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Eastern Australia experienced record-breaking rainfall and flooding during 2022, which devastated communities and led to over AU$6 billion of damage. In this study, we conduct a multiscale analysis to understand why 2022 was unusually wet with multiple record-breaking rainfall events over the year. We assess the synoptic- and mesoscale conditions during three key periods: February–March, July, and October. These periods were chosen because they were impactful and represent three different seasons. Next, we examine the large-scale climate drivers and evaluate how unusual these events were compared to previous years. Finally, we discuss predictability and the possible impact of climate change on the drivers of heavy rainfall in eastern Australia. The exceptional rainfall was likely due to excessive slow-moving cyclones combined with ample atmospheric moisture flux. The key climate drivers (El Niño–Southern Oscillation, Indian Ocean dipole, and Southern Annular Mode) primed the synoptic conditions for frequent rain-bearing weather systems. There was limited predictability beyond the 1-week lead time for the February–March and July events, but the 1-month seasonal forecast for October indicated rainfall in eastern Australia. The complexity of multiday extreme rainfall makes it difficult to distinguish the role of climate change from natural variability. However, we highlight where future research could focus to help us understand climate risks to this region. Our results emphasize the importance of examining rainfall from multiple perspectives and considering the interactions between weather and climate scales because analyzing drivers in isolation is insufficient for explaining high-impact weather. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The functions of Australia’s railways are divided between the delivery of suburban passenger railway services, long distance general and intermodal freight services and regional bulk commodity haulage. There is a national interest in the efficient carriage of export freight flows because Australia is a major trading nation. Australia’s railways are expected play their part in hauling export commodities. Unsurprisingly, there are conflicting demands on these railways. Hence, universities, and the industry itself, are directing research and investigation effort into policy, planning, engineering, operational and human factors matters. A question which then arises is what means could be used to analyse the problems identified during this research and investigation. This paper is thus concerned with the inter-relationships between the planning, engineering and operations of railways in Australia. It identifies four areas of analysis associated with the planning and development of railway infrastructure and operations. It then discusses a range of analytical tools which could be applied to different components of these analytical areas and critiques their appropriateness from an Australian perspective. Having made this assessment, the paper uses a recent Australian case study to show how analytical tools could be used and what lessons might be learnt from the process. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The management of occupational health and safety (OHS) including safety culture interventions is comprised of complex problems that are often hard to scope and define. Due to the dynamic nature and complexity of OHS management, the concept of system dynamics (SD) is used to analyze accident prevention. In this paper, a system dynamics group model building (GMB) approach is used to create a causal loop diagram of the underlying factors influencing the OHS performance of a major drilling and mining contractor in Australia. While the organization has invested considerable resources into OHS their disabling injury frequency rate (DIFR) has not been decreasing. With this in mind, rich individualistic knowledge about the dynamics influencing the DIFR was acquired from experienced employees with operations, health and safety and training background using a GMB workshop. Findings derived from the workshop were used to develop a series of causal loop diagrams that includes a wide range of dynamics that can assist in better understanding the causal influences OHS performance. The causal loop diagram provides a tool for organizations to hypothesize the dynamics influencing effectiveness of OHS management, particularly the impact on DIFR. In addition the paper demonstrates that the SD GMB approach has significant potential in understanding and improving OHS management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The southeastern Australian climate and climate variability is driven primarily by large-scale climate dynamics. How these dynamics translate into local effects is influenced by the nature of the landscape, the vegetation, soil moisture, fire, snow, irrigation and orography. This local land-atmosphere coupling can enhance or moderate the large-scale dynamics and have significant influences locally and regionally. This paper reviews the state of knowledge of the coupled land-atmosphere dynamics over southeast Australia and identifies the challenges for future research. Relevant processes are investigated and if possible their importance to regional climate is identified. Many coupled land-atmosphere dynamic processes, identified as important in the Northern Hemisphere studies, remain to be studied in southeast Australia. This represents an important priority for Australian research because this will establish their role in future changes in regional climate over Australia. However, this also represents a significant international priority because the very high natural climate variability in the region provides a laboratory to examine how coupled land-atmosphere dynamic processes may change in other regions if global warming increases the range of natural variability. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In ballasted railway tracks, one of the important components that supports the rails and distributes wheel/rail loading onto the ballast supporting formation is a railway sleeper (sometimes is also called a “railway tie”). This paper presents results of an experimental modal analysis of prestressed concrete sleepers in both free-free and in-situ conditions, incorporating the dynamic influence of sleeper/ballast interaction. Dynamic interaction between concrete sleepers and ballast support is crucial for the development of a dynamic model of railway track capable of predicting its responses to impact loads due to wheel flats, wheel burns, irregularities of the rail, etc. In this study, four types of prestressed concrete sleepers were in-kind provided by the Australian manufacturers. The concrete sleepers were tested using an impact hammer excitation technique over the frequency range of interest, 0–1600 Hz. Frequency response functions (FRFs) were measured using PULSE modal testing system. The FRFs were processed using STAR modal analysis package to identify natural frequencies and the corresponding mode shapes for the sleepers. The conclusions are presented about the effect of the sleeper/ballast interaction on the dynamic properties of prestressed concrete sleepers and their use for predicting railway track dynamic responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A state-of-the-art review of the dynamics of long combination vehicles (LCVs) is provided. The performance-based standards (PBS) that are commonly used globally are reviewed, including those in Canada and Australia. The discussions include the low-speed and high-speed longitudinal, lateral, and yaw performance of LCVs, which in many respects are different than the conventional tractor-semitrailers. The low-speed discussions include the vehicle startability, gradeability, acceleration, and offtracking. The high-speed considerations include rollover dynamics, braking distance and time, overtaking, down-grade holding, and ride quality. Some of the latest development in actively controlled (intelligent) systems to improve LCVs' dynamic performance is emphasised, such as hill-start assist (HAS), roll stability control (RSC), electronic stability control (ESC), electrified dolly (e-dolly), active trailer steering (ATS), active braking, slip control (SC), active trailer differential braking (ATDB), active and semi-active antiroll bars, and active and semi-active suspensions. The study concludes that although great progress has been made during the past two decades for integrating advanced, intelligent, electromechanical systems in LCVs, much more work remains to address some of the future environmental and performance demands, particularly considering the integration of electrical and alternative-fuel propulsion systems in heavy commercial vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study assessed the utility of force-time characteristics from the isometric midthigh pull (IMTP) as a measure of neuromuscular function after elite-level Australian rules football matches. It was hypothesized that rate characteristics of force development would demonstrate a different response magnitude and recovery time course than peak force measurements. Methods: Force-time characteristics of the IMTP (peak force, 0- to 50-ms rate of force development [RFD], 100- to 200-ms RFD) were collected at 48 (G+2), 72 (G+3), and 96 h (G+4) after 3 competitive Australian rules football matches. Results: Meaningful reductions (>75% of the smallest worthwhile change) were observed at G+2, G+3, and G+4 for RFD 0-50 milliseconds (-25.8%, -17.5%, and -16.9%) and at G+2 and G+3 for RFD 100-200 milliseconds (-15.7% and -11.7%). No meaningful reductions were observed lor peak force at any time point (G+2 -4.0%, G+3 -3.9%, G+4 -2.7%). Higher week-to-week variation was observed for RFD 0-50 milliseconds (G+2 17.1 %, G+3 27.2%, G+4 19.3%) vs both RFD 100-200 milliseconds (G+2 11.3%, G+3 11.5%, G+4 7.2%) and peak force (G+2 4.8%, G+3 4.4%, G+4 8.4%). Conclusions: These findings highlight the potential use of rate characteristics from the IMTP as measures of neuromuscular function in elite sport settings, and in particular RFD 100-200 milliseconds due to its higher reliability. Interestingly, peak force collected from the IMTP was not meaningfully suppressed at any time point alter elite Australian rules football match play. This suggests that rate characteristics from IMTP may provide more sensitive and valuable insight regarding neuromuscular function recovery kinetics than peak measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical Cyclone Debbie (2017) made landfall near Airlie Beach on 28 March 2017 causing 14 fatalities and an estimated $2.67 billion (U.S. dollars) economic loss and was ranked as the most dangerous cyclone to hit Australia since TC Tracy in 1974. In addition to the extreme flooding as TC Debbie moved onshore and down the east coast of Australia, it intensified rapidly just offshore from category 2 to category 4 on the Australian TC intensity scale in under 18 h prior to making landfall. A high-resolution WRF simulation is used to analyze the inner-core structure and evolution during the offshore intensification period. Two stages are identified: a slow intensification (SI) stage characterized by an asymmetric eyewall contraction and a rapid intensification (RI) stage characterized by three eyewall breakdown and redevelopment events. Each round of breakdown and reestablishment brings high