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Artificial intelligence (AI) is not only disrupting industries and businesses, particularly the ones have fallen behind the adoption, but also significantly impacting public life as well. This calls for government authorities pay attention to public opinions and sentiments towards AI. Nonetheless, there is limited knowledge on what the drivers behind the public perception of AI are. Bridging this gap is the rationale of this paper. As the methodological approach, the study conducts an online public perception survey with the residents of Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, and explores the collected survey data through statistical analysis. The analysis reveals that: (a) the public is concerned of AI invading their privacy, but not much concerned of AI becoming more intelligent than humans; (b) the public trusts AI in their lifestyle, but the trust is lower for companies and government deploying AI; (c) the public appreciates the benefits of AI in urban services and disaster management; (d) depending on the local context, public perceptions vary; and (e) the drivers behind the public perception include gender, age, AI knowledge, and AI experience. The findings inform authorities in developing policies to minimise public concerns and maximise AI awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding and evaluating the implications of photovoltaic solar panels (PVSPs) deployment on urban settings, as well as the pessimistic effects of densely populated areas on PVSPs efficiency, is becoming incredibly valuable. Thus, the deployment of low-efficiency, low-cost, and widely available PVSPs may diminish total solar reflectance, raising the risks of PVSPs-based urban heating, particularly during the summertime heatwaves. This study employs and assesses physical parameterizations that account for the impact of PVSPs on Sydney's urban environment in the context of the mesoscale model weather research and forecasting (WRF). To account for the impacts of PVSPs, the parameterization presented in this paper assumes that PVSP arrays are parallel, detachable from roofs, and consist of a single layer. Results showed that increasing PVSPs can raise peak summer ambient temperatures by up to 1.4 °C and surface temperatures by up to 2.3°C at city-scale. Temperature variability was found between the city's eastern and western parts due to the presence of PVSPs. In addition, local warming effects of PVSP were observed at urban district-scale as well. The large-scale deployment of PVSPs at local district-scale of the Sydney during a typical hot day caused air temperature to rise by 1.5 °C during the daytime and decrease by 2.7 °C at nighttime. The patterns of the city's ambient temperature distribution were found to be strongly dependent on synoptic meteorological conditions and advection flow strength. The maximum increases in sensible heat flux and latent heat flux were 245.5 Wm−2 and 11.5 Wm−2, respectively. Wind speed may be raised by up to 1.2 ms−2 due to regional low effect over city domain. As a result, large-scale deployment of PVSPs promotes advective flow between the city and its environs. Modification of the PVSPs in Sydney results in an increase in planetary boundary layer (PBL) heights of up to 537.9 m above the city and may lower pollutant concentrations at ground level. The advent of sea breeze in the city's eastern parts, which reduces the temperature of the coastal zone, along with inland westerly winds, which heat the city's western zones, lessened the intensity of the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon induced by PVSPs warming. The findings of this study can be used to help policymakers make informed decisions about the use of PVSPs systems. PVSPs with a high solar reflectance in wavelengths that do not convert solar energy to electricity can be considered as an alternative solution to reduce local warming in urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positive effects that Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is envisioned to have on transport can only be reaped if people are using MaaS. Yet, the understanding of the user perspective on MaaS is incomplete and primarily based on experiments with non-users. To address this shortcoming, this paper reports user experiences from a trial of a high-level MaaS service in Sydney, Australia. Based on questionnaires and interviews, it analyses who participated in the trial and why, and whether the trial experience satisfied their motives. The contribution to the literature on MaaS is three-fold. Firstly, most of the people that participated in the trial were frequent users of both public transport and private cars. This supports the notion that multi-modal travellers are likely early adopters of MaaS and contradicts the fear that MaaS does not appeal to private car users. Secondly, a desire to contribute to innovation and curiosity about MaaS were the main motives for signing up for the trial, which highlights the important role an inviting setting for experimentation, such as a trial, can play in stimulating MaaS adoption. Thirdly, many participants struggled with making the trialled service work for them and on average they seemed to value the support and feedback functions higher than other service features. This underscores the novelty of MaaS, compared to existing service models, and reiterates the notion that more than an app and a few subscription plans is needed to make MaaS useful for users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outdoor thermal comfort is influenced by people's climate expectations, perceptions and adaptation capacity. Varied individual response to comfortable or stressful thermal environments results in a deviation between actual outdoor thermal activity choices and those predicted by thermal comfort indices. This paper presents a passive activity observation (PAO) method for estimating contextual limits of outdoor thermal adaptation. The PAO method determines