Submission to the Senate Economics References Committee Inquiry into affordable housing 20 August 2014: De-risking development of medium density housing to improve housing affordability and boost supply

This submission addresses the problem of housing price inflation, the chronic under-supply of new housing stock, and the resultant decline in housing affordability for low and middle income households. It specifically focusses on the supply of medium density housing (multi-unit development) in Melbourne, although we believe that the observations made about housing in supply in Melbourne are relevant in other urban centres and to other types of housing supply. In terms of medium density housing (MDH) our concern also extends to the poor quality and design. Why the market tends to deliver generic apartments of poor quality and design which are uncompetitive with lower density housing and amenity despite planning objectives, and how this apparently intractable problem can be overcome is the topic of this submission...

World Wide Web korpuksena kielitieteellisen tutkimusaineiston haku verkkosivuilta

Tämä tutkielma käsittelee World Wide Webin sisältämien verkkosivujen sisältöjen käyttöä korpusmaisesti kielitieteellisenä tutkimusaineistona. World Wide Web sisältää moninkertaisesti enemmän tekstiä kuin suurimmat olemassa olevat perinteiset tekstikorpukset, joten verkkosivuilta voi todennäköisesti löytää paljon esiintymiä sellaisista sanoista ja rakenteista, jotka ovat perinteisissä korpuksissa harvinaisia. Verkkosivuja voidaan käyttää aineistona kahdella eri tavalla: voidaan kerätä satunnainen otos verkkosivuista ja luoda itsenäinen korpus niiden sisällöistä, tai käyttää koko World Wide Webiä korpuksena verkkohakukoneiden kautta. Verkkosivuja on käytetty tutkimusaineistona monilla eri kielitieteen aloilla, kuten leksikograafisessa tutkimuksessa, syntaktisten rakenteiden tutkimuksessa, pedagogisena materiaalina ja vähemmistökielten tutkimuksessa. Verkkosivuilla on perinteisiin korpuksiin verrattuna useita haitallisia ominaisuuksia, jotka pitää ottaa huomioon, kun niitä käytetään aineistona. Kaikki sivut eivät sisällä kelvollista tekstiä, ja sivut ovat usein esimerkiksi HTML-muotoisia, jolloin ne pitää muuttaa helpommin käsiteltävissä olevaan muotoon. Verkkosivut sisältävät enemmän kielellisiä virheitä kuin perinteiset korpukset, ja niiden tekstityypit ja aihepiirit ovat runsaslukuisempia kuin perinteisten korpusten. Aineiston keräämiseen verkkosivuilta tarvitaan tehokkaita ohjelmatyökaluja. Näistä yleisimpiä ovat kaupalliset verkkohakukoneet, joiden kautta on mahdollista päästä nopeasti käsiksi suureen määrään erilaisia sivuja. Näiden lisäksi voidaan käyttää erityisesti kielitieteellisiin tarpeisiin kehitettyjä työkaluja. Tässä tutkielmassa esitellään ohjelmatyökalut WebCorp, WebAsCorpus.org, BootCaT ja Web as Corpus Toolkit, joiden avulla voi hakea aineistoa verkkosivuilta nimenomaan kielitieteellisiin tarkoituksiin.

Using simulation techniques to investigate methods to determine resistance of helminths to anthelmintic treatment

