University of Queensland

Given the increasing societal emphasis on corporate social responsibility, a critical strategic decision facing retailers is whether to introduce green products when distributing the manufacturer's non-green ones. To address this issue, this paper mainly considers two scenarios: the regular or green-supportive manufacturer. Furthermore, we develop four mathematical models to determine the retailer's green item introduction decisions. The research findings indicate that the manufacturer's corporate social responsibility would significantly impact both firms' pricing decisions and may change market distribution. Additionally, the retailer introducing green items will reduce the wholesale/retail prices of non-green items but may foster an augmentation in overall demand. It is noteworthy that the retailer introducing green items does not necessarily cannibalize the sales of non-green items; instead, it may even enhance their sales. Significantly, this strategy can benefit the green-supportive manufacturer if the greening cost is relatively low. These implications underscore that incentivizing manufacturers to care more about environmentally conscious consumers can serve as a viable strategy for promoting sustainable development initiatives.

Cyber-physical infrastructure faces threats from evasive false data injection attacks that can significantly impact their security and performance. Adversarial attacks are a popular evasive false data injection threat model that generally targets AI/ML models employed in cyber-physical systems. However, AI/ML models are often not necessary to carry out several key functions of critical cyber-physical systems. In this study, we explore the potential for designing effective adversarial attacks targeting critical functions within cyber-physical infrastructure, that do not rely on AI systems, while retaining their adversarial nature against related black-box AI and non-AI functionalities. Specifically, we introduce an evasive deep black box adversarial attack (DeeBBAA) designed to disrupt the nonlinear state estimation process of an unidentified power network. The attack is engineered to operate under practical constraints, without prior knowledge of the network’s topology, and by targeting fewer than twenty-five percent of the network’s measurements during data collection (or eavesdropping) and the subsequent online attack injection phases. The study demonstrates that even within these restrictive parameters, DeeBBAA exhibits significant evasiveness against a broad spectrum of conventional, statistical, and machine learning-based cyberattack detection techniques, resulting in substantial deviations in the estimated network states.

BACKGROUND To overcome the deficiency of pure starch in film‐forming performance, ionic liquids (ILs) have been introduced when preparing a homogeneous blend of starch and fiber. It is essential to select the appropriate ratio of starch to fiber and evaluate the film‐forming property of the resulted composites. In the present study, 1‐ethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium chloride ([EMIM]Cl) was used to prepare composites of soybean fiber (SF) and corn starch (CS) at various ratios. The gelatinization properties, water holding capacity, expansibility and film‐forming properties of CS‐SF composites were measured. RESULTS The results showed that the composites had good water holding capacity and expansibility. They easily dissolved in water to form a low‐viscosity solution, which contributed to improve their film‐forming performance. Furthermore, the addition of SF improved the mechanical and barrier properties of the film, and composites with higher SF content exhibited excellent film pliability that remained flexibility even after 30 days of storage. CONCLUSION The findings demonstrate that the ratio of corn starch to soybean fiber will affect the film‐forming properties of the composites formed in [EMIM]Cl. The CS‐SF composite film with a CS to SF ratio of 1:1 exhibited the best overall performance. The performance improvement of these CS‐SF composite films may be attributed to the molecular entanglement or intermolecular interaction between starch and fiber. These findings provide valuable information for the development of degradable starch‐fiber composite films. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Aim To compare the device‐measured physical activity behaviours of preschool children with typical motor development to those with probable developmental coordination disorder (pDCD) and at risk for developmental coordination disorder (DCDr). Method A total of 497 preschool children (4–5 years) in the Coordination and Activity Tracking in CHildren (CATCH) study completed repeated motor assessments and wore an ActiGraph GT3X on the right hip at baseline for 1 week. We calculated physical activity metrics from raw accelerometer data using a validated random forest classification machine learning model for preschool‐age children. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and linear regression models compared physical activity between typically developing children, children at risk for DCDr, and those with pDCD identified based on motor scores at baseline and averaged over time, accounting for age, sex, and accelerometer wear time. Results We found no differences in daily time spent sedentary, in light physical activity, or moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity between typically developing children, children at risk for DCDr, and those with pDCD. However, children in the DCD groups spent less time doing ambulatory activities (walking/running) than typically developing children. Analysis of variance: baseline classification, DCDr to typically developing, run: F = 5.34, p = 0.005, classification averaged over time, DCDr to typically developing, walk: F = 5.82, p = 0.003. Regressions: DCDr compared to typically developing for walk: B = −3.47 (standard error 1.05), p < 0.001, pDCD compared to typically developing for run: B = −1.82 (standard error 0.62), p = 0.004. Interpretation Designing interventions for preschool children with motor difficulties targeting specific physical activity types (walk/run) may help mitigate physical activity intensity differences observed later in childhood.

