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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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 < 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

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 > 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 < 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

Evaluating the effectiveness of agricultural adaptation to climate change in preindustrial society

The effectiveness of agricultural adaptation determines the vulnerability of this sector to climate change, particularly during the preindustrial era. However, this effectiveness has rarely been quantitatively evaluated, specifically at a large spatial and long-term scale. The present study covers this case of preindustrial society in AD 1500–1800. Given the absence of technological innovations in this time frame, agricultural production was chiefly augmented by cultivating more land (land input) and increasing labor input per land unit (labor input). Accordingly, these two methods are quantitatively examined. Statistical results show that within the study scale, land input is a more effective approach of mitigating climatic impact than labor input. Nonetheless, these observations collectively improve Boserup's theory from the perspective of a large spatial and long-term scale.postprin

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

A Digital Repository and Execution Platform for Interactive Scholarly Publications in Neuroscience

The CARMEN Virtual Laboratory (VL) is a cloud-based platform which allows neuroscientists to store, share, develop, execute, reproduce and publicise their work. This paper describes new functionality in the CARMEN VL: an interactive publications repository. This new facility allows users to link data and software to publications. This enables other users to examine data and software associated with the publication and execute the associated software within the VL using the same data as the authors used in the publication. The cloud-based architecture and SaaS (Software as a Service) framework allows vast data sets to be uploaded and analysed using software services. Thus, this new interactive publications facility allows others to build on research results through reuse. This aligns with recent developments by funding agencies, institutions, and publishers with a move to open access research. Open access provides reproducibility and verification of research resources and results. Publications and their associated data and software will be assured of long-term preservation and curation in the repository. Further, analysing research data and the evaluations described in publications frequently requires a number of execution stages many of which are iterative. The VL provides a scientific workflow environment to combine software services into a processing tree. These workflows can also be associated with publications and executed by users. The VL also provides a secure environment where users can decide the access rights for each resource to ensure copyright and privacy restrictions are met