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The effect of potential climate change on groundwater-dependent vegetation largely depends on the nature of the climate change (drying or wetting) and the level of current ecosystem dependence on groundwater resources. In south-western Australia, climate projections suggest a high likelihood of a warmer and drier climate. The paper examines the potential environmental impacts by 2030 at the regional scale on groundwater-dependent terrestrial vegetation (GDTV) adapted to various watertable depths, on the basis of the combined consideration of groundwater modelling results and the framework for GDTV risk assessment. The methodology was tested for the historical period from 1984 to 2007, allowing validation of the groundwater model results' applicability to such an assessment. Climate change effects on GDTV were evaluated using nine global climate models under three greenhouse gas emission scenarios by applying the climate projections to groundwater models. It was estimated that under dry climate scenarios, GDTV is likely to be under high and severe risk over more than 20% of its current habitat area. The risk is also likely to be higher under an increase in groundwater abstraction above current volumes. The significance of climate change risk varied across the region, depending on both the intensity of the change in water regime and the sensitivity of the GDTV to such change. Greater effects were projected for terrestrial vegetation dependent on deeper groundwater (6-10 m). Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sinking of Australian cruiser HMASSydney IIin a mutually destructive battle with the German HSKKormoranoff the Western Australian coast in November 1941 was a national tragedy amplified by the failure to find the wrecked cruiser until 2008. Uncertainty over the ship’s fate and its crew led to a frenzy of speculation. Parallel to this public interest was the will to commemorate the missing sailors somewhere along the coastline opposite the battle site. And so the HMAS Sydney II Memorial in Geraldton, a highly symbolic and emotive memory landscape, was built. This paper explores this memorial as a memorial landscape to ‘the missing’—a special category of military death—and examines how this landscape offers closure to the trauma of survivors and subsequent generations by providing a narrative landscape that attempts to heal distress caused by an absent body. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

PBDEs are a class of brominated flame retardants applied to consumer goods to reduce their flammability. These compounds are lipophilic, persistent and bioaccumulate through the food web. PBDEs have been detected in human blood, adipose tissue and breast milk. There are a small number of studies reporting concentrations of PBDEs in Australian populations. These indicate that concentrations are higher than in studies reporting concentrations from Europe but lower than those from Northern America. The aim of this paper was to determine the concentrations of PBDEs in the plasma of pregnant women participating in the Australian Maternal Exposure to Toxic Substances (AMETS) study in Western Australia. The samples comprised 164 pregnant women, aged 18 years and over, who were non-smokers and not occupationally exposed to persistent substances. Participants provided blood samples at 38 weeks gestation and these were analysed for five PBDE congeners. Maternal health and birth outcomes data were also obtained. The median for sum PBDE concentrations in plasma was 53.9 pg g-1 (range 13.2 to 1390 pg g-1 ww). Concentrations were adjusted for the estimated plasma lipid content. The concentrations of Σ5PBDE ranged from 2.44 to 258 ng g-1 lipid with a median of 9.97 ng g-1 lipid. BDE-47 was the dominant congener (median 21.4 pg g-1, range < 4.95 to 1030 pg g-1) followed by BDE-153 (median 12.2 pg g-1, range < 2.94 to 353 pg g-1). There were no significant associations between maternal, housing or dietary factors and concentrations of PBDEs in this study. Maternal PBDE concentrations were not associated with infant birth weight. This study builds upon previous Australian research and shows that concentrations in this sample of Western Australian women were higher than in parts of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to test the relationships between Above Ground Biomass (AGB) and remotely sensed vegetation indices for AGB assessments in the Kimberley area in Western Australia. For 19 different sites, vegetation indices were derived from eight Landsat ETM+ scenes over a period of two years (2011-2013). The sites were divided into three groups (Open plains, Bunch grasses and Spinifex) based on similarities in dominant vegetation types. Dry and green biomass fractions were measured at these sites. Single and multiple regression relationships between vegetation indices and green and total AGB were calibrated and validated using a "leave site out" cross validation. Four tests were compared: 1) relationships between AGB and vegetation indices combining all sites; 2) separate relationships per site group; 3) multiple regressions including selected vegetation indices per site group; and 4) as in 3 but including rainfall and elevation data. Results indicate that relationships based on single vegetation indices are moderately accurate for green biomass in wide open plains covered with annual grasses. The cross-validation results for green AGB improved for a combination of indices for the Open plains and Bunch grasses sites, but not for Spinifex sites. When rainfall and elevation data are included, cross validation improved slightly with a Q2 of 0.49-0.72 for Open plains and Bunch grasses sites respectively. Cross validation results for total AGB were moderately accurate (Q2 of 0.41) for Open plains but weak or absent for other site groups despite good calibration results, indicating strong influence of site-specific factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrated cement-treated crushed rock base (HCTCRB) is produced by adding 2% Portland cement (by mass) to a standard crushed rock base (CRB) at an optimum moisture condition. The unique production process for HCTCRB is different from that of a common cement-treated base in that a remixing process is performed after the hydration of cement, preventing cementitious bonding to maintain the unbound material characteristics with an improvement in material engineering properties. This paper presents the resilient modulus () and permanent deformation (PD) characteristics of HCTCRB after variable hydration periods, water addition during compaction, and dryback. The difference in material hydration periods affected the performance of