Doing adaptation differently? Does neoliberalism influence adaptation planning in Queensland?

Australian cities are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Adapting to climate change is a critical task for contemporary spatial planning, one that is widely recognised by the planning profession and beginning to receive substantive attention in planning policy. However adaptation takes place within the context of established spatial governance regimes and planning cultures, and examples of effective adaptation are often grounded in progressive contexts markedly different than Australia. In Australia, planning is subject to strong neoliberal reform agendas (Gleeson & Low, 2000a, 2000b) and national adaptation policies align with neoliberal views (Granberg & Glover, 2011). Planning in Queensland has been subject to deregulation (Buxton et al., 2012) and the continued influence of neoliberalism (Wright & Cleary, 2012). The influence of neoliberalism on climate change adaptation has received little consideration in research and literature. This paper reviews a case study of adaptation planning through the lens of the recent and contemporary influences of neoliberalism. It examines spatial/land-use planning for climate change adaptation in Queensland, identifying the underlying rationales, priorities and strategies. A justification for such an investigation is advanced based on the challenges to planning facilitating adaptation and identified links to neoliberalism. A preliminary analysis of interviews with planners is then used to identify and discuss the ideological influences practitioners perceive in current approaches to adaptation in Queensland and the implications of such.

Evolution or revolution?

Cosmetic tinted soft lenses, which were prescribed in 4-8 per cent of soft lens fits between 1997-2001, have declined in use and since 2003 have accounted for less than 2 per cent of soft lens fits. In general, there has been a slow but steady increase in the rate of prescribing for presbyopia.

Adaptation and change in Queensland’s rangelands : cell grazing as an emerging ideology of pastoral-ecology

Does the current global political economic framework, or more specifically, the cost-price squeeze associated with primary production, restrict the choices of Australian cattle graziers in moving to more sustainable practices? It has often been argued by primary producers and academics, alike, that current terms of trade have resulted in reduced profitability at the property level, and as such, have made it difficult for landholders to shift to practices which are environmentally sustainable. Whilst there is mounting evidence that this is case, there is also evidence that some graziers have been able to adapt to the prevailing market conditions through an ideological as well as ‘practice’ shift. Findings from qualitative research in Central Queensland, Australia has highlighted how ‘cell grazing’ departs from the traditional or conventional aspects of grazing which can be described as productivist, to an approach closely approximating Lang and Heasman’s (2004) ‘ecologically integrated paradigm’. It is argued that cell grazing is, at present, a marginal activity that requires an ideological and cultural shift, as well as an investment in new infrastructure, however, current cell grazing activities may also demonstrate that beef grazing has the potential to be both economically and environmentally sustainable.

Towards networked governance : improving interagency communication and collaboration for disaster risk management and climate change adaptation in Australia

Major disasters, such as bushfires or floods, place significant stress on scarce public resources. Climate change is likely to exacerbate this stress. An integrated approach to disaster risk management (DRM) and climate change adaptation (CCA) could reduce the stress by encouraging the more efficient use of pooled resources and expertise. A comparative analysis of three extreme climate-related events that occurred in Australia between 2009 and 2011 indicated that a strategy to improve interagency communication and collaboration would be a key factor in this type of policy/planning integration. These findings are in accord with the concepts of Joined-up Government and Network Governance. Five key reforms are proposed: developing a shared policy vision; adopting multi-level planning; integrating legislation; networking organisations; and establishing cooperative funding. These reforms are examined with reference to the related research literature in order to identify potential problems associated with their implementation. The findings are relevant for public policy generally but are particularly useful for CCA and DRM.

Pockets of Change : Adaptation and Cultural Transition

Pockets of Change collects fourteen essays that address issues of cultural adaptation and transition in the Arts. Based on insights into a range of primary texts and cultural practices—from visual art to film, from literature to theatre—these essays investigate the ways in which traditions, art-forms, cultures and ethics adapt to challenge established boundaries.

