Australian governments have a long and inglorious record of establishing valuable, valued and successful science-based initiatives that address issues of major continuing importance, only to later ...abolish them. The results are loss of focus, loss of group knowledge, loss of expertise, loss of analytical capability, wasted effort and resources, wasted expenditure - and most of all, wasted opportunity and wasted priceless time.
There are so many instances of this highly destructive political behaviour over so many years, committed by governments of both major political persuasions at both national and state level, that it should be recognised as an ingrained political behaviour and a basic endemic flaw in the Australian political system - a flaw that urgently needs correction, if Australia is to achieve a peaceful, sustainable future.
This paper presents a necessarily incomplete account of nine science-based bodies that met premature and unnecessary deaths at the hands of politicians - the Commission for the Future (CFF), the Resource Assessment Commission (RAC), Land and Water Australia (LWA), Queensland's Regional Open Space System (ROSS), the National Land and Water Resources Audit (NLWRA), the Sustainable Rivers Audit (SRA), the Native Fish Strategy (NFS), the National Water Commission (NWC) and the Climate Commission (CC). It describes some of their successes and some of the deleterious consequences of their abolition, the political reasons for their axing and the rationales used to justify the executions.
The paper calls for academic study of (and insider perspectives on) these and other valuable science-based initiatives killed off by Australian state and federal governments, so that the worth of these endeavours is recognised and remembered by the scientific community and by society at large. It concludes with a discussion of how this destructive political silencing of scientists might perhaps be reduced in frequency and significance.
This review evaluates the current surgical management options for refractory and atypical macular holes (MH) and proposes a treatment paradigm for approaching complex cases. A review of literature ...was performed to deliver a thorough discussion of the epidemiology and pathophysiology of MH as well as the historic evolution of surgical management strategies. With this context established, an update on recent surgical advances for management of large, chronic, and highly myopic MH is provided. New small MH may be adequately treated with pars plana vitrectomy, while those ≥300 μm should undergo internal limiting membrane (ILM) peel. For MH ≥400 μm with risk factors for failure, primary intervention should involve creation of an ILM flap and various methods of flap creation are discussed. For very large MH ≥700 μm or in refractory cases, autologous retinal transplants and other recently proposed procedures should be considered. While typical MHs enjoy high initial surgical success rates, atypical and refractory MH require additional intraoperative and postoperative considerations to maximize surgical success and optimize vision. With many techniques at the surgeon's disposal, patient selection becomes critical to improving outcomes.
We report the final results of the search for gravitationally lensed flat-spectrum radio sources found in the combination of CLASS (Cosmic Lens All-Sky Survey) and JVAS (Jodrell Bank VLA Astrometric ...Survey). VLA (Very Large Array) observations of 16 503 sources have been made, resulting in the largest sample of arcsec-scale lens systems available. Contained within the 16 503 sources is a complete sample of 11 685 sources which have two-point spectral indices between 1.4 and 5 GHz flatter than −0.5, and 5-GHz flux densities ⩾30 mJy. A subset of 8958 sources form a well-defined statistical sample suitable for analysis of the lens statistics. We describe the systematic process by which 149 candidate lensed sources were picked from the statistical sample on the basis of possessing multiple compact components in the 0.2-arcsec resolution VLA maps. Candidates were followed up with 0.05-arcsec resolution MERLIN and 0.003-arcsec VLBA observations at 5 GHz and rejected as lens systems if they failed well-defined surface brightness and/or morphological tests. To illustrate the candidate elimination process, we show examples of sources representative of particular morphologies that have been ruled out by the follow-up observations. 194 additional candidates, not in the well-defined sample, were also followed up. Maps for all the candidates can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/research/gravlens/index.html. We summarize the properties of each of the 22 gravitational lens systems in JVAS/CLASS. 12 are double-image systems, nine are four-image systems and one is a six-image system. 13 constitute a statistically well-defined sample giving a point-source lensing rate of 1:690 ± 190. The interpretation of the results in terms of the properties of the lensing galaxy population and cosmological parameters will be published elsewhere.
► Failure pathways are identified for water/wastewater networks. ► New intelligent monitoring technologies are aligned with failure pathway elements. ► Technologies are prioritised against ...water/wastewater sector business drivers. ► Economic cost-benefits are quantified to justify intelligent monitoring uptake. ► Guidelines for successful technology pilot trials are proposed.