HCTCRB. However, in this study, a consistent performance trend with various hydration periods could not be found. Moisture contents have a major influence on the properties of HCTCRB. The results indicate that a higher moisture content increases the PD and decreases the of this material. The addition of more water during compaction caused inferior PD and performance even though the samples achieved a higher dry density. A dryback process to achieve a dryer condition can improve material performance. After samples were subjected to a dryback process, it was found that samples prepared by adding water during compaction showed a decrease in material performance compared with samples that were compacted without additional water. Thus, the amount of water added to mixes during compaction must be controlled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infragravity (IG) period oscillations in harbours and marinas can often lead to interruption in harbour operations due to excessive vessel movements. Field measurements in Two Rocks Marina in south-west Australia have shown that IG period oscillations were always present and the amplitude of the oscillations was related to incident swell climate and was enhanced during storm events. The marina is fronted by two shallow, shore-parallel, reef systems located ~ 3.2 and ~ 4.7 km from the shoreline. The area experiences continuous swell and frequent storm systems, particularly during winter months. This paper describes the application of a Boussinesq wave model, validated using field data, to examine: (1) source of the IG waves incident on the marina; and (2) modal characteristics of the IG period oscillations inside the marina. The cross-shore evolution of the IG wave energy was examined using simulations with different contrasting incident wave conditions, which included measured and idealised wave spectra. The model results indicated that free IG waves were generated as the wind/swell waves propagated over the offshore reef systems independent of the external forcing. During stormy sea condition, the IG energy over the primary and secondary reefs increased by a factor ~ 10 and ~ 8 respectively, compared to the IG energy at offshore. The IG wave spectrum near the marina entrance did not contain any major energy peaks, and has an almost constant energy distribution across the IG wave frequencies. However, the frequencies similar to the marina's natural oscillation periods were excited within the marina. The predicted energy distribution maps and water level snapshots inside the marina identified different oscillation modes, which included mode 1 and mode 2 oscillations corresponding to a partially enclosed water body and, zeroth mode corresponding to an open-ended water body. This study showed that in coastal regions characterised by complex offshore topography, IG waves are generated independent of offshore wave conditions, and harbours located in such environment are at risk of IG period oscillations, depending on their geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reduction of rainfall and runoff in recent years across southwest Western Australia (SWWA) has attracted attention to the climate change impact on water resources and water availability in this region. In this paper, the hydrologic impact of climate change on the Murray--Hotham catchment in SWWA has been investigated using a multi-model ensemble approach through projection of rainfall and runoff for the periods mid (2046-2065) and late (2081-2100) this century. The Land Use Change Incorporated Catchment (LUCICAT) model was used for hydrologic modelling. Model calibration was performed using (5 km) grid rainfall data from the Australian Water Availability Project (AWAP). Downscaled and bias-corrected rainfall data from 11 general circulation models (GCMs) for Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emission scenarios A2 and B1 was used in LUCICAT model to derive rainfall and runoff scenarios for 2046-2065 (mid this century) and 2081-2100 (late this century). The results of the climate scenarios were compared with observed past (1961-1980) climate. The mean annual rainfall averaged over the catchment during recent time (1981-2000) was reduced by 2.3%with respect to the observed past (1961-1980) and the resulting runoff reduction was found to be 14 %. Compared to the past, the mean annual rainfall reductions, averaged over 11 ensembles and over the period for the catchment for A2 scenario are 13.6 and 23.6% for mid and late this century respectively while the corresponding runoff reductions are 36 and 74%. For B1 scenario, the rainfall reductions were 11.9 and 11.6% for mid and late this century and the corresponding runoff reductions were 31 and 38%. Spatial distribution of rainfall and runoff changes showed that the rate of changes were higher in high rainfall areas compared to low rainfall areas. Temporal distribution of rainfall and runoff indicate that high rainfall events in the catchment reduced significantly and further reductions are projected, resulting in significant runoff reductions. A catchment scenario map has been developed by plotting decadal runoff reduction against corresponding rainfall reduction at four gauging stations for the observed and projected periods. This could be useful for planning future water resources in the catchment. Projection of rainfall and runoff made based on the GCMs varied significantly for the time periods and emission scenarios. Hence, the considerable uncertainty involved in this study though ensemble mean was used to explain the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emergency management (EM) and business continuity management (BCM) frameworks incorporate various strategic and operational measures. Defined within a number of national and international standards and guidelines, such concepts may be integrated within one another to provide increased resilience to disruptive events. Nevertheless, there is a degree of dispute regarding concept integration among security and EM professionals and bodies of knowledge. In line with cognitive psychology exemplarbased concepts, such disputes may be associated with a lack of precision in communality in the approach to EM and BCM . This paper presents a two-stage study, where stage 1 critiqued national and international literature and stage 2 applied semi-structured interviews with security managers in Western Australia. Findings indicate the existence of contradictory views on EM and its integration within BCM . As such, this study concludes that EM is considered a vital component of BCM by the majority of security managers. However, there is broader dispute regarding its degree of integration. Understanding the underpinnings of such disputes