The impacts of climate change on water resources of Fitzroy River and Tigris Rivers Basins and identification of adaptation measures

Australia and Northeast Iraq have scarce water resources which are vulnerable to climate change. Analyses of historical data have revealed that these two regions are experiencing climate change to a degree higher than generally reported elsewhere. To date the relationship between climate change and its effect on water resources of Australia and Northeast Iraq has been sparsely addressed in the published literature, and almost no attention has been paid to climate change-related water resources issues. In order to fill that gap, this research work first investigates if there has been a significant change in climate in these two regions, and this has been found to be true. The relationship between climate change and its impact on water resources is explored through the application of the widely used ‘white box’ model SWAT. The model depicts the availability of water resources, classified separately as blue and green waters, for short-term and distant futures for the two regions. Some of the findings are foreboding and warrant urgent attention of planners and decision makers for certain places where (in both regions) the results show that climate change will have major impacts on water resources. The Fitzroy River Basin will experience hotter and wetter weather, while the Iraqi Basin will see hotter and drier weather in the near and distant futures, near being up to 2046-2064 and distant being up to 2080-2100. The research makes some projections of future water resource distributions in the two regions based on climatic scenarios from some widely used General Circulation Model (GCM) ensembles. The research further investigates how the population is adapting to already changed climates and how it is expected to cope in the future when the shift in climate is expected to be much greater

Examples of authentic assessments in engineering education

Ullah, S ORCiD: 0000-0002-5522-5341Paper-based assessment in engineering education is a widely accepted way of assessing student learning. This type of assessment typically involves answers to discipline specific problems, that may require some use of equations, methods and concepts, and short or long answer to theoretical questions that require a deep conceptual understanding of the topic. It has been reported that assessments that are practice-oriented and have similarities with real-world situations and context, benefits student learning. Such real-world problems are generally termed as- “authentic”. While some disciplines may have difficulties in designing assessments that are practically relevant, the engineering discipline has little problems in handing out high fidelity assessments. This is since engineering curricula worldwide is carefully designed to meet industry demands i.e. create work-ready graduates (WRG). Along with this, the undergraduate engineering program operates within a shorter time frame (usually 3-5 years). Hence, in engineering, most problems are practice oriented. It appears that real-world relevance is only one of the key criteria required when designing authentic assessments and there is an overall misunderstanding of what constitutes an authentic assessment and how to efficiently prepare them. In a rapidly changing higher education sector, an added dimension to authentic assessments is that they must be safeguarded against widespread contract cheating. This paper discusses the essential components of an authentic assessment and provides several examples of such assessments, suitable for undergraduate civil engineering students. More traditional assessments are discussed with developed authentic assessments. Built-in contract cheating safeguarding mechanisms are discussed in some detail

Profiling the varietal antioxidative contents and macrochemical composition in Australian faba beans (Vicia faba L.)

Johnson, JB ORCiD: 0000-0002-9172-8587; Naiker, M ORCiD: 0000-0002-6844-8325There is growing interest in pulses such as faba bean for the development of foodswith enhanced nutrition, functionality, and health benefits. In this study, seed mate-rial from 10 faba bean varieties, grown in replicated field trials in South Australia overconsecutive seasons (2016 and 2017), were analysed for ferric reducing antioxidantpotential, total phenolics, and total monomeric anthocyanins. Differences in the mac-rochemical composition of varieties was investigated using attenuated total reflec-tance mid-infrared spectroscopy. The mean ferric reducing antioxidant potential ofthe varieties ranged from 237 to 531 mg trolox equivalents 100 g−1; the total pheno-lics from 258 to 571 mg gallic acid equivalents 100 g−1; and the total monomericanthocyanins from 12.7 to 21.0 mg cyanidin-3-glucoside equivalents 100 g−1. Statis-tically significant variances in all three measures were found between varieties.Attenuated total reflectance Fourier transformed mid-infrared spectroscopy wasfound to provide a rapid assessment of the phytochemical composition of the sam-ples. Partial least squares discriminant analysis was able to classify samples by grow-ing year with reasonable accuracy (>87%). There is significant variation in theantioxidant, phenolic, and anthocyanin contents between Australian faba bean varie-ties. Mid-infrared spectroscopy may prove to be a valuable screening tool forbreeders and researchers in the future

