Global change pressures on soils from land use and management

Soils are subject to varying degrees of direct or indirect human disturbance, constituting a major global change driver. Factoring out natural from direct and indirect human influence is not always straightforward, but some human activities have clear impacts. These include land use change, land management, and land degradation (erosion, compaction, sealing and salinization). The intensity of land use also exerts a great impact on soils, and soils are also subject to indirect impacts arising from human activity, such as acid deposition (sulphur and nitrogen) and heavy metal pollution. In this critical review, we report the state-of-the-art understanding of these global change pressures on soils, identify knowledge gaps and research challenges, and highlight actions and policies to minimise adverse environmental impacts arising from these global change drivers. Soils are central to considerations of what constitutes sustainable intensification. Therefore, ensuring that vulnerable and high environmental value soils are considered when protecting important habitats and ecosystems, will help to reduce the pressure on land from global change drivers. To ensure that soils are protected as part of wider environmental efforts, a global soil resilience programme should be considered, to monitor, recover or sustain soil fertility and function, and to enhance the ecosystem services provided by soils. Soils cannot, and should not, be considered in isolation of the ecosystems that they underpin and vice versa. The role of soils in supporting ecosystems and natural capital needs greater recognition. The lasting legacy of the International Year of Soils in 2015 should be to put soils at the centre of policy supporting environmental protection and sustainable development.

The grass-free lawn: floral performance and management implications

Grass lawns are a ubiquitous feature of urban green-space throughout much of the temperate world. Species poor and intensively managed, lawns are ecologically impoverished, however environmentally aware lawn owners are reluctant to implement alternatives due to aesthetic concerns. Developing an alternative lawn format which is both biodiversity friendly and aesthetically pleasing is an imperative for urban greening. We suggest that such an alternative can be provided by replacing the grass lawn by a forb-based mix. To advance this, we tested the floral performance of three groups of clonal perennial forbs (native, non-native and mixed), each maintained using standard lawn management mowing regimes. Our findings show that both the frequency of mowing and the height at which mowing is applied influence floral performance and lawn aesthetics. Species origin was found to influence floral productivity, floral visibility and floral variety within grass-free lawns, with native species providing the greatest floral performance. The behaviour and management of grass lawns was not found to be a suitable analogue for the management of grass-free lawns and grass-free lawns are sufficiently different from grass lawns to require an entirely original management approach. We suggest that the grass-free lawn can provide an aesthetically and environmentally relevant replacement for the ubiquitous and ecologically-poor grass lawn.

Construction contracts: law and management. 5th edition

The fifth edition of this best-selling textbook has been thoroughly revised to provide the most up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of the legislation, administration and management of construction contracts. It now includes comparison of working with JCT, NEC3 and FIDIC contracts, throughout. In line with new thinking in construction management research, this authoritative guide is essential reading for every construction undergraduate and is an extremely useful source of reference for practitioners.

Comparative Genetic Diversity of Wild and Captive Populations of the Bare-Faced Curassow (Crax fasciolata) Based on Cross-Species Microsatellite Markers: Implications for Conservation and Management

The bare-faced curassow (Crax fasciolata) is a large Neotropical bird that suffers anthropogenic pressure across much of its range. A captive population is maintained for conservation management, although there has been no genetic screening of stocks. Based on the six microsatellite markers developed for Crax globulosa, the genetic variability of C. fasciolata and possible differences between a wild and a captive population were investigated. Only three loci were polymorphic, with a total of 27 alleles. More than half of these alleles were private to the wild (n = 8) or captive (n = 7) populations. Significant deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were restricted to the captive population. Despite the number of private alleles, genetic drift has probably promoted differentiation between populations. Our results indicate that wild C. fasciolata populations are genetically impoverished and structured, but species-specific microsatellite markers will be necessary for a more reliable assessment of the species` genetic diversity.

Russian Arctic Ports : Problems with the development and management of tourist flows