which thermal environment result in statistically meaningful changes may occur in outdoor activity patterns, and it estimates thresholds of outdoor thermal neutrality and limits of thermal adaptation in public space based on activity observation and microclimate field measurement. Applications of the PAO method have been demonstrated in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, where outdoor activities were analysed against outdoor thermal comfort indices between 2013 and 2014. Adjusted apparent temperature (aAT), adaptive predicted mean vote (aPMV), outdoor standard effective temperature (OUT_SET), physiological equivalent temperature (PET) and universal thermal comfort index (UTCI) are calculated from the PAO data. Using the PAO method, the high threshold of outdoor thermal neutrality was observed between 24 °C for optional activities and 34 °C for necessary activities (UTCI scale). Meanwhile, the ultimate limit of thermal adaptation in uncontrolled public spaces is estimated to be between 28 °C for social activities and 48 °C for necessary activities. Normalised results indicate that city-wide high thresholds for outdoor thermal neutrality vary from 25 °C in Melbourne to 26 °C in Sydney and 30 °C in Adelaide. The PAO method is a relatively fast and localised method for measuring limits of outdoor thermal adaptation and effectively informs urban design and policy making in the context of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I argue for an expansion of the role of assemblage analysis in understanding daily life in nineteenth-century working-class neighborhoods. The close and systematic examination of quality manufacture of nineteenth-century domestic goods offers a material link to consumer decision-making. This is demonstrated in a study of material culture from working-class sites in Sydney and London. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer observation partnerships can help teachers improve their teaching practice, transform their educational perspectives and develop collegiality (Bell ). This paper describes the peer observation model used in the tutor development program in the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Sydney, and reports on the effectiveness of this exercise using quantitative and qualitative data from five sources. Results from 32 peer observations reveal both the common strengths and the areas in which tutors need to develop their teaching practice. Ninety four percent of participants found the exercise valuable and 88% said that they would change their teaching as a result of the exercise. This model can be applied in academic development programs in any discipline and suggestions for augmentation and improvement are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the local institutional and organizational development insights from a five-year ongoing interdisciplinary research project focused on advancing the implementation of sustainable urban water management. While it is broadly acknowledged that the inertia associated with administrative systems is possibly the most significant obstacle to advancing sustainable urban water management, contemporary research still largely prioritizes investigations at the technological level. This research is explicitly concerned with critically informing the design of methodologies for mobilizing and overcoming the administrative inertia of traditional urban water management practice. The results of fourteen in-depth case studies of local government organizations across Metropolitan Sydney primarily reveal that (i) the political institutionalization of environmental concern and (ii) the commitment to local leadership and organizational learning are key corporate attributes for enabling sustainable management. A typology of five organizational development phases has been proposed as both a heuristic and capacity benchmarking tool for urban water strategists, policy makers, and decision makers that are focused on improving the level of local implementation of sustainable urban water management activity. While this investigation has focused on local government, these findings do provide guideposts for assessing the development needs of future capacity building programs across a range of different institutional contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract??This paper takes an air mass approach to investigating the influence of weather on pollen concentrations in the atmosphere in Sydney, Australia, by producing a synoptic classification of pollen concentrations measured in the Sydney Basin. This synoptic classification has been produced using multivariate statistical techniques including principal component analysis and cluster analysis, to assign days into meteorologically homogenous categories. Surface and upper air meteorological data for warm months (October?March) over a 10-year period were used as input into the statistical analyses. Eleven synoptic categories were found in Sydney during the warm months. Pollen concentrations for the total pollen load and five individual families measured over a 3.5-year period have been investigated for each of the synoptic categories. High pollen concentrations during the warm months in Sydney are found to be influenced by the presence of a region of low surface pressure located to the south of the continent, bringing fast dry westerly gradient winds to Sydney. It is envisaged that these results will be important from a pollen forecast and associated public health perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study creates a historic dataset of road opening dates in Sydney. A method was developed for map digitization to extract spatial data from historic maps and place them in a collective vector layer. The method includes extensive georeferencing of the maps, as well as editing and cleaning the maps through raster and vector analysis. Preferred methods for map digitization used in the project were identified. For a considerable area of Sydney, in which approximately 