The relationship between basic need satisfaction and emotional eating in obesity

Emotional eating has been identified as a factor that promotes the development and maintenance of obesity and hinders its treatment. This study investigated the relationship between unsatisfied basic needs and emotional eating, including the mediating factors of self-esteem and coping strategies. The results from a survey of 136 obese individuals indicated support for a significant relationship between basic need satisfaction and emotional eating, with a mediating effect of negative coping strategies. These findings extend previous research and provide guidance on how to help individuals who engage in emotional eating by focusing on developing more adaptive coping strategies.

Social infrastructure planning and sustainable community : example from south east Queensland, Australia

Social infrastructure and sustainable development represent two distinct but interlinked concepts bounded by a geographic location. For those involved in the planning of a residential development, the notion of social infrastructure is crucial to the building of a healthy community and sustainable environment. This is because social infrastructure is provided in response to the basic needs of communities and to enhance the quality of life, equity, stability and social well being. It also acts as the building block to the enhancement of human and social capital. While acknowledging the different levels of social infrastructure provision from neighbourhood, local, district and sub-regional levels, past evidence has shown that the provision at neighbourhood and local level and are affecting well-being of residents and the community sustainability. With intense physical development taking place in Australia's South East Queensland (SEQ) region, local councils are under immense pressure to provide adequate social and community facilities for their residents. This paper shows how participation-oriented, need-sensitive Integrated Social Infrastructure Planning Guideline is used to offer a solution for the efficient planning and provision of multi-level social infrastructure for the SEQ region. The paper points out to the successful implementation of the guideline for social infrastructure planning in multiple levels of spatial jurisdictions of Australia's fastest growing region.

Alleviating poverty by engaging in microenterprise : how can INGOs in Vietnam help microenterprises overcome market constraints?

Microenterprise programs (MEPs) that aim to help poor communities engage in micro businesses have contributed significantly to poverty reduction in developing countries. However, a review of the literature suggests that the current approach adopted by MEPs has mainly provided services to microenterprises (MEs) based on what MEPs can supply rather than on what MEs actually need and what the market demands. Therefore, MEPs’ approaches are more likely to be supply driven. Yet when there are market constraints, such as high competition or low demand, this approach has been linked to the failure of MEs in their infancy. The alternative is a demand driven approach, in which MEPs provide MEs with support based on what MEs need, and what markets demand. However, research examining the application of this approach is limited. In order to gain an understanding of the approaches of MEPs, to identify whether these approaches are demand or supply driven, and to discover how these approaches are used to help MEs operate under market constraints, this study examined the operation of International Non-Government Organisations (INGOs) operating in Vietnam. This exploratory study involved in-depth interviews with senior executives from 10 INGOs. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data collected from the in-depth interviews. The results were further verified with publicly available data from the INGOs. The findings of this research indicate that the demand driven approach is dominant in most approaches of INGOs in Vietnam, and has become a key approach in helping MEs deal with market constraints. Further, rather than explaining the demand and supply driven dichotomy, the findings highlight that MEPs’ approaches can be viewed in two dimensions: a participant-demand driven approach focusing on the basic needs and capabilities of the extremely poor, irrespective of market demands; and a market-demand driven approach focusing on the capabilities of poor communities, while also accommodating market demands. This research provides contemporary and practical insights into the DD and SD approaches, and a better understanding of MEPs’ approaches to MED in Vietnam.

