The choice of spatial scales and spatial smoothness priors for various spatial patterns

Given the drawbacks for using geo-political areas in mapping outcomes unrelated to geo-politics, a compromise is to aggregate and analyse data at the grid level. This has the advantage of allowing spatial smoothing and modelling at a biologically or physically relevant scale. This article addresses two consequent issues: the choice of the spatial smoothness prior and the scale of the grid. Firstly, we describe several spatial smoothness priors applicable for grid data and discuss the contexts in which these priors can be employed based on different aims. Two such aims are considered, i.e., to identify regions with clustering and to model spatial dependence in the data. Secondly, the choice of the grid size is shown to depend largely on the spatial patterns. We present a guide on the selection of spatial scales and smoothness priors for various point patterns based on the two aims for spatial smoothing.

Strengthening Social and Emotional Learning in Children with Special Needs

Locally and globally, guiding children’s social and emotional development is no longer optional for educators. Research undertaken over the last 20 years provides compelling evidence that early and ongoing development of socio-emotional skills contributes to an individual’s overall health, wellbeing and competence throughout life. Moreover, competence in this domain is now recognised as fundamental to school readiness, school adjustment and academic achievement. As a consequence, social and emotional learning (SEL) is an important theme in current educational policy, curriculum frameworks and classroom practice. This chapter focuses on a particular group of vulnerable learners – children with special needs – and highlights key strategies for educators to use in their everyday classroom practices to strengthen SEL in children from early years through to the end of primary school.

Southern New England Social and Community Plan 2009 - Covering Local Government Authorities: Armidale Dumaresq, Guyra, Uralla and Walcha

The Southern New England (SNE) Social and Community Plan is a guide to collaborative, integrated planning involving the three spheres of government, the community and commercial sectors. The Plan is based on social justice principles such as: • Equity - fairness in resource distribution, particularly for those most in need • Access - fairer access for everyone to the economic resources and services essential to meeting their basic needs and improving their quality of life • Rights - recognition and promotion of civil rights • Participation - better opportunities for genuine participation and consultation about decisions affecting people's lives. The Plan is also aimed at improving the accountability of decision-makers, and should help the councils, in conjunction with their communities meet the state government's social justice commitments. Preparation of a social and community plan is required at least every five years, and as with most councils, Armidale Dumaresq Council (ADC) has produced two already, one in 1999 and one in 2004, following the amalgamation of the former Armidale City and Dumaresq Shire Councils in 2000. Those Councils formerly prepared their own Plans in 1999, based on shared consultancy work on a community profile. This is the first joint Southern New England Plan, featuring Armidale Dumaresq, Walcha, Uralla and Guyra Councils. This Social Plan has aimed to identify and address the needs of the local community by: • describing who makes up the community • summarising key priority issues • assessing the effectiveness of any previous plans • recommending strategic ways for council and other government and non-government agencies to met community needs.

Young People and Crime in Rural Communities

Because childhood and adolescence are crucial phases in psycho-social development and the formation of responsible citizens, an unusual degree of attention and supervision is directed at the young (Bittner, 1976; Rose, 1989). Such is the moral frailty of youth that mere presence or 11 doing nothing" (Corrigan, 1979) can, under certain circumstances, excite adult anxieties as a harbinger of immediate or later danger. Delinquency and adolescent antisocial behaviour are not, therefore, a matter of objective, positivistic measurement and control, but are bound up with larger patterns of intergenerational relationships. These relationships are also conditioned by social and spatial environments.

Temporal and spatial patterns of seed dispersal of Musa acuminata by Cynopterus sphinx

The foraging behavior of greater short-nosed fruit bats (Cynopterus sphinx) on wild banana (Musa acuminata) and subsequent dispersal of seeds were studied in the Tropical Rainforest Conservation Area, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Yunnan province, by direct observation of marked fruits, mist netting, and seed collection. The mean number (± SE) of individual C. sphinx captured by mist net were 2.2 ± 0.33/day and 1.4 ± 0.32/day in the rainy season (September to October) and dry season (November to December), respectively; the difference was not significant. The number of seed pellets expelled was 9.0 ± 1.12/day and 7.2 ± 1.37/day in the rainy and dry seasons respectively; again the difference was not significant. The removal curves for marked fruit were similar for 10 focal trees. Fruits were consumed heavily within two weeks after ripening and all the marked fruit were removed within one month. The difference in seed dispersal was significant between different feeding roosts indicating that patterns of seed dispersal may not be uniform. We found the seeds of M. acuminata can be dispersed by C. sphinx to a distance of about 200 m, and C. sphinx can be considered as an effective seed disperser of M. acuminata.

