Estimation and evaluation of multi-decadal fire severity patterns using Landsat sensors

Retrospective identification of fire severity can improve our understanding of fire behaviour and ecological responses. However, burnt area records for many ecosystems are non-existent or incomplete, and those that are documented rarely include fire severity data. Retrospective analysis using satellite remote sensing data captured over extended periods can provide better estimates of fire history. This study aimed to assess the relationship between the Landsat differenced normalised burn ratio (dNBR) and field measured geometrically structured composite burn index (GeoCBI) for retrospective analysis of fire severity over a 23 year period in sclerophyll woodland and heath ecosystems. Further, we assessed for reduced dNBR fire severity classification accuracies associated with vegetation regrowth at increasing time between ignition and image capture. This was achieved by assessing four Landsat images captured at increasing time since ignition of the most recent burnt area. We found significant linear GeoCBI–dNBR relationships (R2 = 0.81 and 0.71) for data collected across ecosystems and for Eucalyptus racemosa ecosystems, respectively. Non-significant and weak linear relationships were observed for heath and Melaleuca quinquenervia ecosystems, suggesting that GeoCBI–dNBR was not appropriate for fire severity classification in specific ecosystems. Therefore, retrospective fire severity was classified across ecosystems. Landsat images captured within ~ 30 days after fire events were minimally affected by post burn vegetation regrowth.

Eradication of two incursions of the Red Imported Fire Ant in Queensland, Australia

Of the five known incursions of the highly invasive Red Imported Fire Ant in Australia, two are regarded to have been eradicated. As treatment efforts continue, and the programme evolves and new tools become available, eradication is still considered to be feasible for the remaining Red Imported Fire Ant populations with long-term commitment and support.

Long-term frequent prescribed fire decreases surface soil carbon and nitrogen pools in a wet sclerophyll forest of Southeast Queensland, Australia

Prescribed fire is one of the most widely-used management tools for reducing fuel loads in managed forests. However the long-term effects of repeated prescribed fires on soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) pools are poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate how different fire frequency regimes influence C and N pools in the surface soils (0–10 cm). A prescribed fire field experiment in a wet sclerophyll forest established in 1972 in southeast Queensland was used in this study. The fire frequency regimes included long unburnt (NB), burnt every 2 years (2yrB) and burnt every 4 years (4yrB), with four replications. Compared with the NB treatment, the 2yrB treatment lowered soil total C by 44%, total N by 54%, HCl hydrolysable C and N by 48% and 59%, KMnO4 oxidizable C by 81%, microbial biomass C and N by 42% and 33%, cumulative CO2–C by 28%, NaOCl-non-oxidizable C and N by 41% and 51%, and charcoal-C by 17%, respectively. The 4yrB and NB treatments showed no significant differences for these soil C and N pools. All soil labile, biologically active and recalcitrant and total C and N pools were correlated positively with each other and with soil moisture content, but negatively correlated with soil pH. The C:N ratios of different C and N pools were greater in the burned treatments than in the NB treatments. This study has highlighted that the prescribed burning at four year interval is a more sustainable management practice for this subtropical forest ecosystem.

Accounting for risk: The advent of capped conveyancing title insurance

Title insurance companies originating from America, have, in the past 15 years become part of the Australian conveyancing landscape. However for most residential freehold owners, their activities would be a mystery. A purchaser does not routinely obtain title insurance, with the companies presently focussing on servicing the mortgagee sector. While the lack of penetration in the residential purchaser market may be attributed to the consumer’s lack of knowledge, evidence from Ontario and New Zealand illustrates that title insurance is likely to become an additional cost in the conveyancing process in Australia. In this article we highlight the reasons why, and demonstrate how title insurers have, by working with the legal profession been able to subtly move the risk of responsibility for compensation for loss, (at least in the first instance) from the state to the insurer, but with the added benefit for the state and the conveyancing agents that the cost of the insurance is ultimately borne by the consumer. In New Zealand this development is being accelerated by the introduction of capped conveyancing title insurance. Whether title insurance will become part of the conveyancing process is no longer the relevant question for Australia, (it undoubtedly will), but the unknown issue is just how title insurance companies will work with conveyancing agents to infiltrate the market, and what response this infiltration will have in terms of the state’s view as to their continued role in the provision of assurance. We suggest that developments from New Zealand in relation to capped conveyancing insurance are likely to be replicated in Australia in the near future, and that the state’s role in providing an assurance fund will continue, though the state may seek to expand the areas in which the right to compensation is restricted.

Resolution regarding relief of sufferers of fire in Hague Street

Digital image

Auditing design and innovation programmes within a multinational insurance provider

The financial services industry is key to the success of the Australian economy, however even established businesses need to continually push to innovate. At present, design is becoming widely accepted as means to innovate and many companies currently have design and innovation programmes. The goal of these programmes is to foster a design capability amongst staff members. However, little is known as to the impact of the innovation capabilities such design programmes claim to instil. Therefore, this paper seeks to investigate how a financial services firm is currently attempting to build a design capability amongst staff members. Using a case study approach the research team audited four design capability programmes currently being deployed by the case firm. The study highlights the strengths and weaknesses of current efforts by the firm and current barriers to achieving design capability. The implications of this paper include key insights for both academics and industry.

