Academic literature on the topic 'Income distribution Victoria Melbourne'

This paper aims to observe how the Australian COVID-19 restrictions influenced higher education, teachers’ and students’ lives. Before the pandemic, the higher education sector was the largest serviced based sector in Australia and overly depended on international students’ fee income. The academic year of 2020 started as usual with 141703 higher education enrolments of overseas students, mainly students from Asia. However, they did not arrive due to the strict border closure. Travel restrictions were put in place from China from 1 February 2020, later from other countries worldwide. That significantly affected international students' travel from Asia directly before the start of the new academic year. Consequently, many institutions have transitioned from campus-based courses to online delivery. Besides, numerous academic lecturers and professional staff have been invited to the expression of interest in a voluntary and, of course, involuntary redundancy program. Most vacant positions have been frozen, and various saving programs have been implied. Owing to the toughest rules and strictest restrictions, Australian borders remained closed for over 600 days. Melbourne was under six lockdowns totalling 265 days since March 2020, which resulted in the author’s experience of three semester-long remote teaching at one of the biggest and most prominent universities in Melbourne without any personal contact with international students. The author lived and worked in Melbourne during the COVID-19 era, so this study is based on her perspectives and experiences extended with a wide empirical evaluation of secondary data about the Australian academic sector between 2020 and 2021.

Swamp wallabies have dramatically extended their distribution through western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia over the last 40 years. Newspaper reports from 1875 onwards show that on European settlement, wallaby populations were confined to eastern Victoria, including the ranges around Melbourne, the Otway Ranges and Portland District of south-western Victoria, and a tiny part of south-eastern South Australia. Populations contracted further with intense hunting for the fur trade until the 1930s. In the late 1970s, however, wallabies began spreading into drier habitats than those initially recorded. Possible causes underlying this change in distribution are discussed; some seem unlikely but, because wallabies began spreading soon after the introduction of European rabbit fleas as vectors of myxomatosis, the cumulative effects of releases of biological agents to control rabbits appear important. A caution is given on assuming that thick vegetation in high-rainfall areas provides the only habitat suitable for swamp wallabies, but, most importantly, the study shows how native mammals may benefit if rabbit abundance is reduced.

We review the distribution, habitat and conservation status of the eastern pygmy-possum (Cercartetus nanus) in Victoria. Data on the habitat occurrences and rates of detection were gleaned from 133 published and unpublished fauna surveys conducted from 1968 to 2003 in Gippsland; northern Victoria; the Melbourne area and south-western region. C. nanus was reported from a broad range of vegetation communities, which predominantly included a dense mid-storey of shrubs rich in nectar-producing species such as those from the families Proteaceae and Myrtaceae. Survey effort using a range of methods was immense across surveys: 305,676 Elliott/cage trap-nights, 49,582 pitfall trap-nights, 18,331 predator remains analysed, 4424 spotlight hours, and 7346 hair-sampling devices deployed, 1005 trees stagwatched, and 5878 checks of installed nest-boxes. The surveys produced 434 records of C. nanus, with Elliott/cage trapping, pitfall trapping and analysis of predator remains responsible for the vast majority of records (93%). These data and those from the Atlas of Victorian Wildlife indicate that although C. nanus has a widespread distribution in Victoria, it is rarely observed or trapped in fauna surveys. Only 11 (8%) of the surveys we reviewed detected >10 individuals. C. nanus is likely to be sensitive to several recognised threatening processes in Victoria (e.g., feral predators, high frequency fire, feral honeybees). There is also evidence of range declines in several regions, which suggests that the species is vulnerable to extinction. Therefore, we recommend that it be nominated as a threatened species in Victoria.

Abstract The presence of greenspace, its profound impact and association with physical and mental health, biodiversity, and aesthetical pleasure has been delineated abundantly. Contrarily, there is a concerning disparity in the accessibility and proximity between affluent and deprived areas in urbanised localities. Existing literature prioritised distribution and proximity domains when assessing inequitable greenspace and consequently has catalysed a research gap in greenspace quality domains. This paper endeavours to fill this gap through a case study in Melbourne, Australia using a quantitative method to extract findings and policy analysis to generate recommendations. Socioeconomic data from deprivation indexes systematically defined low and high SES (socioeconomic status). A GIS (Geographical Information System) observation of greenspaces scored spaces according to a scoring criterion contingent on safety/security, environmental elements, accessibility, maintenance/cleanliness, facilities/amenities, and aesthetic facets. Statistics were then synthesised to produce a Cohen effect score highlighting disparities in each facet between the two contrasting SES groups. Findings affirmed an existent disparity between the high and low SES spaces and contributed to existing strands of literature surrounding unjust quality distribution. Ultimately, findings will serve as invaluable evidence regarding policy implications, current opportunities under the ‘Plan Melbourne’ policy, and the need to facilitate intervention in those underprivileged settings.

