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The EU-SIPhoDiAS project deals with the development of critical photonic building blocks needed for high-performance and low size, weight, and power (SWaP) photonics-enabled Very High Throughput Satellites (VHTS). In this presentation, we report on the design and fabrication activities during the first year of the project concerning the targeted family of digital and microwave photonic components. This effort aims to demonstrate components of enhanced reliability at technology readiness level (TRL) 7. Specifically, with respect to microwave photonic links, we report: (i) the design of Ka and Q-bands analogue photodetectors that will be assembled in compact packages, allowing for very high bandwidth per unit area and (ii) on the design of compact V-band GaAs electro-optic modulator arrays, which use a folded-path optical configuration to manage all fiber interfaces packaged opposite direct in-line RF feeds for ease of board layouts and mass/size benefits. With respect to digital links, we report on the development of 100 Gb/s (4 x 25 Gb/s) digital optical transceiver sub-assemblies developed using flip-chip mounting of electronic and opto-parts on a high-reliability borosilicate substrate. The transceiver chipset developed specifically for this project refers to fully-custom 25 Gb/s radiation hard (RH) VCSEL driver and TIA ICs designed in IHP’s 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS Rad-Hard process.

Travelling-wave electro-optic modulators designed for V-band space applications using gallium arsenide guided-wave technology are presented. The designs feature a low-loss folded optical configuration giving straight-line RF access at one end of the chip, with all optical I/O via the opposite end. This configuration enables the close-packed monolithic modulator arrays needed for phased-array applications, contributes to high modulation bandwidths with low ripple by eliminating directional change in the RF feed arrangements and facilitates compact packaging. While only 1550nm designs are reported here, the AlGaAs material system is versatile, permitting modulators to be realized for a wide range of optical wavelengths, with particular advantage in drive-power at shorter wavelengths. Both single MZ and monolithic dualparallel (IQ) modulators have been assessed up to 70GHz; bandwidths around 50GHz are achieved with low-frequency Vπ of 4.6V. Typically, the folded devices are half the length of conventional format modulators and can accommodate 4 device arrays in the same width package.

A seamless hybrid fiber‐wireless (HFW) architecture represents an alternative access technology that is especially beneficial for customers living in rural and underdeployed regions. As for the optical infrastructure, gigabit passive optical network (GPON) technology is widely used nowadays in Europe and around the globe. GPON is a leading technology for passive optical networks. This chapter describes the key components required to build coherent radio‐over‐fiber radio access units (RAUs) for extending the reach of a GPON network. The target of the field trial was to verify that the developed RAUs work in a real life telecommunication environment. The chapter discusses the development of RAUs for transparently bridging a GPON network using an E‐band wireless point‐to‐point link. Some novel key photonic and electronic components required for seamlessly converting the optical baseband signals to E‐band wireless signals and vice versa are developed. The low‐cost goal of the wireless GPON extension system mandates deep integration of the active components.

There is increasing interest in the use of optical methods for managing RF signals in space, with applications for both ground-to-satellite and inter-satellite communications readily envisaged. The potential weight-saving of optical fiber over metallic waveguide or coaxial channels is very significant; moreover, there are obvious advantages to be gained from the enormous data capacity of multiplexed fiber links.

We review the guided-wave subcomponents required in the design of high-functionality modulators for advanced modulation formats using the GaAs/AlGaAs material system. In these complex devices, small loss contributions rapidly accumulate unless the substructures are well optimized, not only for low loss but also for process tolerance. Results for an advanced 40-Gb/s DQPSK modulator are presented.

A major responsibility of governments worldwide is to maintain and upgrade state-owned physical infrastructure. Yet contemporary accounting reports fail to recognize commitments arising from deferred maintenance, and the usefulness of descriptions of book values and depreciation charges on those assets is questionable. A range of options for reporting more fully on infrastructure assets has been proposed but little evidence has been presented as to how stakeholders view alternative forms of information obtained in terms of those options. This study presents evidence obtained from telephone and mail surveys about the attitudes of engineers, accounting and finance professionals and other senior managers of Australian public sector agencies towards current infrastructure reporting practices. Most of the surveyed agencies actively managed their infrastructure assets and routinely compiled information about asset condition. The majority of respondents indicated that maintaining the functionality of physical infrastructure was critical to the success of their organization. Against this background, respondents were asked to indicate which among five nominated reporting options was likely to better aid judgments about a series of issues concerning the status and management of infrastructure, and finally what reporting option had the most overall usefulness to decision making. The judgments identified were likely to be common to both managers and external stakeholders. The findings were that respondents, irrespective of their organizational affiliation or professional background, overwhelmingly preferred information about the physical condition of assets, combined with estimates of the current cost of bringing those assets to a satisfactory condition (with some respondents indicating a preference for the data to be accompanied by information about written-down replacement costs). Historical cost accounting received little support from respondents.

