Australian local government sustainability and transformation: Structural reform and the fit for the future (F4F) reform initiative in New South Wales - forced council mergers

For decades, sustainability and, especially, long-term financial sustainability and transformation, primarily through structural and other modes of reform, have constituted major concerns and problems for the ‘grass roots’ Australian government. Usually the catalyst for change in these areas has emanated from state and territory jurisdictions which have imposed reforms, often with little regard for local councils or the communities they serve. Since August 2011, in New South Wales, a structured process of dialogue and consultation has been ongoing in the local government sector with the objective of implementing beneficial reform. The paper briefly explains this transformation initiative and particularly the NSW Government Fit for the Future (F4F) process and the current 35 council merger proposals. The process is considered from the perspective of a long-term local government practitioner, elected representative, Mayor, and former member of the NSW Local Government Acts Taskforce (LGAT)

A Serial Multiplexed Approach to Immunolabeling Brain Tissue for Electron Microscopy

To fully understand how biological systems give rise to complex phenomena, both structural and functional knowledge of the components in the system must be acquired. In this manuscript, I explain why new methods must be developed to achieve this level of understanding with brain tissue and introduce serial multiplexing as a potential solution. I discuss how this method can lead to highly annotated volume reconstructions of brain tissue using electron and light microscopy, along with the steps required to do so. I present what our lab has found throughout the process of adapting, refining, and combining more traditional methods together to work harmoniously for achieving multiplexed labeling of brain tissue. I also discuss what methods we found to be incompatible and what our advice is for others looking to achieve similar results. I explain why electron microscopy is required to extract ultrastructural information of brain tissue such as synapses, dendritic morphology, and subcellular components. Topics including sample preservation and storage, serial sectioning, grid handling, and immunohistochemistry, among others, are also discussed. To perform immunohistochemistry on brain tissue without compromising its structural integrity in the electron microscope is a considerable challenge. This challenge is magnified when the goal is to label an unrestricted number of target proteins in a sample destined for volume reconstruction, especially considering the lack of a unified roadmap for doing so. We therefore conducted experiments to test the efficacy and reliability of established techniques throughout all processes of obtaining brain tissue for serial multiplexed electron microscopy. We also tested the efficacy and dilution requirements of antibodies across several parameters, targeting candidate proteins and molecules of interest using immunofluorescence microscopy. We draw preliminary conclusions regarding our findings and explore possible directions for the project to continue in the future. The work presented in this manuscript reflects the concerted effort of many individuals over a year and a half and was unfortunately forced to stop prematurely due to a public health crisis beyond our control

Chapter 8 Tax and Quacks: The Policy of the Eighteenth Century Medicine Stamp Duty

These are the papers from the 2012 Cambridge Tax Law History Conference revised and reviewed for publication. The papers include new studies of: income tax law rewrite projects 1914–1956; law and administration in capital allowances 1878– 1950; the 'full amount' in income tax legislation; Sir Josiah Stamp and double income tax; early German income tax treaties and laws concerned with double tax avoidance (1869–1908); the policy of the medicine stamp duty; 'Danegeld' – from Danish tribute to English land tax; religion and charity, a historical perspective; 'Plaintive Glitterati'; a collision of accounting and law, dividends from pre-1914 profits in Australia; the history and development of the taxation profession in the UK and Australia; an inquiry into Dutch to British Colonial Malacca 1824–1839; the taxation history of China; taxing bachelors in America: 1895–1939; Dutch Tax reform under Napoleon; and the last decade of estate duty

