25 results
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2. A Hybrid RF and Vision Aware Fusion Scheme for Multi-Sensor Wireless Capsule Endoscopic Localization.
- Author
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Narmatha, P., Thangavel, Venkatesan, and Vidhya, D. Sri
- Subjects
SENSOR placement ,MULTISENSOR data fusion ,CAPSULE endoscopy ,STANDARD deviations ,HYDROLOGIC cycle ,WIRELESS localization - Abstract
Localization Wireless Capsule Endoscopy (WCE) inside the human small intestine is a hard issue for a decade. This is due to long, curly, and compact structure small intestine. Some of the techniques as Radio Frequency (RF), Vision based and Magnetic type have been proposed. To be more important, any one of the techniques as RF, Vision or Magnetic shows that the poor performance in terms of localization error and accuracy. To address these issues, in this paper a hybrid RF with Vision aware Fusion scheme (RF-VaF) is proposed under multisensor. In RF based approach, Time of Flight and Received Signal Strength Indicator are presented. In vision based approach, Siamese CapsNet is proposed for frames registration, correlation maps generation, and pixel based matching point's prediction. A multi-feature extraction (color, edge, intensity and texture) is executed by Spatial Transformer Network for consecutive frames. In particular, this will be fed into the Siamese CapsNet. Similarly, Canberra distance is computed in the softmax layer for localization. The results from RF and Vision are fused into find the accurate position. In this step, hydrological cycle optimization algorithm is proposed. With this step, WCE can be accurately predicted at the end. One of the novel steps here is adjusting the Receiver's Position by Positioning Metric. Finally, the performance is computed by using Matlab R2019b. From the results, it is proved that the RF-VaF is outperforms than the previous works by following metrics as Average Localization Error [5.41], Root Mean Square Error [6.76], Normalized Error [6.775], Localization Accuracy [96.43%], Localization Error [5.14%], Sensitivity [96.6%] and also Specificity [96.5%]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. Application of Mössbauer spectroscopy for classification of ordinary chondrites – different database and different methods.
- Author
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Gałązka-Friedman, Jolanta, Woźniak, Marek, Bogusz, Patrycja, Jakubowska, Martyna, Karwowski, Łukasz, and Duda, Przemysław
- Subjects
MOSSBAUER spectroscopy ,METEORITES ,CHONDRITES ,ELECTRON probe microanalysis ,DISCRIMINANT analysis ,CLASSIFICATION - Abstract
Classification of the meteorites is very complex, but in general all meteorites can be divided into three groups: stony, iron and stony-iron. Ordinary chondrites are the most numerous group among stony meteorites. In this paper, we present short review of the methods of classification of ordinary chondrites. The classical method for the classification of ordinary chondrites is based on the determination of the content of fayalite in olivine and of the content of ferrosilite in pyroxene with the use of electron microprobe. This method was proposed in 1967. Studies on the application of Mössbauer spectroscopy to classification of ordinary chondrites were carried out since early 2000 in four Mössbauer laboratories. Mössbauer groups from Kanpur, Ekaterinburg and Canberra suggested qualitative methods of classification of ordinary chondrites. Warsaw group created quantitative method called the "4M method". This name derives from following words: meteorites, Mössbauer spectroscopy, multidimensional discriminant analysis, Mahalanobis distance. In this publication, we describe the use of 4M method for reclassification of meteorite Goronyo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. Human face identification after plastic surgery using SURF, Multi-KNN and BPNN techniques.
