School of Mathematics and Statistics - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableAsymptotics for the critical level and a strong invariance principle for high intensity shot noise fields(Institute of Mathematical Statistics, 2023-08-01)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableStyle Interleaved Learning for Generalizable Person Re-identification(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2023-01-01)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableExperimental proposal to probe the extended Pauli principle(American Physical Society (APS), 2023-07-01)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableGeometric persistence and distributional trends in worldwide terrorism(PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, 2023-04)
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ItemPerceptions of rural high school teachers - on the frontline of youth suicide(WILEY, 2022-10)OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the perceptions and beliefs of rural high school teachers about student suicide completion in their school and their perceived self-efficacy in identification of suicidality in students (suicidal ideation, plans and behaviours). DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey methodology. SETTING: Gippsland and the Loddon Mallee regions of Victoria, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: Rural high school teachers. OUTCOME MEASURE: A survey that aimed to obtain participants' perceptions and self-reports about students who had died by suicide in their school within the last 5 years, their perceived self-efficacy in identifying suicidal students and barriers to helping students at risk. RESULTS: Two hundred and seventy-seven rural high school teachers participated and 86% reported that a student from their school had died by suicide within the last 5 years. Sixty-five per cent believed that more than one student had died by suicide and 70% perceived they were currently aware of students experiencing suicidality in their class. Receiving professional development about suicide and obtaining help from mental health clinicians predicted perceived self-efficacy in identification of suicidality in students. Participants perceived the barriers to help students at risk included insufficient numbers of school-based mental health professionals and community mental health services. CONCLUSIONS: Many rural high school teachers perceive they are at the front line of the youth suicide crisis due to unmet service need in youth mental ill health. Increased access to effective services immediately after teachers become aware of suicidality may assist in reducing youth suicide in rural areas.
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ItemAssessing the quality of offshore Binomial sampling biosecurity inspections using onshore inspections(WILEY, 2022-05-16)Introduction of pests and diseases through trade is one of the main socio-ecological challenges worldwide. Although Binomial sampling inspection at the border can reduce pest entry risk, it is common for consignments to fail inspection, wasting resources for both exporter and importer. Outsourcing the inspection to the exporting country could reduce the cost of inspection for both parties. However, there is then a need to assess the quality of the offshore inspection. In this paper, we develop an inverse method combining past inspection data on the pathway, an onshore inspection sample, and the Beta-Binomial model to infer the sample size of the offshore inspection. We illustrate the method on two case studies: the importation of live plants through germplasm into Australia and the importation of pelleted seeds in New Zealand. In these case studies, we found that detecting four to five infested units in a single onshore inspection was typically sufficient to significantly doubt the presence of a compliant offshore inspection. We also ran a simulation experiment to quantify the statistical power to reject or accept the presence of compliant offshore inspection in practice: In highly infested pathways, we could detect the absence of offshore inspections after inspecting five consignments onshore. Less infested pathways required inspecting 20 to 60 consignments onshore. Our study demonstrates that Binomial sampling onshore can be used to assess the quality of offshore inspections.
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ItemArthropods on imported plant products: Volumes predict general trends while contextual details enhance predictive power(WILEY, 2022-04)Agricultural biosecurity interventions are aimed at minimizing introductions of harmful non-native organisms to new areas via agricultural trade. To prioritize such interventions, historical data on interceptions have been used to elucidate which factors determine the likelihood that a particular import is carrying a harmful organism. Here we use an interception data set of arthropod contaminants recorded on plant imports arriving in South Africa from 2005 to 2019, comprising 13,566 samples inspected for arthropod contaminants, of which 4902 were positive for the presence of at least one arthropod. We tested 29 predictor variables that have previously been used to explain variation in rates of detection and three variables describing possible sources of additional variation and grouped these into six mutually exclusive "factor classes." We used boosted regression trees as a non-parametric stochastic machine-learning method to build models for each factor class and interactions between them. We explored the influence of these variables with data split either randomly or chronologically. While we identified some specific patterns that could be explained post-hoc by historical events, only inspected volumes were reliably correlated with detection of arthropod contaminants across the whole data set. However, inspected volumes could not predict future interceptions of arthropods, which instead relied on contextual factors such as country, crop or year of import. This suggests that, although certain factors may be important in certain circumstances or for particular crops or commodities, there is little general predictive power in the current data. Instead, an idiographic approach would be most beneficial in biosecurity to ascertain the details of why a particular pest arrived on a particular pathway and how it might move (and be stopped) in future.