52000 road links were included, almost half of the links were identified with an open date by the start of the twentieth century. A further half of these links were confined to opening within a thirty-year period. The project has established a strong foundation for a historic road dataset for Sydney. It has also outlined methods and procedures that can be followed to progress the dataset further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-way data analysis has become an essential tool for capturing underlying structures in higher-order data sets where standard two-way analysis techniques often fail to discover the hidden correlations between variables in multi-way data. We propose a multi-objective variational autoencoder (MO-VAE) method for smart infrastructure damage detection and diagnosis in multi-way sensing data based on the reconstruction probability of autoencoder deep neural network (ADNN). Our method fuses data from multiple sensors in one ADNN at which informative features are being extracted and utilized for damage identification. It generates probabilistic anomaly scores to detect damage, asses its severity and further localize it via a new localization layer introduced in the ADNN. We evaluated our method on multi-way laboratory-based and real-life structural datasets in the area of structural health monitoring for damage diagnosis purposes. The data was collected from our deployed data acquisition system on a cable-stayed bridge in Western Sydney, a reinforced concrete cantilever beam which replicates one of the major structural components on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and a laboratory based building structure obtained from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Experimental results show that the proposed method can accurately detect structural damage. It was also able to estimate the different levels of damage severity, and capture damage locations in an unsupervised aspect. Compared to the state-of-the-art approaches, our proposed method shows better performance in terms of damage detection and localization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harmful algal and bacterial blooms linked to deforestation, soil loss and global warming are increasingly frequent in lakes and rivers. We demonstrate that climate changes and deforestation can drive recurrent microbial blooms, inhibiting the recovery of freshwater ecosystems for hundreds of millennia. From the stratigraphic successions of the Sydney Basin, Australia, our fossil, sedimentary and geochemical data reveal bloom events following forest ecosystem collapse during the most severe mass extinction in Earth's history, the end-Permian event (EPE; c. 252.2 Ma). Microbial communities proliferated in lowland fresh and brackish waterbodies, with algal concentrations typical of modern blooms. These initiated before any trace of post-extinction recovery vegetation but recurred episodically for >100 kyrs. During the following 3 Myrs, algae and bacteria thrived within short-lived, poorly-oxygenated, and likely toxic lakes and rivers. Comparisons to global deep-time records indicate that microbial blooms are persistent freshwater ecological stressors during warming-driven extinction events. Harmful algal and bacterial blooms are increasingly frequent in lakes and rivers. From the Sydney Basin, Australia, this study uses fossil, sedimentary and geochemical data to reveal bloom events following forest ecosystem collapse during the end-Permian event and that blooms have consistently followed warming-related extinction events, inhibiting the recovery of freshwater ecosystems for millennia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces articles in this special double issue, which consists of a selection of papers presented at the Ninth World Congress of Comparative Education, held at the University of Sydney, Australia, in July 1996, on the theme of ?Tradition, Modernity and Post-modernity in Comparative Education?.

White-nose syndrome (WNS), caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, has caused catastrophic declines of bat populations in North America. Risk assessment indicates that cavers could pose a risk for the spread of the fungus, however, information on cavers' knowledge of WNS and their caving and biosecurity habits is lacking. An anonymous qualitative survey was completed by delegates (n = 134) from 23 countries at an international speleological conference in Sydney, Australia. Cavers indicated that they visit caves frequently (80.6% at least bimonthly), including outside of their own country, but 20.3% of respondents did not know about WNS prior to the conference. Some respondents were incorrect, or unsure, about whether they had visited caves in countries where P. destructans occurs (26.5%) or whether their own country was free of the fungus (7.8%). Although 65.9% of respondents were aware of current decontamination protocols, only 23.9% and 31.2% (when in Australian or overseas caves, respectively) fully adhered to them. Overall, cavers showed strong willingness to help prevent further spread of this disease, but further efforts at education and targeted biosecurity activities may be urgently needed to prevent the spread of P. destructans to Australia and to other unaffected regions of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modelling and forecasting of air pollution from bushfires or hazardous reduction burnings is important in providing information and allowing measures to be taken to reduce the exposure of people from harmful effect of air pollutants from fire events. In this work, the meteorological, chemical transport model and air quality models developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation of Australia are used in conjunction with the smoke emission model to simulate the formation and dispersion of particle aerosols (PM2.5) in the Greater Metropolitan Region of Sydney as the results of emission of different pollutant species from hazardous reduction burnings or from