Mapping of land-use/land-cover changes and its dynamics in Awash River Basin using remote sensing and GIS

Koech, RK ORCiD: 0000-0002-0563-6687Understanding the dynamics of land-use and land-cover change at a basin scale, including its driving causes, is vital for the development and planning of appropriate environmental management policies and strategies. The aim of this research was to analyse and understand the long-term dynamics of land-use/land-cover changes and population growth in the Awash River Basin (ARB) using remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS). Landsat images for 1988, 2002, and 2018 were processed, classified and analysed. The accuracy assess-ment showed that the classification was relatively acceptable and effective in detecting the long-term land-use changes in ARB. Cropland increased by 12% between 1988 and 2002, and by 2018 it had increased by 15%. Similarly, the built-up area expanded by 52 km2 (184%) between 1988 and 2002, and by 2018 it had reached 225%. The analysis showed that the cropland and built-up area expanded at the expense of forest and shrubland, with shrubland and forest reducing by 4% and 25% respectively over the 30 year study period. Higher levels of deforestation, combined with population growth, urbanization and cropland expansion, have impacted on the available water resources and runoff in the area. The findings from this study can help in the design of sus-tainable environmental management strategies and practices to ensure the sustainability of the ecosystem and natural resources. The results can also be used to address food security issues in the ARB since we see an increasing trend in population growth with a commensurate decrease in agricultural land, thereby increasing food security concerns

Dezert-Smarandache theory-based fusion for human activity recognition in body sensor networks

Khyam, MO ORCiD: 0000-0002-1988-2328Multi-sensor fusion strategies have been widely applied in Human Activity Recognition (HAR) in Body Sensor Networks (BSNs). However, the sensory data collected by BSNs systems are often uncertain or even incomplete. Thus, designing a robust and intelligent sensor fusion strategy is necessary for high-quality activity recognition. In this paper, Dezert-Smarandache Theory (DSmT) is used to develop a novel sensor fusion strategy for HAR in BSNs, which can effectively improve the accuracy of recognition. Specifically, in the training stage, the Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) based models are first built and then precisely selected for each specific activity according to the proposed discriminative functions. After that, a structure of Basic Belief Assignment (BBA) can be constructed, using the relationship between the test data of unknown class and the selected KDE models of all considered types of activities. In order to deal with the conflict between the obtained BBAs, Proportional Conflict Redistribution-6 (PCR6) is applied to fuse the acquired BBAs. Moreover, the missing data of the involved sensors are addressed as ignorance in the framework of the DSmT without manual interpolation or intervention. Experimental studies on two real-world activity recognition datasets (The OPPORTUNITY dataset; Daily and Sports Activity Dataset (DSAD)) were conducted, and the results showed the superiority of our proposed method over some state-of-the-art approaches proposed in the literature

A UPFC topology for LV feeder voltage regulation and current balance in high PV penetration applications

Haque, M ORCiD: 0000-0002-7615-7982; Wolfs, PJ ORCiD: 0000-0001-7048-1231The integration of large scale photovoltaic (PV) generation causes several power quality issues in low voltage (LV) distribution networks. Among them, network voltage profile variation and voltage unbalance are the two severe issues that affect the normal operation of distribution feeders and restrict the further expansion of PV units. The unified power flow controller (UPFC) is generally used in transmission and sub-transmission to provide power balance for series and shunt compensation, however, their use in distribution networks for voltage management is rare. The paper proposes a four leg (4L) UPFC-like topology with a small dc-link capacitor as a regulatory device to mitigate voltage issues in LV distribution networks. Instantaneous power theory (IPT) is applied to analyze the proposed 4L-UPFC for LV distribution networks. Real and instantaneous power balance of the UPFC is achieved by controlling the input positive and negative sequence current of the shunt converter. Detailed analysis and simulation studies are conducted to show the operation of the 4L-UPFC with a small dc-link capacitor within Australian LV distribution networks. The simulation results show that the UPFC can regulate the sequence voltages to maintain the far end load voltages within the allowable voltage boundaries under high PV penetrations. The results also show that the shunt converter can zero sequence compensation at the input side of the LV feeder

