Project ViTAL ViTAL (Vitality Through Active Living) Fijian project

Physical inactivity, along with other lifestyle-related health risk factors such as an unhealthy diet, is becoming increasingly prevalent in developing countries which face rapid economic and social development, urbanization and industrialization. The importance of physical activity as a means of NCD prevention and control is recognized in developing countries, as well as the need for suitable programmes, policies and guidelines. However, the evidence on implementing physical activity interventions in a developing country context is sparse. It is evident from research findings that encouraging participation in health-enhancing physical activity is a public health issue of urgent concern. A healthy revitalised community is one that is concerned about the well-being of the community, protection of the environment and investing into future generations. Research stresses that physical activity interventions carried out in developing countries include strategies to: • raise awareness of the importance and benefits of physical activity among the community, • educate the whole population and/or specific community groups, • conduct local physical activity programmes and initiatives; • build capacity among individuals implementing local physical activity programmes through training of potential programme coordinators; and • create supportive environments that facilitate participation in physical activity

Cultural geography. Different encounters, encountering difference

In the first half of this paper it is argued that cultural geography is a dynamic and diverse field that extends well beyond a single branch of human geography. The boundaries between it and other sub-disciplines are often blurred. People have «different» encounters with cultural geography depending on their sub-disciplinary convergences. People also have different encounters with cultural geography depending on where they live and work. «Place matters» in the construction, production and representation of cultural geography. It takes different forms in different places. In the second half of the paper it is argued that as cultural geography continues to encounter «difference» in many guises, four possible future trends are likely: first, it is probable that there will be continued growth in cultural geography; second, there may be mounting recognition that cultural geography needs to be critical offering possibilities for radical critique and reflection; third, cultural geographers are likely to continue with their efforts to think about what, if anything, might lie beyond representation; and finally, cultural geographers are likely to deepen their reflections on the politics of knowledge production leading to more multi-language publishing practices in this area

Project vital: Community revitalization industry report

ViTAL (Vitality Through Active Living) FIJIAN PROJECT The ViTAL project aims to aid in the reduction of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) through investment in the health and well-being of women by increasing the level of participation in physical activity (PA) and health eating across the community. Women are agents of change in families, communities and countries. The ViTAL program aims to support, other community-based programs such as community gardens, healthy cooking classes, healthy cookbooks, walking groups and other ongoing physical activity programs

Growing green money? Mapping community currencies for sustainable development

Parallel sustainable monetary systems are being developed by civil society groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), informed by ecological economics perspectives on development, value, economic scale and growth, and responding to the unsustainability of current global financial systems. These parallel systems of exchange (or community currencies) are designed to promote sustainable development by localising economic development, building social capital and substituting for material consumption, valuing work which is marginalised in conventional labour markets, and challenging the growth-based monetary system. However, this international movement towards community-based ecological economic practices, is under-researched. This paper presents new empirical evidence from the first international study of the scope and character of community currencies. It identifies the diversity, scale, geography and development trajectory of these initiatives, discusses the implications of these findings for efforts to achieve sustainable development, and identifies future research needs, to help harness the sustainability potential of these initiatives. © 2012 Elsevier B.V

Optimising Age-Replacement and Extended Non-Renewing Warranty Policies in Lifecycle Costing

This paper analyses the life cycle cost of equipment protected by both base and extended warranty policies from a consumer's perspective. We assume that the equipment has two types of failure: minor and catastrophic. A minor failure can be corrected with minimal repair whereas a catastrophic failure can only be removed by a replacement. It is assumed that equipment is maintained at no charge to the consumer during the warranty period, whereas the consumer is fully charged for any maintenance on failures after the extended warranty expires. We formulate the expected life cycle cost of the equipment under a general failure time distribution, and then for special cases we prove that the optimal replacement and extended warranty policies exists where the expected life cycle cost per unit time is minimised. This is examined with numerical examples. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Heartland Wainuiomata: Rurality to suburbs, black singlets to naughty lingerie

Robyn Longhurst and Carla Wilson enlarge the question of both national identity and gender by investigating the aptly-named Heartland documentary series. They analyse both the series itself and the discourses around it from the book of the series to the press cuttings. In doing so they pinpoint images of nation, masculinity and femininity that are both stable and transgressive and which emerge through the documentaries themselves, their presenter Gamy McCormack and the celebrated Chloe of Wainuiomata

Issues Negotiation™ – investing in stakeholders

Consumers are increasingly demanding and less tolerant of organisations that fail to live up to their expectations. Organisations are expected to change their approach to business, giving the same priority to all stakeholders, with integrity and commitment. This means that the traditional approach to issues management where organisations “decide” on their plans, “dictate” them to stakeholders, and prepare their “defence”, will no longer be adequate. Issues Negotiaion™ offers business leaders a powerful alternative that builds trusting relationships, turning potentially negative issues into competitive advantage. It is a process that supports the organisation in its long-term growth

Biomass resources and biofuels potential for the production of transportation fuels in Nigeria

Solid biomass and waste are major sources of energy. They account for about 80% of total primary energy consumed in Nigeria. This paper assesses the biomass resources (agricultural, forest, urban, and other wastes) available in Nigeria and the potential for biofuel production from first, second, third and fourth generation biomass feedstocks. It reviews the scope of biomass conversion technologies tested within the country and the reports on the technology readiness level of each. Currently, most of the emerging biofuels projects in Nigeria utilize first generation biomass feedstock for biofuel production and are typically located many miles away from the petroleum refineries infrastructures. These feedstocks are predominantly food crops and thus in competition with food production. With significant availability of non-food biomass resources, particularly in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, and the petroleum refineries located in the same area, it is pertinent to consider expanding use of the petroleum refinery׳s infrastructure to co-process non-food biomass into bio-intermediate oil for blending with petroleum. This not only addresses the potential food versus fuel conflict challenging biofuel production in Nigeria, but also reduces the cost of setting up new bio-refineries thus eliminating the transportation of ethanol to existing petroleum refineries for blending. In view of this, it is recommended that further research be carried out to assess the feasibility of upgrading existing refineries in Nigeria to co-process bio-based fuels and petroleum products thus achieving the targets set by the Nigeria Energy Commission for biofuel production in the country

A method for soil health assessment in the conversion to organic farming

This paper was presented at the UK Organic Research 2002 Conference of the Colloquium of Organic Researchers (COR). The regulation for the assessment of the conversion to organic farming establishes the use of soil/produce pollution and the type of agricultural practices as indicators of performance. However, these indicators don’t reflect the complexity of the soil ecosystem and soil health. Therefore, complementary indicators were sought (soil biostructure and field capacity), and a specific three-steps method for the assessment and monitoring of soil health during the conversion process was developed