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Driven by an increasing population, affluence and economic activity, waste—an almost inevitable by-product of modern production and consumption—is being generated at a rate that is growing exponentially with time in Australia. Despite the global maturity of waste to energy technology as a waste valorisation process, it is yet to be applied at scale in Australia, which has traditionally relied on landfill disposal, and more recently recycling, for the management of waste. Recent policy frameworks implemented have enabled the uptake of waste to energy in parts of Australia to divert waste from landfill, while offsetting non-renewable energy sources in the transition to a low-carbon energy landscape. However, recent policy dictates that higher order waste valorisation processes such as re-use and recycling, must not be undermined by energy recovery processes. In this paper, we present initial findings from a system dynamics model, developed to assess interventions to improve resource recovery in a multi-stream (municipal, construction and commercial) waste system specific to New South Wales. The system under investigation is characterised by causal feedback processes between waste generation, valorisation processes, and waste management policies, making it ideal for study using a system dynamics approach, and offers benefits in terms of greater understanding of the system processes over more typical mechanistic approaches [1]. System dynamics modelling has been used in the study of sustainable waste management, and waste management planning (see [2], [3], and [4]), and has yet to be applied in the context of waste to energy in Australia. Using socioeconomic and waste management data as inputs, projected waste generation and recycling rates under reference conditions are compared to scenarios with waste to energy intervention, to estimate the potential of energy recovery in achieving local waste management targets. Several scenarios are modelled with variation in allowable feedstock criteria, fleet efficiency, and feedstock pre-treatment. Insights into the potential impacts of waste to energy on other valorisation processes are gained, and assessed against dynamic objective functions to determine an optimal waste to energy scenario. The modelling shows that waste to energy would have minimal perverse outcomes on other resource recovery efforts under current feedstock criteria. This innovative approach is demonstrated for the case of New South Wales, Australia's largest state and biggest producer of waste. A new policy framework, the Energy From Waste Policy Statement, has recently been released, mandating allowable feedstock for energy recovery processes. New South Wales also has a set of targets specified in its Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery strategy, describing state-wide recovery targets across the waste stream. These targets are defined as the proportion of total waste generated used in a recovery process, and not sent to landfill. Waste to energy is such a process, envisioned as part of an integrated sustainable waste management system. However there are competing effects between waste to energy, materials recycling, and waste avoidance on the efficacy of the different intervention types in meeting recovery targets. Finding the tipping point, where waste to energy in a system can be optimised for reduced carbon emissions, waste volume reduction and landfill diversion for example, without sacrificing performance in other high-valued waste valorisation processes is valuable information for waste management planners, which the developed model addresses.

The overarching aim of this report is to explore how the Australian metals and minerals sector could embrace new business models and build on its strengths to harness new value in a global economy orientated more towards sustainable futures

A degree of judicial caution in accepting the assertion of a plaintiff as to what he or she would have done, if fully informed of risks, is clearly evident upon a review of decisions applying the common law. Civil liability legislation in some jurisdictions now precludes assertion evidence by a plaintiff. Although this legislative change was seen as creating a significant challenge for plaintiffs seeking to discharge the onus of proof of establishing causation in such cases, recent decisions suggest a more limited practical effect. While a plaintiff’s ex post facto assertions as to what he or she would have done if fully informed of risks may now be inadmissible, objective and subjective evidence as to the surrounding facts and circumstances, in particular the plaintiff’s prior attitudes and conduct, and the assertion evidence of others remains admissible. Given the court’s reliance on both objective and subjective evidence, statistical evidence may be of increasing importance.

