Current rural valuation practice : a survey of valuers and agribusiness managers on farm management and sustainable rural land use

Over the past 20 years the nature of rural valuation practice has required most rural valuers to undertake studies in both agriculture (farm management) and valuation, especially if carrying out valuation work for financial institutions. The additional farm financial and management information obtained by rural valuers exceeds that level of information required to value commercial, retail and industrial by the capitalisation of net rent/profit valuation method and is very similar to the level of information required for the valuation of commercial and retail property by the Discounted Cash Flow valuation method. On this basis the valuers specialising in rural valuation practice have the necessary skills and information to value rural properties by an income valuation method, which can focus on the long term environmental and economic sustainability of the property being valued. This paper will review the results of an extensive survey carried out by rural property valuers in Australia, in relation to the impact of farm management on rural property values and sustainable rural land use. A particular focus of the research relates to the increased awareness of the problems of rural land degradation in Australia and the subsequent impact such problems have on the productivity of rural land. These problems of sustainable land use have resulted in the need to develop an approach to rural valuation practice that allows the valuer to factor the past management practices on the subject rural property into the actual valuation figure. An analysis of the past farm management and the inclusion of this data into the valuation methodology provides a much more reliable indication of farm sustainable economic value than the existing direct comparison valuation methodology.

Bariatric patients and the use of mobile hoists : user experiences from three hospitals in South Australia

Nursing personnel are consistently identified as one of the occupational groups most at risk of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. During the moving and handling of bariatric patients, the weight of the patient combined with atypical body mass contributes to a significant risk of injury to the care provider and patient. This is further compounded by the shape, mobility and co-operation of the patient. The aim of this study was determine user experiences and design requirements for mobile hoists with bariatric patients. Structured interviews were conducted with six experienced injury management staff from the Manual Task Services department of three hospitals in Adelaide, South Australia. All staff had experience in patient handling, the use of patient handling equipment and the provision of patient handling training. A series of open-ended questions were structured around five main themes: 1) patient factors; 2) building/vehicle space and design; 3) equipment and furniture; 4) communication; and 5) staff issues. Questions focussed on the use of mobile hoists for lifting and transferring bariatric patients. Interviews were supplemented with a walk-through of the hospital to view the types of mobile hoists used, and the location and storage of equipment. Across the three hospitals there were differing classification systems to define bariatric patients. Ensuring patient dignity, respect and privacy were viewed as important in the management and rehabilitation of bariatric patients. Storage and space constraints were considered factors restricting the use of mobile floor hoists, with ceiling hoists being the preferred method for patient transfers. When using mobile floor hoists, the forces required to push, pull and manoeuvre, as well as sudden unstable movements of the hoist were considered important risks factors giving rise to a risk of injury to the care provider. Record keeping and purchasing policies appeared to inhibit the effective use of patient handling equipment. The moving and handling of bariatric patients presents complex and challenging issues. A co-ordinated and collaborative approach for moving and handling bariatric patients is needed across the range of care providers. Designers must consider both user and patient requirements.

Conference Report of the First Meeting of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, 21-23 May 2009, Department of American Indian Studies, University of Minneapolis, Minesota, United States of America

Report provided back by Bronwyn Fredericks on her participation at the First Native American and Indigenous Studies Association Meeting held 21-23 May 2009 in Minnesota, United States of America.

RPAS integration within an Australian ATM system : what equipment and which airspace

The Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) currently lists more than 100 separate entities or organisations which maintain a UAS Operator Certificate (UOC) [1]. Approved operations are overwhelmingly a permutation of aerial photography, surveillance, survey or spotting and predominantly, are restricted to Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) operations, below 400 feet, and not within 3 NM of an aerodrome. However, demand is increasing for a Remote Piloted Aerial System (RPAS) regulatory regime which facilitates more expansive operations, in particular unsegregated, Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations. Despite this demand, there is national and international apprehension regarding the necessary levels of airworthiness and operational regulation required to maintain safety and minimise the risk associated with unsegregated operations. Fundamental to addressing these legitimate concerns will be the mechanisms that underpin safe separation and collision avoidance. Whilst a large body of research has been dedicated to investigating on-board, Sense and Avoid (SAA) technology necessary to meet this challenge, this paper focuses on the contribution of the NAS to separation assurance, and how it will support, as well as complicate RPAS integration. The paper collates and presents key, but historically disparate, threads of Australian RPAS and NAS related information, and distils it with a filter focused on minimising RPAS collision risk. Our ongoing effort is motivated by the need to better understand the separation assurance contribution provided by the NAS layers, in the first instance, and subsequently employ this information to identify scenarios where the coincident collision risk is demonstrably low, providing legitimate substantiation for concessions on equipage and airworthiness standards.

