outcomes including nausea, body aches, shivering, confusion, irritability, anger, restlessness and headaches. Naloxone’s potential for producing uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms has also been linked to distress, aggression and, occasionally, violence during revival from overdose. Research suggests that concerns about withdrawal impact naloxone uptake. While research on other overdose responses such as safe injecting facilities emphasises the need for gender sensitive approaches and other research suggests that women often feel obliged to take on caring roles during overdose events even when they felt unsafe, how gender may shape take-home naloxone uptake and use has only been fleetingly acknowledged. A notable exception examines how disproportionate expectations and burdens upon women to care for others in their social lives shapes their experiences with naloxone and overdose response. Similarly, research has documented women who inject drugs having to take on caretaker roles given men in their company are less concerned about the potential for overdose. Women in Hanson et al.’s (2020) study, for example, exercise greater caution about overdose than men, many of which relied on naloxone to reverse overdoses rather than aiming to prevent the overdose itself from occurring. In order to bolster take-home naloxone uptake in ways that support the safety of women who consume opioids, this research examined the potential concerns about naloxone and overdose response that shape their engagement with the initiative. This broadsheet is based on research conducted as part of the project titled ‘Investigating how gender shapes uptake and use of take-home naloxone: A qualitative pilot study’. Led by researchers at La Trobe University’s school of Psychology and Public Health and the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, this research aims to better understand barriers to take-home naloxone initiatives and how we can develop gender-sensitive overdose prevention.</p
On triangular biregular degree sequences
No full textA simple graph is called triangular if every edge of it belongs to a triangle. We conjecture that any graphical degree sequence all terms of which are greater than or equal to 4 has a triangular realisation, and establish this conjecture for a class of biregular graphical degree sequences.</p
The Right to Participate in Decision Making: Supported Decision Making in Practice
No full textIdeas about capacity and incapacity have dominated thinking about participation in decision making by people with intellectual disabilities. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provoked interest in the concept of supported decision making and the rights of all people with disabilities to be involved in making decisions about their own lives. Decisions vary in many ways—scope, individual significance or time frame—as does the type of support needed to participate in making them. This chapter reviews the contested nature of supported decision making and proposes a principled approach that puts the will and preferences of the person with disability at the centre of all decisions and includes all people with disabilities irrespective of whether they can express their preferences or rely on others to interpret them. It alerts service providers to the varied landscapes of decisions making and explains an evidence based practice framework for supporting decision making that is applicable across all types of decisions and contexts.</p
Organised and non‐organised activities contribute to overall physical activity levels in adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome: a cross‐sectional study
No full textBackground: Participation in organised and non-organised physical activities among adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome is underexplored. This study aimed to examine differences between organised and non-organised physical activities among adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome. Methods: Forty participants with Down syndrome (27 woman; mean age 21.4 ± 4.9 years) were recruited. Data on physical activity participation were collected by self- or proxy-reported questionnaires about attendance, involvement and type of physical activity. Results: Adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome participated in more organised than non-organised activities (P Conclusions: Participation in both organised and non-organised physical activities is important to increase overall physical activity levels of adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome. Future research exploring physical activity preferences may help guide the planning and adaption of community programmes for this group.</p
Genomic Vulnerability to Climate Change of an Australian Migratory Freshwater Fish, the Golden Perch (Macquaria ambigua)
No full textGenomic vulnerability is a measure of how much evolutionary change is required for a population to maintain optimal genotype-environment associations under projected climates. Aquatic species, and in particular migratory ectotherms, are largely underrepresented in studies of genomic vulnerability. Such species might be well equipped for tracking suitable habitat and spreading diversity that could promote adaptation to future climates. We characterised range-wide genomic diversity and genomic vulnerability in the migratory and fisheries-important golden perch (Macquaria ambigua) from Australia's expansive Murray–Darling Basin (MDB). The MDB has a steep hydroclimatic gradient and is one of the world's most variable regions in terms of climate and streamflow. Golden perch are threatened by fragmentation and obstruction of waterways, alteration of flow regimes, and a progressively hotter and drying climate. We gathered a genomic dataset of 1049 individuals from 186 MDB localities. Despite high range-wide gene flow, golden perch in the warmer, northern catchments had higher predicted vulnerability than those in the cooler, southern catchments. A new cross-validation approach showed that these predictions were insensitive to the exclusion of individual catchments. The results raise concern for populations at warm range edges, which may already be close to their thermal limits. However, a population with functional variants beneficial for climate adaptation found in the most arid and hydrologically variable catchment was predicted to be less vulnerable. Native fish management plans, such as captive breeding and stocking, should consider spatial variation in genomic vulnerability to improve conservation outcomes under climate change, even for dispersive species with high connectivity.</p
Market tempo: Decoding information speed across global stock markets
No full textThis study explores the speed of information absorption in global stock markets using the Damodaran model. Analysing daily stock returns from 2005 to 2015 across 25 countries and 26 indices, the research categorizes markets into major, OECD, and emerging types. Major markets demonstrate the fastest adjustment, achieving a remarkable 1-day speed, followed by OECD markets with a 2–4-day span and emerging markets showing a 2–6-day duration for full information absorption. The results highlight significant mean speed variations across these market categories, offering practical insights for international businesses, corporations, and mutual funds navigating financial transactions globally. This study contributes valuable insights into information absorption speed, emphasizing the hierarchy of major, OECD, and emerging markets based on their speediness. Limitations include the exclusive focus on daily stock returns and the absence of specific diagnostic statistics for the Damodaran model.</p
For the Love of Their Children: A Narrative Study of the Experiences of Central Australian Aboriginal Fathers
No full textSubmitted in total fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.</p
Social Inclusion and Exclusion within Employment among Women and Men with and Without Children
No full textA thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.</p