The integrated land use and transportation indexing model : assessing the sustainability of the Gold Coast, Australia

Urban sustainability and sustainable urban development concepts have been identified as the ultimate goal of many contemporary planning endeavours and have become central concepts on which the urban development policies are formulated. In the confinement of these concepts, land use and transport integration has been highlighted as one of the most important policy objectives considering the interrelationship between them and available intervention means of planning. While its interpretation varies, in Australia, it has been embraced as integration of land use and transport planning/policies and been an integral part of regional and local plans. Accordingly, a number of principles have been defined to guide its implementation, to name a few, planning for compact and connected urban development, encouraging active transport modes, creation of mixed-use activity centres and public transport precincts, provision of high quality public transport services, and enhancing character and amenity of urban areas. However, there is lack of an evaluation framework to measure the extent of achievement of implementation of these principles. In pursuit of filling this gap, this study aims to devise an evaluation framework to measure the performance of urban settings according to the integration principles in South East Queensland, Australia context and to demarcate problematic areas which can be intervened by planning tools...

Risk-based approach to the management of on-site wastewater treatment facilities

Background On-site wastewater treatment system (OWTS) siting, design and management has traditionally been based on site specific conditions with little regard to the surrounding environment or the cumulative effect of other systems in the environment. The general approach has been to apply the same framework of standards and regulations to all sites equally, regardless of the sensitivity, or lack thereof, to the receiving environment. Consequently, this has led to the continuing poor performance and failure of on-site systems, resulting in environmental and public health consequences. As a result, there is increasing realisation that more scientifically robust evaluations in regard to site assessment and the underlying ground conditions are needed. Risk-based approaches to on-site system siting, design and management are considered the most appropriate means of improvement to the current standards and codes for on-site wastewater treatment systems. The Project Research in relation to this project was undertaken within the Gold Coast City Council region, the major focus being the semi-urban, rural residential and hinterland areas of the city that are not serviced by centralised treatment systems. The Gold Coast has over 15,000 on-site systems in use, with approximately 66% being common septic tank-subsurface dispersal systems. A recent study evaluating the performance of these systems within the Gold Coast area showed approximately 90% were not meeting the specified guidelines for effluent treatment and dispersal. The main focus of this research was to incorporate strong scientific knowledge into an integrated risk assessment process to allow suitable management practices to be set in place to mitigate the inherent risks. To achieve this, research was undertaken focusing on three main aspects involved with the performance and management of OWTS. Firstly, an investigation into the suitability of soil for providing appropriate effluent renovation was conducted. This involved detailed soil investigations, laboratory analysis and the use of multivariate statistical methods for analysing soil information. The outcomes of these investigations were developed into a framework for assessing soil suitability for effluent renovation. This formed the basis for the assessment of OWTS siting and design risks employed in the developed risk framework. Secondly, an assessment of the environmental and public health risks was performed specifically related the release of contaminants from OWTS. This involved detailed groundwater and surface water sampling and analysis to assess the current and potential risks of contamination throughout the Gold Coast region. Additionally, the assessment of public health risk incorporated the use of bacterial source tracking methods to identify the different sources of fecal contamination within monitored regions. Antibiotic resistance pattern analysis was utilised to determine the extent of human faecal contamination, with the outcomes utilised for providing a more indicative public health assessment. Finally, the outcomes of both the soil suitability assessment and ground and surface water monitoring was utilised for the development of the integrated risk framework. The research outcomes achieved through this project enabled the primary research aims and objects to be accomplished. This in turn would enable Gold Coast City Council to provide more appropriate assessment and management guidelines based on robust scientific knowledge which will ultimately ensure that the potential environmental and public health impacts resulting from on-site wastewater treatment is minimised. As part of the implementation of suitable management strategies, a critical point monitoring program (CPM) was formulated. This entailed the identification of the key critical parameters that contribute to the characterised risks at monitored locations within the study area. The CPM will allow more direct procedures to be implemented, targeting the specific hazards at sensitive areas throughout Gold Coast region.

The Gold Coast marine precinct : pre-packaging entrepreneurship

We investigate the evolving quality of entrepreneurship in the Gold Coast Marine Precinct, a purpose-built industrial district in Southeast Queensland, Australia. Our findings are that the environment in the Precinct can be conducive to a better quality of entrepreneurship than may be feasible for firms in other settings; that a successful industrial district can be created artificially, with appropriate social relationships evolving afterwards; and that improvements in information and communications technology have undermined some aspects of traditional behaviour in the Precinct, but the essential nature of internal relationships remains intact.

