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Abstract: Introduced marine species (IMS) can have significant impacts on economic, ecological, social and cultural aspects of coastal marine environments. There is, therefore, a need to minimise these impacts through the implementation of comprehensive and consistent management strategies and monitoring processes that work towards preventing introductions, detecting introductions if they were to occur and managing incursions should they be detected. There is also the need to ensure that approaches taken are comparable to provide consistency of IMS management effort, particularly across areas that are multi-jurisdictional (e.g. spanning State or Territory borders). A number of studies have examined IMS, their vectors and management arrangements for the Torres Strait region, a multi-jurisdictional area between Queensland, Australia and Papua New Guinea. This paper presents information from a baseline survey conducted in the Torres Strait for marine pests in conjunction with a synthesis of information from other studies on IMS risks, their vectors and management strategies of relevance to the Torres Strait region. A number of strengths, but also gaps, between the various jurisdictions have been identified and discussed. Processes such as the establishment of Biosecurity Queensland as a specialist group and the development of the National System for the Prevention and Management of Marine Pest Incursions are occurring. However, the Torres Strait region is at current risk of marine pest inoculation, particularly for species such as Perna viridis, and management strategies to minimise this risk are lacking. The information presented here will assist management groups in their ability to work towards mitigating the risk of an IMS being translocated to and negatively impacting the unique and diverse ecology of the marine systems, and the industries, people and customs that rely on the coastal marine environment for food, recreation and commerce in the Torres Strait. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper describes an environmental conservation planning model used in Queensland, Australia to purchase agreements on 66 sites covering 81,046ha at a cost of A$1.9 million. The model was used as part of a competitive tendering program called “NatureAssist”. The model maximises conservation benefit subject to a cost constraint using binary combinatorial optimisation. Multiple criteria analysis (MCA) is used to capture investor preferences and measure benefit over multiple outcomes. Conservation costs are drawn from real market data; i.e. the prices being offered by sellers (landholders) to supply conservation services to a buyer (the government). This study shows the potential strengths, and weaknesses, of taking an MCA approach to select conservation sites in a real market context. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper provides a feasibility analysis of renewable energy supply (RES) for a stand-alone supply large-scale tourist operation (with over 100 beds). The analysis utilises the power load data from a hotel located in a subtropical coastal area of Queensland, Australia. The assessment criteria of the analysis are net present cost, renewable factor and payback time. Due to the limited number of RES case studies in tourist operations and the absence of studies for large resorts, requiring facilities with a higher degree of comfort such as air-conditioning, it is not possible to establish with confidence the viability of RES in this industry. The specific operational characteristics of the tourism accommodation sector, such as 24-h operation, comfort provision and low tolerance for failure necessitates a separate assessment of RES viability for this sector, rather than relying on similar assessments from other commercial sectors. This study uses RES assessment software tools, HOMER (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, US) and HYBRIDS (Solaris Homes, Queensland, Australia), in order to compare diesel generator-only, RES-only and RES/diesel hybrid technologies. HOMER uses hourly load data, whilst HYBRIDS uses average daily energy demand for each month. The modelling results demonstrate that RES, in principle, has the potential to adequately and reliably meet power demand for a stand-alone large-scale tourist accommodation. Optimisation modelling demonstrates that 100% of power demand can be supplied by a RES-only configuration. A hybrid diesel/RES configuration provides the lowest NPC result with a resultant RF of 76%. In comparison to the diesel generator-only configuration, NPC is reduced by 50% and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 65%. The payback time of the hybrid RES scenario is 4.3 years. Results indicate that wind energy conversion systems (WECS), rather than photovoltaics, are the most economically viable RES for large-scale operations. Large-scale WECS (over 1000kW) are more efficient and economical than multiple small-scale WECS (0.1–100kW). Both modelling tools produced similar results, with HYBRIDS producing on average slightly higher NPC results than HOMER. The modelling and resulting data from the analysis indicate that RES is technically feasible and economically viable as a replacement for conventional thermal energy supply for large-scale tourist operations dependent on stand-alone power supplies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • A low-cost sensor was developed for monitoring coal flotation performance. • The sensor measures drag exerted by the overflowing froth using two strain gauges. • Excellent diagnostic performance of the sensor was demonstrated by on-site trial. This paper presents a simple new sensor for real-time monitoring of coal flotation. The sensor was developed based on measurement of the drag exerted by the overflowing froth onto a cantilever beam. The effectiveness of this sensor for flotation monitoring was demonstrated by an on-site trial in a coking coal flotation plant in Queensland, Australia. The trial was carried out using one of the full-scale column flotation cells in the plant for five days, with the froth depth being fixed at 1.0 m but frother dosage and aeration rate being varied over a wide range. The output of the drag sensor had a strong linear correlation with the clean coal yield (mass recovery), with the coefficient of determination being 0.97. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Developing a novel approach for using trip sequences instead of separate trips. • Developing a unique similarity measure for the trip sequences. • Focusing only on the temporal attributes of the trip sequences. • Running the method on real-world case studies. • Evaluating the performance of the developed method. • Comparing the outcome with the existing literature. • Achieving a considerable improvement in inferring the trip purpose. Smart card transactions are known as a rich and continuous source of public transit data, but they miss some important attributes about trips and passengers. One of these missing attributes is the trip purpose attribute. This paper proposes a novel method to infer the trip purpose attribute from the sequences of trips of passengers instead of separate trips. The proposed method infers the trip purpose attribute (a missing attribute in the smart card data) from the temporal attributes (available attributes in the smart card data). First, the relation between the temporal attributes and the trip purpose attribute is learnt by discovering clusters of passengers in the Household Travel Survey dataset while each passenger is represented by one sequence of trips. Then, the discovered clusters are utilized to infer the trip purpose of smart card transactions by allocating each passenger to the closest clusters. The proposed method is implemented on the smart card and HTS datasets from southeast Queensland, Australia. The evaluation results showed a considerable improvement in inferring the trip purpose compared to the results published in the literature. Notably, the