Status of the world's remaining closed forests : an assessment using satellite data and policy options

Historically, it appears that some of the WRCF have survived because i) they lack sufficient quantity of commercially valuable species; ii) they are located in remote or inaccessible areas; or iii) they have been protected as national parks and sanctuaries. Forests will be protected when people who are deciding the fate of forests conclude than the conservation of forests is more beneficial, e.g. generates higher incomes or has cultural or social values, than their clearance. If this is not the case, forests will continue to be cleared and converted. In the future, the WRCF may be protected only by focused attention. The future policy options may include strategies for strong protection measures, the raising of public awareness about the value of forests, and concerted actions for reducing pressure on forest lands by providing alternatives to forest exploitation to meet the growing demands of forest products. Many areas with low population densities offer an opportunity for conservation if appropriate steps are taken now by the national governments and international community. This opportunity must be founded upon the increased public and government awareness that forests have vast importance to the welfare of humans and ecosystems' services such as biodiversity, watershed protection, and carbon balance. Also paramount to this opportunity is the increased scientific understanding of forest dynamics and technical capability to install global observation and assessment systems. High-resolution satellite data such as Landsat 7 and other technologically advanced satellite programs will provide unprecedented monitoring options for governing authorities. Technological innovation can contribute to the way forests are protected. The use of satellite imagery for regular monitoring and Internet for information dissemination provide effective tools for raising worldwide awareness about the significance of forests and intrinsic value of nature.

A multi-genome analysis approach enables tracking of the invasion of a single Russian wheat aphid (Diuraphis noxia) clone throughout the New World

This study investigated the population genetics, demographic history and pathway of invasion of the Russian wheat aphid (RWA) from its native range in Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe to South Africa and the Americas. We screened microsatellite markers, mitochondrial DNA and endosymbiont genes in 504 RWA clones from nineteen populations worldwide. Following pathway analyses of microsatellite and endosymbiont data, we postulate that Turkey and Syria were the most likely sources of invasion to Kenya and South Africa, respectively. Furthermore, we found that one clone transferred between South Africa and the Americas was most likely responsible for the New World invasion. Finally, endosymbiont DNA was found to be a high resolution population genetic marker, extremely useful for studies of invasion over a relatively short evolutionary history time frame. This study has provided valuable insights into the factors that may have facilitated the recent global invasion by this damaging pest.

Brave New World of Health

"Within contemporary society the meaning of 'health' is surprisingly unstable. Guiding principles that once seemed self-evident have been challenged by new social, scientific and economic forces. This book argues that the foundational terms and concepts, which form the basic building blocks of dialogue about health, are now in flux. While the forces in play differ, and the pace of change is varied, there is now a 'brave new world' of health which characterises policy debate about health (and illness or disability). This permeates even the more narrow technical issues within clinical medicine, the law and medical science. This construction and reconstruction of health has important implications for the development of law and policy. The book draws on international and local experts to explore these issues. It opens with consideration of the economic and social forces of 'globalisation' - the macro level forces which now shape the 'lived realities' of health for the world's people. This is then contextualised through a series of detailed 'case studies' of more localised examples including; pharmaceuticals, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, body modification, abortion, anorexia and post-traumatic stress disorder. The book also interrogates the way modern health research influences public conceptions of health. Across these issues the book canvasses the social forces at work in the construction of health, disability and illness in shaping our understandings of such concepts by the public, by individuals, by the courts, and by international bodies. Brave New World of Health is an important contribution to advancing that understanding."--Publisher's website.

Experiencing-in-the-world : using pragmatist philosophy to design for aesthetic experience

With the growing use of personal and ubiquitous computing technology, an increase is seen in utilizing aesthetic aspects for designing interactive systems. The use of aesthetic interpretations, however, has differed in different applications, often lacking a coherent and holistic meaning of aesthetics. In this paper we provide an account on aesthetics, utilizing the pragmatist perspective, which can be used as a framework to design for aesthetic experience in interactive systems. We discuss seven major themes of aesthetic experience. Using our framework we discuss two design examples. In the first example ? Panorama, the framework is used to inform the design process and making design decisions for supporting aesthetic social awareness in an academic work environment. In the second example ? Virtual Dancer, the framework is used to analyze the aesthetics of an entertainment experience and to elicit further improvements. In the end we discuss the role of aesthetics in the design of interactive systems.

Why does analogue still feel good in a digital world?

Is analogue better than digital? Is digital better than dialogue? Though the source of much heated debate, it would seem digital is now virtually unstoppable...

The once-and-for-all withdrawal of the Liverpool Care Pathway in the UK : what are the implications for Australia?