Issues that have arisen in the preparation of public sector consolidated statements are identified by reference to audit qualifications, by noting items recognized (or not recognized) in different reports, and by consideration of items or treatments that are peculiar to the public sector. Australian governments have agreed to align government financial reports with local interpretations of Government Finance Statistics, and this has secured some standardization of reporting. Suggestions are offered as to how reporting issues might be resolved, by reference to decisions routinely made by stakeholders. Proposals relate to asset and liability identification, the disclosure of details of inter-sector transfers, the disaggregation of reports on expenditure in terms of both line items and policy areas of government; and that these reports be accompanied by performance indicators relating to policy areas.

It has been suggested that accountants do not resolve issues—that ‘we abandon them. We debate them loud and long . . . until another issue comes along that is more current and more controversial’ (Sterling, 1975). However, it is also clear that some issues are not entirely abandoned—they are recycled. Those issues are the subject of (seemingly) scholarly articles. They are debated with vigour, but then put to one side—only to re-emerge a generation or two later. For example, discussions about the choice of the ‘correct’ or ‘proper’ depreciation method occupied many pages of technical journals in the 1950s and 1960s (see, e.g., Reynolds, 1961)—and have been periodically revisited ever since (e.g., Burns, 1992; Howe, 2008)....

Judgments potentially made by various participants in (or observers of) the public sector on the basis of aggregative financial information about governments are reviewed. Distinctions are drawn between judgments that are made routinely, or under certain conditions, by decision makers or observers. It is recognized that (in Australia) the financial information that is relevant to the majority of these judgments is already supplied by other sources (principally budget documents, or in Government Finance Statistics) rather than by public sector consolidated statements. It is concluded that a number of routine judgments could be based on financial information presented in the form of consolidated statements (of varying scope). Alternative criteria for determining the scope of consolidated statements are reviewed. Accountability and control are noted as potential bases. Depending on the adopted objective, it is concluded that tests of control are either not relevant, or inappropriate. It is contended that prior studies that have recommended use of control have focused on processes (trying to find a suitable test for determining the ambit of consolidated statements) rather than on objectives, and examining in some detail what information would be relevant to different users and uses.

A casualty of the transfer of disclosure rules from regulations to the Corporations Law to Australian Accounting Standards (and the later harmonisation of disclosure requirements with IFRS) has been the loss of a rule that required disclosure of off-balance sheet financial commitments and details of when those commitments would fall due.

This article develops a statistical model to explain sources of distress in local government. Whereas ‘financial distress’ in the private sector has been equated with a failure to meet financial commitments, here ‘distress’ is interpreted as an inability to maintain pre-existing levels of services to the community. Since the late 1990s local councils in an Australian state (New South Wales) have been required to estimate the cost of restoring infrastructure assets to a satisfactory condition (a requirement which predates that form of reporting on infrastructure condition introduced as an option in U.S. GASB 34). Information regarding the cost of restoring infrastructure is used in this study as a proxy for levels of distress (in contrast to the binary classification that characterizes much of prior private sector financial distress research). Data regarding service levels for a sample of 161 councils for 2001 and 2002 were used and a multiple regression model was estimated and interpreted. The main findings were that the degree of distress in local councils is positively associated with the size of the population they serve and the size and composition of their revenues. Road maintenance costs featured prominently in results, as higher road program costs were associated with higher levels of distress (particularly when interacted with other variables). However, the revenue generating capacity of councils had the strongest statistical impact on local government distress. Councils with lower percentages of rates revenue to total revenue and lower ordinary revenue levels to total assets were typically identified as more distressed. However, no systematic evidence was found that rural councils have higher distress levels than urban councils (i.e., both rural and urban councils serving larger populations were relatively more distressed than councils serving smaller populations). It is suggested that the model (or modifications thereof) may serve as an early warning system for those monitoring the circumstances and performance of local governments.