Dancing Diseases : an applied theatre response to the challenge of conveying emotionally contradictory messages in HIV education

Health educators face an unusual challenge in relation to HIV: the need to convey two emotionally contradictory messages. On the one hand, there is currently no cure for HIV, which eventually leads to death (emotionally negative message). On the other hand, people with HIV can live long, healthy and productive lives (emotionally positive message). In developing countries where HIV prevalence is high, it is imperative that both messages are conveyed effectively. This article reports on a specific form, Dancing Diseases, implemented as one component of the Life Drama pilot study on Karkar Island, Papua New Guinea. Life Drama is an applied theatre and performance approach to HIV education. The article discusses Dancing Diseases as an example of applied theatre and performance practice, reflects on the participant group’s engagement with the form, and offers some ways in which the form could be refined and used in other health education contexts.

Susceptibility of the critical structural components of railway bridges to the changes in train speed

Modern trains with different axle configurations, speeds and loads are used in railway networks. As a result, one of the most important questions of the mangers involved in bridge managements systems (BMS) is how these changes affect the structural behavior of the critical components of the railway bridges. Although researchers have conducted, many investigations on the dynamic effects of the moving loads on bridges, the influence of the changes in the speed of the train on the demand by capacity ratios of the different critical components of the bridge have not yet been properly studied. This study is important, because different components with different capacities and roles for carrying loads in the structure may be affected differently. To investigate the above phenomenon in this research, a structural model of a simply supported bridge is developed. It will be verified that the dynamic behavior of this bridge is similar to a group of railway bridges in Australia. Demand by capacity ratios of the critical components of the bridge, when it is subjected to a train load with different speeds will be calculated. The results show that the effect of increase or decrease of speed should not be underestimated. The outcome is very significant as it is contrary to what is currently expected, i.e. by reducing the speed of the train, the demand by capacity ratio of components may increase and make the bridge unsafe for carrying live load.

Iron nodules in ferric soils of the Fraser Coast, Australia : relicts of laterisation or features of contemporary weathering and pedogenesis?

The genesis of ferruginous nodules and pisoliths in soils and weathering profiles of coastal southern and eastern Australia has long been debated. It is not clear whether iron (Fe) nodules are redox accumulations, residues of Miocene laterite duricrust, or the products of contemporary weathering of Fe-rich sedimentary rocks. This study combines a catchment-wide survey of Fe nodule distribution in Poona Creek catchment (Fraser Coast, Queensland) with detailed investigations of a representative ferric soil profile to show that Fe nodules are derived from Fe-rich sandstones. Where these crop out, they are broken down, transported downslope by colluvial processes, and redeposited. Chemical and physical weathering transforms these eroded rock fragments into non-magnetic Fe nodules. Major features of this transformation include lower hematite/goethite and kaolinite/gibbsite ratios, increased porosity, etching of quartz grains, and development of rounded morphology and a smooth outer cortex. Iron nodules are commonly concentrated in ferric horizons. We show that these horizons form as the result of differential biological mixing of the soil. Bioturbation gradually buries nodules and rock fragments deposited at the surface of the soil, resulting in a largely nodule-free 'biomantle' over a ferric 'stone line'. Maghemite-rich magnetic nodules are a prominent feature of the upper half of the profile. These are most likely formed by the thermal alteration of non-magnetic nodules located at the top of the profile during severe bushfires. They are subsequently redistributed through the soil profile by bioturbation. Iron nodules occurring in the study area are products of contemporary weathering of Fe-rich rock units. They are not laterite duricrust residues nor are they redox accumulations, although redox-controlled dissolution/re-precipitation is an important component of post-depositional modification of these Fe nodules.

Stakeholder engagement and asset management : a case study of the Gold Coast airport, Queensland

One of the fastest growing industries – aviation – faces serious and compounding challenges in maintaining healthy relationships with community stakeholders. One area in aviation creating community conflict is noise pollution. However, current understandings of the factors that affect noise annoyance of the community are poorly conceptualized. More importantly, the way community needs and expectations could be incorporated in airport governance has been inadequately framed to address the issue of aircraft noise. This paper proposes the util-ity of adopting an integrated strategic asset management (ISAM) framework [1] to explore the dynamic nature of relationships between and airport and its surrounding area. The case of the Gold Coast Airport (OOL) operator and community stakeholders is used. This paper begins with an overview of the ISAM framework in the context of airport governance and sustainable development – as a way to find a balance between economic opportunities and societal concerns through stakeholder engagement. Next, an exploratory case study is adopted as a method to explore the noise-related complaints, complainants, and possible causes. Fol-lowing this, the paper reviews three approaches to community stakeholder engagement in Australia, Japan, and UK and discusses their implications in the con-text of OOL. The paper concludes with a contention that airport governance is likely to be much more effective with the adoption of ISAM framework than without it.

