Building the System: Follow-up, monitoring & adaptive management

Does impact assessment (IA) end when the license has been granted? While societal resources tend to focus on rigorous project approvals, what happens to the project, to the public and to the environment once approval is granted? Follow up and monitoring are often an afterthought for legislators, public servants and proponents. But they are critical to public confidence and to ensuring that proponents live up to their commitments in a rapidly changing world."This report draws from research funded by the Impact Assessment Agency as part of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Knowledge Mobilization Grant on Informing Best Practice in Environmental and Impact Assessment.

Monitoring first year Maori students enrolled in selected Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences courses: A report prepared for the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Monitoring first year Maori Students Enrolled in Selected Faculty of Arts andSocial Sciences Courses. The total number of Maori students targeted by this project was 182, representing 93% of the total number of Maori students enrolled in Semester B level one courses. The majority of students participating in this initiative were first year students, although a small number of students taking 100 level courses were second, third or graduate year students. 11 Student views on the monitoring and support initiative Students were provided with the opportunity to comment on the monitoring and support initiative. All students contacted (49) recommended that this intervention continue for future first year Maori students enrolled in FASS

Observations of the 1992 U.S. Pelagic Pair Trawl Fishery in the Northwest Atlantic

Pelagic pair trawling for tuna, Thunnus spp., and swordfish, Xiphias gladius, was introduced in U.S. Northwest Atlantic waters in 1991. During autumn (October-November) of 1992 under the authority oft he Federal Atlantic Swordfish Regulations, the National Marine Fisheries Service placed observers aboard pelagic pair trawl vessels to document the catch, bycatch, discard, and gear used in this new fishery. The fishery is conducted primarily at night along shelf-edge waters from June to November. In late 1991, revised regulations restricted swordfish to bycatch in this fishery resulting in pelagic pair trawl vessels targeting tuna throughout 1992. Analyses of 1992 data indicate that albacore, T. alalunga, was the predominant species caught, although yellowfin tuna, T. albaeares, and bigeye tuna, T. obesus, were the preferred target species. Bycatch also included swordfish, large sharks, pelagic rays and other pelagic fishes, other tunas, and marine mammals

Medical insecurity: when one size does not fit all

Security is most commonly seen as a business concept. This is one, reason for the poor uptake and implementation of standard security processes in non-business environments such as general medical practice. It is clear that protection of sensitive patient information is imperative yet the overarching conceptual business processes required to ensure this protection are not well suited to this context. The issue of sensitivity of information. together with the expectation that security can be effectively implemented by non-security trained professionals creates an insecure environment. The general security processes used by business, including those for risk assessment, are difficult to operationally put into practice in the medical environment and this one-sizefits- all approach is shown to be ineffective. Therefore more explicit models are required which provide contextually relevant guidance and can be implemented within the capability of those using them

Making research real: Is action research a suitable methodology for medical information security

In the medical field. information security is an important yet vastly underrated issue, Research into the protection of sensitive medical data is often technically focused and does not address information systems and behavioural aspects integral to effective information security implementation, Current information security policy and guidelines are strategically oriented which, whilst relevant to large organisations, are less supportive to smaller enterprises such as primary care practices. Further, the conservative nature of the medical profession has been shown to hinder investigation into information technology use and management, making effective improvement based on research problematical. It is an environment which relies greatly on trust, inhibiting good security practice. Research into how information security practice in this setting can be improved demands an interpretivist approach rather than a positivist one. Action research is one such interpretivist method that allows a creation of scientific /mowledge with practical value. Whilst there is some opposition to the action research method on grounds ()f rigour, its fundamental cyclic process of participation, action and reflection promotes internal rigour and can overcome many of the barriers to research inherent in the primary care medical environment

What does security culture look like for small organizations?

The human component is a significant factor in information security, with a large numbers of breaches occurring due to unintentional user error. Technical solutions can only protect information so far and thus the human aspect of security has become a major focus for discussion. Therefore, it is important for organisations to create a security conscious culture. However, currently there is no established representation of security culture from which to assess how it can be manoeuvred to improve the overall information security of an organization. This is of particular importance for small organizations who lack the resources in information security and for whom the culture of the organization exerts a strong influence. A review of multiple definitions and descriptions of security culture was made to assess and analyse the drivers and influences that exist for security culture in small organizations. An initial representation of the factors that should drive security culture, together with those that should only influence it, was constructed. At a fundamental level these drivers are related to a formulated response to security issues rather than a reaction to it, and should reflect the responsibility allocated in a secure environment. In contrast, the influences on security culture can be grouped by communities of practice, individual awareness and organizational management. The encapsulation of potential driving and influencing factors couched in information security terms rather than behavioural science terms, will allow security researchers to investigate how a security culture can be fostered to improve information security in small organizations

Wreath and Cap to Veil and Apron: American Modification of a Slavic Ritual

This paper explores a wedding custom practiced for more than one hundred years in the Chicago area by the descendants of Czech, Polish, and Slovak immigrant women. Through the custom\u27s existence and perpetuation in America, the role of a transitional rite of passage is chronicled in both the process of assimilation and the preservation of ethnic heritage. The original textile symbols used in the ritual were modified to reflect the differences in culture in the United States but with the echoes of European folk tradition still heard. Chicagoans today have continued to modify the custom as the role of women changes, and in the process, have created a form of American textile folk art