Andrew H Kelly

Surface dosimetry for breast radiotherapy in the presence of immobilization cast material

Curative breast radiotherapy typically leaves patients with varying degrees of cosmetic damage. One problem interfering with cosmetically acceptable breast radiotherapy is the external contour for large pendulous breasts which often results in high doses to skin folds. Thermoplastic casts are often employed to secure the breasts to maintain setup reproducibility and limit the presence of skin folds. This paper aims to determine changes in surface dose that can be attributed to the use of thermoplastic immobilization casts. Skin dose for a clinical hybrid conformal/IMRT breast plan was measured using radiochromic film and MOSFET detectors at a range of water equivalent depths representative of the different skin layers. The radiochromic film was used as an integrating dosimeter, while the MOSFETs were used for real-time dosimetry to isolate the contribution of skin dose from individual IMRT segments. Strips of film were placed at various locations on the breast and the MOSFETs were used to measure skin dose at 16 positions spaced along the film strips for comparison of data. The results showed an increase in skin dose in the presence of the immobilization cast of up to 45.7% and 62.3% of the skin dose without the immobilization cast present as measured with Gafchromic EBT film and MOSFETs, respectively. The increase in skin dose due to the immobilization cast varied with the angle of beam incidence and was greatest when the beam was normally incident on the phantom. The increase in surface dose with the immobilization cast was greater under entrance dose conditions compared to exit dose conditions.

The coexistence of amenity and biodiversity in urban landscapes

Abstract Amenity is a long-standing component of town planning and municipal governance. Biodiversity is a far more recent concept, yet interpreting the conservation mandate in a local context is a significant challenge for landscape and urban planners. This article explores the concepts of amenity and biodiversity and investigates their compatibility in an urbanising world. Their historical expression in law and urban planning is considered, and empirical research on the links between human well-being, green environments and biodiversity is reviewed. We argue that amenity is an underutilised vehicle for achieving biodiversity goals in line with new urban greening paradigms because of its long-standing currency with planning professionals. However, conflict between biodiversity and amenity can arise in practice, depending on a city’s social–ecological context. These challenges can be overcome through setting clear objectives, utilising scientific evidence, engaging with local communities and ensuring landscape policy is sufficiently flexible to accommodate local needs and characteristics.

Strategic environmental assessment: lessons for New South Wales, Australia, from Scottish practice

Disparate approaches to strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in New South Wales (NSW), Australia and Scotland are compared. The first is fragmented and unfamiliar while the other is well established. A detailed analysis of the use of SEA in each jurisdiction follows a contextual evaluation of its purpose. Whereas the Scottish system is supported by recent regulation and policy, both NSW and the overriding Commonwealth Government follow haphazard actions with few if any settled methodologies. In order to improve its environmental assessment credentials and promote more sustainable development outcomes, NSW might consider the need for SEA more seriously. Investigation of other systems, such as that in Scotland, may assist.

The Capriciousness of Australian Planning Law: Zoning Objectives in NSW as a Case Study

This article considers the fickleness of application of the NSW land use planning system which, like other Australian jurisdictions, deals with ‘command and control’ of development proposals as they come forward. The nub of the regulation is zoning. As a case study, the article focuses on zoning objectives in statutory-based plans: their emergence, their haphazard development and impending downfall. Legal review of plans and decisions has a substantial and potentially negative effect on planning practice. A substantial part of the narrative relies on court judgments. There is also the problem of poorly contrived plans that invite legal challenge.

The Australian Government’s “White Paper on Reform of the Federation” and the Future of Australian Local Government

ABSTRACT The Abbott Government announced its White Paper review of the Australian Federation on June 28, 2014. Set against this backdrop, discussions of the future of Australian local government may provoke an assumption that its role will be cruelled. However, reflection suggests that such an assumption is misplaced. In particular, when the complexities of regionalism in Australia are considered, the potential role of local government begs revisiting. We argue that local government ought to adopt a forthright position in the current debate, particularly with respect to financial reform.

Amenity enhancement and biodiversity conservation in Australian suburbia: Moving towards maintaining indigenous plants on private residential land

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically explore the historical background and current approach of the most common statutory instrument to maintain green landscapes in private residential gardens in cities and townships in suburban New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Design/methodology/approach – The narrative presents a transdisciplinary study. While its emphasis is on law and town planning, it also encompasses local government and legal history while touching upon environmental management and ecological science. This panoply of areas reflects the sheer complexity of the topic. While the presentation is initially descriptive, it moves on to a critique of the NSW Governments recent statutory approach. Findings – The paper demands that further attention must be paid to improving the design and architecture of statutory plans and underlying policies to not only improve urban biodiversity but also retain, as far as practicable, the visual beauty of the suburban landscape. This means reliance on lo...

The underlying zoning enigma

Australian property rights exist within a sophisticated body of compensation case law and practice. To facilitate infrastructure, jurisdictions such as New South Wales must compulsorily acquire significant tracts of private land. The key factor for investigation in this paper is the prior reservation (or zoning) of such land where designated for a public purpose, which ultimately prohibits private usage. Enabling legislation for all compulsory acquisitions requires the assessment of compensation for the private land holder. Key judgements in various Australian Courts make clear that the question of an underlying zoning is a “jurisdictional fact” that triggers the agency to assess reasonable compensation.

The Purpose of Planning: Creating Sustainable Towns and Cities

neutral a position on the changes that are happening to the local government system and the consequences for normative change on issues of equality, liberty and diversity. The authors could perhaps project, in relation to the demise of community, more of the outrage at the trend towards anonymous sub-regional authorities that was recently shown in Chisholm and Leach’s Botched Business 2006–2008 – a study that could only be published by a non-corporate small publishing concern. There is much to be said for dispassionate argument, readability and a sense of humour; but there is also a need to present difficult arguments on ethical issues in a form that ensures that readers, especially students, realise that these issues matter to them and to society. A final issue that may be questioned is whether the 5 edition has been published at the most propitious time, given that it can only give an account of the broad direction of thinking within the Conservative–Liberal Democrat Coalition rather than an account of how they are in practice putting a number of ill-fitting ideas into practice. It may be argued that a new edition of the textbook might have been delayed by one or two years in order to determine how far the system has been put into, or under, a (P)pickle by the Coalition. However, we should look forward to the production of a 6 edition and, despite being unable to chart the practice of Coalition thinking on local governance, the 5 edition continues to stand as a definitive text book that is a greatly welcome bastion of clarity on the local system in Britain.