• Energy Research
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Many countries are challenged by the medical resources required for COVID-19 detection which necessitates the development of a low-cost, rapid tool to detect and diagnose the virus effectively for a large numbers of tests. Although a chest X-Ray scan is a useful candidate tool the images generated by the scans must be analyzed accurately and quickly if large numbers of tests are to be processed. COVID-19 causes bilateral pulmonary parenchymal ground-glass and consolidative pulmonary opacities, sometimes with a rounded morphology and a peripheral lung distribution. In this work, we aim to extract rapidly from chest X-Ray images the similar small regions that may contain the identifying features of COVID-19. This paper therefore proposes a hybrid COVID-19 detection model based on an improved marine predators algorithm (IMPA) for X-Ray image segmentation. The ranking-based diversity reduction (RDR) strategy is used to enhance the performance of the IMPA to reach better solutions in fewer iterations. RDR works on finding the particles that couldn't find better solutions within a consecutive number of iterations, and then moving those particles towards the best solutions so far. The performance of IMPA has been validated on nine chest X-Ray images with threshold levels between 10 and 100 and compared with five state-of-art algorithms: equilibrium optimizer (EO), whale optimization algorithm (WOA), sine cosine algorithm (SCA), Harris-hawks algorithm (HHA), and salp swarm algorithms (SSA). The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed hybrid model outperforms all other algorithms for a range of metrics. In addition, the performance of our proposed model was convergent on all numbers of thresholds level in the Structured Similarity Index Metric (SSIM) and Universal Quality Index (UQI) metrics.

Reducing energy waste is one of the primary concerns facing Remote Industrial Plants (RIP) and, in particular, the accommodations and operational plants located in remote areas. With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to attack the health of workforce, managing the balance between energy efficiency and Occupation Health and Safety (OHS) in the workplace becomes another great challenge for the RIP. Maintaining this balance is difficult mainly because a full awareness of the OHS will generally consume more energy while reducing the energy cost may lead to a less effective OHS, and the existing literature has not seen a system that is designed for the RIPs to conserve energy usage and improve workforce OHS simultaneously. To bridge this gap, in this paper, we propose an AI Empowered Cyber Physical Ecosystem (AECPE) solution for the RIPs, which integrates Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), artificial intelligence, and mobile networks. The preliminary results of lab experiments and field tests proved that the AECPE was able to help industries reduce the corporate annual energy cost that is worth millions of dollars, optimise the environmental conditions, and improve OHS for all workers and stakeholders. The implementation of the AECPE can result in efficient energy usage, reduced wastage and emissions, environment-friendly operations, and improved social reputation of the industries.

Introduction The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 5.4 million snakebites annually. In 2019, WHO released a strategy to halve the burden of snakebite by 2030. This doctoral research aimed to generate practice and policy relevant evidence at three levels: globally, by understanding the prioritisation process in the WHO; nationally, in India, by evaluating the primary health care (PHC) system; and regionally, in South Asia, by fostering research on treatments. Methods To understand the global prioritisation of snakebite, I conducted a policy analysis, using interviews and documents as data sources. To evaluate health systems in India, I analysed secondary data for the first nationwide assessment of structural capacity and continuum of snakebite care. To understand health systems resilience, I used quantitative (analysis of facility-level data) and qualitative (interviews) approaches to understand the effects of COVID-19 and conducted an evidence synthesis on the effect of climate change. Through an overview of systematic reviews of treatments, I identified the need for a core outcome set (COS) on snakebite. I developed a COS for snakebite research in South Asia, by conducting a systematic review of outcomes and a Delphi survey. Results The policy analysis identified factors which enabled prioritisation of snakebite, and identified unaddressed challenges of sustaining legitimacy, and acceptance within the neglected tropical disease community. I identified structural limitations of the PHC system and gaps in referral pathways, in India. Relevant to the context, I report, how COVID-19 accentuated existing barriers, and identified that the choice of provider is a complex process with multiple factors interplaying. Evidence synthesis indicates the need to prepare health systems for possible geographic shifts in snakebite burden due to climate change. The overview of systematic reviews identified gaps in the evidence ecosystem. By developing a COS for future intervention research on snakebite treatments, I addressed the gap of non-standardised measurement of outcomes. Conclusion The findings of the thesis, provides contextually relevant evidence aligned with pillars of the WHO strategy, to practice and policy at global, national, sub-national, and program level. The policy analysis and COS work provides broader methodological insights, beyond snakebite.

