Book review : "Carbon Capture and Storage Emerging Legal and Regulatory Issues" edited by Ian Havercroft, Richard Macrory, Richard B Stewart, Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2011

As the international community struggles to find a cost-effective solution to mitigate climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, carbon capture and storage (CCS) has emerged as a project mechanism with the potential to assist in transitioning society towards its low carbon future. Being a politically attractive option, legal regimes to promote and approve CCS have proceeded at an accelerated pace in multiple jurisdictions including the European Union and Australia. This acceleration and emphasis on the swift commercial deployment of CCS projects has left the legal community in the undesirable position of having to advise on the strengths and weaknesses of the key features of these regimes once they have been passed and become operational. This is an area where environmental law principles are tested to their very limit. On the one hand, implementation of this new technology should proceed in a precautionary manner to avoid adverse impacts on the atmosphere, local community and broader environment. On the other hand, excessive regulatory restrictions will stifle innovation and act as a barrier to the swift deployment of CCS projects around the world. Finding the balance between precaution and innovation is no easy feat. This is an area where lawyers, academics, regulators and industry representatives can benefit from the sharing of collective experiences, both positive and negative, across the jurisdictions. This exemplary book appears to have been collated with this philosophy in mind and provides an insightful addition to the global dialogue on establishing effective national and international regimes for the implementation of CCS projects...

National climate change adaptation research plan : freshwater biodiversity

Climate change will alter the basic physical and chemical environment underpinning all life. Species will be affected differentially by these alterations, resulting in changes to the structure and composition of present-day freshwater ecological communities, with the potential to change the ways in which these ecosystems function and the services they provide.

Something rotten in the state of Minnesota: or the morality of backwoodsmen: 'A Simple Plan'

'A Simple Plan' is a deceptively complex and multilayered film, combining elements of Celtic mythology with the morality play and the windfall fantasy gone disastrously wrong. Despite its blending of realism and heavyhanded symbolism, and its abundant trans-textual gestures, 'A Simple Plan' is in many ways defiantly not a 90s movie: its leading characters are fashionably flawed, but they are neither sensitive, nor honourable, nor heroic; there are no startling special effects or intricate timeshifts; and it desperately gives the impression of depth, of being emphatically more than mere superficial excess. At a stretch it almost appears to be a throwback to the 1930s Production Code emphasis on the role of cinema in moral instruction; while good hardly triumphs over evil, venality is painfully and emphatically punished. But in other ways it is a quintessential late 90s film: an American/British/Japanese/German/French co-production, 'A Simple Plan' acts most palpably as a commentary on the moral, economic and social condition of the United States at the end of the American century.

The enterprise information security policy as a strategic business policy within the corporate strategic plan (extended abstract)

Information security has been recognized as a core requirement for corporate governance that is expected to facilitate not only the management of risks, but also as a corporate enabler that supports and contributes to the sustainability of organizational operations. In implementing information security, the enterprise information security policy is the set of principles and strategies that guide the course of action for the security activities and may be represented as a brief statement that defines program goals and sets information security and risk requirements. The enterprise information security policy (alternatively referred to as security policy in this paper) that represents the meta-policy of information security is an element of corporate ICT governance and is derived from the strategic requirements for risk management and corporate governance. Consistent alignment between the security policy and the other corporate business policies and strategies has to be maintained if information security is to be implemented according to evolving business objectives. This alignment may be facilitated by managing security policy alongside other corporate business policies within the strategic management cycle. There are however limitations in current approaches for developing and managing the security policy to facilitate consistent strategic alignment. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for security policy management by presenting propositions to positively affect security policy alignment with business policies and prescribing a security policy management approach that expounds on the propositions.

Inactivation and structural changes of E. Cloacae and B. Subtilis Endospores during IR laser water treatment

IR radiation has been studied for micro-organism inactivation of bacterial spores on metal substrates [1] and on metal and paper substrates [2]. A near-point near infrared laser water treatment apparatus for use in dental hand-pieces was also developed [3]. To date water sterilisation research using a mid-IR laser technique is very rare. According to the World Health Organisation [4], examinations for faecal indicator bacteria remain the most sensitive and specific way of assessing the hygienic quality of water. Bacteria that fall into this group are E. coli, other coliform bacteria (including E. cloacae) and to a lesser extent, faecal streptococci [5]. Protozoan cysts from organisms which cause giardiasis are the most frequently identified cause of waterborne diseases in developed countries [6,7]. The use of aerobic bacterial endospores to monitor the efficiency of various water treatments has been shown to provide a reliable and simple indicator of overall performance of water treatment[8,9].The efficacy of IR radiation for water disinfection compared to UV treatment has been further investigated in the present study. In addition FTIR spectroscopy in conjunction with Principle Component Analysis was used to characterise structural changes within the bacterial cells and endospores following IR laser treatment. Changes in carbohydrate content of E. cloacae following IR laser treatment were observed.

