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This study presents the first observations of early-season colony development of Ropalidia plebeiana in Canberra, Australia. The growth pattern of three R. plebeiana nests was measured during weekly observations from October 2006 to January 2007 and showed that nests steadily increase in size over the early summer to approximately 50 cells when the nest is newly established and to approximately 170 cells when nests from the previous season are re-used. A first generation of adult females is produced by December, and the bimodality of the curves of egg, larval and pupal numbers indicates that these three developmental stages last approximately 2–3 weeks each. The nesting cycle of R. plebeiana in Canberra commences approximately 2 weeks later than in coastal Australia, the shorter summers in this inland region restricting the length of the active season. R. plebeiana did not form dense nesting aggregations in Canberra as described elsewhere, with only small colonies consisting of a single or just a few nests. Characteristic comb-cutting behavior of the species was observed but this did not result in complete nest division as recorded from coastal populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the Australian Economic congress held in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory from August 28, 1988 to September 2, 1988, which aims to bring together econometricians, economists, economic historians and business people. Persons from whom papers were invited for the conference; Feature of the registration process for the conference; Papers presented during the conference.

Background and Objectives: Encouraging existing plasma donors to donate more frequently is a key objective for blood collection organizations committed to improving plasma self‐sufficiency through voluntary non‐remunerated donations. The aim of this paper is to present results from a pilot trial testing whether an in‐centre discount voucher reward could increase retention and donation frequency among new and repeat plasma donors. Materials and Methods: A sample of n = 1242 new and repeat plasma donors who presented to donate at the Civic Plasma Donor Centre in Canberra, Australia, over a 14‐week period participated in the trial. Of this group, n = 253 were offered a discount voucher for a local cafe (intervention group) and n = 989 received the business as usual approach in the donor centre (control group). The subsequent donation behaviour of participants was monitored over three months. Results: Overall, 69·6% accepted the discount voucher, with 18·2% of those redeeming it. Those who accepted the voucher were younger and less experienced plasma donors. The intervention did not significantly increase the likelihood of return to donate compared to the control group; however, it did reduce the time to return to donate plasma. The overall rate of donation within 3 months was also significantly higher for donors who were offered the incentive than for the control group. Declining the offer did not negatively impact donors' return behaviour. Conclusion: This paper provides new insights around strategies to increase plasma donation frequency, as well as donor response to introducing a discount voucher reward within a voluntary non‐remunerated donation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1969 and 1983 the lab of Kevin Lafferty in Canberra developed the concept of the T‐cell "costimulator," an essential second signal for activation. A great deal of the work appeared in this journal before it was known as Immunology & Cell Biology (ICB). As part of the 100‐year anniversary of the journal, I offer a personal reflection on Kevin's legacy and impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

President Joe Biden's assertion that "America is back" and will embrace "strategic competition" with the People's Republic of China has been welcomed in Australia as a sign that the United States is returning to a "normal" grand strategy after the turbulence of the Trump administration. This article argues, however, that this is a problematic assumption as it ignores the question of how American grand strategy choices are made and articulated. Here, Australians need to be much more cognisant of the competing political cultures of statecraft (Hamiltonian, Wilsonian, Jeffersonian, and Jacksonian) at play in American grand strategy. The article argues that each presents a "historical repertoire" that provides multiple narratives for leaders or strategists to draw upon to guide particular grand strategy choices and demonstrates their significance through an analysis of the approaches to American grand strategy of both the Obama and Trump adminstrations and an initial assessment of the role of the political cultures of statecraft in shaping the emergent grand strategy approach of the Biden administration. The paper concludes that a focus on interpreting the grand strategy preferences of the United States fundamentally challenges the bipartisan assumption upon which current Australian strategic policy rests: that the United States maintains not only the capability but also the will to sustain its position of primacy in international affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments in Australia are purchasing water entitlements to secure water for environmental benefit, but entitlements generate an allocation profile that does not correspond fully to environmental flow requirements. Therefore, how environmental managers will operate to deliver small and medium-sized inundation environmental flows remains uncertain. To assist environmental managers with the supply of inundation flows at variable times, it has been suggested that allocation trade be incorporated into efforts aimed at securing water. This paper provides some qualitative and quantitative perspective on what influences southern Murray-Darling Basin irrigators to trade allocation water at specific times across and within seasons using a market transaction framework. The results suggest that while irrigators now have access to greater risk-management options, environmental managers should consider the possible impact of institutional change before intervening in traditional market activity. The findings may help improve the design of intervention strategies to minimise possible market intervention impacts and strategic behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Large overbank flood events play an important role in maintaining large-scale ecological processes and connectivity along and across the floodplains and between the rivers and their floodplains in the southern Murray-Darling Basin. However, the regulation