Paddock sampling for management of annual ryegrass toxicity

Annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidumJ seedheads containing corynetoxins, a group of bacterially produced antibiotics, are poisonous to livestock. Animals that eat affected ryegrass develop annual ryegrass toxicity (ARGT), suffer convulsive staggers and die within a few days of eating a lethal dose. ARGT is characterised by high death rates, especially where pastures are not known to be affected and where stock-owners are not expecting the problem. Fortunately, there are commercial tests that determine the levels of ARGT organisms in the paddock and the risk of getting the disease. These tests will help farmers plan their cropping and pasture programs for the coming growing season. The results can also be used immediately to plan grazing over summer and autumn

Geometric Optimization of a Heaving Point Absorber Wave Energy Converter

Wave energy shows significant potential for development into a competitive renewable energy source. Non-renewable resources are finite and contribute to adverse effects on the environment. Development of wave energy conversion devices that use heave motion as the primary driver for converting wave energy into electrical potential is explored through optimizing the geometry of an axisymmetric partially submerged buoy in deep water. The governing equations of motion and hydrodynamic forces are solved for in one degree of freedom using ANSYS Aqwa. An external PTO device is simulated to induce power capture in the system. Four different geometric shapes are tested and the introduction of supplemental mass and optimization of the hydrodynamic parameters across multiple sea states is conducted to determine the benefits of buoy shape selection. Time-averaged and peak power output is determined to be more than 10% higher in buoys of different shapes when compared to a cylindrical buoy, when tested in regular waves using the principles of linear wave theory which has shown good agreement with previous experimental results. Further testing of the different shaped buoys using the optimized supplemental mass and external PTO forces is examined in irregular waves but no correlation to the regular wave testing is determined, requiring a need for further study with irregular waves and CFD analysis

Zircon U-Pb dating of Mesozoic volcanic and tectonic events in northwest Palmer Land and southwest Graham Land, Antarctica

New whole rock Rb-Sr and zircon U-Pb geochronological data and Sm-Nd isotopic data are presented from the central magmatic arc domain of the Antarctic Peninsula in the area of northwest Palmer Land and southwest Graham Land, Rb-Sr isochrons indicate an age of 169±6 Ma for basement orthogneisses and 132±9 to 71±9 Ma for plutons. A U-Pb age of 183 ± 2.1 Ma, with no detectable inheritance, on zircons from an orthogneiss from Cape Berteaux provides the first reliable age for the orthogneisses, which are interpreted as metamorphosed silicic volcanic rocks, and Sm-Nd data indicate derivation in a mature volcanic arc. The age indicates they may be correlatives of the Jurassic ‘Chon Aike’ volcanism of the eastern Antarctic Peninsula. A U-Pb zircon age of 107 ± 1.7 Ma on a terrestrial volcanic sequence overlying an uncomformity strongly suggests a mid-Cretaceous age for the extensive volcanic cover of northwest Palmer Land that was previously thought to be Jurassic. The unconformity is interpreted to have been a result of compressional uplift related to the Palmer Land event. This is the first date for the event in the western part of the central magmatic arc terrane of the Antarctic Peninsula

The dependence of the hydrogen sorption capacity of single-walled carbon nanotubes on the concentration of catalyst

The adsorption of hydrogen on single-walled carbon nanotubes was measured using micro-gravimetric nitrogen and hydrogen adsorption isotherms at 77 K for gas pressures of up to 1 bar (nitrogen) and 12 bar (hydrogen). Results show that surface area and hydrogen uptake depend on the concentration of the iron catalyst used for making the nanotubes. Langmuir fits to the hydrogen uptake curves clearly show two adsorption energies for each sample which we attribute to the groove site for the higher adsorption energy and to the convex tube surface for the lower energy. We also present calculations of the binding energy of hydrogen on these same sites on SWCNTs and confirm that the groove site has a significantly higher (radius-dependent) binding energy than the surface site, consistent with the experimental values. This suggests that the use of the Langmuir model is appropriate to the adsorption of H2 on activated carbons for the temperature and pressure range investigated and could be used as a rapid way of estimating the average tube radius in the sample

Securing Wearables through the Creation of a Personal Fog

Increased reliance on wearables using Bluetooth requires additional security and privacy measures to protect these devices and personal data, regardless of device vendor. Most wearables lack the ability to monitor their communication connections and protect personal data without assistance. Attackers can force wearables to disconnect from base stations. When a wearable loses its connection to its base station, an attacker can connect to the wearable to steal stored personal data or await reconnection to the base station to eavesdrop on communications. If the base station inadvertently disconnects from the cloud serving a security-aware app, it would be unable to respond to a rapid change in the security of its current environment. We design a personal fog incorporating wearables, a base station, and the cloud that allows the wearable to be situationally aware and manage inter- and intra-fog communications, given local personal fogs with the same app

Improving the Expected Performance of Self-Organization in a Collective Adaptive System of Drones using Stochastic Multiplayer Games

The Internet-of-Things (IoT) domain will be one of the most important domains of research in the coming decades. Paradigms continue to emerge that can employ self-organization to capitalize on the sheer number and variety of devices in the market. In this paper, we combine the use of stochastic multiplayer games (SMGs) and negotiation within two collective adaptive systems of drones tasked with locating and surveilling intelligence caches. We assess the use of an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression model that is trained on the SMG’s output. The SMG is augmented to incorporate the OLS model to evaluate integration configurations during negotiation. The augmented SMG is compared to the base SMG where drones always integrate. Our results show that the incorporation of the OLS model improves the expected performance of the drones while significantly reducing the number of failed surveillance tasks which result in the loss of drones

A jet-dominated model for a broad-band spectral energy distribution of the nearby low-luminosity active galactic nucleus in M94

