Influence of the land use pattern on the concentrations and fluxes of priority pollutants in urban stormwater

This paper presents the results of the concentrations (μg/L) and fluxes (g/ha) of priority substances in stormwater from three watersheds with different land use patterns (namely, residential, urban dense, high urban density). Samples were collected at the outlet of these watersheds. Thirteen chemical groups were investigated corresponding to 88 individual substances before treatment. Results showed that stormwater discharges contained 55 substances, among them some metals, organotins, PAHs, PCBs, alkylphenols, pesticides, phthalates, cholorophenols and volatile organic compounds. Therefore, stormwater was highly contaminated. However, this contamination was often comparable from site to site, since no significant difference of the pollutant load was observed between the land use patterns.     

Working towards sustainable urban water management: the vulnerability blind spot

The unprecedented water scarcity in Australia coincides with the adoption of a new urban water rhetoric. The 'Security through Diversity' strategy has been adopted in a number of Australian cities as a new and innovative approach to urban water management. Although this strategy offers a more holistic approach to urban water management, in practice, the Security through Diversity strategy is largely being interpreted and implemented in a way that maintains the historical dependence on large scale, centralised water infrastructure and therefore perpetuates existing urban water vulnerabilities. This research explores the implementation of Security through Diversity as the new water scarcity response strategy in the cities of Perth and Melbourne. Through a qualitative study with over sixty-five urban water practitioners, the results reveal that the practitioners have absorbed the new Security through Diversity language whilst maintaining the existing problem and solution framework for urban water management. This can be explained in terms of an entrenched technological path dependency and cognitive lock-in that is preventing practitioners from more comprehensively engaging with the complexities of the Security through Diversity strategy, which is ultimately perpetuating the existing vulnerability of our cities. This paper suggests that greater engagement with the underlying purpose of the security though diversity strategy is a necessary first step to overcome the constraints of the traditional technological paradigm and more effectively reduce the continued vulnerability of Australian cities.     

巴西的水管理改革综述

10a来,巴西一直在努力尝试实施水资源综合管理（IWRM）。水经济学及公众参与等国际公认的原则对该国水资源使用和保护方面的法规体系的革新有所影响。然而,尽管在政策和法规方面有所变化,新旧管理问题的解决时机一直受挫于体制改革中的内部矛盾。对南帕拉伊巴（ParaibadoSul）河的实例研究表明尚有分歧存在,一方面呼吁权力下放和责任分担,另一方面,官僚主义和排他性的做法持续存在。主要症结在于,新河流域委员会将过多的精力花费在推行用水计价和环境收费这一颇具争议的政策工具上,而欠考虑解决河流恢复、公众动员和环境相关方面的问题。     

西班牙灌溉现代化对水质和水量的影响研究

以西班牙埃布罗（Ebro）河流域为例,分析了灌溉现代化过程对水量和水质的影响,旨在对优化农业用水进行深入分析和讨论,研究过程使用了基于水量核算的概念性方法。结果表明,如果灌区的位置和灌溉回流水质允许再次使用回流水,则灌溉现代化仍涉及耗水量增加的问题。另外,灌溉现代化减少了灌溉回流的水量和污染物的含量,提高了接收水体的水质。水管理现代化是使新的灌溉基础设施所产生的经济、社会和环境效益最大化的需要。     

美国可持续水规划采用的水资源管理技术

围绕水资源的可持续发展,结合美国缺水方面的管理经验,介绍了目前美国可持续水规划中所使用的一些水资源管理技术,包括缺水管理和流域生态管理方面的技术,如实施最佳流域管理实践（BMP）,以及低影响开发（LID）等。并对项目选择和优先排序的标准,以及美国正在实施的＂大沼泽地＂生态系统恢复项目进行了简要介绍。     

Mutual information for Lucas-Kanade Tracking (MILK): an inverse compositional formulation

Mutual Information (MI) is popular for registration via function optimisation. This work proposes an inverse compositional formulation of MI for Levenberg-Marquardt optimisation. This yields a constant Hessian, which may be pre-computed. Speed improvements of 15% were obtained, with convergence accuracies similar to those of the standard formulation.     

The effect of time of day on injury patterns amongst adolescents in Australia

Labour force participation of adolescents in Australia is growing at an unprecedented rate. This increased participation is coupled with a growing realisation of the vulnerability of adolescents in the labour market in terms of occupational injury. Despite recent evidence that time of day may be an important determinant of adolescent injuries, the impact of non-standard and night work on adolescent injury rates has received scant attention to date. The current study addresses this shortcoming by examining injury patterns of 3201 working adolescents in Queensland. Results revealed that female adolescents are 2.5 times more likely to sustain an injury on day shift and 4.71 times more likely to sustain an injury on night shift than their adult counterparts when total work hours are taken into consideration. Similar results were found for male adolescents with an injury to work hours ratio of 2.19 on day shift and 3.05 on night shift. These findings point to the value of considering the temporal pattern of adolescent work in future research aimed at minimising injuries at work and improving the work experience of tomorrow's workforce.     

Transport of the dicyanogold(i) anion

We have shown that dicyanogold(I), [Au(CN)(2)](-) is a common metabolite found in blood and urine samples of patients treated with different gold based drugs. Some patients have high levels of gold within their red blood cells (RBCs). Size exclusion and C18 reversed phase chromatography show that the majority of the gold in RBC lysates is bound to protein, but small molecules such as dicyanogold(I) and gold-glutathione complexes are also present. Dicyanogold incubation with red blood cells in vitro leads to a rapid and complete uptake of gold. This uptake is unaffected by DIDS, an inhibitor of the anion channel, but is blocked by the addition of external cyanide. Dicyanogold is also readily taken up by H9 cells, a continuous CD(4+) cell line. This uptake is significantly inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide, suggesting a requirement for sulfhydryl groups. Dicyanogold inhibits the replication of the AIDS virus, HIV, in a cell culture model.