David Cameron, Barack Obama and the US-UK ‘special relationship’

With David Cameron currently in Washington, John Dumbrell reviews the recent history of US-UK relations. The special relationship has clearly not been so stellar in recent times. With American foreign policy pivoting towards the Asia-Pacific region and US irritation with European contributions to NATO, Cameron will need to be very persuasive to resurrect the possibility of London acting as an ‘Atlantic bridge’ to Washingto

Compared to the recent record, Barack Obama’s presidency has been a successful one thus far

With the recent government shutdown and his expansion of the program of drone strikes in the Middle East, President Barack Obama has faced much criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike. John Dumbrell assesses the President’s record since he was first elected in 2008. He argues that, while evaluating presidential success is often not easy, Obama’s has a comparatively accomplished record in domestic policy via his health care and other reforms, and in the foreign policy arena, he has supplied America with a direction of ‘low-risk internationalism’, appropriate to lean economic times

Emerging Communication Technologies and Public Health Information Dissemination

Health promotion is a critical constituent of the public health system. Its primary objective is the empowerment of individuals and communities in the interest of positively influencing health behaviours and outcomes. One of the main ways in which successful health promotion is achieved is by the dissemination of relevant health information to individuals and communities. As global health costs rise to match the demands of an increasing and ageing population, such delivery of cost-effective public health information is explored. The recent advances in communication technologies have led to the development of social digital platforms (Web 2.0), with unprecedented opportunities for the extensive dissemination of relevant health information. The widespread uptake of social networking sites (SNS) presents a novel platform for public health promotion and management that can verily overcome the issues faced by current public health initiatives while reaching global populations of health consumers. This thesis aims to provide an exploratory analysis of the current landscape of health information communication across SNS, primarily through the platform Twitter. The research will address literature gaps in this cross-disciplinary field of health and communication sciences found for various SNS user-types, analyse and characterise the types of health information being disseminated across such platforms, as well as examine SNS activity during public health events. Public health officials and Web 2.0 platform developers can utilise findings from this thesis to address limitations of online public health-related communication insofar as they can assist with: a) advising plans for better engagement of information disseminated during health events; b) developing future applications and technologies that are appropriate for disadvantaged groups; c) identifying information dissemination strategies for authoritative health bodies and organizations to effectively reach populations

Athlone in the early twentieth century - a precursor to working class housing on the Cape Flats, 1900-1930

Bibliography: leaves 56-58.The initial work for this project was a photographic survey of the existing wood and iron buildings in Athlone. I was at the time a volunteer in the Urban Conservation Unit of the Cape Town City Council (hereafter UCU). My task was to docment the existing wood-and-iron buidlings in order to aid later development control decision-making. to a large extent, it was the results of the fieldwork, which both uncovered a need for further research and directed later archival and textual research

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF A PUBLIC HEALTH TWITTER CAMPAIGN: WORLD HEALTH DAY 2014

Public health campaigns aim to positively affect health-related behaviors and/or raise awareness of specific health conditions, risk factors and issues. These campaigns have traditionally relied upon various media and mechanisms for success, such as mass media distribution by television and radio, information propagation by individuals, involvement and engagement of stakeholders, and recruitment to the campaign of celebrities or advocates well known to the community.More recently, microblog platforms such as Twitter have also been increasingly utilized for public health campaign delivery. This is a relatively recent phenomenon and so is not yet well understood or studied. In this paper we provide an initial description of a case study of a global Twitter-based public health campaign, namely that involving the use of the #worldhealthday hashtag during and surrounding the 2014 World Health Day, April 7th 2014.In addition, the various characteristics and properties of this public health campaign within this contemporary medium are explored utilizing software tools that enable the capture and analysis of Twitter information flows

Motivations and barriers for Western Australian broad-acre farmers to adopt carbon farming

Available online 28 April 2017Carbon farming policies aim to contribute to climate change mitigation, but their success strongly depends on whether landholders actually adopt desired practices or participate in offered programs. The Australian Government’s Carbon Farming Initiative and Emissions Reduction Fund policies were designed to incentivise the adoption of carbon farming practices. Although these policies have been active since December 2011, farmer engagement has been limited, and net emissions reductions low as a result. We surveyed broad-acre farmers in the Western Australian wheatbelt to explore their drivers and barriers to adopting carbon farming practices and participating in carbon farming policy programs. Drivers of adoption included knowledge and perception of co-benefits (for yield, productivity, and the environment), knowing another adopter, and believing that changes to farm management are an appropriate method to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. Barriers to adoption included lack of information, uncertainty and costs. The key barrier to participation was policy and political uncertainty. The determinants of adoption and participation that we identify in our study offer important insights into how to best ensure the success of Australia’s land sector-based climate change policies. We conclude that, to increase landholder engagement, the co-benefits and climate change benefits of carbon farming practices must be actively promoted, and additional information is needed about the costs associated with adoption. Information diffusion is best achieved if it actively leverages landholder social networks. Finally, our results indicate that landholder buy-in to carbon farming could be greatly enhanced by achieving more continuity in Australian climate change policies and politics.Marit E. Kragt, Nikki P. Dumbrell, Louise Blackmor

