Leaf, tree and soil properties in a Eucalyptus saligna forest exhibiting canopy decline

The extent of eucalypt decline in moist coastal forests of south-eastern Australia is increasing with resultant losses in biodiversity and productivity. This survey aimed to identify factors associated with the decline of Eucalyptus saligna (Sydney Blue Gum) in Cumberland State Forest, a moist sclerophyll forest within urban Sydney. Eucalyptus saligna was the dominant overstorey species in six 20 m radius plots, which differed in floristic composition, structure and crown condition. One plot was colonised by bell miners (Manorina melanophrys). A range of leaf, tree and plot scale parameters were assessed including insect damage and free amino acid content, visual crown condition, floristics and soil chemistry. The plot permanently colonised by bell miners also had Eucalyptus saligna trees in the poorest condition. Both the weed Lantana camara and the soil pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi were present in some of the plots but neither was strongly consistent with the severity of crown decline. There were, however, significant correlations among the foliar traits of insect damage, free amino acid content and relative chlorophyll content. Free amino acid content differed significantly between leaf age cohorts. Plots differed notably in topsoil organic matter and soil nitrogen, but the plot with the poorest visual crown condition score had intermediate mean values for both soil properties within the ranges presented by the six plots. Overall, crown condition score was weakly negatively correlated with topsoil organic carbon and total nitrogen content. The unhealthiest plot also had the highest density of shrubby understorey. Site factors that could influence both the quantity and quality of foliage (e.g. free amino acid content) in eucalypt crowns, and hence the population dynamics of herbivorous insects and bell miners, are discussed in relation to Eucalyptus saligna crown decline

The Victorian gambling study: a longitudinal study of gambling and health in Victoria, 2008–2012

The Victorian gambling study is a longitudinal study of gambling and health in Victoria conducted between 2008 and 2012. This study is the only large-scale, general population, longitudinal gambling study conducted in Australia. Key findings Importantly, this study suggests problem gambling may be a long term condition and that relapse is common, indicating that long term support and treatment is required. The study also shows people at moderate risk of developing problems with gambling should be targeted with prevention and intervention programs.   This study deepens our understanding of gambling and provides valuable insights into problem gambling that informs all of the foundation’s programs and services. The study looked at: changes in gambling behaviour over time  the relationship between gambling and health and other social and economic factors  evidence about what factors cause some people to gamble excessively and what factors might help such people to recover  The study will help inform the foundation’s development of intervention, prevention and treatment options for people who have a problem with their gambling. Four waves of data collection have included: a baseline survey of 15,000 randomly selected members of the Victorian population (2008) wave two follow up data collection from 5,003 of the baseline participants (2009) wave three follow up data collection from 5,620 of the baseline participants (2010-11) wave four follow up data collection from 3,701 of the baseline participants (2011-12)

Unsupervised Time Series Extraction from Controller Area Network Payloads

This paper introduces a method for unsupervised tokenization of Controller Area Network (CAN) data payloads using bit level transition analysis and a greedy grouping strategy. The primary goal of this proposal is to extract individual time series which have been concatenated together before transmission onto a vehicle's CAN bus. This process is necessary because the documentation for how to properly extract data from a network may not always be available; passenger vehicle CAN configurations are protected as trade secrets. At least one major manufacturer has also been found to deliberately misconfigure their documented extraction methods. Thus, this proposal serves as a critical enabler for robust third-party security auditing and intrusion detection systems which do not rely on manufacturers sharing confidential information.Comment: 2018 IEEE 88th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2018-Fall

An Exploration of Volition: Caregiver Perceptions of Persons with Dementia

The purpose of this study was to understand what formal caregivers know about the volition of older adults with moderate dementia. A qualitative approach was used at one assisted living facility. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with formal caregivers to gain their perceptions of residents’ volition or motivation for occupation. Volition of resident participants was assessed using the Volitional Questionnaire (VQ). Caregiver interviews and resident VQ’s were analyzed using van Manen’s phenomenological approach to examine their congruence with regard to the volitional abilities of residents. Thematic analysis yielded two broad themes: (a) Caregivers possess varying layers of insight regarding the volitional abilities of the older adults with dementia, and (b) caregivers develop a script regarding the volitional abilities of the older adults with dementia. Caregivers possess knowledge about volitional abilities of older adults with dementia. Further research is needed to understand how these perceptions affect their care-giving behaviors

Deconstructing therapy outcome measurement with Rasch analysis of a measure of general clinical distress: the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised

Rasch analysis was used to illustrate the usefulness of item-level analyses for evaluating a common therapy outcome measure of general clinical distress, the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R; Derogatis, 1994). Using complementary therapy research samples, the instrument's 5-point rating scale was found to exceed clients' ability to make reliable discriminations and could be improved by collapsing it into a 3-point version (combining scale points 1 with 2 and 3 with 4). This revision, in addition to removing 3 misfitting items, increased person separation from 4.90 to 5.07 and item separation from 7.76 to 8.52 (resulting in alphas of .96 and .99, respectively). Some SCL-90-R subscales had low internal consistency reliabilities; SCL-90-R items can be used to define one factor of general clinical distress that is generally stable across both samples, with two small residual factors

Source of Stress in Sport: A Rasch Calibration

The purpose of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of a stress in sport inventory by determining optimal categorization and model-data fit, and calibrate the sources of stress items associated with individual and team sport athletes using Rasch modeling. The study examines the intensity level of various sources of acute stress experienced by competitive athletes. The Sources of Stress in Sport Inventory (SSSI) was generated to measure intensity level of perceived stress in sport. A total of 336 college-aged males (N=167) and females (N=169) who previously competed in high school or college sports participated. Function of the rating scale was tested to determine if the 5 original rating scale categories were the best fit. Intensity levels of stress items for the athletes were analyzed. The existing 5 rating scale categories functioned well. The top three items of intense acute stress were making a physical or mental error (logits= -0.56), being injured and playing in pain (logits= -0.35), and receiving a bad or unfair call from the referee/umpire (logits= -0.25). Results support SSSI as an effective scale assessing acute stress in sport among college students. Researchers must continue to understand the sources of stress in sport among athletes using effective inventories so that coaches and health educators can address effective coping and stress management mechanisms and healthy behavioral changes

Waterlogging increases the infestation level of the pest psyllid Creiis lituratus on Eucalyptus dunnii

The lerp-forming psyllid, Creiis lituratus Froggatt, is the most damaging pest of Eucalyptus dunnii Maiden plantations growing in north-eastern New South Wales. During the past 10 years there have been numerous reports that stands of E. dunnii planted on low-lying areas that were prone to waterlogging were also prone to infestation by C. lituratus. The objective of this shadehouse study was to determine whether C. lituratus prefers young E. dunnii exposed to intermittent waterlogging compared with other treatments (drought, normal watering and a control using normal watering plus an insecticide). Also we assessed whether the nutritional status of E. dunnii foliage, in particular amino acid content, differed between watering treatments. Field-collected C. lituratus adults were released into the shadehouse three months after establishing the watering treatments to individually-potted E. dunnii arranged in a 14 × 6 randomised design. Three months after release of the psyllids, we counted significantly more eggs and nymphs present on the plants subjected to intermittent waterlogging compared with the other treatments. Applying general linear modelling (GLM) and Akaike\u27s information criterion (AIC) we found that the best model included both watering treatment and plant structure (through height and diameter), with psyllid infestation (eggs + nymphs) significantly higher on the waterlogged plants and significantly lower in the drought treatment compared with the normal watering treatment. The application of the generalised estimating equations technique to foliar content of individual amino acids and nutrients did not reveal a clear association with watering treatment or psyllid infestation. Most of the significant differences in amino acid content between treatments were between plants watered normally but with or without the systemic insecticide imidacloprid applied as a soil drench. No eggs or nymphal stages were recorded on the plants treated with imidacloprid. This trial demonstrated that the psyllid C. lituratus has a preference for young E. dunnii subjected to periodic waterlogging. Plantation growers can improve their site-species match for E. dunnii by avoiding sites prone to waterlogging

Nurture corners in pre-school settings:Involving and nurturing children and parents

This article draws on the findings from a small qualitative study which focused on gathering perspectives and accounts of experiences from nursery practitioners, health and third sector professionals and parents. It explored the ways in which parents/carers and practitioners experienced the nurture approach developed in preschool settings in Glasgow, Scotland and their perspectives on the impact that this provision has had on the development and well-being of young children and family engagement in learning. The findings provided some insights into the specific ways in which settings involved parents and worked towards developing a nurturing ethos towards parents themselves, underpinned by the following three elements: a welcoming setting, sensitive and empathic staff and creative practice. The study identified challenges for some nurseries in achieving this, such as the limited scope for nurture corner practitioners in some of the settings to fully utilise their skills with parents due to accommodation constraints