Planning and governance approaches for protecting World Heritage Areas: A comparison of the Great Barrier Reef and the Florida Everglades

The focus of this paper is on two World Heritage Areas: the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia and the Everglades in Florida. While both are World Heritage listed by the UNESCO, the Everglades is on the "World Heritage in Danger" list and the Great Barrier Reef could be on this list within the next year if present pressures continue. This paper examines the planning approaches and governance structures used in these two areas (Queensland and Florida) to manage the growth and development pressures. To make the analysis manageable, given the scale of these World Heritage areas, case studies at the local government level will be used: the Cairns Regional Council in Queensland and Monroe County in Florida. The case study analysis will involve three steps: (1) examination of the various plans at the federal, state, local levels that impact upon environmental quality in the Great Barrier Reef and Everglades; (2) assessing the degree to which these plans have been implemented; and (3) determine if (and how) the plans have improved environmental quality. In addition to the planning analysis we will also examine the governance structures (Lebel et al. 2006) within which planning operates. In any comparative analysis context is important (Hantrais 2009). Contextual differences between Queensland and Florida have previously been examined by Sipe, et al. (2007) and will be used as the starting point for this analysis. Our operating hypothesis and preliminary analysis suggests that the planning approaches and governance structures used in Florida and Queensland are considerably different, but the environmental outcomes may be similar. This is based, in part, on Vella (2004) who did a comparative analysis of environmental practices in the sugar industry in Florida and Queensland. This research re-examines this hypothesis and broadens the focus beyond the sugar industry to growth and development more broadly.

Global journalism in the digital age

Mass media have transitioned in the past five years from being one-way communication mediums, from journalists to audiences, into an era of networked digital media in which individuals can easily publish text, photos and video to a world-wide audience.The power of the press is severely threatened and its business model is broken...

The contribution of ISO 14067 to the evolution of global greenhouse gas standards—A review

Due to the increasing recognition of global climate change, the building and construction industry is under pressure to reduce carbon emissions. A central issue in striving towards reduced carbon emissions is the need for a practicable and meaningful yardstick for assessing and communicating greenhouse gas (GHG) results. ISO 14067 was published by the International Organization for Standardization in May 2013. By providing specific requirements in the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, the standard clarifies the GHG assessment in the aspects of choosing system boundaries and simulating use and end-of-life phases when quantifying carbon footprint of products (CFPs). More importantly, the standard, for the first time, provides step-to-step guidance and standardized template for communicating CFPs in the form of CFP external communication report, CFP performance tracking report, CFP declaration and CFP label. ISO 14067 therefore makes a valuable contribution to GHG quantification and transparent communication and comparison of CFPs. In addition, as cradle-to-grave should be used as the system boundary if use and end-of-life phases can be simulated, ISO 14067 will hopefully promote the development and implementation of simulation technologies, with Building Information Modelling (BIM) in particular, in the building and construction industry.

Exploring the usefulness of structural-functional approaches to systematically assess the functionality of governance arrangements for natural resource management planning in two Australian case studies

This research developed and applied an evaluative framework to analyse multiple scales of decision-making for environmental management planning. It is the first exploration of the sociological theory of structural-functionalism and its usefulness to support evidence based decision-making in a planning context. The framework was applied to analyse decision-making in Queensland's Cape York Peninsula and Wet Tropics regions.

Global journalism investigations in the digital age: Connections and collaborations

Investigative journalists who join what theorist Manuel Castells describes as the ‘network society’ can locate potential news sources using various social media platforms and interview them using Web-based communication technologies. The potential for journalistic investigations involving multi-directional conversations with news sources across the globe is beginning to be explored. Potential news sources who are part of the network society have unprecedented access to specialist investigative reporters irrespective of their location and can speak to them more cost effectively than in the past. This paper explores how new journalism technologies are allowing journalists to call powerful individuals and institutions to account, irrespective of national borders; and how previously silenced individuals are being given a voice. To read an example of international investigative journalism facilitated by a combination of social media, Web-based communications, reporter collaboration and news outlet collaborations see http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/churchs-wall-of-silence-on-sexual-abuse/story-e6frg6z6-1226639077238.

