bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An analysis of the outcomes of treatment of small cell lung cancer in the elderly
Authors: Tebbutt N. C. , Snyder R. D. , Burns W. I.
Published: March 2008

Abstract Background: Many cases of small cell lung cancer will occur in the elderly population but optimal management of the disease in this age group remains uncertain.

Aims: To evaluate treatment of small cell lung cancer in the elderly in Australia and to compare treatment received and outcomes with those of younger patients. To draw insights from these observations into the optimal management of small cell lung cancer in the elderly.

Methods: A retrospective review of treatment charts and case notes for 51 elderly patients and 102 younger patients was undertaken.

Results: Elderly patients had similar baseline parameters with respect to disease stage and performance status. Elderly patients were mostly treated uniformly with combination chemotherapy, but suffered more dose reductions than younger patients. Benefits of chemotherapy were seen even in patients with poor performance status. Despite the dose reductions, response rates and survival times for elderly patients were usually similar to younger patients.

Conclusions: Combination chemotherapy is beneficial to elderly patients with small cell lung cancer. Optimal therapy for the elderly may be different from that for younger patients and should be defined through prospective randomised clinical trials.
Trends in in‐hospital mortality following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in Victoria, 1987–1994
Authors: O'Hara D. , McDonald I.
Published: March 2008

Background: Death rates from coronary heart disease have exhibited remarkable declines in most industrialised countries. Cardiovascular mortality has been the subject of extensive research and we considered it important to analyse recent local population based data on hospital outcomes of acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Aim: To document the trends in in‐hospital mortality from AMI in Victoria from 1987–1994.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of data from the Victorian Inpatient Minimum Database relating to all public acute care hospitals. All separations recording a principal diagnosis 410 (AMI) were selected. Changes in distribution of AMI separations, in‐hospital mortality, and changes in length of stay were examined.

Results: The mean age of women admitted was 72 years compared with 64 years for men. Women comprised around a third of the overall sample but the proportion varied from 13% in those under 50 years to 57% among those aged 80 years and over. A striking decline in mortality was observed throughout the eight year period. The relative age adjusted decline was 33.5% (40% in males and 26% in females) with rates remaining higher in women. This decline occurred despite the increasing representation of those aged over 80 years. There was a significant decline in the mean length of stay (1.8 days) over the eight year period but this is likely to have had only minimal impact on mortality rates.

Conclusion: We have documented welcome declines in in‐hospital mortality from AMI that are not an artefact of declining lengths of stay. Our observations parallel those in similar overseas studies. Large changes in medical management have taken place from the mid 1980s and may be partly responsible, but a change in disease process cannot be ruled out.
Inflammatory breast cancer: enhanced local control with hyperfractionated radiotherapy and incisional vincristine, ifosfamide and epirubicin
Authors: Gurney H. , Harnett P. , Kefford R. , Boyages J.
Published: March 2008

Local control rate for inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is <50% with standard chemotherapy‐radiotherapy regimen. Nineteen women (age range 40–65, median 50 years) with IBC (18 patients) or with a primary tumour of >10 cm (one patient) received a novel treatment comprising hyperfractionated radiotherapy (HFRT) sandwiched between two cycles of infusional chemotherapy using vincristine, ifosfamide and epirubicin (VIE). The primary endpoint was local control.

VIE was continuously infused for six weeks via a Hickman's line using a Deltec CADD‐1 ambulatory pump. Ifosfamide (3 gm/m2) mixed with equi‐dose mesna was infused for seven days and alternated every week with an infusion of epirubicin (50 mg/m2) mixed with vincristine (1.5 mg/m2). HFRT consisted of 1.5 Gy twice daily for 34 fret (51 Gy) followed by a boost of 15 Gy in 10 fret. The total treatment time was less than 22 weeks.

Median follow‐up was 37 months. Local control rate was 58%. Three patients failed to respond initially and five relapsed in the breast at a median time of 36.8 months. Median overall and disease‐free survival was 18 and 25.3 months respectively. Toxicity from VIE was minimal (WHO gd 3 emesis ‐ two patients, gd 3 mucositis ‐ one patient, neutropenic sepsis ‐ three patients). Radiotherapy caused moist desquamation in 17/19 patients. Twenty‐four central lines were complicated by seven line infections, three thromboses, and one extravasation.

The local control rate of 58% with VIE+HFRT appears similar to reported chemoradiotherapy regimen, although the treatment time of 22 weeks is much shorter than other regimens which take up to 12 months. Toxicity is acceptable. Hickman‐related complications need to be reduced. The study is ongoing.
Reperfusion therapy for stroke
Authors: Dunbabin D.
Published: March 2008

Stroke is a heterogenous disease, but about 85% of strokes are as a result of cerebral ischaemia due to arterial occlusion. It seems logical to assume that, as in myocardial infarction, treatment designed to dissolve clots should be helpful.