The widespread and increasing resistance of internal parasites to anthelmintic control is a serious problem for the Australian sheep and wool industry. As part of control programmes, laboratories use the Faecal Egg Count Reduction Test (FECRT) to determine resistance to anthelmintics. It is important to have confidence in the measure of resistance, not only for the producer planning a drenching programme but also for companies investigating the efficacy of their products. The determination of resistance and corresponding confidence limits as given in anthelmintic efficacy guidelines of the Standing Committee on Agriculture (SCA) is based on a number of assumptions. This study evaluated the appropriateness of these assumptions for typical data and compared the effectiveness of the standard FECRT procedure with the effectiveness of alternative procedures. Several sets of historical experimental data from sheep and goats were analysed to determine that a negative binomial distribution was a more appropriate distribution to describe pre-treatment helminth egg counts in faeces than a normal distribution. Simulated egg counts for control animals were generated stochastically from negative binomial distributions and those for treated animals from negative binomial and binomial distributions. Three methods for determining resistance when percent reduction is based on arithmetic means were applied. The first was that advocated in the SCA guidelines, the second similar to the first but basing the variance estimates on negative binomial distributions, and the third using Wadley’s method with the distribution of the response variate assumed negative binomial and a logit link transformation. These were also compared with a fourth method recommended by the International Co-operation on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Veterinary Medicinal Products (VICH) programme, in which percent reduction is based on the geometric means. A wide selection of parameters was investigated and for each set 1000 simulations run. Percent reduction and confidence limits were then calculated for the methods, together with the number of times in each set of 1000 simulations the theoretical percent reduction fell within the estimated confidence limits and the number of times resistance would have been said to occur. These simulations provide the basis for setting conditions under which the methods could be recommended. The authors show that given the distribution of helminth egg counts found in Queensland flocks, the method based on arithmetic not geometric means should be used and suggest that resistance be redefined as occurring when the upper level of percent reduction is less than 95%. At least ten animals per group are required in most circumstances, though even 20 may be insufficient where effectiveness of the product is close to the cut off point for defining resistance.

Kilpailukykyvaltion koululainsäädännön rakentuminen : Suomen eduskunta ja 1990-luvun koulutuspoliittinen käänne

Finnish education policy, educational legislation and the entire education system changed significantly during the 1990s as part of a general restructuring of public administration. There has been a clear divergence from the former tradition of a system of regulation, founded on detailed legislation and the principle of equality. The new governance, which is based more on individual choice, efficiency and evaluation, emphasizes that the development of a high standard of education is a necessity in the light of global competition. This study explores the legislative process regarding education policy in the Finnish Parliament during the 1990s, and highlights in particular how the international discourse on education policies was restructured in the context of Finnish legislation. The research material consists of all the public parliamentary documents relating to education, including government proposals, minutes from the discussions in the chamber and archive material (final protocols, reports and statements) for the Committee for Education and Culture. The discourse on the process of drafting and passing education legislation is modelled on three interrelated policy technologies (market, management and performance), which are understood here as mechanisms connecting general political ideas to normative legislation. The changes in the regulation of education were part of a general public administration reform instigated during the mid 1980s. The research results will prove that during the left-right coalition cabinet of PM Harri Holkeri, new policy technologies affected the parliamentary discourse on education policy. This was particularly influenced by a change in the preconditions for the management of education that was created as a result of the numerous demands to deregulate and delegate decision-making authority to the local and school levels while rendering the whole education system more effective. At the turn of the decade, market-type mechanisms were more indirectly manifested in the forms of individuality and freedom of choice, which were reflected, for example, in proposals to “lower the hurdles” by separating general from vocational secondary education with a view to encouraging students to select courses from other educational establishments, in addition to relaxing the requirements for establishing private schools and abolishing a hundred-year-old strict national catchment-area system. Later, in the course of the 1990s, after the subjects, players, and methods of evaluation had been more precisely defined, evaluation based on performance would result in the active measurement of the attainment of set objectives. In the spring of 1991, from the outset of PM Esko Aho's right-centre coalition cabinet, the education budget suffered cutbacks as a result of a global recession and this influenced the legislative work of, and discourses in, parliament. Representatives of the parties in power regarded the recession solely as an external factor that was remote from the political arena. In their view, the education system should rise to the challenge by ensuring the efficient and innovative use of the resources available and by developing new forms of indicators for evaluating results. Representatives of the opposition opposed the cabinet’s standpoint as a result of the recession, criticized the measures taken by pointing out the harmful effect of constantly cutting the budget and argued that the government had made political capital out of the recession by using it as an opportunity to give more room to market, management and performance technologies within the Finnish education system. Criticism of the new education policy became even stronger during PM Paavo Lipponen's first “rainbow” coalition cabinet with critical views being expressed not only from the opposition but also from representatives within the government. Representatives from the left demanded legislative restrictions and the instigation of measures to relieve the presumed negative effects of market, management and performance in the name of educational equality. The new management by results steering method within the university sector and the introduction of commercial education services in compulsory education were fiercely criticized. The argument over “setting outer limits” including, for example, the demands for more detailed legislation and earmarked state subsidies was characteristic of Parliament’s legislative discourse in the latter part of the 1990s. Keywords: education policy, education legislation, Parliament of Finland