will aid in raising the standards and application of professionalism within security, EM and BCM domains, supporting clarification and definition of professional boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1970s, winter rainfall over coastal southwestern Australia (SWA) has decreased by 10%-20%, while summer rainfall has been increased by 40%-50% in the semiarid inland area. In this paper, a K-means algorithm is used to cluster rainfall patterns directly as opposed to the more conventional approach of clustering synoptic conditions (usually the mean sea level pressure) and inferring the associated rainfall. It is shown that the reduction in the coastal rainfall during winter is mainly due to fewer westerly fronts in June and July. The reduction in the frequency of strong fronts in June is responsible for half of the decreased rainfall in June-August (JJA), whereas the reduction in the frequency of weaker fronts in June and July accounts for a third of the total decrease. The increase in rainfall inland in December-February (DJF) is due to an increased frequency of easterly troughs in December and February. These rainfall patterns are linked to the southern annular mode (SAM) index and Southern Oscillation index (SOI). The reduction in coastal rainfall and the increase in rainfall inland are both related to the predominantly positive phase of SAM, especially when the phase of ENSO is neutral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Western Australia recently passed legislation that allows information about convicted sex offenders to be disclosed to the general public. After critically appraising the rationale behind community notification, this paper considers its impact on offenders’ reintegration into the community and their subsequent risk of reoffending, its potential deterrent effect and usefulness as a management tool, and implementation issues. This discussion identifies several factors that potentially moderate the effectiveness of community notification schemes and some directions for future research and the development of policy and practices in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I report on leadership for sustainability in regional schools in Western Australia (WA) in the context of the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative (AuSSI-WA). Case studies are developed to examine leading cultural change in eight WA regional schools with data presented in three representative narrative accounts. Consistency is apparent across the study as school leaders occupying both formal and informal leadership positions articulate a desire to bring about change and represent an explicit shift towards sustainability in these regional schools. In the main, these school leaders envision their schools as a place where the community works for a sustainable future; they are firm in their belief that responsibility for change is to be shared and; they recognise the importance of strategies to introduce and embed change in their schools. Such findings have implications for whole of school approaches to embedding change in our schools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: With lower consumer prices and the boom in solar PV module sales there has been a rapid increase in the number of PV modules installed on roof tops. In some instances, noticeable changes in the visual appearance of these modules have been observed, such as the occurrence of ‘snail trails’ or microcracks or discolouration. These changes raise concerns that the modules may be defective or not performing as warranted. We have examined a number of these problematic modules and identified several common defects that have appeared on installations around Australia and the effect that these defects have on the output of the individual solar modules. Results from a series of studies of modules showing these defects have been systematised and presented in this paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The performance of our cities in terms of how they deal with energy across a wide range of indicators is the key factor in reducing carbon emissions. The focus of this paper is a precinct in Perth which is about to be redeveloped. The proposed plan is modelled looking specifically at Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from: materials used in the construction, not only of the buildings but also the infrastructure (i.e. roads and paving in the public realm); electricity and gas consumption through the use of everyday residential and commercial appliances and equipment; the energy required for the pumping and treatment of water supplied to the development site including water required for the irrigation of public areas as well as for individual consumption; and private motor vehicles owned by residents on the development site. A baseline model representing the proposed plan built to existing codes and standards is used to determine the impact of a range of low-carbon interventions proposed for the development, including reducing parking and adding good quality public transport. Significant GHG emissions reductions of greater than 50% are possible at quite minimal additional cost due to the alternative systems of development that are found to be effective at a precinct scale. In order to achieve such precinct-scale innovations there are policy and regulatory barriers for electricity, thermal energy and water utility providers to overcome. There needs to be a reasonable business case for developers, energy service companies (ESCO's) and potential customers to enable investment in low carbon, precinct scale options. Some examples of these are also discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Two nuclear tests occurring off the Western Australian coast in 1956 were vital for Britain's understanding of the principles of the hydrogen bomb. Mastery of this technology was central in restoring cooperation between the United States of America and the United Kingdom. These experiments were highly influential in shaping the global security environment but have been overshadowed by commentaries exploring tests that occurred on the Australian mainland. During the Royal Commission into British Nuclear Testing in Australia of 1984 and 1985, there emerged a claim that the yield of one test was hidden from Australian officials. To this day, the yield of this test is debated, and the discrepancy in the figures cited is significant. This paper explores the significance of this test and the origins of contested claims as to its yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes prevalence is increasing in Australia, and there are stark inequities in prevalence and clinical outcomes experienced by Indigenous people and low