We now have a substantial amount of data on the use of aspirin, heparin and thrombolytic drugs in the treatment of acute ischaemic stroke. Aspirin 300 mg daily has a modest effect in reducing mortality and handicap when used within 48 hours of stroke onset. The beneficial effects of low dose, medium dose subcutaneous unfractionated heparin, and various low molecular weight heparins in reducing early recurrent ischaemic stroke seem to be outweighed by haemorrhagic side effects. Streptokinase used within six hours of stroke onset results in excess mortality with some reduction in handicap in survivors, while in carefully selected patients recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (r‐TPA) may be less hazardous. At the moment it is unclear which stroke patients will benefit from the use of r‐TPA, and the use of criteria, as outlined by the NINDS group, means that only a very small proportion of stroke victims are suitable for thrombolytic therapy.

Further research is necessary, while the concept of a ‘Brain Attack’ with appropriate urgency being used in the assessment of possible stroke needs development.
Evaluation of antibodies to β2‐glycoprotein 1 in the causation of coronary atherosclerosis as part of the antiphospholipid syndrome
Authors: Limaye V. , Beltrame J. , Cook R. , Gillis D. , Pile K.
Published: March 2008

Background: Anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) are associated with accelerated coronary atherosclerosis. β2‐glycoprotein 1 is a cofactor necessary for the binding of aCL.

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine whether antibodies to β2‐glycoprotein 1 (anti‐β2GP1) predispose to coronary artery disease (CAD), and whether the measurement of anti‐β2GP1 will be more useful than aCL alone in the evaluation of coronary risk.

Methods: Persons who had undergone coronary angiography were invited to participate, and risk factors for coronary atherosclerosis recorded. IgG aCL and anti‐β2GP1 were measured and fasting triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) levels were determined. Angiographic score (AS) was defined as the number of diseased vessels (0, 1, 2, 3), (>50% stenosis). Ethics Committee approval was obtained. Statistical comparison used the Student's t test and Chi‐squared test.

Results: Ninety‐seven subjects (63 male) with age range 38–81 years (mean 66.0) participated. There were 31 subjects with AS=0, 27 with AS=1, 22 with AS=2, and 17 with AS=3. The three subjects with positive aCL all had CAD, as did three of the four subjects with positive anti‐β2GP1. Among patients with CAD, there was an equal incidence (4.5%, three/66) of aCL and anti‐β2GP1, and an incidence of either aCL or anti‐β2GP1 of 7.6% (five/66). Compared to the group with AS=0, those with AS=1, 2 or 3 comprised a higher mean age (p=0.001) however, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of other coronary risk factors between the two groups. There was no difference in the proportions of patients with either aCL or anti‐β2GP1 in the group with AS=1, 2, or 3, compared to the group with AS=0 (5/66 c.f. 1/31, χ2=0.146, p>0.5).

Conclusions: Our study has not supported an association between anti‐β2GP1 and CAD. The measurement of anti‐β2GP1 (or aCL) in the investigation of premature CAD is not justified on the basis of our results.
Suspected acute pulmonary emboli: cost‐effectiveness of chest helical computed tomographyversusa standard diagnostic algorithm incorporating ventilation‐perfusion scintigraphy
Authors: Larcos G. , Chi K. K. G. , Shiell A. , Berry G.
Published: March 2008

Background: There is a controversy regarding the investigation of patients with suspected acute pulmonary embolism (PE).

Aims: To compare the cost‐effectiveness of alternative methods of diagnosing acute PE. Chest helical computed tomography (CT) alone and in combination with venous ultrasound (US) of legs and pulmonary angiography (PA) were compared to a conventional algorithm using ventilation‐perfusion (V/Q) scintigraphy supplemented in selected cases by US and PA.

Methods: A decision‐analytical model was constructed to model the costs and effects of the three diagnostic strategies in a hypothetical cohort of 1000 patients each. Transition probabilities were based on published data. Life years gained by each strategy were estimated from published mortality rates. Schedule fees were used to estimate costs.

Results: The V/Q protocol is both more expensive and more effective than CT alone resulting in 20.1 additional lives saved at a (discounted) cost of $940 per life year gained. An additional 2.5 lives can be saved if CT replaces V/Q scintigraphy in the diagnostic algorithm but at a cost of $23,905 per life year saved.

Conclusions: The more effective diagnostic strategies are also more expensive. In patients with suspected PE, the incremental cost‐effectiveness of the V/Q based strategy over CT alone is reasonable in comparison with other health interventions. The cost‐effectiveness of the supplemented CT strategy is more questionable.
Videoscopic lung volume reduction surgery in an Australian public teaching hospital
Authors: Porter S. H. J. , Ruffin R. E. , Pfitzner J. , Peacock M. , Southcott A. M. , Homan S.
Published: March 2008

Background: Lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) has been a frequent literature topic in emphysema management recently. Opinions differ in regard to usefulness, efficacy, and selection criteria.

