Whatever happened to frank and fearless?

The former head of evaluation for the Australian Public Service Commission considers the tension between the public service’s role in providing ‘frank and fearless’ advice to government and its role in development and implementation of government policy

Transient, activity dependent inhibition of transmitter release from low threshold afferents mediated by GABA A receptors in spinal cord lamina III/IV

Background Presynaptic GABA A receptors (GABA A Rs) located on central terminals of low threshold afferent fibers are thought to be involved in the processing of touch and possibly in the generation of tactile allodynia in chronic pain. These GABA A Rs mediate primary afferent depolarization (PAD) and modulate transmitter release. The objective of this study was to expand our understanding of the presynaptic inhibitory action of GABA released onto primary afferent central terminals following afferent stimulation. Results We recorded evoked postsynaptic excitatory responses (eEPSCs and eEPSPs) from lamina III/IV neurons in spinal cord slices from juvenile rats (P17–P23, either sex), while stimulating dorsal roots. We investigated time and activity dependent changes in glutamate release from low threshold A fibers and the impact of these changes on excitatory drive. Blockade of GABA A Rs by gabazine potentiated the second eEPSC during a train of four afferent stimuli in a large subset of synapses. This resulted in a corresponding increase of action potential firing after the second stimulus. The potentiating effect of gabazine was due to inhibition of endogenously activated presynaptic GABA A Rs, because it was not prevented by the blockade of postsynaptic GABA A Rs through intracellular perfusion of CsF. Exogenous activation of presynaptic GABA A Rs by muscimol depressed evoked glutamate release at all synapses and increased paired pulse ratio (PPR). Conclusions These observations suggest that afferent driven release of GABA onto low threshold afferent terminals is most effective following the first action potential in a train and serves to suppress the initial strong excitatory drive onto dorsal horn circuitry

A Langevin canonical approach to the dynamics of two level systems. I. Populations and coherences

A canonical framework for chiral two--level systems coupled to a bath of harmonic oscillators is developed to extract, from a stochastic dynamics, the thermodynamic equilibrium values of both the population difference and coherences. The incoherent and coherent tunneling regimes are analyzed for an Ohmic environment in terms of a critical temperature defined by the maximum of the heat capacity. The corresponding numerical results issued from solving a non-linear coupled system are fitted to approximate path--integral analytical expressions beyond the so-called non-interacting blip approximation in order to determine the different time scales governing both regimes.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Glass walls: Australia's highly gender-segregated workforce

Workplaces lacking gender balance employ 60% of Australian workers, the same as 20 years ago - comments by Alison Sheridan and Kathy MacDermot

Hearing voices: A narrative analysis of the senate inquiry into the social and economic impacts of rural wind farms

This is a preliminary examination of the public debate initiated as a result of the rapid expansion of wind farms in rural spaces. The study is based on a sample of submissions to the Senate Inquiry, The Social and Economic Impact of Rural Wind Farms (2011). Using a narrative analysis (Riessman 2008), the study identifies the issues raised in support of, or opposition to, wind farm developments in south-west Victoria. Narratives of personal loss or personal gain and by extension, community gain, were used to frame the stories. The narratives of loss struggled to connect to a contemporary public discourse and were as a result marginalised. The narratives of gain were found to link more successfully to themes with national and international currency that allowed the narratives to assume a 'just' stance. This study may be useful for others who engage, communicate and negotiate in the context of further wind farm developments

Evidence for a magnesium-insensitive membrane resistance increase during NMDA-induced depolarizations in rat neocortical neurons in vitro

The responses of rat neocortical neurons in vitro to iontophoretically applied N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) were investigated by means of intracellular recording in the presence and absence of extracellular magnesium ions (Mg2+). At Mg2+-concentrations of 1.3 mM the neurons responded with a depolarization accompanied by an increase in membrane resistance. Upon removal of Mg2+ the NMDA-induced depolarization was markedly potentiated. However, even in neurons recorded from slices which were incubated in a Mg2+-free solution for 3–7 h, the NMDA response was still associated with a resistance increase, suggesting that the voltage-dependence of the NMDA-activated conductance is not exclusively determined by Mg2+

Hosting critical infrastructure services in the cloud environment considerations

Critical infrastructure technology vendors will inevitability take advantage of the benefits offered by the cloud computing paradigm. While this may offer improved performance and scalability, the associated security threats impede this progression. Hosting critical infrastructure services in the cloud environment may seem inane to some, but currently remote access to the control system over the internet is commonplace. This shares the same characteristics as cloud computing, i.e., on-demand access and resource pooling. There is a wealth of data used within critical infrastructure. There needs to be an assurance that the confidentiality, integrity and availability of this data remains. Authenticity and non-repudiation are also important security requirements for critical infrastructure systems. This paper provides an overview of critical infrastructure and the cloud computing relationship, whilst detailing security concerns and existing protection methods. Discussion on the direction of the area is presented, as is a survey of current protection methods and their weaknesses. Finally, we present our observation and our current research into hosting critical infrastructure services in the cloud environment, and the considerations for detecting cloud attacks. © 2015 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