Since 1990 a key element of Australia's regulatory arrangements has been reliance on a ‘principles-based’ rule to the effect that all ‘reporting entities’ should prepare general purpose financial reports (GPFRs) that comply with accounting standards. The concept of reporting entity was defined in terms of whether it was ‘reasonable to expect the existence of users’ who were dependent on GPFRs for information which will be useful to them when making and evaluating decisions about resource allocation. Australia's differential reporting arrangements are reviewed so as to highlight the extent to which reliance is placed on practitioners to apply the ‘reporting entity’ rule for entities other than publicly listed corporations or borrowing corporations. Illustrations are provided of how this ‘principles-based’ rule has been ignored. This experience suggests that there is little reason to expect full observance of a principles-based rule, if reliance is placed upon practitioners to ensure compliance.

Murray and Dollery (2005) (MD) applied a statistical model utilising a series of key performance indicators (KPIs) published by the NSW Department of Local Government (DLG) to assess the DLG's procedures for identifying local councils that were ‘at risk’. While it appears that the authors were attacking a straw man (since the DLG's assessments were not based on these KPIs), and their underlying model has some serious flaws, it is contended that a statistical model may be of assistance to those concerned with monitoring the circumstances of local governments. An alternative approach to modelling is described, in which distress is interpreted as an inability to maintain service delivery at pre-existing levels. It is argued that such a concept is more relevant to the public sector than conventional ‘financial distress’ prediction models. The estimates provided by NSW local councils of the cost of upgrading infrastructure to a satisfactory condition were used as a proxy for levels of distress. Independent variables were selected from a range of KPIs published by the DLG. While MD found that most of the DLG performance indicators were not statistically significant in their model (and therefore not useful discriminators of council distress), this study reaches different conclusions using a different selection of indicators and a distress variable construct that is more appropriately linked to service delivery.

It is contended that the scale of some in-house software projects (and the potential impact of project failure on an organization's operating capabilities and reputation) is such that the progress of those projects warrants the concentrated attention of senior managers (and possibly, the Board). The article utilizes a case study to illustrate how the adoption of key proposals outlined in the business information systems and software engineering literatures for the management of these projects may not necessarily be effective. This work augments Walker and Oliver (2005), which examined the options when accounting for software expenditure and recommended expensing for consistent treatment. This article then reviews the ‘information needs’ of senior managers, and presents a set of six reporting templates to facilitate the effective monitoring of progress of software projects (including post-migration expenditure on system enhancements and maintenance, and efforts to capture planned benefits). In some circumstances, the scale and risks associated with software development projects warrant oversight of these projects by the Board, possibly through the establishment of specialist ‘IT governance’ subcommittees. Accordingly, a model charter for an IT governance committee is presented in an appendix.

Fifty-four sung tokens, each consisting of eight images were generated with the help of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique to demonstrate the work of intrapharyngeal muscles when singing and speaking, and to help the educational process. The MRI images can be used as a part of a visualization feed-back method in vocal education and contribute to creation of proper mental images. The use of visualization (pictures, drafts, graphs, spectra, MRI images, etc.), along with mental images, facilitates simplification and acceleration of the process of understanding and learning how to master the basics of vocal technique, especially in the initial period of study. It is shown that work on muscle development and use of imagination should progress with close interaction between the two. For higher effectiveness and tangible results, mental images used by a vocal pedagogue should correspond to the technical and emotional level of a student. Therefore, mental images have to undertake the same evolution as articulation technique - from simplified and comprehensible to complex and abstract. Our integrated approach suggests continuing the work on muscle development and use of imagination in singing classes, employing the experience of voice-speech teachers. Their exercises are modified using the empirical method and other techniques developed creatively by singing teachers. In this method, sensitivity towards the state of the tissues becomes increasingly refined; students acquire a conscious control over the muscle work, students gain full awareness of both sensation and muscle activity. As a result, a complex of professional conditioned reflexes is being developed. A case study of the New Zealand experience was conducted with groups of Maori and European students. Unique properties and trends in the voices of Maori people are discussed.

Eight comets, two transition objects (extinct comet candidates), and two near-Earth asteroids were imaged in four infrared bands with the SPIRIT III instrument on the Midcourse Space Experiment, namely, C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake), C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp), C/1996 Q1 (Tabur), 126P/IRAS, 22P/Kopff, 46P/Wirtanen, (3200) Phaethon, (4015) 107P/Wilson-Harrington, (4179) Toutatis, (4197) 1982 TA, 125P/Spacewatch, and 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. We present maps of each object detected and a description of their characteristics. Five of the comets had extended dust tails, all of which show evidence for silicate emission in the 8.3 μm band. The comet C/Hyakutake had a strong secondary dust tail along the direction of the comet's motion, which the dynamical models showed was consistent with emission from large particles. The dust trail from P/Kopff was detected more than 2° from the coma in three of the four bands and is probably composed of large particles emitted during the 1996 apparition.

