Mapping climate change knowledge: an editorial essay (journal article)
by Mike Hulme
from Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 1-8
"The relationship between climate and society has always been dynamic. Physical climates
have played important roles in the biological and social evolution of human beings and fashioned the biogeophysical systems which provide the goods and services from which human economic and cultural life emerges. Similarly, humans have imposed themselves upon climate, both in the ways in which climates have been imagined, studied, and articulated in thought and language and in the growing influences that human actions have had on the physical operations of climate.
This relationship between climate and society has been characterized throughout history and prehistory by both creativity and fear. ...
Examples of contestation emphasise the need for stronger interactions between the traditional climate disciplines of meteorology, oceanography, ecology, and economics on the one hand, and the social sciences and the interpretative humanities on the other. The perspectives and contributions of these latter disciplines are now probably more important than the climate sciences to ongoing public and policy debates."

Automated verification of security pattern compositions (journal article)
By Jing Dong, Tu Peng and Yajing Zhao
from Information & Software Technology Vol 52 Issue 3 Mar 2010, pp. 274-295
"Software security becomes a critically important issue for software development when more and more malicious attacks explore the security holes in software systems. To avoid security problems, a large software system design may reuse good security solutions by applying security patterns. Security patterns document expert solutions to common security problems and capture best practices on secure software design and development. Although each security pattern describes a good design guideline, the compositions of these security patterns may be inconsistent and encounter problems and flaws. Therefore, the compositions of security patterns may be even insecure. In this paper, we present an approach to automated verification of the compositions of security patterns by model checking. We formally define the behavioral aspect of security patterns in CCS through their sequence diagrams. We also prove the faithfulness of the transformation from a sequence diagram to its CCS representation. In this way, the properties of the security patterns can be checked by a model checker when they are composed. Composition errors and problems can be discovered early in the design stage. We also use two case studies to illustrate our approach and show its capability to detect composition errors."
Contact the Library for a copy of this article.

State of the World 2010 : Transforming Cultures from Consumerism to Sustainability [journal]

Author: Worldwatch Institute

"It will take a sustained, long-term effort to redirect the traditions, social movements and institutions that shape consumer cultures towards becoming cultures of sustainability. These institutions include schools, the media, businesses and governments. Bringing about a cultural shift that makes living sustainably as 'natural' as a consumer lifestyle is today will not only address urgent crises like climate change, it could also tackle other symptoms like extreme income inequity, obesity and social isolation that are not typically seen as environmental problems.

State of the World 2010 paints a picture of what this sustainability culture could look like, and how we can - and already are - making the shift." - from publisher.

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Find it at: State of the World : a Worldwatch Institute report on progress towards a sustainable society, in the journal collection.

Internet marketing : strategy, implementation and practice [book]

Author: Dave Chaffey

"Provides comprehensive, practical guidance on how companies can get the most out of the web to meet their marketing goals." - cover. Chapters include: Business-to-consumer internet marketing, Evaluation and improvement of digital channel performance, and Campaign planning for digital media, Internet marketing strategy.

Find it at: 658.872 INT 2009 or
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Top 10 Energy Events in 2009 (journal article)
from Beijing Review, No 6 Feb 11 2010
"Recently, China's State Council decided to set up the National Energy Commission led by Premier Wen Jiabao to step up strategic policymaking and coordination. As a closely related topic to the national economy and people's livelihoods, the energy issue has always attracted considerable attention. The country's energy industry also witnessed a series of significant changes in 2009. The top 10 energy news events of 2009, as selected by the Economic Information Daily under Xinhua News Agency, are in this article."

Doing business in a new climate : a guide to measuring, reducing and offsetting greenhouse gas emissions [book]

Authors: Paul Lingl, Deborah Carlson and the David Suzuki Foundation

Around the world, a growing number of businesses are taking steps to reduce their climate impact by managing their greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, these businesses are discovering that effective greenhouse gas management can enhance their brands, motivate employees, increase operational efficiencies, and save money.

This guide walks readers through the key activities that make up a greenhouse gas management program, including measuring, reducing, and offsetting emissions and developing a communications strategy around the program. Throughout, case studies of over fifty leading businesses from around the world highlight innovation and solutions to common challenges, and further resources are provided for each section.

