The Ackermann Award 2018

The Ackermann Award is the EACSL Outstanding Dissertation Award for Logic in Computer Science. It is presented during the annual conference of the EACSL (CSL\u27xx). This contribution reports on the 2018 edition of the award

Substantial blue carbon in overlooked Australian kelp forests

Recognition of the potential for vegetated coastal ecosystems to store and sequester carbon has led to their increasing inclusion into global carbon budgets and carbon offset schemes. However, kelp forests have been overlooked in evaluations of this ‘blue carbon’, which have been limited to tidal marshes, mangrove forests, and seagrass beds. We determined the continental-scale contribution to blue carbon from kelp forests in Australia using areal extent, biomass, and productivity measures from across the entire Great Southern Reef. We reveal that these kelp forests represent 10.3–22.7 Tg C and contribute 1.3–2.8 Tg C year−1 in sequestered production, amounting to more than 30% of total blue carbon stored and sequestered around the Australian continent, and ~ 3% of the total global blue carbon. We conclude that the omission of kelp forests from blue carbon assessments significantly underestimates the carbon storage and sequestration potential from vegetated coastal ecosystems globally

Missing the marine forest for the trees

Seascapes dominated by large, structurally complex seaweeds are ubiquitous. These critical ecosystems are under increasing pressure from human activities, and conceiving successful management strategies to ensure their persistence and/or recovery is of paramount importance. Currently, ecosystems dominated by large seaweeds are referred to as either ‘forests’ or ‘beds’. We demonstrate how this dual terminology is confusing, is used inconsistently, and reduces the efficiency of communication about the importance and perils of seaweed habitats. As a consequence, it undermines work to alleviate and mitigate their loss and impedes research on unifying principles in ecology. We conclude that there are clear benefits of simply using the more intuitive term ‘forest’ to describe all seascapes dominated by habitat-forming seaweeds. This is particularly true as researchers scramble to reconcile ecological functions and patterns of change across disparate regions and species to match the increasingly global scale of environmental forcing on these critical ecosystem

Recovery of algal turfs following removal

As a consequence of the increasing human footprint on the environment, marine ecosystems are rapidly transforming into new configurations dominated by early-successional and weedy life forms. Algal turfs, in particular, are emerging as a common and widespread configuration of shallow temperate and tropical reefs, and are predicted to transform reef dynamics and ecosystem services. Restoration is an increasingly used approach to mitigate these transformations, with turf removal being proposed as a tool to shift back the competitive balance and facilitate the recovery of initial species, such as forest-forming seaweeds. Yet, our practical understanding of turf recovery trajectories following removal is limited, and removal success may be hindered by strong feedback mechanisms that reinforce turf dominance once turfs are established. Here we investigate the recovery of algal turfs and their properties (mean height, turf biomass and sediment load) to experimental clearance across six turf-dominated reefs at ca. 9 m in subtropical western Australia. Turf cover, mean height, and sediment loads exhibited a rapid recovery following experimental clearing, with all experimental sites reaching pre-clearing turf conditions between 28 and 46 days. This response was mostly driven by the growth of filamentous turf species, whose cover exhibited a positive relationship with sediment load, and are well-known to rapidly recover after disturbance. Turf abundance and turf properties remained relatively constant for the remaining experimental period. Our results suggest that clearing turfs creates only a small time window for recovery of seaweed forests, which limits the effectiveness of turf clearing as a restoration tool. System-specific quantitative evidence on the recovery capacity of turfs may thus be necessary to guide restoration initiatives and develop decision support systems that account for the risks, feasibility, and costs and benefits of restoring turf-dominated systems to previous configurations.publishedVersio

Infrared interferometry to spatially and spectrally resolve jets in X-ray binaries

Infrared interferometry is a new frontier for precision ground based observing, with new instrumentation achieving milliarcsecond (mas) spatial resolutions for faint sources, along with astrometry on the order of 10 microarcseconds. This technique has already led to breakthroughs in the observations of the supermassive black hole at the Galactic centre and its orbiting stars, AGN, and exo-planets, and can be employed for studying X-ray binaries (XRBs), microquasars in particular. Beyond constraining the orbital parameters of the system using the centroid wobble and spatially resolving jet discrete ejections on mas scales, we also propose a novel method to discern between the various components contributing to the infrared bands: accretion disk, jets and companion star. We demonstrate that the GRAVITY instrument on the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) should be able to detect a centroid shift in a number of sources, opening a new avenue of exploration for the myriad of transients expected to be discovered in the coming decade of radio all-sky surveys. We also present the first proof-of-concept GRAVITY observation of a low-mass X-ray binary transient, MAXI J1820+070, to search for extended jets on mas scales. We place the tightest constraints yet via direct imaging on the size of the infrared emitting region of the compact jet in a hard state XRB.Comment: 12 Pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

The acute effects of integrated myofascial techniques on lumbar paraspinal blood flow compared with kinesio-taping: A pilot study

Background: Myofascial techniques and Kinesio Taping are therapeutic interventions used to treat low back pain. However, limited research has been conducted into the underlying physiological effects of these types of treatments. Objectives The purpose of this study was to compare the acute effects of integrated myofascial techniques (IMT) and Kinesio Tape (KT) on blood flow at the lumbar paraspinal musculature. Methods Forty-four healthy participants (18 male and 26 female) (age, 26 ± SD 7) volunteered for this study and were randomly assigned to one of three interventions, IMT, KT or a control group (Sham TENS). Paraspinal blood flow was measured at the L3 vertebral level, using Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), before and after a 30-minute treatment. Pain Pressure Threshold (PPT) was also measured before and after treatments. Results A one-way ANOVA indicated a significant difference between groups for O2Hb [F (2-41) = 41.6, P<0.001], HHb [F (2-41) = 14.6, P<0.001] and tHb [F (2-41) = 42.2, P <0.001]. Post hoc tests indicated that IMT was significantly greater, from the KT and the control treatments (P<0.001), for changes in O2Hb, HHb, and tHb. There were no significant differences for PPT [F (2-41) = 2.69, p = 0.08], between groups. Conclusions This study demonstrated that IMT increases peripheral blood flow at the paraspinal muscles in healthy participants compared to KT and sham TENS. The change in blood flow had no impact on pain perception in the asymptomatic population group

Examining The Perceptions Of Brand Images Regarding Competing MBA Programs

In today&rsquo;s economic environment, it is crucial to create a strong, consistent brand image within a graduate business program. This study examines the perceptions that students at Southeastern Louisiana University hold about its MBA program and the MBA programs of its main competitors. A focus group was conducted to indentify competitors and factors used to compare MBA programs. A questionnaire was designed and distributed and the results were analyzed using perceptual maps

Elite interviewing in professional organizations

Interviewing elites presents distinctive methodological challenges, which are exacerbated when interviewing elite professionals. These individuals (i.e. senior professionals and professionals in elite professional organizations) are typically relatively powerful, highly educated, and self-assured, and work in organizations which guard their external image very carefully. Over the past 25 years I have interviewed many hundreds of senior professionals in elite professional organizations. For this article, I have reflected on my experiences and have asked senior professionals to reflect on their own experience of research interviews. Bringing together insights of both interviewees and interviewers, this article provides an opportunity for researchers to reflect upon and improve their professional practice when conducting elite interviews