Background Acute application of adjunctive negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) significantly improves time to re-epithelialization in pediatric burn patients. This adjunctive treatment has not yet been broadly or routinely adopted as a standard primary burns dressing strategy. The Implementation of Negative PRessurE for acute Pediatric burns (INPREP) trial will implement and evaluate the impact of adjunctive NPWT in parallel with co-designed implementation strategies and resources across four major pediatric hospitals. Methods We will conduct a multi-center, prospective, stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial to implement adjunctive NPWT for acute pediatric burns. Participants will include pediatric burn patients presenting to one of four Australian tertiary pediatric hospitals for burn treatment. The intervention is adjunctive NPWT in parallel with co-designed and tailored implementation strategies and a suite of NPWT implementation resources, which form the INPREP toolkit. Using a hybrid type III design, this trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness of NPWT implementation in parallel with the INPREP toolkit using (i) implementation outcomes (e.g., adoption, appropriateness, acceptability, feasibility, and sustainability) and (ii) clinical outcomes (e.g., days to re-epithelialization, scar management requirements, skin grafting requirements). The primary outcome of this trial is treatment adoption–the proportion of eligible patients who receive NPWT. Discussion This manuscript outlines a protocol for a hybrid type III stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial of adjunctive NPWT implementation in acute pediatric burn care. We anticipate that NPWT implementation in parallel with the INPREP toolkit will be generalizable to emergency departments and burn services across Australia, and evidence generated will inform pediatric burn care internationally. Trial registration Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12622000166774. Registered 1 February 2022.

Totally implantable venous access devices (TIVADs) are frequently used in people with cystic fibrosis as a means of securing consistent vascular access, particularly in the context of severe disease and microbial colonization. Infection of TIVADs is not uncommon and typically associated with coagulase negative staphylococci, though infection with other organisms does occur too. We report on the first case of a TIVAD infection caused by Achromobacter xylosoxidans in person with cystic fibrosis. The TIVAD infection was complicated by a bacteraemia and an associated intracardiac infected thrombus at the superior atriocaval junction. We explore the complex management decisions surrounding the removal of the TIVAD and prolonged antibiotic treatment, with treatment ultimately resulting in a good outcome and full recovery. The case helps to serve as a timely reminder of requirement to review the necessity to retain TIVAD in the era of CFTR modulator therapy and associated improved health outcomes being experienced.

Tourism has a critical role to play in global carbon emissions pathway. This study estimates the global tourism carbon footprint and identifies the key drivers using environmentally extended input-output modelling. The results indicate that global tourism emissions grew 3.5% p.a. between 2009-2019, double that of the worldwide economy, reaching 5.2 Gt CO2-e or 8.8% of total global GHG emissions in 2019. The primary drivers of emissions growth are slow technology efficiency gains (0.3% p.a.) combined with sustained high growth in tourism demand (3.8% p.a. in constant 2009 prices). Tourism emissions are associated with alarming distributional inequalities. Under both destination- and resident-based accounting, the twenty highest-emitting countries contribute three-quarters of the global footprint. The disparity in per-capita tourism emissions between high- and low-income nations now exceeds two orders of magnitude. National tourism decarbonisation strategies will require demand volume thresholds to be defined to align global tourism with the Paris Agreement.

A number of writers have modelled imperfect markets using games in which the strategies are supply functions, that is, mappings from prices to quantities produced. Two representations of this problem have been analyzed, which may be referred to as ex ante and ex post, depending on whether strategies are chosen before or after demand shocks are observed. Both solutions give rise to an equilibrium supply curve, tracing out the locus of market equilibrium as demand varies in response to additive shocks. In this paper, we examine conditions under which equilibria in supply curves derived using the ex ante and ex post representations coincide. We show that under these conditions, the ex post solution is a dominant strategy equilibrium. Moreover, players are indifferent as to move order. For a familiar family of supply functions, we show that, for any given demand function, there exists a cost function such that the ex ante solution coincides with the ex post solution. These conditions generalize the case of linear demand and quadratic cost, analyzed by Klemperer and Meyer (Econometrica 57:1243–1277, 1989), and we demonstrate that all ex ante solutions derived in this way are unique. This result substantially extends the uniqueness result derived by Klemperer and Meyer (Econometrica 57:1243–1277, 1989) and suggests a path for further extensions. Further, we consider the relationship between the ex ante and ex post equilibrium concepts and the conjectural variations equilibrium concept of Bowley (The Mathematical Groundwork of Economics, 1924) and Bresnahan (Am Econ Rev 71:934–945, 1981). We show that, whenever ex ante and ex post equilibrium supply curves coincide, this equilibrium corresponds to a unique consistent conjectural variations equilibrium.

