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This paper explores young people's understandings of gender and investigates their gender-based experiences in high schools in Australia. The discussion is based on qualitative research including focus groups and interviews with 47 recent high school leavers from diverse linguistic, socioeconomic, religious, ethnic, gender and sexuality backgrounds, who attended a broad range of high school types in New South Wales (NSW). We found that young people are critically engaging in gender issues and are often challenging binary gender and associated inequitable practices in schools and beyond. They are taking a leading role in educating adults about gender—that is, they are 'teaching up', as young people conceptualised it, to their families and teachers about gender, gender-related issues and doing gender differently in contemporary times. Their views on gender are often in contrast to those institutional views that currently prevail in NSW schools, which often still reflect stereotypes that perpetuate gender inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legal attendance requirements and national declarations establish a social contract between the State and its citizens for the provision of schooling. Any shortage of teachers compromises the ability of the State to meet its contractable obligations. The sovereignty of the social contract is complex as no single body has ultimate responsibility for housing the teaching workforce, but everyone has a stake in it. Empirically focused on the largest school system in the southern hemisphere, the New South Wales public education system (Australia), this paper demonstrates that 90.8% of teaching positions, over 50,000 full-time equivalent posts, are in Local Government Areas where the median rent and house sales price are severely unaffordable on a top-of-the-scale teacher salary. With the system requiring additional teachers to meet increasing enrolments, and housing costs outstripping salaries, many schools not traditionally considered difficult to staff are becoming, if not already, inaccessible for teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By the end of 2021, more than 168 million students across the globe had missed a year of face-to-face schooling due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In NSW, Australia, most students engaged in learning from home for eight weeks during 2020 and a further 14 weeks during 2021. This study provides robust empirical evidence on how two years of disruptions to schooling affected student learning. Drawing on matched data for 3,827 Year 3 and 4 students from 101 NSW government schools, this paper compares student achievement growth in mathematics and reading for 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2021 (second year of the pandemic) student cohorts. While overall there was no significant difference between cohorts, when analysed by socio-educational advantage, we were surprised to find that students in the lowest band achieved approximately three months' additional growth in mathematics. Arguably, grave concerns about the potentially dire impact of COVID-19 on the learning of disadvantaged students were met by investments that made a difference. We argue that targeted funding and system-wide initiatives to support more equitable outcomes should remain a priority after the pandemic if Australia is to meet its aspirations for excellence and equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compound extreme natural events cause a significantly larger impact than individual extreme events. Therefore, the urgency of exploring the climatology of compound events is growing. This paper is aimed to identify the current hotspots of compound heatwaves and droughts (CHD) and trends in their occurrence in southeast Australia. In this context, 61 weather stations were selected from the study area, and analyses were carried out over the extended summer season of the time period 1971–2021. The hotspots of CHDs in southeast Australia were identified considering both the total count of CHD days and 90th percentile of CHDs during the study period. The study period was divided into two periods 1971–2000 and 2001–2021, to assess the change in hotspots spatially and temporally. Four different attributes of CHDs based on the number, duration, severity and amplitude of CHDs were also calculated, and Mann–Kendall (MK) test followed by Sen's slope was adopted to detect the trends in all these four attributes of CHDs. Trends in CHD indices were also calculated for the two periods of 1971–2000 and 2001–2021. For calculating the CHD, excess heat factor (EHF) was used to identify the heatwaves. In the case of drought identification, SPEI and SPI drought indices were adopted with aggregation of 3 and 126 antecedent months, and three different threshold values were selected to consider three levels of dry conditions, e.g. 0, − 0.5 and − 1.0. It has been found that more CHDs occurred on the eastern side of NSW and Queensland states. Furthermore, the total count of CHD days increased notably during the last two decades. The trends in CHD indices were found to be significant in the recent period (2001–2021), and there was no trend in the earlier period (1971–2000). The findings of this study will help to plan heat and drought-related emergency management in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lung cancer is a major cause of health loss internationally, and in Australia. Most of that loss is inequitably concentrated among vulnerable or disadvantaged people and amenable to prevention and earlier detection. In response, best practice lung cancer care considers peoples' background, circumstances and care needs. Comprehensive, person level descriptions of demographic, health and discrete socio-economic disadvantage related factors are therefore required to inform best practice. We examine population wide correlations of demographic, health and socioeconomic characteristics with lung cancer diagnosis for use in cancer control programs, including screening. Methods: A study of 5,504,777 (89.9%) adults living in New South Wales and participating in Australia's Census in August 2016 with subsequent follow-up to the end of 2018. The Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) person-level integrated data asset linked census records with the NSW population cancer registry which includes primary site. Our study compared census participants who did not experience cancer in the follow-up period with those diagnosed with lung cancer, (n = 6160 and ICD10 C33-34). Outcomes are expressed as the adjusted relative odds (aOR) of incident lung cancer among adults in the community and measured using multi-variable logistic regression models. Validated ABS methods informed categorisation of social and economic variables. Results: Multivariable comparison of those with lung cancer and those without a first cancer diagnosis (3276 lung cancers among 2,484,145 males; 2884 lung cancers among 2,944,148 females) showed associations with increasing age, varying ancestry, living alone (aOR = 1.30 95% CI 1.19–1.42 males; 1.24 95% CI 1.14–1.35 females), number of health conditions medicated, less than Year 12 education (aOR = 1.40 95% CI 1.30–1.51 males; 1.37 95% CI 1.27–1.48 females) and housing authority rental (aOR = 1.69 95% CI 1.48–1.94 males; 1.85 95% CI 1.63–2.11 females). Additional associations occurred among males with low income, disabilities before age 70, those unemployed and labouring occupations. As numbers of characteristics increased, so did the likelihood of lung cancer. Conclusion: We provided a population wide description of characteristics relevant to lung cancer diagnosis. Deeper knowledge of these characteristics inform continuing development of lung cancer programs in prevention (e.g. tobacco control) and detection (e.g. lung cancer screening), then help prioritise targeted delivery of those programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understandings of gender diversity have increasingly recognised the rights and experiences of children and young people (Meyer & Pullen Sansfaçon, 2014, Smith et al., 2014). A small, but significant body of work focusses on the schooling experiences of gender diverse children/young people. The critical role parents play in supporting gender diverse children/young people is acknowledged (Davy & Cordoba, 2020; Riley et al., 2011), including their involvement in negotiating schooling. This research uses a qualitative research design to explore the schooling experiences of five parents with gender diverse children, attending primary or secondary schools in New South Wales, Australia. A feminist poststructuralist framework was used to analyse the complex factors that influenced school choice, and to explore the challenges or opportunities they had encountered during their child's schooling years. The participants in this study highlighted the qualities of schools they believed to be inclusive, which affirmed their own school choice. However, participants also reflected on their sense of rejection when their children were not accommodated at school, or when they had to find a new school. Negotiations around school choice were made easier with economic and social capital. These findings highlight the layered inequalities of the Australian educational marketplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ambient PM2.5 (particles less than 2.5 μm in diameter) is monitored in many countries including Australia. Occasionally PM2.5 instruments may report negative measurements, although in realty the ambient air can never contain negative amounts of particles. Some negative readings are caused