Murray-Darling Basin Plan: Case Study in Market-Based Approach to Water Sharing in Australia

The Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) is an area in southeastern Australia that has the largest and most regulated river system in the country. Historically, it has been an area of conflict over water resources, with efforts to bring the different states together to negotiate water sharing since the early 1900s. In the 20th century, the focus of water policy was predominantly on water supply infrastructure: building large-scale dam storages, weirs, and other irrigation region infrastructure. However, increasing problems with both water quality and quantity from the 1970s onwards—such as acid sulphate soils, salinity, declines in vegetation health, and species loss—meant that more attention was turned to water demand management options. These included establishing formal water markets, trade liberalization, and water extraction caps. The National Water Initiative (2004) and the Water Act (2007) laid the groundwork in unbundling water and land ownership and created the Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA). The MDBA was tasked with developing the MDB Plan (Basin Plan 2012) to readjust the balance between consumptive water use and the environment. The Basin Plan when implemented in 2012 aimed to return up to one third of consumptive water extraction to environmental use, making it one of the biggest reallocations of water to the environment in the world. It has predominantly used market-based approaches to do so. However, conflict over water sharing has remained a dominant feature of MDB water reform. Self-interest among states and irrigation interests have impacted environmental water recovery methods, resource expenditure, and allocation—subsequently weakening both the Basin Plan and water policy in general. Given current policy developments, there is real danger of targets not being met, and environmental sustainability being continually compromised. The ongoing issues of drought, climate change, and readdressing First Nations access to—and ownership of—water have emphasized distributional issues in water sharing. It is clear also that the Basin Plan has been wrongly blamed and misattributed for ongoing rural community declines, with current amendments and reductions in water reallocation targets a result of this. What is clear is that the Basin Plan is currently not the fully sustainable solution for water sharing that it set out to be. It will need to continually evolve, along with various institutions to support water governance and rural community economic development in general, to address existing overallocation and future climate challenges. The challenges of equity, rural community development, and distributional fairness lie firmly in the sphere of strong governance, high-quality data, and first-best economic and scientific policies.

Diagnosing Extrusion Process Based on Displacement Signal and Simple Decision Tree Classifier

The article presents an extensive analysis of the literature related to the diagnosis of the extrusion process and proposes a new, unique method. This method is based on the observation of the punch displacement signal in relation to the die, and then approximation of this signal using a polynomial. It is difficult to find in the literature even an attempt to solve the problem of diagnosing the extrusion process by means of a simple distance measurement. The dominant feature is the use of strain gauges, force sensors or even accelerometers. However, the authors managed to use the displacement signal, and it was considered a key element of the method presented in the article. The aim of the authors was to propose an effective method, simple to implement and not requiring high computing power, with the possibility of acting and making decisions in real time. At the input of the classifier, authors provided the determined polynomial coefficients and the SSE (Sum of Squared Errors) value. Based on the SSE values only, the decision tree algorithm performed anomaly detection with an accuracy of 98.36%. With regard to the duration of the experiment (single extrusion process), the decision was made after 0.44 s, which is on average 26.7% of the extrusion experiment duration. The article describes in detail the method and the results achieved.

Spontaneous pre-axial polydactyly in Swiss mice

ABSTRACT: Spontaneous polydactyly has been described in several species, but only one report about it in Swiss mice. The aim of the current study was to report the spontaneous occurrence of pre-axial polydactyly in Swiss mice. Clinical examination showed one extra toe laterally to the first digit, in the plantar region, alopecia in the back, altered face growth anatomy and changed perineal region anatomy. Pre-axial polydactyly in the tibial side, fused metatarsals and Y-shaped free phalanges were evidenced in the radiographic images. Pre-axial polydactyly observed in the plantar region differed from that in reports on albino Swiss mice with post-axial polydactyly (Po/Po+) phenotype featured by one extra toe in the ulnar side of one, or both, front limbs, which is the dominant feature. The observed findings highlight the importance of both clinical examinations and close attention by professionals involved in rodents’ breeding on physical changes resulting from different causes, including the genetic ones, since they reveal mutations and, sometimes, new biomodels.

NDM Production as a Dominant Feature in Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae Isolates from a Tertiary Care Hospital

The worldwide spread and increasing prevalence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) is of utmost concern and a problem for public health. This resistance is mainly conferred by carbapenemase production. Such strains are a potential source of outbreaks in healthcare settings and are associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. In this study, we aimed to determine the dominance of NDM-producing Enterobacteriaceae at a teaching hospital in Karachi. A total of 238 Enterobacteriaceae isolates were collected from patients admitted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (Unit 4) in Karachi, Pakistan, a tertiary care hospital. Phenotypic and genotypic methods were used for detection of metallo-β-lactamase. Out of 238 isolates, 52 (21.8%) were CRE and 50 isolates were carbapenemase producers, as determined by the CARBA NP test; two isolates were found negative for carbapenemase production by CARB NP and PCR. Four carbapenemase-producing isolates phenotypically appeared negative for metallo-β-lactamase (MBL). Of the 52 CRE isolates, 46 (88.46%) were blaNDM positive. Most of the NDM producers were Klebsiella pneumoniae, followed by Enterobacter cloacae and Escherichia coli. In all the NDM-positive isolates, the blaNDM gene was found on plasmid. These isolates were found negative for the VIM and IPM MBLs. All the CRE and carbapenem-sensitive isolates were sensitive to colistin. It is concluded that the NDM is the main resistance mechanism against carbapenems and is dominant in this region.

