Rolling out the future: The current status of the Australian NBN and its impact for property

The future functioning of the digital economy is inextricably linked to the use of high-speed broadband networks. As evidenced by recent Australian federal election campaigns, a focus has been on the rollout of the physical networks. The research seeks to determine the effectiveness of the current NBN rollout as a measure of Australia’s progression towards a fully functioning digital economy. The author examines submissions to the recent RTIRC Telecommunications Review 2015 in order to ascertain the NBN’s current impact upon Australia’s digital economy.

Building an understanding of law: Engaging property economics students by using technology

It is assumed university students engage with technology as easily for their university studies as they do socially. However, prior research reflects the difficulties that non-law students face in engaging with legal materials. The purpose of this research was to determine how technology use impacts upon non-law students’ engagement with legal materials. The project explored inter alia the extent to which first year non-law students engaged with technology for their studies and in particular with legal materials and databases. The project was undertaken during semester 2, 2014 in a legal service unit delivered to a mixed cohort, which included construction management, property economics, planning and quantity surveying students. Actual technology use and familiarity was tested by means of an in class survey delivered in the Week 2 lecture. Use and familiarity was then retested at the end of semester in the Week 13 lecture, with adjustments made in lecture delivery and materials in-between.

Scaling results up from a plot and paddock scale to a property - a case study from a long-term grazing experiment in northern Australia

Grazing experiments are usually used to quantify and demonstrate the biophysical impact of grazing strategies, with the Wambiana grazing experiment being one of the longest running such experiments in northern Australia. Previous economic analyses of this experiment suggest that there is a major advantage in stocking at a fixed, moderate stocking rate or in using decision rules allowing flexible stocking to match available feed supply. The present study developed and applied a modelling procedure to use data collected at the small plot, land type and paddock scales at the experimental site to simulate the property-level implications of a range of stocking rates for a breeding-finishing cattle enterprise. The greatest economic performance was achieved at a moderate stocking rate of 10.5 adult equivalents 100 ha(-1). For the same stocking rate over time, the fixed stocking strategy gave a greater economic performance than strategies that involved moderate changes to stocking rates each year in response to feed supply. Model outcomes were consistent with previous economic analyses using experimental data. Further modelling of the experimental data is warranted and similar analyses could be applied to other major grazing experiments to allow the scaling of results to greater scales.

Robust nanostructured silver and copper fabrics with localized surface plasmon resonance property for effective visible light induced reductive catalysis

Inspired by high porosity, absorbency, wettability and hierarchical ordering on the micrometer and nanometer scale of cotton fabrics, a facile strategy is developed to coat visible light active metal nanostructures of copper and silver on cotton fabric substrates. The fabrication of nanostructured Ag and Cu onto interwoven threads of a cotton fabric by electroless deposition creates metal nanostructures that show a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect. The micro/nanoscale hierarchical ordering of the cotton fabrics allows access to catalytically active sites to participate in heterogeneous catalysis with high efficiency. The ability of metals to absorb visible light through LSPR further enhances the catalytic reaction rates under photoexcitation conditions. Understanding the mode of electron transfer during visible light illumination in Ag@Cotton and Cu@Cotton through electrochemical measurements provides mechanistic evidence on the influence of light in promoting electron transfer during heterogeneous catalysis for the first time. The outcomes presented in this work will be helpful in designing new multifunctional fabrics with the ability to absorb visible light and thereby enhance light-activated catalytic processes.

