Not drowning, (hand)waving? Molecular phylogenetics, biogeography and evolutionary tempo of the ‘Gondwanan’ midge Stictocladius Edwards (Diptera: Chironomidae)

Many insect clades, especially within the Diptera (true flies), have been considered classically ‘Gondwanan’, with an inference that distributions derive from vicariance of the southern continents. Assessing the role that vicariance has played in the evolution of austral taxa requires testing the location and tempo of diversification and speciation against the well-established predictions of fragmentation of the ancient super-continent. Several early (anecdotal) hypotheses that current austral distributions originate from the breakup of Gondwana derive from studies of taxa within the family Chironomidae (non-biting midges). With the advent of molecular phylogenetics and biogeographic analytical software, these studies have been revisited and expanded to test such conclusions better. Here we studied the midge genus Stictocladius Edwards, from the subfamily Orthocladiinae, which contains austral-distributed clades that match vicariance-based expectations. We resolve several issues of systematic relationships among morphological species and reveal cryptic diversity within many taxa. Time-calibrated phylogenetic relationships among taxa accorded partially with the predicted tempo from geology. For these apparently vagile insects, vicariance-dated patterns persist for South America and Australia. However, as often found, divergence time estimates for New Zealand at c. 50 mya post-date separation of Zealandia from Antarctica and the remainder of Gondwana, but predate the proposed Oligocene ‘drowning’ of these islands. We detail other such ‘anomalous’ dates and suggest a single common explanation rather than stochastic processes. This could involve synchronous establishment following recovery from ‘drowning’ and/or deleteriously warming associated with the mid-Eocene climatic optimum (hence ‘waving’, which refers to cycles of drowning events) plus new availability of topography providing of cool running waters, or all these factors in combination. Alternatively a vicariance explanation remains available, given the uncertain duration of connectivity of Zealandia to Australia–Antarctic–South America via the Lord Howe and Norfolk ridges into the Eocene.

A framework for people capability enhancement to support sustainable facility management practices

Spanning over a considerable length of time, facility management is a key phase in the development cycle of built assets. Therefore facility managers are in a commanding position to maximise the potential of sustainability through the operation, maintenance and upgrade of built facilities leading to decommission and deconstruction. Sustainability endeavours in facility management practices will not only contribute to reducing energy consumption, waste and running costs, but also help improve organisational productivity, financial returns and community standing of the organisation. At the forefront facing sustainability challenge, facility manager should be empowered with the necessary knowledge and capabilities. However, literature studies show a gap between the current level of awareness and the specific knowledge and necessary skills required to pursue sustainability in the profession. People capability is considered as the key enabler in managing the sustainability agenda as well as being central to the improvement of competency and innovation in an organization. This paper aims to identify the critical factors for enhancing people capabilities in promoting the sustainability agenda in facility management practices. Starting with a total of 60 factors identified through literature review, the authors conducted a questionnaire survey to assess the perceived importance of these factors. The findings reveal 23 critical factors as significantly important. They form the basis of a mechanism framework developed to equip facility managers with the right knowledge, to continue education and training and to develop new mind-sets to enhance the implementation of sustainability measures in FM practices.

Long-tailed bats' use of a Pinus radiata stand in Kinleith Forest : Recommendations for monitoring

