Valuation and reporting of native fauna in monetary terms: compatibility between a market-Based system and natural resources?

A change in community values and priorities has introduced ethical,
environmental and social issues into the way in which business conducts
its activities. There are an increasing number of managed investment funds focusing on socially responsible investment (SRI) by concentrating on firms that operate according to predetermined criteria for environmental, social and ethical issues. For investors in these funds environmental stewardship issues are integrated with concern over financial resources and performance. In this paper the accounting and reporting by business activities concerned with conservation of wildlife are examined. The world of accounting has functioned for many years with relatively few accounting standards devoted to specialised industry needs. In 1998 the Australian Accounting Standards Board and in 2001 the International Accounting Standards Board issued standards devoted to agriculture. Both standards deal with the reporting of managed biological assets and require application of essentially the same approaches despite the Australian standard requiring net market value while the International standard requires fair value. In this paper we analyse how one conservation firm Earth Sanctuaries Ltd. (ESL) has applied AASB 1037 and then we explore the implications for conservation firms operating in geographical locations outside Australia. It is suggested that AASB 1037 and indeed lAS 41 may not provide value appropriate information for investor decisions relating to accounting profits for such firms. Our examination shows that it is appropriate to reconsider accounting guidelines provided by these standards in order to link the information relating to economic and environmental performance. Transparency may be improved by a move closer to Elkington 's (1997) triple bottom line reporting. We therefore contend that the issues arising from the use ofAASB 1037 and lAS 41 need to be widely considered by all standard setters, particularly given the increasing attention to SRI.

Barriers to cross-fertilization between populations of a widely dispersed Polychaete species are unlikely to have arisen through gametic compatibility arms-races

Although there are theoretical reasons to suspect that gametic incompatibility may develop readily among populations of broadcast spawning marine invertebrates, there have been very few studies documenting geographic patterns of interpopulation incompatibility for any species. To address this we determined how successfully individuals of the intertidal serpulid polychaete, Galeolaria caespitosa, can cross-fertilize within and among populations from across temperate Australia. Fertilization assays revealed asymmetrical differences between very distantly located populations from different coasts, with near-complete incompatibility between eggs from Sydney with sperm from Adelaide, but the reverse cross (Adelaide eggs, Sydney sperm) was reasonably compatible. Although that pattern was congruent with a clear difference in Cytochrome B sequences between worms on the south and east coasts of Australia, we also detected some indication of interpopulation incompatibility within the genetic grouping on east coast, between two populations separated by only 220 km. We then assessed whether commonly proposed gametic compatibility arms-races could account for these patterns. Our results suggest reduced gametic compatibility may reduce a female's maximum fertilization potential, resulting in a cost to this potential mechanism for reducing polyspermy. Consequently, the apparently rapid development of reproductive barriers here seems unlikely to have been driven by arms-races involving sexual conflict over fertilization rate.

An empirical and logical exploration of the strategic compatibility of best practice and product innovation : preliminary insights from Australian and New Zealand manufacturing industry

In an attempt to enhance debate focused on an established academic controversy, this study re-investigated selected data from the 1994 AMC survey of Australian and New Zealand manufacturing practices to test the hypothesis that best practice and product innovation may be incompatible generic business strategies. A modification of Robert G. Cooper’s Stage-Gate product development model was used as a theoretical framework to create a measurable construct of ‘product innovation’ as a strategy and compare two groups: firms committed to a best practice strategy (BPs) and firms not utilising best practice (Non-BPs). Eight variables were scrutinised. After logical critique was added to statistical data analysis, four major insights emerged.

(1) Tests yielded several statistically significant but substantively inconclusive results because both studied groups had nearly identical profiles in rating innovation as the factor of lowest importance to commercial success and because the definitional framework which guided construction of the survey instrument treated innovation as a second-order issue. (2) Currently, best practice and product innovation are logically incompatible by definition. (3) Even if the definition of best practice were changed, it is likely that the additional key process of innovation would remain incompatible with the existing key process of benchmarking. (4) However, until the definition of best practice does make an attempt to include innovation as a key process rather than an outcome, testing any hypothesis of strategic compatibility between a best practice focus and an innovation focus will be both empirically difficult and logically unnecessary.

Towards consistency, rigour and compatibility of risk assessments for ecosystems and ecological communities

Ecosystem-level conservation is increasingly important at global, national and local levels. Many jurisdictions have developed and apply their own protocols for assessing the threat status of ecosystems, often independently, leading to inconsistencies between and within countries which are problematic for cross-jurisdictional environmental reporting. Australia is a good example of these historic legacies, with different risk assessment methods applied nationally and in most states. The newly developed criteria for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) provide a framework to compare and contrast apparently divergent protocols. We critically reviewed the Australian protocols and compared them with the IUCN RLE, based on the following components of a risk assessment protocol: (i) categories of threat; (ii) assessment units; (iii) underlying concepts and definitions; (iv) assessment criteria; (v) uncertainty methods; and (vi) assessment outcomes. Despite some differences in specific objectives, criteria and their expression, the protocols were structurally similar, included broadly similar types of criteria, and produced assessment outcomes that were generally concordant. Alignment with the IUCN RLE would not require extensive changes to existing protocols, but would improve consistency, rigour and robustness in ecosystem risk assessment across jurisdictions. To achieve this, we recommend: (i) more quantitative assessments of functional change; (ii) separation of management and policy considerations from risk assessment; and (iii) cross-referencing of assessment units in different jurisdictions. We argue that the focus on processes and ecological function, rather than only patterns, is key to robust risk assessment. © 2014 The Authors.

