Lower limb dominance and volume in healthy individuals.

Upper limb dominance is associated with increased limb volume, however there is a paucity of evidence if this is true for the lower limbs. This study investigated if there is a normative volume difference between the dominant and nondominant leg. Healthy volunteers between the ages of 18-40 years were recruited. Exclusion criteria included previous lower limb surgery, BMI >30, or pregnancy. An experienced lymphedema nurse specialist measured the circumference of each limb at 4 cm intervals from the malleolus to the groin. Measurements were used to calculate volume of each limb in milliliters. 100 (52 male, 48 female) participants met our inclusion criteria. 86% were right leg dominant and 14% left leg dominant. 93% demonstrated an average increased volume of 349 ml (4.5%) in the dominant leg which is statistically significant (p<0.001). Age, sports, and gender did not affect lower limb volumes. This is the first study to show a normative variance in leg volume in healthy individuals, with a greater volume in the dominant leg. This should be taken into consideration when managing and measuring outcomes for patients with conditions resulting in enlarged lower limbs.

A new approach to aid urban water management decision making using trade-off sacrifice modelled by fuzzy logic.

An approach to aid decision making for urban water management is presented that is based on the concept of trade-off sacrifice level in pairwise comparisons between criteria, modelled using fuzzy logic. This approach is illustrated by a case study - selection of alternative water supplies for a Sydney household. Four key decision making criteria covering health, economic, environment and technical aspects are selected: annual probability of infection, life cycle energy use, life cycle cost and reliability. The decision making problem is to select between cases with different volume and application of recycled greywater and rainwater in light of the four criteria. Decision maker's preference is expressed by five levels of trade-off sacrifice between pairs of criteria. The decision makers can assign their preferences for sacrifice level by linguistic assessment and the output trade-off weight (TOW). Measures of decision makers' perceived trade-off level are modelled by a rule-based fuzzy logic control system. The final analysis shows the performance for each sacrifice class for each case, to aid overall decision making with stakeholders.

Quantitative systems analysis as a strategic planning approach for metropolitan water service providers.

Sydney Water selected life cycle assessment (LCA) to inform a review of its overall strategic planning document: WaterPlan 21. This assessment covered the entire business and has enabled ecological sustainability to be assessed in terms of quantitative indicators. The LCA was performed by firstly examining a base case which would eventuate if Sydney Water maintained its current operations with only the modifications, augmentations and upgrades planned for implementation between now and 2021. We then performed a number of scenario analyses to examine the benefits of additional demand management, energy efficiency, energy generation, supply augmentation and effluent quality initiatives. The results indicated significant improvements are available and that some of these measures are more desirable than others. We also examined a scenario for the alternative delivery of water and wastewater services in new urban areas. This showed quantitatively that, since connecting new fringe suburbs to the existing system requires significant expenditure on energy for pumping, major improvements in the sustainability of water and wastewater systems can be achieved by using localised, water-saving alternatives.

Integrated environmental assessment of tertiary and residuals treatment--LCA in the wastewater industry.

In the wastewater industry, decision-makers lack access to an environmental tool that can assist in further informing the non-financial analysis of a system. Such a tool should incorporate impacts beyond the effluent quality and look at the supporting processes of a plant as well as plant specific operations. Life Cycle Assessment can provide the means to fill a gap in pertinent information towards more sustainable decision-making. The project "Best Practice LCA in the Wastewater Industry" is commissioned by the CRC for Waste Management and Pollution Control at UNSW with representatives from Sydney Water Corporation (SWC), NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation and the NSW Department of Public Works. Two case studies were researched to provide a post-implementation review of changes in wastewater. Case study 1: The conversion from chlorine gas to hypochlorite and UV disinfection has been completed for several inland wastewater plants at SWC. A review of operational data for each of the options has been incorporated into an LCA of each technology. Under efficient dosing conditions, disinfection with the hypochlorite system has the minimum environmental impact. Case study 2 deals with the conversion from anaerobic to aerobic digestion. Aerobic digestion minimises release of nutrients into a sidestream to be further treated in the plant. However conversion results in more biosolids production and higher electricity requirements. This study includes a consideration of the environmental impacts of biosolids production and application. On the basis of the extended boundary including consideration of reflux composition, energy requirements and biosolids quality to potentially offset fertiliser production, anaerobic digestion performs best in 6 out of 9 impact categories. These results suggest that environmental LCA has a role in informing decision-making on unit process and treatment train selection by quantifying aspects on non-financial criteria. Also, improvement potentials are foreshadowed but not detailed.