11,817 research outputs found
Select Committee on Wind Turbines final report
No full textThe committee recommends the Commonwealth Government create an Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Industrial Sound responsible for providing research and advice to the Minister for the Environment on the impact on human health of audible noise (including low frequency) and infrasound from wind turbines.
Recommendation 1: final
6.5 The committee recommends that an Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Industrial Sound (IESC) be established by law, through provisions similar to those which provide for the Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development.
6.6 The provisions establishing the IESC on Industrial Sound should state that the Scientific Committee must conduct \u27independent, multi-disciplinary research into the adverse impacts and risks to individual and community health and wellbeing associated with wind turbine projects and any other industrial projects which emit sound and vibration energy\u27
The monitoring of the rights of the child: a child rights-based approach
No full textPhDDue to the lacunae between legal obligations to human rights and the actual situation,
monitoring is an essential component of the international and national human rights system.
Monitoring illuminates the situation of human rights commitments and ensures the relevancy
of instruments. The thesis explores monitoring in relation to the rights of the child and
submits that a child rights-based approach is essential. Monitoring should not only consider
the status and nature of child rights, but a child rights-based approach should also guide
efforts so that they improve as well as reflect and respect children's rights.
The study defines monitoring and describes a child rights-based approach. As a subject of
legal investigation, the thesis then addresses several questions. How do international and
national monitoring efforts respect child rights? How have the supervision of international
conference agreements supported child rights? Furthermore, how do different countries
monitor? National activities are examined through case studies of two Commonwealth
countries: Canada and South Africa. Then, analysis is presented about how actors interpret
and execute monitoring and the significance of different approaches. Lastly, the rationale,
challenges and existing support of a child rights-based approach are discussed. In sum, a
child rights-based approach is not generally utilised and the implications of child rights upon
the monitoring process are not yet realised. Most monitors, whether international, regional
or domestic, inadequately consider the demands of child rights upon the process of
ascertaining the situation of children's rights. Proposed guidelines are appended to support
a child rights-based approach to monitoring
Ability of Australian law enforcement authorities to eliminate gun-related violence in the community
No full textExamines gun laws and gun related violence in Australia.
Clarification of the purpose of this inquiry
In response to this inquiry, the committee received over 400 submissions, many of which were concerned about the impact the inquiry might have on the ownership and use of firearms.
It is important to clarify from the outset that the main focus of this inquiry was on illicit firearms in Australia. While some of the terms of reference refer to regulation of registered firearms that are legally held, this is in the context of ensuring that these are not diverted to the illicit market. The committee appreciates that the majority of firearm owners comply with the relevant legislation and acknowledges the work of the various firearms organisations in promoting the safe use and storage of firearms. The committee also recognises the number of Australians who participate in the sport of shooting.
The committee would also like to clarify the terminology used throughout this inquiry. As noted by the Attorney-General\u27s Department (AGD) in its submission, firearms and firearm-related articles are not in themselves either legal or illegal.
 
Report on Kansas Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (K-TRACS) / [from Alexandra Blasi, Executive Secretary, Kansas Board of Pharmacy]. [2018]
No full text"January 31, 2018.""Pursuant to K.S.A. 65-1691, the Kansas State Board of Pharmacy is required to submit to the Senate Committee on Public Health and Welfare and the House Committee on Health and Human Services a report on the Kansas Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) which tracks and monitors Schedule II through IV controlled substances and other drugs of concern in Kansas. The PDMP is a potent tool in aiding in the identification of patients with drug-seeking behaviors, providing treatment, and educating the public. Each dispenser (pharmacy) is required to electronically submit information to the Board's central data collection system, known as K-TRACS, for each controlled substance prescription or drug of concern dispensed in an outpatient setting. The goal of the PDMP is to prevent the misuse, abuse, and diversion of controlled substances and drugs of concern, while ensuring continued availability of these medications for legitimate medical use."Advisory Committee -- Operations, Funding, and Enhancements -- K-TRACS Utilization and Findings
Data monitoring and safety committee charter for SafeBoosC-III
No full textData monitoring and safety committee charter for SafeBoosC-II
Data sources for monitoring arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions
No full textThis report assesses the potential for existing data sources to improve our understanding of arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions and highlights future opportunities for improving data for monitoring these conditions.
Summary
Within the Australian population, arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions are highly prevalent, associated with significant disability, and generate large costs for the health and welfare systems. It is important to monitor these conditions to describe existing health patterns, populations at risk of illness, current health service use, and future demands on the health and welfare systems.
This report assesses the potential for existing data sources to improve our understanding of arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions. Although many of the data sources identified were not primarily designed for monitoring these conditions, they do contain relevant data.
