Using 'Inclusive Wealth' to Measure and Model Sustainable Development in Australia: A working example

Australia in 1992 adopted the National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development to ensure all future development occurs in a 'sustainable' manner. Measurement of the nation's sustainable development is currently conducted through the OECD Environmental Performance Review and various other ad-hoc indicators or measures have been proposed, such as greening the national accounts (Green Gross National Product) and the Genuine Progress Indicator. No one has identified a clear and precise way to either measure or model sustainable development in Australia. By trialing the implementation of inclusive wealth theory in Australia, this paper aims to identify and comment on the issues of measuring and modelling sustainable development as a stock measure in Australia (measuring the change in composition of national assets over time). Conceptual issues of implementation will be discussed with examples provided from two trial regions Goulburn Broken Catchment (VIC) and Murrumbidgee Valley (NSW).inclusive wealth, sustainable development, capital stocks, production systems, Production Economics,

Determining sustainable tourism in regions

The goal of achieving sustainable tourism is now a priority for many tourism planners. It has been suggested that stakeholder analysis is an essential step in determining sustainable tourism in regions, given its highly contextual nature. However, previous research has tended to focus heavily on stakeholders with the assumption that attitudes within groups are homogeneous. This research questions this assumption and in doing so, takes a critical approach by examining attitudes towards sustainable tourism and then assesses whether attitudes align with stakeholder groups. The study was conducted in the island state of Tasmania, Australia, and utilised the Q-methodology to examine attitudes towards sustainable tourism in the Bay of Fires region. The results concur with recent research, which shows that attitudes do not always align with those of stakeholder groups. The critical and reflexive approach suggests that assumptions regarding stakeholder attitudes need to be reviewed and more attention given to people’s contextualised attitudes, rather than the stakeholder group in which they sit

Interview on Kinship and Household

Peer reviewe

Recommended core items to assess e-cigarette use in population-based surveys

A consistent approach using standardised items to assess e-cigarette use in both youth and adult populations will aid cross-survey and cross-national comparisons of the effect of e-cigarette (and tobacco) policies and improve our understanding of the population health impact of e-cigarette use. Focusing on adult behaviour, we propose a set of e-cigarette use items, discuss their utility and potential adaptation, and highlight e-cigarette constructs that researchers should avoid without further item development. Reliable and valid items will strengthen the emerging science and inform knowledge synthesis for policy-making. Building on informal discussions at a series of international meetings of 65 experts from 15 countries, the authors provide recommendations for assessing e-cigarette use behaviour, relative perceived harm, device type, presence of nicotine, flavours and reasons for use. We recommend items assessing eight core constructs: e-cigarette ever use, frequency of use and former daily use; relative perceived harm; device type; primary flavour preference; presence of nicotine; and primary reason for use. These items should be standardised or minimally adapted for the policy context and target population. Researchers should be prepared to update items as e-cigarette device characteristics change. A minimum set of e-cigarette items is proposed to encourage consensus around items to allow for cross-survey and cross-jurisdictional comparisons of e-cigarette use behaviour. These proposed items are a starting point. We recognise room for continued improvement, and welcome input from e-cigarette users and scientific colleagues

Bridging the Gap Between Science, Economics and Policy to Develop and Implement a Pilot Market Based Instrument for Soil Carbon

Increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) has potential to offset greenhouse gas emissions, but the scope for on-farm carbon sequestration is poorly understood. A pilot scheme was developed in Central West NSW, Australia to trial the use of a market-based instrument to encourage farmers to increase soil organic carbon levels. The pilot considered the relationship between land use, management practices and soil carbon levels; offered alternative contract designs to attract landholders; and developed monitoring and reporting protocols. The pilot was rolled-out in 2011 and 2012 and had 11 successful tenders with an average price of $A37 per t CO2-e. The results of this conservation tender will assist the design of future programs aimed at encouraging mitigation effort from the agricultural sector

Cell cycle and growth stimuli regulate different steps of RNA polymerase I transcription

Transcription of the ribosomal RNA genes (rDNA) by RNA polymerase I (Pol I) is a major control step for ribosome synthesis and is tightly linked to cellular growth. However, the question of whether this process is modulated primarily at the level of transcription initiation or elongation is controversial. Studies in markedly different cell types have identified either initiation or elongation as the major control point. In this study, we have re-examined this question in NIH3T3 fibroblasts using a combination of metabolic labeling of the 47S rRNA, chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis of Pol I and overexpression of the transcription initiation factor Rrn3. Acute manipulation of growth factor levels altered rRNA synthesis rates over 8-fold without changing Pol I loading onto the rDNA. In fact, robust changes in Pol I loading were only observed under conditions where inhibition of rDNA transcription was associated with chronic serum starvation or cell cycle arrest. Overexpression of the transcription initiation factor Rrn3 increased loading of Pol I on the rDNA but failed to enhance rRNA synthesis in either serum starved, serum treated or G0/G1 arrested cells. Together these data suggest that transcription elongation is rate limiting for rRNA synthesis. We propose that transcription initiation is required for rDNA transcription in response to cell cycle cues, whereas elongation controls the dynamic range of rRNA synthesis output in response to acute growth factor modulation

Drosophila Ribosomal Protein Mutants Control Tissue Growth Non-Autonomously via Effects on the Prothoracic Gland and Ecdysone

The ribosome is critical for all aspects of cell growth due to its essential role in protein synthesis. Paradoxically, many Ribosomal proteins (Rps) act as tumour suppressors in Drosophila and vertebrates. To examine how reductions in Rps could lead to tissue overgrowth, we took advantage of the observation that an RpS6 mutant dominantly suppresses the small rough eye phenotype in a cyclin E hypomorphic mutant (cycEJP). We demonstrated that the suppression of cycEJP by the RpS6 mutant is not a consequence of restoring CycE protein levels or activity in the eye imaginal tissue. Rather, the use of UAS-RpS6 RNAi transgenics revealed that the suppression of cycEJP is exerted via a mechanism extrinsic to the eye, whereby reduced Rp levels in the prothoracic gland decreases the activity of ecdysone, the steroid hormone, delaying developmental timing and hence allowing time for tissue and organ overgrowth. These data provide for the first time a rationale to explain the counter-intuitive organ overgrowth phenotypes observed for certain members of the Minute class of Drosophila Rp mutants. They also demonstrate how Rp mutants can affect growth and development cell non-autonomously

A many-analysts approach to the relation between religiosity and well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N=10,535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β=0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β=0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates

A Many-analysts Approach to the Relation Between Religiosity and Well-being

The relation between religiosity and well-being is one of the most researched topics in the psychology of religion, yet the directionality and robustness of the effect remains debated. Here, we adopted a many-analysts approach to assess the robustness of this relation based on a new cross-cultural dataset (N = 10, 535 participants from 24 countries). We recruited 120 analysis teams to investigate (1) whether religious people self-report higher well-being, and (2) whether the relation between religiosity and self-reported well-being depends on perceived cultural norms of religion (i.e., whether it is considered normal and desirable to be religious in a given country). In a two-stage procedure, the teams first created an analysis plan and then executed their planned analysis on the data. For the first research question, all but 3 teams reported positive effect sizes with credible/confidence intervals excluding zero (median reported β = 0.120). For the second research question, this was the case for 65% of the teams (median reported β = 0.039). While most teams applied (multilevel) linear regression models, there was considerable variability in the choice of items used to construct the independent variables, the dependent variable, and the included covariates