University of Western Australia

About: University of Western Australia is a education organization based out in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 29613 authors who have published 87405 publications receiving 3064466 citations. The organization is also known as: UWA & University of WA.

The Role of Conspiracist Ideation and Worldviews in Predicting Rejection of Science

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Among American Conservatives, but not Liberals, trust in science has been declining since the 1970's. Climate science has become particularly polarized, with Conservatives being more likely than Liberals to reject the notion that greenhouse gas emissions are warming the globe. Conversely, opposition to genetically-modified (GM) foods and vaccinations is often ascribed to the political Left although reliable data are lacking. There are also growing indications that rejection of science is suffused by conspiracist ideation, that is the general tendency to endorse conspiracy theories including the specific beliefs that inconvenient scientific findings constitute a "hoax." METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We conducted a propensity weighted internet-panel survey of the U.S. population and show that conservatism and free-market worldview strongly predict rejection of climate science, in contrast to their weaker and opposing effects on acceptance of vaccinations. The two worldview variables do not predict opposition to GM. Conspiracist ideation, by contrast, predicts rejection of all three scientific propositions, albeit to greatly varying extents. Greater endorsement of a diverse set of conspiracy theories predicts opposition to GM foods, vaccinations, and climate science. CONCLUSIONS: Free-market worldviews are an important predictor of the rejection of scientific findings that have potential regulatory implications, such as climate science, but not necessarily of other scientific issues. Conspiracist ideation, by contrast, is associated with the rejection of all scientific propositions tested. We highlight the manifold cognitive reasons why conspiracist ideation would stand in opposition to the scientific method. The involvement of conspiracist ideation in the rejection of science has implications for science communicators.

People living with psychotic illness in 2010: the second Australian national survey of psychosis.

Abstract: Objective The 2010 Survey of High Impact Psychosis (SHIP) is Australia's second national psychosis survey. This paper provides an overview of its findings, including comparisons with the first psychosis survey and general population data. Methods The survey covered 1.5 million people aged 18-64 years, approximately 10% of Australians in this age group. A two-phase design was used. In phase 1, screening for psychosis took place in public mental health services and non-government organizations supporting people with mental illness. In phase 2, 1825 of those screen-positive for psychosis were randomly selected and interviewed. Data collected included symptomatology, substance use, functioning, service utilization, medication use, education, employment, housing, and physical health including fasting blood samples. Results The estimated 1-month treated prevalence of psychotic disorders in public treatment services was 3.1 people per 1000 population; the 12-month treated prevalence was 4.5 people per 1000. The majority (63.0%) of participants met ICD-10 criteria for schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder. One-half (49.5%) reported attempting suicide in their lifetime and two-thirds (63.2%) were rated as impaired in their ability to socialize. Over half (54.8%) had metabolic syndrome. The proportion currently smoking was 66.1%. Educational achievement was low. Only 21.5% were currently employed. Key changes in the 12 years since the first survey included: a marked drop in psychiatric inpatient admissions; a large increase in the proportion attending community mental health clinics; increased use of rehabilitation services and non-government organizations supporting people with mental illness; a major shift from typical to atypical antipsychotics; and large increases in the proportions with lifetime alcohol or drug abuse/dependence. Conclusion People with psychotic illness face multiple challenges. An integrated approach to service provision is needed to ensure that their living requirements and needs for social participation are met, in addition to their very considerable mental and physical health needs.

Catalytic oxidation of organic pollutants on pristine and surface nitrogen-modified carbon nanotubes with sulfate radicals

Abstract: Employing metal-free nanocarbons or carbonaceous materials as a catalyst for environmental water remediation is a promising clean approach because the green carbon materials can completely prevent the potential toxic metal leaching and secondary contamination to water body. This study reports that pristine multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) can effectively activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) and peroxydisulfate (or persulfate, perdisulfate, PDS) to produce sulfate radicals for oxidation of phenol solutions. Surface nitrogen modification was conducted by a facile synthesis via annealing MWCNTs with ammonium nitrate at a low temperature and the nitrogen modified MWCNTs (N-CNT) was characterized by a variety of techniques. It was found that surface nitrogen modification of MWCNTs produced different effects on PMS and PDS activation. N-CNT can significantly improve the phenol degradation with PMS, but decrease the degradation efficiency with PDS. Reaction kinetics and the mechanism in catalytic oxidation of phenol solutions with sulfate radicals over CNT-based materials were discussed.

On performance evaluation of multi-object filters

Abstract: The concept of a miss-distance, or error, between a reference quantity and its estimated/controlled value, plays a fundamental role in any filtering/control problem. Yet there is no satisfactory notion of a miss-distance in the well-established field of multi-object filtering. In this paper, we outline the inconsistencies of existing metrics in the context of multi-object miss-distances for performance evaluation. We then propose a new mathematically and intuitively consistent metric that addresses the drawbacks of current multi-object performance evaluation metrics.