socioeconomic groups compared with non-Indigenous and socioeconomically advantaged groups. This paper explores the impact of Indigenous status and socioeconomic disadvantage on the experience of diabetes care in the primary health setting. Data were collected through focus groups and interviews. The sample, comprising 38 participants (Indigenous and non-Indigenous), was recruited from disadvantaged areas in Perth, Australia. Data analysis was mainly deductive and based on a conceptual framework for the relationship between socioeconomic position and diabetes health outcomes. Most participants reported accessing general practitioners regularly; however, evidence of access to dietitians and podiatrists was very limited. Perceived need, cost, lack of information on available services and previous negative experiences influenced health care-seeking behaviour. Complexity and lack of coordination characterised the model of care reported by most participants. In contrast, Indigenous participants accessing an Aboriginal community-controlled health organisation reported a more accessible and coordinated experience of care. Our analysis suggests that Indigenous and socioeconomically disadvantaged people tailor their health care-seeking behaviour to the limitations imposed by their income and disadvantaged circumstances. To reduce inequities in care experiences, diabetes services in primary care need to be accessible and responsive to the needs of such groups in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recreational book reading offers significant benefit for literacy outcomes. To increase the frequency of recreational book reading in adolescents, an understanding of the reasons leading to infrequency of engagement in the practice is required. This paper explores both quantitative and qualitative data collected in a survey response to a West Australian study on adolescent book reading. Findings from this study further understandings of the reasons that may limit adolescents' recreational book reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, Western Australia has had the most centralised planning system at state level within Australia. Following the election of a Liberal-National state government in late 2008, it set about reforming significant aspects of the WA planning system. These reforms were premised on the need to ‘cut red tape’ and streamline decision-making in order to ensure sustained economic growth. This paper provides an overview of the basis and content of the reform agenda in broad terms. It then moves to examining in more detail two key planning reforms relating to the institutional and governance arrangements of the planning system: (1) the introduction of development assessment panels which were set up to ‘depoliticise’ and ‘streamline’ the development applications process; and (2) the establishment of a single redevelopment authority – Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority – that has extensive planning and development powers that override local government and WA Planning Commission planning schemes. These reforms have resulted in a more diffused, yet still centralised planning system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades faith-based schools have expanded in number, grown in diversity, and become an important part of education systems worldwide. As a result, a rich research agenda in the field has emerged. One aspect of this agenda relates to school leadership. What is particularly neglected is research on the impact of leadership theory on school leaders in faith-based schools. While large scale surveys are to be welcomed in this regard, these should be complemented by a large number of case studies. This paper, which arose from a study on a Catholic school in Western Australia, illustrates one direction which such case study work could take. It portrays how leadership theory has found its way into the cognitive frameworks used by leaders in the school to guide their work and the nature of the particular leadership theory they have assimilated within these frameworks. In particular, it indicates how one model of school leadership, namely, that of 'servant leadership', has been embraced as an overarching guide within the cognitive frameworks used by the school's leaders to guide their work and that it is an approach that is seen as being appropriate for a Catholic school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acid sulphate soils (ASS) are widely spread worldwide and are detrimental to the environment. South Yunderup is one of the coastal areas of Western Australia heavily affected by ASS. Conventional investigation is costly and time-consuming, and thus there is an urgent need to rapidly characterize and identify this type of soil. This paper aims to characterize these soils using reflectance spectra, which may be one of the most significant steps in effectively identifying them and mapping their extent by remote sensing. The ASS from the study area were divided into several groups and subtypes according to both pH measurements and mineral composition as identified by X-ray diffraction analysis. Each group and subtype was then characterized by its spectral reflectance features. We found that the spectral characteristics of ASS are governed by the spectral features of its compositional minerals. In particular, some secondary iron-bearing minerals produced by the formation of ASS, together with surrounding minerals such as carbonate, play vitally important roles in influencing the spectral characterization of ASS. These iron-bearing minerals, including iron oxides, hydroxides/oxyhydroxides (e.g. haematite, goethite, and ferrihydrite), and iron sulphates (e.g. jarosite and copiapite), have diagnostic spectral features and are therefore detectable in the reflectance range. Moreover, these secondary iron-bearing minerals could be indicators suggesting the pH conditions in which they formed. The results of this study include the overall mineral distribution of the study area, the spectral characterization of different groups and subtypes of ASS, and the linkages between spectral features and pH ranges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a new approach to represent the effects of time on the shaft friction of displacement piles in sand. The proposal is based on the findings from pile test programmes performed at a test bed site in Western Australia in addition to data from well-documented full-scale pile tests. The investigation reveals a significant influence of installation disturbance on the subsequent gain in capacity (set-up) of shaft friction. Set-up is viewed as a recovery process, rather than a capacity gain, following the disturbance induced by pile installation. Gains in