Ruthenium (II) polypyridyl complexes as photoprobes for DNA mismatches

[Ru(bpy)2dppz]2+ is a classic “light switch” effect complex with a brighter emission for mismatched DNA than well-matched DNA. It is, therefore, a photoprobe for DNA. To enhance its selectivity for mismatched base pairs which can lead to DNA mutations, a range of related complexes were synthesized and investigated. The approach involved increasing the steric bulk of the ancillary 2,2’-bipyridine (bpy) ligands and/or the dipyridophenazine (dppz) functional group ligand. This functional group ligand is known to insert or intercalate between adjacent base pairs in the base stack of DNA and an alternative functional group ligand was also explored: 12,17-dihydronaphthodipyridophenazine-12,17-dione (aqphen). Hairpin and 12 base oligonucleotide duplex DNA containing mismatched base pairs were tested and compared to the same sequences containing well-matched base pairs. Methylation of the ancillary bpy ligands only at positions 5,5’ with dppz as the functional group ligand is highly selective for both the CC and the TT mismatches. For the former the signal is between 4 and 6.3x higher than it is for well-matched DNA and for the latter a 6x increase was recorded. It almost certainly binds to the DNA via intercalation and its performance in these experiments have identified a useful photoprobe for the identification of these mismatched base pairings. Methylation of the dppz functional group ligand at positions 10 and 12 produced large increases in emission intensity compared to the parent compound [Ru(bpy)2dppz]2+ but did not substantially increase the mismatch base pair selectivity. The use of aqphen instead of dppz as the functional group ligand increased the binding strength with DNA and, notably, it showed a higher binding affinity for a 12mer duplex containing a CC mismatched base pair versus the well-matched sequence; its mode of binding is likely to be intercalation. In summary, enhancing steric bulk through methylation of the ancillary bpy ligands has achieved the desired selectivity whilst the same modification to the inserting dppz functional group ligand has led to large increases in signal intensity without an improvement in selectivity. The use of aqphen as the functional group ligand, which also has a greater steric bulk compared to dppz, increased binding affinity as well as selectivity

The Role of Grassland Societies in the West of Scotland

Local grassland societies were first established in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, under the guiding hand of the national, British Grassland Society, itself founded in 1946. In the west of Scotland two local societies were formed: 1) the South West Scotland Grassland Society in 1962, covering the former counties of Ayrshire, Dumfries, Kirkcudbright and Wigtown; and 2) the Central Scotland Grassland Society for Lanark, Stirling, Renfrew, Dumbarton and Clackmannan. The declared aim of these two societies was to promote good grassland farming in all its aspects amongst members and to identify opportunities for improved grassland management, all to the benefit of agriculture and the public good

The Control of Avoidance: The United States Alternative

This article, jointly written by a British and an American academic, describes the American experience in identifying and attacking tax avoidance. The article was part of a symposium issue of the British Tax Review, published by Sweet and Maxwell, devoted to tax avoidance issues around the globe

KROSS–SAMI: a direct IFS comparison of the Tully–Fisher relation across 8 Gyr since z ≈ 1

We construct Tully–Fisher relations (TFRs), from large samples of galaxies with spatially resolved H α emission maps from the K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph (KMOS) Redshift One Spectroscopic Survey (KROSS) at z ≈ 1. We compare these to data from the Sydney-Australian-Astronomical-Observatory Multi-object Integral-Field Spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey at z ≈ 0. We stringently match the data quality of the latter to the former, and apply identical analysis methods and sub-sample selection criteria to both to conduct a direct comparison of the absolute K-band magnitude and stellar mass TFRs at z ≈ 1 and 0. We find that matching the quality of the SAMI data to that of KROSS results in TFRs that differ significantly in slope, zero-point, and (sometimes) scatter in comparison to the corresponding original SAMI relations. These differences are in every case as large as or larger than the differences between the KROSS z ≈ 1 and matched SAMI z ≈ 0 relations. Accounting for these differences, we compare the TFRs at z ≈ 1 and 0. For disc-like, star-forming galaxies we find no significant difference in the TFR zero-points between the two epochs. This suggests the growth of stellar mass and dark matter in these types of galaxies is intimately linked over this ≈8 Gyr period

Is Biodiversity Declining in the Traditional Haymeadows of Skye and Lochalsh, Scotland?

Species-rich haymeadows have developed on crofts in the Isle of Skye and Lochalsh Districts of north-west Scotland as a result of a century or more of traditional land use. This has involved long rotations of late cutting for hay with aftermath grazing by cattle and short breaks for cropping. The traditional haymeadows are increasingly coming under threat from changes taking place in the countryside. A survey of the main haymeadows still remaining in Skye and Lochalsh was carried out during 2003 to assess the current botanical composition, management and conservation value, and to compare with earlier surveys