This Perspective reflects on the withdrawal of the Liverpool Care Pathway in the UK, and its implications for Australia. Integrated care pathways are documents which outline the essential steps of multidisciplinary care in addressing a specific clinical problem. They can be used to introduce best clinical practice, to ensure that the most appropriate management occurs at the most appropriate time and that it is provided by the most appropriate health professional. By providing clear instructions, decision support and a framework for clinician-patient interactions, care pathways guide the systematic provision of best evidence-based care. The Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) is an example of an integrated care pathway, designed in the 1990s to guide care for people with cancer who are in their last days of life and are expected to die in hospital. This pathway evolved out of a recognised local need to better support non-specialist palliative care providers’ care for patients dying of cancer within their inpatient units. Historically, despite the large number of people in acute care settings whose treatment intent is palliative, dying patients receiving general hospital acute care tended to lack sufficient attention from senior medical staff and nursing staff. The quality of end-of-life care was considered inadequate, therefore much could be learned from the way patients were cared for by palliative care services. The LCP was a strategy developed to improve end-of-life care in cancer patients and was based on the care received by those dying in the palliative care setting.

A cisgender girl in a transgender world : The methodological challenges of researching in the transgender community

The available research literature on intimate partner violence is often centred around a heteronormative understanding of gender, relationships and violence. When it comes to intimate partner violence in the transgender community, the research is limited or nonexistent due in part to the methodological issues of visibility and access by those outside this community. Drawing from Renzetti (1992, 1995), McClennen (2003), and the feminist participatory research model, this paper examines the techniques for overcoming the methodological barriers as a cisgender or 'normatively gendered' woman in a transgender community. Throughout the research with the transgender community, five strategies for overcoming methodological barriers were developed: Cultural Immersion, Commitment and Visibility, Sensitivity and Acceptance, Honesty, and Communication. This paper explores how utilising these strategies enabled access to the transgender community in order to conduct effective research.

Enabling safe autonomous driving in real-world city traffic using multiple criteria decision making

This paper addresses the topic of real-time decision making for autonomous city vehicles, i.e., the autonomous vehicles' ability to make appropriate driving decisions in city road traffic situations. The paper explains the overall controls system architecture, the decision making task decomposition, and focuses on how Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) is used in the process of selecting the most appropriate driving maneuver from the set of feasible ones. Experimental tests show that MCDM is suitable for this new application area.

An object-oriented design of a World Model for autonomous city vehicles

This paper presents an object-oriented world model for the road traffic environment of autonomous (driver-less) city vehicles. The developed World Model is a software component of the autonomous vehicle's control system, which represents the vehicle's view of its road environment. Regardless whether the information is a priori known, obtained through on-board sensors, or through communication, the World Model stores and updates information in real-time, notifies the decision making subsystem about relevant events, and provides access to its stored information. The design is based on software design patterns, and its application programming interface provides both asynchronous and synchronous access to its information. Experimental results of both a 3D simulation and real-world experiments show that the approach is applicable and real-time capable.

The 3rd Knowledge Cities World Summit Proceedings

FROM KCWS 2010 Ch airs and Summit Proceeding Ed ito rs ‘Knowledge’ is a resource, which relies on the past for a better future. In the 21st century, more than ever before, cities around the world depend on the knowledge of their citizens, their institutions and their firms and enterprises. The knowledge image, the human competence and the reputation of their public and private institutions and corporations profiles a city. It attracts investment, qualified labour and professionals, as well as students and researchers. And it creates local life spaces and professional milieus, which offer the quality of life to the citizens that are seeking to cope with the challenges of modern life in a competitive world. Integrating knowledge-based development in urban strategies and policies, beyond the provision of schools and locations for higher education, has become a new ambitious arena of city politics. Coming from theory to practice, and bringing together the manifold knowledge stakeholders in a city and preparing joint visions for the knowledge city is a new challenge for city managers, urban planners and leaders of the civic society . It requires visionary power, creativity, holistic thinking, the willingness to cooperate with all groups of the local civil society, and the capability to moderate communication processes to overcome conflicts and to develop joint action for a sustainable future. This timely Melbourne 2010 – The Third Knowledge City World Summit makes an important reminder that ‘knowledge’ is the key notion in the 21st Century development. Considering this notion, the summit aims to shed light on the multi-faceted dimensions and various scales of building the ‘knowledge city’ and on ‘knowledge-based development’ paradigms. At this summit, the theoretical and practical maturing of knowledge-based development paradigms will be advanced through the interplay between the world’s leading academic’s theories and the practical models and strategies of practitioners’ and policy makers’ drawn from around the world. As chairs of The Melbourne 2010 Summit, we have compiled this summit proceeding in order to disseminate the knowledge generated and shared in Melbourne with the wider research, governance, and practice communities. The papers in the proceedings reflect the broad range of contributions to the summit. They report on recent developments in planning and managing knowledge cities and ICT infrastructure, they assess the role of knowledge institutions in regional innovation systems and of the intellectual capital of cities and regions; they describe the evolution of knowledge-based approaches to urban development in differing cultural environments; they finally bridge the discourse on the knowledge city to other urban development paradigms such as the creative city, the ubiquitous city or the compact city. The diversity of papers presented shows how different scholars from planning cultures around the world interpret the knowledge dimension in urban and regional development. All papers of this proceeding have gone through a double-blind peer review process and been reviewed by our summit editorial review and advisory board members. We cordially thank the members of the Summit Proceeding Editorial Review and Advisory Board for their diligent work in the review of the papers. We hope the papers in this proceeding will inspire and make a significant contribution to the research, governance, and practice circles.