Journal Articles

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/7915

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End date: 2019Has files: No

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    Barriers and facilitators to implementation of healthy food and drink policies in public sector workplaces: a systematic literature review.
    (19/06/2023) Rosin M; Mackay S; Gerritsen S; Te Morenga L; Terry G; Ni Mhurchu C
    CONTEXT: Many countries and institutions have adopted policies to promote healthier food and drink availability in various settings, including public sector workplaces. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this review was to systematically synthesize evidence on barriers and facilitators to implementation of and compliance with healthy food and drink policies aimed at the general adult population in public sector workplaces. DATA SOURCES: Nine scientific databases, 9 grey literature sources, and government websites in key English-speaking countries along with reference lists. DATA EXTRACTION: All identified records (N = 8559) were assessed for eligibility. Studies reporting on barriers and facilitators were included irrespective of study design and methods used but were excluded if they were published before 2000 or in a non-English language. DATA ANALYSIS: Forty-one studies were eligible for inclusion, mainly from Australia, the United States, and Canada. The most common workplace settings were healthcare facilities, sports and recreation centers, and government agencies. Interviews and surveys were the predominant methods of data collection. Methodological aspects were assessed with the Critical Appraisal Skills Program Qualitative Studies Checklist. Generally, there was poor reporting of data collection and analysis methods. Thematic synthesis identified 4 themes: (1) a ratified policy as the foundation of a successful implementation plan; (2) food providers' acceptance of implementation is rooted in positive stakeholder relationships, recognizing opportunities, and taking ownership; (3) creating customer demand for healthier options may relieve tension between policy objectives and business goals; and (4) food supply may limit the ability of food providers to implement the policy. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that although vendors encounter challenges, there are also factors that support healthy food and drink policy implementation in public sector workplaces. Understanding barriers and facilitators to successful policy implementation will significantly benefit stakeholders interested or engaging in healthy food and drink policy development and implementation. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO registration no. CRD42021246340.
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    Remediation Technologies for Neonicotinoids in Contaminated Environments: Current State and Future Prospects
    (Elsevier, 16/06/2023) Wei J; Wang X; Tu C; Long T; Bu Y; Wang H; Jeyakumar P; Jiang J; Deng S
    Neonicotinoids (NEOs) are synthetic insecticides with broad-spectrum insecticidal activity and outstanding efficacy. However, their extensive use and persistence in the environment have resulted in the accumulation and biomagnification of NEOs, posing significant risks to non-target organisms and humans. This review provides a summary of research history, advancements, and highlighted topics in NEOs remediation technologies and mechanisms. Various remediation approaches have been developed, including physiochemical, microbial, and phytoremediation, with microbial and physicochemical remediation being the most extensively studied. Recent advances in physiochemical remediation have led to the development of innovative adsorbents, photocatalysts, and optimized treatment processes. High-efficiency degrading strains with well-characterized metabolic pathways have been successfully isolated and cultured for microbial remediation, while many plant species have shown great potential for phytoremediation. However, significant challenges and gaps remain in this field. Future research should prioritize isolating, domesticating or engineering high efficiency, broad-spectrum microbial strains for NEO degradation, as well as developing synergistic remediation techniques to enhance removal efficiency on multiple NEOs with varying concentrations in different environmental media. Furthermore, a shift from pipe-end treatment to pollution prevention strategies is needed, including the development of green and economically efficient alternatives such as biological insecticides. Integrated remediation technologies and case-specific strategies that can be applied to practical remediation projects need to be developed, along with clarifying NEO degradation mechanisms to improve remediation efficiency. The successful implementation of these strategies will help reduce the negative impact of NEOs on the environment and human health.
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    The limits of satire, or the reification of cultural politics
    (SAGE Publications, 15/02/2023) Holm N
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    The Changing Contours of Maritime Security in The South China Sea
    (Center for International Strategic Studies, 2017) Anwar, Muhammad Waqar
