Australian local government sustainability and transformation: Structural reform and the fit for the future (F4F) reform initiative in New South Wales - forced council mergers

For decades, sustainability and, especially, long-term financial sustainability and transformation, primarily through structural and other modes of reform, have constituted major concerns and problems for the ‘grass roots’ Australian government. Usually the catalyst for change in these areas has emanated from state and territory jurisdictions which have imposed reforms, often with little regard for local councils or the communities they serve. Since August 2011, in New South Wales, a structured process of dialogue and consultation has been ongoing in the local government sector with the objective of implementing beneficial reform. The paper briefly explains this transformation initiative and particularly the NSW Government Fit for the Future (F4F) process and the current 35 council merger proposals. The process is considered from the perspective of a long-term local government practitioner, elected representative, Mayor, and former member of the NSW Local Government Acts Taskforce (LGAT)

KROSS–SAMI: a direct IFS comparison of the Tully–Fisher relation across 8 Gyr since z ≈ 1

We construct Tully–Fisher relations (TFRs), from large samples of galaxies with spatially resolved H α emission maps from the K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph (KMOS) Redshift One Spectroscopic Survey (KROSS) at z ≈ 1. We compare these to data from the Sydney-Australian-Astronomical-Observatory Multi-object Integral-Field Spectrograph (SAMI) Galaxy Survey at z ≈ 0. We stringently match the data quality of the latter to the former, and apply identical analysis methods and sub-sample selection criteria to both to conduct a direct comparison of the absolute K-band magnitude and stellar mass TFRs at z ≈ 1 and 0. We find that matching the quality of the SAMI data to that of KROSS results in TFRs that differ significantly in slope, zero-point, and (sometimes) scatter in comparison to the corresponding original SAMI relations. These differences are in every case as large as or larger than the differences between the KROSS z ≈ 1 and matched SAMI z ≈ 0 relations. Accounting for these differences, we compare the TFRs at z ≈ 1 and 0. For disc-like, star-forming galaxies we find no significant difference in the TFR zero-points between the two epochs. This suggests the growth of stellar mass and dark matter in these types of galaxies is intimately linked over this ≈8 Gyr period

The Tully-Fisher relation of COLD GASS Galaxies

We present the stellar mass (M*) and Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer absolute Band 1 magnitude (MW1) Tully–Fisher relations (TFRs) of subsets of galaxies from the CO Legacy Database for the GALEX Arecibo SDSS Survey (COLD GASS). We examine the benefits and drawbacks of several commonly used fitting functions in the context of measuring CO(1–0) linewidths (and thus rotation velocities), favouring the Gaussian Double Peak function. We find the MW1 and M* TFR, for a carefully selected sub-sample, to be MW1=(−7.1±0.6)[log(W50/sinikms−1)−2.58]−23.83±0.09MW1=(−7.1±0.6)[log⁡(W50/sin⁡ikms−1)−2.58]−23.83±0.09 and log(M∗/M⊙)=(3.3±0.3)[log(W50/sinikms−1)−2.58]+10.51±0.04log⁡(M∗/M⊙)=(3.3±0.3)[log⁡(W50/sin⁡ikms−1)−2.58]+10.51±0.04, respectively, where W50 is the width of a galaxy's CO(1–0) integrated profile at 50 per cent of its maximum and the inclination i is derived from the galaxy axial ratio measured on the Sloan Digitized Sky Survey r-band image. We find no evidence for any significant offset between the TFRs of COLD GASS galaxies and those of comparison samples of similar redshifts and morphologies. The slope of the COLD GASS M* TFR agrees with the relation of Pizagno et al. However, we measure a comparatively shallower slope for the COLD GASS MW1 TFR as compared to the relation of Tully & Pierce. We attribute this to the fact that the COLD GASS sample comprises galaxies of various (late-type) morphologies. Nevertheless, our work provides a robust reference point with which to compare future CO TFR studies

Early Cenozoic denudation of central west Britain in response to transient and permanent uplift above a mantle plume

