Parks, people and planning: local perceptions of park management on the Ningaloo Coast, North West Cape, Western Australia

Attaining the ‘appropriate’ balance between human use of national parks and their protection is a topic of considerable public, scientific and business interest and is thus an important focus for research. An increasingly affluent and mobile western society has made tourism the world’s largest industry; an industry with a significant reliance on the attractions of protected areas such as national parks and their wildlife. Regional communities have benefited from protected areas through local tourism expenditure and government recognition of the economic and social values realized from protected areas. High levels of visitation, and the management of this human use require effective management. But tensions arise when park managers invoke policies and management prescriptions to mitigate the adverse affects of human use. These actions and the way they are implemented can have an alienating impact on local communities, particularly those with a direct business dependency on park tourism. This thesis explores the notion that truly sustainable management of national parks can only be achieved if park managers and communities living adjacent to parks work together in a partnership to meet each other’s needs and through this process, foster the long-term environmental, social and economic benefits that can be derived from these parks. This thesis documents how a local community perceives its park managers and thereby the impact that park management has on local communities. It then seeks to identify the opportunities for park managers and communities to improve the way they view each other and the skills, attitudes and approaches necessary to create the environment for a sustainable relationship and can deliver sustainable outcomes for both parties.Three methods were employed to progress this research; an extensive review of literature and theory on relevant aspects of the people and parks relationship; the use of a case study of communities adjacent to parks on the Ningaloo Coast; and, qualitative and quantitative surveys to inform those case studies. A resident perception survey of the Exmouth and Coral Bay communities was conducted in August 2005. At the same time key stakeholder representatives were interviewed. Secondary quantitative data on the areas economy and demographics was also collected to triangulate aspects of the primary data. The Ningaloo coast community’s perception of park management has been adversely affected by a recent (2004) management planning process for Ningaloo Marine Park that culminated in significant constraints being placed on recreational fishing access. Both the planning process and the decision have been the focus of community anger. Currently the levels of trust and respect within the community for the park agency and its management performance are low. Despite evidence that the parks of the Ningaloo coast make important social and economic contributions to the local communities of this area, the local community holds negative perceptions of the social and economic impacts of park management, and are influenced strongly by the local community’s attitudes, perceptions and feelings towards the park agency. The park agency’s inability to consult, involve and communicate with the local community (to the satisfaction of the local community) contributes to these attitudes, feelings and perceptions.Key findings include; the prevailing norms and belief systems within the park agency reinforce the classic managerial paradigm; park management fails to accommodate broader social and economic measures, which diminishes trust and undermines attempts to foster community involvement and stewardship; ineffectual leadership, poor communication and outmoded approaches to planning and community engagement, local apathy to involvement in park planning and a lack of community education in regard to the promotion of park values, programs and activities compound this situation. The Ningaloo coast has the potential to provide an exceptionally bright future for its local communities, based largely on the inherent natural and cultural values of Ningaloo Marine Park, Cape Range National Park and other associated reserves. Whether the potential to develop community stewardship of the parks of the Ningaloo coast is fully met depends largely on the willingness of park management to relinquish some of its power, establish a suitable governance model in order to work collaboratively with the community and communicate effectively with it in order to achieve sustainable futures for both the park and the community

Molecular phylogenies disprove a hypothesized C4 reversion in Eragrostis walteri (Poaceae)

Background and Aims The main assemblage of the grass subfamily Chloridoideae is the largest known clade of C4 plant species, with the notable exception of Eragrostis walteri Pilg., whose leaf anatomy has been described as typical of C3 plants. Eragrostis walteri is therefore classically hypothesized to represent an exceptional example of evolutionary reversion from C4 to C3 photosynthesis. Here this hypothesis is tested by verifying the photosynthetic type of E. walteri and its classification. Methods Carbon isotope analyses were used to determine the photosynthetic pathway of several E. walteri accessions, and phylogenetic analyses of plastid rbcL and ndhF and nuclear internal transcribed spacer DNA sequences were used to establish the phylogenetic position of the species. Results Carbon isotope analyses confirmed that E. walteri is a C3 plant. However, phylogenetic analyses demonstrate that this species has been misclassified, showing that E. walteri is positioned outside Chloridoideae in Arundinoideae, a subfamily comprised entirely of C3 species. Conclusions The long-standing hypothesis of C4 to C3 reversion in E. walteri is rejected, and the classification of this species needs to be re-evaluate

