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In this paper, we introduce a novel strategy to robustly diagnose the onset and demise of the rainy season using daily observed rainfall over seven specific regions across Australia, as demarcated by the Natural Resource Management (NRM) agency of Australia. The methodology lies in developing an ensemble spread of the diagnosed onset and demise from randomly perturbing the observed daily time series of rainfall at synoptic scales to obtain a measure of the uncertainty of the diagnosis. Our results indicate that the spread of the ensemble in the diagnosis of the onset and demise dates of the rainy season is higher in the subtropical region than the tropical region. Secular change of earlier onset, later demise, longer length, and wetter season are also identified in many of these regions. The influence of the PDO at decadal scale, ENSO and Indian Ocean dipole at interannual scale, and MJO at intraseasonal scale also reveals significant influence on the evolution of the rainy season over these regions in Australia. Most important, the covariability of the onset date with the length of the season and seasonal rainfall anomaly of the season is highlighted as a valuable relationship that can be exploited for real-time monitoring and providing an outlook of the forthcoming rainy season, which could serve some of the NRM regions. Significance Statement: We document the rainfall variability during the rainy season over tropical, subtropical, and semiarid regions of Australia and relate them to modes of climate variability spanning from intraseasonal to secular time scales. The study highlights the varied influence of the modes of climate variability on various aspects of the evolution of the rainy season, such as its onset and demise dates and the seasonal rainfall anomaly over these Australian regions. The study uses 114 years of data and shows that the variations in the length of the rainy season and its seasonal rainfall anomaly are strongly dictated by variations of rainy-season onset date. This provides a quick seasonal outlook of the forthcoming rainy season by just monitoring the onset-date evolution in these regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper provides a critical analysis of the development and current outcomes of Australia's first endorsed strategic assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, namely, the Melbourne Strategic Assessment. It covers progress towards protection of a number of Nationally Significant Species and Ecological Communities – most notably, the native grassland communities immediately adjacent to Melbourne's Urban Growth Boundary. The Commonwealth approval to protect biodiversity and allow urban development was made in 2010 and it aimed to achieve its outcomes by 2020. These outcomes included providing new land for homes, for new transport corridors, and for conservation of biodiversity. Natural Temperate Grassland (4,667 ha), Grassy Eucalypt Woodland (709 ha) and seven other Matters of National Environmental Significance will be impacted. Mitigation for this is establishment of 15,000 ha of grassland reserves, 1,200 ha of grassy woodland reserves, over 4,000 ha of other land zoned for conservation and 300 ha of wetland restoration. We conclude that the Melbourne Strategic Assessment has been a success in terms of the elegance and comprehensiveness of the approach, in cooperation between the levels of government, in the economic benefits, and in some aspects of social engagement of the agreement. However, the achievement of environmental outcomes must be currently considered a failure due to poor implementation. This failure includes not meeting the agreed 10 year deadline for land acquisition and management, poor monitoring and protection of set‐aside areas, and in reporting. We offer suggestions for how these current shortcomings could be overcome. These align well with the recommendations of the review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (The independent statutory review of the Act in 2020) and include the establishment of the proposed Office of Compliance and Enforcement, the adoption of National Environmental Standards and the reforms regarding the role of Indigenous Australians in strategic assessments. If these were adopted, we conclude that the strategic assessment approach should be more widely used because of the more holistic approach and efficiencies that it envisages compared with site by site approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding housing preferences is critical for successful compact city development. However, there is limited research on understanding preference heterogeneity in dwelling type choices. Using the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, this paper identifies the key housing and built environment characteristics associated with changes in dwelling type choice from detached houses to high-density. A latent class choice model captures the heterogeneity of dwelling type preferences within a traditionally low-density city, Brisbane, Australia. Findings reveal six household classes with distinct dwelling preferences: Class 1 (senior households without children with other family members) and Class 2 (couple families with children) in inner-city areas, Class 3 (high-income young households) and Class 4 (low-income households without children) in middle-city areas, Class 5 (low-income families with children) and Class 6 (middle-income young families without children) in outer-city areas. Residential environments with better access to educational facilities encourage Classes 3 and 6 to change to high-density living. Greater land use diversity encourages Classes 2, 3, and 6 to move towards high-density living. The findings can be used to design and improve high-density housing for targeted population groups across inner-, middle- and outer-city areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysia is expected to be an ageing country by 2030 when 15% of her populace will be in the category of the elderly. The elderly will face various issues and challenges, such as finance along with abuse and neglect. Generally, like in other disputes, the legal mechanism is the resort for resolution. However, litigation is less preferred in this type of cases as it does not address the emotional distress suffered by the parties involved. As such, litigation is not a suitable method as it may break the relationship between the parties. Conversely, mediation, a non-adjudicative dispute resolution mechanism, is considered a potential method of dispute settlement since it is effective in addressing the issues in a family conflict involving the elderly. Due to its effectiveness, the application of mediation as a means of resolving disputes has gained global attention. Considering its effectiveness, some countries, such as Australia and Canada, apply mediation in resolving family issues involving the elderly. The use of mediation in family disputes is not new in Malaysia, however, it is yet to be applied in elderly family disputes. The objective of this article is to explore the scope of the application of mediation in elderly family issues. As such, this study adopts the qualitative approach of research where primary and secondary sources of data were gleaned from various statutes as well as existing literature, respectively. In order to underline the potential of mediation in dispute resolution, the experiences of Australia and Canada have been shared in this article. The finding indicates that due to its intrinsic excellence and usefulness, mediation can excel in resolving the disputes related to the elderly. Therefore, the paper recommends embracing mediation as a feasible dispute settlement mechanism involving the elderly in a family setting in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several ungulate species are showing increasing population patterns within their geographical distribution ranges, leading to constant interactions with other animal species. Varying densities and activities of different ungulates may result in diverse impacts on other coexisting species groups, including large numbers of threatened species, such as reptiles. In this study, we performed an analysis of the available literature to investigate the impacts of ungulates on reptiles. We aimed to reveal the diversity of: (1) the geographical and environmental distribution of related investigations; (2) the ungulate and reptile species involved; and (3) the characteristics of interactions (direct or indirect, positive or negative) from 69 publications. Our results show that the most papers were reported from the Americas (42%) and Australia (28%). The proportions of studies were balanced for wild ungulates (53%) and livestock (47%). Wild boar (Sus scrofa) was found to be the most problematic species on reptiles whereas reptiles which suffered the harshest impacts were Squamates (i.e., lizards, and snakes). Ungulate activities (e.g., digging by wild boar) may directly harm reptiles (consuming or killing them) or indirectly affect them by modifying their habitats or destroying their hideouts. Some preferential effects were also noted (e.g., by moderate livestock grazing or when wild ungulates are prey for large reptiles). Published livestock impacts were mainly indirect and mostly negatively linked to overgrazing. We conclude that it is important to manage and monitor the densities of ungulates to minimize their negative impacts on reptile species, especially in case of wild boar and grazing livestock, but also to maintain their moderate beneficial effects (e.g., as prey basis). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In instrumented prescribed fires, the ignition procedure requires much attention. In this paper, we investigate the effects of two ignition procedures on the fire head using a 3D numerical model. The first procedure is to ignite the fire from the edges of the fire line towards the centre of the line. The second procedure consists of igniting the fire from the centre of the fire line to the edges of the line. The 3D numerical model used is based on the modelling of the fuel layer from Lagrangian particles, and the fire propagation is based on a two-phase model. The model was tested on an experimental fire in a wheat field in southern Australia. The model predicted the experimental fire front well. Analysis of the impact of the ignition procedure on the fire head showed that the quasi-steady-state rate of fire spread was the same for both procedures. However, before the quasi-stationary state, the front of the first procedure spread faster than that of the second procedure. The fire front in the first procedure was wider than in the second procedure. It was also found that the length of the head fire in the first procedure remained the same as that of the ignition line. In the second procedure, the length of the head fire was one-third of that of the ignition line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: As the Australian population grows and ages, the demand for eye care services, and nurses to provide the services, is expected to increase. This will impact nurses, who are Australia's largest health-care provider group. Understanding and mapping the current role and use of nurses in eye care is an essential first step for future health workforce planning and development. To map their engagement, we undertook a scoping review to gain an understanding of the current Australian nurse eye care workforce landscape, to help guide and support future workforce development activities. Secondly, we evaluated if publications in this field incorporated or mentioned the Australian Ophthalmic Nursing Association's National Standards (Practice standards) in their