by instrument faults or procedural errors, thus can be simply invalidated from air quality reporting. There are occasions, however, when negative readings occur due to other factors including technological or procedural limitations. Treatment of such negative data requires consideration of factors such as measurement uncertainty, instrument noise and risk for significant bias in air quality reporting. There is very limited documentation on handling negative PM2.5 data in the literature. This paper demonstrates how a threshold is determined for controlling negative hourly PM2.5 readings in the New South Wales (NSW) air quality data system. The investigation involved a review of thresholds used in different data systems and an assessment of instrument measurement uncertainties, zero air test data and impacts on key reporting statistics when applying different thresholds to historical datasets. The results show that a threshold of −10.0 μg/m3 appears optimal for controlling negative PM2.5 data in public reporting. This choice is consistent with the measurement uncertainty estimates and the zero air test data statistics calculated for the NSW Air Quality Monitoring Network, and is expected not to have significant impacts on key compliance reporting statistics such as data availability and annual average pollution levels. The analysis can be useful for air quality monitoring in other Australian jurisdictions or wider context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 remains a significant public health problem in New South Wales, Australia. Although the NSW government is employing various control policies, more specific and compelling interventions are needed to control the spread of COVID-19. This paper presents a modified SEIR-X model based on a nonlinear ordinary differential equations system that considers the transmission routes from asymptomatic (Exposed) and symptomatic (Mild and Critical) individuals. The model is fitted to the corresponding cumulative number of cases in metropolitan and rural health districts of NSW reported by the Health Department and parameterised using the least-squares method. The basic reproduction number (R 0) , which measures the possible spread of COVID-19 in a population, is computed using the next generation operator method. Sensitivity analysis of the model parameters reveals that the transmission rate had an enormous influence on R 0 , which may be an option for controlling this disease. Two time-dependent control strategies, namely preventive (it refers to effort at inhibiting the virus transmission and prevention of case development from Exposed, Mild, Critical, Non-hospitalised and Hospitalised population) and management (it refers to enhance the management of Non-hospitalised and Hospitalised individuals who are infected by COVID-19) measures, are considered to mitigate this disease's dynamics using Pontryagin's maximum principle. The most sensible control strategy is determined through the cost-effectiveness analysis for the metropolitan and rural health districts of NSW. Our findings suggest that of the single intervention strategies, enhanced preventive strategy is more cost-effective than management control strategy, as it promptly reduces COVID-19 cases in NSW. In addition, combining preventive and management interventions simultaneously is found to be the most cost-effective. Alternative policies can be implemented to control COVID-19 depending on the policymakers' decisions. Numerical simulations of the overall system are performed to demonstrate the theoretical outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes evidence-based scholarship to how teachers understand the value of Aboriginal student-focussed programmes and how discourses of Indigeneity appear to influence those views. Interviews with n = 22 teachers across n = 3 secondary school sites in New South Wales highlighted teachers' understanding of Aboriginal programmes as primarily contributing to students' behavioural and academic improvement. The interviewed teachers spoke positively about Aboriginal students' current academic achievements and prospects for their bright futures as graduates, albeit from within deficit and colour-blind discourses. Utilising Moodie's Decolonising Race Theory framework, teachers' juxtaposing beliefs resonate with existing decolonising education research which indicates a performativity of cultural inclusion through adherence to settler-colonial practices, while at the same time, an intellectual desire to move away from the legacy of Australia's contentious colonial past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The visual modeling method enables flexible interactions with rich graphical depictions of data and supports the exploration of the complexities of epidemiological analysis. However, most epidemiology visualizations do not support the combined analysis of objective factors that might influence the transmission situation, resulting in a lack of quantitative and qualitative evidence. To address this issue, we developed a portrait-based visual modeling method called +msRNAer. This method considers the spatiotemporal features of virus transmission patterns and multidimensional features of objective risk factors in communities, enabling portrait-based exploration and comparison in epidemiological analysis. We applied +msRNAer to aggregate COVID-19-related datasets in New South Wales, Australia, combining COVID-19 case number trends, geo-information, intervention events, and expert-supervised risk factors extracted from local government area-based censuses. We perfected the +msRNAer workflow with collaborative views and evaluated its feasibility, effectiveness, and usefulness through one user study and three subject-driven case studies. Positive feedback from experts indicates that +msRNAer provides a general understanding for analyzing comprehension that not only compares relationships between cases in time-varying and risk factors through portraits but also supports navigation in fundamental geographical, timeline, and other factor comparisons. By adopting interactions, experts discovered functional and practical implications for potential patterns of long-standing community factors regarding the vulnerability faced by the pandemic. Experts confirmed that +msRNAer is expected to deliver visual modeling benefits with spatiotemporal and multidimensional features in other epidemiological analysis scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students from regional and remote areas remain significantly under-represented in higher education despite decades of equity policy designed to encourage participation. One explanation is that policy initiatives often overlook the realities in local rural contexts that can make higher education less desirable. Applying the theoretical lens of 'doxic' and 'habituated' aspirations, this paper analyzes interviews with 13 students, 10 parents/carers, and 4 teachers from one regional and one remote community in NSW, Australia. We document the emotional and material realities shaping young people's imagined futures in these communities, highlighting the commitment to a rural lifestyle in one, and the desire to escape the other community in decline. We argue that developing successful initiatives to address equitable participation in higher education requires a departure from hegemonic discourses of 'rurality' and greater recognition of and respect for the diverse needs and desires of regional and remote students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the lack of tools that can be easily used by practitioners, there is a need to develop acceptable embedded ways to assess children's fine motor skill development within early childhood education and care settings. This study examined the validity and reliability of a brief and ecologically valid fine motor assessment tool for preschool-aged children; the fine motor growth assessment (i.e., FINGA). Children's fine motor performance on FINGA was compared with widely-used and validated performance-based (Peabody Developmental Motor Scales 2nd edition) and informant-based (Ages and Stages Questionnaire 3rd edition) fine motor assessments. Ninety-one children [mean age (y) ± SD = 4.50y ± 0.68] were assessed within seven early childhood education and care services in New South Wales, Australia. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and linear regression analyses showed that FINGA had good internal consistency (EFA of 73%) and age sensitivity (Bstd = 0.69, p < 0.001), and bivariate correlation analyses demonstrated good concurrent validity (rs from 0.69 to 0.84, ps < 0.001) against the two comparison assessments. Because of its brevity and ecological validity, the FINGA tool should be further examined as a routine fine motor skills assessment administered within the context of universal early childhood education and care service provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Travellers account for variability in transport system performance when they make choices about routes, modes and destinations. Modellers try to quantify travel time reliability through various dispersion measures, most commonly the standard deviation of travel time. However, standard deviation is only one attribute of the nuanced travel time distribution. This paper considers whether standard deviation is sufficient to describe the travellers' understanding and value of travel time reliability and how we might include other aspects of variability such as the frequency of exceeding a lateness threshold or the likelihood of rare events. Car drivers in New South Wales, Australia, were asked to reconstruct the distribution of their commuting time and identify a lateness threshold. Further, we asked them about their preferences in a series of stated choice experiments using three representations of travel time reliability pivoted around their regular commute. The results show reliability ratios consistent with those in the literature for all three presentations. Moreover, the standard error of the estimated coefficient on the risk of rare events indicates that standard deviation alone may not sufficiently capture travellers' preferences towards travel time reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport infrastructure systems are very complex and expensive. Projects to procure such systems are costly, long and complex to manage. The procurement context usually includes many collaborating organizations but often with different concerns and priorities, and many interactions to other parties. This makes the procurement very complex and entangled. DoDAF, MoDAF and TRAK are three architecture frameworks (AF) that model the whole enterprise/system life cycle that includes system procurement. They are expressed as metamodels. In this paper, we analyse various procurements strategies and identify the concerns that AFs should address. The TRAK AF is then applied to a Rail procurement case study in collaboration with Transport for New South Wales (NSW) in Australia to assess its effectiveness in meeting the procurement needs. In all stages of the study, TRAK is mapped and compared to DoDAF and MoDAF to examine whether DoDAF or MoDAF can cover the inadequacies of TRAK. This paper shows that there is a considerable number of procurement needs which are overlooked by these architecture frameworks. It proposes a metamodel driven expansion to these frameworks to improve their completeness and expressiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual reality (VR) is widely recognised as a promising technology for training emergency first responders and other safety–critical workers. It is uniquely able to immerse trainees in extreme situations that are too risky or dangerous to be examined in traditional real-world safety training. Most organisations seeking to implement VR safety training often limit their decisions to financial and technological factors. However, in this paper, we argue that a socio-technical systems approach is required to better appreciate the social costs and benefits of VR training, which are important for a successful implementation. The paper also reports our own research on a real-world implementation of VR safety training for the Mine Rescue Brigades in New South Wales, Australia. The training—conducted in both fully immersive (360 VR) and non-immersive (Desktop VR) virtual reality—involved a search and rescue operation which was necessitated by an underground fire at the bottom of the transport drift in a coal mine. Following this training, the 368 trainees not only completed a post-training questionnaire, but also were interviewed, to assess their training experiences in the VR environment. The findings provide a comprehensive account of the social costs and benefits of adopting VR as a safety training tool. Overall, the trainees perceived the benefits to far outweigh the costs, with an overall high inclination to recommend the VR training to other colleagues. Desktop VR was found to be as fit for delivering successful training as the more immersive 360 VR. However, this Desktop VR generated considerably less motion sickness in trainees. These findings should help organisations and training providers decide on: (1) whether or not to invest in VR safety training solutions; (2) which type technology/method of delivery to use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A leaf spot disease was observed on red veined sorrel (Rumex sanguineus) growing in a commercial greenhouse in northern NSW, Australia, in July 2021. Cercospora rumicis was found in association with the leaf spot and was identified morphologically and by sequencing two gene regions, histone-3 (HIS) and calmodulin (CAL). Koch's postulates were fulfilled through pathogenicity tests, including the inoculation of potted plants and a detached leaf assay. This is the first report of Cercospora rumicis in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to contain the COVID-19 virus resulted in various stay-at-home orders and school closures around the globe, causing unprecedented disruption to the lives of children and generating grave concern for their well-being. This study draws on phone interviews with 12 teachers and 6 school leaders from 13 government schools in New South Wales, Australia, to provide insight into how students fared on their return to school after the first wave of COVID-19 in 2020. The interviews highlighted negative consequences for many students including increased stress and anxiety and decreased engagement. This evidence suggests that even a comparatively short period of school closure can drive troubling changes in students' well-being and behaviour following their return to school. Given far more challenging conditions arising from the pandemic, both elsewhere in Australia and globally, we argue that attending to student well-being is as important as ensuring academic achievement and must be a key focus of policy makers and education systems moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical reflection with a focus on student impact is now a mandated attribute for graduate teachers across Australia via the capstone teacher performance assessment task. This policy move is forcing teacher educators to examine their programs to find space for activities that help pre-service teachers to develop the skills and dispositions required for the teacher performance assessment. Some of the best opportunities for clinical reflection occur after pre-service teachers teach lessons during their professional experience in schools. The data for this study were generated during the trial of a lesson feedback and reflection form for pre-service teachers in NSW, Australia. This study examined 13 pre-service teachers' responses in 134 lesson feedback and reflection forms. A phenomenographic analysis was conducted on the responses to produce an inclusive and hierarchical four-level taxonomy of clinical reflection. These data showed that although all levels of the taxonomy were present in post lesson feedback and reflection forms, clinical reflection was less frequent than other categories of reflective practice such as causal. These findings have clear implications for the precision of the learning protocols deployed in professional experience experiences in teacher education for the purpose of fostering clinical reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stable electric load forecasting plays a significant role in power system operation and grid management. Improving the accuracy of electric load forecasting is not only a hot topic for energy managers and researchers of the power system, but also a fair challenging and difficult task due to its complex nonlinearity characteristics. This paper proposes a new combination model, which uses the least squares support vector machine, extreme learning machine, and generalized regression neural network to predict the electric load in New South Wales, Australia. In addition, the model employs a heuristic algorithm–whale optimization algorithm to optimize the weight coefficient. To verify the usability and generalization ability of the model, this paper also applies the proposed combined model to electricity price forecasting and compares it with the benchmark method. The experimental results demonstrate that the combined model not only can get accurate results for short-term electric load forecasting, but also achieves fine accuracy for the same period of electricity price forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spread of COVID-19 has prompted Governments around the world to impose draconian restrictions on business activity, public transport, and public freedom of movement. The effect of these restrictions appears to vary from country to country and, in some cases, from one area to another within a country. This paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 restrictions imposed in New South Wales (NSW) by the State Government. We examine week-to-week changes in 13 categories of crime (and four aggregated categories) from 2 January 2017 to 28 June 2020. Rather than using the pre-intervention data to make a forecast and then comparing that with what is actually observed, we use a Box–Jenkins (ARIMA) approach to model the entire time series. Our results are broadly in accord with those of other studies, but we find no effect of the lockdown (upward or downward) on domestic assault. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defining spaces and places in retrojective Geographical Information Systems (GIS) of land use and occupancy is not an easy task. Research into the areas described as suitable for land use and occupancy need to incorporate multiple perspectives of what makes a land use patch useful or salient ecologically. The effect of the concept of 'Terra Nullius' and European colonisation is deeply apparent in the current GIS models of historical land use and occupancy of Aboriginal communities within arid zones in Australia. Biocultural zones of land use and occupancy zones omit spaces and places of habitation due to European bias of what a suitable ecological or hydrological land use zone should look like. This article employs Exploratory GIS methods to interrogate the data layers within the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area, NSW, Australia. This work conclusively demonstrates that there are ranges of areas and land suitability zones prior to colonisation in the nineteenth century. In turn, these Exploratory GIS models of an active Country comprehensively address the question of why visually salient areas of hydrological and ecological Indigenous land use and occupancy continue to be ignored, destroyed, and damaged by settlements in semi-arid regions. Biocultural GIS mapping unpacks the myth that areas were empty or uninhabited by Aboriginal communities and underlines the need for biocultural GIS mapping tools to understand the habitable spaces and places of the arid zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several climatic variables like precipitation, temperature, fog, dew, humidity, and wind significantly impact agricultural production. While formulating policies for agriculture and other industrial sectors, precise knowledge regarding climatic variables is essential and helpful. The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) monitored various climatic variables at more than 226 meteorological stations in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. However, the placement of these monitoring stations was not systematic. As a result, predictions for unobserved sites turn out to be erroneous. Inadequate or poorly placed meteorological stations can lead to inaccurate weather forecasts, make it difficult to fully understand local and regional weather patterns, and, lastly, make it impossible to identify the early warnings for severe weather events like hurricanes, tornadoes, and flash floods. Therefore, the study aims to optimize and suggest a monitoring network to minimize the prediction error of these climatic variables. The optimized monitoring network can be found by optimally adding new meteorological monitoring stations or withdrawing existing ones while still ensuring the reliability of weather data. In this study, the meteorological monitoring network of NSW, Australia was optimized using two stochastic search algorithms: Spatial Simulated Annealing (SSA) and Genetic Algorithms (GA). The Average Kriging Variance (AKV) is considered an accuracy measure for SSA and GA. Ordinary kriging (OK) and Universal Kriging (UK), two popular prediction methods, are used using covariation modeled by the Matheron variogram model. The results reveal that the time consumption for SSA and GA are relatively similar, but the SSA utilizing the UK gives a lower AKV than GA. The optimized meteorological monitoring will be useful for ensuring accurate weather forecasts, providing early warnings of severe weather events, and enabling scientific research to understand and mitigate the effects of climate change. Furthermore, this novel optimization strategy will not only be helpful for the government of Australia but will significantly improve prediction accuracy, providing more reliable information for various weather-related activities, such as agriculture, construction, and emergency management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on teachers around the world, raising significant concerns about their workload and wellbeing. Our comparison of 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (first year of the pandemic) survey data (n = 362) from teachers in New South Wales, Australia, demonstrates that their morale and efficacy declined significantly during COVID-19, even with the relatively short period of school closure (8 weeks) during 2020. Interviews with teachers and school leaders (n = 18) reinforced these findings and highlighted the depth to which teachers felt dispensable and unappreciated, despite working incredibly hard for their students. The pressure to adapt to online teaching and learning, in trying circumstances, also challenged their confidence in their teaching. We argue that practical and emotional support for teachers both during periods of remote learning and upon students' return to the classroom is essential to support teacher's wellbeing and a robust teaching workforce into the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aspiration for higher education has been a focus of significant policy intervention in Australia for some time, with numerous large-scale research studies investigating the formation of aspiration amongst high school students. However, case studies in particular schools which might provide insights into the complexities and contradictions of aspirations for individual young people are scarce. This paper explores aspirations for particular futures from the perspectives of young women in a single-sex NSW government school in an area of historically lower HE participation. Rather than conventional interview-based methods where researchers ask young people to articulate their plans for the future, the study adopted creative arts-based methods which enabled students to engage with each other and a range of materials to produce multimodal 'aspiration artefacts' of their imagined futures. The method assemblage privileged imagination and embodied feelings, beyond the rational information-driven pedagogies that are promoted in widening participation policies. Our close readings of artefacts created by three Year 9 girls demonstrate that aspiration is a process that is relational, embodied, affectively and discursively constituted; and further, that this is inflected by gender, class and other positionalities in elusive and unanticipated ways. Arts-based methods allow us to tentatively trace the work of thinking–feeling–imagining that is entailed in developing and articulating aspirations for particular futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the English literacy outcomes of Aboriginal children are constantly measured and debated, attention falls away once they leave school, leading to limited data on English literacy rates among Australia's Aboriginal adults. This paper reports on an investigation into the prevalence of low literacy in adults in eight Aboriginal communities in NSW, Australia, drawing on both self-report data from household surveys and objective professional assessments using the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF). The research was conducted in partnership with a national Aboriginal organisation as part of a longitudinal study of the impact of improved adult literacy on the social determinants of health and social wellbeing. Of the participants who were measured to have low or very low English-language literacy level using ACSF, 51% had completed Year 10 or higher. This casts serious doubt on the value of school completion data which is used, for example, in Close the Gap reporting, as an accurate predictor of adult literacy rates. Results further show that while self-reported low literacy was prevalent in the population studied, there was also a significant overestimation, with adults who have completed years 10–11 nearly 30 times more likely to overestimate compared to people who only complete primary school. Given the well-known associations between adult literacy and a range of other outcomes including income, employment and health, national adult literacy surveys such as the Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies should aim to produce more comprehensive national, regional and local data on Aboriginal adult English literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme wind gusts cause major socioeconomic damage, and the rarity and localised nature of those events make their analysis challenging by either modelling or empirical approaches. A 23-year long data record from 29 automatic weather stations located in New South Wales (eastern Australia) is used to study the distribution, frequency and average recurrence intervals (ARIs) of extreme gusts via a peaks-over-threshold approach. We distinguish between gust events generated by synoptic phenomena (e.g. cyclones and frontal systems), hereafter called "synoptic events", and convective phenomena (i.e. thunderstorms), hereafter called "convective events", using the wind time series. For synoptic events the frequency of gusts > 25 m/s decreases systematically inland from the coast, in contrast to convective gusts which are more uniformly distributed geographically and occur more often than synoptic gusts at nearly all inland locations. At inland locations the most extreme wind gusts are likewise dominated by convective events, whereas at coastal stations both gust types have similar intensities at low ARIs but convective events again dominate at the highest ARIs. Extreme gust directions were found to be predominantly westerly at inland locations and southerly at coastal ones, with more variable direction for convective than synoptic events. This study confirms the dominant role of thunderstorms in producing the most extreme gusts in the region, and shows that wind risk varies strongly with distance from the coast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report for the first time the occurrence of an Eutypella species on cotton in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The putative Eutypella was isolated from dead cotton plants that exhibited atypical symptoms of either Fusarium or Verticillium wilt. Dead plants had symptoms resembling lightning strike damage with blackened outer bark around the fifth node zone. Internal vascular discoloration was reddish grey and often occurred in V-shaped sections. Sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) revealed a 93.7–94.1% similarity to Eutypella scoparia, indicating that the NSW cotton isolates represented a putatively novel species within the Eutypella genus. Pathogenicity of the isolated Eutypella was assessed on cotton stem cuts and living plants inoculated with culture agar plugs. Typical black necroses on outer bark and reddish