Targeted monitoring of threatened species within plantations is becoming more important due to forest certification programmes’ requirement to consider protection of threatened species, and to increase knowledge of the distribution of species. To determine patterns of long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) activity in different habitat structures, with the aim of improving the likelihood of detection by targeting monitoring, we monitored one stand of 26 year-old Pinus radiata over seven months between December 2007 and June 2008 in Kinleith Forest, an exotic plantation forest centred around Tokoroa, South Waikato, New Zealand. Activity was determined by acoustic recording equipment, which is able to detect and record bats’ echolocation calls. We monitored activity from sunset to sunrise along a road through the stand, along stand edges, and in the interior of the stand. Bats were recorded on 80% of the 35 nights monitored. All activity throughout the monitoring period was detected on the edge of the stand or along the road. No bats were detected within the interior of the stand. Bat activity was highest along the road through the stand (40.4% of all passes), followed by an edge with stream running alongside (35.2%), along the road within a skidsite (19.8%), and along an edge without a stream (4.6%). There was a significant positive relationship between bat pass rate (bat passes h-1) and the feeding buzz rate (feeding buzzes h-1) indicating that bat activity was associated with feeding and not just commuting. Bat feeding activity was also highest along the road through the stand (59.2% of feeding buzzes), followed by the road within the skidsite (30.6%), and along the stream-side edge (10.2%). No feeding buzzes were recorded in either the interior or along the edge without the stream. Differences in overall feeding activity were significant only between the road and edge and between edges with and without a stream. Bat activity was detected each month and always by the second night of monitoring, and in this stand was highest during April. We recommend targeted monitoring for long-tailed bats be focused on road-side and stand edge habitat, and along streams, and that monitoring take place for at least three nights to maximise probability of detection.

A recommendation system for predicting risks across multiple business process instances

This paper proposes a recommendation system that supports process participants in taking risk-informed decisions, with the goal of reducing risks that may arise during process execution. Risk reduction involves decreasing the likelihood and severity of a process fault from occurring. Given a business process exposed to risks, e.g. a financial process exposed to a risk of reputation loss, we enact this process and whenever a process participant needs to provide input to the process, e.g. by selecting the next task to execute or by filling out a form, we suggest to the participant the action to perform which minimizes the predicted process risk. Risks are predicted by traversing decision trees generated from the logs of past process executions, which consider process data, involved resources, task durations and other information elements like task frequencies. When applied in the context of multiple process instances running concurrently, a second technique is employed that uses integer linear programming to compute the optimal assignment of resources to tasks to be performed, in order to deal with the interplay between risks relative to different instances. The recommendation system has been implemented as a set of components on top of the YAWL BPM system and its effectiveness has been evaluated using a real-life scenario, in collaboration with risk analysts of a large insurance company. The results, based on a simulation of the real-life scenario and its comparison with the event data provided by the company, show that the process instances executed concurrently complete with significantly fewer faults and with lower fault severities, when the recommendations provided by our recommendation system are taken into account.

Design, modelling and measurement of a hybrid powerplant for unmanned aerial systems

Hybrid powerplants combining internal combustion engines and electric motor prime movers have been extensively developed for land- and marine-based transport systems. The use of such powerplants in airborne applications has been historically impractical due to energy and power density constraints. Improvements in battery and electric motor technology make aircraft hybrid powerplants feasible. This paper presents a technique for determining the feasibility and mechanical effectiveness of powerplant hybridisation. In this work, a prototype aircraft hybrid powerplant was designed, constructed and tested. It is shown that an additional 35% power can be supplied from the hybrid system with an overall weight penalty of 5%, for a given unmanned aerial system. A flight dynamic model was developed using the AeroSim Blockset in MATLAB Simulink. The results have shown that climb rates can be improved by 56% and endurance increased by 13% when using the hybrid powerplant concept.

Do we need a law to help people try experimental drugs?

People with life-threatening or incurable diseases may be willing to try experimental drugs and unproven treatments, but they face the risk of exploitation. Is the law the best avenue to ensure that they are protected while medical innovation is encouraged? Protection of vulnerable people is a thread running through many laws, in Australia and elsewhere. In medical law, for instance, children and people with impaired decision-making capacity warrant special attention. But what of the ordinary person diagnosed with a life-threatening disease? Such people are vulnerable to harm and potential exploitation when they seek access to innovative, experimental or unproven treatments that depart from the existing range of accepted medicine.