Book review: "English for telecoms and information technology" by T. Ricca and M. Duckworth; "English for legal professionals" by A. Frost; "English for the pharmaceutical industry" by M. Buchler, K. Jaehnig, G. Matzig, and T. Weindler; "English for cabin crews" by S. Ellis and L. Lansford; and "English for negotiating" by C. Lafond, S. Vine, and B. Welch.

This review examines five books in the Oxford Business English Express Series, including "English for telecoms and information technology" by T. Ricca and M. Duckworth; "English for legal professionals" by A. Frost; "English for the pharmaceutical industry" by M. Buchler, K. Jaehnig, G. Matzig, and T. Weindler; "English for cabin crews" by S. Ellis and L. Lansford; and "English for negotiating" by C. Lafond, S. Vine, and B. Welch.

Virtual prototyping for planning bridge construction

4D simulation, building information modeling, virtual construction, computer simulation and virtual prototyping are emerging topics in the building construction industry. These techniques not only relate to the buildings themselves, but can also be applied to other forms of construction, including bridges. Since bridge construction is a complex process involving multiple types of plant and equipment, applying such virtual methods benefits the understanding of all parties in construction practice. This paper describes the relationship between temporary platforms, plant and equipment resources and a proposed-built model in the construction planning and use of Virtual Prototyping Simulation (VPS) to implement different construction scenarios in order to help planners identify an optimal construction plan. A case study demonstrates the use of VPS integrated with temporary platform design and plant and equipment-resource allocation to generate different construction scenarios.

Population structure of Bactrocera dorsalis s.s., B. papayae and B. philippinensis (Diptera: Tephritidae) in southeast Asia: evidence for a single species hypothesis using mitochondrial DNA and wingshape data

Background Bactrocera dorsalis s.s. is a pestiferous tephritid fruit fly distributed from Pakistan to the Pacific, with the Thai/Malay peninsula its southern limit. Sister pest taxa, B. papayae and B. philippinensis, occur in the southeast Asian archipelago and the Philippines, respectively. The relationship among these species is unclear due to their high molecular and morphological similarity. This study analysed population structure of these three species within a southeast Asian biogeographical context to assess potential dispersal patterns and the validity of their current taxonomic status. Results Geometric morphometric results generated from 15 landmarks for wings of 169 flies revealed significant differences in wing shape between almost all sites following canonical variate analysis. For the combined data set there was a greater isolation-by-distance (IBD) effect under a ‘non-Euclidean’ scenario which used geographical distances within a biogeographical ‘Sundaland context’ (r2 = 0.772, P < 0.0001) as compared to a ‘Euclidean’ scenario for which direct geographic distances between sample sites was used (r2 = 0.217, P < 0.01). COI sequence data were obtained for 156 individuals and yielded 83 unique haplotypes with no correlation to current taxonomic designations via a minimum spanning network. BEAST analysis provided a root age and location of 540kya in northern Thailand, with migration of B. dorsalis s.l. into Malaysia 470kya and Sumatra 270kya. Two migration events into the Philippines are inferred. Sequence data revealed a weak but significant IBD effect under the ‘non-Euclidean’ scenario (r2 = 0.110, P < 0.05), with no historical migration evident between Taiwan and the Philippines. Results are consistent with those expected at the intra-specific level. Conclusions Bactrocera dorsalis s.s., B. papayae and B. philippinensis likely represent one species structured around the South China Sea, having migrated from northern Thailand into the southeast Asian archipelago and across into the Philippines. No migration is apparent between the Philippines and Taiwan. This information has implications for quarantine, trade and pest management.

Development of network-level project screening methods supporting the 4-Year pavement management plan in Texas

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is concerned about the widening gap between pavement preservation needs and available funding. Thus, the TxDOT Austin District Pavement Engineer (DPE) has investigated methods to strategically allocate available pavement funding to potential projects that improve the overall performance of the District and Texas highway systems. The primary objective of the study presented in this paper is to develop a network-level project screening and ranking method that supports the Austin District 4-year pavement management plan development. The study developed candidate project selection and ranking algorithms that evaluated pavement conditions of each project candidate using data contained in the Pavement Management Information system (PMIS) database and incorporated insights from Austin District pavement experts; and implemented the developed method and supporting algorithm. This process previously required weeks to complete, but now requires about 10 minutes including data preparation and running the analysis algorithm, which enables the Austin DPE to devote more time and resources to conducting field visits, performing project-level evaluation and testing candidate projects. The case study results showed that the proposed method assisted the DPE in evaluating and prioritizing projects and allocating funds to the right projects at the right time.