Insect mitochondrial genomics : implications for evolution and phylogeny

The mitochondrial (mt) genome is, to date, the most extensively studied genomic system in insects, outnumbering nuclear genomes tenfold and representing all orders versus very few. Phylogenomic analysis methods have been tested extensively, identifying compositional bias and rate variation, both within and between lineages, as the principal issues confronting accurate analyses. Major studies at both inter- and intraordinal levels have contributed to our understanding of phylogenetic relationships within many groups. Genome rearrangements are an additional data type for defining relationships, with rearrangement synapomorphies identified across multiple orders and at many different taxonomic levels. Hymenoptera and Psocodea have greatly elevated rates of rearrangement offering both opportunities and pitfalls for identifying rearrangement synapomorphies in each group. Finally, insects are model systems for studying aberrant mt genomes, including truncated tRNAs and multichromosomal genomes. Greater integration of nuclear and mt genomic studies is necessary to further our understanding of insect genomic evolution.

Impacts of climatic factors on evolution of molecular diversity and the natural distribution of wild stocks of the giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii)

Natural distributions of most freshwater taxa are restricted geographically, a pattern that reflects dispersal limitation. Macrobrachium rosenbergii is unusual because it occurs naturally in rivers from near Pakistan in the west, across India and Bangladesh to the Malay Peninsula, and across the Sunda Shelf and Indonesian archipelago to western Java. Individuals cannot tolerate full marine conditions, so dispersal between river drainage basins must occur at limited geographical scales when ecological or climatic factors are favorable. We examined molecular diversity in wild populations of M. rosenbergii across its complete natural range to document patterns of diversity and to relate them to factors that have driven evolution of diversity in this species. We found 3 clades in the mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (mtDNA) data set that corresponded geographically with eastern, central, and western sets of haplotypes that last shared a common ancestor 1 × 106 y ago. The eastern clade was closest to the common ancestor of all 3 clades and to the common ancestor with its congener, Macrobrachium spinipes, distributed east of Huxley's Line. Macrobrachium rosenbergii could have evolved in the western Indonesian archipelago and spread westward during the early to mid-Pleistocene to India and Sri Lanka. Additional groups identified in the nuclear DNA data set in the central and western clades probably indicate secondary contact via dispersal between regions and modern introductions that have mixed nuclear and mtDNA genes. Pleistocene sea-level fluctuations can explain dispersal across the Indonesian archipelago and parts of mainland southeastern Asia via changing river drainage connections in shallow seas on wide continental shelves. At the western end of the modern distribution where continental shelves are smaller, intermittent freshwater plumes from large rivers probably permitted larval dispersal across inshore areas of lowered salinity.

Sustainable Urban Water Environment : Climate, Pollution and Adaptation

"This multi-disciplinary book provides practical solutions for safeguarding the sustainability of the urban water environment. Firstly, the importance of the urban water environment is highlighted and the major problems urban water bodies face and strategies to safeguard the water environment are explored. Secondly, the diversity of pollutants entering the water environment through stormwater runoff are discussed and modelling approaches for factoring in climate change and future urban and transport scenarios are proposed. Thirdly, by linking the concepts of sustainable urban ecosystems and sustainable urban and transport development, capabilities of two urban sustainability assessment models are demonstrated."--publisher website

Multimedia : a necessary step in the evolution of research funding applications

Multimedia communication capabilities are rapidly expanding, and visual information is easily shared electronically, yet funding bodies still rely on paper grant proposal submissions. Incorporating modern technologies will streamline the granting process by increasing the fidelity of grant communication, improving the efficiency of review, and reducing the cost of the process.