Directors and officers insurance – Recent critical issues in Australia and New Zealand

Directors and Officers Liability Insurance (“D&O insurance”) has grown and evolved rapidly over the past 80 years to assume an important position in most corporations’ corporate governance and risk management strategies. This article focuses upon certain topical matters of particular concern to directors and officers including the availability of defence costs where a D&O policy is subject to a statutory charge; the commercial desirability of stand-alone “A-side” coverage, being the cover provided directly to directors and officers for loss resulting from claims made against them for wrongful acts; the impact of fraud and/or dishonesty upon D&O cover; and disclosure of the nature and extent of D&O cover to the directors and officers themselves and to third parties – in the latter case such access frequently being necessary to determine the economic viability of pursuing a proposed action against a company and its directors and officers.

Material characterisation and numerical modelling of gypsum plasterboards in fire

The fire resistance characteristic of LSF wall systems mainly depends on the protective linings in use, commonly gypsum plasterboards. However, unclassified boards with varying composition and more notably with ambiguous thermal properties are increasingly becoming available in the market. Therefore a study was undertaken with an aim to set minimum standards for fire protective boards used in LSF wall applications. This paper presents the details of this study based on material characterisation and finite element thermal modelling of the most commonly used fire protective board, gypsum plasterboards, to address these critical issues related to fire safety design. In the material characterisation phase of this study, thermal properties of three different gypsum plasterboards manufactured in Australia were measured, analysed and compared. Subsequently, it proposes a thermal property based “k-factor” capable of giving an overall measure of the fire performance of boards, so that it can be used in appropriately classifying fire protective boards. As it is not known how this factor relates to the overall fire performance of LSF wall systems, numerical models were also developed and used to simulate the performance of LSF walls exposed to the standard fire. Finally, a correlation between time-temperature profiles from numerical analyses and calculated k-factors was established.

A study on the variations of optical and physical properties of aerosols over a tropical semi-arid station during grassland fire

The present paper records the results of a case study on the impact of an extensive grassland fire on the physical and optical properties of aerosols at a semi-arid station in southern India for the first time from ground based measurements using a MICROTOPS-II sunphotometer, an aethalometer and a quartz crystal microbalance impactor (QCM). Observations revealed a substantial increase in aerosol optical depth (AOD) at all wavelengths during burning days compared to normal days. High AOD values observed at shorter wavelengths suggest the dominance of accumulation mode particle loading over the study area. Daily mean aerosol size spectra shows, most of the time, power-law distribution. To characterize AOD, the Angstrom parameters (i.e., alpha and beta) were used. Wavelength exponent (1.38) and turbidity coefficient (0.21) are high during burning days compared to normal days, thereby suggesting an increase in accumulation mode particle loading. Aerosol size distribution suggested dominance of accumulation mode particle loading during burning days compared to normal days. A significant positive correlation was observed between AOD at 500 mn and water vapour and negative correlation between AOD at 500 nm and wind speed for burning and non-burning days. Diurnal variations of black carbon (BC) aerosol mass concentrations increased by a factor of similar to 2 in the morning and afternoon hours during burning period compared to normal days.

Free software and the law. Out of the frying pan and into the fire: How shaking up intellectual property suits competition law just fine

Free software is viewed as a revolutionary and subversive practice, and in particular has dealt a strong blow to the traditional conception of intellectual property law (although in its current form could be considered a 'hack' of IP rights). However, other (capitalist) areas of law have been swift to embrace free software, or at least incorporate it into its own tenets. One area in particular is that of competition (antitrust) law, which itself has long been in theoretical conflict with intellectual property, due to the restriction on competition inherent in the grant of ‘monopoly’ rights by copyrights, patents and trademarks. This contribution will examine how competition law has approached free software by examining instances in which courts have had to deal with such initiatives, for instance in the Oracle Sun Systems merger, and the implications that these decisions have on free software initiatives. The presence or absence of corporate involvement in initiatives will be an important factor in this investigation, with it being posited that true instances of ‘commons-based peer production’ can still subvert the capitalist system, including perplexing its laws beyond intellectual property.

Accountability for good faith in commercial dealing: The Carter v Boehm legacy 250 years on

In common law jurisdictions such as England, Australia, Canada and New Zealand good faith in contracting has long been recognised in specific areas of the law such as insurance law and franchising, and more recently the implied duties of good faith and mutual trust and convenience in employment contracts have generated a considerable volume of case law. Outside of these areas of law that may be characterised as being strongly‘relational’ in character,the courts in common law jurisdictions have been reluctant to embrace a more universal application of good faith in contracting and performance. However increasingly there are cases which support the proposition that there is a common law duty of good faith of general application to all commercial contracts. Most important in this context is the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Bhasin v Hrynew.1 However, this matter is by no means resolved in all common law jurisdictions. This article looks at the recent case law and literature and at various legislative incursions including statutes, codes of conduct and regulations impacting good faith in commercial dealings.