All humans originally came out of Africa “singing and dancing”. And while in many cultures singing and dancing have continued to be co-equal in performance, social, political, economic and environmental factors have conspired to produce a myriad of vocal styles and performance practices across the planet. The indigenous people of North America, especially those of the Pacific Northwest, the shepherd singers of Tuva in Mongolia, the Inuit `throat singers' of northern Canada, the Maori haka performances, the Korean p'ansori, the traditions of western art music and the popular music styles of the contemporary entertainment media illustrate the enormous variety of vocal postures of which the human vocal tract and breathing system are capable. This importance of specific environment, sociopolitical and religious belief systems on the development and maintenance of performance practices is described and explained, covering the range of singing styles listed above.

The methods accepted by Australian, International, U.S. and U.K. Accounting Standards for the treatment of expenditure on software development are inconsistent, and permissive. A host of methods for recording capitalized software in terms of those standards is identified by reference to an illustrative case study. It is questionable whether many in-house developed software applications satisfy the professionally endorsed definition of ‘asset’. Moreover, even if accounting standards significantly reduce the range of options for capitalizing expenditure on software development, there would still be many values which could be assigned to capitalized software. That suggests that those ‘measures’ are not reliable, so that it would be inappropriate initially to recognize software expenditure as an ‘asset’. It is contended that expensing all outlays on software development as they are incurred (accompanied by reporting that expenditure as a line item in statements of financial performance, and expanded disclosures in notes) is likely to provide a clearer and more useful report on business operations than the alternative of capitalization, amortization and subsequent assessments of whether or not recorded values should be adjusted for ‘impairment’.

Legislation requires some Australian local governments to provide to a State government minister an annual assessment of the physical condition of infrastructure, together with estimates of the cost of restoring that infrastructure to a satisfactory condition. This 1993 legislation predates other accounting standards providing for disclosures or use of condition assessments, notably the USA's FASAB 6 (1996) and GASB 34 (1996), and the UK ASB's FRS 15 (1999). Utilising structured interviews, this study investigates the extent to which information from those reports has been disseminated within local councils. It also investigates whether accounting or engineering staff, or both, were involved in preparation of these reports, and explores the relative attitudes of staff and elected councillors, to the relevance of information in infrastructure reports. The study also reports comments volunteered by respondents about the relative merits of capitalising (and then depreciating) infrastructure assets, versus reporting on infrastructure condition. Findings suggest that those working in local government see merit in the compilation of reports on infrastructure condition and the cost of upgrading it, though opinion is divided as to the weight actually placed on those reports in decision-making. Both accounting and engineering staff perceive that engineers have far greater involvement in the preparation of these reports. The findings also suggest a failure on the part of technical specialists to share information, and collaborate in the compilation of management plans and budgets.

We present the characteristics of the dust comae of two comets, 126P/IRAS, a member of the Halley family (a near-isotropic comet), and 2P/Encke, an ecliptic comet. We have primarily used mid- and far-infrared data obtained by the ISOPHOT instrument aboard the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) in 1996 and 1997, and mid-infrared data obtained by the SPIRIT III instrument aboard the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) in 1996. We find that the dust grains emitted by the two comets have markedly different thermal and physical properties. P/IRAS's dust grain size distribution appears to be similar to that of fellow family member 1P/Halley, with grains smaller than 5 microns dominating by surface area, whereas P/Encke emits a much higher fraction of big (20 μm and higher) grains, with the grain mass distribution being similar to that which is inferred for the interplanetary dust population. P/Encke's dearth of micron-scale grains accounts for its visible-wavelength classification as a “gassy” comet. These conclusions are based on analyses of both imaging and spectrophotometry of the two comets; this combination provides a powerful way to constrain cometary dust properties. Specifically, P/IRAS was observed preperihelion while 1.71 AU from the Sun, and seen to have a 15-arcmin long mid-infrared dust tail pointing in the antisolar direction. No sunward spike was seen despite the vantage point being nearly in the comet's orbital plane. The tail's total mass at the time was about 8×109 kg. The spectral energy distribution (SED) is best fit by a modified greybody with temperature T=265±15 K and emissivity e proportional to a steep power law in wavelength λ: e∝λ−α, where α=0.50±0.20 (2σ) . This temperature is elevated with respect to the expected equilibrium temperature for this heliocentric distance. The dust mass loss rate was between 150–600 kg/s (95% confidence), the dust-to-gas mass loss ratio was about 3.3, and the albedo of the dust was 0.15±0.03. Carbonaceous material is depleted in the comet's dust by a factor of 2–3, paralleling the C2 depletion in P/IRAS's gas coma. P/Encke, on the other hand, observed while 1.17 AU from the Sun, had an SED that is best fit by a Planck function with T=270±15 K and no emissivity falloff. The dust mass loss rate was 70–280 kg/s (95% confidence), the dust-to-gas mass loss ratio was about 2.3, and the albedo of the dust was about 0.06±0.02. These conclusions are consistent with the strongly curved dust tail and bright dust trail seen by Reach et al. (2000; Icarus 148, 80) in their ISO 12-μm imaging of P/Encke. The observed differences in the P/IRAS and P/Encke dust are most likely due to the less evolved and insolated state of the P/IRAS nuclear surface. If the dust emission behavior of P/Encke is typical of other ecliptic comets, then comets are the major supplier of the interplanetary dust cloud.