A 4-step process is used to assess the utility of different of data sources, including an initial stocktake of data collections, a review of in-scope data collections, an assessment of individual data collections and lastly an overall assessment of data collections collectively. This methodological approach can be used to assess other data sources for different conditions.
This report acknowledges:
Data are available for:
risk factors, including some relevant information from longitudinal surveys
prevalence, with the exception of rarer conditions.
Data are available but require further development for:
prevention, treatment and management, particularly to fill substantial gaps in relation to prevention activity and the use and appropriateness of care provided in primary health-care settings
death and disability, noting additional information is expected in late 2015 from new Australian estimates of burden of disease.
Data require development for:
quality of life
health expenditure.
Future opportunities for improving data include:
data linkage to enhance the information that can be gained using existing data
enhancing the current lack of primary health-care data
improving consistency and comparability of data from different sources by encouraging development and implementation of information standards
regular/ongoing collection of data to enable the assessment of change over time
Port Curtis Integrated Monitoring Program
No full textMaintenance and Update Frequency: asNeededPort Curtis Integrated Monitoring Program is the first collaborative monitoring program to be undertaken for the whole of the Port Curtis. The Gladstone-based PCIMP program conducts ambient mid to far field monitoring of water bodies for the whole of Port Curtis which extends from the northern end of the Narrows to Rodds Bay and includes the harbour and its tributaries.<br/><br/>PCIMP was established in 2001 as a consortium of members from 16 bodies representing industry , government (both local and state), research institutions and other stake holders to develop a long term cooperative monitoring program for Port Curtis and to ensure the environmental sustainability of the Port of Gladstone.<br/>PCIMP adopted the following vision.<br/><br/>To foster coordination of monitoring activities among stakeholders of Port Curtis and to share and disseminate information to improve our capacity to manage our natural resources in a sustainable and balanced way for the prosperity of our communities and the health of our natural environment.<br/><br/>In 2011 PCIMP members implemented changes to formalise the program and enhance program governance. The program was incorporated as an association and was renamed Port Curtis Integrated Monitoring Program Inc.<br/><br/>An Independent Chair of the program was elected and the monitoring program scope and methodologies was reviewed. The review was undertaken by a panel of independent specialists (Professor Barry Hart , Dr Eva Abal, Dr Russ Babcock and Dr Britta Schaffelke) who were sourced from research Institutions from across the country and was based on the Independent Science Panel for the Fitzroy Partnership. The modified program, which incorporates quarterly sampling and analysis, commenced in November 2012.<br/><br/>Sampling and analysis of water quality and sediments is conducted as prescribed to capture seasonal effects as well as other events which impact on the waters of Port Curtis. Data is meticulously evaluated to identify trends and significant features which occur over time and unique to specific locations which allows for easier detection of changes.<br/><br/>Overseeing the science of the PCIMP program is a Technical Sub-Committee (PCIMP TSC) consisting of specialists from industry and CQ University. Their key role is to continually assess the parameters being evaluated and periodically refine the program's scope and methodologies to ensure the monitoring program is adapted to monitor those factors which measure the increasing pressures being placed on Port Curtis.<br/><br/>The Management Committee are responsible for the coordination of the various researchers and institutions involved and other functional activities related to the organisation of consultants and industry groups who contribute to the program.<br/><br/>Dr David Kopelke PSM is PCIMP's current Independent Chair and spokesperson. Dr Kopelke has extensive experience and knowledge in water quality monitoring and environmental education programs and has a strong focus on people learning from the environment<br/><br/>The PCIMP program has also benefited the community is a number of ways.<br/>- The on-going monitoring and reporting program provides invaluable information to researchers and the community. In 2006 when the 'Global Peace' oil spill occurred, PCIMP was able to provide data and tracking.<br/>- PCIMP data is used by the Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership to produce their annual Report Card.<br/>- PCIMP data and TSC advice was utilised and considered by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection in the creation of the new Capricorn Curtis Coast Water Quality Objectives<br/><br/>The continuation of the PCIMP program ensures the trends in water and sediment quality in Port Curtis are assessed and monitored, to inform the management of the Harbour to maintain healthy waters for recreational use , marine sustainability and minimal impact into the adjoining World Heritage Area and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Use of InSAR data for building deformation monitoring
