Major Australian Cities Research Articles

Apportionment of sources of fine and coarse particles in four major Australian cities by positive matrix factorisation

In this study, 437 days of 6-daily, 24-h samples of PM 2.5, PM 2.5–10 and PM 10 were collected over a 12-month period during 2003–2004 in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. The elemental, ionic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon composition of the particles were determined. Source apportionment was carried out by using the positive matrix factorisation software (PMF2). Eight factors were identified for the fine particle samples including ‘motor vehicles’, ‘industry’, ‘other combustion sources’, ‘ammonium sulphates’, ‘nitrates’, ‘marine aerosols’, ‘chloride depleted marine aerosols’ and ‘crustal/soil dust’. On average combustion sources, secondary nitrates/sulphates and natural origin dust contributed about 46%, 25% and 26% of the mass of the fine particle samples, respectively. ‘Crustal/soil dust’, ‘marine aerosols’, ‘nitrates’ and ‘road side dust’ were the four factors identified for the coarse particle samples. On average natural origin dust contributed about 76% of the mass of the coarse particle samples. The contributions of the sources to the sample mass basically reflect the emission source characteristics of the sites. Secondary sulphates and nitrates were found to spread out evenly within each city. The average contribution of secondary nitrates to fine particles was found to be rather uniform in different seasons, rather than higher in winter as found in other studies. This could be due to the low humidity conditions in winter in most of the Australian cities which made the partitioning of the particle phase less favourable in the NH 4NO 3 equilibrium system. A linear relationship was found between the average contribution of marine aerosols and the distance of the site from the bay side. Wind erosion was found associated with higher contribution of crustal dust on average and episodes of elevated concentration of coarse particles in spring and summer.

Training emergency medicine doctors for rural and regional Australia: can we learn from other countries?

Australia is a country with a relatively small rural population dispersed over an enormous area. Issues similar to how best to deliver health services and recruit health professionals to rural areas exist in other countries. For professional and lifestyle reasons, most specialist doctors (including emergency medicine specialists), choose to live and work in major metropolitan centres. Outside the major Australian cities, most presentations to emergency departments are dealt with by 'non-specialist' doctors, often with limited specialist back up. Recruitment of suitably trained medical staff is increasingly difficult. There is increasing reliance on overseas trained doctors from widely varying backgrounds. In Canada and New Zealand, family medicine trained emergency medicine doctors are a significant proportion of the workforce in rural and regional emergency departments. To undertake a detailed investigation of the non-specialist emergency medicine doctors in Australia, and examine strategies to secure a more highly trained emergency medicine workforce for rural and regional Australia. A survey was undertaken of 230 doctors working in 57 rural and regional Australian emergency departments. Consultations and interviews were held with 53 key clinicians, educators and administrators. There were no training or education standards for doctors working in smaller Australian emergency departments. There was considerable instability in the workforce with many planning to leave their current position or reduce their involvement in emergency medicine. The vast majority felt a need to undertake further emergency medicine training. There was little agreement among stakeholders as to how emergency medicine should be taught, or services delivered in rural and regional Australia. There is need in Australia to offer a specific postgraduate qualification in emergency medicine for doctors wishing to practise emergency medicine outside major city hospitals. Ideally, such a course would be largely taught in rural and regional hospitals and would contain additional elements relevant to rural practice. The Canadian and New Zealand emergency medicine qualifications may be useful models.

Historic Waterfronts as Tourism Precincts: An Experiential Perspective

Over the last few decades, urban waterfronts worldwide have become places of significant change. Many have essentially lost their working port functions and have been redeveloped for other purposes, often incorporating significant leisure and tourism functions. Others, however, have maintained a significant portion of their original commercial maritime activities, but have still become a focus for leisure and tourism pursuits. This paper explores two such waterfront precincts in major Australian cities: Fremantle in Perth and Williamstown in Melbourne, places with long histories in shipping but very recent histories in tourism. The focus of the paper is on understanding how tourists experience these places, and what it is about such precincts that contribute most to their touristic appeal. The basis for the research was a series of structured interviews with both domestic and international visitors to each precinct. Fifty-six individual interviews were conducted in Williamstown and 30 interviews involving 48 individuals were conducted in Fremantle. In both cases, the interviews were conducted over a two-day period. The results shed light on why and how such places appeal to tourists and also provide guidance on how to maintain their appeal. Relaxation and taking time out from the everyday city were important visitor motivations, and the waterfront setting contributed to these. Fremantle, however, provided more depth to the tourists' experiences because it offered greater opportunities to engage actively with the setting and others who occupied it, rather than simply experiencing it in a passive way as appeared to be the case in Williamstown. Significantly there was a strong feeling that the working port element was an important part of Fremantle's appeal, along with a very strong connection to history through a well-conserved physical fabric. The lack of depth in the Williamstown experience seemed to limit the visitors' ability to appreciate the precinct's history, with its most positive features relating to the pure physicality of its waterfront setting. More generally, the results provide some key insights into the functions that tourism precincts perform within the overall urban tourism experience and how significant precincts are to such experiences. They reinforce earlier findings of the previous studies conducted by the researchers that intimacy, authenticity and a strong sense of place are vital elements of the tourist experience in urban precincts, and precincts are at the core of the urban tourism experience.

