Examining Two Different Approaches to Modelling Management and Operation Rules in a Single River System Model

Different water agencies use different modeling tools for water resources planning and management. For example, different jurisdictions in Australia use a variety of river system models and these models vary considerably in approach and assumptions, including different time steps (monthly and daily), flow routing (different types of routing and no routing), ordering solution (optimization and heuristic) and representation of management and operational rules. These fundamental differences in approach make it difficult to integrate existing models of connected river systems at a basin scale. A collaborative joint venture (the eWater CRC) between research, industry and government partners has recently developed an integrated river system modelling tool called “eWater Source” to improve on the existing river system models in Australia. One of the major advances in Source is the implementation of two decision algorithms, heuristic and NetLP approaches, for water distribution modelling in the same modelling platform. This paper describes the implementation of heuristic and NetLP approaches for water delivery under management and operations rules in Source, and compares the performance of the two approaches through a case study in the Goulburn-Broken-Campaspe-Loddon (GBCL) river system in south-eastern Australia. The key performance measures used to compare the approaches include the efficiency and equity of water delivery to water users, impacts on the reliability of supply, agreement with storage operating targets, and model application run time. The results demonstrate that the heuristic approach implemented in Source can replicate the performance of the NetLP approach for a model of reasonable complexity. This is important because the run times of models with heuristic approaches are shorter than models with NetLP approaches, so this will allow more complexity to be represented than was previously practical in equivalent NetLP applications. Agreement between jurisdictions to move to the single river system modelling platform will contribute to overcoming the problems faced by river managers in Australia in transboundary river basins.     

Aesthetic reconstruction of microtia: a review of current techniques and new 3D printing approaches

Three dimensional (3D) printing and biofabrication technologies are revolutionising medicine with low-cost and novel treatments for complex medical conditions. These approaches differ from traditional treatments by using 3D scanning, computer modelling and 3D printing to automate the production of patient-specific tissue replacement or prostheses using a wide range of materials. One area impacted by this technology is the treatment of congenital maxillofacial conditions such as microtia, a condition affecting the intrauterine development of the auricle (external ear) and with a prevalence of 2.06 cases for every 10,000 births. While not life-threatening, microtia significantly impacts the emotional and psychological well-being of the affected child and their parents. Current treatments include the use of prosthetic ears or surgical methods such as autografting rib cartilage or alloplastic implants. Although current options have shown documented success, they are highly dependent on the surgeon’s skill and it has been demonstrated that poor quality solutions can further exacerbate negative psychosocial impacts. As such, higher quality, lower cost and more customised options would be welcomed by patients and parents alike. Recent advances in 3D scanning, modelling and printing techniques could significantly benefit the treatment and reconstructive options for children with microtia, leading to improved quality of life.     

Designing reality-based interfaces for experiential bio-design

Reality-based interfaces (RBIs) such as tabletop and tangible user interfaces draw upon ideas from embodied cognition to offer a more natural, intuitive, and accessible form of interaction that reduces the mental effort required to learn and operate computational systems. However, to date, little research has been devoted to investigating the strengths and limitations of applying reality-based interaction for promoting learning of complex scientific concepts at the college level. We propose that RBIs offer unique opportunities for enhancing college-level science education. This paper presents three main contributions: (1) design considerations and participatory design process for enhancing college-level science education through reality-based interaction, (2) reflections on the design, implementation, and validation of two case studies—RBIs for learning synthetic biology, and (3) discussion of opportunities and challenges for advancing learning of college-level sciences through next-generation interfaces.     