Restraint in the age of speed: Protecting vulnerable news sources in the 24/7 global news cycle

As news communication speeds up, investigative journalists have an increasing responsibility to minimise the risk of harm to vulnerable news sources. In addition, the increased longevity and instant global search-ability of news coverage and investigative journalism outputs such as documentaries, places upon journalists an increased responsibility for accuracy since online coverage cannot be easily corrected or retracted. This paper will examine how the risks to a news source and her family were considered and mitigated during the production of a radio documentary and newspaper story about an intended victim of child sacrifice. Pre-publication considerations included the possible risks to the mental health of the news source, the potential physical risk to her children and the risk to future family relationships. To hear the ABC Radio National documentary, A living sacrifice, on 360 Documentaries prior to the conference, see http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/360/a-living-sacrifice/5359744. To read the Sunday Mail newspaper coverage of the story see http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/susannah-birch-talks-about-her-throat-being-slit-by-her-mother-when-she-was-a-baby/story-fnihsrf2-1226881911465.

Meta-regulation approach to raise social accountability In global supply firms

This Article proposes a meta-regulation approach to address the gap between the objectives, commitment, practice and outcome in the accountability practice of the global supply chain in the developing countries. The literatures on the accountability practice in the global supply chains typically focuses on the strategies for raising corporate social accountability standards in multinational buying firms and seldom focuses on this strategies in the outsourced firms in the developing countries. This article tries to fill this void by examining the situation in Bangladesh, the third largest RMG supply country in the world. It conceptualizes a meta-regulation approach with the aim of raising social accountability practice in this industry. It shows that this regulation approach is suitable to effectively raise this practice standard in a perspective where the non-legal drivers are meagrely low, global buying firms are highly profit driven and the governmental agencies are either inadequate or highly corrupt.

Genome Sequence of Acinetobacter baumannii Strain A1, an Early Example of Antibiotic-Resistant Global Clone 1

Acinetobacter baumannii isolate A1 was recovered in the United Kingdom in 1982 and belongs to global clone 1 (GC1). Here, we present its complete 3.91-Mbp genome sequence, generated via a combination of short-read sequencing (Illumina), long-read sequencing (PacBio), and manual finishing.

7-point Subjective Global Assessment is more time sensitive than conventional Subjective Global Assessment in detecting nutrition changes

Background: It is important for nutrition intervention in malnourished patients to be guided by accurate evaluation and detection of small changes in the patient’s nutrition status over time. However, the current Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) is not able to detect changes in a short period of time. The aim of the study was to determine whether 7-point SGA is more time sensitive to nutrition changes than the conventional SGA. Methods: In this prospective study, 67 adult inpatients assessed as malnourished using both the 7-point SGA and conventional SGA were recruited. Each patient received nutrition intervention and was followed up post-discharge. Patients were reassessed using both tools at 1, 3 and 5 months from baseline assessment. Results: It took significantly shorter time to see a one-point change using 7-point SGA compared to conventional SGA (median: 1 month vs. 3 months, p = 0.002). The likelihood of at least a one-point change is 6.74 times greater in 7-point SGA compared to conventional SGA after controlling for age, gender and medical specialties (odds ratio = 6.74, 95% CI 2.88-15.80, p<0.001). Fifty-six percent of patients who had no change in SGA score had changes detected using 7-point SGA. The level of agreement was 100% (k = 1, p < 0.001) between 7-point SGA and 3-point SGA and 83% (k=0.726, p<0.001) between two blinded assessors for 7-point SGA. Conclusion: The 7-point SGA is more time sensitive in its response to nutrition changes than conventional SGA. It can be used to guide nutrition intervention for patients.

Perspectives on global nursing leadership: International experiences from the field

AIM Nursing leaders from six countries engaged in a year-long discussion on global leadership development. The purpose of these dialogues was to strengthen individual and collective capacity as nursing leaders in a global society. Field experiences in practice and education were shared. Perspectives on global leadership can strengthen nurses' contributions to practice, workplace and policy issues worldwide. BACKGROUND Transformational leadership empowers nurses' increasing confidence. Mentoring is needed to stimulate leadership development but this is lacking in many settings where nurses practice, teach and influence policy. Organizations with global mission provide opportunity for nurses' professional growth in leadership through international dialogues. PROCEDURES Dialogues among participants were held monthly by conference calls or videoconferences. Example stories from each participant illustrated nursing leadership in action. From these exemplars, concepts were chosen to create a framework. Emerging perspectives and leadership themes represented all contexts of practice, education, research and policy. The cultural context of each country was reflected in the examples. RESULTS Themes emerged that crossed global regions and countries. Themes were creativity, change, collaboration, community, context and courage. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING AND HEALTH POLICY Relationships initially formed in professional organizations can be extended to intentionally facilitate global nursing leadership development. Exemplars from the dialogues demonstrated nursing leadership in health policy development within each cultural context. Recommendations are given for infrastructure development in organizations to enhance future collaborations.