- Author
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Sabharwal, Tanupreet and Gupta, Rashmi
- Subjects
PLASTIC surgery ,HUMAN facial recognition software - Abstract
Facial identification for surgical and non-surgical datasets is getting popular. The reason behind this popularity is the growing need of a robust facial recognition system which is consistent to occlusion, spoofing attacks and last but most important plastic surgery effects. Plastic therapies are undertaken by individuals to beautify their external appearance but it is also undertaken by impostors to commit crimes and falsify their true identities. This research work aims at developing a facial recognition system which can identify genuine and impostor pairs. The projected methodology optimizes face detection via Back-Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) and dimensionality reduction by means of Speeded Up Robust Features followed by Multi-K-Nearest-Neighbor technique. The novelty is the production of an innovative-fangled T-Database which trains the BPNN. Thus, BPNN converges faster and achieves higher recognition. The proposed scheme is not applied till date on a medically altered dataset. We have applied five distance metrics and integrated them to acquire T-Dataset, which is fed to the BPNN. This scheme is tested on surgical and non-surgical datasets and it is deduced that higher recognition is achieved with non-surgical databases as compared to surgical ones. For both surgical and non-surgical datasets, the computational cost attained is the modest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
5. A Comparative Evaluation of Short-Term Streamflow Forecasting Using Time Series Analysis and Rainfall-Runoff Models in eWater Source.
- Author
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Dutta, Dushmanta, Welsh, Wendy, Vaze, Jai, Kim, Shaun, and Nicholls, David
- Subjects
STREAMFLOW ,RAINFALL ,RUNOFF ,WEATHER forecasting ,MURRAY-Darling Basin (Canberra, A.C.T.) - Abstract
Over the past few decades, many numerical streamflow prediction techniques using observed time series (TS) have been developed and widely used in water resources planning and management. Recent advances in quantitative rainfall forecasting by numerical weather prediction (NWP) models have made it possible to produce improved streamflow forecasts using continuous rainfall-runoff (RR) models. In the absence of a suitable integrated system of NWP, RR and river system models, river operators in Australia mostly use spreadsheet-based tools to forecast streamflow using gauged records. The eWater Cooperative Research Centre of Australia has recently developed a new generation software package called eWater Source, which allows a seamless integration of continuous RR and river system models for operational and planning purposes. This paper presents the outcomes of a study that was carried out using Source for a comparative evaluation of streamflow forecasting by several well-known TS based linear techniques and RR models in two selected sub-basins in the upper Murray river system of the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia. The results were compared with the actual forecasts made by the Murray River operators and the observed data. The results show that while streamflow forecasts by the river operators were reasonably accurate up to day 3 and traditional TS based approaches were reasonably accurate up to 2 days. Well calibrated RR models can provide better forecasts for longer periods when using high quality quantitative precipitation forecasts. The river operators tended to underestimate large magnitude flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2012
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6. Frank and Tom, A Memoir.
- Author
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Philip, J. R.
- Subjects
EARTH scientists ,MICROMETEOROLOGY ,SOIL physics - Abstract
The article presents the experiences of the author with meteorologists Frank Bradley and Tom Denmead, both of whom worked with the author at the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. According to the author, both Bradley and Denmead were the two earliest scientific recruits at the CSIRO, where they worked with the author on soil-water physics and micrometeorology. Between them, Bradley and Denmead have published some 200 papers on environmental mechanics.
- Published
- 2000
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7. Modelling changes in dimensions, health status, and arboricultural implications for urban trees.
- Author
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J.C. Banks, C.L. Brack, and R.N. James
- Subjects
URBAN trees ,ARBORICULTURE - Abstract
Canberra, the capital of Australia since 1911, has been developed into a modern city from its original site on a nearly treeless plain. Today the city has about 300,000 inhabitants and 500,000 trees. The authors were requested by the managers of the urban public tree resource to survey their asset and to develop a computer-based system that would aid them in anticipating future maintenance requirements and its costs. This paper reports on our response. We have surveyed 3,000 streets and parks in the city, noting the species, number, and condition of every public space tree. We have also obtained the dimensions of sample trees, noting their total height, maximum crown width, height of maximum crown width, diameter at maximum crown width, and height at crown break. A management system has been developed using Microsoft Accessth>.Using standard regression techniques available on the package JMPth>, we found that total tree height was related to age for all species and that all other parameters of interest were related to height or transformed values of height. We assumed a sigmoidal growth curve and calibrated 114 height/age curves to cover the 165,000 trees of the 340 species we have in our database. As well we used the data on tree condition to determine the rate at which populations change from healthy to stressed.By interviewing foremen and supervisors we were able to determine the maintenance treatments carried out in Canberra, the equipment used, and the number of trees that can be treated in a day, for each type of operation.The management system can be used to display the current inventory for each street or park, by suburb, in the database. It can also be used to model future increases in size or crown condition, to predict the operations that will be required as a consequence of tree growth or crown deterioration, and finally, by applying multipliers to equipment and personnel, to estimate the future costs of tree maintenance. Managers can use the system to anticipate problems such as uneven expenditure requirements in future years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 1999