The language of optimism : how entrepreneurs sell the sizzle in business plan offer documents

Existing macro level research on the new venture creation process recognises the entrepreneur as a central agent in the process yet generally avoids, at each stage of the process, an examination of the micro level psychological behaviour of the individual entrepreneur. By integrating two theoretical approaches to entrepreneurship research, the psychology of the entrepreneur and the entrepreneurship process, this paper examines, using content analysis, the language used by new venture founders in documents directly linked to their capital raising activity. The study examined the language of 108 offer documents (information memorandum’s) which were divided between 54 new ventures that were successful in raising capital and 54 new ventures that either did not proceed further or were not successful in raising capital through the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board. Specifically, we were interested in examining the level of optimism evident in these narratives given that entrepreneurs have been previously described in the literature as being excessively optimistic.

Extracting deck trend to plan descent trajectory for safe landing of UAVs

This paper outlines a feasible scheme to extract deck trend when a rotary-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (RUAV)approaches an oscillating deck. An extended Kalman filter (EKF) is de- veloped to fuse measurements from multiple sensors for effective estimation of the unknown deck heave motion. Also, a recursive Prony Analysis (PA) procedure is proposed to implement online curve-fitting of the estimated heave mo- tion. The proposed PA constructs an appropriate model with parameters identified using the forgetting factor recursive least square (FFRLS)method. The deck trend is then extracted by separating dominant modes. Performance of the proposed procedure is evaluated using real ship motion data, and simulation results justify the suitability of the proposed method into safe landing of RUAVs operating in a maritime environment.

Evaluation of the luminous environment in open-plan offices with skylights

High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging was used to collect luminance information at workstations in 2 open-plan office buildings in Queensland, Australia: one lit by skylights, vertical windows and electric light, and another by skylights and electric light. This paper compares illuminance and luminance data collected in these offices with occupant feedback to evaluate these open-plan environments based on available and emerging metrics for visual comfort and glare. This study highlights issues of daylighting quality and measurement specific to open plan spaces. The results demonstrate that overhead glare is a serious threat to user acceptance of skylights, and that electric and daylight integration and controls have a major impact on the perception of daylighting quality. With regards to measurement of visual comfort it was found that the Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) gave poor agreement with occupant reports of discomfort glare in open-plan spaces with skylights, and the CIE Glare Index (CGI) gave the best agreement. Horizontal and vertical illuminances gave no indication of visual comfort in these spaces.

Post occupancy evaluations relating to discomfort glare : a study of green buildings in Brisbane

Glare indices have yet to be extensively tested in daylit open plan offices, as such there is no effective method to predict discomfort glare within these spaces. This study into discomfort glare in open plan green buildings targeted full-time employees, working under their everyday lighting conditions. Three green buildings in Brisbane were used for data collection, two were Green Star accredited and the other contained innovative daylighting strategies. Data were collected on full-time employees, mostly aged between 30 and 50 years, who broadly reflect the demographics of the wider working population in Australia. It was discovered 36 of the 64 respondents experienced discomfort from both electric and daylight sources at their workspace. The study used a specially tailored post-occupancy evaluation (POE) survey to help assess discomfort glare. Luminance maps extracted from High Dynamic Range (HDR) images were used to capture the luminous environment of the occupants. These were analysed using participant data and the program Evalglare. The physical results indicated no correlation with other developed glare metrics for daylight within these open plan green buildings, including the recently developed Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) Index. The strong influence of vertical illuminance, Ev in the DGP precludes the mostly contrast-based glare from windows observed in this investigation from forming a significant part of this index. Furthermore, critical assessment of the survey techniques used are considered. These will provide insight for further research into discomfort glare in the endeavour to fully develop a suitable glare metric.

Ca2+ regulates the Drosophila Stoned-A and Stoned-B proteins interaction with the C2B domain of Synaptotagmin-1.

The dicistronic Drosophila stoned gene is involved in exocytosis and/or endocytosis of synaptic vesicles. Mutations in either stonedA or stonedB cause a severe disruption of neurotransmission in fruit flies. Previous studies have shown that the coiled-coil domain of the Stoned-A and the µ-homology domain of the Stoned-B protein can interact with the C2B domain of Synaptotagmin-1. However, very little is known about the mechanism of interaction between the Stoned proteins and the C2B domain of Synaptotagmin-1. Here we report that these interactions are increased in the presence of Ca(2+). The Ca(2+)-dependent interaction between the µ-homology domain of Stoned-B and C2B domain of Synaptotagmin-1 is affected by phospholipids. The C-terminal region of the C2B domain, including the tryptophan-containing motif, and the Ca(2+) binding loop region that modulate the Ca(2+)-dependent oligomerization, regulates the binding of the Stoned-A and Stoned-B proteins to the C2B domain. Stoned-B, but not Stoned-A, interacts with the Ca(2+)-binding loop region of C2B domain. The results indicate that Ca(2+)-induced self-association of the C2B domain regulates the binding of both Stoned-A and Stoned-B proteins to Synaptotagmin-1. The Stoned proteins may regulate sustainable neurotransmission in vivo by binding to Ca(2+)-bound Synaptotagmin-1 associated synaptic vesicles.