Floods, earthquakes and insurance coverage : issues, problems and solutions

The recent floods in Queensland and elsewhere in Australia as well as the recent earthquakes in New Zealand have again given rise to very significant uninsured losses. This article looks at the issue of cover protection against catastrophes such as floods and earthquakes affecting home buildings and contents insurance and the standard cover provisions of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth). It points also to the possibility of a national scheme to cover natural disasters including floods.

Year 7 students’ approaches to understanding and solving NAPLAN numeracy problems

This study investigated how the interpretation of mathematical problems by Year 7 students impacted on their ability to demonstrate what they can do in NAPLAN numeracy testing. In the study, mathematics is viewed as a culturally and socially determined system of signs and signifiers that establish the meaning, origins and importance of mathematics. The study hypothesises that students are unable to succeed in NAPLAN numeracy tests because they cannot interpret the questions, even though they may be able to perform the necessary calculations. To investigate this, the study applied contemporary theories of literacy to the context of mathematical problem solving. A case study design with multiple methods was used. The study used a correlation design to explore the connections between NAPLAN literacy and numeracy outcomes of 198 Year 7 students in a Queensland school. Additionally, qualitative methods provided a rich description of the effect of the various forms of NAPLAN numeracy questions on the success of ten Year 7 students in the same school. The study argues that there is a quantitative link between reading and numeracy. It illustrates that interpretation (literacy) errors are the most common error type in the selected NAPLAN questions, made by students of all abilities. In contrast, conceptual (mathematical) errors are less frequent amongst more capable students. This has important implications in preparing students for NAPLAN numeracy tests. The study concluded by recommending that increased focus on the literacies of mathematics would be effective in improving NAPLAN results.

A node-based smoothed conforming point interpolation method (NS-CPIM) for elasticity problems

This paper formulates a node-based smoothed conforming point interpolation method (NS-CPIM) for solid mechanics. In the proposed NS-CPIM, the higher order conforming PIM shape functions (CPIM) have been constructed to produce a continuous and piecewise quadratic displacement field over the whole problem domain, whereby the smoothed strain field was obtained through smoothing operation over each smoothing domain associated with domain nodes. The smoothed Galerkin weak form was then developed to create the discretized system equations. Numerical studies have demonstrated the following good properties: NS-CPIM (1) can pass both standard and quadratic patch test; (2) provides an upper bound of strain energy; (3) avoid the volumetric locking; (4) provides the higher accuracy than those in the node-based smoothed schemes of the original PIMs.

Re-thinking how we plan to address technically complex problems : drawing on planning theory to guide practice in revision of land use plans in coastal high hazard zones

Queensland's new State Planning Policy for Coastal Protection, released in March and approved in April 2011 as part of the Queensland Coastal Plan, stipulates that local governments prepare and implement adaptation strategies for built up areas projected to be subject to coastal hazards between present day and 2100. Urban localities within the delineated coastal high hazard zone (as determined by models incorporating a 0.8 meter rise in sea level and a 10% increase in the maximum cyclone activity) will be required to re-evaluate their plans to accommodate growth, revising land use plans to minimise impacts of anticipated erosion and flooding on developed areas and infrastructure. While implementation of such strategies would aid in avoidance or minimisation of risk exposure, communities are likely to face significant challenges in such implementation, especially as development in Queensland is so intensely focussed upon its coasts with these new policies directing development away from highly desirable waterfront land. This paper examines models of planning theory to understand how we plan when faced with technically complex problems towards formulation of a framework for evaluating and improving practice.

Problems with a great idea : referral by prehospital emergency services to a community-based falls-prevention service

Background and aim Falls are the leading cause of injury in older adults. Identifying people at risk before they experience a serious fall requiring hospitalisation allows an opportunity to intervene earlier and potentially reduce further falls and subsequent healthcare costs. The purpose of this project was to develop a referral pathway to a community falls-prevention team for older people who had experienced a fall attended by a paramedic service and who were not transported to hospital. It was also hypothesised that providing intervention to this group of clients would reduce future falls-related ambulance call-outs, emergency department presentations and hospital admissions. Methods An education package, referral pathway and follow-up procedures were developed. Both services had regular meetings, and work shadowing with the paramedics was also trialled to encourage more referrals. A range of demographic and other outcome measures were collected to compare people referred through the paramedic pathway and through traditional pathways. Results Internal data from the Queensland Ambulance Service indicated that there were approximately six falls per week by community-dwelling older persons in the eligible service catchment area (south west Brisbane metropolitan area) who were attended to by Queensland Ambulance Service paramedics, but not transported to hospital during the 2-year study period (2008–2009). Of the potential 638 eligible patients, only 17 (2.6%) were referred for a falls assessment. Conclusion Although this pilot programme had support from all levels of management as well as from the service providers, it did not translate into actual referrals. Several explanations are provided for these preliminary findings.

