164 research outputs found
Sabrina Sea Floor Survey (IN2017-V01) Piston Core Images, Visual Logs and Grain Size Data Summaries IN2017-V01-C012-PC05
This document presents images, colour description, colour analysis profiles and summary grain size data for individual core sections from piston core IN2017-V01-C012-PC05 collected during the Sabrina Sea Floor Survey on the RV Investigator between January and March 2017. Detail of the survey can be obtained in the post-survey report (Armand et al., 2018).The authors wish to thank the CSIRO Marine National Facility (MNF) for its support in the form of sea time on RV Investigator, support personnel, scientific equipment and data management. All data and samples acquired on the voyage are made publicly available in accordance with MNF Policy.
This Project is supported through funding from the Australian Government’s Australian Antarctic Science Grant Program (AAS #4333).
We thank the Marine National Facility, the IN2017-V01 scientific party-led by the Chief Scientists L.K. Armand and P. O’Brien, MNF support staff and ASP crew members led by Capt. M. Watson for their help and support on board the RV Investigator. Grain size analyses were carried out by Aziah Williamson at Geoscience Australia. Alix Post publishes with permission of the CEO, Geoscience Australia under creative commons
Sabrina Sea Floor Survey (IN2017-V01) Piston Core Images, Visual Logs and grain size DATA summaries IN2017-V01-A005-PC01
This document presents images, colour description, colour analysis profiles and summary grain size data for individual core sections from piston core IN2017-V01-A005-PC01 collected during the Sabrina Sea Floor Survey on the RV Investigator between January and March 2017. Detail of the survey can be obtained in the post-survey report (Armand et al., 2018).The authors wish to thank the CSIRO Marine National Facility (MNF) for its support in the form of sea time on RV Investigator, support personnel, scientific equipment and data management. All data and samples acquired on the voyage are made publicly available in accordance with MNF Policy.
This Project is supported through funding from the Australian Government’s Australian Antarctic Science Grant Program (AAS #4333).
We thank the Marine National Facility, the IN2017-V01 scientific party-led by the Chief Scientists L.K. Armand and P. O’Brien, MNF support staff and ASP crew members led by Capt. M. Watson for their help and support on board the RV Investigator. Grain size analyses were carried out by Aziah Williamson at Geoscience Australia. Alix Post publishes with permission of the CEO, Geoscience Australia under creative commons
Prevalence and characteristics of advocacy curricula in Australian public health degrees
Background: Public health advocacy is a fundamental part of health promotion practice. Advocacy efforts can lead to healthier public policies and positive impacts on society. Public health educators are responsible for equipping graduates with cross-cutting advocacy competencies to address current and future public health challenges.
Problem: Knowledge of the extent to which students are taught public health advocacy is limited. To determine whether advocacy teaching within public health degrees matches industry needs, knowledge of pedagogical approaches to advocacy curricula is required. This study sought to understand the extent to which advocacy is taught and assessed within Australian public health degrees.
Methodology: Australian public health Bachelor's and Master's degrees were identified using the CRICOS database. Open-source online unit guides were reviewed to determine where and how advocacy was included within core and elective units (in title, unit description or learning outcomes). Degree directors and convenors of identified units were surveyed to further garner information about advocacy in the curriculum.
Results: Of 65 identified degrees, 17 of 26 (65%) undergraduate degrees and 24 of 39 (62%) postgraduate degrees included advocacy within the core curriculum, while 6 of 26 (23%) undergraduate and 8 of 39 (21%) postgraduate offered no advocacy curriculum.