Biosolids: Black gold in Western Australia

Of the three major wastewater treatment plants in the capital city of Perth, Western Australia, two produce dewatered biosolids cake (DBC) and the third produces lime-amended biosolids (LAB). The total production of both DBC and LAB in the 2004/2005-year was approximately 20,000 tonnes dry solids (t DS) and is increasing at a growth rate of 4% yr-1. The demand for Perth's biosolids as a low-grade fertiliser has outweighed supply and has achieved an average of 94% beneficial use for the past four years. The use of biosolids in Western Australia is strictly regulated by the 'Western Australian Guidelines for Direct Land Application of Biosolids and Biosolids Products 2002' (DEP et al. 2002). The three major users of biosolids in Western Australia include agriculture, forestry and composting accounting for 74%, 5% and 17% of the total biosolids production, respectively. Within the agricultural sector, the application of DBC commenced in 1996, mostly to wheat and canola crops in a dryland farming system. Local farmers have often referred to the biosolids as 'black gold' due to improvement in their crop yield and income following application. In forestry, biosolids research was commenced in 1998 on a 17 year-old pine plantation on the Swan Coastal Plain. Tree growth has improved significantly following the application of biosolids compared with inorganic fertiliser application, with no detrimental impact on groundwater quality. The composting of biosolids with other materials for domestic use and bagging has been practiced for more than 17 years.This paper summarises the evolution and current use of biosolids in Western Australia and highlights the main research programs instigated by the Water Corporation to ensure that Perth's biosolids are used beneficially and safely in the environment. Research has concentrated mostly on plant and tree nutrient uptake, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, heavy metals, composting of biosolids, flies and pathogens. Much of the research data has been collected within the Australian National Biosolids Research Project (NBRP)

The acceptability of overdose alert and response technologies : introducing the TPOM-ODART framework

Funding: This study was funded by Scottish Government Technology Enabled Care Directorate.Background Opioids were implicated in approximately 88,000 fatal overdoses (OD) globally. However, in principle all opioid OD are reversible with the timely administration of naloxone hydrochloride. Despite the widespread availability of naloxone among people who use opioids (PWUO), many who suffer fatal OD use alone, without others present to administer the reversal agent. Recognising this key aspect of the challenge calls for innovations, a number of technological approaches have emerged which aim to connect OD victims with naloxone. However, the acceptability of OD response technologies to PWUO is of key concern. Methods Drawing on the Technology People Organisations Macroenvironment (TPOM) framework, this study sought to integrate acceptability-related findings in this space with primary research data from PWUO, affected family members and service providers to understand the factors involved in harm reduction technology acceptability. A qualitative study using a focus group methodology was conducted. The participant groups were people with lived experience of problem opioid use, affected family members and service providers. Data analysis followed a multi-stage approach to thematic analysis and utilised both inductive and deductive methods. Results Thirty individuals participated in one of six focus groups between November 2021 and September 2022. The analysis generated six major themes, three of which are reported in this article—selected for their close relevance to PWUO and their importance to developers of digital technologies for this group. ‘Trust—in technologies, systems and people’ was a major theme and was closely linked to data security, privacy and confidentiality. ‘Balancing harm reduction, safety and ambivalence’ reflects the delicate balance technological solutions must achieve to be acceptable to PWUO. Lastly, ‘readiness—a double bind’ encapsulates the perception shared across participant groups, that those at the highest risk, may be the least able to engage with interventions. Conclusion Effective digital strategies to prevent fatal OD must be sensitive to the complex relationships between technological, social/human, organisational and wider macroenvironmental factors which can enable or impede intervention delivery. Trust, readiness and performance are central to technology acceptability for PWUO. An augmented TPOM was developed (the TPOM-ODART).Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Fungi in the future: interannual variation and effects of atmospheric change on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities

Understanding the natural dynamics of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and their response to global environmental change is essential for the prediction of future plant growth and ecosystem functions. We investigated the long-term temporal dynamics and effect of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and ozone (O3) concentrations on AM fungal communities. Molecular methods were used to characterize the AM fungal communities of soybean (Glycine max) grown under elevated and ambient atmospheric concentrations of both CO2 and O3 within a free air concentration enrichment experiment in three growing seasons over 5 yr. Elevated CO2 altered the community composition of AM fungi, increasing the ratio of Glomeraceae to Gigasporaceae. By contrast, no effect of elevated O3 on AM fungal communities was detected. However, the greatest compositional differences detected were between years, suggesting that, at least in the short term, large-scale interannual temporal dynamics are stronger mediators than atmospheric CO2 concentrations of AM fungal communities. We conclude that, although atmospheric change may significantly alter AM fungal communities, this effect may be masked by the influences of natural changes and successional patterns through time. We suggest that changes in carbon availability are important determinants of the community dynamics of AM fungi