A GIS based planning support system for assessing financial feasibility of urban redevelopment

Urban densification trends combined with redevelopment increasingly moving away from large former industrial and transport sites toward existing town centres and corridors indicate redevelopment is becoming increasingly complex, difficult to plan for and undertake. The interplay between land and property markets and planning frameworks suggest city planners and urban researchers need new tools and methodologies to gain insights into ways to deliver effective responses. Despite the need, there is a limited availability of comprehensive models to fulfil the task. This paper describes a GIS-based tool to assess parcel-level financial feasibility and housing supply associated with urban redevelopment within a precinct. The tool incorporates existing and potential built form and parameters associated with the planning framework and land and property markets. Using a real case study in a workshop, tool performance was evaluated by professional urban planners in terms of its capacity to produce metrics and visualisations of potential scenarios of redevelopment. Results indicate the usefulness of the tool for emulating land market conditions and testing scenarios of planning regulation and market changes for strategic planning purposes.     

Polarized Raman spectra of beryl and bazzite

The polarized Raman spectra of four different beryl crystals were studied at room temperature in the range from 30 to 4000 cm^-1. The spectra show significant differences between the samples studied, and corrections are proposed for the reference Raman spectra of beryl previously reported by Adams and Gardner (1974). Type II water is observed in two crystals; the corresponding symmetric Raman stretching band at 3595 cm^-1 is extremely strong for an impurity (about 20% of the strongest beryl lattice mode). Another, sharper, band of similar intensity at 3605 cm^-1 could possibly originate from a hydroxyl stretching mode. Additional weaker bands are observed around 1600 cm^-1 and 3600–3750 cm^-1. The first polarized Raman spectra of bazzite are presented and discussed.     

Nitrogen and carbon dioxide occurrence in UK coal seams

Conclusions Some bituminous coals, mostly of high volatile rank, sampled from various coalfields contained on average 0.5 m³ t^–1 nitrogen and 0.13 m³ t^–1.Nitrogen is released more readily than methane during coal winning but the volumes of nitrogen released are small compared with ventilation quantities and are only likely to be of significance for detailed oxygen deficiency studies.     

Use of high spectral resolution remote sensing to determine leaf palatability of eucalypt trees for folivorous marsupials

In this study we assess the feasibility of remotely measuring canopy biochemistry, and thus the potential for conducting large-scale mapping of habitat quality. A number of studies have found nutrient composition of eucalypt foliage to be a major determinant of the distribution of folivorous marsupials. More recently it has been demonstrated that a specific group of secondary plant chemicals, the diformylphloroglucinols (DFPs), are the most important feeding deterrents, and are thus vital determinants of habitat quality. We report on the use of laboratory spectroscopy to attempt to identify one such DFP, sideroxylonal-A, in the foliage of Eucalyptus melliodora, one of the few eucalypt species browsed by folivorous marsupials. Reflectance spectra were obtained for freeze-dried, ground leaves using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and for both oven-dried and fresh whole leaves using a laboratory-based (FieldSpec) spectroradiometer. Modified partial least squares (MPLS) regression was used to develop calibration equations for sideroxylonal-A concentration based on the reflectance spectra transformed as both the first and second difference of absorbance (Log 1/R). The predictive ability of the calibration equations was assessed using the standard error of calibration statistic (SECV). Coefficients of determination (r²) were highest for the ground leaf spectra (0.98), followed by the fresh leaf and dry leaf spectra (0.94 and 0.87, respectively). When applied to independent validation sub-sets, sideroxylonal-A was most accurately predicted from the ground leaf spectra (r² = 0.94), followed by the dry leaf and fresh leaf spectra (0.72 and 0.53, respectively). Two spectral regions, centred on 674 nm and 1394 nm, were found to be highly correlated with sideroxylonal-A concentration for each of the three spectral data sets studied. Results from this study suggest that calibration equations derived from modified partial least squares regression may be used to predict sideroxylonal-A concentration, and hence leaf palatability, of Eucalyptus melliodora trees, thereby indicating that the remote estimation of habitat quality of eucalypt forests for marsupial folivores is feasible.     

How do long-term patterns affect time-limited environmental monitoring programmes?

A five year Environmental Monitoring Programme (EMP) was set up in east-Australian coastal waters to determine the environmental effects of diverting most of Sydney's primary treated sewage from cliff face outfalls to diffuser outfall systems some 3 km offshore in 60–80 m of water. Many component EMP studies adopted Before and After Control Impact (BACI and ‘beyond BACI’) designs, to isolate outfall impacts on the marine ecosystem from background variability. Although seasonal patterns dominated ambient conditions in coastal waters, long-term climatic signals, such as the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), were apparent during the EMP. The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) indicated the two year post-commissioning study period of 1991–1993 was dominated by an El Nino episode, while the 1989–1990 pre-commissioning period experienced a La Nina episode. Anomalous rainfall conditions and ocean temperature structure were associated with these episodes with respect to long-term records. Rainfall patterns suggested that the pre-commissioning period experienced high rainfall causing an increased incidence of stormwater pollution in coastal waters. Effects of the lower rain levels during post-commissioning phase were, however, outweighed by the dramatic improvements due to the commissioning of the deepwater outfalls. Decreased thermal stratification was experienced during the winter months of the 1992–1993 El Nino episode, and promoted increased dilutions associated with a greater frequency in sewage plume surfacing. There was, however, no apparent short-term effect of this change in plume behaviour on the marine environment as measured by EMP indicators.     

Addressing Scottish rural fuel poverty through a regional industrial symbiosis strategy for the Scottish forest industries sector

Tackling fuel poverty is central to the delivery of the Scottish Executive’s commitment to social justice. Many Scottish rural households are not linked into the mains gas network and rely on expensive alternatives, despite being surrounded by plentiful supplies of low-cost renewable wood biomass. A regional study was undertaken to establish the potential market for pelletised wood fuel, available as a low-value by-product from the rapidly expanding Scottish forest industry sector. The wider implications of the research findings are analysed by extending the principles of industrial symbiosis from a site-specific to a regional scale. Promoting an indigenous pellet-based wood fuel market for rural Scotland would fulfil important Scottish Executive economic, social and environmental sustainability objectives. Adding off-site social symbiotic elements increases the potential for on-site technical symbiosis in nascent Scottish forest industry clusters. At present, market failure is preventing the realisation of these benefits, and the paper concludes by identifying ways in which market intermediation, through wood fuel energy service companies, might overcome the current barriers to exploiting such symbiosis.     

Simulating the moderating effect of a lake on downwind temperatures

A steady-state, two-dimensional numerical model is used to simulate air temperatures and humidity downwind of a lake at night. Thermal effects of the lake were modelled for the case of moderate and low surface winds under the cold-air advective conditions that occur following the passage of a cold front. Surface temperatures were found to be in good agreement with observations. A comparison of model results with thermal imagery indicated the model successfully predicts the downwind distance for which thermal effects due to the lake are significant.