Human amyloidosis describes a condition where one of some 23 known proteins form non-soluble pathological fibrils in various organs and tissues throughout the body. A common feature of these amyloid deposits is distinctive green birefringence when stained with Congo Red. Staining is performed on formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue sections of tissue biopsies or on subcutaneous abdominal fat aspirates. This method is combined with clinical, immunohistochemical, and genetic information to diagnose the condition and in some cases, identify the amyloid involved. Definitive identification of the amyloid protein is essential for proper therapies in treating patients. Identification in the cases where the other methods give ambiguous results, involve solubilizing and extracting the amyloid proteins from the fixed sections or from fat aspirates. In an attempt to reduce the processing time of these types of clinical samples and still provide definitive identification, we explored in-situ enzymatic digestion methods that exploit the speed and sensitivity of nanoRPLC-ESI-tandem mass spectrometry. Using previously diagnosed clinical samples, we tested a variety of conditions to perform trypsin digestion directly on laser capture microdisected (LCM) generated samples and on fat aspirate samples with the goal of having a robust method suitable for mass spectrometry based identification. Trypsin digestions were performed using, ammonioum bicarbonate, Tris, Tris EDTA/ ± zwittergent 3–16, with and without solubilization steps of hexafluoroisopropanol, acetonitrile, or DMSO. A commercially available FFPE solubilization kit, Liquid Tissue, was also tested. The efficacies of these treatments are judged by performing Sequest or Mascot searches of LTQ generated MS/MS spectra, noting the presence of peptides from the expected amyloid proteins. This method has been successfully utilized to correctly identify amyloids comprised of transthyretin (TTR), serum amyloid A (SAA), lambda and kappa light chains. Controls taken from regions adjacent to the amyloid plaques were consistently devoid of the amyloid proteins.

We have explored the potential antitumour activity of DNA-intercalating free radical generators based on compounds constructed from 9-anilinoacridine and chelidamic acid as an iron (II) binding centre. Here we describe their synthesis, DNA cleaving ability and activity against a panel of human tumour cell lines in culture. We also investigate their potential for use as DNA footprinting agents. Previous work has shown that the parent compound, FTP1, cleaves DNA in an essentially sequence neutral fashion and has modest cytotoxicity [Searcey, M., McClean, S., Madden, B.Wakelin, L.P.G. (1997) Journal of the Chemical Society. Perkin Transactions, 2, 523]. Here we have equipped the acridine chromophore with an N,N-dimethylaminoethyl-4-carboxamide substituent, giving the threading agent FTP2, which confers selectivity for cleaving in GC-rich sequences, avoidance for binding to AT-tracts and 8-fold enhanced cytotoxicity compared with FTP1. Although this side chain bestows slow dissociation kinetics on DNA complexes of 9-anilinoacridines, it does not enhance the overall cutting efficiency of FTP2, implying that free-radical generation, DNA hydrogen abstraction and sugar fragmentation are fast compared with DNA-ligand complex lifetimes. FTP2 does not appear to be susceptible to resistance by the mdr phenotype in human ovarian carcinoma cells. We also report that FTP2 is an effective footprinting agent for GC-selective binding ligands and that it has some advantages over FTP1 in this regard.

The price farmers pay for farm land can be a critical determinant of the continued success or eventual failure of a farm business. A decision support model has been developed to make explicit the usually implicit assumptions about expected profitability, financing and debt servicing aspects of land purchase decisions. The model can be used to help the decision maker to identify offer prices for farm land which are probably sound and prices which are likely to be unsound.

The ultimate risk to he managed by fanning families is the risk of the farm family losing their livelihood, their equity and their way of life. The most important risky decision they must make is What price to pay when expanding the business and buying more land.?' When a farm business becomes illiquid and then insolvent and is sold up, it is commonly found that the owners paid a price for land in the necessary expansion phases of the business which was too high and the gearing which accompanied the land investment Was too high, in the light of subsequent commodity prices and interest rates. Making explicit the usually implicit assumptions about future profitability and debt servicing ability, which form the basis of the decision analysis and underlie land offer prices, facilitates judgments about how realistic arc these key assumptions. Land purchase prices can be identified whitch are likely to put the survival of the business in jeopardy. The prospective buyers then have a good idea about when to stop bidding if they wish to keep farming.