of rivers means that extensive overbank flooding can only occur in the rare circumstance of extreme flood events. Recent environmental water allocations have focussed on the largest floodplain blocks ('icon' sites) and a small set of specific values (e.g. colonial nesting waterbirds), as well as on trialling fine-scale manipulation of infrastructure (e.g. pumping) to water relatively small areas. There has been no comprehensive systematic assessment of the entire floodplain and its wider set of flood-dependent natural assets (such as ecosystems and species; herein referred to as 'natural values') to maximise the effectiveness of environmental water use and to catalogue values likely to be lost. This paper describes an assessment of some 220 000 ha found to support flood-dependent natural values in Victoria. We mapped the geographic distribution and estimated components of the flooding requirements (natural flooding frequency, and maximum period without flooding and minimum duration of each flooding event before significant deterioration) for each natural value. Using an example of one stretch of the River Murray, we show how the resultant spatial data can be used with floodplain inundation modelling to compare the outcomes of real or planned environmental watering events; potentially providing tools for management agencies to conserve a wider range of floodplain values than is currently the case. That is, water managers and the public can see what ecosystems and threatened species are intended to be maintained by environmental watering and what values are intended to be abandoned across the whole floodplain, rather than just seeing the small subset of values and 'icon' sites that are intended to be maintained. Examples are provided to illustrate how information about the location, water requirements and extent covered by potential floods for specific values can be used to build adaptive watering strategies for areas as large as the whole floodplain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the published material received by the Australian National University's Centre for Research on Federal Financial Relations, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, regarding the recent studies on federal financial relations. It mentions several research works from different countries including Canada, Great Britain, and the U.S. It mentions works published through various means which include books, monographs, article and occasional papers. It also discusses the summary of several works including "Australian Federalism 1981," by Russell Mathews, "Politics, Development and Conservation in the International North," by Peter Jull, and "Contracting Municipal Services: A Guide for Purchase From the Private Sector," edited by John Tepper Marlin.

Around two‐thirds of the global population will live in cities by 2050 requiring large urban infrastructure development. Decision‐makers and planners usually rely on standard economic accounting methods for urban planning and investments on infrastructure assets. However, standard methods fail to account for the ecosystem services benefits that living infrastructure (e.g. urban forests, open spaces) provides to city dwellers. This could generate socially inefficient configurations of urban spaces and compromise the achievement of long‐term urban sustainability targets. In this analysis, we applied a stochastic whole‐of‐life benefit–cost analysis following the System of Environmental‐Economic Accounting (SEEA) framework to compare alternative long‐term management strategies for living infrastructure in Canberra, Australia. Spatially explicit data, i‐Tree Eco and benefit transfer methods were used to estimate the stocks and flows ecosystem services benefits of urban forests and irrigated open spaces from 2018 to 2070. Our analysis suggests that a '30 per cent canopy cover expansion' scenario has the highest benefit–cost ratio, while the business as usual scenario, where a net loss of 400 trees is expected per year, offers the lowest benefit–cost ratio. Scenarios of expanding versus not expanding irrigated open spaces in the future both result in a benefit–cost ratio of approximately two. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Significant population increase in urban areas is likely to result in a deterioration of drought security and level of service provided by urban water resource systems. One way to cope with this is to optimally schedule the expansion of system resources. However, the high capital costs and environmental impacts associated with expanding or building major water infrastructure warrant the investigation of scheduling system operational options such as reservoir operating rules, demand reduction policies, and drought contingency plans, as a way of delaying or avoiding the expansion of water supply infrastructure. Traditionally, minimizing cost has been considered the primary objective in scheduling capacity expansion problems. In this paper, we consider some of the drawbacks of this approach. It is shown that there is no guarantee that the social burden of coping with drought emergencies is shared equitably across planning stages. In addition, it is shown that previous approaches do not adequately exploit the benefits of joint optimization of operational and infrastructure options and do not adequately address the need for the high level of drought security expected for urban systems. To address these shortcomings, a new multiobjective optimization approach to scheduling capacity expansion in an urban water resource system is presented and illustrated in a case study involving the bulk water supply system for Canberra. The results show that the multiobjective approach can address the temporal equity issue of sharing the burden of drought emergencies and that joint optimization of operational and infrastructure options can provide solutions superior to those just involving infrastructure options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although knowledge of how social support can mediate stress is now well known, finding ways to enable isolated parents to access social resources that could make a positive difference for children during their critical early years remains difficult. This paper reported on the findings of a telephone survey aimed at understanding levels of social capital and social support experienced by isolated parents raising young children on their own in Canberra, Australia. Specifically, it discussed a successful methodology for reaching isolated parents, those whom services find hard to reach. The survey found that despite the relative affluence of Canberra's population, there is a significant group of parents who are isolated