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ItemIL11 activates the placental inflammasome to drive preeclampsia(FRONTIERS MEDIA SA, 2023-05-24)INTRODUCTION: Preeclampsia is a life-threatening disorder of pregnancy unique to humans. Interleukin (IL)11 is elevated in serum from pregnancies that subsequently develop early-onset preeclampsia and pharmacological elevation of IL11 in pregnant mice causes the development of early-onset preeclampsia-like features (hypertension, proteinuria, and fetal growth restriction). However, the mechanism by which IL11 drives preeclampsia is unknown. METHOD: Pregnant mice were administered PEGylated (PEG)IL11 or control (PEG) from embryonic day (E)10-16 and the effect on inflammasome activation, systolic blood pressure (during gestation and at 50/90 days post-natal), placental development, and fetal/post-natal pup growth measured. RNAseq analysis was performed on E13 placenta. Human 1st trimester placental villi were treated with IL11 and the effect on inflammasome activation and pyroptosis identified by immunohistochemistry and ELISA. RESULT: PEGIL11 activated the placental inflammasome causing inflammation, fibrosis, and acute and chronic hypertension in wild-type mice. Global and placental-specific loss of the inflammasome adaptor protein Asc and global loss of the Nlrp3 sensor protein prevented PEGIL11-induced fibrosis and hypertension in mice but did not prevent PEGIL11-induced fetal growth restriction or stillbirths. RNA-sequencing and histology identified that PEGIL11 inhibited trophoblast differentiation towards spongiotrophoblast and syncytiotrophoblast lineages in mice and extravillous trophoblast lineages in human placental villi. DISCUSSION: Inhibition of ASC/NLRP3 inflammasome activity could prevent IL11-induced inflammation and fibrosis in various disease states including preeclampsia.
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ItemSSNIP-seq: A simple and rapid method for isolation of single-sperm nucleic acid for high-throughput sequencing(PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2022-09-29)We developed a simple and reliable method for the isolation of haploid nuclei from fresh and frozen testes. The described protocol uses readily available reagents in combination with flow cytometry to separate haploid and diploid nuclei. The protocol can be completed within 1 hour and the resulting individual haploid nuclei have intact morphology. The isolated nuclei are suitable for library preparation for high-throughput DNA and RNA sequencing using bulk or single nuclei. The protocol was optimised with mouse testes and we anticipate that it can be applied for the isolation of mature sperm from other mammals including humans.
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ItemIdentification and Re-consent of Existing Cord Blood Donors for Creation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Lines for Potential Clinical Applications(OXFORD UNIV PRESS, 2022-09-08)We aim to create a bank of clinical grade cord blood-derived induced pluripotent stem cell lines in order to facilitate clinical research leading to the development of new cellular therapies. Here we present a clear pathway toward the creation of such a resource, within a strong quality framework, and with the appropriate regulatory, government and ethics approvals, along with a dynamic follow-up and re-consent process of cord blood donors from the public BMDI Cord Blood Bank. Interrogation of the cord blood bank inventory and next generation sequencing was used to identify and confirm 18 donors with suitable HLA homozygous haplotypes. Regulatory challenges that may affect global acceptance of the cell lines, along with the quality standards required to operate as part of a global network, are being met by working in collaboration with bodies such as the International Stem Cell Banking Initiative (ISCBI) and the Global Alliance for iPSC Therapies (GAiT). Ethics approval was granted by an Institutional Human Research Ethics Committee, and government approval has been obtained to use banked cord blood for this purpose. New issues of whole-genome sequencing and the relevant donor safeguards and protections were considered with input from clinical genetics services, including the rights and information flow to donors, and commercialization aspects. The success of these processes has confirmed feasibility and utility of using banked cord blood to produce clinical-grade iPSC lines for potential cellular therapies.