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- View/download PDF
8. Two-stage content based image retrieval using sparse representation and feature fusion.
- Author
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Wang, Wenqing, Jiao, Pengfei, Liu, Han, Ma, Xiao, and Shang, Zhuo
- Subjects
IMAGE retrieval ,CONTENT-based image retrieval ,IMAGE databases ,EUCLIDEAN distance - Abstract
With the advent of large-scale databases in the last two decades, content based image retrieval (CBIR) has been widely investigated. Studies show that the performance of the CBIR system is mainly affected by the image descriptors and the similarity measurement. Therefore, effectively describing the content of an image is a key point in the field of image retrieval. In the present study, a two-stage CBIR algorithm using sparse representation and feature fusion is proposed, in which the global and local features are combined to retrieve the images. The architecture of the CBIR system includes two parts: rough retrieval stage and main retrieval stage. The generalized search tree (GIST) features are initially used to roughly retrieve images with similar scene information by measuring the Canberra distance. Then, sparse coding and feature pooling are used to obtain the sparse representation of the local features extracted from the rough retrieval results. Finally, the Euclidean distance is applied to measure the similarity of the sparse feature vectors to acquire the retrieval results. Compared with the existing single feature-based image retrieval algorithms, experimental results on the Coil20 and Caltech256 image datasets show the best P, R, F1-measure and MAP values. It can be concluded that the proposed method obtains superior retrieval performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
9. CO-ORDINATING PEACE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA: A REPORT ON THE CANBERRA FORUM OF 2 MAY, 2008.
- Author
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Page, James
- Subjects
- *
CONFERENCES & conventions , *PEACE conferences , *CONFLICT (Psychology) , *EDUCATION & society - Abstract
Information about several papers discussed during the Australian university teachers forum on peace and conflict studies in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory on May 2, 2008 is presented. The forum highlights the discussion on how to better organize and co-ordinate university-level peace education in Australia. It further features the issue concerning peace education through Wikipedia networking and innovative teaching methods.
- Published
- 2009
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
10. Three-hourly Indices of Ionospheric Activity.
- Author
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Gulyaeva, T. L. and Haralambous, H.
- Subjects
SOLAR cycle ,IONOSPHERIC disturbances ,SOLAR activity ,ELECTRON density ,GLOBAL analysis (Mathematics) ,GEOMAGNETISM - Abstract
A system of local and global 3-hourly indices of ionospheric activity is introduced representing the weighted average of the positive ionospheric disturbance W-indices, negative disturbance W-indices, and the range of disturbances. The analysis of global 3-hourly indices of positive ionospheric disturbances WU, negative WL, and their range WE = WU – WL is performed using JPL global maps of total electron content, GIM-TEC, from 1994 to 2020. A high correlation (r2 ≅ 0.85) between ionospheric and solar activity is obtained while a weak correlation (r2 ≅ 0.47) is identified for the geomagnetic kp index with solar and ionospheric activity. A retrospective study of 3-h indices of local ionospheric disturbance DU, DL and DE is carried out using critical frequency foF2 (the peak electron density NmF2) at Moscow, Slough-Chilton, Canberra and Port Stanley stations from 1945 to 2020. We find an asymmetry in the trends of ionospheric activity in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere: a decrease of 3-h indices at Moscow and Slough-Chilton and an increase of ionospheric disturbance at Canberra and Port Stanley. The decrease of geomagnetic activity (kp-index) during the recent solar cycles is possibly due to a restricted set of stations located primarily in the Northern hemisphere providing data to calculate the planetary kp-index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
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11. Distance anomaly factors for gold potential mapping in the Jinchanggouliang area, Inner Mongolia, China.
