The commodification and exploitation of fresh water: Property, human rights and green criminology

In recent years, both developing and industrialised societies have experienced riots and civil unrest over the corporate exploitation of fresh water. Water conflicts increase as water scarcity rises and the unsustainable use of fresh water will continue to have profound implications for sustainable development and the realisation of human rights. Rather than states adopting more costly water conservation strategies or implementing efficient water technologies, corporations are exploiting natural resources in what has been described as the “privatization of water”. By using legal doctrines, states and corporations construct fresh water sources as something that can be owned or leased. For some regions, the privatization of water has enabled corporations and corrupt states to exploit a fundamental human right. Arguing that such matters are of relevance to criminology, which should be concerned with fundamental environmental and human rights, this article adopts a green criminological perspective and draws upon Treadmill of Production theory.

Environmental context for late Holocene human occupation of the South Wellesley Archipelago, Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia

A 2400 year record of environmental change is reported from a wetland on Bentinck Island in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia. Three phases of wetland development are identified, with a protected coastal setting from ca. 2400 to 500 years ago, transitioning into an estuarine mangrove forest from ca. 500 years ago to the 1940s, and finally to a freshwater swamp over the past +60 years. This sequence reflects the influence of falling sea-levels, development of a coastal dune barrier system, prograding shorelines, and an extreme storm (cyclone) event. In addition, there is clear evidence of the impacts that human abandonment and resettlement have on the island's fire regimes and vegetation. A dramatic increase in burning and vegetation thickening was observed after the cessation of traditional Indigenous Kaiadilt fire management practices in the 1940s, and was then reversed when people returned to the island in the 1980s. In terms of the longer context for human occupation of the South Wellesley Archipelago, it is apparent that the mangrove phase provided a stable and productive environment that was conducive for human settlement of this region over the past 1000 years.

Awareness and knowledge of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) among ethnically diverse women varying in generation status

Although Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a common sexually transmitted infection, there is limited knowledge of HPV with ethnic/racial minorities experiencing the greatest disparities. This cross-sectional study used the most recent available data from the California Health Interview Survey to assess disparities in awareness and knowledge of HPV among ethnically/racially diverse women varying in generation status (N = 19,928). Generation status emerged as a significant predictor of HPV awareness across ethnic/racial groups, with 1st generation Asian-Americans and 1st and 2nd generation Latinas reporting the least awareness when compared to same-generation White counterparts. Also, generation status was a significant predictor of HPV knowledge, but only for Asian-Americans. Regardless of ethnicity/race, 1st generation women reported lowest HPV knowledge when compared to 2nd and 3rd generation women. These findings underscore the importance of looking at differences within and across ethnic/racial groups to identify subgroups at greatest risk for poor health outcomes. In particular, we found generation status to be an important yet often overlooked factor in the identification of health disparities.

Comparative analysis of genome maintenance genes in naked mole rat, mouse, and human

Genome maintenance (GM) is an essential defense system against aging and cancer, as both are characterized by increased genome instability. Here, we compared the copy number variation and mutation rate of 518 GM-associated genes in the naked mole rat (NMR), mouse, and human genomes. GM genes appeared to be strongly conserved, with copy number variation in only four genes. Interestingly, we found NMR to have a higher copy number of CEBPG, a regulator of DNA repair, and TINF2, a protector of telomere integrity. NMR, as well as human, was also found to have a lower rate of germline nucleotide substitution than the mouse. Together, the data suggest that the long-lived NMR, as well as human, has more robust GM than mouse and identifies new targets for the analysis of the exceptional longevity of the NMR.