A case study of a failed PPP contract shows how ex ante assessments of the extent of risk transfer from public-sector agencies to private-sector contractors were inadequate. Those assessments placed undue weight on some risks, and failed to assess others. The experience suggests that it is inappropriate to choose accounting treatments on the basis of ex ante assessments of risk transfer and risk sharing.

Western music, it is argued, is a cultural invention, and resulting behaviours are learned from the culturally disseminated memesemanating from Homer, through the historical development of western culture through the High Renaissance, and on to Hollywood and our modern entertainment media. These memes concern semantic systems for both the intentions of musicians and the expected behaviour of listeners. In which case, it is argued, studies of western musical behaviour are, in effect, studies of the extent of the cultural assimilation which has occurred in the individual or group. Experimental evidence is cited suggesting that there may be innate, perhaps universal, proclivities for cross-modal integration which provided the platform for the western musical semiotic to evolve. Cognitive psychology has tended to ignore the cultural origins of musical behaviour in its focus on structures, and recent sociological concerns in music and music psychology are concerned more with the social mechanics of identity and meaning construction than with the cultural source of such constructions. This article suggests that there would be nothing to construct without cultural memes transmitted over time and place.

Public-private partnerships have been devised to avoid treating financing arrangements as government “debt”. Governments face incentives to avoid treating these arrangements as giving rise to liabilities. Both the Australian and UK standards boards have avoided a “substance over form” approach in order to accept that PPPs may be kept off-balance-sheet. The analysis supporting their conclusions was based on consideration of whether PPPs led to the acquisition of an asset, using the analogy of accounting for finance leases, rather than addressing whether the substance of commercial arrangements means that contractual commitments may evolve into liabilities.

Conceptual framework documents can be evaluated in terms of four criteria: clarity of expression, consistency of assumptions with knowledge of commercial practices and the behaviour of external users of accounting information, internal consistency, and comprehensiveness as a guide to financial reporting practice. On this basis, the Australian Accounting Research Foundation's (AARF’s) Statements of Accounting Concepts No. 2 (AARF, 1990a), Objectives of General Purpose Financial Reporting, is found wanting. SAC 2 is inappropriately drafted in terms of normative statements, and incorporates considerable ambiguity because of its allusions to inconsistent objectives without guidance as to weightings or how apparently inconsistent statements might be reconciled. Supporting analysis is rudimentary at best and it relies on an inappropriate use of terminology, while statements lack empirical support and are not linked to any analysis of users’ needs for information. Six recommendations for the redrafting of a more narrowly focused SAC 2 (concentrating on annual reports by profit-seeking entities) are presented.

Australia has a long tradition of using methods of valuation which depart from the traditional ‘historical cost’ model—and this has steadily been reflected in regulatory requirements and practices for different industries. However, while many forms of market value accounting have been introduced into a variety of accounting standards, the Australian Accounting Standards Board's conceptual framework (CF) has not led these changes, nor provided any substantive guidance on measurement issues. This article suggests criteria that can be used to select among accounting measurement alternatives.

The United States' Governmental Accounting Standards Board has fostered the development of reports on “service efforts and accomplishments”. The SEAs framework for classifying performance indicators and providing accompanying contextual data and interpretative commentary was adopted in New South Wales, but developed through its application on a “whole of government” basis and the adoption of distinctions between “program outcomes” and “community outcomes”. The whole-of-government approach has the potential to provide a more consistent track record of public-sector performance in the face of departmental restructuring or the shifting of programs or subprograms between agencies.