Implications: Australian and international public health competency frameworks indicate advocacy curriculum should be included in all degrees. This research suggests advocacy competencies are not ubiquitous within Australian public health curricula. The findings support the need to advance public health advocacy teaching efforts further
The Best Interests of The Child Self-Report (BIC-S):Psychometric Properties of the Adapted Version of the BIC-S used as a Monitoring Instrument to Measure the Quality of The Children’s Rearing Environment From a Children’s Rights Perspective
Background In line with the legal duty to monitor the compliance of policy and practice with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Netherlands’ Ombudsman forChildren collects data concerning children’s views about their rearing environment and well-being. This Children’s Rights Monitor uses the Best Interests of the Child Self-Report (BIC-S). The psychometric properties of the BIC-S need to be further investigated.Method For the 2018 Children’s Rights Monitor, 1639 children (age: M=12.05SD=2.70) completed the BIC-S (quality of rearing environment) and value their life on a scale of 1 to 10 (well-being). Mokken Scale Analysis was applied to determine the construct validity, and a Pearson correlation coefficient between well-being and the quality of rearing environment was used to determine the convergent validity of the BIC-S.Results The results of the Mokken Scale Analysis reveal an invariant, strong, and reliable family scale (H=0.60; Rho=0.88) and an invariant, moderate, and reliablesociety scale (H=0.45; Rho=0.81). Two conditions (safe wider physical environment and adequate examples in society) should be viewed as separate items. Strong and significant correlations are observed between well-being, on the one hand, and the family and society scales on the other (respectively, r=0.54 and 0.63).Implications Results of this study point to a reliable and valid BIC-S for measuring the quality of the rearing environment. This instrument can be used to bring policy, practice, and decision-making in line with Children’s Rights
The Best Interests of The Child Self-Report (BIC-S):Psychometric Properties of the Adapted Version of the BIC-S used as a Monitoring Instrument to Measure the Quality of The Children’s Rearing Environment From a Children’s Rights Perspective
Background In line with the legal duty to monitor the compliance of policy and practice with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Netherlands’ Ombudsman forChildren collects data concerning children’s views about their rearing environment and well-being. This Children’s Rights Monitor uses the Best Interests of the Child Self-Report (BIC-S). The psychometric properties of the BIC-S need to be further investigated.Method For the 2018 Children’s Rights Monitor, 1639 children (age: M=12.05SD=2.70) completed the BIC-S (quality of rearing environment) and value their life on a scale of 1 to 10 (well-being). Mokken Scale Analysis was applied to determine the construct validity, and a Pearson correlation coefficient between well-being and the quality of rearing environment was used to determine the convergent validity of the BIC-S.Results The results of the Mokken Scale Analysis reveal an invariant, strong, and reliable family scale (H=0.60; Rho=0.88) and an invariant, moderate, and reliablesociety scale (H=0.45; Rho=0.81). Two conditions (safe wider physical environment and adequate examples in society) should be viewed as separate items. Strong and significant correlations are observed between well-being, on the one hand, and the family and society scales on the other (respectively, r=0.54 and 0.63).Implications Results of this study point to a reliable and valid BIC-S for measuring the quality of the rearing environment. This instrument can be used to bring policy, practice, and decision-making in line with Children’s Rights
a cardiovascular magnetic resonance study
Background The hypertensive deoxy-corticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt-treated
pig (hereafter, DOCA pig) was recently introduced as large animal model for
early-stage heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The aim of
the present study was to evaluate cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) of
DOCA pigs and weight-matched control pigs to characterize ventricular, atrial
and myocardial structure and function of this phenotype model. Methods Five
anesthetized DOCA and seven control pigs underwent 3 T CMR at rest and during
dobutamine stress. Left ventricular/atrial (LV/LA) function and myocardial
mass (LVMM), strains and torsion were evaluated from (tagged) cine imaging. 4D
phase-contrast measurements were used to assess blood flow and peak
velocities, including transmitral early-diastolic (E) and myocardial tissue
(E’) velocities and coronary sinus blood flow. Myocardial perfusion reserve
was estimated from stress-to-rest time-averaged coronary sinus flow. Global
native myocardial T1 times were derived from prototype modified Look-Locker
inversion-recovery (MOLLI) short-axis T1 maps. After in-vivo measurements,
transmural biopsies were collected for stereological evaluation including the
volume fractions of interstitium (VV(int/LV)) and collagen (VV(coll/LV)).
Rest, stress, and stress-to-rest differences of cardiac and myocardial
parameters in DOCA and control animals were compared by t-test. Results In
DOCA pigs LVMM (p < 0.001) and LV wall-thickness (end-systole/end-diastole, p
= 0.003/p = 0.007) were elevated. During stress, increase of LV ejection-
fraction and decrease of end-systolic volume accounted for normal
contractility reserves in DOCA and control pigs. Rest-to-stress differences of
cardiac index (p = 0.040) and end-diastolic volume (p = 0.042) were
documented. Maximal (p = 0.042) and minimal (p = 0.012) LA volumes in DOCA
pigs were elevated at rest; total LA ejection-fraction decreased during stress
(p = 0.006). E’ was lower in DOCA pigs, corresponding to higher E/E’ at rest
(p = 0.013) and stress (p = 0.026). Myocardial perfusion reserve was reduced
in DOCA pigs (p = 0.031). T1-times and VV(int/LV) did not differ between
groups, whereas VV(coll/LV) levels were higher in DOCA pigs (p = 0.044).
