Most High Court decisions which touch upon the Australian Constitution are posthumously examined in academic literature. Some, though too few, have been subjected to more lengthy and detailed analysis. The Franklin Dam case is not an exception. Within eighteen months, it has consumed a substantial number of pages of commentary. Prominent are discussions concerning specific constitutional powers — corporations, race, external affairs and nationhood — and prohibitions — ss 51(xxxi) and 100 and implied restrictions. General premises and themes which underlie the processes of constitutional adjudication have attracted rather less attention. There has been some enunciation of interpretative principles and discussion of the political dimensions of judicial review. Further elaboration would be invaluable. Perhaps, commentators are waiting for the dust to settle before advancing to these, and other, more nebulous aspects of constitutional decision-making. When they do so, the dimensions of Australian constitutional law scholarship could be irretrievably enhanced.

Can the formal amendment process embodied in s 128 of the Commonwealth Constitution be utilised to patriate the Constitution, to make Australia a republic, to establish a Bill of Rights, to abolish State Constitutions or Parliaments and to alter s 128 itself or provide a completely new amendment procedure? What is the ambit of s 128? This article considers the history, scope and interpretation of s 128.

Large-scale geological structures have controlled the long-term development of the bed and thus the flow of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). However, complete ice cover has obscured the age and exact positions of faults and geological boundaries beneath Thwaites Glacier and Pine Island Glacier, two major WAIS outlets in the Amundsen Sea sector. Here, we characterize the only rock outcrop between these two glaciers, which was exposed by the retreat of slow-flowing coastal ice in the early 2010s to form the new Sif Island. The island comprises granite, zircon U-Pb dated to ~177–174 Ma and characterized by initial ɛNd, 87Sr/86Sr and ɛHf isotope compositions of -2.3, 0.7061 and -1.3, respectively. These characteristics resemble Thurston Island/Antarctic Peninsula crustal block rocks, strongly suggesting that the Sif Island granite belongs to this province and placing the crustal block's boundary with the Marie Byrd Land province under Thwaites Glacier or its eastern shear margin. Low-temperature thermochronological data reveal that the granite underwent rapid cooling following emplacement, rapidly cooled again at ~100–90 Ma and then remained close to the Earth's surface until present. These data help date vertical displacement across the major tectonic structure beneath Pine Island Glacier to the Late Cretaceous.

To investigate the symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection, their dynamics and their discriminatory power for the disease using longitudinally, prospectively collected information reported at the time of their occurrence. We have analysed data from a large phase 3 clinical UK COVID-19 vaccine trial. The alpha variant was the predominant strain. Participants were assessed for SARS-CoV-2 infection via nasal/throat PCR at recruitment, vaccination appointments, and when symptomatic. Statistical techniques were implemented to infer estimates representative of the UK population, accounting for multiple symptomatic episodes associated with one individual. An optimal diagnostic model for SARS-CoV-2 infection was derived. The 4-month prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 was 2.1%; increasing to 19.4% (16.0%–22.7%) in participants reporting loss of appetite and 31.9% (27.1%–36.8%) in those with anosmia/ageusia. The model identified anosmia and/or ageusia, fever, congestion, and cough to be significantly associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Symptoms’ dynamics were vastly different in the two groups; after a slow start peaking later and lasting longer in PCR+ participants, whilst exhibiting a consistent decline in PCR- participants, with, on average, fewer than 3 days of symptoms reported. Anosmia/ageusia peaked late in confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (day 12), indicating a low discrimination power for early disease diagnosis.

The Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) has surveyed the sky at multiple frequencies as part of the Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS). The first two RACS observing epochs, at 887.5 (RACS-low) and 1 367.5 (RACS-mid) MHz, have been released (McConnell, et al. 2020, PASA, 37, e048; Duchesne, et al. 2023, PASA, 40, e034). A catalogue of radio sources from RACS-low has also been released, covering the sky south of declination $+30^{\circ}$ (Hale, et al., 2021, PASA, 38, e058). With this paper, we describe and release the first set of catalogues from RACS-mid, covering the sky below declination $+49^{\circ}$. The catalogues are created in a similar manner to the RACS-low catalogue, and we discuss this process and highlight additional changes. The general purpose primary catalogue covering 36 200 deg$^2$ features a variable angular resolution to maximise sensitivity and sky coverage across the catalogued area, with a median angular resolution of $11.2^{\prime\prime} \times 9.3^{\prime\prime}$. The primary catalogue comprises 3 105 668 radio sources, including those in the Galactic Plane (2 861 923 excluding Galactic latitudes of $|b|<5^{\circ}$), and we estimate the catalogue to be 95% complete for sources above 2 mJy. With the primary catalogue, we also provide two auxiliary catalogues. The first is a fixed-resolution, 25-arcsec catalogue approximately matching the sky coverage of the RACS-low catalogue. This 25-arcsec catalogue is constructed identically to the primary catalogue, except images are convolved to a less-sensitive 25-arcsec angular resolution. The second auxiliary catalogue is designed for time-domain science and is the concatenation of source lists from the original RACS-mid images with no additional convolution, mosaicking, or de-duplication of source entries to avoid losing time-variable signals. All three RACS-mid catalogues, and all RACS data products, are available through the CSIRO ASKAP Science Data Archive (https://research.csiro.au/casda/).

