Best management practices for sustainable and safe playing surface of Australian Football League sports fields

In 2002, AFL Queensland and the Brisbane Lions Football Club approached the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (Queensland) for advice on improving their Premier League sports fields. They were concerned about player safety and dissatisfaction with playing surfaces, particularly uneven turf cover and variable under-foot conditions. They wanted to get the best from new investments in ground maintenance equipment and irrigation infrastructure. Their sports fields were representative of community-standard, multi-use venues throughout Australia; generally ‘natural’ soil fields, with low maintenance budgets, managed by volunteers. Improvements such as reconstruction, drainage, or regular re-turfing are generally not affordable. Our project aimed to: (a) Review current world practice and performance benchmarks; (b) Demonstrate best-practice management for community-standard fields; (c) Adapt relevant methods for surface performance testing; (d) Assess current soils, and investigate useful amendments; (e) Improve irrigation system performance; and (e) Build industry capacity and encourage patterns for ongoing learning. Most global sports field research focuses on elite, sand-based fields. We adjusted elite standards for surface performance (hardness, traction, soil moisture, evenness, sward cover/height) and maintenance programs, to suit community-standard fields with lesser input resources. In regularly auditing ground conditions across 12 AFLQ fields in SE QLD, we discovered surface hardness (measured by Clegg Hammer) was the No. 1 factor affecting player safety and surface performance. Other important indices were turf coverage and surface compaction (measured by penetrometer). AFLQ now runs regularly audits affiliated fields, and closes grounds with hardness readings greater than 190 Gmax. Aerating every two months was the primary mechanical practice improving surface condition and reducing hardness levels to < 110 Gmax on the renovated project fields. With irrigation installation, these fields now record surface conditions comparable to elite fields. These improvements encouraged many other sporting organisations to seek advice / assistance from the project team. AFLQ have since substantially invested in an expanded ground improvement program, to cater for this substantially increased demand. In auditing irrigation systems across project fields, we identified low maintenance (with < 65% of sprinklers operating optimally) as a major problem. Retrofitting better nozzles and adjusting sprinklers improved irrigation distribution uniformity to 75-80%. Research showed that reducing irrigation frequency to weekly, and preparedness to withhold irrigation longer after rain, reduced irrigation requirement by 30-50%, compared to industry benchmarks of 5-6 ML/ha/annum. Project team consultation with regulatory authorities enhanced irrigation efficiency under imposed regional water restrictions. Laboratory studies showed incorporated biosolids / composts, or topdressed crumb rubber, improved compaction resistance of soils. Field evaluations confirmed compost incorporation significantly reduced surface hardness of high wear areas in dry conditions, whilst crumb rubber assisted turf persistence into early winter. Neither amendment was a panacea for poor agronomic practices. Under the auspices of the project Trade Mark Sureplay®, we published > 80 articles, and held > 100 extension activities involving > 2,000 participants. Sureplay® has developed a multi-level curator training structure and resource materials, subject to commercial implementation. The partnerships with industry bodies (particularly AFLQ), frequent extension activities, and engagement with government/regulatory sectors have been very successful, and are encouraged for any future work. Specific aspects of sports field management for further research include: (a) Understanding of factors affecting turf wear resistance and recovery, to improve turf persistence under wear; (b) Simple tests for pinpointing areas of fields with high hardness risk; and (c) Evaluation of new irrigation infrastructure, ‘water-saving’ devices, and irrigation protocols, in improving water use and turf cover outcomes.

Holographic methods for the fabrication of various types of mirrors

A comprehensive set of new configurations for the holographic simulation of a wide variety of mirrors is described. These holographically simulated mirrors (HSMs) have been experimentally realized and their imaging performance has been studied.