Aims: To present the results of our first 55 bilateral videoscopically resected group, with follow‐up of up to three years, and to present some of the local methodology problems faced.

Methods: Thirty‐nine men and 16 women, age range 40–77, had either upper lobe (42), mixed (two), or lower lobe (11) resections without buttressing (except for unilateral buttressing in several of the latter patients as part of an intrapatient comparison trial) according to their pattern of emphysema determined by CT and perfusion scanning.

Results: Thirty day mortality was 5.5%. Follow‐up pulmonary function is available for 44 patients, and demonstrates a mean 51% improvement in FEV1, and significant improvement in FVC, PaO2, dyspnoea indices and walking distance, with a reduction in mean RV, TLC, PaCO2. FEV1 improvement is maintained above baseline at three years. Lower lobe surgery outcomes are at least as good as their upper lobe counterparts.

Conclusions: Outcomes confirm improvements reported elsewhere, and suggest that videoscopic resection may provide worthwhile benefit to lower lobe patterns of emphysema. Other managment issues are discussed.
Simian virus (SV) 40 like sequences in cell lines and tumour biopsies from Australian malignant mesotheliomas
Authors: Mclaren B. R. , Haenel T. , Stevenson S. , Mukherjee S. , Robinson B. W. S. , Lake R. A.
Published: March 2008

Background: Simian virus (SV) 40 sequences have been found in some, but not all studies of mesotheliomas. This virus is known to cause tumours in rodents but its role in human oncogenesis remains controversial.

Aims: The aim of this study therefore was to determine whether SV40 is associated with the development of mesotheliomas in Australia. The absence of the virus or its gene products in tissue derived from mesotheliomas would detract from this possibility.

Methods: We used polymerase chain reaction from three pairs of primers to amplify different regions of the large T antigen from DNA from cell lines and cDNA from both cell lines and an independent set of tumour biopsies from patients with mesothelioma.

Results: We examined five human mesothelioma cell lines that were established in our laboratories. In addition, we examined several tumour biopsies from seven different patients. SV40 like sequences were present in all the cell lines and in at least one sample from each of the patients examined.

Conclusions: The large T antigen of SV40 or an SV40 like virus is expressed in Australian mesotheliomas and therefore could be aetiologically‐associated with tumourigenesis. Alternatively, these sequences could be expressed subsequent to the development of the disease.
Climate warming will reduce growth and survival of Scots pine except in the far north
Authors: Reich P. B. , Oleksyn J.
Published: March 2008

Tree growth and survival were assessed in 283 populations of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) originating from a broad geographic range and grown at 90 common‐garden experimental sites across Europe, and in 101 populations grown at 14 sites in North America. Growth and survival were analysed in response to climatic transfer distance, the difference in mean annual temperature (MAT) between the site and the population origin. Differences among populations at each site, and across sites for regional groups of populations, were related to climate transfer distance, but in opposite ways in the northern vs. southern parts of the species range. Climate transfers equivalent to warming by 1–4 °C markedly increased the survival of populations in northern Europe (≥ 62°N, < 2 °C MAT) and modestly increased height growth ≥ 57°N but decreased survival at < 62°N and modestly decreased height growth at < 54°N latitude in Europe. Thus, even modest climate warming will likely influence Scots pine survival and growth, but in distinct ways in different parts of the species range.
TOWARDS A PRECISE DEFINITION OF DRAINAGE BASIN AXIS
Authors: ONGLEY E. D.
Published: March 2008

The subjective nature of drainage basin axis or length properties commonly used in morphometric ratios has led to the development of a simple yet precise and independently reproduceable axial property herein called the basin vectorial axis. By definition it uses the vectorial properties of the highest and all second‐highest Strahler streams whether or not geological control exists.
Geographically uneven development: restructuring of the Australian aluminium industry
Authors: FAGAN R. H.
Published: March 2008

The Australian aluminium industry has played a ‘semi‐peripheral’ role in world production. The transnational corporations dominating the world industry were supplied with large cuantities of cheap raw materials for smelters overseas. Three of the firms also produced metal, largely for local sale. Recently, however, there has been a dramatic restructuring of this pattern with six proposals for smelters producing metal for export. The explanation lies not simply in Australia's energy advantages, but in interactions between the corporate global strategies and Australian governments. New patterns of regional ‘comparative advantage’ have been created, in part by corporations setting stale governments in competition with one another to provide cheap energy and supportive infrastructure. The impacts of these changes are inherently uneven geographically.
Health hazards of floods: hospital admissions for Lismore
Authors: HANDMER J. W. , SMITH D. I.
Published: March 2008