Tiedonhakustrategiat World Wide Webissä

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on selvittää, millaisia tiedonhakustrategioita tiedonhakijatkäyttävät etsiessään tietoa Internetistä. Käyttäjät luokitellaan kolmeen ryhmään tiedonhakustrategiansa mukaan. Haku-suuntautuneet käyttäjät käyttävät enimmäkseen hakukoneita, niin koko Internetin kattavia kuin sivustojen sisäisiäkin. Linkkisuuntautuneet taas joko tietävät tai arvaavat kohdesivuston osoitteen tai käyttävät laajoja hierarkkisia hakemistoja tiedon löytämiseen. He navigoivat mielummin sivustollakin linkkejä käyttäen eivätkä yleensä käytä hakutoimintoa. Eriytyneet käyttäjät eivät säännönmukaisesti suosi kumpaakaan tapaa, vaan valitsevat strategian tehtävän mukaan. Tietoa kerättiin kahdella tavalla: WWW-sivulla olleella kyselylomakkeella ja tiedonhakutestillä, jossa käyttäjille annettiin suoritettavaksi erilaisia tiedonhakutehtäviä. Tiedonhakutehtävät lajiteltiin kolmeen ryhmään sen mukaan, mitä strategiaa ne suosivat: hakustrategiaa suosivat, linkkistrategiaa suosivat ja neutraalit tehtävät. Tutkimusongelmana oli selvittää, kuinka tehtävän tyyppi ja ATK- ja Internet-kokemus vaikuttavat tiedonhakustrategian valintaan. Kävi ilmi, ettei käyttäjien suuntautuneisuus tiettyyn strategiaan vaikuta tiedonhakustrategian valintaan, vaan ainoastaan tehtävän tyyppi oli merkitsevä tekijä. Aikaisemman tutkimustiedon valossa kokeenet suosivat haku-suuntautunutta strategiaa. Tässä tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että kokemus lisäsi molempien strategioiden käyttöä yhtäläisesti, mutta tämä ilmiö oli havaittavissa ainoastaan kysely-lomakkeen pohjalta, ei testeissä. Molempien tiedonhakustrategioiden käyttö lisääntyy kokemuksen myötä, mutta suhteelliset osuudet pysyvät samoina. Syyksi sille, että kokeneet eivät suosineet hakustrategiaa, esitetään sitä, että tehtävät olivat liian helppoja, jolloin kokemus ei pääse auttamaan. Oleellisia eroja suoritusajoissa tai hakustrategian vaihdon tiheydessä ei havaittu suhteessa kokemukseen, ainoastaan suhteessa tehtävän tyyppiin.Tämäkin selitettiin toisentyyppisten tehtävien helppoudella. Tutkimuksessa pohditaan lisäksi asiantuntijuuden syntyä tiedonhakukontekstissa sekä esitetään metatietohypoteesi, jonka mukaan tiedonhakustrategian valintaan vaikuttaa tärkeänä tekijänä käyttäjän metatieto hakupalveluista. Metatietoon kuuluu tieto siitä, mitä hakukoneita on saatavilla, mitä tietoa verkosta kannattaa hakea, millä yrityksillä ja yhteisöillä on sisältörikkaat sivut jne, ja minkä tyyppistä tietoa yleensä on saatavilla. Kaikenkaikkiaan strategian valintaan esitetään taustalle kolmen tason tiedon vaikutusta: 1) oma asiantuntemus haettavasta alasta, 2) metatieto Internetin tiedonhakupalveluista sekä 3) tekninen tieto siitä, kuinka hakukoneet toimivat. Avainsanat: tiedonhaku, tiedonhakustrategia, hakukone, WWW, metatieto, kognitiivinen psykologia

Podcast: Community wide interventions for increasing physical activity

If the amount of physical activity in a society increased, it should improve public health; but uncertainties remain about how to achieve this. Professor Philip Baker from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia describes the findings from the January 2015 update of the Cochrane review of the evidence on community-wide interventions.

