Anglican Church knew clergyman Robert Waddington was a risk

AUSTRALIAN church officials knew of child-sex allegations in Britain against a senior clergymen when they pushed a victim into accepting a compensation payout on the basis that there was no evidence to back up his claims of abuse. Former Church of England investigator Ray Morris says he prepared a 2004 report about allegations in Britain and Australia - from the 1960s and 80s - against Robert Waddington. He sent it to north Queensland diocese officials, who were at the time involved in mediation with the Australian victim over his claims that he was abused weekly by Waddington between 1964 and 1968, who was headmaster of St Barnabas boarding school in Ravenshoe, southwest of Cairns.

Robert Waddington's cycle of abuse stretches beyond 50 years

THE Church of England banished serial pedophile priest Robert Waddington to Australia, where he abused children across a decade, after suspicions were raised about him molesting choirboys in his London parish. In an alleged church cover-up spanning almost 60 years, Waddington was suddenly and unexpectedly sent to a small school in regional Queensland in 1956 amid claims he was molesting the son of an English politician. Last month the Church of England ordered an independent inquiry into the handling of allegations against Waddington, after a joint investigation by The Australian and The Times of London. But it can now be revealed that Waddington - who died in 2007, facing allegations he abused students in Australia in the 1960s and English choirboys in the 80s and 90s - was molesting children as soon as he joined the church in 1953. The latest allegations have been made by Ray Munn, 70, who was recruited by Waddington, then a curate at St John's church in Bethnal Green, East London, to sing in the choir in 1953. He was almost immediately groomed by the Cambridge University-educated clergyman, who took him on holidays in the English countryside, before he began molesting the then 11-year-old.

Technoeconomic analysis of renewable aviation fuel from microalgae,Pongamia pinnata, and sugarcane

Technoeconomic analysis of renewable aviatin fuels has not been widely considered, despite the increasing global attention that the field has received. We present three process models for production of aviation fuel from microalgae, Pongamia pinnata, and sugarcane molasses. The models and assumptions have been deposited on a wiki (http://qsafi.aibn.uq.edu.au) and are open and accessible to the community. Based on currently available long-term reputable technological data, this analysis indicates that the biorefinieries processing the microalgae, Pongamia seeds, and sugarcane feedstocks would be competitive with crude oil at $1343, $374, and $301/bbl, respectively. Sensitivity analyses of the major economic drivers suggest technological and market developments that would bring the corresponding figures down to $385, $255, and $168/bbl. The dynamic nature of the freely accessible models will allow the community to track progress toward economic competitiveness of aviation fuels from these renewable feedstocks.

Capital cost model for Robert evaporators

ROBERT EVAPORATORS in Australian sugar factories are traditionally constructed with 44.45 mm outside diameter stainless steel tubes of ~2 m length for all stages of evaporation. There are a few vessels with longer tubes (up to 2.8 m) and smaller and larger diameters (38.1 and 50.8 mm). Queensland University of Technology is undertaking a study to investigate the heat transfer performance of tubes of different lengths and diameters for the whole range of process conditions typically encountered in the evaporator set. Incorporation of these results into practical evaporator designs requires an understanding of the cost implications for constructing evaporator vessels with calandrias having tubes of different dimensions. Cost savings are expected for tubes of smaller diameter and longer length in terms of material, labour and installation costs in the factory. However these savings must be considered in terms of the heat transfer area requirements for the evaporation duty, which will likely be a function of the tube dimensions. In this paper a capital cost model is described which provides a relative cost of constructing and installing Robert evaporators of the same heating surface area but with different tube dimensions. Evaporators of 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000 m2 are investigated. This model will be used in conjunction with the heat transfer efficiency data (when available) to determine the optimum tube dimensions for a new evaporator at a specified evaporation duty. Consideration is also given to other factors such as juice residence time (and implications for sucrose degradation and control) and droplet de-entrainment in evaporators of different tube dimensions.

A gray-box neural network-based model identification and fault estimation scheme for nonlinear dynamic systems

A novel gray-box neural network model (GBNNM), including multi-layer perception (MLP) neural network (NN) and integrators, is proposed for a model identification and fault estimation (MIFE) scheme. With the GBNNM, both the nonlinearity and dynamics of a class of nonlinear dynamic systems can be approximated. Unlike previous NN-based model identification methods, the GBNNM directly inherits system dynamics and separately models system nonlinearities. This model corresponds well with the object system and is easy to build. The GBNNM is embedded online as a normal model reference to obtain the quantitative residual between the object system output and the GBNNM output. This residual can accurately indicate the fault offset value, so it is suitable for differing fault severities. To further estimate the fault parameters (FPs), an improved extended state observer (ESO) using the same NNs (IESONN) from the GBNNM is proposed to avoid requiring the knowledge of ESO nonlinearity. Then, the proposed MIFE scheme is applied for reaction wheels (RW) in a satellite attitude control system (SACS). The scheme using the GBNNM is compared with other NNs in the same fault scenario, and several partial loss of effect (LOE) faults with different severities are considered to validate the effectiveness of the FP estimation and its superiority.

