The discovery of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave signal has generated follow-up observations by over 50 facilities world-wide, ushering in the new era of multi-messenger astronomy. In this paper, we present follow-up observations of the gravitational wave event GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart SSS17a/DLT17ck (IAU label AT2017gfo) by 14 Australian telescopes and partner observatories as part of Australian-based and Australian-led research programs. We report early- to late-time multi-wavelength observations, including optical imaging and spectroscopy, mid-infrared imaging, radio imaging, and searches for fast radio bursts. Our optical spectra reveal that the transient source emission cooled from approximately 6 400 K to 2 100 K over a 7-d period and produced no significant optical emission lines. The spectral profiles, cooling rate, and photometric light curves are consistent with the expected outburst and subsequent processes of a binary neutron star merger. Star formation in the host galaxy probably ceased at least a Gyr ago, although there is evidence for a galaxy merger. Binary pulsars with short (100 Myr) decay times are therefore unlikely progenitors, but pulsars like PSR B1534+12 with its 2.7 Gyr coalescence time could produce such a merger. The displacement (~2.2 kpc) of the binary star system from the centre of the main galaxy is not unusual for stars in the host galaxy or stars originating in the merging galaxy, and therefore any constraints on the kick velocity imparted to the progenitor are poor.

In recent years there has been increasing use of mineral blocks in the diets of sheep both at mating time and in pregnancy. However, recent work carried out at this institute (Joyce, 2000) found that lambs whose dams had access to mineral blocks had significantly lower IgG serum values at 24 hours than lambs whose dams had no access to mineral blocks. This experiment investigated further the effects of supplementing the pregnant ewe diet with mineral blocks on IgG absorption efficiency and on the level of faecal adhesion to the tail-end of the lambs in early life.

The production of early-weaned lamb is a high cost production system with the major cost being the concentrate consumed by the lamb. However the transformation of concentrate to weight gain is more efficient when the concentrate is fed to the lamb directly rather than fed to the dam and the lamb avails of the mother’s milk. This type of finishing system requires a lamb with a high lean proportion in the carcass, a trait that characterises Texel cross lambs. Molasses, a by-product of the sugar processing industry, is high in soluble carbohydrates and is a common ingredient in commercial animal feed formulations. Inclusion levels in excess of 10% have been reported to cause excessive stickiness of the feed (Ewing, 1997). Molasses based diets increase propionic acid concentrations in sheep (Cortez et al., 1987), which promotes soft carcass fat (Bozzolo et al., 1990). The objective of this experiment was to determine the optimum inclusion rate of molasses in the diet of early-weaned lambs, based on growth rate, lamb cleanliness and carcass characteristics.

The Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST) is an 18000 m2 radio telescope located 40 km from Canberra, Australia. Its operating band (820–851 MHz) is partly allocated to telecommunications, making radio astronomy challenging. We describe how the deployment of new digital receivers, Field Programmable Gate Array-based filterbanks, and server-class computers equipped with 43 Graphics Processing Units, has transformed the telescope into a versatile new instrument (UTMOST) for studying the radio sky on millisecond timescales. UTMOST has 10 times the bandwidth and double the field of view compared to the MOST, and voltage record and playback capability has facilitated rapid implementaton of many new observing modes, most of which operate commensally. UTMOST can simultaneously excise interference, make maps, coherently dedisperse pulsars, and perform real-time searches of coherent fan-beams for dispersed single pulses. UTMOST operates as a robotic facility, deciding how to efficiently target pulsars and how long to stay on source via real-time pulsar folding, while searching for single pulse events. Regular timing of over 300 pulsars has yielded seven pulsar glitches and three Fast Radio Bursts during commissioning. UTMOST demonstrates that if sufficient signal processing is applied to voltage streams, innovative science remains possible even in hostile radio frequency environments.

The class of radio transients called Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) encompasses enigmatic single pulses, each unique in its own way, hindering a consensus for their origin. The key to demystifying FRBs lies in discovering many of them in order to identity commonalities – and in real time, in order to find potential counterparts at other wavelengths. The recently upgraded UTMOST in Australia, is undergoing a backend transformation to rise as a fast transient detection machine. The first interferometric detections of FRBs with UTMOST, place their origin beyond the near-field region of the telescope thus ruling out local sources of interference as a possible origin. We have localised these bursts to much better than the ones discovered at the Parkes radio telescope and have plans to upgrade UTMOST to be capable of much better localisation still.

This paper will discuss the structure-property model developed that correlates the tensile modulus to the elastic properties and angular distribution of constituent graphitic layers for carbon fiber derived from a polyethylene precursor. In addition, a high-temperature fiber tensile device was built to enable heating of carbon fiber bundles at a variable rate from 25 °C to greater than ∼2300 °C, while simultaneously applying a tensile stress. This capability combined with synchrotron wide-angle x-ray diffraction (WAXD), enabled observation in situ and in real time of the microstructural transformation from different carbon fiber precursors to high-modulus carbon fiber. Experiments conducted using PAN- and PE-derived fiber precursors reveal stark differences in their carbonization and high-temperature graphitization behavior.

Cu(In, Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells are under investigation for 1-sun and concentrator applications. Design criteria are examined and reveal that only grid design modifications are required. In the special case where cell width dimensions are 4–5 cm, an interdigitated design removes the back contact as a loss mechanism. Processing issues relating to the intrinsic ZnO layer are critical to optimal and reproducible cell performance. 1-sun and 20 sun performance of 17.7% are reported for different cells. The latter represents a 2.9% absolute improvement over the 1-sun control measurement. 20% performance is therefore a realistic goal. CIGS-based cells represent a viable concentrator technology.

The following theorem was published in [2].

Theorem. There exists a constant δ > 0 such that for Lebesgue almost every (α, β) ∈ X = [0, 1] × [0, 1], there exists no = no(α, β) such that for any n > no

where the integers pn, qn, rn are provided by the modified Jacobi-Perron algorithm.

A case of extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma of the maxillary sinus in a 45-year-old man is reported and discussed. This is the first report of this tumour in thissite.