Recent climate disasters serve as a reminder of the growing—yet overlooked—risk of climate-driven displacement in the Global North. This paper contributes to a nascent literature on disaster-induced mobility in high-income countries by extending the evidence to a new context: Australia. Applying propensity score matching to panel data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, we conduct the first causal assessment of the impact of home damage caused by extreme weather events on residential mobility in Australia. Our findings suggest that from 2009 to 2022, an annual average of 1.6% of Australians aged 15 + (or ~ 308,000 people a year) experienced home damage caused by floods, cyclones or bushfires. Such damage increases the probability of changing address within 1 year by 56%, displacing an annual average of 22,261 Australians. Cumulatively, this amounts to ~ 312,000 people displaced by climate-induced home damage between 2009 and 2022. Importantly, this type of climate-induced mobility is not evenly spread across the population. Contrary to findings from the Global South, we find no evidence of “entrapment effects”, except for uninsured homeowners. Instead, our results indicate that over 80% of climate-displaced Australians come from the bottom two income quartiles, with the poorest 3% accounting for 14% of the displaced population. The most disadvantaged Australians thus face a double vulnerability: they are both more likely to sustain home damage from extreme weather events and more likely to be displaced. These findings bear important implications for adaptation strategies and policy responses to natural disasters.

Structurally intact native forests free from major human pressures are vitally important habitats for the persistence of forest biodiversity. However, the extent of such high-integrity forest habitats remaining for biodiversity is unknown. Here, we quantify the amount of high-integrity tropical rainforests, as a fraction of total forest cover, within the geographic ranges of 16,396 species of terrestrial vertebrates worldwide. We found up to 90% of the humid tropical ranges of forest-dependent vertebrates was encompassed by forest cover. Concerningly, however, merely 25% of these remaining rainforests are of high integrity. Forest-dependent species that are threatened and declining and species with small geographic ranges have disproportionately low proportions of high-integrity forest habitat left. Our work brings much needed attention to the poor quality of much of the forest estate remaining for biodiversity across the humid tropics. The targeted preservation of the world’s remaining high-integrity tropical rainforests that are currently unprotected is a critical conservation priority that may help alleviate the biodiversity crisis in these hyperdiverse and irreplaceable ecosystems. Enhanced efforts worldwide to preserve tropical rainforest integrity are essential to meet the targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework which aims to achieve near zero loss of high biodiversity importance areas (including ecosystems of high integrity) by 2030.

Article A glucocorticoid spike derails muscle repair to heterotopic ossification after spinal cord injury Graphical abstract Highlights d Severe SCI causes a spike in blood corticosterone in mice d Treatment with GC triggers heterotopic ossifications in injured muscles in mice d Post-natal deletion of the GR gene in mice prevents NHO development after SCI d Mouse treatment with GR antagonists significantly reduces NHO development after SCI In brief Why neurogenic heterotopic ossifications (NHOs) develop in muscles of victims of severe spinal cord injuries (SCIs) remains unknown. Alexander et al. demonstrate that a corticosterone spike, which follows SCI, is causal for NHO development and that treatment with glucocorticoid receptor antagonists or receptor gene deletion inhibits NHO formation. SUMMARY Why severe injury to the central nervous system (CNS) triggers the development of large neurogenic hetero-topic ossifications (NHOs) within periarticular muscles remains unknown. We report that spinal cord injury (SCI) triggers a rapid corticosterone spike in mice, which is causal for NHO development because treatments with corticosterone or the synthetic glucocorticoid (GC) receptor (GR) agonist dexamethasone are sufficient to trigger heterotopic ossification and upregulate the expression of osteoinductive and osteogenic differentiation genes in injured muscles even without SCI. The central role for GR signaling in causing NHO is further demonstrated in mice deleted for the GR gene (Nr3c1), which no longer develop NHO after SCI. Furthermore, administration of clinical GR antagonists inhibits NHO development in mice with SCI. This study identifies endogenous GC as causing pathological NHO after CNS injury and suggests that GR antagonists may be of prophylactic use to prevent NHO development in victims of severe CNS injuries.