from both formal and informal support and the social capital that can help them cope with the stresses and demands of raising young children. These parents were unsure where to get parenting information and had a strong sense that they were judged by their local communities and services. We identified lost opportunities by general practitioners and other widely used systems such as public housing and security to take more proactive roles and connect parents to formal service support systems. Flexible, affordable child care was identified as an unmet need for these parents, not only as a source of relief from extreme isolation but also to enable them to work or prepare for work through study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, the growth of the gambling industry in recent decades has raised questions about the potential for community costs associated with gambling development. In order to minimise the harms and maximise the gains for local, state and national economies, in many jurisdictions the industry is heavily regulated. Regulators rely upon a wide range of information sources to assist in decision making and are often concerned with issues that have socio-spatial characteristics. Despite this, there have been few applications of geographical information systems (GIS) to gambling behaviour. This paper trials the use of a GIS-based approach to investigate one aspect of gambling regulation, namely the spatial characteristics of gaming venue catchments. The research was conducted in a suburban region of Canberra, Australia. The results from the study show that the catchment areas of gaming venues can vary considerably and are more complex than previous studies have suggested. The regulatory implications of the findings are discussed as well as possible avenues for further GIS-based research into gambling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) and the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) hosted a ‘Policy Roundtable on Federalism’ on the 17–18 May 2007 at the University of Canberra. Around 50 attended the roundtable comprising politicians, Commonwealth and state public servants, and academics. The roundtable was provided with a number of background papers including the Hollander-Patapan article and another produced by staff of the Commonwealth Grants Commission entitled ‘Trends in Commonwealth-State Financial Relations: a Grants Commission Perspective’. The roundtable focused not only on issues and challenges but, more practically, on options and how to make federalism work better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies Canberra households' and businesses' willingness to pay (WTP) to avoid drought water restrictions, using stated choice experiments. We find that customers evidence a lack of WTP to avoid most types of drought-induced restrictions. Respondents appear unwilling to pay to avoid low-level restrictions at all and to avoid higher levels of restrictions that are not in place every day. Given the option of watering on alternative days, customers appear willing to adjust their watering schedules compared with paying higher water bills and appear willing to tolerate high-level restrictions for limited periods each year, compared with higher water bills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropology in Australia is at a critical juncture. This paper discusses the way in which the discipline has been challenged at the institutional level, in part due to pressures arising from economic rationalisation within universities. Anthropology, however, must take some responsibility for its condition. Psychology has established itself as the primary 'human' discipline to provide qualifications appropriate for professional employment. At a more scholarly level, anthropology's traditional zones of concern have been taken over by others, including history and cultural studies. Can we, and should we, demystify anthropology and its practices? Can we reposition anthropology with a broader vision of the human experience, and what will happen if we cannot? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian housing markets experienced widespread and, in some cases, extraordinary growth in prices between 2020 and 2023. Using recently developed methodology that accounts for fundamental economic drivers, we assess the existence and degree of speculative behaviour, as well as the timing of exuberance and downturns in these markets. Our findings indicate that speculative behaviour was indeed present in six of the eight capital cities at some time over the period studied. The sequence of events in this nation‐wide housing bubble began in the Brisbane market and concluded in Melbourne, Canberra, and Hobart following the interest rate rise implemented by the Reserve Bank of Australia in May 2022. As of March 2023, the housing markets in Sydney, Canberra and Hobart had broadly regained stability, while Melbourne's return to its normal state is more gradual. In addition, over‐corrections against fundamentals are evident in the housing markets of Brisbane, Adelaide, Darwin and Perth. For regular updates on the housing markets, readers may visit the authors' website at https://www.housing-fever.com. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the proposals made in the Canberra Commission for the abolition of nuclear weapons. The Report is quickly summarised and the major arguments for the abolition of nuclear weapons are then examined in the following way. A classification, or "typology", of reasons why nuclear weapons should be abolished is given, and then the main and supporting arguments outlined in turn. It is concluded that these arguments are not persuasive and that the Report contains certain hidden presuppositions and assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is a foreword for the "Scientific Detector Workshop 2022" (SDW2022) held in Potsdam, Germany. The workshop aims to facilitate the exchange of information about high-performance visible and infrared detectors and systems, with a focus on their application in astronomy. The success of the workshop is demonstrated by the participation of colleagues from observatories, laboratories, and industry worldwide. The article expresses gratitude to the organizers, sponsors, and attendees for their contributions and announces that the next workshop will be hosted by the Australian National University in Canberra in 2025. [Extracted from the article]

