The tyranny of distance – mapping accessibility to polysomnography services across Australia

This paper finds that remote and very remote communities continue to experience inequity in health care in accessibility to specialist services such as diagnostic sleep studies. Abstract Objectives: To identify service gaps by mapping accessibility to diagnostic sleep studies across Australia using a Geographic Information System (GIS). Methods: Census-level data stratified by statistical areas were mapped to measure accessibility to polysomnography (PSG) based on geographical location of patients. All adult publicly funded home and laboratory-based PSG performed in Australia in 2012 were mapped to statistical areas based on patient address at the time of the sleep study. Results: Sleep health care is extremely under-resourced in central and northern Australia. For those living in areas classified as remote and very remote, geographical distance appears to be a barrier to the accessibility of specialist sleep services. Conclusions: Remote and very remote communities continue to experience inequity in health care in general and in accessibility to specialist services in particular. Attention needs to be given to barriers which may limit equitable accessibility. Implications: Residing in remote communities with limited or no public transport options is likely to have a particularly significantly impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ ability to access PSG. Authored by Woods C, Usher K, Edwards A, Jersmann H, and Maguire G

The Normative Implication of the B Corp Movement in the Business and Human Rights Context (abstract)

Over the past decades, issues of corporate accountability and social responsibility have risen to the forefront of international debate. The U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Guiding Principles), endorsed by the U.N. HRC in June 2011, lays out authoritatively the state duty to protect and the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. In an effort to operationalize the Guiding Principles, the U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights has called on all states to develop a National Action Plan (NAP) regarding domestic implementation of the Guiding Principles. A key first-step in the creation of a NAP is the completion of a national baseline assessment, a taking of stock of the current conditions affecting the protection and promotion of human rights by the state and businesses alike. With over twenty-five countries now committed to the creation of a NAP, it is increasingly important to evaluate the existing corporate landscape, specifically structures that claim to be socially and ethically motivated. The B Corp movement began in 2006, through the work of California based non-profit B-Lab. A B Corp is a business certified by B-Lab as committed to creating and supporting social and environmental rights. The B Corp movement has grown in size and stature, spreading into over thirty countries and garnering a reputation for excellence. Boosts to the movement have recently come from the certification of large multinational companies, and the interest of others that followed. As the B Corp movement continues to proliferate, it’s normative value on the business and human rights field merits analysis. What are the normative implications of the B Corp movement?—Is it a tool that should be embraced by business and human rights activists or one that undermines the movement by enabling corporations to claim an inability to take into account ethical considerations without adoption of a special corporate form

The Implications of the B Corp Movement in the Business and Human Rights Context

For decades, human rights advocates have called for greater corporate accountability in relation to the harmful impacts business operations can, and often do, have on individuals, communities, and societies throughout the world. As high profile cases of large multinational corporations complicit in human rights abuses have increasingly come to the fore, the need to clarify both the role of States to effectively regulate multinational corporations (MNCs) and the standards of corporate responsibility and accountability with regards to human rights has become stark.The work of the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General on Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprise, John Ruggie, aimed to address this gap. Over the course of his six-year mandate, Ruggie established the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Guiding Principles), a three-pillared framework outlining the State duty to protect human rights, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, and the need for access to remedy in relation to business related human rights harms.The Guiding Principles, comprised of thirty-one foundation and operational principles, lay out in authoritative detail,inter alia, theobligations and responsibilities of State and corporate actors in regards to business impacts on human rights. The U.N. Human Rights Council unanimously adopted the Guiding Principles in 2011 and thereafter called on countries in2014 to develop National Action Plans (NAPs) to promote further implementation of the Guiding Principles on a domestic scale.A key first step in the creation of a NAP is the completion of a National Baseline Assessment (NBA). The NBA is intended to assess, principle by principle, a State’s current implementation of the business and human rights framework, highlighting current legal and policy developments and illustrating gaps that the NAP’s content should address

The Great Sioux Nation v. the Black Snake : Native American Rights and the Keystone XL Pipeline

The Keystone XL Pipeline has been shrouded in controversy almost since its conception. As a structure intending to cross the Canadian border into the United States, the Pipeline must receive presidential approval before construction can commence. Since 2008, TransCanada has at- tempted to obtain this approval unsuccessfully. Criticism against the Pipe- line has focused largely on the negative environmental impacts that will likely accompany its construction and utilization, and it is precisely these environmental concerns that have ultimately stymied presidential approval and made international headlines. In November 2015, the U.S. government denied TransCanada\u27s application, effectively killing the Keystone XL pro- ject. While the Keystone XL project no longer poses a physical threat to the environment, an overview of the U.S. government\u27s consideration of the project reveals drastic flaws in process, specifically in regards to the human rights of a substantial portion of individuals who would be nega- tively affected by the Keystone XL Pipeline-the Sioux Nation. The Pipeline was set to run through a substantial portion of the Black Hills of South Dakota-the sovereign and treaty lands of the Great Sioux Nation. This black snake threatened not only the environment of the Sioux lands, but also sites sacred to the tribes. The Sioux Nation had risen up in defense of their lands, and their right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) before the state could undertake projects on their indige- nous lands. While the U.S. government maintains it complied with domestic standards regarding Indian consultation and with its perverse interpreta- tion of the right to FPIC protected under the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, its actions fell drastically short of those expected by the United Nations and required by the Inter-American Human Rights Sys- tem. This paper argues that under the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man, the U.S. should have obtained the fully informed con- sent of the Sioux Nation before approving the Keystone XL Pipeline

