Suchergebnisse

Livelihoods in Sri Lanka have been affected not only by the initial devastation of the tsunami but also by the policies & practices of the government & the humanitarian aid community's post-disaster response. Adapted from the source document.

Japan's move to relax its self-imposed convention on the prohibition of defence related exports was announced by the Ministry of Defence on the 27'" December 2011. Japan's policy revision is timely and welcome for Australia as the Australian Defence Force continues with an ambitious modernisation programme. Japan's policy revision in relation to defence exports is the culmination in a process of incremental and pragmatic efforts at ameliorating its declining strategic advantage in an increasingly uncertain geostrategic environment. The shift of balance inherent in the strategic environment, the increasing costs of advancements in defence capability development, and increasingly constrained defence budgets has compounded with Japan's decades long economic malaise and languishing defence industrial base. It could be said that such a policy revision regarding defence exports was inevitable. Due to these factors it is likely that the policy revision can be relied upon to maintain forward momentum. However, due to the internal inertia of Japanese politics the policy revision will progress incrementally and perhaps on a case-by-case basis. Nevertheless, Australia's and Japan's convergent strategic drivers, interests and geostrategic characteristics transfer that Japan's defence solutions may be more suitable than other foreign solutions designed for continental defence. However, because Japan's defence industries have been domestically orientated and restricted by Japan's security policies they are not in a position to rapidly initiate immediate and extensive defence exports. While it could take a decade for Japan to become competitive in the international defence export market, there are some immediate contributions Japan's defence industries could provide Australia that are cost-effective and highly capable. Japan's defence Industries are particularly proficient in naval shipbuilding, missile development and electronics systems design. Notwithstanding this, the greatest prospects for broadening the security relationship into the realm of defence procurement and development is in the possibilities for future joint-development of defence capability between Australia and Japan, and possibly others. In the long-term Japan may very well develop into a prime supplier of cost-effective OTS defence solutions for Australia's defence forces. The first task is for Australia to initiate engagement with Japan and Japan's defence industries to develop a cooperative government-to-government and defence-to-defence discussion. Patience is required on Australia's part and a pragmatic approach will be necessary: substantial results should not be expected nor relied upon, at least initially. From here Australia and Japan can develop an intergovernmental framework for engagement regarding defence materiel procurement opportunities for which Australia might like to pursue. The greatest benefits in broadening the defence relationship to procurement are the possibilities for joint-development. Where Australia's and Japan's capability requirements are in convergence joint-development opportunities should be explored. Australia must communicate its capability requirements to Japan's defence industry and Japan must come to understand Australia capability requirements if the relationship is to extend into the area of defence development and procurement. Australia should investigate Japan's defence solutions that would be appropriate for Australia's defence needs and capability requirements in current Defence Capability Plan documents projects. For example Japan's Siiryu-class submarines for SEA 1000 and its AAM-48 air-to-air missiles for AIR 6000 Phase 5 are highlighted as a distinct possibility for Australia's defence solutions and should be further investigated. Australia should reinforce its Japanese language skills to facilitate crosscultural defence exchange and develop effective communication. Language skills are time consuming and difficult skill to obtain. Therefore the importance of language should be recognised from the outset and consistently supported.

THE ACADEMY OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS (UK and Ireland Chapter) Published in association with the UK and Ireland Chapter of the Academy of International Business International Business: New Challenges, New Forms, New perspectives provides in-depth and new knowledge about some of the most recent challenges for international businesses such as corporate social responsibility, the phenomenon of outward foreign direct investment from China, and the international growth of smaller firms, including international new ventures. This volume also reflects on new perspectives in international business by presenting the experience of successful business experts in the field in managing large international projects, the issues they face and the strategies they use to tackle them.

AbstractAgricultural production has economic, environmental, social and cultural consequences beyond farm boundaries, but information about these impacts is not readily available to decision makers. This study applied the land use suitability concept by carrying out an assessment of a region that has the potential for intensification of agricultural production, but where eutrophication of river and estuary receiving environments due to nitrogen enrichment is a significant issue. The assessment evaluated three indicators for each farmable land parcel in the region: productive potential (the inherent productive and economic potential of the parcel), relative contribution (the potential for the parcel to contribute nitrogen to receiving environments compared to other land parcels), and pressure (the load of nitrogen delivered to receiving environments compared to the loads that ensure environmental objectives are achieved). The assessment indicated that land with high suitability for land-use intensification in Southland is limited because areas with high productive potential and low relative contribution rarely coincide with receiving environments with low pressure. Existing data, methods and models can be used to calculate the indicators under different choices for regional land-use intensity and receiving environment objectives. However, the spatial resolution and accuracy that is achievable may preclude using assessment outputs to make land use decisions at small spatial scales such as individual farms. The study highlighted that land use suitability is not an intrinsic property of a land parcel because it is dependent on choices about land use elsewhere in the landscape and the environmental objectives, and that land use suitability is inherently subjective because of decisions that concern how indicators are combined and weighted.

Fusidic acid is a topical and systemic antimicrobial used for the treatment of staphylococcal infections in hospitals and the community. Sales of fusidic acid and resistance rates among meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) doubled between 1990 and 2001. For the following decade, fusidic acid resistance rates among isolates from Addenbrooke's Hospital (Cambridge, UK) were compared with national resistance rates from MRSA bacteraemia surveillance data and with antimicrobial sales data. Sales of fusidic acid remained relatively constant between 2002 and 2012, whilst fusidic acid resistance increased two- and four-fold in MRSA bacteraemias nationally and in MRSA isolates from Cambridge, respectively. A subgroup of MRSA resistant only to fusidic acid increased after 2006 by 5-fold amongst bacteraemias nationally and 17-fold (to 7.7% in 2012) amongst Cambridge MRSA isolates. All of the available local isolates from 2011 to 2012 (n=23) were acquired in the community, were not related epidemiologically and belonged to multilocus sequence typing (MLST) groups ST1, 5, 8, 45 or 149 as revealed from analysis of whole-genome sequence data. All harboured the fusC gene on one of six distinct staphylococcal cassette chromosome (SCC) elements, four of which were dual-resistance chimeras that encoded β-lactam and fusidic acid resistance. In summary, fusidic acid-resistant MRSA increased in prevalence during the 2000s with notable rises after 2006. The development of chimeric cassettes that confer dual resistance to β-lactams and fusidic acid demonstrates that the genetics underpinning resistance in community-associated MRSA are evolving. ; This study was supported by grants from the UKCRC Translational Infection Research Initiative and the Medical Research Council [grant no. G1000803] with contributions to the grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research on behalf of the Department of Health, and the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government ...