Minimum Information about a Neuroscience Investigation (MINI) Electrophysiology

This module represents the formalized opinion of the authors and the CARMEN consortium, which identifies the minimum information required to report the use of electrophysiology in a neuroscience study, for submission to the CARMEN system (www.carmen.org.uk).
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Adding web-based support to exercise referral schemes improves symptoms of depression in people with elevated depressive symptoms:A secondary analysis of the e-coachER randomised controlled trial

Background: Exercise referral schemes (ERS) reduce depression but the additional effect on mental health from web-based behavioural support is unknown. The e-coachER trial reported no effect of augmenting usual ERS with theory-driven web-based behavioural support on moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) at 12 months for patients with chronic physical and mental health conditions. The present study reports the effects of the e-coachER intervention on depression, anxiety and MVPA only among participants with elevated depressive symptoms and investigates whether these were mediated by changes in MVPA and hypothesised cognitive and behavioural processes. Methods: Of the original 450 adults recruited into the e-coachER trial, 205 had at least mild depression, based on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and were included in the present analysis. Data collected included the HADS, accelerometer measured and self-reported MVPA and survey process measures on physical activity action planning, self-monitoring and goal reviewing, and perceived importance, confidence, competence, autonomy and support. Linear mixed models were used to compare groups for change in depression and anxiety at 4 and 12 months using intention-to-treat complete case analysis, controlling for baseline. We also examined whether changes in physical activity and process variables at 4 months mediated changes in depression and anxiety at 12 months. Results: Of the 205 participants, 138 (67%) provided follow-up data at four months and 126 (61%) at 12 months. For those that provided follow-up data, those randomised to e-coachER reported improved levels of depression (−1.36, 95% CI: −2.55 to −0.18) but not anxiety, or MVPA, compared with controls at four months. No differences were observed at 12 months for depression, anxiety or MVPA. Intervention effects on accelerometer-measured or self-reported MVPA did not mediate improvements in depression or anxiety. However, intervention effects on confidence, competence and self-monitoring at four months significantly mediated the reduction in depression scores at four months. Intervention effects on competence and self-monitoring at four months also significantly mediated improvements in anxiety scores at four months. Interpretation: Adding web-based support to usual ERS leads to reductions in depression but not anxiety at four months. Changes in depression and anxiety were influenced by changing people's motivational regulations toward physical activity. The benefit of adding web-based support to usual ERS on mental health appears to be from increasing a sense of confidence, competence and self-monitoring rather than from increasing physical activity in people with elevated depression. ERS should focus more on strengthening motivational regulations than just doing more exercise. Trial registration: ISRCTN15644451.</p

Adding web-based support to exercise referral schemes improves symptoms of depression in people with elevated depressive symptoms:A secondary analysis of the e-coachER randomised controlled trial

Background: Exercise referral schemes (ERS) reduce depression but the additional effect on mental health from web-based behavioural support is unknown. The e-coachER trial reported no effect of augmenting usual ERS with theory-driven web-based behavioural support on moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) at 12 months for patients with chronic physical and mental health conditions. The present study reports the effects of the e-coachER intervention on depression, anxiety and MVPA only among participants with elevated depressive symptoms and investigates whether these were mediated by changes in MVPA and hypothesised cognitive and behavioural processes. Methods: Of the original 450 adults recruited into the e-coachER trial, 205 had at least mild depression, based on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and were included in the present analysis. Data collected included the HADS, accelerometer measured and self-reported MVPA and survey process measures on physical activity action planning, self-monitoring and goal reviewing, and perceived importance, confidence, competence, autonomy and support. Linear mixed models were used to compare groups for change in depression and anxiety at 4 and 12 months using intention-to-treat complete case analysis, controlling for baseline. We also examined whether changes in physical activity and process variables at 4 months mediated changes in depression and anxiety at 12 months. Results: Of the 205 participants, 138 (67%) provided follow-up data at four months and 126 (61%) at 12 months. For those that provided follow-up data, those randomised to e-coachER reported improved levels of depression (−1.36, 95% CI: −2.55 to −0.18) but not anxiety, or MVPA, compared with controls at four months. No differences were observed at 12 months for depression, anxiety or MVPA. Intervention effects on accelerometer-measured or self-reported MVPA did not mediate improvements in depression or anxiety. However, intervention effects on confidence, competence and self-monitoring at four months significantly mediated the reduction in depression scores at four months. Intervention effects on competence and self-monitoring at four months also significantly mediated improvements in anxiety scores at four months. Interpretation: Adding web-based support to usual ERS leads to reductions in depression but not anxiety at four months. Changes in depression and anxiety were influenced by changing people's motivational regulations toward physical activity. The benefit of adding web-based support to usual ERS on mental health appears to be from increasing a sense of confidence, competence and self-monitoring rather than from increasing physical activity in people with elevated depression. ERS should focus more on strengthening motivational regulations than just doing more exercise. Trial registration: ISRCTN15644451.</p