Making YAWL and SmartPM interoperate : managing highly dynamic processes by exploiting automatic adaptation features

In the last years, the trade-o between exibility and sup- port has become a leading issue in work ow technology. In this paper we show how an imperative modeling approach used to de ne stable and well-understood processes can be complemented by a modeling ap- proach that enables automatic process adaptation and exploits planning techniques to deal with environmental changes and exceptions that may occur during process execution. To this end, we designed and imple- mented a Custom Service that allows the Yawl execution environment to delegate the execution of subprocesses and activities to the SmartPM execution environment, which is able to automatically adapt a process to deal with emerging changes and exceptions. We demonstrate the fea- sibility and validity of the approach by showing the design and execution of an emergency management process de ned for train derailments.

Hydrogen evolution by a metal-free electrocatalyst

Electrocatalytic reduction of water to molecular hydrogen via the hydrogen evolution reaction may provide a sustainable energy supply for the future, but its commercial application is hampered by the use of precious platinum catalysts. All alternatives to platinum thus far are based on nonprecious metals, and, to our knowledge, there is no report about a catalyst for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution beyond metals. Here we couple graphitic-carbon nitride with nitrogen-doped graphene to produce a metal-free hybrid catalyst, which shows an unexpected hydrogen evolution reaction activity with comparable overpotential and Tafel slope to some of well-developed metallic catalysts. Experimental observations in combination with density functional theory calculations reveal that its unusual electrocatalytic properties originate from an intrinsic chemical and electronic coupling that synergistically promotes the proton adsorption and reduction kinetics.

Using communicative ecology theory to scope the emerging role of social media in the evolution of urban food systems

Urban agriculture plays an increasingly vital role in supplying food to urban populations. Changes in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) are already driving widespread change in diverse food-related industries such as retail, hospitality and marketing. It is reasonable to suspect that the fields of ubiquitous technology, urban informatics and social media equally have a lot to offer the evolution of core urban food systems. We use communicative ecology theory to describe emerging innovations in urban food systems according to their technical, discursive and social components. We conclude that social media in particular accentuate fundamental social interconnections normally effaced by conventional industrialised approaches to food production and consumption.

A model of enterprise architecture evolution

Enterprise architectures are exposed to fast emerging business and information technology capabilities. A prominent example is the paradigm of service-orientation, which leads to its own architectural requirements and impacts the design and ongoing evolution of Enterprise Architectures. This thesis develops the first theoretical model describing enterprise architecture evolution and outcomes in light of a changing IT landscape such as service-oriented architectures. The developed theoretical model explains enterprise architecture evolution, its main stages and related capabilities. This model can be used to derive theoretical, sound guidelines to manage enterprise architectures in a changing environment.

A transcriptomic analysis of striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) in response to salinity adaptation: De novo assembly, gene annotation and marker discovery

The striped catfish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) culture industry in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam has developed rapidly over the past decade. The culture industry now however, faces some significant challenges, especially related to climate change impacts notably from predicted extensive saltwater intrusion into many low topographical coastal provinces across the Mekong Delta. This problem highlights a need for development of culture stocks that can tolerate more saline culture environments as a response to expansion of saline water-intruded land. While a traditional artificial selection program can potentially address this need, understanding the genomic basis of salinity tolerance can assist development of more productive culture lines. The current study applied a transcriptomic approach using Ion PGM technology to generate expressed sequence tag (EST) resources from the intestine and swim bladder from striped catfish reared at a salinity level of 9 ppt which showed best growth performance. Total sequence data generated was 467.8 Mbp, consisting of 4,116,424 reads with an average length of 112 bp. De novo assembly was employed that generated 51,188 contigs, and allowed identification of 16,116 putative genes based on the GenBank non-redundant database. GO annotation, KEGG pathway mapping, and functional annotation of the EST sequences recovered with a wide diversity of biological functions and processes. In addition, more than 11,600 simple sequence repeats were also detected. This is the first comprehensive analysis of a striped catfish transcriptome, and provides a valuable genomic resource for future selective breeding programs and functional or evolutionary studies of genes that influence salinity tolerance in this important culture species.