Patterns in plant flammability at a fire-prone wildland-urban interface in eastern Australia

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Science.Wildfires can have detrimental impacts on biodiversity, human lives and infrastructure, particularly at the wildland-urban interface (WUI). The WUI consists of low-level urban development nested within a broader area of predominantly natural wildland vegetation, and as such, the WUI is the frontline of human-wildfire interactions. With many WUIs expanding and wildfires becoming more frequent it is critical that we understand wildfire risks and hazards at the WUI for effective future wildfire management. In this context, I investigate patterns in flammability of locally-abundant plant species from urban and wildland areas in a fire-prone WUI in the mid-lower Blue Mountains of eastern Australia. I first show that floristic composition of dominant plant species varies significantly among dry sclerophyll woodland and gully forest (wildland) and home gardens and parks and recreational (urban) areas of the WUI. Notably, urban areas have higher exotic species richness and canopy cover which is driven by the prevalence of exotics in household gardens. Given the significant floristic differences between urban and wildland areas, I then compare patterns in shoot flammability across 45 woody plant species between these WUI areas. I show that wildland plants are more flammable than urban plants via their longer burn times (higher sustainability) and larger amounts of consumed shoot biomass (higher consumability). In terms of native and exotic plants in wildland and urban areas, not only are wildland native plants more flammable than urban exotic plants, but urban native plants also have longer burn times, consume more biomass and in addition reach higher combustion temperatures (higher combustibility) than urban exotic plants. Across all species, I show that in general high-flammability plants contain lower shoot water content and have heavier shoot dry biomass than low-flammability plants. Shoot bulk density and degree of ramification do not explain cross-species variation in flammability, and furthermore, none of the shoot traits measured were significant in explaining differences in shoot flammability among wildland-native, urban-native and urban-exotic species. This thesis used novel techniques to quantify and compare the shoot level flammability of native and exotic plants from a WUI in the Blue Mountains. The success of this shoot flammability methodology for Australian native plants is encouraging for future research into understanding the flammability of plants in Australian. This study also highlights in the paucity and importance of research at Australian WUIs

Variations in slow slip moment rate associated with rapid tremor reversals in Cascadia

During large slow slip events, tremor sometimes propagates in the reverse along-strike direction for a few hours, at speeds 10 to 40 times faster than the forward propagation. We examine the aseismic slip that underlies this rapidly propagating tremor. We use PBO (Plate Boundary Observatory) borehole strainmeter data to search for variations in the slow slip moment rate during 35 rapid tremor reversals (RTRs) that occurred beneath Vancouver Island. The strain records reveal that, on average, the strain rate increases by about 100% ( math formula) during RTRs. Given the Green's functions expected for slip in the RTR locations, these strain rate increases imply 50 to 130% increases in the aseismic moment rate. The median moment released per RTR is between 8 and 21% of the daily slow slip moment, equivalent to that of a MW 5.0 to 5.1 earthquake. By combining the RTR moments with the spatial extents suggested by tremor, we estimate that a typical RTR has peak slip of roughly one-sixth of the peak slip in the main slow slip event, near-front slip rate of a few to ten times the main front slip rate, stress drop around half the main event stress drop, and strain energy release rate around one-tenth that of the main front. Our observations support a picture of RTRs as aseismic subevents with high slip rates but modest strain energy release. RTRs appear to contribute to but not dominate the overall slow slip moment, though they may accommodate most of the slip in certain locations

The semantic effects of verb raising and its consequences in second language grammars

This article considers whether highly proficient second language speakers of English can distinguish meaning contrasts associated with constructions where there is a raising be, and constructions where there is a non-raising thematic verb, as illustrated in the difference between (1a) and (1b): 1a. Kim is reading a novel (`event-in-progress/existential ? interpretation

Na3DyCl6

Single crystals of the title compound, tris­odium hexa­chloridodysprosate, Na3DyCl6, were obtained as a by-product of synthesis using dysprosium(III) chloride and sodium chloride among others. The monoclinic structure with its typical β angle close to 90° [90.823 (4)°] is isotypic with the mineral cryolite (Na3AlF6) and the high-temperature structure of the Na3 MCl6 series, with M = Eu–Lu, Y and Sc. The isolated, almost perfect [DyCl6]3− octa­hedra are inter­connected via two crystallographically different Na+ cations: while one Na+ resides on centres of symmetry (as well as Dy3+) and also builds almost perfect, isolated [NaCl6]5− octa­hedra, the other Na+ is surrounded by seven chloride anions forming a distorted [NaCl7]6− trigonal prism with just one cap as close secondary contact