Voluntary exercise decreases atherosclerosis in nephrectomised ApoE knockout mice

Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with kidney disease. The effectiveness of exercise for cardiovascular disease that is accelerated by the presence of chronic kidney disease remains unknown. The present study utilized apolipoprotein E knockout mice with 5/6 nephrectomy as a model of combined kidney disease and cardiovascular disease to investigate the effect of exercise on aortic plaque formation, vascular function and systemic inflammation. Animals were randomly assigned to nephrectomy or control and then to either voluntary wheel running exercise or sedentary. Following 12-weeks, aortic plaque area was significantly (p<0.05, d=1.2) lower in exercising nephrectomised mice compared to sedentary nephrectomised mice. There was a strong, negative correlation between average distance run each week and plaque area in nephrectomised and control mice (r=–0.76, p=0.048 and r=–0.73, p=0.062; respectively). In vitro aortic contraction and endothelial-independent and endothelial-dependent relaxation were not influenced by exercise (p>0.05). Nephrectomy increased IL-6 and TNF-α concentrations compared with control mice (p<0.001 and p<0.05, respectively), while levels of IL-10, MCP-1 and MIP-1α were not significantly influenced by nephrectomy or voluntary exercise (p>0.05). Exercise was an effective non-pharmacologic approach to slow cardiovascular disease in the presence of kidney disease in the apolipoprotein E knockout mouse.

Watermarking capacity control for dynamic payload embedding

Despite significant improvements in capacity-distortion performance, a computationally efficient capacity control is still lacking in the recent watermarking schemes. In this paper, we propose an efficient capacity control framework to substantiate the notion of watermarking capacity control to be the process of maintaining “acceptable” distortion and running time, while attaining the required capacity. The necessary analysis and experimental results on the capacity control are reported to address practical aspects of the watermarking capacity problem, in dynamic (size) payload embedding.

Vote as you go : Blending interfaces for community engagement into the urban space

This paper presents a series of studies on situated interfaces for community engagement. Firstly, we identify five recurring design challenges as well as four common strategies used to overcome them. We then assess the effectiveness of these strategies through field studies with public polling interfaces. We developed two very different polling interfaces in the form of (1) a web application running on an iPad mounted on a stand, allowing one vote at a time, and (2) a playful full-body interaction application for a large urban screen allowing concurrent participation. We deployed both interfaces in an urban precinct with high pedestrian traffic and equipped with a large urban screen. Analysing discoverability and learnability of each scenario, we derive insights regarding effective ways of blending community engagement interfaces into the built environment, while attracting the attention of passers-by and communicating the results of civic participation.

A new approach to the cloud-based heterogeneous MapReduce placement problem

Guaranteeing Quality of Service (QoS) with minimum computation cost is the most important objective of cloud-based MapReduce computations. Minimizing the total computation cost of cloud-based MapReduce computations is done through MapReduce placement optimization. MapReduce placement optimization approaches can be classified into two categories: homogeneous MapReduce placement optimization and heterogeneous MapReduce placement optimization. It is generally believed that heterogeneous MapReduce placement optimization is more effective than homogeneous MapReduce placement optimization in reducing the total running cost of cloud-based MapReduce computations. This paper proposes a new approach to the heterogeneous MapReduce placement optimization problem. In this new approach, the heterogeneous MapReduce placement optimization problem is transformed into a constrained combinatorial optimization problem and is solved by an innovative constructive algorithm. Experimental results show that the running cost of the cloud-based MapReduce computation platform using this new approach is 24:3%-44:0% lower than that using the most popular homogeneous MapReduce placement approach, and 2:0%-36:2% lower than that using the heterogeneous MapReduce placement approach not considering the spare resources from the existing MapReduce computations. The experimental results have also demonstrated the good scalability of this new approach.

Biomarkers of exercise-induced myocardial stress in relation to inflammatory and oxidative stress

Increased concentrations of biomarkers reflecting myocardial stress such as cardiac troponin I and T and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) have been observed following strenuous, long-lasting endurance exercise. The pathophysiological mechanisms are still not fully elucidated and the interpretations of increased post-exercise concentrations range from (i) evidence for exercise-induced myocardial damage to (ii) non-relevant spurious troponin elevations, presumably caused by assay imprecision or heterophilic antibodies. Several lines of evidence suggest that inflammatory processes or oxidative stress could be involved in the rise of NT-proBNP and Troponin observed in critically ill patients with sepsis or burn injury. We tested the hypothesis that inflammatory or oxidative stress is also responsible for exercise-induced cardiomyocyte strain in a large cohort of triathletes following an Ironman triathlon. However, the post-race increase in cardiac troponin T and NT-proBNP was not associated with several markers of exercise-induced inflammation, oxidative stress or antioxidant vitamins. Therefore, we clearly need more studies with other inflammatory markers and different designs to elucidate the scientific background for increases in myocardial stress markers following strenuous endurance events.

