Environmental planning determinism : the Aldinga scrub study of Greenways in South Australia

Ecological planning, as advocated by environmental planner Ian McHarg, has recently seen the rejuvenation in Australia linked to natural resource management planning and community debates about greenways, sustainability and climate change resilience. South Australia has historically argued strongly for Agenda 21 demonstrating its commitment by renovating its planning and land management legislation and agencies to introduce and facilitate these agendas. This paper demonstrates the application of ecological planning to the formulation of a greenway in South Australia, highlighting the importance of the new innovative natural resource management regime, and using the Aldinga Scrub landscape as a case study.

Increased energy intake entirely accounts for increase in body weight in women but not in men in the UK between 1986 and 2000

There is debate over the casual factors for the rise in body weight in the UK. The present study investigates whether increases between 1986 and 2000 for men and women were a result of increases in mean total energy intake, decreases in mean physical activity levels or both. Estimates of mean total energy intake in 1986 and 2000 were derived from food availability data adjusted for wastage. Estimates of mean body weight for adults aged 19–64 years were derived from nationally representative dietary surveys conducted in 1986–7 and 2000–1. Predicted body weight in 1986 and 2000 was calculated using an equation relating body weight to total energy intake and sex. Differences in predicted mean body weight and actual mean body weight between the two time points were compared. Monte Carlo simulation methods were used to assess the stability of the estimates. The predicted increase in mean body weight due to changes in total energy intake between 1986 and 2000 was 4·7 (95 % credible interval 4·2, 5·3) kg for men and 6·4 (95 % credible interval 5·9, 7·1) kg for women. Actual mean body weight increased by 7·7 kg for men and 5·4 kg for women between the two time points. We conclude that increases in mean total energy intake are sufficient to explain the increase in mean body weight for women between 1986 and 2000, but for men, the increase in mean body weight is likely to be due to a combination of increased total energy intake and reduced physical activity levels.

Rural adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use: a comparison of students in Victoria, Australia, and Washington State, United States

Purpose: There are inconsistent research findings regarding the impact of rurality on adolescent alcohol, tobacco, and illicit substance use. Therefore, the current study reports on the effect of rurality on alcohol, tobacco, and illicit
drug use among adolescents in 2 state representative samples in 2 countries, Washington State (WA) in the United States and Victoria (VIC) in Australia.
Participants: The International Youth Development Study (IYDS) recruited representative samples of students from Grade 7 (aged 12 to 13 years) and Grade 9 (aged 14 to 15) in both states. A total of 3,729 students responded to questions about alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and other illicit substance use (n_VIC = 1,852; n_WA = 1,877). In each state, males and females were equally represented and ages ranged from 12 to 15 years.
Methods: Data were analyzed to compare lifetime and current (past 30 days) substance use for students located in census areas classified as urban, large or small town, and rural. Findings were adjusted for school clustering and
weighted to compare prevalence at median age 14 years.
Findings: Rates of lifetime and current alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis use were significantly higher in rural compared to urban students in both states (odds ratio for current substance use = 1.31).
Conclusions: In both Washington State and Victoria, early adolescent rural students use substances more frequently than their urban counterparts. Future studies should examine factors that place rural adolescents at risk for alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use.

Unusual suspects : a newspaper's coverage of a scuba diving rescue and journalism's role in narrating Australia

Brisbane’s Courier-Mail newspaper ran a fantastic story a couple of years ago about a couple left at sea behind by their tour boat, after going scuba diving. The story suggested American diver Allyson Dalton and her British partner Richard Neely ignored advice when they ventured away from a lagoon where the tour boat was anchored. But the focus was on how Neely and Dalton survived by treading water for 19 hours at Paradise Reef, part of Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef, not so much (yet) on how fortunate they were not to be attacked by sharks. It would not be long, however, before that old journalistic maxim that implores practitioners to ‘question every assertion, doubt every claim’ shaped the reportage into an extended narrative about chequebook journalism, credibility, and culpability.

The scuba dive rescue story analysis presented here reflects contemporary journalism’s role in the formation of ideas about cultural value and character, and in more complex determinations of who gets a participatory stake in the formation of national narratives. As such, the article concludes with some signposts toward a critical approach to journalism-centred studies of culture in Australia.

Corporate image in the leisure services sector

Purpose – This paper seeks to empirically examine the relationship between corporate image and customer satisfaction in the leisure services sector. It also aims to examine the mediating impact of employees and servicescape on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from a sample of 195 individuals who had visited an Australian zoological garden over a specified time period. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the validity of the measures, whilst structural equation modelling and multiple regression were used in hypothesis testing.
Findings – Findings reveal that corporate image has a significant positive relationship with customer satisfaction. Although the results indicate that the relationship between corporate image and customer satisfaction is not mediated by either servicescape or employees, they imply that corporate image and employees directly influence customer satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications – A single-case study design was implemented, limiting the generalisability of the findings. This provides an opportunity for replication of the model in other leisure services environments and services contexts outside the leisure services industry.
Practical implications – The findings reinforce the need for leisure services operators to prioritise the development of a strong, clear corporate image. The extended analysis illustrates that the disaggregated dimensions of corporate image are valuable to consider in terms of directing managerial strategy. Employees and servicescape are key aspects of the service offer on which management needs to focus to ensure that their desired corporate image is communicated and reinforced.
Originality/value – This study addresses an identified need to further examine the relationship between corporate image and customer satisfaction. It also contributes to corporate branding research by broadening the conceptualisation of the corporate image construct. Moreover, this study contributes to the corporate image literature by examining the mediating factors of employees and servicescape.

The emergence and development of specialist courts : lessons for juvenile justice from the history of the children’s court in South Australia?

To illustrate how specialist courts have developed to manage juvenile offenders, this paper provides an overview of the history and development of the youth court in one jurisdiction, South Australia. Drawing on interviews conducted with judicial officers, the paper seeks to highlight some of the changes that have taken place since the Court’s inception, as well as how the Court currently understands its role and positioning within the broader justice and welfare systems. Key discussion points of these interviews included the Youth Court’s guiding principles and how they impact on court procedures and responses to young people in the system, as well as the challenges that limit, or create difficulties for, the effective operation of the Youth Court. It is concluded that the Youth Court system attempts to balance both welfare and justice approaches to dealing with young people, but are sometimes hindered by inadequate procedural, structural and resource-related factors – some of which exist externally to the Youth Court itself.