Preservation Island, Furneaux Group: Two hundred years of vegetation change

Preservation Island was the first area south of Sydney to experience the impact of European settlement. A recent survey of the vegetation resulted in the inventory of 140 plant species, 49 of these being introduced to the island. Ten vegetation types were mapped, some of these being disturbance disclimax communities. The island has a flora typical of many of the Furneaux Outer Islands. Since 1797, Allocasuarina verticillata, once the likely dominant tree on the island, has been depleted almost to extinction and grassland with a high proportion of exotic species has expanded to cover more than a third of the island. Exotic species propagules have been associated with human activity on the island but also with birds and by sea drift. The high levels of natural and human-related disturbance have encouraged establishment of introduced plants. Some obligate-seeding species on the island have been reduced to either precariously low numbers (Acacia ?genistifolia) or extinction (Callitris rhomboidea) by a high fire frequency. The biological productivity of the island was high at the time of initial human settlement because there was an extremely large muttonbird rookery, penguins, macropods and other animals. Scrub and low closed forest were more extensive. Most of the biological capital was exhausted within 30 or 40 years. The significance of the island in post-contact Australian history means that more historical remarks are recorded than would otherwise be expected for such an isolated place

Does supplementation of oocytes with additional mtDNA influence developmental outcome?

Introducing extra mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) into oocytes at fertilization can rescue poor quality oocytes. However, supplementation alters DNA methylation and gene expression profiles of preimplantation embryos. To determine if these alterations impacted offspring, we introduced mtDNA from failed-tomature sister (autologous) or third party (heterologous) oocytes into mature oocytes and transferred zygotes into surrogates. Founders exhibited significantly greater daily weight gain (heterologous) and growth rates (heterologous and autologous) to controls. In weaners, cholesterol, bilirubin (heterologous and autologous), anion gap, and lymphocyte count (autologous) were elevated. In mature pigs, potassium (heterologous) and bicarbonate (autologous) were altered. mtDNA and imprinted gene analyses did not reveal aberrant profiles. Neither group exhibited gross anatomical, morphological, or histopathological differences that would lead to clinically significant lesions. Female founders were fertile and their offspring exhibited modified weight and height gain, biochemical, and hematological profiles. mtDNA supplementation induced minor differences that did not affect health and well-being.Stephen McIlfatrick, Sean O, Leary, Takashi Okada, Alexander Penn, Vy Hoang Thao Nguyen, Lisa McKenny, Shang-Yu Huang, Eryk Andreas, John Finnie, Roy Kirkwood, and Justin C. St. Joh

Introduction : From Fundamentals to Advances in Crowdfunding Research and Practice

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The evolution and adoption of equity crowdfunding: entrepreneur and investor entry into a new market

Equity crowdfunding (ECF) offers entrepreneurs an online social media marketplace where they can access numerous potential investors who, in exchange for an ownership stake, may supply them with finance. In this paper, we describe the evolution of this market in the UK. Using an inductive qualitative longitudinal research design, we analyse the emerging views of entrepreneurs and investors towards ECF. Our interviewees include large and small-scale investors, as well as market participants who have chosen not to invest or raise funds via ECF. We find that the large financial flows to entrepreneurs in the UK via the ECF platforms, nearly half a billion GBP since 2011, have probably been largely incremental to traditional sources of early stage entrepreneurial finance. Moreover, our research indicates that for the most part, investors appear to understand and appropriately evaluate the risks that they are bearing; ECF investments are perceived as a high risk, high return component within individuals’ portfolios. Investors also use their communication with peers and entrepreneurs via the ECF platform as a learning tool. On the entrepreneurs’ side, ECF allows them to test their products, to develop their brand, to build a loyal customer base and to turn customers into investors. We conclude that policymakers, with the support of a locally appropriate regulatory framework, could support equity crowdfunding as one of the market choices available for entrepreneurs looking to start or grow their ventures

Entrepreneurial Orientation Rhetoric in Franchise Organizations: The Impact of National Culture

This study examines the role of national culture on the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) rhetoric contained within franchisee recruitment promotional materials, where EO rhetoric is defined as the strategic use of words in organizational narratives to convey the risk taking, innovativeness, proactiveness, autonomy, and competitive aggressiveness of the firm. The sample comprised 378 franchise organizations, in five different countries (Australia, France, India, South Africa, and the UK). The results indicate that franchise systems operating in high uncertainty avoidance and feminine cultures use less entrepreneurially oriented rhetoric, suggesting that EO rhetoric in franchise organizations varies according to different national cultural contexts

A Decision Support System for Licensing Sewage Discharges to Aquatic Environments: Development and Demonstration

Licensing discharges to coastal waters can be complex and lengthy. It requires a substantial body of information to be prepared and assessed. Licensing officers and their technical advisors need to understand a broad range of biophysical, economic and social related issues in order to assess the quality, reliability and implications of this information when provided to them. There is also strict time frames legislated for the process and the expertise for the assessment may not always be available within the licensing agencies. The technical aspects of the assessment can be particularly challenging, especially for new licensing officers not experienced with water quality issues. Therefore, the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, in association with regulatory agencies from New South Wales and Victoria have developed a decision support system (DSS) to assist licensing of sewage discharges. Although the DSS was primarily developed for licensing officers, the information contained within the associated help system could also be useful to a wider audience including local government clients or their consultants. The DSS focuses on the scientific and technical aspects of the licensing process and is underpinned by interpretation of the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality 2000 for licensing discharges. In addition to these Guidelines, other knowledge bases were developed and used including sewer hazards, treatment technology and risk screening advice. The DSS does not provide prescriptive conditions but provides broad advice and a risk screening assessment of contaminants. It also takes into consideration the different policy and legislative requirements of each state. An added feature of the DSS is its comprehensive help system that contains information on how to use the DSS and the contents of each knowledge base. This includes th