Valuation of reduced eutrophication in the Gulf of Finland : Choice experiment with attention to heterogeneous and discontinuous preferences and respondent uncertainty

Eutrophication of the Baltic Sea is a serious problem. This thesis estimates the benefit to Finns from reduced eutrophication in the Gulf of Finland, the most eutrophied part of the Baltic Sea, by applying the choice experiment method, which belongs to the family of stated preference methods. Because stated preference methods have been subject to criticism, e.g., due to their hypothetical survey context, this thesis contributes to the discussion by studying two anomalies that may lead to biased welfare estimates: respondent uncertainty and preference discontinuity. The former refers to the difficulty of stating one s preferences for an environmental good in a hypothetical context. The latter implies a departure from the continuity assumption of conventional consumer theory, which forms the basis for the method and the analysis. In the three essays of the thesis, discrete choice data are analyzed with the multinomial logit and mixed logit models. On average, Finns are willing to contribute to the water quality improvement. The probability for willingness increases with residential or recreational contact with the gulf, higher than average income, younger than average age, and the absence of dependent children in the household. On average, for Finns the relatively most important characteristic of water quality is water clarity followed by the desire for fewer occurrences of blue-green algae. For future nutrient reduction scenarios, the annual mean household willingness to pay estimates range from 271 to 448 and the aggregate welfare estimates for Finns range from 28 billion to 54 billion euros, depending on the model and the intensity of the reduction. Out of the respondents (N=726), 72.1% state in a follow-up question that they are either Certain or Quite certain about their answer when choosing the preferred alternative in the experiment. Based on the analysis of other follow-up questions and another sample (N=307), 10.4% of the respondents are identified as potentially having discontinuous preferences. In relation to both anomalies, the respondent- and questionnaire-specific variables are found among the underlying causes and a departure from standard analysis may improve the model fit and the efficiency of estimates, depending on the chosen modeling approach. The introduction of uncertainty about the future state of the Gulf increases the acceptance of the valuation scenario which may indicate an increased credibility of a proposed scenario. In conclusion, modeling preference heterogeneity is an essential part of the analysis of discrete choice data. The results regarding uncertainty in stating one s preferences and non-standard choice behavior are promising: accounting for these anomalies in the analysis may improve the precision of the estimates of benefit from reduced eutrophication in the Gulf of Finland.

Defining the density debate in Brisbane: how urban consolidation is represented in the media

Rapid population growth, changing demographic profiles and increased focus on sustainable urban form has led to significant changes in settlement patterns in Australian cities. Growth management strategies are increasingly employed to help cities manage strain on infrastructure, housing and ecosystems. Urban consolidation is one such strategy and has been adopted by all Australian capital cities. Despite strong governmental support, urban consolidation has triggered much academic debate and has often been accompanied by staunch community opposition and complaints from the development industry about barriers to the provision of higher density housing. Greater understanding of stakeholder representations of higher density housing is important for planning, given the strong policy focus on urban consolidation nationally. This paper contributes to existing urban consolidation literature by empirically demonstrating how urban consolidation is represented in Brisbane’s newspaper media through the use of metaphors. Its conceptual departure point is Social Representations Theory, drawing on the theory’s notion of objectification to illustrate how the media translates the abstract notion of urban consolidation into a tangible and understandable object. The objectification of urban consolidation is identified and discussed relative to four themes: land use conflict; growth; neighbourhood change and apartment living. This paper argues that understanding stakeholder representations is important for planners seeking to promote and negotiate delivery of higher density development. It concludes that stakeholder representations can highlight key areas of contention to be addressed by planners, provide indications on the likelihood of public acceptance of increased housing densities and delineate the boundaries of urban consolidation debates.