- Author
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Chen, Yongliang, Sun, Guosheng, and Zhao, Qingying
- Subjects
GOLD ,RADIAL basis functions ,RECEIVER operating characteristic curves ,SUPPORT vector machines ,EUCLIDEAN distance ,UNIT cell - Abstract
Distance anomaly factors (DAFs) were defined for each cell of the unit cell population in a study area to represent mineral potential of the cell. A DAF of a cell is a formula for the total distance from the cell to all other cells in the study area. The distance between two cells can be expressed as the Manhattan distance, Canberra distance, Euclidean distance, and kernel Euclidean distance. The kernels in the kernel Euclidean distance can be radial basis function (RBF) kernel, chi-squared kernel, sigmoid kernel, Laplacian kernel, and polynomial kernel. Accordingly, eight DAFs were defined to map gold potential of the Jinchanggouliang area, Inner Mongolia, China. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the eight DAFs. The results show that these DAFs are comparable to one-class support vector machine (OCSVM) in gold potential mapping. The optimal threshold for distinguishing gold potential cells from all the cells was determined by maximizing the Youden index. The gold potential targets predicted by the eight DAFs occupy 7.4% – 16.5% of the study area, while containing 78% - 91% of the discovered gold deposits. The gold potential targets predicted by the default parameter OCSVM and by the bat-optimized OCSVM occupy 9.4% and 16.4% of the study area, respectively, while containing 78% and 87% of the discovered gold deposits. Therefore, the eight DAFs are feasible approaches for gold potential mapping. Their effectiveness needs to be further tested in mineral potential mapping in other areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
12. Estimating vulnerability to risks: an application in a biofuel supply chain.
- Author
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Santos, Silvio, Brandi, Humberto, Borschiver, Suzana, and Souza, Vanderléa
- Subjects
BIOMASS energy ,SUPPLY chains ,BIODIESEL fuels ,SUSTAINABILITY - Abstract
In the present work, we propose a theoretical model to identify and prioritize risks involved in a biofuel supply chain. We adopt a set of indicators associated with determinant factors of the supply chain to identify risks that are characterized through a risk matrix. We consider the five largest world biodiesel producers and included China due to its global market importance and potential impacts of its growth on the environment and society. To determine the impacts and the probability of occurrence of risks, we use the Canberra distance, as metrics. To facilitate the analysis and interpretation, a convenient manner is to express the results in terms of matrices. To exemplify the potentiality of the scheme and for the sake of simplicity, a more comprehensive discussion is focused on the Brazilian case, restricted to the Technology and Innovation, and Integration, Logistics and Infrastructure determining factors (dimensions) of the biodiesel supply chain. Concerning these determining factors, the Brazilian biodiesel chain shows strong vulnerability when compared with developed and developing countries, despite that the evolution of the data over recent years indicates small improvements in Integration, Logistics and Infrastructure dimension. Although in this work the calculations are restricted to the Canberra distance, the present approach may be applied to other distances to compare or validate the results. This work presents a contribution to model vulnerability to risks, providing to policy makers and stakeholders a tool to design, analyze and improve sustainability system by measuring its risks. The study of the contribution of each indicator suggests corrections to be taken and which indicators should be prioritized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
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13. Research impact: Income for outcome.
- Author
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Morgan, Branwen
- Subjects
PUBLIC education ,RESEARCH institutes - Abstract
The article offers information on the assessment of the impact of publicly funded research by Australia and New Zealand. It presents the statement of Peter Gluckman, chief science adviser to the prime minister of New Zealand, regarding values of research conducted. It further informs about Canberra, Australia situated the Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation (CSIRO), the largest of the portfolio-funded research agencies of Australian government.
- Published
- 2014
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14. The use of the Canberra metrics to aggregate metrics to sustainability.
- Author
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Brandi, Humberto, Daroda, R., and Olinto, A.
