Isolation and characterization of 21 polymorphic microsatellite loci in the iconic Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, using the Ion Torrent next-generation sequencing platform

We isolated and characterized 21 microsatellite loci in the vulnerable and iconic Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri. Loci were screened across eight individuals from the Burnett River and 40 individuals from the Pine River. Genetic diversity was low with between one and six alleles per locus within populations and a maximum expected heterozygosity of 0.774. These loci will now be available to assess effective population sizes and genetic structure in N. forsteri across its natural range in South East Queensland, Australia.

The Torrent : Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley, 10 January 2011

Of all the stories to emerge from Queensland’s catastrophic summer of 2011, the most dramatic and starkly tragic were those that took place in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley. On January 10, 2011, after weeks of heavy rain and as floodwaters began to overwhelm much of south-east Queensland, an ‘inland tsunami’ hit the city of Toowoomba, the rural districts of Spring Bluff and Postmans Ridge, and the towns of Murphys Creek, Withcott, Helidon, and Grantham. The Torrent:Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley, 10 January 2011 tells, for the first time, the extraordinary stories of survival and loss that emerged from that terrible day. Official figures state that twenty-four people died. Many escaped death only because they were rescued by members of the community or through sheer good fortune. Based on exclusive interviews with survivors, rescuers and with the families and friends of victims of the disaster, The Torrent is a unique and powerful account of human courage in the face of the devastating force of nature, and the enduring resilience of ordinary Australians.

Toowoomba torrent no one knew was coming

"It came without warning and, within minutes, the sea of murky brown water that swept through the main street of Toowoomba was gone."

Rescuers ignored danger to pluck mother and child from torrent

"Jenny Perry, her husband James and nine-year-old son Ted balanced on the roof of their car until the floodwaters at Helidon took them towards a power line."

Amazing tale of teen's survival in torrent gives hope to families of the missing

Flailing in a maelstrom of muddy water, a teenager being swept along Toowoomba's shopping strip has become a reason for hope for the loved ones of the 12 people still missing in the devastating Queensland floods...

User interface design for social web theme and opinion analysis

The Social Web is a torrent of real-time information and an emerging discipline is now focussed on harnessing this information flow for analysis of themes, opinions and sentiment. This short paper reports on early work on designing better user interfaces for end users in manipulating the outcomes from these analysis engines.

Saying sorry in the 21st century : public apologies in a digital world

The public apology to the Forgotten Australians in late 2009 was, for many, the culmination of a long campaign for recognition and justice. The groundswell for this apology was built through a series of submissions which documented the systemic institutionalised abuse and neglect experienced by the Forgotten Australians that has resulted, for some, in life-long disadvantage and marginalisation. Interestingly it seems that rather than the official documents being the catalyst for change and prompting this public apology, it was more often the personal stories of the Forgotten Australians that resonated and over time drew out quite a torrent of support from the public leading up to, during and after the public apology, just as had been the case with the ‘Stolen Generation.’ Research suggests (cite) that the ethics of such national apologies only make sense if their personal stories are seen as a collective responsibility of society, and only carry weight if we understand and seek to Nationally address the trauma experienced by such victims. In the case of the Forgotten Australians, the National Library of Australia’s Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants Oral History Project and the National Museum’s Inside project demonstrate commitment to the digitisation of the Forgotten Australians’ stories in order to promote a better public understanding of their experiences, and institutionally (and therefore formally) value them with renewed social importance. Our project builds on this work not by making or collecting more stories, but by examining the role of the internet and digital technologies used in the production and dissemination of individuals’ stories that have already been created during the period of time between the tabling of the senate inquiry, Children in Institutional Care (1999 or 2003?) and a formal National apology being delivered in Federal Parliament by PM Kevin Rudd (9 Nov, 2009?). This timeframe also represents the emergent first decade of Internet use by Australians, including the rapid easily accessible digital technologies and social media tools that were at our disposal, along with the promises the technology claimed to offer — that is that more people would benefit from the social connections these technologies allegedly were giving us.

Assembly and annotation of a non-model gastropod (Nerita melanotragus) transcriptome: a comparison of De novo assemblers

Background The sequencing, de novo assembly and annotation of transcriptome datasets generated with next generation sequencing (NGS) has enabled biologists to answer genomic questions in non-model species with unprecedented ease. Reliable and accurate de novo assembly and annotation of transcriptomes, however, is a critically important step for transcriptome assemblies generated from short read sequences. Typical benchmarks for assembly and annotation reliability have been performed with model species. To address the reliability and accuracy of de novo transcriptome assembly in non-model species, we generated an RNAseq dataset for an intertidal gastropod mollusc species, Nerita melanotragus, and compared the assembly produced by four different de novo transcriptome assemblers; Velvet, Oases, Geneious and Trinity, for a number of quality metrics and redundancy. Results Transcriptome sequencing on the Ion Torrent PGM™ produced 1,883,624 raw reads with a mean length of 133 base pairs (bp). Both the Trinity and Oases de novo assemblers produced the best assemblies based on all quality metrics including fewer contigs, increased N50 and average contig length and contigs of greater length. Overall the BLAST and annotation success of our assemblies was not high with only 15-19% of contigs assigned a putative function. Conclusions We believe that any improvement in annotation success of gastropod species will require more gastropod genome sequences, but in particular an increase in mollusc protein sequences in public databases. Overall, this paper demonstrates that reliable and accurate de novo transcriptome assemblies can be generated from short read sequencers with the right assembly algorithms. Keywords: Nerita melanotragus; De novo assembly; Transcriptome; Heat shock protein; Ion torrent