Shaping urban consolidation debates: Social representations in Brisbane newspaper media

Recent international trends towards urban consolidation, intended to reduce outward urban sprawl by concentrating growth within existing neighbourhoods, can cause contention in cities. Understanding how the mass media represents urban consolidation can lead to more informed and democratic planning practices. This paper employs Social Representations Theory to identify and understand representations of urban consolidation in newspaper media. The theory recognises that the media is a key purveyor of public discourse and can reflect, shape or suppress ideas circulating in society. This novel approach has not previously been applied to understanding social representations of urban consolidation strategies in the mass media. The rapidly growing and changing city of Brisbane, Australia, is utilised as a case study. Brisbane is situated in South East Queensland, the fastest growing region in Australia, and is governed by regional and local planning policies that strongly support increased densities in existing urban areas. Findings from a quantitative textual analysis of 449 articles published in Brisbane newspapers between 2007 and 2014 reveal key clusters and classes of co-occurring words that represent dominant social representations apparent in the newspaper corpus. The paper provides two key conclusions. The first is that social representations occurring in mass media represent an important source of information about ‘common sense’ understandings and evaluations of urban consolidation debates. The second is that urban consolidation is represented as a ultifaceted issue, including interrelated themes of housing,sustainable population growth, investment strategies and the interplay between politics and planning

Dietary media for mass rearing of rusty grain beetle, Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens) and flat grain beetle, Cryptolestes pusillus (Schonherr) (Coleoptera: Cucujidae)

We developed a suitable diet for mass rearing of Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens) populations under laboratory conditions. Recently, this pest has developed strong level of resistance to phosphine in Australia, and therefore, a significant amount of research has been directed towards its management. In total, nineteen grain-based diets, containing rolled oats, various combinations of cracked grains and flours of wheat, sorghum, maize and barley were tested. Each diet contained a small proportion of wheat germ (4.5% w/w) and torula yeast (0.5% w/w). Experiments were conducted at fixed temperature and relative humidity regimes of 30 ± 2 °C and 70 ± 2%, respectively, and replicated three times. Adults (n = 40) of a laboratory strain of C. ferrugineus were introduced into each diet, removed after 14 days and total numbers of live adult progeny were recorded. The following diets resulted in highest live progeny production: barley flour (95%) (607.67 ± 11.21) = rolled oats (75%) + cracked sorghum (20%) (597.33 ± 33.79) ≥ wheat flour (47.5%) + barley flour (47.5%) (496.67 ± 52.93) > cracked sorghum (95%) (384.00 ± 60.66). The performance of these four diets was then tested with field-collected populations of C. ferrugineus and Cryptolestes pusillus (Schonherr). The diets based on rolled oats + cracked sorghum, wheat flour + barley flour, and barley flour alone consistently produced highest progeny numbers in field-collected populations of both species, with mean progeny numbers ranging from 359.9 to 478.5. The multiplication of C. pusillus was significantly higher than C. ferrugineus on all four diets. Our findings will help in mass rearing of healthy cultures of C. ferrugineus and C. pusillus that will greatly facilitate laboratory and field research and in particular, in developing management tactics for these species.

Patient preferences for receiving remote communication support for lifestyle physical activity behaviour change: The perspective of patients with musculoskeletal disorders from three hospital services

This study examined patients’ preference ratings for receiving support via remote communication to increase their lifestyle physical activity. Methods People with musculoskeletal disorders ( n=221 of 296 eligible) accessing one of three clinics provided preference ratings for “how much” they wanted to receive physical activity support via five potential communication modalities. The five ratings were generated on a horizontal analogue rating scale (0 represented “not at all”; 10 represented “very much”). Results Most (n=155, 70%) desired referral to a physical activity promoting intervention. “Print and post” communications had the highest median preference rating (7/10), followed by email and telephone (both 5/10), text messaging (1/10), and private Internet-based social network messages (0/10). Desire to be referred was associated with higher preference for printed materials (coefficient = 2.739, p<0.001), telephone calls (coefficient = 3.000, p<0.001), and email (coefficient = 2.059, p=0.02). Older age was associated with lower preference for email (coefficient = −0.100, p<0.001), texting (coefficient = −0.096, p<0.001), and social network messages (coefficient = −0.065, p<0.001). Conclusion Patients desiring support to be physically active indicated preferences for interventions with communication via print, email, or telephone calls.