- Subjects
SUSTAINABILITY ,ENVIRONMENTAL indicators ,ENVIRONMENTAL monitoring ,ECONOMIC indicators ,HUMAN ecology ,SOCIAL ecology - Abstract
Sustainability metrics are a set of economic, environmental, and societal indicators specifically chosen to characterize a certain multidimensional sustainability system. The difficulty in establishing criteria to consider the multiple aspects involved in sustainability increases with the complexity of the system, in general associated to its dimension. This is particularly complicated for sustainability processes because they involve not only large dimensions but the indicators are usually expressed in different units. Aggregating these metrics into a single metric represents a model calculation for sustainability and provides a tool which can be used as a sustainability decision-support. In the present work we use the Canberra metrics to model the aggregation of the three dimensions of sustainability: economics, environmental, and societal (3D) metrics into a single sustainability metric. The Canberra metrics is adequate to establish how two states are similar or dissimilar. We used a simple model to show that the Canberra metrics is independent of any specific metric (indicator) satisfying an important requirement of sustainability metrics; it treats equally the contributions of the economic, social, and environmental indicators for the sustainability indicators. This allows equally weighting the economic, social, and environmental indicators. In order to verify the applicability of the model we have considered four previously studied industrial processes and compared the results of the Canberra metrics with three previously published results of other methods, for aggregating multidimensional sustainability metrics into a single metric. The results obtained through the comparisons indicate the adequacy of the Canberra to provide very good discrimination among the processes and to be a good model metrics for sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2014
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15. An Australian pyro-tornadogenesis event.
- Author
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McRae, Richard, Sharples, Jason, Wilkes, Stephen, and Walker, Alan
- Subjects
FIRES ,WILDFIRES ,TORNADOES - Abstract
On 18 January 2003, fires had a devastating impact on Australia's capital, Canberra. A series of reviews and scientific studies have examined the events of that day and indicate that the worst impacts were due to a series of violent pyro-convective events and resultant pyro-cumulonmibi. These coupled fire-atmosphere events are much more energetic than normal fires. In one instance, an intense pyro-convective cell developed a tornado. We demonstrate that this was indeed a tornado, the first confirmed pyro-tornadogenesis in Australia, and not a fire whirl. Here, we discuss aspects of the formation, evolution and decay of the tornado, which was estimated to have been of at least F2 intensity, highlighting a process that can significantly increase the damage of a wildfire event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
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16. Evolutionary biology: Well endowed.
- Subjects
BIOLOGICAL evolution ,MALE reproductive organs ,ANIMAL sexual behavior - Abstract
The article reports on the evolution of the male genitalia size of animals as published in the "Biology Letters." It states that the condition is believed to have evolved in response to election pressures that come into play during or after copulation. The study conducted by Andrew Kahn and his team at the Australian National University in Canberra shows that females spend around one-and-a-half times longer associating with the better-endowed males.
- Published
- 2009
- Full Text
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17. Shifts in small-bodied fish assemblages resulting from drought-induced water level recession in terminating lakes of the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia.
- Author
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Wedderburn, Scotte, Hammer, Michael, and Bice, Christopher
- Subjects
RARE fishes ,DROUGHTS ,MURRAY-Darling Basin (Canberra, A.C.T.) - Abstract
Over-abstraction of water places unsustainable pressures on river ecosystems, with the impacts amplified under drought conditions. Freshwater fishes are particularly vulnerable due to associated changes in water quality, and habitat availability, condition and connectivity. Accordingly, fish assemblages are ideal indicators of the impacts of drought and over-abstraction. The Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), south-eastern Australia, terminates at the Ramsar listed Coorong and Lower Lakes, which comprise Lake Alexandrina and Lake Albert. Over-abstraction and extreme drought during the last decade has placed these lakes under severe environmental stress. The purpose of this study was to investigate shifts in fish assemblages caused by substantial water level recession and salinization in the Lower Lakes. Small-bodied fish assemblages were sampled at the beginning and several years into the drought. Off-lake habitats held diverse fish assemblages in 2003, but most sites were dry by 2009. Remaining habitats were disconnected, salinities increased substantially, and aquatic vegetation shifted from freshwater to salt-tolerant species. There was a substantial decline in the proportion of specialist species, especially diadromous and threatened species, and an emerging dominance of generalist freshwater and estuarine species. The findings warn of the inevitable ecological impact of over-allocating water for human use in drought-prone regions, and highlight the need for adequate environmental water allocations. This study also emphasises that understanding the ecological attributes of a fish species, and the subsequent assignment to a functional group, will help predict vulnerability to decline and extirpation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2012
- Full Text
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18. Subtle 'boom and bust' response of Macquaria ambigua to flooding in an Australian dryland river.