Summary: The Internet of Things (IoT) has tremendously spread worldwide, and it influenced the world through easy connectivity, interoperability, and interconnectivity using IoT devices. Numerous techniques have been developed using IoT‐enabled health care systems for cancer detection, but some limitations exist in transmitting the health data to the cloud. The limitations can be accomplished using the proposed chronological‐based social optimization algorithm (CBSOA) that effectively transmits the patient's health data using IoT network, thereby detecting lung cancer in an effective way. Initially, nodes in the IoT network are simulated such that patient's health data are collected, and for transmission of such data, routing is performed in order to transmit the health data from source to destination through a gateway based on cloud service using CBSOA. The fitness is newly modeled by assuming the factors like energy, distance, trust, delay, and link quality. Finally, lung cancer detection is carried out at the destination point. At the destination point, the acquired input data is fed to preprocessing phase to make the data acceptable for further mechanism using data normalization. Once the feature selection is done using Canberra distance, then the lung cancer detection is performed using shepard convolutional neural network (ShCNN). The process of routing as well as training of ShCNN is performed using the CBSOA algorithm, which is devised by the inclusion of the chronological concept into the social optimization algorithm. The proposed approach has achieved a maximum accuracy of 0.940, maximum sensitivity of 0.941, maximum specificity of 0.928, and minimum energy of 0.452. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The atmosphere plays a significant role in degrading Ka‐band (32 GHz) radio and optical communications for single antenna communications as well as degrading interferometric measurements such as used for radio astronomy and multi‐antenna arrays. Higher frequencies such as deep space Ka‐band (32 GHz) and near‐Earth K‐band (26 GHz) are more susceptible to this atmospheric degradation than at the lower frequency bands of S‐band (2.3 GHz) and X‐band (8.4 GHz). The various sources of atmospheric degradation include rain attenuation, cloud attenuation, gaseous attenuation, atmospheric noise temperature increase, and scintillation. For this study, we have focused on the strength of the turbulence caused principally by the wet atmosphere represented by the refractive index structure parameter Cn2, which is a measure of the variance of the refractive index over small incremental distances along the signal path, and thus is a strong function of water vapor variations at microwave frequencies. Here we provide a comprehensive study of this parameter derived from years of Site Test Interferometer measurements acquired from a variety of climates. We found that the strongest diurnal variation and correlation of Cn2 measurements with its model occurred for Goldstone, California representing a high‐desert climate, while weaker correlations were found for Kennedy Space Center representing a sub‐tropical climate, and Canberra, Australia and Madrid, Spain representing temperate climates. We quantified periods where the strongest correlation was observed such as Goldstone summers (as high as 0.7 for ∼3‐day periods) where the days are typically hot and humid while nights tend to be colder and drier. Key Points: Refractive index structure constants were derived from Site Test Interferometer (STI) phase delay scatter for a variety of climatesThe strongest diurnal variation in this parameter occurred for the high‐desert site at Goldstone, CaliforniaWe found good correlation with the derived STI structure parameters and a model which included planetary boundary layer height [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is currently a distinct gap between what climate science can provide and information that is practically useful for (and needed by) natural resource managers. Improved understanding, and model representations, of interactions between the various climate drivers (both regional and global scale), combined with increased knowledge about the interactions between climate processes and hydrological processes at the regional scale, is necessary for improved attribution of climate change impacts, forecasting at a range of temporal scales and extreme event risk profiling (e.g., flood, drought, and bushfire). It is clear that the science has a long way to go in closing these research gaps; however, in the meantime water resource managers in the Murray-Darling Basin, and elsewhere, require hydroclimatic projections (i.e., seasonal to multidecadal future scenarios) that are regionally specific and, importantly, take into account the impacts, and associated uncertainties, of both natural climate variability and anthropogenic change. The strengths and weaknesses of various approaches for supplying this information are discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia's Murray-Darling Basin the Australian and state governments are attempting to introduce a system of water management that will halt ongoing decline in environmental conditions and resource security and provide a robust foundation for managing climate change. This parallels similar efforts being undertaken in regions such as southern Africa, the southern United States, and Spain. Central to the project is the Australian government's Water Act 2007, which requires the preparation of a comprehensive basin plan expected to be finalized in 2011. This paper places recent and expected developments occurring as part of this process in their historical context and examines factors that could affect implementation. Significant challenges to the success of the basin plan include human resource constraints, legislative tensions within the Australian federal system, difficulties in coordinating the network of water-related agencies in the six jurisdictions with responsibilities in the Murray-Darling Basin, and social, economic, and environmental limitations that restrict policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Over the last 30 years, there has been a steady increase in the number of kangaroo–vehicle collisions in Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), especially of the Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus). Motor vehicle collisions with kangaroos are a threat to people and kangaroos, causing not only costly vehicle damage but also potentially leading to injury or loss of human life as well as animal welfare issues. Species, sex, moonlight, season and rainfall have previously been noted as potential influences on the number and frequency of kangaroo–vehicle collisions. In December 2015, a smartphone application using Collector for ESRI ArcGIS was implemented to enable ACT rangers to collect accurate information about each call‐out or carcass attendance