Numerical solutions of stochastic differential equations – implementation and stability issues

Stochastic differential equations (SDEs) arise fi om physical systems where the parameters describing the system can only be estimated or are subject to noise. There has been much work done recently on developing numerical methods for solving SDEs. This paper will focus on stability issues and variable stepsize implementation techniques for numerically solving SDEs effectively.

A variable stepsize implementation for stochastic differential equations

Stochastic differential equations (SDEs) arise from physical systems where the parameters describing the system can only be estimated or are subject to noise. Much work has been done recently on developing higher order Runge-Kutta methods for solving SDEs numerically. Fixed stepsize implementations of numerical methods have limitations when, for example, the SDE being solved is stiff as this forces the stepsize to be very small. This paper presents a completely general variable stepsize implementation of an embedded Runge Kutta pair for solving SDEs numerically; in this implementation, there is no restriction on the value used for the stepsize, and it is demonstrated that the integration remains on the correct Brownian path.

Legal issues in the design and implementation of environmental offset and environmental trading frameworks

The Queensland Government released its new Environmental Offset Policy in July 2008. This policy creates a set of overarching principles which are to be incorporated into existing environmental offset policy. This article is the final article in a set of three interrelated articles discussing the operation and implementation of environmental offsets in Queensland. The first article discusses the Environmental Offsets Discussion Paper and the existing environmental offset requirements. No significant changes have been made to these existing offset requirements under the new Environmental Offset Policy. This article also touches briefly on the legal issues associated with design and implementation of environmental offset and trading frameworks. The second article considered the compatibility of different land tenure arrangements in Queensland against the requirements for the creation and trade of environmental offsets. The third article being the present article, discusses the application of the new Environmental Offset Policy while also analysing the legal issues associated with environmental offsets in further detail.

The International regulation of persons displaced by climate change

It is certain that there will be changes in environmental conditions across the globe as a result of climate change. Such changes will require the building of biological, human and infrastructure resilience. In some instances the building of such resilience will be insufficient to deal with extreme changes in environmental conditions and legal frameworks will be required to provide recognition and support for people dislocated because of environmental change. Such dislocation may occur internally within the country of original origin or externally into another State’s territory. International and national legal frameworks do not currently recognise or assist people displaced as a result of environmental factors including displacement occurring as a result of climate change. Legal frameworks developed to deal with this issue will need to consider the legal rights of those people displaced and the legal responsibilities of those countries required to respond to such displacement. The objective of this article is to identify the most suitable international institution to host a program addressing climate displacement. There are a number of areas of international law that are relevant to climate displacement, including refugee law, human rights law and international environmental law. These regimes, however, were not designed to protect people relocating as a result of environmental change. As such, while they indirectly may be of relevance to climate displacement, they currently do nothing to directly address this complex issue. In order to determine the most appropriate institution to address and regulate climate displacement, it is imperative to consider issues of governance. This paper seeks to examine this issue and determine whether it is preferable to place climate displacement programs into existing international legal frameworks or whether it is necessary to regulate this area in an entirely new institution specifically designed to deal with the complex and cross-cutting issues surrounding the topic. Commentators in this area have proposed three different regulatory models for addressing climate displacement. These models include: (a) Expand the definition of refugee under the Refugee Convention to encompass persons displaced by climate change; (b) Implement a new stand alone Climate Displacement Convention; and (c) Implement a Climate Displacement Protocol to the UNFCCC. This article will examine each of these proposed models against a number of criteria to determine the model that is most likely to address the needs and requirements of people displaced by climate change. It will also identify the model that is likely to be most politically acceptable and realistic for those countries likely to attract responsibilities by its implementation. In order to assess whether the rights and needs of the people to be displaced are to be met, theories of procedural, distributive and remedial justice will be used to consider the equity of the proposed schemes. In order to consider the most politically palatable and realistic scheme, reference will be made to previous state practice and compliance with existing obligations in the area. It is suggested that the criteria identified by this article should underpin any future climate displacement instrument.

