Grassland management and conversion into grassland: effects on soil carbon

Grasslands are heavily relied upon for food and forage production. A key component for sustaining production in grassland ecosystems is the maintenance of soil organic matter (SOM), which can be strongly influenced by management. Many management techniques intended to increase forage production may potentially increase SOM, thus sequestering atmospheric carbon (C). Further, conversion from either cultivation or native vegetation into grassland could also sequester atmospheric carbon. We reviewed studies examining the influence of improved grassland management practices and conversion into grasslands on soil C worldwide to assess the potential for C sequestration. Results from 115 studies containing over 300 data points were analyzed. Management improvements included fertilization (39%), improved grazing management (24%), conversion from cultivation (15%) and native vegetation (15%), sowing of legumes (4%) and grasses (2%), earthworm introduction (1%), and irrigation (1%). Soil C content and concentration increased with improved management in 74% of the studies, and mean soil C increased with all types of improvement. Carbon sequestration rates were highest during the first 40 yr after treatments began and tended to be greatest in the top 10 cm of soil. Impacts were greater in woodland and grassland biomes than in forest, desert, rain forest, or shrubland biomes. Conversion from cultivation, the introduction of earthworms, and irrigation resulted in the largest increases. Rates of C sequestration by type of improvement ranged from 0.11 3.04 Mg C.ha(-1) yr(-1), with a mean of 0.54 Mg C.ha(-1).yr(-1) and were highly influenced by biome type and climate. We conclude that grasslands can act as a significant carbon sink with the implementation of improved management.

The urban water cycle : towards integrated resource management and more sustainable water management systems

The increasing scarcity of water in the world, along with rapid population increase in urban areas, gives reason for concern and highlights the need for integrating water and wastewater management practices. The uncontrolled growth in urban areas has made planning, management and expansion of water and wastewater infrastructure systems very difficult and expensive. In order to achieve sustainable wastewater treatment and promote the conservation of water and nutrient resources, this chapter advocates the need for a closed-loop treatment system approach, and the transformation of the traditional linear treatment systems into integrated cyclical treatment systems. The recent increased understanding of integrated resource management and a shift towards sustainable management and planning of water and wastewater infrastructure are also discussed.

GVS : A flexible, low-end, 3D visualisation framework for enhancing conceptual groundwater models for community, management and simulations

In this paper we discuss an advanced, 3D groundwater visualisation and animation system that allows scientists, government agencies and community groups to better understand the groundwater processes that effect community planning and decision-making. The system is unique in that it has been designed to optimise community engagement. Although it incorporates a powerful visualisation engine, this open-source system can be freely distributed and boasts a simple user interface allowing individuals to run and investigate the models on their own PCs and gain intimate knowledge of the groundwater systems. The initial version of the Groundwater Visualisation System (GVS v1.0), was developed from a coastal delta setting (Bundaberg, QLD), and then applied to a basalt catchment area (Obi Obi Creek, Maleny, QLD). Several major enhancements have been developed to produce higher quality visualisations, including display of more types of data, support for larger models and improved user interaction. The graphics and animation capabilities have also been enhanced, notably the display of boreholes, depth logs and time-series water level surfaces. The GVS software remains under continual development and improvement

Effect of group formation on performance, task management and social loafing

Engineering graduates of today are required to adapt to a rapidly changing work environment. In particular, they are expected to demonstrate enhanced capabilities in both mono-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary teamwork environments. Engineering education needs, as a result, to further focus on developing group work capabilities amongst engineering graduates. Over the last two years, the authors trialed various group work strategies across two engineering disciplines. In particular, the effect of group formation on students' performance, task management, and social loafing was analyzed. A recently developed online teamwork management tool, Teamworker, was used to collect students' experience of the group work. Analysis showed that students who were allowed to freely allocate to any group were less likely to report loafing from other team members, than students who were pre-allocated to a group. It also showed that performance was more affected by the presence or absence of a leader in pre-allocated rather than free-allocated groups.