Constructing the ideal victim in the United States of America's annual trafficking in persons reports

Human trafficking as a global phenomenon continues to elude accurate quantitative measure, and remains a controversial policy domain significantly influenced by anecdotal evidence. Drawing on the policy analysis framework of Bacchi (1999; 2007) the problem representation of trafficking through narratives can be considered a direct antecedent of contemporary anti-human trafficking policy. This article explores the construction of human trafficking within the Trafficking in Persons Reports, published annually by the United States of America’s Department of State. An examination of the victim and offender narratives contained within the reports published between 2001 and 2012 demonstrates that human trafficking is predominantly represented as a crime committed by ideal offenders against idealized victims, consistent with Christie’s (1986) landmark criteria of ideal victimization. This representation of an ideal prototype has the potential to inform policy that diverts focus from the causative role of global socioeconomic injustice towards criminal justice policies targeting individual offenders.

The distribution and spread of citrus canker in Emerald, Australia

Citrus canker is a disease of citrus and closely related species, caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri. This disease, previously exotic to Australia, was detected on a single farm [infested premise-1, (IP1). IP is the terminology used in official biosecurity protocols to describe a locality at which an exotic plant pest has been confirmed or is presumed to exist. IP are numbered sequentially as they are detected] in Emerald, Queensland in July 2004. During the following 10 months the disease was subsequently detected on two other farms (IP2 and IP3) within the same area and studies indicated the disease first occurred on IP1 and spread to IP2 and IP3. The oldest, naturally infected plant tissue observed on any of these farms indicated the disease was present on IP1 for several months before detection and established on IP2 and IP3 during the second quarter (i.e. autumn) 2004. Transect studies on some IP1 blocks showed disease incidences ranged between 52 and 100% (trees infected). This contrasted to very low disease incidence, less than 4% of trees within a block, on IP2 and IP3. The mechanisms proposed for disease spread within blocks include weather-assisted dispersal of the bacterium (e.g. wind-driven rain) and movement of contaminated farm equipment, in particular by pivot irrigator towers via mechanical damage in combination with abundant water. Spread between blocks on IP2 was attributed to movement of contaminated farm equipment and/or people. Epidemiology results suggest: (i) successive surveillance rounds increase the likelihood of disease detection; (ii) surveillance sensitivity is affected by tree size; and (iii) individual destruction zones (for the purpose of eradication) could be determined using disease incidence and severity data rather than a predefined set area.

Monopoly, monopsony, and the value of culture in a digital age: An axiology of two multimedia resource repositories

Broadly speaking, axiology is the study of values. Axiologies are expressed materially in patterns of choices that are both culture-bound and definitive of different cultures. They are expressed in the language we use; in the friends we keep; in the clothes we wear; in what we read, write, and watch; in the technologies we use; in the gods we believe in and pray to; in the music we make and listen to—indeed, in every kind of activity that can be counted as a definitive element of culture. In what follows, I describe the axiological underpinnings of two closely related multimedia repository projects— Australian Creative Resources Online (ACRO) and The Canadian Centre for Cultural Innovation (CCCI)—and how these are oriented towards a potentially liberating role for digital repositories.

Questions of English : ethics, aesthetics, rhetoric, and the formation of the subject in England, Australia and the United States

The impact and content of English as a subject on the curriculum is once more the subject of lively debate. Questions of English sets out to map the development of English as a subject and how it has come to encompass the diversity of ideas that currently characterise it. Drawing on a combination of historical analysis and recent research findings Robin Peel, Annette Patterson and Jeanne Gerlach bring together and compare important new insights on curriculum development and teaching practice from England, Australia and the United States. They also discuss the development of teacher training, highlighting the variety of ways in which teachers build their own beliefs and knowledge about English.