Responsiveness of ‘Conference’ pears to 1‐methylcyclopropene: the role of harvest date,orchard location and year

BACKGROUND: In some pear varieties like ‘Conference’, 1‐methylcyclopropene (1‐MCP) treatment often impairs the ripening process indefinitely and the pears remain ‘evergreen’. To better understand this behaviour, the influence of the harvest date, orchard location and year on the effectiveness of 1‐MCP treatment was investigated. RESULTS: Pear softening was inhibited by 1‐MCP treatment and the effectiveness of the treatment depended on harvest date, orchard location and year. Differences in the rate of softening in 1‐MCP‐treated pears depended mainly on the fruit physiological maturity at the moment of 1‐MCP treatment. Accordingly, the combination of the Streif index and ethylene production at harvest appeared to be able to predict the evergreen behaviour. Treated pears with a low Streif index (<0.8) and high ethylene production at harvest (≥0.23 µL kg^?1 h^?1) maintain significantly high firmness but did soften during shelf life, reaching acceptable eating quality. CONCLUSION: Evergreen behaviour was mainly influenced by the initial fruit maturity and especially by the ability of the fruit to produce ethylene at the moment of treatment. More mature fruit were able to overcome the inhibition by 1‐MCP, and the solution to prevent evergreen behaviour therefore lies in the adequate determination of harvest maturity. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

畅谈文化的可持续性——设计产业周的对话

关于香港西九规划的讨论,BODW再一次向民众征取意见,今年请到的嘉宾有古根汉基金会副董事Ari Wiseman,Herzog&de Meuron事务所合伙人Ascan Mergenthaler,慕尼黑国际设计博物馆副馆长Corinna Roesner以及日本建筑师隈研吾Kengo Kuma。     

Children's state anxiety in reaction to disaster media cues: A preliminary test of a multivariate model.

This study examined a multivariate conceptual model regarding the relations among life events, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, social support, and negative coping, and how these relations influence children's state anxiety in reaction to disaster media cues. Participants were 248 Hispanic/Latino elementary school students (Grades 2–5) from a hurricane prone region. To first examine whether children would show elevated state anxiety in response to disaster media cues, 185 (75%) of the 248 children were shown disaster media cues. These children's state anxiety was compared with the state anxiety of a comparison group: 63 children (25%) of the 248 children, who were shown a neutral weather film. The data from the 185 children shown the disaster media were used to evaluate the study's conceptual model. State anxiety was statistically significantly higher in the children shown the disaster media cues than the children shown the neutral weather film. Structural equation modeling results indicated that children's perceived available social support and use of coping strategies predicted state anxiety following exposure to the media cues of disaster. Life events and preexisting depression symptoms did not significantly predict social support and coping; child anxiety symptoms significantly predicted perceived social support. The study represents an initial step toward establishing and empirically evaluating a multivariate model of children's reactions to disaster cues. The study's findings are discussed in the context of developing preventive interventions for children at-risk for exposure to disasters. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disordered gambling as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the South Oaks Gambling Screen: Evidence for a common etiologic structure.

In a previous article, we demonstrated in a large twin study that disordered gambling (DG), as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM–IV), ran in families, that about half of the variation in liability for DG was due to familial factors, and that all of this was explained by shared genetic rather than shared environmental influences (Slutske, Zhu, Meier, & Martin, 2010). The purpose of the present study is to extend this work to include an alternative conceptualization of DG that is provided by the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) item set in order to (a) compare the magnitude of the familial resemblance obtained when using the two definitions of DG (based on the DSM–IV and the SOGS), (b) examine the extent to which the 2 definitions tap the same underlying sources of genetic and environmental variation, and (c) examine whether the same results will be obtained among men and women. The results of bivariate twin model-fitting analyses suggested that DG, as defined by the DSM–IV and the SOGS, substantially overlapped at the etiologic level among both men and women, which supports the construct validity of both the DSM and the SOGS conceptualizations of DG. This study highlights the utility of twin studies for appraising the validity of the diagnostic nomenclature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of organizational insiders' developmental feedback and proactive personality on newcomers' performance: An interactionist perspective.

Drawing from an interactionist approach and feedback research, we examine the role of developmental feedback and proactive personality on newcomer task performance and helping behavior. Data were collected from 2 high-tech joint-ventures within the information technology and manufacturing industries located in Shanghai, China. Results based on 151 newcomer–manager dyads showed that supervisor developmental feedback (SDF) positively related to newcomer helping behavior and that SDF and coworker developmental feedback interactively predicted newcomer task performance. We also found differential moderating effects of proactive personality: SDF more strongly related to helping behavior when proactive personality was lower; conversely, coworker developmental feedback more strongly related to helping behavior when proactive personality was higher. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)