https://hdl.handle.net/2123/976 Tue, 09 Jun 2026 15:49:53 GMT 2026-06-09T15:49:53Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/35293 Dataset used for training and testing in “Physics-informed Graph Neural Networks for Operational Flood Modeling” paper Herath Mudiyanselage, Viraj Vidura Herath; Acosta, Carlo Malapad; Lim, Jia Yu; Saha, Abhishek; Rasnayaka, Sanka; Marshall, Lucy This dataset contains 2D hydrodynamic model simulation outputs and associated geometry files used for training and testing graph neural network (GNN) models presented in the paper “Physics-informed Graph Neural Networks for Operational Flood Modeling.” The paper has been accepted to the AI4Tech track of the IJCAI-ECAI 2026 conference, which will be held in Bremen from 15–21 August 2026. The preprint is available on arXiv (https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.23964v1), and the codebase can be accessed through GitHub (https://github.com/acostacos/dual_flood_gnn). Please refer to the README file for additional details regarding dataset structure and usage. Flood simulations were generated using the HEC-RAS hydrodynamic modelling software developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers (https://www.hec.usace.army.mil/software/hec-ras/). The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for the Wollombi catchment was obtained from the ELVIS – Elevation and Depth – Foundation Spatial Data portal, accessible at ELVIS Portal (https://elevation.fsdf.org.au/). Synthetic forcing data used in the simulations were adapted from the paper “Interpretable physics-informed graph neural networks for flood forecasting” available at Wiley Online Library (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mice.13484). Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/35293 2026-05-11T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/35148 Comprehensive Dataset of 72 Electro-deposited ZnO Nanostructured Sensors for Acetone Detection in E-Nose Applications Garay-Rairan, Fabian; Wang, Qi; Tricoli, Antonio; Qian, Jing; Lensky, Artem; Murugappan, Krishnan; Suominen, Hanna This dataset presents a comprehensive experimental study of 72 individual zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructured sensors designed for electronic nose (E-Nose) applications, specifically targeting high-sensitivity acetone detection. The sensors were fabricated using an optimized electrodeposition process, where three key manufacturing parameters were systematically varied: ZnCl₂ molarity (0.01M to 0.2M), current density (-100µA to -5mA), and deposition time (10s to 60s). The data is organized into three primary categories: (1) Dynamic Gas Sensing Records, featuring a 3-loop exposure sequence to varying acetone concentrations (0.1 ppm to 1.0 ppm); (2) Thermal Characterization Profiles, providing baseline resistance-temperature behavior for all 72 samples; and (3) Statistical Performance Metrics, including Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) calculations and noise scaling analysis. This multi-parametric matrix (comprising over 2,000 sensing cycles) provides a critical foundation for machine learning-based gas identification and the optimization of nanomanufacturing protocols for highly sensitive, low-cost gas sensors. Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/35148 2026-04-29T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/35095 Resistance Response and Heating Profiles of Electro-deposited ZnO Nanostructures for E-Nose Acetone Sensing Garay-Rairan, Fabian; Wang, Qi; Tricoli, Antonio; Qian, Jing; Lensky, Artem; Murugappan, Krishnan; Suominen, Hanna This dataset contains the experimental performance records of two high-performing zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructured sensors developed for electronic nose (E-Nose) applications. The data includes resistance measurements over time during exposure to varying concentrations of acetone, as well as the thermal characterization (heating process) of the samples. The sensors were fabricated using electrodeposition with different molarities (0.1M and 0.2M ZnCl2) and current densities (250uA and 3mA). The records show how the system responds to changes, how it recovers, and how stable the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is. This information is important for machine learning-based gas identification and sensitivity optimization in nanomanufacturing. Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/35095 2026-04-10T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/35065 Renewable Energy Transitions: A Multi-Level Perspective of Electricity Policies in New South Wales Lee, Veronika; Zhang, Sujuan; Tarboda, Louis Australia has committed to an ambitious climate strategy, aiming to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 43 percent of 2005 levels by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. This paper examines Australia's electricity generation sector, which is heavily reliant on coal and is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing 34.3 percent to the total in 2024. Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/35065 2026-03-31T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/35032 Restoration, Exploration and Transformation: How Youth Engage Character.AI Chatbots for Feels, Fun and Finding themselves Blake, Annabel; Carter, Marcus; Velloso, Eduardo Young people are among the fastest adopters of generative AI, yet research emphasises adult-designed tools and experiments rather than playful, self-directed youth use. We analysed discourse from 4,172 users in Character.AI’s official Discord, finding that the most engaged users were predominantly adolescents (50% aged 13–17), female or non-binary (61.9%), with most (59%) creating their own characters. We contribute (1) a descriptive account of how highly engaged youth on Character.AI’s Discord use AI for playful, emotional, and creative practices that push the platform limits; (2) a framework of three engagement intents — Restoration (emotional regulation), Exploration (creative experimentation), and Transformation (identity development); and (3) a taxonomy of seven youth created character archetypes. Together, these findings reveal how youth invent novel roles for AI, expose critical misalignments between youth use and current AI experiences, and provide frameworks for researchers and practitioners to design youth-centred AI futures. Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/35032 2026-03-25T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/35003 Flood depth maps used for training & testing in "Subgrid informed neural networks for high-resolution flood mapping" & "Flood-LDM: Generalizable latent diffusion models for rapid and accurate zero-shot high-resolution flood mapping" papers [Dataset] Herath Mudiyanselage, Viraj Vidura Herath; Marshall, Lucy; Saha, Abhishek; Rasnayaka, Sanka; Seneviratne, Sachith; Neo, Sun Han This dataset contains coarse-grid flood maps, fine-grid flood maps, and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) images with a spatial resolution of 512 × 512 pixels, which were used to train and evaluate deep learning models in the studies “Subgrid informed neural networks for high-resolution flood mapping” (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.133329) and “Flood-LDM: Generalizable Latent Diffusion Models for Rapid and Accurate Zero-Shot High-Resolution Flood Mapping” (https://openaccess.thecvf.com/content/WACV2026/html/Neo_Flood-LDM_Generalizable_Latent_Diffusion_Models_for_rapid_and_accurate_zero-shot_WACV_2026_paper.html). Flood simulations for both coarse and fine computational grids were generated using the HEC-RAS hydraulic modelling software developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers (https://www.hec.usace.army.mil/software/hec-ras/). Simulations were conducted for three Australian catchments: Wollombi, Burnett, and Chowilla. DEM datasets for the Wollombi and Burnett catchments were obtained from the ELVIS – Elevation and Depth – Foundation Spatial Data portal (https://elevation.fsdf.org.au/), while the DEM for the Chowilla floodplain was sourced from the dataset provided by Niels Fraehr (https://doi.org/10.26188/21235782). Rainfall and inflow forcing data used to drive the hydrodynamic simulations were obtained from the Bureau of Meteorology Water Data Online portal (http://www.bom.gov.au/waterdata/). The dataset includes paired coarse- and fine-resolution flood depth maps together with corresponding DEM inputs, enabling the development and benchmarking of machine learning models for rapid high-resolution flood mapping. Flood depth values are provided in centimetres (cm), while DEM elevations are given in metres (m). Due to file size limitations, the dataset is distributed in multiple parts. Further methodological details and guidance on dataset usage can be found in the associated publications. Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/35003 2026-03-19T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34975 Major Projects Collaboration Toolkit John Grill Institute for Project Leadership; Institute for Collaborative Working Australia The research is unambiguous - more collaborative organisations are better performing. Our Major Projects Collaboration Toolkit is the product of a year-long engagement with industry experts and a deep dive into the research on the factors that enable positive collaboration. Developed by the Major Projects Leadership Forum Collaboration Working Group alongside our colleagues at the Institute for Collaborative Working Australia, we are excited to publish this Toolkit to help project leaders embed collaborative behaviours within their projects and unleash the benefits. Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34975 2026-03-11T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34845 Supplementary Material for Power Dynamics and Community Participation in Climate Resilience Infrastructure: Examining Project Governance of the Leyte Tide Embankment Opdyke, Aaron; Lynn, Isabella; See, Justin; Cuaton, Ginbert Permejo; Peja, Pearly Joy These supplementary materials accompany the article "Power Dynamics and Community Participation in Climate Resilience Infrastructure: Examining Project Governance of the Leyte Tide Embankment". They contain the methodological instruments, including interview guides and surveys, in English and Waray-Wara, as well as the qualitative coding dictionary. Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34845 2026-02-12T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34631 Light Field Based 6DoF Tracking of Previously Unobserved Objects Goncharov, Nikolai; Gray, James Lyndon; Dansereau, Donald Gilbert Object tracking is an important step in robotics and autonomous driving pipelines, which has to generalize to previously unseen and complex objects. Existing high-performing methods often rely on pre-captured object views to build explicit reference models, which restricts them to a fixed set of known objects. However, such reference models can struggle with visually complex appearance, reducing the quality of tracking. In this work, we introduce an object tracking method based on light field images that does not depend on a pre-trained model, while being robust to complex visual behavior, such as reflections. We extract semantic and geometric features from light field inputs using vision foundation models and convert them into view-dependent Gaussian splats. These splats serve as a unified object representation supporting differentiable rendering and pose optimization. We further introduce a light field object tracking dataset containing challenging reflective objects with precise ground truth poses. Experiments demonstrate that our method is competitive with state-of-the-art model-based trackers in these difficult cases, paving the way toward universal object tracking in robotic systems. Each sequence contains the following directory structure: ├── camera_matrix.txt ├── camera_poses ├── depth ├── depth_video.gif ├── gdino_prompt.txt ├── LF_0000 ... ├── LF_XXXX ├── metadata.json ├── object_poses └── video.gif Each frame in the sequence has its own folder and the light field sub-aperture views are contained within. The depth maps are contained within the depth folder. The camera and object poses are contained within the camera_poses and object_poses directories respectively. Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34631 2025-12-16T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34549 Understandings of empathy held by Australian engineering leadership Scott-Curwood, Cole Empathy is emerging as a vital engineering skill in light of the growing complexity of engineering work and necessity of human-centred solutions. While there is emerging research on empathy in engineering, there is a lack of specific focus on Australian leaders in this field. Considering the criticality of this demographic to realising systemic change in engineering organisations and the profession, this thesis examines how Australian engineering leaders understand empathy. To achieve this, thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with seven Australian engineering leaders has been conducted. From this, it is clear that a collective uplift in empathetic skills within engineering is essential, particularly for engineering leaders. However, this necessity varies depending on an individual engineer’s work, which reflects their personal abilities, and is completely natural and acceptable. It is inherently empathetic to recognise and champion the diversity of skills in engineering. Developing empathy as an engineering skill requires holistic and nuanced integration into engineering education as well as whole-of-career development. Self-selecting engineers should be empowered to deepen their empathy skills and a baseline awareness requirement should be established for all graduates. These findings are significant as they challenge the all-or-nothing approach to people skills in engineering while reinforcing their criticality to the future of the profession. This thesis recommends that systemic change should be reflected through a tiered approach to empathy in Engineers Australia’s competency standards involving a Stage 1 awareness and a Stage 2 knowledge. This approach sidesteps the issue of congested undergraduate education programs to deliver a collective uplift in empathetic capability. Ultimately, this thesis provides rich insights from Australian engineering leaders in how empathy might be better integrated into engineering education and the profession. Wed, 26 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34549 2025-11-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34512 Prototyping and testing of an active modulating radiative system Kracic, Djordje; Haddad, Shamila; Khan, Hassan; Paolini, Riccardo; Santamouris, Mattheos; Ranzi, Gianluca Daytime radiative cooling (DRC) is a well-recognised passive cooling solution for future building envelopes to mitigate the intensity of urban overheating. Its superior cooling performance is based on two mechanisms that rely on a high reflection of incident light in the solar range to limit absorbance of solar heat and on a thermal emission of the absorbed heat in the atmospheric window to exploit the outer space as a heat sink. Unfortunately, this cooling technology has been recently shown in the literature to have the potential of compromising the outstanding cooling benefits exhibited in hot weather because of the undesired overcooling that it can produce under cold conditions and that may require additional heating in buildings. For this purpose, the ability for a building surface to switch between a DRC and a Solar Heater (SH) represents an attractive feature to mitigate, or even eliminate, the undesired overcooling while still aiming to minimise the cooling and heating demands of buildings. In this context, this paper presents the prototyping and testing of an active modulating radiative system that can operate as a DRC or SH depending on the weather conditions and building requirements. The system is based on a sandwich structure that encases a set of films with different optical properties. The active modulation between the two operational states of DCR and SR is performed through the actuation of temperature-controlled motors that modify the arrangements of the films to enable the desired performance to be deployed. The system is capable of accommodating different films because the design of the sandwich structure enables for an easy installation and replacement of the films. The sandwich structure provides the additional benefit of protecting the system from rain and wind. The paper also considers the performance of the proposed modulating system when compared to static cooling technologies. The proposed design is scalable and its programmable and responsive nature can support its applicability for a wide range of climatic conditions. Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34512 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34372 Minimizing and controlling hydrogen for highly efficient FAPbI3 perovskite Liang, Yuhang; Cui, Xiangyuan; Li, Feng; Stampfl, Catherine; Ringer, Simon Peter; Huang, Jun; Zheng, Rongkun Formamidinium lead triiodide (FAPbI3) currently holds the record conversion efficiency in the single-junction perovskite solar cell. Iodine management is known to be essential to suppress defect-induced nonradiative losses in FAPbI3 active layers. However, the origin of nonradiative losses and the underlying mechanism of suppressing such losses by iodine-concentration management remain unknown. Here, through first-principles simulation, we demonstrate that native point defects are not responsible for the nonradiative losses in FAPbI3. Instead, hydrogen ions, which can be abundant under both iodine-rich and iodine-poor conditions in FAPbI3, act as efficient nonradiative recombination centers and are proposed to be responsible for the suppressed power conversion efficiency. Moreover, iodine-moderate synthesis conditions can favor the formation of electrically inactive molecular hydrogen, which can dramatically suppress the detrimental hydrogen ions. This work identifies the dominant nonradiative recombination centers in the widely used FAPbI3 layers and rationalizes how the prevailing iodine management reduces the nonradiative losses. Minimizing the unintentional hydrogen incorporation in the perovskite is critical for achieving high device performance. Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34372 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34371 Atomic and molecular hydrogen in hybrid perovskite solar cells Liang, Yuhang; Cui, Xiangyuan; Stampfl, Catherine; Ringer, Simon Peter; Zheng, Rongkun Hydrogen interstitials are expected to be important in organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites; however, the characteristics and behaviors of hydrogen in perovskites remain poorly understood. Here, on the basis of density functional theory calculations, we quantitatively reported that both atomic and molecular hydrogen interstitials can form in hybrid MAPbI3 and MASnI3 perovskites. Whereas molecular hydrogen interstitial, H2, is chemically inert, atomic hydrogen interstitial, Hi, serves as an electrically active negative-U defect. We identify high-density Hi+ as a significant origin of ionic conductivity in p-type MAPbI3 under the hydrogen-rich conditions, with the calculated activation energy being comparable to that measured in experiments. The highly diffusive Hi+ ions are expected to impact hysteresis, charge separation, device polarization, and photogenerated field-screening effect and consequently degrade the solar cell performance. We evaluated approaches for mitigating such detrimental effects and suggested that synthesizing the perovskites with slightly extra iodine addition or tin alloying can effectively suppress the concentration of Hi+. Our results are important to understand the fundamental aspects of hydrogen in perovskites in general and offer valuable insight for further improving the performance of perovskite solar cells and other optoelectronic devices via defect engineering. Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34371 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34368 Origin of enhanced nonradiative carrier recombination induced by oxygen in hybrid Sn perovskite Liang, Yuhang; Cui, Xiangyuan; Li, Feng; Stampfl, Catherine; Ringer, Simon Peter; Yang, Xudong; Rongkun, Zheng Oxygen ingression has been shown to substantially decrease the carrier lifetime of Sn-based perovskites, behind which the mechanism remains yet unknown. Our first-principles calculations reveal that in prototypical MASnI3 (MA = CH3NH3), oxygen by itself is not a recombination center. Instead, it tends to form substitutional OI through combining with native I vacancies (VI) and remarkably increases the original recombination rate of VI by 2–3 orders of magnitude. This rationalizes the experimentally observed sharp decline of carrier lifetime in perovskites exposed to air. The significantly enhanced carrier recombination is due to a smaller electron capture barrier of OI, resulting from lattice strengthening and the suppressed structural relaxation upon electron capture. These insights offer a route to further improve device performance via anion engineering in broad Sn-based perovskite optoelectronics operating in ambient air. Moreover, our results highlight the important role of lattice relaxation for nonradiative carrier capture in materials in general. Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34368 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34364 Interstitial hydrogen anions: a cause of p-type conductivity in CsSnI3 Liang, Yuhang; Cui, Xiangyuan; Li, Feng; Stampfl, Catherine; Ringer, Simon Peter; Huang, Jun; Zheng, Rongkun The all-inorganic tin halide perovskite CsSnI3, currently under intensive investigation for photovoltaics and other optoelectronics, characteristically exhibits strong p-type conductivity and consequently poor power conversion efficiency regardless of growth and processing conditions. This has been traditionally attributed to the prevalence of native acceptor defects; however, such a mechanism falls short of explaining the observed high hole concentration under Sn-rich growth conditions in experiments. Here, by using first-principles calculations, we reveal that hydrogen impurities, existing as hydrogen anions, are an important cause for the high p-type character in CsSnI3. Hydrogen anions can be present with high densities and act as shallow acceptors, significantly enhancing the background hole concentrations, even under excess Sn treatment. Careful control and utilization of hydrogen anions are important for improving the performance of CsSnI3-based optoelectronic devices. Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34364 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34362 Trapped-Hydrogen-Induced Energy Loss in Tin-Based Hybrid Perovskite Solar Cells Liang, Yuhang; Cui, Xiangyuan; Li, Feng; Stampfl, Catherine; Ringer, Simon Peter; Huang, Jun; Zheng, Rongkun The hitherto subdued power conversion efficiencies of Sn-based hybrid perovskite solar cells are generally attributed to severe nonradiative recombination; however, the responsible deep-level defects are still unclear. Here, we report an important nonradiative energy loss mechanism in the prototypical FASn⁢I3 [FA = HC⁢(NH2)2, formamidinium]. High-density tin vacancies (𝑉Sn) can effectively capture hydrogen to form 𝑉Sn −H2 complexes that act as highly detrimental nonradiative recombination centers. We quantitatively show that they can give rise to strong carrier recombination and thus energy loss due to a high nonradiative recombination rate constant. These key findings identify a hidden yet critical origin for the low performance of FASn⁢I3-based devices and highlight the significance of controlling the hydrogen environment in the development of broad high-efficiency nontoxic halide perovskite device applications. Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34362 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34360 Hydrogen-anion-induced carrier recombination in MAPbI3 perovskite solar cells Liang, Yuhang; Cui, Xiangyuan; Li, Feng; Stampfl, Catherine; Huang, Jun; Ringer, Simon Peter; Zheng, Rongkun Identification and passivation of defect-induced electron-hole recombination centers are currently crucial for improving the efficiency of hybrid perovskite solar cells. Besides general intrinsic defects, experimental reports have indicated that hydrogen interstitials are also abundant in hybrid perovskite layers; however, few reports have evaluated the effect of such defects on the charged recombination and device efficiencies. Here, we reveal that under 𝐼-poor synthesis conditions, the negatively charged monoatomic hydrogen interstitial, H_i-, will form in the prototypical CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite layer, acting as a detrimental deep-level defect, which leads to efficient electron-hole recombination and lowers the cell performance. We further rationalize that Br doping can mitigate the large atomic displacement caused by the presence of H_i-, and hence suppress the formation of the deep localized state. The results advance the knowledge of the deep-level defects in hybrid perovskites and provide useful information for enhancing solar cell performance by defect engineering. Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34360 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34338 Twenty years of PMI’s Pulse of the Profession (2006–2025): A review Zhangguan, Waner This review examines two decades of the Project Management Institute’s Pulse of the Profession series (2006–2025), the flagship global survey of project, program, and portfolio management. Forty reports were analysed, comprising 14 annual global editions, 23 thematic studies, and three practitioner-focused outputs. The findings show that Pulse has served both as an industry barometer and as an advocacy instrument. While the central message across all editions is consistent, poor project management wastes resources, the framing of this message has shifted over time: from cost-and-control narratives to capability-driven emphases on agility, digital fluency, power skills, and business acumen. Using text mining (Voyant Tools) and qualitative coding (ATLAS.ti), the study identifies five clusters of project management approaches, governance, process, adaptive, people-centred, and purpose-driven, and traces how PMI’s discourse has repositioned project management as a strategic, human-centred discipline with societal impact. The analysis underscores the value of Pulse as a directional indicator of industry priorities, while also highlighting its limitations as empirical evidence due to shifting metrics, selective transparency, and advocacy framing. For scholarship, this review offers the first comprehensive synthesis of the Pulse series. For practice, it reinforces the importance of governance, agility, and people skills in sustaining performance. For doctoral research, it provides both a typology and a conceptual scaffold for examining how project management approaches contribute to the sustainability and scalability of public health programs. Fri, 26 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34338 2025-09-26T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34101 Exploring the Intersection of Public Health and Project Management: Insights, Trends, Gaps, and Future Directions—A Narrative Review of Leading Project Management Journals Zhangguan, Waner As public health initiatives increasingly adopt project-based structures to address complex societal challenges, there remains limited understanding of how project management practices are applied within this domain. This narrative literature review explores how public health has been represented and managed in the project management research field by analyzing 11 peer-reviewed studies from three leading project management journals: International Journal of Project Management, Project Management Journal, and International Journal of Managing Projects in Business. Drawing on SANRA guidelines to ensure methodological rigor, the review identifies key themes across selected studies, including stakeholder engagement, systems integration, and context-specific adaptation. Findings reveal that while project management approaches—such as change management, iterative planning, and action research—are increasingly used in health-related contexts, they often lack alignment with public health theory, long-term sustainability strategies, and sociopolitical considerations. The review highlights substantial gaps, including the minimal involvement of public health professionals, limited use of interdisciplinary frameworks, and insufficient evaluation of scalability and sustainability outcomes. By mapping current trends, exposing conceptual and methodological shortcomings, and outlining directions for future research, this review provides a foundation for strengthening the integration of project management practices in advancing sustainable and scalable public health interventions. Mon, 14 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34101 2025-07-14T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34015 Thermal cycling resets the irreversible liquid-to-solid transition of peptide condensates during aging Anwar, Abel; Li, Tianchen; Shen, Yi The ability of biomolecular condensates to reversibly dissolve and reform is crucial for maintaining cellular stability and functions. In the context of cell physiology and disease, they can serve as a metastable phase mediating the liquid-to-solid transition of disease proteins or rapidly assemble/disassemble as a mechanism for stress response. However, as metabolic rates decline with aging, the protein-rich condensates persist longer therefore increasing the propensity of undergoing irreversible liquid-to-solid transitions. Temperature, as a physical stimulus, plays a key role in controlling condensate formation, dissolution, and material properties. In this study, we explore how the reversibility of short peptide biomolecular condensates (z-FF) can be modulated by temperature change. Our findings reveal that aged condensates exhibit reduced responsiveness to external temperature stimuli. By using thermal cycling experiments to simulate repeated heat stress, we found that the time taken for irreversible fiber formation could be delayed up to 4.7-fold compared to condensates without thermal cycles. We also found the dissolution rate of condensates progressively slows as they age but remain more stable with thermal cycles. Importantly, our results indicate that continuous cycles of liquid-liquid phase separation and dissolution act as a reset mechanism, preserving the biomolecular condensates from further liquid-to-solid transition. These findings provide valuable insights into how aging impacts condensate behavior and highlight potential strategies to preserve cellular function through controlled phase transitions. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/34015 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33938 Event-based Satellite Docking Le Gentil, Cedric; Naylor, Jack; Munasinghe, Nuwan; Mehami, Jasprabhijit; Dai, Benny; Asavkin, Mikhail; Dansereau, Donald G.; Vidal-Calleja, Teresa Dataset to accompany Le Gentil et al. "Mixing Data-driven and Geometric Models for Satellite Docking Port State Estimation using an RGB or Event Camera", IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) 2025. In-orbit automated servicing is a promising path towards lowering the cost of satellite operations and reducing the amount of orbital debris. For this purpose, we present a pipeline for automated satellite docking port detection and state estimation using monocular vision data from standard RGB sensing or an event camera. Rather than taking snapshots of the environment, an event camera has independent pixels that asynchronously respond to light changes, offering advantages such as high dynamic range, low power consumption and latency, etc. This work focuses on satellite-agnostic operations (only a geometric knowledge of the actual port is required) using the recently released Lockheed Martin Mission Augmentation Port (LM-MAP) as the target. By leveraging shallow data-driven techniques to preprocess the incoming data to highlight the LM-MAP's reflective navigational aids and then using basic geometric models for state estimation, we present a lightweight and data-efficient pipeline that can be used independently with either RGB or event cameras. We demonstrate the soundness of the pipeline and perform a quantitative comparison of the two modalities based on data collected with a photometrically accurate test bench that includes a robotic arm to simulate the target satellite's uncontrolled motion. Tue, 27 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33938 2025-05-27T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33920 Visualizing active species in CO2 electroreduction Yang, Yu; Shi, Yaohui; Li, Fengwang Understanding the evolution of Cu-based catalysts during electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECR) remains challenging. The study by Lim et al. in Joule devises an operando scanning transmission X-ray microscopy to investigate the dynamic phase transformations of Cu catalysts and reveals that Cu2+ species play a crucial role in enhancing C–C coupling. The findings inform the authors of an approach to dynamically redirect the oxidation state of Cu, achieving, as a result, higher selectivity and efficiency for ECR catalysis. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33920 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33844 Rapid Analysis: Character AI & Children Blake, Annabel; Carter, Marcus; Velloso, Eduardo This rapid analysis examines Character AI, a multimodal chatbot platform that has rapidly grown to over 20 million monthly active users, many of whom are under 18. Unlike productivity-focused AI tools, Character AI frames itself as an "AI entertainment company," offering user-generated characters for a range of purposes: from creative assistants, to games, to emotional support characters, to fantasy role-playing and more. Our audit highlights the platform’s unique dynamics: weak age verification, evolving youth-driven use cases that are signals for innovation (i.e. roleplay and 'comfort bots'), and platform risks. While Character AI enables creative and expressive play, it also presents new regulatory challenges. We identify critical gaps in youth protections, explore opportunities for youth-centered co-design, and propose action starters for policymakers seeking to balance innovation with safety in this new digital landscape. Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33844 2025-04-29T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33749 When is it convenient to split public transport lines? Gomez, Valentina; Jara-Diaz, Sergio; Fielbaum, Andres To serve a public transport demand on a corridor, it is possible to have just one line serving all of it, or two of them each serving one segment - which we refer to as one divided line. In this paper, we investigate theoretically under which conditions a divided line is better than a single line, minimizing the sum of users’ and operators’ costs. Both solutions are often encountered in real-life networks, with the division typically occurring on CBDs or subcenters. Understanding which is the optimal alternative is particularly relevant in the context of public transport network design, where most heuristics do not consider splitting lines as a potential step to improve their solutions. We formulate the problem in a generalized linear city, and optimize the frequency and vehicle size of each of the lines involved, to then compare the resulting costs of the full line versus the line divided at a given node. We prove that there are three conditions that favor the partition of a line, namely i) inducing few transfers, ii) a large difference in the maximum flows between the two segments, and iii) the segment with the lowest maximum flow being long. These conditions are synthesized into a divisibility index that can be calculated for each node, which is used to propose two algorithms to rapidly find where to split the line if convenient. The approach is tested numerically in a linear version of the Parametric City Model, where we compare the optimal set of lines with the ones resulting after dividing the full line following our algorithms with very good results. Fri, 28 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33749 2025-03-28T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33747 Supplementary data for "Vortices and antivortices in antiferroelectric PbZrO3" Liu, Ying TEM data for "Vortices and antivortices in antiferroelectric PbZrO3" Thu, 27 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33747 2025-03-27T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33661 Probabilistic Models for Australian Structural Loads Zhang, Hao Probabilistic models for (annual) extreme Australian wind action, imposed action, earthquake action, and permanent action are presented. The first and second order statistics for each of the actions are analysed in accordance with Australian loading standard AS1170. The load models can be used by engineers and material standard groups for evaluating structural reliability. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33661 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33643 The effect of rotation speed and flow rate on evacuation of particles from a spinning dry powder inhaler capsule Azeem, A; Singh, G; Chan, H-K; Yang, R; Cheng, S; Kourmatzis, A This study investigated a capsule’s powder evacuation behaviour when rotating about its minor axis in a cross flow and considering the effects of rotation speed and flow rate on powder emission. The experimental platform, an optically accessible capsule chamber, was designed to uncover the independent effects of these variables by enabling high-speed imaging of the powder evacuation. The capsules were rotated at three speeds (1500, 2500 and 3650 RPM) and two constant flow rates, 30 SLPM and 60 SLPM (inlet velocity: 16.67 m/s and 33.33 m/s, respectively). Two powders were selected: a lactose carrier, Respitose (SV010, D50 = 104 μm) and Mannitol (D50 = 7 μm), the latter representing pure active pharmaceutical ingredient formulations that form agglomerates. In addition to imaging, the capsule was weighed before and after each device actuation to quantify powder emission. Increasing the flow rate was found to have the largest impact on the mass emitted from the capsule at all rotation speeds. The emitted mass for all cases was highly variable and influenced by the cohesiveness of the powder and subsequent blockage of the capsule aperture. The potential for blockage was more pronounced for mannitol at the high rotation speeds. Emitted dose over time was modelled using a natural logarithm function to describe the rate of emptying and demonstrate the advantage of increased flow rate and favourability of low/- moderate rotation speeds. The study of powder size distribution during evacuation found no significant difference between flow conditions for mannitol, as dispersion was dominated by shearing at the capsule aperture. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33643 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33590 How to Be a Uni Tutor Elmasry, Jacob How to Be a Uni Tutor by Jacob Elmasry goes through over 20 ideas and considerations that Good University tutors think about when tutoring their subjects. These topics range from the motivations of why tutors teach, to the practicalities of preparing for tutorials and even to the question of how responsible a tutor is for the marks of their students! The book lays out some of the reasoning and practices behind the Author’s own tutoring approaches, but also invites the reader to think critically about what is being suggested and to make their own informed decisions on their personal teaching style. The author frequently draws on his own experience tutoring 25 different tutorial classes for 10 unique courses over a 4-year period to illustrate the points he makes throughout the book. The author has also been Highly Commended by the University of Sydney for Outstanding Tutoring during this time period, an achievement that he received due to his passionate teaching and his desire to share his learnings with others. Thu, 06 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33590 2025-02-06T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33550 Data from: Differences in government support for private sector climate change adaptation in developing versus developed countries Bartelet, Henry A. This data publications contains the dataset used in the journal manuscript tentatively titled as "Differences in government support for private sector climate change adaptation in developing versus developed countries". Fri, 24 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33550 2025-01-24T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33547 Ecological networks among key target fish species in Kenya (2015-2022). Barnes, Michele L.; Graham, Nicholas A. J.; McClanahan, Tim; Matous, Petr; Bartelet, Henry A. Trophic interactions (i.e., predator-prey relationships) among target fish species comprising the majority of catch by all fishing gears employed along the Kenyan coast. Fri, 24 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33547 2025-01-24T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33521 A Web of Nets: How Everything is a Network Levinson, David Matthew; Sarkar, Somwrita A Web of Nets, edited by David M. Levinson and Somwrita Sarkar explores the profound influence and universal relevance of networks, from physical systems to abstract constructs, connecting diverse fields and phenomena. Whether natural or man-made, these interconnected systems shape our understanding of science, technology, and culture. Structured into comprehensive sections, the book navigates through network principles, theories, and applications: Principles and Theory: Understand the foundational aspects of network science, including graph theory, topology, and network formation. Key concepts such as accessibility, resilience, and scaling reveal the hidden patterns underlying complex systems. Applications Across Domains: Biological Systems: Explore the networks within cells, organs, and ecosystems, revealing their interconnectedness and impact on life processes. Physical Systems: Delve into the cosmic web, chemical reactions, and transport systems, where networks determine flows, capacities, and dynamics. Technological Innovations: Learn about advancements in computing, communication, and infrastructure, illustrating how networks enable modern life. Social and Cultural Networks: Unpack the structure of social interactions, cultural exchanges, and economic markets, showing how they shape societies. Analysis and Evolution: Examine methods to analyze connectivity, centrality, and flow within networks, and understand their evolution over time. Techniques like PageRank, space syntax, and feedback loops provide powerful tools to decode network behavior. Emergent Phenomena: Discover how networks give rise to self-organization, emergent behaviors, and innovation. Case studies range from neural circuits and the brain's connectome to the assembly line and supply chains. Blending theoretical insights with practical applications, A Web of Nets is both a comprehensive reference and a thought-provoking exploration. It bridges disciplines, fostering a deeper appreciation of the patterns connecting the natural, physical, and human worlds. Engage with this captivating analysis to unlock a greater understanding of the networks shaping our universe. Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33521 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33475 Automatic left ventricular cavity segmentation via deep spatial sequential network in 4D computed tomography Guo, Yuyu; Bi, Lei; Zhu, Zhengbin; Feng, Dagan David; Zhang, Ruiyan; Wang, Qian; Kim, Jinman Automated segmentation of left ventricular cavity (LVC) in temporal cardiac image sequences (consisting of multiple time-points) is a fundamental requirement for quantitative analysis of cardiac structural and functional changes. Deep learning methods for segmentation are the state-of-the-art in performance; however, these methods are generally formulated to work on a single time-point, and thus disregard the complementary information available from the temporal image sequences that can aid in segmentation accuracy and consistency across the time-points. In particular, single time-point segmentation methods perform poorly in segmenting the end-systole (ES) phase image in the cardiac sequence, where the left ventricle deforms to the smallest irregular shape, and the boundary between the blood chamber and the myocardium becomes inconspicuous and ambiguous. To overcome these limitations in automatically segmenting temporal LVCs, we present a spatial sequential network (SS-Net) to learn the deformation and motion characteristics of the LVCs in an unsupervised manner; these characteristics are then integrated with sequential context information derived from bi-directional learning (BL) where both chronological and reverse-chronological directions of the image sequence are used. Our experimental results on a cardiac computed tomography (CT) dataset demonstrate that our spatial-sequential network with bi-directional learning (SS-BL-Net) outperforms existing methods for spatiotemporal LVC segmentation. Fri, 01 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33475 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33276 The vertical-velocity skewness in the atmospheric boundary layer without buoyancy and Coriolis effects Katul, Gabriel; Heisel, Michael; Poggi, Davide; Peruzzi, Cosimo; Vettori, Davide; Manes, Costantino One of the main features of near-neutral atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) turbulence is the positive vertical velocity skewness Sk_w above the roughness sublayer or the buffer region in smooth-walls. The Sk_w variations are receiving renewed interest in many climate-related parameterizations of the ABL given their significance to cloud formation and to testing sub-grid schemes for Large Eddy Simulations (LES). The vertical variations of Sk_w are explored here using wind tunnel and flume experiments collected above smooth, rough, and permeable-walls in the absence of buoyancy and Coriolis effects. These laboratory experiments form a necessary starting point to probe the canonical structure of Sk_w as they deal with a key limiting case (i.e. near-neutral conditions). Diagnostic models based on cumulant expansions, realizability constraints, and constant mass flux approach routinely employed in the convective boundary layer as well as prognostic models based on third-order budgets are used to explain variations in Sk for the idealized laboratory conditions. The failure of flux-gradient relations to model Sk_w from the gradients of the vertical velocity variance \sigma_w^2 are explained and corrections based on models of energy transport offered. Novel links between the diagnostic and prognostic models are also featured, especially for the inertial term in the third order budget of the vertical velocity fluctuation. The co-spectral properties of w′/\sigma_w versus w′^2/\sigma_w^2 are also presented for the first time to assess the dominant scales governing Sk_w in the inner and outer layers, where w′ is the fluctuating vertical velocity and \sigma_w is the vertical velocity standard deviation. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33276 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33123 Assessing Delivery Confidence of Digital Projects: Guidance for Independent Assurers Pollack, Julien; Smith, Natalie; Hong, Wei-Ting The primary purpose of this document is to help improve the consistency and understanding of Delivery Confidence Assessment (DCA) ratings for digital projects in Government. Specifically, this publication is intended to: - address the unique challenges and issues faced by digital projects - outline inputs and focus areas that assurance reviewers could use to determine DCA ratings - provide general tolerance levels for each rating category - uplift capability and understanding of DCA ratings for the people who use them, including Senior Responsible Owners (SROs) and steering committees This document was funded and co-designed with the Digital Transformation Agency, Australian Government. Tue, 01 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33123 2024-10-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32751.2 Uncertain Waters: A Game of Collective Cooperation and Climate Change Opdyke, Aaron; Latham, Zoe; Barrett-Lennard, Grace This cooperative tabletop game immerses players in the complexities of managing flood risk under climate change. Players collaborate to implement adaptation strategies to protect community assets from flood impacts. Through dynamic gameplay and real-world decision-making scenarios, players must plan for evolving uncertainty and carefully allocate their resources to build a flood-resilient community. The game is suitable for 4-7 players and for ages 10+. The game is suitable for a range of applications and audiences, from use as a teaching tool for students to facilitating conversations between governments and communities. Fri, 05 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32751.2 2024-07-05T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33051 SydneyScapes: Image Segmentation for Australian Environments Berrio Perez, Julie Stephany; Shan, Mao; Worrall, Stewart; Lyu, Hongyu Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) are being partially deployed and tested across various global locations, including China, the USA, Germany, France, Japan, Korea, and the UK, but with limited demonstrations in Australia. The integration of machine learning (ML) into AV perception systems underscores the need for locally labeled datasets to develop and test algorithms in specific environments. To address this, we introduce SydneyScapes—a dataset tailored for computer vision tasks of image semantic, instance, and panoptic segmentation. This dataset, collected from Sydney and surrounding cities in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, consists of 756 images with high-quality pixel-level annotations. It is designed to assist AV industry and researchers by providing annotated data and tools for algorithm development, testing, and deployment in the Australian context. Additionally, we offer benchmarking results using state-of-the-art algorithms to establish reference points for future research and development. Thu, 05 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33051 2024-09-05T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33039 High-Resolution Elevation Model and Orthomosaic of the Municipality of Carigara, Leyte, Philippines Opdyke, Aaron; Besarra, Isaac This dataset provides detailed topographical and visual information for coastal communities of the Municipality of Carigara, in the Province of Leyte in the Philippines. The data was collected through an aerial drone survey in July 2022. The package includes an orthomosaic, digital surface model (DSM), and digital terrain model (DTM). This dataset has applications for disaster risk reduction, coastal management, and land use planning in the Carigara coastal region. Tue, 03 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33039 2024-09-03T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33034 USyd Cassowary Dataset Shan, Mao; Li, Kunming; Worrall, Stewart This is a sample dataset collected in the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) project "Development and Performance Testing of a LAARMA---Large Animal Activated Roadside Monitoring and Alert System" in 2024. Fri, 30 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/33034 2024-08-30T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32983 On the departure from Monin–Obukhov surface similarity and transition to the convective mixed layer Heisel, Michael; Chamecki, Marcelo Large-eddy simulations are used to evaluate mean profile similarity in the convective boundary layer (CBL). Particular care is taken regarding the grid sensitivity of the profiles and the mitigation of inertial oscillations in the simulation spin-up. The nondimensional gradients \phi for wind speed and air temperature generally align with Monin–Obukhov similarity across cases but have a steeper slope than predicted within each profile. The same trend has been noted in several other recent studies. The Businger-Dyer relations are modified here with an exponential cutoff term to account for the decay in to first-order approximation, yielding improved similarity from approximately 0.05z_i to above 0.3 z_i, where z_i is the CBL depth. The necessity for the exponential correction is attributed to an extended transition from surface scaling to zero gradient in the mixed layer, where the departure from Monin–Obukhov similarity may be negligible at the surface but becomes substantial well below the conventional surface layer height of 0.1z_i. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32983 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32982 Evidence of Mixed Scaling for Mean Profile Similarity in the Stable Atmospheric Surface Layer Heisel, Michael; Chamecki, Marcelo A new mixed scaling parameter Z = z/(Lh)^1/2 is proposed for similarity in the stable atmospheric surface layer, where z is the height, L is the Obukhov length, and h is the boundary layer depth. In comparison with the parameter z = z/L from Monin–Obukhov similarity theory (MOST), the new parameter Z leads to improved mean profile similarity for wind speed and air temperature in large-eddy simulations. It also yields the same linear similarity relation for CASES-99 field measurements, including in the strongly stable (but still turbulent) regime where large deviations from MOST are observed. Results further suggest that similarity for turbulent energy dissipation rate depends on both Z and z. The proposed mixed scaling of Z and relevance of h can be explained by physical arguments related to the limit of z-less stratification that is reached asymptotically above the surface layer. The presented evidence and fitted similarity relations are promising, but the results and arguments are limited to a small sample of idealized stationary stable boundary layers. Corroboration is needed from independent datasets and analyses, including for complex and transient conditions not tested here. Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32982 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32907 Sponsoring digitally-enabled transformation in Government: Lessons from sponsors of digitally-enabled transformations in NSW Government Smith, Natalie; Cuganesan, Suresh; Howard, Mark; Ho, Jessica Governments have never been asked to do so much - to deliver more, and better, for less. To meet this challenge, all governments must transform their services and their operations. Digital technologies, including AI, can help improve government services by delivering better services and making people's lives easier and more flexible. However, there are significant challenges: legacy systems, budget constraints, and large procurement exercises, protecting data, ensuring cybersecurity, and responsibly deploying AI while considering interoperable systems and delivering sustainable operating models. As an accountable program or project sponsor, you play a critical role in driving these improvements, navigating the challenges and mitigating the risks. Our role at Digital.NSW is to support you on this journey. That is why we commissioned this work with the John Grill Institute for Project Leadership. Our aim is to provide guidance to government executives like you, who are accountable for sponsorship of a digitally- enabled transformation. The report combines 1) practical advice from executives who have been sponsors, 2) learnings from the Digital Strategy, Investment and Assurance group who have oversight of all large digital- enabled investments in NSW Government, and 3) the latest research from our partner, the John Grill Institute for Project Leadership (University of Sydney). The frank insights and practical guidance this report provides might surprise you. The recommendations do not require advanced qualifications in digital technologies or seem particularly radical or complicated. Do not let this lull you into a false sense of security. What we have found is that to successfully sponsor digitally- enabled transformation requires a mindset shift from how we have previously implemented projects. These are not just 'IT projects'. They are a new way of delivering government services which require championing change and navigating the complex landscape of cross- agency coordination. We have found it requires collective leadership, not solo superheroes. As well as the steering committee meetings, it requires proactive engagement with vendors and the people impacted by the change. It is not a slavish adherence to process, but a role that requires judgement and discernment, to hold the course but adapting to ensure value is optimised and negative impact is minimised. The challenges can seem overwhelming, and we are all too familiar with what happens when digital projects fail. However, we can attest that when project sponsors get it right, the prize is incredibly satisfying, not just for them, but also for their consumers and clients and internal and external stakeholders. We hope this report empowers and excites you with the critical role sponsorship plays in delivering innovative solutions and improved service to our customers. Wed, 07 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32907 2024-08-07T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32842 Leveraging inter-organizational coordination networks for housing climate change adaptation across rural Alaska Taylor, Jessica; Poleacovschi, Cristina; Opdyke, Aaron; Certin, Kristen Climate change impacts on housing are an essential concern for Alaska Native communities. Adaptation literature has largely ignored the role of inter-organizational coordination networks in supporting housing adaptation. To address this gap, we surveyed 26 organizations and 36 participants from organizations working regionally in rural Alaska on housing service, construction, and engineering projects. We employ social network analysis (SNA), including Logistic Regression Quadratic Assignment Procedure (LRQAP), to explore the influence of network centrality on an organization’s ability to enact housing adaptation. Results indicate that when two organizations have similarities in their network centrality, or how connected an organization was in the network, the less likely they are to have similar, positive views in their ability to enact housing adaptation. With a limited capacity to prepare for climate change impacts and integrate adaptation into existing programs, it is important for organizations and governments to mobilize the entirety of inter-organizational coordination networks. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32842 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32790 Does safer housing save lives? An analysis of typhoon mortality and dwellings in the Philippines Healey, Sarah; Lloyd, Sophie; Gray, Jasmine; Opdyke, Aaron Storms globally account for the highest loss of life among weather-related natural hazards. This study examines the relationship between components of housing vulnerability and typhoon related mortality in the Philippines at a municipal level between 2005 and 2015 using a Hurdle Negative Binomial (HNB) model. We find that in municipalities with greater prevalence of extreme substandard housing, unimproved household water sources, crowdedness, lower housing density, and less secure tenure, people are more likely to die from typhoons when controlling for typhoon proximity and wind speed as well as coastal proximity. We recommend targeted investments in safer housing in municipalities of Region VIII, Region XI and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) where correlations between housing vulnerability and disaster mortality are the highest. This research provides new knowledge of the link between housing and mortality in disasters, offering one of the first national scale assessments to quantify the contributions of safer housing in reducing loss of life in disasters. Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32790 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32788 Social vulnerability to natural hazards in the Philippines Lloyd, Sophie; Gray, Jasmine; Healey, Sarah; Opdyke, Aaron This research sought to measure social vulnerability at the municipal level across the Philippines. Indicators of social vulnerability were identified from literature and relevant census data was collected from the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify underlying components of social vulnerability from this data, and these principal components, as well as an aggregated Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), were mapped at the municipal level. Negative Binomial (NB) regression analysis was then used to validate the SVI using typhoon mortality rates, with results indicating that a one standard deviation (SD) increase in social vulnerability is positively correlated with a 23.4% increase in observed typhoon-related fatalities. The development of a granular and validated SVI can guide researchers seeking to understand how localised vulnerability contributes to disaster risk in the Philippines and assist policymakers in prioritising local government units for disaster risk reduction interventions. Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32788 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32521 Promoting migration as adaptation to climate change: addressing mobility barriers Nabong, Emily; Opdyke, Aaron In the past decade, there has been growing pushback towards the idea of migration as a “failure to adapt” to climate change. Climate-related migration is increasingly viewed as an adaptation strategy rather than the consequence of failed in situ adaptation (McLeman and Smit 2006). As we move toward a more nuanced understanding of the interaction between climate change and migration, governments now need to work towards strategies to aid safe and supported mobility. In particular, we stress that the responsibility rests heavily with countries from the Global North who have contributed the most to carbon emissions, while the burden of adaptation has disproportionately fallen to low-emitting countries from the Global South. While we are gradually understanding the drivers that lead to migration, we know comparatively less about the factors that compel people to stay (Wiegel, Boas, and Warner 2019). Unpacking the puzzle of immobility factors is a vital but often neglected pathway to assisting climate-affected populations who are unable or unwilling to move. This viewpoint provides a commentary on top factors that keep climate-affected populations in place, detailing how they contribute to immobility as well as recommendations towards overcoming these barriers. Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32521 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32483 Access, the Built Environment, and Behavior Wu, Hao; Levinson, David Matthew Access is an essential component of the built environment that measures the ease of reaching desired destinations; the level of access is a combined result from both land use and transport infrastructure. Other facets of the built environment include density, street design, pedestrian and bike infrastructure, policy, etc. Individual travel behaviour is shaped in part by the built environment, which has implications for both the well-being of individuals, and the sustainability and vitality of a city. The built environment of a city is in a continuous state of change; developments in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and work-from-home (WFH) have the potential to redefine the meaning of the built environment, and access. This chapter discusses the evolving interaction between access, the built environment, and travel and activity patterns, and what these changes would mean for the future of transport. Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32483 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32449 Promoting electrocatalytic CO2 methanation using a molecular modifier on Cu surfaces Wang, Cheng; Kong, Xiangdong; Huang, Junming; Yang, Yu; Zheng, Han; Wang, Huijuan; Dai, Suiyang; Zhang, Shuzhen; Liang, Yongxiang; Geng, Zhigang; Li, Fengwang; Zeng, Jie The electroreduction of CO2 to methane using renewable energy is a promising approach to achieving carbon neutrality. At commercially relevant current densities (>200 mA cm−2), methane selectivity is however below 50%. Herein, we reported a benzenethiol-modified Cu nanoparticle catalyst that achieved a methane faradaic efficiency of 54.5% at a partial current density of 383 mA cm−2, 1.9-fold higher than that of Cu nanoparticle controls. In situ vibrational spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations showed that the benzenethiol modulated the electronic structure of the Cu surface to enable a lowered coverage of *CO, favouring the formation of *CHO, a key intermediate embarking on the CH4 pathway, over the competing carbon–carbon coupling, the pathway towards multicarbons. Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32449 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32448 In situ characterisation for nanoscale structure–performance studies in electrocatalysis Xia, Tianlai; Yang, Yu; Song, Qiang; Luo, Mingchuan; Xue, Mianqi; Ostrikov, Kostya (Ken); Zhao, Yong; Li, Fengwang Recently, electrocatalytic reactions involving oxygen, nitrogen, water, and carbon dioxide have been developed to substitute conventional chemical processes, with the aim of producing clean energy, fuels and chemicals. A deepened understanding of catalyst structures, active sites and reaction mechanisms plays a critical role in improving the performance of these reactions. To this end, in situ/operando characterisations can be used to visualise the dynamic evolution of nanoscale materials and reaction intermediates under electrolysis conditions, thus enhancing our understanding of heterogeneous electrocatalytic reactions. In this review, we summarise the state-of-the-art in situ characterisation techniques used in electrocatalysis. We categorise them into three sections based on different working principles: microscopy, spectroscopy, and other characterisation techniques. The capacities and limits of the in situ characterisation techniques are discussed in each section to highlight the present-day horizons and guide further advances in the field, primarily aiming at the users of these techniques. Finally, we look at challenges and possible strategies for further development of in situ techniques. Sun, 01 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32448 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32397 Gas permeability through swelling porous media: Insights from coarse-grained pore-scale simulations Wu, Jian; Gan, Yixiang; Huang, Pengyu; Shen, Luming Sorption-induced swelling can decrease porosity and permeability of the porous medium, affecting the long-term injectivity in rock matrix during CO2 geologic storage. This study employs an innovative coarse-grained model to integrate fluid flow with solid deformation at the pore-scale, exploring gas permeability within swelling nanoporous media. The nanoporous media are composed of spherical pores between 35.4 nm and 106.2 nm to represent pore networks embedded within organic matter. Gas transport is initiated by creating a pressure gradient between two gas reservoirs placed at the two sides of the nanoporous structure. The results indicate that solid swelling (~40%) can significantly decrease permeability (up to 100%). Gas permeability curves demonstrate a linear decline with the increasing gas-solid interaction energy in both swelling and non-swelling porous media, with solid swelling exerting a greater influence on permeability. Surprisingly, in the regime of weak gas-solid interactions, the porosity and permeability of flexible porous media increase, possibly caused by gas flow-induced pore throat opening. It is found that nanoporous media with lower initial porosity experience a greater permeability decline during swelling. The relationship between permeability and porosity changes shows a linear increase characterized by different slopes with varying initial porosities, whilst it is also impacted by pore size distributions. These findings provide valuable insights into the complex interactions among gas transport, solid deformation, and porosity changes in nanoporous media, with implications for understanding and optimizing gas production and storage in realistic geological environments. Thu, 21 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32397 2024-03-21T00:00:00Z https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32396 Optimization of random silica-polymethylpentene (TPX) radiative coolers towards substantial cooling capacity Feng, JIe; Gao, Kai; Jiang, Yue; Ulpiani, Giulia; Krajcic, Djordje; Paolini, Riccardo; Ranzi, Gianluca; Santamouris, Mattheos In the context of global warming, radiative coolers with high solar reflectance and strong emissivity in the atmospheric window can cool the substrate as well as the ambient air. Silica at its nano or micro-scale being randomly dispersed into a uniform transparent polymer can form scalable radiative coolers for large-scale application. Promising cooling performance has been reported for silica-polymers compared with conventional cooling materials, but their performance can be largely influenced by various fabrication parameters. So far, how fabrication parameters influence the emissivity and the cooling performance has not been experimentally demonstrated and the cooling capacity of silica-polymers reported was not substantial compared to other superior radiative coolers. In this work, random silica-polymer has been optimized experimentally. Lab measurement and experimental testing of six fabricated silica-polymers under subtropical and desert climates indicated that due to the complexity of the thermo-radiative balance, high emissivity and strong selectivity are both indispensable in the production of high cooling power. If combined with superior reflectors with higher solar reflectance and especially the emissivity in 8–13 μm enhancing the heat dissipation ability, substantial cooling capacity can be achieved: under the harsh desert climate with average peak solar radiation over 1100 Wm-2, the combination presented sub-ambient temperature of maximum 4.7 ◦C when air temperature reached its peak and the maximum daytime and night-time sub-ambient temperatures were 12.5 ◦C and 15.9 ◦C respectively. Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT https://hdl.handle.net/2123/32396 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z