Flood victim’s heartbreak : ‘don’t be complacent about the risk’

"No one had higher stakes in the findings of the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry than Grantham father Matthew Keep, whose mother, mother-in-law and baby daughter, Jessica, died at Grantham that terrible day in January. For seven months he has read every statement, submission, running log, disaster management plan and media article available. As he has comforted his grieving wife, Stacy, helped care for his two young children Madison, 5, and Jacob, 4, who amazingly survived the flood, and welcomed a new baby into the family, Matthew has searched for answers for himself and his community. Why were authorities not able to warn people in seven towns in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley that the worst flash flooding in at least a century was about to strike, killing 22 people? How could such a sudden and catastrophic flood claim three members of his family within minutes?"

Survivors of inland tsunami ready to rebuild lives and homes

"Bess Fraser knows it is time to move on after the floods that destroyed her home in Grantham and took her family."

Queensland flood inquiry recalled as victims left in limbo

"The recalling of the Queensland Flood Commission of Inquiry for another nine days of hearings from today has renewed fears of Grantham residents that the review has not had sufficient time to properly investigate the causes of the 12 deaths in the town on January 10 last year. Grantham businesswoman Lisa Spierling, who has been liaising with the families of the flood victims, says recalling the inquiry to determine what operational strategy was being used by Wivenhoe Dam managers in the days before Ipswich and Brisbane flooded last year, is more than four times the entire sitting time that was allocated to the Lockyer Valley. The inquiry heard less than two days of evidence in April last year about the events in the Lockyer Valley, including Grantham."

Child and youth sport in rurally remote regions of Australia: the views of a north Queensland community

This study addresses the under-researched area of community sport in rurally isolated contexts. Data were gathered using semi-structured interviews with teachers, children, parents, and local community members from a small township in an isolated North Queensland region. The data indicate that community sport for young people is circumstantially difficult in some regional centres, but is none-the-less viewed differently by different sectors of the community. There is much value ascribed to sport as part of the social and cultural capital of the area however, it appears that community opinion is divided on the quality of sport experiences available with the young people of the community being particularly critical of the facilities, equipment, and the level of service from sports organisations in larger towns and cities.

Relocating a flood-affected community : good planning or good politics?

Problem, research strategy and findings: On January 10, 2011, the town of Grantham, Queensland (Australia), was inundated with a flash flood in which 12 of the town's 370 residents drowned. The overall damage bill in Queensland was AUD∃2.38 billion (USD∃2.4 billion) with 35 deaths, and more than three-quarters of the state was declared a flood disaster zone. In this study, we focus on the unusual and even rare decision to relocate Grantham in March 2011. The Lockyer Valley Regional Council (LVRC) acquired a 377-hectare (932-acre) site to enable a voluntary swap of equivalent-sized lots. In addition, planning regulations were set aside to streamline the relocation of a portion of the town. We review the natural hazard literature as it relates to community relocation, state and local government documents related to Grantham, and reports and newspaper articles related to the flood. We also analyze data from interviews with key stakeholders. We document the process of community relocation, assess the relocation process in Grantham against best practice, examine whether the process of community relocation can be upscaled and if the Grantham relocation is an example of good planning or good politics. Takeaway for practice: Our study reveals two key messages for practice. Community relocation (albeit a small one) is possible, and the process can be done quickly; some Grantham residents moved into their new, relocated homes in December 2012, just 11 months after the flood. Moreover, the role of existing planning regulations can be a hindrance to quick action; political leadership, particularly at the local level, is key to implementing the relocation.

