Search

There is a growing body of evidence surrounding the implications of uncontrolled bushfires and wildfires on water. This topic has importance from an ecological perspective, and significance for human health as it has consequences for drinking water quality and supply. Against the backdrop of climate change, it is especially important to holistically understand the impact of fire on water. This review took a systematic approach to establish a comprehensive overview of the changes occurring in freshwater systems following uncontrolled wildfires and bushfires. Screening of 16,551 results obtained from Web of Science, PubMed, and MEDLINE resulted in 111 manuscripts suitable for inclusion. The impact of fire across a wide range of water quality indicators either relative to pre-fire measurements or reference sites was examined qualitatively (increase/decrease) and where possible quantitatively (% change or difference). Factors included biomass, indicator species and species diversity, metals, nutrients, salts, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, particulates and turbidity, pH, conductivity, temperature, and water course morphology. Evidence focused largely on short to medium term impacts (e.g. within 2 years of the fire event), with only a subset of studies reporting on longer term changes in response to fire. We found that bushfire has acute and long-lasting effects on water in terms of physical (e.g. decreased suspended particle size), chemical (e.g. increased nutrient concentration), and biological (e.g. decreased species diversity) characteristics. There was also evidence of resilience and recovery. We urge future work to consider measures that will fulfil both environmental and human health considerations, to allow more integrated insight into the impacts of fire on water.

The long history of innovation in the field of piezoelectric devices has, over the last 65 years, been predominantly rooted in a single material, the Pb(Zr, Ti)O3 ceramic, known as lead zirconate titanate (PZT). Despite enormous resources being dedicated in the last 20 years to identifying lead-free alternatives to PZT and developing a thriving, but limited, market in PbTiO3-relaxor single crystals, most device developments are still PZT based. However, more recently, solid solutions based on BiFeO3 have opened up new applications for active piezoelectric devices at high temperatures (to 600 °C) and under high stress (exceeding 250 MPa), with applications in industrial ultrasound, aerospace, automotive, and micro-actuators. This perspective article examines how new materials are expanding the application space for piezoelectric materials.

Electricity businesses across Australia are facing many market disruptions, such as the increasing demand from the rapid uptake of domestic air conditioners and the contrasting problematic generation from solar power connections to the grid. In this context, the opportunity to proactively leverage forthcoming technological advances in battery storage and electric vehicles to address the steeply rising cost of electricity supply has emerged. This research explores a design approach to support a business to navigate such disruptions in the current market.This study examines a design-led approach to innovation conducted over a ten month action research study within a large, risk-averse firm in the Australian energy sector. This article presents results describing a current foresight gap within the business; the response of the business to using design-led innovation to address this issue; and the tools, approaches and processes used. The business responses indicate their perception of the value of qualitative customer engagement as a path to addressing, and potentially benefiting from, disruptive innovation. It is anticipated that these results will further business model development within the company, and assist in leveraging disruptive innovations for this industry participant, thus limiting future increases in the cost of electricity supply for customers in Australia.

This paper will describe the progress of the SKA-1 Telescope during the period from Preliminary Design Review to Critical Design Review. In addition to this, it will provide information on the management of the project with respect to managing cost and scope whilst working within a fixed cost cap. The paper will consider the balance between the technical choices made with the risk of delivering a large, distributed observatory across several continents. In addition, it will consider the challenges of carrying this out whilst developing the organisation towards an Inter-Governmental Organisation. It will consider, briefly, the key management tools used and the lessons learned....

Heat stroke represents the extreme end of a spectrum of heat-related illnesses. It can occur in endurance athletes. Its incidence is probably under-reported. Patients present confused, drowsy or comatose, with a raised core temperature, but often a falsely reassuring peripheral temperature. Treatment is centred on reducing the core temperature as rapidly as possible and appropriate supportive management. Even with prompt treatment, it is associated with multi-organ dysfunction and death. Patients are often misdiagnosed, or diagnosed late. This is probably exacerbated by a wide differential diagnosis, the need for a core temperature measurement to reach the diagnosis and clinicians being unfamiliar with the disease. The need for immediate recognition, and immediate treatment compounds the problem. Survivors may experience long-term neurological disability and may be at risk of a further episode. Patients should return to sport gradually and only when they feel well. Its epidemiology, pathophysiology and clinical management are reviewed.

The Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) provides measurements over the wavelength range 5 to 28: 5 µm. MIRI has, within a single "package," four key scientific functions: photometric imaging, coronagraphy, single-source low-spectral resolving power (R similar to 100) spectroscopy, and medium-resolving power (R ∼ 1500 to 3500) integral field spectroscopy. An associated cooler system maintains MIRI at its operating temperature of