Preliminary investigation into the induction of reproduction in Ulva spp. in Southeast Queensland for mass cultivation purposes

Ulva is a common component of marine intertidal flora in Australia with many species frequently observed along the Queensland coastline. Three species of Ulva, U. lactuca, U. intestinalis and U. prolifera were found to naturally occur at the Bribie Island Research Centre (BIRC) in Southeast Queensland. Studies were undertaken to establish the most optimal conditions for growing Ulva in the BIRC laboratory. These tests were conducted in order to condition the algal material prior to the sporulation studies, offering more controlled material to assess treatment effects conclusively, and helping eliminate other potentially confounding environmental factors. Results showed that a stocking density of between 5-20 grams of Ulva per litre along with the addition of the soluble fertiliser Aquasol at a rate of 87 mg/L of seawater was ideal for achieving a desired doubling of growth per week. In the wild the formation of Ulva fragments occurs naturally in the ocean through wave and storm action. This breakage can trigger a survival response mechanism which stimulates the algae to form and release gametes. By chopping the tissue, this process could be artificially simulated in the laboratory and creating a simple and easy way to produce new individuals. Studies performed into inducing sporulation in Ulva through a combination of fragmentation and renewal of medium at BIRC showed that sporulation can be successfully induced in all three species of Ulva through these methods, however it was found to be to a degree that would not meet the demands of commercial production with on average a rate of only 33% achieved. While the current study did not find a method suitable for a commercial application the results presented here contribute to increasing our understanding about Ulva reproduction and set a platform for future work in to cultivating Ulva within Southeast Queensland.

Portrait of George Louis Wolff (Gerd Ludwig Wolff) holding a mouse in his genetics laboratory; Little Rock, Arkansas.

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Drug Analysis without Primary Reference Standards : Application of LC-TOFMS and LC-CLND to Biofluids and Seized Material

Drug Analysis without Primary Reference Standards: Application of LC-TOFMS and LC-CLND to Biofluids and Seized Material Primary reference standards for new drugs, metabolites, designer drugs or rare substances may not be obtainable within a reasonable period of time or their availability may also be hindered by extensive administrative requirements. Standards are usually costly and may have a limited shelf life. Finally, many compounds are not available commercially and sometimes not at all. A new approach within forensic and clinical drug analysis involves substance identification based on accurate mass measurement by liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOFMS) and quantification by LC coupled with chemiluminescence nitrogen detection (LC-CLND) possessing equimolar response to nitrogen. Formula-based identification relies on the fact that the accurate mass of an ion from a chemical compound corresponds to the elemental composition of that compound. Single-calibrant nitrogen based quantification is feasible with a nitrogen-specific detector since approximately 90% of drugs contain nitrogen. A method was developed for toxicological drug screening in 1 ml urine samples by LC-TOFMS. A large target database of exact monoisotopic masses was constructed, representing the elemental formulae of reference drugs and their metabolites. Identification was based on matching the sample component s measured parameters with those in the database, including accurate mass and retention time, if available. In addition, an algorithm for isotopic pattern match (SigmaFit) was applied. Differences in ion abundance in urine extracts did not affect the mass accuracy or the SigmaFit values. For routine screening practice, a mass tolerance of 10 ppm and a SigmaFit tolerance of 0.03 were established. Seized street drug samples were analysed instantly by LC-TOFMS and LC-CLND, using a dilute and shoot approach. In the quantitative analysis of amphetamine, heroin and cocaine findings, the mean relative difference between the results of LC-CLND and the reference methods was only 11%. In blood specimens, liquid-liquid extraction recoveries for basic lipophilic drugs were first established and the validity of the generic extraction recovery-corrected single-calibrant LC-CLND was then verified with proficiency test samples. The mean accuracy was 24% and 17% for plasma and whole blood samples, respectively, all results falling within the confidence range of the reference concentrations. Further, metabolic ratios for the opioid drug tramadol were determined in a pharmacogenetic study setting. Extraction recovery estimation, based on model compounds with similar physicochemical characteristics, produced clinically feasible results without reference standards.

In vitro culture of buffalo fly and infections with Wolbachia

"Develop and optimise reliable in vitro culture methods for buffalo fly "Use the in vitro system to determine whether experimental Wolbachia infection can be established in buffalo fly. "Prepare further applications for related work towards better control of buffalo fly, exploiting the in vitro culture system.

Characterization of Nanomaterials by Physical Methods

Much progress in nanoscience and nanotechnology has been made in the past few years thanks to the increased availability of sophisticated physical methods to characterize nanomaterials. These techniques include electron microscopy and scanning probe microscopies, in addition to standard techniques such as X-ray and neutron diffraction, X-ray scattering, and various spectroscopies. Characterization of nanomaterials includes the determination not only of size and shape, but also of the atomic and electronic structures and other important properties. In this article we describe some of the important methods employed for characterization of nanostructures, describing a few case studies for illustrative purposes. These case studies include characterizations of Au, ReO3, and GaN nanocrystals; ZnO, Ni, and Co nanowires; inorganic and carbon nanotubes; and two-dimensional graphene.

