Fish and freshwater crayfish communities of the Brunswick and Preston Rivers

The Leschenault Inlet, located on the Swan Coastal Plain near Bunbury, is the estuary of the Brunswick, Collie, Preston and Ferguson Rivers. There is a considerable amount of information detailing the fish fauna of the Leschenault Inlet with Potter et al. (1997, 2000) recording 42 species of fish from 26 families. The estuary is dominated by gobies, atherinids and clupeids which comprised almost 90% of the fishes. Potter et al. (2000) also reported 13 species from gill net captures in the lower (tidal) Collie River. Neither of these studies reported on the fishes found within the freshwaters of the Leschenault Inlet catchment and although Pen & Potter (1990, 1991a, b, c, d, 1992) conducted biological studies on a number of native and introduced freshwater fishes in the upper Collie River by, there is no published information regarding the prevailing fishes (or freshwater crayfishes) of the Brunswick or Preston Rivers. Hale et al. (2000) reported on the fish fauna of one site in the upper Brunswick River, near the confluence with the Augustus River, one site in the Augustus River and two sites in the Ernest River. While they recorded only two species of freshwater fish from the Ernest River (i.e. Western Pygmy Perch (Edelia vittata) and Nightfish (Bostockia porosa)), they captured a further two endemic freshwater fishes from the Augustus and upper Brunswick Rivers (i.e. Western Minnow (Galaxias occidentalis) and Freshwater Cobbler (Tandanus bostocki)) as well as larval (ammocoetes) Pouched Lampreys (Geotria australis) and three introduced fishes (i.e. Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) and Eastern Mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki)). The presence of the larger introduced fishes, the lamprey and the Freshwater Cobbler in the Augustus River compared to the Ernest River was attributed to the provision of environmental water releases from Freshwater Lake. These species are more often associated with permanent waters over ephemeral systems. The distributions of fishes inhabiting the inland waters of the south-western corner of Western Australia were documented in Morgan et al. (1998) and include the systems from Capel to Two People’s Bay east of Albany and thus does not encompass the more northerly Leschenault catchments, but does include some sites on the Collie River South Branch. The aims of the present study were to ameliorate the paucity of knowledge of the fishes and freshwater crayfishes inhabiting two of the major systems flowing into the Leschenault Inlet and thereby provide the Leschenault Catchment Council with an overview of the fishes of the Brunswick and Preston Rivers

Re-establishment of native freshwater fishes in Bull Creek

Bull Creek is a perennial, urban stream located in the City of Melville and is a tributary to the Canning River. The catchment has been largely altered for urban development (i.e. housing) and receives a considerable amount of storm-water runoff. Substantial effort has been made recently to re-habilitate the riparian zone of Bull Creek through weed eradication (particularly blackberry control) and native re-vegetation programs. The Melville City Council recognised the need to extend this rehabilitation effort to include the instream aquatic fauna and thus a fish re-establishment program was implemented; the details of which are described in this report

Supporting students with learning disabilities to explore linear relationships using online learning objects

The study of linear relationships is foundational for mathematics teaching and learning. However, students’ abilities connect different representations of linear relationships have proven to be challenging. In response, a computer-based instructional sequence was designed to support students’ understanding of the connections among representations. In this paper we report on the affordances of this dynamic mode of representation specifically for students with learning disabilities. We outline four results identified by teachers as they implemented the online lessons

Probing physics students' conceptual knowledge structures through term association

Traditional tests are not effective tools for diagnosing the content and structure of students' knowledge of physics. As a possible alternative, a set of term-association tasks (the "ConMap" tasks) was developed to probe the interconnections within students' store of conceptual knowledge. The tasks have students respond spontaneously to a term or problem or topic area with a sequence of associated terms; the response terms and timeof- entry data are captured. The tasks were tried on introductory physics students, and preliminary investigations show that the tasks are capable of eliciting information about the stucture of their knowledge. Specifically, data gathered through the tasks is similar to that produced by a hand-drawn concept map task, has measures that correlate with inclass exam performance, and is sensitive to learning produced by topic coverage in class. Although the results are preliminary and only suggestive, the tasks warrant further study as student-knowledge assessment instruments and sources of experimental data for cognitive modeling efforts.Comment: 31 pages plus 2 tables and 8 figure