bushfires. The smoke emission model is based on a fire model describing two distinct fire behaviours: flaming and smothering. There are several schemes that can be used to estimate the emission factors of different emitted species from fire of various vegetation types. A comparison of these schemes is performed by comparing the air quality model output from air quality model with observation from monitoring stations in a case study, the May 2016 prescribed burning winter period, which caused elevated particle concentrations in the Sydney basin. The PM2.5 prediction over the Greater Metropolitan Region of Sydney from the forecasting modelling tool will then be used to calculate the population exposure and health impacts due to the May 2016 fire event as a case study. The three main health endpoints considered for health impacts are mortality, respiratory-related and cardiovascular hospitalisations. The results are comparable with other studies using non-modelling methods of determining the exposure and health impacts on this event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public health practitioners produce urban health indicator (UHI) tools to inform built environment policy and decision-making, among other objectives. Indicator producers perceive UHI tools as an easily understandable form of evidence about the urban environment impact on health for policy-makers' consumption. However, indicator producers often conceptualise policy-making as a rational and linear process, therefore underestimating the complex and contested nature of developing and implementing policy. This study investigates the health-promotion value of UHI tools in the complex urban planning policy and decision-making context. A thematic analysis was conducted following semi-structured interviews with 22 indicator producers and users in San Francisco, Melbourne and Sydney. The analysis was informed by collaborative rationality and systems theories and the results were used to develop causal loop diagrams (CLDs) of producers and users' mental models. The preliminary CLDs were tested and improved through a participatory modelling workshop (six participants). A high-level CLD depicts users and producers' shared mental model in which indicator development and use are embedded in policy development and application processes. In the cases analysed, creating and using UHI tools increased inter-sectoral relationships, which supported actors to better understand each other's opportunities and constraints. These relationships spurred new advocates for health in diverse organisations, supporting health-in-all-policies and whole-of-society approaches. Constraints to health-promoting policy and implementation (such as those which are legal, political and economic in nature), were overcome through community involvement in UHI tools and advocacy effectiveness. A number of factors reduced the perceived relevance and authority of UHI tools, including: a high number of available indicators, lack of neighbourhood scale data and poor-quality data. In summary, UHI tools were a form of evidence that influenced local urban planning policy and decision-making when they were embedded in policy processes, networks and institutions. In contrast to the dominant policy impact model in the indicator literature, such evidence did not typically influence policy as an exogenous entity. Indicators had impact when they were embedded in local institutions and well-resourced over time, resulting in trusted relationships and collaborations among indicator producers and users. Further research is needed to explore other governance contexts and how UHI tools affect the power of different actors, particularly for under-represented communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the tropical cyclone (TC) activity associated with the two leading modes of interannual variability in synoptic disturbances. Both leading modes are found to be related to a dipole pattern of TC occurrence between the subtropical western North Pacific and the South China Sea. Therefore, in this study we performed composite analyses on TC tracks and landfalls, based on the cases of combined modes, to highlight the differences. The composite results indicate that these cases are characterized by distinct features of TC tracks and landfalls: more TCs tend to take recurving tracks and attack eastern China, Korea and Japan, or more TCs exhibit straight-moving tracks and hit the Philippines, Vietnam and southern China. Further analyses suggest that these distinctions in the TC prevailing tracks and landfalls can be attributed to the differences in large-scale steering flow and TC genesis location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inability of membranes to handle a wide spectrum of pollutants is an important unsolved problem for water treatment. Here we demonstrate water desalination via a membrane distillation process using a graphene membrane where water permeation is enabled by nanochannels of multilayer, mismatched, partially overlapping graphene grains. Graphene films derived from renewable oil exhibit significantly superior retention of water vapour flux and salt rejection rates, and a superior antifouling capability under a mixture of saline water containing contaminants such as oils and surfactants, compared to commercial distillation membranes. Moreover, real-world applicability of our membrane is demonstrated by processing sea water from Sydney Harbour over 72 h with macroscale membrane size of 4 cm2, processing ~0.5 L per day. Numerical simulations show that the channels between the mismatched grains serve as an effective water permeation route. Our research will pave the way for large-scale graphene-based antifouling membranes for diverse water treatment applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approximately 85% of Australia's population live along the coastal fringe, an area with high exposure to extreme inundations such as tsunamis. However, to date, no Probabilistic Tsunami Hazard Assessments (PTHA) that include inundation have been published for Australia. This limits the development of appropriate risk reduction measures by decision and policy makers. We describe our PTHA undertaken for the Sydney metropolitan area. Using the NOAA NCTR model MOST (Method for Splitting Tsunamis), we simulate 36 earthquake-generated tsunamis with annual probabilities of 15100, 151,000 and 1510,000, occurring under present and future predicted sea level conditions. For each tsunami scenario we generate a high-resolution inundation map of the maximum water level and flow velocity, and we calculate the exposure of buildings and critical infrastructure. Results indicate that exposure to earthquake-generated tsunamis is relatively low for present events, but increases significantly with higher sea level conditions. The probabilistic approach allowed us to undertake a comparison with an existing storm surge hazard assessment. Interestingly, the exposure to all the simulated tsunamis is significantly lower than that for the 15100 storm surge scenarios, under the same initial sea level conditions. The results have significant implications for multi-risk and emergency management in Sydney. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a safe, effective vaccine, hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination coverage remains low among people who inject drugs (PWID). Characteristics of participants screened for a trial investigating the efficacy of financial incentives in increasing vaccination completion among PWID were examined to inform targeting of vaccination programs. Recruitment occurred at two health services in inner-city Sydney that target PWID. HBV status was confirmed via serological testing, and questionnaires elicited demographic, drug use, and HBV risk data. Multinomial logistic regression was utilized to determine variables independently associated with HBV status. Of 172 participants, 64% were susceptible, 17% exposed (HBV core antibody-positive), and 19% demonstrated evidence of prior vaccination (HBV surface antibody ≥ 10 mIU/ml). Compared with exposed participants, susceptible participants were significantly more likely to be aged less than 35 years and significantly less likely to be receiving current opioid substitution therapy (OST) and to test hepatitis C antibody-positive. In comparison to vaccinated participants, susceptible participants were significantly more likely to be male and significantly less likely to report daily or more frequent injecting, current OST, and prior awareness of HBV vaccine. HBV vaccination uptake could potentially be increased by targeting younger, less frequent injectors, particularly young men. In addition to expanding vaccination through OST, targeting 'at risk' youth who are likely to have missed adolescent catch-up programs may be an important strategy to increase coverage. The lack of an association between incarceration and vaccination also suggests increasing vaccination uptake and completion in adult and juvenile correctional facilities may also be important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outcome of over fifteen years research on large urban assemblages from the Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne is discussed in terms of approaches to the archaeology of the modern city as they have evolved over the period. To better understand the archaeology of urban poverty we require innovations in both methods and ideas, the most far-reaching being a transnational archaeology of urban poverty founded on the analysis of migration, consumption and class formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective management of large protected conservation areas is challenged by political, institutional and environmental complexity and inconsistency. Knowledge generation and its uptake into management are crucial to address these challenges. We reflect on practice at the interface between science and management of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (GBMWHA), which covers approximately 1 million hectares west of Sydney, Australia. Multiple government agencies and other stakeholders are involved in its management, and decision-making is confounded by numerous plans of management and competing values and goals, reflecting the different objectives and responsibilities of stakeholders. To highlight the complexities of the decision-making process for this large area, we draw on the outcomes of a recent collaborative research project and focus on fire regimes and wild-dog control as examples of how existing knowledge is integrated into management. The collaborative research project achieved the objectives of collating and synthesizing biological data for the region; however, transfer of the project's outcomes to management has proved problematic. Reasons attributed to this include lack of clearly defined management objectives to guide research directions and uptake, and scientific information not being made more understandable and accessible. A key role of a local bridging organisation (e.g., the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute) in linking science and management is ensuring that research results with management significance can be effectively transmitted to agencies and that outcomes are explained for nonspecialists as well as more widely distributed. We conclude that improved links between science, policy, and management within an adaptive learning-by-doing framework for the GBMWHA would assist the usefulness and uptake of future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental health can be influenced by a number of neighbourhood physical and social environmental characteristics. We aimed to determine whether urban sprawl (based on population density) in Sydney, Australia, is associated with self-rated health and psychological distress. We used a cross-sectional multilevel study design. Individual level data on self-rated health and psychological distress were obtained from the 2006 and 2007 NSW Population Health Survey. We