Organisational challenges in understanding and implementing effective buiness continuity management strategies in a complex and critical organisation : an airport case study

With the increasing complexity of modern day threats and the growing sophistication of interlinked and interdependent operating environments, Business Continuity Management (BCM) has emerged as a new discipline, offering a strategic approach to safeguarding organisational functions. Of significant interest is the application of BCM frameworks and strategies within critical infrastructure, and in particular the aviation industry. Given the increased focus on security and safety for critical infrastructures, research into the adoption of BCM principles within an airport environment provides valuable management outcomes and research into a previously neglected area of inquisition. This research has used a single case study methodology to identify possible impediments to BCM adoption and implementation by the Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC). It has identified a number of misalignments between the required breadth of focus for a BCM program, identified differing views on specific roles and responsibilities required during a major disruptive event and illustrated the complexities of the Brisbane Airport which impede the understanding and implementation of effective Business Continuity Management Strategies.

Whitening Race: Essays In Social And Cultural Criticism In Australia

Aileen Moreton-Robinson has brought together scholars from a range of disciplines: philosophy, cultural and gender studies, education, social work, sociology and literary studies. All engage critically with the location of the social and discursive construction of whiteness.

Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Tropical and Temperae Agriculture: The Need for a Full-Cost Accounting of Global Warming Potentials

Agriculture's contribution to radiative forcing is principally through its historical release of carbon in soil and vegetation to the atmosphere and through its contemporary release of nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CHM4). The sequestration of soil carbon in soils now depleted in soil organic matter is a well-known strategy for mitigating the buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere. Less well-recognized are other mitigation potentials. A full-cost accounting of the effects of agriculture on greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to quantify the relative importance of all mitigation options. Such an analysis shows nitrogen fertilizer, agricultural liming, fuel use, N2O emissions, and CH4 fluxes to have additional significant potential for mitigation. By evaluating all sources in terms of their global warming potential it becomes possible to directly evaluate greenhouse policy options for agriculture. A comparison of temperate and tropical systems illustrates some of these options.

Impact of soil texture on the distribution of soil organic matter in physical and chemical fractions

Previous research on the protection of soil organic C from decomposition suggests that soil texture affects soil C stocks. However, different pools of soil organic matter (SOM) might be differently related to soil texture. Our objective was to examine how soil texture differentially alters the distribution of organic C within physically and chemically defined pools of unprotected and protected SOM. We collected samples from two soil texture gradients where other variables influencing soil organic C content were held constant. One texture gradient (16-60% clay) was located near Stewart Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada and the other (25-50% clay) near Cygnet, OH. Soils were physically fractionated into coarse- and fine-particulate organic matter (POM), silt- and clay-sized particles within microaggregates, and easily dispersed silt-and clay-sized particles outside of microaggregates. Whole-soil organic C concentration was positively related to silt plus clay content at both sites. We found no relationship between soil texture and unprotected C (coarse- and fine-POM C). Biochemically protected C (nonhydrolyzable C) increased with increasing clay content in whole-soil samples, but the proportion of nonhydrolyzable C within silt- and clay-sized fractions was unchanged. As the amount of silt or clay increased, the amount of C stabilized within easily dispersed and microaggregate-associated silt or clay fractions decreased. Our results suggest that for a given level of C inputs, the relationship between mineral surface area and soil organic matter varies with soil texture for physically and biochemically protected C fractions. Because soil texture acts directly and indirectly on various protection mechanisms, it may not be a universal predictor of whole-soil C content.

Spatial variability of soil carbon in forested and cultivated sites: Implications for change detection

The potential to sequester atmospheric carbon in agricultural and forest soils to offset greenhouse gas emissions has generated interest in measuring changes in soil carbon resulting from changes in land management. However, inherent spatial variability of soil carbon limits the precision of measurement of changes in soil carbon and hence, the ability to detect changes. We analyzed variability of soil carbon by intensively sampling sites under different land management as a step toward developing efficient soil sampling designs. Sites were tilled crop-land and a mixed deciduous forest in Tennessee, and old-growth and second-growth coniferous forest in western Washington, USA. Six soil cores within each of three microplots were taken as an initial sample and an additional six cores were taken to simulate resampling. Soil C variability was greater in Washington than in Tennessee, and greater in less disturbed than in more disturbed sites. Using this protocol, our data suggest that differences on the order of 2.0 Mg C ha(-1) could be detected by collection and analysis of cores from at least five (tilled) or two (forest) microplots in Tennessee. More spatial variability in the forested sites in Washington increased the minimum detectable difference, but these systems, consisting of low C content sandy soil with irregularly distributed pockets of organic C in buried logs, are likely to rank among the most spatially heterogeneous of systems. Our results clearly indicate that consistent intramicroplot differences at all sites will enable detection of much more modest changes if the same microplots are resampled.