- Author
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Sternberg, David, Balcombe, Stephen, Marshall, Jonathan, Lobegeiger, Jaye, and Arthington, Angela
- Subjects
MACQUARIA ambigua ,FLOODS ,RIVER ecology ,ZOOPLANKTON ,BIOMASS ,MURRAY-Darling Basin (Canberra, A.C.T.) - Abstract
The ecology of dryland rivers is driven by their highly variable hydrology, particularly flooding regimes, whereby intermittent floods typically generate 'booms' of primary and secondary productivity, including massive fish production. We tested these concepts in the Moonie River, Australia, using the percichthyid, Macquaria ambigua, a dryland river species known to display pronounced 'boom and bust' abundance patterns in response to floodplain inundation followed by extended periods of low to no channel flow. We expected that body condition (as measured by whole body lipid content) and biomass of M. ambigua would be related to prey biomass, and that these factors would all 'spike' following widespread flooding. Instead we found more subtle responses. There were 'booms' in biomass of Macrobrachium and zooplankton, two important food items, whereas M. ambigua maintained relatively low but sustained lipid and biomass levels following flooding. It appears that instead of a 'boom' in fish biomass, abundant invertebrate food resources and sustained lipid levels contributed to high survivorship of this species during the 'bust' period over cool dry months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2012
- Full Text
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19. Modelling the impacts of climate change on wheat yield and field water balance over the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia.
- Author
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Jing Wang, Enli Wang, and De Li Liu
- Subjects
CLIMATE change ,WHEAT ,WATER balance (Hydrology) ,RAINFALL anomalies ,EVAPOTRANSPIRATION ,MURRAY-Darling Basin (Canberra, A.C.T.) - Abstract
The study used a modelling approach to assess the potential impacts of likely climate change and increase in CO concentration on the wheat growth and water balance in Murray-Darling Basin in Australia. Impacts of individual changes in temperature, rainfall or CO concentration as, well as the 2050 and 2070 climate change scenarios, were analysed. Along an E-W transect, wheat yield at western sites (warmer and drier) was simulated to be more sensitive to temperature increase than that at eastern sites; along the S-N transect, wheat yield at northern warmer sites was simulated to be more sensitive to temperature increase, within 1-3°C temperature increase. Along the E-W and S-N transects, wheat at drier sites would benefit more from elevated [CO] than at wetter sites, but more sensitive to the decline in rainfall. The increase in temperature only did not have much impact on water balance. Elevated [CO] increased the drainage in all the sites, whilst rainfall reduction decreased evapotranspiration, runoff and drainage, especially at drier sites. In 2050, wheat yield would increase by 1-10% under all climate change scenarios along the S-N transect, except for the northernmost site (Dalby). Along the E-W transect, the most obvious increase of wheat yields under all climate change scenarios occurred in cooler and wetter eastern sites (Yass and Young), with an average increase rate of 7%. The biggest loss occurred at the driest sites (Griffith and Swan Hill) under A1FI and B2 scenarios, ranging from −5% to −16%. In 2070, there would be an increased risk of yield loss in general, except for the cool and wet sites. Water use efficiency was simulated to increase at most of the study sites under all the climate change scenarios, except for the driest site. Yield variability would increase at drier sites (Ardlethan, Griffith and Swan Hill). Soil types would also impact on the response of wheat yield and water balance to future climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