Pwning Level Bosses in MATLAB: Student Reactions to a Game-Inspired Computational Physics Course

We investigated student reactions to two computational physics courses incorporating several videogame-like aspects. These included use of gaming terminology such as "levels," "weapons," and "bosses"; a game-style point system linked to course grades; a self-paced schedule with no deadlines; a mastery design in which only entirely correct attempts earn credit, but students can retry until they succeed; immediate feedback via self-test code; an assignment progression from "minions" (small, focused tasks) to "level bosses" (integrative tasks); and believable, authentic assignment scenarios. Through semi-structured interviews and course evaluations, we found that a majority of students considered the courses effective and the game-like aspects beneficial. In particular, many claimed that the point system increased their motivation; the self-paced nature caused them to reflect on their self-discipline; the possibility and necessity of repeating assignments until perfect aided learning; and the authentic tasks helped them envision using course skills in their professional futures.Comment: Accepted for publication in the proceedings of the 2014 Physics Education Research Conference (PERC

Freshwater fish and crayfish communities of the tributaries of the Margaret River

Tributaries and headwaters of major rivers are known to be important spawning and nursery habitats of freshwater endemic fishes in south-western Australia (see for example the Collie River in Pen & Potter 1990, and the Blackwood River in Beatty et al. 2006, 2008). Fishes of the Margaret River have previously been examined by Morgan et al. (1998) and Morgan & Beatty (2003) with the monitoring of the functioning of the two fishways on the river documented in Morgan & Beatty (2004, 2007) and Beatty & Morgan (2008). The river is known to be of conservation importance due to it housing five of the eight endemic freshwater fishes of the south-west region, as well as housing the majority (five of the six species) of the Cherax species of freshwater crayfishes found in the south-west; including the Margaret River endemic Critically Endangered Hairy Marron. Despite this known value and considerable volume of research on the fishes in the main channel of the Margaret River, little is known on the fishes and freshwater crayfishes of the river 19s major tributaries. The aim of this study is to document the freshwater fish distribution in the major tributaries of the Margaret River (i.e. Bramley, Darch, and Yalgardup Brooks) during or close to the breeding period for the majority of the species and to provide a broad assessment and comparison of population demographics of the different species in the different tributaries. This information is required for the formulation of River Action Plans for these systems by the Cape to Cape Catchments Group

Advanced prediction technique for the low speed aerodynamics of V/STOL aircraft. Volume 2: User's manual

A computerized prediction method known as the Vought V/STOL Aircraft Propulsive Effects computer program (VAPE) for propulsive induced forces and moments in transition and Short TakeOff and Landing (STOL) flight is improved and evaluated. The VAPE program is capable of evaluating: (1) effects of relative wind about an aircraft, (2) effects of propulsive lift jet entrainment, vorticity and flow blockage, (3) effects of engine inlet flow on the aircraft flow field, (4) engine inlet forces and moments including inlet separation, (5) ground effects in the STOL region of flight, and (6) viscous effects on lifting surfaces

Advanced prediction technique for the low speed aerodynamics of V/STOL aircraft. Volume 1: Technical discussion

The V/STOL Aircraft Propulsive Effects (VAPE) computerized prediction method is evaluated. The program analyzes viscous effects, various jet, inlet, and Short TakeOff and Landing (STOL) models, and examines the aerodynamic configurations of V/STOL aircraft

Fish and freshwater crayfish in streams in the Cape Naturaliste region and Wilyabrup Brook

No abstract availabl

Optical and holographic storage properties of F3, Cu, and Mg-doped lithium niobate

Several samples of iron, copper, and magnesium doped lithium niobate were tested to determine their storage properties which would be applicable to an optical data storage system and an integrated optics data preprocessor which makes use of holographic storage techniques. The parameters of interest were the diffraction efficiency, write power, write time, erase time, erase energy, and write sensitivity. Results of these parameters are presented. It was found that iron doped lithium niobate samples yielded the best results in all parameters except for a few percent higher diffraction efficiency in copper doped samples. The magnesium doped samples were extremely insensitive and are not recommended for use in holographic optical data storage and processing systems