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Research on grit indicates that perseverance positively predicts academic achievement. Yet, the mechanisms through which perseverance might lead to academic success remain less explored, particularly in cross-cultural research. The current study investigated such mechanisms by examining possible mediating effects of students' use of self-regulated learning strategies (control, memorisation, and elaboration) on the predictive relation of students' perseverance on their academic achievement, in students from East Asian and Anglo-Saxon English speaking Western countries. The sample came from the OECD PISA study and included 24,352 population-representative 15-year-old students from Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, and the US. Results revealed that perseverance had a more positive association with achievement in East Asian cultures than Western cultures. Control strategy was stronger positive mediators of achievement in Western countries, whereas memorisation and elaboration strategy use and instrumental motivation more negatively mediated the effect of perseverance on achievement in Western countries.

Open Educational Resources (OER) in higher education cannot be put into practice without considering institutional contexts, which differ not only globally but also within the same country. Each institutional context provides educators with opportunities or limitations where Open Educational Practices (OEP) and OER for teaching and learning are involved. As part of a broader research project, and as a follow-up to national perspectives, an international comparison was conducted, based on institutional cases of nine different higher education systems (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Turkey). Aspects regarding the availability of infrastructure and institutional policies for OER, as well as the existence of measures directed at OER quality assurance and at the promotion of the development and use of OER were covered. The resulting theoretical contribution sheds light on an international comparative view of OER and points towards country-specific trends, as well as differences among institutions. These aspects could provide an impetus for the development of institutional guidelines and measures. In line with international literature on the topic, recommendations are derived to promote/enhance the use of OER in teaching and learning in higher education at the institutional level.

This paper explores faculty's perspectives and use of open educational resources (OER) and their repositories across different countries by conducting a multiple case study to find similarities and differences between academics' awareness, perceptions and use of OER, as well as examining related aspects of institutional policy and quality that may influence individual views. Data were collected through nine expert reports on each country studied (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and Turkey) and were analyzed through qualitative content analysis using thematic coding. Findings show the impact on individual OER adoption with regard to the individual control of diverse factors by faculty members; of institutional policies and quality measures on the externally determined factors (by the institution); and of institutional professional development and provision of incentives in more internally determined factors (by the faculty members themselves). These findings carry implications for higher education institutions around the world in their attempt to boost OER adoption by faculty members.