The more pieces, the better the puzzle: sperm concentration increases gametic compatibility

The genetic benefits individuals receive from mate choice have been the focus of numerous studies, with several showing support for both intrinsic genetic benefits and compatibility effects on fertilization success and offspring viability. However, the robustness of these effects have rarely been tested across an ecologically relevant environmental gradient. In particular, sperm environment is a crucial factor determining fertilization success in many species, especially those with external fertilization. Here, we test the importance of sperm environment in mediating compatibility-based selection on fertilization using a factorial breeding design. We detected a significant intrinsic male effect on fertilization success at only one of four sperm concentrations. Compatibility effects were significant at the two highest sperm concentrations and, interestingly, the magnitude of the compatibility effect consistently increased with sperm concentration. This suggests that females are able to modify the probability of sperm-egg fusion as the amount of sperm available increases.

Enhanced homogeneity and interfacial compatibility in melt-extruded cellulose nano-fibers reinforced polyethylene via surface adsorption of poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(ethylene) amphiphiles

In this paper, we demonstrate that an amphiphilic block copolymer such as polyethylene glycol-b-polyethylene can be used as both dispersing and interfacial compatibilizing agent for the melt compounding of LLDPE with cellulose nano-fibers. A simple and effective spray drying methodology was first used for the first time for the preparation of a powdered cellulose nano-fibers extrusion feedstock. Surface adsorption of the amphiphilic PEG-b-PE was carried out directly in solution during this process. These various dry cellulosic feedstock were subsequently combined with LLDPE via extrusion to produce a range of nano-composites. The collective outcomes of this research are several folds. Firstly we show that presence of surface adsorbed PEG-b-PE effectively hindered the aggregation of the cellulose nano-fibers during the extrusion, affording clear homogenous materials with minimum aggregation even at the highest loading of cellulose nano-fibers (∼23 vol.%). Secondly, the tailored LLDPE/cellulose interface arising from intra- and inter-molecular hydrogen and Van der Waals bonds yielded significant levels of mechanical improvements in terms of storage and tensile modulus. We believe this study provides a simple technological template to produce high quality and performant polyolefins cellulose-based nano-composites.

Enabling electronic medicine at Kiwicare : the case of video conferencing adoption for psychiatry in New Zealand

Telemedicine emerges as a viable solution to New Zealand health providers in reaching out to rural patients, in offering medical services and conducting administrative meetings and training. No research exists about adoption of telemedicine in New Zealand. The purpose of this case study was to explain factors influencing adoption of telemedicine utilizing video conferencing technology (TMVC) within a New Zealand hospital known as KiwiCare. Since TMVC is part of IT, tackling it from within technological innovation literature may assist in providing an insight into its adoption within KiwiCare and into the literature. Findings indicate weak presence of critical assessment into technological innovation factors prior to the adoption decision, thereby leading to its weak utilization. Factors like complexity, compatibility and trialability were not assessed extensively by KiwiCare and would have hindered TMVC adoption. TMVC was mainly assessed according to its relative advantage and to its cost effectiveness along with other facilitating and accelerating factors. This is essential but should be alongside technological and other influencing factors highlighted in the literature.

Purely magnetic locally rotationally symmetric spacetimes

We consider all purely magnetic, locally rotationally symmetric (LRS) spacetimes. It is shown that such spacetimes belong to either LRS class I or III by the Ellis classification. For each class the most general solution is found exhibiting a disposable function and three parameters. A Segré classification of purely magnetic LRS spacetimes is given together with the compatibility requirements of two general energy–momentum tensors. Finally, implicit solutions are obtained, in each class, when the energy–momentum tensor is a perfect fluid.

Cultural issues in online learning - is blended learning a possible solution?

The emergence of cross-cultural classrooms has been steadily increasing in Australian tertiary institutions, due to the growing population of international students enrolling to complete their degrees. This increase in international students has signified a change in the student demographics, thus recognizing the differences in students’ learning styles, and indicating that a more flexible approach is needed for learner content delivery. Research has suggested that students from different cultures have varying compatibility with different learning environments. With tertiary institutions now expanding towards the online forum for delivery of units, these compatibilities of students are even more evident. Hence, in order to ensure that all students are able to participate in this domain, preparations are needed to accommodate all cultural types. Therefore with the emphasis on creating flexible learning environments for all students the blended learning approach has been suggested as a solution.

Floating lives : cultural citizenship and the limits of diaspora

Cultural citizenship may, in the simplest terms, be taken to mean a certain 'fit' or compatibility between the cultural attributes of an individual or group and those of the society in which they live. It is a complex concept, taking in rights, responsibilities and competencies as well as the more intangible issues of identity and belonging which have been the subject of intense debates within cultural studies in the last decade. In the case of diasporic or transnational peoples, it is further complicated by the fact of their multiple and unstable cultural and/or civic allegiances (to home and host nations in the first instance, but frequently also to the cultural space of diaspora itself).

This essay examines recent life stories by Chinese Australians: Clara Law's film Floating Life (1996) and two novellas by Liu Guande and Huangfu Jun, published together in English under the title Bitter Peaches and Plums (1995). Focusing on the diversity of experience evoked by notions of cultural belonging, it argues against the prevalent tendency within diaspora studies to engage in a rhetoric of cultural essentialism. The literatures of diaspora deserve to be read as documents of unique and complex cultural experiences rather than mere illustrations of archetypes

The protection of political communication under the Australian constitution

Compatibility of a law with implied freedom of political communication - application of test of constitutionality outlined in Lange case - argues that two-tier approach be abandoned - if a law regulates the content of a political communication, not its mode, more rigorous judicial scrutiny will follow - should be a single test for constitutionality where application is through the proportionality framework and informed by the rationale of the implied freedom - application to Australian racial vilification laws.