Bacillus cereus spores and cereulide in food-borne illness

B. cereus is a gram-positive bacterium that possesses two different forms of life:the large, rod-shaped cells (ca. 0.002 mm by 0.004 mm) that are able to propagate and the small (0.001 mm), oval shaped spores. The spores can survive in almost any environment for up to centuries without nourishment or water. They are insensitive towards most agents that normally kill bacteria: heating up to several hours at 90 ºC, radiation, disinfectants and extreme alkaline (≥ pH 13) and acid (≤ pH 1) environment. The spores are highly hydrophobic and therefore make them tend to stick to all kinds of surfaces, steel, plastics and live cells. In favorable conditions the spores of B. cereus may germinate into vegetative cells capable of producing food poisoning toxins. The toxins can be heat-labile protein formed after ingestion of the contaminated food, inside the gastrointestinal tract (diarrhoeal toxins), or heat stable peptides formed in the food (emesis causing toxin, cereulide). Cereulide cannot be inactivated in foods by cooking or any other procedure applicable on food. Cereulide in consumed food causes serious illness in human, even fatalities. In this thesis, B. cereus strains originating from different kinds of foods and environments and 8 different countries were inspected for their capability of forming cereulide. Of the 1041 isolates from soil, animal feed, water, air, used bedding, grass, dung and equipment only 1.2 % were capable of producing cereulide, whereas of the 144 isolates originating from foods 24 % were cereulide producers. Cereulide was detected by two methods: by its toxicity towards mammalian cells (sperm assay) and by its peculiar chemical structure using liquid-chromatograph-mass spectrometry equipment. B. cereus is known as one of the most frequent bacteria occurring in food. Most foods contain more than one kind of B. cereus. When randomly selected 100 isolates of B. cereus from commercial infant foods (dry formulas) were tested, 11% of these produced cereulide. Considering a frequent content of 103 to 104 cfu (colony forming units) of B. cereus per gram of infant food formula (dry), it appears likely that most servings (200 ml, 30 g of the powder reconstituted with water) may contain cereulide producers. When a reconstituted infant formula was inoculated with >105 cfu of cereulide producing B. cereus per ml and left at room temperature, cereulide accumulated to food poisoning levels (> 0.1 mg of cereulide per serving) within 24 hours. Paradoxically, the amount of cereulide (per g of food) increased 10 to 50 fold when the food was diluted 4 - 15 fold with water. The amount of the produced cereulide strongly depended on the composition of the formula: most toxin was formed in formulas with cereals mixed with milk, and least toxin in formulas based on milk only. In spite of the aggressive cleaning practices executed by the modern dairy industry, certain genotypes of B. cereus appear to colonise the silos tanks. In this thesis four strategies to explain their survival of their spores in dairy silos were identified. First, high survival (log 15 min kill ≤ 1.5) in the hot alkaline (pH >13) wash liquid, used at the dairies for cleaning-in-place. Second, efficient adherence of the spores to stainless steel from cold water. Third, a cereulide producing group with spores characterized by slow germination in rich medium and well preserved viability when exposed to heating at 90 ºC. Fourth, spores capable of germinating at 8 ºC and possessing the psychrotolerance gene, cspA. There were indications that spores highly resistant to hot 1% sodium hydroxide may be effectively inactivated by hot 0.9% nitric acid. Eight out of the 14 dairy silo tank isolates possessing hot alkali resistant spores were capable of germinating and forming biofilm in whole milk, not previously reported for B. cereus. In this thesis it was shown that cereulide producing B. cereus was capable of inhibiting the growth of cereulide non-producing B. cereus occurring in the same food. This phenomenon, called antagonism, has long been known to exist between B. cereus and other microbial species, e.g. various species of Bacillus, gram-negative bacteria and plant pathogenic fungi. In this thesis intra-species antagonism of B. cereus was shown for the first time. This brother-killing did not depend on the cereulide molecule, also some of the cereulide non-producers were potent antagonists. Interestingly, the antagonistic clades were most frequently found in isolates from food implicated with human illness. The antagonistic property was therefore proposed in this thesis as a novel virulence factor that increases the human morbidity of the species B. cereus, in particular of the cereulide producers.

Large scale surveys suggest limited mercury availability in tropical north Queensland (Australia)

Little is known about the threat of mercury (Hg) to consumers in food webs of Australia's wet-dry tropics. This is despite high concentrations in similar biomes elsewhere and a recent history of gold mining that could lead to a high degree of exposure for biota. We analysed Hg in water, sediments, invertebrates and fishes in rivers and estuaries of north Queensland, Australia to determine its availability and biomagnification in food webs. Concentrations in water and sediments were low relative to other regions of Hg concern, with only four of 138 water samples and five of 60 sediment samples above detection limits of 0.1 mu g L-1 and 01 mu g g(-1), respectively. Concentrations of Hg in fishes and invertebrates from riverine and wetland food webs were well below international consumption guidelines, including those in piscivorous fishes, likely due to low baseline concentrations and limited rates of biomagnification (average slope of log Hg vs. delta N-15 = 0.08). A large fish species of recreational, commercial, and cultural importance (the barramundi, Lates calcarifer), had low concentrations that were below consumption guidelines. Observed variation in Hg concentrations in this species was primarily explained by age and foraging location (floodplain vs. coastal), with floodplain feeders having higher Hg concentrations than those foraging at sea. These analyses suggest that there is a limited threat of Hg exposure for fish-eating consumers in this region. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Economic theory informing approaches to phoenix activity in small business: A neo-Schumpeterian analysis