AbstractObjective:To assess longitudinal changes in the consumption of nutrients and the impact of socio-economic factors on diet transition in the Melbourne Chinese Health Study (MCHS) cohort.Design:Longitudinal study including two phases: baseline (1989/90) and follow-up (1995/97).Settings:Melbourne metropolitan areas in Victoria, Australia.Study subjects and method:Two hundred and sixty-two Chinese men and women aged 25 years and over, recruited at baseline, who had completed the both baseline and follow-up food-frequency questionnaires.Results:Women increased their daily intakes of energy (+549 kJ), protein (+7.8 g), fat (+7.3 g) and dietary fibre (+5.6 g) whereas men decreased their daily consumption of carbohydrate (-38.5 g) over an average period of 8 years. Energy contributions from protein and fat rose while that from carbohydrate dropped for all cohort subjects. Increased intakes of riboflavin, β-carotene and iron were observed in men, while an increased consumption of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and minerals (except sodium) was observed in women. Socio-economic factors such as education, family income levels and occupational categories appeared to have a far more powerful influence on changes in individual daily nutrient intakes than age or length of stay in Australia. Changes in nutrient intake in women were less affected by sociodemographic variables.Conclusion:The observed changes in nutrient intakes indicated a progressive approach towards the Australian Recommended Dietary Intakes within this Chinese cohort population.

Anabolic steroid injectors are at risk of infection with blood-borne viruses (BBVs), but have received little attention from researchers, practitioners or agencies working in public health. In recognition of this gap, in early 1996 the Steroid Peer Education Project (SPEP) began providing part-time mobile needle and syringe distribution and health information and referral services to steroid injectors in north-eastern Melbourne. Demand repeatedly caused the project to expand, and its sole peer worker now operates Victoria-wide, five days per week. Basic information on injecting practices collected from SPEP clients showed that many were at risk of BBV infection. This led to the initiation of a collaborative research project, in which SPEP clients were tested for BBV antibodies and provided detailed information about their risk behaviours. Of 29 steroid injectors tested between May and August 1999, three (10%) had antibodies to the hepatitis C virus, and they described behaviour which could spread the virus to other steroid users. These results show that blood-borne viruses are present in the Victorian steroid injecting community, and reinforce the SPEP's commitment to reducing harm in this group.

AbstractKnowledge of permafrost characteristics and distribution in Antarctica and their relationships with present and past climates is still poor. This paper reports investigations on permafrost in an area located between Nansen Ice Sheet to the south and Mount Melbourne (2732 m a.s.l.) to the north. Investigation methods included geomorphological surveys and geoelectrical soundings as well as crystallography, chemical and isotopic analyses of the ground ice. Geomorphological surveys helped to explain the relationships between periglacial landforms (e.g. rock glaciers and patterned ground) and the glacial history of the area. Geoelectrical soundings allowed us to define different ground-ice units in the ice-free areas. Each unit was characterised by a different type of permafrost (dry or ice-poor permafrost, marine or continental massive buried ice and sub-sea permafrost). To identify the nature of ground ice, trenches were dug and some shallow boreholes were drilled to a maximum depth of-3.6 m in massive buried ice. Samples of both ice-poor permafrost and massive ice were collected and analyzed. Chemical, isotopic δ18O and crystal analyses were also carried out. The relationships between climate and thermal regimes of the active layer and the upper part of permafrost were determined using a monitoring station for ground temperatures at Boulder Clay Glacier, near the Italian Antarctic station. During winter, there were several significant thermal-inversion events in the ground, which cannot be explained only by air-temperature changes, suggesting a possible influence of winter snowfall, even if these events are usually considered very rare.

An outlier of mallee vegetation occurs south of the Great Dividing Range in Victoria in a rain shadow region (annual rainfall approx. 500 mm) about 50 km west of Melbourne. A Eucalyptus behriana open-scrub with a sparse understorey of chenopods, mosses, lichens and some grasses occurs on solonetz soil on lateritized Tertiary sandy clays and on skeletal soils on Ordovician slates and sandstones. The dryness of the mallee site is probably exacerbated by the smaller rate of water infiltration and greater salinity of the solonetz soil under E. behriana compared with the solodic soil, in the moister area further north, under an open-forest of E. microcarpa. The multistemmed habit of E. behriana appears to be partly genetically fixed. Hollow lignotuberous rings, filled to a depth of about 15-25 cm with brown, nutrient-rich humus, are common. Pattern analysis of the distribution of stems of E. behriana indicated strong clumping at about 9 m², due to the multistemmed habit, and weaker clumping at about 600 m², which correlated with the size of groups of dense, spindly individuals of E. behriana, resulting from a past phase of gap regeneration.

