Lifestyle Properties, Ecosystem Services, and Biodiversity Protection in Peri-Urban Aotearoa–New Zealand: A Case Study from Peri-Urban Palmerston North

Intensive agriculture and urbanization are putting pressure on natural capital in Aotearoa–New Zealand (NZ), with native ecosystems and water quality suffering degradation. As the population has increased, so development has pushed into the rural–urban fringe. Over the last 30 years, the number of lifestyle properties in NZ has increased dramatically. Many of these properties have been developed on some of NZ’s most productive soils, meaning a loss of provisioning services from this land. However, given their location, these developments present new opportunities for the enhancement and protection of other ecosystem services. This paper presents the findings of an exploratory study conducted on lifestyle block residents in peri-urban Palmerston North. The results showed that these residents have a good sense of environmental stewardship and a desire to plant native species, improve connectivity, and protect their land from the invasion of pests and weeds. These residents are also quite community-focused and protective of their special place. This creates an excellent basis from which to encourage greater collaborative action towards protecting and enhancing biodiversity and to put in place land management strategies that can enhance natural capital and assist in other ecosystem service protection serving to improve the landscape ecology of peri-urban environments.

Guerrilla art in the city: Urban and social revitalization

Without a permit, a masterplan, or corporate or public funding, artists have evaded conventional norms to accomplish a feat: the urban and socio-economic revitalization of abandoned or depressed cities worldwide. In Rio’s favelas and America’s impoverished suburbs, artists are the political force that promotes local economies, defines collective identities, gives people a sense of belonging, while covering the land with beauty. To act at the city’s scale, artists teach their craft to the locals and use art to empower the community, and unveil needed urban policies, bringing economic development, expertise and collaborative action. As a result, public art becomes instrumental for infusing new life in marginalized neighbourhoods, and the city becomes the ideal canvas for free expression without bureaucracy. This article is a bird’s eye view of two public art interventions that have highlighted the political and pedagogical implications of a citizen-design approach to urban renewal. Ultimately, it is a call for artists to activate as impactful makers of urban transformations.

Project Earthrise: Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Conference of inVIVO Planetary Health

The “Earthrise” photograph, taken on the 1968 Apollo 8 mission, became one of the most significant images of the 20th Century. It triggered a profound shift in environmental awareness and the potential for human unity—inspiring the first Earth Day in 1970. Taking inspiration from these events 50 years later, we initiated Project Earthrise at our 2020 annual conference of inVIVO Planetary Health. This builds on the emergent concept of planetary health, which provides a shared narrative to integrate rich and diverse approaches from all aspects of society towards shared solutions to global challenges. The acute catastrophe of the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn greater attention to many other interconnected global health, environmental, social, spiritual, and economic problems that have been underappreciated or neglected for decades. This is accelerating opportunities for greater collaborative action, as many groups now focus on the necessity of a “Great Transition”. While ambitious integrative efforts have never been more important, it is imperative to apply these with mutualistic value systems as a compass, as we seek to make wiser choices. Project Earthrise is our contribution to this important process. This underscores the imperative for creative ecological solutions to challenges in all systems, on all scales with advancing global urbanization in the digital age—for personal, environmental, economic and societal health alike. At the same time, our agenda seeks to equally consider our social and spiritual ecology as it does natural ecology. Revisiting the inspiration of “Earthrise”, we welcome diverse perspectives from across all dimensions of the arts and the sciences, to explore novel solutions and new normative values. Building on academic rigor, we seek to place greater value on imagination, kindness and mutualism as we address our greatest challenges, for the health of people, places and planet.

