Economic Nationalism and Performance: Australia from the 1960s to the 1990s

This is the text of the Ninth Colin Clark Memorial Lecture. The author contends that Australia's comparative growth perfomance and resilience to shocks were weakest when currents of economic nationalism were at their peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s

GIS-Based Expert Systems Model for Predicting Habitat Suitability of Blackside Dace

This study presents a GIS-based predictive habitat suitability model for the blackside dace, a federally-listed threatened species of the Upper Cumberland River basin in southeastern Kentucky. The model is a rules-based system which incorporates expert knowledge about habitat preferences for the species. The five habitat factors identified by experts and included in this model are stream gradient, canopy coverage, riparian vegetation type, riparian zone width, and stream order. Using GIS, the five habitat parameters were parameterized and combined across the entire stream network. Combinations were evaluated by blackside dace experts in terms of habitat suitability. The resulting model was tested against known blackside dace occurrences using locational modeling statistics. This analysis demonstrates success at identifying stream areas of both high and low likelihood of occurrences. Model results could be of particular usefulness to transportation planners in identifying sensitive areas in the landscape that may impact transportation planning

Archaeomagnetic dating: examples from Euboea-Attica and the missing link between the central Greek mainland and the islands

Ο αρχαιομαγνητισμός αποτελεί έναν κλάδο που συνδυάζει τη γεωφυσική με την αρχαιολογία και έχει διάφορες εφαρμογές, με πιο γνωστή τη χρονολόγηση θέσεων μέσω της μελέτης του γεωμαγνητικού πεδίου του παρελθόντος, όπως καταγράφεται στους ψημένους πηλούς που περιέχουν οξείδια του σιδήρου. Αφού θερμανθούν σε υψηλές θερμοκρασίες και στη συνέχεια ψυχθούν, αυτά τα οξείδια καταγράφουν την διεύθυνση και την ένταση του μαγνητικού πεδίου της γης στον τόπο και χρόνο της διαδικασίας. Αυτή η πληροφορία μπορεί να ανακτηθεί και έχει διπλή εφαρμογή: (1) εάν η χρονολόγηση του υλικού που μελετήθηκε βασίζεται σε ανεξάρτητες μεθόδους, τα αποτελέσματα μπορούν να χρησιμοποιηθούν ως σημεία αναφοράς για τη δημιουργία ή Καμπύλων Αιώνιας Μεταβολής (Secular Variation Curves (SVCs)) για την περιοχή, (2) εάν το υλικό είναι αβέβαιης χρονολόγησης, τότε αυτές οι καμπύλες, όταν είναι διαθέσιμες, μπορούν να χρησιμοποιηθούν για τη χρονολόγησή του, με μικρό κόστος και βαθμό φθοράς. Η συστηματική έρευνα στην Ελλάδα κατά τις δύο τελευταίες δεκαετίες έχει προσφέρει σημαντικά δεδομένα και αρκούντως προσδιορισμένες SVC, οι οποίες ωστόσο έχουν ακόμη αρκετά κενά. Η άνιση κατανομή των μελετημένων θέσεων είναι συχνά ένα πρόβλημα που χρειάζεται επίλυση. Η μελέτη στις περιοχές της κεντρικής Ελλάδας, της Εύβοιας και των νησιών είναι ελλιπής και είναι αναγκαίο να καλυφθούν τα κενά αυτά. Δημοσιευμένα αποτελέσματα από προηγούμενες μελέτες στην ευρύτερη περιοχή προέρχονται από τον Evans1, ο οποίος μελέτησε δύο κλιβάνους αμφίβολης χρονολόγησης από την Ερέτρια και την Αυλίδα. Με τη χρήση των προσφάτως ενημερωμένων SVC για την Ελλάδα, σε συνδυασμό με αυτές των Βαλκανίων και της Ευρώπης, στην παρούσα εργασία προχωρήσαμε στη χρονολόγηση των δύο αυτών θέσεων, με αποτέλεσμα ηλικίες που συγκλίνουν με τις προτεινόμενες αρχαιολογικές σε έναν ικανοποιητικό βαθμό. Νέα αποτελέσματα επακριβώς χρονολογημένου υλικού δημοσιεύθηκαν για τη Νεολιθική Θεσσαλία2, ωστόσο μία συνέχεια μεταξύ της νοτίου Ελλάδος, των νησιών και της κεντρικής Ελλάδος πρέπει να δημιουργηθεί στο προσεχές μέλλον