The real estate sector is receiving mix responses throughout the world, with some countries like USA receiving lesser and European and Asia Pacific markets receiving more transactions in recent years. Among the concerning factors, post-purchase regrets by the real estate owners or renters are on the rise, which have never been assessed to date through scholarly research. These regrets can further increase in the time of lockdowns and bans on inspections due to Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and social distancing rules enforced by various countries such as Australia. The current study aims at investigating the key post-purchase regret factors of real estate and property owners and renters over the last decade using published literature and online threads. Based on pertinent literature, 118 systematically identified and text-mined articles, and four online threads with 135 responses, the current study develops system dynamics models to assess and predict the increase in consumers’ regrets over the last decade. Further, a user-generated thread with 23 responses involving seven real estate managers and five agents with more than 20 years of experience, 10 buyers with at least three successful rentals or purchases, and a photographer with more than 10 years of experience, is initiated on five online discussion platforms whereby the respondents are involved in a detailed discussion to highlight the regret reasons specific to real estate purchases based on online information. General architecture for text mining (GATE) software has been utilised to mine the text from both types of threads: Published and user generated. Overall, the articles and threads published over the last decade are studied under two periods: P1 (2010–2014) and P2 (2015–2019) to highlight the post-purchase or rent-related regret reasons. The results show that regret levels of the real estate consumers based on published post-purchase data are at an alarmingly high level of 88%, which compared to 2015, has increased by 18%. Among the major cited reasons, complicated buy–sell process, lack or accuracy of information, housing costs, house size, mortgages, agents, inspections, and emotional decision making are key reasons of regret. Overall, a total of 10% and 8% increases have occurred in the regrets related to the buy–sell process and lack of inspections, respectively. On the other hand, regrets related to agents and housing costs have decreased drastically by 40% mainly due to the good return on investments in the growing markets. However, based on the current trend of over reliance on online information and more powers to the agents controlling online information coupled with lack of physical inspections, the situation can change anytime. Similarly, lack of information, housing size, and mortgage-related regrets have also decreased by 7%, 5%, and 2%, respectively, since 2019. The results are expected to encourage policy level changes for addressing the regrets and uplifting the real estate industry and moving towards a smart and sustainable real estate sector. These results and pertinent discussions may help the real estate decision makers to uplift the current state, move towards a smart real estate, and avoid futuristic regrets, especially in the COVID-hit environment where most of the industries are struggling to survive. Careful attention is required to the top regret factors identified in the study by the real estate managers, investors, and agents to pave the way for a more managed real estate and property sector whereby the consumers are more satisfied with the value they receive for their money. This win–win situation will enhance the property business and remove the stigmas of intentional and deliberate withholding of information by managers and agents from the property and real estate sectors that can help boost the business through more purchases and satisfaction of its customers.

East and Southeast Asian countries have recorded significant success in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. They have employed more effective crisis management strategies than countries in many other parts of the world. This article examines in detail the experiences of two of Asia’s pandemic success stories—South Korea and Vietnam—to identify the ways in which they responded to COVID-19 and how they related to state effectiveness. The lessons learned from the analysis of South Korean and Vietnamese crisis management include: the importance of preparedness and decisive action; the need for flexibility to cope with changing circumstances; that there are alternative crisis management strategies to reach the same desired outcomes; and that crisis management is best served by securing unity of purpose among government, citizens, civil society and the private sector. State effectiveness is a foundation for such features of successful crisis management.

The MJA-Lancet Countdown on health and climate change in Australia was established in 2017, and produced its first national assessment in 2018, its first annual update in 2019, and its second annual update in 2020. It examines indicators across five broad domains: climate change impacts, exposures and vulnerability; adaptation, planning and resilience for health; mitigation actions and health co-benefits; economics and finance; and public and political engagement. Our special report in 2020 focused on the unprecedented and catastrophic 2019-20 Australian bushfire season, highlighting indicators that explore the relationships between health, climate change and bushfires. For 2021, we return to reporting on the full suite of indicators across each of the five domains and have added some new indicators. We find that Australians are increasingly exposed to and vulnerable to excess heat and that this is already limiting our way of life, increasing the risk of heat stress during outdoor sports, and decreasing work productivity across a range of sectors. Other weather extremes are also on the rise, resulting in escalating social, economic and health impacts. Climate change disproportionately threatens Indigenous Australians' wellbeing in multiple and complex ways. In response to these threats, we find positive action at the individual, local, state and territory levels, with growing uptake of rooftop solar and electric vehicles, and the beginnings of appropriate adaptation planning. However, this is severely undermined by national policies and actions that are contrary and increasingly place Australia out on a limb. Australia has responded well to the COVID-19 public health crisis (while still emerging from the bushfire crisis that preceded it) and it now needs to respond to and prepare for the health crises resulting from climate change.

Over the past several decades, scholars have highlighted the obligations and opportunities for marketing as a discipline to play a role in creating a better world — or risk becoming irrelevant for the largest problems facing consumers and society. This paper provides a framework to enhance the relevance and rigor of research in marketing that not only contributes new knowledge to science, but also makes a positive difference in the world. To that end, we urge authors and reviewers to foster cross-fertilization from different theoretical and methodological silos, bolster robustness through multiple methods, and expand the domain of research to explore different populations and cultures. In doing so, we hope to encourage further consideration of the role of marketing scholarship in providing a novel lens into potential solutions for societal concerns.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe disturbances in the work of hundreds of millions of people around the world. One of the groups affected is the academic staff at higher education institutions, whose original business model, i.e., presence teaching, suddenly changed to online learning. This has, in turn, exacerbated pre-existing problems such as shortage of time, busy schedules, and challenges to a work-life balance. Since academic staff plays a key role in respect of teaching and research, often acting as leaders in their fields, it is important to reflect on the influences of the lockdowns on their work routines. In order to address this research need, this paper reports on a study that examined the impacts of the lockdowns on the work of academic staff at universities. Using a bibliometric analysis and investigation of a set of case studies, the study sheds light on the difficulties encountered and the means deployed to address them. Our study did not identify a one-size-fits-all response to manage the manifold changes brought on HEIs by the COVID-19 pandemic. Selected arising priorities include creating a culture of educational resilience through a container of complementary measures.