Putting people in planning: participatory democracy, community building and social inclusion

Like other Western nations, since the nineteenth century Australia has been a representative democracy, in which citizens elect parliamentary representatives to make decisions and develop policies on their behalf (see chapter 5). These representatives are supported in their decision making by an ‘arm’s-length’, ‘techno-bureaucratic administration’, which includes experts such as environmental planners (Fung and Wright 2003, p. 3). However, as the issues for decision-making become increasingly complex, and societies increasingly diverse, the idea of citizen participation in decision-making is ever more accepted. There is now a significant body of political theory arguing for a more participatory model of democracy (participatory democracy), a model that strives to create opportunities for all members of a society to contribute meaningfully to decisions about the matters affecting their lives.

Pooled biological specimens for human biomonitoring of environmental chemicals : opportunities and limitations

Biomonitoring has become the ‘gold standard’ in assessing chemical exposures, and plays an important role in risk assessment. The pooling of biological specimens – combining multiple individual specimens into a single sample – can be used in biomonitoring studies to monitor levels of exposure and identify exposure trends, or to identify susceptible populations in a cost-effective manner. Pooled samples provide an estimate of central tendency, and may also reveal information about variation within the population. The development of a pooling strategy requires careful consideration of the type and number of samples collected, the number of pools required, and the number of specimens to combine per pool in order to maximize the type and robustness of the data. Creative pooling strategies can be used to explore exposure-outcome associations, and extrapolation from other larger studies can be useful in identifying elevated exposures in specific individuals. The use of pooled specimens is advantageous as it saves significantly on analytical costs, may reduce the time and resources required for recruitment, and in certain circumstances, allows quantification of samples approaching the limit of detection. In addition, use of pooled samples can provide population estimates while avoiding ethical difficulties that may be associated with reporting individual results.

Assessing exposures to emerging environmental contaminants in children

The period of developmental vulnerability to toxicants begins at conception and extends through gestation, parturition, infanthood and childhood to adolescence. The concern is that children: (1) may experience quantitatively and qualitatively different exposures, and (2) may have different sensitivity to chemical pollutants. Traditional toxicological studies are inappropriate for assessing the results of chronic exposure at very low levels during critical periods of development. This paper will discuss (1) the health effects associated with exposure to selected emerging organic pollutants, including brominated flame retardants, perfluorinated compounds, organophosphate pesticides and bisphenol A; (2) difficulties in monitoring these substances in children, and (3) suggest techniques and strategies for overcoming these difficulties. Such biomonitoring data can be used to identify where policies should be directed in order to reduce exposure, and to document policies that have successfully reduced exposure.

How neoliberalism and ecological modernization shaped environmental policy in Australia

‘Sustainability’ provides the dominant frame within which environmental policy debate occurs, notwithstanding its divergent meanings. However, how different discourses combine to shape understanding of the environment, the causes of environmental issues, and the responses required, is less clear cut. Drawing primarily on the approach to critical discourse analysis (CDA) developed by Fairclough, this paper explores the way in which neoliberal and ecologically modern discourses combine to shape environmental policy. Environmental scholars have made relatively little use of this approach to CDA to date, despite the significant interest in the discursive aspects of environmental issues, and its wide use in other areas of policy interest. Using the case of environmental policy-making in Victoria, Australia, this paper illustrates how neoliberalism and weak ecological modernization represented sustainability in ways that seriously limited the importance of environmental issues.

Work and the Welfare State : Street-Level Organizations and Workfare Politics

Work and the Welfare State places street-level organizations at the analytic center of welfare state politics, policy and management. This volume offers a critical examination of efforts to change the welfare state to a workfare state by looking at on-the-ground issues in six countries: the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.

Persistent robot tasking for environmental monitoring through crowd-sourcing

Persistent monitoring of the ocean is not optimally accomplished by repeatedly executing a fixed path in a fixed location. The ocean is dynamic, and so should the executed paths to monitor and observe it. An open question merging autonomy and optimal sampling is how and when to alter a path/decision, yet achieve desired science objectives. Additionally, many marine robotic deployments can last multiple weeks to months; making it very difficult for individuals to continuously monitor and retask them as needed. This problem becomes increasingly more complex when multiple platforms are operating simultaneously. There is a need for monitoring and adaptation of the robotic fleet via teams of scientists working in shifts; crowds are ideal for this task. In this paper, we present a novel application of crowd-sourcing to extend the autonomy of persistent-monitoring vehicles to enable nonrepetitious sampling over long periods of time. We present a framework that enables the control of a marine robot by anybody with an internet-enabled device. Voters are provided current vehicle location, gathered science data and predicted ocean features through the associated decision support system. Results are included from a simulated implementation of our system on a Wave Glider operating in Monterey Bay with the science objective to maximize the sum of observed nitrate values collected.

Report on a workshop to investigate the current status of environmental bio-acoustic monitoring

This workshop was supported by the Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (ACEAS, http://www.aceas.org.au/), a facility of the Australian Government-funded Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (http://www.tern.org.au/), a research infrastructure facility established under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy and Education Infrastructure Fund - Super Science Initiative, through the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education. Hosted by: Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland. (QUT, http://www.qut.edu.au/) Dates: 8-11 May 2012 Report Editors: Prof Stuart Parsons (Uni. Auckland, NZ) and Dr Michael Towsey (QUT). This report is a compilation of notes and discussion summaries contributed by those attending the Workshop. They have been assembled into a logical order by the editors. Another report (with photographs) can be obtained at: http://www.aceas.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94&Itemid=96

But what makes it doctoral? Taking on the traditionalists : interdisciplinary, practice-led doctoral research in the creative industries - a case study in academic politics, research, rigour and relevance

This paper examines a Doctoral journey of interdisciplinary exploration, explication, examination...and exasperation. In choosing to pursue a practice-led doctorate I had determined from the outset that ‘writing 100,000 words that only two people ever read’, was not something which interested me. Hence, the oft-asked question of ‘what kind of doctorate’ I was engaged in, consistently elicited the response, “a useful one”. In order to satisfy my own imperatives of authenticity and usefulness, my doctoral research had to clearly demonstrate relevance to; productively inform; engage with; and add value to: wider professional field(s) of practice; students in the university courses I teach; and the broader community - not just the academic community. Consequently, over the course of my research, the question, ‘But what makes it Doctoral?’ consistently resounded and resonated. Answering that question, to satisfy not only the traditionalists asking it but, perhaps surprisingly, some academic innovators - and more particularly, myself as researcher - revealed academic/political inconsistencies and issues which challenged both the fundamental assumptions and actuality of practice-led research. This paper examines some of those inconsistencies, issues and challenges and provides at least one possible answer to the question: ‘But what makes it Doctoral?’

Latex allergy : a perioperative environmental hazard

Latex allergy is a serious, possibly life threatening health hazard in the perioperative environment. Policy and procedures should be developed to identify patients who may be sensitive to latex and to ensure the avoidance of latex products in their care. Healthcare workers should also take steps to avoid exposure and protect themselves from hypersensitivity reactions.

Bayesian networks in environmental and resource management

This overview article for the special series “Bayesian Networks in Environmental and Resource Management” reviews 7 case study articles with the aim to compare Bayesian network (BN) applications to different environmental and resource management problems from around the world. The article discusses advances in the last decade in the use of BNs as applied to environmental and resource management. We highlight progress in computational methods, best-practices for model design and model communication. We review several research challenges to the use of BNs in environmental and resource management that we think may find a solution in the near future with further research attention.