effect of considering the trip sequence was more significant than considering land use variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the development of a new predictive model in support of proppant injection in naturally fractured coal seam gas (CSG) reservoirs. In the proposed model, the finite element method (FEM) is used for the prediction of proppant embedment and elastoplastic deformation of the coal. The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) is applied to the modelling of fluid flow through propped fractures, in which the modified partially saturated method (MPSM) is implemented to characterise the fluid–solid interactions. Permeability diagrams of the fractures are then generated as functions of particle packing ratio and effective stress. Finally, these results are incorporated into a radial Darcy flow analytical solution to predict the productivity index of the CSG wells under various proppant injection pressures and cleat compressibilities. The developed model is applied to selected coal samples from the Bowen and Surat Basins in Queensland, Australia. Modelling results indicate that proppant injection leads to increased fracture permeabilities and enhanced well productivity indexes. The elastoplastic deformation results in smaller permeability increase and less production enhancement when compared to the traditional linear elastic models. Although focused on Australian coals, the developed workflow can be broadly applicable to the assessment of potential stimulation efficacy in other unconventional reservoirs. In addition, a better understanding and implementation of the proppant injection scheme can effectively improve the post-fracturing performance, particularly in low-permeability coal intervals, which benefits the CSG industry. • Elastoplasticity is incorporated into computational models of proppant embedment. • The deformation of idealised coal cleats is assessed for residual permeability. • Optimal monolayer packing is determined for selected Bowen and Surat Basin coals. • Resulting fracture permeaibilities used in well productivity sensitivity analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper the results of testing a solar liquid desiccant air conditioner (LDAC) in the tropical climate of Queensland, Australia have been presented. The system uses polymer plate heat exchanger (PPHE) for dehumidification/indirect evaporative cooling, and a cooling pad as the direct evaporative cooler for the dry air leaving the PPHE. Lithium chloride, which is an effective desiccant in air dehumidification, was used in the experiments and a scavenger air regenerator concentrates the dilute solution from the dehumidifier using hot water from flat plate solar collectors. The data obtained from performance monitoring of the solar LDAC operating on a commercial site in Brisbane was compared with a previously developed model for the PPHE. The comparison reveals that good agreement exists between the experiments and model predictions. The inaccuracies are well within the measuring errors of the temperature, humidity and the air and solution flow rates. The above tests further indicate a satisfactory performance of the unit by independently controlling the air temperature and humidity inside the conditioned space. In order to prevent carryover of the solution particles into the environment, eliminators are used at outlet of the absorber unit and the regenerator. An alternative method in preventing the carryover is the use of indirect cooling, in which the supply air does not contact the solution. The method can be used to produce potable water from the atmospheric air in remote areas. The liquid desiccant system can be used in the HVAC industry, either as a packaged roof-top air conditioner, or as an air handler unit for commercial applications. The system could also be used for space heating in winter due to the property of desiccants to provide heat when wetted. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Current ambient air quality standards are mass-based and restricted to PM2.5 and PM10 fractions. The major contribution to both PM2.5 and PM10 fractions is from particles belonging to the coarse mode and generated by mechanical processes. These standards are thus unable to effectively control particle concentrations from combustion sources, such as motor vehicles and power plants, which tend to emit very small particles that are almost entirely respirable and in the submicron range, and dominate the nucleation and accumulation modes, which contribute much less to particle mass concentration. The aim of this work was to examine whether PM1 and PM10 would be a more effective combination of mass standards than PM2.5 (dominant in the nucleation and accumulation modes) and PM10 (dominant in the coarse mode) in controlling combustion-related ambient particles, as well as those originating from mechanical processes. First, a large body of data on particle size distributions in a range of environments in South East Queensland, Australia, was analysed, with an aim of identifying the relation between modality in the distributions and sources of particles belonging to different modes. The analyses included a matrix of the following elements: particle volume and number distributions, type of environment and locations of the modes in the range of PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 fractions. Second, with the same aim, 600 published modal location values relating to number, surface area, volume and mass size distributions for a range of environments worldwide were analysed. The analysis identified a clear and distinct separation between the location of the modes for a substantial number of environments worldwide and particle metrics, which suggests that modality in particle size distributions may be a parameter that has potential to be used in the development of PM1 air quality guidelines and standards. Based on these analyses, implications for choosing different mass standards for airborne particulate matter are discussed in the paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper details the distribution of Cu, Pb and Zn in aquatic systems draining Mount Isa Ag-Cu-Pb-Zn Mine in arid northern Queensland, Australia. Sediment-metal concentrations in the <2mm grain-size fraction adjacent to and downstream of the mine significantly exceed background concentrations (Cu, 159; Pb, 36; Zn, 86ppm) as well as Australian government sediment quality low trigger guidelines (Cu, 65; Pb, 50; Zn, 200ppm). Overbank sediments are more contaminated than channel sediments with mean values of Cu, 480; Pb, 540; Zn, 750ppm. Mean concentrations in cut riverbank samples from the <2mm fraction were Cu, 195; Pb, 724; Zn, 807ppm. Corresponding <180μm samples returned concentrations of Cu, 321; Pb, 995; Zn, 1110ppm. Delivery of contaminants during wet seasons from Mount Isa Mine and historically contaminated riverbanks remains an ongoing issue. The ease of dust entrainment in arid zones means that sediments enriched in toxic concentrations of metals may be widely dispersed and ultimately ingested and absorbed by biota. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Jakeman et al. (Jakeman, A.J., Letcher, R.A., Norton, J.P., 2006. Ten iterative steps in development and evaluation of environmental models. Environmental Modelling & Software 21, 602–614) outline ten steps in the pursuit of good practice in model development and application to increase the credibility and impact of results from environmental models. This paper shows how the ten steps of model development are relevant to numerical groundwater modelling, using a model of a data-rich coastal groundwater system near Bowen in Queensland, Australia as an example. The model is Geographic Information System-based and estimates the dynamical water balance using Darcy''s Law. The method, which is generally applicable to data-rich aquifers, proved cost and time effective and provided important insights to the groundwater dynamics of the area. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The retrieval of tree and forest structural attributes from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data has focused largely on utilising canopy height models, but these have proved only partially useful for mapping and attributing stems in complex, multi-layered forests. As a complementary approach, this paper presents a new index, termed the Height-Scaled Crown Openness Index (HSCOI), which provides a quantitative measure of the relative penetration of LiDAR pulses into the canopy. The HSCOI was developed from small footprint discrete return LiDAR data acquired over mixed species woodlands and open forests near Injune, Queensland, Australia, and allowed individual trees to be located (including those in the sub-canopy) and attributed with height using relationships (r 2 =0.81, RMSE=1.85 m, n =115; 4 outliers removed) established with field data. A threshold contour of the HSCOI surface that encompassed ∼90% of LiDAR vegetation returns also facilitated mapping of forest areas, delineation of tree crowns and clusters, and estimation of canopy cover. At a stand level, tree density compared well with field measurements (r 2 =0.82, RMSE=133 stems ha−1, n =30), with the most consistent results observed for stem densities ≤700 stems ha−1. By combining information extracted from both the HSCOI and the canopy height model, predominant stem height (r 2 =0.91, RMSE=0.77 m, n =30), crown cover (r 2 =0.78, RMSE=9.25%, n =30), and Foliage & Branch Projective Cover (FBPC; r 2 =0.89, RMSE=5.49%, n =30) were estimated to levels sufficient for inventory of woodland and open forest structural types. When the approach was applied to forests in north east Victoria, stem density and crown cover were reliably estimated for forests with a structure similar to those observed in Queensland, but less so for forests of greater height and canopy closure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A number of marine microalgae are known to produce toxins that can accumulate in shellfish and when eaten, lead to toxic and potentially fatal reactions in humans. This paper reports on the occurrence and seasonal variations of algal toxins in the waters, phytoplankton and shellfish of Southeast Queensland, Australia. These algal toxins include okadaic acid (OA), domoic acid (DA), gymnodimine (GD), pectenotoxin-2 (PTX-2) and pectenotoxin-2-seco acid (PTX-2-SA), which were detected in the sampled shellfish and phytoplankton, via HPLC-MS/MS. Dissolved OA, PTX-2 and GD were also detected in the samples collected from the water column. This was the first occasion that DA and GD have been reported in shellfish, phytoplankton and the water column in Queensland waters. Phytoplankton tows contained both the toxic Dinophysis and Pseudo-nitzschia algae species, and are suspected of being the most likely producers of the OA, PTX-2s and DA found in shellfish of this area. The number of cells, however, did not correlate with the amount of toxins present in either shellfish or phytoplankton. This indicates that toxin production by algae varies with time and the species present and that number of cells alone cannot be used as an indicator for the presence of toxins. The presence of OA and PTX-2s were more frequently seen in the summer, while DA and GD were detected throughout the year and without any obvious seasonal patterns. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In catchments adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area in Queensland, Australia, there is a growing concern that sediments and nutrients being exported from the land are having a detrimental effect on coral reef communities. There is a need to determine the processes and rates of erosion from the major land use types, so that management intervention can be initiated to reduce sediment yields where required. This paper presents a sediment budget for Weany Creek, a 13.5 km2 grazed semi-arid sub-catchment of the Burdekin River catchment, Australia. A range of field methods was used to measure erosion from hillslopes, gullies and stream banks, as well as identify the amount of sediment being deposited and remobilised on the bed of gullies and the stream network. The data suggests that at least during drought conditions, the primary erosion source in this catchment is gully erosion. However, the largest source of sediment in the budget is actually associated with the remobilisation of in-channel sediment stores. Overall, the sediment budget is comprised of ∼81% coarse material and 19% fine sediment and an agreement between the fine sediment yield estimated in the sediment budget and the yield measured at the catchment outlet is within 10%. The total sediment yield estimated for this catchment is ∼4205 t yr−1 and is much lower than expected for a catchment of this size. This may reflect the drought conditions during the measurement period; however, there is also the possibility that the primary erosion sources have been exhausted, and the rates of sediment loss may be much lower now than they may have been in the past. Nonetheless, the results show that stored sediment, which may have been deposited in the channel many decades ago, is an important contributor to end of catchment sediment yields and warrants further investigation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Dr Jack Handyside Barnes (1922–1985) was one of the small and elite group of Pacific marine toxinologists whose work was characterised by an uncompromising rugged persona, a focussed resolve to solve challenging problems of human clinical envenomation, and who conducted curiosity-driven research under conditions of scientific isolation. He was a pioneering advocate for the preservation of marine heritage, particularly that of the Great Barrier Reef. A former military commando who later became a general medical practitioner with extensive surgical and obstetric skills, in 1947 he was appointed the Medical Superintendent of Thursday Island in the Torres Strait. Later (from January 1953), he worked indefatigably as a general medical practitioner in Cairns, in tropical North Australia. For four decades (1945–1985), Jack Barnes undertook detailed laboratory, clinical and field research into invertebrate envenomation, particularly medusan toxinology. In 1960 he discovered the species responsible for the Irukandji syndrome, a small carybdeid named Carukia barnesi in his honour. He invented the research technique for the extraction of venom from the world''s most venomous creature, the Pacific box Jellyfish, Chironex fleckeri. By 1960, he had published taxonomic details of nematocyst structure and clinical envenomation details consequent upon stings by Physalia, Cyanea, Chironex, Chiropsalmus and Carukia. This paper is a précis of the chronology of his life, contributions and influence. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, a two-dimensional control volume finite-element computational model is developed for simulating saltwater intrusion in a heterogeneous coastal alluvial aquifer system at Gooburrum located near Bundaberg in Queensland, Australia. The model consists of a coupled system of two non-linear partial differential equations. The first equation describes the flow of a variable-density fluid, and the second equation describes the transport of dissolved salt via a form of the Fokker–Planck equation. The outcomes of the work demonstrate that transport simulation techniques provide excellent tools for hydraulic investigations even when complex transition zones are involved. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper assesses the behaviour of international and domestic students on beaches in Queensland, Australia and their knowledge of beach safety practices. The data for the research was collected from Surf Life Saving Queensland lifeguards/savers, using a focus group interview and a questionnaire survey distributed to a convenience sample of students from The University of Queensland. The results of the research indicate that the international students are more likely to engage in 'risky' behaviour at the beach and be less aware of beach safety practices than their domestic counterparts. However, the domestic students also showed significant room for improvement in their behaviour and knowledge of safe practises while at the beach. Of particular concern is the failure of a significant number of students to operationalise their knowledge of safe beach practices to avoid swimming in potentially dangerous circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The cause(s) of primary outbreaks of the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) are still subject to scientific controversy. The possibility of primary outbreaks being linked to terrestrial runoff has been postulated a number of times, suggesting that enhanced nutrient supply is critical for enhanced A. planci larval development. This paper examines the evidence for such a cause, focussing particularly on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Nutrient discharges from rivers have increased at least four-fold in the central GBR over the last century, and concentrations of large phyto-plankton (>2μm) of the inshore central GBR shelf in the wet season when A. planci larvae develop, is double that of other places and times. Larval development, growth and survival increase almost ten-fold with doubled concentrations of large phyto-plankton. This and other lines of evidence suggest that frequent A. planci outbreaks on the GBR may indeed be a result of increased nutrient delivery from the land. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a multi-criteria based tool for assessing the relative impact of diffuse-source pollution to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) from the river basins draining into the GBR lagoon. The assessment integrates biophysical and ecological data of water quality and pollutant concentrations with socio-economic information pertaining to non-point source pollution and (potential) pollutant impact. The tool generates scores for each river basin against four criteria, thus profiling the basins and enabling prioritization of management alternatives between and within basins. The results support policy development for pollution control through community participation, scientific data integration and expert knowledge contributed by people from across the catchment. The results specifically provided support for the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan, released in October 2003. The aim of the plan is to provide a framework for reducing discharge of sediment, nutrient and other diffuse-source loads and (potential) impact of that discharge and for prioritising management actions both between and within river basins. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Along the tropical coastline of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) region, little is known to date about submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) into the near-shore ocean. In an oceanographic sense, SGD consists of freshwater flow from land as well as seawater circulated through sediments. Recent radiochemical and geophysical studies, using the tracer 222Rn and apparent ground conductivity respectively, provide evidence for SGD to occur in a variety of hydrogeological settings. In this paper, a non-quantitative overview of different settings of SGD in the region is presented: (1) recirculation of seawater through animal burrows in mangrove forests, (2) freshwater SGD from unconfined aquifers as a narrow coastal fringe of freshwater along Wet Tropics beaches, (3) SGD from coastal dune systems in form of localised freshwater springs in the intertidal zone, (4) inner-shelf SGD from confined submarine aquifer systems comprised of riverine paleochannels incised into the shelf. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Images on brochures, web pages and postcards lead to an expectation by tourists and visitors that interaction with Dingoes (Canis lupus Dingo) will be part of their Fraser Island experience. Yet, as the number of tourists to the island increase, so do the reports of Dingo attacks. The first recorded death from such an attack on Fraser Island occurred in April 2001, and was immediately followed by a government-ordered cull of Dingoes. This paper explores issues surrounding both this decision and the management strategies implemented afterwards. Based on interviews with a variety of stakeholders, many conflicting perspectives on human–wildlife interaction as a component of tourism are identified. The conclusion is drawn that while strategies for managing Dingoes are essential, if such attacks are a consequence of humans feeding wildlife and resultant wildlife habituation, then strategies for managing people are also necessary for this example of wildlife tourism to be both successful and sustainable. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents UV data recorded over 12 months in 2000/2001 at a southern hemisphere (Toowoomba) and similar latitude northern hemisphere (BigBend and Everglades) sites using Brewer Spectrophotometers. The peak daily erythemally weighted UV (DUV) at the Toowoomba site was 8.8% and 25% higher compared to that at the BigBend and Everglades sites, respectively. The Everglades site exposures are lower than the BigBend site exposures in summer and spring. This may be due to the higher cloud cover for the Everglades site. The summer DUV values between Toowoomba and BigBend are similar. In spring, the average DUV value is the greatest at BigBend compared to the other two sites. Results indicate that variability between the measurement sites is due to varying cloud and ozone, and possibly due to aerosol and airmass differences of each region. Of these different site-specific local atmospheric conditions, cloud was the main contributor to the differences in UV between the sites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Australia is currently grappling with a range of social and environmental challenges, many of which impact the way our public health system, and society more broadly, function. In this short communication paper we explore urban agriculture in Australia as a Nature-Based Solution (NBS) to address some of the ecological, social, economic and health challenges facing the continent. We argue that urban agriculture has the potential to mitigate the effects of climate change extremes while simultaneously providing multiple benefits such as improving wellbeing, people-nature connections, and food security. We present three exemplar case studies diverse in geography, context and governance from Queensland, Tasmania, and New South Wales exploring verge gardening, market gardening, and a community greening program respectively to highlight the benefits of urban agriculture as a NBS. We advocate that various forms of urban agriculture need to be researched and considered for their potential impacts and multiple benefits to be fully supported, governed, and understood in light of the social-ecological challenges Australian cities face. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are disproportionately represented in the statutory child protection system across Australia. A strategy gaining traction to address this disproportionate representation is to recruit more Indigenous practitioners into statutory child protection work. However, the experiences of Indigenous people who undertake child protection work have not been explored thoroughly, particularly in an Australian research context. While it has been established in contemporary literature that exposure to trauma is an expected occupational hazard of undertaking statutory child protection work, the experience of racism as a potential source of traumatic stress for practitioners has not been explicitly explored. This paper reports on results from a recent doctoral study which explored the experiences of Indigenous child protection practitioners based in Queensland, Australia. This research relied on the stories of participants, shared through qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews, to answer the primary research question: what are the experiences of Indigenous child protection workers? The findings emerged from a research design that was underpinned by critical theory and decolonisation frameworks, which placed the participants as experts of their own experiences. The experiences of the research participants tell the story of a deficiency within the statutory child protection system to meet the wellbeing needs of Indigenous workers and provide a workplace environment that is culturally safe. Participants described recurrent experiences of racist behaviour displayed by non-Indigenous colleagues and a lack of support that acknowledges the distinctive experience of Indigenous people who undertake child protection work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plutonium (Pu) interactions in the environment are highly complex. Site-specific variables play an integral role in determining the chemical and physical form of Pu, and its migration, bioavailability, and immobility. This paper aims to identify the key variables that can be used to highlight regions of radioecological sensitivity and guide remediation strategies in Australia. Plutonium is present in the Australian environment as a result of global fallout and the British nuclear testing program of 1952–1958 in central and west Australia (Maralinga and Montebello islands). We report the first systematic measurements of 239+240Pu and 238Pu activity concentrations in distal (≥1000 km from test sites) catchment outlet sediments from Queensland, Australia. The average 239+240Pu activity concentration was 0.29 mBq.g −1 (n = 73 samples) with a maximum of 4.88 mBq.g −1.238Pu/239+240Pu isotope ratios identified a large range (0.02–0.29 (RSD: 74%)) which is congruent with the heterogeneous nuclear material used for the British nuclear testing programme at Maralinga and Montebello Islands. The use of a modified PCA relying on non-linear distance correlation (dCorr) provided broader insight into the impact of environmental variables on the transport and migration of Pu in this soil system. Primary key environmental indicators of Pu presence were determined to be actinide/lanthanide/heavier transition metals, elevation, electrical conductivity (EC), CaO, SiO 2 , SO 3 , landform, geomorphology, land use, and climate explaining 81.7% of the variance of the system. Overall this highlighted that trace level Pu accumulations are associated with the coarse, refractive components of Australian soils, and are more likely regulated by the climate of the region and overall soil type. • 73 outlet catchment sediments analysed for 239+240Pu trace-level activity concentration. • Combined with a large national geochemical dataset to investigate the transport of Pu as a contaminant in the Australian soil surface. • Statistical analysis reveals linear and non-linear interrelationships between Pu activity and environmental variables. • Highlighted an association of Pu with the coarse, refractive components of the soils (heavy minerals). • Trace level Pu accumulations are more likely regulated by the climate of the region and overall soil type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A thematic Environmental Plan Quality Evaluation Framework was developed. • Results indicate that environmental plan quality has declined over time. • Dedicated funding sources to plan development increase plan quality. • Regions which produced more plans did not translate this into increased plan quality. Most evaluations of environmental planning consider how planning is conducted, implemented or perceived. The quality of the plans themselves has received limited attention. Plan quality is a key factor in determining planning outcomes with plans of high quality more likely to produce positive planning outcomes. Using criteria for plan quality well established in planning literature, we develop a framework of 62 indicators to measure the extent to which environmental plans are: 1) collaborative ; 2) adaptive ; 3) action-orientated ; and 4) evidence-based. We apply this framework using a systematic methodology to evaluate the quality of a specific type of environmental plan – regional natural resource management plans - introduced in the Australian state of Queensland over a 13 year period between 2004 and 2016. We tested a number of plan quality factors, including the number of funding sources, planning experience (in terms of the numbers of plans produced) and plan format (web-based and 'traditional' paper format). Our analysis finds that, rather than improving over time, plan quality has declined between three distinct generations of plans in Queensland. We conclude that dedicated funding for plan development is important for plan quality, while planning experience and plan format do not guarantee higher plan quality. Our findings add to the growing literature on establishing factors of plan quality. We propose that the plan quality framework could be useful in future evaluations and plan comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic food waste (DFW) is an important policy issue because it represents inefficiencies in supply chains and consumption behaviour, creates pressures on urban landfills, and causes downstream environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and odour from landfills. However, the evaluation of proposals to minimise or treat food waste, such as through separate disposal streams, is difficult because those impacts are not registered through normal market price signals. This paper presents non-market valuations for a hypothetical kerbside DFW collection service from a survey of households in two local government areas in the Central Queensland region, Australia. Choice modelling (CM) and contingent valuation methods (CVM) were employed to elicit potential participation and estimate willingness to pay (WTP) of the community for a domestic food waste collection service. Latent class analysis results for the sub-groups supporting an improvement option revealed that cost, odour and fortnightly collection frequency limit both WTP for and participation in the potential kerbside collection program. While there was support because it would extend the lifespans of the local landfills, potential reduction of methane emissions was not a strong driver. No difference in support or willingness to pay could be identified between the two local government populations. While the CVM results showed a WTP of $30.42 and a 58% participation rate for the proposed option, the latent class models showed that potential participation and willingness to pay varied across negative, indifference and positive sub-samples. This study provides a useful example of how a new policy option to improve waste management at a local area level might be evaluated, where the willingness to pay estimates can be factored into a benefit cost analysis and the estimates of likely support or opposition can be inputted into a political economy framework. • The study assessed household preferences to reduce domestic food waste. • Stated preference experiments were used to estimate WTP for reduction options. • Behavioural and attitudinal factors were important in explaining choices. • Two-stage contingent valuation models estimated both participation and WTP. • Latent class analysis models were used to classify responses to key attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Development of an integrated GIS tool for optimal locating of biomass energy plants. • Calculation of optimum locations, sizes and corresponding biomass delivery cost. • Evaluation of sugarcane and forest waste for bioelectricity generation. • The delivery cost of sugarcane waste alone ranged from AUD 142 to 198 per dry tonne. • By combining two biomass sources, plant sizes could increase between 3% and 31% The highly dispersed nature of biomass sources and limited tools with which to exploit geographically explicit data to minimise delivery costs are major barriers to the initiation of