Social and cultural drivers of incentive effectiveness in infrastructure projects

Formal incentives systems aim to encourage improved performance by offering a reward for the achievement of project-specific goals. Despite argued benefits of incentive systems on project delivery outcomes, there remains debate over how incentive systems can be designed to encourage the formation of strong project relationships within a complex social system such as an infrastructure project. This challenge is compounded by the increasing emphasis in construction management research on the important mediating influence of technical and organisational context on project performance. In light of this challenge, the research presented in this paper focuses on the design of incentive systems in four infrastructure projects: two road reconstructions in the Netherlands and two building constructions in Australia. Based on a motivational theory frame, a cross case analysis is conducted to examine differences and similarities across social and cultural drivers impacting on the effectiveness of the incentive systems in light of infrastructure project context. Despite significant differences in case project characteristics, results indicate the projects’ experience similar social drivers impacting on incentive effectiveness. Significant value across the projects was placed on: varied performance goals and multiple opportunities to across the project team to pursue incentive rewards; fair risk allocation across contract parties; value-driven tender selection; improved design-build integration; and promotion of future work opportunities. However, differences across the contexts were identified. Results suggest future work opportunities were a more powerful social driver in upholding reputation and establishing strong project relationships in the Australian context. On the other hand, the relationship initiatives in the Dutch context seemed to be more broadly embraced resulting in a greater willingness to collaboratively manage project risk. Although there are limitations with this research in drawing generalizations across two sets of case projects, the results provide a strong base to explore the social and cultural influences on incentive effectiveness across different geographical and contextual boundaries in future research.

Considerations for a social and geographical framework for agent-based epidemics

Understanding the dynamics of disease spread is of crucial importance, in contexts such as estimating load on medical services to risk assessment and intervention policies against large-scale epidemic outbreaks. However, most of the information is available after the spread itself, and preemptive assessment is far from trivial. Here, we investigate the use of agent-based simulations to model such outbreaks in a stylised urban environment. For most diseases, infection of a new individual may occur from casual contact in crowds as well as from repeated interactions with social partners such as work colleagues or family members. Our model therefore accounts for these two phenomena.Presented in this paper is the initial framework for such a model, detailing implementation of geographical features and generation of social structures. Preliminary results are a promising step towards large-scale simulations and evaluation of potential intervention policies.

Temporal and spatial gait characteristics of transfemoral amputees fitted with osseointegrated fixation: preliminary data

The conventional method of attachment of prosthesis involves on a socket. A new method relying on osseointegrated fixation is emerging. It has significant prosthetic benefits. Only a few studies demonstrated the biomechanical benefits. The ultimate aim of this study was to characterise the functional outcome of transfemoral amputees fitted with osseointegrated fixation, which can be assess through temporal and spatial gait characteristics. The specific objective of this preliminary study was to present the key temporal and spatial gait characteristics.

Exploring cultural, social and psychosocial influences on women's drinking across age cohorts

This program of research used a mixed methods approach to explore the cultural, social and psychosocial factors that influence women's alcohol consumption. Results indicated that there were a number of common influencing factors across women of all ages but also a number of key influences and behaviours that were distinct for younger and older women. These findings emphasised the need for age-specific interventions that target these influences to reduce women's exposure to alcohol-related harm. This research is one of the first studies to examine alcohol consumption of both younger and older women.

Seasonal and spatial variations in rare earth elements to identify inter-aquifer linkages and recharge processes in an Australian catchment