This paper argues for a more profound contextual analysis of the music studied. It is argued that the impact of some newer ideas from the second half of the 20th century, often labelled post-modern, have not been sufficiently assimilated in music education philosophy. What is in reality a call for greater depth in contextual analysis has too often been trivialised into a superficial notion of a social context incorrectly focussed more on the contemporary than the historical. The shift to social constructivism should not demolish the concept of cultural truth or the historical usefulness of the idea of immanence or metaphysical presence, as some commentators would argue. Instead, the new heuristic methodologies, particularly those of such writers as Jacques Derrida, Paul-Michel Foucault and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, provide powerful tools for developing a truer understanding of the importance of the situatedness of all music. How this might be exposed is demonstrated from the traditions of western culture. The way forward for a philosophy of music education is to accept the blurring of genres (or disciplines) over the last few decades, and go further than simply accentuating the social situatedness of today's student. Indeed the idea of an education should enable the student to rise above her own social situation. Music works as a cultural system in itself, but one which refers to and reflects the larger culture in which it was situated and which gave it form and meaning within its own systems of thought and action. Musical understanding is explained as being derived from a study of performance practice within these important contextual factors.

A review of reporting practices in 1998 suggested that New South Wales universities were systematically breaching requirements for the publication of budgets in their annual reports, since the coverage of published budget documents did not encompass all financial transactions reported in financial statements. A government funding agency has required universities to present operating statements in a standard format. But the definitions used in these instructions lead to understatement of spending on administration by not counting expenditure incurred in faculties, schools or departments. It is argued that the combination of reporting practices based on government instructions and the failure of NSW universities to comply with state legislation has led to the production of accounts which are of limited usefulness to key stakeholders.

The background to the widespread adoption by Australian public trading enterprises of a deprival value variant of current cost accounting reflects successive efforts to establish demanding rate of return targets, or to legitimise price increases, or to monitor the financial performance of PTEs on a national basis. The experience of three public utilities in implementing CCA is reviewed. This experience suggests that CCA valuation of infrastructure (using deprival or optimized deprival values) is unable to deliver financial data to permit valid cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons of performance. Issues raised during the 1970s and 1980s debates about CCA were either ignored or overlooked.

The Australian accounting profession has advocated that infrastructure should be accounted for by reporting it at current written down replacement values, on the basis that these financial disclosures would provide relevant information to stakeholders. While local councils are required to apply the profession’s asset valuation and accrual standards in preparing general purpose financial reports, the State of New South Wales has gone further by requiring local councils to also present information about the physical condition of infrastructure, together with estimates of the cost of bringing that infrastructure to a satisfactory condition, and the annual costs of maintaining infrastructure at that standard thereafter. This paper examines how this information was reported for 1995‐96. Analysis of reporting practices suggest that while there are some anomalies and uncertainties surrounding the rating of physical condition and the concept of “satisfactory condition”, the disclosures provided by NSW local government are more informative and arguably more relevant to external stakeholders and those responsible for asset management in local government than the information currently prescribed by accounting standards.

The impact of regulation on the publication of consolidated statements by Australian listed companies is examined by reviewing evidence of the first use of consolidated statements by holding companies listed on the Sydney Stock Exchange, excluding companies incorporated elsewhere, and relating that evidence to the chronology of the development of statutory, professional and stock-exchange regulations permitting or prescribing the use of consolidated statements. The findings are that the wider adoption of consolidation accounting has been associated with changes in statutory and other forms of regulation. These findings contradict the conclusions of earlier studies (Whittred, 1986, 1987, 1988), namely that regulation was of minimal influence, and that the adoption of consolidation accounting was explainable by ‘contracting cost variables’. Major flaws identified in these earlier studies were an apparent failure to recognize that Sydney listed companies may have been subject to regulations established in other jurisdictions, and a crucial misinterpretation of the history of Australian stock exchange listing rules, which led to the misidentification of listed companies as having adopted consolidation ‘voluntarily’. The findings also underline comments made previously in critiques of other papers which have tested hypotheses incorporating agency or contracting costs. While historical analysis can assist the exercise of judgment in the classification of events, those who rely on historical evidence in the development of theories and in framing hypotheses should use that evidence with care, having regard to pertinent contextual factors.