Find it at: 658.4083 DOI 2010 or
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House Bill Would Authorize Grants For 'Green' Infrastructure. (journal article)
by Jay Landers
from Civil Engineering, January 2010, Vol. 80 Issue 1, p10-11, 2p
"A summary is presented of the bill H.R. 4202, the Green Infrastructure for Clean Water Act of 2009, prepared by U.S. House Representative Donna F. Edwards, December 3."
See also two Letters to the Editor concerning this article
The Politics of Green Infrastructure

Delivering Transportation Infrastructure Through Public-Private Partnerships: Planning Concerns. (journal article)
by Matti Siemiatycki
from Journal of the American Planning Association; Winter2010, Vol. 76 Issue 1, p43-58, 16p
"The types of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in which private sector partners take on increased responsibility for project design, construction, financing, and operation have become popular in the United States and around the world as means of delivering large-scale transportation infrastructure. However, it is unclear what implications this model of project delivery has for planning theory and practice as distinct from public policy more generally.
This research identifies the need for new ex ante evaluation tools, risk transfer mechanisms, community engagement processes, and data tracking and performance monitoring procedures, to prevent negative consequences from transportation PPPs. "

The road to positive R&D returns (article)
by Eric David, Tony Tramontin and Rodney Zemmel
from McKinsey Quarterly, February 2010
"Scientific innovation is not the only route to higher R&D productivity. Attention to the familiar management areas of cost, speed, and decision making can still reap rewards."
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Viral loop : the power of pass-it-on [book]

Author: Adam L. Penenberg

Examines the secret behind the success of companies such as Google, eBay and Facebook - the 'viral loop' or 'the ability to grow a company exponentially because the customers themselves spread it.' Case studies are used to analyse why viral marketing and networks work, and how these business models can be used in other areas.

Find it at: 659.133 VIR 2009 or

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Eco-innovation in industry : enabling green growth [online]
Author: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Eco-innovation will be a key driver of industry efforts to tackle climate change and realise “green growth” in the post-Kyoto era. Eco-innovation calls for faster introduction of breakthrough technologies and for more systemic application of available solutions, including non-technological ones. It also offers opportunities to involve new players, develop new industries and increase competitiveness. Structural change in economies will be imperative in coming decades.

This book presents the research and analysis carried out during the first phase of the OECD Project on Sustainable Manufacturing and Eco-innovation. Its aim is to provide benchmarking tools on sustainable manufacturing and to spur eco-innovation through better understanding of innovation mechanisms. It reviews the concepts and forms an analytical framework; analyses the nature and processes of eco-innovation; discusses existing sustainable manufacturing indicators; examines methodologies for measuring eco-innovation; and takes stock of national strategies and policy initiatives for eco-innovation.

IT trends in local public services 2009/10: Stretched to breaking point (article)
by John Serle
from eGov Monitor (UK) 08.02.2010
"IT Trends 2008/09 predicted that by 2010 public services would be stretched to breaking point as demand continued to increase and capacity declined. John Serle, IT Trends Editor discusses the latest report."

Never mind the quality feel the width: University–industry links and government financial support for innovation in small high-technology businesses in the UK and the USA (journal article)
by Andy Cosh and Alan Hughes
from Journal of Technology Transfer, Vol 35 No 1 Feb 2010, pp. 66-91
"In this paper we use a size and industry matched sample of over 1,900 UK and US businesses for the period 2004–05 in the manufacturing and business services sectors to analyse the relative “strength” of the university–industry ecosystems in which these firms operate in the two economies. Our analysis shows that in both countries universities per se play a quantitatively smaller role as a source of knowledge for business innovation than either the business sector itself or a variety of organisations intermediating between the university and business sectors. Our analysis reveals a much more diffuse university–industry ecosystem in the UK in which a higher proportion of businesses claim links external to themselves in their pursuit of knowledge for innovation and a higher proportion report directly connecting with universities. US firms are more likely to access knowledge through a combination of business and intermediary sources and are less likely to have established formal collaborative or partnership agreements in the 3 years prior to the survey. We also find, however, that a higher proportion of US firms place a very high value on the connections they have with universities and are much more likely to commit resources to support such innovation related university interactions. A similar pattern of diffuse but weaker links characterise the supply of public sector financial assistance for innovation in our sample firms. UK firms are more likely to be in receipt of assistance, but receive far less per firm in absolute terms and relative to their R&D expenditures. It appears that the UK university–industry ecosystem is characterised by a greater width than quality of interaction. "

