Wetland reservation on Victoria\u27s northern plains and riverine forests

The depletion and reservation levels of wetlands varied significantly both across the Murray Fans and Victorian Riverina bioregions and in the study area of the Victorian Environmental Assessments Council\u27s River Red Gum Forests Investigation. The proportion of Freshwater Meadows in protected areas was substantially lower than for other wetland types. Furthermore, of the wetlands that are reserved, many were only partially within a protected area. A variety of reserve categories are used to protect wetlands across the three regions, ranging from reserves with high legal protection and a strong focus on biodiversity conservation to reserves with a lower level of protection and emphasis on biodiversityconservation. The findings highlight that many wetlands are incompletely reserved in Victoria\u27s northern plains and riverine forests. The current review of public land use in the River Red Gum Forests, which includes Barmah Forest, should recognise these issues to ensure the effective reservation of wetland ecosystems.<br /

Evidence for extended IR emission in NGC2798 and NGC6240

Extended emission at 10 and 20 microns can be used to distinguish starbursts from monsters as the underlying energy source driving the luminous infrared emission in the central regions of galaxies. The spatial extent of the mid infrared emission in the interacting galaxy NCG 2798 and the merger NGC 6240 were investigated. The 10 and 20 micron profiles of the IR source in NGC 2798 are significantly wider than beam profiles measured on a standard star, supporting a starburst interpretation of its IR luminosity. For NGC 6240 there is marginal evidence for an extended 10 micron source, suggesting that a significant fraction of its IR luminosity could be produced by a burst of star formation

Acoustic target detection and classification using neural networks

A neural network approach to the classification of acoustic emissions of ground vehicles and helicopters is demonstrated. Data collected during the Joint Acoustic Propagation Experiment conducted in July of l991 at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico was used to train a classifier to distinguish between the spectrums of a UH-1, M60, M1 and M114. An output node was also included that would recognize background (i.e. no target) data. Analysis revealed specific hidden nodes responding to the features input into the classifier. Initial results using the neural network were encouraging with high correct identification rates accompanied by high levels of confidence

Tweed in Martensites: A Potential New Spin Glass

We've been studying the ``tweed'' precursors above the martensitic transition in shape--memory alloys. These characteristic cross--hatched modulations occur for hundreds of degrees above the first--order shape--changing transition. Our two--dimensional model for this transition, in the limit of infinite elastic anisotropy, can be mapped onto a spin--glass Hamiltonian in a random field. We suggest that the tweed precursors are a direct analogy of the spin--glass phase. The tweed is intermediate between the high--temperature cubic phase and the low--temperature martensitic phase in the same way as the spin--glass phase can be intermediate between ferromagnet and antiferromagnet.Comment: 18 pages and four figures (included

The cellular and molecular carcinogenic effects of radon exposure: a review.

Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tReviewOpen access articleRadon-222 is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that is responsible for approximately half of the human annual background radiation exposure globally. Chronic exposure to radon and its decay products is estimated to be the second leading cause of lung cancer behind smoking, and links to other forms of neoplasms have been postulated. Ionizing radiation emitted during the radioactive decay of radon and its progeny can induce a variety of cytogenetic effects that can be biologically damaging and result in an increased risk of carcinogenesis. Suggested effects produced as a result of alpha particle exposure from radon include mutations, chromosome aberrations, generation of reactive oxygen species, modification of the cell cycle, up or down regulation of cytokines and the increased production of proteins associated with cell-cycle regulation and carcinogenesis. A number of potential biomarkers of exposure, including translocations at codon 249 of TP53 in addition to HPRT mutations, have been suggested although, in conclusion, the evidence for such hotspots is insufficient. There is also substantial evidence of bystander effects, which may provide complications when calculating risk estimates as a result of exposure, particularly at low doses where cellular responses often appear to deviate from the linear, no-threshold hypothesis. At low doses, effects may also be dependent on cellular conditions as opposed to dose. The cellular and molecular carcinogenic effects of radon exposure have been observed to be both numerous and complex and the elevated chronic exposure of man may therefore pose a significant public health risk that may extend beyond the association with lung carcinogenesis

