A note on the use of developer charges in Australian local government

A pronounced degree of vertical imbalance in Australian fiscal federalism has placed increasing financial pressures on lower levels of government, including local government. This has led local government to seek additional ways of financing infrastructure development through developer charges. Due to the lower priority the Australian Bureau of Statistics has accorded local government statistics in recent years, it has been difficult to gauge the extent of use of developer charges as a revenue source. This paper attempts to review the evolution of developer contributions policy and describe the increasing importance of these charges in Australian local government, with special emphasis on New South Wales.     

Evaluation of a New Field Measurement Method for Arsenic in Drinking Water Samples

The recently lowered arsenic maximum contaminant level will require numerous U.S. water utilities and agencies to monitor and treat for arsenic. This paper describes a new method that measures arsenic in drinking water samples by generating arsine gas from the water and detecting the arsine using a paper-tape instrument. Laboratory tests indicated the method is capable of accurately detecting arsenic in water samples at the microgram per liter level (method detection limit of 0.5?μg/L and practical quantification limit of 2.5?μg/L). The only significant interferences were hydrogen sulfide and antimony. Using the paper-tape instrument, it is also possible to detect As(III) and As(V) that have been separated by either selective arsine generation or ion exchange. While the method proved accurate in the lab, difficulties were encountered during preliminary field testing on 18 different real samples. This technique of converting aqueous arsenic to arsine gas for analysis shows great promise, but the method needs to be refined for use in the field.     

A Novel Multi-Probe Resistivity Approach to Inspect Green-State Metal Powder Compacts

This paper describes a new instrumentation approach to the nondestructive testing of green-state powdered metallurgy components. These samples are likely to generate surface-breaking and subsurface defects prior to sintering. Exploiting the principles of electric resistivity or potential drop measurements in solids, a system is configured which is capable of recording surface voltage distributions due to impressed current inputs. At the heart of this novel testing procedure is a multiple-pin sensor which allows for flexible measurement conditions in order to cover wide surface areas. Practical tests with production samples compare well with both analytical and numerical modeling techniques in predicting surface voltage distributions. Furthermore, initial studies of surface-breaking flaws exhibit excellent defect detectability.     

Mixed effect modeling of sumatriptan pharmacokinetics during drug development. I: Interspecies allometric scaling

A sample of 22 subjects was studied from a population of adults who had suffered from bacterial meningitis in childhood. Audiovestibular, oculomotor and neuropsychological investigations were performed and quality of life was assessed. An age-matched control group of 20 subjects was recruited. In the meningitis group, nine subjects had abnormal pure tone audiograms. One was previously undiagnosed and a progression was found in four. There was an overrepresentation of subclinical vestibular pathology (6 out of 9 (67%)) in this group. Audiovestibular test results showed a peripheral pattern and oculomotor tests were normal. The quality of life scores of those with hearing loss were significantly higher than those in the control group. Neuropsychological tests of brain dysfunction were abnormal in six out of 22 (27%) who had recovered from meningitis. The prevalence of such dysfunctions was not related to audiovestibular disorder. The quality of life scores of those with brain dysfunctions were similar to those of the control group. The findings of reduced auditory memory and tone level perception in four out of 22 (18%), suggest that lesions of central auditory pathways may follow from bacterial meningitis. The results support the idea that inner ear damage is the major cause of hearing loss after bacterial meningitis. Despite the absence of brainstem involvement, central nervous system lesions with disturbed auditory processing and language functions can be of significance. The high frequency of discrete brain dysfunctions indicate that a thorough neuropsychological investigation is required after bacterial meningitis.     

Perceptions of counselor source characteristics by premature and successful terminators.

Examined 56 premature and 148 successful terminators' perceptions of counselor source characteristics and satisfaction with counseling services at a university counseling center. S-completed measures included the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire and a counselor rating form. Results indicate that Ss who terminated prematurely were less satisfied with counseling services that they received and viewed their counselors as less expert, attractive, and trustworthy than did Ss who terminated successfully. Ss who responded anonymously to the evaluation form viewed the counselors as less attractive and trustworthy and also expressed less satisfaction with counseling than did those who did not respond anonymously. Significant though modest correlations between ratings of source characteristics and client satisfaction were also found. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Imperfect pulse detection in neural nets with temporal codes

The statistics of pulsed neural networks employing temporal codes (time to rth pulse) are investigated under conditions of imperfect pulse detection. The mixed negative binomial distributions that result are broadened by the errors without changing their essential shapes. For r=1, the near-geometric distributions primarily exhibit decreasing effective rate parameters. These results are important in deciding between rate codes and temporal codes in noisy or otherwise imperfect artificial neural (or biological) environments.     

Clinical comparability of the standard MMPI and the MMPI-168.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 17(5) of Professional Psychology: Research and Practice (see record 2008-10955-002). In this article, the copyright information was incorrect. The corrected copyright information is included in the erratum.] Examined the clinical correspondence of the full-scale Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the MMPI-168 on a psychiatric screening sample of 210 men (mean age 43.27 yrs). The present results fail to replicate previous optimistic findings regarding the worth of the MMPI-168 and accent the need for caution in any further use of this abbreviated instrument. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of an educational program for asthma control in adults

We have developed a 6-month educational plan associated with outpatient follow-up and special clinical care for asthmatic patients in a deprived population, with serious socioeconomic problems and a very low level of education. The objective was to determine the effects of the program on clinical asthma outcomes, lung function, and quality of life. Forty patients were enrolled in the program with a regular schedule of outpatient visits, and 31 finished the 6-month intervention, which included information about asthma, instruction in appropriate use of medication, training in metered-dose inhaler technique, how to identify and control asthma triggers, how to use symptom diary cards, and how to recognize early signs of deterioration. Patients included 8 males and 23 females, 47.8 +/- 16.5 years old, with 77.4% elementary school education and 22.6% illiterate, and an average monthly income of around $450. After the 6-month program there was a significant change in asthma control with a reduction in asthma emergency visits and hospitalization, reduction of score symptoms, and improvement in quality of life. Based on the results, educational programs are recommended and should be adapted to the socioeconomic and cultural characteristics of the target population.