Familial traits of attached and unattached earlobe in human population of different age groups- A case study of district Nawabshah, Pakistan

This study aimed to evaluate frequency of attached earlobes (dominant) and unattached earlobes (recessive) traits in humans of different age groups. This study was conducted in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Shaheed Benazir Abad from September to October 2020. A total of 200 families with attached and unattached earlobes were included by using non-probability convenient sampling. Data was collected regarding attached and unattached earlobes of different people. The data was collected and analysed by using SPSS version 21.0. Results of the study suggested that unattached earlobes were dominant feature, and the attached earlobe feature appears to be recessive among all 200 families. We observed that the dominant feature of the unattached earlobe was more common in the 1 to 20 years’ age group, while the recessive feature of the attached earlobe was common in 31 to 45 years old age group. The study concluded that unattached earlobes can be observed in people of every age group and associated with family traits.

Lithuanian Literature in Search of Historical Truth: Three Decades of Independence

The article focuses on the beginning of the Singing Revolution in Lithuanian culture and tries to identify the most significant dominant features in order to understand the entirety of the new changes in literature. In the face of political upheaval, such a dominant feature was the question of truth; however, the well-established poetry tradition – romantic, neo-romantic, modern neo-romantic, which coexisted with social realism in Soviet times, and experimental – did not raise such questions of truth but only reflected the nation’s collective expectations. The evolution of Lithuanian literature, which was highly fragmented during all the decades of the Soviet occupation, united the country through the expatriate poet Bernardas Brazdžionis while he was visiting Lithuania in the summer of 1989. Poetic texts predominated during the first demonstrations of Sąjūdis (the Reform Movement), but while trying to understand their position in the general Lithuanian culture and literature discourse, one needs to acknowledge the leading nature of poetry throughout the Soviet times: having its niche in the cultural system, poetry posed a large number of vexed questions, sought philosophical profundity, and was able to constantly address the deepest metaphysical questions even in strict censorship conditions. Lithuanian prose, which evaded the requirement by the doctrine of social realism to portray the world and characters engaged in class struggles, also found support in the poetry system and created a non-linear but coherent narrative where metaphors prevail. Lithuanian prose poetry became a sign of esthetic quality in independent Lithuania too, where the question of truth, which was important for achieving independence, found a way similar to that of poetry – through memoirs and essays to esthetics and little prose. At the beginning of independence, poetry, which had fed Lithuanian prose with its ideas, themes, conception of the world and esthetic solutions, also merged with memoirs and essays, thus being part of the discourse of telling the truth.

„Za czarnych skał krawędzie…”. Góry zawłaszczone przez dekadentyzm w wybranych dziewiętnastowiecznych impresjach literacko-muzycznych

The article contains an analysis and interpretation of the significance of the mountains in artistic battles with decadent moods. The man that should be regarded as a precursor of such moods is Juliusz Słowacki. He is the author of the well-known poem W Szwajcarii (In Switzerland, 1839), from which comes the passage included in the title of the article: “Za czarnych skał krawędzie” (Behind the edges of black rocks), where the lyrical protagonist is heading — seeking self-annihilation — trying to find some relief in his suffering. This is the context in which Słowacki’s passage was interpreted by Mieczysław Karłowicz — a representative of the Young Poland generation in music, one of the best known Polish composers, a photographer and mountaineer, who died in the Tatras in an avalanche in 1909. In addition to Słowacki’s piece, the authors of the article analyse also other songs by Karłowicz (which are not highly valued by musicologists), composed to words by well-known nineteenth-century Polish poets, mainly Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, a leading Polish exponent of decadentism in poetry. Karłowicz represented a neo-romantic version of modernism in music, which is why his oeuvre contains romantic analogies (emotionalism, mysticism, individualism, expression of the form), and his undoubtedly introverted and individualistic personality isolated him from generational associations already during his studies in Berlin. Nevertheless, he did identify with the Young Poland generation through a desire to achieve depression and deprivation defeating nirvana, to overcome death through the belief in the liberating power of nature. The mood of these works is marked by recurring (typically decadent) pessimism — a dominant feature of Karłowicz’s music. The authors conclude by observing that in the views of Polish modernists the mountains were a symbol of eternity and power of nature, a symbol juxtaposed with the fragility of human existence, an oasis of silence, peace and solitude, and thus human freedom. The appropriation of the mountains was tantamount to believing that pessimistic moods made it possible to achieve considerable psychological maturity.