A simple and fast two-locus quality control test to detect false positives due to batch effects in genome-wide association studies

The impact of erroneous genotypes having passed standard quality control (QC) can be severe in genome-wide association studies, genotype imputation, and estimation of heritability and prediction of genetic risk based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). To detect such genotyping errors, a simple two-locus QC method, based on the difference in test statistic of association between single SNPs and pairs of SNPs, was developed and applied. The proposed approach could detect many problematic SNPs with statistical significance even when standard single SNP QC analyses fail to detect them in real data. Depending on the data set used, the number of erroneous SNPs that were not filtered out by standard single SNP QC but detected by the proposed approach varied from a few hundred to thousands. Using simulated data, it was shown that the proposed method was powerful and performed better than other tested existing methods. The power of the proposed approach to detect erroneous genotypes was approximately 80% for a 3% error rate per SNP. This novel QC approach is easy to implement and computationally efficient, and can lead to a better quality of genotypes for subsequent genotype-phenotype investigations.

Genome-wide association studies of quantitative traits with related individuals: Little (power) lost but much to be gained

For complex disease genetics research in human populations, remarkable progress has been made in recent times with the publication of a number of genome-wide association scans (GWAS) and subsequent statistical replications. These studies have identified new genes and pathways implicated in disease, many of which were not known before. Given these early successes, more GWAS are being conducted and planned, both for disease and quantitative phenotypes. Many researchers and clinicians have DNA samples available on collections of families, including both cases and controls. Twin registries around the world have facilitated the collection of large numbers of families, with DNA and multiple quantitative phenotypes collected on twin pairs and their relatives. In the design of a new GWAS with a fixed budget for the number of chips, the question arises whether to include or exclude related individuals. It is commonly believed to be preferable to use unrelated individuals in the first stage of a GWAS because relatives are 'over-matched' for genotypes. In this study, we quantify that for GWAS of a quantitative phenotype, relative to a sample of unrelated individuals surprisingly little power is lost when using relatives. The advantages of using relatives are manifold, including the ability to perform more quality control, the choice to perform within-family tests of association that are robust to population stratification, and the ability to perform joint linkage and association analysis. Therefore, the advantages of using relatives in GWAS for quantitative traits may well outweigh the small disadvantage in terms of statistical power.

On Bit Steering in the Minimization of the Control Memory of Microprogrammed Processors

The microcommands constituting the microprogram of the control memory of a microprogrammed processor can be partitioned into a number of disjoint sets. Some of these sets are then encoded to minimize the word width of the ROM storing the microprogram. A further reduction in the width of the ROM words can be achieved by a technique known as bit steering where one or more bits are shared by two or more sets of microcommands. These sets are called the steerable sets. This correspondence presents a simple method for the detection and encoding of steerable sets. It has been shown that the concurrency matrix of two steerable sets exhibits definite patterns of clusters which can be easily recognized. A relation "connection" has been defined which helps in the detection of three-set steerability. Once steerable sets are identified, their encoding becomes a straightforward procedure following the location of the identifying clusters on the concurrency matrix or matrices.

Rapid genome wide mapping of phosphine resistance loci by a simple regional averaging analysis in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum

Background Next-generation sequencing technology is an important tool for the rapid, genome-wide identification of genetic variations. However, it is difficult to resolve the ‘signal’ of variations of interest and the ‘noise’ of stochastic sequencing and bioinformatic errors in the large datasets that are generated. We report a simple approach to identify regional linkage to a trait that requires only two pools of DNA to be sequenced from progeny of a defined genetic cross (i.e. bulk segregant analysis) at low coverage (<10×) and without parentage assignment of individual SNPs. The analysis relies on regional averaging of pooled SNP frequencies to rapidly scan polymorphisms across the genome for differential regional homozygosity, which is then displayed graphically. Results Progeny from defined genetic crosses of Tribolium castaneum (F4 and F19) segregating for the phosphine resistance trait were exposed to phosphine to select for the resistance trait while the remainders were left unexposed. Next generation sequencing was then carried out on the genomic DNA from each pool of selected and unselected insects from each generation. The reads were mapped against the annotated T. castaneum genome from NCBI (v3.0) and analysed for SNP variations. Since it is difficult to accurately call individual SNP frequencies when the depth of sequence coverage is low, variant frequencies were averaged across larger regions. Results from regional SNP frequency averaging identified two loci, tc_rph1 on chromosome 8 and tc_rph2 on chromosome 9, which together are responsible for high level resistance. Identification of the two loci was possible with only 5-7× average coverage of the genome per dataset. These loci were subsequently confirmed by direct SNP marker analysis and fine-scale mapping. Individually, homozygosity of tc_rph1 or tc_rph2 results in only weak resistance to phosphine (estimated at up to 1.5-2.5× and 3-5× respectively), whereas in combination they interact synergistically to provide a high-level resistance >200×. The tc_rph2 resistance allele resulted in a significant fitness cost relative to the wild type allele in unselected beetles over eighteen generations. Conclusion We have validated the technique of linkage mapping by low-coverage sequencing of progeny from a simple genetic cross. The approach relied on regional averaging of SNP frequencies and was used to successfully identify candidate gene loci for phosphine resistance in T. castaneum. This is a relatively simple and rapid approach to identifying genomic regions associated with traits in defined genetic crosses that does not require any specialised statistical analysis.

Rumen microbial community composition varies with diet and host, but a core microbiome is found across a wide geographical range

Ruminant livestock are important sources of human food and global greenhouse gas emissions. Feed degradation and methane formation by ruminants rely on metabolic interactions between rumen microbes and affect ruminant productivity. Rumen and camelid foregut microbial community composition was determined in 742 samples from 32 animal species and 35 countries, to estimate if this was influenced by diet, host species, or geography. Similar bacteria and archaea dominated in nearly all samples, while protozoal communities were more variable. The dominant bacteria are poorly characterised, but the methanogenic archaea are better known and highly conserved across the world. This universality and limited diversity could make it possible to mitigate methane emissions by developing strategies that target the few dominant methanogens. Differences in microbial community compositions were predominantly attributable to diet, with the host being less influential. There were few strong co-occurrence patterns between microbes, suggesting that major metabolic interactions are non-selective rather than specific. © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited.

Ministers as strategic political leaders? : Strategic political steering after NPM reforms in Finland

This study explores strategic political steering after the New Public Management (NPM) reforms, with emphasis on the new role assigned to Government ministers in Finland. In the NPM model, politicians concentrate on broad, principal issues, while agencies have discretion within the limits set by politicians. In Finland, strategic steering was introduced with Management by Results (MBR), but the actual tools for strategic political steering have been the Government Programme, the Government Strategy Portfolio (GSP) and Frame Budgeting. This study addresses these tools as means of strategic steering conducted by the Cabinet and individual ministers within their respective ministries. The time frame of the study includes the two Lipponen Cabinets between 1995 and 2003. Interviews with fourteen ministers as well as with fourteen top officials were conducted. In addition, administrative reform documents and documents related to strategic steering tools were analysed. The empirical conclusions of the study can be summarised as follows: There were few signs of strategic political steering in the Lipponen Cabinets. Although the Government Programmes of both Cabinets introduced strategic thinking, the strategic guidelines set forth at the beginning of the Programme were not linked to the GSP or to Frame Budgeting. The GSP could be characterised as the collected strategic agendas of each ministry, while there was neither the will nor the courage among Cabinet members to prioritise the projects and to make selections. The Cabinet used Frame Budgeting mainly in the sense of spending limits, not in making strategic allocation decisions. As for the GSP at the departmental level, projects were suggested by top officials, and ministers only approved the suggested list. Frame Budgeting at the departmental level proved to be the most interesting strategic steering tool from ministers viewpoint: they actively participated in defining which issues would need extra financing. Because the chances for extra financing were minimal, ministers had an effect only on a marginal share of the budget. At the departmental level, the study shows that strategic plans were considered the domain of officials. As for strategies concerning specific substances, there was variation in the interest shown by the ministers. A few ministers emphasised the importance of strategic work and led strategy processes. In most cases, however, officials led the process while ministers offered comments on the drafts of strategy documents. The results of this study together with experiences reported in other countries and local politics show that political decision-makers have difficulty operating at the strategic level. The conclusion is that politicians do not have sufficient incentive to perform the strategic role implied by the NPM type of reforms. Overall, the empirical results of the study indicate the power of politics over management reforms.