Engaging the U.N. Guiding principles on business and human rights: the inter-american commission on human rights & the extractive sector

In recent years, the business and human rights movement has climbed to the top of the international human rights agenda. Starting in the 1970s, as multinational corporations increased in fiscal and political power throughout the neoliberal boom of the era, and as corporate complicity in large scale human rights abuses came to light, civil society and governments alike began to push for increased corporate accountability.1 After multiple failed endeavors within the United Nations system at drafting a binding code of conduct for transnational corporations, in 2011, the Human Rights Council adopted the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Guiding Principles).2 These principles lay out, in three pillars, the state duty to protect individuals against human rights abuses; the corporate responsibility to respect human rights; and the need for greater access to judicial and non-judicial remedies for victims of corporate human rights abuse.3 Following the endorsement of the Guiding Principles, the subsequently created Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises called upon states to begin operationalizing the Guiding Principles through the creation of National Action Plans (NAPs)—“evolving policy strateg[ies]” aimed at creating cohesive and coherent implementation.4 Over thirty countries have committed to creating a NAP, including many within the inter-American system, signaling the region’s readiness to engage with the Guiding Principles.

X-ray and Near-IR Variability of the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar 1E 1048.1-5937: From Quiescence Back to Activity

(Abridged) We report on new and archival X-ray and near-infrared observations of the anomalous X-ray pulsar 1E 1048.1-5937 performed between 2001-2007 with RXTE, CXO, Swift, HST, and VLT. During its ~2001-2004 active period, 1E 1048.-5937 exhibited two large, long-term X-ray pulsed-flux flares as well as short bursts, and large (>10x) torque changes. Monitoring with RXTE revealed that the source entered a phase of timing stability in 2004; at the same time, a series of four simultaneous observations with CXO and HST in 2006 showed that its X-ray flux and spectrum and near-IR flux, all variable prior to 2005, stabilized. The near-IR flux, when detected by HST (H~22.7 mag) and VLT (K_S~21.0 mag), was considerably fainter than previously measured. Recently, in 2007 March, this newfound quiescence was interrupted by a sudden flux enhancement, X-ray spectral changes and a pulse morphology change, simultaneous with a large spin-up glitch and near-IR enhancement. Our RXTE observations revealed a sudden pulsed flux increase by a factor of ~3 in the 2-10 keV band. In observations with CXO and Swift, we found that the total X-ray flux increased much more than the pulsed flux, reaching a peak value of >7 times the quiescent value (2-10 keV). With these recent data, we find a strong anti-correlation between X-ray flux and pulsed fraction, and a correlation between X-ray spectral hardness and flux. Simultaneously with the radiative and timing changes, we observed a significant X-ray pulse morphology change such that the profile went from nearly sinusoidal to having multiple peaks. We compare these remarkable events with other AXP outbursts and discuss implications in the context of the magnetar model and other models of AXP emission.Comment: 13 pages (6 figures) in emulateapj style. Accepted for publication in ApJ. New version includes referee's corrections; split Figure 1 into 2 figures; modified Figs. 4b and 6b; rearranged and renumbered of some figures and sections; added an X-ray dataset; improved analysis of pulse morphology and pulsed fraction; added paragraph to sec. 3.2.

Complexity, safety and challenges: Emergency responders’ experience of people affected by methamphetamines

Providing care to methamphetamine‐related callout events in the prehospital environment is often complex and resource‐intensive, requiring staff to manage agitation and violence‐related side effects of methamphetamines. In Australia, emergency responders are increasingly required to attend events related to methamphetamines, even though reports suggest methamphetamine use across Australia has declined. The aim of the study was to explore Australian police and paramedic experiences attending methamphetamine‐related events. A qualitative descriptive phenomenology design was employed using semi‐structured interviews with employed police (10) and paramedics (8) from Australia. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Participants described the complexities associated with providing prehospital care to people affected by methamphetamines. Participants described associated domestic/family violence, increased levels of violence, challenges with communication, and responder emotional and psychological distress and physical injury. Violence associated with methamphetamine use is a critical factor in prehospital care. Workplace violence and family/domestic violence are important issues that require further research to ensure families and staff are well supported and have the services they need to continue responding to people affected by methamphetamine use