Breastfeeding is hypothesised to benefit child health and cognitive functioning by providing long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are essential for brain development. In 2007, Caspi et al. found evidence in two cohorts for an interaction between genetic variation in the FADS2 gene (a gene involved in fatty acid metabolism) and breastfeeding on IQ. However, subsequent studies have provided mixed evidence for the existence of an interaction. We investigated the relationship between genetic variation in the FADS2 region, breastfeeding, and their interaction in up to 335,650 individuals from the UK Biobank. We tested for the interaction over a range of cognitive functioning tests, as well as educational attainment and other traits thought to be influenced by breastfeeding, including cardiometabolic traits, number of offspring, and atopic allergy. FADS2 alleles associated with an increase in docosahexaenoic acid in blood serum (the C allele of rs174575) were associated with decreased verbal-numerical reasoning ($p=2.28\times {10}^{-5}$) and triglycerides ($p=1.40\times {10}^{-41}$), increased number of offspring ($p=3.40\times {10}^{-5}$), total cholesterol ($p=5.28\times {10}^{-36}$), HDL ($p=1.42\times {10}^{-51}$), and LDL cholesterol ($p=1.46\times {10}^{-21}$). We observed no evidence of an interaction in any of the traits, regardless of the modelling strategy on any cognitive or non-cognitive traits. We postulate that the previous positive findings are likely to be spurious, perhaps due to lack of appropriate control for latent population structure.

Purpose Typical clinical “in use” conditions for topical semisolids involve their application as a thin film, often with rubbing that can induce metamorphic stress. Yet, product quality and performance tests often characterize the manufactured product, and may not consider product metamorphosis (e.g., shear history) during dispensing and administration. This work sought to elucidate how such metamorphosis might alter product quality and performance. Methods We evaluated the effect of “in use” stresses on drug crystal metamorphosis in acyclovir creams by optical microscopy. The amount of dissolved acyclovir was determined by separation of the cream base by ultra-centrifugation and quantification by HPLC. IVPT was undertaken on Zovirax® US and Aciclostad® comparing static and “in use” application of a finite dose. A mechanistic IVPT study was also conducted to understand the influence of acyclovir particle size reduction by “in use” rubbing on skin permeation. Results Reduction in acyclovir particle size was seen after “in use” rubbing with increases in the amount of dissolved acyclovir after rubbing (30 and 60 s) compared to static for both products. “In use” application resulted in significantly higher acyclovir permeation from both products. The mechanistic IVPT study proved the role of product metamorphosis. Conclusion These results highlight the role of metamorphosis of product microstructure and its influence on performance.

Background The cause of acute paediatric hepatitis of unknown aetiology (2022) has not been established despite extensive investigation. Objective To summarise the evidence for and against a causal role for human adenovirus (HAdv), adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV-2) and SARS-CoV-2 in outbreaks of paediatric hepatitis in 2022. Methods We appraised and summarised relevant evidence for each of the Bradford Hill criteria for causality using quantitative (statistical modelling) and qualitative (narrative coherence) approaches. Each team member scored the evidence base for each criterion separately for HAdv, AAV-2 and SARS-CoV-2; differences were resolved by discussion. We additionally examined criteria of strength and temporality by examining the lagged association between SARS-CoV-2 positivity, respiratory HAdv positivity, positive faecal HAdv specimens and excess A&E attendances in 1–4 years for liver conditions in England. Results Assessing criteria using the published literature and our modelling: for HAdv three Bradford Hill criteria (strength, consistency and temporality) were partially met; and five criteria (consistency, coherence, experimental manipulation, analogy and temporality) were minimally met. For AAV-2, the strength of association criterion was fully met, five criteria (consistency, temporality, specificity, biological gradient and plausibility) were partially met and three (coherence, analogy and experimental manipulation) were minimally met. For SARS-CoV-2, five criteria (strength of association, plausibility, temporality, coherence and analogy) were fully met; one (consistency) was partially met and three (specificity, biological gradient and experimental manipulation) were minimally met. Conclusion Based on the Bradford Hill criteria and modelling, HAdv alone is unlikely to be the cause of the recent increase in hepatitis in children. The causal link between SARS-CoV-2, and to a lesser degree AAV-2, appears substantially stronger but remains unproven. Hepatitis is a known complication of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children following COVID-19, and SARS-CoV-2 has been linked to increased susceptibility to infection post-COVID-19, which may suggest complex causal pathways including a possible interaction with AAV-2 infection/reactivation in hosts that are genetically susceptible or sensitised to infection.