No full textThis thesis explores the use of InSAR data for building monitoring. The area of main interest is the city centre of Amsterdam, where quay wall replacements are necessary on a large scale. In Amsterdam, the foundation quality needs to be checked before construction activities nearby are performed, such as a quay wall replacement. Levelling benchmarks are usually installed to determine building deformation. In case large deformation rates are observed, additional measures are taken to ensure no building damage occurs during construction. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) measures deformations from space and provides multiple years of deformation measurements. This can therefore reduce required monitoring time before construction.In this thesis, the use of InSAR for building deformation monitoring is investigated by analysis of occurring deformations of three areas in the city of Amsterdam. Furthermore, deformation in the Spoorsingel area in Delft is analyzed since large deformations are observed here. In all cases, levelling benchmarks are available for comparison of deformations. The results from the Amsterdam cases indicate similar building deformation behaviour by InSAR and levelling. Differences between InSAR and levelling are suggested to be the result of the measurement location and non-uniform building movement. In the city centre of Amsterdam, buildings with more than 2 mm/y settlement require additional attention. In this regard, a probabilistic approach is proposed. The probability of exceeding the 2 mm/y threshold is calculated by combining the calculated deformation rate with the variance of this estimate. This method is not only useful for InSAR displacement time series but also for other monitoring methods such as levelling, where the amount of measurements is often limited.Furthermore, the InSAR data enables the identification of building deformation mechanisms such as rotation, as is observed for the Spoorsingel in Delft. To identify this movement, rigid building behaviour is assumed. For buildings in plane-strain situation a method is devised to calculate the three dimensional deformation, using the ascending and descending track of a Synthetic Aperture Radar.All in all, the InSAR data is of added value to determine the building deformation behaviour. For this, the location precision, the quality of the time series, the line-of-sight measurement and the variance of the deformation rate estimate should be taken into consideration. A flow chart is proposed which describes the use of InSAR for building monitoring.Geo-Engineerin
Collection, storage and application of visitor use data in protected areas: guiding principles and case studies
No full textThis study draws together current practice for visitor monitoring in protected areas from around Australia and New Zealand, and builds on the existing ANZECC standards. Guiding principles were developed from relevant literature and input from protected area agencies. The guiding principles can be used to assist protected area managers in achieving best practice in the collection, storage and application of visitor monitoring data. To help develop and illustrate the guiding principles relevant case study examples were sought from all protected area agencies in Australia and New Zealand.
The guiding principles are listed below according to whether they are applicable to visitor monitoring systems, data collection, data storage or data application. The five guiding principles for monitoring systems are relatively broad and as such also have applicability to the individual system elements of data collection, storage and application
BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2010-2011
No full textSummaryBreastScreen Australia aims to reduce illness and death resulting from breast cancer through organised screening to detect cases of unsuspected breast cancer in women, thus enabling early intervention. BreastScreen Australia targets women aged 50-69 for free 2-yearly screening mammograms. This report is the latest in the BreastScreen Australia monitoring report series, which is published annually to provide regular monitoring of national participation and performance for BreastScreen Australia. The report provides data for the 2010-2011 period of participation in BreastScreen Australia, as well as the latest available data on breast cancer incidence (2009) and mortality (2010). The following statistics refer to the latest data available for women aged 50-69.How many women were diagnosed with, or died from, breast cancer? In 2009, there were 7,022 new cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed in Australian women aged 50-69. This is equivalent to 288 new cases per 100,000 women. Breast cancer incidence has remained steady at around 290 per 100,000 women since 2003. In 2010, a total of 1,098 women aged 50-69 died from breast cancer, equivalent to 43 deaths per 100,000 women. This makes breast cancer the second most common cause of cancer-related death for Australian women after lung cancer. Breast cancer mortality decreased from 68 to 43 per 100,000 women between 1991 (when BreastScreen Australia began) and 2010. This has been attributed to the early detection of cancers through BreastScreen Australia, along with advances in management and treatment.How many women participated in BreastScreen Australia? In 2010 and 2011, more than 1.3 million women aged 50-69 had a screening mammogram through BreastScreen Australia. This was 55% of women in the target age group. Lower participation occurred in Very remote areas, among Indigenous women, and among women who reported that they speak a language other than English at home. While participation increased with improving socioeconomic status, this trend was small, with all socioeconomic groups recording participation rates between 53% and 55%. The difference between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous women was greater, with 36% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women having a screening mammogram in 2010-2011, compared with 54% of non-Indigenous women.How many women were recalled for further investigation? In 2011, 11% of women screening for the first time were recalled for further investigation; 4% of women attending subsequent screens were recalled.How many women had a small breast cancer detected? Small breast cancers (≤15 mm in diameter) are associated with better treatment options and improved survival. A high proportion of invasive breast cancers detected were small in 2011: 50% of invasive breast cancers detected in those attending their first screen, and 63% in those attending subsequent screens
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