biomass energy projects. This paper presents a geographical information system based approach in combining suitability analysis, spatial biomass assessment and optimality analysis to locate plants for bioelectricity generation with sustainable availability of single or multiple biomass. First, fuzzy multi-criteria analysis was employed to identify the suitability of plants' locations, using local economic, environmental, and social sustainability criteria. As well, the availability of multiple types of biomass was assessed. Biomass availability information and land use data were combined to generate high-resolution spatial biomass information with user-defined resolution. Next, a location-allocation model was used to identify optimal locations for biomass energy plants by considering both road networks and spatially distributed biomass availability. Additionally, different scenarios were analysed to optimise plant sizes, biomass delivery costs and total number of plants for the region under both single biomass and multi-biomass approaches. The developed model was demonstrated for a Queensland case study using sugarcane waste alone and combined sugarcane waste and forest waste. Results using sugarcane waste in Queensland identified optimally located plants with sizes from 57 MW to 185 MW and average transportation distances of 27 km to 64 km. By combining sugarcane waste with forest waste, the plant sizes increased, depending on spatial biomass availability. This methodology can be extended to evaluate optimum configuration and optimum combination of different biomass types at a plant level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greater public and professional awareness of the extent and impact of child sexual abuse (CSA) has prompted the inclusions of prevention initiatives within school curricula. However CSA education is not always soundly grounded in empirical evidence, and evaluations of the impact of programs often inadequate. This paper reports on a randomized-control trial of an empirically informed serious-game for CSA prevention, for children aged 8–10 years. The study also evaluates the impact on learning of complementary classroom lessons and part completion of the Orbit game. The evaluation involved 139 students (female = 78; male = 61) aged 8–10 years (Mage = 9.64, SD = 0.33), from an elementary school in Queensland , Australia. All children were pre-tested and post-tested (at 3 months) for knowledge of abuse prevention using the Children's Knowledge of Abuse Questionnaire-Revised (CKAQ-R-III), and a short form (SF) mapped to the learning objectives of Orbit. Children were assigned to one of three groups; i) play Orbit (n = 50); ii) play Orbit and CSA lessons (n = 55); and iii) control (n = 34). Children in the Orbit play, and Orbit play and lesson groups, significantly (p <.001) increased their CKAQ SF scores, whereas those in the control group did not. Furthermore, those children who completed all of Orbit significantly (p <.001) increased their post-test CKAQ scores, whereas those who didn't complete the game did not. This study shows the strength of a serious-games approach for school CSA prevention whilst reporting how child completion can impact learnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian and Queensland Government's Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan has set targets for improving the water quality entering the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. Given the large public investment and the deficit of data linking on-farm land management to changes in environmental outcomes, there is a need for a robust and efficient methods of quantifying links between land management and water quality. This paper explores a pragmatic approach to making this link using available data. We demonstrate that a simple parameterisation process is suitable for estimating hydrology and water quality across a wide range of land uses and management practices in agricultural landscapes. However, a manually calibrated model may still require the analysis of parameters to reduce error variances and evaluate uncertainties. Confidence in estimating hydrology and water quality in descending order is: runoff, sediment, nitrogen, phosphorous, and pesticide losses, reflecting the availability of data and inherent error propagation. • A pragmatic modelling by Howleaky is suitable to link management to water quality. • A manually calibrated model may still require a reduction in error variances. • Data availability and inherent error propagation determined confidence in modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate prediction of load has become one of the most crucial issue in the energy management system of the microgrid. Therefore, a precise load forecasting tool is necessary for efficient power management in the microgrid, which can lead to economic benefits for consumers and power industries. This paper proposes a hybrid approach for short-term forecasting of load demand in a typical microgrid, which is a combination of the best-basis stationary wavelet packet transform and Harris hawks optimization-based feed-forward neural network. The Harris hawks optimization is applied to the feed-forward neural network as an alternative training algorithm for optimizing the weight and basis of neurons. The proposed model is applied to predict load demand in the Queensland electric market and is compared with existing competitive models. Numerical results are obtained using MATLAB. These results demonstrate that the proposed approach reduces the average mean absolute percentage error by 33.30%, 49.54% and 60.76% as compared to the particle swarm optimization (PSO) based artificial neural network, PSO based least-square-support vector machine and back-propagation based neural network, respectively. • Proposed short-term load forecasting model for MG energy management system. • HHO is used for training of FNN. • Best-basis SWPT is used to capture the various season of yearly load demand. • Performance of the proposed model has been compared with exiting competitive models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In-situ stress pattern and subsurface fractures control the production of Coal Seam Gas (CSG) reservoirs and, hence, comprehensive analyses are required for better development of these reservoirs. The Surat Basin is a prolific CSG province with major economic impacts in eastern Australia. Recent studies have reported significant stress variations in this basin due to local geological structures. However, a systematic analysis of localised stress perturbations within the basin, and their impacts on reservoir permeability have not been presented thus far in the published literature. In this paper, we combine different sets of data including conventional log data, wellbore image logs, 2D seismic lines and interpreted permeability (from well test data) in order to characterise the role of geological structures in the subsurface fluid flow of the Walloon Coal Measures in eastern Surat Basin. Analysis of 7.3 km of borehole image log across 33 vertical wells revealed a regional ENE-WSW orientation of the maximum horizontal stress (S Hmax) in the study area. However, there are massive variability in the S Hmax orientation, spatially and with depth. Analysis of 2D seismic lines highlight the role of geological structures in stress perturbation, and the interpretation of natural fractures using image logs show that most of the open fractures are oriented sub-parallel to the acute angle of local S Hmax orientation. Interpreted well test data in the study wells demonstrates that most of the high permeability data points are located where in-situ stress rotation is observed. This indicates the influence of local S Hmax orientation responding to geological structures on the subsurface fluid flow in the eastern part of the Surat Basin. • Variability of S Hmax orientation laterally and with depth. • Small scale geological structures control the local in-situ stress pattern. • Open fractures are oriented