Luonnonsuojelu arjessa : Maanomistajien näkemyksiä ja kokemuksia yksityismaiden tilapäisestä luonnonsuojelusta ja sen uudistumisen prosessista

Nature conservation in everyday life: Private landowners perceptions of and experiences on temporary nature conservation and its renewing process This study explores the legitimacy of official nature conservation of private lands. It describes how temporary nature conservation became a part of Finnish nature conservation policy and how forest owners perceived this tool and its usage. In addition, the study analyses forest owners' attitudes on official nature conservation. The study combines individual and official perspectives, and presents a nature conservation politics of everyday life. The theoretical background of the study is learning processes of environmentally responsible participation, and especially empowerment. Main methods in gathering the material for the study have been interviews and a survey. In the 1990 s, Finnish landowners opposed the implementation of nature conservation, especially conservation of shores and the establishment of the European-wide network of conservation areas (Natura 2000). After negative experiences on these conservation efforts, some private landowners were disempowered and some even rejected conservation completely. The Nature Conservation Act of 1996 launched an option to conserve nature officially for fixed time-periods. Use of such a policy tool did not immediately become a widely-used and appreciated conservation practice. During the following decade, however, it attracted remarkable attention within Finnish nature conservation policy discussions. The perspective of landowners began to be emphasised when local and regional organisations for nature conservation and forestry together defined the ideas of natural values trading. Later, the national governance process of the committee defining the Forest Biodiversity Programme for Southern Finland (METSO) institutionalised these ideas in one of its pilot projects. Landowners participated in the project of natural values trading by offering their forests for conservation, which reflects the increased acceptance and legitimacy of nature conservation on private forests. The central elements producing the legitimacy of natural values trading have been voluntariness, temporariness, and dialogue between nature conservation and forestry. Natural values trading analysed in the study is an example of new environmental policy instruments and its creation process represents governance in the implementation of nature conservation. It has increased the legitimacy of nature conservation policy of private forests in Finland. The results reveal the importance of participation and learning processes in the implementation of nature conservation policy, and the need to also pay attention to these processes in the future.

Architecture designed ZnO hollow microspheres with wide-range visible-light photoresponses

It is a challenge to increase the visible-light photoresponses of wide-gap metal oxides. In this study, we proposed a new strategy to enhance the visible-light photoresponses of wide-gap semiconductors by deliberately designing a multi-scale nanostructure with controlled architecture. Hollow ZnO microspheres with constituent units in the shape of one-dimensional (1D) nanowire networks, 2D nanosheet stacks, and 3D mesoporous nanoball blocks are synthesized via an approach of two-step assembly, where the oligomers or the constituent nanostructures with specially designed structures are first formed, and then further assembled into complex morphologies. Through deliberate designing of constituent architectures allowing multiple visible-light scattering, reflections, and dispersion inside the multiscale nanostructures, enhanced wide range visible-light photoresponses of the ZnO hollow microspheres were successfully achieved. Compared to the one-step synthesized ZnO hollow microspheres, where no nanostructured constituents were produced, the ZnO hollow microspheres with 2D nanosheet stacks presented a 50 times higher photocurrent in the visible-light range (λ > 420 nm). The nanostructure induced visible-light photoresponse enhancement gives a direction to the development of novel photosensitive materials.

Switchable-feed reconfigurable ultra-wide band planar antenna

Reconfigurable antennas capable of radiating in only specific desired directions increase system functionality in applications like direction finding and beam steering. This paper presents the design simulation, fabrication and measurement of a horizontally polarized, direction reconfigurable Vivaldi antenna, designed for the lower-band UWB (2-6 GHz). This design employs eight circularly distributed independent Vivaldi antennas with a common port, electronically controlled by PIN diodes acting as RF switches. Experimental results show that the reconfigurable antenna has a bandwidth of 4 GHz (2-6 GHz), with 5 dB gain in the desired direction and capable of steering over the 360° range.