The adequacy and efficiency of existing legal and regulatory frameworks dealing with corporate phoenix activity have been repeatedly called into question over the past two decades through various reviews, inquiries, targeted regulatory operations and the implementation of piecemeal legislative reform. Despite these efforts, phoenix activity does not appear to have abated. While there is no law in Australia that declares ‘phoenix activity’ to be illegal, the behaviour that tends to manifest in phoenix activity can be capable of transgressing a vast array of law, including for example, corporate law, tax law, and employment law. This paper explores the notion that the persistence of phoenix activity despite the sheer extent of this law suggests that the law is not acting as powerfully as it might as a deterrent. Economic theories of entrepreneurship and innovation can to some extent explain why this is the case and also offer a sound basis for the evaluation and reconsideration of the existing law. The challenges facing key regulators are significant. Phoenix activity is not limited to particular corporate demographic: it occurs in SMEs, large companies and in corporate groups. The range of behaviour that can amount to phoenix activity is so broad, that not all phoenix activity is illegal. This paper will consider regulatory approaches to these challenges via analysis of approaches to detection and enforcement of the underlying law capturing illegal phoenix activity. Remedying the mischief of phoenix activity is of practical importance. The benefits include continued confidence in our economy, law that inspires best practice among directors, and law that is articulated in a manner such that penalties act as a sufficient deterrent and the regulatory system is able to detect offenders and bring them to account. Any further reforms must accommodate and tolerate legal phoenix activity, at least to some extent. Even then, phoenix activity pushes tolerance of repeated entrepreneurial failure to its absolute limit. The more limited liability is misused and abused, the stronger the argument to place some restrictions on access to limited liability. This paper proposes that such an approach is a legitimate next step for a robust and mature capitalist economy.

A comparison of stocking methods for beef production in northern Australia: pasture and soil surface condition responses

Historical stocking methods of continuous, season-long grazing of pastures with little account of growing conditions have caused some degradation within grazed landscapes in northern Australia. Alternative stocking methods have been implemented to address this degradation and raise the productivity and profitability of the principal livestock, cattle. Because information comparing stocking methods is limited, an evaluation was undertaken to quantify the effects of stocking methods on pastures, soils and grazing capacity. The approach was to monitor existing stocking methods on nine commercial beef properties in north and south Queensland. Environments included native and exotic pastures and eucalypt (lighter soil) and brigalow (heavier soil) land types. Breeding and growing cattle were grazed under each method. The owners/managers, formally trained in pasture and grazing management, made all management decisions affecting the study sites. Three stocking methods were compared: continuous (with rest), extensive rotation and intensive rotation (commonly referred to as 'cell grazing'). There were two or three stocking methods examined on each property: in total 21 methods (seven continuous, six extensive rotations and eight intensive rotations) were monitored over 74 paddocks, between 2006 and 2009. Pasture and soil surface measurements were made in the autumns of 2006, 2007 and 2009, while the paddock grazing was analysed from property records for the period from 2006 to 2009. The first 2 years had drought conditions (rainfall average 3.4 decile) but were followed by 2 years of above-average rainfall. There were no consistent differences between stocking methods across all sites over the 4 years for herbage mass, plant species composition, total and litter cover, or landscape function analysis (LFA) indices. There were large responses to rainfall in the last 2 years with mean herbage mass in the autumn increasing from 1970 kg DM ha(-1) in 2006-07 to 3830 kg DM ha(-1) in 2009. Over the same period, ground and litter cover and LFA indices increased. Across all sites and 4 years, mean grazing capacity was similar for the three stocking methods. There were, however, significant differences in grazing capacity between stocking methods at four sites but these differences were not consistent between stocking methods or sites. Both the continuous and intensive rotation methods supported the highest average annual grazing capacity at different sites. The results suggest that cattle producers can obtain similar ecological responses and carry similar numbers of livestock under any of the three stocking methods.

Topological Quantum Computation - An Analysis of an Anyon Model Based on Quantum Double Symmetries

