Native vegetation in Western Australia : extent, type and status

This report describes a new vegetation extent and type dataset for Western Australia prepared through the National Land and Water Resources Audit. Summary tables and maps prepared from these data are presented describing vegetation in relation to natural resource boundaries commonly used for environmental reporting. This present vegetation extent dataset builds on previous vegetation mapping exercises in Western Australia

Explaining trends in alcohol-related harms in Scotland 1991–2011 (II): policy, social norms, the alcohol market, clinical changes and a synthesis

Objective: To provide a basis for evaluating post-2007 alcohol policy in Scotland, this paper tests the extent to which pre-2007 policy, the alcohol market, culture or clinical changes might explain differences in the magnitude and trends in alcohol-related mortality outcomes in Scotland compared to England & Wales (E&W). Study design: Rapid literature reviews, descriptive analysis of routine data and narrative synthesis. Methods: We assessed the impact of pre-2007 Scottish policy and policy in the comparison areas in relation to the literature on effective alcohol policy. Rapid literature reviews were conducted to assess cultural changes and the potential role of substitution effects between alcohol and illicit drugs. The availability of alcohol was assessed by examining the trends in the number of alcohol outlets over time. The impact of clinical changes was assessed in consultation with key informants. The impact of all the identified factors were then summarised and synthesised narratively. Results: The companion paper showed that part of the rise and fall in alcohol-related mortality in Scotland, and part of the differing trend to E&W, were predicted by a model linking income trends and alcohol-related mortality. Lagged effects from historical deindustrialisation and socio-economic changes exposures also remain plausible from the available data. This paper shows that policy differences or changes prior to 2007 are unlikely to have been important in explaining the trends. There is some evidence that aspects of alcohol culture in Scotland may be different (more concentrated and home drinking) but it seems unlikely that this has been an important driver of the trends or the differences with E&W other than through interaction with changing incomes and lagged socio-economic effects. Substitution effects with illicit drugs and clinical changes are unlikely to have substantially changed alcohol-related harms: however, the increase in alcohol availability across the UK is likely to partly explain the rise in alcohol-related mortality during the 1990s. Conclusions: Future policy should ensure that alcohol affordability and availability, as well as socio-economic inequality, are reduced, in order to maintain downward trends in alcohol-related mortality in Scotland

Fuel plate and fusion insulator irradiation test program

As the prices of fuel fabricating, shipping, and reprocessing continue to rise at rapid rates, research people look for alternate methods to keep their reactor fuel costs within limited funds. Extending fuel element lifetimes without jeopardizing reactor safety can reduce fuel costs by up to a factor of two. But to gain this factor, some fuel plate tests must be performed to the higher burnup to verify burnup fuel plate performance. In this proposed test, fuel plates will be constructed to a maximum fuel loading which can be produced on a commercial basis, contain a maximum boron content as used in ATR to reduce initial reactor reactivity, and will be loaded with UAl/sub 2/ to obtain higher uranium content and better operating performance over UAl/sub 3/

Extended life aluminide fuel. Final report

As the price of fuel fabrication, shipment of both new and spent fuel, and fuel reprocessing continue to rise at a rapid rate, researchers look for alternate methods to keep reactor fuel costs within their limited funding. Extended fuel element lifetimes, without jeopardizing reactor safety, can reduce fuel costs by up to a factor of two. The Extended Life Aluminide (ELAF) program was started at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) as a joint project of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), the University of Missouri, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology research reactors. Fuel plates of Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) type construction were fabricated at Atomics International and irradiated in the ATR at the INEL. Four fuel matrix compositions were tested (i.e., 50 vol% UAl/sub x/ cores for reference, and 40, 45 and 50 vol% UAl/sub 2/ cores). The 50 vol% UAl/sub 2/ cores contained up to 3 grams U-235 per cm/sup 3/ of core. Three plates of each composition were irradiated to peak burnup levels of 3 x 10/sup 21/ fission/cm/sup 3/ of core. The only observed damage was due to external corrosion at similar rates experienced by UAl/sub x/ fuel elements in test reactors

New Wine in Old Bottles: A Case Study of Innovation Territories in "New World" Wine Production