The role of environmental factors in the spatial distribution of Japanese encephalitis in mainland China

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is the most common cause of viral encephalitis and an important public health concern in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly in China where 50% of global cases are notified. To explore the association between environmental factors and human JE cases and identify the high risk areas for JE transmission in China, we used annual notified data on JE cases at the center of administrative township and environmental variables with a pixel resolution of 1 km×1 km from 2005 to 2011 to construct models using ecological niche modeling (ENM) approaches based on maximum entropy. These models were then validated by overlaying reported human JE case localities from 2006 to 2012 onto each prediction map. ENMs had good discriminatory ability with the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating curve (ROC) of 0.82-0.91, and low extrinsic omission rate of 5.44-7.42%. Resulting maps showed JE being presented extensively throughout southwestern and central China, with local spatial variations in probability influenced by minimum temperatures, human population density, mean temperatures, and elevation, with contribution of 17.94%-38.37%, 15.47%-21.82%, 3.86%-21.22%, and 12.05%-16.02%, respectively. Approximately 60% of JE cases occurred in predicted high risk areas, which covered less than 6% of areas in mainland China. Our findings will help inform optimal geographical allocation of the limited resources available for JE prevention and control in China, find hidden high-risk areas, and increase the effectiveness of public health interventions against JE transmission.