Lydia Kaminsky nee Judey with unidentified men and women in the laboratory of her husband Dr. Anatol Kaminsky Portraits Women

Born Riga 1903, died New York 1976. Married Dr. Anatol Kaminsky, a Russian-born doctor who got his medical education in France. They escaped to France and Morocco, and reached the USA in 1942

Group portrait at the farewell banquet for Dr. William Antopol from the laboratory staff of Mount Sinai Hospital; Ken's Chop House, New York city Portraits Groups

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Genotyping for genetic association studies: Methods and applications

In this thesis, two separate single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping techniques were set up at the Finnish Genome Center, pooled genotyping was evaluated as a screening method for large-scale association studies, and finally, the former approaches were used to identify genetic factors predisposing to two distinct complex diseases by utilizing large epidemiological cohorts and also taking environmental factors into account. The first genotyping platform was based on traditional but improved restriction-fragment-length-polymorphism (RFLP) utilizing 384-microtiter well plates, multiplexing, small reaction volumes (5 µl), and automated genotype calling. We participated in the development of the second genotyping method, based on single nucleotide primer extension (SNuPeTM by Amersham Biosciences), by carrying out the alpha- and beta tests for the chemistry and the allele-calling software. Both techniques proved to be accurate, reliable, and suitable for projects with thousands of samples and tens of markers. Pooled genotyping (genotyping of pooled instead of individual DNA samples) was evaluated with Sequenom s MassArray MALDI-TOF, in addition to SNuPeTM and PCR-RFLP techniques. We used MassArray mainly as a point of comparison, because it is known to be well suited for pooled genotyping. All three methods were shown to be accurate, the standard deviations between measurements being 0.017 for the MassArray, 0.022 for the PCR-RFLP, and 0.026 for the SNuPeTM. The largest source of error in the process of pooled genotyping was shown to be the volumetric error, i.e., the preparation of pools. We also demonstrated that it would have been possible to narrow down the genetic locus underlying congenital chloride diarrhea (CLD), an autosomal recessive disorder, by using the pooling technique instead of genotyping individual samples. Although the approach seems to be well suited for traditional case-control studies, it is difficult to apply if any kind of stratification based on environmental factors is needed. Therefore we chose to continue with individual genotyping in the following association studies. Samples in the two separate large epidemiological cohorts were genotyped with the PCR-RFLP and SNuPeTM techniques. The first of these association studies concerned various pregnancy complications among 100,000 consecutive pregnancies in Finland, of which we genotyped 2292 patients and controls, in addition to a population sample of 644 blood donors, with 7 polymorphisms in the potentially thrombotic genes. In this thesis, the analysis of a sub-study of pregnancy-related venous thromboses was included. We showed that the impact of factor V Leiden polymorphism on pregnancy-related venous thrombosis, but not the other tested polymorphisms, was fairly large (odds ratio 11.6; 95% CI 3.6-33.6), and increased multiplicatively when combined with other risk factors such as obesity or advanced age. Owing to our study design, we were also able to estimate the risks at the population level. The second epidemiological cohort was the Helsinki Birth Cohort of men and women who were born during 1924-1933 in Helsinki. The aim was to identify genetic factors that might modify the well known link between small birth size and adult metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance. Among ~500 individuals with detailed birth measurements and current metabolic profile, we found that an insertion/deletion polymorphism of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene was associated with the duration of gestation, and weight and length at birth. Interestingly, the ACE insertion allele was also associated with higher indices of insulin secretion (p=0.0004) in adult life, but only among individuals who were born small (those among the lowest third of birth weight). Likewise, low birth weight was associated with higher indices of insulin secretion (p=0.003), but only among carriers of the ACE insertion allele. The association with birth measurements was also found with a common haplotype of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) gene. Furthermore, the association between short length at birth and adult impaired glucose tolerance was confined to carriers of this haplotype (p=0.007). These associations exemplify the interaction between environmental factors and genotype, which, possibly due to altered gene expression, predisposes to complex metabolic diseases. Indeed, we showed that the common GR gene haplotype associated with reduced mRNA expression in thymus of three individuals (p=0.0002).