Faktor-Faktor yang Berhubungan dengan Pengetahuan Perawat Tentang Penyapihan Ventilasi Mekanik Di Ruang Perawatan Intensif Rumah Sakit Panti Rapih Yogyakarta

Background: Mechanical ventilation weaningis a collaborative action of multidisciplines. The nurse's knowledge plays an important role in assessing the readiness of the patient and observing it during the weaning process to support the success of the patient escaping from mechanical ventilation. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the factors related to the knowledge of nurses about mechanical ventilation weaning in the Intensive Care Room at Panti Rapih Hospital. Methods:This research is adescriptive analytic study with a cross sectional approach. The population of this study were all nurses who worked in the Intensive Care Room at Panti Rapih Hospital, Yogyakarta. The sample in this study was the total population, namely nurses in the Intensive Care Room, amounting to 48 respondents. The research instrument was avalid and reliable questionnaire on the level of knpwledge and influencing factors with a calculated r value of morethan 0.482 and cronbach alpha 0.75. Analysis using independent T-test and Spearman Results: The mean level of knowledge of respondents about mechanical ventilation weaning averaged 31.52 with CI7.458. Factors related to mechanical ventilation weaning knowledgein this studywereage (p-value:0.024), education (p-value:0.000), experience (p-value: 0.003), social and cultural (p-value: 0.009).), and sources of information (p-value:0.001). Meanwhile, the factors that were not related to knowledge of mechanical ventilation in this study were environment (p-value:0.115) and economy (p-value:0.231).

ONLINE COLLABORATIVE ACTION RESEARCH IN AN EFL CONTEXT: THE EFFECT ON TEACHERS’ REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

Technology can be integrated in teacher education and, hence, be used to empower teachers to extend learning beyond their classrooms. Therefore, the present study was an attempt to investigate English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ perceptions of action research and explore the impact of their collaborative action research in an online discussion group on their reflective practice. In addition, we were interested to know how online collaborative research action research contributes to their promotion of reflective thinking.The participants of this study were 23 Iranian EFL teachers who were recruited based on convenience sampling. The design of the study was a pre-test post-test design. As such, two questionnaires were given to the participants at the beginning and end of the study. As the next step, the participants took part in online discussion groups for 10 sessions in which they read and watched some essays and videos, wrote about some topics, and shared their ideas and experiences. To consolidate the findings, semi-structured interviews were held with 12 participants. The result of the study indicated that most of the participants of the study had optimistic views regarding action research. In addition, participating in online discussion groups enabled them to think more about their teaching practice and gain higher levels of reflectivity. The results of the qualitative phase indicated that the online courses had effect on the teachers’ practice and reflectivity in different ways. Despite all studies conducted on action research in Iran, contradictory results have been found regarding teachers’ perception of action research. In addition, to the researchers’ knowledge, no study has investigated the use of online collaborative action research on teachers’ reflection. As such, it seemed necessary to conduct a study to explore the role of action research as a framework for improving reflective practice.

The vital importance of a web of prevention for effective biosafety and biosecurity in the twenty-first century

Biological threats are complex and multifaceted, as evidenced by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Their effective prevention and countering require multiple lines of collaborative action and sustained cross-sectorial coordination. This paper reviews the conclusions of Graham Pearson’s 1997 JAMA article titled ‘The Complementary Role of Environmental and Security Biological Control Regimes in the 21st Century’, taking into account the international policy developments that have occurred over the past two decades. The paper underscores the utility of the concept of a ‘web of prevention’ for elucidating the need for continuous interaction between the international biosafety and international biosecurity regimes, in order to ensure that the life sciences are used only for peaceful purposes. The terms ‘biosafety’ and ‘biosecurity’ are used to denote the primary purpose of the two regimes: the international biosafety regime seeks to prevent the unintentional (accidental) release of pathogens and toxins, including naturally occurring disease, whereas the biosecurity regime seeks to prevent the deliberate release and misuse of pathogens and toxins. The paper concludes by recommending practical steps for strengthening the implementation of all elements of the web of prevention and upholding the norms against the hostile misuse of life sciences.

Using action research to develop a real-time measure of job satisfaction in the operating room setting

This paper outlines how action research was used to develop a real-time job satisfaction measurement tool for the operating room (OR) setting. It offers insight into how collaborative action research can be used in a complex interprofessional setting to create a practical, valid and relevant tool. The study was conducted within one New Zealand hospital OR department during the period of March 2018 – June 2019. Using action research cycles, researchers and hospital personnel collaboratively created an innovative one-minute daily job satisfaction measure called the Morale-o-Meter. Complexities relating to its development and acceptability are explored and reflected upon, in order to draw insight for other researchers who are looking to use this methodology in a similar setting.