A process evaluation, with mediation analysis, of a web-based intervention to augment primary care exercise referral schemes:the e-coachER randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: The e-coachER trial aimed to determine whether adding web-based behavioural support to exercise referral schemes (ERS) increased long-term device-measured physical activity (PA) for patients with chronic conditions, compared to ERS alone, within a randomised controlled trial. This study explores the mechanisms of action of the e-coachER intervention using measures of the behaviour change processes integral to the intervention's logic model.METHODS: Four hundred fifty adults with obesity, diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis or history of depression referred to an ERS were recruited in Plymouth, Birmingham and Glasgow. The e-coachER intervention comprising 7-Steps to Health was aligned with Self-Determination Theory and mapped against evidence-based behaviour change techniques (BCTs). Participants completed questionnaires at 0, 4, and 12 months to assess PA and self-reported offline engagement with core BCTs in day-to-day life (including action planning and self-monitoring) and beliefs relating to PA (including perceived importance, confidence, competence, autonomy and support). We compared groups at 4 and 12 months, controlling for baseline measures and other covariates. Mediation analysis using the product of coefficients method was used to determine if changes in process variables mediated intervention effects on moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) recorded by accelerometer and self-report at 4- and 12-months.RESULTS: The internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha) for all multi-item scales was &gt; 0.77. At 4-months, those randomised to e-coachER reported higher levels of PA beliefs relating to importance (1.01, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.42 to 1.61, p = 0.001), confidence (1.28, 95% CI: 0.57 to 1.98, p &lt; 0.001), competence (1.61, 95% CI: .68 to 2.54, p = 0.001), availability of support (0.77, 95% CI: 0.07 to 1.48, p = 0.031), use of action planning (1.54, 95% CI: 0.23 to 2.85, p = 0.021) and use of self-monitoring (0.76, 95% CI: 0.19 to 1.32, p = 0.009) compared to ERS alone. There were no intervention effects on autonomous beliefs or perceived frequency of support, compared to ERS alone. At the 12-month follow-up, participants belief in the importance of PA was the only process measure to remain significantly higher in the e-coachER group when compared to ERS alone (0.75, 95% CI: 0.05 to 1.45). Intervention effects on perceived importance (2.52, 95% CI: 0.45 to 5.39), action planning (1.56, 95% CI: 0.10 to 3.54) and self-monitoring (1.92, 95% CI: 0.21 to 4.33) at 4-months significantly mediated change in accelerometer measured MVPA at 12-months (recorded in ≥ 10-min bouts).CONCLUSIONS: e-coachER led to some short-term changes in most process outcomes. Some of these processes also appeared to mediate e-coachER effects on changes in accelerometer measured MVPA. Further work should be carried out to understand how best to design and implement theoretically underpinned web-based physical activity promotion interventions within ERS.TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN, ISRCTN15644451 . Registered 12 February 2015.</p

Remote exercise testing in pulmonary hypertension (PHRET)

Remote exercise tests for patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) would improve the telemedicine strategies in this disease. The PHRET study assessed the validity and feasibility of four remote exercise tests performed by PH patients at home. Participants undergoing diagnostic assessment for PH were included. At baseline, patients completed a 6MWT followed by a range of study tests including a Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, a Sit-to-Stand (STS), a Step Test (ST), and a tele-6MWT (T6MWT) performed outside using a GPS-enabled smartphone. Patients performed these tests at home following discharge and at first follow-up. Analysis focused on comparing the results of study tests to the standard 6MWT. The discontinuation rate was 15%. Ninety-seven percent of patients were able to complete a TUG, 92% a STS, 73% a ST, and 49% a T6MWT. At baseline, correlation between the standard 6MWT and study tests, respectively, was T6MWT 0.93, ST 0.78, STS 0.71, and TUG −0.76 (p &lt; 0.001). Direction of change in the study test agreed with the standard 6MWT in 68% of the follow-up ST, 68% of the STS, 71% of the TUG, and 79% of the T6MWT. Patients were able to complete the tests at home, there were no adverse incidents and ≥92% of patients were happy to continue performing home tests. Remote exercise testing is feasible. The T6MWT was a valid remote measure of exercise capacity, but could only be performed by a limited number of patients. The high discontinuation rate may impact the utility of remote tests

