Are we getting accurate measurements of Ksat for sodic clay soils?

In this paper we discuss the use of a series of column experiments to improve understanding of the effect irrigation water chemistry (saline solutions) has on measurements of saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) of a sodic clay soil. We highlight in particular the use of extended leaching periods to determine whether the duration of leaching affects the results. In the experiments, mixed cation solutions of two different salinity levels, 50 meq/L and 100 meq/L, were applied under constant head to columns of a repacked sodic clay soil using three replicates for each treatment. The maximum Ksat measured during leaching with the 100 meq/L solution was approximately double the maximum Ksat measured during leaching with the 50 meq/L solution. Measured flow rates were found to increase rapidly after flow commenced then decrease gradually until flow rates became stable. The final, stable flow rate was roughly 80% less than the maximum flow rate measured. Reasons for these changes in saturated hydraulic conductivity are discussed. The key finding from these experiments is that long term leaching, involving significantly more pore volumes than is commonly reported in the literature, is required to obtain a ‘stable’ Ksat. We recommend that further studies be carried out to (1) determine whether similar behaviour in Ksat occurs in a wide range of sodic clay soils and (2) to help build a better understanding of the causes and implications of the observed behaviour in Ksat.

Improving monocular SLAM with altimeter hints for fixed-wing aircraft navigation and emergency landing

This paper presents a visual SLAM method for temporary satellite dropout navigation, here applied on fixed- wing aircraft. It is designed for flight altitudes beyond typical stereo ranges, but within the range of distance measurement sensors. The proposed visual SLAM method consists of a common localization step with monocular camera resectioning, and a mapping step which incorporates radar altimeter data for absolute scale estimation. With that, there will be no scale drift of the map and the estimated flight path. The method does not require simplifications like known landmarks and it is thus suitable for unknown and nearly arbitrary terrain. The method is tested with sensor datasets from a manned Cessna 172 aircraft. With 5% absolute scale error from radar measurements causing approximately 2-6% accumulation error over the flown distance, stable positioning is achieved over several minutes of flight time. The main limitations are flight altitudes above the radar range of 750 m where the monocular method will suffer from scale drift, and, depending on the flight speed, flights below 50 m where image processing gets difficult with a downwards-looking camera due to the high optical flow rates and the low image overlap.

A preliminary OSL chronology for coastal dunes on Moreton island, Queensland, Australia – Marginal deposits of A large-scale quaternary shelf sediment system

Moreton Island and several other large siliceous sand dune islands and mainland barrier deposits in SE Queensland represent the distal, onshore component of an extensive Quaternary continental shelf sediment system. This sediment has been transported up to 1000 km along the coast and shelf of SE Australia over multiple glacioeustatic sea-level cycles. Stratigraphic relationships and a preliminary Optically Stimulated Luminance (OSL) chronology for Moreton Island indicate a middle Pleistocene age for the large majority of the deposit. Dune units exposed in the centre of the island and on the east coast have OSL ages that indicate deposition occurred between approximately 540 ka and 350 ka BP, and at around 96±10 ka BP. Much of the southern half of the island has a veneer of much younger sediment, with OSL ages of 0.90±0.11 ka, 1.28±0.16 ka, 5.75±0.53 ka and <0.45 ka BP. The younger deposits were partially derived from the reworking of the upper leached zone of the much older dunes. A large parabolic dune at the northern end of the island, OSL age of 9.90±1.0 ka BP, and palaeosol exposures that extend below present sea level suggest the Pleistocene dunes were sourced from shorelines positioned several to tens of metres lower than, and up to few kilometres seaward of the present shoreline. Given the lower gradient of the inner shelf a few km seaward of the island, it seems likely that periods of intermediate sea level (e.g. ~20 m below present) produced strongly positive onshore sediment budgets and the mobilisation of dunes inland to form much of what now comprises Moreton Island. The new OSL ages and comprehensive OSL chronology for the Cooloola deposit, 100 km north of Moreton Island, indicate that the bulk of the coastal dune deposits in SE Queensland were emplaced between approximately 540 ka BP and prior to the Last Interglacial. This chronostratigraphic information improves our fundamental understanding of long-term sediment transport and accumulation on large-scale continental shelf sediment systems.

