The Eucalypts of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area: distribution, classification and habitats of the species of Eucalyptus, Angophora and Corymbia (family Myrtaceae) recorded in its eight conservation reserves

The Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (GBMWHA), immediately west of Sydney (33° 53’S; 151° 13’E), on the east coast of Australia was listed as World Heritage for its outstanding natural values, a major component of which is the high number of eucalypt species and eucalypt-dominated communities present, some 13 per cent of all eucalypt species in the world. They grow in a great variety of plant communities, from tall closed forests, through open forests and woodlands, to stunted mallee shrublands. This paper provides a definitive list of the 96 eucalypts (species of the genera Eucalyptus, Angophora and Corymbia in the family Myrtaceae), that have been recorded there (55 widespread, 41 restricted), together with the distribution of the eucalypts in the eight reserves that make up the GBMWHA, and information on the classification and habitat of the different species. The information is based on records held at the National Herbarium of New South Wales and the results of surveys by the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW) over the past 20 years. The majority of species have components of both stress-tolerator and competitor ecological strategies and this has probably been a main contributor to their success. However details of the ecology of the majority of taxa are poorly-known and more research is needed to provide guidance for conservation management in the face of changing climate conditions

A scanning probe-based pick-and-place procedure for assembly of integrated quantum optical hybrid devices

Integrated quantum optical hybrid devices consist of fundamental constituents such as single emitters and tailored photonic nanostructures. A reliable fabrication method requires the controlled deposition of active nanoparticles on arbitrary nanostructures with highest precision. Here, we describe an easily adaptable technique that employs picking and placing of nanoparticles with an atomic force microscope combined with a confocal setup. In this way, both the topography and the optical response can be monitored simultaneously before and after the assembly. The technique can be applied to arbitrary particles. Here, we focus on nanodiamonds containing single nitrogen vacancy centers, which are particularly interesting for quantum optical experiments on the single photon and single emitter level.Comment: The following article has been submitted to Review of Scientific Instruments. After it is published, it will be found at http://rsi.aip.org

A folded-sandwich polarization-entangled two-color photon pair source with large tuning capability for applications in hybrid quantum architectures

We demonstrate a two-color entangled pho ton pair source which can be adapted easily to a wide range of wavelengths combinations. A Fresnel rhomb as a geometrical quarter-wave plate and a versatile combination of compensation crystals are key components of the source. Entanglement of two photons at the Cs D1 line (894.3 nm) and at the telecom O-band (1313.1 nm) with a fidelity of $F = 0.753 \pm 0.021$ is demonstrated and improvements of the setup are discussed

A T 2 D TDNMR study of skin

T2D TDNMR data is used to improve the assignment of the location of water in in-vitro pig skin. Whilst the corresponding 1d experiments report broad distributions of T2 and D respectively, two water components are resolved in the T2D data and are assigned as intraand extra-cellular water by considering the peak intensities in; whole defatted skin, a dermatomed slice of the top 0.4mm (mostly epidermis) and the remaining sub layer (dermis). The relative proportion of fast relaxing/fast diffusing water is largest in the epidermis section (which has a close packed cellular structure) so is assigned as intra-cellular water. Whilst there is more slowly relaxing/slowly diffusing water in the dermis section (which has fewer cells within a collagen network) so this is assigned as extra-cellular water. The observation that intra-cellular water relaxes fastest, suggests that the skin cells contain more exchangeable species, through which the water can relax, than the extra-cellular network. This assignment is supported when resolution is lost on repeated freezing, i.e. the cell walls are broken. Resolution is also lost on increasing the diffusion time from 50 to 100 and 150ms. This is likely partly due to relaxation but also due to diffusion through the cell membranes during the experiment and gives a measure of the cell wall permeability

Evaluation of nitrogen- and silicon-vacancy defect centres as single photon sources in quantum key distribution

We demonstrate a quantum key distribution (QKD) testbed for room temperature single photon sources based on defect centres in diamond. A BB84 protocol over a short free-space transmission line is implemented. The performance of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) as well as silicon-vacancy defect (SiV) centres is evaluated and an extrapolation for next-generation sources with enhanced efficiency is discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