potential vorticity and equivalent potential temperature air back into the eyewall, reinvigorating eyewall convection activity and driving intensification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frontal plane postures during the ultimate step of sidestepping are linked to increased anterior cruciate ligament injury risk. However, there is a lack of research detailing the kinematic strategies present in the penultimate step. This study, therefore, investigated penultimate and ultimate step kinematics of planned sidestepping (pSS) and unplanned sidestepping (upSS) to further understand the effect of planning time on known ultimate step kinematic and kinetic differences. Sixty male amateur Australian Rules football players performed three trials of straight‐line running (RUN), pSS, and upSS in a randomized order. Mediolateral foot placement and three‐dimensional joint kinematics for the knee, pelvis, and trunk were measured at final foot contact of the penultimate step and initial foot contact of the ultimate step. Peak knee moments were measured during the weight acceptance phase of the ultimate step. In pSS, at the penultimate step final foot contact, the support foot was placed across the midline of the center of mass, in the frontal plane, contralateral to the sidestep direction. Greater trunk lateral flexion toward the sidestep direction and greater negative pelvic lateral tilt were observed in pSS compared with upSS and RUN. Differences between pSS and upSS frontal plane kinematics at penultimate step final foot contact suggest preparatory reorientation strategies are likely constrained by the amount of planning time available. As there are clear differences in preparatory kinematics, we recommend that planning time be considered when training and assessing sidestepping maneuvers and planned and unplanned maneuvers not be treated as interchangeable skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Despite much optimistic language on commercial websites, little data is available on actual performance of hydrokinetic turbines. This paper summarises the findings of a series of tests on several Darrieus type cross flow hydrokinetic turbines (HKTs). Although this type of hydrokinetic turbine (HKT) has some advantages over axial flow turbines, fixed pitch Darrieus HKTs also have some drawbacks, including inability to self-start under load, low efficiency and shaking. Variable pitch has been suggested to increase starting torque and efficiency, ducts to increase power output and helical blades to produce smooth torque. To assess each of these modifications, tests were conducted in Australia and Canada on HKTs with fixed and variable pitch straight blades, fixed helical blades, with and without a slatted diffuser, by mounting each turbine in front of a barge and motoring through still water at speeds ranging from less than 1 m/s up to 5 m/s. The diffuser increased the power output by a factor of 3 in one configuration but considerably less in others. A reason for this finding is suggested. The maximum coefficient of performance Cp of the fixed pitch straight blade and helical turbines without a diffuser ranged from about 0.25 at 1.5 m/s down to less than 0.1 at 5 m/s, while Cp for those with a diffuser ranged from about 0.45 down to about 0.3. Fixed blade turbines, both straight and helical, exhibited low starting torque, while variable pitch turbines started easily. Considerable differences in Cp were observed for the same turbine configuration at different speeds. The turbine with fixed pitch, straight blades was found to shake violently due to cyclical hydrodynamic forces on blades, while the helical and variable pitch turbines did not shake excessively. These findings suggest that variable pitch cross flow HKTs should be further investigated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Economic illiteracy is abundant in farm management analysis. Failure to understand that economics is the core discipline of farm-management analysis and failure to apply the whole-farm approach leads to wrong questions being asked and wrong answers being given. The power of economic thinking is in making sense of resource allocation questions in farm systems characterised by much complexity and powerful dynamics. The challenge for those who continue to work in farm management economics is to re-establish theoretically sound farm-management analysis based on economics as the core discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For effective water quality management and policy development, spatial variability in the mean concentrations and dynamics of riverine water quality needs to be understood. Using water chemistry (calcium, electrical conductivity, nitrate‐nitrite, soluble reactive phosphorus, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and total suspended solids) data for up to 578 locations across the Australian continent, we assessed the impact of climate zones (arid, Mediterranean, temperate, subtropical, tropical) on (i) inter‐annual mean concentration and (ii) water chemistry dynamics as represented by constituent export regimes (ratio of the coefficients of variation of concentration and discharge) and export patterns (slope of the concentration‐discharge relationship). We found that inter‐annual mean concentrations vary significantly by climate zones and that spatial variability in water chemistry generally exceeds temporal variability. However, export regimes and patterns are generally consistent across climate zones. This suggests that intrinsic properties of individual constituents rather than catchment properties determine export regimes and patterns. The spatially consistent water chemistry dynamics highlights the potential to predict riverine water quality