The global water sector faces significant challenges to maintain secure and reliable service provision in the context of ageing infrastructure, urban growth, and with investment capacity constrained by user affordability. As part of an on-going effort to meet these challenges, research has been undertaken to facilitate the diffusion of technological innovations within the concept of “Intelligent Networks”. This diffusion has been facilitated by the formation of a consortium of water utilities in Victoria, Australia. The consortium has engaged with Intelligent Network concepts due to a need to prolong network asset life where possible; defer or remove the need for asset augmentation, reduce the operational expenditure (by reducing asset failures and incident response times), and minimise the impact of asset failures on communities and the environment. The literature on innovation diffusion indicates that the uptake of new technologies is influenced by subjective perceptions. As such, key research challenges were to understand where technologies could be used to improve asset management, identify potential condition monitoring techniques, elicit best available knowledge with respect these technologies and provide advice on where their application was likely to reflect a rational economic decision. To ensure a targeted review, “failure pathway” diagrams were first constructed to identify and relate influences controlling asset deterioration and failure. Elements of failure pathways were used to identify parameters that, by effective monitoring, could provide an early indication of asset distress and the opportunity to intervene and avoid reactive maintenance costs. Alternatively, parameters were also identified that could inform the deferral of capital expenditure on asset replacement and augmentation. The failure pathway provided the basis for the identification of 19 candidate monitoring technologies which were subsequently reviewed. Each technology identified was assessed against capital and on-going maintenance costs and the perceived benefit of implementation. Benefits were expressed in terms of how the new information acquired would enhance the asset owner’s ability to defer asset augmentation/renewals and avoid reactive maintenance costs/externalities. The project provided a prioritised set of monitoring technologies that are currently progressing towards pilot trials in the field.
In Queensland and elsewhere, there is a paucity of environmental data on abandoned extractive sites, and the public service agencies responsible for determining and monitoring the environmental ...conditions on these sites are inadequately resourced. There is also a paucity of publicly available environmental data on operational extractive sites (and little independent monitoring of these sites), and a lack of public trust in both the companies that conduct extractive operations and the government that oversees these operations. The requisite knowledge could be gained and much trust regained by empowering local communities and NGOs (Non-Government Organisations) to participate in joint community-industry-government environmental monitoring of extractive sites, where the results are uploaded to public-access online databases and reporting systems. The reward for the communities would be participation in the decision-making process on natural resource management issues - particularly issues relevant to extractive sites.
•Investment in ageing infrastructure is a significant societal challenge.•Cast iron pipes still constitute a significant portion of many water networks and various technologies are available to ...rehabilitate them.•Under certain circumstances, trenchless renovation can be considered a prudent option, as can the use of trenchless replacement.•Diffusion of such innovations in the USA is lagging in comparison to other countries.•An expert system has thus been developed to facilitate asset managers to make risk appropriate selection of rehabilitation technologies.
Cast iron (CI) pipes still make up a significant portion of many water distribution systems across the globe. A range of trenched and trenchless technologies are available to rehabilitate these pipes, but in the USA trenched replacement is still the standard approach used, despite ‘trenchless’ options having significant financial, social and environmental benefits. This paper focuses on the development of a decision support tool to help asset managers determine which rehabilitation technique to select, with specific emphasis given to whether to renovate or replace a group of CI pipes. The tool encapsulates expert knowledge on a range of issues, and provides an assessment of both the practical and economic feasibility of available techniques. During the tool development, it was recognized that the economic justification for renovation depended strongly on the assumed operational life of the renovated asset, which is inherently uncertain. To circumvent this, the tool calculates the minimum required service life (MRSL) for technically feasible renovation options, taking into account the life cycle costs of rehabilitation scenarios. The MRSL is the operational life beyond which renovated assets provide economic benefit in comparison to replacement options. This metric thus allows asset managers to determine if the risk of renovating pipes is worth taking when considered in light of the potential cost savings and other benefits. Overall, the tool is intended to encourage innovation diffusion in the USA and to help utilities adopt a ‘risk appropriate’ approach to pipe rehabilitation.
Research has shown that some water utilities still have a strong preference for using “
tried and true
” open cut replacement techniques when rehabilitating water pipes in urban areas. Significant ...cost savings and reductions in carbon emissions can, however, be realised through the implementation of a strategy that incorporates trenchless rehabilitation techniques. This paper investigates the carbon emissions and financial implications of pipe rehabilitation strategies and analyses policies for three water utilities in Australia over a long-term planning horizon (30 years). When monetized, the carbon emissions from pipe rehabilitation are shown to be 0.1–0.2 % of the total revenue of a utility. However, given that direct and intangible cost reductions can be realised and there is a need to mitigate carbon emissions wherever possible, it is concluded that utilities should develop the capacity to use trenchless techniques in urban areas.
PDF