20. Analysis on Downwind Distribution of Firebrands Sourced from a Wildland Fire.
- Author
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Hai-Hui Wang
- Subjects
WILDFIRES ,GAS flow ,ENERGY consumption ,EMISSIONS (Air pollution) ,STOCHASTIC processes ,RAYLEIGH model - Abstract
Generation of firebrands from a wildland fire and their distribution downwind are studied using an analytical approach. The processes considered include emission of firebrands, wind-driven transport and the associated spot ignition. Emission of the firebrands from a fire front is treated as a stochastic process reflecting the interaction between gas flow plume and the burning fuel debris formed, with the emission rate being dominated by the rate of fuel consumption, emission factor and a function of firebrand sizes. Analogous to the random distribution of non-burning windborne particles, the transient distribution of firebrands downwind is described by a statistical pattern of Rayleigh form. Number and mass of firebrands landed downwind within the maximum travel distance are then determined by integration over the entire impact period during fire spread and burning-out processes. Application of the model to the bushfire occurred in Canberra, Australia in 2003 indicates that this model provides reasonable prediction in the distribution of firebrands downwind, and quantitatively exhibits the role of ember attack in massive destruction of houses at urban interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
21. Climate change impact on water and salt balances: an assessment of the impact of climate change on catchment salt and water balances in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia.
- Author
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Austin, Jenet, Lu Zhang, Jones, Roger N., Durack, Paul, Dawes, Warrick, and Hairsine, Peter
- Subjects
CLIMATE change ,HYDROLOGY ,WATER supply ,REVEGETATION ,EVAPOTRANSPIRATION ,MURRAY-Darling Basin (Canberra, A.C.T.) - Abstract
Climate change has potentially significant implications for hydrology and the quantity and quality of water resources. This study investigated the impacts of climate change and revegetation on water and salt balance, and stream salt concentration for catchments within the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. The Biophysical Capacity to Change model was used with climate change scenarios obtained using the CSIRO DARLAM 125 (125 km resolution) and Cubic Conformal (50 km resolution) regional climate models. These models predicted up to 25% reduction in mean annual rainfall and a similar magnitude of increase in potential evapotranspiration by 2070. Relatively modest changes in rainfall and temperature can lead to significant reductions in mean annual runoff and salt yield and increases in stream salt concentrations within the Basin. The modelled reductions in mean annual runoff were up to 45% in the wetter/cooler southern catchments and up to 64% in the drier/hotter western and northern catchments. The maximum reductions in salt yield were estimated to be up to 34% in the southern catchments and up to 49% in the northern and western catchments. These changes are associated with average catchment rainfall decreases of 13 to 21%. The results suggest that percentage changes in rainfall will be amplified in runoff. This study demonstrates that climate change poses significant challenges to natural resource management in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2010
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
22. The Development of a Multi-dimensional Gambling Accessibility Scale.
- Author
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Hing, Nerilee and Haw, John
- Subjects
GAMBLING industry ,GAMBLING industry employees ,QUESTIONNAIRES ,PRINCIPAL components analysis ,FACTOR analysis - Abstract
The aim of the current study was to develop a scale of gambling accessibility that would have theoretical significance to exposure theory and also serve to highlight the accessibility risk factors for problem gambling. Scale items were generated from the Productivity Commission’s (Australia’s Gambling Industries: Report No. 10. AusInfo, Canberra, ) recommendations and tested on a group with high exposure to the gambling environment. In total, 533 gaming venue employees (aged 18–70 years; 67% women) completed a questionnaire that included six 13-item scales measuring accessibility across a range of gambling forms (gaming machines, keno, casino table games, lotteries, horse and dog racing, sports betting). Also included in the questionnaire was the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) along with measures of gambling frequency and expenditure. Principal components analysis indicated that a common three factor structure existed across all forms of gambling and these were labelled social accessibility, physical accessibility and cognitive accessibility. However, convergent validity was not demonstrated with inconsistent correlations between each subscale and measures of gambling behaviour. These results are discussed in light of exposure theory and the further development of a multi-dimensional measure of gambling accessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2009
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
23. Mapping Economic Returns to Agriculture for Informing Environmental Policy in the Murray–Darling Basin, Australia.
- Author
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Bryan, Brett A., Hajkowicz, Stefan, Marvanek, Steve, and Young, Mike D.