did not find significant associations between urban sprawl and self-rated health and psychological distress after controlling for individual and area level covariates. However, positive neighbourhood factors were generally associated with better self-rated health and lower psychological distress but few of these associations were statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney, Australia, was established in 1819 to accommodate male convicts, but in later years the building served as a depot for immigrant women (1848-86) and as an asylum for destitute women (1862-86). The occupation of the latter group in particular resulted in the loss of large numbers of clay tobacco pipes under the floorboards. The quantity and distribution of the pipes is used here to examine smoking behavior among the destitute female inmates, and to assess their relationships with each other and the institution in which they were confined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stormwater modelling indicated an average annual discharge from Sydney estuary catchment of 215,300 mL and loadings of 0.8, 0.5, 1.7, 3.2, 1.1, 3.6 and 17.7 tonnes for As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn, respectively. Priority for remediation should be given to creeks with high-metal loads in the upper and central estuary, as well as discharging to the western shores of Middle Harbour. Managerial strategies need to target dissolved and particulate metal phases to ensure effective remediation. The proportion of metals discharged under low- (<5 mm rainfall/day), medium- (>5 to <50 mm/day) and high-flow conditions (>50 mm/day) was approximately 10%, 60% and 30% of total loading, respectively. Under high-flow conditions the estuary becomes stratified and most metals are exported to the sea, whereas metals discharged during low-flow may be remediated by infiltration. Effective remediation will depend on the extent to which ‘first-flush’ metals associated with medium-flow conditions can be remediated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elizabeth Macquarie, a daughter of Campbell of Airds, was the wife of Lachlan Macquarie, the fifth governor of New South Wales (1810–21). The buildings of Argyll, Scotland, strongly influenced choices made by Elizabeth in the buildings erected during her husband’s 12-year administration of the colony. By examining these Scottish influences, through theories of landscape and the transfer of traditional, even “old-fashioned,” architectural styles to this far-flung colony, new layers of meaning embedded within the landscape of Sydney Cove are disentangled to reveal a deeper understanding of how British cultural identity was recreated on the far side of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study design:Systematic review.Objectives:To provide a quantitative analysis of all randomized controlled trials designed to determine the effectiveness of physical interventions for people with spinal cord injury (SCI).Setting:Sydney, Australia.Methods:A search was conducted for randomized controlled trials involving physical interventions for people with SCI. Two reviewers independently rated methodological quality using the PEDro scale and extracted key findings from the trials.Results:Four thousand five hundred and forty three abstracts were identified of which 31 trials met the inclusion criteria. Trials examined the effectiveness of fitness and strength training (n=7), gait training (n=5), hand therapy (n=3), stretch (n=4), acupuncture (n=3), hand splinting (n=2) and other related therapies (n=7). Six trials reported a between-group mean difference with a clearly important treatment effect on at least one outcome measure. These trials supported the use of fitness, strength and gait training as well as acupuncture.Conclusion:There is initial evidence supporting the effectiveness of some physical interventions for people with SCI. However, there is a pressing need for high-quality trials to determine the effectiveness of all physical interventions commonly administered in clinical practice.Spinal Cord (2009) 47, 184–195; doi:10.1038/sc.2008.100; published online 26 August 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity and inadequate physical activity are major risk factors for many diseases. The built environment plays an important role in influencing participation in physical activity. We aimed to determine whether urban sprawl in Sydney, Australia is associated with overweight/obesity and levels of physical activity. We used a cross-sectional multilevel study design to relate urban sprawl (based on population density) measured at an area level to overweight/obesity and levels of physical activity measured at an individual level whilst controlling for individual and area level covariates in metropolitan Sydney. Individual level data were obtained from the 2002 and 2003 New South Wales Population Health Survey. We had information on 7,290 respondents. The mean population density was 2,168 persons per square kilometer (standard deviation = 1,741, range = 218–7,045). After controlling for individual and area level covariates, for an inter-quartile increase in sprawl, the odds of being overweight was 1.26 (95% CI = 1.10–1.44), the odds of being obese was 1.47 (95% CI = 1.24–1.75), the odds of inadequate physical activity was 1.38 (95% CI = 1.21–1.57), and the odds of not spending any time walking during the past week was 1.58 (95% CI = 1.28–1.93). Living in more sprawling suburbs increases the risk of overweight/obesity and inadequate physical activity despite the relatively low levels of urban sprawl in metropolitan Sydney. Modifications to the urban environment to increase physical activity may be worthwhile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fierce row over misconduct allegations has prompted Australian researchers to call for an office of research integrity to be set up. The issue came to a head on 10 February, 2004 when Australian Senator Kim Carr released to parliament an unpublished report of an inquiry into allegations made about an immunologist at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. The case centres on Bruce Hall, a transplant immunologist working on graft tolerance. In 2001, Hall was accused by four complainants in his laboratory of fabricating and falsifying experimental results in an abstract and paper, providing false data in a grant application, misattributing authorship credit and workplace bullying.