Use of 3D printed materials as tissue-equivalent phantoms

This study used the specific example of 3D printing with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) as a means to investigate the potential usefulness of benchtop rapid prototyping as a technique for producing patient specific phantoms for radiotherapy dosimetry. Three small cylinders and one model of a human lung were produced via in-house 3D printing with ABS, using 90%, 50%, 30% and 10% ABS infill densities. These phantom samples were evaluated in terms of their geometric accuracy, tissue equivalence and radiation hardness, when irradiated using a range of clinical radiotherapy beams. The measured dimensions of the small cylindrical phantoms all matched their planned dimensions, within 1mm. The lung phantom was less accurately matched to the lung geometry on which it was based, due to simplifications introduced during the phantom design process. The mass densities, electron densities and linear attenuation coefficients identified using CT data, as well as the results of film measurements made using megavoltage photon and electron beams, indicated that phantoms printed with ABS, using infill densities of 30% or more, are potentially useful as lung- and tissue-equivalent phantoms for patient-specific radiotherapy dosimetry. All cylindrical 3D printed phantom samples were found to be unaffected by prolonged radiation and to accurately match their design specifications. However, care should be taken to avoid oversimplifying anatomical structures when printing more complex phantoms.

Human factors evaluation of a novel Australian approach for activating railway level crossings

There are currently 23,500 level crossings in Australia, broadly divided active level crossings with flashing lights; and passive level crossings controlled by stop and give way signs. The current strategy is to annually upgrade passive level crossings with active controls within a given budget, but the 5,900 public passive crossings are too numerous to be upgraded all. The rail industry is considering alternative options to treat more crossings. One of them is to use lower cost equipment with reduced safety integrity level, but with a design that would fail to a safe state: in case of the impossibility for the system to know whether a train is approaching, the crossing changes to a passive crossing. This is implemented by having a STOP sign coming in front of the flashing lights. While such design is considered safe in terms of engineering design, questions remain on human factors. In order to evaluate whether such approach is safe, we conducted a driving simulator study where participants were familiarized with the new active crossing, before changing the signage to a passive crossing. Our results show that drivers treated the new crossing as an active crossing after the novelty effect had passed. While most participants did not experience difficulties with the crossing being turned back to a passive crossing, a number of participants experienced difficulties stopping in time at the first encounter of such passive crossing. Worse, a number of drivers never realized the signage had changed, highlighting the link between the decision to brake and stop at an active crossing to the lights flashing. Such results show the potential human factor issues of changing an active crossing to a passive crossing in case of failure of the detection of the train.

Sport across cultures: Applications of the human capital model in refugee communities

When working with the world’s most vulnerable populations there are questions surrounding the salience of physical activity promotion programs given the multitude of basic needs that must first be met. Indeed, physical activity may be a low priority for individuals seeking safety, reunification with loved ones, and food for their families, as a subsistence lifestyle makes excess weight gain, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease irrelevant. Yet, when working with people from a refugee background for whom these challenges all too frequently apply, opportunities for sport and activity have repeatedly surfaced as desirable and needed, yet are utterly deficient. If we conceptualize physical activity purely as a chronic disease prevention tool, its significance within under-resourced communities is most assuredly lost; however, if we harness the power of physical activity to serve as an agent of positive social change, then it instantly becomes more meaningful and necessary.

IPCC Makes Climate A Human Rights Issue

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published its latest report upon the impacts of global warming, highlighting the pernicious impact of climate change upon public health, well-being, and even the survival of the human race.

The sequence: Inside the race for the human genome

The human genome project was a grand scientific enterprise which attracted both hyperbole and ridicule alike. The project was lauded as “the moon shot of the life sciences”, the “holy grail of man”, “the code of codes”, and “the book of life”. Such rhetoric has also received scorn. President George Bush senior managed to deflate the pretensions of the project with the accidental slip that it was the “human gnome initiative”. In The Sequence, Kevin Davies seeks to go beyond such metaphors, and provide a candid and honest account of the race of the human genome project. The author is indebted to the authoritative book The Gene Wars, which considered the early struggles over the human genome project. Robert Cook-Deegan observes that there was initially much debate over whether there should be a Human Genome Project at all: The debate became one of “big” science versus “small” science. The reliance on systematic technology development and goal-directed gene-mapping efforts presaged a new style for biology, one that elicited excitement from those attracted to whiz-bang technologies but drew gasps of revulsion from those who aspired to cultivate biology on a more modest scale and with decentralized organisation. The battle was, among other things, over whose vision would control the budget and which scientific aesthetic would prevail.

Opening Pandora's box: Secret treaty threatens human rights

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) 2011 - Twitter hashtag #ACTA - is a controversial trade agreement designed to provide for stronger enforcement of intellectual property rights.