Evolution of Oviposition Techniques in Stick and Leaf Insects (Phasmatodea)

Stick and leaf insects (Phasmatodea) are large, tropical, predominantly nocturnal herbivores, which exhibit extreme masquerade crypsis, whereby they morphologically and behaviorally resemble twigs, bark, lichen, moss, and leaves. Females employ a wide range of egg-laying techniques, largely corresponding to their ecological niche, including dropping or flicking eggs to the forest floor, gluing eggs to plant substrate, skewering eggs through leaves, ovipositing directly into the soil, or even producing a complex ootheca. Phasmids are the only insects with highly species-specific egg morphology across the entire order, with specific egg forms that correspond to oviposition technique. We investigate the temporal, biogeographic, and phylogenetic pattern of evolution of egg-laying strategies in Phasmatodea. Our results unequivocally demonstrate that the ancestral oviposition strategy for female stick and leaf insects is to remain in the foliage and drop or flick eggs to the ground, a strategy that maintains their masquerade. Other major key innovations in the evolution of Phasmatodea include the (1) hardening of the egg capsule in Euphasmatodea; (2) the repeated evolution of capitulate eggs (which induce ant-mediated dispersal, or myrmecochory); (3) adapting to a ground or bark dwelling microhabitat with a corresponding shift in adult and egg phenotype and egg deposition directly into the soil; and (4) adhesion of eggs in a clade of Necrosciinae that led to subsequent diversification in oviposition modes and egg types. We infer at minimum 16 independent origins of a burying/inserting eggs into soil/crevices oviposition strategy, 7 origins of gluing eggs to substrate, and a single origin each of skewering eggs through leaves and producing an ootheca. We additionally discuss the systematic implications of our phylogenetic results. Aschiphasmatinae is strongly supported as the earliest diverging extant lineage of Euphasmatodea. Phylliinae and Diapheromerinae are both relatively early diverging euphasmatodean taxa. We formally transfer Otocrania from Cladomorphinae to Diapheromerinae and recognize only two tribes within Diapheromerinae: Diapheromerini sensu nov. and Oreophoetini sensu nov. We formally recognize the clade comprising Necrosciinae and Lonchodinae as Lonchodidae stat. rev. sensu nov

Tracing Galaxy Formation with Stellar Halos II: Relating Substructure in Phase- and Abundance-Space to Accretion Histories

This paper explores the mapping between the observable properties of a stellar halo in phase- and abundance-space and the parent galaxy's accretion history in terms of the characteristic epoch of accretion and mass and orbits of progenitor objects. The study utilizes a suite of eleven stellar halo models constructed within the context of a standard LCDM cosmology. The results demonstrate that coordinate-space studies are sensitive to the recent (0-8 Gyears ago) merger histories of galaxies (this timescale corresponds to the last few to tens of percent of mass accretion for a Milky-Way-type galaxy). Specifically, the {\it frequency, sky coverage} and {\it fraction of stars} in substructures in the stellar halo as a function of surface brightness are indicators of the importance of recent merging and of the luminosity function of infalling dwarfs. The {\it morphology} of features serves as a guide to the orbital distribution of those dwarfs. Constraints on the earlier merger history (> 8 Gyears ago) can be gleaned from the abundance patterns in halo stars: within our models, dramatic differences in the dominant epoch of accretion or luminosity function of progenitor objects leave clear signatures in the [alpha/Fe] and [Fe/H] distributions of the stellar halo - halos dominated by very early accretion have higher average [alpha/Fe], while those dominated by high luminosity satellites have higher [Fe/H]. This intuition can be applied to reconstruct much about the merger histories of nearby galaxies from current and future data sets.Comment: 21 pages, 20 figures. To appear in the Astrophysical Journa