Sites In Brisbane Research Articles

Health-protective behaviours and risk of fall-related hip fractures: a population-based case–control study

Fall-related hip fractures are one of the most common causes of disability and mortality in older age. The study aimed to quantify the relationship between lifestyle behaviours and the risk of fall-related hip fracture in community-dwelling older people. The purpose was to contribute evidence for the promotion of healthy ageing as a population-based intervention for falls injury prevention. A case-control study was conducted with 387 participants, with a case-control ratio of 1:2. Incident cases of fall-related hip fracture in people aged 65 and over were recruited from six hospital sites in Brisbane, Australia, in 2003-04. Community-based controls, matched by age, sex and postcode, were recruited via electoral roll sampling. A questionnaire designed to assess lifestyle risk factors, identified as determinants of healthy ageing, was administered at face-to-face interviews. Behavioural factors which had a significant independent protective effect on the risk of hip fracture included never smoking [adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 0.33 (0.12-0.88)], moderate alcohol consumption in mid- and older age [AOR: 0.49 (0.25-0.95)], not losing weight between mid- and older age [AOR: 0.36 (0.20-0.65)], playing sport in older age [AOR: 0.49 (0.29-0.83)] and practising a greater number of preventive medical care [AOR: 0.54 (0.32-0.94)] and self-health behaviours [AOR: 0.56 (0.33-0.94)]. With universal exposures, clear associations and modifiable behavioural factors, this study has contributed evidence to reduce the major public health burden of fall-related hip fractures using readily implemented population-based healthy ageing strategies.

Characterization of elemental and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compositions of urban air in Brisbane

Characterization of the elemental and PAHs compositions of urban air was undertaken at three major sites in Brisbane, Australia. 17 elements and 16 US EPA priority PAHs were quantified at the sites. The most commonly detected elements in the TSP and PM2.5 fractions were Al, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Si, Sn, Sr and Zn. Compared to the two other sites, PM2.5 was found to contain higher concentrations of Zr, Mo, V, Al, Mn and Sr at the QUT site. In contrast, the Woolloongabba sampling site, which was highly influenced by the vehicular emission and local industrial activities, has higher concentrations of Co, Sn, Cu, Zn and Mg while ANZ site has significantly lower concentration levels of most elements than the other sites; possibly due to the shielding effect of the nearby bush and forest. NAP, PHE, ANT, FLT, PYR and CRY were the most widespread PAHs found in all sites. But only QUT and Woolloongabba bus platform sites had detectable levels of the most carcinogenic US EPA PAH, BAP. The multi-criteria decision making procedures, PROMETHEE and GAIA were used to rank the air samples and to identify the sources of the pollutants. Thus Woolloongabba bus platform was ranked as the most polluted site on the basis of the elemental and PAH compositions of its air samples while Woolloongabba bus platform and QUT sites were ranked as the worst polluted sites in terms of PAHs and PM2.5 elemental contents respectively.

When quality counts: implementing competency assessment in the workplace

This paper specifically reports on a comprehensive evaluation of competency based assessment within the mining industry in Queensland, Australia. However, it also addresses a broader problem associated with competency-based assessment already identified in the literature. The qualitative component of the study involved 83 people, nineteen mine sites and seven sites in Brisbane. Interviews and focus groups were used to obtain views about the strengths and weaknesses of assessment practices. A quantitative survey involved a different cohort of 83 people and sought information about the assessment competencies themselves. A number of problems were identified in the training of assessors and the implementation of assessment in the workplace. Given the complex environment in which assessment occurs these findings, like the extant literature, suggest that careful scrutiny and reconceptualisation of assessment practice may be warranted.

Assessing innovative urban water servicing options for a greenfield development site in Brisbane

This paper presents results from the analysis of options for providing water services to an urban greenfield development located in Brisbane, with the options ranging from current conventional practice through to site scale self-sufficiency. Options were assessed and compared in terms of water and contaminant balance, infrastructure costs, water charges and social acceptance. The analysis has shown that the total water cycle impacts of providing water services to this site could be greatly reduced through the adoption of innovative approaches. The study has also provided a detailed understanding about the cost drivers of the various options, enabling a more cost-competitive alternative to be developed and analysed in the later stage of the study. A number of impediments to change have also been highlighted; some of these are briefly discussed.