    The South China Sea (SCS) is one of the most significant regions of the world. As the main passageway between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Sea carries one-third of global maritime trade1. Therefore, many countries, and particularly the countries that have a stake in maritime commerce are concerned about the safety and security of the transit of goods. The change in US approach in 2010 which is known as the 'Asia Pivot' or rebalancing strategy has prompted a renewed focus on the SCS, as the rebalancing arrangement incorporated a military segment also. The US declared the moving of 60 percent of its maritime capability to the Asia Pacific. This aspect has considerably added to the strategic significance of the SCS. The SCS is a partially enclosed sea formed by seven littoral states: China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines. The SCS extends from Taiwan in the north to the waters contiguous to Indonesia and the Straits of Malacca and Singapore in the south. The SCS has 200 small islets, rocks, and reefs spread over 1,700 miles. After Chinese occupation of the Spratly Islands in 1974, a Chinese journal highlighted the importance of the SCS ‘as lying between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, and performing the function of a doorway to the outside world for the landmass and the littoral islands of China’.2 Moreover, the recent tensions in the SCS with the naval presence of China and the US and other developments have further increased the geostrategic importance by a great degree.
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    Collagen Fibril Intermolecular Spacing Changes with 2-Propanol: A Mechanism for Tissue Stiffness.
    (American Chemical Society, 2017-08-30) Wells, HC; Sizeland, KH; Kelly, S; Kirby, N; Hawley, A; Mudie, S; Haverkamp, RG
    Materials composed primarily of collagen are important as surgical scaffolds and other medical devices and require flexibility. However, the factors that control the suppleness and flexibility of these materials are not well understood. Acellular dermal matrix materials in aqueous mixtures of 2-propanol were studied. Synchrotron based small angle X-ray scattering was used to characterize the collagen structure and structural arrangement. Stiffness was measured by bend tests. Bend modulus increased logarithmically with 2-propanol concentration from 0.5 kPa in water to 103 kPa in pure 2-propanol. The intermolecular spacing between tropocollagen molecules decreased from 15.3 to 11.4 Å with increasing 2-propanol concentration while fibril diameter decreased from 57.2 to 37.2 nm. D-spacing initially increased from 63.6 nm to 64.2 nm at 50% 2-propanol then decreased to 60.3 nm in pure 2-propanol. The decrease in intermolecular spacing and fibril diameter are due to removal of water and the collapse of the hydrogen bond structure between tropocollagen molecules causing closer packing of the molecules within a fibril. We speculate this tighter molecular packing may restrict the sliding of collagen within fibrils, and similar disruption of the extended hydration layer between fibrils may lead to restriction of sliding between fibrils. This mechanism for tissue stiffness may be more general.
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    Understanding Neoliberalism, Media and the Political: An Interview with Sean Phelan
    (2016-07) Dawes, Simon SD
    In this interview, Sean Phelan discusses the differences between ‘ideological’ and ‘post-ideological’ or ‘post-political’ neoliberalism, and sets out his own approach to critiquing neoliberalism, which draws on Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory and Bourdieu’s field theory. Arguing for the benefits of a comparative cross-national approach, he illustrates examples of ‘actually existing neoliberalism’ in UK, US, Ireland and New Zealand contexts. Phelan concludes the interview by suggesting potential sites of cultural politics and the possibility of a radically different kind of media and political culture.
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    Affect, responsibility, and how modes of engagement shape the experience of videogames
    (Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA), 13/12/2015) Veale, KR
    When considering the elements that shape our experience of fiction, the line distinguishing the text itself from the processes we go through in negotiating that text is easy to miss. Even something as simple as knowing roughly how far through a book we are as we read will influence our experience of the story. If the same story is moved into a hypertext context that eliminates that physical awareness from the experience, then that changes our mode of engagement. Understanding how different modes of engagement shape our experiences of fiction will be helpful not just for the analysis of new media storytelling, but for understanding how we have already been telling stories for a very long time. What sets the experience of videogames apart from other forms of mediated storytelling is that the person playing the game can come to feel responsible for events and characters within a fictional world.
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    Maria Clara for the 21st century: Filipino responses to “neo-colonial” encounters
    (Ateneo de Manila University, 1/09/2016) Diaz Rodriguez JM
    As an example of a postcolonial critique to certain hegemonic Spanish discourses in the Philippines, this essay examines the practice-as-research dance piece Love, Death, and Mompou (2006), which was a revision of the traditional María Clara dance suite. It argues that the show uses the expressiveness of the body as a trigger to subvert, re-represent and perform a range of “colonial” discourses that were reinforced by Spanish cultural producers, through funding policies, such as the Spanish Program for Cultural Cooperation. In this context, this essay argues that these policies echo a colonial past by influencing the local arts scene, and by establishing what can be perceived as a “neo-colonial” relationship between Spanish official institutions and those local artists involved in the arts events.