Stormwater management: An introduction to Green Gully

In recent years there has been increasing interest in the use of water resources generated within the urban boundary for potable supply substitution as a means of augmenting the current supply capacity. These urban water resources include roof and stormwater runoff. Expanding the use of stormwater runoff to add to the water supply and reduce water pollution are important objectives all over Australia. This book presents the background, significance and objectives of the research, as well as the reasons why stormwater plays a significant role as an alternative source of water.

Tactics for teaching evidence-based practice : improving self-efficacy in finding and appraising evidence in a master's evidence-based practice unit

Universal application of evidence-based practice (EBP) is far from a reality with many clinicians feeling ill equipped to adopt this approach in their clinical practice (Melnyk Fineout- Overholt, Feinstein, Sadler, & Green-Hernandez, 2008; Sherriff, Wallis, & Chaboyer, 2007) and, thus, to be an intelligent consumer of evidence (Ciliska, 2005). While recognizing the benefit of EBP, many health professionals have low confidence in their skills for using evidence in clinical settings (Nagy, Lumby, McKinley, &Macfarlane, 2001). Educational initiatives are often recommended for promoting adoption of EBP with much of the focus being on providing knowledge of associated processes. Levin, Melnyk, Fineout-Overholt, Barnes, and Vetter (2011) demonstrated that providing knowledge of EBP process alone does not increase clinicians’ confidence in their ability to apply EBP to their practice...

Greening pharmacy - going green

In its report for World Health Day 2008 entitled ‘Protecting Health from Climate Change’, the World Health Organization urged health sectors to lead by example in undertaking sustainability initiatives to protect people from the effects of climate change. This report suggested actions which included ensuring the health sector was involved in key policy making around sustainable development, and also, that it should work towards reducing its carbon footprint through better management of energy use, transport and procurement. However, healthcare professionals need to understand the negative effects on health of unsustainable development in order to accept that they need to change the way they deliver healthcare services...

Sport development programmes for Indigenous Australians : innovation, inclusion and development, or a product of ‘white guilt’?

Under the legacy of neoliberalism, it is important to consider how the indigenous people, in this case of Australia, are to advance, develop and achieve some approximation of parity with broader societies in terms of health, educational outcomes and economic participation. In this paper, we explore the relationships between welfare dependency, individualism, responsibility, rights, liberty and the role of the state in the provision of Government-funded programmes of sport to Indigenous communities. We consider whether such programmes are a product of ‘white guilt’ and therefore encourage dependency and weaken the capacity for independence within communities and individuals, or whether programmes to increase rates of participation in sport are better viewed as good investments to bring about changes in physical activity as (albeit a small) part of a broader social policy aimed at reducing the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in health, education and employment.

Individuals, Innovation, and the Internet : Why Access is Essential

As each day passes, and as new and better devices and services are developed, more and more government and private services are being moved to an online format. This movement makes access to the internet an essential for 21st Century life. The internet has become so integrated in our lives that many of us cannot imagine how we could operate without it. This omnipresent ‘being’ affects all forms of ‘normal’ social and economic activity and does so in ways that we do not realize. Those with access are able to engage with government, business, and family and friends more easily, which can lead to an improved standard of living. For the disadvantaged, however – those with the desire but without the capacity – a lack of access can be socially isolating. "Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the Shadow – T. S. Elliott. “The Hollow Men” Engagement in the internet economy requires both physical access and the individual to have the necessary finances and skills to make and sustain their use. If governments and the international community want a fully functioning internet economy this requires that all individuals must be operating in it. That not all individuals do so means, very simply, that the internet economy is not fully functioning. The text contextualizes for policy makers and legislatures why it is essential to ensure that individuals have appropriate access to the internet and what can be done to achieve it. The interrelationship/overlap between why access is essential, how it can be achieved and the central role of the individual to the internet economy is explored and translated into the concept of connectedness. From this, solutions for ensuring connectedness for all individuals are developed. It is Dr Cradduck’s hope that in the not too distant future readers will puzzle over why texts such as this needed to be written.