With the aim of elucidating the seasonal behaviour of rare earth elements (REEs), surface and groundwaters were collected under dry and wet conditions in different hydrological units of the Teviot Brook catchment (Southeast Queensland, Australia). Sampled waters showed a large degree of variability in both REE abundance and normalised patterns. Overall REE abundance ranged over nearly three orders of magnitude, and was consistently lower in the sedimentary bedrock aquifer (18ppt<∑REE<477ppt) than in the other hydrological systems studied. Abundance was greater in springs draining rhyolitic rocks (∑REE=300 and 2054ppt) than in springs draining basalt ranges (∑REE=25 and 83ppt), yet was highly variable in the shallow alluvial groundwater (16ppt<∑REE<5294ppt) and, to a lesser extent, in streamwater (85ppt<∑REE<2198ppt). Generally, waters that interacted with different rock types had different REE patterns. In order to obtain an unbiased characterisation of REE patterns, the ratios between light and middle REEs (R(M/L)) and the ratios between middle and heavy REEs (R(H/M)) were calculated for each sample. The sedimentary bedrock aquifer waters had highly evolved patterns depleted in light REEs and enriched in middle and heavy REEs (0.17and -0.16and extrusive rocks had relatively flat patterns (0.20and -0.16and median R(H/M)=-0.04), and waters from the shallow alluvial aquifer had very diverse patterns with important spatial variations. Samples collected from the alluvium exhibited an increasing influence of the sedimentary bedrock from upgradient to downgradient; typically they showed flat patterns in the upstream section of the alluvium (median R(M/L)=0.21 and median R(H/M)=-0.06) gradually evolving towards patterns depleted in light REEs and enriched in middle and heavy REEs downgradient (median R(M/L)=0.48 and median R(H/M)=0.38). To document the seasonal variations in REE patterns, the difference in ratios between dry and wet sampling campaigns was determined for each repeated sampling location. Contributions from the sedimentary bedrock water to the alluvium during the wet season were identified at two locations (increase from R(H/M)=0.03 and 0.35 to R(H/M)=0.62 and 0.89). The effect of recharge through fractured igneous rocks was also observed in two boreholes intercepting the sedimentary bedrock, where the freshly recharged waters likely contributed to the deeper groundwater flow during the wet season (decrease from R(M/L)=0.81 and 0.56 to R(M/L)=0.46 and 0.17). Results from this study suggest that REEs may be usefully applied as indicators of recharge processes and inter-aquifer mixing. They also underline the importance of conducting seasonal sampling campaigns to capture possible short-term variations in REE patterns and abundance, which is essential to enable a better understanding of hydrological and hydrochemical processes in complex geological settings

Temporal and Spatial Patterns in Recruitment of Three Penaeid Prawns in Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia

The size at recruitment, temporal and spatial distribution, and abiotic factors influencing abundance of three commercially important species of penaeid prawns in the sublittoral trawl grounds of Moreton Bay (Queensland, Australia) were compared. Metapenaeus bennettae and Penaeus plebejus recruit to the trawl grounds at sizes which are relatively small (14-15 mm carapace length, CL) and below that at which prawns are selected for, and retained, in the fleet's cod-ends. In contrast, Penaeus esculenlus recruit at the relatively large size of 27 mm CL from February to May, well above the size ranges selected for. Recruitment of M. bennettae extends over several months, September-October and February March, and was thus likely to be bi-annual, while the recruitment period of P. plebejus was distinct, peaking in October-November each year. Size classes of M . bennettae were the most spatially stratified of the three species. Catch rates of recruits were negatively correlated with depth for all three species, and were also negatively correlated with salinity for M. bennettae.

Do stakeholders or social obligations drive corporate social and environmental responsibility reporting? Managerial views from a developing country

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore senior managers’ perception and motivations of corporate social and environmental responsibility (CSER) reporting in the context of a developing country, Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach – In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 senior managers of companies listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange. Publicly available annual reports of these companies were also analysed. Findings – The results indicate that senior managers perceive CSER reporting as a social obligation. The study finds that the managers focus mostly on child labour, human resources/rights, responsible products/services, health education, sports and community engagement activities as part of the social obligations. Interviewees identify a lack of a regulatory framework along with socio-cultural and religious factors as contributing to the low level of disclosures. These findings suggest that CSER reporting is not merely stakeholder-driven, but rather country-specific social and environmental issues play an important role in relation to CSER reporting practices. Research limitations/implications – This paper contributes to engagement-based studies by focussing on CSER reporting practices in developing countries and are useful for academics, practitioners and policymakers in understanding the reasons behind CSER reporting in developing countries. Originality/value – This paper addresses a literature “gap” in the empirical study of CSER reporting in a developing country, such as Bangladesh. This study fills a gap in the existing literature to understand managers’ motivations for CSER reporting in a developing country context. Managerial perceptions on CSER issues are largely unexplored in developing countries.