Environmental management and wildlife in Queensland : a review of Queensland mammal species designated as scarce

From 19 authoritative lists with 164 entries of ‘endangered’ Australian mammal species, 39 species have been reported as extinct. When examined in the light of field conditions, the 18 of these species thought to be from Queensland consist of (a) species described from fragmentary museum material collected in the earliest days of exploration, (b) populations inferred to exist in Queensland by extrapolation from distribution records in neighbouring States or countries, (c) inhabitants of remote and harsh locations where search effort is extraordinarily difficult (especially in circumstances of drought or flooding). and/or (d) individuals that are clearly transitory or peripheral in distribution. ‘Rediscovery’ of such scarce species - a not infrequent occurrence - is nowadays attracting increasing attention. Management in respect of any scarce wildlife in Queensland presently derives from such official lists. The analyses here indicate that this method of prioritizing action needs review. This is especially so because action then tends to be centred on species chosen out of the lists for populist reasons and that mostly addresses Crown lands. There is reason to believe that the preferred management may lie private lands where casual observation has provided for rediscovery and where management is most desirable and practicable.

Stability and change

This special feature section of Journal of Management & Organization (Volume 17/1 - March 2011) sets out to widen understanding of the processes of stability and change in today's organizations, with a particular emphasis on the contribution of institutional approaches to organizational studies. Institutional perspectives on organization theory assume that rational, economic calculations, such as the maximization of profits or the optimization of resource allocation, are not sufficient to understand the behavior of organizations and their strategic choices. Institutionalists acknowledge the great uncertainty associated with the conduct of organizations and suggest that taken-for-granted values, beliefs and meanings within and outside organizations also play an important role in the determination of legitimate action.

Developing a knowledge base for enterprise system success: the role of management and operational staff

Knowledge base is one of the emerging concepts in the Knowledge Management area. As there exists no agreed- upon standard definition of a knowledge base, this paper defines a knowledge base in terms of our research of Enterprise Systems (ES). The knowledge base is defined with reference to Learning Network Theory. Using this theoretical framework, we investigate the roles of management and operational staff in organisations and how their interactions can create a better ES-knowledge base to contribute to ES success. We focus on the post- implementation phase of ES as part of the ES lifecycle. Our findings will facilitate future research directions and contribute to better understandings of how the knowledge base can be integrated and how this integration leads to Enterprise System success.

Management and engineering of process aware information systems : introduction to the special issue

In this editorial letter, we provide the readers of Information Systems with a birds-eye introduction to Process-aware Information Systems (PAIS) – a sub-field of Information Systems that has drawn growing attention in the past two decades, both as an engineering and as a management discipline. Against this backdrop, we briefly discuss how the papers included in this special issue contribute to extending the body of knowledge in this field.

Weight management and its role in breast cancer rehabilitation

Overweight and obesity are risk factors for post-menopausal breast cancer, and many women diagnosed with breast cancer, irrespective of menopausal status, gain weight after diagnosis. Weight management plays an important role in rehabilitation and recovery since obesity and/or weight gain may lead to poorer breast cancer prognosis, as well as prevalent co-morbid conditions (e.g. cardiovascular disease and diabetes), poorer surgical outcomes (e.g., increased operating and recovery times, higher infection rates, and poorer healing), lymphedema, fatigue, functional decline, and poorer health and overall quality of life. Health care professionals should encourage weight management at all phases of the cancer care continuum as a means to potentially avoid adverse sequelae and late effects, as well as to improve overall health and possibly survival. Comprehensive approaches that involve dietary and behavior modification, and increased aerobic and strength training exercise have shown promise in either preventing weight gain or promoting weight loss, reducing biomarkers associated with inflammation and co-morbidity, and improving lifestyle behaviors, functional status, and quality of life in this high-risk patient population.

External management of curriculum change

At a time of rapid curriculum reform, some schools are turning to external change agents for assistance, but what's the best way to initiate such an approach?

Unpacking the connections between network and stakeholder management and their application to road infrastructure networks in Queensland

Since the late twentieth century, there has been a shift away from delivery of infrastructure, including road networks, exclusively by the state. Subsequently, a range of alternative delivery models including governance networks have emerged. However, little is known about how connections between these networks and their stakeholders are created, managed or sustained. Using an analytical framework based on a synthesis of theories of network and stakeholder management, three cases in road infrastructure in Queensland, Australia are examined. The paper finds that although network management can be used to facilitate stakeholder engagement, such activities in the three cases are mainly focused within the core network of those most directly involved with delivery of the infrastructure often to the exclusion of other stakeholder groups.