Resilient Maroochydore 2029 : Urban Design Futures

Resilient Maroochydore 2029 This exhibition showcases the work of 4th year undergraduate Landscape Architecture students in response to issues of sustainability in Maroochydore on the Queensland Sunshine coast. The projects comprising this exhibition all investigate possible design futures for the Maroochydore Centre, in the light of a series of new disturbance scenarios. Specific disturbances upon the landscape have been imagined, and design resolutions developed based on resilience to these disturbances. The proposals investigate how the Maroochydore Centre might respond to these scenarios, and how future components of the Centre might be designed for greater ‘resilience’. The Exhibition Five groups of students (32 in total) produced five strategic planning and design options toward this future: Team Transect: “What happens to a region following a sustained period of economic prosperity, with affordable property and negligible unemployment? This proposal investigates the effects on a community of massive population explosion, land shortages and inadequate planning regulations following an extended boom period.” The Foodfighters: “This proposal considers the scenario of massive food shortages and of escalating prices, and the possibility of government intervention to stabilise food supply. Strategies based upon simplified, collaborative approaches to food production are investigated.” The TTMKG: “This proposal explores the scenario of Peak Oil and the subsequent effects on society of homelessness, large scale unemployment, food shortages and global financial and political instability. Individual opportunities are restricted by the limitations of bicycle transportation.” Team Peak: “Peak Oil has restricted private vehicle transport to only the most wealthy, while public transport systems are under immense pressure. Rising unemployment drives localised trade initiatives, and the global import/export market has collapsed. This proposal considers the transition of a community from its position in a global economy to that of a relocalised economy, where basic needs are secured as close to home as possible.” After the City: “A rapid population decline as a result of the region’s failing economy has resulted in a fragmented urban fabric. This proposal investigates the possibility of new suburbanisation, reinterpretation and reinvention of space through phased processes.”

Southern New England Social and Community Plan 2009 - Covering Local Government Authorities: Armidale Dumaresq, Guyra, Uralla and Walcha

The Southern New England (SNE) Social and Community Plan is a guide to collaborative, integrated planning involving the three spheres of government, the community and commercial sectors. The Plan is based on social justice principles such as: • Equity - fairness in resource distribution, particularly for those most in need • Access - fairer access for everyone to the economic resources and services essential to meeting their basic needs and improving their quality of life • Rights - recognition and promotion of civil rights • Participation - better opportunities for genuine participation and consultation about decisions affecting people's lives. The Plan is also aimed at improving the accountability of decision-makers, and should help the councils, in conjunction with their communities meet the state government's social justice commitments. Preparation of a social and community plan is required at least every five years, and as with most councils, Armidale Dumaresq Council (ADC) has produced two already, one in 1999 and one in 2004, following the amalgamation of the former Armidale City and Dumaresq Shire Councils in 2000. Those Councils formerly prepared their own Plans in 1999, based on shared consultancy work on a community profile. This is the first joint Southern New England Plan, featuring Armidale Dumaresq, Walcha, Uralla and Guyra Councils. This Social Plan has aimed to identify and address the needs of the local community by: • describing who makes up the community • summarising key priority issues • assessing the effectiveness of any previous plans • recommending strategic ways for council and other government and non-government agencies to met community needs.

Provincial mortality in South Africa, 2000 - priority-setting for now and a benchmark for the future

Background. Cause-of-death statistics are an essential component of health information. Despite improvements, underregistration and misclassification of causes make it difficult to interpret the official death statistics. Objective. To estimate consistent cause-specific death rates for the year 2000 and to identify the leading causes of death and premature mortality in the provinces. Methods. Total number of deaths and population size were estimated using the Actuarial Society of South Africa ASSA2000 AIDS and demographic model. Cause-of-death profiles based on Statistics South Africa's 15% sample, adjusted for misclassification of deaths due to ill-defined causes and AIDS deaths due to indicator conditions, were applied to the total deaths by age and sex. Age-standardised rates and years of life lost were calculated using age weighting and discounting. Results. Life expectancy in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga is about 10 years lower than that in the Western Cape, the province with the lowest mortality rate. HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of premature mortality for all provinces. Mortality due to pre-transitional causes, such as diarrhoea, is more pronounced in the poorer and more rural provinces. In contrast, non-communicable disease mortality is similar across all provinces, although the cause profiles differ. Injury mortality rates are particularly high in provinces with large metropolitan areas and in Mpumalanga. Conclusion. The quadruple burden experienced in all provinces requires a broad range of interventions, including improved access to health care; ensuring that basic needs such as those related to water and sanitation are met; disease and injury prevention; and promotion of a healthy lifestyle. High death rates as a result of HIV/AIDS highlight the urgent need to accelerate the implementation of the treatment and prevention plan. In addition, there is an urgent need to improve the cause-of-death data system to provide reliable cause-of-death statistics at health district level.