Severe unprecedented flooding of unprepared and inexperienced communities adversely affects community health, but the effect of severe flooding on well‐prepared and experienced communities is less certain. An answer was sought for the New South Wales coastal town of Lismore. Parts are flooded every year with the last major flood occurring in 1974. Hospital admission and death certificates were analysed for the years before and after that flood. Using this data and information from an earlier survey two types of analysis were undertaken: a comparison of mortality and hospital admissions before and after the flood; and a comparison of health effects between different levels of flooding, including residents whose properties were located outside the flood plain. Although the flood did not appear to increase the number of hospital admissions or deaths, the ratio of male to female admissions showed a significant change. For those severely flooded, male admissions doubled while female admissions halved. Analysis of the data in relation to flood risk showed that for both pre‐and post‐flood periods hospital admissions were closely related to the degree of flood risk. Those whose dwellings were subject to a metre or more offloodwater over floor level are twice as likely to be admitted to hospital as residents of the flood free areas.
Centralised service provision: an examination of the facts
Authors: ADRIAN COLIN
Published: March 2008

Andrew Parkin has recently advanced the thesis that A ustralian cities generally do not feature large systematic variations in public servicing. The reason, he argues, is because of the centralised nature of the servicing administration. This paper critically evaluates the Parkin thesis based on empirical evidence across a number of urban services. The conclusion reached is that most urban services are provided not only unequally but also inequitably. As such Parkin's thesis perpetuates the Australian myth of egalitarianism, justice and fairness. It is time that such myths were buried and more time given to explaining and rectifying the maldistribution of resources in Australian cities.
Export‐oriented industrialisation, the new international division of labour and the corporate state in the Third World: an exploratory essay on conceptual linkage*
Authors: HIGGOTT RICHARD
Published: March 2008

The division of the social sciences into separate disciplines is now largely recognised as spurious. Nowhere is this more so than in what we generally call ‘development studies’. Major contributions to development studies have come, and must continue to come, from economists, political scientists, sociologists and geographers–a pattern that is epitomised in the enormous amount of ‘interdisciplinary readers’ in development studies and the manner in which journals from all social science disciplines publish research on development studies as part and parcel of their regular format. As a political scientist my research in general and my research in development studies in particular has recently been informed, amongst others, by scholars who we might nominally call geographers (especially the work of Clark and Dear, 1984; Clark, 1983; Harvey. 1982; Brookfield, 1975; Peet, 1980; and Rimmer and Forbes, 1982). I am pleased, therefore, to be able to publish a contribution to the current debate on development issues in a journal of geographical studies. It is, indeed, most apposite that the following discussion of the New International Division of Labour should be presented to an audience which, more than most, should appreciate the increasingly significant spatial aspects of this division of labour as it strives to locate and relocate major elements of the global productive processes in different parts of the developing world.
Population growth and redistribution in Australia: 1911–1966
Authors: BROSNAN PETER
Published: March 2008

Concentration and redistribution indices are used to analyse the redistribution of population among the Australian states and territories, between 1911 and 1966. The relative importance of internal migration in this population redistribution is assessed. It is found that although the pattern of redistribution altered after the Second World War, the share of land and population held by each state came into closer agreement. Net internal migration was always small in comparison to natural increase and net international migration, but its role in population redistribution was far from insignificant.
Day‐to‐day variations in nearshore bar patterns on a small sandy beach through a lunar tidal cycle
Authors: FREW J.R. , ELIOT I.G. , CLARKE D.J.
Published: March 2008

Nearshore water circulation and bar patterns at Coledale, New South Wales, were surveyed daily over thirty‐six consecutive days, from 3 November to 8 December 1978, to identify sequences of changes that might occur in response to spring‐to‐spring tide cycles of fourteen days, changing barometric and wind conditions associated with the passage of anticyclonic weather systems across the coast, and day to day variation in the nearshore wave regime. During the survey the bar patterns tended to vary from transverse bars, through a composite arrangement incorporating longshore and transverse bars, to a longshore bar pattern as the tide changed from its spring to neap tide phase. However, this sequence was too brief to unequivocally establish variations in nearshore bar pattern that might be attributed to the fourteen day, spring‐to‐spring tide cycle. Nevertheless, morphologic changes occurring in response to wave regime fluctuation at Coledale were broadly in accord with studies from elsewhere by Dolan et al. (1979, 1982), and Clarke and Eliot (1982, 1983) in that bars and rips were systematically distributed along the beach. At Coledale, bars tended to relocate approximately 0.4 and 0.75 of the distance along the beach from its southern end. The preferred bar spacing closely matches hypothetical standing waves trapped between the headlands of the Coledale embayment. Temporally, the nearshore morphology is highly responsive to wave regime changes such that, as primary breaker heights decrease and remain below Hmax=1.0m, the bar pattern changes from longshore through mixed to transverse bar patterns within three to five days. On one occasion the bar pattern switched from a longshore to a transverse bar pattern within twenty‐four hours.
Transport Geography: A bit of a caveat here and there1
Authors: RIMMER PETER J.
Published: March 2008