publication. This review also offers other nations and eye care providers the opportunity to evaluate their own health workforce plan and nurse utility. Study Design and Methods: We conducted a review of academic and grey literature, via various search engines, and an inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: We uncovered 11 publications. Of those, five were academic papers examining extended and advanced nursing practice, one was a letter to the editor, two were industry feature reviews, two were industry reports and the final was the Practice Standards. Key themes throughout indicated the benefit of nurse training and nurse involvement in eye care. Overall, there was insufficient information or data to describe nurse deployment, practice and utility. Finally, the Practice Standards were not referenced in any publication. Conclusion: There is insufficient published information to calculate the level and involvement of nurses, or describe their existing role, advancement or future deployment in eye care in Australia. Without clear information, Australia is unable to develop effective health workforce strategies to attract, train, retain, and appropriately deploy nurses to meet future eye care needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To describe post‐neonatally acquired (PNN) cerebral palsy (CP) in terms of temporal trends in prevalence, clinical and sociodemographic profiles, known causes and associations between causes, and sociodemographic variables. Method: Numerator data, a count of children with PNN‐CP confirmed at 5 years of age (n = 523), was drawn from two Australian state CP registers (birth years 1973–2012). Poisson regression was used to investigate temporal trends in the prevalence of PNN‐CP by 5‐year intervals, calculated per 10 000 live births. Using data from all state and territory Australian CP registers (n = 469), distributions of clinical characteristics, PNN‐CP causes, and sociodemographic factors were tabulated (birth years 1995–2012). χ2 and logistic regression analyses were used to assess associations between sociodemographic profile, Australian reference data, and known causes. Results: A significant temporal decline in PNN‐CP in Victoria (p = 0.047) and Western Australia (p = 0.033) was observed. The most common proximal causes of PNN‐CP were cerebrovascular accidents (34%, n = 158), infection (25%, n = 117), and non‐accidental injuries (12%, n = 58). Children born to teenage mothers, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander mothers, or children born in remote areas were over‐represented in this cohort compared with reference data (all p ≤ 0.001). Infectious causes were strongly associated with teenage motherhood (odds ratio 3.0 [95% confidence interval 1.1–8.2], p = 0.028) and remote living (odds ratio 4.5 [95% confidence interval 2.0–10.2], p < 0.001). Interpretation: Although prevalence of PNN‐CP has declined, the over‐representation of priority populations, and the relative severity of a condition that is largely preventable, suggest the need for more specific primary preventive measures and support. What this paper adds: Prevalence of post‐neonatally acquired (PNN) cerebral palsy (CP) in Australia significantly declined between 1973 and 2012.Cerebrovascular accidents are the most common proximal cause of PNN‐CP.Children born in remote areas are at greater risk of PNN‐CP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Universities are increasingly recognised as institutions where health and wellbeing can be promoted to maximise academic outcomes, career transitions, and lifelong positive health behaviours. There is concern about the mental health of university students and other factors which affect academic outcomes particularly for subgroups such as international students. There are few cohort studies of the breadth of issues that can impact on mental health and academic outcomes for both local and international students. We conducted a baseline prevalence survey of students at a large Australian university covering health, academic, and social determinants of wellbeing. The purpose was to inform the university's new student health and wellbeing framework with a view to follow-up to determine predictors of mental ill-health and academic outcomes in the subsequent year. In this paper we present the baseline prevalence data and report on selected mental health and health care access issues for local and international students. Methods: The entire university population as of April 2019 of over 56,375 students aged 18 or above were invited to complete the online survey. Questions explored eight domains: demographic characteristics, general health and wellbeing, mental health, risk taking behaviours, psychosocial stressors, learning and academic factors, social and cultural environment, and awareness of and access to health and wellbeing services. Records of academic results were also accessed and matched with survey data for a large subset of students providing consent. Results: Fourteen thousand eight hundred eighty (26.4%) students commenced our survey and were representative of the entire student population on demographic characteristics. Three quarters were aged between 18 to 25 years and one third were international students. Eighty-five percent consented to access of their academic records. Similar proportions of local and international students experienced symptoms of a depression or anxiety disorder, however international students were less aware of and less likely to access available health services both inside and external to the university. We also reported on the prevalence of: general lifestyle factors (diet, exercise, amount of daily sleep); risk-taking behaviours (including alcohol, tobacco and other drug use; unprotected sexual activity); psychosocial stressors (financial, intimate partner violence, discrimination, academic stressors, acculturative stress); subjects failed; resilience; social supports; social media use; and health services accessed online. Conclusions: This rigorous and comprehensive examination of the health status of local and international students in an Australian university student population establishes the prevalence of mental health issues and other psychosocial determinants of health and wellbeing, along with academic performance. This study will inform a university-wide student wellbeing framework to guide health and wellbeing promotion and is a baseline for a 12-month follow-up of the cohort in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Universities are increasingly recognised as institutions where health and wellbeing can be promoted to maximise academic outcomes, career transitions, and lifelong positive health behaviours. There is concern about the mental health of university students and other factors which affect academic outcomes particularly for subgroups such as international students. There are few cohort studies of the breadth of issues that can impact on mental health and academic outcomes for both local and international students. We conducted a baseline prevalence survey of students at a large Australian university covering health, academic, and social determinants of wellbeing. The purpose was to inform the university's new student health and wellbeing framework with a view to follow-up to determine predictors of mental ill-health and academic outcomes in the subsequent year. In this paper we present the baseline prevalence data and report on selected mental health and health care access issues for local and international students. Methods: The entire university population as of April 2019 of over 56,375 students aged 18 or above were invited to complete the online survey. Questions explored eight domains: demographic characteristics, general health and wellbeing, mental health, risk taking behaviours, psychosocial stressors, learning and academic factors, social and cultural environment, and awareness of and access to health and wellbeing services. Records of academic results were also accessed and matched with survey data for a large subset of students providing consent. Results: Fourteen thousand eight hundred eighty (26.4%) students commenced our survey and were representative of the entire student population on demographic characteristics. Three quarters were aged between 18 to 25 years and one third were international students. Eighty-five percent consented to access of their academic records. Similar proportions of local and international students experienced symptoms of a depression or anxiety disorder, however international students were less aware of and less likely to access available health services both inside and external to the university. We also reported on the prevalence of: general lifestyle factors (diet, exercise, amount of daily sleep); risk-taking behaviours (including alcohol, tobacco and other drug use; unprotected sexual activity); psychosocial stressors (financial, intimate partner violence, discrimination, academic stressors, acculturative stress); subjects failed; resilience; social supports; social media use; and health services accessed online. Conclusions: This rigorous and comprehensive examination of the health status of local and international students in an Australian university student population establishes the prevalence of mental health issues and other psychosocial determinants of health and wellbeing, along with academic performance. This study will inform a university-wide student wellbeing framework to guide health and wellbeing promotion and is a baseline for a 12-month follow-up of the cohort in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S-5P) satellite, launched in 2017, measures the total column concentration of the trace gas Carbon Monoxide (CO) daily on a global scale and at a high spatial resolution of 7×7 km², improved to 5.5×7 km² in August 2019. The TROPOMI observations show plumes of CO due to localized CO emissions from industrial sources and biomass burning. In this paper, we quantify these CO emissions for biomass burning by an automated algorithm, APE, to detect plumes and quantify the CO emission rate using cross-sectional flux method. Furthermore, the influence of a constant and a varying plume height in downwind direction on emissions is investigated and algorithm uncertainties are quantified. The VIIRS active fire data in conjunction with the TROPOMI CO datasets is used to identify fires and the fire locations. Then, an automated plume detection algorithm using traditional image processing algorithms is developed and utilized to identify plumes. For these plumes, the emission rate is estimated by the cross10 section flux method at three different plume heights. The first two are constant plume heights at a 100 m and an IS4FIRES injection height from Global Fire Assimilation System. And the last one is a varying plume height in downwind direction. A 3D Lagrangian model is used to simulate tracer particles where the source locations for the simulation are based on the VIIRS fire counts and IS4FIRES injection height. 