We compare the first-price sealed-bid (FPSB) auction and the simultaneous multiple-round auction (SMRA) in an environment based on the recent sale of 900 MHz spectrum in Australia. Three bidders compete for five indivisible items. Bidders can win at most three items and need to obtain at least two to achieve profitable scale, i.e. items are complements. Value complementarities, which are a common feature of spectrum auctions, exacerbate the "fitting problem" and undermine the usual logic for superior price discovery in the SMRA. We find that the FPSB outperforms the SMRA across a range of bidding environments: in terms of efficiency, revenue, and protecting bidders from losses due to the exposure problem. Moreover, the FPSB exhibits superior price discovery and almost always results in competitive ("core") prices unlike the SMRA, which frequently produces prices that are too low because of demand-reduction or too high because of the exposure problem. We demonstrate the robustness of our findings by considering two-stage variants of the FPSB and SMRA as well as environments in which bidders know their own values but not the distributions from which values are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Deserts are important landscapes on the earth and their variations have impacts on global climate through feedback processes. However, there is a limited understanding of the climatic controls on the spatial and temporal variations of global deserts. Here, we use climate reanalysis datasets, global land use/land cover (LULC) products and the CMIP6 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project) model outputs to calculate the changing of global deserts during 1982–2020, and estimate future spatial trends of global deserts. Our results show that mean annual global desert area over this period is 17.64×106 km2, accounting for 12% of the terrestrial land. Desert areas decreased rapidly from the end of the 1980s to the 1990s in North Africa and Australia, followed by a slow expansion in the early 21st century globally. Spatio-temporal variations of areas of arid climate are characterized by interdecadal fluctuations, and there are clear regional differences in dynamics of the aridity index (AI, used here as a proxy for the area of drylands) and desert areas. Statistical analyses reveal that increased vegetation cover is directly related to the reduction of desert area, while potential evaporation, surface temperature and humidity are also significantly correlated with the desert area. The relationship between wind speed and desert dynamics varies regionally. The results of the CMIP6 simulations suggest that global deserts will expand in the 21st century, albeit at different rates under the ssp245 and ssp585 scenarios. Desert expansions are modelled to be greatest in Asia, Africa and Australia, while those of southern North Africa may reduce as their southern borders migrate northwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global monsoon over land (GM_L) have significant variations in their dominated area (GMA_L). The quantitative assessment of changes in GMA_L is essential for understanding spatial environment impacts and the underlying driving mechanism of GM_L evolution. Simulation results of a suite of transient climate evolution simulation over the last 21,000 years (TraCE21ka) and five-model ensemble outputs of the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project in their latest phase (fourth, PMIP4-CMIP6) are analyzed to study the changes in global, hemispheric and six sub-monsoon areas over the past 21 ka over land. Both datasets can reproduce large-scale characteristics of GMA_L variability, although there are differences in the magnitudes of their changes. Compared to 0 ka, TraCE21ka simulations reveal that GMA_L reduced by about 4.89 × 106 km2 (decreased by 10.89%) during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 21–18 ka), and reached a maximum of 46.61 × 106 km2 (increased by 3.83%) during the middle Holocene (MH, 9–6 ka). In comparison, the results of PMIP4-CMIP6 yield a smaller change of GMA_L during the LGM (decreased by 3.72%) and a larger magnitude of GMA_L during the MH (increased by 4.73%). The analysis of GMA_L over the past 21 ka reveals the varying influences of external forcing, with insolation playing a dominant role. Rising atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations (GHG) and ice sheet melting have induced a stepwise expansion in GMA_L during the last deglaciation, superimposed with several abrupt millennial-scale weakened monsoon events under meltwater fluxes (MWF) forcing. After that, insolation caused a gradually declining trend in GMA_L during the Holocene. The position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) under orbital forcing, leading to an anti-phase reaction between Northern Hemisphere monsoon areas (NHMA_L) and Southern Hemisphere monsoon areas (SHMA_L), particularly after 9 ka. Among the six sub-monsoons, they show diverse variations and regional characteristics under different forcings. Although regional monsoons like Indonesia-Australia monsoon (IAM) exhibit nonlinear behavior due to internal variabilities, the overall response of global monsoons to external forcing is predominantly linear. In addition, changes in the hydrological processes can indicate the formation and expansion of monsoon domains. Moisture budget shows that thermodynamic effect has always dominated monsoon hydrological cycles over the past 21 ka. The differences in regional monsoon hydrological processes arise from the dynamic effect. Moreover, δ18O records have been used to test these numerical simulation results. Which, together with diverse thermodynamic and dynamic component configurations of terrestrial paleo-monsoon variations, would help to better understand the underlying mechanism of global monsoon and its influences in the future. • Quantitative reconstruction of global terrestrial monsoon areas at orbital-millennial timescales over past 21 ka. • Varying differences of global, hemispheric and six sub-monsoon areas between TraCE21ka and PMIP4-CMIP6 ensemble results. • Quantifying the contribution of each single-forcing experiment relative to the all-full forcing experiments. • Differences in regional terrestrial monsoon hydrological cycle are affected by dynamic component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose an iterative approach within a threshold quantile regression framework to identify sequential structural breaks. We apply it to a time series analysis with a focus on establishing a connection between structural breaks in the gasoline consumption function and extreme events in the economy. The estimated structural breaks and piecewise relationship between Australia's automobile gasoline consumption and household disposable income are consistent with economic intuition. Moreover, the heterogeneity in their relation across various quantiles and over different time periods divided by the identified structural breaks is revealed in a systematic manner. The comparison with a state-of-practice approach demonstrates the validity and efficiency of our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite Australia's high reliance on coal for electricity generation, no study has addressed the extent to which mercury (Hg) deposition has increased since the commissioning of coal-fired power plants. We present stratigraphic data from lake sediments in the Hunter Valley (New South Wales) and Latrobe Valley (Victoria), where a significant proportion of Australia's electricity is generated via coal combustion. Mercury deposition in lake sediments increased in the 1970s with the commissioning of coal-fired power plants, by a factor of 2.9-times in sediments of Lake Glenbawn (Hunter Valley) and 14-times in Traralgon Reservoir (Latrobe Valley). Sediments deposited after the commissioning of power plants have distinct Hg isotope compositions, similar to those of combusted coals. Mercury emission, estimated using an atmospheric model (CALPUFF), was higher in the Latrobe Valley than in the Hunter Valley. This is a result of higher Hg concentrations in lignite coal, lax regulation and older pollution-control technologies adopted by coal-fired power plants in the Latrobe Valley. Near-source deposition of Hg in Australia is significantly higher than North America and Europe, where better emission controls (e.g. wet flue gas desulfurization) have been in effect for decades. The challenge for Australia in years to come will be to ratify the Minamata Convention and develop better regulation policies to reduce Hg emissions. [Display omitted] • Coal accounts for 62% of total electricity generated in Australia. • Australia-Pacific is the region with the largest gap in Hg knowledge in the world. • Hg emissions and deposition in Australia are still increasing since ~1970s. • High near-source deposition has identified in urban areas of Victoria. • Hg emission regulations in Australia starkly contrast those of counterpart countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]