Suchergebnisse

The New Colombo Plan (NCP), a key plank in the Australian government's foreign policy agenda, leverages student mobility as public diplomacy to improve Australia's standing and influence within the Indo-Pacific region. Conceptualized as a "rite of passage" for young Australians, the NCP has been welcomed by Australian business, industry groups, and stakeholders because of its potential to deliver lasting relationships and practical economic benefits. Coordinated by the foreign affairs portfolio, the NCP represents a significant and distinct component of Australia's public diplomacy, firmly aligned to advance the state's economic diplomacy agenda. This paper explores the evolution of the NCP. It draws on stakeholder impressions from the program launch and pilot to explore early limitations and deeper soft power challenges. Findings suggest that the NCP is robust, yet key issues of strategic coherence, partnership, and evaluation require further attention if it is to deliver on its soft power promise.

National Competition Policy (NCP) has been a highly contentious public policy issue in Australia since its introduction in 1995. This paper examines the development and implementation of NCP, and its relationship to other modalities of state restructuring such as privatisation. We also analyse selected aspects of NCP in operation, including issues of market failures such as the 1998 gas, electricity and water supply crises; the role of competition regulators in the labour market; and issues of public interest. We track changes in the way NCP has been enforced by the regulatory authority, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which is taking an increasingly interventionist approach to labour market issues, but a more laissez-faire approach to other markets. These developments are analysed in the context of a globalised economic system dominated by large business corporations that often do not operate in classic, competitive markets. The forces of globalisation and the development of a strong community backlash against NCP In rural and regional Australia are placing increasing pressure on Australian competition policy as it is currently configured.

To ensure their quality of life, people adapt to multiple changes by maintaining or transforming the structure and functions of their socio-ecological systems (SES). A better understanding of mechanisms underpinning SES adaptation, especially the contribution of changes in human–nature interactions, is crucial to facilitate adaptation to future challenges. Using a chronosystemic timeline and based on literature, archives and local knowledge of inhabitants, we explored the past trajectory of a mountain SES (Pays de la Meije, French Alps) since 1900 by analysing drivers, impacts and responses. We hypothesised that adaptation has occurred through changes in the co-production of nature's contributions to people (NCP). We identified four historical periods of combined changes in agriculture and tourism with associated changes in NCP. Results show which and how drivers of changes have influenced NCP co-production, how NCP have been mobilised in adaptive responses and how human and natural capitals involved in NCP co-production have been reconfigured for adaptation. We show that drivers of change have been mainly exogenous and out of the control of local actors, like public policies, markets and consumption patterns. These drivers can directly impact the capitals involved in NCP co-production like amount of workforce, knowledge or skills, creating not only threats but also opportunities for the livelihood of the local community. Depending on the intensity of capital reconfiguration and the type of NCP involved, adaptive responses range from resistance to transformation of the governance system and socio-economic sectors. This analysis highlights existing path dependencies that could hinder future adaptation.

A key element of national control programmes (NCPs) for Salmonella in commercial laying flocks, introduced across the European Union, is the identification of infected flocks and holdings through statutory sampling. It is therefore important to know the sensitivity of the sampling methods, in order to design effective and efficient surveillance for Salmonella. However, improved Salmonella control in response to the NCP may have influenced key factors that determine the sensitivity of the sampling methods used to detect Salmonella in NCPs. Therefore the aim of this study was to compare estimates of the sensitivity of the sampling methods using data collected before and after the introduction of the NCP, using Bayesian methods. There was a large reduction in the sensitivity of dust in non-cage flocks between the pre-NCP studies (81% of samples positive in positive flocks) and post-NCP studies (10% of samples positive in positive flocks), leading to the conclusion that sampling dust is not recommended for detection of Salmonella in non-cage flocks. However, cage dust (43% of samples positive in positive flocks) was found to be more sensitive than cage faeces (29% of samples positive in positive flocks). To have a high probability of detection, several NCP-style samples need to be used. For confirmation of Salmonella, five NCP faecal samples for cage flocks, and three NCP faecal boot swab samples for non-cage flocks would be required to have the equivalent sensitivity of the EU baseline survey method, which was estimated to have an 87% and 75% sensitivity to detect Salmonella at a 5% within-flock prevalence in cage and non-cage flocks, respectively.