Australian tanaidacean specimens from two extensive collections have been analyzed based on material collected from the Bass Strait and slope in the 1970s to 1980s and held in the collections of the Museum Victoria, Melbourne, along with material collected during the Thirteenth International Marine Biological Workshop around Moreton Bay, Queensland, in 2005. A number of new parapseudid taxa were discovered, including one common to both collections. These taxa, representing three species of Pakistanapseudes, one of Saltipedis and one of a genus new to science, Remexudes, are described in the present paper. In addition, the finding of further material of P. australianus in Moreton Bay has allowed supplementary description of that species. An identification key to the Australian species of Pakistanapseudes is given. The concept of high diversity of Tanaidacea in the Australian fauna is reinforced; the apparent sympatric distribution of congeneric species is accounted for by habitat differences.

The reproductive years are a critical period where women experience greater risk of intimate-partner violence (IPV). Most studies investigating the association between IPV and reproductive health have been completed in low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to examine the relationship between IPV and women’s reproductive decision-making in Victoria, Australia. We analysed secondary data from a cluster-randomised trial of IPV screening that surveyed new mothers attending Maternal- and Child-Health centres in Melbourne. Survey measures included the experience of partner abuse in the past 12 months using the Composite Abuse Scale and four reproductive decision-making indicators. Results showed that IPV affects reproductive decision-making among postpartum women. Women who reported abuse were less likely to plan for a baby (adjusted Odds Ratio 0.48, 95% CI: 0.31–0.75) than were non-abused women, significantly more likely to have partners make decisions for them about contraception (Risk ratio (RR) 4.09, 95% CI: 1.31–12.75), and whether and when to have a baby (RR 12.35, 95% CI: 4.46–34.16), than they were to make decisions jointly. Pregnant and postpartum women need to be screened for partner violence that compromises women’s decision-making power regarding their reproductive rights.

Income inequality refers to how unevenly income is distributed in society. Income inequality has been perceived to escalate generally due to excessive gains by the top income earners. Rising income inequality across OECD countries and in the United States has become a center stage in policy debates across the world. The main objective of this study is to empirically explore the econometric linkages between income inequality, corruption and market power. This study seeks to shed light on possible causal links by utilizing international data on OECD countries and micro data for the United States at the state level to account for problems associated with data issues at the international level, such as unobservable institutional factors. This thesis uses data for 26 OECD countries (1984 to 2014) and 50 states of United States (1977 to 2014). Causality and copula analyses are undertaken to explore the empirical nexus of income inequality, corruption and market power. For causality testing, this study implements a procedure proposed by Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) for testing Granger causality in panel datasets. In a trivariate setting, this research extends Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) method and adapts Toda and Yamamoto (1995) approach in time series datasets. Causality analysis is employed to understand the causation between these three main issues. However, this analysis does not allow information on the total correlation of variables of interest (Chong and Gradstein, 2007). Thus, the copula approach is applied to complement causality analysis. Copula approach is a well-known tool in financial risk management and insurance applications and has proven to be a superior tool for modeling dependency structures. To our knowledge, it has rarely been used in economy applications. In this study, this study employed bivariate copula and Vine copula. The evidence presented here consistently shows that there is a strong linkage between income inequality, corruption and market power. However, the dependence between linkages is unique and varies between countries and states in the United States. The results demonstrate the strong dependence between these three factors. Most of the time, the linkage is slightly stronger for income inequality and corruption. These advances econometric method does provide a new insight in exploring the nexus of income inequality, corruption and market power. Further, Granger causality and dependence seems to be more pervasive in US states than OECD countries, possibly due to more accurate and consistent measurement of corruption and market power, and less unobservable heterogeneity in the former dataset. Overall, this research reveals some important results regarding the linkages of three variable of interest. The study also demonstrates that combining copula approach and causality testing can provide a comprehensive way to understand the linkages. This approach can lead to incremental insights and conclusions. The insights offered here are expected to be valuable for public policy on market distortions, income distribution and economic growth.

Australian High Country Raptors covers raptor species that regularly breed in the high country above 600 metres, from Goulburn in New South Wales down to the hills outside Melbourne, Victoria. Author Jerry Olsen explores the nature of these striking animals that are classified as Accipitriformes (diurnal hawks, falcons, kites and eagles), Falconiformes and Strigiformes (nocturnal owls). Comparisons between these high country raptors and lower-elevation breeders are also provided, in addition to comparisons with raptors found overseas, especially from North America and Europe. The book begins with a description of habitats and vegetation types in the high country, and which raptors are likely to be seen in each habitat type. It continues with sections on finding and watching raptors, raptor identification, hunting styles, food, breeding and behaviour, and conservation. Appendices provide species accounts for diurnal breeding species in the high country, with basic information about their ecology, distribution and conservation, as well as detailed instructions about handling an injured or orphaned raptor. Illustrated throughout with photographs and drawings, Australian High Country Raptors offers readers a chance to look into the lives of Australia’s fascinating birds of prey.

