Spatial optimisation of fire service coverage: a case study of Brisbane,Australia

In the context of changing demand for fire services, spatial optimisation of fire coverage has attracted little scholarly attention despite its potential to improve emergency response and to inform future service planning for fire stations. Drawing on small area population forecasts, this paper extends the application of the Maximum Coverage Location Model to compute and delineate the spatial coverage of current and proposed new fire stations to align with population growth estimates for Brisbane, Australia. Our results reveal important gaps in fire cover that are likely to emerge as a result of predicted population growth, the spatial patterns of which varies across the Brisbane metropolitan area. We draw on these results to delineate a series of new potential sites for fire stations to ameliorate the reduction in spatial coverage as a consequence of predicted population growth demonstrating the utility of our analytic approach for decision‐making and operational planning in the fire services.     

Tea Party imitators? The campaign against the carbon tax,the media and a new uncivil politics

The Gillard government's decision to reverse an election promise to not introduce a carbon tax prompted protest rallies around Australia during 2011–12. Beneath the hyperbole of critics who dismissed these protests as imitating US Tea Party extremism lies an intriguing possibility: that these are each examples of a new form of right-wing political expression enabled by structural changes in the media. This article considers the nature of the anti-carbon tax ‘people's revolt’ and its resemblance to the Tea Party. Both are a hybrid mix of top-down control and bottom-up grassroots populism whose emergence ‘outrage media’ facilitated. In a manner that echoes the support Fox News gave Tea Partiers, talkback radio in Sydney appears to have played a particular role shaping the identity, agenda and uncivil tone of the campaign against the carbon tax.

吉拉德政府决定背弃不征碳税的竞选承诺,在2011-12年引发了全澳大利亚的抗议示威。批评者将示威斥为对美国茶党极端主义的模仿。批评者夸张言辞的背后却是一种有趣的可能：此乃媒体结构变化所造成的、右翼政治表达的新形式。本文思考了反碳税“人民反叛”的性质,以及它与茶党的相似性。二者都是自上而下控制与自下而上草根民粹的混合,“愤怒的媒体”有利于它们的出现。就像狐狸新闻声援茶党那样,悉尼的对讲电台似乎在塑造反碳税运动的身份、议题以及粗暴的口吻方面发挥了特殊的作用。     

1992年以来我国城镇居民居住消费的变化趋势

1992年之后,我国明确了建立社会主义市场经济体制的目标,城镇住房制度改革取得了实质性突破,城镇居民居住消费发生了深刻变化。居民购房公平自由,私有住房的比重急剧攀升,住房设施日益完善,居住环境不断优化,居住开支迅猛增长,城镇居民居住水平获得了前所未有的提高。然而受不正确的思想观念的影响,在居民居住消费过程中,一些诸如住宅私有率过高、住宅面积过大、一房伴终身等严重脱离实际需要和基本国情的问题日益突出。     

Human Response to Climate Change during the Umm an‐Nar/Wadi Suq Transition in the United Arab Emirates

Stable oxygen isotope ratios in archaeological human dental enamel represent an under‐utilised tool in the examination of changing climatic patterns in the ancient world. In the Oman Peninsula at the end of the third millennium bc , rapid aridification was accompanied by a breakdown in interregional trade relations; however, the human response to these changes is poorly understood. At the Bronze Age necropolis at Shimal in the United Arab Emirates, dental enamel from individuals interred in both Umm an‐Nar (ca 2700–2000 bc ) and Wadi Suq (ca 2000–1300 bc ) tombs underwent oxygen, strontium and carbon isotope analyses to examine how local inhabitants of southeastern Arabia responded to both environmental and socioeconomic change. While individuals from Shimal exhibit a clear shift in mean δ¹⁸O_c(VPDB) values from the Umm an‐Nar (−3.5 ± 0.6‰, 1σ) to the Wadi Suq (−2.4 ± 0.9‰, 1σ), corresponding ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ¹³C_ap signatures display homogeneity indicative of continuity in Bronze Age lifeways. Together, these data highlight the ability of local communities to successfully adapt to their changing environs (in lieu of societal collapse or a shift to a more mobile lifestyle) in an effort to maintain their way of life. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From the State to the Shareholder: Rent and the Production of Shareholder Value in Real Estate