Perinatal mortality and maternal health in rural China

Background and context Since the economic reforms of 1978, China has been acclaimed as a remarkable economy, achieving 9% annual growth per head for more than 25 years. However, China's health sector has not fared well. The population health gains slowed down and health disparities increased. In the field of health and health care, significant progress in maternal care has been achieved. However, there still remain important disparities between the urban and rural areas and among the rural areas in terms of economic development. The excess female infant deaths and the rapidly increasing sex ratio at birth in the last decade aroused serious concerns among policy makers and scholars. Decentralization of the government administration and health sector reform impacts maternal care. Many studies using census data have been conducted to explore the determinants of a high sex ratio at birth, but no agreement has been so far reached on the possible contributing factors. No study using family planning system data has been conducted to explore perinatal mortality and sex ratio at birth and only few studies have examined the impact of the decentralization of government and health sector reforms on the provision and organization of maternal care in rural China. Objectives The general objective of this study was to investigate the state of perinatal health and maternal care and their determinants in rural China under the historic context of major socioeconomic reforms and the one child family planning policy. The specific objectives of the study included: 1) to study pregnancy outcomes and perinatal health and their correlates in a rural Chinese county; 2) to examine the issue of sex ratio at birth and its determinants in a rural Chinese county; 3) to explore the patterns of provision, utilization, and content of maternal care in a rural Chinese county; 4) to investigate the changes in the use of maternal care in China from 1991 to 2003. Materials and Methods This study is based on a project for evaluating the prenatal care programme in Dingyuan county in 1999-2003, Anhui province, China and a nationwide household health survey to describe the changes in maternal care utilization. The approaches used included a retrospective cohort study, cross sectional interview surveys, informant interviews, observations and the use of statistical data. The data sources included the following: 1) A cohort of pregnant women followed from pregnancy up to 7 days after birth in 20 townships in the study county, collecting information on pregnancy outcomes using family planning records; 2) A questionnaire interview survey given to women who gave birth between 2001 and 2003; 3) Various statistical and informant surveys data collected from the study county; 4) Three national household health interview survey data sets (1993-2003) were utilized, and reanalyzed to described the changes in maternity care utilization. Relative risks (RR) and their confidence intervals (CI) were calculated for comparison between parity, approval status, infant sex and township groups. The chi-square test was used to analyse the disparity of use of maternal care between and within urban and rural areas and its trend across the years in China. Logistic regression was used to analyse the factors associated with hospital delivery in rural areas. Results There were 3697 pregnancies in the study cohort, resulting in 3092 live births in a total population of 299463 in the 20 study townships during 1999-2000. The average age at pregnancy in the cohort was 25.9 years. Of the women, 61% were childless, 38% already had one child and 0.3% had two children before the current pregnancy. About 90% of approved pregnancies ended in a live birth while 73% of the unapproved ones were aborted. The perinatal mortality rate was 69 per thousand births. If the 30 induced abortions in which the gestational age was more than 28 weeks had been counted as perinatal deaths, the perinatal mortality rate would have been as high as 78 per thousand. The perinatal mortality rate was negatively associated with the wealth of the township. Approximately two thirds of the perinatal deaths occurred in the early neonatal period. Both the still birth rate and the early neonatal death rate increased with parity. The risk of a stillbirth in a second pregnancy was almost four times that for a first pregnancy, while the risk of early neonatal deaths doubled. The early neonatal mortality rate was twice as high for female as for male infants. The sex difference in the early neonatal mortality rate was mainly attributable to mortality in second births. The male early neonatal mortality rate was not affected by parity, while the female early neonatal mortality rate increased dramatically with parity: it was about six times higher for second births than for first births. About 82% early neonatal deaths happened within 24 hours after birth, and during that time, girls were almost three times more likely to die than boys. The death rate of females on the day of birth increased much more sharply with parity than that of males. The total sex ratio at birth of 3697 registered pregnancies was 152 males to 100 females, with 118 and 287 in first and second pregnancies, respectively. Among unapproved pregnancies, there were almost 5 live-born boys for each girl. Most prenatal and delivery care was to be taken care of in township hospitals. At the village level, there were small private clinics. There was no limitation period for the provision of prenatal and postnatal care by private practitioners. They were not permitted to provide delivery care by the county health bureau, but as some 12% of all births occurred either at home or at private clinics; some village health workers might have been involved. The county level hospitals served as the referral centers for the township hospitals in the county. However, there was no formal regulation or guideline on how the referral system should work. Whether or not a woman was referred to a higher level hospital depended on the individual midwife's professional judgment and on the clients' compliance. The county health bureau had little power over township hospitals, because township hospitals had in the decentralization process become directly accountable to the township government. In the township and county hospitals only 10-20% of the recurrent costs were funded by local government (the township hospital was funded by the township government and the county hospital was funded by the county government) and the hospitals collected user fees to balance their budgets. Also the staff salaries depended on fee incomes by the hospital. The hospitals could define the user charges themselves. Prenatal care consultations were however free in most township hospitals. None of the midwives made postnatal home visits, because of low profit of these services. The three national household health survey data showed that the proportion of women receiving their first prenatal visit within 12 weeks increased greatly from the early to middle 1990s in all areas except for large cities. The increase was much larger in the rural areas, reducing the urban-rural difference from more than 4 times to about 1.4 times. The proportion of women that received antenatal care visits meeting the Ministry of Health s standard (at least 5 times) in the rural areas increased sharply from 12% in 1991-1993 to 36% in 2001-2003. In rural areas, the proportion increase was much faster in less developed areas than in developed areas. The hospital delivery rate increased slightly from 90% to 94% in urban areas while the proportion increased from 27% to 69% in rural areas. The fastest change was found to be in type 4 rural areas, where the utilization even quadrupled. The overall difference between rural and urban areas was substantially narrowed over the period. Multiple logistic regression analysis shows that time periods, residency in rural or urban areas, income levels, age group, education levels, delivery history, occupation, health insurance and distance from the nearest health care facilities were significantly associated with hospital delivery rates. Conclusions 1. Perinatal mortality in this study was much higher than that for urban areas as well as any reported rate from specific studies in rural areas of China. Previous studies in which calculations of infant mortality were not based on epidemiological surveys have been shown to underestimate the rates by more than 50%. 2. Routine statistics collected by the Chinese family planning system proved to be a reliable data source for studying perinatal health, including still births, neonatal deaths, sex ratio at birth and among newborns. National Household Health Survey data proved to be a useful and reliable data source for studying population health and health services. Prior to this research there were few studies in these areas available to international audiences. 3.Though perinatal mortality rate was negatively associated with the level of township economic development, the excess female early neonatal mortality rate contributed much more to high perinatal mortality rate than economic factors. This was likely a result of the role of the family planning policy and the traditional preferences for sons, which leads to lethal neglect of female newborns and high perinatal mortality. 4. The selective abortions of female foetuses were likely to contribute most to the high sex ratio at birth. The underreporting of female births seemed to have played a secondary role. The higher early neonatal mortality rate in second-born as compared to first-born children, particularly in females, may indicate that neglect or poorer care of female newborn infants also contributes to the high sex ratio at birth or among newborns. Existing family planning policy proved not to effectively control the steadily increased birth sex ratio. 5. The rural-urban gap in service utilization was on average significantly narrowed in terms of maternal healthcare in China from 1991 to 2003. This demonstrates that significant achievements in reducing inequities can be made through a combination of socio-economic development and targeted investments in improving health services, including infrastructure, staff capacities, and subsidies to reduce the costs of service utilization for the poorest. However, the huge gap which persisted among cities of different size and within different types of rural areas indicated the need for further efforts to support the poorest areas. 6. Hospital delivery care in the study county was better accepted by women because most of women think delivery care was very important while prenatal and postnatal care were not. Hospital delivery care was more systematically provided and promoted than prenatal and postnatal care by township hospital in the study area. The reliance of hospital staff income on user fees gave the hospitals an incentive to put more emphasis on revenue generating activities such as delivery care instead of prenatal and postnatal care, since delivery care generated much profits than prenatal and postnatal care . Recommendations 1. It is essential for the central government to re-assess and modify existing family planning policies. In order to keep national sex balance, the existing practice of one couple one child in urban areas and at-least-one-son a couple in rural areas should be gradually changed to a two-children-a-couple policy throughout the country. The government should establish a favourable social security policy for couples, especially for rural couples who have only daughters, with particular emphasis on their pension and medical care insurance, combined with an educational campaign for equal rights for boys and girls in society. 2. There is currently no routine vital-statistics registration system in rural China. Using the findings of this study, the central government could set up a routine vital-statistics registration system using family planning routine work records, which could be used by policy makers and researchers. 3. It is possible for the central and provincial government to invest more in the less developed and poor rural areas to increase the access of pregnant women in these areas to maternal care services. Central government together with local government should gradually provide free maternal care including prenatal and postnatal as well as delivery care to the women in poor and less developed rural areas. 4. Future research could be done to explore if county and the township level health care sector and the family planning system could be merged to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of maternal and child care. 5. Future research could be done to explore the relative contribution of maternal care, economic development and family planning policy on perinatal and child health using prospective cohort studies and community based randomized trials. Key words: perinatal health, perinatal mortality, stillbirth, neonatal death, sex selective abortion, sex ratio at birth, family planning, son preference, maternal care, prenatal care, postnatal care, equity, China