We report on the experimental demonstration of a GaAs IQ modulator. The device consists of two “nested” Mach-Zehnder modulators for the inphase and quadrature component and is operated at a symbol rate of 25 GBd. Using QPSK, 16QAM, 32QAM and 64QAM, data rates of up to 150 Gbit/s were encoded on a single carrier in one polarization. The individual Mach-Zehnder modulators, and hence, the IQ-modulator have an electro-optic 3 dB bandwidth of 27 GHz and a 6 dB bandwidth larger than 35 GHz. The extinction ratio of the Mach-Zehnder exceeds 20 dB. The devices exhibit small footprint of 2 mm × 40 mm and can be integrated on large-area GaAs wafers using high-yield fabrication processes while providing performance similar to established lithium niobate devices.

Dairy cows grazing a tropical grass pasture fertilized with 300 kg N/ha and with a 7-year history of phosphorus fertilizer at either 0 or 45 kg P/ha were given a P supplement in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment at Kairi Research Station, Queensland, Australia. Milk yield, fat-corrected milk yield, yields of milk fat, protein and lactose, and protein content of milk were increased ( P

SYNOPSIS Using a stated preference experiment, this study investigates the infrastructure reporting preferences of 103 public sector managers having experience with the use and interpretation of specialized infrastructure information. The results of the ordered mixed logit analysis indicate that public sector managers tend to choose more comprehensive and detailed financial and nonfinancial disclosures in circumstances where: the physical condition of the infrastructure is in a poor state of repair; governments may not be placing much priority on funding existing infrastructure; the financial costs to maintain infrastructure are high; infrastructure has high importance to service delivery; and government agencies have made significant investments in public infrastructure. The results of this study suggest that a blend of GASB and AASB requirements for infrastructure assets (i.e., condition assessments in combination with replacement costs) could enhance the overall usefulness of infrastructure information, especially among decision makers who make regular use of this information. JEL Classifications: G18; M41; C90.

An issues paper produced by the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) observed that prior to the early 1970s, ‘future removal and restoration costs were typically ignored in the extractive industries’ (IASC 2000, paragraph 8.18).

Financial accounting regulatory arrangements adopted in most Western countries often involve the participation of (and interactions between) public-sector and private-sector regulatory agencies. The political process associated with the development of accounting rules not only involves the efforts of interested parties seeking to secure the content of rules favourable to their interests but also the behaviours of regulatory agencies as they compete to influence or control the regulatory ‘agenda’. Regulatory agencies develop their own agendas, in light of their own perceived priorities and the regulatory initiatives of other agencies. The placing of an accounting issue on the agenda of one agency may be warmly supported by other agencies or, alternatively, be viewed as a threat to the regulatory ambitions of those other agencies. This case study reviews the emergence and eventual resolution of an accounting issue that was initially promoted by a government agency in April 1984 but then ultimately developed as a professional accounting standard in December 1991. The study describes the activities of public and private-sector agencies during this eight-year period as they responded to proposals for the introduction of disclosure rules concerning cash flows. Evidence was obtained from public records, documents provided by interest groups, and structured and semi-structured interviews with key participants in the events described. The analysis is underscored by our understanding of competitive regulatory interactions and formal models for analysing agenda entrance (Cobb et al. 1976). This analysis shows how the profession's standard-setting body was unable to control the global agenda for accounting rule-making as a consequence of the intervention of another body, the Australian Stock Exchange.

Prior to 1930, the upward revaluation of fixed assets was common in the United States. By 1940 the practice was virtually extinct, and for decades thereafter U.S. corporations which were registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have been constrained both from making upward asset revaluations, and from presenting supplementary information about the ‘current values’ of fixed assets. These changes were effected without the publication of any rules or guidelines by either the SEC or the U.S. accounting profession. This paper traces the early history of SEC activities and policies in relation to ‘write-ups’, using primary source materials which include minutes of SEC meetings, internal memoranda prepared by SEC staff, and reports of SEC decisions in stop-order proceedings. These documents show that, initially, SEC staff actively ‘discouraged’ write-ups through the exercise of administrative discretion in the course of assessing whether documents filed with the Commission were adequate to support the registration of prospectuses or securities. Later, formal decisions to reject the use of ‘appraisals’ were based on findings that estimates of current values had been arrived at arbitrarily or capriciously. Over a twenty-five-year period no decisions were located which formally rejected write-ups or the disclosure of current values when they were based on defensible estimates of current market prices. However, subsequently these decisions were cited as precedents for the rejection of the use of both ‘appraisals’ and estimates of market prices as the basis for valuing assets in all financial reports lodged with the SEC. By the 1940s, the SEC was using its registration powers to ‘censor'financial statements which referred to estimates of current values, regardless of the evidence used to arrive at those estimates. By the 1950s, the SEC had extended its policy of censorship to prevent any disclosure of estimates of ‘current values’— even when those disclosures were only made in ‘supplementary’ notes in takeover documents.