Analysis, characterisation and expression of gill-expressed carbonic anhydrase genes in the freshwater crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus

Changes in water quality parameters such as pH and salinity can have a significant effect on productivity of aquaculture species. Similarly, relative osmotic pressure influences various physiological processes and regulates expression of a number of osmoregulatory genes. Among those, carbonic anhydrase (CA) plays a key role in systemic acid–base balance and ion regulation. Redclaw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) are unique in their ability to thrive in environments with naturally varied pH levels, suggesting unique adaptation to pH stress. To date, however, no studies have focused on identification and characterisation of CA or other osmoregulatory genes in C. quadricarinatus. Here, we analysed the redclaw gill transcriptome and characterized CA genes along with a number of other key osmoregulatory genes that were identified in the transcriptome. We also examined patterns of gene expression of these CA genes when exposed to three pH treatments. In total, 72,382,710 paired end Illumina reads were assembled into 36,128 contigs with an average length of 800 bp. Approximately 37% of contigs received significant BLAST hits and 22% were assigned gene ontology terms. Three full length CA isoforms; cytoplasmic CA (ChqCAc), glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol-linked CA (ChqCAg), and β-CA (ChqCA-beta) as well as two partial CA gene sequences were identified. Both partial CA genes showed high similarity to ChqCAg and appeared to be duplicated from the ChqCAg. Full length coding sequences of Na+/K+-ATPase, V-type H+-ATPase, sarcoplasmic Ca+-ATPase, arginine kinase, calreticulin and Cl− channel protein 2 were also identified. Only the ChqCAc gene showed significant differences in expression across the three pH treatments. These data provide valuable information on the gill expressed CA genes and their expression patterns in freshwater crayfish. Overall our data suggest an important role for the ChqCAc gene in response to changes in pH and in systemic acid–base balance in freshwater crayfish.

Genetic structure of invasive weed Parthenium hysterophorus in Australia and Pakistan

Understanding the patterns of genetic structure in the introduced range of invasive species can help elucidate invasion histories and levels of gene flow among populations. Parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.; PW) is native to the Gulf of Mexico and central South America but has become globally invasive during the last three decades and little is known about the genetics of this species in its invasive range. The present study was conducted to determine the genetic structure of 95 individual samples from 11 populations (9 from Pakistan and 2 from Australia) of PW using ISSR fingerprinting. A total of 30 ISSR primers were screened; of which eight were selected due to their high polymorphism and reproducibility. In toto 147 bands were amplified, which ranged in size from 200-2000 bp; among which 97 were polymorphic. Genetic diversity within the populations both from Pakistan and Australia ranged between 0.193-0.278. Approximately 18% of genetic variation occurred among and 82% within populations. Principal Coordinate Analysis showed that within the 95 samples two groups were present: one contained samples collected mainly from Pakistan and the second group included the Australian samples along with two populations from Pakistan. Overall, there was limited gene flow among PW populations in Pakistan, although the genetic diversity within populations was high. The degree of genetic variation inferred from various population diversity measures can predict different events of founding populations, which have passed through complicated processes of invasion, experiencing genetic bottlenecks. Taken together, results showed that PW in Pakistan is genetically heterogeneous and may have been the result of multiple introductions.

Environmental efficiency of energy, materials, and emissions

This study estimates the environmental efficiency of international listed firms in 10 worldwide sectors from 2007 to 2013 by applying an order-m method, a non-parametric approach based on free disposal hull with subsampling bootstrapping. Using a conventional output of gross profit and two conventional inputs of labor and capital, this study examines the order-m environmental efficiency accounting for the presence of each of 10 undesirable inputs/outputs and measures the shadow prices of each undesirable input and output. The results show that there is greater potential for the reduction of undesirable inputs rather than bad outputs. On average, total energy, electricity, or water usage has the potential to be reduced by 50%. The median shadow prices of undesirable inputs, however, are much higher than the surveyed representative market prices. Approximately 10% of the firms in the sample appear to be potential sellers or production reducers in terms of undesirable inputs/outputs, which implies that the price of each item at the current level has little impact on most of the firms. Moreover, this study shows that the environmental, social, and governance activities of a firm do not considerably affect environmental efficiency.

The reach and rationale for community health fairs

Latinos living in the USA account for one third of the uninsured population and face numerous cultural, linguistic, and financial barriers to accessing healthcare services. Community health fairs have developed to address the unmet need for no- and low-cost services that target prevention and education among underserved communities. The current research describes an ongoing effort in a community in Southern California and examines the barriers to health care among participants registering to receive free breast health screenings, one of the major services offered at a 2010 health fair. A total of 186 adult Latina women completed a brief questionnaire assessing their healthcare utilization and self-reported barriers to engaging in preventive and screening services. Approximately two thirds of the participants reported never receiving or having more than 2 years passing since receiving a preventive health check-up. Participants identified cost (64.5 %) and knowledge of locations for services (52.3 %) as the primary barriers to engaging in routine healthcare services. Engaging with health professionals represents a leading way in which adults obtain health information; health fairs offering cancer health screenings represent a culturally appropriate venue for increased cancer health equity. Implications of the current research for future health fairs and their role in community cancer education are discussed.