We have compiled a new multiwavelength spectral energy distribution (SED) for the closest obscured low-ionization emission-line region active galactic nucleus (AGN), NGC 4736, also known as M94. The SED comprises mainly high-resolution (mostly sub-arcsecond, or, at the distance to M94, <23 pc from the nucleus) observations from the literature, archival data, as well as previously unpublished sub-millimetre data from the Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI) and the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy, in conjunction with new electronic MultiElement Radio Interferometric Network (e-MERLIN) L-band (1.5 GHz) observations. Thanks to the e-MERLIN resolution and sensitivity, we resolve for the first time a double structure composed of two radio sources separated by ~1 arcsec, previously observed only at higher frequency. We explore this data set, which further includes non-simultaneous data from the Very Large Array, the Gemini telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray observatory, in terms of an outflow-dominated model. We compare our results with previous trends found for other AGN using the same model (NGC 4051, M81*, M87 and Sgr A*), as well as hard- and quiescent-state X-ray binaries. We find that the nuclear broad-band spectrum of M94 is consistent with a relativistic outflow of low inclination. The findings in this work add to the growing body of evidence that the physics of weakly accreting black holes scales with mass in a rather straightforward fashion.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure

Current treatment of choice for chronic hepatitis C infection

More than three million Americans have chronic hepatitis C infection, and the disease remains one of the most common blood-borne infections in the US. Treatment is focused on the chronic form of the disease, because the acute one tends to be self-limiting. In this article, we review the recent literature regarding the most effective therapy against hepatitis C infection, to confirm the current treatment of choice for the disease. We conclude that combination therapy with pegylated interferon and ribavirin remains the initial treatment of choice. New research focusing on adjuvant therapies, such as protease and polymerase inhibitors, has yielded early data that appear to be promising

An Architectural Design to Address the Impact of Adaptations on Intrusion Detection Systems

Many self-adaptive, autonomous systems rely on component technologies to report anomalies to planning processes that can choose adaptations. What if the analysis technologies themselves need to be adapted? We consider an intrusion detection system (IDS) supported by two component technologies that assist its decision making: a neural network that finds security anomalies and an attack graph that informs the IDS about system states of interest. The IDS’s purpose is to send alerts regarding security anomalies. Planning processes respond to alerts by selecting mitigation strategies. Mitigations are imposed system-wide and can result in adaptations to the analysis technology, such as the IDS. Thus, without adaptation it may reach a state of stagnation in its detection quality. In this paper, we describe an architectural design for an adaptive layer that works directly with an IDS. We examine two use cases involving different mitigation strategies and their impact on the IDS’s supporting components

Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Joint Research Meeting CCNT / CSIRO / DPIF / WADA

Abstracts Overview of WADA involvement in cropping the Kimberley - McGhie, D.A. WADA Overview CSIRO Division Tropical Crpos and Pastures - Winter, W.H. CSIRO An overview of a program for developing a comprehensive crop yield simulation in the tropics - McCown, R. CSIRO Developing a family of crop models for SA using the CERES framwork - Carberry, P.S. CSIRO Development of a model of the N cyle of crop-pasture rotations in the semi-arid tropic. - Dimes, J.P., McCowan, R.L. , Saffinga*, P.G. and Myers, R.J. CSIRO Visual/Interactive CERES Models. - Hargreaves, J. and Carberry, P. CSIRO The applicability of a Cercospora leaf spot simulation model to control of Cercospora in irrigated peanut crops. - Riley, I.T. WADA Preliminary results from the Croplands Erosion Research Project (CERP) - Dilshad, M. CCNT Preliminary results from the Croplands Erosion Research Project, Douglas-Daly - van Cuylenburg, M. CCNT Progress in reducing the risk of poor emergence. - Abrecht, D.G. CSIRO The effects of tillage system on soil physical characteristics and crop yield on a Fenton soil in the NT - Dalgliesh, N.P CSIRO Effect of Tillage, Rotation and Nitrogen on the Growth and Nutrient Uptake of Maize and Soybeans. - Thiagalingam, K., Gould, N. and Watson, P. DPIF Problems and Potential of Peanut Production in the Northern Territory - Flint, C. DPIF The Effect of Surface Management on Growth and Yield of Soybean. - Bateman, R., and Berthelsen, J. DPIF The Effect of Tillage, Rotation and Nitrogen on the Emergence and Establishment of Soybeans from 1984-88 - Gould, N., Thiagalingam,K. and Watson, P. DPIF Overview of Entomology in the Ord River Irrigation Area - McFadden, P. WADA Forage Sorghum - Irrigation Scheduling Requirements. - Shackles, R., Ellett, S., and Sherrard, J.H. WADA Water management of Maize in the ORIA - Sherrard, J.H, Shackles, R. and Ellett, S. WADA Cropping in the Douglas Daly - 6 years on. - Bateman, R. DPIF Progress in the Development of Late Maturing Photoperiod Sensitive Mungbeans for the Northern Territory. - Yeates, S. DPIF Summary - Kenaf/Fibre Crop Investigations in the NT. Sturtz, J. DPIF Preliminary Investigation of the Presence of Vesicular Arbuscular Mycorrhizae (VAM) in a heavy and a light Tippera Soil. - Thiagalingam, K., and Watson, P. DPIF Development of new crops for irrigated cropping in northern Western Australia. Bonnardeaux, J. WADA Plantaqo ovata research and commercial developments. Riley, I.T. WADA Banana Yield Estimation - Dealing with management scale research. Gardiner, H.G. Evaluation of table grape production in the tropics. - Toohill, B. WADA Recent developments in grain sorghum breeding. - Done, A. CSIRO Maize Production in the ORIA. Sherrard, J., Shackles, R., and Ellett, S. WAD