From the WTO's Crown Jewel to its Crown of Thorns

Crown-of-thorns starfish

Figure 1. Crown-of-thorns starfish and their legacy. (A) A group of crown-of-thorns starfish converge on the remaining small piece of living coral tissue (lc) on the surface of a tabular coral (Acropora sp.) The other coral tissue has just been consumed by the starfish so that only the white skeleton remains (cs). (B) After crown-of-thorns starfish have removed the living coral tissue, the expo...

The space station's crown jewel.

Model to manage and reduce crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks

The crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) Acanthaster planci is one of the largest causes of coral cover loss on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Numerous trophic-mediated and anthropogenic-related hypotheses, singly or in combination, have been proposed to explain COTS outbreaks, but the evidence remains inconclusive. There is, however, an urgent need for effective control and mitigation strategies. ...

The Jewel in the Crown - Enterprise Architecture at Chubb

Chubb’s enterprise architecture (EA) has evolved considerably since it was reported in this journal in 2012.1 The need to continually adapt to changing technologies and demands can make a solution that worked well a few years ago unsuitable for the current business climate. Chubb moved from a difficult to enforce federated model to consistent centralized standards and shared services to enable ...

Primary care: a fading jewel in the NHS crown

When Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary for State for Health in England, presented his 'New Deal for General Practice' in June 2015, he described general practice as the jewel in the crown of the NHS. Many general practitioners (GPs) though will not be reassured by his statement. Despite Jeremy Hunt's words of support, the future for GPs, their teams and their patients looks very uncertain. It is hard ...