Wound problems following hip arthroplasty before and after the introduction of a direct thrombin inhibitor for thromboprophylaxis

NICE guidelines have stated that patients undergoing elective hip surgery are at increased risk for venous thromboembolic events (VTE) following surgery and have recommended thromboprophylaxis for 28-35 days1, 2. However the studies looking at the new direct thrombin inhibitors have only looked at major bleeding. We prospectively looked at wound discharge in patients who underwent hip arthroplasty and were given dabigatran postoperatively between March 2010 and April 2010 (n=56). We retrospectively compared these results to a matched group of patients who underwent similar operations six months earlier when all patients were given dalteparin routinely postoperatively until discharge, and discharged home on 150mg aspirin daily for 6 weeks (n=67). Wound discharge after 5 days was significantly higher in the patients taking dabigatran (32% dabigatran n=18, 10% dalteparin n=17, p=0.003) and our rate of delayed discharges due to wound discharge significantly increased from 7% in the dalteparin group (n=5) to 27% for dabigatran (n=15, p=0.004). Patients who received dabigatran were more than five times as likely to return to theatre with a wound complication as those who received dalteparin (7% dabigatran n=4, vs. 1% dalteparin n=1), however, this was not statistically significant (p=0.18). The significantly higher wound discharge and return to theatre rates demonstrated in this study have meant that we have changed our practice to administering dalteparin until the wound is dry and then starting dabigatran. Our study demonstrates the need for further clinical studies regarding wound discharge and dabigatran.

Raising awareness of traffic pollution: the potential benefits and problems of using a warning smell

Exposure to traffic pollution is increasing worldwide as people move to cities, and as more vehicles join the roads, creating longer journeys and more traffic jams. Most traffic pollutants are odourless and invisible, which hides exposure from the public. If traffic pollution had a distinctive smell it would enable people to avoid exposure, and increase the political will for difficult policy changes. A smell may also instigate longer-term changes, such as switching to active transport for school pick-ups. A smell could be added using a fuel additive or a temporary device attached to vehicle exhausts.

Effective shear modulus approach for two dimensional solids and plate bending problems by meshless point collocation method

For the analysis of material nonlinearity, an effective shear modulus approach based on the strain control method is proposed in this paper by using point collocation method. Hencky’s total deformation theory is used to evaluate the effective shear modulus, Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio, which are treated as spatial field variables. These effective properties are obtained by the strain controlled projection method in an iterative manner. To evaluate the second order derivatives of shape function at the field point, the radial basis function (RBF) in the local support domain is used. Several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method and comparisons have been made with analytical solutions and the finite element method (ABAQUS).

M-ary trees for combinatorial asset management decision problems

A novel m-ary tree based approach is presented to solve asset management decisions which are combinatorial in nature. The approach introduces a new dynamic constraint based control mechanism which is capable of excluding infeasible solutions from the solution space. The approach also provides a solution to the challenges with ordering of assets decisions.

When individual child psychotherapy exacerbates family systems problems in child abuse cases : a clinical analysis

Children who have suffered physical or sexual abuse are as vulnerable as adult trauma victims to experience "secondary trauma", in which the reactions of the family or broader system exacerbate the child's difficulties. Three clinical cases (a 7 yr old male, an 8 yr old male, and a 7 yr old female) are presented that suggest that this secondary trauma can be made worse by either excessive or insufficient provision of individual child psychotherapy, and the way the system interprets and reacts to these clinical decisions. Types of secondary trauma and their interactions with clinical decisions are discussed. Ways of framing clinical decisions to minimize the potential secondary trauma are presented.

Diesel engine problems, acoustic emission signals and simulated misfire faults

This paper discusses commonly encountered diesel engine problems and the underlying combustion related faults. Also discussed are the methods used in previous studies to simulate diesel engine faults and the initial results of an experimental simulation of a common combustion related diesel engine fault, namely diesel engine misfire. This experimental fault simulation represents the first step towards a comprehensive investigation and analysis into the characteristics of acoustic emission signals arising from combustion related diesel engine faults. Data corresponding to different engine running conditions was captured using in-cylinder pressure, vibration and acoustic emission transducers along with both crank-angle encoder and top-dead centre signals. Using these signals, it was possible to characterise the diesel engine in-cylinder pressure profiles and the effect of different combustion conditions on both vibration and acoustic emission signals.

