From little things, big things grow: trends and fads in 110 years of Australian ornithology

Publishing histories can reveal changes in ornithological effort, focus or direction through time. This study presents a bibliometric content analysis of Emu (1901–2011) which revealed 115 trends (long-term changes in publication over time) and 18 fads (temporary increases in publication activity) from the classification of 9,039 articles using 128 codes organised into eight categories (author gender, author affiliation, article type, subject, main focus, main method, geographical scale and geographical location). Across 110 years, private authorship declined, while publications involving universities and multiple institutions increased; from 1960, female authorship increased. Over time, question-driven studies and incidental observations increased and decreased in frequency, respectively. Single species and ‘taxonomic group’ subjects increased while studies of birds at specific places decreased. The focus of articles shifted from species distribution and activities of the host organisation to breeding, foraging and other biological/ecological topics. Site- and Australian-continental-scales slightly decreased over time; non-Australian studies increased from the 1970s. A wide variety of fads occurred (e.g. articles on bird distribution, 1942–1951, and using museum specimens, 1906–1913) though the occurrence of fads decreased over time. Changes over time are correlated with technological, theoretical, social and institutional changes, and suggest ornithological priorities, like those of other scientific disciplines, are temporally labil

Residential Timber Construction - Evaluating Emerging Technologies

Timber has always had a profound role in residential construction; in Australia it has been mainly used for flooring and stick framing erected according to long established recipes. While the local industry has recently embraced some new technologies such as Laminated Veneer Lumber, other more innovative ways of building with timber now gaining acceptance overseas, are not being adopted locally. This document describes a systematic process undertaken for the purpose of evaluating the suitability of overseas and local emerging timber technologies (ETs) for use in the Australian residential construction industry. The purpose of this was to help the local industry set its technology development agenda. To assess the local suitability of the Emerging Technologies, a modified Delphi process was employed to interrogate the experience of a varied group of specialists each of whom had relevant expertise in the construction industry. The process aimed to arrive at a consensual ranking of emerging technologies against a variety of criteria for publication in a web database. The website has been made available to encourage and assist industry in taking up ETs in Australia

Reclassification of SIDS cases - a need for adjustment of the San Diego classification?

A study was undertaken reclassifying cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) taken from two geographically separate locations utilizing the San Diego definition with subclassifications. One hundred twenty-eight infant cases were examined from files at Forensic Science South Australia in Adelaide, SA, Australia over a 7.5-year period from July 1999 to January 2007. Thirty-one cases (24%) had initially been diagnosed as SIDS and 30 (23%) as undetermined while 67 (52%) had an explainable cause of death. After reclassification, the number of SIDS cases had increased to 49 of the 128 cases, now representing 38% of the cases; category IB SIDS constituted 10 (20%) and II SIDS 39 (80%) of the SIDS cases. No cases were classified as IA SIDS. Two hundred eighteen infant cases were identified from the files of the Department of Forensic Medicine, Aarhus University, Denmark over a 16-year period from 1992 to 2007. Eighty-two (38%) were originally diagnosed as SIDS, 128 (59%) with identifiable causes of death, and 8 (4%) as unexplained. After review, 77 (35%) cases were reclassified as SIDS, a decrease of 6%. Twenty (26%) infants were classified as category IB SIDS and 57 (74%) as II SIDS. None of the cases met the criteria for IA SIDS. Problems arose in assessing cases with failure to thrive, fever, and possible asphyxia. Modifications to the San Diego subclassifications might improve the consistency of categorizing these cases.Lisbeth Lund Jensen, Marianne Cathrine Rohde, Jytte Banner, Roger William Byar

Biological Invasions and Ecological Restoration in South Africa

This chapter provides an overview of the researchers and research initiatives relevant to invasion science in South Africa over the past 130 years, profiling some of the more recent personalities, particularly those who are today regarded as international leaders in the field. A number of key points arise from this review. Since 1913, South Africa has been one of a few countries that have investigated and implemented alien plant biological control on a large scale, and is regarded as a leader in this field. South Africa was also prominent in the conceptualisation and execution of the international SCOPE project on the ecology of biological invasions in the 1980s, during which South African scientists established themselves as valuable contributors to the field. The development of invasion science benefitted from a deliberate strategy to promote multi-organisational, interdisciplinary research in the 1980s. Since 1995, the Working for Water programme has provided funding for research and a host of practical questions that required research solutions. Finally, the establishment of a national centre of excellence with a focus on biological invasions has made a considerable contribution to building human capacity in the field, resulting in advances in all aspects of invasion science—primarily in terms of biology and ecology, but also in history, sociology, economics and management. South Africa has punched well above its weight in developing the field of invasion science, possibly because of the remarkable biodiversity that provided a rich template on which to carry out research, and a small, well-connected research community that was encouraged to operate in a collaborative manner

Evaluation of inert gas rebreathing for determination of cardiac output: influence of age, gender and body size.

The aim of this study was to evaluate an inert gas rebreathing method (Innocor) for measurement of cardiac output and related haemodynamic variables and to provide robust normative data describing the influence of age, gender and body size on these variables. Four separate studies were conducted: measurement repeatability (study 1, n = 45); postural change (study 2, n = 40); response to submaximal cycling exercise (study 3, n = 20); and the influence of age, gender and body size (study 4, n = 1400). Repeated measurements of cardiac output, stroke volume and heart rate were similar, with low mean (±SD) differences (0.26 ± 0.53 L/min, 0 ± 11 mL and 2 ± 6beats/min, respectively). In addition, cardiac output and stroke volume both declined progressively from supine to seated and standing positions (P < 0.001 for both) and there was a stepwise increase in both parameters moving from rest to submaximal exercise (P < 0.001 for both). In study 4, there was a significant age-related decline in cardiac output and stroke volume in males and females, which remained significant after adjusting for body surface area (BSA, P < 0.001 for all comparisons). Both parameters were also significantly higher in those with high body mass index (BMI; P < 0.01 versus those with normal BMI for all comparisons), although indexing cardiac output and stroke volume to BSA reversed these trends. Inert gas rebreathing using the Innocor device provides repeatable measurements of cardiac output and related indices, which are sensitive to the effects of acute physiological manoeuvres. Moreover, inert gas rebreathing is a suitable technique for examining chronic influences such as age, gender and body size on key haemodynamic components of the arterial blood pressure