title: Spectroscopic and synthetic studies of lichen metabolites

authors: Ronaldson, Kathlyn Joy

abstract: Lichen metabolites from various Nephroma and Pseudocyphellaria species have been subjected to a number of spectroscopic and synthetic investigations. Hypoiodite reaction of 15α-acetoxyhopan-17(21)-en-24-ol yielded a complex mixture of products, while similar reaction of 7-oxohopan-22-ol resulted in cleavage of the side-chain. Preparation of an α-sulphenylated 15-ketone was achieved as the first step in a carbonyl transposition sequence. Complete assignment of the ¹³C nmr spectra of four pentacyclic and two ring A-cleaved stictane derivatives provided evidence of the boat-ring B. The low frequency infrared spectra of a number of stictane and hopane triterpenoids yielded structurally significant correlations. Two depsidonal constituents of N. australe were demonstrated to be hypostictic acid and hyposalazinic acid. The reactions of mercuric acetate with unsaturated compounds are reviewed and anomalous products of Jones reagent oxidation investigated.

text: Spectroscopic and synthetic studies of lichen metabolites Lichen metabolites from various Nephroma and Pseudocyphellaria species have been subjected to a number of spectroscopic and synthetic investigations. Hypoiodite reaction of 15α-acetoxyhopan-17(21)-en-24-ol yielded a complex mixture of products, while similar reaction of 7-oxohopan-22-ol resulted in cleavage of the side-chain. Preparation of an α-sulphenylated 15-ketone was achieved as the first step in a carbonyl transposition sequence. Complete assignment of the ¹³C nmr spectra of four pentacyclic and two ring A-cleaved stictane derivatives provided evidence of the boat-ring B. The low frequency infrared spectra of a number of stictane and hopane triterpenoids yielded structurally significant correlations. Two depsidonal constituents of N. australe were demonstrated to be hypostictic acid and hyposalazinic acid. The reactions of mercuric acetate with unsaturated compounds are reviewed and anomalous products of Jones reagent oxidation investigated.

year: 1980

title: Flood protection based on historical records is flawed – we need a risk model fit for climate change

authors: Fu, Xinyu

abstract: Flood-related disasters are on the rise, exacerbated by the worsening climate crisis, despite substantial investments in protective measures. Recent extreme weather events have demonstrated that even areas considered relatively safe can be susceptible to flooding. This calls into question the adequacy of our existing flood management strategies.

Historically, flood management has focused heavily on constructing higher levees and expanding drainage systems. While these measures contain water effectively most of the time, they can lead to catastrophic floods when they exceed their original design capacity. Moreover, they operate under the flawed assumption that future flooding can be reliably predicted based on historical flood data. This false sense of security encourages development in flood-prone regions.

The increasing unpredictability of rainfall patterns and intensities due to climate change has rendered these historical design assumptions inadequate. As a result, a significant "residual risk" persists, even after infrastructure improvements and plans for future enhancements.

To illustrate this, consider wearing a seatbelt while driving. The seatbelt reduces harm in the event of an accident but doesn't guarantee complete protection from injury. Now imagine road conditions deteriorating, weather becoming more unpredictable, and traffic volumes increasing. Some might opt not to drive due to the heightened risk, but for those already on the road, it's too late. This parallels how many countries continue to manage floods—often by constructing higher levees or larger drainage systems. However, this incremental development often lacks the strategic investment and infrastructure capacity required to safely manage excess water volumes during failures.

While housing development is essential, current flood risk assessments often neglect both current and future flood risk. Planning controls and additional infrastructure costs are frequently criticized as "red tape," further increasing residual risk. Recent weather-related disasters, such as Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand and wildfires in the northern hemisphere, have underscored the need to understand and manage residual risk. However, the recognition and incorporation of residual risk management in planning policies vary from one country to another, with many lacking clear national directives.

In New Zealand, for instance, there is limited national-level guidance on flood risk management. Still, flood risk professionals are increasingly aware of the rising residual flood risk, primarily due to climate change and continued development in flood-prone regions designated as "protected." There is consensus that current flood risk management practices need improvement.