There exists various suggestions for building a functional and a fault-tolerant large-scale quantum computer. Topological quantum computation is a more exotic suggestion, which makes use of the properties of quasiparticles manifest only in certain two-dimensional systems. These so called anyons exhibit topological degrees of freedom, which, in principle, can be used to execute quantum computation with intrinsic fault-tolerance. This feature is the main incentive to study topological quantum computation. The objective of this thesis is to provide an accessible introduction to the theory. In this thesis one has considered the theory of anyons arising in two-dimensional quantum mechanical systems, which are described by gauge theories based on so called quantum double symmetries. The quasiparticles are shown to exhibit interactions and carry quantum numbers, which are both of topological nature. Particularly, it is found that the addition of the quantum numbers is not unique, but that the fusion of the quasiparticles is described by a non-trivial fusion algebra. It is discussed how this property can be used to encode quantum information in a manner which is intrinsically protected from decoherence and how one could, in principle, perform quantum computation by braiding the quasiparticles. As an example of the presented general discussion, the particle spectrum and the fusion algebra of an anyon model based on the gauge group S_3 are explicitly derived. The fusion algebra is found to branch into multiple proper subalgebras and the simplest one of them is chosen as a model for an illustrative demonstration. The different steps of a topological quantum computation are outlined and the computational power of the model is assessed. It turns out that the chosen model is not universal for quantum computation. However, because the objective was a demonstration of the theory with explicit calculations, none of the other more complicated fusion subalgebras were considered. Studying their applicability for quantum computation could be a topic of further research.

Large-chamber methane and nitrous oxide measurements are comparable to the backward Lagrangian stochastic method

Measurement of individual emission sources (e.g., animals or pen manure) within intensive livestock enterprises is necessary to test emission calculation protocols and to identify targets for decreased emissions. In this study, a vented, fabric-covered large chamber (4.5 × 4.5 m, 1.5 m high; encompassing greater spatial variability than a smaller chamber) in combination with on-line analysis (nitrous oxide [N2O] and methane [CH4] via Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy; 1 analysis min-1) was tested as a means to isolate and measure emissions from beef feedlot pen manure sources. An exponential model relating chamber concentrations to ambient gas concentrations, air exchange (e.g., due to poor sealing with the surface; model linear when ≈ 0 m3 s-1), and chamber dimensions allowed data to be fitted with high confidence. Alternating manure source emission measurements using the large-chamber and the backward Lagrangian stochastic (bLS) technique (5-mo period; bLS validated via tracer gas release, recovery 94-104%) produced comparable N2O and CH4 emission values (no significant difference at P < 0.05). Greater precision of individual measurements was achieved via the large chamber than for the bLS (mean ± standard error of variance components: bLS half-hour measurements, 99.5 ± 325 mg CH4 s-1 and 9.26 ± 20.6 mg N2O s-1; large-chamber measurements, 99.6 ± 64.2 mg CH4 s-1 and 8.18 ± 0.3 mg N2O s-1). The large-chamber design is suitable for measurement of emissions from manure on pen surfaces, isolating these emissions from surrounding emission sources, including enteric emissions. © © American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America.

Considering gambling involvement in the understanding of problem gambling: A large cross-sectional study of an Australian population

Instead of regarding a particular type of gambling activity (for example, electronic gambling machines, table games) as an isolated factor for problem gambling, recent research suggests that gambling involvement (for example, as measured by the number of different types of gambling activities played) should also be considered. Using a large sample of the Victorian adult population, this study found that the strength of association between problem gambling and the type of gambling reduced after adjusting for gambling involvement. This finding supports recent research that gambling involvement is an important factor in assessing the risk of problem gambling. The study also provides insights into the measurements of gambling involvement and provides alternative statistical modelling to analyse problem gambling.

Reorientation of Water Inside Carbon Nanorings by Large Angular Jumps

Molecular dynamics simulations of the orientational dynamics of water molecules confined inside narrow carbon nanorings reveal that reorientational relaxation is mediated by large amplitude angular jumps. The distribution of waiting time between jumps peaks at about 60 fs, and has a slowly decaying exponential tail with a timescale of about 440 fs. These time scales are much faster than the mean waiting time between jumps of the water molecules in bulk.

Large-scale characterization of drought pattern: a continent-wide modelling approach applied to the Australian wheatbelt – spatial and temporal trends

* Plant response to drought is complex, so that traits adapted to a specific drought type can confer disadvantage in another drought type. Understanding which type(s) of drought to target is of prime importance for crop improvement. * Modelling was used to quantify seasonal drought patterns for a check variety across the Australian wheatbelt, using 123 yr of weather data for representative locations and managements. Two other genotypes were used to simulate the impact of maturity on drought pattern. * Four major environment types summarized the variability in drought pattern over time and space. Severe stress beginning before flowering was common (44% of occurrences), with (24%) or without (20%) relief during grain filling. High variability occurred from year to year, differing with geographical region. With few exceptions, all four environment types occurred in most seasons, for each location, management system and genotype. * Applications of such environment characterization are proposed to assist breeding and research to focus on germplasm, traits and genes of interest for target environments. The method was applied at a continental scale to highly variable environments and could be extended to other crops, to other drought-prone regions around the world, and to quantify potential changes in drought patterns under future climates.