capacity in the medium and longer term tend to vary with the logarithm of time, while capacity changes shortly after installation are seen to be relatively small. A new expression is proposed to represent this ageing characteristic, which also incorporates a limiting (or maximum available) shaft friction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions about directors' duties and a company's creditors have again become topical. Those questions have been asked and answered by reference to a theory that the directors of a company must have regard to the interests of the company's creditors. And that theory may be seen to have been given particular content by the decision of the Court of Appeal of Western Australia in what has come to be known as 'the Bell Group litigation'. One of the principal purposes of this paper is to explore the foundations and limits of 'the consider-creditors theory'. It does so by referring to directors' duties to the company and the notion of the 'interests of the company'. And it concludes that 'the consider-creditors theory' is properly to be understood as a solution in search of a problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liu, X.; Xia, J. (C.); Blenkinsopp, C.; Arnold, L., and Wright, G., 2014. High water mark determination based on the principle of spatial continuity of the swash probability This study presents a model that determines the position of the high water mark (HWM) based on the spatial continuity of inundation probability due to swash for a range of HWM indicators. These indicators include mean high water (MHW), high water line (HWL), and a number of shoreline features, such as the vegetation line. HWM identifies the landward extent of the ocean and is required for cadastral boundary definition, land-use and infrastructure development along the foreshore ,and for planning associated with climate change adaptation. In this paper, shoreline indicators are extracted using an object-oriented image analysis (OOIA) approach. Ten-year hourly swash heights (shoreline excursion length) are fitted into a cumulative distribution function. The probability that swash will reach the various HWM indicators over a 10 y period is then estimated. The spatial continuity distances of the swash probability of HWM indicators are calculated using semivariogram models that measure similarity of swash probability. The spatial continuity distance is defined as the distance between the lower bound of sampling position (the most seaward HWM indicator) and the position where autocorrelation, or the similarity of swash probability of the various HWM indictors, approaches zero. The latter is considered as the HWM position in this study. This HWM determination method is evaluated at two study sites at different latitudes and with distinct coastal features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forced amalgamation is a ubiquitous feature of Australian local government reform - compulsory council consolidation programs have occurred in all states and territories, with the sole exception of Western Australia. However, the Final Report of the Metropolitan Local Government - released in October 2012 - called for a reduction of about 60 per cent of the local authorities in the Greater Perth metropolitan area. The Western Australian Government responded by announcing that the number of Perth councils will fall from 30 to 14 from 1 July 2015. The Final Report recommended amalgamation on seven main counts, including scale economies. However, apart from citing work on Tasmania by commercial consultants Deloitte Access Economics (DAE) (2011), no econometric evidence was produced in support of claims on scale economies. This paper seeks to remedy this deficiency by estimating a number of econometric models on the impact of amalgamation on Perth local government. The results of our empirical modelling suggest that scale economies, cost savings and other pecuniary gains are largely illusory. Indeed, only two of the ten main local government functions provide evidence to suggest potential economies of scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2010 a group of teacher educators from four universities, experienced in rural and remote education, formed the Tertiary Educators Rural, Regional and Remote Network (TERRR Network). The collaborative goal was to improve the quality of graduates taking appointments beyond the metropolitan areas of Western Australia. The TERRR Network developed a research project to improve the capacity of universities to prepare teachers for employment in rural and remote locations. A range of outcomes emerged from the project, including: 1) the development of seven rural and remote-oriented curricula modules linked to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers; 2) a cross-institutional field experience, and; 3) the development of a community of practice involving the Department of Education, universities and schools to address the logistical implications of placing pre-service students in rural and remote locations. This paper reports on the five phases of the project design, with a focus on learning in the field and concludes with reflections on the collaborative process used by the four universities in order to ensure that research evidence informs future policy and program development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Albany in Western Australia lays claim to special commemorative status as the last Australian place of anchor for the fleet that carried Australian and New Zealand troops to Egypt and eventually the slopes of Gallipoli in 1915. Recently, this claim has been given credibility by the National Commission on the Commemoration of the Anzac Centenary in Australia, a federal body set up to guide the Anzac centenary celebrations beginning in 2014. Albany’s aim is to mark out spaces of pilgrimage and ritual and to place itself at the ‘beginning’ of the Anzac narrative and tourist-pilgrim journeys to Gallipoli. Through an exploration of the sacralisation of the Albany landscape, this paper shows how Albany is pursuing its share of the Anzac mythology and concluding that leaving the shores of Albany may be as commemoratively important to the story of Anzac as arriving on the shores of Gallipoli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined all the previously published records of polychaetes from the Kimberley Project Area as well as unpublished records from Australian museum records and updated any recent nomenclatural changes. Over 260 species from 43 families have been reported and we suggest that this number will increase considerably as more survey work is carried out in the area and additional habitats such as soft sediments are properly