Overcoming these challenges requires acknowledging and managing the growing residual risk linked to climate change. A more informed approach involves implementing robust guidelines against ill-advised development in flood-prone areas unless accompanied by infrastructure investments that reduce residual risk. Resilience-building measures, such as creating "sponge cities" and increasing space for water in flood risk management, are gaining traction. To break the cycle of disaster recovery and financial losses, planning must prioritize residual risk considerations in response to more frequent flooding and inevitable infrastructure failures.

text: Flood protection based on historical records is flawed – we need a risk model fit for climate change Flood-related disasters are on the rise, exacerbated by the worsening climate crisis, despite substantial investments in protective measures. Recent extreme weather events have demonstrated that even areas considered relatively safe can be susceptible to flooding. This calls into question the adequacy of our existing flood management strategies.

Historically, flood management has focused heavily on constructing higher levees and expanding drainage systems. While these measures contain water effectively most of the time, they can lead to catastrophic floods when they exceed their original design capacity. Moreover, they operate under the flawed assumption that future flooding can be reliably predicted based on historical flood data. This false sense of security encourages development in flood-prone regions.

The increasing unpredictability of rainfall patterns and intensities due to climate change has rendered these historical design assumptions inadequate. As a result, a significant "residual risk" persists, even after infrastructure improvements and plans for future enhancements.

To illustrate this, consider wearing a seatbelt while driving. The seatbelt reduces harm in the event of an accident but doesn't guarantee complete protection from injury. Now imagine road conditions deteriorating, weather becoming more unpredictable, and traffic volumes increasing. Some might opt not to drive due to the heightened risk, but for those already on the road, it's too late. This parallels how many countries continue to manage floods—often by constructing higher levees or larger drainage systems. However, this incremental development often lacks the strategic investment and infrastructure capacity required to safely manage excess water volumes during failures.

While housing development is essential, current flood risk assessments often neglect both current and future flood risk. Planning controls and additional infrastructure costs are frequently criticized as "red tape," further increasing residual risk. Recent weather-related disasters, such as Cyclone Gabrielle in New Zealand and wildfires in the northern hemisphere, have underscored the need to understand and manage residual risk. However, the recognition and incorporation of residual risk management in planning policies vary from one country to another, with many lacking clear national directives.

In New Zealand, for instance, there is limited national-level guidance on flood risk management. Still, flood risk professionals are increasingly aware of the rising residual flood risk, primarily due to climate change and continued development in flood-prone regions designated as "protected." There is consensus that current flood risk management practices need improvement.

Overcoming these challenges requires acknowledging and managing the growing residual risk linked to climate change. A more informed approach involves implementing robust guidelines against ill-advised development in flood-prone areas unless accompanied by infrastructure investments that reduce residual risk. Resilience-building measures, such as creating "sponge cities" and increasing space for water in flood risk management, are gaining traction. To break the cycle of disaster recovery and financial losses, planning must prioritize residual risk considerations in response to more frequent flooding and inevitable infrastructure failures.

year: 2023-08-31

title: Faith, politics and reconciliation: the Roman Catholic Church, New Zealand Maori and indigenous Australians

authors: O'Sullivan, Dominic

abstract: The Roman Catholic Church claims from Jesus Christ a mission to teach consistently religious ideals in accordance with its understanding of God’s constant truth. These ideals include the belief that human creation in the image and likeness of God establishes rights to dignity, to culture, to religious freedom, to self-determination and a share in the common good. These ideals form the basis of the unique contribution to human affairs which the Church claims it can make. Although these are religious goals for the Church, they require political realisation, which means that the Church cannot but be alert to the formation of alliances of common intellectual aspiration around concrete political issues so that secular expression and context can be given to the magisterium (the Church’s body of teaching). At the same time the Catholic hierarchy is conscious of a need for caution in how it responds to political events lest that religious mission be compromised by a perception of it as a partisan political lobby group, thus lessening its capacity to make its unique contribution to human affairs. 