Information preferences for the evaluation of coastal development impacts on ecosystem services: A multi-criteria assessment in the Australian context

Ecosystem based management requires the integration of various types of assessment indicators. Understanding stakeholders' information preferences is important, in selecting those indicators that best support management and policy. Both the preferences of decision-makers and the general public may matter, in democratic participatory management institutions. This paper presents a multi-criteria analysis aimed at quantifying the relative importance to these groups of economic, ecological and socio-economic indicators usually considered when managing ecosystem services in a coastal development context. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is applied within two nationwide surveys in Australia, and preferences of both the general public and decision-makers for these indicators are elicited and compared. Results show that, on average across both groups, the priority in assessing a generic coastal development project is for the ecological assessment of its impacts on marine biodiversity. Ecological assessment indicators are globally preferred to both economic and socio-economic indicators regardless of the nature of the impacts studied. These results are observed for a significantly larger proportion of decision-maker than general public respondents, questioning the extent to which the general public's preferences are well reflected in decision-making processes.

Deeply superficial digital media engagement? The case of Twitter and Movember 2013

Using activity generated with Twitter during Movember 2013, we interrogate the natures of superficiality running through what can be defined as a highly successful public health engagement intervention. Indeed, Movember arguably has not just been successful in one year in terms of raising funds for the causes it is concerned with, it has done this year-on-year since 2004. We tracked the keyword 'movember' (without the hash symbol) using an in-house installation of YourTwapperkeeper hosted on a NECTAR server. Data collection ran from 01 October - 04 December 2013, covering the ramp-up and wind-down periods of the event. We collected a total of 1,313,426 tweets from 759,345 unique users.

Mediaş Jewish Community Photograph Collection 1900-1930s bulk: undated

The collection contains more than 60 black and white photographs from the first decades of the 20th century found in the synagogue of Mediaş (Mediasch, Medgyes), Romania. The photographs were found in the process of an on-going clean-up and restoration project and for the most part are unidentified. The photographs are of community members and their relatives and friends; they consist of group family portraits, individual portraits, babies, and children. Some of the photographs originate from Mediaş and other nearby Transylvanian towns, while others were printed by foreign printing shops and were presumably sent to relatives living in Mediaş.

Global Media and National Policies : The Return of the State

Conventional wisdom views globalization as a process that heralds the diminishing role or even 'death' of the state and the rise of transnational media and transnational consumption, that defy state control or regulation. This book questions these assumptions and shows that the nation-state never left and is still a force to be reckoned with.

National media regulations in an age of convergent media: Beyond globalisation, neo-liberalism and internet freedom theories

There is a widely held view that the nation-state has become less central to media and communications policy over the last two decades. As Jan van Cuilenberg and Denis McQuail (2003, p. 181) observed in their overview of trends in communications policy-making, 'the old normative media policies have been challenged and policy-makers are searching for a new communications policy paradigm'. There are characteristically five factors put forward as to why the nation-state has become less central to media in the twenty-first century

Media accounts of school performance: Reinforcing dominant practices of accountability

Media reportage often act as interpretations of accountability policies thereby making the news media a part of the policy enactment process. Within such a process, their role is that of policy reinforcement rather than policy construction or contestation. This paper draws on the experiences of school leaders in regional Queensland, Australia, and their perceptions of the media frames that are used to report on accountability using school performance. The notion of accountability is theorised in terms of media understandings of ‘holding power to account’, and forms the theoretical framework for this study. The methodological considerations both contextualise aspects of the schools involved in the study, and outline how ‘framing theory’ was used to analyse the data. The paper draws on a number of participant experiences and newspaper accounts of schools to identify the frames that are used by the press when reporting on school performance. Three frames referring to school performance are discussed in this paper: those that rank performance such as league tables; frames that decontextualise performance isolating it from school circumstances and levels of funding; and frames that residualise government schools.