Thai family support (TFS) : working with families of young substance users in primary health care

Living with substance users negatively impacts upon family members in many ways, and distress is common. Despite these deep and wide-ranging impacts, supportive interventions for family members in their own right are rarely available. Thailand has substantial and growing problems with substance use, and there is very little support or family members of drug users, especially in community setting. The Thai Family Support (TFS) program was designed for implementation in primary health care units (PCUs) in Thailand. TFS was based on two approaches with existing empirical support in Western contexts—the 5-step method and CRAFT—with adaptations to a Thai setting that included integration with Buddhist practices. Its aims were to increase well-being of family members, reduce mental distress, improve family relationships between family members, and engage substance users in behaviour change. A small-scale randomised controlled trial on TFS with a Delayed Treatment control was conducted, with assessments at 8 weeks (Post 1) and 20-24 weeks (Post 2). Structured interviews with participants and PCU staff and an examination of five case studies augmented the quantitative results. Mixed Model Analyses were applied to quantitative outcomes, and thematic analysis was used for qualitative data. Thirty-six participants (18 in each of Immediate and Delayed Conditions) were recruited. A significant difference at Baseline between the two conditions was observed on the Thai GHQ-28 and Gender, but it was not possible to statistically control for these effects. There was a significant Time by Condition interaction on the Thai GHQ-28, WHOQOL-BREF-THAI and FAS, reflecting greater improvements in the Immediate condition by Post 1, but with the Delayed condition meeting or exceeding that effect by Post 2. On FES Cohesion and Conflict, there were falls across conditions at Post 2, but only Cohesion also showed a Time by Condition interaction, and that effect was consistent with a delayed impact of treatment. Overall, TFS by PCU staff in the Delayed Condition gave similar results to TFS conducted by the researcher, supporting the viability of its dissemination to standard health services. Qualitative data also confirmed the quantitative results. Most participants reported physiological and psychological improvements even though their substance-using relative did not change their drug use behaviour. After completing TFS, participants reported increased knowledge, group support and sharing feeling, having positive patient-professional relationship, having greater knowledge of substance abuse and social support. In particular, they changed their behaviour towards the substance user, resulting in improvements to family relationships. PCU staff gave similar responses on the efficacy of TFS, and saw it as feasible for routine use, although some implementation challenges were identified. The cultural adaptation and in particular the religious activities, were recognised by participants and PCU staff as an important component of TFS to support psychological health and well-being. Findings from this study showed the impact of substance use on family members and difficulties that they experienced when living with the substance users, resulting distresses and burden that may develop severe mental health disease. Drug use policies should be modified to support family members and response to their needs effectively for early prevention. This study also gave preliminary support for application of the TFS program in rural primary care settings and identified some policies that will be required for it to be disseminated more broadly.

A framework of promoting stakeholder mutual benefits for sustainable housing implementation

Strong regulatory pressure and rising public awareness on environmental issues will continue to influence the market demand for sustainable housing for years to come. Despite this potential, the voluntary uptake rate of sustainable practices is not as high as expected within the new built housing industry. This is in contrast to the influx of emerging building technologies, new materials and innovative designs as showcased in office buildings and exemplar homes worldwide. One of the possible reasons for this under-performance is that key stakeholders such as developers, builders and consumers do not fully understand and appreciate the related challenges, risks and opportunities of pursuing sustainability. Therefore, in their professional and business activities, they may not be able to see the tangible and mutual benefits that sustainable housing may bring. This research investigates the multiple challenges to achieving benefits (CABs) from sustainable housing development, and links these factors to the characteristics of key stakeholders in the housing supply chain. It begins with a comparative survey study among seven stakeholder groups in the Australian housing industry, in order to examine the importance and interrelationships of CABs. In-depth interviews then further explore the survey findings with a focus on stakeholder diversity, which leads to the identification of 12 critical mutual-benefit factors and their interrelationship. Based on such a platform, a mutual-benefit framework is developed with the aid of Interpretive Structure Modelling, to identify the patterns of stakeholder benefit materialisation, suggest the priority of critical factors and provide related stakeholder-specific action guidelines for sustainable housing implementation. The study concludes with a case study of two real-life housing projects to test the application of the mutual-benefit framework for improvement. This framework will lead to a shared value of sustainability among stakeholders and improved stakeholder collaboration, which in turn help to break the "circle of blame" for the current under-performance of sustainable housing implementation.

A basis for inquiry into policy considerations for increasing the application of biophilic urbanism

Urban design that harnesses natural features (such as green roofs and green walls) to improve design outcomes is gaining significant interest, particularly as there is growing evidence of links between human health and wellbeing, and contact with nature. The use of such natural features can provide many significant benefits, such as reduced urban heat island effects, reduced peak energy demand for building cooling, enhanced stormwater attenuation and management, and reduced air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The principle of harnessing natural features as functional design elements, particularly in buildings, is becoming known as ‘biophilic urbanism’. Given the potential for global application and benefits for cities from biophilic urbanism, and the growing number of successful examples of this, it is timely to develop enabling policies that help overcome current barriers to implementation. This paper describes a basis for inquiry into policy considerations related to increasing the application of biophilic urbanism. The paper draws on research undertaken as part of the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) In Australia in partnership with the Western Australian Department of Finance, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Green Roofs Australasia, and Townsville City Council (CitySolar Program). The paper discusses the emergence of a qualitative, mixed-method approach that combines an extensive literature review, stakeholder workshops and interviews, and a detailed study of leading case studies. It highlights the importance of experiential and contextual learnings to inform biophilic urbanism and provides a structure to distil such learnings to benefit other applications.

