Apps for local government and mobile web usage

Introduction Australia is slowly shifting to the concept of open and transparent governance that relies on a two-way communication system between the Government and citizens. One of the ways in which councils are engaging more with citizens is through the use of smart phone applications, or “apps” as they are more commonly known. App is a term used to describe Internet based applications that run on smart phones and other mobiles devices. Apps help users by connecting them to internet services more commonly accessed on desktop or notebook computers, and can make a website mobile phone viewer friendly. Over one billion of the world’s four billion plus mobiles phones are now smart phones, and at least three billion of all mobile phones are SMS enabled. By 2014, mobile internet-usage will overtake desktop internet usage and already in 2011 and currently more than 50% of all “local” searches are done from a mobile device. Councils can benefit from developing mobile apps as they can provide “…social networking platforms, content creation and sharing tools, weblogs and micro blogging tools that allow for a bidirectional information exchange within governmental organizations and government’s interactions with citizens.” This preliminary report is based upon a desktop search of apps (completed in two stages during Feb-June 2012), some extracts from the draft discussion paper From explanation to engagement: Application and use of social media to enhance local government performance (Anne Howard, ACELG-University of Canberra December 2011) and conclusions of the co-authors. Every effort has been made to compile lists of all relevant apps (Apple iPhone and Android platforms). However, this area of mobile web applications is moving very quickly. New apps are being released every day, and this includes many specifically for local government

Anglo -Spanish rivalry and the development of the colonial Southeast, 1670--1720

This study investigates the role played by the rivalry between English Carolina and Spanish Florida in the history of the colonial Southeast from the mid-seventeenth century through the 1720s. It contends that, from standpoint of the local inhabitants, Native American and European, both the perceived and the actual threat that Spanish Florida and Carolina posed to one another was the dominant concern and motivation of the actions of both during the roughly fifty year period from the founding of Charleston to the final events of the Yamassee War. at the local level, government officials, Indian traders, Franciscan missionaries, the various Indian tribes, runaway slaves, and all others living in this borderland region contended daily with the rivalry between Carolina and Spanish Florida. Only with the resolution of this threat could Carolina and thus the British emerge as the dominant colonial power in the Southeast. The dissertation seeks to reanalyze the events of this period within the framework of this rivalry and to do so by blending comprehensive research in the available documentary evidence available for both South Carolina and Spanish Florida

Free Trade and Investment in the Fisheries Sector of the Asia-Pacific Region: An Economic Analysis of Tariffs

This paper was commissioned by the APEC Working Group on Fisheries to examine the economic impact of eliminating tariffs on fish and fish products in APEC economies. Chapter II provides a qualitative assessment of the impacts of liberalization of fisheries trade drawing on the available data and economic theory. Chapter III presents specific quantitative estimates of the impact on trade flows of fish and fish products using an econometrically estimated model of fisheries trade liberalization. Chapter IV summarizes the study’s overall conclusions. These are that the economic impact of the removal of tariffs on fish and fish products in the APEC region would be significant, but modest. It is estimated that, in value terms, the long- run increase in imports in the region, arising from the elimination of tariffs, would be less than 5 per cent of the 1995 level in value. The corresponding increase in exports would be equal to slightly less than 3 per cent of the 1995 level.international trade in fish and fish products, APEC region, impact of tariffs

Herd health status and management practices on 16 Irish suckler beef farms

peer-reviewedBackground: There have been few studies published internationally which document herd health management practices in suckler beef herds and no published Irish studies. The study objective was to document herd health status and management practices on sixteen Irish suckler beef herds over a two year period (2009–2010). The farms used in the study were part of the Teagasc BETTER farm beef programme. The mean (s.d.) herd size, stocking rate and farm size was 68 cows (27.6), 2.0 LU/ha (0.3) and 64.3 (21.6) adjusted hectares, respectively. Two questionnaires were designed; 1) a farmer questionnaire to collect information on farm background and current herd health control practices and 2) a veterinary questionnaire to collect information on the extent of animal health advice given by veterinarians to their clients and identification of any on-farm herd health issues. Results: Dystocia, calf pneumonia, and calf diarrhoea, in that order, were identified as the primary herd health issues in these Irish suckler beef herds. In addition, substantial deficiencies in biosecurity practices were also identified on these farms. Conclusions: The findings of this study may serve as the focus for future research in animal health management practices in Irish suckler beef herds

COPIM – Revenue Models for Open Access Monographs 2020

A report by the Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs project (COPIM) analysing the open access economic models in use today in scholarly publishing. The report examines academic monograph publishing in the context of today’s challenging monograph publishing environment: from Covid-19 and budget cuts, to print sales, funder mandates, and research evaluation. Launched in 2019, and funded by Arcadia and Research England, the COPIM project is an international partnership of researchers, universities, librarians, open access (OA) book publishers and infrastructure providers. It is fostering community-owned, open systems and infrastructures to enable OA book publishing to flourish. This project report builds on a decade of studies written by OA advocates and consultants around the world, and updates their research to describe the environment and economics of OA publishing in 2020. The report will eventually become one component of a practical ‘toolkit’ that COPIM will produce on how presses might transition to sustainably publishing OA monographs

L’efficacité de la politique budgétaire en économie ouverte

The debate between keynesians and monetarists on the effectiveness of fiscal policy has been going for quite a long time, and all efforts to resolve it have met with little success. While everyone would agree that the controversy can only be resolved on empirical grounds, there is no agreement among the two schools as to what constitutes an appropriate test of their respective theories. In this paper, a small macroeconomic model has been developed which incorporates the major elements of the keynesian-monetarist debate and which can produce either keynesian or monetarist results, depending upon the values taken by the particular sets of coefficients. The model has not been estimated and is not designed, therefore, to evaluate the actual impact of fiscal policy measures in Canada. Rather the coefficients of the model have been either borrowed from existing models or set a priori, in order to identify those aspects or parameters of the model which are most important in determining the effectiveness of fiscal policy. Simulations performed with the model indicate a number of factors that are critical in producing either Keynesian or monetarist results. These are: 1) the expected—real—interest elasticity of private real investment; 2) the substitutability between government bonds, money and other assets; 3) the specification of wage behaviour and the degree of influence of price expectations; 4) the sensitivity of nominal interest rates to changes in the inflationary expectations; 5) the extent to which future taxes are anticipated by consumers and 6) the mechanism for determining the price of exports

Population Vulnerability and Disability in Kenya's Tsetse Fly Habitats

The tsetse fly's influence on human health occurs through direct and indirect exposure pathways. Directly, the fly is a vector for the disease human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), which it spreads to nearly 18,000 new victims each year. Indirectly, the fly is a vector for African Animal Trypanosomaisis (AAT) also known as nagana, which restricts agricultural production, limiting the availability of food and contributing to impoverished conditions across rural sub-Saharan Africa. This historical study used 1999 census data to determine the prevalence of disability among residents and migrants living within Kenya's 7 tsetse fly belts. The results showed that the HAT transmission cycle may differ for residents and migrants with mechanisms leading to exposures that are environmentally driven for residents and economically driven for migrants. The combined burdens of HAT and AAT and the opportunity costs of agricultural production in AAT areas are potential contributors to disability within these tsetse-infested areas. Incorporating reports on disability from the national census appears to be an important surveillance tool that would enhance future HAT surveillance programs in sub-Saharan Africa