3D velocities at 137 model levels (ERA5) are utilized to simulate tracer particles. We demonstrate the quality and validity of our automated approach by investigating biomass burning events and their emissions for Australia on Oct 2019 and the US on Sept 2020. A total of 110 and 31 individual fire plumes in Australia and the US, respectively were detected and their emissions estimated. The emissions were severely under-predicted and negative for 11 cases when based on constant plume height of 100 m compared to emissions based on varying plume height. Furthermore, the effect of the changing plume height in downwind direction on the emission estimate compared to emissions from constant IS4FIRES plume height was minor as 124 cases are found to have emission variation less than 10%. However, we were able to identify several cases where the flux estimates become more reliable with varying plume height. Thus, the varying plume height in downwind direction is considered for the automated algorithm. The cross-section flux method is found to have an uncertainty of 38% in one of the idealized cases. However, overall uncertainty of the algorithm is difficult to quantify as conditions for each fire are unique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ionospheric delay is one of the most problematic errors in single-frequency (SF) global navigation satellite system (GNSS) data processing. Global/regional ionospheric maps (GIM/RIM) are thus vitally important for positioning users. Given the coexistence of multi-GNSS, the integration of quad-constellation observations is essential for improving the distribution of ionospheric penetration points (IPPs) and increasing redundant observations compared with the existing GIM products from the IGS analysis center. In this paper, quad-constellation (GPS/GLONASS/Galileo/BDS) observations are applied to set up the RIM over Australia with uncombined precise point positioning (UC-PPP) and a low-order spherical harmonic function. The generated RIMs are then introduced to ionosphere-corrected (IC) and ionosphere-weighted (IW) single-frequency PPP (IC-SFPPP and IW-SFPPP) to verify their performance in terms of positioning accuracy and convergence time. Taking the CODE GIM as a reference, the results show that the mean root mean square (RMS) of VTEC differences is 0.867 TECUs, and the quad-constellation RIM (referred as 'RIM4′) can improve the RMS of RIMs compared to single-constellation mode at the edge of regional experiment area. The application of the RIM4 in the BDS IC-SFPPP results in a 18.38% improvement (from 100.47 cm to 82.00 cm) of 3D positioning RMS compared to the CODE-GIMs, whereas 35.36% enhancement (from 115.92 cm to 74.62 cm) of 3D positioning RMS is achievable during an active ionospheric period. Moreover, if the criterion of the convergence time is defined as when positioning errors in the horizontal and vertical directions are less than 0.3 m and 0.6 m for 20 consecutive epochs, the IW-SFPPP can significantly speed up the convergence time compared to the uncombined SFPPP; that is, the convergence time is reduced by 52.7% (from 37 min to 17.5 min), 37.2% (from 72.5 min to 45.5 min), and 37.1% (from 62.0 min to 39.0 min) in the north, east and up direction, respectively, at the 68% confidence level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most states of Australia, legislation for some form of integrated strategic planning enables local communities to move towards the centre of decision-making and planning for a better future. Experience with these laws is now being researched to determine if the principles and process they embody could also work at the national level. The first part of this paper focuses on the specific model of 'Integrated Planning and Reporting' in New South Wales, while the second part discusses how a modified form of the concept could work nationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The women who aspire to the role of a local government councillor in rural and regional areas of Australia are still breaking new ground. This paper presents research findings, by a woman who stood for election, concerning some of the barriers women face in achieving public leadership in regional and rural local governments ('councils'). It explores the motivation and leadership styles of six women candidates campaigning in two neighbouring all-male councils in regional New South Wales in 2017. The study used heuristic inquiry in which the researcher and participants share a personal lived experience of the issues being studied. Heuristic inquiry allowed for an intimate and creative presentation of the research. Key findings were that gender disparity was not a significant motivator for five of the six women. The main motivator was service to their community with all six women favouring a servant leader style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advancements of the battery energy storage systems (BESSs), reduction of their manufacturing costs and government subsidies, the BESS uptake is likely to increase rapidly in power distribution networks. This paper investigates the effects of residential BESSs on low-voltage (LV) networks using the actual household load profiles equipped with BESS and solar-photovoltaic (PV) systems. The electricity consumption data collected via smart meters (2200 households with PV/BESS, 1950 households with PV only and 1000 households without a PV or a BESS) at different solar-PV penetration levels and network types are used to simulate real network operating scenarios. A real LV distribution network in Australia is analysed in DIgSILENT PowerFactory under different scenarios, such as, customers with and without a solar-PV/BESS, with a solar-PV but without a BESS, and without a solar-PV, by using both the power flow and quasi-dynamic simulation studies under balanced and the unbalanced network loading conditions. According to the study, customers experience large voltage excursions from solar-PV power exports, which could be resolved by the household BESS, provided that the BESS charging is coordinated with the solar-PV production. Moreover, quasi-dynamic simulation shows that the BESS could reduce the violation of the over-voltage limit during the solar peak hours (midday) by lowering the worst-case feeder voltage by 3%. Finally, extreme-event (high solar PV generation scenario) simulation shows that the implementation of the BESS controller to facilitate charging BESS during afternoon solar-PV export may reduce the negative grid impact and will assist to avoid network upgrades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty years after the birth of medical imaging from Röntgen's 1895 discovery, military authorities understood the advantage of visualising injuries of wounded soldiers and monitoring their treatment. In World War One, medical imaging equipment was difficult to use and had to be operated in challenging environments. The most common use of x‐rays was the imaging of metallic foreign bodies such as bullets and shrapnel lodged within a soldier's body. The need to diagnose, manage war injuries and return soldiers to battle, led to medical imaging innovations including alternate means to record an image, better x‐ray tubes and an early form of tomography. Such technological advancements were made by scientists serving their respective countries. With information sourced from the Australian War Memorial archives, this paper also focusses on the experiences of an Australian wartime radiographer. This investigation demonstrates the importance, sacrifice and skills of men and women who took on the difficult task of medical imaging in the first truly world‐based conflict. It highlights how a new profession and associated technology emerged as an important tool in military medicine. Importantly, our profession's history within the context of military history should be preserved, while also honouring the legacy of individuals who contributed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper explores the feasibility of delivering a music festival-based drug checking service in Australia, evaluating service design and stakeholder acceptability. Methods: Questionnaire and interview data were collected from adult service users and key stakeholders. A mixed methods approach was used to analyse the data on implementation, impact and acceptability. Results: The trial service tested 170 substances with more than 230 patrons (including individuals who attended in groups). Adult service users had an average age of 21 years. Voluntary participation in the evaluation resulted in 158 participants completing the pre-service questionnaire, most of whom also completed the post-service (147 participants). Eleven in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with patrons in the weeks following the drug checking. Concordance between what the patron expected the drug to be and drug checking results occurred in 88 per cent (n = 139) of the sample. Evaluation results show that the experience of testing and the accompanying harm reduction brief interventions positively impacted on patrons' self-reported drug harm reduction knowledge, trust of health providers and stated drug use intentions. The service was received positively by service users. Conclusion: This is the first independent evaluation of a pilot drug checking service in Australia. Consideration of operational feasibility and self-reported behavioural change suggests that the program was successful, although communication about the interpretation of drug checking results could be improved. Future studies should develop strategies for follow-up and consider the applicability of behavioural change theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy forecasting plays a vital role in mitigating challenges in data rich smart grid (SG) systems involving various applications such as demand‐side management, load shedding, and optimum dispatch. Managing efficient forecasting while ensuring the least possible prediction error is one of the main challenges posed in the grid today, considering the uncertainty in SG data. This paper presents a comprehensive and application‐oriented review of state‐of‐the‐art forecasting methods for SG systems along with recent developments in probabilistic deep learning (PDL). Traditional point forecasting methods including statistical, machine learning (ML), and deep learning (DL) are extensively investigated in terms of their applicability to energy forecasting. In addition, the significance of hybrid and data pre‐processing techniques to support forecasting performance is also studied. A comparative case study using the Victorian electricity consumption in Australia and American electric power (AEP) datasets is conducted to analyze the performance of deterministic and probabilistic forecasting methods. The analysis demonstrates higher efficacy of DL methods with appropriate hyper‐parameter tuning when sample sizes are larger and involve nonlinear patterns. Furthermore, PDL methods are found to achieve at least 60% lower prediction errors in comparison to other benchmark DL methods. However, the execution time increases significantly for PDL methods due to large sample space and a tradeoff between computational performance and forecasting accuracy needs to be maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient interest in the use of cannabis-based medicines (CBMs) has increased in Australia. While recent policy and legislative changes have enabled health practitioners to prescribe CBMs for their patients, many patients still struggle to access CBMs. This paper employed a thematic analysis to submissions made to a 2019 Australian government inquiry into current barriers of patient access to medical cannabis. Methods: We identified 121 submissions from patients or family members (n = 63), government bodies (n = 5), non-government organisations (i.e., professional health bodies, charities, consumer organisations or advocacy groups; n = 25), medical cannabis and pharmaceutical industry (n = 16), and individual health professionals, academics, or research centres (n = 12). Data were coded using NVivo 12 software and thematically analysed. The findings were presented narratively using a modified Levesque's patient-centred access to care framework which includes: i) appropriateness; ii) availability and geographic accessibility; iii) acceptability; and iv) affordability. Results: Submissions from government agencies and professional health bodies consistently supported maintaining the current regulatory frameworks and access pathways, whereas an overwhelming majority of patients, advocacy groups and the medical cannabis industry described the current regulatory and access models as 'not fit for purpose'. These differing views seem to arise from divergent persepctives on (i) what and how much evidence is needed for policy and practice, and (ii) how patients should be given access to medical cannabis products amidst empirical uncertainty. Notwithstanding these differences, there were commonalities among some stakeholders regarding the various supply, regulatory, legislative, financial, and dispensing challenges that hindered timely access to CBMs. Conclusions: Progress in addressing the fundamental barriers that determine if and how a patient accesses and uses CBMs needs i) a 'system-level' reform that gives due consideration to the geographic disparity in access to prescribers and medical cannabis, and ii) reframing societal and health professional's views of CBMs by decoupling recreational vs medical cannabis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate solar photovoltaic (PV) generation forecast is critical to the reliable and economic operation of a modern power system. In practice, due to various faulty issues in the sensor, communication, or database system, the historical and online measurement data may not be always complete, and the missing data could dramatically degrade the forecasting model's accuracy. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an integrated missing-data tolerant model for probabilistic PV power generation forecasting. Taking historical PV generations as input, this model is based on a recursive long short-term memory network (Rec-LSTM), which can provide multi-step ahead forecasting of the probability distribution of PV generation. The unobserved input data will be imputed recursively based on the model output at the previous time step. During the training process, the imputations and forecasting values are iteratively updated by the negative log-likelihood loss function. As a salient advantage, this method can deal with data missing scenarios at both offline and online stages. Numerical experiments are conducted on two one-year datasets from Australia and Singapore, respectively. Probabilistic forecasting for both large-scale and small-scale building-level PV power generation is tested at the time resolution of 15 mins. Testing results show the proposed method can achieve superior probabilistic prediction accuracy as well as strong robustness under various data missing scenarios, compared to other state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: News media is one of the major sources of publicly available information on animal welfare law enforcement. It has previously been established that the media are strong influences of public perceptions. Therefore, it is possible that news reports on animal cruelty offences are shaping public understanding of penalties for animal cruelty. To understand how penalties are portrayed in the media, we collected 71 Australian news articles which reported on penalties for animal cruelty over a 6-month period from 1 June 2019 to 1 December 2019. Using thematic analysis, three themes were identified: (1) laws are not good enough; (2) laws are improving; and (3) reforms are unnecessary. A connection between public perceptions, media reporting and statutory reform efforts to increase maximum penalties is proposed, which potentially could explain why the Australian public appear displeased with the penalties handed down by courts for animal cruelty offences. Further sociological research is required to confirm this theory. Media portrayals of animal cruelty can shape public understanding and perception of animal welfare law. Given that animal welfare law in Australia is guided partially by 'community expectations', the media might indirectly be influencing recent reform efforts to amend maximum penalties in Australia, through guiding and shaping public opinion. This paper reports on Australian news articles which refer to penalties for animal cruelty published between 1 June 2019 and 1 December 2019. Using the electronic database Newsbank, a total of 71 news articles were included for thematic analysis. Three contrasting themes were identified: (1) laws are not good enough; (2) laws are improving; and (3) reforms are unnecessary. We propose a penalty reform cycle to represent the relationship between themes one and two, and 'community expectations'. The cycle is as follows: media reports on recent amendments imply that 'laws are improving' (theme two). Due to a range of inherent factors in the criminal justice system, harsher sentences are not handed down by the courts, resulting in media report of 'lenient sentencing' (theme one). Hence, the public become displeased with the penal system, forming the 'community expectations', which then fuel future reform efforts. Thus, the cycle continues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, tertiary education has been greatly affected by the Covid-19 crisis. In this essay we explore the impact of the pandemic on this educational sector in an Australian setting; specifically, we discuss how the Research School of Population Health at the Australian National University adjusted and adapted to the changing circumstances arising from the pandemic. In this respect, two adjustments (both described in detail in the text) in the way mental health education was delivered at the School were proposed to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and enhance the university's capacity to provide quality public health education to students. Thus, this essay shows that it is possible to design educational interventions that surmount the challenges posed by the pandemic. In addition, educators may use the examples cited in this paper to guide them to respond appropriately to the challenges that have arisen in terms of health education due to Covid-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most climatic models show that climate change affects natural perils' frequency and severity. Quantifying the impact of future climate conditions on natural hazard is essential for mitigation and adaptation planning. One crucial factor to consider when using climate simulations projections is the inherent systematic differences (bias) of the modelled data compared with observations. This bias can originate from the modelling process, the techniques used for downscaling of results, and the ensembles' intrinsic variability. Analysis of climate simulations has shown that the biases associated with these data types can be significant. Hence, it is often necessary to correct the bias before the data can be reliably used for further analysis. Natural perils are often associated with extreme climatic conditions. Analysing trends in the tail end of distributions are already complicated because noise is much more prominent than that in the mean climate. The bias of the simulations can introduce significant errors in practical applications. In this paper, we present a methodology for bias correction of climate simulated data. The technique corrects the bias in both the body and the tail of the distribution (extreme values). As an illustration, maps of the 50 and 100-year return period of climate simulated Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) in Australia are presented and compared against the corresponding observation-based maps. The results show that the algorithm can substantially improve the calculation of simulation-based return periods. Forthcoming work will focus on the impact of climate change on these return periods considering future climate conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the strategies that speakers employ in response to children's crying in the remote Aboriginal community of Wadeye, in northern Australia. Drawing on spontaneous interactions amongst Murrinhpatha speaking families, we analyse instances of crying by children aged 0;6 to 8;11 years, and the ways in which they are responded to. Results indicate that adult Murrinhpatha speakers manage children's distress through a variety of verbal and non-verbal strategies, and multimodal combinations thereof. The selection of strategies directly relates to the developmental stage of the crier. Adult caregivers respond differently to the crying of infants, of children who can walk unaided but are producing little if any language, of children who can talk intelligibly, and children more advanced again who have a degree of social independence. In the particular strategies that caregivers apply, they guide children towards a developmentally appropriate self-sufficiency. Caregivers encourage autonomy in ways that reflect a child's current abilities, be it physical, linguistic, emotional, or social. By exploring responses to crying in an under-researched cultural and linguistic context, this paper offers a unique perspective on the pragmatics of managing distress and what this reveals about local constructions of personhood within the context of carer-child interaction. • Analysis examines responses to children's crying in a remote Australian Aboriginal community. • Methods utilize multimodal analysis of spontaneous crying events in early childhood. • Findings show how caregiver responses are situated in relation to local expectations of children across developmental stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Inequitable access to primary health care (PHC) remains a problem for most western countries. Failure to scale up effective interventions has been due, in part, to a failure to share the logic and essential elements of successful programs. The aim of this paper is to describe what we learned about improving access to PHC for vulnerable groups across multiple sites through use of a common theory-based program logic model and a common evaluation approach. This was the IMPACT initiative. Methods: IMPACT's evaluation used a mixed methods design with longitudinal (pre and post) analysis of six interventions. The analysis for this paper included four of the six sites that met study criteria. These sites were located in Canada (Alberta, Quebec and Ontario) and Australia (New South Wales). Using the overarching logic model, unexpected findings were reviewed, and alternative explanations were considered to understand how the mechanisms of each intervention may have contributed to results. Results: Each site addressed their local access problem with different strategies and from different starting points. All sites observed changes in patient abilities to access PHC and provider access capabilities. The combination of intended and observed consequences for consumers and providers was different at each site, but all sites achieved change in both consumer ability and provider capability, even in interventions where there was no activity targeting provider behaviors. Discussion: The model helped to identify, explore and synthesize intended and unintended consequences of four interventions that appeared to have more differences than similarities. Similar outcomes for different interventions and multiple impacts of each intervention on abilities were observed, implying complex causal pathways. Conclusions: All the interventions were a low-cost incremental attempt to address unmet health care needs of vulnerable populations. Change is possible; sustaining change may be more challenging. Access to PHC requires attention to both patient abilities and provider characteristics. The logic model proved to be a valuable heuristic tool for defining the objectives of the interventions, evaluating their impacts, and learning from the comparison of 'cases'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how