Sport across cultures: Applications of the human capital model in refugee communities

When working with the world’s most vulnerable populations there are questions surrounding the salience of physical activity promotion programs given the multitude of basic needs that must first be met. Indeed, physical activity may be a low priority for individuals seeking safety, reunification with loved ones, and food for their families, as a subsistence lifestyle makes excess weight gain, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease irrelevant. Yet, when working with people from a refugee background for whom these challenges all too frequently apply, opportunities for sport and activity have repeatedly surfaced as desirable and needed, yet are utterly deficient. If we conceptualize physical activity purely as a chronic disease prevention tool, its significance within under-resourced communities is most assuredly lost; however, if we harness the power of physical activity to serve as an agent of positive social change, then it instantly becomes more meaningful and necessary.

Vulnerability criminalised: Transgender people in prisons

Purpose of this paper: International research identifies transgender people as a vulnerable group in prison systems, with basic needs often being denied. This paper outlines Australian contexts of incarceration, and links between institutional responses and the vulnerabilisation of transgender prisoners. Design/methodology/approach: The paper critically analyses Australian prison policies regarding the treatment of transgender prisoners. Findings: The policy analysis illustrates the links between institutional practices and the increased vulnerability of transgender prisoners. The paper argues that policies further criminalise, and potentially doubly punish, transgender prisoners. Research limitations/implications: This paper analyses the publicly available policies on regulating transgender people’s imprisonment. Given the limited Australian research into transgender prisoner’s lived experiences, there is a gap in relation to policies, their perception, and how corrective services personnel enact the limited procedures available to them in managing transgender prisoners. Practical Implications: Current policies and practices significantly enhance the vulnerability of transgender prisoners. This policy analysis highlights the critical importance of policy and practice reform in relation to housing, safety, health and welfare services, and misgendering. What is the original/value of paper: The policy analysis provides practitioners with an outline of critical issues that arise when transgender people are imprisoned and suggests key areas for future research.

Reflections on the Research Students' 2015 Art Exhibition and Operetta/morality play "The Trial of Homo Economicus: The dollar hunting animal"

The paper outlines the process of organising research student participants and creating a public musical performance at QUT. The theme of the Operetta/Morality play is the clash between economic values of humans necessitating growth and the basic needs of the other life on planet earth. The one act play is set in a court room presided over by a judge who adjudicates the court proceedings.Homo economicus is in the dock and victims(various animals and birds) raise their grievances.

Introduction: Sustainability reconsidered

Indeed this is still a common interpretation of sustainability and sustainable development. in actual fact the report highlighted three fundamental components to sustainable development: environmental protection, economic growth, and social equity. It stated that the environment should be conserved and our resource base enhanced, by gradually changing the ways in which we develop and use technologies. Moreover it was clear that developing nations must be allowed to meet their basic needs of employment, food, water, energy, ...

Constructions of children's needs in informal kinship care in rural China

Kinship care is the oldest form of alternative child care in the world. Recent years have witnessed a significant increase in the number of children being placed in kinship care across Western countries. However, in contrast to rapid knowledge advances about formal kinship care, far less is known about the needs of children in informal kinship care, especially in Asian contexts. This thesis and the study upon which it is formed sought to redress this knowledge gap. Qualitative approach was adopted to explore social constructions of children in informal kinship care in rural China. Parents in China seeking work in cities have left behind around 58 million rural children, mostly with relatives and without the involvement of the state. The present study examined caregivers’ and school personnel’s understandings of these school-age children’s needs through semi-structured interviews with 23 kin caregivers and five school personnel in Shijiapu Town, Jilin Province, China. The central question that guided the whole study is: What are the needs of children in informal kinship care in rural Jilin Province, China? Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to categorise and interpret the qualitative data. Based on participants’ constructions, this study developed a need model with eight themes. They are: (1) emotional needs and mental health, (2) relationships, (3) empowerment and agency, (4) safety, (5) education, (6) basic care, (7) physical health, and (8) personal development. These needs are grounded in the Chinese context, and therefore a good understanding of Chinese culture is essential to address them. The first four needs particularly capture children’s separations from their parents, and the rest are more general, and can be applied to most Chinese children. To meet the most important need for children left behind, namely education, these caregivers determined that others needs sometimes have to be compromised. Children left behind are a vulnerable group in contemporary rural China, and their diverse needs are attended to by several groups. This study found that as children’s closest kin while their parents are away, caregivers play a vital role in salving the children’s emotional loss. Caregivers’ love and familial obligations strongly motivate them to care for these children, and sensitivity to social stigma makes them strive to show their love and care to compensate for perceived differences between these children and their peers. Caregivers’ efforts to make children happy, however, were sometimes criticised by some school personnel, who see this as spoiling. The conflicting viewpoint between caregivers and school personnel indicate their different roles and perceptions in children’s lives, and the latter influence these children in a more authoritative way. Informal kinship care has several advantages of addressing children’s needs, especially their needs for emotional bonds with family. Community-based kin networks provide children with both emotional and material support. However, these advantages sometimes are restricted by caregivers’ child rearing capacity. Having developed a model of the needs of children left behind in China, this study suggests that caregivers, school personnel and government social services work in harmony to be child-centred and meet these children’s diverse needs. The unmet needs of children left behind mainly result from unbalanced development between urban and rural China, therefore, it is imperative to enhance state policies and programs that improve wellbeing for this growing part of China’s people.