in real time. A total of 3346 kangaroo–vehicle collision points were collected by rangers over a 15‐month period from March 2016 to June 2017. The data lend limited support to a concentration of kangaroo–vehicle collisions around the full moon, although 45% of collisions were recorded when the moon was less than 50% illuminated. Although the highest roadkill numbers were recorded in winter (June‐August), kangaroo–vehicle collisions were not directly correlated with season: there is a complex interaction with other variables. This study revealed that the relationship between the movement between patches of habitat and roads is dynamic and that further research is warranted into potential methods for reducing the number of kangaroo–vehicle collisions on Canberra roads, particularly in relation to speed limits, seasonality and kangaroo movements proximate to roads and areas of core habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Awareness of hepatitis C virus (HCV) status among people who inject drugs is critical to ensure linkage to care and reduce transmission risk. Testing pathways, confusion about results and possible reinfection raise potential for discordance between perceived and actual HCV status among people who inject drugs. We evaluated self‐reported and serologically confirmed HCV status concordance among a sample of Australian people who inject drugs. Methods: Data were collected in May–June 2018 from participants in Canberra and Sydney, Australia, who had injected drugs at least monthly in the past 6 months. Participants completed a structured interview assessing self‐reported HCV status and provided a dried blood spot sample for HCV RNA testing. Results: Of 103 participants, 95% self‐reported ever receiving antibody testing, 58% of whom reported having received RNA testing. Seventy‐three percent of participants reported never having been told that they had HCV, 18% reported current infection and 9% did not know their current status. According to dried blood spot RNA testing, 20% were currently infected. Over a quarter of the sample (28%, n = 29) did not accurately report their HCV status, half of whom were unaware of a current infection. Discussion and Conclusions: With over one‐quarter of the sample in our study not accurately reporting their current HCV status, our findings reinforce the importance of regular testing for active infection, and the need for improved health literacy on HCV antibody and RNA test results, HCV status post‐treatment and reinfection risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an obituary for economist Russell Lloyd Mathews who died on March 1, 2000 in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Cause of Mathews' death; Personal and educational background; Career highlights.

Compositional data from a soil survey over North Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, are used to develop and test an empirical soil provenancing method. Mineralogical data from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and magnetic susceptibility (MS), and geochemical data from X‐ray fluorescence (XRF; for total major oxides) and inductively coupled plasma‐mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS; for both total and aqua regia‐soluble trace elements) are performed on the survey's 268 topsoil samples (0–5 cm depth; 1 sample per km2). Principal components (PCs) are calculated after imputation of censored data and centered log‐ratio transformation. The sequential provenancing approach is underpinned by (i) the preparation of interpolated raster grids of the soil properties (including PCs); (ii) the explicit quantification and propagation of uncertainty; (iii) the intersection of the soil property rasters with the values of the evidentiary sample (± uncertainty); and (iv) the computation of cumulative provenance rasters ("heat maps") for the various analytical techniques. The sequential provenancing method is tested on the North Canberra soil survey with three "blind" samples representing simulated evidentiary samples. Performance metrics of precision and accuracy indicate that the FTIR and MS (mineralogy), as well as XRF and total ICP‐MS (geochemistry) analytical methods, offer the most precise and accurate provenance predictions. Inclusion of PCs in provenancing adds marginally to the performance. Maximizing the number of analytes/analytical techniques is advantageous in soil provenancing. Despite acknowledged limitations and gaps, it is concluded that the empirical soil provenancing approach can play an important role in forensic and intelligence applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the consequences of compulsory rent and eviction control which was imposed in Canberra in 1973. A partial equilibrium model is utilized, but the effects of rent control on related markets are also considered. Two ways of estimating market rent are scrutinized, one of which is utilized in an attempt to measure tenants' benefits from the policy. A Hicks' equivalent variation measure of 'tenants' surplus' is proposed which takes account of the quantity constraint associated with rent control. This is estimated assuming a Cobb-Douglas utility function. The extent of the costs associated with conferring these benefits is indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Objectives: The sun safety habits of children are developed throughout the childhood years under the influence of peers, parents, family members and other adult caregivers, as well as through education. This study assessed the sun safety attitudes and actual practices of parents and primary caregivers at a large public playground over a twelve‐month period in 2019/2020. The desire to have an educational sun safety message at major playgrounds was also assessed. Methods: Parents and primary caregivers at our study playground in Canberra, Australia, were offered an eight‐question survey. Data analysis compared the proportion of respondents who selected each sub‐question. Surveys were conducted on a minimum of three days per week for a twelve‐month period, excluding the period of May to the beginning of August when the ultraviolet radiation index (UVI) is typically below three in Canberra. Results: Less than half of the children at the study playground wore a sun safe hat the whole of their playtime when the UVI ≥ 3. Although 80.5% parents and primary caregivers acknowledged the importance of modelling good sun safety behaviours, most adults did not wear a sun safe hat or apply sunscreen. 