a stochastic disruptive event can dramatically alter community soundscapes. Whilst religious bells have symbolism in many worldwide faiths, the sound emanating from church bells can be considered public domain and therefore, is not exclusive to the church. Pandemic-related interruption of these sounds impacts not only the church involved, but both the surrounding soundscape and any members of the community who ascribe value to these sounds. This paper examines the soundscape of Christian churches in the states of New South Wales and Victoria, to give an Australian perspective one year after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. It provides an update of the situation in Australia, building on our previous work from August of that year. In doing so, it explores the activity of church tower bell ringing, and how this "non-essential" activity has been affected, both during and subsequent to the heavy community restrictions applied in Australia. The paper also explores what lengths bellringers have undertaken to be permitted to conduct such activities, such as the use of adaptive measures due to "social distancing", and considers what implications this enforced silence has in similar soundscapes elsewhere in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Securitization of the critical infrastructure as an important factor of national security has been among the aspects of wider changes in the security discourse since the end of the Cold War. The concept of critical infrastructure protection, initially focused on countering the terrorism threat, has been changing and expanding, from adopting the ‘all-hazard approach’, until the recent prevalence of the strategy of resilience in managing strategic security and operational risks. The sources of those risks are found mainly in climate-change induced natural hazards, as well as in global challenges of interconnection and interdependencies of critical infrastructure. The paper discusses the concepts of resilience and critical infrastructure, and then analyses the approaches to critical infrastructure protection and resilience in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Analyzed are the official documents – strategies, laws and by-laws, reviews and guidelines produced by the governmental bodies of the mentioned countries, with the aim of clarification of the concept, as well as the countryspecific variations in its operationalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the strategies that speakers employ in response to children's crying in the remote Aboriginal community of Wadeye, in northern Australia. Drawing on spontaneous interactions amongst Murrinhpatha speaking families, we analyse instances of crying by children aged 0;6 to 8;11 years, and the ways in which they are responded to. Results indicate that adult Murrinhpatha speakers manage children's distress through a variety of verbal and non-verbal strategies, and multimodal combinations thereof. The selection of strategies directly relates to the developmental stage of the crier. Adult caregivers respond differently to the crying of infants, of children who can walk unaided but are producing little if any language, of children who can talk intelligibly, and children more advanced again who have a degree of social independence. In the particular strategies that caregivers apply, they guide children towards a developmentally appropriate self-sufficiency. Caregivers encourage autonomy in ways that reflect a child's current abilities, be it physical, linguistic, emotional, or social. By exploring responses to crying in an under-researched cultural and linguistic context, this paper offers a unique perspective on the pragmatics of managing distress and what this reveals about local constructions of personhood within the context of carer-child interaction. • Analysis examines responses to children's crying in a remote Australian Aboriginal community. • Methods utilize multimodal analysis of spontaneous crying events in early childhood. • Findings show how caregiver responses are situated in relation to local expectations of children across developmental stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this systematic literature review was to investigate the current understanding of the competencies needed by Engineering Asset Management personnel in local authorities within Australia. During the development of the search string for the literature review, it was found that there were no available peer-reviewed articles on Engineering Asset Management competencies through an Australian local authority lens between January 2010 and December 2019 within the searched databases. Based on this, the search string criteria was re-focused onto Engineer Asset Management competencies within Australia (in general), as the new frame. Using this updated string search, the authors searched several databases (EBSCOHost, Informit, Scopus Informit and Web of Science) for research published in English between January 2010 and December 2019 that detailed the competencies deemed necessary for personnel undertaking Engineering Asset Management activities within the Australian context. Additional records were searched for in relation to the topic, from a range of Engineering and Engineering Management Conferences held between 2010 and 2019. Two hundred and thirty publications were identified through database searches, while eight conference proceedings were identified from the additional conference search. These were initially checked for duplicates, and then subjected to the refinement stage against a detailed review criteria, as per the PRISMA framework checklist process. Four articles progressed through the full PRISMA framework process. Further in-depth reviews of the remaining four papers found that one article was principally focused on the Australian Quality Framework (AQF) certification training processes, while the remaining three papers contained data of competency requirements (and example subjects) for Engineering Asset Management personnel within Australia. This data was collated, and through a deductive qualitative content analysis, was coded into three common themes: (1) Technical skills, (2) Professional skills – internally focused and (3) Professional skills – externally focused. The review process undertaken within this research initially showed that there were no papers within the original search frame of Australian local authorities, while the updated search detailed limited available literature within the general Australian context. This highlights an apparent gap within the available literature for the research topic scope during the period within January 2010 and December 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: International and migrant students face specific challenges which may impact their mental health, well-being and academic outcomes, and these may be gendered experiences. The purpose of this scoping review was to map the literature on the challenges, coping responses and supportive interventions for international and migrant students in academic nursing programs in major host countries, with a gender lens. Methods: We searched 10 databases to identify literature reporting on the challenges, coping responses and/or supportive interventions for international and migrant nursing students in college or university programs in Canada, the United-States, Australia, New Zealand or a European country. We included peer-reviewed research (any design), discussion papers and literature reviews. English, French and Spanish publications were considered and no time restrictions were applied. Drawing from existing frameworks, we critically assessed each paper and extracted information with a gender lens. Results: One hundred fourteen publications were included. Overall the literature mostly focused on international students, and among migrants, migration history/status and length of time in country were not considered with regards to challenges, coping or interventions. Females and males, respectively, were included in 69 and 59% of studies with student participants, while those students who identify as other genders/sexual orientations were not named or identified in any of the research. Several papers suggest that foreign-born nursing students face challenges associated with different cultural roles, norms and expectations for men and women. Other challenges included perceived discrimination due to wearing a hijab and being a 'foreign-born male nurse', and in general nursing being viewed as a feminine, low-status profession. Only two strategies, accessing support from family and other student mothers, used by women to cope with challenges, were identified. Supportive interventions considering gender were limited; these included matching students with support services' personnel by sex, involving male family members in admission and orientation processes, and using patient simulation as a method to prepare students for care-provision of patients of the opposite-sex. Conclusion: Future work in nursing higher education, especially regarding supportive interventions, needs to address the intersections of gender, gender identity/sexual orientation and foreign-born status, and also consider the complexity of migrant students' contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Language is a barrier to many patients from refugee backgrounds accessing and receiving quality primary health care. This paper examines the way general practices address these barriers and how this changed following a practice facilitation intervention.Methods: The OPTIMISE study was a stepped wedge cluster randomised trial set within 31 general practices in three urban regions in Australia with high refugee settlement. It involved a practice facilitation intervention addressing interpreter engagement as one of four core intervention areas. This paper analysed quantitative and qualitative data from the practices and 55 general practitioners from these, collected at baseline and after 6 months during which only those assigned to the early group received the intervention.Results: Many practices (71 %) had at least one GP who spoke a language spoken by recent humanitarian entrants. At baseline, 48 % of practices reported using the government funded Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS). The role of reception staff in assessing and recording the language and interpreter needs of patients was well defined. However, they lacked effective systems to share the information with clinicians. After the intervention, the number of practices using the TIS increased. However, family members and friends continued to be used to interpret with GPs reporting patients preferred this approach. The extra time required to arrange and use interpreting services remained a major barrier.Conclusions: In this study a whole of practice facilitation intervention resulted in improvements in procedures for and engagement of interpreters. However, there were barriers such as the extra time required, and family members continued to be used. Based on these findings, further effort is needed to reduce the administrative burden and GP's opportunity cost needed to engage interpreters, to provide training for all staff on when and how to work with interpreters and discuss and respond to patient concerns about interpreting services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia faces a dryness disaster whose impact may be mitigated by rainfall prediction. Being an incredibly challenging task, yet accurate prediction of rainfall plays an enormous role in policy making, decision making and organizing sustainable water resource systems. The ability to accurately predict rainfall patterns empowers civilizations. Though