Wastewater analysis of Census day samples to investigate per capita input of organophosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers into wastewater

The use of organophosphate esters (PFRs) as flame retardants and plasticizers has increased due to the ban of some brominated flame retardants. There is however some concern regarding the toxicity, particularly carcinogenicity and neurotoxicity, of some of the PFRs. In this study we applied wastewater analysis to assess use of PFRs by the Australian population. Influent samples were collected from eleven wastewater treatment plants (STPs) in Australia on Census day and analysed for PFRs using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Per capita mass loads of PFRs were calculated using the accurate Census head counts. The results indicate that tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBOEP) has the highest per capita input into wastewater followed by tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP), tris(isobutyl) phosphate (TIBP), tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) and tris(1,3-dichloroisopropyl) phosphate (TDCIPP). Similar PFR profiles were observed across the Australian STPs and a comparison with European and U.S. STPs indicated similar PFR concentrations. We estimate that approximately 2.1 mg person−1 day−1 of PFRs are input into Australian wastewater which equates to 16 tonnes per annum.

An Electron-Accepting Chromophore Based on Fluorene and Naphthalenediimide Building Blocks for Solution-Processable Bulk Heterojunction Devices

We have designed, synthesized and utilized a new non-fullerene electron acceptor, 9,9′-(9,9-dioctyl-9H-fluorene-2,7-diyl)bis(2,7-dioctyl-4-(octylamino)benzo[lmn][3,8]phenanthroline-1,3,6,8(2H,7H)-tetraone) (B2), for use in solution-processable bulk-heterojunction devices. B2 is based on a central fluorene moiety, which was capped at both ends with an electron-accepting naphthalenediimide functionality. B2 exhibited excellent solubility (>30 mg mL−1 in chloroform), high thermal and photochemical stability, and appropriate energy levels for use with the classical polymer donor regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene). A power conversion efficiency of 1.16 % was achieved for primitive bulk-heterojunction devices with a high fill factor of approximately 54 %.

Do repeated rumble strip hits improve driver alertness?

Driving while sleepy is associated with increased crash risk. Rumble strips are designed to alert a sleepy or inattentive driver when they deviate outside their driving lane. The current study sought to examine the effects of repeated rumble strip hits on levels of physiological and subjective sleepiness as well as simulated driving performance. In total, 36 regular shift workers drove a high-fidelity moving base simulator on a simulated road with rumble strips installed at the shoulder and centre line after a working a full night shift. The results show that on average, the first rumble strip occurred after 20 minutes of driving, with subsequent hits occurring 10 minutes later, with the last three occurring approximately every 5 minutes thereafter. Specifically, it was found that the first rumble strip hit reduced physiological sleepiness; however, subsequent hits did not increase alertness. Moreover, the results also demonstrate that increased subjective sleepiness levels, via the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, were associated with a greater probability of hitting a rumble strip. The present results suggest that sleepiness is very resilient to even strongly arousing stimuli, with physiologicl and subjective sleepiness increasing over the duration of the drive, despite the interference by rumble strips.

Improving the impact of luminance contrast on the window appearance in a conventional office room: Using supplementary lighting strategies

High contrast ratios between windows and surrounding surfaces could cause reduced visibility or discomfort for occupants. Consequently, building users may choose to intervene in lighting conditions through closing blinds and turning on the lamps in order to enhance indoor visual comfort. Such interventions increase projected electric lighting use in buildings. One simple method to prevent these problematic issues is increasing the luminance of the areas surrounding to the bright surface of windows through the use of energy-efficient supplementary lighting, such Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). This paper reports on the results of a pilot study in conventional office in Brisbane, Australia. The outcomes of this study indicated that a supplementary LED system of approximately 18 W could reduce the luminance contrast on the window wall from values in the order of 117:1 to 33:1. In addition, the results of this experiment suggested that this supplementary strategy could increase the subjective scale appraisal of window appearance by approximately 33%, as well as reducing the likelihood of users’ intention to turn on the ceiling lights by about 27%. It could also diminish the likelihood of occupants’ intention to move the blind down by more than 90%.