But you must also be aware of another distinct bias nearly all of the examples are from the United States, Canada, Britain and Sweden. Is it fair? Are the new ideas to be found almost exclusively in these four countries —what the French call les Anglo‐Saxons. Is this where the explosion in modern geography started, and continues to gather its strength? Now I am probably going to make myself extremely unpopular around the world but I am going to answer Yes to those three questions with a bit of a caveat here and there—which is the Latin word for a loophole you can wriggle out of if you have to
Shifts in the Global Capitalist Economy and the National Economic Domain
Authors: BROWETT J. , LEAVER R.
Published: March 2008

The greater part of regional development theory and thinking focuses most attention either upon spatial structure within nation states or upon inherent tendencies/free market forces within capitalist social formations/domestic economies. The great significance that is attached to the nation state is entirely understandable in terms of the historical specificity of the re‐emergence of regional development studies in the post‐war era. It is, however, no longer a sufficiently adequate basis for analysis Rather, it is necessary to commence analyses with a consideration of shifts in the global capitalist economy. Whilst the significance of the impacts of the growth in the internationalisation of production have been noted, more attention needs to be devoted to shifts from public to private economic power and from order to disorder in international finance markets. These shifts are not accidental They can be traced to internal weaknesses and inconsistencies in the Bretton Woods arrangements which eroded their ultimate foundation, that of monetary stability. As one consequence, the unregulated growth of private economic power, endemic instability and extreme volatility in international finance markets have all directly and indirectly undermined and eroded the extent of control over domestic economic policy on the part of the nation state
Resource Development and Aborigines: The Case of Roebourne 1960–1980
Authors: HOWITT R.
Published: March 2008

The pervasive and dynamic influence of economic restructuring on political and social relations is highlighted in many aspects of Australian daily life. The effect of economic restructuring on already marginalised and disempowered groups in society is often overlooked Development of iron ore mines and associated new towns, railways and ports transformed the regional economy of Western Australia's Pilbara region in the 1960s and 1970s. For Aborigines in Roebourne, this restructuring represented a new phase in their relations with ‘White Australia’. Interacting historical legacies, corporate strategies, government policies and economic processes further marginalised the region's Aboriginal population and linked the region to the global economy in ways which created significant barriers to the development of Aboriginal self‐management strategies. This paper reviews this period with particular emphasis on the social impact of the iron ore ‘boom’ on local Aboriginal people. In the current climate of renewed economic and political crisis in Western Australia, this review provides a timely reminder that such processes occur in a broader context than is often recognised in regional planning processes.
Restructuring of Sydney's Central Industrial Area: Process and Local Impacts
Authors: MURPHY PETER A. , WATSON SOPHIE
Published: March 2008

Since World War II Sydneys central industrial area has lost more than 80 per cent of its manufacturing workforce and no longer the dominant centre of manufacturing in Sydney, is now just one of a number of important centres. Unlike inner cities of the United Kingdom and United States, de‐industrialisation in Sydney's central city has not caused a trapped population of displaced workers The first aim of this paper is to outline the restructuring of the central industrial area Two major periods of restructuring can be distinguished Up to the early I9 70s change in the industrial area was driven by intra‐ metropolitan forces. Since then international forces, and related major infrastructure developments, have substantially accelerated job bss. The second aim is to document the impacts which restructuring has had on the inner city workforce Jobs lost up to the early 1970s did not disadvantage inner city workers because employers as well as workers were moving to the suburbs Since then inner city workers in traditional blue collar occupations have been more strongly affected by de‐industrialisation than the city as whole but the numbers involved have been too small to have been of much political interest Social problems in the inner city resulting from restructuring in the industrial area have been masked by strong gentrification.
Underground drainage at Mole Creek, Tasmania
Authors: KIERNAN KEVIN
Published: March 2008

Complex patterns of groundwater flow exist in the Mole Creek karst area, Tasmania. Many surface drainage divides are breached underground The evolution of the drainage has been dominated by (I) the deflection of streams along the strike of the limestone beds; (2) progressive changes to hydraulic gradients; and (3) a history of climate change during the Quaternary that has seen drainage diverted underground by glaciers and/or by proglacial and periglacial sedimentation
Gender In Third World Development Studies: An Overview Of An Underview
Authors: THOMAS PAMELA , SKEAT HELEN
Published: March 2008

This paper reviews twenty years progress in the study of gender in Third World development and the extent to which gender has been incorporated within mainstream development theory and practice. Special reference is made to the role geography has played in this arena. It is argued that while gender as a theoretical framework for explaining women's differential but continued subordination should be reaching maturity, there has been little attempt to formulate cohesive models which integrate micro‐and macro‐level concepts and which could provide a firm base for future theory‐building. More important, studies of gender in the Third World development have seldom addressed the question of development policy or put forward practical solutions for the integration of gender issues in development planning. As a case study of gender in development planning the paper examines the Australian Government's women in development (WID) policy, the ways in which it was informed, and the extent to which it has been implemented.
Hydrogeomorphic Effects of River Training Works: the Case of the Allyn River, NSW
Authors: ERSKINE WAYNE D.
Published: March 2008