Small firm training: Just meeting the day-to-day needs of the business

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore what the attitudes of small firm owner-managers are to developing the skills of their key resources and then examine how these and other factors affect owner-managers’ preferences for training these employees. Design/methodology/approach This study of training in small road transport firms in West Australia is cast in light of the literature on human resource management in small firms underpinned by insights drawn using the resource based view of the firm. Small firms (less than 20 people) dominate this industry, while the increasing freight task, and extreme distances between West Australian ports, towns and mines highlight this sectors’ importance. Survey results from 39 small road transport firms and interviews with nine owner-managers are analysed. Findings Legislative, regulatory and licensing requirements were shown to be a key determinant of skills development. Employers ensured that basic standards for employee certification and qualification were met, as the penalty for not doing so would be too high. Regulations drove the need for certain types of training – licenses, fatigue management, occupational health and safety, handling dangerous goods, the Maritime Security Identification Card card, forklift license, mine site inductions – while owner-managers knew where to get the training their staff needed. Although regulation appeared most visible in prescribing what happened in relation to training for drivers, the relevance of owner-managers’ attitudes could not be ignored, nor could conditions in the firms external environment as this shaped how these requirements were met. Research limitations/implications The RBV is useful in showing how skill development enabled similarity in skills across firms, while the attitudes owner-managers and economic and social conditions meant what happened in firms around skill development varied. The importance of small firm owner-managers’ attitudes are clearly highlighted and shown to influence organizational decisions and choices around training, but these were not independent of the regulatory framework and the economic and social conditions within which the firm operated. The small firms in this study did engage workers in formal training when necessary but it was put in the context of the idiosyncratic approach of the owner-manager and the day-to-day needs of the firm. “Training” was essentially about ensuring certain types of skills were held by employees and then passing on knowledge to ensure the behavior of employees was consistent with the owner-manager’s vision for the firm in its current environment. Originality/value Ways industry and government can encourage training activity that goes beyond the day-to-day firm needs are suggested.

Near-infrared spectroscopic study of basic aluminum sulfate and nitrate

The tridecameric Al-polymer [AlO4Al12(OH)24(H2O)12]7+ was prepared by forced hydrolysis of Al3+ up to an OH/Al molar ratio of 2.2. Under slow evaporation crystals were formed of Al13-nitrate. Upon addition of sulfate the tridecamer crystallised as the monoclinic Al13-sulfate. These crystals have been studied using near-infrared spectroscopy and compared to Al2(SO4)3.16H2O. Although the near-infrared spectra of the Al13-sulfate and nitrate are very similar indicating similar crystal structures, there are minor differences related to the strength with which the crystal water molecules are bonded to the salt groups. The interaction between crystal water and nitrate is stronger than with the sulfate as reflected by the shift of the crystal water band positions from 6213, 4874 and 4553 cm–1 for the Al13 sulfate towards 5925, 4848 and 4532 cm–1 for the nitrate. A reversed shift from 5079 and 5037 cm–1 for the sulfate towards 5238 and 5040 cm–1 for the nitrate for the water molecules in the Al13 indicate that the nitrate-Al13 bond is weakened due to the influence of the crystal water on the nitrate. The Al-OH bond in the Al13 complex is not influenced by changing the salt group due to the shielding by the water molecules of the Al13 complex.