Adaptive teachers embracing new ways of learning with robotics in Chinese schools

In July 2010, China announced the “National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development(2010-2020)” (PRC 2010). The Plan calls for an education system that: • promotes an integrated development which harnesses everyone’s talent; • combines learning and thinking; unifies knowledge and practice; • allows teachers to teach according to individuals’ needs; and • reforms education quality evaluation and personnel evaluation systems focusing on performance including character, knowledge, ability and other factors. This paper discusses the design and implementation of a Professional Learning Program (PLP) undertaken by 432 primary, middle and high school teachers in China. The aim of this initiative was to develop adaptive expertise in using technology that facilitated innovative science and technology teaching and learning as envisaged by the Chinese Ministry of Education’s (2010-2020) education reforms. Key principles derived from literature about professional learning and scaffolding of learning informed the design of the PLP. The analysis of data revealed that the participants had made substantial progress towards the development of adaptive expertise. This was manifested not only by advances in the participants’ repertoires of Subject Matter Knowledge and Pedagogical Content Knowledge but also in changes to their levels of confidence and identities as teachers. It was found that through time the participants had coalesced into a professional learning community that readily engaged in the sharing, peer review, reuse and adaption, and collaborative design of innovative science and technology learning and assessment activities.

Tackling the health burden from household air pollution (HAP) : development and implementation of new WHO Guidelines

Household air pollution (HAP), arising mainly from the combustion of solid and other polluting fuels, is responsible for a very substantial public health burden, most recently estimated as causing 3.5 million premature deaths in 2010. These patterns of household fuel use have also important negative impacts on safety, prospects for poverty reduction and the environment, including climate change. Building on previous air quality guidelines, the WHO is developing new guidelines focused on household fuel combustion, covering cooking, heating and lighting, and although global, the key focus is low and middle income countries reflecting the distribution of disease burden. As discussed in this paper, currently in development, the guidelines will include reviews of a wide range of evidence including fuel use in homes, emissions from stoves and lighting, household air pollution and exposure levels experienced by populations, health risks, impacts of interventions on HAP and exposure, and also key factors influencing sustainable and equitable adoption of improved stoves and cleaner fuels. GRADE, the standard method used for guidelines evidence review may not be well suited to the variety and nature of evidence required for this project, and a modified approach is being developed and tested. Work on the guidelines is being carried out in close collaboration with the UN Foundation Global Alliance on Clean cookstoves, allowing alignment with specific tools including recently developed international voluntary standards for stoves, and the development of country action plans. Following publication, WHO plans to work closely with a number of countries to learn from implementation efforts, in order to further strengthen support and guidance. A case study on the situation and policy actions to date in Bhutan provide an illustration of the challenges and opportunities involved, and the timely importance of the new guidelines and associated research, evaluation and policy development agendas.

Feasibility of using telecommunications technology in a Cardiac-Diabetes Self-Management Program

Background: Evidence demonstrates self-management programs are an effective approach to assist patients with chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes or cardiac conditions to modify their lifestyle for better managing their conditions. Using information technology (IT) has great potential to support self-management programs and assist patients to fulfill their goals in managing their conditions more efficiently and effectively. Examples of different types of technology used in self-management programs that have limited research support include: text messages, telephone followup, web-based programs, and other internet-assisted education. But little is known about the applicability and feasiability of different forms of technology for patients with chronic diseases such as those with type 2 diabetes and critical cardiac conditions. Furthermore, although there is some evidence of the benefits of using IT in supporting self-management programs, further research on the use of IT in such programs is recommended. Objective: To develop and pilot test an integrated Cardiac- Diabetes Self-Management Program (CDSMP) incorporating telephone and text-message follow-up. Methods: A pilot study using randomised controlled trial is conducted in the coronary care unit (CCU) in a Brisbane metropolitan hospital in Australia to collect data on patients with type 2 diabetes admitted to CCU. The main outcomes included self-efficacy levels, knowledge, and quality of life. Results: Initial results reveal that patients with diabetes admitted to the CCU in the experimental group did improve their self-efficacy, and knowledge levels. Acknowledgements: This Project is funded by QUT Early Career Researcher Research Grant