93.3% of adult respondents desired some form of permanent educational message at playgrounds to encourage better sun safety. Conclusion: There is significant room for improvement in the sun safety practices of primary caregivers and children at our study playground. The vast majority of respondents desired a permanent sun safety message display at major playgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We measured specific activities of the long‐lived cosmogenic radionuclides 60Fe in 28 iron meteorites and 53Mn in 41 iron meteorites. Accelerator mass spectrometry was applied at the 14 MV Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility at ANU Canberra for all samples except for two which were measured at the Maier‐Leibnitz Laboratory, Munich. For the large iron meteorite Twannberg (IIG), we measured six samples for 53Mn. This work doubles the number of existing individual 60Fe data and quadruples the number of iron meteorites studied for 60Fe. We also significantly extended the entire 53Mn database for iron meteorites. The 53Mn data for the iron meteorite Twannberg vary by more than a factor of 30, indicating a significant shielding dependency. In addition, we performed new model calculations for the production of 60Fe and 53Mn in iron meteorites. While the new model is based on the same particle spectra as the earlier model, we no longer use experimental cross sections but instead use cross sections that were calculated using the latest version of the nuclear model code INCL. The new model predictions differ substantially from results obtained with the previous model. Predictions for the 60Fe activity concentrations are about a factor of 2 higher, for 53Mn, they are ~30% lower, compared to the earlier model, which gives now a better agreement with the experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I unpack the labour of "networking" to understand the changes in sociality and worker identity that have occurred in the Australian professional managerial class workforce under post‐Fordism. Drawing on fieldwork undertaken at the interface of the pubic service and private consultancy firms in Canberra, I break from dominant readings of intimacy in post‐Fordism which preference either a downwards imposition of "ways of being" from capital to worker, or a reactive self‐regulation in line with objective external structures. Networking, I argue, is as much about being recognised as patron as it is about any tangible economic benefits. The intimate relations and self‐fashioning of networking constitute attempts to embody particular classed, sexualised, gendered fantasies of the figure of "the networker" in post‐Fordist Australian business culture. This interpretation does not necessitate overlooking the tangible results of networking, and I discuss too, how masculine fantasy structures the topography of workplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All diagnostic imaging practices claiming Medicare benefits for items covered by the Radiology Memorandum of Understanding (this includes services provided by vascular surgeons: vascular ultrasound and angiography) need to have registered with one of 4 designated Accreditation Providers and to have achieved Stage 1 accreditation by June 30 this year. The government has recently formed a Consultative Working Group (CWG) to commence proceedings regarding stage 2 of the Accreditation process and I have accepted their nomination to represent both RACS and ANZSVS on this group after seeking approval from the respective Presidents of RACS and ANZSVS. Between the time of submission of this abstract and the presentation of this paper there will have been two teleconferences and one face to face meeting of the CWG in Canberra. An update will be presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A case of an extreme rainfall event in Canberra, the capital city of Australia, on 24–25 February 2018 is investigated. Canberra received more than the long‐term statistical February total rainfall within 6 hr on that day, causing overwhelming flash flooding in the city. In contrast to many coastal cities or tropical regions, Canberra is located at the boundary between the tropics and extratropics and is usually dry and warm in February. The diagnostic analysis shows that this relatively rare brief heavy rainfall was the joint effects of lower‐level warm, moist conveyor belts, the remnants of tropical cyclone Kelvin, surface cold fronts, and a midlatitude trough at middle to upper levels. The lower‐level northeast and west conveyor belts of water vapor contributed to the accumulation of moisture and created favorable conditional instability over Canberra by transporting tropical moist and warm air from Coral Sea and from the Kelvin remnant to Canberra prior to and during the rainfall period. Enhanced uplift was triggered by the arrival of a cold front in the warm, moist unstable air. The rainfall reached a peak 13.6 mm in 30 min soon after a low‐level frontal updraft coupled with middle‐ to upper‐level dynamical uplift ahead of the midlatitude trough. After the passage of the upper‐level trough, the dry, cold air in the rear of the trough stabilized and dried the atmosphere above Canberra. The rainfall decreased and ended rapidly. Key Points: Extreme rain events are not limited to coastal regions but, in some circumstances, can also occur in inland areas that are normally dryIn a recent rare extreme rainfall event, Canberra received more than the long‐term statistical February total rainfall within 6 hrIt was the joint effects of lower‐level warm, moist conveyor belts, the TC remnant, cold fronts, and midlatitude trough [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses findings of a survey at a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) in Canberra, Australia which showed that 95 percent of parents and 90 percent of staff agreed that parents should be present in the NICU when attending doctors make major clinical bedside rounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about several papers discussed at the 4th Rural and Remote Health Scientific Symposium held at the Old Parliament House in Canberra on September 2-3, 2014 is presented. Topics include adding value to rural health research sector, research proposals, and consideration for establishment of virtual academy. The conference featured service managers and researchers.

The article focuses on the annual conference that was held in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory from September 28 to October 1, 2014.

The article presents a speech by Justin Yifu Lin, professor and founding director of China Centre for Economic Research at Peking University in China, delivered at 12th Heinz W. Arndt Memorial Lecture, held at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory on June 6, 2012, in which he discussed development economics, structuralism, and neoliberalism.