Conclusions LA enlargement, E’ and E/E’ were the markers that showed the most
pronounced differences between DOCA and control pigs at rest. Inadequate
increase of myocardial perfusion reserve during stress might represent a
metrics for early-stage HFpEF. Myocardial T1 mapping could not detect elevated
levels of myocardial collagen in this model. Trial registration The study was
approved by the local Bioethics Committee of Vienna, Austria
(BMWF-66.010/0091-II/3b/2013)
Rule-based semi-automated tools for mapping seabed morphology from bathymetry data
Seabed morphology maps and data are critical for knowledge-building and best practice management of marine environments. To facilitate objective and repeatable production of these maps, we have developed a number of semi-automated, rule-based GIS tools (Geoscience Australia’s Semi-automated Morphological Mapping Tools - GA-SaMMT) to operationalise the mapping of a common set of bathymetric high and bathymetric low seabed Morphological Features. The tools have a graphical user interface and were developed using Python scripts under the widely-adopted proprietary ArcGIS Pro platform. The utility of these tools was tested across nine case study areas that represent a diverse range of complex bathymetric and physiographic settings. Overall, the mapping results are found to be more consistent than manual mapping and allow for capture of greater detail across a range of spatial scales. The mapping results demonstrate a number of advantages of GA-SaMMT, including: 1) requirement of only a bathymetry grid as sole data input; 2) flexibility to apply domain knowledge to user-defined tool parameters, or to instead use the default parameter settings; 3) repeatability and consistency in the mapping outputs when using a consistent set of tool parameters (user defined or default); 4) high-degree of objectivity; and 5) efficiency in mapping a large number (thousands) of seabed morphology features in a single dataset. In addition, GA-SaMMT can comprehensively quantify the characteristics of individual seabed bathymetric high and low features, respectively generating 34 and 46 metrics for each type of feature. Our results indicate that attribute metrics are invaluable in the interpretation and modelling of mapped Morphology Features and provide insights into their formative processes and habitat potential for marine communities
Continental slope and rise geomorphology seaward of the Totten Glacier, East Antarctica (112°E-122°E)
The continental slope and rise seaward of the Totten Glacier and the Sabrina Coast, East Antarctica features
continental margin depositional systems with high sediment input and consistent along-slope current activity.
Understanding their genesis is a necessary step in interpreting the paleoenvironmental records they contain.
Geomorphic mapping using a systematic multibeam survey shows variations in the roles of downslope and along
slope sediment transport influenced by broad-scale topography and oceanography. The study area contains two
areas with distinct geomorphology. Canyons in the eastern part of the area have concave thalwegs, are linked to
the shelf edge and upper slope and show signs of erosion and deposition along their beds suggesting cycles of
activity controlled by climate cycles. Ridges between these canyons are asymmetric with crests close to the west
bank of adjacent canyons and are mostly formed by westward advection of fine sediment lofted from turbidity
currents and deposition of hemipelagic sediment. They can be thought of as giant levee deposits. The ridges in
the western part of the area have more gently sloping eastern flanks and rise to shallower depths than those in
the east. The major canyon in the western part of the area is unusual in having a convex thalweg; it is likely fed
predominantly by mass movement from the flanks of the adjacent ridges with less sediment input from the shelf
edge. The western ridges formed by accretion of suspended sediment moving along the margin as a broad plume
in response to local oceanography supplemented with detritus originating from the Totten Glacier. This contrasts
with interpretations of similar ridges described from other parts of Antarctica which emphasise sediment input
from canyons immediately up-current. The overall geomorphology of the Sabrina Coast slope is part of a continuum of mixed contourite-turbidite systems identified on glaciated margins.Australian Government
4333Australian Research Council
DP170100557Italian Programma Nazionale di Richerch in Antartide (PNRA)Spanish Government
CTM2014-60451-C2-1-P
CTM2017-89711-C2-1-
Breaking all the rules: The first recorded hard substrate sessile benthic community far beneath an Antarctic ice shelf
The seafloor beneath floating ice shelves accounts roughly a third of the Antarctic’s 5 million km2 of continental shelf. Prior to this study, our knowledge of these habitats and the life they support was restricted to what has been observed from eight boreholes drilled for geological and glaciological studies. The established theory of sub-ice shelf biogeography is that both functional and taxonomic diversities decrease along a nutrient gradient with distance from the ice shelf front, resulting in a depauperate fauna, dominated by mobile scavengers and predators toward the grounding line. Mobile macro-benthic life and mega-benthic life have been observed as far as 700 km under an ice shelf. New observations from two boreholes in the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf challenge the idea that sessile organisms reduce in prevalence the further under the ice you go. The discovery of an established community consisting of only sessile, probably filter feeding, organisms (sponges and other taxa) on a boulder 260 km from the ice front raises significant questions, especially when the local currents suggest that this community is somewhere between 625 km and 1500 km in the direction of water flow from the nearest region of photosynthesis. This new evidence requires us to rethink our ideas with regard to the diversity of community types found under ice shelves, the key factors which control their distribution and their vulnerability to environmental change and ice shelf collapse
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