Infants with complex cyanotic CHD can become symptomatic from insufficient pulmonary blood supply following either ductal closure or due to outflow tract obstruction. Blalock–Taussig shunt mortality remains significant and recent studies have highlighted the advantages of using transcatheter alternatives. We present here our experience in changing our primary choice of palliation from the Blalock–Taussig shunt to transcatheter palliation with either a ductal stent or, if antegrade flow is present, a right ventricular outflow tract stent.

This is a retrospective, single-unit cohort study. Eighty-seven infants underwent palliation for insufficient pulmonary blood flow at under 3 months of age between 2012 and 2019. On an intention-to-treat basis, 29 underwent insertion of a Blalock–Taussig shunt, 36 duct stents, and 22 right ventricular outflow tract stents at median ages of 15, 9, and 32 days, respectively, and median weights of 3.3, 3.1, and 3.1 kg, respectively. No primary Blalock–Taussig shunts have been performed in our institution since 2017.

At 30-days there had been one death in each group (univariable p = 0.93) and deaths prior to repair totalled three in the shunt group, four in the ductal stent group, and two in the right ventricular outflow tract stent group (univariable p = 0.93). Reintervention on the pulmonary circuit prior to next stage of surgery was more frequent in those undergoing transcatheter intervention, reaching statistical significance by logrank (p = 0.012).

In conclusion, within this work we provide further evidence of the safety and efficacy of transition from a primary surgical to primary transcatheter palliation pathway in infants with insufficient pulmonary blood supply.

The Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) is the first large-area survey to be conducted with the full 36-antenna Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. RACS will provide a shallow model of the ASKAP sky that will aid the calibration of future deep ASKAP surveys. RACS will cover the whole sky visible from the ASKAP site in Western Australia and will cover the full ASKAP band of 700–1800 MHz. The RACS images are generally deeper than the existing NRAO VLA Sky Survey and Sydney University Molonglo Sky Survey radio surveys and have better spatial resolution. All RACS survey products will be public, including radio images (with $\sim$ 15 arcsec resolution) and catalogues of about three million source components with spectral index and polarisation information. In this paper, we present a description of the RACS survey and the first data release of 903 images covering the sky south of declination $+41^\circ$ made over a 288-MHz band centred at 887.5 MHz.

Wild sheep and many primitive domesticated breeds have two coats: coarse hairs covering shorter, finer fibres. Both are shed annually. Exploitation of wool for apparel in the Bronze Age encouraged breeding for denser fleeces and continuously growing white fibres. The Merino is regarded as the culmination of this process. Archaeological discoveries, ancient images and parchment records portray this as an evolutionary progression, spanning millennia. However, examination of the fleeces from feral, two-coated and woolled sheep has revealed a ready facility of the follicle population to change from shedding to continuous growth and to revert from domesticated to primitive states. Modifications to coat structure, colour and composition have occurred in timeframes and to sheep population sizes that exclude the likelihood of variations arising from mutations and natural selection. The features are characteristic of the domestication phenotype: an assemblage of developmental, physiological, skeletal and hormonal modifications common to a wide variety of species under human control. The phenotypic similarities appeared to result from an accumulation of cryptic genetic changes early during vertebrate evolution. Because they did not affect fitness in the wild, the mutations were protected from adverse selection, becoming apparent only after exposure to a domestic environment. The neural crest, a transient embryonic cell population unique to vertebrates, has been implicated in the manifestations of the domesticated phenotype. This hypothesis is discussed with reference to the development of the wool follicle population and the particular roles of Notch pathway genes, culminating in the specific cell interactions that typify follicle initiation.

Given the common view that pre-exercise nutrition/breakfast is important for performance, the present study investigated whether breakfast influences resistance exercise performance via a physiological or psychological effect. Twenty-two resistance-trained, breakfast-consuming men completed three experimental trials, consuming water-only (WAT), or semi-solid breakfasts containing 0 g/kg (PLA) or 1·5 g/kg (CHO) maltodextrin. PLA and CHO meals contained xanthan gum and low-energy flavouring (approximately 122 kJ), and subjects were told both ‘contained energy’. At 2 h post-meal, subjects completed four sets of back squat and bench press to failure at 90 % ten repetition maximum. Blood samples were taken pre-meal, 45 min and 105 min post-meal to measure serum/plasma glucose, insulin, ghrelin, glucagon-like peptide-1 and peptide tyrosine-tyrosine concentrations. Subjective hunger/fullness was also measured. Total back squat repetitions were greater in CHO (44 (sd 10) repetitions) and PLA (43 (sd 10) repetitions) than WAT (38 (sd 10) repetitions; P < 0·001). Total bench press repetitions were similar between trials (WAT 37 (sd 7) repetitions; CHO 39 (sd 7) repetitions; PLA 38 (sd 7) repetitions; P = 0·130). Performance was similar between CHO and PLA trials. Hunger was suppressed and fullness increased similarly in PLA and CHO, relative to WAT (P < 0·001). During CHO, plasma glucose was elevated at 45 min (P < 0·05), whilst serum insulin was elevated (P < 0·05) and plasma ghrelin suppressed at 45 and 105 min (P < 0·05). These results suggest that breakfast/pre-exercise nutrition enhances resistance exercise performance via a psychological effect, although a potential mediating role of hunger cannot be discounted.