The Second Vatican Council reaffirmed that the Church’s religious objectives do not exist in isolation from the political order because human law, which is developed through the secular political process, should conform to the religious natural law. Prior to the Council’s reaffirmation the Australian and New Zealand Churches generally, but not exclusively, understated or misunderstood this relationship and became impotent in challenging secular objectives inconsistent with religious aspiration. In contrast when the Church has accepted the relationship, as it has since the Second Vatican Council, it has positioned itself to identify opportunities to give secular context and expression to religious thought. Such opportunities increased from the 1960s onwards as political developments in both Australia and New Zealand saw a secular questioning of racism and a broadening of the parameters of secular political debate to the extent that established Catholic thought was shifted from the fringes to the widening mainstream of public opinion on indigenous policy. 

Although the Second Vatican Council required attention to the relationship between religious ends and political means, the changing secular environment was a significant factor in encouraging public advocacy in support of indigenous aspiration, which peaked in Australia in the 1990s with substantial Church interest in the native title debate and with the Church playing a leading role in the entrenchment of reconciliation - a religious concept - on the Australian political landscape. In New Zealand there has been an equal but less vocal interest in reconciliation because the political process itself established the Treaty of Waitangi as a political context for reconciliation and a context around which the Church has been able to focus its interest in the advancement of Maori aspiration. Yet, while the Treaty of Waitangi and the associated bicultural discourse have provided contexts for the expression of religious principle, they have also detracted from the Church’s use of its own magisterium as the moral authority for the articulation of its aspirations for Maori.

text: Faith, politics and reconciliation: the Roman Catholic Church, New Zealand Maori and indigenous Australians The Roman Catholic Church claims from Jesus Christ a mission to teach consistently religious ideals in accordance with its understanding of God’s constant truth. These ideals include the belief that human creation in the image and likeness of God establishes rights to dignity, to culture, to religious freedom, to self-determination and a share in the common good. These ideals form the basis of the unique contribution to human affairs which the Church claims it can make. Although these are religious goals for the Church, they require political realisation, which means that the Church cannot but be alert to the formation of alliances of common intellectual aspiration around concrete political issues so that secular expression and context can be given to the magisterium (the Church’s body of teaching). At the same time the Catholic hierarchy is conscious of a need for caution in how it responds to political events lest that religious mission be compromised by a perception of it as a partisan political lobby group, thus lessening its capacity to make its unique contribution to human affairs. 

The Second Vatican Council reaffirmed that the Church’s religious objectives do not exist in isolation from the political order because human law, which is developed through the secular political process, should conform to the religious natural law. Prior to the Council’s reaffirmation the Australian and New Zealand Churches generally, but not exclusively, understated or misunderstood this relationship and became impotent in challenging secular objectives inconsistent with religious aspiration. In contrast when the Church has accepted the relationship, as it has since the Second Vatican Council, it has positioned itself to identify opportunities to give secular context and expression to religious thought. Such opportunities increased from the 1960s onwards as political developments in both Australia and New Zealand saw a secular questioning of racism and a broadening of the parameters of secular political debate to the extent that established Catholic thought was shifted from the fringes to the widening mainstream of public opinion on indigenous policy. 

Although the Second Vatican Council required attention to the relationship between religious ends and political means, the changing secular environment was a significant factor in encouraging public advocacy in support of indigenous aspiration, which peaked in Australia in the 1990s with substantial Church interest in the native title debate and with the Church playing a leading role in the entrenchment of reconciliation - a religious concept - on the Australian political landscape. In New Zealand there has been an equal but less vocal interest in reconciliation because the political process itself established the Treaty of Waitangi as a political context for reconciliation and a context around which the Church has been able to focus its interest in the advancement of Maori aspiration. Yet, while the Treaty of Waitangi and the associated bicultural discourse have provided contexts for the expression of religious principle, they have also detracted from the Church’s use of its own magisterium as the moral authority for the articulation of its aspirations for Maori.

year: 2003