Policy instruments designed to increase environmental flows in the Murray-Darling Basin are compared using TERM-H2O, a detailed, dynamic regional CGE model. Voluntary and fully compensated buybacks are much less costly than infrastructure upgrades as a means of obtaining a target volume of environmental water, even during drought, when highly secure water created by infrastructure upgrades is more valuable. As an instrument of regional economic management, infrastructure upgrades are inferior to public spending on health, education and other services in the Basin. For each job created from upgrades, the money spent on services could create between three and four jobs in the Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Debate surrounds the management of the macroscopically normal appendix. Current literature recommends its removal given the high incidence of microscopic appendicitis, and other unusual pathologies in the normal-looking appendix. Negative appendicectomies are reported on the decline with increased use of diagnostic radiological adjuncts. Methods This study analysed pathologies of the appendix over 10 years in the Pathology Department in Canberra. A positive appendicectomy was defined as acute appendicitis, faecoliths, worms, endometriosis or appendiceal tumours. We reviewed the positive appendicectomy rate over this time period. Results There were 4670 appendicectomy specimens in 2386 males (51.1%) and 2284 (49%) females. The incidence of acute appendicitis was 71.3% and the positive appendicectomy rate was 76.3%. There were significantly fewer negative appendicectomies in males (16.8%) compared with females (31.0%). There was no appreciable change in this trend over the study period. Of the positive appendicectomies, there were 129 (3.6%) faecoliths. Of these, only 39.5% had concomitant appendicitis. There were 44 (1.2%) specimens identified with worms. Of these, 40.9% had concomitant appendicitis. There were 14 cases of endometriosis of the appendix of which 36% had concomitant appendicitis. There were 58/3562 (1.6%) appendiceal tumours within the positive appendicectomy group the majority of which were carcinoid tumours (65.5%). Conclusion There is a higher incidence of negative appendicectomies in women compared with men, which is similar to other published studies. Faecoliths and worms are a known cause of appendiceal colic and in our series were identified mostly in the absence of histological evidence of appendicitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water buybacks in the Murray-Darling Basin entail compensation at market prices for water sold by farmers to the Commonwealth. Despite this, the Murray Darling Basin Authority met with hostility at public meetings in basin communities late in 2010. This reflects hardship arising from three consecutive years of drought rather than the consequences of buybacks. Dynamic CGE modelling results indicate that around 6000 jobs were lost due to the 2006-07 to 2008-09 drought in the Murray Darling Basin. Even in the long run, years after a rainfall recovery, jobs will remain 1500 below forecast due to lost years of investment during prolonged drought. This contrasts with 500 jobs lost across the basin due to buybacks. Some industry groups and politicians have asserted that buybacks will result in rural catastrophe. This underestimates the adaptability of farmers in response to a voluntary and fully compensated process, and confuses the impacts of drought and buybacks. Nevertheless, there are aspects of the 2007 Water Act that warrant modification in order to move towards a socially optimal restoration of environmental flows in the Murray-Darling Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The desire to base policy at least in part upon scientific information is a clear trend in Australian governance. The growing literature on how to facilitate this intent highlights a few important principles complemented by examples from the application of social sciences. An example from a very large research project based on physical sciences responding to a national crisis is presented in the context of how it approached delivery to policy-makers. The Murray-Darling Basin Sustainable Yields Assessment, widely considered an outstanding success in both scientific terms and for its impact, is reviewed with respect to how the scientific challenge of assessing the future security of water resources in Australia's most important and politically contentious catchment translated into the policy domain. The lessons learned offer a potential template for science with policy intent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microsatellite markers were utilized to examine the genetic structure of Murray cod Maccullochella peelii throughout its distribution in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) of eastern Australia, and to assess the genetic effects of over three decades of stocking hatchery-reared fingerlings. Bayesian analysis using the programme Structure indicated that the species is largely genetically panmictic throughout much of its extensive range, most probably due to the high level of connectivity between catchments. Three catchments with terminal wetlands (the Lachlan, Macquarie and Gwydir), however, contained genetically distinct populations. No stocking effects were detected in the catchments that were genetically panmictic (either because of low genetic power or lack of effects), but the genetically differentiated Gwydir and Macquarie catchment populations were clearly affected by stocking. Conversely, there was no genetic evidence for survival and reproduction of stocked fish in the Lachlan catchment. Therefore, stocking of M. peelii throughout the MDB has resulted in a range of genetic effects ranging from minimal detectable effect, to substantial change in wild population genetic structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use TERM-HO in analysing the effects of the Government buying back water from irrigators in the Southern Murray-Darling Basin (SMDB) and thereby increasing river flows. TERM-HO is a dynamic multiregional computable general equilibrium model containing water accounts. Controversially, our results suggest that buyback would increase economic activity in SMDB. Although a scheme of environmentally useful size would sharply increase the price of irrigation water, there would be little effect on aggregate SMDB farm output. Instead, farm resources would be reallocated between activities. Because farmers are owners of water rights, they would benefit from the price increase induced by buyback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the role of groundwater discharge from Riverine Plains of the Murray-Darling Basin to the salt mobilization to the Murray River in Australia. It discusses the methodologies applied in the study which includes the classification and regression trees, conceptual modeling, and artificial neural networks that provides analyses from monthly data dated from July 1975 to December 2004. It focuses on greater significance of rainfall in salt loads compared to irrigation water.