Gray matter deficits, mismatch negativity, and outcomes in schizophrenia

Reduced mismatch negativity (MMN) in response to auditory change is a well-established finding in schizophrenia and has been shown to be correlated with impaired daily functioning, rather than with hallmark signs and symptoms of the disorder. In this study, we investigated (1) whether the relationship between reduced MMN and impaired daily functioning is mediated by cortical volume loss in temporal and frontal brain regions in schizophrenia and (2) whether this relationship varies with the type of auditory deviant generating MMN. MMN in response to duration, frequency, and intensity deviants was recorded from 18 schizophrenia subjects and 18 pairwise age- and gender-matched healthy subjects. Patients’ levels of global functioning were rated on the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale. High-resolution structural magnetic resonance scans were acquired to generate average cerebral cortex and temporal lobe models using cortical pattern matching. This technique allows accurate statistical comparison and averaging of cortical measures across subjects, despite wide variations in gyral patterns. MMN amplitude was reduced in schizophrenia patients and correlated with their impaired day-to-day function level. Only in patients, bilateral gray matter reduction in Heschl’s gyrus, as well as motor and executive regions of the frontal cortex, correlated with reduced MMN amplitude in response to frequency deviants, while reduced gray matter in right Heschl’s gyrus also correlated with reduced MMN to duration deviants. Our findings further support the importance of MMN reduction in schizophrenia by linking frontotemporal cerebral gray matter pathology to an automatically generated event-related potential index of daily functioning.

The effect of recording situation on the echolocation calls of the New Zealand Lesser short-tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata Gray).

Using a broad‐band recording system (150 Hz‐100 kHz) the echolocation calls of the lesser short‐tailed bat (Mystacina tuberculata) were recorded under three very different situations: free‐flying, flying within a flight cage, and on release from the hand. Calls of bats landing and feeding on a platform in Wellington Zoo were also recorded. Both the lowest frequency and frequency of peak amplitude of calls were significantly affected by the situation under which calls were recorded. Although the calls of free‐flying bats are different from those produced by bats foraging on the ground, it is unlikely that M. tuberculata uses echolocation to locate prey on the ground. No significant differences could be found between the calls emitted by male and female bats, and no consistent relationships were obvious between temporal and spectral call characteristics. There was some evidence to suggest that individual bats could be identified by their echolocation calls.

‘Only a pawn in their game’ : crime, risk and politics in the case of Robert Fardon

In 2003 Robert Fardon was the first prisoner to be detained under the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003 (Qld), the first of the new generation preventive detention laws enacted in Australia and directed at keeping sex offenders in prison or under supervision beyond the expiry of their sentences where a court decides, on the basis of psychiatric assessments, that unconditional release would create an unacceptable risk to the community. A careful examination of Fardon’s case shows the extent to which the administration of the regime was from the outset governed by politics and political calculation rather than the logic of risk management and community protection. In 2003 Robert Fardon was the first person detained under the Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003 (Qld) (hereafter DPSOA), a newly enacted Queensland law aimed at the preventive detention of sex offenders. It was the first of a new generation of such laws introduced in Australia, now also in force in NSW, Western Australia and Victoria. The laws have been widely criticized by lawyers, academics and others (Keyzer and McSherry 2009; Edgely 2007). In this article I want to focus on the details of how the Queensland law was administered in Fardon’s case, he being perhaps the most well-known prisoner detained under such laws and certainly the longest held. It will show, I hope, that seemingly abstract rule of law principles invoked by other critics are not simply abstract: they afford a crucial practical safeguard against the corruption of criminal justice in which the ends both of community protection and of justice give way to opportunistic exploitation of ‘the mythic resonance of crime and punishment for electoral purposes’ (Scheingold 1998: 888).

Catalytic activity evaluation of industrial Pd/C catalyst via gray-box dynamic modeling and simulation of hydropurification reactor

In this paper, dynamic modeling and simulation of the hydropurification reactor in a purified terephthalic acid production plant has been investigated by gray-box technique to evaluate the catalytic activity of palladium supported on carbon (0.5 wt.% Pd/C) catalyst. The reaction kinetics and catalyst deactivation trend have been modeled by employing artificial neural network (ANN). The network output has been incorporated with the reactor first principle model (FPM). The simulation results reveal that the gray-box model (FPM and ANN) is about 32 percent more accurate than FPM. The model demonstrates that the catalyst is deactivated after eleven months. Moreover, the catalyst lifetime decreases about two and half months in case of 7 percent increase of reactor feed flowrate. It is predicted that 10 percent enhancement of hydrogen flowrate promotes catalyst lifetime at the amount of one month. Additionally, the enhancement of 4-carboxybenzaldehyde concentration in the reactor feed improves CO and benzoic acid synthesis. CO is a poison to the catalyst, and benzoic acid might affect the product quality. The model can be applied into actual working plants to analyze the Pd/C catalyst efficient functioning and the catalytic reactor performance.