surveyed. At this stage many of these species appear to have wide distributions with few endemic species recorded, but we anticipate this will increase with taxonomic revisions incorporating both molecular and morphological techniques. We hope this paper will advertise the availability of this material to specialists for incorporation into their Australian revisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the paucity of research pertaining to Indigenous vocal music in the south-west of Western Australia and the present endangered state of traditional music knowledge in the region, this paper discusses contemporary community-driven Noongar language revitalisation activities and explores relevant archival song texts. Oral accounts and archival records from the south-west of Western Australia highlight the centrality of vocal music in the local Aboriginal (Noongar) society. Accordingly, Noongar people composed songs in response to new experiences and phenomena as colonial influence extended across the south-west in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These compositions experiment with point-of-view, vocabulary and metaphor, indicating the ability for Noongar singing traditions to maintain continuity and intergenerational transmission while demonstrating linguistic, thematic and semantic flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptual and methodological differences notwithstanding, both the 'new' economic geography and evolutionary economic geography insist that both history and geography matter when accounting for the changing spatial distribution of economic activities. To date, discourse has been conducted largely at a theoretical level, with few attempts to evaluate the empirical validity of either of these competing claims about the dynamics of the capitalist space economy. In this paper we contribute to this evolving discourse by utilizing a dynamic econometric perspective to empirically test the key notions of path dependence, place dependence, and equilibrium dependence in the context of a 'peripheral' resource dependent and export-oriented economy: Western Australia, 1984-2011. We find evidence of 'weak' path dependence in the evolution of local unemployment rates, with a small number of local labor markets exhibiting 'strong' equilibrium dependence. Furthermore, we find evidence of 'place' dependence, particularly between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan labor markets, suggesting the existence of a 'patchwork economy'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and hypothesis: We previously described a declining rate of surgery in the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) in Western Australia. This paper builds on previous work by examining temporal trends and the post-operative risk of in-hospital complications, following first time incident prolapse surgery in a population-based cohort of women. Methods: We investigated rates of prolapse surgery between 1988 and 2005 according to age group and concomitant procedure type for 34,509 women whose data were extracted from the WA Data Linkage System. We investigated changes over time in the demographic characteristics of women undergoing surgery and whether the presence of selected concomitant procedures increased the risk of in-hospital complications. Results: During the study period, 34,509 women underwent an incident surgery for POP. Concomitant hysterectomy was performed in more than half of all surgeries (52.4 %) and a concomitant urinary incontinence (UI) surgery was noted in 25.8 %. 10.9 % of patients experienced a complication of interest, with the highest percentage of complications recorded in women who underwent multi-concomitant surgery. After controlling for age, comorbidity and time period we found that concomitant UI surgery increases in-hospital complications (OR 1.61 95 % CI 1.42–1.83) only in women who have a repair procedure (colporrhaphy and/or enterocele repair). There was no significant effect of concomitant procedures in women who underwent a combined repair and apical prolapse procedure. Conclusions: Surgery to treat prolapse is common, has low mortality and concomitant surgery only increases complications when combined with simpler prolapse surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. This study of equity and access characterises admissions for coronary, cerebrovascular and peripheral arterial disease by hospital type (rural, tertiary and non-tertiary metropolitan) in a representative Australian population. Methods. We conducted a descriptive analysis using data linkage of all residents aged 35-84 years hospitalised in Western Australia with a primary diagnosis for an atherothrombotic event in 2007. We compared sociodemographic and clinical features by atherothrombotic territory and hospital type. Results. There were 11 670 index admissions for atherothrombotic disease in 2007 of which 46% were in tertiary hospitals, 41% were in non-tertiary metropolitan hospitals and 13% were in rural hospitals. Coronary heart disease comprised 72% of admissions, followed by cerebrovascular disease (19%) and peripheral arterial disease (9%). Comparisons of socioeconomic disadvantage reveal that for those admitted to rural hospitals, more than one-third were in the most disadvantaged quintile, compared with one-fifth to any metropolitan hospital. Conclusions. Significant differences in demographic characteristics were evident between Western Australian tertiary and non-tertiary hospitals for patients hospitalised for atherothrombotic disease. Notably, the differences among tertiary, non-tertiary metropolitan and rural hospitals were related to socioeconomic disadvantage. This has implications for atherothrombotic healthcare provision and the generalisation of research findings from studies conducted exclusively in the tertiary metropolitan hospitals. What is known about the topic? Equity and access to hospital care for atherothrombotic disease in a geographically diverse population is poorly characterised. National data show that both fatal and non-fatal coronary heart disease and non-fatal stroke hospitalisations increase with remoteness. Fatal in-hospital stroke is greatest in major cities, whereas peripheral arterial disease hospitalisations are greatest in the inner and outer regional areas. What does this paper add? This study demonstrates that around 13% of atherothrombotic events were treated in rural hospitals with in-hospital case fatality higher than in tertiary and non-tertiary metropolitan hospitals. A greater proportion of atherothrombotic disease cases treated in rural hospitals were in the most disadvantaged Socioeconomic Indices For Area group. What are the implications for practitioners? It is