Systematic Regional Planning for Multiple Objective Natural Resource Management. A Case Study in the South Australian River Murray Corridor.

The aim of this study is to assess the feasibility of different policy options for encouraging the large scale NRM actions required for achieving stated regional resource condition targets for NRM. To achieve this, the concept of systematic regional planning is developed to identify geographic priorities for NRM actions that most cost effectively meet multiple-objective regional targets based on established biophysical and economic principles.Water;Australia;Rivers;Biodiversity;Natural Resource Management;Revegetation

Exploring the Cost Effectiveness of Land Conservation Auctions and Payment Policies

Until recently public efforts to encourage conservation on private land in many countries has primarily been through uniform payment policies. Auctions are increasingly used as a payment mechanism to acquire public benefits such as conservation actions that provide environmental improvements on private land (e.g. the US Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). The economic rationale for use of auctions is that they create decentralised incentives to offer bids at close to the true landholder opportunity costs, even when the implementing agency holds little information about these opportunity costs. This paper assesses the cost of a case study auction relative to four payment policies that use varying levels of information strategically to reduce rent payment and to prioritise funding based on environmental value. The results suggest that the estimated cost savings achievable with the discriminant price auction for conservation contracts depends on the policy to which the auction outcomes are compared. Auction cost savings are likely to be greatest when compared to policy alternatives involving little effort to discriminate amongst offers based on differences in landholder opportunity costs. A further key finding is that, for this case study, most of the savings resulting from the discriminant price auction could be attributed to the use of the environmental benefits index in project ranking and selection.Land Economics/Use,

Encouraging Revegetation in Australia with a Groundwater Recharge Credit Scheme

This paper describes a comprehensive method to design, test and then implement a Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) framework to combat the environmental consequences of extensive native vegetation clearance in Australia. Clearing of vegetation, primarily due to the expansion of farming areas, has often resulted in regional dryland and irrigation salinity. The market based approach adopted ? a groundwater recharge credit trading scheme ? was designed using empirical data from a social survey and experimental economics. The objective of the trial is to test the cost effectiveness of an incentive based recharge credit trade scheme designed to engage landholders in establishing and managing deep rooted pasture and woody perennials to reduce these adverse salinity impacts. The scheme, based on a voluntary ?cap and trade? approach, allows farmers to meet recharge obligations by land management actions or by trading credits. Assessment of the scheme so far suggests that an incentive for aggregate group outcome achievement included in the design may have motivated higher enrollment rates than would have otherwise resulted. A schedule has been developed relating land management practices and recharge credits. The audited performance based payment system, has provided increased motivation to manage for environmental outcomes compared to the previous policy.Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), market based instrument, cap and trade, salinity credit, revegetation, experimental economics

Separation-Dependent Near-Field Effects in Mie Scattering Spectra of Two Optically Trapped Aerosol Droplets

The backscattering of ultraviolet and visible light by a model organic aerosol droplet,squalane, is investigated upon approach of a second isolated droplet at varying separationsIllumination and collection of light is along the interparticle axis. The conditions replicate typicalbroadband light spectroscopy studies of atmospheric aerosol. -Matrix near-field modelling,which includes near-field effects, predicts separation-dependent changes in the intensity of thebackscattered light on close approach of neighbouring spheres. However, the experimental resultsshow no evidence of separation-dependent near-field effects on the scattering. The results arebest replicated by modelling the droplets as individual scatterers

MEMS 411: T-Shirt Strip Dispenser

For this design project, we worked with Dr. Mary Ruppert-Stroescu from the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts to create a device that dispenses t-shirt strips. Dr. Ruppert-Stroescu has a patented process where strips of cloth are laid down on a sticky backing paper and sewn together to be made into new clothing. Our goal was to streamline the strip-laying process, making it less tedious and time consuming

Controlling Locomotion of a Robotic Leg

Dr. Xing and Professor Refvem are working to research and develop a quadruped robot that is capable of basic movements including walking, running, and jumping. As senior project group F-11, we are joining a team of engineers to assist in the development of the quadruped. Our team was tasked with creating a mathematical model, designing a control method, and implementing that control method for the quadruped\u27s legs in Simulink. This will allow both current and future students to understand the response of the system and provide a building point for future researchers to create working quadrupedal robots. This report documents our research and cumulative work to reach our goals. The report highlights our final design for the controller loop, our implementation process for each controller component, and our design verification tests to justify our work

Scalable production of iPSC-derived human neurons to identify tau-lowering compounds by high-content screening

Lowering total tau levels is an attractive therapeutic strategy for Alzheimer's disease and other tauopathies. High-throughput screening in neurons derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is a powerful tool to identify tau-targeted therapeutics. However, such screens have been hampered by heterogeneous neuronal production, high cost and low yield, and multi-step differentiation procedures. We engineered an isogenic iPSC line that harbors an inducible neurogenin 2 transgene, a transcription factor that rapidly converts iPSCs to neurons, integrated at the AAVS1 locus. Using a simplified two-step protocol, we differentiated these iPSCs into cortical glutamatergic neurons with minimal well-to-well variability. We developed a robust high-content screening assay to identify tau-lowering compounds in LOPAC and identified adrenergic receptors agonists as a class of compounds that reduce endogenous human tau. These techniques enable the use of human neurons for high-throughput screening of drugs to treat neurodegenerative disease

Impact of Climate Variability on Infectious Disease in West Africa

The importance of infectious disease as a determinant (as well as an outcome) of poverty has recently become a prominent argument for international and national investment in the control of infectious disease, as can be seen in the recently articulated United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Climate variability and land use change have an enormous impact on health in West Africa, and may yet undermine the potential for achieving the MDGs, in certain economic-ecological zones. However, their underlying role in determining the burden of disease in the region on a yearly or decadal basis has never been systematically studied. In order to improve our understanding of the future impacts of climate change, it may be more effective to start by investigating the impact of inter-annual climate variability, and short-term shifts in climate (e.g., decadal), on disease transmission dynamics. This information may inform both current and future policy decisions with regard to prediction, prevention, and management of adverse climate-related health outcomes. This article reviews current knowledge of changes in the epidemiology of infectious diseases associated with climate variability in West Africa over the last 40 years. Selected examples are considered from bacterial (meningococcal meningitis), protozoan (malaria), and filarial (onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis) infections where spatial and temporal disease patterns have been directly influenced by seasonal, interannual, or decadal changes in climate