Recovery after an Ironman triathlon: Sustained inflammatory responses and muscular stress

Ultra-endurance exercise, such as an Ironman triathlon, induces muscle damage and a systemic inflammatory response. As the resolution of recovery in these parameters is poorly documented, we investigated indices of muscle damage and systemic inflammation in response to an Ironman triathlon and monitored these parameters 19 days into recovery. Blood was sampled from 42 well-trained male triathletes 2 days before, immediately after, and 1, 5 and 19 days after an Ironman triathlon. Blood samples were analyzed for hematological profile, and plasma values of myeloperoxidase (MPO), polymorphonuclear (PMN) elastase, cortisol, testosterone, creatine kinase (CK) activity, myoglobin, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10 and high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). Immediately post-race there were significant (P < 0.001) increases in total leukocyte counts, MPO, PMN elastase, cortisol, CK activity, myoglobin, IL-6, IL-10 and hs-CRP, while testosterone significantly (P < 0.001) decreased compared to prerace. With the exception of cortisol, which decreased below prerace values (P < 0.001), these alterations persisted 1 day post-race (P < 0.001; P < 0.01 for IL-10). Five days post-race CK activity, myoglobin, IL-6 and hs-CRP had decreased, but were still significantly (P < 0.001) elevated. Nineteen days post-race most parameters had returned to prerace values, except for MPO and PMN elastase, which had both significantly (P < 0.001) decreased below prerace concentrations, and myoglobin and hs-CRP, which were slightly, but significantly higher than prerace. Furthermore, significant relationships between leukocyte dynamics, cortisol, markers of muscle damage, cytokines and hs-CRP after the Ironman triathlon were noted. This study indicates that the pronounced initial systemic inflammatory response induced by an Ironman triathlon declines rapidly. However, a low-grade systemic inflammation persisted until at least 5 days post-race, possibly reflecting incomplete muscle recovery.

Exercise-induced DNA damage: Is there a relationship with inflammatory responses?

Both a systemic inflammatory response as well as DNA damage has been observed following exhaustive endurance exercise. Hypothetically, exercise-induced DNA damage might either be a consequence of inflammatory processes or causally involved in inflammation and immunological alterations after strenuous prolonged exercise (e.g. by inducing lymphocyte apoptosis and lymphocytopenia). Nevertheless, up to now only few studies have addressed this issue and there is hardly any evidence regarding a direct relationship between DNA or chromosomal damage and inflammatory responses in the context of exercise. The most conclusive picture that emerges from available data is that reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) appear to be the key effectors which link inflammation with DNA damage. Considering the time-courses of inflammatory and oxidative stress responses on the one hand and DNA effects on the other the lack of correlations between these responses might also be explained by too short observation periods. This review summarizes and discusses the recent findings on this topic. Furthermore, data from our own study are presented that aimed to verify potential associations between several endpoints of genome stability and inflammatory, immune-endocrine and muscle damage parameters in competitors of an Ironman triathlon until 19 days into recovery. The current results indicate that DNA effects in lymphocytes are not responsible for exercise-induced inflammatory responses. Furthermore, this investigation shows that inflammatory processes, vice versa, do not promote DNA damage, neither directly nor via an increased formation of RONS derived from inflammatory cells. Oxidative DNA damage might have been counteracted by training- and exercise-induced antioxidant responses. However, further studies are needed that combine advanced -omics based techniques (transcriptomics, proteomics) with state-of-the-art biochemical biomarkers to gain more insights into the underlying mechanisms.