important to consider differences in disadvantage when generalising results of studies generated from tertiary hospital data to non-tertiary metropolitan and rural patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To explore health professionals' views about Australian Indigenous people's health and the delivery of healthcare to them in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Methods An open-ended questionnaire was used to gather information from health professionals located across diverse regions in the Pilbara. The responses were analysed with the use of thematic analysis. In the first stage, codes were developed by assigning names to small sections of the interview transcripts. Next, the most salient incisive codes were identified and developed into themes that captured the most important issues. Findings Twenty-eight health professionals indicated that the most important health issues were chronic diseases, substance abuse and ear disease. These health issues were often attributed to a cycle of poor health perpetuated throughout generations. Educational initiatives were thought to be integral to intervening in this cycle. Of particular importance in improving the effectiveness of educational initiatives was facilitating the participation of Australian Indigenous peoples to determine the content of such initiatives. The other main issues the health professionals identified were lifting the standard of Australian Indigenous housing and implementing strategies to improve the continuity of healthcare. Conclusion Educational initiatives need to be prioritised to improve the health of Australian Indigenous people in the Pilbara and the initiatives should be delivered with the involvement of the local community in order to increase the likelihood of sustained behavioural change. Innovative solutions are required to improve the continuity of healthcare in the Pilbara, including increased use of mobile services. What is known about this topic? About two out of every three Indigenous adults in the Pilbara experience a chronic health condition. Moreover, compared with non-Indigenous peoples in the region, Indigenous peoples experience a significantly higher mortality rate for numerous chronic health conditions. Although some information is available about the provision of health services for Indigenous people in the Pilbara, little is known about its adequacy or how it could be most effectively delivered. What does this paper add? This study details health professionals' views about the types of health conditions that need to be prioritised in addressing the health needs of Indigenous people in the Pilbara. It also details health professionals' perceptions of gaps in health service delivery for Indigenous people in the Pilbara and examines how these services could be most effectively delivered. What are the implications for practitioners? Educational initiatives need to be prioritised to improve the health of Australian Indigenous people in the Pilbara and the initiatives should be delivered with the involvement of the local community in order to increase the likelihood of sustained behavioural change. Innovative solutions are required to improve the continuity of healthcare in the Pilbara, including increased use of mobile services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The largest Neoarchean gold deposits in the world-class St Ives Goldfield, Western Australia, occur in an area known as the Argo-Junction region (e.g. Junction, Argo and Athena). Why this region is so well endowed with large deposits compared with other parts of the St Ives Goldfield is currently unclear, because gold deposits at St Ives are hosted by a variety of lithologic units and were formed during at least three different deformational events. This paper presents an investigation into the stratigraphic architecture and evolution of the Argo-Junction region to assess its implications for gold metallogenesis. The results show that the region's stratigraphy may be subdivided into five regionally correlatable packages: mafic lavas of the Paringa Basalt; contemporaneously resedimented feldspar-rich pyroclastic debris of the Early Black Flag Group; coarse polymictic volcanic debris of the Late Black Flag Group; thick piles of mafic lavas and sub-volcanic sills of the Athena Basalt and Condenser Dolerite; and the voluminous quartz-rich sedimentary successions of the Early Merougil Group. In the Argo-Junction region, these units have an interpreted maximum thickness of at least 7,130 m, and thus represent an unusually thick accumulation of the Neoarchean volcano-sedimentary successions. It is postulated that major basin-forming structures that were active during deposition and emplacement of the voluminous successions later acted as important conduits during mineralisation. Therefore, a correlation exists between the location of the largest gold deposits in the St Ives Goldfield and the thickest parts of the stratigraphy. Recognition of this association has important implications for camp-scale exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Social impact mitigation strategies are implemented by the proponents of policies and projects with the intent of reducing the negative, and increasing the positive social impacts of their activities, and facilitating the achievement of policy/project goals. Evaluation of mitigation strategies is critical to improving their future success and cost-effectiveness. This paper evaluates two Forest Industry Structural Adjustment Packages (FISAP) implemented in Australia in the 1990s to 2000s as part of broader policy changes that reduced access to timber from publicly owned native forests. It assesses the effectiveness of the structure, design, implementation and monitoring of the FISAPs, and highlights the interactions between these four elements and their influence on social impacts. The two FISAPs were found to be effective in terms of reducing negative impacts, encouraging positive impacts and contributing towards policy goals, although they did not mitigate negative impacts in all cases, and sometimes interacted with external factors and additional policy changes to contribute to significant short and long term negative impacts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives. To explore how Western Australian mental health clinicians want to evaluate their care. Methods. Using a participatory action research framework, 10 senior psychiatrists and 11 clinical nurse specialists working in an inpatient mental health setting participated in individual interviews, focus groups and meetings. All interviews were de-identified during transcription and transcripts and field notes were analysed for common themes. Results. Participants