Pensacola area's water

(11 page pamphlet)

Planificación técnica de compartición de infraestructuras para servicios de difusión y telefonía móvil en el municipio de Mañaria.

[EU]Mañariako udaletxeak herritarren eskaera bat erantzun nahi du, eskaera hori herriko transmisio zentruaren kokapena aldatzean datza. Auzokideek leku urrunago batean kokatzea eskatzen dute. Eskaria erantzuteko, Udaletxeak ikasketa erradioelektrikoa herrian egitea eskatu du, transmisio zentruari kokapen berri bat bilatzeko. Helburua estaldura eta kalitate berdina mantentzea izango da bai telefonia eta telebista zerbitzuetarako. Udaletxeak kokagune batzuk erraztu ditu, non elektrizitate hornikuntza eta sarbidea duten kokapenak. Ikerketa erradioelektrikoa kokapen horietatik hasiko da baina kalitate eta estaldura baldintzak betetzen ez badira, beste leku bat aurkitu beharko da. Proiektu honen amaiera kokapen berri bat aurkituko da non Udaletxeak ezarritako baldintzak betetzen diren.

不同年限蔬菜温室土壤基本化学性质比较研究

本文对沈阳市郊大民屯镇不同年限蔬菜温室土壤化学性质进行研究与分析。得到主要结论如下： 蔬菜温室0～20 cm表层土壤有机质、全氮、速效磷、速效钾、铵态氮、硝态氮均处于较高的养分水平，并且随温室使用年限的延长，呈增加的趋势。土壤有酸化的趋势，土壤电导率呈升高态势。土壤有效态Fe、Mn、Cu、Zn含量分别为8.57～60.30 mg kg-1、2.69～22.43 mg kg-1、0.64～7.52 mg kg-1和0.56～9.29 mg kg-1，变异系数为50%左右；随着温室使用年限的增加，土壤有效态Fe、Mn、Cu、Zn含量总体上呈增加的趋势。土壤Ni、Cd的有效含量随种植年限的延长趋于增加，有效Pb呈现出下降的趋势，土壤重金属Cr的有效态含量与种植年限之间没有明显的相关性。 不同年限蔬菜温室土壤剖面有机质、全氮、速效磷及速效钾含量高于相邻的露地菜田土壤，并随种植年限的延长而增加，随土层深度的增加而下降。温室土壤中铵态氮的含量随温室种植年限的变化相对较小，在土壤剖面不同层次中变化也没有明显的规律性。与露地菜田土壤相比，温室土壤中有效态铁、锰含量下降，有效态铜、锌、铅、镍含量增加。0～30 cm土层土壤交换性Ca呈下降的趋势，交换性Mg呈上升的趋势，土壤Ca/Mg比值呈下降的趋势。