Upwelling mantle plumes beneath continental crust are predicted to produce difficult to quantify, modest uplift and denudation. The contribution of permanent and transient components to the uplift is also difficult to distinguish. A pulse of denudation in Britain in the Early Paleogene has been linked, although with some controversy, with the arrival of the proto-Iceland mantle plume. In this contribution we show that combining apatite and zircon (U-Th-Sm)/He and apatite fission track analyses from central west Britain with numerical modeling clearly identifies a pulse of early Cenozoic denudation. The data indicate that rock uplift and denudation were centered on the northern East Irish Sea Basin and 1.0–2.4 km of rocks were removed during the latest Cretaceous-early Paleogene. Uplift and erosion appears to have started a few million years before the earliest magmatism in the region. The regional denudation pattern mirrors the distribution of low-density magmatic rocks that has been imaged in the deep crust. However, the injection of the underplating melt is not enough to account for the total denudation. An additional regional uplift of at least 300 m is required, which is consistent with a transient thermal effect from the hot mantle plume. The rapid exhumation event ceased by ~40 Ma and the data do not require significant Neogene exhumation

Infection by a foliar endophyte elicits novel arabidopside-based plant defence reactions in its host, Cirsium arvense

Endophytic fungi live asymptomatically within plants. They are usually regarded as non-pathogenic or even mutualistic, but whether plants respond antagonistically to their presence remains unclear, particularly in the little-studied associations between endophytes and nong-raminoid herbaceous plants. We investigated the effects of the endophyte Chaetomium cochlioides on leaf chemistry in Cirsium arvense. Plants were sprayed with spores; leaf material from both subsequent new growth and the sprayed leaves was analysed 2 wk later. Infection frequency was 91% and63% for sprayed and new growth, respectively, indicating that C. cochlioides rapidly infects new foliage. Metabolomic analyses revealed marked changes in leaf chemistry with infection, especially in new growth. Changes in several novel oxylipin metabolites were detected, including arabi-dopsides reported here for the first time in a plant species other than Arabidopsis thaliana,and a jasmonate-containing galactolipid. The production of these metabolites in response to endophyte presence, particularly in newly infected foliage, suggests that endophytes elicit similar chemical responses in plants to those usually produced following wounding, herbivory and pathogen invasion. Whether en-dophytes benefit their hosts may depend on a complex series of chemically mediated interactions between the plant, the endophyte, other microbial colonists and natural enemies

Whole-genome, deep pyrosequencing analysis of a duck influenza A virus evolution in swine cells.

We studied the sub-population level evolution of a duck influenza A virus isolate during passage in swine tracheal cells. The complete genomes of the A/mallard/Netherlands/10-Nmkt/1999 strain and its swine cell-passaged descendent were analysed by 454 pyrosequencing with coverage depth ranging from several hundred to several thousand reads at any point. This allowed characterization of defined minority sub-populations of gene segments 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 present in the original isolate. These minority sub-populations ranged between 9.5% (for segment 2) and 46% (for segment 4) of their respective gene segments in the parental stock. They were likely contributed by one or more viruses circulating within the same area, at the same period and in the same or a sympatric host species. The minority sub-populations of segments 3, 4, and 5 became extinct upon viral passage in swine cells, whereas the minority sub-populations of segments 2, 7 and 8 completely replaced their majority counterparts. The swine cell-passaged virus was therefore a three-segment reassortant and also harboured point mutations in segments 3 and 4. The passaged virus was more homogenous than the parental stock, with only 17 minority single nucleotide polymorphisms present above 5% frequency across the whole genome. Though limited here to one sample, this deep sequencing approach highlights the evolutionary versatility of influenza viruses whereby they exploit their genetic diversity, predilection for mixed infection and reassortment to adapt to a new host environmental niche.This work was supported by a grant from DEFRA and HEFCE under the Veterinary Training and Research Initiative to the Cambridge Infectious Diseases Consortium (VB, LT), BBSRC grants BB/H014306/1 and BB/G00479X/1 (LT), and the French Ministry of Agriculture, INRA and the French Région Midi-Pyrénées (GC, J-LG, VB).This is the accepted version of the original version available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.meegid.2013.04.03

Chapter 8 Tax and Quacks: The Policy of the Eighteenth Century Medicine Stamp Duty

