Carbon, biodiversity and regional natural resource planning : towards high impact next generation plans

Given the increased importance of adaptation debates in global climate negotiations, pressure to achieve biodiversity, food and water security through managed landscape-scale adaptation will likely increase across the globe over the coming decade. In parallel, emerging market-based, terrestrial greenhouse gas abatement programs present a real opportunity to secure such adaptation to climate change through enhanced landscape resilience. Australia has an opportunity to take advantage of such programs through regional planning aspects of its governance arrangements for NRM. This paper explores necessary reforms to Australia's regional NRM planning systems to ensure that they will be better able to direct the nation's emerging GGA programs to secure enhanced landscape adaptation. © 2013 Planning Institute Australia.

Verifiable multi-secret sharing schemes for multiple threshold access structures

A multi-secret sharing scheme allows several secrets to be shared amongst a group of participants. In 2005, Shao and Cao developed a verifiable multi-secret sharing scheme where each participant’s share can be used several times which reduces the number of interactions between the dealer and the group members. In addition some secrets may require a higher security level than others involving the need for different threshold values. Recently Chan and Chang designed such a scheme but their construction only allows a single secret to be shared per threshold value. In this article we combine the previous two approaches to design a multiple time verifiable multi-secret sharing scheme where several secrets can be shared for each threshold value. Since the running time is an important factor for practical applications, we will provide a complexity comparison of our combined approach with respect to the previous schemes.

Introduction to the first international workshop on process management for highly dynamic and pervasive scenarios(PM4HDPS 2008)

Nowadays, process management systems (PMSs) are widely used in many business scenarios, e.g. by government agencies, by insurance companies, and by banks. Despite this widespread usage, the typical application of such systems is predominantly in the context of static scenarios, instead of pervasive and highly dynamic scenarios. Nevertheless, pervasive and highly dynamic scenarios could also benefit from the use of PMSs.

Generation of two isomers of C5H from the corresponding anions. A theoretically motivated mass spectrometric study

Molecular orbital calculations have predicted the stability of a range of connectivities for the radical C5H potential surface. The most energetically favorable of these include the linear C4CH geometry and two ring-chain structures HC2C3 and C2C3H The corresponding anions are also shown to be theoretically stable, and furthermore, a fourth isomer, C2CHC2, is predicted to be the most stable anion connectivity. These results have motivated experimental efforts. Methodologies for the generation of the non-ring-containing isomeric anions C4CH and C2CHC2 have been developed utilizing negative ion mass spectrometry. The absolute connectivities of the anions have been established using deuterium labeling, charge reversal, and neutralization reionization techniques. The success of the latter experiment confirms theoretical predictions of stability of the corresponding neutral species. This is the first reported observation of the neutral C2CHC2 species that calculations predict to be substantially less stable than the C4CH connectivity but still bound relative to isomerization processes.

Generation and characterization of ionic and neutral dihydroxy boron B(OH)(2)(+/0) in the gas phase

The dicoordinated borinium ion, dihydroxyborinium, B(OH)(2)(+) is generated from methyl boronic acid CH3B(OH)(2) by dissociative electron ionization and its connectivity confirmed by collisional activation. Neutralization-reionization (NR) experiments on this ion indicate that the neutral B(OH)(2) radical is a viable species in the gas phase. Both vertical neutralization of B(OH)(2)(+) and reionization of B(OH)(2) in the NR experiment are, however, associated with particularly unfavorable Franck-Condon factors. The differences in adiabatic and vertical electron transfer behavior can be traced back to a particular pi stabilization of the cationic species compared to the sp(2)-type neutral radical. Thermochemical data on several neutral and cationic boron compounds are presented based on calculations performed at the G2 level of theory.

DUTCH : teaching method-based design

All design classes followed a systematic design approach, that, in an abstract way, can be characterized by figure 1. This approach is based on our design approach [1] that we labeled DUTCH (design for users and tasks, from concepts to handles).Consequently, each course starts with collecting, modeling, and analyzing an existing situation. The next step is the development of a vision on a future domain world where new technology and / or new representations have been implemented. This second step is the first tentative global design that will be represented in scenarios or prototypes and can be assessed. This second design model is based on both the client’s requirements and technological possibilities and challenges. In an iterative way multiple instantiations of detail design may follow, that each can be assessed and evaluated again...

Characterisation of a glutathione reductase gene and its genetic locus from pea (Pisum sativum L.)