Information on the workshop entitled "The Worlds of Ecology and Environmental Policy: Never the Two Shall Meet?" of the Ecological Society of Australia (ESA) in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory on December 4, 2009 is presented. It states that the workshop explores how the society, scientists, and policy-makers can fully incorporate science and policy. It says that the event attracted around 70 participants from government agencies, non-government societies, and academic institutions.

The article presents information on the undertakings of the Commonwealth of Australia from July to December 2009. Topics covered include the Henry Tax Review, the Council of Australian Government's increased focus on health issues, water conservation and the management of the Murray-Darling Basin, foreign relations with China and efforts by Liberal parliamentarians to undermine the leadership of politician Malcolm Turnbull. The article also includes examinations of the political undertakings of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory.

Information on the topic discussed in the Fire and Carbon Budgets Workshop in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory on November 2008 on the potential of carbon stocks for emission abatement is presented. It states that mitigation of wild fire activities is necessary to control the problem in Australian ecosystems. It notes that unplanned fires can be lessened by fuel consumption reduction of the prescribed burning. It also confirms that burning efficacy contributes to the potential emission.

Silver perch, Bidyanus bidyanus (Mitchell), is a freshwater fish that is endemic to the Murray-Darling River System, Australia. Over recent decades, its distribution and abundance in the wild have declined, and it is now a threatened species with the conservation status of “vulnerable.” Silver perch is a schooling, omnivorous fish, with white flesh, few bones, and high levels of omega fatty acids, and its aquaculture potential has long been recognized. Hatchery techniques, based on hormone-induced spawning of captive broodfish in tanks and rearing of larvae in fertilized earthen ponds, were developed in the early 1980s. Fingerlings are currently used for stock enhancement and conservation or sold for commercial grow-out or stocking farm dams. Research into the grow-out of silver perch commenced in 1990 and demonstrated that it is an excellent fish for culture in static aerated earthen ponds with high survival rates (>90%), fast growth rates (2–5 g/fish/d) at high stocking densities (20,000/ha) leading to high production rates (10 tonnes/ha/yr). Since 1996, there has been research into nutrition, diet development, feeding strategies, broodfish domestication and management, culture in tanks and tank-based recirculating aquaculture systems, diseases, health management, genetic improvement, and cage culture. Silver perch is a hardy species that performs well under different culture conditions and on diets with no or low levels of fish meal. Technology has been transferred to industry through major conferences in 1994 and 2003 as well as workshops, field days, extension, seminars, and numerous scientific and technical publications. The high quality of silver perch and its excellent culture attributes suggest that the species has the potential to form a large industry based on high-volume, low-cost production. However, despite these features and a strong technical base provided by research and development, industry growth has been limited and a relatively small industry currently produces only around 500 tonnes annually. Development has been restricted by a number of factors: poor site selection and design of some farms; use of inappropriate husbandry and/or production strategies; difficulties with pond production, including significant losses to bird predation and diseases; high costs of feeds; limited marketing and promotion; no processing component; no large-scale investment; and the failure of many farms that were too small to be economically viable. Recent research has found that silver perch performs well in cages (high survival [>90%], good growth [1.7–3.5 g/fish/d], and high production rates [50–90 kg/m3]), and cage culture has advantages such as ease of management and prevention of bird predation that may help overcome some of the problems associated with pond production. Improved health management, new production strategies, cage culture, use of interstrain hybrids and other genetically improved fish, and integration with cotton and other irrigation industries offer opportunities for increased production and efficiencies, and further development of the silver perch industry. The potential of silver perch for commercial aquaculture remains very high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With limited evidence linking Australia's Murray-Darling Basin fish species and flooding, this study assessed annual variation in abundance and recruitment levels of a small-bodied, threatened floodplain species, the Southern Pygmy Perch ( Nannoperca australis), in floodplain habitats (creeks, lakes and wetlands) in the Barmah-Millewa Forest, Murray River, Australia. Spring and summer sampling over a 5-year period encompassed large hydrological variation, including 1 year of extended floodplain inundation which was largely driven by an environmental water release, and 2 years of severe regional drought. Recruitment and dispersal of Southern Pygmy Perch significantly increased during the floodplain inundation event compared with the other examined years. This study provides valuable support for an environmental water allocation benefiting a native species, and explores the link between flooding and its advantages to native fish. This suggests that the reduced flooding frequency and magnitude as a result of river regulation may well be a major contributing factor in the species’ decline in the Murray-Darling Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about the Heinz W. Arndt memorial lecture held in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT) on June 5, 2008 is presented. The lecturer discussed about the academic life of Arndt, the climatic change, and economic policy in the region. In addition, he stressed the balance of probabilities in 2008 and the importance of Bayesian decision theory in making economic decisions.