vascular discoloration were reinduced in both Eutypella-inoculated stem cuts and living plants. Subsequently, the same Eutypella pathogen was successfully recovered, thus fulfilling Koch's postulates. The detection of Eutypella on NSW cotton is believed to be an independent event from a recently reported occurrence of Eutypella on Queensland cotton. The Queensland detection occurred in the same 2017/18 cropping season at approximately 730 km apart and was associated with distinct Eutypella isolates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training amongst the Nepalese community in Australia by exploring the impact on knowledge about mental health first aid, confidence and intentions to help, willingness to have contact and stigmatizing attitudes towards people with mental illness. We hypothesized that since MHFA has been extensively evaluated with other communities and has been found to be effective, it would therefore be effective with this community as well. MHFA training was conducted by an accredited Nepalese-Australian MHFA Instructor with 162 participants from the Nepalese community in four states of Australia. Participants completed an evaluation questionnaire prior to the training (pre-test) and at the end of the training (post-test). The evaluation questionnaire assessed participants? knowledge about what was taught in the course, ability to recognize depression as described in a vignette, confidence in providing help, intentions to provide help, and willingness to have contact and stigmatizing attitudes towards people with mental illness. There were large improvements from pre-test to post-test in knowledge, confidence and intentions to help, medium improvements in willingness to have contact, small-to-medium improvements in stigmatizing attitudes and small improvements in recognition of depression. Participants gave high ratings of the course and the instructor. MHFA training produced improvements in knowledge, confidence, intentions, willingness to have contact and stigmatizing attitudes. The training was also well received. Further research is needed to assess persistence of these effects following the course and any changes in mental health first aid provided to the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores different goodness-of-fit (GOF) criteria's used in the various fields of science to compare candidate probability density functions (pdfs) to annual maximum temperature records and discusses their usefulness and drawbacks. The L-moment ratio diagram method is also proposed as alternative approach for the GOF of the pdfs. The advantage this method allows for an easy comparison of the fit of many pdfs for several stations on a single diagram. To gain knowledge about higher order moments (i.e. shape, skewness and kurtosis) of the station data set, plotting the position of a given temperature data set in L-moment ratio diagram space is prompt and effective and can provide a useful addition to the GOF criterion. Both the L-moment ratio diagrams and many GOF criteria are used on real data to assess the fit of the pdfs for temperature data in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The analysis of the L-moment ratio diagrams reveals that the generalized extreme value and normal distributions generally fit best the annual maximum temperature series. The other two- and three-parameter distributions also showed viable fits in some instances. Results obtained from L-moment diagrams, temperature frequency histograms, cumulative density plots and the simulation study are compared with those obtained from GOF statistics, and a good agreement is generally observed between all these approaches. In conclusion the L-moment ratio diagram can represent a simple, effective and efficient approach to be used as a complementary method along with the traditional GOF criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The visual modeling method enables flexible interactions with rich graphical depictions of data and supports the exploration of the complexities of epidemiological analysis. However, most epidemiology visualizations do not support the combined analysis of objective factors that might influence the transmission situation, resulting in a lack of quantitative and qualitative evidence. To address this issue, we developed a portrait-based visual modeling method called +msRNAer. This method considers the spatiotemporal features of virus transmission patterns and multidimensional features of objective risk factors in communities, enabling portrait-based exploration and comparison in epidemiological analysis. We applied +msRNAer to aggregate COVID-19-related datasets in New South Wales, Australia, combining COVID-19 case number trends, geo-information, intervention events, and expert-supervised risk factors extracted from local government area-based censuses. We perfected the +msRNAer workflow with collaborative views and evaluated its feasibility, effectiveness, and usefulness through one user study and three subject-driven case studies. Positive feedback from experts indicates that +msRNAer provides a general understanding for analyzing comprehension that not only compares relationships between cases in time-varying and risk factors through portraits but also supports navigation in fundamental geographical, timeline, and other factor comparisons. By adopting interactions, experts discovered functional and practical implications for potential patterns of long-standing community factors regarding the vulnerability faced by the pandemic. Experts confirmed that +msRNAer is expected to deliver visual modeling benefits with spatiotemporal and multidimensional features in other epidemiological analysis scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: People with mental illness are a vulnerable and stigmatised group with poor health outcomes including greater premature mortality. This study aimed to investigate trends and rates of change in unintentional drug-related deaths for people with mental illness, describe types of medicines involved, and identify populations at risk in a cohort from New South Wales, Australia. Methods: Features of unintentional drug-related deaths for people with mental illness between 2012 and 2016 were identified in a retrospective review of data from the National Coronial Information System. Results: A total of 495 unintentional drug-related deaths were identified (1.6 deaths/100,000 population), showing an upward trend (p < 0.01). The most common substance involved was diazepam in both genders (males 135/319, 42%, female 76/176, 43%) and more than one contributory drug was included in 80% of cases. Between 2012 and 2016, amphetamine-related deaths showed the highest increase (3.2-fold), followed by codeine (2.5-fold) and quetiapine (2.5-fold). Males (RR 1.8, 95% CI 1.5–2.2) and people aged 35–44 (RR 1.7, CI 1.3–2.2) were more likely to die from unintentional drug-related deaths compared with the reference (females and people aged 25–34). Conclusion: This study found that the drugs commonly involved in deaths are also the drugs commonly used by and prescribed to people with mental illness. There were also significant differences between gender, age group, and marital status in the trend and rate of unintentional drug-related deaths for people with mental illness. A multifaceted approach encompassing both pharmaceutical prescribing and targeted public health messaging is required to inform intervention and prevention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: A poor understanding of the nature of variation of soil properties within a field can lead to management decisions that reduce productivity or increase off-site environmental risks. Methods: The variability in total C%, total N%, plant-available (Colwell) P, and pH in CaCl2 at multiple depths is examined from two sites near Wagga Wagga and Yerong Creek in the mixed farming zone of southern New South Wales, Australia. The minimum number of cores required to estimate the mean for each soil property with a given level of precision (1%, 5%, and 10%) was determined and the distribution of the sample data was described by calculating the skewness and kurtosis. Results: The number of cores (42 mm diameter) required to estimate the mean was least for soil pH (3 cores) at both sites and greatest for Colwell P (25 and 58 cores) at a 10% precision in the surface 0.1 m of soil at the Wagga Wagga and Yerong Creek sites, respectively. The distributions of soil chemical properties were greatly varied with skewness and kurtosis both influencing the data. The mean value of the pH distributions sometimes exceeded the mode, leading to an underestimation of the extent of soil acidity. The mean value for Colwell P also often exceeded the mode, indicating an overestimate of the P status of the soil from a productivity perspective but concurrently underestimating the risk of off-site losses, associated with high P values at some locations. There was also an overestimation of the organic C fractions at these sites. Noteworthy in our data was a broad distribution across a large range in all soil parameters at the soil surface which, despite a generally normal distribution at that depth, gave a mean value that represents a relatively constrained approximation of the true fertility status of the soil. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of understanding the nature of the variability in soil properties for interpreting soil test results appropriately for agronomic and environmental purposes. Due to its highly variable nature, Colwell P could not be reliably measured within the level of precision assumed under existing soil sampling guidelines used in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the risk of developing clinically significant social, emotional, and behavioural problems among Muslim adolescents living in Australia compared to the general adolescent population living in Australia. A descriptive, cross-sectional, and exploratory survey of 12–17-year-old students across three Islamic schools in New South Wales was conducted. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used to measure the risk of developing clinically significant social, emotional, and behavioural problems. Six hundred and thirty-two students (261 males, 371 females), at a response rate of 48%, were recruited via collaborations with three Islamic schools, and children were invited to participate if their parents did not object in writing to their child's participation. Overall, when compared to the general adolescent community sample, Muslim adolescents did not report a significantly higher proportion in the top 10% (i.e., abnormal range) for total difficulties, emotional problems, conduct problems, and peer problems, but did report a significant difference for hyperactivity/inattention problems (18.4% vs. 13.8%). Furthermore, Muslim adolescents (29.0% vs. 23.7%) reported a significantly higher proportion of scores in the top 20% (i.e., borderline range). These differences were explained by Muslim females aged 11–15 years higher hyperactivity (15.1% vs. 11.4%) and total difficulties (31.8% vs. 24%), as younger males and older males and older females showed no difference on any scale. Specifically, Muslim females aged 11–15 years reported a significantly higher proportion of scores in the abnormal ranges for total difficulties (14.3% vs. 9.8%), emotional problems (17.6% vs. 12.6%), and conduct problems (11.2% vs. 7.5%) and marginally for hyperactivity. Muslim females aged 11–15 years may demonstrate higher rates of clinically significant problems and are at a substantial higher risk of developing clinically significant emotional and conduct problems when compared to their age-related female adolescent peers. A review of the current child and adolescent mental health and community services is required to determine if this risk to Muslim females aged 11–15 years in Australia is being mitigated and their needs are being met. Highlights: The study explored the substantial risk of Muslim adolescents in Australia developing clinically significant social, emotional, and behavioural problems compared to the general adolescent population. Socioeconomic status was a significant predictor of scores but was controlled in the analyses. Muslim males (11–17 years) and older Muslim females (16–17 years) are not at higher substantial risk of developing clinically significant social, emotional, and behavioural problems compared to the general adolescent population. Muslim females (11–15 years) are at a substantially higher risk of developing clinically significant emotional and conduct problems than age-related females. Muslim females (11–17 years) were at even greater risk of developing clinically significant conduct problems, emotional symptoms, and hyperactivity-inattention problems than Muslim males (11–17 years). A review of current community and outreach services is required to assess if the psychological needs of Muslim youth in Australia, particularly females aged 11–15 years, are being met. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Lung cancer (LC) in never-smoking individuals would rank as Australia's eighth most deadly cancer, yet risk factors remain uncertain. We investigated demographic, lifestyle and health-related exposures for LC among never-smoking Australians. Methods: Using the prospective 45 and Up Study with 267,153 New South Wales (NSW) residents aged ≥ 45 years at recruitment (2006–2009), we quantified the relationship of 20 potential exposures with LC among cancer-free participants at baseline who self-reported never smoking. Adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for incident LC were estimated using Cox regression. The NSW Cancer, Lifestyle and Evaluation of Risk (CLEAR) Study, a case–control study including 10,781 NSW residents aged ≥ 18 years (2006–2014), was used to examine 16 potential LC exposures among cancer-free never-smoking participants. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% CI of LC were estimated using logistic regression. Results: There were 226 LC cases among 132,354 cancer-free 45 and Up Study participants who reported never smoking, with a median follow-up of 5.41 years. The CLEAR Study had 58 LC cases and 1316 cancer-free controls who had never smoked. Analyses of both datasets showed that Asian-born participants had a higher risk of LC than those born elsewhere: cohort, adjusted HR = 2.83 (95% CI 1.64–4.89) and case–control, adjusted OR = 3.78 (1.19–12.05). No significant association with LC was found for other exposures. Conclusion: Our findings support the growing evidence that never-smoking, Asian-born individuals are at higher risk of developing LC than those born elsewhere. Ethnicity could be considered when assessing potential LC risk among never-smoking individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer behavior is a critical consideration for the development of sustainable waste management systems, including waste batteries, which pose a serious threat to human health and the environment if disposed of improperly. This study investigates the consumers' perspective on the waste battery collection and recycling behaviors in Australia, and analyses their implications for the development of recycling schemes. The results show that, although general awareness exists among consumers about the negative impacts of improper disposal, this awareness was not reflected during the disposal of waste batteries among the participants. Insufficient knowledge about the waste battery collection points and convenience were the most important factors affecting the inappropriate disposal behavior from most of the consumers. Over 50% of participants were unaware of the collection points for waste batteries. The most-preferred battery collection systems involved a deposit return system similar to that used for bottle recycling in the state of New South Wales (NSW) or collection at supermarkets/retailers. The most preferred methods for providing an incentive to recycle batteries were "old-for-new" battery swaps, "vouchers that could be used for other items in a store," and "cash payments." Several policy implications have been highlighted from this pioneering study that could shape the future development of sustainable waste battery management systems in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The middle Paroo lowlands in semi-arid western New South Wales support numerous intermittent wetlands of various types. Differences between them are promoted by three ecological drivers: salinity, turbidity and hydroperiod. Community structure and phenology of the two most common types, saline lakes and claypans, are known but similar ecologies are lacking for the third most common wetland, the treed swamps. These are of six subtypes distinguished by dominant tree species, geomorphology and hydroperiod, all with similar community structure and phenology, but with differing invertebrate diversities. Summed diversity is not as high as in local creek pools, the shorter hydroperiods and simpler geomorphology of the treed swamps being restrictive so that there is almost no replacement of species during the early dominance of branchiopods and later of insects. Such treed swamps are uncommon in the semi-arid zone, but much more speciose treed swamps are known under similar and seasonally dry Mediterranean climates of the Western Australian Wheatbelt where hydroperiods are more stable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential response of shoreface depositional environments to sea level rise over the present century and beyond remains poorly understood. The shoreface is shaped by wave action across a sedimentary seabed and may aggrade or deflate depending on the balance between time-averaged wave energy and the availability and character of sediment, within the context of the inherited geological control. For embayed and accommodation-dominated coastal settings, where shoreline change is particularly sensitive to cross-shore sediment transport, whether the shoreface is a source or sink for coastal sediment during rising sea level may be a crucial determinant of future shoreline change. While simple equilibrium-based models (e.g. the Bruun Rule) are widely used in coastal risk planning practice to predict shoreline change due to sea level rise, the relevance of fundamental model assumptions to the shoreface depositional setting is often overlooked due to limited knowledge about the geomorphology of the nearshore seabed. We present high-resolution mapping of the shoreface-inner shelf in southeastern Australia from airborne lidar and vessel-based multibeam echosounder surveys, which reveals a more complex seabed than was previously known. The mapping data are used to interpret the extent, depositional character and morphodynamic state of the shoreface, by comparing the observed geomorphology to theoretical predictions from wave-driven sediment transport theory. The benefits of high-resolution seabed mapping for improving shoreline change predictions in practice are explored by comparing idealised shoreline change modelling based on our understanding of shoreface geomorphology and morphodynamics before and after the mapping exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile phone-based applications (apps) can promote faster targeted actions to control COVID-19. However, digital contact tracing systems