short-term rainfall predictions are provided by meteorological systems, long-term prediction of rainfall is challenging and has a lot of factors that lead to uncertainty. Historically, various researchers have experimented with several machine learning techniques in rainfall prediction with given weather conditions. However, in places like Australia where the climate is variable, finding the best method to model the complex rainfall process is a major challenge. The aim of this paper is to: (a) predict rainfall using machine learning algorithms and comparing the performance of different models. (b) Develop an optimized neural network and develop a prediction model using the neural network (c) to do a comparative study of new and existing prediction techniques using Australian rainfall data. In this paper, rainfall data collected over a span of ten years from 2007 to 2017, with the input from 26 geographically diverse locations have been used to develop the predictive models. The data was divided into training and testing sets for validation purposes. The results show that both traditional and neural network-based machine learning models can predict rainfall with more precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drowning is a global public health problem, but accurately estimating drowning risk remains a challenge. Coastal drowning comprises a significant proportion of the drowning burden in Australia and is influenced by a range of behavioural factors (e.g. risk perception, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours) that are poorly understood. These factors, along with those that impact exposure (e.g. coastal visitation and activity participation) all impact on drowning risk. While excellent mortality and morbidity data exists in Australia, a lack of coastal participation data presents challenges to identifying high-risk groups or activities and prioritising prevention efforts. This methods paper describes the development and evolution of an ongoing, annual, nationally representative online survey as an effective tool used to capture valuable data about the Australian population's relationship with the coast. This paper explores how the survey is structured (12–14 sections spanning multiple topics and themes), the different question types used (including open text, 4-digit responses and categorical questions), the sample size (1400–1600 respondents), sampling strategy (using demographic quota sampling which can then be post-weighted to the population if required) and how topics and themes have changed over time to enhance the quality of data collected (i.e., wording changes to enhance participant comprehension or data usability and changing issue-specific 'feature' topics of interest such as campaign evaluation). How the survey is implemented online is described, both practically through to third-party recruitment processes and ethically to maximise anonymity of respondents and ensure data quality. Interim analyses indicate the impact of considering exposure when calculating fatal drowning rates, especially by activity (e.g., crude boating drowning rate 0.12 per 100,000 population vs 0.95 per 100,000 exposed population [relative risk = 8.01; 95% confidence interval: 4.55–14.10]). This study highlights lessons learned in the process of conducting a nationally representative coastal participation survey as well as the strengths and limitations of adopting this approach. Data collected will provide more detailed information on the skills, behaviours, knowledge and attitudes of coastal activity participants. Analyses of this unique dataset will inform research that will underpin development and evaluation of coastal drowning prevention initiatives prioritising those most at risk. It is hoped that the methods detailed within this study may be useful for other countries to develop similar approaches to understanding their own population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What if data used to inform knowledge is incomplete or false, leading to misunderstandings about the social world? In Australia, what is known about ethnic diversity is based on an outdated definition and inadequate measure of multiculturalism. This article explores how gaps in data can lead to and further entrench disempowerment. Using a sociodemographic approach, this paper examines the ways in which data can create and maintain poor representation; via collection, analysis and infrastructure. This paper demonstrates that what is counted matters for equality, and lays out what is necessary to help promote ethnic diversity through data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the availability and use of data in parental leave policy making and monitoring in Australia. The terminology of parental leave is discussed and its use in Australia is explained as referring to paid and unpaid leave for mothers, fathers and partners at the time of birth or adoption of a child and usually covering the first 12-24 months after the birth or adoption. It includes entitlements in labour law legislation, the federal government's Paid Parental Leave scheme and separate employer provisions. The paper outlines the range of data sources and how they were used to construct a case in favour of the introduction of the Paid Parental Leave scheme in 2010 and to monitor its implementation, as well provision of paid parental leave through enterprise bargaining and company policies. The paper also explains how data was used in a deliberately constructed way to defend the Paid Parental Leave scheme when it was under threat of significant change. In conclusion, the paper draws attention to the way terminology is shifting, to how data illuminates the gendered use of parental leave in Australia and argues for the need for refreshed data on parental leave availability, access and use in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a case of a 12-year-old female with a past history of autism spectrum disorder who presented to the emergency department of a rural hospital in Australia after ingesting two nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries at home. Hitherto, no literature has described any gastrointestinal complications related to NiMH battery ingestion. This paper aims to provide insight into the management of NiMH battery ingestion and to increase the awareness of the need for prompt management to prevent further damage to the gastrointestinal tract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a commentary on Quan et al. (2022) about their paper on world music open earedness and functional uses of music in relationship with psychological and sociocultural adaptations in student sojourners in Australia. The strengths of the paper, including the significance of cross-cultural music research and its applications for mental well-being, are discussed. Additionally, comparing responses through control groups and providing clear definitions of "novel and unfamiliar" musical excerpts for future replications are suggested in more detail in this commentary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As research has shown, the interactional practice of getting acquainted in initial encounters can play a crucial role in the construction of interpersonal relationships. This exploratory paper focusses on one aspect of the getting acquainted discourse, i.e. how conversational openings are constructed in dyadic and multi-party interactions between previously unacquainted interlocutors. These interactions are examined in a specific context – the launch night episode of the reality television gameshow Big Brother Australia 2012. The findings indicate that, while some conversational openings follow the canonical structure, including preference for self-identification, in most conversational openings in our data, the interactants tend to request other-identification, which, importantly, is not treated as problematic. In addition, this study further confirms that introducing sequences are discursively constructed as essential in conversational openings. This becomes visible when the lack of identification at an early stage is treated as problematic by the interlocutors who orient to resuming or initiating introducing, whether prompted or unprompted, while engaging in the first instances of getting acquainted. • This paper explores how conversational openings are constructed in interaction. • This paper analyses dyadic and multi-party interactions in a reality television gameshow. • Interactants tend to request other-identification, not offer self-identification. • Introducing sequences are essential in conversational openings while getting acquainted. • Lack of self-identification is treated as problematic by interlocutors, and if missing, is resumed at a later stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a statistical analysis of the actual mean material properties for typical grades of concrete and reinforcement available in Australia. The analysis was performed using a database of 3,447 concrete cylinder test results and 15,201 reinforcement tensile test results. The test results were taken over a period from 2009 to 2021. The paper provides a summary of the mean values and respective coefficient of variation values for the different grades of concrete and reinforcement that make up the database. Distinctive manufacturing trends and variability between suppliers were observed for reinforcement samples and appropriate recommendations have been proposed. Researchers or designers can adopt these values to undertake probabilistic assessments of RC structures. The paper also provides recommendations for mean material properties for the purpose of undertaking non-linear analysis of RC structures. The database of test results also includes early age strength data for concrete, which have been used to provide recommendations for predicting the early age strength of various standard grades of concrete available in Australia. The paper also presents an assessment of the theoretical characteristic values from the database for the various grades of reinforcement and concrete and how they compare to respective specified code requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Displacement-based methods, such as a non-linear static pushover analysis (e.g. the capacity spectrum method), have many advantages compared to traditional force-based design methods. However, implementing a non-linear analysis and design method in accordance with the Australian Standard for concrete structures (AS 3600) introduces many difficult technical issues into the design, of which the standard provides little guidance. The aim of this study is to provide a framework and general guidance for designers who wish to perform non-linear displacement-based analysis methods for RC wall buildings. The paper will present how these methods can be used in accordance with the Australian Standard for earthquake actions (AS 1170.4) to assess seismic compliance and then provide recommendations for the requirements stipulated by AS 3600, which includes an experimentally validated tension stiffening model, nonlinear stress-strain material curves, mean material properties and material strain limits. The paper is concluded with a case study example of how a displacement-based seismic assessment can be performed using a typical case study building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to analyse the work done in the field of Night Vision Robots using IR and Object Detection from 2011 to 2021, using the bibliometric methods. This paper presents a Scopus database review on "Night Vision Bot using Dynamic IR and Object Detection". The necessity for doing this bibliometric survey is that to know how the technology in the field of mobile robotics and night vision, as