A Lang Park mystery: Analysis of remains from a 19th century burial in Brisbane, Queensland

Salvage excavation of the Suncorp Stadium (Lang Park) redevelopment site in Brisbane revealed almost 400 graves. Originally known as the North Brisbane Burial Grounds, it was the site of Brisbane's principal cemetery between 1843 and 1875. A grave in the Anglican section of the cemetery yielded several teeth and associated non-dental bone fragments, and stature data derived from the coffin indicate a child burial. Observation of the stages of tooth eruption, resorption, and formation revealed evidence for two children, one aged approximately three years old and the other aged 12. An examination of the coffin furniture showed that the coffin was bought by a wealthy Anglican family, and DNA analyses suggest that the older individual was of Eastern European descent. These results suggest the burial of the older child in the same grave as the younger was most likely clandestine, and highlight the importance of post-excavation analyses to the interpretation of Australian cemeteries.

Preliminary Determination of Pollutants Plume in Groundwater at Hazardous Solid Waste Disposal Site by Employing CPT and Rig

This study was conducted to delineate a plume occurred in hazardous waste disposal site in Brisbane, Australia. At first, levels of conductivity observed during Cone Penetrometer Test (CPT) loggings were initially indicative that possible contaminants are depth-variably presented with showing the highest at approximately 200 mS cm−1 in 9 m deep from some of locations. Subsequently, CPT rig and HydroPunch were used to collect depth-discrete groundwater samples in the area where CPT loggings had been undertaken. However, it was not capable of sampling the representative groundwater samples due to the cone refusal where the residual clay is layered at nominal depth through the aquifer. Alternatively, a number of temporary wells were installed after each of locations was penetrated using a modified steel cone functioned by CPT rig. The samples taken from those of wells were characterized by gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GCMS) and gas chromatography filame ionization detector (GCFID), which revealed that sulfolane and thiolane were mainly presented. Subsequent analyses performed for the samples taken from permanent nest piezometers consistently demonstrated that possible plume boundary would be correspondingly presented in the study area where contaminants were found as low as detection limit or levels of not-detectable.

Passive sampling of atmospheric SOCs using tristearin-coated fibreglass sheets

Tristearin-coated fibreglass sheets were evaluated as passive samplers for semivolatile organic chemicals in ambient atmosphere. Kinetic and equilibrium experiments were set-up to independently determine model parameters. The results demonstrate that the tristearin/air partition coefficients ( K SV ) can be related to the octanol/air partition coefficients ( K OA ). Furthermore, a linear relationship between the time constant of the clearance kinetics and K SV suggests that uptake of gaseous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the sampler was controlled by the air side resistance. A field evaluation of the predictive ability of the sampler was set-up at sites in Brisbane, Australia and Bayreuth, Germany. The results demonstrated that this novel sampler provides a reproducible means to collect gaseous PAHs in the environment. Furthermore, the results of the field evaluation in Brisbane are in good agreement with air samples collected with a filter/adsorbent high-volume air sampler at the same sites. In contrast the predicted results obtained from the field evaluation near Bayreuth were less satisfactory. This might be due to sampling artifacts which occurred with the passive samplers, caused by PAH burdened particles eroded from adjacent needles and leaves.