A case of community safety : displacing complex ‘social’ problems in Fortitude Valley

Public dialogue regarding the high concentration of drug use and crime in inner city locations is frequently legitimised through visibility of drug-using populations and a perception of high crime rates. The public space known as the Brunswick Street Mall (Valley mall), located in the inner city Brisbane suburb of Fortitude Valley, has long provided the focal point for discussions regarding the problem of illicit drug use and antisocial behaviour in Brisbane. During the late 1990s a range of stakeholders in Fortitude Valley became mobilised to tackle crime and illicit drugs. In particular they wanted to dismantle popular perceptions of the area as representing the dark and unsafe side of Brisbane. The aim of this campaign was to instil a sense of safety in the area and dislodge Fortitude Valley from its reputation as a =symbolic location of danger‘. This thesis is a case study about an urban site that became contested by the diverse aims of a range of stakeholders who were invested in an urban renewal program and community safety project. This case study makes visible a number of actors that were lured from their existing roles in an indeterminable number of heterogeneous networks in order to create a community safety network. The following analysis of the community safety network emphasises some specific actors: history, ideas, technologies, materialities and displacements. The case study relies on the work of Foucault, Latour, Callon and Law to draw out the rationalities, background contingencies and the attempts to impose order and translate a number of entities into the community safety project in Fortitude Valley. The results of this research show that the community safety project is a case of ontological politics. Specifically the data indicates that both the (reality) problem of safety and the (knowledge) solution to safety were created simultaneously. This thesis explores the idea that while violence continues to occur in the Valley, evidence that community safety got done is located through mapping its displacement and eventual disappearance. As such, this thesis argues that community safety is a =collateral reality‘.

Low rank Runge-Kutta methods, symplecticity and stochastic Hamiltonian problems with additive noise

In this paper we extend the ideas of Brugnano, Iavernaro and Trigiante in their development of HBVM($s,r$) methods to construct symplectic Runge-Kutta methods for all values of $s$ and $r$ with $s\geq r$. However, these methods do not see the dramatic performance improvement that HBVMs can attain. Nevertheless, in the case of additive stochastic Hamiltonian problems an extension of these ideas, which requires the simulation of an independent Wiener process at each stage of a Runge-Kutta method, leads to methods that have very favourable properties. These ideas are illustrated by some simple numerical tests for the modified midpoint rule.

Problems in the assessment of magnesium depletion in the rat by in vivo 31P NMR

Prior in vitro studies, utilizing 31Pn uclear magnetic resonance (31PN MR) to measure the chemical shift (CT) of 0-ATP and lengthening of the phosphocreatine spin-spin (7"') relaxation time, suggested an assessment of their efficacy in measuring magnesium depletion in vivo. Dietary magnesium depletion (Me$) produced markedly lower magnesium in plasma (0.44 vs 1. I3 mmol/liter) and bone (1 30 vs 190 pmol/g) but much smaller changes in muscle (41 vs 45 pmol/g, P < 0.01), heart (42.5 vs 44.6 prnol/g), and brain (30 vs 32 pmollg). NMR experiments in anesthetized rats in a Bruker 7-T vertical bore magnet showed that in M e $ rats there was a significant change in brain j3-ATP shift (16.15 vs 16.03 ppm, P < 0.05). These chemical shifts gave a calculated free [Mg"] of 0.71 mM (control) and 0.48 mM (MgZ+$). In muscle the change in j3-ATP shift was not significant (Me$ 15.99 ppm, controls 15.96 ppm), corresponding to a calculated free M P of 0.83 and 0.95 mM, respectively. Phosphccreatine Tz (Carr-Purcell, spin-echo pulse sequence) was no different with M e $ in muscle in vivo (surface coil) (M$+$ 136, control 142 ms) or in isolated perfused hearts (Helmholtz coil) (control 83, M e $ 92 ms). 3'P NMR is severely limited in its ability to detect dietary magnesium depletion in vivo. Measurement of j3-ATP shift in brain may allow studies of the effects of interaction in group studies but does not allow prediction of an individual magnesium status.