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Abstract: This paper briefly describes Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) and reviews the history of the use of forensic anthropology in the identification process. The potential contributions made by forensic anthropology are illustrated through the presentation of a case study. In February 2009 the state of Victoria in south-eastern Australia experienced the most devastating bushfires in its history, resulting in catastrophic loss of life and public and private property. Within 48h of the disaster, forensic teams including pathologists, odontologists and anthropologists assembled at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine in Melbourne to begin the task of identifying the deceased. This paper reviews the part played by forensic anthropologists in the identification process and outlines the important contribution anthropologists can make to DVI, especially at the scene, in the mortuary and in the reconciliation process. The anthropologist''s experience with differentially preserved human remains meant they played an important role identifying and recovering heavily fragmentary human skeletal remains, differentiating human from non-human remains, establishing basic biological information such as the sex and age of the individuals and confirming or denying the possibility of re-associating body parts for release to families. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Regional-scale ecological restoration priorities such as increasing the extent and quality of native vegetation are generally planned at catchment scales, while on-ground restoration actions are generally implemented at paddock or farm scales. This paper describes the use of spatial multi-criteria assessment methodologies to construct maps of regional conservation priorities and assesses how these maps map influence farm-scale actions in Western Victoria, Australia (e.g. farm-scale revegetation for salinity, wind erosion, stock shelter, etc). The study also incorporates agricultural production in the decision analysis through the use of historical yield mapping data obtained from harvest logs from precision agriculture equipment. Via a stakeholder workshop, farmer land use priorities were elicited with and without access to maps of regional conservation priorities. Results highlight that production imperatives drive farmer-led conservation actions and that regional conservation priorities have only limited impact on actions. The paper also identifies limitations of applying MCA methods across multiple decision-making scales such as the need to generalise priorities where domain knowledge is relatively high, and the challenges associated with MCA criteria definition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Detailed and reliable information about the spatial distribution of species provides critical information for effective conservation planning. In Victoria, Australia, this responsibility is held by the Department of Sustainability and Environment, which maintains and curates a database of site records for species: the Victorian Biodiversity Atlas. But the information is provided in point form, and therefore, it does not provide an adequate view of species distributions for all management purposes. By integrating known occurrences of species with environmental GIS data layers using a machine learning algorithm, random forest, we have built species distribution models for 523 vertebrate fauna species across the whole state, providing predictive ‘maps’ that are available for use in various conservation planning activities. In this paper, we introduce and discuss the methods we developed and implemented for producing these models. Specifically, 26 explanatory variables were used for the modelling; three versions of models were built using different sets of explanatory variables; pseudo-absences were chosen by filtering random points with a profile model; model accuracy was assessed using several measures, especially lift curve-related ones; a threshold was selected for each model to transform continuous result to binary one by maximizing the sum of sensitivity and (pseudo) specificity, which was proved to be valid for presence-only data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents the details of a theoretical study of the economic advantages of using large-scale energy storage to complement a wind farm in a base-load dominated electricity grid. A computer model is developed which simulates the operation of several energy storage systems when used with the 190-MW Portland Wind Farm (PWF) located in Portland, Victoria, Australia. A variety of operating strategies are compared with the results of a dynamic programming model which finds the maximum possible revenue which a given system can generate for a set of input conditions. Three energy storage systems are modelled and costed: Pumped Seawater Hydro Storage (PSHS), Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES), and Thermal Energy Storage (TES). It is found that CAES is the most profitable storage medium, requiring a capital expenditure of A$140M and generating a rate of return (ROR) of 15.4%. The ROR for PSHS was 9.6%, and for TES was 8.0%. Therefore, a significant investment opportunity exists for the installation of an energy storage system in this wind farm. It is therefore highly recommended that CAES is investigated further with the aim of introducing large-scale energy storage to PWF and other similar wind turbine installations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Commissioned in 2009, the CO2CRC/H3 Capture Project is demonstrating post-combustion carbon capture (PCC) on a lignite fired power plant in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria, Australia. The facility is located within International Power’s Hazelwood Power Plant and uses three different CO2 capture technologies — solvent, adsorption and membrane processes. This project, addressing the PCC issues specific for Victorian brown coal fired power stations, was initiated in July 2007 as a three year research project by the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC) under the Victorian State Government’s Energy Technology Innovation Strategy (ETIS) program. The project is part of the Latrobe Valley Post Combustion Capture (LVPCC) Project — a multi site, multi scale, multi technology PCC trial. The integrated research and development program includes an evaluation of these technologies for commercial scale application. This paper describes the technologies used, how they have progressed from laboratory to pilot demonstration, the main outcomes, and plans for future developments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Disaster started on a record hot day in February 2009 and resulted in over 300 separate fires with a death toll of 173 and over 400 presentations to hospital emergency departments. This occurred a little over a week after a heat wave in which over 400 people were thought to have died prematurely in southeastern Australia. The Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine in collaboration with the police force and the State Coroner''s Office and over 100 colleagues from all over Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Japan implemented a DVI process based on Interpol guidelines to identify the deceased persons. CT scanning was conducted on all remains collected and played a pivotal role in the identification processes in conjunction with experts in pathology, anthropology, forensic odontology and molecular biology. This paper outlines the scale of the disaster and the work, from a forensic medical perspective, to identify the deceased. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The February 7th 2009 bushfires in Victoria, Australia, resulted in the deaths of 173 individuals, of whom 164 were included in the subsequent DVI operation. The final stage of the International DVI protocol is a debrief, referred to as Phase 5. The Phase 5 operational debrief process conducted in the wake of this disaster was designed for the purpose of developing new strategies in light of this experience. The agencies involved included the Coroners Court of Victoria, the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, the Department of Justice, and Victoria Police. During the course of this debriefing process strategies and protocols were developed which aim to improve the capacity of all agencies to respond and resolve future incidents. This paper outlines the Phase 5 debrief carried out in the 6 months following the final coronial identification board, and details the findings and recommendations made by the agencies involved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: As part of the disaster victim identification (DVI) response to the 2009 Victorian bushfires disaster, a number of scientific disciplines contributed to the human identification process – forensic pathology, anthropology and odontology, as well as fingerprinting and DNA profiling. The DNA laboratory received 182 post-mortem (PM) samples from 120 DVI cases and 236 reference samples corresponding to 163 missing persons (and two non-DVI cases). DNA analysis yielded full DNA profiles for 102 DVI cases and 190 ante-mortem (AM) samples (relating to all 163 missing persons), respectively. Subsequent comparison of DNA profiles, through direct and kinship matching, resulted in the submission of 76 DNA reports to the DVI Reconciliation Centre which assisted in the identification of 67 deceased. This paper describes the contribution of DNA analysis towards the DVI response to the 2009 Victorian bushfires disaster. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The re-use of biosolids is becoming increasingly popular for land applications. However, biosolids may contain elevated levels of metals and metalloids (including mercury) relative to background environmental concentrations. Consequently, reliable mercury analysis is important to allow classification of biosolids and to determine appropriate options for beneficial uses. This paper reports on a comparative study of 12 hotplate wet digestion methods for their suitability for the determination of mercury in biosolids. The methods were applied to mercury biosolids samples from four localities of two different sewage treatment plants in the State of Victoria, Australia. Samples were also spiked with methylmercury chloride and mercury sulphide to evaluate the Hg recovery in each hotplate digestion method. Aqua regia (HCl:HNO3 =3:1), reverse aqua regia (HCl:HNO3 =1:3), nitric, hydrochloric, sulphuric acid and their combinations with or without hydrogen peroxide were studied as wet digestion solutions. The method providing the best mercury recoveries was optimized. Under optimal conditions the corresponding analytical procedure consisted of 1h pre-digestion of 0.4g biosolids sample with 10ml reverse aqua regia with temperature increasing to 110°C and 3h digestion at this temperature. In the last 10min of the digestion step, 2ml hydrogen peroxide were added to ensure complete decomposition of all mercury containing compounds. After filtering and dilution with deionised water (1:10), the concentration of mercury was determined by cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry. It is expected, that the wet acid digestion method developed in this study will be also applicable to biosolids from other sewage treatment plants and to other types of solid mercury samples with elevated levels of organic matter. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• A hybrid short-term load forecasting method is proposed. • A data preprocessing module is conducted based on de-noising technique and fuzzy time series. • To balance the forecasting accuracy and stability, a multi-objective optimization algorithm is applied to optimize the BPNN model. Countries around the globe have introduced renewable energies (RE) and minimized the dependency of fossil resources in power systems to address extensive environmental risks. However, such large-scale energy transitions pose a great challenge to power systems due to the volatility of RE. Meanwhile, power demand is increasing over time and it shows temporal characteristics, such as seasonal and peak-valley patterns. Whether the future power system with a larger proportion of RE can meet the surging but fluctuated electricity demand remains problematic. Previous studies on short-term load forecasting focused more on forecasting accuracy than stability. Further, there is a relative paucity of research into temporal patterns. In order to fill in these research gaps, this paper proposes a fuzzy theory-based machine learning model for workdays and weekends short-term load forecasting. Fuzzy time series (FTS) is applied for data mining and back propagation (BP) neural network is used as the main predictor for short-term load forecasting. To exploit the trade-offs between forecasting stability and accuracy, multi-objective optimization is applied to modify the parameters of BP. Moreover, an interval forecasting architecture with several statistical tests is constructed to address forecasting uncertainties. Short-term load data from Victoria in Australia is selected as a case study. Results demonstrate that the proposed method can significantly boost forecasting stability and accuracy, and help strategy making in the field of energy and electricity system management and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the stability and deformation analysis of open-cut mines using numerical methods, one critical step is to identify and simulate the elastoplasticity of geomaterials comprising the open-cut batters. The Victorian Brown Coal (VBC) in Australia is a non-textbook geotechnical material with a hardening feature in compression leading to brittle failure while showing a sharp post-peak softening behaviour. In order to study different aspects of elastoplasticity including the hardening and post-peak softening behaviour of the VBC, a series of laboratory tests including one-dimensional oedometer and triaxial tests were carried out on undisturbed VBC specimens taken from 30 m to 50 m below the ground level in one of the largest VBC open-cut mines in Victoria. By post-processing of the triaxial and oedometer test results, a yielding phenomenon was identified at the boundary between the fully elastic and elastoplastic domains. The magnitude of the material stiffness in the elastic domain was found to be independent of the confining pressure in triaxial tests while governed by the chemical bonding of the coal particles. The post-yield behaviour, however, was a frictional hardening and ruled by the magnitude of the confining pressure leading to a failure envelope sensitive to the organic content of the material. In this paper, a unified failure envelope is defined for the VBC using the Hvorslev-type normalisation process. Furthermore, a nonlinear elastoplastic constitutive model was examined to describe the elastoplasticity of VBC in triaxial condition, which led to a good agreement between the experimental and numerical modelling results. • Different aspects of elastoplasticity of an Australian Soft Rock (VBC) were studied. • A series of laboratory tests, including oedometer and triaxial tests, were carried out. • The material stiffness in the elastic domain was found to be stress-independent. • The post-yield behaviour was found to be stress-dependant frictional hardening. • The failure envelope was found to be sensitive to the organic content of the material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]