The design of urban waterfronts: A critique of two Australian 'Southbanks'

This paper critically examines the urban design of inner-city riverfront cultural and leisure precincts, both called 'Southbank', In two major Australian cities, Melbourne and Brisbane. It evaluates simple functional planning matters such as use, scale and connectivity, as well as examining how these are entangled in more complex organisational, behavioural and representational outcomes, through observation of the broad scope of leisure activities which occur in the two settings. The paper examines four key dimensions of leisure experience on urban riverfront) - escaping the everyday, mixing with strangers, consuming spectacle and exploring new forms of bodily activity, Particular attention is given to the tensions between attempts at careful management of activities and imagery in these leisure zones, and the messy diversity of everyday life which actually takes place in and around them.

Risk behaviour among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gay men: comparisons with other gay men in Australia

To determine any differences in HIV-risk and drug-use behaviour among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander gay men and other gay men in Australia. The Gay Community Periodic Survey is a repeated cross-sectional prevalence study of the sexual and drug use behaviours of Australian gay men conducted since 1996. Responses from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) gay men were compared with those from non-ATSI gay men for the years 2000-2004. Of 34 708 responses collected in major Australian cities over a 6-year period, 1208 identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. There was little difference between ATSI and non-ATSI men in the reported prevalence of HIV, though ATSI gay men were more likely than non-ATSI gay men to engage in unprotected anal intercourse with casual partners and to inject illicit drugs but were more likely to have been recently tested for HIV CONCLUSIONS: These ATSI gay men were at increased risk of HIV and other blood-borne viruses, though this may be due to differences in socio-economic status as much as cultural background. These findings indicate the continued need for targeted sexual and injecting-drug-use health interventions among this population.

The beginnings of the multiculturalization of Japanese immigrants to Australia: Japanese community organizations and the policy interface

Interviews with leaders of Japan Clubs and other organizations of Japanese permanent residents in major Australian cities reveal that the activities of these organizations have been involved with Australian multicultural public policies since the 1990s. This 'multiculturalization' has emerged from the leaders' recognition of the need to provide educational opportunities for Japanese language and culture for the second generation, and culturally appropriate social welfare services for aged Japanese immigrants. Through these activities, leaders of Japanese community organizations refer to other ethnic groups and redefine themselves as members of Australian multicultural society. At the same time, they also recognize and reconstruct their own Japaneseness in the context of Australia. The activities of these organizations can be seen as a first step in the change from 'Japanese in Australia' to the hyphenated 'Japanese-Australian'.

Purchasing Power Parity Across States and Goods Within Australia*

Panel unit root tests show that intranational purchasing power parity cannot be rejected across major Australian cities from 1972:3 to 1999:1. The persistence of deviations in response to shocks is low, as measured by the estimated exact half‐life of between five and ten quarters. This is much lower than results for similar tests done on US cities, and for international purchasing power parity tests. The food CPI is largely responsible for the fast convergent results for city CPIs. Intranational purchasing power parity was rejected for the floating exchange rate period from 1984 to 1991 when inflation was high and not specifically targeted by the central bank.

Modelling and Forecasting Monthly Airline Passenger Flows among Three Major Australian Cities

The authors examine statistical properties of time series data for the monthly numbers of airline passengers for three major Australian city-pairs (Brisbane–Melbourne, Sydney–Melbourne and Sydney–Brisbane). It is found that the three time series show a co-movement in the long run, each exhibiting a stochastic trend and deterministic seasonality. The impulse response analysis is conducted to examine how these time series are related in the short run. The bootstrap method is used to test for the statistical significance of impulse response estimates. The evidence suggests that the time series for the Sydney–Melbourne route is highly influential on the others in the short run. A number of univariate and multivariate time series models are used for forecasting. It is found that univariate methods generate more accurate forecasts than multivariate models.

Emergence of serotype G9 human rotaviruses in Australia.

