Mapping spatial tourism and hospitality employment clusters: An application of spatial autocorrelation

This article analyzes the characteristics and spatial clustering of tourism and hospitality employment clusters in Victoria, Australia. Using cluster theory as the theoretical base, three interrelated research questions are specifically addressed: What industries constitute the tourism and hospitality sector? What broader "groupings" does the sector exhibit? Are these tourism and hospitality industries clustered around strategic areas of economic and resource advantage? Using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (at the four-digit level), industries explicitly related to tourism and hospitality were first identified and total numbers of individuals working within these industries were aggregated at a level of Statistical Local Area (similar to a suburb or a neighborhood). Results show that in 2006 employment in tourism and hospitality equate to 7.74% of total employment in Australia. "Cafés and restaurants" (22%) is the single largest tourism and hospitality-related employer, followed by "takeaway food services" (20%) and "accommodation" (16%). Using factor analysis, four broader functions were extracted to characterize the underlying structure and functional interdependency among tourism and hospitality industries. These functions include: tourism operational services, hospitality services, entertainment services, and infrastructure operational facilities services. Spatial autocorrelation measures have identified five established tourism and hospitality spatial clusters in Victoria, which we argue hold the potential to act as tourism growth foci to create business synergy and generate spill-over effects through regional collaboration, competition, and sharing of pooled resources between firm

Spatial clusters of logistics-related employment - A case study of Brisbane, south east Queensland, Australia

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Upstream transport corridor inefficiencies and the implications for port performance: A case analysis of Mombasa Port and the Northern Corridor

The role of efficient ports in the socio-economic prosperity of national and regional economies cannot be overstated. However, their ability to effectively deliver on this role is easily undermined by circumstances in the wider socio-economic context, particularly poor hinterland connectivity. In order to enhance international trade connectivity, many advanced and advancing economies continue to invest significant resources in developing efficient ports and hinterland transport networks. The situation is different in many parts of the developing world, particularly Africa, where poor economic connectivity and inefficient gateway ports result in prohibitively high transportation costs. Focusing on the northern trade and transport corridor in the East and Southern Africa (ESA) region, this article examines how poor hinterland connectivity undermines the performance of Mombasa port. It concludes that, although the port's management has in recent years invested significantly in performance-enhancing initiatives, their success is limited by a constricted economic environment that is characterised by poor hinterland connectivity and chronic logistics bottlenecks along the arterial corridor

Organisational resilience and emergency management

The concept of resilience figures prominently in discussions of disaster risk reduction, emergency management and community safety. Overwhelmingly, such discussions view resilience as a highly desirable characteristic of communities. Policies and practices of emergency services organisations imply that a major role of such organisations is to promote and foster community resilience. Yet there is little appreciation of the importance of resilience as a necessary characteristic of emergency services organisations. In this paper we argue that emergency services organisations need to address their own resilience issues in order to properly fulfil their community protection responsibilities. The concept of organisational resilience in relation to Australia's volunteer-based emergency services organisations is discussed and the importance of organisational climate and organisational culture in relation to organisational resilience is stressed

Understanding the patterns, characteristics and trends in the housing sector labour force-AHURI Final Report No.208

The focus of this study is the national policy problem of the gap between housing supply and demand, as identified and monitored by the National Housing Supply Council. Research to date has not focused upon the spatial distribution of labour supply and demand of the housing sector labour force (HSLF). Also research to date has not distinguished between labour engaged in building new dwellings and labour engaged in undertaking alterations and additions. In addressing this research gap, this Final Report presents the summative output of the AHURI research project entitled: Understanding the patterns, characteristics and trends in the housing sector labour force in Australia. It follows the publication of the Positioning Paper for the project (Dalton et al. 2011a).This chapter has presented a response to the secondary research question: What are the temporal dimensions of the HSLF as a whole and the new build and alterations and additions sub-sectors? It first described the categories, containing records of workers who worked in the housing industry, which were used to interrogate the census data. Using these categories, the data presented showed that, in aggregate, the size of the HSLF grew in the period 2001-06. In Victoria, the workforce grew from 72 000 to 89 000, an increase of 23 per cent in the five-year period 2001-06. The 44 per cent growth in the Queensland workforce was almost twice that of Victoria for the same period when it grew from 53 000 to 77 000. This aggregate data was then split to distinguish between workers who worked on 'new build' housing and those who worked on 'alterations and additions'. The results of this splitting showed that there had been growth in both sub-sectors. The rate of growth in the alterations and additions sub-sector was greater than for the new build sector, although this growth was from a lower base

Effect of Integrated Plant Nutrient Management System in Quality of Mandarin Orange (Citrus Reticulata Blanco)