A cDNA encoding the chloroplast/mitochondrial form of glutathione reductase (GR:EC 1,6,4,2) from pea (Pisum sativum L.) was used to map a single GR locus, named GORI. In two domesticated genotypes of pea (cv, Birte and JI 399) it is likely that the GORI locus contains a single gene. However, in a semi-domesticated land race of pea sequences were detected but closely related sets of GR gene sequences were in JI 281 represent either a second intact gene or a partial or pseudogene copy. A GR gene was cloned from ev. Birte, sequenced and its structure analysed. No features of the transcription or structure of the gene suggested a mechanism for generating any more than one form of . From these data plus previously published biochemical evidence was suggested a second, distinct gene encoding for the cytosolic form of GR should be present in peas. The GORI-encoded GR mRNA can be detected in all main organs of the plant and no alternative spliced species was present which could perhaps account for the generation of multiple isoforms of GR. The mismatch between the number of charge-separable isoforms in pea and the proposed number suggests that different GR isoforms arise by some form of post-transnational modification.

Multiple repeats of a promoter segment causes transcription factor autoregulation in red apples

Mutations in the genes encoding for either the biosynthetic or transcriptional regulation of the anthocyanin pathway have been linked to color phenotypes. Generally, this is a loss of function resulting in a reduction or a change in the distribution of anthocyanin. Here, we describe a rearrangement in the upstream regulatory region of the gene encoding an apple (Malus x domestica) anthocyanin-regulating transcription factor, MYB10. We show that this modification is responsible for increasing the level of anthocyanin throughout the plant to produce a striking phenotype that includes red foliage and red fruit flesh. This rearrangement is a series of multiple repeats, forming a minisatellite-like structure that comprises five direct tandem repeats of a 23-bp sequence. This MYB10 rearrangement is present in all the red foliage apple varieties and species tested but in none of the white fleshed varieties. Transient assays demonstrated that the 23-bp sequence motif is a target of the MYB10 protein itself, and the number of repeat units correlates with an increase in transactivation by MYB10 protein. We show that the repeat motif is capable of binding MYB10 protein in electrophoretic mobility shift assays. Taken together, these results indicate that an allelic rearrangement in the promoter of MYB10 has generated an autoregulatory locus, and this autoregulation is sufficient to account for the increase in MYB10 transcript levels and subsequent ectopic accumulation of anthocyanins throughout the plant.

Facilitating query decomposition in query language modeling by association rule mining using multiple sliding windows

This paper presents a novel framework to further advance the recent trend of using query decomposition and high-order term relationships in query language modeling, which takes into account terms implicitly associated with different subsets of query terms. Existing approaches, most remarkably the language model based on the Information Flow method are however unable to capture multiple levels of associations and also suffer from a high computational overhead. In this paper, we propose to compute association rules from pseudo feedback documents that are segmented into variable length chunks via multiple sliding windows of different sizes. Extensive experiments have been conducted on various TREC collections and our approach significantly outperforms a baseline Query Likelihood language model, the Relevance Model and the Information Flow model.

Automatic classification of human epithelial type 2 cell indirect immunofluorescence images using cell pyramid matching

This paper describes a novel system for automatic classification of images obtained from Anti-Nuclear Antibody (ANA) pathology tests on Human Epithelial type 2 (HEp-2) cells using the Indirect Immunofluorescence (IIF) protocol. The IIF protocol on HEp-2 cells has been the hallmark method to identify the presence of ANAs, due to its high sensitivity and the large range of antigens that can be detected. However, it suffers from numerous shortcomings, such as being subjective as well as time and labour intensive. Computer Aided Diagnostic (CAD) systems have been developed to address these problems, which automatically classify a HEp-2 cell image into one of its known patterns (eg. speckled, homogeneous). Most of the existing CAD systems use handpicked features to represent a HEp-2 cell image, which may only work in limited scenarios. We propose a novel automatic cell image classification method termed Cell Pyramid Matching (CPM), which is comprised of regional histograms of visual words coupled with the Multiple Kernel Learning framework. We present a study of several variations of generating histograms and show the efficacy of the system on two publicly available datasets: the ICPR HEp-2 cell classification contest dataset and the SNPHEp-2 dataset.