Ferrets exclusively synthesize Neu5Ac and express naturally humanized influenza A virus receptors

Mammals express the sialic acids ​N-acetylneuraminic acid (​Neu5Ac) and ​N-glycolylneuraminic acid (​Neu5Gc) on cell surfaces, where they act as receptors for pathogens, including influenza A virus (IAV). ​Neu5Gc is synthesized from ​Neu5Ac by the enzyme cytidine monophosphate-N-acetylneuraminic acid hydroxylase (CMAH). In humans, this enzyme is inactive and only ​Neu5Ac is produced. Ferrets are susceptible to human-adapted IAV strains and have been the dominant animal model for IAV studies. Here we show that ferrets, like humans, do not synthesize ​Neu5Gc. Genomic analysis reveals an ancient, nine-exon deletion in the ferret CMAH gene that is shared by the Pinnipedia and Musteloidia members of the Carnivora. Interactions between two human strains of IAV with the sialyllactose receptor (sialic acid—α2,6Gal) confirm that the type of terminal sialic acid contributes significantly to IAV receptor specificity. Our results indicate that exclusive expression of ​Neu5Ac contributes to the susceptibility of ferrets to human-adapted IAV strains

Concord Companions: Margaret Fuller, Friendship, and Desire

In this paper, we examine the rhetoric of friendship and desire in mid-nineteenth-century American writing. We begin by looking at Emerson's essay on friendship and Thoreau's poem "Sympathy" (1840) to provide a context for reading Margaret Fuller's fascinating texts on samesex bonds between women. Of particular interest to us is Fuller's translation of Elizabeth von Arnim's Die Gunderode (1840), a collection of letters between Arnim and the German Romantic poet Karoline von Gunderode which provides compelling insights into the early to mid-nineteenth-century continuum between female friendship and same-sex desire. We situate this translation alongside Fuller's own female friendships and expressions of love for women, more specifically her declarations of love to Anna Barker and, later, to George Sand. This latter relationship, we suggest, was a source of admiration and anxiety, for Sand's cross-dressing and fluid sense of gender identity was simultaneously celebrated and condemned in Fuller's Women in the Nineteenth Century (1843)

Basket Cases and Breadbaskets: Sacred Rice and Agricultural Development in Postcolonial Africa

Author's final manuscript.Based on ethnographic research among rural Diola in Guinea-Bissau, I provide a broad view of the history and interpenetration of rice in social, political, religious, and ecological domains, while chronicling the current difficulties of residents in this region who are no longer able to grown enough of it. These farmers’ experiences are unfolding at a time of revitalized attention to agricultural development in Africa, particularly under the auspices of the New Green Revolution for Africa. I examine the premises that constitute the resuscitated effort to address the plight of African farmers. I argue that the totalizing quality of rice in Diola and other rice-cultivating societies requires a development approach that takes into account dimensions of agrarian life not encapsulated by the high- modernist and anti-political orientation of the New Green Revolution for Africa

Political strategies of external support for democratization

Political strategies of external support to democratization are contrasted and critically examined in respect of the United States and European Union. The analysis begins by defining its terms of reference and addresses the question of what it means to have a strategy. The account briefly notes the goals lying behind democratization support and their relationship with the wider foreign policy process, before considering what a successful strategy would look like and how that relates to the selection of candidates. The literature's attempts to identify strategy and its recommendations for better strategies are compared and assessed. Overall, the article argues that the question of political strategies of external support for democratization raises several distinct but related issues including the who?, what?, why?, and how? On one level, strategic choices can be expected to echo the comparative advantage of the "supporter." On a different level, the strategies cannot be divorced from the larger foreign policy framework. While it is correct to say that any sound strategy for support should be grounded in a theoretical understanding of democratization, the literature on strategies reveals something even more fundamental: divergent views about the nature of politics itself. The recommendations there certainly pinpoint weaknesses in the actual strategies of the United States and Europe but they have their own limitations too. In particular, in a world of increasing multi-level governance strategies for supporting democratization should go beyond preoccupation with just an "outside-in" approach