The 163 comets observed during the WISE/NEOWISE prime mission represent the largest infrared survey to date of comets, providing constraints on dust, nucleus size, and CO + CO_2 production. We present detailed analyses of the WISE/NEOWISE comet discoveries, and discuss observations of the active comets showing 4.6 μm band excess. We find a possible relation between dust and CO + CO_2 production, as well as possible differences in the sizes of long and short period comet nuclei.

The Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) carries a varied suite of sensors for imaging in the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared, hyperspectral imaging in the ultraviolet through visible and infrared spectroscopy with a Michelson interferometer. At comparable sensitivity to the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) but with a 40 times smaller point response function, the MSX infrared radiometer is ideal for surveying specific large areas such as those in which IRAS was degraded by confusion or not covered at all. This experiment obtains simultaneous observations over a very wide spectral range, from 0.11 to 25 μm, thus providing unique information on the energetics of such diverse objects as comets and H II regions. Initial observations indicate that the astronomy objectives on this experiment will be achieved.

Seventeen children with renovascular hypertension were managed at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, over the 20-year period from 1975 to 1996. The age at presentation ranged from 10 days to 18 years. All children presented with severe hypertension with mean systolic blood pressure 7 standard deviations above age-matched averages and mean diastolic blood pressure 5.5 standard deviations above age-matched averages. Neurofibromatosis was the most common etiology (58% of patients) and there were no cases of Takayasu's arteritis. Patients underwent a variety of biochemical and imaging investigations but in all cases renal angiography was necessary for definitive diagnosis and for planning therapy. Ten of the 17 patients had surgical procedures performed. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty was performed in four patients but led to cure in only one patient following thrombosis of the affected artery producing segmental renal infarction. Other vascular reconstructive procedures, including the use of autologous or synthetic bypass grafts and autotransplantation, produced cure of hypertension in 50% of children with improvement in a further 30%. The long-term outlook for children treated with surgical reconstructive procedures was excellent. One patient underwent surgery for avulsion of an arterial graft following a pubertal growth spurt. No other patient originally cured by surgery has required reoperation with no cases of restenosis at a mean follow-up of 11 years 3 months.

Infections are an important cause of mortality and morbidity in renal transplant recipients. To study the impact of anti-rejection therapy on the timing of infections, the records of 599 consecutive renal transplants, performed prior to 31 December 1996 at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, were reviewed. Patients were grouped according to acute rejection (AR) episode and treatment during the first 6 months after transplantation. Group 1 [n = 168 (35%)] patients did not experience any episode of AR. Group 2 [n = 169 (35%)] patients had one or more episodes of AR and received high doses of steroids. Group 3 [n = 141 (30%)] patients had more than one episode of AR and received anti-lymphocyte antibodies in addition to high doses of steroids. Infections were more common in Groups 2 and 3 but only cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease occurred earlier in patients treated with lympholytics. Given the high incidence and early onset of CMV disease in patients receiving lympholytics and considering that an effective prophylactic protocol remains undetermined, pre-emptive treatment with ganciclovir in this high risk group appears justified.

The Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) carries a varied suite of sensors for imaging in the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared, hyperspectral imaging in the ultraviolet through visible and infrared spectroscopy with a Michelson interferometer. At comparable sensitivity to the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) but with a 40 times smaller point response function, the MSX infrared radiometer is ideal for surveying specific large areas such as those in which IRAS was degraded by confusion or not covered at all. This experiment obtains simultaneous observations over a very wide spectral range, from 0.11 to 25 µm, thus providing unique information on the energetics of such diverse objects as comets and H II regions. Initial observations indicate that the astronomy objectives on this experiment will be achieved.

Morphometric quantitative analysis of the renal arterioles (arteriole wall thickness and overall vessel size) in renal biopsies from 21 cadaveric renal allograft recipients taken immediately prior to (0 months) and 3 months after transplantation was carried out using a computer-aided image analyzer. Patients (n = 10) who received standard therapy (cyclosporine, azathioprine and prednisolone) showed an increase in arteriole wall thickness at 3 months compared to 0 months (p0.01). Patients (n = 11) who received standard therapy and oral diltiazem (60 mg t.d.s.) showed no such change in the arteriole wall thickness between 0 and 3 months. As cyclosporine toxicity and/or chronic vascular rejection are associated with an increase in arteriole wall thickness, the differences observed in this study may imply a protective role for diltiazem on renal arterioles.