In 1995 all Australian state and territory governments entered into an agreement with the federal government to introduce a comprehensive program of national competition policy (NCP) reforms. A number of studies have attempted to assess the benefits of these reforms by (i) estimating, via data envelopment analysis or similar techniques, the productivity gap between Australian industries affected by the reforms and their foreign counterparts, and (ii) then modelling the long-run effects of bringing the relevant Australian industries to world-best-practice levels of efficiency. These studies have been criticised for having severely overestimated the efficiency gains from NCP, and for ignoring the associated labour market adjustments. In this paper we take advantage of FEDERAL-F's historical modelling and forecasting capabilities to take a new approach to the problem. First, to measure the efficiency gains from NCP, we use the observed changes in efficiency in one of the sectors subject to NCP reforms (utilities) immediately after the introduction of NCP (rather than following the earlier approach of making a comparison between actual and best-practice levels of productivity). The changes in the utilities sector's primary factor productivity pre- and post- the introduction of NCP are calculated during historical simulations with FEDERAL-F. We investigate the impacts that the changes in observed productivity improvements have had on regional indicators of aggregate economic activity, with particular attention to indices of regional labour market adjustment costs. The changes in these indices provide measures of the value of labour inputs that are lost as implementation of the NCP alters the flow of people between different labour market categories.

ObjectiveTo establish a cohort of children consisting of those born after assisted reproductive technology (ART) in the UK between 1992 and 2009, their naturally conceived siblings (NCS) and matched naturally conceived population controls (NCP) and linking this to postnatal health records up to 2015.
MethodsDeterministic record linkage between the Human Fertilization & Embryology Authority (HFEA) register and Office for National Statistics (ONS) birth registration datasets was carried out to identify a cohort of children born after ART between 1992 and 2009, their NCS, and matched NCP controls (HFEA-ONS linkage). This cohort was linked to the UK Hospital Episode Statistics database to allow monitoring of the child's post-natal health outcomes up to 2015 (HFEA-ONS-HES linkage). Birthweight and health outcomes were compared between groups and by treatment type.
ResultsThe HFEA-ONS linkage consisted of 75348 children born after non-donor ART carried out in the UK between 1st April 1992 and 31st July 2009, 14763 NCS and 164823 matched NCP controls. Of these, 63877 ART, 11343 NCS, and 127544 matched NCP controls were linked to hospital admissions and outpatient data (HFEA-ONS-HES sub-cohort). The study had 1.6-million-person years of follow-up (mean: 12.9 years; range 0-19 years). Children born after fresh embryo transfers were lighter and those born after frozen embryo transfers were heavier than the NCP controls. The within-sibling analyses were directionally consistent with the NCP analyses, but attenuated for the fresh vs NC and increased for the frozen vs NC analyses. ART singletons had increased risk of hospital admission as well as higher admission rates compared to NCP but not NCS.
ConclusionBespoke record linkage was carried out to generate a new child cohort for use in exploring the relationship between conception via ART and short- and long-term health outcomes in offspring. Identification of NCS as well as matched NCP controls allows exploration of the association of ART with adverse offspring outcomes while accounting for parental factors related to sub-fertility which may confound these associations.

O objetivo deste artigo é analisar as articulações da cultura política tradicional, entendida como "Cultura Cívica", e da "Nova Cultura Política" (NCP), enquanto conviventes no mesmo espaço metropolitano. A questão central do trabalho é saber se faz sentido, em um país com pouco tempo de existência da democracia, e com as características do Brasil, elaborar um conceito para apreender a NCP que seja adaptado às nossas idiossincrasias. Esse esforço envolverá uma discussão teórica e metodológica sobre o conceito de cultura política, assim como sobre a adequação da nova concepção de NCP a uma cultura metropolitana de tradição democrática recente.

In this paper we compare alternative asymptotic approximations to the power of the likelihood ratio test used in covariance structure analysis for testing the fit of a model. Alternative expressions for the noncentrality parameter (ncp) lead to different approximations to the power function. It appears that for alternative covariance matrices close to the null hypothesis, the alternative ncp's lead to similar values, while for alternative covariance matrices far from Ho the different expressions for the ncp can conflict substantively. Monte Carlo evidence shows that the ncp proposed in Satorra and Saris (1985) gives the most accurate power approximations.