Antioxidants in Athlete's Basic Nutrition: Considerations towards a Guideline for the Intake of Vitamin C and Vitamin E

Antioxidants in acute physical exercise and exercise training remain a hot topic in sport nutrition, exercise physiology and biology, in general (Jackson, 2008; Margaritis and Rousseau, 2008; Gomez-Cabrera et al., 2012; Nikolaidis et al., 2012). During the past few decades, antioxidants have received attention predominantly as a nutritional strategy for preventing or minimising detrimental effects of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), which are generated during and after strenuous exercise (Jackson, 2008, 2009; Powers and Jackson, 2008). Antioxidant supplementation has become a common practice among athletes as a means to (theoretically) reduce oxidative stress, promote recovery and enhance performance (Peternelj and Coombes, 2011). However, until now, requirements of antioxidant micronutrients and antioxidant compounds for athletes training for and competing in different sport events, including marathon running, triathlon races or team sport events involving repeated sprinting, have not been determined sufficiently (Williams et al., 2006; Margaritis and Rousseau, 2008). Crucially, evidence has been emerging that higher dosages of antioxidants may not necessarily be beneficial in this context, but can also elicit detrimental effects by interfering with performance-enhancing (Gomez-Cabrera et al., 2008) and health-promoting training adaptations (Ristow et al., 2009). As originally postulated in a pioneering study on exercise-induced production of RONS by Davies et al. (1982) in the early 1980s, evidence has been increasing in recent years that RONS are not only damaging agents, but also act as signalling molecules for regulating muscle function (Reid, 2001; Jackson, 2008) and for initiating adaptive responses to exercise (Jackson, 2009; Powers et al., 2010). The recognition that antioxidants could, vice versa, interact with the signalling pathways underlying the responses to acute (and repeated) bouts of exercise has contributed important novel aspects to the continued discussion on antioxidant requirements for athletes. In view of the recent advances in this field, it is the aim of this report to examine the current knowledge of antioxidants, in particular of vitamins C and E, in the basic nutrition of athletes. While overviews on related topics including basic mechanisms of exercise-induced oxidative stress, redox biology, antioxidant defence systems and a summary of studies on antioxidant supplementation during exercise training are provided, this does not mean that this report is comprehensive. Several issues of the expanding and multidisciplinary field of antioxidants and exercise are covered elsewhere in this book and/or in the literature. Exemplarily, the reader is referred to reviews on oxidative stress (Konig et al., 2001; Vollaard et al., 2005; Knez et al., 2006; Powers and Jackson, 2008; Nikolaidis et al., 2012), redox-sensitive signalling and muscle function (Reid, 2001; Vollaard et al., 2005; Jackson, 2008; Ji, 2008; Powers and Jackson, 2008; Powers et al., 2010; Radak et al., 2013) and antioxidant supplementation (Williams et al., 2006; Peake et al., 2007; Peternelj and Coombes, 2011) in the context with exercise. Within the scope of the report, we rather aim to address the question regarding requirements of antioxidants, specifically vitamins C and E, during exercise training, draw conclusions and provide practical implications from the recent research.

No acute and persistent DNA damage after an Ironman triathlon

During acute and strenuous exercise, the enhanced formation of reactive oxygen species can induce damage to lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an Ironman triathlon (3.8 km swim, 180 km cycle, 42 km run), as a prototype of ultra-endurance exercise, on DNA stability. As biomarkers of genomic instability, the number of micronuclei, nucleoplasmic bridges, and nuclear buds were measured within the cytokinesis-block micronucleus cytome assay in once-divided peripheral lymphocytes of 20 male triathletes. Blood samples were taken 2 days before, within 20 min after the race, and 5 and 19 days post-race. Overall, the number of micronuclei decreased (P < 0.05) after the race, remained at a low level until 5 days post-race, and declined further to 19 days post-race (P < 0.01). The frequency of nucleoplasmic bridges and nuclear buds did not change immediately after the triathlon. The number of nucleoplasmic bridge declined from 2 days pre-race to 19 days post-exercise (P < 0.05). The frequency of nuclear buds increased after the triathlon, peaking 5 days post-race (P < 0.01) and decreased to basic levels 19 days after the race (P < 0.01). The results suggest that an Ironman triathlon does not cause long-lasting DNA damage in well-trained athletes.