Since 1955 the NSW Department of Water Resources has undertaken extensive river training works on many NSW streams. In the Hunter Valley alone over $23 million have been spent and more than 850 km of channel have been treated Published work suggests that river training works are usually undertaken in response to a pre‐existing problem of river instability but can also induce adverse hydrogeomorphic effects. One of the treated streams, the Allyn River, had been supposedly degraded by the constructed works. It was alleged that vegetation clearing, channel excavations, alignment straightening and bank protection works had decreased roughness thus increasing velocity and flood frequency. As a result, what were thought to be relatively moderate floods were eroding the banks and destroying the floodplain. A critical evaluation of the available hydraulic, hydrologic and geomorphic data revealed that the river training works were a response to, rather than a cause of river instability.
The Political Organisation of Space: A Reformist Conception
Authors: RUMLEY DENNIS
Published: March 2008

This paper outlines four primary functions of the political organisation of space—participation, representation, service delivery and control It argues that there are inherent conflicts in the maximisation of these functions and that political geographers have paid insufficient attention to the degree to which territoriality implies a pre‐eminence of the control function. It is suggested that a ‘reformist’ conception of political geography is necessary in order to evaluate the extent to which this actually occurs and to make the sub‐discipline more policy relevant.
The Evolution of the Sustainable DeveIopment Concept: A Perspective from Australia
Authors: MOFFATT IAN
Published: March 2008

It is argued that in the 1970s the radical idea of ecodevelopment failed to gain support as a way of reconciling economic development with ecological conservation but it sowed the seeds of the sustainable development concept. By 1980 the World Conservation Strategy received support from many countries including Australia. The National Conservation Strategy for Australia received a mixed response at the state/territory level but it in turn paved the way for an Australian response to the Brundtland Report. This latter report put the concept of sustainable development on the political agenda and it has been taken up positively by the Australian federal government and non‐government organisations. It is noted that there is still a need to develop methods to transform the concept into a useful tool for national and regional planning in Australia.
Social Impact Assessment as ‘Applied Peoples' Geography’
Authors: HOWITT RICHARD
Published: March 2008

The increasing imposition of requirements for formal impact assessment reports prior to government approval of major industrial developments provides an opportunity for professional geographers to address the research‐action agenda outlined by Harvey (1984) in his call for an applied peoples' geography. Using examples from impact studies involving indigenous peoples affected by Australian resource projects, this paper considers the conceptual basis for empowering, participatory and interventionist social impact research which addresses Harvey's concerns.
Markets, Resources, Environments
Authors: WEBBER MICHAEL
Published: March 2008

Orthodox economists argue, in this country as elsewhere in the developed world, that many of the issues of environmental damage and resource use over which governments, corporations and community groups tussle could be resolved if appropriate markets for environmental goods were established. This paper argues that markets are commonly not appropriate mechanisms to resolve environmental disputes: much of the problem is to determine the effects rather than to allocate them; when the rate of discount of the future is positive, the social need is different from the sum of rational individual decisions; and markets ignore equity. Furthermore, the limits on sustainability seem to be quantitative rather than qualitative ‐ to rest on the magnitude of resource discovery, or on the rate of improvement of environmental quality per dollar invested for example. Again, the central question concerns the data rather than a means of allocating costs and benefits. These difficulties in using market mechanisms imply that legal systems may be preferable as means of regulating environmental use.
Estuarine Acidification: Impacts on Aquatic Biota of Draining Acid Sulphate Soils
Authors: SAMMUT J. , MELVILLE M.D. , CALLINAN R.B. , FRASER G.C.
Published: March 2008

Acid sulphate soils form when iron pyrite oxidises to sulphuric acid on atmospheric exposure, lowering soil pH below 4. In the Richmond River estuary, northern New South Wales, flood mitigation, drainage works and floodplain excavations have augmented acid sulphate soil formation by increasing pyrite availability for oxidation. These engineering works have facilitated the transport of acidified water and have impeded recovery from tributary acidification. The increased frequency and duration of acidification are associated with elevated concentrations of inorganic monomeric aluminium and dissolved iron, and major iron hydroxide precipitation, with deleterious effects on exposed aquatic biota and habitat. Fish kills and an outbreak of epizootic ulcerative syndrome (EUS) have been recorded from acidified sites in the estuary.
Health, Wealth, Fertility, Education, and Inequality
Authors: Fielding David , Torres Sebastian
Published: March 2008