raise concerns about data security, system effectiveness, and their potential to normalise privacy-invasive surveillance technologies. In the absence of mandates, public uptake depends on the acceptability and perceived legitimacy of using technologies that log interactions between individuals to build public health capacity. We report on six online deliberative workshops convened in New South Wales to consider the appropriateness of using the COVIDSafe app to enhance Australian contact tracing systems. All groups took the position (by majority) that the protections enacted in the app design and supporting legislation were appropriate. This support is contingent on several system attributes including: the voluntariness of the COVIDSafe app; that the system relies on proximity rather than location tracking; and, that data access is restricted to local public health practitioners undertaking contact tracing. Despite sustained scepticism in media coverage, there was an underlying willingness to trust Australian governing institutions such that in principle acceptance of the new contact tracing technology was easy to obtain. However, tensions between the need to prove system effectiveness through operational transparency and requirements for privacy protections could be limiting public uptake. Our study shows that informed citizens are willing to trade their privacy for common goods such as COVID-19 suppression. But low case numbers and cautionary public discourses can make trustworthiness difficult to establish because some will only do so when it can be demonstrated that the benefits justify the costs to individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bermuda grass latent virus (BGLV; genus Panicovirus) is identified for the first time in Australia and in only the second country after the USA. A full-length genome sequence was obtained, which has 97% nucleotide sequence identity to that of the species exemplar isolate. Surveys for BGLV, utilising a newly designed universal panicovirus RT-PCR assay for diagnosis, demonstrated widespread infection by this virus in a broad variety of Bermuda grass cultivars (Cynodon dactylon and C. dactylon × C. transvaalensis) grown in both New South Wales and Queensland. The virus was also detected in Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana) and Kikuyu grass (Cenchrus clandestinus), which are both important pasture grasses in subtropical Australia, and the latter is also grown as turf. Furthermore, the Rhodes grass plant, which had strong mosaic symptoms, was also infected with sugarcane mosaic virus, warranting further investigations as to whether synergistic interactions occur between these two viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Verticillium dahliae was isolated from Noogoora burr (Xanthium occidentale) seeds collected from mature asymptomatic plants in 2017 growing along the riverbank at Condobolin, NSW. V. dahliae was isolated from seeds by transferring surfaced-disinfested seed components onto 25% Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) plus Novobiocin. Morphological and molecular analysis, as well as fulfilment of Koch's postulates, confirmed the causal pathogen was V. dahliae. Additional analysis was carried out to assign the isolates into a vegetative compatibility group (VCG) and pathotype. This is the first report of V. dahliae VCG6 in Australia infecting X. occidentale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding what motivates farmers to adopt "climate-smart" regenerative practices is critical for developing the right policies, incentives, outreach, and support mechanisms. This article explores factors that motivated farmers in NSW Australia to transition from conventional to regenerative agriculture (RA), focusing on the role that their perceptions of agrochemicals and the microbiome played. Drawing on integral theory, the article takes a holistic approach to analyzing how farmer interiorities in personal and collective realms interacted with external behavior and the larger social-ecological system in which food and fiber is produced. A key finding is that negative experiences with agrochemicals associated with increasing costs and declining results were an important driver of change. Conversely, positive experiences learning about the microbiome and practicing ecological approaches to fertilization and pest control engendered enthusiasm and commitment to a transition away from high-input agriculture and a transformation in mindset. Further, conviviality associated with communities of practice, e.g. microscope groups, played an important role in the transition process, as farmers solidified new identities and participated in ongoing social learning. Based on these results, I argue that farmers' feelings of kinship with nature (animals, plants, microbes) resulting from learning about and working with soil are underappreciated drivers of behavioral change and powerful leverage points for larger-scale social-ecological transformation. The integral model facilitates recognition of the connections between soil condition, farmers' perceptions of and feelings about its condition, ensuing behavior including participation in new networks, and the creation of new norms, all of which create space for the emergence of institutional and systemic change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The peri-urban interface (PUI) exhibits characteristic qualities of both urban and rural regions, and this complexity has meant that risk assessments and long-term planning for PUI are lagging, despite these areas representing new developing settlement frontiers. This study aims to address this knowledge gap by modifying an existing approach to quantify and assess flood risk. The risk triangle framework was used to map exposure, vulnerability and biophysical variables; however, in a novel application, the risk triangle framework was adapted by presuming that there is a variation in the degree of exposure, vulnerability and biophysical variables. Within Australia and globally, PUIs are often coastal, and flood risk associated with rainfall and coastal inundation poses considerable risk to communities in the PUI; these risks will be further exacerbated should projections of increasing frequency of extreme rainfall events and accelerating sea-level rise eventuate. An indicator-based approach using the risk triangle framework that maps flood hazard, exposure and vulnerability was used to integrate the biophysical and socio-economic flooding risk for communities in PUI of the St Georges Basin and Sussex Inlet catchments of south-eastern Australia. Integrating the flood risk triangle with future scenarios of demographic and climate change, and considering factors that contribute to PUI flood risk, facilitated the identification of planning strategies that would reduce the future rate of increase in flood risk. These planning strategies are useful for natural resource managers and land use planners across Australia and globally, who are tasked with balancing socio-economic prosperity for a changing population, whilst maintaining and enhancing ecosystem services and values. The indicator-based approach used in this study provides a cost-effective first-pass risk assessment and is a valuable tool for decision makers planning for flood risk across PUIs in NSW and globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restoration of many grassland ecosystems is dependent on restoring native N cycling regimes, through methods such as nutrient stripping, C addition, and/or re-establishment of keystone species. We studied topsoil N pools and fluxes under five different understorey vegetation communities of different degradation states of grassy eucalypt woodlands across 11 sites in New South Wales, Australia, in order to identify whether high N flux but low standing N concentrations were responsible for the success of reference Themeda triandra communities. The presence of NO3− was the main differentiator between the annual exotic (AE) and reference states, which both demonstrated twofold-threefold increases N flux relative to the depleted states. Reference states were characterised by high proteolysis and dissolved organic N (DON) mineralisation rates, but also low δ15N and a high C:N ratio, which taken together indicate fresh organic matter inputs that turn over quickly. In quantifying fast rates of N cycling yet low NO3− pools in the reference states, our data highlight a productive ecosystem dominated by rapidly cycling DON rather than NO3− in its reference state. The higher NO3− concentrations coupled with fast N cycling in the degraded AE state indicate that although available N production is high in both systems, uptake is lower in the AE state, perpetuating a larger standing NO3− pool that may prevent re-establishment of native species. Steps that promote rapid DON cycling while inhibiting nitrification may lead to a soil biogeochemical status more suitable for the restoration of highly productive native grasslands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the psychosocial impacts of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on cancer patients, survivors, and carers in Australia. Methods: Using real-time insights from two Cancer Council NSW services—131120 Information and Support Line and Online Community (CCOC) forums—we assessed service demand trends, distress levels (using the distress thermometer), and content from 131120 calls and online posts between 01 December 2019 and 31 May 2020. Emergent themes were identified through an inductive conventional content analysis with 131120 call notes, followed by a deductive directed content analysis on CCOC posts. Results: In total, 