The history of the Read codes: the inaugural James Read Memorial Lecture 2011

General practitioner (GP) computing has its origins in the 1970s when the benefits of clinical coding and prescribing were demonstrated. During the early 1980s Dr James Read, working with Abies Informatics Ltd, developed the eponymous Read Codes, which were broader and more comprehensive than other schemes, yet intuitive and easy to use. In 1988 a joint working party of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the British Medical Association (BMA) recommended that the Read Codes be adopted nationally. The Read Codes have been used by almost all GPs in the UK since the mid-1990s. Many developments in general practice, including GP fundholding (where GPs held the budgets to commission elective care for their patients), the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF - pay for performance for improving chronic disease management) and GP commissioning (the current NHS reform in which primary care leads commissioning of services for their patients) would have been impossible without all GPs using a common clinical coding scheme. Systematized Nomenclature For Medicine - Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) is a merger of the Read Codes with SNOMED RT - the original SNOMED reference terminology developed by the American College of Pathologists

Open Source Paradigm: A Synopsis of The Cathedral and the Bazaar for Health and Social Care

Background: Open source software (OSS) is becoming more fashionable in health and social care, although the ideas are not new. However progress has been slower than many had expected.Objective: The purpose is to summarise the Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) paradigm in terms of what it is, how it impacts users and software engineers and how it can work as a business model in health and social care sectors.Method: Much of this paper is a synopsis of Eric Raymond’s seminal book The Cathedral and the Bazaar, which was the first comprehensive description of the open source ecosystem, set out in three long essays. Direct quotes from the book are used liberally, without reference to specific passages. The first part contrasts open and closed source approaches to software development and support. The second part describes the culture and practices of the open source movement. The third part considers business models.Conclusion: A key benefit of open source is that users can access and collaborate on improving the software if they wish. Closed source code may be regarded as a strategic business risk that that may be unacceptable if there is an open source alternative. The sharing culture of the open source movement fits well with that of health and social care

Prevention of errors and user alienation in healthcare IT integration programmes

The design, development and implementation stages of integrated computer projects require close collaboration between users and developers, but this is particularly difficult where there are multiple specialties, organisations and system suppliers. Users become alienated if they are not consulted, but consultation is meaningless if they cannot understand the specifications showing exactly what is proposed. We need stringent specifications that users and developers can review and check before most of the work is done. Avoidable errors lead to delays and cost over-runs. The number of errors is a function of the likelihood of misunderstanding any part of the specification, the number of individuals involved and the number of choices or options. One way to reduce these problems is to provide a conceptual design specification, comprising detailed Unified Modelling Language (UML) class and activity diagrams, data definitions and terminology, in addition to conventional technology-specific specifications. A conceptual design specification needs to be straightforward to understand and use, transparent and unambiguous. People find structured diagrams, such as maps, charts and blueprints, easier to use than reports or tables. Other desirable properties include being technology independent, comprehensive, stringent, coherent, consistent, composed from reusable elements and computer-readable (XML). When users and developers share the same agreed conceptual design specification, this can be one of the master documents of a formal contract between the stakeholders. No extra meaning should be added during the later stages of the project life cycle

Report from the Tri-Agency Cosmological Simulation Task Force

The Tri-Agency Cosmological Simulations (TACS) Task Force was formed when Program Managers from the Department of Energy (DOE), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) expressed an interest in receiving input into the cosmological simulations landscape related to the upcoming DOE/NSF Vera Rubin Observatory (Rubin), NASA/ESA's Euclid, and NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). The Co-Chairs of TACS, Katrin Heitmann and Alina Kiessling, invited community scientists from the USA and Europe who are each subject matter experts and are also members of one or more of the surveys to contribute. The following report represents the input from TACS that was delivered to the Agencies in December 2018.Comment: 36 pages, 3 figures. Delivered to NASA, NSF, and DOE in Dec 201