sub-parallel to the acute angle of local S Hmax orientation. • Most of the high permeability data points are located where in-situ stress rotation is observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Explores how transport impacts of urban growth can be modelled. • Proposes a framework to model the transport impacts of urban growth. • Compares transport impacts of scenarios with various spatial and temporal scales. • Reveals that balanced scenario makes the highest contribution to sustainable development. The urban transport sector is responsible for a considerable portion of the global greenhouse gas emissions, and considered as a primary contributor of environmental pollutants. This study aims to explore ways to compare transport impacts of alternative urban growth scenarios at different spatial and temporal scales. To achieve this aim, alternative policy scenarios and various transport impact indicators were synthesized from a Delphi survey. Four alternative urban growth scenarios (i.e., business-as-usual, environment-focused, economy-focused, balanced scenarios) for the South East Queensland Region of Australia were evaluated by comparing selected indicator values from transportation models developed for three spatial (i.e., region, city, local) and four temporal (i.e., 2016, 2021, 2031, 2041) scales. The results of the analysis disclose that policies under the balanced scenario make the highest contribution towards achieving sustainable urban development—as this scenario generates the least travel time, travel distance, and traffic congestion. The findings reveal that the empirical approach put forward in this paper is useful to inform urban policymaking, and assist urban policymakers, urban/transport planners, practitioners, and stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A two-stage stochastic programming model is developed to investigate the carbon emissions issue in cold supply chains under uncertain demand. • A matheuristic algorithm based on the Iterated Local Search (ILS) algorithm and a mixed integer programming is developed. • Optimal replenishment policies and transportation schedules are considered to minimize both operational and emissions costs. • The proposed model is applied to a real-world case study in Queensland, Australia. • It was found that high emissions price does not necessarily lead to an improvement in efficiency of the cold supply chain system. Increasing awareness of sustainability in supply chain management has prompted organizations and individuals to consider environmental impacts when managing supply chains. The issues concerning environmental impacts are significant in cold supply chains due to substantial carbon emissions from storage and distribution of temperature-sensitive product. This paper investigates the impact of carbon emissions arising from storage and transportation in the cold supply chain in the presence of carbon tax regulation, and under uncertain demand. A two-stage stochastic programming model is developed to determine optimal replenishment policies and transportation schedules to minimize both operational and emissions costs. A matheuristic algorithm based on the Iterated Local Search (ILS) algorithm and a mixed integer programming is developed to solve the problem in realistic sizes. The performance and robustness of the matheuristic algorithm are analyzed using test instances in various sizes. A real-world case study in Queensland, Australia is used to demonstrate the application of the model. The results highlight that higher emissions price does not always contribute to the efficiency of the cold supply chain system. Furthermore, the analyses indicate that using heterogeneous fleet including light duty and medium duty vehicles can lead to further cost saving and emissions reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A mathematical programming approach for the multi-action problem is proposed (MAMP). • A new MIP model that includes fragmentation penalty in actions (MAMP-E) is presented. • The models are applied to the Mitchell River basin in Queensland, Australia. • MIP models get shorter execution times and higher quality solutions. • The MAMP-E model obtains higher ecological benefits than the MAMP model. Planning for management actions that address threats to biodiversity is important for securing its long term persistence. However, systematic conservation planning (SCP) has traditionally overlooked this aspect and just focused on identifying priority areas without any recommendation on actions needed. This paper develops a mixed integer mathematical programming (MIP) approach for the multi-action management planning problem (MAMP), where the goal is to find an optimal combination of management actions that abate threats, in an efficient way while accounting for connectivity. An extended version of the MAMP model (MAMP-E) is also proposed that adds an expression for minimizing fragmentation between different actions. To evaluate the efficiency of the two models, they were applied to a case study corresponding to a large area of the Mitchell River in Northern Australia, where 45 species of freshwater fish are exposed to the presence of four threats. The evaluation compares our exact MIP approach with the conservation planning software Marxan and the heuristic approach developed in Cattarino et al. (2015). The results obtained show that our MIP models have three advantages over their heuristic counterparts: shorter execution times, higher solutions quality, and a solution quality guarantee. Hence, the proposed MIP methodology provides a more effective framework for addressing the multi-action conservation problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Implications of selective logging policies and practices in Queensland and Nepal are discussed. • A poor link between log grading, commerciality and marketability creates inefficient utilisation. • Forest based livelihoods, labour costs and forest product standards are the key determinants of forest product recovery. • A detailed forest harvesting code of practice with occupational health and safety codes is needed in Nepal. • Queensland's grading and royalty system requires considerations on the possible options of utilising optional logs. Selective logging (SL) contributes nearly 15 percent of the global timber needs. Considering its role in sustainable timber production, biodiversity conservation and forest carbon enhancement, assessment of SL policies and practices is crucial. This paper assesses the policies and practices of SL in natural production forests of the Tarai region of Nepal and Queensland Australia to explore the key differences in such policies and practices and their possible implications in achieving sustainable forest management objectives. The primary methods applied in the study were review and synthesis of key policy documents and qualitative analysis of the information gathered from key informant interviews and stakeholders' workshop. Altogether, 53 respondents from a wide range of stakeholder groups (government organizations-15, non-government organizations/networks-15, private sector including the individual landowners-13, local political leaders-3 and independent forest experts/scientists-7) were consulted. Findings suggest that: (1) frequent and inconsistent changes in policy provisions, lengthy administrative procedures and heavy engagement of state forest agencies in forest product harvesting and sales processes play key roles in sub-optimal forest production in Nepal, whereas lower dependency on forest-products, higher labour costs, lack of species-wise royalty rate and flexibility in selecting optional logs are the key factors for increased wastages of forest products in Queensland; (2) recovery and utilisation of the harvested forest product is better in Nepal but policy and practical considerations on biodiversity and environment are better in Queensland; and (3) Forest harvesting specific codes of practice, occupational health and safety standards, and their compliance