Emergence of serotype G9 human rotaviruses in Australia.

Climate and mortality in Australia: retrospective study, 1979-1990, and predicted impacts in five major cities in 2030

CR Climate Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials CR 13:1-15 (1999) - doi:10.3354/cr013001 Climate and mortality in Australia: retrospective study, 1979-1990, and predicted impacts in five major cities in 2030 C. S. Guest1,*, K. Willson2, A. J. Woodward3, K. Hennessy4, L. S. Kalkstein5, C. Skinner6, A. J. McMichael7 1National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia 2Department of Public Health, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia 3Department of Public Health, Wellington School of Medicine, PO Box 7343, Wellington South, New Zealand 4CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research, Aspendale, Victoria 3195, Australia 5Centre for Climatic Research, Dept of Geography, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716-2541, USA 6Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology, National Climate Centre, Melbourne, GPO Box 1298K, Victoria 3001, Australia 7Department of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, United Kingdom *E-mail: charles.guest@anu.edu.au ABSTRACT: Quantitative assessment of climatic and environmental health risks is necessary because changes in climate are expected. We therefore aimed to quantify the relationship between climatic extremes and mortality in the 5 largest Australian cities during the period 1979-1990. We then applied the relationship determined between recent climatic conditions and mortality to scenarios for climate and demographic change, to predict potential impacts on public health in the cities in the year 2030. Data on mortality, denominator population and climate were obtained. The expected numbers of deaths per day in each city were calculated. Observed daily deaths were compared with expected rates according to temperature thresholds. Mortality was also examined in association with temporal synoptic indices (TSI) of climate, developed by principal component and cluster analysis. According to observed-expected threshold analyses, for the 5 cities combined, the annual mean excess of deaths attributable to temperature over the period 1979-1990 was 175 for the 28°C threshold. This sum of statistically significant differences from the 5 cities was the greatest excess found in association with any threshold considered in the range of temperatures that occur. Excess mortality for the hottest days in summer was greater than for the coldest days in winter. Temperature-mortality relationships were little modified by socio-economic status. TSI analyses produced similar results: using this method, the climate-attributable mortality in the 5 cities was approximately 160 deaths yr-1, although this number was evenly distributed across summer and winter. Persons in the group aged 65 yr and older were the most vulnerable. After allowing for increases in population, and combining all age groups, the synoptic method showed a 10% reduction in mortality in the year 2030. We conclude that the 5 largest Australian cities exhibit climate-attributable mortality in both summer and winter. Given the scenarios of regional warming during the next 3 decades, the expected changes in mortality due to direct climatic effects in these major coastal Australian cities are minor. KEY WORDS: Climate · Mortality · Australia · General circulation models · Temporal synoptic indices Full text in pdf format NextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in CR Vol. 13, No. 1. Online publication date: September 07, 1999 Print ISSN: 0936-577X; Online ISSN: 1616-1572 Copyright © 1999 Inter-Research.

The isolation and cloning of chromosomal DNA specific for a clonal population of Staphylococcus aureus by subtractive hybridisation.

Subtractive hybridisation was used to screen for and identify conserved DNA sequences associated with clinical, clonal populations of Staphylococcus aureus. DNA from S. aureus strain ISP8 (a clinical isolate) was digested with TaqI and hybridised with randomly fragmented pooled DNA from 10 non-clinical (community) isolates of S. aureus. The mixture of DNA fragments was then ligated to AccI-digested and dephosphorylated pTZ19U. One recombinant plasmid (pWASA) was identified as containing specific DNA from strain ISP8; DNA sequencing revealed a 40-bp TaqI DNA fragment (WASA). PCR amplification and hybridisation analysis, with pWASA as a probe, showed that 84% of clinical isolates from a clonal line present in hospitals in major eastern Australian cities carried sequences homologous to WASA, compared with only 10% of community isolates. The isolates that hybridised were closely related by RFLP analysis to strain ISP8. The plasmid pWASA was used to identify, isolate and clone a 3.5-kb DraI fragment (DSA) from strain ISP8 total DNA. Sequence analysis of the DSA fragment identified two open reading frames (ORFs) of 2475 and 576 bp, respectively; the larger ORF1 contained a series of six tandem repeats, each consisting of 384 nucleotides. The nucleotide sequence of the repeats was 96% identical, and no significant sequence homologies to previously described protein sequences were identified. However, tandem repeats of amino acids are structural motifs characteristic of a number of gram-positive surface proteins, and are thought to play a role in generating genetic and phenotypic diversity in these and other bacteria.

