Biodiversity action plans as a way towards local sustainable development

Local action for biodiversity is essential to ensure better conservation status for biodiversity and maintain ecosystem services. In many places the rich biodiversity is still relatively untouched and represents an outstanding asset for local sustainable development. The loss of biodiversity occurs mainly because of rapid changes in land use, urban sprawl, infrastructure development, acidification, eutrophication, desertification, overexploitation, intensification of agriculture, tourism development and climate change. There is a clear need for a more flexible, people-oriented and visionary approach for sustainable use of biodiversity resources. This article concerns “Local Biodiversity Action Plans”, which provide a comprehensive and integrated approach to biodiversity and ecosystem services for the sustainable development of rural municipalities and their local communities. Although biodiversity action planning is not a new concept, bringing a plan to life has significant societal benefits with innovative solutions to help biodiversity conservation while entailing close interaction of science, policy and society. This approach was developed together with project partners and local communities in selected regions of the Western Balkans and it benefits from a range of stakeholders, including social and natural scientists, practitioners, elected representatives of the local communities and end users in the frame of a participatory approach. The conclusion of this article discusses the role of communication and outlines the critical success factors and the challenges ahead for the future.     

It's All a Matter of Attitude

Abstract

Studies have consistently documented an incidence rate of between 25% and 50% for domestic violence in gay and lesbian relationships. These numbers suggest that the gay and lesbian community is dealing with a significant mental health issue, one that is not being adequately addressed. If mental health professionals can be taught ways to assess for domestic violence in their work with sexual minorities, those persons being abused can learn strategies for ensuring their physical safety.     

Forecasting the Incidence of Cancer in Regional Victoria,Australia

Loddon Mallee Integrated Cancer Service plays a key role in planning the delivery of cancer services in the Loddon Mallee Region of Victoria, Australia. Forecasting the incidence of cancer is an important part of planning for these services. This article is written from an industry perspective. We describe the context of our work, review the literature on forecasting the incidence of cancer, discuss contemporary approaches, describe our experience with forecasting models, and list issues associated with applying these models. An extensive bibliography illustrates the world-wide interest in this forecasting problem. We hope that it is useful to researchers.     

武汉生产性服务业发展与制造业升级

生产性服务业的发展有利于提升制造业的知识技术含量和深化制造业分工，有利于制造业企业涉足价值链的高端。研究生产性服务业的发展对于制造业升级具有重要现实意义。从生产性服务业的特征分析入手，探索了生产性服务业促进制造业升级的作用机制，在将武汉制造业、生产性服务业发展现状与上海、北京对比的基础上，得出了武汉制造业升级亟待大力发展生产性服务业的结论，最后提出了加快发展生产性服务业，促进武汉制造业升级的对策措施。     

构建农村公共文化服务体系，促进文明社会和谐发展

公共文化服务体系是现代社会文明的基本标志。通过公平、公益、均等的公共文化服务活动来体现国民基本文化素质、民族特性和社会道德秩序的文化保障，这种文化保障为社会的可持续发展奠定了文化基石。进入21世纪以来，我国在构建包括农村公共文化服务体系在内的社会公共服务体系方面虽然取得了一些令人瞩目的成果，但也存在着一些亟待解决的问题。因此，构建农村公共文化服务体系应当从制度创新、机制创新入手，加强基础设施建设，加大资金投入，建立健全评价指标体系，推进农村公共文化建设水平和能力的进一步提高。     

服务对象眼中的社区矫正社工及其服务——以上海为案例的调查研究

通过问卷调查的方法来探察服务对象对社区矫正社工及其服务的评价,有助于了解上海市社区矫正的现状。调查结果发现:服务对象对社区矫正社工及社团存在一定的认知不足和认知偏差;社工为服务对象提供了丰富且有针对性的服务,这些服务满足了服务对象的多种需要,获得了较高的满意度;从总体上来说,社工在专业伦理方面做得非常好,但在知情同意方面尚有待加强。这些结果为进一步做好上海市社区矫正工作有重要的启示意义。     

从平等和选择视角解读公共服务

公共服务有效供给是公共服务均等化实现的基础；扩展用者选择权也是公共服务市场化供给重要的外在表现形式。尽管扩展公共服务选择权的实践不断，但实践中仍存在很多问题。资源和成本的不平等，能力的差异以及风险选择都阻碍着公共服务均等化的实现。因此需要配套政策和机制的支持，特别应该包含支持那些有困难做出选择的人的政策，以及补偿机制和压制风险选择的机制。     

电子商务环境下信息服务发展现状及对策

分析了电子商务环境下信息服务的内涵,根据服务的途径和方式不同,把电子商务环境下的信息服务划分为信息查询服务、信息咨询服务、信息代理服务、信息报道服务和信息传输服务,并概述了电子商务环境下信息服务的发展成就及其遇到的问题,最后给出相应的发展对策。     

Helping parents to manage infant crying and sleeping: a review of the evidence and its implications for services

Infant crying and night waking are common concerns for parents, costly problems for health services and may trigger infant abuse or lead to serious child disturbances. Parents are given contradictory advice on how to manage infant crying and sleeping, indicating the need for evidence‐based guidance. This review of recent research draws distinctions between infant crying and sleeping problems, between the problem identified by parents and the infant behaviour underlying the problem, between different types of crying behaviour and their causes, and between the types of cases which present at different ages. It proposes that the two main approaches to parenting advocated by baby‐care experts, ‘infant‐demand’ and ‘structured’ parenting, have different benefits, and costs. Comparative studies have found that infant‐demand parenting is associated with low amounts of fussing and crying in the first three months of age, but with night waking which continues beyond three months. Randomised controlled trials have provided evidence that structured parenting leads to more overall fussing and crying during the first three months, but reduced night waking and crying after that. The findings are translated into recommendations for preventing and treating infant crying and sleeping problems, for policy debate, and for further research. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

香港对外律师服务贸易法律制度

香港对律师实行政府立法、法院监管、律师协会具体行使管理权的模式。按香港现行规定,外国律师可以在香港登记执业,但在执业资格、业务范围、执业组织形式等方面受到严格限制。面对经济全球化和国际律师服务贸易自由化的深入发展,香港是继续维持现有的限制措施,还是改革对外律师服务贸易法律制度、进一步开放市场,是香港律师管理部门不得不面临的一个抉择。