Land use and water quality response in the northern region of Changxing County

In this paper, taking the northern region of Changxing County for example, with ammonia nitrogen as a pollution assessment index, we used an improved export coefficient method for estimate polluting load of non-point source pollution (NSP) and the social pollution survey data in the study area to estimate point source pollution. By comparing the total pollution output and the national surface water environmental quality standards find that the whole study area achieves the second water quality standard. However, Jiapu Township exceeds the water quality standards seriously because of the superfluous point source pollution. The water quality of other Townships is good. Further analysis showed that different types of land use and proportions in the northern region of Changxing County have a significant impact on the non-point source pollution, the general law is farmland contributes the largest share of the non-point source pollution output, followed by residential area and bare land, besides, with the increase in the proportion of forest and the decrease of farmland and residential area, the non-point source pollution reduces gradually. © 2010 IEEE.

Growth and milk performance of yak in southern Qinghai area

The Study carried out in Xueshan Township, Guoluo prefecture, Qinghai Province, P. R. China from 1997 to 1999 on 1) Growth regulation of yak from born to adult and 1/4 wild yak from born to one and half year; 2) The effect of nursing or not on the growth and development of dam; 3) Meat performance of local yak; 4)Milk productivity of female yak. It can be served as the theory basis from which crossbreed improvement of yak and government decision could be drawn.

甘肃临夏盆地龙担剖面晚新生代磁性地层与古环境

Linxia Basin, situated in the northeast belt of the Tibetan Plateau, is a late Cenozoic depression basin bounded by the Tibetan Plateau and the Chinese Loess Plateau. The Cenozoic deposition, spanning over 30Ma, in which very abundant mammal fossils were discovered, is very suitable for study of uplift processes and geo-morphological evolution of the Tibetan Plateau. The Longdan section (35°31′31.6″N，103°29′0.6″E) is famous for the middle Miocene Platybelodon fauna and the late Miocene Hipparion fauna for a long time and is also one of the earliest known places for wooly rhino, which lies on the east slope of Longdan, a small village of township Nalesi in the south of the Dongxiang Autonomous County, Linxia Hui Nationallity Autonomous Prefecture. The Longdan mammal fauna was discovered at the base of the Early Pleistocene loess deposits at Dongxiang, where the lithology is different from the typical Wucheng Loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau. The rich fossils contain many new species and the major two layers of fossils are in the loess beds. Geologically the fossiliferous area is located in the central part of the Linxia Cenozoic sedimentary basin. Tectonically the Linxia Basin is an intermountain fault basin, bordered by the Leijishan major fault in the south and the north Qinling and Qilianshan major faults in the north. The section is 51.6m thick above the gravel layer, including the 1.6m Late Pleistocene Malan Loess on the top and the other loess-paleosol sequences in the middle of the section. The base of the section is the Jishi Formation, consisting of gravel layer of 13 ~ 17m thick. In this study, 972 bulk samples were collected with an interval of 5cm and other 401 orientied samples were taken with a magnetic compass. In the laboratory, the paleomagnetism, medium grain size, susceptibility, color, micromorphology, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility were analyzed. From the stratigraphic analysis, the Longdan section from the top 0.3m to the bottom 51.6m, containing 5 normal polarities (N1-N5) and 5 reversal polarities (R1-R5). The paleomagnetic results show N3 is the Olduvai subchron in the middle of the Matuyama chron, and then the chronology of the Longdan mammal fauna is constructed along the section. The Matuyama-Gauss boundary is 45m and N5 enters Gauss chron. The Olduvai subchron with the age of 1.77 ~ 1.95Ma is found just in the upper fossiliferous level of Longdan mammal fauna. Taking the deposit rate of the section into account, the geological age of the upper fossiliferous level of Longdan mammal fauna is estimated to be about 1.9Ma. The lower fossiliferous level is just below the Reunion subchron and its age is estimated to be 2.25Ma. In addition, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility of the loess-paleosol and other climatic indexes were used for discussing the late Cenozoic paleoenvironmental changes at Longdan, from which the Longdan area should have been an area of predominantly steppe the same as the Longdan mammal fauna.