Equal access to the opportunities available? Equity and diversity laws and policies in Australia

Australia has been populated for more than 40,000 years with Indigenous Australians joined by European settlers only 230 years ago. The first settlers consisted of convicts from more than 28 countries and members of the British army who arrived in 1788 to establish a British penal colony. Mass migration in the nineteenth century with one and a half million immigrants from Europe, principally from the United Kingdom and Ireland (Haines and Shlomowitz, 1992), established the continent as an Anglo society in the Pacific. In the twentieth century immigrants came from many European countries and in the latter decades from many parts of Asia and the Middle East (Collins, 1991, pp.10-13). In the 21st century Australia has an ethnically and culturally diverse population. The original Indigenous population of Australia accounts for approximately 460,000 or 2.5 per cent of the total population (ABS, 2006a). Estimates are that around 4.5m. persons in the population (close to 20 per cent), were born outside Australia with the majority of these arriving from Europe, principally the United Kingdom, and New Zealand (ABS, 2006b). Like many other countries, Australia has a legacy of discrimination and inequality in employment. Propelled by racist ideologies and the male breadwinner ideology, Indigenous Australians, and non-European immigrants, and women were barred from certain jobs and paid less for their work than any white male counterpart. These conditions were legally sanctioned through the industrial relations system and other laws in the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. Since the 1960s a dramatic change has occurred in social policy and national legislation and Australia today has an extensive array of laws which forbid employment discrimination on race, ethnicity, gender and many other characteristics, and other approaches which promote proactive organizational plans and actions to achieve equity in employment. This chapter outlines these developments.

Shaping lecturers’ beliefs about teaching and learning in higher education in the Pacific

The aim of this study was to describe the educational experiences shaping the teaching and learning beliefs held by a group of beginning lecturers in higher education at various tertiary institutions in the Pacific Island Countries (PICs). A total of sixty three essays written by participants in an online course on teaching in higher education comprised the data for the study. A modified version of narrative analysis was used. This is a powerful methodology in qualitative research that can provide remarkable insights into individuals’ beliefs. The critical experiences that were thought to shape their beliefs in teaching and learning were identified and discussed in the light of relevant literature. The participants described a range of influences that shaped their beliefs about teaching and learning including realisation about the need to work harder and know more, the importance of independence, support systems, curriculum, qualities of a teacher, teaching and learning process, teaching and learning strategies, and learning environments. This information was useful in teaching these students and for further courses.

Culture makes you stronger : Aboriginal women’s voices from the South Coast of NSW

This paper will describe a community based research project examining the health and wellbeing of a sample of Aboriginal women in Australia, and present preliminary findings of a community needs analysis. The Shoalhaven Koori Women’s Study (SKWS) is being led by an Aboriginal woman based within Waminda, an Aboriginal women’s community controlled service located on the South Coast of NSW. The community needs analysis is the first stage of the SKWS, and aims to explore Aboriginal women’s perceptions and experiences of wellness and wellbeing, including issues related to their personal strengths, health and social priorities, support needs and that of their families. Thirty Aboriginal women were interviewed using a survey that included closed and open ended questions. Methods used to administer the survey included yarning and Dadirri (deep listening), two valid and culturally safe approaches for data collection with Aboriginal people. Adopting these approaches ensured Aboriginal protocols were maintained and upheld throughout the research process. This enabled scientific rigour while also ensuring activities were culturally safe. Key findings of the survey will be presented, and how Waminda is modifying service delivery to better respond to the health and social priorities of Aboriginal women in the Shoalhaven region will be discussed. Community feedback of survey results will occur to validate the analysis from the community perspective.

Toward understanding the (lack of?) significance of dialogue to the practice of public relations

The public relations literature has tended to present dialogue as an idealised concept, with a focus on how it should, could, or ought to be carried out in public relations practice. There is little in extant literature that considers the significance of dialogue to the actual practice of public relations. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study of public relations practitioners’ day-to-day work. It concludes that dialogue does not – and arguably, cannot – occur in public relations practice and instead articulates an empirically-based practitioner perspective on two-way communication, which displays pragmatic characteristics that significantly distinguish it from dialogue.