Adverse selection and financing of innovation: is there a need for R&D subsidies? (journal article)
by Tuomas Takalo and Tanja Tanayama
from Journal of Technology Transfer Vol 35 No 1 Feb 2010, pp. 16-41
"We study the interaction of private and public funding of innovative projects in the presence of adverse-selection based financing constraints. Government programs allocating direct subsidies are based on ex ante screening of the subsidy applications. This selection scheme may yield valuable information to market-based financiers. We find that under certain conditions, public R&D subsidies can reduce the financing constraints of technology-based entrepreneurial firms. First, the subsidy itself reduces the capital costs related to the innovation projects by reducing the amount of market-based capital required. Second, the observation that an entrepreneur has received a subsidy for an innovation project provides an informative signal to the market-based financiers. We also find that public screening works more efficiently if it is accompanied with subsidy allocation. "

Place makers : contemporary Queensland architects [book]

Editors: Miranda Wallace, Sarah Stutchbury

"A collection of 55 of the most arresting residential, public and institutional buildings designed by Queensland architects over the past two decades." - cover.

Click here to request a copy through your library.

Call number: 720.9943 PLA 2008

Delivering e-learning : a complete strategy for design, application and assessment [book]

Author: Kenneth Fee

"Presents a complete strategy for training and development. From deciding when to use, how to design, tips on selecting suppliers, and how to measure its effectiveness. Delivering E-Learning describes a new and better way of understanding e-learning. The author looks at overcoming objections to e-learning and acknowledging poor past practice before presenting a new strategic approach. It places the emphasis firmly on learning, not the technology, de-mystifying the jargon and de-bunking industry myths. The current way most people look at e-learning is flawed, and this means they are missing its full potential.

This book provides a clear framework to better understand e-learning. Proposing a strategic approach to implementing e-learning, the author demonstrates how to align e-learning strategy with learning and business strategies. It offers a complete resource for applying e-learning to any organization.

Find it at: 371.334 DEL 2009 or Click here, and request a copy from the library!

Cities, Towns and Renewable Energy : Yes In My Front Yard [online]

Authors: International Energy Agency & OECD

Local governments have the power to influence the energy choices of their citizens. Many cities and towns have already encouraged energy efficiency measures. Even so, as demand for energy services continues to grow, the energy infrastructure that every city and town depends on will need to be expanded, upgraded or replaced. This provides the opportunity to increase the deployment of renewable energy technologies and decentralised energy systems, and hence gain the multi-benefits of increased energy security, climate change mitigation and sustainable development, but also the social benefits of reduced air pollution, such as improved health and employment. ...

The goals of this report are to inspire city stakeholders by showing how renewable energy systems can benefit citizens and businesses, assist national governments to better appreciate the role that local municipalities might play in meeting national and international objectives, and help accelerate the necessary transition to a sustainable energy future.

Indicator development as 'boundary spanning' between scientists and policy-makers (journal article)
By Helga Pülzl and Ewald Rametsteiner
from Science and Public Policy Vol 36 Number 10 Dec 2009, pp. 743-752
"In sustainability impact assessments the development of widely accepted indicators that structure the subject area and provide the framework for assessing sustainability impacts is clearly important. We argue that the development of sustainability indicators in science-based initiatives works across the science/policy interface where social and natural scientists as well as stakeholders and policy-makers both translate concepts and ideas to each other and thus make value judgments about the selection of indicators and related sub-classes. This explains why pure scientific indicator initiatives based on simple 'knowledge transfer' models are unlikely to succeed. Instead, sustainability indicator development requires a 'knowledge transaction model' which spans the boundary between the scientific and the political domains."

Gartner Identifies Four Information Management Roles IT Departments Need to Remain Effective (article)
from WebWire, Jan 18 2010
“Over the next two years, business demand for IT-driven growth and innovation will outstrip the supply of qualified people to fulfill job roles and as result traditional IT tasks are moving outside the IT department,” said Debra Logan, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “The future of IT lies outside the IT department. Increasingly CIOs are coming from “the business” and “users” are taking control of their own information delivery infrastructure.” By the end of 2010, Gartner predicts that 40 per cent of people who report into IT in a matrixed fashion or directly will have substantial business and non-IT experience.
Organisations need staff with different skills from the ones they were originally hired for. These are not IT people as organisations know them.

Groundwork for growth : building the infrastructure that Australia needs [book]

Author: Rob Sims, Business Council of Australia

"The report warns that as economic growth returns and the population continues to expand, infrastructure bottlenecks that appeared towards the end of the last boom are certain to reappear. Infrastructure efficiency and capacity is particularly important to Australia because of our small and dispersed population and distance from markets." - press release.

Find it at: 363.60994 GRO 2009 or Click here, and request a copy from the library!