乡镇级人口统计数据空间化研究

Population data which collected and saved according to administrative region is a kind of statistical data. As a traditional method of spatial data expression, average distribution in every administrative region brings population data on a low spatial and temporal precision. Now, an accurate population data with high spatial resolution is becoming more and more important in regional planning, environment protection, policy making and rural-urban development. Spatial distribution of population data is becoming more important in GIS study area. In this article, the author reviewed the progress of research on spatial distribution of population. Under the support of GIS, correlative geographical theories and Grid data model, Remote Sensing data, terrain data, traffic data, river data, resident data, and social economic statistic were applied to calculate the spatial distribution of population in Fujian province, which includes following parts: (1) Simulating of boundary at township level. Based on access cost index, land use data, traffic data, river data, DEM, and correlative social economic statistic data, the access cost surface in study area was constructed. Supported by the lowest cost path query and weighted Voronoi diagram, DVT model (Demarcation of Villages and Towns) was established to simulate the boundary at township level in Fujian province. (2) Modeling of population spatial distribution. Based on the knowledge in geography, seven impact factors, such as land use, altitude, slope, residential area, railway, road, and river were chosen as the parameters in this study. Under the support of GIS, the relations of population distribution to these impact factors were analyzed quantificationally, and the coefficients of population density on pixel scale were calculated. Last, the model of population spatial distribution at township level was established through multiplicative fusion of population density coefficients and simulated boundary of towns. (3) Error test and analysis of population spatial distribution base on modeling. The author not only analyzed the numerical character of modeling error, but also its spatial distribution. The reasons of error were discussed.

Living long-term with acquired brain injury in Ireland: towards a counter discourse

Irish literature on Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) is very scant and is mainly deficits and/or needs based. The focus is generally on how to manage the short term needs of the younger population with ABI. The starting position of my thesis is that people living long-term with ABI are important participants in developing knowledge about this social phenomenon, living with ABI while accepting that their brain injury does not determine them. Six mature adults with ABI and their six significant others participated in this longitudinal study. Using a narrative approach in interviews, over twenty months, five repeat individual interviews with each of the twelve participants was held. From this I gained an understanding of their lived experiences, their life-world and their experiences of our local public ABI/disability services, systems and discourse. Along with this new empirical data, theoretical developments from occupational therapy, occupational science, sociology, and disability studies were also used within a meta-narrative informed by critical theory and critical realism to develop a synthesis of this study. Social analysis of their narratives co-constructed with me, allowed me generate nuanced insights into tendencies and social processes that impacted and continues to impact on their everyday-everynight living. I discuss in some depth here, the relational attitudinal, structural, occupational and environmental supports, barriers or discrimination that they face(d) in their search for social participation and community inclusion. Personal recognition of the disabled participants by their family, friends and/or local community, was generally enhanced after much suffering, social supports, slow recovery, and with some form of meaningful occupational engagement. This engagement was generally linked with pre-injury interests or habits, while Time itself became both a major aid and a need. The present local ABI discourse seldom includes advocacy and inclusion in everyday/every night local events, yet most participants sought both peer-support or collective recognition, and social/community inclusion to help develop their own counter-discourse to the dominant ABI discourse. This thesis aims to give a broad social explanation on aspects of their social becoming, 'self-sameness' and social participation, and the status of the disabled participants wanting to live 'the slow life'. Tensions and dialectical issues involved in moving from the category of a person in coma, to person with a disability, to being a citizen should not demote the need for special services. While individualized short-term neuro-rehabilitation is necessary, it is not sufficient. Along with the participants, this researcher asks that community health and/or social care planners and service-providers rethink how ABI is understood and represented, and how people with ABI are included in their local communities