The French polisher and the unsentimental interior

In January 2011 a swollen Brisbane River broke its banks flooding riverside houses and buildings. The river’s water spread and rose up through storm water drains inundating some 20 000 houses in low-lying land. As the water receded those residents affected by the floods returned to their homes to assess the damage. While some people breathed a sigh of relief others were devastated by the overwhelming damage to their homes and personal belongings. Over the next few weeks the landscape of Brisbane was altered not merely by the mud and debris left by the torrent of water, but by the piles of domestic contents occupying Brisbane streets. Beds, toys, cabinets, plasterboard, tiles and household furniture lined curbsides waiting for collection. Later they would accumulate in public parks and sports centres to await disposal, momentarily creating an unsettling landscape of discarded domestic interiors. While most houses remained standing the heart breaking repercussions were evident in their interiority. Thousands of volunteers flocked to help those affected by the floods to purge the damage left by the water – removing wall and floor linings, discarding furniture and spoilt belongings. In her paper on Hurricane Katrina, Julieanna Preston wrote, ‘What anthropological evidence would we find as we followed their migration – heaps left by the side of the road, the physical weight overcoming the personal value…’ For many of the post flood restored homes and buildings entire interiors have been replaced, eradicating any trace of the significant event that disturbed them only months earlier. There were artifacts that would have survived the floods - furniture of solid timber – these were discarded and with them the patina that marked an important event in history. The patina is beyond technological reproducibility, and as Walter Benjamin writes, this being the whole premise of genuineness. It is the role of the French Polisher to maintain the true wear of the artefact for it is the patina that is most valuable in its ability to narrate the history of a piece. In 2012 two separate exhibitions in Brisbane will take place to display a selected collection of flood-damaged artefacts. This orchestrated way to commemorate the damage left by floods may be a method to compensate for the haste in which the damage was purged from the city. This need for exhibiting damaged artifacts illustrates Andreas Huyssen’s point that "…today memory is understood as a mode of re-presentation and as belonging to the present." This research looks at the dying trade of the French Polisher through conversations and a visual study of flood damaged furniture. The research also investigates the personal loss of artifacts through intimate stories shared by flood victims. This paper seeks to understand why so much was discarded and celebrate what remains.

One year on : the devastating Queensland floods

"Tomorrow will mark the one year anniversary of the devastating floods that hit Queensland's Lockyer Valley and Toowoomba and starting today, we'll begin a series of interviews with survivors of those floods on the 10th of January last year. In today's program, Murphy's Creek resident Nelly Gitsham how she sent her family to safety and then ventured into the flood to try to save her neighbour's horse, only to find herself needing to be rescued by another neighbour, John Taylor." Reporter: Amanda Gearing

Queensland floods anniversary : Peter McCarron

"Today marks the one year anniversary of the devastating floods that hit Queensland. This is the second in our series of survival from the Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley floods on the 10th of January 2011. Today, Queensland Fire and Rescue officer Peter McCarron tells Amanda Gearing about the flood emergency in Toowoomba's central business district: torrential rain suddenly caused flash flooding of city streets and swept away dozens of people and hundreds of cars."

Queensland floods anniversary : Brian Willmett

"In today's story we hear from Postmans Ridge helicopter pilot, Brian Willmett, and how he and his neighbours worked together to rescue four people, including Kevin and Eileen Lees, from the inland tsunami which swept down the Lockyer Valley during last year's Queensland floods. It was a ten metre high wave that swept through Postmans Ridge that day, ripping houses from their foundations and sweeping two people to their deaths. Brian Willmett was at home when he suddenly ran to rescue neighbours who were in danger. To mark the anniversary of the floods in Queensland, ABC Open has compiled Aftermath, an extensive look at the Queensland floods as well as floods in NSW, Victoria and remote Western Australia, Cyclone Yasi and the 2009 Victorian 'Black Saturday' bushfires. Australia certainly has been hit by a few disasters in the past two or so years. The site has a timeline showing content from these six disasters, with links to about 40 people effected by these disasters. If you go to that site you will be able to choose a person to watch videos about them."

Queensland floods anniversary : Angela Emmerson

"We're marking the anniversary of the destructive floods that hit Queensland a year ago this week with our series of interviews from survivors. Today's story is from Helidon teenager and university student Angela Emmerson, who tells Amanda Gearing how she and her sister scrambled to the roof to escape the dangerous flash flood which suddenly engulfed their house on the 10th of January last year. Tomorrow we'll hear from Grantham resident Rob Wilkin who rescued 31 local people using his car and boat. He helped them escape to safety as 138 houses in the town were destroyed. To mark the anniversary of the floods in Queensland, ABC Open has compiled Aftermath, an extensive look at the Queensland floods as well as floods in NSW, Victoria and remote Western Australia; Cyclone Yasi and the 2009 Victorian 'Black Saturday' bushfires. Australia certainly has been hit by a few disasters in the past two or so years. The site has a timeline showing content from these six disasters, with links to about 40 people effected by these disasters. If you go to that site you will be able to choose a person to watch videos about them."

Queensland floods anniversary : Rob Wilkin

"This week, we have been marking the anniversary of the destructive floods that hit Queensland a year ago this week with a series of interviews from survivors. Today's story comes from Grantham resident Rob Wilkin who helped save 31 people in the flash flood disaster on the 10th of January last year. 23 people in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley died and 138 houses in the town were destroyed.. To mark the anniversary of the floods in Queensland, ABC Open has compiled 'Aftermath', an extensive look at the Queensland floods as well as floods in NSW, Victoria and remote Western Australia, Cyclone Yasi and the 2009 Victorian 'Black Saturday' bushfires. Australia certainly has been hit by a few disasters in the past two or so years. The site has a timeline showing content from these six disasters, with links to about 40 people effected by these disasters. If you go to that site you will be able to choose a person to watch videos about them."