These are the papers from the 2012 Cambridge Tax Law History Conference revised and reviewed for publication. The papers include new studies of: income tax law rewrite projects 1914–1956; law and administration in capital allowances 1878– 1950; the 'full amount' in income tax legislation; Sir Josiah Stamp and double income tax; early German income tax treaties and laws concerned with double tax avoidance (1869–1908); the policy of the medicine stamp duty; 'Danegeld' – from Danish tribute to English land tax; religion and charity, a historical perspective; 'Plaintive Glitterati'; a collision of accounting and law, dividends from pre-1914 profits in Australia; the history and development of the taxation profession in the UK and Australia; an inquiry into Dutch to British Colonial Malacca 1824–1839; the taxation history of China; taxing bachelors in America: 1895–1939; Dutch Tax reform under Napoleon; and the last decade of estate duty

A Serial Multiplexed Approach to Immunolabeling Brain Tissue for Electron Microscopy

To fully understand how biological systems give rise to complex phenomena, both structural and functional knowledge of the components in the system must be acquired. In this manuscript, I explain why new methods must be developed to achieve this level of understanding with brain tissue and introduce serial multiplexing as a potential solution. I discuss how this method can lead to highly annotated volume reconstructions of brain tissue using electron and light microscopy, along with the steps required to do so. I present what our lab has found throughout the process of adapting, refining, and combining more traditional methods together to work harmoniously for achieving multiplexed labeling of brain tissue. I also discuss what methods we found to be incompatible and what our advice is for others looking to achieve similar results. I explain why electron microscopy is required to extract ultrastructural information of brain tissue such as synapses, dendritic morphology, and subcellular components. Topics including sample preservation and storage, serial sectioning, grid handling, and immunohistochemistry, among others, are also discussed. To perform immunohistochemistry on brain tissue without compromising its structural integrity in the electron microscope is a considerable challenge. This challenge is magnified when the goal is to label an unrestricted number of target proteins in a sample destined for volume reconstruction, especially considering the lack of a unified roadmap for doing so. We therefore conducted experiments to test the efficacy and reliability of established techniques throughout all processes of obtaining brain tissue for serial multiplexed electron microscopy. We also tested the efficacy and dilution requirements of antibodies across several parameters, targeting candidate proteins and molecules of interest using immunofluorescence microscopy. We draw preliminary conclusions regarding our findings and explore possible directions for the project to continue in the future. The work presented in this manuscript reflects the concerted effort of many individuals over a year and a half and was unfortunately forced to stop prematurely due to a public health crisis beyond our control

Ruthenium (II) polypyridyl complexes as photoprobes for DNA mismatches

[Ru(bpy)2dppz]2+ is a classic “light switch” effect complex with a brighter emission for mismatched DNA than well-matched DNA. It is, therefore, a photoprobe for DNA. To enhance its selectivity for mismatched base pairs which can lead to DNA mutations, a range of related complexes were synthesized and investigated. The approach involved increasing the steric bulk of the ancillary 2,2’-bipyridine (bpy) ligands and/or the dipyridophenazine (dppz) functional group ligand. This functional group ligand is known to insert or intercalate between adjacent base pairs in the base stack of DNA and an alternative functional group ligand was also explored: 12,17-dihydronaphthodipyridophenazine-12,17-dione (aqphen). Hairpin and 12 base oligonucleotide duplex DNA containing mismatched base pairs were tested and compared to the same sequences containing well-matched base pairs. Methylation of the ancillary bpy ligands only at positions 5,5’ with dppz as the functional group ligand is highly selective for both the CC and the TT mismatches. For the former the signal is between 4 and 6.3x higher than it is for well-matched DNA and for the latter a 6x increase was recorded. It almost certainly binds to the DNA via intercalation and its performance in these experiments have identified a useful photoprobe for the identification of these mismatched base pairings. Methylation of the dppz functional group ligand at positions 10 and 12 produced large increases in emission intensity compared to the parent compound [Ru(bpy)2dppz]2+ but did not substantially increase the mismatch base pair selectivity. The use of aqphen instead of dppz as the functional group ligand increased the binding strength with DNA and, notably, it showed a higher binding affinity for a 12mer duplex containing a CC mismatched base pair versus the well-matched sequence; its mode of binding is likely to be intercalation. In summary, enhancing steric bulk through methylation of the ancillary bpy ligands has achieved the desired selectivity whilst the same modification to the inserting dppz functional group ligand has led to large increases in signal intensity without an improvement in selectivity. The use of aqphen as the functional group ligand, which also has a greater steric bulk compared to dppz, increased binding affinity as well as selectivity