This article applies the concept of "innovation territories" to explain the recent export success of the Australian Wine Industry. Recent data collected from four "New World" wine producing countries are contrasted in order to investigate "innovation territories" that in the Australian context transcend geographic and policy boundaries. The international comparison shows that these territories can be mapped and their interaction compared. A major finding from teh study is that one of the major contributors to Australia's success in gaining comparative advantage in this industry is the way local and national investments in R&D have transcended geographic and policy boundaries. Coordination driven by strong national policies is required to make this happen. This suggests that "knowledge intensive clusters" driven by national policies can be turned to advantage for regional development. The present study serves to sketch out how the idea of innovation territories might be operationalised for the purpose of future industry policy research

Informing investment to reduce inequalities: a modelling approach

Background: Reducing health inequalities is an important policy objective but there is limited quantitative information about the impact of specific interventions. Objectives: To provide estimates of the impact of a range of interventions on health and health inequalities. Materials and methods: Literature reviews were conducted to identify the best evidence linking interventions to mortality and hospital admissions. We examined interventions across the determinants of health: a ‘living wage’; changes to benefits, taxation and employment; active travel; tobacco taxation; smoking cessation, alcohol brief interventions, and weight management services. A model was developed to estimate mortality and years of life lost (YLL) in intervention and comparison populations over a 20-year time period following interventions delivered only in the first year. We estimated changes in inequalities using the relative index of inequality (RII). Results: Introduction of a ‘living wage’ generated the largest beneficial health impact, with modest reductions in health inequalities. Benefits increases had modest positive impacts on health and health inequalities. Income tax increases had negative impacts on population health but reduced inequalities, while council tax increases worsened both health and health inequalities. Active travel increases had minimally positive effects on population health but widened health inequalities. Increases in employment reduced inequalities only when targeted to the most deprived groups. Tobacco taxation had modestly positive impacts on health but little impact on health inequalities. Alcohol brief interventions had modestly positive impacts on health and health inequalities only when strongly socially targeted, while smoking cessation and weight-reduction programmes had minimal impacts on health and health inequalities even when socially targeted. Conclusions: Interventions have markedly different effects on mortality, hospitalisations and inequalities. The most effective (and likely cost-effective) interventions for reducing inequalities were regulatory and tax options. Interventions focused on individual agency were much less likely to impact on inequalities, even when targeted at the most deprived communities

Comparison of compression properties and swelling of beryllium irradiated at various temperatures

A beryllium cylinder irradiated in Experimental Breeder Reactor (EBR-II) for four years at 700 to 760 K to a neutron fluence of 8.13 x 10/sup 22/ n/cm/sup 2/ (total) or 1 x 10/sup 22/ n/cm/sup 2/ (E > 1 MeV) was cut into samples and tested. Yield strength and plastic strain was determined in compression tests at 300, 723, 823 K and after annealing at 1173 K for one hour. The immersion density and helium content were measured on samples. An equation for swelling was derived from the data by regression analysis. The microstructure showed agglomeration of helium in voids or bubbles at the grain boundaries

S2COSMOS: evolution of gas mass with redshift using dust emission

We investigate the evolution of the gas mass fraction for galaxies in the COSMOS field using submillimetre emission from dust at 850μm. We use stacking methodologies on the 850 μm S2COSMOS map to derive the gas mass fraction of galaxies out to high redshifts, 0 ≤ z ≤ 5, for galaxies with stellar masses of 109.

Hyperpolarised 13C MRI: a new horizon for non-invasive diagnosis of aggressive breast cancer

Hyperpolarised 13C MRI (HP-MRI) is a novel imaging technique that allows real-time analysis of metabolic pathways in vivo. 1 The technology to conduct HP-MRI in humans has recently become available and is starting to be clinically applied. As knowledge of molecular biology advances, it is increasingly apparent that cancer cell metabolism is related to disease outcomes, with lactate attracting specific attention. 2 Recent reviews of breast cancer screening programs have raised concerns and increased public awareness of over treatment. The scientific community needs to shift focus from improving cancer detection alone to pursuing novel methods of distinguishing aggressive breast cancers from those which will remain indolent. HP-MRI offers the opportunity to identify aggressive tumour phenotypes and help monitor/predict therapeutic response. Here we report one of the first cases of breast cancer imaged using HP-MRI alongside correlative conventional imaging, including breast MRI