The authors use a new cross‐country dataset to estimate the strength of the links between different dimensions of social and economic development, including indicators of health, fertility, and education, as well as material wellbeing. This differs from previous studies in employing data for different income groups in each country in order to provide direct evidence on factors driving inequality, and in using a unique measure of material wellbeing that does not rely on PPP comparisons.
External Shocks, Balance Sheet Contagion, and Speculative Attack on the Pegged Exchange Rate System
Authors: Ma Yue
Published: March 2008

A simple monetary model is built to illustrate that the pegged exchange rate system will collapse under an unstable external environment via the balance sheet contagion and the “boiling frog” effect, even if the domestic policy and the fundamentals are sound. If agents anticipate this happening, a speculative attack may still occur. This result is different from that of the first‐generation currency crisis model, where the inconsistent domestic policy brings in the collapse of the peg. The policy options to defend the peg in the author's model depend on the nature of the shock. Effective capital control can only be implemented for capital outflow shock. Capital account deregulation is more stabilizing under a current account deficit shock, however. This paper also distinguishes the effect of capital mobility with that of the asset substitutability, as they have completely different impacts on the peg.
Growth, Attitudes towards Women, and Women's Welfare
Authors: Owen Ann L. , You Rongling
Published: March 2008

The authors find that attitudes towards women are more progressive as per capita income rises and that the quality and quantity of women's human capital increases with per capita income. Prior to presenting these empirical results, the authors first demonstrate the importance of these relationships with a simple model that shows how a feedback loop between attitudes towards women, investment in women's human capital, and income affects the dynamic path of the economy. Depending on the nature of the relationship between per capita income and attitudes towards women, they identify the possibility of a gender‐equity poverty trap. Finally, they extend the model to show the dynamic interplay between attitudes towards women, income, and fertility.
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF GERMAN PILOT FARMS1
Authors: HRUSCHKA E. , RHEINWALD H.
Published: March 2008

The Effectiveness of German Pilot Farms

The study was conducted to determine some of the major factors which influence the effectiveness of pilot farms. It was carried through in 23 German villages with 661 farmers. In this article some findings on the effects of socio‐psychological factors are reported. The strongest influences result from the social area: a) farmers do not like to ask overt questions about new farm practices, b) they do not like to visit the pilot farm to get more information, and c) the adoption of new farm practices depends on the social prestige of the pilot farmer. The results show that innovativeness, good farming and willingness to co‐operate with the Extension Service – the criteria on which the pilot farms were selected – are not sufficient pre‐conditions for the success of a pilot farm.
DEVELOPMENT AND RURAL SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Authors: HOFSTEE E. W.
Published: March 2008

DEVELOPMENT AND RURAL SOCIAL STRUCTURE: The experiences during more than 20 years of fundamental change in the world after the Second World War have shown that agriculture and rural life remain a serious problem. Notwithstanding many efforts to improve conditions for the production of food, there are more hungry people in the world than ever before. The work of rural sociologists has contributed too little to solving this problem. One reason for this failure may be that rural sociology, in its present form originating from the us A gives too much attention to adjustment problems within the existing social order, too often studies the individual instead of the group, and takes development in the Western world too easily as a model for all development. Rather than study the adjustment problems of individual farmers or small communities, it would be better to undertake studies of the position of the peasant class in the larger society by means of a macro‐sociological approach, and by integrating cultural anthropology and history with rural sociology. Rural sociology should look at agriculture and rural life as they are imbedded in the national social structure, thus broadening its scope, and so become more able to understand the rural revolution.

ENT'WICKLUNG UND LÄNDLICHE SOZIALSTRUKTUREN: Die Erfahrungen über den grundlegenden Wandel in der Welt während der vergangenen 20 Jahre haben gelehrt, dass die Land‐wirtschaft und das Leben auf dem Lande weiter ein ernstes Problem darstcllen. Trotz vieler Anstrengungen, die Grundlagen der Nah‐rungsproduktion zu verbessern, gibt es mehr Hunger in der Welt als je zuvor. Die Arbeit der Landsoziologen hat ziemlich wenig dazu beigetragen, diese Schwierigkeiten zu überwinden. Ein Grund für das Versagen besteht darin, dass die ländliche Soziologie, die in der gegenwärtigen Form ihren Ursprung in den USA hat, zuviel Bedeutung den Anpassungsproblcmen innerhalb der bestehenden Sozial‐ordnung beimisst, dass sie zu sehr das Individuum anstatt die Gruppe sieht und dass sie die Entwicklung der westlichen Welt zu einfach als ein Modell für jeden Entwicklungsprozess nimmt. Besser als die Arbeiten über Anpassung einzelner Landwirte und kleiner Gemeinden wäre, Untersuchungen büer den Standort der Landwirtschaft in der grösseren Gesellschaft mittels makro‐soziologischer Methode und durch Integration der Kulturanthropologie und Kulturgeschichte mit der ländlichen Soziologie durchzüftihren. Diese sollte die Landwirtschaft und das Leben auf dem Lande als Bestandteil der nationalen Sozialstruktur sehen, um so ihren Gesichtskreis zu erweitern und die ländliche Revolution besser erfassen zu können.
CONCEPTUALIZING AND MEASURING THE DIFFUSION OF INNOVATIONS‘
Authors: Klonglan Gerald E. , BEAL George M. , BOHLEN Joe M. , Coward E. Walter
Published: March 2008