The COVID-19 pandemic and the public health challenges in Bangladesh: A commentary

Haque, MJ ORCiD: 0000-0001-9063-3060Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to highlight the current pandemic situation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Bangladesh, how the Government is managing this unprecedented condition and encountering these increasing public health challenges. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is a viewpoint of the current COVID-19 pandemic situation in Bangladesh. Findings – As one of the most densely populated countries, Bangladesh is vulnerable to COVID-19. Currently, the infection of COVID-19 is spreading fast and started to capture all the parts of Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh has already taken several preventive measures to overcome the pandemic such as declaring hotspots of COVID-19 and setting lock downs, increasing mass awareness through social media and satellite TV channels. They are also encouraging private and community healthcare initiatives to increase hospital beds and COVID-19 treatment facilities. Besides, the Government has deployed defense force and additional health workers and increased public holidays to reduce the number of coronavirus infections. However, both the number of infected people and the death toll is rising, and there are growing challenges that the Government and public healthcare professions need to overcome. Originality/value – This paper delivers information about the present developing situation of COVID-19 in Bangladesh, how the Government is handling and public health challenges that have raised. This paper can be helpful for the policymakers and Government officials for effective public health interventions

A person-centred approach to assessing the renal system

Dwyer, TA ORCiD: 0000-0001-8408-7956The Functions of the renal system (also called the urinary system) are to regulate and maintain body fluids and electrolyte balance, to filter metabolic wastes from the blood stream to reabsorb needed substances and water into the bloodstream and to eliminate metabolic wastes and water as urine

Working to grow together: Horizontal collaboration for horticulture production in Queensland

Akbar, DH ORCiD: 0000-0002-2269-5056; Kinnear, SH ORCiD: 0000-0002-2734-8547; Rolfe, JC ORCiD: 0000-0001-7659-7040; Schrobback, P ORCiD: 0000-0003-0526-1659The horticulture sector in Queensland is highly diverse, producing tropical fruits, many varieties of vegetables, cucurbits and nuts. There is potential to expand horticulture production with more land and water becoming available. However, domestic demand for many horticulture products is currently saturated in peak seasons, leading to lower farmgate prices. Therefore, exporting high value horticulture produce (HVHP) to Asian destinations may offer market diversification for future growth of horticulture industries in Queensland. Currently staggering of supply of horticultural products is achieved as crops are not simultaneously grown across wide geographic regions due to the variations in weather, water availability and soil condition. For instance, farmers harvest mangoes in the far-north Queensland during August-October while Southeast Queensland’s farmers harvest their mangoes between January and April each year. This study aimed to examine the potential for greater cross-regional collaboration between farmers (i.e., horizontal collaboration) to ensure a continuous and consistent supply chain of large volume of horticulture products over six- to eight-month annual window. This study particularly focused on a case study of mango production using a qualitative approach consisting of a stakeholder workshop supported by literature review and face to face scoping interviews. While some discrete collaborations among mango farmers are occurring in some regions of Queensland, a cross-regional supply chain collaboration supported by both the industry and other supply chain stakeholders would improve returns to mango producers in the short to medium term

Systems, economics, and neoliberal politics: Theories to understand missed nursing care

Willis, EM ORCiD: 0000-0001-7576-971XThe phenomenon of missed nursing care is endemic across all sectors. Nurse leaders have drawn attention to the implications of missed care for patient outcomes, with calls to develop clear political, methodological, and theoretical approaches. As part of this call, we describe three structural theories that inform frameworks of missed care: systems theory, economic theory, and neoliberal politics. The final section provides commentary on the strengths and limitations of these three theories, in the light of structuration theory and calls to balance this research agenda by reinstating nurse agency and examining the interactions between nurses as agents and the health systems as structures. The paper argues that a better understanding of variations in structure–agency interaction across the healthcare system might lead to more effective interventions at strategic leverage points. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Lt