The Impact of Rubella Virus Infection on a Secondary Inflammatory Response in Polarized Human Macrophages

Macrophages (MΦ) are known to exhibit distinct responses to viral and bacterial infection, but how they react when exposed to the pathogens in succession is less well understood. Accordingly, we determined the effect of a rubella virus (RV)-induced infection followed by an LPS-induced challenge on cytokine production, signal transduction and metabolic pathways in human GM (M1-like)- and M (M2-like)-MΦ. We found that infection of both subsets with RV resulted in a low TNF-α and a high interferon (IFN, type I and type III) release whereby M-MΦ produced far more IFNs than GM-MΦ. Thus, TNF-α production in contrast to IFN production is not a dominant feature of RV infection in these cells. Upon addition of LPS to RV-infected MΦ compared to the addition of LPS to the uninfected cells the TNF-α response only slightly increased, whereas the IFN-response of both subtypes was greatly enhanced. The subset specific cytokine expression pattern remained unchanged under these assay conditions. The priming effect of RV was also observed when replacing RV by IFN-β one putative priming stimulus induced by RV. Small amounts of IFN-β were sufficient for phosphorylation of Stat1 and to induce IFN-production in response to LPS. Analysis of signal transduction pathways activated by successive exposure of MΦ to RV and LPS revealed an increased phosphorylation of NFκB (M-MΦ), but different to uninfected MΦ a reduced phosphorylation of ERK1/2 (both subtypes). Furthermore, metabolic pathways were affected; the LPS-induced increase in glycolysis was dampened in both subtypes after RV infection. In conclusion, we show that RV infection and exogenously added IFN-β can prime MΦ to produce high amounts of IFNs in response to LPS and that changes in glycolysis and signal transduction are associated with the priming effect. These findings will help to understand to what extent MΦ defense to viral infection is modulated by a following exposure to a bacterial infection.

Simulation Modeling of Aerial Work Completed by Helicopters in the Construction Industry Focused on Weather Conditions

The aim of this research was to develop a simulation model of the works carried out by helicopters, which are used in the construction of buildings under harsh natural conditions. This work identified that even technologies that we do not normally encounter, such as aerial work using helicopters, can have a major impact on ensuring the requirement of sustainability within the overall environmental and economic context. In the environment of protected landscape areas and national parks, in particular, where all sites are sensitive to human intervention, the use of helicopters in construction functions is an irreplaceable aid. Preparations for aerial work are very demanding and require the use of more sophisticated tools to achieve optimal results consistent within the paradigm of long-term sustainability. Simulation modeling is one such option, thanks to the considerable advancements made in information technology. A simulation model of aerial work was compiled within the presented work, and its functionality was verified using specific examples that confirmed in full the suitability of using simulations in the preparation of aerial work within construction. A detailed analysis of helicopter operations showed that an algorithm that accounts for future weather conditions at the construction site, and specifically focused on the conditions at the given altitude above the ground, should be a dominant feature of simulation models. It is exceptionally important that such data be known within the preparations for aerial work as accurately as possible, and, as such, this article describes the process of obtaining meteorological information for simulation models in detail using a numerical weather forecast and the reliability of data obtained in this manner. Based on the results obtained during this research, the proposed simulation model can be recommended as a suitable tool in the preparation of buildings. Its use is especially important if construction takes place under difficult natural conditions, where work cannot be carried out without the use of helicopters. We perceive the simulation model as a potential tool for digitizing construction preparations in the age of Industry 4.0.

Distinct Seasonal Primary Production Patterns in the Sub-Polar Gyre and Surrounding Seas

Primary production (PP) in the sub-polar region appears to be important for ocean carbon uptake but how the different water masses contribute to the PP occurring here has not yet been described. Using two models based on satellite observations of surface chlorophyll, light and temperature, seasonal patterns in the distribution of PP are shown here to differ in the sub-polar gyre south of the Greenland-Scotland Ridge (GSR) and surrounding water masses. Monthly averages of PP (2003–2013) were determined. Total and seasonal PP were similar in both models. Average PP in five of the domains (0.47–0.77 g C m–2 d–1) was well above the global average (0.37 g C m–2 d–1). Over the East Greenland shelf, however, total annual PP was estimated to be only 0.19 g C m–2 d–1. The Norwegian shelf was the most productive of the regions studied. “Spring blooms” appear sporadically as spikes in the annual distribution of PP in some regions/years, but do not emerge as a dominant feature in the average annual development of PP in any of the domains. For all regions, ∼25% of the annual PP takes place in the period January-May. PP peaked over most of the study area at or around maximum insolation or temperature. PP in the study region as a whole appears to be more related to latitude or water masses than to bathymetry. In waters over the East Greenland shelf, the Norwegian shelf, and north of the GSR up to 50% of annual PP had taken place when ∼50% of the annual flux of light has reached the surface. In contrast, only about 35% of annual PP had taken place in the sub-polar gyre and waters over the southern open shelf by this time. Light-use efficiency differences may be explained by differences in mixed layer depth (MLD). Multi-model Earth System model studies have indicated that climate change may decrease the MLD in the sub-polar gyre and suggest this may lead to a decrease in the PP occurring here. The results presented here, however, suggest that a shallower MLD could lead to an increase in PP.