identified what they wanted to measure, how they wanted to measure it and how these changes could be implemented. Clinicians stressed the importance of measuring context (physical, clinical and service) and process as well as outcome, and of evaluating care at an individual and service level with consumer involvement. What is known about the topic? Completion rates of mandatory national outcome measures in mental health in Australia are variable and clinicians have mixed views as to their value. Several barriers have been identified as to their use including clinical, resource and ownership issues. What does this paper add? Some studies have identified areas of good practice and elicited practical suggestions for improvement but few have asked clinicians how they actually want to evaluate the care they provide. This study explored how mental health clinicians wanted to evaluate their care, using a participatory action research framework that encouraged participants to pinpoint problems and issues, account for their social context and develop actions to address them. What are the implications for practitioners? Clinicians were enthusiastic for high quality care and evaluation, but pessimistic about their ability to introduce sustainable change. Establishing and supporting active and responsible leadership at service level may solve this, as may encouraging local standard setting and benchmarking in collaboration with consumers and carers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Failure to recognise or acknowledge and respond to local cultural manifestations of Indigenous peoples' attempts to maintain or reassert themselves in spaces of intercultural engagement in resource management denies the power of their own cultural foundations and principles. This paper reviews experience of informal negotiations at the Argyle Diamond Mine in Western Australia. It argues that giving careful consideration to specific cultural practices and processes associated with place and the social relations these practices engender facilitates development of transforming practices that change outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driven by economic restructuring, environmental degradation, and demographic shifts, the vast Wheatbelt region of Western Australia is faced with ongoing population decline as residents leave farms and towns for the coastal urban centers. Landscape architects are increasingly engaged by local communities and governments to facilitate the efforts of rural towns that seek to address decline. Revitalization efforts tend to be undertaken in isolation on a town- by- town basis, and frequently encounter limited opportunities for reversing structural decline in marginal agricultural regions. This paper expands the limited body of knowledge on this topic by contributing a contextual overview of the types of projects undertaken in Wheatbelt town revitalization and the actual and potential role of landscape architecture in catalyzing these endeavors. This exposition also presents alternative criteria for evaluating the success of town revitalization initiatives other than population and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Mental health nursing education in Australia has undergone a significant transition in the last 50 years, influenced by national inquiries, national decisions, and international trends in nursing education. But mental health nursing education had also accumulated decades of history in each state, including sometimes unequal relations with general nursing. Complex inter- and intra-professional relationships at state level influenced this educational transition in each state, and Western Australia provides an example of this influence. Using a range of published and unpublished sources, including oral histories, this paper describes the revision of the mental health nursing curriculum in Western Australia from 1958, responses to the call for transition to the tertiary sector between 1976 and 1984, and the final transition of mental health nursing education to university level in Western Australia in 1994. Mental health nursing's educational standards improved only gradually in Western Australia from 1958 onwards, compared with professional advances in general nursing in the same period. Factors which may have held back these improvements include mental health nursing's professional conservatism, which was outpaced by general nursing's growing radicalization at the national level. A lack of professional confidence and cohesion left mental health nursing unable to respond effectively to rapid external changes in the 1960s and 1970s, and vulnerable to absorption and dominance by general nursing education programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Public deliberation is recommended for obtaining citizen input to policy development when policies involve contested ethical dimensions, diverse perspectives on how to trade-off competing public interests and low public awareness of these perspectives. Several norms have been proposed for the design of deliberative methods. Evidence is scarce regarding whether such norms are achievable in practice. Purpose: This paper refers to principles of deliberative democracy theory to describe a deliberative public forum on biobanking. Practical challenges and contextual facilitators of achieving deliberative ideals are discussed, along with factors that influenced use of the forum output in policy development. Method: The forum ran for 4 days over two weekends in Perth, Western Australia. Key methodological features were socio-demographic stratification to randomly recruit a mini-public of citizens for discursive representation, provision of information inclusive of diverse perspectives and framed for difference, provision of a fair way for reasoning and collective decision making and adoption of processes to achieve publicity, accountability and independence from undue institutional influence. Results: Most design principles were achieved in practice, with the fundamental exception of representativeness. Factors influencing these outcomes, and the use of deliberated outputs to develop policy, included institutional characteristics, the design involvement of deliberative experts and quality of the outputs when compared to other consultation methods. Conclusions: Public deliberations can achieve design ideals and influence (ethics-based) public health policy. The representation of 'hard to reach' citizens and their views needs further consideration, particularly as this relates to the procedural legitimacy of ethical analyses and the just inclusion of deliberative citizen advice within the broader policy-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]