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The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is now a global crisis, resulting in the intermittent closure of many schools, worldwide. The school closures are believed to have affected adolescents’ education, particularly for vulnerable adolescents including those from a refugee-background. The study explores the home learning experiences of adolescent Bhutanese refugees in Tasmania, Australia and draws on social capital theory to interpret findings. Interviews with adolescent Bhutanese refugees revealed four overarching themes: disengagement from learning, the experience of isolation, the complexity of family relationships and motivation through relationships. This article makes an important practical and theoretical contribution to home learning through challenging Putnam’s binary distinction between bonding and bridging and suggesting alternative conceptualisations based on the role of bonding in the creation of bridging social capital. These findings have potential implications for the development of mitigation measures to support refugee-background students under extraordinary circumstances.

The majority of schools across Australia rapidly implemented online education during the first wave of COVID-19 restrictions. The school closure disproportionately affected the routines and socialisation of vulnerable students, including those with a refugee background. Refugee-background students have been impacted by COVID-19 as school closures interrupted face-to-face education, including English language and tutorial support and counselling services. School shutdown also impeded refugee-background students’ activities outside the home, which could render adverse effects on their physical, mental and social wellbeing. Holistic efforts are urgently needed in Australia to support refugee-background students in order to prevent further learning loss and promote health and wellbeing. Keywords: COVID-19, refugee-background students, education loss, physical, mental and social wellbeing, Australia

Farmers value the diversity because of diverse environments both in production and consumption. On-farm morphological variation on pigeon peas (2n = 2x= 22 or 4x, 6x?) was studied at Kachorwa, Bara, Nepal to assess the household categories that have maintained diversity. Household diversity Index (HDI) of 10 different farmer categories was estimated based on Shanon-Weaver method. Eighteen quantitative and qualitative (quant-qualitative) traits were used for on-farm variation and HDI studies. On farm ANOVA was generated on eight quantitative traits. Highest diversity (HDI, 0.265) was maintained by farmer of medium wealth category who grows pigeon pea in upland bund. Pigeon pea grown in khet (low land) bund with Pajawa landrace expressed least diversity (HDI, 0.079). Pigeon pea growing in monoculture was more diverse (HDI, 0.224) for 18 traits than in other production environments. Maximum variation was observed in growth habit followed by seed color pattern. The highest grain yield among the Chanki growers was produced by the farmer of medium wealth category growing pigeon pea in upland bund. Significance variation among farmers in quantitative traits indicates the intra varietal diversity in pigeon pea. Diversity varied with respect to wealth category and production environments. Farmer who has maximum diversity on pigeon pea could able to receive the higher grain yield. Result related to where and who maintain the diversity may be useful for development of on-farm conservation strategy. Possibility of developing good varieties exits using Pajawa and Chanki landraces. Nepal Agric. Res. J. Vol. 8, 2007, pp. 23-28DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/narj.v8i0.11567

Background Studies of the association between the apolipoprotein C3 gene (APOC3) rs5128 polymorphism and plasma levels of apolipoprotein C3 (APOC3) and lipids have reported apparently conflicting findings. This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the associations of the rs5128 polymorphism with fasting APOC3 and lipid levels. Methods The following information was abstracted for each study: ethnicity, age, sex, health condition, sample size, genotyping and lipid assay methods, mean and standard deviation or standard error by genotypes for APOC3 and lipid variables. There were 42 eligible studies with 23846 subjects included in this meta-analysis. A dominant model was used for this meta-analysis. Results The results showed that the carriers of the variant allele G had higher levels of APOC3 [standardized mean difference (SMD): 0.22, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.12-0.31, P