Generation of two isomers of C5H from the corresponding anions. A theoretically motivated mass spectrometric study

Molecular orbital calculations have predicted the stability of a range of connectivities for the radical C5H potential surface. The most energetically favorable of these include the linear C4CH geometry and two ring-chain structures HC2C3 and C2C3H The corresponding anions are also shown to be theoretically stable, and furthermore, a fourth isomer, C2CHC2, is predicted to be the most stable anion connectivity. These results have motivated experimental efforts. Methodologies for the generation of the non-ring-containing isomeric anions C4CH and C2CHC2 have been developed utilizing negative ion mass spectrometry. The absolute connectivities of the anions have been established using deuterium labeling, charge reversal, and neutralization reionization techniques. The success of the latter experiment confirms theoretical predictions of stability of the corresponding neutral species. This is the first reported observation of the neutral C2CHC2 species that calculations predict to be substantially less stable than the C4CH connectivity but still bound relative to isomerization processes.

Liability in negligence and the failure to disclose multiple risks in surgery : I would have been willing to run the risk

It has been 21 years since the decision in Rogers v Whitaker and the legal principles concerning informed consent and liability for negligence are still strongly grounded in this landmark High Court decision. This paper considers more recent developments in the law concerning the failure to disclose inherent risks in medical procedures, focusing on the decision in Wallace v Kam [2013] HCA 19. In this case, the appellant underwent a surgical procedure that carried a number of risks. The surgery itself was not performed in a sub-standard way, but the surgeon failed to disclose two risks to the patient, a failure that constituted a breach of the surgeon’s duty of care in negligence. One of the undisclosed risks was considered to be less serious than the other, and this lesser risk eventuated causing injury to the appellant. The more serious risk did not eventuate, but the appellant argued that if the more serious risk had been disclosed, he would have avoided his injuries completely because he would have refused to undergo the procedure. Liability was disputed by the surgeon, with particular reference to causation principles. The High Court of Australia held that the appellant should not be compensated for harm that resulted from a risk he would have been willing to run. We examine the policy reasons underpinning the law of negligence in this specific context and consider some of the issues raised by this unusual case. We question whether some of the judicial reasoning adopted in this case, represents a significant shift in traditional causation principles.

Peer assisted learning and generation Y : a case study

In recent years Australian Law Schools have implemented various forms of peer assisted learning or mentoring, including career mentoring by former students of final year students and orientation mentoring or tutoring by later year students of incoming first year students. The focus of these programs therefore is on the transition into or out of law school. There is not always as great an emphasis however, as part of this transition, on the use of law students belonging to the same unit cohort as a learning resource for each other within their degree. This is despite the claimed preference of Generation Y students for collaborative learning environments, authentic learning experiences and the development of marketable workplace skills. In the workplace, be it professional legal practice or otherwise, colleagues rely heavily on each other for information, support and guidance. In the undergraduate law degree at the Queensland University of Technology (‘QUT’) the Torts Student Peer Mentor Program aims to supplement a student’s understanding of the substantive law of torts with the development of life-long skills. As such it has the primary objective, albeit through discussion facilitated by more senior students, of encouraging first year students to develop for themselves the skills they need to be successful both as law students and as legal practitioners. Examples of such skills include those relevant to: preparation for assessment tasks; group work; problem solving, cognition and critical thinking; independent learning; and communication. Significantly, in this way, not only do the mentees benefit from involvement in the program, but the peer mentors, or program facilitators, themselves also benefit from their participation in the real world learning environment the program provides. This paper outlines the development and implementation of the above program, the pedagogy which influenced it, and its impact on student learning experiences

Generation of three isomers of C7H- in the gas phase. A joint experimental and theoretical study

Three anion isomers of formula C7H have been synthesised in the mass spectrometer by unequivocal routes. The structures of the isomers are \[HCCC(C-2)(2)](-), C6CH- and C2CHC4-. One of these, \[HCCC(C-2)(2)](-), is formed in sufficient yield to allow it to be charge stripped to the corresponding neutral radical.

Enabling safe autonomous driving in real-world city traffic using multiple criteria decision making

This paper addresses the topic of real-time decision making for autonomous city vehicles, i.e., the autonomous vehicles' ability to make appropriate driving decisions in city road traffic situations. The paper explains the overall controls system architecture, the decision making task decomposition, and focuses on how Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) is used in the process of selecting the most appropriate driving maneuver from the set of feasible ones. Experimental tests show that MCDM is suitable for this new application area.