Mas-related G-protein–coupled receptors inhibit pathological pain in mice

An important objective of pain research is to identify novel drug targets for the treatment of pathological persistent pain states, such as inflammatory and neuropathic pain. Mas-related G-protein–coupled receptors (Mrgprs) represent a large family of orphan receptors specifically expressed in small-diameter nociceptive primary sensory neurons. To determine the roles of Mrgprs in persistent pathological pain states, we exploited a mouse line in which a chromosomal locus spanning 12 Mrgpr genes was deleted (KO). Initial studies indicated that these KO mice show prolonged mechanical- and thermal-pain hypersensitivity after hind-paw inflammation compared with wild-type littermates. Here, we show that this mutation also enhances the windup response of dorsal-horn wide dynamic-range neurons, an electrophysiological model for the triggering of central pain sensitization. Deletion of the Mrgpr cluster also blocked the analgesic effect of intrathecally applied bovine adrenal medulla peptide 8–22 (BAM 8–22), an MrgprC11 agonist, on both inflammatory heat hyperalgesia and neuropathic mechanical allodynia. Spinal application of bovine adrenal medulla peptide 8–22 also significantly attenuated windup in wild-type mice, an effect eliminated in KO mice. These data suggest that members of the Mrgpr family, in particular MrgprC11, may constitute an endogenous inhibitory mechanism for regulating persistent pain in mice. Agonists for these receptors may, therefore, represent a class of antihyperalgesics for treating persistent pain with minimal side effects because of the highly specific expression of their targets

Studies on the premature bolting of the chicory cultivar \u27Daliva\u27

The flower Initiation and bolting responses of the extra-early F-1 hybrid chicory cultivar \u27Daliva\u27 (Cichorium intybus L. var witloof) were investigated under controlled daylength and field conditions at Knoxville, TN (35°, 53\u27N and 83°, 57\u27W). Histological sectioning and biochemical screenings from apical shoot tips for soluble sugars (glucose, fructose, and sucrose) and total free amino acids prior to and after floral transition, in addition to various plant size measurements, were conducted. Under controlled daylength (10 hours light) for 143 days, pot grown plants did not exceed 22 leaves and no plants initiated a floral transition. After 143 days similar plants were subjected to long photoperiods (\u3e14 hours) for up to 15 days. Over the 15 days of long photoperiods six harvests were made but no floral initiation was found. Total amino acids from all shoot tips ranged from 15 to 30 mg / g dry weight (DW). Soluble sugars leached from apical shoot tips followed no apparent trends. Glucose and fructose each ranged from 25 to 120 umol / g DW while sucrose ranged from 30 to 130 umol / g DW. Immediately after the imposition of the long day photoperiods the total free amino acid level in the shoot tips appeared to rise. In a field experiment, some field grown \u27Daliva\u27 chicory sown on 29 May had signs of bolting within 90 days. Vegetative meristems appeared flattened, even sunken beneath the overarching leaf primordia while induced meristems were domed and hemispherical in shape; this is consistent with other reports from the Cichorieae. In vegetative shoot tips, total free amino acids from shoot tips ranged between 23 and 40 mg / g DW with the maximum value at the middle harvest. Glucose and fructose each were less than 100 umol / g DW and remained steady through three harvests. Sucrose from the same tissue dropped linearly from 450 to near 50 umol / g DW over a 27 day harvest period. Shoot tips identified as transitional had levels of free amino acids which rose steadily from 15 to 25 to 35 mg / g DW over three harvests within 13 days. From the same shoot tips all sugars also rose steadily; glucose from 90 to 700, fructose from 60 to 260, and sucrose from 10 to 400 umol per g DW. Transitional plants exceeded 33 leaves and had root diameters greater than 20 mm. A separate field experiment investigating \u27Daliva\u27 plant growth and bolting response was begun on 19 June when seeds were planted into an Etowah clay loam. Five weeks later half the plants were mulched with 10 cm of straw mulch. Harvests began 14 days after planting and continued for 14 weeks. Bolting plants were observed after 8 weeks. Measurements of bolting plants showed that although the mulched plants grew faster and larger they did not bolt with any more frequency than plants in the bare soil. However, a comparison of various plant parameters (leaf number, area, DW, root diameter, root DW and crown diameter) between bolting and non-bolting plants showed that the leaf number differed (PIn summary, these experiments investigated the bolting responses of \u27Daliva\u27 chicory and found that the juvenile stage of this cultivar is passed at approximately 30 leaves and thereafter the plant may proceed directly into flowering. Once induced to flower the apical shoot meristem appeared distinctly domed, in contrast to the vegetative meristem which was flattened at the top