AbstractFrom the 1851 Exhibition Scholarship Committee to Pawsey on 1 October 1931:Pawsey started out in research in the midst of excitement over the possibilities of radio communications and the iteratively developing physical understanding of the ionosphere and of the equipment that might be used to investigate it. During 1926–28 he completed his BSc at the University of Melbourne, Victoria. In 1929 he began a Master’s Degree, which was at that time a research-only degree, under the direction of Professor T.H. Laby. He was supported by receiving the M.J. Bartlett Research Scholarship. Presumably this, along with his work as a tutor in Physics at Queens College, provided him with a small, but independent, income. He embarked on a study of “atmospherics”—electrical disturbances in the atmosphere that Appleton, at King’s College, London, and others had linked in part with thunderstorm activity—and their impact on radio broadcasting. From January 1930 to August 1931, he carried out observations using a cathode ray direction finder, working with George H. Munro and Lenard Huxley as part of the Australian Radio Research Board (RRB). Pawsey wrote in 1933: “We were able to give strong evidence that all atmospherics originate in lightning flashes, and made measurements of intensity enabling the distance of the thunderstorms to be roughly determined.” (Ratcliffe & Pawsey, 1933)

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF MICROWAVE SLOW WAVE COMB AND CERAMIC APPLICATORS FOR SOIL TREATMENT AT FREQUENCY 2.45 GHZ. G. Brodie and G. Torgovnikov University of Melbourne, 4 Water St, Creswick, Victoria 3363, Australia; e-mail: grigori@unimelb.edu.au Keywords: ceramic applicator, comb applicator, microwave, slow wave, soil microwave treatment In many cases in industry it is required to heat or treat surface layers of different material (soil, timber, concrete, plastics and so on) with microwaves (MW). Traditional MW irradiators (antennas) cannot provide heating only in the surface areas and energy penetrates deep into the material, where it decays exponentially due to normal attenuation. Therefore, energy losses, if a heating depth of 20 - 40 mm (for example to heat soil for killing weed seeds) is all that is required, are very significant. Therefore, it is required to develop special MW applicators for surface treatment to increase process efficiency. To address this problem, a slow wave (which is sometimes called a "surface wave" applicator) comb and ceramic structures, was studied. The main property of slow waves is that the energy concentration is very near impedance electrode – comb or ceramic plate surface. Previously, slow wave structures were used mostly as delay lines and as interaction circuits in MW vacuum devices, and their properties were explored only for these specific applications. The work objectives of this study were: design slow wave, ceramic and comb structure applicators for soil treatment at frequency 2.45 GHz;experimentally study the energy distribution from slow wave applicators in the soil;study of opportunities to use slow wave structures for surface soil layer heating; andrecommendations for practical use of new slow wave applicators. Comb and ceramic slab applicators for frequency 2.45 GHz operation were designed for the soil treatment on the bases of theoretical studies and computer modelling. The comb applicator was made from aluminium and the ceramic slab applicator was made from alumina (DC=9.8, loss tangent=0.0002). A 30 kW (2.45 GHz) microwave generator was used for experiments. Containers with soil were placed on the applicator surface. An auto tuner was used in MW system to provided good impedance matching of the generator and applicators (with soil on top). This resulted in practically no power reflection. The soil “Potting Mix Hortico”, with moisture content range 32-174% and density range 590-1070 kg/m3, was used for the experiments. Energy distribution in the soil was determined by temperature measuring in the soil using thermocouples, after MW heating. Distribution of temperature measuring points covered the whole volume of the soil along and across the applicator. Results of the experiments showed that the comb applicator provides maximum energy release in soil in the central vertical plane. The ceramic alumina applicator forms two temperature maximums in two vertical planes at a distance of about 40 mm from the central applicator plane and a minimum in the applicator central plane. The ceramic applicator provides better uniformity of energy distribution across the width of the applicator due to the two temperature maximums. It reduces overheating of the soil surface and energy losses. The depth of energy penetration provided by ceramic applicator is lower compared with the comb applicator. It means that the ceramic applicator provides better energy localization and more energy absorption in the soil surface layers compared with the comb applicator. To provide better uniformity of energy distribution across the ceramic applicator it is recommended to use ceramics with higher dielectric constants, such as in the range of 15-25, which will allow more energy to be released closer to the applicator surface. It will increase efficiency of MW energy use. The ceramic applicator is more effective for MW treatment of the soil surface areas and is recommended for practical use in machines for thermal treatment and sterilization of surface layers of the soil and other materials.