The widespread adoption of Industry 4.0 in the mining industry has shifted labour demand toward roles requiring digital literacy, data analysis, and other non-traditional mining skills. This shift has influenced the labour supply and skills demands of the industry. Additionally, the entry of Generation Z into the workforce has introduced new dynamics, as their approaches to work and interaction create both challenges and opportunities for mining-dependent communities. This study examines job and skill demands in the Bowen Basin, a typical mining region, and assesses whether Gen Z can meet these demands or risk widening existing skill gaps. The findings indicate that, while Queensland offers a broader range of professional positions with strong emphasis on digitalisation and automation, the Bowen Basin remains highly concentrated in coal production-related jobs. Although Gen Z’s digital capacities align well with emerging roles, their soft skills may constrain their adaptability in roles that require different communication styles and hierarchical organisation. The findings highlight the need for enhanced training and organisational culture reforms in areas such as effective communication for the Gen Z workforce. In the meantime, place-based workforce development strategies need to integrate green transition goals to ensure that labour markets adapt to transformation while retaining a local talent pool. This requires coordination among policymakers, mining companies, and educational providers.
BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) has significant morbidity in pregnant and postpartum women with HIV (pregnant and PPWWHIV). TB preventive therapy (TPT) is recommended in pregnant and PPWWHIV with documented or presumed latent TB infection (LTBI). TB-stimulated IFNγ release assay and skin test positivity decline after TPT, but the underlying mechanisms and relationship with TB-specific immunologic memory are incompletely understood. We investigated this aspect in PPWWHIV.MethodsPPWWHIV with LTBI received isoniazid TPT between 12 and 40 weeks postpartum. Blood obtained at 12 and 44 weeks postpartum was used to compare functional and phenotypic characteristics of unstimulated and TB-stimulated CD4+ and CD8+ conventional T cells (Tconv); unconventional T cells, including γδ, iNKT, MR1+ and MR1- MAIT, and NKT; NK; and antigen presenting cells (APC) pre- and post-TPT.ResultsIn 45 participants with medians of 477 CD4+ T cells/µL and <50 HIV RNA copies/mL of plasma on antiretroviral therapy, both Tconv and innate immune cells responded to TB antigenic stimulation in vitro with an increase in functional markers. TPT was associated with a pronounced decrease in the proportions of granzyme B-expressing Tconv and unconventional T cell subsets both in TB-stimulated and unstimulated conditions. TB-stimulated Th1- and Th17-like responses in unconventional T cells also decreased from pre- to post-TPT. TB-stimulated conventional and unconventional regulatory T cells mostly decreased after TPT with a few exceptions. Very few changes were observed in circulating or TB-stimulated APC in response to TPT.ConclusionsTPT was associated with a significant decrease in TB-specific T cell responses, including Tconv but mostly unconventional T cells, suggesting an important role of unconventional T cell memory in the control of TB infection. The prominent decrease of granzyme B-expressing T cells in response to TPT highlighted the importance of granzyme B in the maintenance of LTBI.
ABSTRACT Economic decision‐making is increasingly expected to incorporate biodiversity measures alongside traditional financial indicators. Specifically, natural capital accounting (NCA) frameworks aim to link ecosystem condition and services to policy and economic outcomes. In practice, however, NCA implementation is constrained by a lack of biodiversity data that are sufficiently comprehensive for detailed and consistent reporting across space and time. Here, we identify environmental DNA (eDNA)‐based biodiversity monitoring as a scalable tool for generating biodiversity inputs suitable for NCA. We explore the characteristics of eDNA methods and metrics that align with NCA requirements and present a conceptual illustration of how eDNA‐derived biodiversity information could be integrated into environmental accounts. Finally, we identify incomparability as a key limitation of current eDNA‐derived biodiversity estimates, arising from both the sensitivity of metabarcoding to rare taxa as well as the influence of methodological choices on species detection. We argue that standardization of specific eDNA workflows, as well as statistical harmonization of ecological inference, will enable delivery of biodiversity metrics suitable for broadscale NCA applications.
The partial substitution of metallurgical coal with renewable biomass may reduce fossil carbon input during cokemaking, but its effects on coke oven gas (COG)-relevant volatile evolution remain insufficiently understood. This study investigated the influence of Chlorella vulgaris (MA) and torrefied Bambusa balcooa (TB) on the thermal decomposition behaviour, IR-active functional-group evolution, and evolved-gas profiles of two Australian metallurgical coals of differing rank. Blends comprising 80wt.% coal and 20wt.% biomass were analysed using in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier-transform spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis coupled with mass spectrometry. MA-containing blends exhibited higher relative aliphatic C-H and hydroxyl-associated band intensities at low temperatures and earlier, broader evolution of CH4-, CO-, and H2O-associated signals, particularly in the mid-rank blend. TB produced a more coal-like gas evolution profile with smaller changes in functional-group intensity, consistent with the stabilising effect of torrefaction. However, its effect depended strongly on coal rank. In the high-rank blend, TB was associated with accelerated mass loss during coal devolatilisation and lower-than-calculated light hydrocarbon-associated signals, whereas the mid-rank blend showed a reduced mass-loss rate and non-additive enhancement of propene- and butane-associated signals. These contrasting behaviours demonstrate rank-dependent non-additivity in the TB blends, although the respective contributions of TB ash chemistry, residual organic structure, and physical effects could not be isolated. The results demonstrate that biomass selection and coal rank jointly influence COG-relevant gas evolution during coal-biomass co-pyrolysis.