The Lantern Vol. 76, No. 1, Fall 2008

• Cruel • A Night in Three Parts • The Moment I Said It • To Know • I Will Never Skipskipskip a Rock • The Ravine • Untitled • Skeleton • Midnight Letter • Where Children Come From • Orphan of War • Ciega / Mezquita • The Other Side • Those Dancing Days are Gone • Cycling • The 2nd of July • The Tantric Semantics of Studying Abroad • A Three-Part Study in Musical Relations • Amway Man • Hard Luck Investigator • Spring • Interview With Poet Eleanor Wilnerhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1173/thumbnail.jp

Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis

Adding web-based behavioural support to exercise referral schemes for inactive adults with chronic health conditions: the e-coachER Randomised Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: There is modest evidence that exercise referral schemes increase physical activity in inactive individuals with chronic health conditions. There is a need to identify additional ways to improve the effects of exercise referral schemes on long-term physical activity. OBJECTIVES: To determine if adding the e-coachER intervention to exercise referral schemes is more clinically effective and cost-effective in increasing physical activity after 1 year than usual exercise referral schemes. DESIGN: A pragmatic, multicentre, two-arm randomised controlled trial, with a mixed-methods process evaluation and health economic analysis. Participants were allocated in a 1 : 1 ratio to either exercise referral schemes plus e-coachER (intervention) or exercise referral schemes alone (control). SETTING: Patients were referred to exercise referral schemes in Plymouth, Birmingham and Glasgow. PARTICIPANTS: There were 450 participants aged 16-74 years, with a body mass index of 30-40 kg/m2, with hypertension, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, lower limb osteoarthritis or a current/recent history of treatment for depression, who were also inactive, contactable via e-mail and internet users. INTERVENTION: e-coachER was designed to augment exercise referral schemes. Participants received a pedometer and fridge magnet with physical activity recording sheets, and a user guide to access the web-based support in the form of seven 'steps to health'. e-coachER aimed to build the use of behavioural skills (e.g. self-monitoring) while strengthening favourable beliefs in the importance of physical activity, competence, autonomy in physical activity choices and relatedness. All participants were referred to a standard exercise referral scheme. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Minutes of moderate and vigorous physical activity in ≥ 10-minute bouts measured by an accelerometer over 1 week at 12 months, worn ≥ 16 hours per day for ≥ 4 days including ≥ 1 weekend day. SECONDARY OUTCOMES: Other accelerometer-derived physical activity measures, self-reported physical activity, exercise referral scheme attendance and EuroQol-5 Dimensions, five-level version, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale scores were collected at 4 and 12 months post randomisation. RESULTS: Participants had a mean body mass index of 32.6 (standard deviation) 4.4 kg/m2, were referred primarily for weight loss and were mostly confident self-rated information technology users. Primary outcome analysis involving those with usable data showed a weak indicative effect in favour of the intervention group (n = 108) compared with the control group (n = 124); 11.8 weekly minutes of moderate and vigorous physical activity (95% confidence interval -2.1 to 26.0 minutes; p = 0.10). Sixty-four per cent of intervention participants logged on at least once; they gave generally positive feedback on the web-based support. The intervention had no effect on other physical activity outcomes, exercise referral scheme attendance (78% in the control group vs. 75% in the intervention group) or EuroQol-5 Dimensions, five-level version, or Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale scores, but did enhance a number of process outcomes (i.e. confidence, importance and competence) compared with the control group at 4 months, but not at 12 months. At 12 months, the intervention group incurred an additional mean cost of £439 (95% confidence interval -£182 to £1060) compared with the control group, but generated more quality-adjusted life-years (mean 0.026, 95% confidence interval 0.013 to 0.040), with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of an additional £16,885 per quality-adjusted life-year. LIMITATIONS: A significant proportion (46%) of participants were not included in the primary analysis because of study withdrawal and insufficient device wear-time, so the results must be interpreted with caution. The regression model fit for the primary outcome was poor because of the considerable proportion of participants [142/243 (58%)] who recorded no instances of ≥ 10-minute bouts of moderate and vigorous physical activity at 12 months post randomisation. FUTURE WORK: The design and rigorous evaluation of cost-effective and scalable ways to increase exercise referral scheme uptake and maintenance of moderate and vigorous physical activity are needed among patients with chronic conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Adding e-coachER to usual exercise referral schemes had only a weak indicative effect on long-term rigorously defined, objectively assessed moderate and vigorous physical activity. The provision of the e-coachER support package led to an additional cost and has a 63% probability of being cost-effective based on the UK threshold of £30,000 per quality-adjusted life-year. The intervention did improve some process outcomes as specified in our logic model. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN15644451. FUNDING: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 24, No. 63. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.</p