Green criminology : reflections, connections, horizons

This paper traces aspects of the development of a ‘green’ criminology. It starts with personal reflections and then describes the emergence of explicit statements of a green criminological perspective. Initially these statements were independently voiced, in different parts of the world but they reflected shared concerns. These works have found unification as a ‘green’, ‘eco-global’ or ‘conservation’ criminology. The paper reviews the classifications available when talking about not only legally-defined crimes but also legally perpetrated harms, as well as typologies of such harms and crimes. It then looks at the integration of ‘green’ and ‘traditional’ criminological thinking before briefly exploring four dimensions of concern for today and the future.

Green Cultural Criminology : Constructions of Environmental Harm, Consumerism, and Resistance to Ecocide

Over the last two decades, "green criminology" has emerged as a unique area of study, bringing together criminologists and sociologists from a wide range of research backgrounds and varying theoretical orientations. It spans the micro to the macro—from individual-level environmental crimes and victimization to business/corporate violations and state transgressions. There have been few attempts, however, to explicitly or implicitly integrate cultural criminology into green criminology (or vice versa). This book moves towards articulating a green cultural criminological perspective. Brisman and South examine existing overlapping research and offer a platform to support future excursions by green criminologists into cultural criminology’s concern with media images and representations, consumerism and consumption, and resistance. At the same time, they offer an invitation to cultural criminologists to adopt a green view of the consumption landscape and the growth (and depictions) of environmental harms.

Are you on board? The role of design-led innovation in strengthening key partnerships within an Australian airport

A popular lexicon for announcing partnerships within aviation is being ‘on-board’. Like boarding a plane, business partnerships requires trust in the expertise and the philosophy of another organisation. This paper reports upon the process and findings from the completion of a customer engagement project within a leading Australian Airport, as part of the wider uptake of design-led innovation. The project was completed bilaterally with Airport Corporation and prominent retail business partner undertaking a design-led approach to collaboratively explore an observed market trend affecting the performance of both businesses. A design-led catalyst facilitated the completion of this project, working within the Airport Corporation to disseminate the skills and philosophy of design over an 18 month period using an action research method. Findings reveal that the working environment necessary for design to be utilised requires; trust in the design-led approach as a new and exploratory way of completing work; leadership within the execution and delivery of project deliverables, and; a shared intrinsic motivation to develop new skills through a design-led approach which challenges a business-as-usual mentality (BAU). Design-led innovation can be deployed specifically to strengthen business partnerships through collaborative and explorative customer engagement.

Applying design-led innovation in a not-for-profit aged care provider to create shared value

This study examines the role of Design-Led Innovation in creating shared value; sustainable competitive advantage for an organisation and social value for the communities in which it operates. A case study analysed an undertaking by a not-for-profit aged care organisation to create a sustainable competitive advantage in the market by reinventing the experience of ageing and defining an innovative future business model. This paper reflects on the role of Design-Led Innovation in facilitating this change agenda and explores the particular relevance of the associated techniques in a not-for-profit, human services context. It was found that the Design-Led Innovation approach was effective in achieving the goal of defining a way for the organisation to create shared value.

Strategic renewal through design led innovation : findings from embedded practice

Strategic Renewal has been the subject of research in large organisations but has received relatively little attention in small and medium enterprises. Using case study examples of small and medium manufacturing firms, this paper presents the findings from a longitudinal action research project where participating companies explored design led innovation processes to find new ways to renew their businesses. Specifically our findings indicate that when designers act as innovation catalysts in embedded longitudinal action research, SMEs engage in strategic renewal, gain a deeper appreciation of their customers, become more aware of the value proposition of the company and engage in new practices to improve their competitive advantage.