well as to object detection, has evolved over the years. This paper shows the importance of Night Vision Robot from the year 2011 and continued up to 2021 April. The database analysis for the robot is done through Scopus and VOSviewer Version 1.6.16. Through this database survey, it is revealed that the maximum number of publications are Conference Paper and most of them are from the field of Engineering and Computer Science, India has the greatest number of publications followed by China. Methods: The Scopus database was used to obtain the articles for the above topic. The research papers were considered from the year 2011 to 2021. The Scopus analyzer can be used for the analysis of the database with different categories like Source, Subject Area, Country, etc. The analysis such as co-authorship, co-occurrences, citation analysis etc. is done by using VOSviewer Version 1.6.16. Results: In the study, a total of 69 articles on Night Vision Robot were obtained between the years 2011 and 2021. The statistical analysis and network analysis shows that the maximum number of papers were published in the year 2020. India is the highest contributor followed by China and Australia. Conclusion: The outcome of the Scopus database is 69 articles with the English Language having the largest number of articles. The Statistic Analysis helps to understand the potential of topic. It is done for Authors, Documents, Country, affiliations, funding sponsors. The Network Analysis indicates the interconnections between different parameters such as Coauthor, sources. It indicates that this is a new concept, and the research has been done mostly in the last year, so there is lot of future potential and scope for development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overweight and obesity has reach pandemic levels, with two-thirds (67%) of adult Australians classified as overweight or obese. As two of the most significant behavioral risk factors for obesity are modifiable (diet and exercise), there exists an opportunity for treatment through workplace health promotion initiatives. As one of Australia's largest industries with its own unique workplace factors, the mining industry has previously reported higher than population levels of overweight and obesity. This represented an opportune setting to test the RESHAPE workplace wellness program. RESHAPE is an eight-step framework (based on the WHO 'Health Workplace Framework and Model') which aims to provide a sustained approach to wellness in the workplace. This paper presents baseline findings from a pilot study that aimed to implement RESHAPE at three mine sites in NSW, Australia, and investigates the issue of overweight and obesity in the coal mining industry. Across three mine sites, 949 coal miners were examined cross-sectionally on a range of workplace, wellness, health, diet, and exercise factors using a paper-based survey. This was a predominantly male sample (90.4%) with the majority (59.2%) of participants aged 25–44 years. Self-reported height and weight measures indicated that less than 20 percent (18.9%) of participants were in a healthy BMI range, while there were effectively equal numbers of overweight (40.9%) and obese (39.1%) participants. Only 3.5% of participants met the daily recommendation for vegetables (5 serves) and shift-workers had greater association with elevated BMI compared to non-shift workers (B = 1.21, 95% CI: 0.23, 2.20, p = 0.016). Poor nutrition is likely to be a key component in elevated levels of overweight and obesity within this industry, with workplace factors compounding challenges workers face in implementing health behavior change. Future studies would benefit from assessing diet and physical activity knowledge in relation to recommendations and serving sizes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We conducted a survey to understand the challenges faced by the staff of residential aged care facilities (RACF), during the COVID-19 pandemic. Background: In the current pandemic, the RACF workforce has been required to work under stressful conditions, with immense mental and physical pressures, resulting in anxiety and stress felt towards their jobs. Study design and methods: We electronically surveyed both clinical and non-clinical staff at public and private RACFs in Australia in June and August 2020. The survey asked a mix of openended and closed questions about preparedness for the pandemic, information flow, experience with personal protective equipment (PPE), management of suspected COVID cases, restrictions on visitors, and impact on RACF staff personal and home life. Quantitative data were analysed in SPSS; qualitative data using content analysis. Results: We received 371 responses: 198 from clinical staff and 168 from non-clinical staff. Respondents were between 20--71 years old, and 87% were female most commonly from Victoria (28%) or New South Wales (28%). The majority (80%) felt that Australian RACFs were well-prepared for the pandemic and 87% agreed that relevant healthcare authorities were contactable for information needed. A total of 37% reported challenges in estimating and ordering appropriate quantities of protective equipment. Ninety percent of facilities reported screening residents for possible symptoms and 77% introduced precautions or quarantine measures to protect residents. Most participants (98%) reported their RACF implemented restrictions on visitor access and 43% reported unfair or abusive treatment by family or friends of the residents. Commonly reported personal impacts included: workload increase, stress, emotional toll, family issues and fatigue. Support from colleagues as well as training, de-brief sessions and frequent meetings were identified as helpful facilitators during this time. Conclusion: We identified a wide range of practices and coping strategies among Australian RACFs. Whilst a majority of respondents reported coping well, a large proportion reported struggling both mentally and physically. Factors reported as helpful by the respondents may assist RACFs in planning for future pandemics. Implications for research, policy and practice: Understanding the challenges faced by all levels of staff within RACFs may aid decision-makers on a range of different levels -- researchers, aged care providers, local/regional/state health departments and national leaders within government to help inform the development of interventions that may help the sector to recover, as well as prepare for potential future outbreaks. Of particular importance, are interventions or initiatives that focus on supporting the physical and mental health of staff i.e. those that prevent or minimise worker fatigue, emotional burnout and stress. What is already known about the topic? • Nursing staff in Australian RACFs did not feel prepared for the COVID outbreak in their workplace. • Early in 2020, RACF nurses experienced a greater overall workload and some had their staff hours reduced by their employers due to financial constraints caused by the outbreak. What this paper adds • This paper offers a comprehensive insight into how RACF staff coped both individually and as part of the facility overall during the COVID crisis. • It identified that a commonly reported source of stress was first-hand verbal abuse from family or friends of residents in response to visitor and lockdown restrictions implemented by the authorities. • The paper highlighted that whilst the majority of respondents felt that RACFs were well prepared for managing residents during the pandemic, some facilities experienced significant problems with workloads, PPE and human resourcing. • Furthermore, the survey showed that on an individual level, some staff experienced significant mental and physical stress during the outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Maternity services have limited formalised guidance on planning new services such as midwifery group practice for vulnerable women, for example women with a history of substance abuse (alcohol, tobacco and other drugs), mental health challenges, complex social issues or other vulnerability. Continuity of care through midwifery group practice is mostly restricted to women with low-risk pregnancies and is not universally available to vulnerable women, despite evidence supporting benefits of this model of care for all women. The perception that midwifery group practice for vulnerable women is a high-risk model of care lacking in evidence may have in the past, thwarted implementation planning studies that seek to improve care for these women. We therefore aimed to identify the barriers and enablers that might impact the implementation of a midwifery group practice for vulnerable women.Methods: A qualitative context analysis using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research was conducted at a single-site tertiary health facility in Queensland, Australia. An interdisciplinary group of stakeholders from a purposeful sample of 31 people participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using manual and then Leximancer computer assisted methods. Themes were compared and mapped to the Framework.Results: Themes identified were the woman's experience, midwifery workforce capabilities, identifying "gold standard care", the interdisciplinary team and costs. Potential enablers of implementation included perceptions that the model facilitates a relationship of trust with vulnerable women, that clinical benefit outweighs cost and universal stakeholder acceptance. Potential barriers were: potential isolation of the interdisciplinary team, costs and the potential for vicarious trauma for midwives.Conclusion: There was recognition that the proposed model of care is supported by research and a view that clinical benefits will outweigh costs, however supervision and support is required for midwives to manage and limit vicarious trauma. An interdisciplinary team structure is also an essential component of the service design. Attention to these key themes, barriers and enablers will assist with identification of strategies to aid successful implementation. Australian maternity services can use our results to compare how the perceptions of local stakeholders might be similar or different to the results presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visible Near infrared and Shortwave Infrared (VNIR/SWIR, 400–2500 nm) remote sensing data is becoming a tool for topsoil properties mapping, bringing spatial information for environmental modeling and land use management. These topsoil properties estimates are based on regression models, linking a key topsoil property to VNIR/SWIR reflectance data. Therefore, the regression model's performances depend on the quality of both topsoil property analysis (measured on laboratory over-ground soil samples) and Bottom-of-Atmosphere (BOA) VNIR/SWIR reflectance which are retrieved from Top-Of-Atmosphere radiance using atmospheric correction (AC) methods. This paper examines the sensitivity of soil organic carbon (SOC) estimation to BOA images depending on two parameters used in AC methods: aerosol optical depth (AOD) in the FLAASH (Fast Line-of-Sight Atmospheric Analysis of Spectral Hypercubes) method and water vapor (WV) in the ATCOR (ATmospheric CORrection) method. This work was based on Earth Observing-1 Hyperion Hyperspectral data acquired over a cultivated area in Australia in 2006. Hyperion radiance data were converted to BOA reflectance using seven values of AOD (from 0.2 to 1.4) and six values of WV (from 0.4 to 5 cm), in FLAASH and ATCOR, respectively. Then a Partial Least Squares regression (PLSR) model was built from each Hyperion BOA data to estimate SOC over bare soil pixels. This study demonstrated that the PLSR models were insensitive to the AOD