Photodynamic therapy for acne vulgaris: a randomized, controlled, split-face clinical trial of topical aminolevulinic acid and pulsed dye laser therapy

There remains the need for more effective therapeutic options to treat acne vulgaris. Interest in light-based acne treatments has increased, but few randomized, controlled clinical trials assessing the value of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for acne have been reported.We sought to examine the efficacy of PDT using 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) and pulsed dye laser therapy in the treatment of acne.We conducted a randomized, controlled, split-face, single-blind clinical trial of 44 patients with facial acne. Patients were randomized to receive three pulsed dye laser treatments to one side of the face after a 60–90 min ALA application time, while the contralateral side remained untreated and served as a control. Serial blinded lesion counts and global acne severity ratings were performed.Global acne severity ratings improved bilaterally with the improvement noted to be statistically significantly greater in treated skin than in untreated skin. Erythematous macules (remnants of previously active inflammatory lesions) decreased in number in treated skin when compared with control skin and there was a transient but significant decrease in inflammatory papules in treated skin when compared with untreated skin. There were no other statistically significant differences between treated and untreated sides of the face in terms of counts of any subtype of acne lesion. Thirty percent of patients were deemed responders to this treatment with respect to improvement in their inflammatory lesion counts, while only 7% of patients responded in terms of noninflammatory lesion counts.PDT with the treatment regimen employed here may be beneficial for a subgroup of patients with inflammatory acne.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79403/1/j.1473-2165.2010.00483.x.pd

Expanding Predictive Assessment of Northern Bobwhite Covey Calling Rates to Incorporate Regional Effects

Many surveys based on discrete vocalizations make the invalid assumption that individuals present in the survey area are always available for detection (e.g., calling) during the survey period. Northern bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) are known to exhibit variable calling rates, particularly during autumn covey surveys. Adjustment of density and abundance estimates to account for calling rate may increase reliability of population metrics, and may increase our ability to effectively assess conservation management. Two previous independent studies across 4 regions used logistic regression to evaluate effects of weather, time, and density covariates on calling rates of radio-marked autumn bobwhite coveys. Results from these studies varied and there is uncertainty regarding application without further investigation into regional differences in calling rates. We combined these data sets comprising known calling rates of 279 bobwhite coveys in 4 regions (Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, and Tennessee) from 1998 to 2000. Observed calling rates averaged 69% over all sites, and ranged from 56 to 80% in the Florida and Missouri regions, respectively. We used binomial logistic regression to evaluate effects of region, adjacent calling coveys, weekly period, change in barometric pressure, percent cloud cover, temperature, and wind speed on covey calling rates. The top ranking model suggested strong effects of region and number of adjacent coveys on calling probability (P , 0.0001) with 42% model weight relative to other candidate models. Two competing models suggested inclusion of the 6-hr change in barometric pressure (0100 – 0700 hrs) (18% model weight) or weekly period (17% model weight) might also be appropriate. Validation using the best approximating model (region þ adjacent coveys) suggested calling probability estimates were within 6% of the observed calling rate in one region. This suggests the predictive model may provide a valid estimator of calling rate when applied to covey survey data in the appropriate region. However, there is uncertainty regarding application of region-specific model coefficients to survey data outside of these regions. If effects of region are important predictors of calling rate, managers must be cognizant of these prior to adjusting parameter estimates. Further, there is a research need concerning utility and ubiquity of calling rate predictors, particularly for regions that lack known calling rate data