Regenerating the rangelands

Parts of Western Australia\u27s rangelands have been degraded by inappropriately high stocking rates, often associated with large numbers of native or feral animals, poor seasonal plant growth, or the ravages of cyclones, floods or fire. Today, most pastoralists are keen to rehabilitate the degradation of the past, as indicated by the proliferation of Land Conservation Districts (LCDs) throughout the pastoral zones. There is no \u27quick fix\u27 to regenerating the rangelands. It may take many years to achieve the desired result

Techniques in helical scanning, dynamic imaging and image segmentation for improved quantitative analysis with X-ray micro-CT

This paper reports on recent advances at the micro-computed tomography facility at the Australian National University. Since 2000 this facility has been a significant centre for developments in imaging hardware and associated software for image reconstruction, image analysis and image-based modelling. In 2010 a new instrument was constructed that utilises theoretically-exact image reconstruction based on helical scanning trajectories, allowing higher cone angles and thus better utilisation of the available X-ray flux. We discuss the technical hurdles that needed to be overcome to allow imaging with cone angles in excess of 60°. We also present dynamic tomography algorithms that enable the changes between one moment and the next to be reconstructed from a sparse set of projections, allowing higher speed imaging of time-varying samples. Researchers at the facility have also created a sizeable distributed-memory image analysis toolkit with capabilities ranging from tomographic image reconstruction to 3D shape characterisation. We show results from image registration and present some of the new imaging and experimental techniques that it enables. Finally, we discuss the crucial question of image segmentation and evaluate some recently proposed techniques for automated segmentation

Accounting For Deferred Taxes: Time For A Change

This study examines the theory underlying the current accounting and reporting standards for deferred taxes. Given the goal of global accounting convergence and under the proposed condorsement approach, the FASB and the IASB have a historic opportunity to revise the existing deferred tax accounting standards. Thus, it is warranted to illustrate the financial consequences of using the proposed flow-through (where tax expense is equal to the statutory tax liability) approach versus the asset-liability method of accounting for deferred taxes. We achieve this objective by computing the change in the debt-to-equity (DTE) ratios for the 2004-2010 period when net deferred tax balances are eliminated and corresponding adjustments are made in the total liability and stockholders equity balances. Based on our observations, we propose that the underlying issue in accounting for deferred taxes is the unit problem and argue that deferred taxes do not represent assets and liabilities as defined by accounting standards

Quasi-elastic polarization-transfer measurements on the deuteron in anti-parallel kinematics

We present measurements of the polarization-transfer components in the $^2$H$(\vec e,e'\vec p)$ reaction, covering a previously unexplored kinematic region with large positive (anti-parallel) missing momentum, $p_{\rm miss}$, up to 220 MeV$/c$, and $Q^2=0.65$ $({\rm GeV}/c)^2$. These measurements, performed at the Mainz Microtron (MAMI), were motivated by theoretical calculations which predict small final-state interaction (FSI) effects in these kinematics, making them favorable for searching for medium modifications of bound nucleons in nuclei. We find in this kinematic region that the measured polarization-transfer components $P_x$ and $P_z$ and their ratio agree with the theoretical calculations, which use free-proton form factors. Using this, we establish upper limits on possible medium effects that modify the bound proton's form factor ratio $G_E/G_M$ at the level of a few percent. We also compare the measured polarization-transfer components and their ratio for $^2$H to those of a free (moving) proton. We find that the universal behavior of $^2$H, $^4$He and $^{12}$C in the double ratio $\frac{(P_x/P_z)^A}{(P_x/P_z)^{^1\rm H}}$ is maintained in the positive missing-momentum region

Fifteen years SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics: life science databases, tools and support

The SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (www.isb-sib.ch) was created in 1998 as an institution to foster excellence in bioinformatics. It is renowned worldwide for its databases and software tools, such as UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot, PROSITE, SWISS-MODEL, STRING, etc, that are all accessible on ExPASy.org, SIB's Bioinformatics Resource Portal. This article provides an overview of the scientific and training resources SIB has consistently been offering to the life science community for more than 15 year

A note on comonotonicity and positivity of the control components of decoupled quadratic FBSDE

In this small note we are concerned with the solution of Forward-Backward Stochastic Differential Equations (FBSDE) with drivers that grow quadratically in the control component (quadratic growth FBSDE or qgFBSDE). The main theorem is a comparison result that allows comparing componentwise the signs of the control processes of two different qgFBSDE. As a byproduct one obtains conditions that allow establishing the positivity of the control process.Comment: accepted for publicatio

Development and implementation of a scrub habitat compensation plan for Kennedy Space Center

Kennedy Space Center (KSC), located on Merritt Island on the east coast of central Florida, is one of three remaining major populations of the Florida Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens coerulescens), listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) since 1987. Construction of new facilities by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on KSC over the next five years has the potential to impact up to 193 ac (78.1 ha) of Scrub Jay habitat. Under an early consultation process with the Endangered Species Office of the USFWS, NASA agreed to a compensation plan for loss of Scrub Jay habitat. The compensation plan required NASA to restore or create scrub on KSC at a 2:1 ratio for that lost. The compensation plan emphasized restoration of scrub habitat that is of marginal or declining suitability to Scrub Jays because it has remained unburned. Although prescribed burning has been conducted by the USFWS Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (MINWR) for more than ten years, significant areas of scrub remain unburned because they have been excluded from fire management units or because landscape fragmentation and a period of fire suppression allowed scrub to reach heights and diameters that are fire resistant. For such areas, mechanical cutting followed by prescribed burning was recommended for restoration. A second part of the restoration plan is an experimental study of scrub reestablishment (i.e., creation) on abandoned, well drained agricultural sites by planting scrub oaks and other scrub plants. The compensation plan identified 260 ac (105 ha) of scrub restoration in four areas and a 40 ac (16 ha) scrub creation site. Monitoring of restoration sites required under the plan included: establishing permanent vegetation sample transects before treatment and resampling annually for ten years after treatment, and color banding Scrub Jays to determine territories prior to treatment followed by monitoring reproductive success and survival for ten years after treatment. Monitoring scrub creation sites included determining survival of planted material for five years and establishing permanent transects to follow vegetation development for ten years after planting. Scrub Jay monitoring of creation sites is incorporated with that of adjacent restoration sites