across the Australian continent, which can support national riverine water quality management and policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescent tennis players are at risk for low back pain (LBP). Recent research has demonstrated a potential mechanical etiology during serves; however, groundstrokes have also been suggested to load this region. Therefore, this study compared lumbar mechanics between players with and without a history of LBP during open and square stance tennis forehands and backhands. Nineteen elite, adolescent, male tennis players participated, 7 with a history of recurrent disabling LBP and 12 without. Differences in three-dimensional lumbar kinetics and kinematics were compared between pain/no pain groups and groundstrokes using linear mixed models (P < .01). There were no significant differences between pain/no pain groups. Relative to a right-handed player, groundstroke comparisons revealed that forehands had greater racquet velocity, greater lumbar right lateral flexion force, as well as upper lumbar extension/rightward rotation and lower lumbar right rotation/lateral flexion movements that were closer to or further beyond end of range than backhands. Backhands required upper lumbar leftward rotation that was beyond end range, while forehands did not. Given that players typically rotated near to their end of range during the backswing of both forehands and backhands, independent of pain, groundstrokes may contribute to the cumulative strain linked to LBP in tennis players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the "Nonlinear Physics: Theory and Experiment" workshop which was held in Italy from June 22 to July 1, 2006. It is posed that this workshop was part of more than twenty-five years of participation by the University of Leece in Italy in promoting international scientific cooperation in nonlinear science. Representatives from Russia, Poland, France, Australia, and India took part in this workshop.

The initiation of northern Australian monsoon rainfall bursts is accompanied by an increase in cyclonic circulation in the monsoon region. This study shows that the change in circulation at the start of the composite rainfall burst is predominantly influenced by midlatitude frontlike features. By exploiting the relationship between circulation tendency and the convergence of absolute vorticity flux, the circulation changes accompanying the initiation of Australian monsoon bursts is investigated. Moisture flux convergence is found to be proportional to the circulation changes in the monsoon region. Using a composite analysis it is shown that absolute vorticity fluxes through the southern boundary are by far the most important influence on monsoon burst circulation changes, with only one-third of events more closely related to other influences including the Madden-Julian oscillation. This is shown to be true throughout the wet season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia's Murray-Darling Basin exemplifies complex governance challenges raised by large-scale trans-boundary river systems. The Basin contains a varied and fragmentary mosaic of human perspectives and practices, situated in a dynamic biophysical system that accounts for a significant portion of Australia's agricultural produce and is home to diverse and iconic ecosystems. Severe drought, high river-flow variability, and persistent ecosystem degradation have been impetus for water policy reforms culminating in the highly contested 2012 Murray-Darling Basin Plan. We analyzed public-record content from opinion editorials and speeches by policy elites, 2010-2012, to examine public discourses and discourse coalitions associated with development of the Plan. We focus on three domains of discourse: definition of problems, promotion of solutions, and assertions of fact. Discourses illustrated divergent, exclusionary, and largely un-reconciled perspectives about how water resources should be managed, as well as how plural interests should be represented in decision-making. We identify discourse coalition-linked narrative scripts, develop an understanding of constitutive dynamics relevant to ongoing processes of policy development and implementation, and discuss implications for adaptive governance of water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australian rainfall is strongly influenced by El Niño-southern oscillation (ENSO). The relationship between ENSO and rainfall in eastern Australia is non-linear; the magnitude of La Niña events has a greater effect on rainfall than does the magnitude of El Niño events, and the cause of the non-linearity is unclear from previous work. The twentieth century reanalysis succeeds in capturing the asymmetric ENSO-rainfall relationship. In the reanalysis the asymmetry is strongly related to moisture availability in the south-west Pacific whereas wind flow is of less importance. Some global climate models (GCMs) in the coupled model intercomparison project (CMIP5) archive capture the asymmetric nature of the ENSO-rainfall relationship whilst others do not. Differences in thermodynamic processes and their relationships with ENSO are the primary cause of variability in model performance. Analysis of an atmosphere-only run of a GCM which fails to capture the non-linear ENSO-rainfall relationship is also conducted. The atmospheric run forced by observed sea surface temperatures shows no significant improvement in the ENSO-rainfall relationship over the corresponding coupled model run in the CMIP5 archive. This result suggests that some models are failing to capture the atmospheric teleconnection between the tropical Pacific and Australia, and both this and a realistic representation of oceanic ENSO characteristics are required