Source apportionment of visibility degradation problems in Brisbane (Australia) using the multiple linear regression techniques

Different aspects of visibility degradation problems in Brisbane were investigated through concurrent visibility monitoring and aerosol sampling programs carried out in 1995. The relationship between the light extinction coefficients and aerosol mass/composition was derived by using multiple linear regression techniques. The visibility properties at different sites in Brisbane were found to be correlated with each other on a daily basis, but not correlated with each other hour by hour. The cause of scattering of light by moisture ( b sw) was due to sulphate particles which shift to a larger size under high-humidity conditions. The scattering of light by particulate matter ( b sp) was found to be highly correlated with the mass of fine aerosols, in particular the mass of fine soot, sulphate and non-soil K. For the period studied, on average, the total light extinction coefficient ( b ext) at five sites in Brisbane was 0.65×10 −4 m −1, considerably smaller than those values found in other Australian and overseas cities. On average, the major component of b ext is b sp (49% of b ext), followed by b ap (the absorption of light, mainly by fine soot particles, 28%), b sg (Rayleigh scattering, 20%) and b sw (3%). The absorption of light by NO 2 ( b ag) is expected to contribute less than 5% of b ext. On average, the percentage contribution of the visibility degrading species to b ext (excluding b ag) were: soot (53%), sulphate (21%), Rayleigh scattering (20%), non-soil K (2%) and humidity (3%). In terms of visibility degrading sources, motor vehicles (including soot and the secondary products) are expected to contribute more than half of the b ext (excluding b ag) in Brisbane on average, followed by secondary sulphates (17%) and biomass burning (10%).

Source apportionment of PM 2.5 and PM 10 aerosols in Brisbane (Australia) by receptor modelling

Aerosol samples for PM 2.5 and PM 10 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 and 10 μm, respectively) were collected from 1993 to 1995 at five sites in Brisbane, a subtropical coastal city in Australia. This paper investigates the contributions of emission sources to PM 2.5 and PM 10 aerosol mass in Brisbane. Source apportionment results derived from the chemical mass balance (CMB), target transformation factor analysis (TTFA) and multiple linear regression (MLR) methods agree well with each other. The contributions from emission sources exhibit large variations in particle size with temporal and spatial differences. On average, the major contributors of PM 10 aerosol mass in Brisbane include: soil/road side dusts (25% by mass), motor vehicle exhausts (13%, not including the secondary products), sea salt (12%), Ca-rich and Ti-rich compounds (11%, from cement works and mineral processing industries), biomass burning (7%), and elemental carbon and secondary products contribute to around 15% of the aerosol mass on average. The major sources of PM 2.5 aerosols at the Griffith University (GU) site (a suburban site surrounded by forest area) are: elemental carbon (24% by mass), secondary organics (21%), biomass burning (15%) and secondary sulphate (14%). Most of the secondary products are related to motor vehicle exhausts, so, although motor vehicle exhausts contribute directly to only 6% of the PM 2.5 aerosol mass, their total contribution (including their secondary products) could be substantial. This pattern of source contribution is similar to the results for Rozelle (Sydney) among the major Australian studies, and is less in contributions from industrial and motor vehicular exhausts than the other cities. An attempt was made to estimate the contribution of rural dust and road side dust. The results show that road side dusts could contribute more than half of the crustal matter. More than 80% of the contribution of vehicle exhausts arises from diesel-fuelled trucks/buses. Biomass burning, large contributions of crustal matter, and/or local contributing sources under calm weather conditions, are often the cause of the high PM 10 episodes at the GU site in Brisbane.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the atmospheric environment of Brisbane, Australia

Atmospheric concentrations of PAHs were determined in air samples collected at various sites in Brisbane, Australia. Results for a given air sample are presented as the sum of the vapour and particle associated fraction of the compounds. PAH concentrations were highest at sites located in the vicinity of major roads. At a site located adjacent to a major road with a high frequency of heavy vehicle traffic, levels of B(a)P exceeded 1 ng m −3 air. Overall, traffic was found to be the dominant source for PAHs in Brisbane air. The results further indicated the existence of seasonal variations with highest levels in winter. The use of PAH profiles and ratios for identifying sources and processes is discussed.