Optimising nitrogen fixation of grain and forage legumes in the northern region

This project encompasses laboratory, glasshouse and field research to improve N fixation in grain and forage legumes in the northern region and assess compatability of rhizobial strains with current and new legume varieties.

A mixed-methods research approach to the review of competency standards for orthotist/prosthetists in Australia

Aim: The requirement for an allied health workforce is expanding as the global burden of disease increases internationally. To safely meet the demand for an expanded workforce of orthotist/prosthetists in Australia, competency based standards, which are up-to-date and evidence-based, are required. The aims of this study were to determine the minimum level for entry into the orthotic/prosthetic profession; to develop entry level competency standards for the profession; and to validate the developed entry-level competency standards within the profession nationally, using an evidence-based approach. Methods: A mixed-methods research design was applied, using a three-step sequential exploratory design, where step 1 involved collecting and analyzing qualitative data from two focus groups; step 2 involved exploratory instrument development and testing, developing the draft competency standards; and step 3 involved quantitative data collection and analysis – a Delphi survey. In stage 1 (steps 1 and 2), the two focus groups – an expert and a recent graduate group of Australian orthotist/prosthetists – were led by an experienced facilitator, to identify gaps in the current competency standards and then to outline a key purpose, and work roles and tasks for the profession. The resulting domains and activities of the first draft of the competency standards were synthesized using thematic analysis. In stage 2 (step 3), the draft-competency standards were circulated to a purposive sample of the membership of the Australian Orthotic Prosthetic Association, using three rounds of Delphi survey. A project reference group of orthotist/prosthetists reviewed the results of both stages. Results: In stage 1, the expert (n = 10) and the new graduate (n = 8) groups separately identified work roles and tasks, which formed the initial draft of the competency standards. Further drafts were refined and performance criteria added by the project reference group, resulting in the final draft-competency standards. In stage 2, the final draft-competency standards were circulated to 56 members (n = 44 final round) of the Association, who agreed on the key purpose, 6 domains, 18 activities, and 68 performance criteria of the final competency standards. Conclusion: This study outlines a rigorous and evidence-based mixed-methods approach for developing and endorsing professional competency standards, which is representative of the views of the profession of orthotist/prosthetists.

Detection and differentiation of bovine herpesvirus 1 and 5 using a multiplex real-time polymerase chain reaction.

A multiplex real-time PCR was developed for the detection and differentiation of two closely related bovine herpesviruses 1 (BoHV-1) and 5 (BoHV-5). The multiplex real-time PCR combines a duplex real-time PCR that targets the DNA polymerase gene of BoHV-1 and BoHV-5 and a real-time PCR targeting mitochondrial DNA, as a house-keeping gene, described previously by Cawthraw et al. (2009). The assay correctly identified 22 BoHV-1 and six BoHV-5 isolates from the Biosecurity Sciences Laboratory virus collection. BoHV-1 and BoHV-5 were also correctly identified when incorporated in spiked semen and brain tissue samples. The detection limits of the duplex assay were 10 copies of BoHV-1 and 45 copies of BoHV-5. The multiplex real-time PCR had reaction efficiencies of 1.04 for BoHV-1 and 1.08 for BoHV-5. Standard curves relating Ct value to template copy number had correlation coefficients of 0.989 for BoHV-1 and 0.978 for BoHV-5. The assay specificity was demonstrated by testing bacterial and viral DNA from pathogens commonly isolated from bovine respiratory and reproductive tracts. The validated multiplex real-time PCR was used to detect and differentiate BoHV-1 and BoHV-5 in bovine clinical samples with known histories.

The first five days: field and laboratory investigations during the early stages of the equine influenza outbreak in Australia, 2007.

Until August 2007, Australia was one of only three countries internationally recognised to be free of equine influenza (EI). This report documents the diagnosis of the first cases of EI in Australian horses and summarises the investigations that took place over the next 5 days. During that time, a multifocal outbreak was identified across eastern New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland. The use of an influenza type A pan-reactive real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction allowed rapid confirmation of suspect cases of EI.

Elizabeth Krakauer nee Gottschalk seated in a Oberprima (high school) chemistry laboratory; Sophienschule; Hannover, Germany.

This picture was taken during her last year of high school. The chemistry teacher, Professor Schmigielski was one of Elizabeth's favorite teachers.