Gearing up academics for collaborative Building Information Modelling (BIM) education

Building information modelling (BIM) radically changes the practices in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) and creates new job opportunities. Many governments, such as the United Kingdom, have made BIM a mandatory requirement. This substantially drives the demand for a BIM-literate workforce. Universities are facing the challenge to incorporate BIM into their curricula and produce “BIM ready” graduates to meet the needs of the industry. Like other universities, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is at the heart of this change and aspires to develop collaborative BIM education across AEC. Previous BIM education studies identify that inadequate BIM awareness of AEC academics is one of the challenges for developing a BIM curriculum and there is a dearth in the learning and teaching support for academics on BIM education. Equipping the AEC academics for a more BIM focused curriculum is all the while more important. This paper aims to leverage knowledge drawn from a Learning & Teaching project currently undertaken at QUT. Its specific objectives are to: 1) review the existing learning and teaching initiatives on BIM education; and 2) briefly describe the learning and teaching activities on collaborative BIM education at QUT. Significance of the paper lies on revealing the importance of building up the capacity of AEC academics for collaborative BIM education. The paper contributes to sparking the interests in better equipping AEC academics to understand what curriculum changes would assist in BIM uptake within the relevant courses to provide context for changes in units; and how the use of BIM can improve the understanding by students of the large amounts of professional knowledge they need to function effectively as graduates.

Dynamics of gray matter loss in Alzheimer's disease

We detected and mapped a dynamically spreading wave of gray matter loss in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The loss pattern was visualized in four dimensions as it spread over time from temporal and limbic cortices into frontal and occipital brain regions, sparing sensorimotor cortices. The shifting deficits were asymmetric (left hemisphere > right hemisphere) and correlated with progressively declining cognitive status (p < 0.0006). Novel brain mapping methods allowed us to visualize dynamic patterns of atrophy in 52 high-resolution magnetic resonance image scans of 12 patients with AD (age 68.4 ± 1.9 years) and 14 elderly matched controls (age 71.4 ± 0.9 years) scanned longitudinally (two scans; interscan interval 2.1 ± 0.4 years). A cortical pattern matching technique encoded changes in brain shape and tissue distribution across subjects and time. Cortical atrophy occurred in a well defined sequence as the disease progressed, mirroring the sequence of neurofibrillary tangle accumulation observed in cross sections at autopsy. Advancing deficits were visualized as dynamic maps that change over time. Frontal regions, spared early in the disease, showed pervasive deficits later (< 15% loss). The maps distinguished different phases of AD and differentiated AD from normal aging. Local gray matter loss rates (5.3 ± 2.3% per year in AD v 0.9 ± 0.9% per year in controls) were faster in the left hemisphere (p < 0.029) than the right. Transient barriers to disease progression appeared at limbic/frontal boundaries. This degenerative sequence, observed in vivo as it developed, provides the first quantitative, dynamic visualization of cortical atrophic rates in normal elderly populations and in those with dementia.

The influence of Lord Robert Baden-Powell on the development of the Boy Scout Movement with observations on its operation in Queensland 1907-1937

The purpose of the Boy Scout Movement was to create boys who were honest, obedient to constituted authority and loyal to the King and the British Empire. This thesis examines the influence that Scouting's founder, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, had on the development of Scouting in Queensland in the period 1907 to 1937, and concludes that that influence was profound. Baden-Powell conceived the Boy Scout Movement, and its non-formal educative method as an answer to some of the social, economic, and political problems at the beginning of the twentieth century – a paradigm recognised and acknowledged by educators of the day.

The correlation between reading and mathematics ability at age twelve has a substantial genetic component

Dissecting how genetic and environmental influences impact on learning is helpful for maximizing numeracy and literacy. Here we show, using twin and genome-wide analysis, that there is a substantial genetic component to children’s ability in reading and mathematics, and estimate that around one half of the observed correlation in these traits is due to shared genetic effects (so-called Generalist Genes). Thus, our results highlight the potential role of the learning environment in contributing to differences in a child’s cognitive abilities at age twelve.

Portrait of Elly Goldschmidt and her children Ilse and Robert. Portraits Family

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