Objective To co-design artificial intelligence (AI)-based clinical informatics workflows to routinely analyse patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) in hospitals. Methods The context was public hospitals (n=114) and health services (n=16) in a large state in Australia serving a population of ~5 million. We conducted a participatory action research study with multidisciplinary healthcare professionals, managers, data analysts, consumer representatives and industry professionals (n=16) across three phases: (1) defining the problem, (2) current workflow and co-designing a future workflow and (3) developing proof-of-concept AI-based workflows. Co-designed workflows were deductively mapped to a validated feasibility framework to inform future clinical piloting. Qualitative data underwent inductive thematic analysis. Results Between 2020 and 2022 (n=16 health services), 175 282 PREMs inpatient surveys received 23 982 open-ended responses (mean response rate, 13.7%). Existing PREMs workflows were problematic due to overwhelming data volume, analytical limitations, poor integration with health service workflows and inequitable resource distribution. Three potential semiautomated, AI-based (unsupervised machine learning) workflows were developed to address the identified problems: (1) no code (simple reports, no analytics), (2) low code (PowerBI dashboard, descriptive analytics) and (3) high code (Power BI dashboard, descriptive analytics, clinical unit-level interactive reporting). Discussion The manual analysis of free-text PREMs data is laborious and difficult at scale. Automating analysis with AI could sharpen the focus on consumer input and accelerate quality improvement cycles in hospitals. Future research should investigate how AI-based workflows impact healthcare quality and safety. Conclusion AI-based clinical informatics workflows to routinely analyse free-text PREMs data were co-designed with multidisciplinary end-users and are ready for clinical piloting.

The gradient inversion attack has been demonstrated as a significant privacy threat to federated learning (FL), particularly in continuous domains such as vision models. In contrast, it is often considered less effective or highly dependent on impractical training settings when applied to language models, due to the challenges posed by the discrete nature of tokens in text data. As a result, its potential privacy threats remain largely underestimated, despite FL being an emerging training method for language models. In this work, we propose a domain-specific gradient inversion attack named GRAB ( gra dient inversion with hy b rid optimization). GRAB features two alternating optimization processes to address the challenges caused by practical training settings, including a simultaneous optimization on dropout masks between layers for improved token recovery and a discrete optimization for effective token sequencing. GRAB can recover a significant portion (up to 92.9% recovery rate) of the private training data, outperforming the attack strategy of utilizing discrete optimization with an auxiliary model by notable improvements of up to 28.9% recovery rate in benchmark settings and 48.5% recovery rate in practical settings. GRAB provides a valuable step forward in understanding this privacy threat in the emerging FL training mode of language models.

Movements are performed by motoneurons transforming synaptic inputs into an activation signal that controls muscle force. The control signal emerges from interactions between ionotropic and neuromodulatory inputs to motoneurons. Critically, these interactions vary across motoneuron pools and differ between muscles. To provide the most comprehensive framework to date of motor unit activity during isometric contractions, we identified the firing activity of extensive samples of motor units in the tibialis anterior (129 ± 44 per participant; n=8) and the vastus lateralis (130 ± 63 per participant; n=8) muscles during isometric contractions of up to 80% of maximal force. From this unique dataset, the rate coding of each motor unit was characterised as the relation between its instantaneous firing rate and the applied force, with the assumption that the linear increase in isometric force reflects a proportional increase in the net synaptic excitatory inputs received by the motoneuron. This relation was characterised with a natural logarithm function that comprised two stages. The initial stage was marked by a steep acceleration of firing rate, which was greater for low- than medium- and high-threshold motor units. The second stage comprised a linear increase in firing rate, which was greater for high- than medium- and low-threshold motor units. Changes in firing rate were largely non-linear during the ramp-up and ramp-down phases of the task, but with significant prolonged firing activity only evident for medium-threshold motor units. Contrary to what is usually assumed, our results demonstrate that the firing rate of each motor unit can follow a large variety of trends with force across the pool. From a neural control perspective, these findings indicate how motor unit pools use gain control to transform inputs with limited bandwidths into an intended muscle force.