The Australian National Asthma Campaign: Effects of Public Education Activities Based on Mass Media

The National Asthma Campaign (NAC) was formed in 1990 as a coalition of the key professional organizations concerned with asthma and its management in Australia. It has conducted multifaceted educational activities targeting health care professionals, people with asthma, and the general public. Between November 1991 and March 1993, an educational mass media campaign was developed to inform people about new approaches to preventive asthma therapy and how people with symptoms of asthma should talk to their doctor or pharmacist about new management and monitoring strategies. Evaluation was based on McGuire's communication/persuasion model for assessing the impact of mass media campaigns. Four serial cross-sectional population surveys of persons over the age of 18 years were conducted in four major Australian cities using structured telephone interviews. Information was sought on asthma campaign awareness and knowledge or use of appropriate asthma management practices. There was an increasing trend in awareness of asthma messages in the media and of appropriate message recall across the two-year period. Knowledge about the need to use preventive therapy for asthma improved significantly. Among those with asthma there was a significant upward trend in the proportion who discussed asthma with their doctor or pharmacist and who used peak flow meters and written asthma management plans. The net impact of the NAC and other activities has been an increase in awareness about asthma in Australia. These campaigns relied on the relatively nonselective medium of television to raise awareness and to start to change attitudes to asthma. The challenge is to build on these trends to further reduce morbidity and mortality due to asthma.

Do Industrial Cities have the Highest Rates of Urban Unemployment?

This paper considers the widely held, but still untested, assumption that deindustrialised and deindustrialising cities have the highest rates of urban unemployment today. Comparison is made between the unemployment rates for the largest Australian cities devoted significantly to manufacturing – Geelong, Newcastle, and Wollongong – and the rates for the other nine major Australian cities. What is found is that the industrial cities did not have the highest rates of unemployment at any of the four censuses under examination(1971, 1976, 1981, 1986). The highest rates were in tourist cities, centres antithetical to industrial cities because they exist for consumption rather than for production (as is the case with the industrial cities).

Human immunodeficiency virus antibodies in sera of Australian blood donors: 1985–1990

To describe the results of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) antibody testing of blood donations in Australia. Blood transfusion services tabulated the number of HIV-1 antibody tests carried out on blood donations and the number of donations found to be positive, from 1985 to 1990. All blood transfusion services in Australia. All donors of blood in Australia from 1 May 1985 to 31 December 1990. The proportion of blood donations found to have HIV-1 antibody, according to State or Territory, year of donation and, when available, age, sex and donation status (repeat or first-time) of the donor. To the end of December 1990, 5,367,970 donations had been tested for HIV-1 antibody, and 46 were found to have the antibody, giving an overall prevalence rate of 0.86 per 100,000 donations. The highest rate was recorded in New South Wales, followed by Western Australia, and four of eight Australian States and Territories reported no donors with HIV-1 antibody. There has been no clear trend with time, but the rate is about 20% higher for 1989-1990 than for 1985-1986. Of donors found to have HIV-1 antibody, 67% were male and 33% female, and 41% reported no known or potential exposure to HIV-1 other than heterosexual contact. Among blood donors in two major Australian cities, the overall prevalence of HIV antibody was higher in those who were male, younger, and first-time donors. There has been a recent increase in the number of blood donors with HIV-1 antibody who were women reporting heterosexual contact as their only potential exposure. The rate of HIV-1 antibody in Australian blood donations remains very low and shows no clear temporal trend, but specific donor characteristics define higher rates of antibody prevalence.

A cash flow model of development activity and the scope for energy savings

SYNOPSIS When proposing energy saving measures to the developers of large commercial office projects, it is necessary to appreciate what the developers' goals and perceptions are. This paper looks at a simple cash-flow model of development activity, and illustrates the potential for energy savings with reference to some data from two major Australian cities. This data was collected between July and November 1989 by surveys which were carried out on the basic design of 26 of the tallest Brisbane commercial office buildings by fourth year B. Arch students at the University of Queensland. This survey followed an extensive investigation into the premises needs of modern office building tenants in Brisbane, in which over 200 CBD tenants were questioned. This investigation showed that there was an increasing need for air conditioning capacity and electrical power; greater tendencies for “after hours” office work; a desire for larger floor-plates to cater for expanding tenant organizations, and the emergence of ...

A national survey of antimicrobial resistance in Staphylococcus aureus in Australian teaching hospitals.