for coupled models to accurately capture the ENSO-rainfall teleconnection. These findings have implications for the study of rainfall projections in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect stride length has on ankle biomechanics of the leading leg with reference to the potential risk of injury in cricket fast bowlers. Ankle joint kinematic and kinetic data were collected from 51 male fast bowlers during the stance phase of the final delivery stride. The bowling cohort comprised national under-19, first class and international-level athletes. Bowlers were placed into either Short, Average or Long groups based on final stride length, allowing statistical differences to be measured. A multivariate analysis of variance with a Bonferroni post-hoc correction (α = 0.05) revealed significant differences between peak plantarflexion angles (Short-LongP = 0.005, Average and LongP = 0.04) and negative joint work (Average-LongP = 0.026). This study highlighted that during fast bowling the ankle joint of the leading leg experiences high forces under wide ranges of movement. As stride length increases, greater amounts of negative work and plantarflexion are experienced. These increases place greater loads on the ankle joint and move the foot into positions that make it more susceptible to injuries such as posterior impingement syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on research which was conducted to investigate kinematic and kinetic improvements associated with action observation facilitated learning of the power clean technique in Australian football players. Researchers evaluated 15 players. They found that action observation combined with verbal coaching resulted in faster technique improvements and in improved playing performance.

Old-growth forests in south eastern Australia are important for biodiversity conservation, recreation, carbon storage, social values and, to a declining extent, for timber production. Developing a comprehensive definition of old-growth forest that can apply across all Australian vegetation types has been challenging. Old growth can be viewed from ecological and social perspectives. For policy and management purposes old growth has been defined as a growth stage in forest development, incorporating ecological maturity and lack of evidence of past disturbance. Classification and assessment of old growth has largely been restricted to those areas covered by regional forest agreements (RFAs) between different states and the Federal Government. Old growth can be impacted by wildfire, timber harvesting, insect pests, diseases and other disturbances. Climate change will also present challenges for the future management of old-growth forests. There is increasing scientific understanding of the relationships between species, forest growth stage and old-growth forest attributes. To meet biodiversity conservation objectives, the management focus is shifting from assessing and protecting old-growth forests, to providing for forests across the landscape with old-growth attributes. This approach may be at odds with other conceptions of old growth based on notions of undisturbed systems free of human influence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The diurnally varying atmospheric boundary layer observed during the Wangara (Australia) case study is simulated using the recently proposed locally averaged scale-dependent dynamic subgrid-scale (SGS) model. This tuning-free SGS model enables one to dynamically compute the Smagorinsky coefficient and the subgrid-scale Prandtl number based on the local dynamics of the resolved velocity and temperature fields. It is shown that this SGS-model-based large-eddy simulation (LES) has the ability to faithfully reproduce the characteristics of observed atmospheric boundary layers even with relatively coarse resolutions. In particular, the development, magnitude, and location of an observed nocturnal low-level jet are depicted quite well. Some well-established empirical formulations (e.g., mixed layer scaling, spectral scaling) are recovered with good accuracy by this SGS parameterization. The application of this new-generation dynamic SGS modeling approach is also briefly delineated to address several practical wind-energy-related issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a synopsis of the new dynamics of the global biopharma industry. The emergence of global generics companies with capabilities approximating those of 'big pharma' has accelerated the blurring of boundaries between the innovator and generics sectors. Biotechnology-based products form a large and growing segment of prescription drug markets and regulatory pathways for biogenerics are imminent. Indian biopharma multinationals with large-scale efficient manufacturing plants and growing R&D capabilities are now major suppliers of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and generic drugs across both developed and developing countries. In response to generic competition, innovator companies employ a range of life cycle management techniques, including the launch of 'authorised generics'. The generics segment in Australia will see high growth rates in coming years but the prospect for local manufacturing is bleak. The availability of cheap generics in international markets has put pressure on Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) pricing arrangements, and a new policy direction was announced in November 2006. Lower generics prices will have a negative impact on some incumbent suppliers but industrial renewal policies for the medicines industry in Australia are better focused on higher value R&D activities and niche manufacturing of sophisticated products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]