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This paper presents a novel application of a discrete choice experiment that seeks to contribute to a more accurate understanding of international education flows. The discrete choice experiment method is employed to identify the key factors underlying students' international education choices. The specific focus in the study is on China as the largest origin country of international students in the growing global education market. Data are collected from a sample of prospective Chinese outbound students. The findings suggest that university ranking and destination safety are key decision drivers for Chinese students. The results have policy implications for Australia, as one of the key higher education destination countries, for instance, in relation to recently changed student visa systems and the potential effects of planned government budget cuts to higher education on educational quality and reputation.

Since commercial polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been globally banned or restricted in 2000s, alternative halogenated flame retardants (AHFRs) appear increasingly dominant over PBDEs in many countries/regions. In this study, low levels of AHFRs were unexpectedly observed in the indoor dust from Adelaide, South Australia. Anti-dechlorane plus (anti-DP) was the most frequently detected AHFR with a median concentration of 1.28 ng/g, while other AFHRs were less detected (detection frequency < 50%). The levels of ΣPBDEs (496 ng/g, median) and ΣAHFRs (160 ng/g) and the ratio of ΣAHFRs/ΣPBDEs (0.32) were much lower than those investigated in Australian indoor dust previously. The findings were different to the trend for PBDEs and AHFRs from other countries over the past two decades. No significant correlation was determined between DP and PBDE congeners, indicating their different sources in dust. The human exposure assessment suggested that dust ingestion was the predominant pathway of PBDEs and AHFRs exposure for toddlers, while dermal absorption may be the dominant pathway for adults. The estimated daily intake (EDI) suggested low health risks via dust ingestion and dermal contact for general populations in Adelaide. This study contributes to the knowledge on region-specific FR contamination in indoor environments and related human exposure risk., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)