mechanism of Queensland could be beneficial for Nepal to minimise operational harvesting risks and to attract professional harvesters that support promoting sustainable use and management of natural forests, as we found this aspect almost neglected in Nepal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes 3D medium (4km) and high (500m) horizontal resolution ocean models developed for the Coral Sea with a particular focus on the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. The medium resolution model is underpinning a 10 year reanalysis and a forecast demonstrator system for maritime monitoring. The ocean models have been developed to assist the management of the Great Barrier Reef given the existence of a number of stressors acting on the reef. The presented models aim to represent physical stressors that include thermal, salinity and flooding rivers. The river discharge is tracked by passive and age tracers. They can provide concentrations to identify the area/volume influenced by flood water. This paper gives an overview of the forward non-linear models with the aim to assess their performance. The models have been evaluated over a two year period spanning January 2009–March 2011 including the 2010/2011 La Nina and the advent of Tropical Cyclone Yasi in early 2011 that contributed to one of the largest river discharge events recorded over northern Queensland. The models' performance is investigated on a full domain scale via means of satellite sea surface temperature (SST), expendable bathythermograph (XBT) and drifter data. Over the shelf and the Great Barrier Reef lagoon, available tide gauges, Ocean Colour, Chlorophyll-a and Queensland's Integrated Marine Observing System (QIMOS) mooring data of temperature, salinity and velocity have been used to assess the models. Results suggest that the high resolution model gives better statistics in terms of mean absolute deviation and bias compared to the medium resolution model for subsurface temperature and salinity over the deep ocean. Moreover, sea surface temperature performance is similar for both models. Over the lagoon and shelf both models' performance is mixed. The high resolution model displays a consistent warm bias on the order of 0.3 °C over the shallow well mixed stations throughout the year. However, the 4km model displays larger variability in this region. It tends to be too warm in summer and too cool in winter when compared to moorings. Modelled velocities are assessed via means of the QIMOS moorings. Overall the high resolution model fares better in terms of current direction with an average veering of 13° vs. 22°. The models' performance is comparable in terms of current speed over the shallow moorings. However, the high resolution model is better equipped to represent steeper shelves and this results at times in better performance for velocity and temperature, particularly over Palm Passage. A large focus has been placed on including and assessing passive tracer dynamics emanating from river discharge. 25 river sources have been added across the models domain together with a set of one-dimensional channels representing the volume flux of brine. Two case studies are presented to demonstrate the models' ability to reproduce mean features of observed plumes. A major river discharge event has been examined in further detail. Both models are able to reproduce the low salinity signal present in the observations in the upper level to a satisfactory degree. The 4km model matches the observed strength and duration of the fresh water plume substantially better than the high resolution model in this case. • High and medium resolution ocean models for the Great Barrier Reef are presented. • Modelled passive and age tracers are compared to observed river plumes. • Intrusive upwelling onto the Great Barrier Reef may be affected by model resolution. • Horizontal model resolution affects performance over the Coral Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to theoretically investigate and characterize the failure mechanism of hydrated bentonite plugs, when used as a sealing material in wellbores. Using the proposed theoretical models, it was determined that when hydrated bentonite plugs failed due to friction at the walls, created by internal swelling pressure or through internal shear failure, the resulting failure pressure was linear with the plug height (H), coefficient of friction or internal shear strength, and inversely proportional to plug diameter (D). On the other hand, if the friction at the walls was created by plug weight then the failure pressure was a function of H 2 /D. However, in this case, the frictional strength increased parabolically with height, and, at reasonable plug heights, the frictional strength became greater than shear strength, and resulted in failure due to internal shear failure, which also made the failure pressure a function of H/D. This suggests that plug strength is usually a linear function of H/D. Moreover, the coefficient of friction and internal shear strength are dependent on final moisture content of the hydrated plug, the salinity of the hydration water, pressure, temperature and hydration time. The strength of a bentonite plug is inversely proportional the total volume by which it expands during hydration and takes in excess of 185 days to achieve this state. Plug strength decreased in saline water, although even at elevated concentrations sufficient strength remained to produce and adequate seal.From very limited data, shown here, Queensland bentonite, from the 5D zone of Amcol's Gurulmundi mine, appeared to have similar plugging strength as Wyoming bentonite. • Developed novel models to predict the failure pressure of bentonite plugs. • Provided insights into the failure mechanisms of bentonite plugs. • Bentonite plug strength is a linear function of plug height to diameter ratio. • Friction coefficient is dependent on final moisture content of the hydrated plug. • Bentonite plug strength increases with hydration time and decreases in saline water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate electrical load forecasting always plays a vital role in power system administration and energy dispatch, which are the foundation of the smooth operation of the national economy and people's daily life. Thinking from this vision, many scholars have made great efforts to seek suitable optimization algorithms to improve the performance of existing forecasting algorithm. However, most of the studies ignore the inherent disadvantages of single optimization algorithm, which leads to sub-optimal forecasting performance. Therefore, a novel electric load forecasting system was successfully proposed in this paper by the combination of data preprocessing, hybrid optimization algorithms, and several single classical forecasting methods, which successfully overcomes the defects of single traditional forecasting models and achieves higher forecasting accuracy than that of single model optimization. Besides, the 30 min interval data of Queensland, Australia from March to April is used as illustrative examples to evaluate the performance of the developed model. The results of tests demonstrate that the proposed hybrid model can better approximate the actual value, and it can also be employed as a useful tool for smart grids dispatching planning. • Develop a novel power load forecasting system for grid safety dispatch. • Extract important information effectively from the original load time series. • Creatively propose two hybrid optimization methods to optimize forecasting models. • Set up a comprehensive evaluation system to verify the effectiveness of the models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In patients with a degenerative mitral bioprosthesis and prohibitive surgical risk there is emerging evidence for the feasibility of valve-in-valve procedures via a percutaneous transvenous transseptal approach. This paper describes the first time this procedure has been performed in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]