Following the 2008 global financial crisis, the use of real estate tax credits to generate shareholder value for investors increased significantly. While tax credits are lauded as crucial to the delivery of social goods like affordable housing, the multiplier effects they supposedly generate fail to account for the hollowing out of the state that occurs as public funds are transferred to shareholders. Through a detailed case study of the historic tax credit industry in the United States, this research shows how many of the banks and financial institutions investing in tax credits have come to rely on overly engineered forms of landownership, deeply discounted credit pricing, and a wave of stock buybacks to boost their corporate profitability. This paper therefore develops a theoretical framework to understand taxation as a financialised accumulation strategy where the state serves as an important—if not problematic—source of real estate profit.     

Second home conversion during the economic crisis: the case of Artemida,Greece

The conversion of second to primary homes is a known phenomenon; yet, its emergence as a result of necessity in an era of economic crisis has not been adequately addressed in the literature. To fill this gap, the article discusses an interview study of younger adults who have made this conversion, conducted in a second home area near Athens, Greece. The study explores the factors that influenced respondents to move permanently to their second home and perceptions of their relocation. Given the ongoing economic crisis in Greece, the research is placed in a unique socioeconomic context, allowing the investigation to delve into the effects of the economic crisis on these housing choices, by comparing perspectives on conversions having taken place before and during the crisis. Findings depict second home mobility as a complex phenomenon linked to tourism, changing housing needs, social factors, economic pressures, but also new potential urban functions arising from the current economic depression in Greece.     

Papa et pecunia: Innocent III’s combination of reform and fiscal policy to finance crusades

This article examines the fiscal policies of Pope Innocent III throughout his pontificate, culminating in the canons of the Fourth Lateran Council. The aim of this analysis is to illustrate that not only was Innocent more fiscally minded than his predecessors, but that he also attempted to utilize fiscal policy as a tool for facilitating the crusade movement. Innocent adapted the fiscal tools of his predecessors while inventing several of his own. These tools included streamlined census-taking, income taxation, crusader vow redemptions/commutations, expanding crusade indulgences, the collection of alms, trade embargoes, clerical reform and more. These tools were designed to aid crusade endeavours, either directly or indirectly, and through crusading achieve the salvation of Christian souls.     

The press and issue framing in the Australian mining tax debate

Using supervised learning techniques to code newspaper articles on the Minerals Resource Rent Tax (originally known as the Resources Super Profits Tax), this article analyses sources of partiality and emphasis in media coverage of the issue. It shows that opponents were more successful in airing their views in the opening stages of the debate, but the government's re-branding led to more favourable media coverage. There was a regional bias, however, with newspapers in states dominated by mining interests more critical than newspapers from other states. The only truly national newspaper (the Australian) was notable for having fewer ‘neutral’ articles, with a relatively high number of both negative and positive articles. The Australian Financial Review, meanwhile, had a greater number of neutral articles. Framing remained homogenous over time though variable across publications.

本文使用指导学习技术,对有关矿产资源租借税的报刊文章进行编码,分析了媒体就此话题的报道其中中立性和重点性的根源。研究显示,反对者在辩论的开始阶段成功地传播他们的观点。不过,政府的再推广也达到了有利的媒体宣传效果。当然,会有地区偏差,矿业利益集团控制的州,那里的报纸会比其他州更持批判立场。唯一名副其实的全国性大报登载的“中性”文章明显要少,负面和正面的文章都比较多,而《澳大利亚财经评论》倒是刊登了较多的中性文章。总之,格局一直比较单一,但具体到出版物则有参差。