Abstract  This study investigated the effect of temperature and air pollutants on total mortality in summers in Sydney, Australia. Daily data on weather variables, mortality and air pollution for the Sydney metropolitan area from 1 January 1994 to 31 December 2004 were supplied by Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Australian Bureau of Statistics, and Environment Protection Agency of New South Wales, respectively. We examined the association of total mortality with weather indicators and air pollution using generalised additive models (GAMs). A time-series classification and regression tree (CART) model was developed to explore the interaction effects of temperature and air pollution that impacted on mortality. Our results show that the average increase in total daily mortality was 0.9% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.6–1.3%] and 22% (95% CI: 6.4–40.5%) for a 1 °C increase in daily maximum temperature and 1 part per hundred million (pphm) increase in daily average concentration of sulphur dioxide (SO2), respectively. Time-series CART results show that maximum temperature and SO2 on the current day had significant interaction effects on total mortality. There were 7.3% and 12.1% increases in daily average mortality when maximum temperature was over 32°C and mean SO2 exceeded 0.315 pphm, respectively. Daily maximum temperature was statistically significantly associated with daily deaths in Sydney during summers between 1994 and 2004. Elevated daily maximum temperature combined with high SO2 concentrations appeared to have contributed to the increased mortality observed in Sydney during this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study design:Repeated-measures design.Objectives:To assess the validity and responsiveness of five additional mobility and locomotor (5-AML) items when used in conjunction with the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) for assessing the mobility and locomotor function of individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).Setting:Specialised acute spinal and rehabilitation units in Sydney, Australia.Methods:A previously published scale comprising five key mobility and locomotor skills was further refined. The five items included a bed mobility and vertical (floor-to-chair) transfer item and three wheelchair propulsion items (pushing 200 m over flat ground, pushing up a ramp and negotiating a kerb). A total of 43 eligible patients with SCI (ASIA A–C impairment) admitted consecutively to two acute SCI units in Sydney between 1999 and 2002 were recruited, with four being lost to follow-up. Locomotor and mobility outcomes were measured at regular intervals for up to 6 months with the FIM and the 5-AML. Construct validity of the 5-AML was assessed by testing ability of items to discriminate between different impairment groups (tetraplegia and paraplegia). Item responsiveness was assessed by analysing ability to detect changes in mobility and locomotor function over time. Factor analysis techniques were used to test the hypothesis that the 5-AML, when used in conjunction with the FIM, provides a more sensitive measure of mobility and locomotor function than the FIM alone.Results:The 5-AML items were shown to be valid and responsive, measuring aspects of ‘real world’ mobility and locomotor function not reflected by the FIM. The bed mobility item was highly responsive to change over time for the tetraplegic group, but quickly reached a ceiling in the paraplegic group. The vertical (floor-to-chair) transfer item showed greater responsiveness over time and less ceiling effect for the paraplegic group than any of the FIM locomotor or mobility items. The three wheelchair propulsion items better discriminated between people with tetraplegia and paraplegia, and were more sensitive to changes in locomotor ability over the 6-month period than FIM locomotor items. Results of a preliminary factor analysis indicated that the 5-AML items measure different aspects of mobility and locomotor function than the FIM.Conclusion:The 5-AML items, when used in conjunction with the FIM, provides better delineation of function between people with tetraplegia and paraplegia and provides a more responsive measure of change in function over time than the FIM alone.Spinal Cord (2006) 44, 495–504. doi:10.1038/sj.sc.3101872; published online 6 December 2005 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1980s, the increase of Asian migrants in large cities has contributed significantly to the cultural landscape of Australia, especially in the city suburbs. Based on the Census and in-depth interviews of 103 Taiwanese migrants, this research examines the location decisions and residential preferences of Taiwanese migrants in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. The reasons for choosing the state, the particular city, and specific area of residence are probed into. The survey shows that migrants moved to Australia mainly for children's education, lifestyle and political instability reasons. The main reasons for choosing to settle in Sydney were favourable business opportunities, and the northern part of Sydney was preferred. Those who chose Brisbane are attracted by the good climate there, and the residents preferred the Sunnybank area. Melbourne was chosen for the good education it offers, and areas on transportation lines near good schools are selected. Choice of residence was based mainly on their needs and their resources which may change over time. In general, they always choose to locate in close proximity to their family, friends