The potential changes to the territory of the Russian Arctic open up unique possibilities for the development of tourism. More favourable transport opportunities along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) create opportunities for tourism development based on the utilisation of the extensive areas of sea shores and river basins. A major challenge for the Russian Arctic sea and river ports is their strong cargo transport orientation originated by natural resource extraction industries. A careful assessment of the prospects of current and future tourism development is presented here based on the development of regions located along the shores of the Arctic ocean (including Murmansk and Arkhangelsk oblast, Nenets Autonomous okrug (AO), Yamal-Nenets AO, Taymyr AO, Republic of Sakha, Chykotsky AO). An evaluation of the present development of tourism in maritime cities suggests that a considerable qualitative and quantitative increase of tourism activities organised by domestic tourism firms is made virtually impossible. There are several factors contributing to this. The previously established Soviet system of state support for the investments into the port facilities as well as the sea fleet were not effectively replaced by creation of new structures. The necessary investments for reconstruction could be contributed by the federal government but the priorities are not set towards the increased passenger transportation. Having in mind, increased environmental pressures in this highly sensitive area it is especially vital to establish a well-functioning monitoring and rescue system in the situation of ever increasing risks which come not only from the increased transports along the NSR, but also from the exploitation of the offshore oil and gas reserves in the Arctic seas. The capacity and knowledge established in Nordic countries (Norway, Finland) concerning cruise tourism should not be underestimated and the already functioning cooperation in Barents Region should expand towards this particular segment of the tourism industry. The current stage of economic development in Russia makes it clear that tourism development is not able to compete with the well-needed increase in the cargo transportation, which means that Russia’s fleet is going to be utilised by other industries. However, opening up this area to both local and international visitors could contribute to the economic prosperity of these remote areas and if carefully managed could sustain already existing maritime cities along the shores of the Arctic Ocean.

The role of internal audit in corporate governance and management

This research report is based on a study undertaken in Australia, and aims to evaluate the role of internal audit in corporate governance and management. It identifies the accountability structures and objectives of internal audit, considers the nature of internal audit functions and the extent of application of The Institute of Internal Auditors Standards of Professional Practice, reviews the relationships of the chief audit executives (CAEs) and assesses the nature of financial report risks and other issues covered by internal auditors. The research findings include a diversity of accountability structures for CAEs and a range of internal audit activities, with the application of the IIA Standards being in need of improvement. In conclusion, the researchers make recommendations for improvements in practice to be considered by The Institute of Internal Auditors and other regulating and governing bodies.

Inadvertent doping through supplement use by athletes: assessment and management of the risk in Australia

Many athletes report using a wide range of special sports foods and supplements. In the present study of 77 elite Australian swimmers, 99% of those surveyed reported the use of these special preparations, with 94% of swimmers reporting the use of non-food supplements. The most popular dietary supplements were vitamin or mineral supplements (used by 94% of the group), herbal preparations (61%), and creatine (31%). Eighty-seven percent of swimmers reported using a sports drink or other energy-providing sports food. In total, 207 different products were reported in this survey. Sports supplements, particularly supplements presented as pills or other non-food form, are poorly regulated in most countries, with little assurance of quality control. The risk of an inadvertent "positive doping test" through the use of sports supplements or sports foods is a small but real problem facing athletes who compete in events governed by anti-doping rules. The elite swimmers in this survey reported that information about the "doping safety" of supplements was important and should be funded by supplement manufacturers. Although it is challenging to provide such information, we suggest a model to provide an accredited testing program suitable for the Australian situation, with targeted athlete education about the "sports safety" of sports supplements and foods.

Football-as-war, coach-as-general: analogy, metaphor and management implications

Sporting terms have been used as metaphor and analogy to describe and prescribe life experiences. It has been suggested that the use of sport terminology can assist in the general understanding of complex terms and situations, however, the use of sport as metaphor and analogy for many aspects of social understanding can have negative consequences. The analogy of sport and war seems to be particularly prevalent within football, irrespective of the code or culture in which it is played. This article demonstrates the popular understanding of Australian Rules ‘football as war’ through two complementary studies. The first study investigates the representation of Australian Rules football as war, specifically through the analysis of both images and text on the front covers of the sport ‘lift-out’ sections of two prominent Melbourne newspapers, The Herald Sun and The Age. The second study examines whether people interpret non-war-like images of Australian Rules football in war-like terms. Forty-five undergraduate sport marketing and management students were asked to write about one of four different images of football players and coaches interacting, which revealed that football is understood as war. Further, when prompted by an image of football players and coaches interacting, people in this study interpreted the interactions as consistently war-like. Coaches were portrayed as militaristic generals and the athletes as soldiers. Implications for management, education and practice are discussed.

A preliminary study on building demolition engineering and management

In recent years, building demolition has been challenging urban developers due to the increased incidence of demolition projects and the elevation of demolition requirements. The importance of building demolition is also recognised by researchers and, given its environmental impacts, it is anticipated to achieve the same attention as conventional planning, design,
construction and maintenance in the near future. In this article, the authors aim to develop a series of strategies for promoting building demolition practice. Environmentally-friendly demolition procedures are introduced through a waste minimisation decision that makes the approach on alternatives to demolition and an integrated demolition planning and design approach focus on a just-in-time (JIT) philosophy. A conceptual management framework is also presented for the implementation of demolition projects.