Green-fluorescent protein facilitates rapid in vivo detection of genetically transformed plant cells

Early detection of plant transformation events is necessary for the rapid establishment and optimization of plant transformation protocols. We have assessed modified versions of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) from Aequorea victoria as early reporters of plant transformation using a dissecting fluorescence microscope with appropriate filters. Gfp-expressing cells from four different plant species (sugarcane, maize, lettuce, and tobacco) were readily distinguished, following either Agrobacterium-mediated or particle bombardment-mediated transformation. The identification of gfp-expressing sugarcane cells allowed for the elimination of a high proportion of non-expressing explants and also enabled visual selection of dividing transgenic cells, an early step in the generation of transgenic organisms. The recovery of transgenic cell clusters was streamlined by the ability to visualize gfp-expressing tissues in vitro.

Evolution of the docklands food hub : a design-led innovation approach to food sovereignty through local food systems

Access to nutritious, safe and culturally appropriate food is a basic human right (Mechlem, 2004). Food sovereignty defines this right through the empowerment of the people to redefine food and agricultural systems, and through ecologically sustainable production methods. At the heart of the food sovereignty movement are the interests of producers, distributors and consumers, rather than the interests of markets and corporations, which dominate the current globalized food system (Hinrichs, 2003). Food sovereignty challenges designers to enable people to innovate the food system. We are yet to develop economically viable solutions for scaling projects and providing citizens, governments and business with tools to develop and promote projects to innovate food systems and promote food sovereignty (Meroni, 2011; Murray, Caulier-Grice and Mulgan, 2010). This article examines how a design-led approach to innovation can assist in the development of new business models and ventures for local food systems: this is presented through an emerging field of research ‘Design-Led Food Communities’. Design-Led Food Communities enables citizens, governments and business to innovate local food projects through the application of design. This article reports on the case study of the Docklands Food Hub Project in Melbourne, Australia. Preliminary findings demonstrate valued outcomes, but also a deficiency in the design process to generate food solutions collaboratively between government, business and citizens.

Extinction risk analysis of exploited green turtle stocks in the Indo-Pacific

In parts of the Indo-Pacific, large-scale exploitation of the green turtle Chelonia mydas continues to pose a serious threat to the persistence of this species; yet very few studies have assessed the pattern and extent of the impact of such harvests. We used demographic and genetic data in an age-based model to investigate the viability of an exploited green turtle stock from Aru, south-east Indonesia. We found that populations are decreasing under current exploitation pressures. The effects of increasingly severe exploitation activities at foraging and nesting habitat varied depending on the migratory patterns of the stock. Our model predicted a rapid decline of the Aru stock in Indonesia under local exploitation pressure and a shift in the genetic composition of the stock. We used the model to investigate the influence of different types of conservation actions on the persistence of the Aru stock. The results show that local management actions such as nest protection and reducing harvests of adult nesting and foraging turtles can have considerable conservation outcomes and result in the long-term persistence of genetically distinct management units. © 2010 The Authors. Animal Conservation © 2010 The Zoological Society of London.

Powering innovation through tax concessions: The changing research & development tax incentives

The changes to the R&D tax concession in 2011 were touted as the biggest reform to business innovation policy in over a decade. Three years later, as part of the 2014 Federal Budget, a reduction in the concession rates was announced. While the most recent of the pro-posed changes are designed to align with the reduction in company tax rate, the Australian Federal Government also indicated that the gain to revenue from the reduction in the incentive scheme will be redirected by the Government to repair the Budget and fund policy priori-ties. The consequence is that the R&D concessions, while designed to encourage innovation, are clearly linked with the tax system. As such, the first part of this article considers whether the R&D concession is a changing tax for changing times. Leading on from part one, this article also addresses a second question of ‘what’s tax got to do with it’? To answer this question, the article argues that, rather than ever being substantive tax reform, the constantly changing measures simply alter the criteria and means by which companies become eligible for a Federal Government subsidy for qualifying R&D activity, whatever that amount is. It further argues that when considered as part of the broader innovation agenda, all R&D tax concessions should be evaluated as a government spending program in the same way as any direct spending on innovation. When this is done, the tax regime is arguably merely the administrative policy instrument by which the subsidy is delivered. However, this may not be best practice to distribute those funds fairly, efficiently, and without distortion, while at the same time maintaining adequate government control and accountability. Finally, in answering the question of ‘what’s tax got to do with it?’ the article concludes that the answer is: very little.