688 COVID-19-related 131120 calls (n = 496) and online posts (n = 192) were analysed. Service demand peaked in March 2020 and self-reported distress peaked in May 2020 at an average of 8/10 [Mean = 7.5; SD = 0.9]. Five themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: psychological distress and fear of virus susceptibility, practical issues, cancer service disruptions, information needs, and carer Issues. Conclusions: The psychosocial impacts of COVID-19 on people affected by cancer are multifaceted and likely to have long-lasting consequences. Our findings drove the development of six recommendations across three domains of support, information, and access. Cancer patients, survivors, and carers already face stressful challenges dealing with a cancer diagnosis or survivorship. The added complexity of restrictions and uncertainty associated with the pandemic may compound this. It is important that healthcare providers are equipped to provide patient-centred care during and after this crisis. Our recommendations provide points of consideration to ensure care is tailored and patient oriented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exemplary religious education (RE) teachers were identified by school based RE leaders and interviewed as part of an ongoing study of the implementation of a new senior high school religious education program in Catholic schools in NSW, Australia. Contextualisation was provided by examining dominant social influences utilising Dobbelaere's concept of multi layered secularisation and Pollefeyt's notion of teachers as witness, specialist and moderator (WSM). The worldview of teachers in this study was not closely aligned with a secularised personal religious identity. They displayed a high level of religious salience. Participants did, however, display characteristics that were in keeping with a framework of skilled RE as WSM. A range of implications of this study were discussed including the need for; a closer examination of the pedagogical strategies used by exemplary RE teachers, a better understanding of teacher formation, further examination of the life journey of exemplary RE teachers in Catholic education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the potentially devastating consequences of flooding, it is crucial that uncertainties in the modelling process are quantified in flood simulations. In this paper, the impact of uncertainties in design losses on peak flow estimates is investigated. Simulations were carried out using a conceptual rainfall-runoff model called RORB in four catchments along the east coast of New South Wales, Australia. Monte Carlo simulation was used to evaluate parameter uncertainty in design losses, associated with three loss models (initial loss-continuing loss, initial loss-proportional loss and soil water balance model). The results show that the uncertainty originating from each loss model differs and can be quite significant in some cases. The uncertainty in the initial loss-proportional loss model was found to be the highest, with estimates up to 2.2 times the peak flow, whilst the uncertainty in the soil water balance model was significantly less, with up to 60 % variability in peak flows for an annual exceedance probability of 0.02. Through applying Monte Carlo simulation a better understanding of the predicted flows is achieved, thus providing further support for planning and managing river systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal estuaries provide essential juvenile habitat for many commercially and recreationally important fish, which may move between estuarine and coastal environments throughout their life. Identifying the most important estuarine nurseries that contribute to the broader stock can support targeted management of juvenile and spawning populations. The objective of this study was to (1) compare chemical fingerprints within sagittal otoliths of juvenile Mulloway (Argyrosomus japonicus) sampled from putative south-eastern Australian nurseries, (2) assess their potential as natural tags to distinguish nursery grounds for the broader coastal Mulloway stock and (3) assess the viability of otolith chemistry as a fisheries management tool when limited to opportunistic, fisheries-dependant, otolith sample collection from by-catch. Otoliths from juvenile Mulloway (0 to 3 years, 4 to 44.8 cm total length) were obtained from 8 major estuaries and 2 inshore ocean locations along coastal south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, from April 2015 to July 2018. Concentrations of Sr, Ba, Mg, Mn and Li in the otolith region corresponding to the juvenile nursery stage were determined using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The element to Ca ratios of fish from coastal estuaries differed significantly among collection areas, based upon multivariate elemental fingerprints, with some exceptions. When the otoliths of fish were analysed in a multinomial logistic regression (MLR) classifier, there was an overall mean allocation success of 59% to the estuary of capture. This study highlights the use of otolith 'fingerprints' as natural tags in Mulloway, and contributes to progressive research in environmental reconstruction applications of otolith chemistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ordovician conodonts representing 28 genera and 28 named and three unnamed species were identified from 740 chert and siliceous siltstone spot samples (>3 000 thin sections) from deep-water turbiditic sequences of the Lachlan Orogen in central and southern New South Wales, Australia. Based on these faunas, a new conodont biozonal scheme has been established to divide the Ordovician turbiditic successions of the Lachlan Orogen into 12 superbiozones and biozones. They are (in ascending order) the Paracordylodus gracilis Superbiozone (including the Prioniodus oepiki Biozone), Periodon flabellum Superbiozone (including the Oepikodus evae Biozone in the lower part), Periodon hankensis Biozone, Periodon aculeatus Superbiozone (including the Histiodella labiosa, Histiodella holodentata, Histiodella kristinae, Pygodus serra and Pygodus anserinus biozones) and the Periodon grandis Biozone. The Pygodus anserinus Biozone is divided further into the lower and upper subbiozones. This new conodont biozonation scheme spanning the upper Tremadocian to middle Katian interval permits precise age-dating and correlation of deep-water siliciclastic rocks that characterize the Ordovician Deep-Sea Realm regionally and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the application of a hybrid coastal morphodynamic model to forecast inter-annual beach change is discussed through the prediction of beach change in a high energy sandy beach over a period of 5 years. The modelling approach combines a 'reduced-physics' formulation with a data-driven approach through an inverse technique to form the hybrid coastal morphodynamic model. The beach considered for the demonstration of the model is the Narrabeen Beach, which is a dynamic sand beach located in New South Wales, Australia. Despite its simplicity, we find that the model is able to capture beach change at Narrabeen Beach at inter-annual timescales with root mean square error between measured and computed beach profiles less than 0.4 m on average. Even though the model is used to forecast inter-annual beach change in this study, its ability to predict beach change is not limited to that timescale but depends on the frequency of historic beach profile measurements available to determine key unknown parameters of the model. Also, the length of profile forecasts largely depends on the length of available historic measurements where longer data sets allow longer predictions within a range of beach behaviour contained in the observations. The ability of the model to reliably forecast coastal change at inter-annual and potentially at other timescales, and its high efficiency make it possible to be used in providing multiple simulations required for probabilistic coastal change forecasts which will be very useful for coastal management purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the relation of mental, physical, and social wellbeing measures to death by suicide and self-harm (SH). Methods: Using a cohort design, questionnaire data on 266,324 responders aged ≥ 45 years, living in NSW, Australia were linked to hospital and death databases during 2006–2017. Adjusted incidence rate ratios (IRR) were calculated. Results: Overall, 212 suicides and 723 SH episodes were observed. A dose–response relationship with suicidal behaviour was found for Kessler-10 Psychological Distress Scale; IRRs of 4.5 (95% CI 2.4–8.3) for suicide and 8.3 (95% CI 6.5–10.7) for SH were observed for scores of high versus low distress. Elevated rates were also observed for those reporting poor versus good or excellent health (suicide, IRR: 3.8, 95% CI 2.2–6.9; SH, IRR: 4.5 95% CI 3.4–6.1); being dependent versus not dependent on help with daily tasks (suicide, IRR: 2.4 95% CI 1.5–3.7; SH, IRR: 2.6 95% CI 2.0–3.3); being a current smoker (suicide, IRR: 1.8, 95% CI 1.1–2.9; SH, IRR: 2.9 95% CI 2.3–3.5) having versus not having male erectile problems (SH, IRR: 1.9 95% CI 1.4–2.5). Participants with ≥ 5 people versus one person to depend on had reduced suicidal behaviour (suicide, IRR: 0.5 95% CI 0.3–0.7, SH, IRR: 0.5 95% CI 0.4–0.6). Conclusions: An active social network was linked to lower rates of suicide and self-harm. Adverse health, dependence on help, psychological distress were associated with higher rates of suicide and self-harm, while erectile problems were linked to an elevated rate of self-harm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]