An extensive survey of the in-vitro susceptibility of clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus to 18 antimicrobial agents was conducted over three separate periods during 1986-1987 in 14 teaching hospitals in major Australian cities. The survey aimed to document the prevalence of resistance to a wide variety of drugs that are important as antistaphylococcal agents or as epidemiological markers. More than 7500 isolates were examined. Nationally, the prevalence of resistance was 85.3% to penicillin G, 14.4% to methicillin, 14.0% to amoxycillin/clavulanate, 9% to cephalothin, 5.4% to cephamandole, 9.9% to cefotaxime, 25.0% to erythromycin, 11.2% to clindamycin, 21.7% to tetracycline, 13.0% to gentamicin, 1.9% to amikacin, 5.8% to chloramphenicol, 18.3% to trimethoprim, 0.6% to rifampicin, 3.0% to fusidic acid and 1.2% to novobiocin. For none of the strains was resistance to vancomycin confirmed by minimal-inhibitory-concentration determination. A high proportion of the resistances was harboured in methicillin-resistant Staph. aureus, except for resistance to penicillin G, erythromycin and tetracycline. The prevalence of methicillin resistance varied widely among the states: 25.2% in Queensland, 23.5% in Victoria, 12.6% in New South Wales/the Australian Capital Territory, 11.3% in South Australia and 0.4% in Western Australia. Isolates from blood cultures were slightly-more susceptible to antimicrobial agents than were isolates from other body sites. Six common profiles of resistance to penicillin G, methicillin, erythromycin, clindamycin and tetracycline accounted for more than 95% of the isolates that were tested against all five agents. Vancomycin remains the most important antistaphylococcal drug in areas where resistance to methicillin is common.

Benefits of Changes in Urban Public Transport Subsidies in the Major Australian Cities*

This paper considers the economic efficiency benefits of urban public transport subsidies and presents estimates of the marginal benefits of fare and service level changes in the main Australian cities. Models to evaluate benefits are outlined, and estimates compared of the benefits to public transport and other road users of fare and service level changes in different cities. A major conclusion is that existing urban public transport subsidies might be more effective from an economic efficiency point of view if frequency levels were reduced and the consequent cost savings used to finance lower levels of fares.

The Application of Model Output Statistics to Precipitation Prediction in Australia

Abstract The Model output Statistics (MOS) technique has been used to produce forecasts of both the probability of precipitation and the rain amount for seven major Australian cities in subtropical and middle latitudes. Single station equations were generated using data from the current objective analysis, together with some surface observations for the same time, and a 24 h prognosis based on that analysis, to predict the rainfall in the 24 h beyond the prognosis validity time. In order to increase the usefulness and acceptability of the MOS predictions, transformations were applied that reduced the biases of the final forecasts throughout the forecast ranges. The skid with which large rainfall totals were predicted was particularly enhanced in this manner the MOS forecasts showed much greater skill in the prediction of large totals than was achieved by either the operational or persistence forecasts, while predicting small totals with comparable proficiency. The MOS probability forecasts were better abl...

Short-Term Single-Station Forecasting of Precipitation

Forecast probabilities of rain were calculated up to 12 hours in advance using a Markov chain model applied to three-hourly observations from five major Australian cities. The four weather states chosen in this first study were three cloudiness states (0–2 oktas, 3–5 oktas and 6–8 oktas) and a rain state. Second-order Markov models with time-of-day dependent transition probabilities were fitted after appropriate statistical testing. Forecasts were made using transition probabilities for summer and winter seasons. The skill of the Markov chain forecast probabilities of rain was evaluated in terms of Brier scores using to years of independent data, and compared with forecasts based upon persistence and climatology. The skill of the Markov model forecasts appreciably exceeded that of persistence and climatology and a real time trial of the procedure is being planned.

Domestic energy use in Australian cities

Seven major Australian cities were analysed for their domestic energy consumption in 1976. The results show a wide range in fuels is used in each city with considerable variation between the cities as to which fuels predominate. The potential for increasing the contribution of renewable energy fuels is evidenced by the relatively high consumption of wood fuels in some cities, and by the increasing use of solar water heating in Perth. The latter has occurred despite uncertain economic advantages indicating the considerable inherent appeal of a reliable renewable resource. Per capita variations in domestic energy are very high, ranging from 8.74 GJ in Perth to 26.20 GJ in Hobart. Correlation analysis suggests costs and building structures play only a minor role and that climatic factors, particularly the level of coldness, are the major cause of this variation. Insulation and passive solar design could thus lead to substantial energy conservation. Australian urban domestic energy use, particularly in the warmer cities, appears to be considerably lower than European and North American levels. More detailed energy studies like this on an urban level would make energy planning of greater significance in urban development.