- Subjects
ENVIRONMENTAL policy ,AGRICULTURAL statistics ,REMOTE sensing ,WATER supply ,LAND resource ,AGRICULTURAL wages ,ARID regions agriculture ,IRRIGATION farming ,MURRAY-Darling Basin (Canberra, A.C.T.) - Abstract
We integrate information from several disparate data sources including agricultural statistics and remote sensing to quantify and map the distribution and dynamics of agricultural returns to land and water resources from 1996/1997 to 2000/2001 in the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB), Australia. Total profit to agriculture was estimated at AUD3.86B in 1996/1997 and AUD3.73B in 2000/2001. The mapping reveals a high spatial concentration of economic returns to land and water resources from agriculture. Dryland agriculture covers over 82% of the study area. Irrigated agriculture covers 1.7% of the land area (2000/2001) but returns one third of the total profit to agriculture. We found that around 80% of the profit to agriculture comes from just over 5% of the land area. The results from this regional scale economic mapping can inform regulatory policy and public investments in natural resource management through targeting industries and regions that provide low marginal returns to the natural resource base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2009
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
24. Standard precipitation index to track drought and assess impact of rainfall on watertables in irrigation areas.
- Author
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Khan, S., Gabriel, H. F., and Rana, T.
- Subjects
DROUGHT forecasting ,IRRIGATION ,DROUGHTS ,AGRICULTURAL technology ,AGRICULTURAL water supply ,RAINFALL ,IRRIGATION management ,METEOROLOGICAL precipitation measurement ,MURRAY-Darling Basin (Canberra, A.C.T.) ,PREVENTION - Abstract
The Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) is employed to track drought and assess the impact of rainfall on shallow groundwater levels in three selected irrigation areas of the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia. The continuous SPI method can provide better means of quantifying rainfall variability and correlating it with changes of shallow watertable levels since it is based on continuous statistical functions comparing rainfall variability over the entire rainfall record. Drought analysis in the Australian irrigation areas using SPI indicates that the recent 2000–2006 drought is not the worst drought that has occurred in the recorded history, however if the current low rainfall pattern continues, it would be one of the most prolonged drought. The shallow groundwater fluctuations in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area show a very strong correlation with winter rainfall variation. The shallow piezometric levels in the Coleambally Irrigation Area show a weaker degree of correlation with the SPI due to local and regional groundwater dynamics and changes in rice water use. The groundwater levels in the Murray Irrigation Area show least correlation with the SPI, which may be attributed to improved irrigation management practices and complex nature of the groundwater recharge and discharge processes in this area. The overall results however show that the SPI correlates well with fluctuations in shallow ground water table in irrigation areas, and can also capture major drought patterns in Australia. The correlation of SPI with groundwater levels can be adopted for environmental reporting and used as a method of relating climatic impacts on watertables. Differences in piezometric response between years with similar winter and yearly SPI values can be attributed to improvement in irrigators’ management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
25. University Leaders’ Strategies in the Global Environment: A Comparative Study of Universitas Indonesia and the Australian National University.
- Author
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Marginson, Simon and Sawir, Erlenawati
- Subjects
COMPARATIVE education ,HIGHER education ,PARTNERSHIPS in education ,GLOBALIZATION ,NATION-state - Abstract
In a global environment in which global, national and local nodes relate freely within common networks, all research universities must pursue strategies for building global capacity and facilitating cross-border staff and student movement and research collaboration. The study compares readings of the global environment, global and international activities and relationships, and global capacity and strategy, in two leading national universities, one in a middle level developing country (Indonesia) and the other in a middle level developed country (Australia). The main tool of investigation was interviews with parallel groups of institutional leaders and leaders of academic units and research centres, in conjunction with study of the national and local contexts. It was apparent that in both cases, while global elements are increasingly important in university strategy, mission and identity, resource capacity remains highly dependant on national government and students. This belies the romantic myth of the ‘stand-alone’ corporate university in the global marketplace. The two cases also differ in some respects. While both universities are peak national institutions, and each respects the other, the Australian university is more strongly placed in the global environment and practical dealings between them are asymmetrical. The study helps to illuminate the dynamics of global stratification and hierarchy between developed and developing nations and institutions in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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