variation used in the FLAASH method, with R2cv and RMSEcv of 0.79 and 0.4%, respectively. The PLSR models were slightly sensitive to the WV variation used in the ATCOR method, with R2cv ranging from 0.72 to 0.79 and RMSEcv ranging from 0.41 to 0.47. Regardless of the AOD values, the PLSR model based on the best parametrization of the ATCOR model provided similar SOC prediction accuracy to PLSR models using the FLAASH method. Variation in AOD using the FLAASH method did not impact the identification of bare soil pixels coverage which corresponded to 82.35% of the study area, while a variation in WV using the ATCOR method provided a variation of bare soil pixels coverage from 75.04 to 84.04%. Therefore, this work recommends (1) the use of the FLAASH AC method to provide BOA reflectance values from Earth Observing-1 Hyperion Hyperspectral data before SOC mapping or (2) a careful selection of the WV parameter when using ATCOR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Safe spaces are an alternative to emergency departments, which are often unable to provide optimum care for people experiencing emotional distress and/or suicidal crisis. At present, there are several different safe space models being trialled in Australia. However, research examining the effectiveness of safe space models, especially in community settings, is rare. In this paper, we present a protocol for a study in which we will investigate the implementation, effectiveness, and sustainability of safe space models as genuine alternatives for people who might usually present to the emergency department or choose not to access help due to past negative experiences. Material and methods: We will use a mixed methods, co-designed study design, conducted according to the principles of community-based participatory research to obtain deep insights into the benefits of different safe space models, potential challenges, and facilitators of effective practice. We developed the study plan and evaluation framework using the RE-AIM framework, and this will be used to assess key outcomes related to reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance. Data collection will comprise quantitative measures on access, use, satisfaction, (cost) effectiveness, distress, and suicidal ideation; and qualitative assessments of service implementation, experience, feasibility, acceptability, community awareness, and the fidelity of the models to service co-design. Data will be collected and analysed concurrently throughout the trial period of the initiatives. Discussion: This study will enable an extensive investigation of safe spaces that will inform local delivery and provide a broader understanding of the key features of safe spaces as acceptable and effective alternatives to hospital-based care for people experiencing emotional distress and/or suicidal crisis. This study will also contribute to a growing body of research on the role and benefits of peer support and provide critical new knowledge on the successes and challenges of service co-design to inform future practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a long history of coastal erosion caused by frequent storm surges in the coastal regions of Australia, which imposes great threats to communities and infrastructures alongside the beach. Old Bar Beach, New South Wales, Australia, is one such hotspot famous for its extreme coastal erosion. To apply remedial measures such as beach nourishment effectively and economically, estimating/reconstructing the subsurface hydrogeology over the coastal areas is essential. A geophysical tool such as a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) which works on the principle of reflecting electromagnetic (EM) waves, can be conveniently deployed to delineate the soil and rock profiling, water-table depth, bedrock depth, and the subsurface structural features. Here, DeepLabv3+ architecture based newly developed deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) were used to establish an inherent non-linear relationship between the GPR data and the EM wave velocity. The presented DCNNs have a lesser number of layers, a lesser number of trainable (learnable) parameters, a high convergence rate and, at the same time, achieve prediction accuracy comparable to that of well-established DeepLabv3+ networks, having high trainable parameters and a relatively low convergence rate. Here, firstly the DCNNs were trained and validated on small 1D datasets. Each dataset contains a 1D GPR trace and a corresponding EM velocity model. The DCNNs turned out to be quite promising in the 1D case, with training, validation, and testing accuracy of approximately 95%, 94%, and 95%, respectively. Secondly, 1D trained weights were applied to 2D synthetic GPR data for EM velocity prediction, and the accuracy of prediction achieved was approximately 95%. Seeing the excellent performance of the DCNNs in the 2D prediction case using 1D trained weights, a large amount of 1D synthetic datasets (approximately 1.2 million) were generated and gaussian noise was added to it to replicate the real field scenario. Thirdly, topographically corrected GPR data acquired over the Old Bar Beach were inverted using the DCNNs trained on 1.2 million 1D synthetic datasets to obtain the subsurface high-resolution, high-precision EM velocity, and ε r distribution information to understand the hydrogeology over the beach. The findings presented in this paper agree well with the previous hydrogeological studies carried out using GPR. Our findings show that DCNNs, along with GPR, can be successfully used in coastal environments for the quick and accurate hydrogeological investigation required for the implementation of coastal erosion mitigation methods such as beach nourishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport is Australia's third-largest source of greenhouse gases accounting for around 17% of emissions. In recent times, and particularly as a result of the global pandemic, the rapid growth within the e-commerce sector has contributed to last-mile delivery becoming one of the main emission sources. Delivery vehicles operating at the last-mile travel long routes to deliver to customers an array of consignment parcels in varying numbers and weights, and therefore these vehicles play a major role in increasing emissions and air pollutants. The work reported in this paper aims to address these challenges by developing an IoT platform to measure and report on real-world last-mile delivery emissions. Such evaluations help to understand the factors contributing to freight emissions so that appropriate mitigation measures are implemented. Unlike previous research that was completed in controlled laboratory settings, the data collected in this research were from a delivery vehicle under real-world traffic and driving conditions. The IoT platform was tested to provide contextualised reporting by taking into account three main contexts including vehicle, environment and driving behaviours. This approach to data collection enabled the analysis of parcel level emissions and correlation of the vehicle characteristics, road conditions, ambient temperature and other environmental factors and driving behaviour that have an impact on emissions. The raw data collected from the sensors were analysed in real-time in the IoT platform, and the results showed a trade-off between parcel weight and total distance travelled which must be considered when selecting the best delivery order for reducing emissions. Overall, the study demonstrated the feasibility of the IoT platform in collecting the desired levels of data and providing detailed analysis of emissions at the parcel level. This type of micro-level understanding provides an important knowledge base for the enhancement of delivery processes and reduction of last-mile delivery emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the optimal pre-cooling problem for air conditioners (AC) used in Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled smart homes while ensuring that user-defined thermal comfort can be achieved. The proposed strategy utilises renewable energy generation periods and moves some of the air conditioning loads to these periods to reduce the electricity demand. In particular, we propose a multi-stage approach which maximises the utilisation of renewable energy at the first stage to satisfy air conditioning loads, and then schedules residual energy consumption of these loads to low price periods at the second stage. The proposed approach is investigated for the temperature and renewable generation data of NSW, Australia, over the period 2012–2013. It is shown that the approach developed can significantly reduce the energy consumption and cost associated with AC operation for nearly all days in summer when cooling is required. Specifically, the proposed approach was found to achieve a 24% cost saving in comparison to the no pre-cooling case for the highest average temperature day in January, 2013. The analysis also demonstrated that the proposed scheme performed better when the thermal insulation levels in the smart home are higher. However, the optimal pre-cooling scheme can still achieve reduced energy costs under lower thermal insulation conditions compared to the no pre-cooling case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The practices of transnational corporations (TNCs) affect population health through unhealthy products, shaping social determinants of health, or influencing the regulatory structures governing their activities. There has been limited research on community exposures to TNC policies and practices. The aim of this paper was to adapt existing Health Impact Assessment methods that were previously used for both a fast food and an extractives industry corporation in order to assess Carlton and United Breweries (CUB) operations within Australia. CUB is an Australian alcohol company owned by a large transnational corporation Asahi Group Holdings. Data identifying potential impacts were sourced through document analysis, including corporate literature; media analysis, and 12 semi-structured interviews. The data were mapped against a corporate health impact assessment framework which included CUB's political and business practices; products and marketing; workforce, social, environmental and economic conditions; and consumers' adverse health impacts. We also conducted an ecological study for estimating alcohol attributable fractions and burdens of death due to congestive heart disease, diabetes mellitus, stroke, breast cancer, bowel cancer and injury in Australia. Beer attributable fractions and deaths and CUB's share were also estimated.Results: We found both positive and adverse findings of the corporation's operations across all domains. CUB engage in a range of business practices which benefit the community, including sustainability goals and corporate philanthropy, but also negative aspects including from taxation arrangements, marketing practices, and political donations and lobbying which are enabled by a neoliberal regulatory environment. We found adverse health impacts including from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and violence and aggression which disproportionately affect Indigenous and other disadvantaged populations.Conclusion: Our research indicates that studying a TNC in a rapidly changing global financialised capitalist economy in a world which is increasingly being managed by TNCs poses methodological and conceptual challenges. It highlights the need and opportunity for future research. The different methods revealed sufficient information to recognise that strong regulatory frameworks are needed to help to avoid or to mediate negative health impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]