Remote Sensing - based precision agriculture tool for the sugar industry

This project aimed to develop remote sensing applications that were both relevant and of commercial benefit to the Australian sugar industry and therefore adoptable. Such applications included the in season mapping of crop vigour so as to guide future management strategies, the identification of specific abiotic and biotic cropping constraints, and the conversion of GNDVI variability maps into yield at the block, farm and regional level. In order to achieve these applications the project team reviewed an array of remote sensing platforms, timing of imagery capture, software and analysis protocols; as well as distribution formats of derived imagery products, to a range of end users. The project developed strong collaborative linkages with all levels of the industry including mills, productivity services, agronomists, growers and researchers and increased its initial coverage from three individual farms in Bundaberg, Burdekin and the Herbert, coinciding with project CSE022, to include over 33,000 crops grown across 6 growing regions (Mulgrave, Herbert, Burdekin, Bundaberg, ISIS and Condong) during the 2011/2012 season

A well-conserved Plasmodium falciparum var gene shows an unusual stage-specific transcript pattern

The var multicopy gene family encodes Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) variant antigens, which, through their ability to adhere to a variety of host receptors, are thought to be important virulence factors. The predominant expression of a single cytoadherent PfEMP1 type on an infected red blood cell, and the switching between different PfEMP1 types to evade host protective antibody responses, are processes thought to be controlled at the transcriptional level. Contradictory data have been published on the timing of var gene transcription. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) data suggested that transcription of the predominant var gene occurs in the later (pigmented trophozoite) stages, whereas Northern blot data indicated such transcripts only in early (ring) stages. We investigated this discrepancy by Northern blot, with probes covering a diverse var gene repertoire. We confirm that almost all var transcript types were detected only in ring stages. However, one type, the well-conserved varCSA transcript, was present constitutively in different laboratory parasites and does not appear to undergo antigenic variation. Although varCSA has been shown to encode a chondroitin sulphate A (CSA)-binding PfEMP1, we find that the presence of full-length varCSA transcripts does not correlate with the CSA-binding phenotype

Investigating the lexico-grammatical resources of a non-native user of English:The case of can and could in email requests

Individual users of English as a first or second language are assumed to possess or aspire to a monolithic grammar, an internally consistent set of rules which represents the idealized norms or conventions of native speakers. This position reflects a deficit view of L2 learning and usage, and is at odds with usage-based approaches to language development and research findings on idiolectal variation. This study problematizes the assumption of monolithic ontologies of grammar for TESOL by exploring a fragment of genre-specific lexico-grammatical knowledge (the can you/could you V construction alternation in requests) in a single non-native user of English, post-instruction. A corpus sample of the individual’s output was compared with the input he was exposed to and broader norms for the genre. The analysis confirms findings in usage-based linguistics which demonstrate that an individual’s lexico-grammatical knowledge constitutes an inventory of constructions shaped in large part by distributional patterns in the input. But it also provides evidence for idiosyncratic preferences resulting from exemplar-based inertia in production, suggesting that input is not the sole factor. Results are discussed in the context of a “plurilithic” ontology of grammar and the challenges this represents for pedagogy and teacher development

School Engagement among Youth in Canadian Forces Families: A Comparative Analysis

There has been a growing body of literature on adolescents in military families since 2002.  This research has focused on how frequent moves and parental deployments are two unique potential stressors for youth in military families, and are associated with negative school outcomes. Analyzing data collected from a school in a military community, and data from a national sample of Canadian youth, we examine the impact of military stressors on the school engagement of youth in military families.  While we found evidence of residential mobility contributing to negative school engagement outcomes, we also found a positive association between school engagement and parental deployments.  Surprisingly, relative to both the civilian youth in our sample and the national sample, military youth exhibited higher levels of school engagement when a parent has been deployed. Depuis 2002, de plus en plus d’études ont été publiées sur les adolescents de familles de militaires. Cette recherche explique que les déplacements fréquents et les déploiements d’un parent constituent pour ces jeunes des agents de stress potentiels et uniques, et qu’ils sont associés à des résultats scolaires négatifs. Nous avons analysé des données provenant d’une école dans une communauté militaire ainsi que des données tirées d’un échantillon national de jeunes canadiens pour étudier l’impact des agents de stress d’origine militaire sur l’implication scolaire chez les jeunes de familles de militaires. Si nous avons trouvé des indications que la mobilité résidentielle contribuait aux résultats scolaires négatifs, nous avons également trouvé une association positive entre l’implication scolaire et les déploiements d’un parent. Étonnamment, nous avons constaté que, comparés aux jeunes civils dans notre échantillon et dans l’échantillon national, les jeunes de familles de militaires manifestent plus d’implication scolaire pendant les déploiements d’un parent.

Remote Sensing - based precision agriculture tool for the sugar industry

This project aimed to develop remote sensing applications that were both relevant and of commercial benefit to the Australian sugar industry and therefore adoptable. Such applications included the in season mapping of crop vigour so as to guide future management strategies, the identification of specific abiotic and biotic cropping constraints, and the conversion of GNDVI variability maps into yield at the block, farm and regional level. In order to achieve these applications the project team reviewed an array of remote sensing platforms, timing of imagery capture, software and analysis protocols; as well as distribution formats of derived imagery products, to a range of end users. The project developed strong collaborative linkages with all levels of the industry including mills, productivity services, agronomists, growers and researchers and increased its initial coverage from three individual farms in Bundaberg, Burdekin and the Herbert, coinciding with project CSE022, to include over 33,000 crops grown across 6 growing regions (Mulgrave, Herbert, Burdekin, Bundaberg, ISIS and Condong) during the 2011/2012 season