and Taiwanese communities. Their locational choice depends on income and housing budget, proximity to good schools and shopping centers, and information from friends or earlier migrants. Based on such factors, this study clearly demonstrates that the Taiwanese immigrants are fundamentally different from early Chinese settlers who once aimed to settle at Chinatown locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurement of intertidal rock assemblages was investigated as a potential biological indicator to provide a quantitative estimate of the impact of urbanised catchment discharge on the estuaries of Sydney, Australia, from 1995 to 1999. Based on the presence and characteristics of adjacent human activities, sampling locations were categorised as: Bush; Urban; Urban with Sewer Overflows; and Industry with Sewer Overflows. In Sydney Harbour, variation in assemblage structure was measured between most impact categories, however differences between impact categories were not consistent for each year. Nevertheless, in years of above average rainfall (1998–1999), reference assemblages adjacent to national parks and distant from urbanisation were different to all other putatively impacted assemblages. Variability within assemblages was least at reference locations in each year and greatest at locations adjacent to stormwater canals and sewer overflows, particularly in 1998–1999. Variation in assemblage structure in Sydney estuaries was most strongly correlated with chlorophyll – a concentrations. Univariate analysis also identified highly significant differences for a number of factors, however, interactions between year, impact categories and location for numerous analyses, confounded the differentiation between impact categories. The results suggest that intertidal rock assemblages in Sydney Harbour and surrounding estuaries appear to be responding to the quality and quantity of discharge from urbanised catchments and, furthermore, that assemblages are more suitable than individual taxa to indicate the difference between Bush and anthropogenically disturbed estuarine locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given issues related to differences in learner characteristics, effective sampling across the content domain, and recent emphases on assessing meaningfully contextualised abilities and higher-order cognitive processes, the ‘traditional’ mathematics test arguably does not provide a valid measure of student ability. Consequently, there is a need to incorporate alternative methods of assessment that are able to effectively assess the range of students’ mathematical abilities. The present study investigated methods of assessment used by 60 mathematics teachers from 11 secondary schools in metropolitan Sydney, as well as their attitudes to a range of alternative assessment methods, together with reasons why they would or would not implement these. Results showed that teachers were satisfied with traditional tests as valid measures of student ability, particularly for senior school years. Teachers generally did not favour implementing alternative assessment methods, although those with the least years’ teaching experience reported more positive attitudes. A major concern raised by teachers about the use of alternative assessment methods related to their perceived subjectivity. Explanations for these findings are advanced for teachers who have varying lengths of teaching experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of a power based fuel consumption and exhaust emissions model for spark ignition vehicles has been evaluated using a large Australian database derived from testing a wide range of in-use cars on a chassis dynamometer. It was also applied to results of on-road fuel consumption measurement using a "floating" car which was driven back and forth on hilly roadways in Sydney with a length of 8.6 km. The model is found to predict the fuel consumption well over the standard drive cycles and also for the floating car. Average exhaust emissions were also well predicted, but, as would be expected, vehicle-to-vehicle correlation is impossible due to the well-known high variability of emissions between nominally identical vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes the findings and recommendations of a study into access to, and experience of, colleges of further education and universities by refugees in Sydney, Australia. The study sought to identify examples of institutional good practice which are potentially transferable to other major host countries for refugees in the developed world. It focuses upon the factors influencing the decision to enter college or university, sources and usefulness of information and advice, access courses and special entry schemes, the recognition of prior learning and overseas qualifications and institutional sensitivity and support. It concludes with a series of recommendations for providers of further and higher education to improve access and support for students from refugee backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the key issues in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Sydney, New South Wales in September 2007. He believes that one of the meeting's crucial issues was climate change, and that it should take ever-increasing priority in the Asia-Pacific region. He then highlights the complaints of environmental activists that not enough was done to advance the climate change issue.

The article reports on the result of the study which calculates the force of the bite of Carcarodon carcharias shark conducted by Stephen Roe and colleagues at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. It states that the data on the animal's bite force were generated by assessing its skull, jaw and muscles through the utilization of a three-dimensional computer model. It reveals that the shark's skeletons which are composed of cartilage have been to be irrelevant in the force of the animal's bite, which is believed to be about 18,000 Newtons of downward force.