Assessment of a heavy metals‐contaminated site using sequential extraction, TCLP, and risk assessment techniques

Abstract The mobility of selected heavy metals in contaminated soil at a previous industrial site in Brisbane, Australia, was assessed using a sequential extraction technique. Copper, Pb, Zn, Cr, Fe, and Mn were extracted from the soil solution/exchangeable, carbonate, Fe and Mn oxides, and organic matter fractions. The amounts of metals adsorbed by these fractions were used as an indicator of each metal's mobility in the soil. Copper and Pb were largely adsorbed by the organic and oxide fractions, while a significant amount of Zn was extracted from the carbonate fraction. The potential mobility and biological availability of the metals in these soils is Zn > Cr = Cu ≈ Pb. Soils were also analyzed using the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) to determine whether the contaminated soil could be disposed of by landfilling. The leachability of all metals from the soils was very low, with metal concentrations below the allowable limits. The TCLP also showed that Zn was the most mobile metal in these soils. An environmental and health risk assessment was undertaken, and it was concluded that the site did not represent a risk despite the “total”; concentrations of some metals being up to 40 times the investigation threshold value adopted in Australia.

A model to control emissions which avoid violations of PM10 health standards for both short and long term exposures

A model is proposed to predict the emissions reductions required to avoid violations of standards for both long and short term exposures to PM10 (particles with diameters < 10 μm) pollution. It is based on the following assumptions: (a) assume the annual mean PM10 concentrations may be estimated by an atmospheric dispersion model using emissions data and meteorological information; (b) assume the PM10 data may be represented by a two parameter lognormal distribution; (c) assume that the two parameters for the distribution in (b) can be estimated from the model used in (a), and etheir meteorological information or information about the variance of the PM10 data. The model has been applied to PM10 data at six sites in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is shown that the ATDL model can been used for assumption (a), and that assumption (b) is applicable to the data set considered here. Three forms of the model are used in part (c), estimating the geometric standard deviation (i) using wind speed data, (ii) using PM10 data from one site only, and (iii) assuming some regional constant value. Each of these models predict maximum PM10 levels which agree with the observed values to within a factor of 2.

Nest and nesting behaviour of Amegilla (Amegilla) Pulchra (Smith) (Hymenoptera : Apoidea : Anthophorinae)

Females of A. (A). pulchra were studied at nesting sites in Brisbane, mostly at an artificial site established in mud bricks with overwintering cells from a natural aggregation. The length of adult life, structure of nests, number of nests, cells per female, times taken in activities in the nests, seasonal cycle, pattern of emergence, sex ratio, and development times of offspring were investigated. Some observations were made on the length of life and habits of males, and on the behaviour of females away from the nest.

Observations on nest and nesting behaviour of Amegilla (Asarapoda) sp. (Hymenoptera : Apoidea : Anthophorinae)

Females of Amegilla (Asarapoda) sp. were watched at a nesting site in Brisbane, Qld., and information was obtained on structure of cells, number of pollen trips to provision cells, seasonal cycle, and general nesting behaviour.

The air spora of Brisbane

A survey of the air spora at a single site in Brisbane was carried out from July 1, 1962, to June 30, 1963; both volumetric and exposed-plate techniques were used. In the volumetric study, seasonal distributions of the spore groupings employed are shown in re!ation to weather data. Members of the wet-air spora proved to be the main spores collected, comprising c. two-thirds of the total. Hyaline basidiospores (24.1 %), "hyaline rods" (23.5 %), Cladosporium (18.8 %), and coloured basidiospores (9.6%) were the main types encountered, and tended towards autumn maxima. Pollens never attained high numbers. On the exposed plates, Cladosporium (19.0%) was the main genus with Epicoccum (1 3.7 %), yeasts (12.2 %), Curvularia (8.6 %), Pullularia (7.2 %), Alternaria (6.9 %), Penicillium (3.5 %), Leptosphaerulina (3.1 %), Sphaeropsidales (2.9 %), Pithomyces (2.3 %), and Nigrospora (2.2%) also occurring. The predominance of mown grass and large eucalypts in the area appears to have influenced the spore types caught. A relationship between the occurrence of Epicoccum andropogonis and ergot honey-dew was observed. Under favourable conditions, many spores attain high concentrations and on this account require consideration as possible allergens.