National Competition Policy (NCP), legislated in Australia in 1995, has arguably been the single most consequential economic policy over the past decade. Yet it has largely escaped sociological analysis. This article investigates how the concept of the public interest in NCP has actually had the effect of legitimizing neo-liberal ideologies concerning private, individual, economic interests. Using critical policy analysis, this article examines how this legitimization has occurred through: (1) the policy language of the public interest, and how this discourse has shifted over time; (2) the implementation of NCP, particularly the application of the public interest test; and (3) evidence proffered by dominant institutions about the social and economic distributional outcomes of NCP. This analysis demonstrates that the policy language and public discourse of the public interest has been used to secure hegemonic control to legitimate the interests of dominant groups.

The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises were viewed at their genesis as political commitments not legally binding on states and only voluntary for corporations. Due to the OECD Council Decision on the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises in 2000/2011, however, OECD Member States are compelled to implement this regime by the establishment and operation of a National Contact Point (NCP) as a state-based, non-judicial, dispute resolution mechanism to handle complaints concerning corporations operating from or within their respective jurisdictions. This paper does not analyse weaknesses in the often-troubled NCP system nor does it propose reforms. Rather, it examines the current system from the legal perspective of OECD Member States and explores the relatively ignored extent of their obligations under it. This paper posits that on account of the Council Decision, treaty-derived, international obligations are in fact imposed on OECD Member States under the NCP system and that NCP maladministration can lead to state responsibility at international law. In any event, however, it seems clear that there does not exist any review mechanism—domestically or internationally—capable of attributing internationally wrongful conduct to an OECD Member State on account of its NCP.

National Competition Policy (NCP), legislated in Australia in 1995, has arguably been the single most consequential economic policy over the past decade. Yet it has largely escaped sociological analysis. This article investigates how the concept of the public interest in NCP has actually had the effect of legitimizing neo-liberal ideologies concerning private, individual, economic interests. Using critical policy analysis, this article examines how this legitimization has occurred through: (1) the policy language of the public interest, and how this discourse has shifted over time; (2) the implementation of NCP, particularly the application of the public interest test; and (3) evidence proffered by dominant institutions about the social and economic distributional outcomes of NCP. This analysis demonstrates that the policy language and public discourse of the public interest has been used to secure hegemonic control to legitimate the interests of dominant groups. © 2007 the Australian Sociological Association. ; C1

Since the late 1960s, the New Canadian Political Economy (NCPE) has played an important role in shaping the trajectory of the social sciences in Canada and informing the political goals and strategies of a range of progressive social movements. However, few studies have attempted to trace the history of the NCPE as a distinctive intellectual tradition or account for its place in consolidating a Left political milieu in Canada outside of Quebec. Exploring the NCPE as part of a wider Left formation, this article examines the role played by organic intellectuals in building this tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] ; Peer reviewed ; Final article published

In recent decades, the Chinese government has made a great effort in initiating large-scale ecological restoration programs (ERPs) to reduce the dust concentrations in China, especially for dust storm episodes. Using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land cover product, the ERP-induced land cover changes are quantitatively evaluated in this study. Two obvious vegetation protective barriers arise throughout China from the southwest to the northeast, which are well known as the "Green Great Wall" (GGW). Both the grass GGW and forest GGW are located between the dust source region (DSR) and the densely populated North China Plain (NCP). To assess the effect of ERPs on dust concentrations, a regional transport/dust model (WRF-DUST, Weather Research and Forecast model with dust) is applied to investigate the evolution of dust plumes during a strong dust storm episode from 2 to 8 March 2016. The WRF-DUST model generally performs reasonably well in reproducing the temporal variations and spatial distributions of near-surface [PMC] (mass concentration of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter between 2.5 and 10 µ m) during the dust storm event. Sensitivity experiments have indicated that the ERP-induced GGWs help to reduce the dust concentration in the NCP, especially in BTH (Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei). When the dust storm is transported from the upwind DSR to the downwind NCP, the [PMC] reduction ranges from −5 to −15 % in the NCP, with a maximum reduction of −12.4 % ( −19.2 µ g m −3 ) in BTH and −7.6 % ( −10.1 µ g m −3 ) in the NCP. We find the dust plumes move up to the upper atmosphere and are transported from the upwind DSR to the downwind NCP, accompanied by dust decrease. During the episode, the forest GGW is nonsignificant in dust concentration control because it is of benefit for dry deposition and not for emission. Conversely, the grass GGW is beneficial in controlling dust erosion and is the dominant reason for [PMC] decrease in the NCP. Because the air pollution is severe in eastern China, especially in the NCP, and the contribution of dust episodes is significant, the reduction of dust concentrations will have important effects on severe air pollution. This study illustrates the considerable contribution of ERPs to the control of air pollution in China, especially in springtime.