CONCEPTUALIZING AND MEASURING THE DIFFUSION OF INNOVATIONS

This presentation has discussed a conceptualization and measurement of extent of diffusion that closely approximates the theoretical definition of diffusion as the spread of an innovation. Rather than equating extent of diffusion with the proportion of adoption units in the adoption stage it is equated with the proportion of adoption units in each stage of the adoption process. The discussion illustrates the application of this conceptualization to the analysis of empirical data and shows its utility in comparing changes in extent of diffusion over time as well as in comparing the extent of diffusion of two or more innovations at one point in time.

LA DIFFUSION DE l'INNOVATION‐CONCEPTUALISATION ET MESURE

Cet article expose une conceptualisation et une méthode de mesure nouvelles du degré de diffusion de l'innovation. l' évaluation classique du degré de diffusion de l'innovation était centrée sur la proportion des unités d'adoption, utilisateurs de l'innovation. La méthode présentée ici utilise une autre procédure dans laquelle l' évaluation de la diffusion est analysée en fonction de la proportion des unités d'adoption ayant franchi chaque étape du processus d'adoption. La détermination de ces proportions permet la construction d'une droite et d'un indice de diffusion. Cet article illustre l'applicabilityé de cette méthode par l'analyse de revolution du degré de diffusion dans le temps et la comparison du degré de diffusion de deux innovations à un moment donné.

KONZEPTUALISIERUNG UND MESSUNG DER VERBREITUNG VON NEUERUNGEN

Der Artikel diskutiert die Konzeptualisierung und Messung der Diffusion von Neuerungen und nähert sich dabei stark an die the‐oretische Definition der Diffusion als der Verbreitung einer Neuerung an. Anstatt das Ausmaß der Diffusion mit dem Verhältnis der Adop‐tionseinheiten im Adoptionsstadium gleichzusetzen, wird es mit der Proportion von Adoptionseinheiten in jeder Etappe des Adoptions‐prozesses gleichgesetzt. Die Diskussion veranschaulicht, wie dieses Konzept bei der Analyse empirischer Daten anzuwenden ist. Sie zeigt ihre Nützlichkeit beim Vergleich von Veränderungen im Ausmaß der Diffusion über die Zeit und bei zwei oder mehr Neuerungen zum gleichen Zeitpunkt.
FEMALE SOLIDARITY GROUPS AS A POWER BASE IN RURAL CHINA
Authors: CROLL ELISABETH J.
Published: March 2008

In China the establishment of female solidarity groups is an important component of the strategy to redefine the position of women. This paper describes the basis on which solidarity groups have been founded, their formation in rural villages and analyses the degree to which they have legitimised and institutionalised women's participation in social production and their access to the control of economic and political resources. Finally the article examines the autonomy of female solidarity groups as an independent power base in China and their ambivalent role in generating sex antagonism in a society in which class struggle is viewed as the motivating force generating social change.

En Chine un élément important de la stratégic, de redéfinir la position de la femme, consiste à former des groupes de solidarité féminins. Cet article décrit la base sur laquelle ont été formés ces groupes de solidarité dans les villages et analyse dans quelle mesure ces groupes ont légitimé et institutionalisé la participation de la femme à la production sociale et son accès au pouvoir sur les ressources économiques et politiques. Finalement cet article examine l'autonomie des groupes de solidarité féminins comme base de pouvoir indépendant et leur rôle ambivalent concernant la création d'un antagonisme entre les sexes dans une société où la lutte des classes est considérée comme force motivante pour obtenir des changements sociaux.

In China bcstcht cin wichtigcr Bcstandtcil dcr Strategic, die Stcllung der Frau neu zu definieren, darin, weibliche Solidaritatsgruppen aufzu‐bauen. Dieser ArtikeJ beschreibt die Basis, auf der diese Solidaritatsgruppen in den Dr̈ern gegrüt wurden, und analysiert, inwieweit diese Gruppen die Teilnahme der Frau an sozialer Produktion und ihren Zugang zu Gewalt ükonμsche und politische Ressourcen legitimiert und institutionalisiert haben. Schließh untersucht dieser Artikel die Autonomic weiblicher Solidaritẗgruppen als unabhn̈ige Machtbasis in China und ihre ambivalente Rolle bezüch der Schaf‐fung eines Antagonismuses zwischen den Geschlechtern in einer Gesellschaft, in welcher Klassenkampf als motivierende Kraft, soziale Veranderungen zu erreichen, angesehen wird.