The influence of atmospheric conditions on the leakage current of ceramic insulators on the Colombian Caribbean coast

The contamination of electrical insulators is one of the major contributors to the risk of operation outages in electrical substations, especially in coastal zones with high salinity levels and atmospheric pollution. By using the measurement of leakage-currents, which is one of the main indicators of contamination in insulators, this work seeks to the determine the correlation with climatic variables, such as ambient temperature, relative humidity, solar irradiance, atmospheric pressure, and wind speed and direction. The results obtained provide an input to the behaviour of the leakage current under atmospheric conditions that are particular to the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients and principal component analysis are utilised to determine the significant relationships among the different variables under consideration. The necessary information for the study was obtained via historical databases of both atmospheric variables and the leakage current measured in over a period of one year in a 220-kV potential transformer insulator. We identified the influencing factors of temperature, humidity, radiation, wind speed and direction on the magnitude of the leakage current as the most relevant.

Knowledge Transfer in Transnational Programmes : Opportunities and Challenges for the Pacific Region

The globalised world: The current higher education community The last decade has seen rapid changes in the landscape of higher education (HE) throughout the world, largely as a product of globalisation. A major effect has been to propel the interconnectedness between nations and people across the globe (Scholte, 2005). The use of information and communication technology (ICT) has diminished the distance between countries. The world’s economies are becoming more integrated and interrelated through neoliberal economic policies, free trade agreements and open access of goods and services beyond national borders, policies promulgated by organisations such as the World Trade Organization and The World Bank (Marginson & Ordorika, 2011; Mok, 2011). As a consequence, universities are operating at global, national and local levels simultaneously. In the Pacific region, new universities are emerging. For example, Fiji now has one regional and two national universities; Samoa has a national university and Solomon Islands has an institute of higher education. These new players add to regional competition as they open opportunities for global partnerships and transnational programmes. Thus, participating at these multiple levels is inevitable, and no university is immune to these changes (Marginson, Kaur & Sawir, 2011a). Universities are now part of the global HE community that cannot be confined within a nation’s borders. Transitional HE programmes are perhaps one of the most evident demonstrations of the interconnectedness of universities across countries in this global era.

Pacific Neighbours : Understanding the Pacific Islands

Pacific Neighbours: Understanding the Pacific Islands (2009) is a resource book to develop understanding of the region, its history and geography, its political and social development, and its people and their cultures. The accompanying CD-ROM contains PDFs of the book, a reformatted version of the book by country using an interactive map, and extra teacher and student resources.

The contribution of major depression to the global burden of ischemic heart disease : a comparative risk assessment

Background Cardiovascular disease and mental health both hold enormous public health importance, both ranking highly in results of the recent Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD 2010). For the first time, the GBD 2010 has systematically and quantitatively assessed major depression as an independent risk factor for the development of ischemic heart disease (IHD) using comparative risk assessment methodology. Methods A pooled relative risk (RR) was calculated from studies identified through a systematic review with strict inclusion criteria designed to provide evidence of independent risk factor status. Accepted case definitions of depression include diagnosis by a clinician or by non-clinician raters adhering to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) or International Classification of Diseases (ICD) classifications. We therefore refer to the exposure in this paper as major depression as opposed to the DSM-IV category of major depressive disorder (MDD). The population attributable fraction (PAF) was calculated using the pooled RR estimate. Attributable burden was calculated by multiplying the PAF by the underlying burden of IHD estimated as part of GBD 2010. Results The pooled relative risk of developing IHD in those with major depression was 1.56 (95% CI 1.30 to 1.87). Globally there were almost 4 million estimated IHD disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), which can be attributed to major depression in 2010; 3.5 million years of life lost and 250,000 years of life lived with a disability. These findings highlight a previously underestimated mortality component of the burden of major depression. As a proportion of overall IHD burden, 2.95% (95% CI 1.48 to 4.46%) of IHD DALYs were estimated to be attributable to MDD in 2010. Eastern Europe and North Africa/Middle East demonstrate the highest proportion with Asia Pacific, high income representing the lowest. Conclusions The present work comprises the most robust systematic review of its kind to date. The key finding that major depression may be responsible for approximately 3% of global IHD DALYs warrants assessment for depression in patients at high risk of developing IHD or at risk of a repeat IHD event.