Developing a Sustainable Flood Risk Appraisal (SFRA) Framework for the Pearl River Delta

Intensive storms enhanced flooding is fast emerging as one of the biggest threats to urbanization in Asia. The need to manage this risk is critical for achieving a sustainable growth pattern. The authors study the Pearl River Delta (PRD) and propose a generic sustainable flood risk appraisal (SFRA) framework that can be used to benchmark flood risk management (FRM) practice against sustainability objectives. The framework addresses social, environmental and economic concerns, and further illustrates that climate change and governance are two main drivers to achieving sustainability in FRM. This article further explains how the template could be of value in recuperating the FRM practices in the PRD. © 2013, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA). All rights reserved

The place of public narratives in reproducing social order.

Legal systems work not only to protect individuals and prosecute others in order to maintain `law and order', but they also define the boundaries of what, in a complex and fragmented society, are the agreed social values and symbols which we decide to protect. The complex role of newspaper reporting in these debates forms a part of the public narratives by which law and order are understood. In this article we look at the reporting of the Taylor sisters' trial for murder, for which they were convicted and then, later, released on appeal. The benchmark appeal held that the press coverage of the trial created a real risk of prejudice against the defendants. This example illustrates how mass-circulation newspapers can be seen as agents of conformity, constructing narratives by which it is publicly established what is and is not generally acceptable behaviour surrounding a crime—perhaps at the expense of ensuring effective detection and prosecution of specific criminal behaviour

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest due to coronary heart disease: a comparison of survival before and after the introduction of defibrillators in ambulances

OBJECTIVE: To assess the actual impact on coronary mortality of equipping ambulances with defibrillators. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of routine medical and legal records of all those who had a cardiac arrest attributed to coronary heart disease occurring outside hospital in a defined population before and after the introduction of Heartstart. SETTING: City of Glasgow, North of the River Clyde, 1984 and 1990. PATIENTS: 296 and 267 men and women aged 25-64 inclusive in 1984 and 1990 respectively who had a cardiac arrest outside hospital which was attributed to coronary heart disease (International Classification of Diseases codes 410-414, ninth revision). RESULTS: The impact on coronary mortality in 1990 of equipping ambulances with defibrillators concurred with the earlier prediction of less than 1% of all coronary deaths. The circumstances of cardiac arrest were largely unchanged; most occurred outside hospital in the victim's home and the principal witnesses were members of the victim's family. A call for help before cardiac arrest was made in very few cases and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was attempted by laypersons in less than a third of the deaths they witnessed. There was a significant increase in the number of cardiopulmonary resuscitation attempts made by ambulance crews (16% v 32%, P < 0.01). Ambulance crews, however, still attended less than half of all cases (44% and 47%). CONCLUSION: The impact of equipping ambulances with defibrillators will remain small unless strategies are introduced that focus on improving the public's response to coronary emergencies by calling for help promptly and initiating cardiopulmonary resuscitation before the arrival of the emergency services