Nepal is a major producer among top twenty producing country of mandarin orange in the world. The productivity of the mandarin orange is very low as compared to other developed countries. Nutrient management is the serious problem in most of the orchard along the country. The experiment was conducted in Baglung district of Gandaki Province, Nepal in 2017 to study the effect of Integrated Plant Nutrient Management System (IPNMs) in quality parameters of mandarin orange. Seven group of treatment were assigned for experiment. All treatments were replicated three times in randomized complete block design. The fruits of T4 (Integrated nutrient) have greater fruit diameter: 5.26 cm, weight: 83.32 g total soluble solid: 14.53 brix % and lower titratable acidity: 0.846%. Fruits of T7 have more peel percentage (26.07%). These all findings indicate, integrated plant nutrient management system governs the quality of fresh mandarin orange

Participatory Ranking of Fodders in the Western Hills of Nepal

Fodder is an important source of feed of the ruminants in Nepal. In the mid hills of Nepal, farmers generally practice integrated farming system that combines crop cultivation with livestock husbandry and agroforestry. Tree fodders are good sources of protein during the forage and green grass scarcity periods especially in dry season. Local communities possess indigenous knowledge for the selection of grasses and tree fodders at different seasons in mid hills of western Nepal. A study was conducted on the perception of farmers with respect to selection of fodder species in eight clusters in Kaski and Lumjung districts that range 900-2000 meter above sea level and receive average precipitation of 2000- 4500mm per annum. During the fodder preference ranking, farmers prepared the inventory of fodders found around the villages and nearby forests and selected top ten most important fodders in terms of their availability, palatability, fodder yield, milk yield and milk fat yield. In total, 23 top ranking fodders species were selected from the eight clusters. These fodder species were also ranked using pairwise ranking and weighted scoring methods and ranking was done on the basis of merit numbers obtained from weighted scores. The analysis revealed Artocarpus lakoocha as best tree fodder followed by Ficus semicordata, Thysanolena maxima and Ficus calvata. Similarly, the calendar of fodders trees for lopping season and the best feeding time was prepared on the basis of farmers\u27 local knowledge. This study suggests strategies for promotion of locally preferred tree fodder species and supplementing tree fodder with feed in different seasons depending on their availability and local preferences

Multi-objective decision analytics for short-notice bushfire evacuation: An Australian case study

This paper develops a multi-objective optimisation model to compute resource allocation,shelter assignment and routing options to evacuate late evacuees from affected areas to shelters.Three bushfire scenarios are analysed to incorporate constraints of restricted time-window and potential road disruptions.Capacity and number of rescue vehicles and shelters are other constraints that are identical in all scenarios.The proposed mathematical model is solved by ?-constraint approach.Objective functions are simultaneously optimised to maximise the total number of evacuees and assigned rescue vehicles and shelters.We argue that this model provides a scenario-based decision-making platform to aid minimise resource utilisation and maximise coverage of late evacuees

Renal Transplantation and Pregnancy

Introduction: Although pregnancy after kidney transplantation is feasible, complications are relatively common and this needs to be considered in patient counseling and clinical decision making.Review: Fertility generally returns after renal transplantation. Approximately 74% of pregnancies in kidney transplant recipients end successfully in life births. Published reports suggest that pregnancy has no adverse affects on graft survival although patients with higher pre-pregnancy serum creatinine have a trend toward increased post-pregnancy serum creatinine. There is, however, a significantly increased risk of preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, cesarean section and preterm delivery compared to the general population. Almost half life births are preterm, and low birth weight is very common. Immunosuppressive medications are required to be continued during pregnancy in transplant recipients to prevent graft rejection, except for  sirolimus and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) which are contraindicated during pregnancy. The incidence of birth defects in the live born is similar to the general population, except for pregnancies exposed to MMF which have a high incidence of birth defects. Every female in the reproductive age group should be counseled regarding pregnancy including the potential risks to the graft, to the mother and to the child. Timing pregnancy should be based upon whether graft function is optimal, but the general recommendation is to wait one year post transplantation before conception.Conclusion: Pregnancy in renal transplant patients should be planned with combined care from surgeons, nephrologists, obstetricians, pediatricians and dietitians which offers the best chance of a favorable outcome in the mother and the fetus

Planning reform, land release and the supply of housing

There is a growing interest in academic and policy circles in the relationship between land use planning policy and housing supply. Housing researchers are interested in the extent to which planning policies and practises may be exacerbating housing affordability questions, while planning academics and practitioners focus on what effect their policies actually have on the characteristics of housing supply. Policies seeking a diversity of built form are underpinned by attempts to reduce energy consumption through smaller house sizes and the design of less car dependent suburbs. Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs) and increased net housing densities seek to slow the expansion of cities into hinterlands and reduce travel costs. The impact of UGBs on house prices is one of a number of issues that remains contested (Nelson et al 2007; Buxton and Scheurer 2007)