Microbes, the gut and ankylosing spondylitis

It is increasingly clear that the interaction between host and microbiome profoundly affects health. There are 10 times more bacteria in and on our bodies than the total of our own cells, and the human intestine contains approximately 100 trillion bacteria. Interrogation of microbial communities by using classic microbiology techniques offers a very restricted view of these communities, allowing us to see only what we can grow in isolation. However, recent advances in sequencing technologies have greatly facilitated systematic and comprehensive studies of the role of the microbiome in human health and disease. Comprehensive understanding of our microbiome will enhance understanding of disease pathogenesis, which in turn may lead to rationally targeted therapy for a number of conditions, including autoimmunity.

Enriching architectural design education through interactive displays and local community engagement

Designers have a social responsibility to deal with the needs, issues, and problems that their clients and communities are confronted with. Students of design require opportunities to reflect on their role as social facilitators to develop an attitude towards community engagement through different phases and aspects of their careers. However, current design courses are challenged by compressed timeframes and fragmented scenarios of different academic requirements that do not actively teach community engagement. This paper outlines a participatory and technological approach that was employed to address these issues within the teaching of Architecture and Urban Design at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. A multi-phase community based research project with actual stakeholders was implemented over a two-year period. Approximately 150 students in the final year of the Bachelor of Design-Architecture; 10 students in the Master of Architecture and 15 students in the Master of Design-Urban Design have informed and influenced each others’ learning through the teaching and research nexus facilitated by this project. The technical approach was implemented in form of a bespoke digital platform that supported the display and discussion of digital media on a series of interactive touch walls. The platform allowed students to easily upload their final designs onto large interactive surfaces, where visitors could explore the media and provide comments. Through the use of this technical platform and the introduction of neogeography, students have been able to broaden their level of interaction and support their learning experience through external structured and unstructured feedback from the local community. Students have not only been exposed to community representatives, but they also have been working in parallel on a specific case study providing each other, across different years and courses, material for reflection and data to structure their design activities.

Whole exome sequencing is an efficient and sensitive method for detection of germline mutations in patients with phaeochromcytomas and paragangliomas

Background Genetic testing is recommended when the probability of a disease-associated germline mutation exceeds 10%. Germline mutations are found in approximately 25% of individuals with phaeochromcytoma (PCC) or paraganglioma (PGL); however, genetic heterogeneity for PCC/PGL means many genes may require sequencing. A phenotype-directed iterative approach may limit costs but may also delay diagnosis, and will not detect mutations in genes not previously associated with PCC/PGL. Objective To assess whether whole exome sequencing (WES) was efficient and sensitive for mutation detection in PCC/PGL. Methods Whole exome sequencing was performed on blinded samples from eleven individuals with PCC/PGL and known mutations. Illumina TruSeq™ (Illumina Inc, San Diego, CA, USA) was used for exome capture of seven samples, and NimbleGen SeqCap EZ v3.0 (Roche NimbleGen Inc, Basel, Switzerland) for five samples (one sample was repeated). Massive parallel sequencing was performed on multiplexed samples. Sequencing data were called using Genome Analysis Toolkit and annotated using annovar. Data were assessed for coding variants in RET, NF1, VHL, SDHD, SDHB, SDHC, SDHA, SDHAF2, KIF1B, TMEM127, EGLN1 and MAX. Target capture of five exome capture platforms was compared. Results Six of seven mutations were detected using Illumina TruSeq™ exome capture. All five mutations were detected using NimbleGen SeqCap EZ v3.0 platform, including the mutation missed using Illumina TruSeq™ capture. Target capture for exons in known PCC/PGL genes differs substantially between platforms. Exome sequencing was inexpensive (<$A800 per sample for reagents) and rapid (results <5 weeks from sample reception). Conclusion Whole exome sequencing is sensitive, rapid and efficient for detection of PCC/PGL germline mutations. However, capture platform selection is critical to maximize sensitivity.

Review and future options for computer modelling in the sugar industry

Computer modelling has been used extensively in some processes in the sugar industry to achieve significant gains. This paper reviews the investigations carried out over approximately the last twenty five years, including the successes but also areas where problems and delays have been encountered. In that time the capability of both hardware and software have increased dramatically. For some processes such as cane cleaning, cane billet preparation, and sugar drying, the application of computer modelling towards improved equipment design and operation has been quite limited. A particular problem has been the large number of particles and particle interactions in these…