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Abstract: The large daisy tribe Gnaphalieae occurs in extra-tropical habitats worldwide, but is most diverse in southern Africa and in Australia. We explore the age and evolutionary history of the tribe by means of a phylogenetic hypothesis based on Bayesian analysis of plastid and nuclear DNA sequences, maximum likelihood reconstruction of ancestral areas, and relaxed Bayesian dating. Early diversification occurred in southern Africa in the Eocene–Oligocene, resulting in a grade of mostly Cape-centred lineages which subsequently began speciating in the Miocene, consistent with diversification times for many Cape groups. Gnaphalieae from other geographic regions are embedded within a southern African paraphylum, indicating multiple dispersals out of southern Africa since the Oligocene to Miocene which established the tribe in the rest of the world. Colonisation of Australia via direct long-distance trans-oceanic dispersal in the Miocene resulted in the radiation which produced the Australasian gnaphalioid flora. The similarly diverse regional gnaphalioid floras of Australasia and southern Africa thus exhibit very different temporal species accumulation histories. An examination of the timing and direction of trans-Indian Ocean dispersal events in other angiosperms suggests a role for the West Wind Drift in long-distance dispersal eastwards from southern Africa. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Introduction: Rural doctors typically work in low resource settings and with limited professional support. They are sometimes pushed to the limits of their usual scope of practice to provide the medical care needed by their community. In a previous phenomenological study, we described the concept of clinical courage as underpinning rural doctors' work in this context. In this paper, we draw on rural doctors' experiences during the unfolding COVID pandemic to re examine our understanding of the attributes of clinical courage. Methods: Semi structured interviews were conducted with rural doctors from 11 countries who had experience preparing for or managing patients with COVID 19. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded using NVivo. A deductive thematic analysis was undertaken to identify common ideas and responses related to the features of clinical courage. Results: Thirteen interviews from rural doctors during the unfolding COVID 19 pandemic affirmed and enriched our understanding of the attributes of clinical courage, particularly the leadership role rural doctors can have within their communities. Conclusion: This study extended our understanding that rural doctors' experience of clinical courage is consistent amongst participants in many parts of the world, including developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper was to assess the phenomena of homelessness and inadequate housing in South Africa and Australia. The paper used a review of literature method. Findings show poor quality building materials, many people in need of housing, long waiting lists and slow delivery, and the challenges governments face in implementing and managing housing programmes effectively and efficiently are among the problems associated with the provision of adequate housing, according to the. All these factors have significantly contributed to both the proliferation of informal settlements and ever-increasing numbers of homeless population. Evidently, the successful implementation of housing programmes is hampered by a lack of political will and insufficient commitment on the part of governments to fulfil their obligations with respect to ensuring that all citizens have access to decent and adequate housing. There is a need for shifts in policy towards a more holistic approach that also includes measures to promote empowerment through selfemployment and other income-related provisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic is intensifying existing problems of economic asymmetry, and other injustices, between and within countries and regions around the world. It is thus imperative that sociological studies of education document its socio-cultural implications in different locations and on different scales. It is equally imperative that such studies have a historical perspective that asks what pre-existing social problems have been intensified and how such intensification is happening. This paper responds to these imperatives through the deployment of conjunctural analysis and related crisis and articulation theory. We discuss the global Covid-19 conjuncture as it emerged in the first seven months of 2020 and show how it articulated with the preceding conjuncture. Subsequently, we focus on the issues associated with closing and reopening schools and show how they were intertwined with reconfigurations of the school/home/work nexus. We consider these reconfigurations in two very different locations, Australia and South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigated relationships between the most notable characteristics of end-use events, namely, event duration, volume, and intensity, in order to categorize water use as being indoor or outdoor. Three classification models were developed, calibrated, and compared using more than 200,000 household end-use events that were recorded independently in Australia and South Africa. The three methods were also compared to a practice-based limit classification scheme. The classification model presented in this paper correctly apportions ∼81% of the indoor end-use event volumes and ∼98% of the outdoor end-use event volumes, thus reinforcing the value of basic smart water meter data sets as a source of useful information for water demand management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adaptation of biological species to their environment depends on their traits. When various biological processes occur (survival, reproduction, migration, etc.), the trait distribution may change with respect to time and space. In the context of invasions, when considering the evolution of a heritable trait that encodes the dispersive ability of individuals, the trait distribution develops a particular spatial structure that leads to the acceleration of the front propagation. That phenomenon is known as spatial sorting. Many biological examples can be cited like the bush cricket in Britain, the cane toad invasion in Australia, or the common myna one in South Africa. Adopting this framework, recent mathematical studies have led to highlighting the influence of the reproductive mode on the front propagation. Asexual populations have been shown to spread with an asymptotic rate of t3/2 in a minimal reaction-diffusion model, whereas the analogous rate for sexual populations is of t5/4 (where t denotes the time). However, the precise description of the behavior of the front propagation in the sexual case is still an open question. The aim of this paper is to give precise approximations for large times of its position, as well as some features of the local trait distribution at the front. To do so, we solve explicitly the asymptotic problem derived formally. Numerical simulations are shown to confirm these calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scope: Proteaceae are an ecologically distinctive family, with largest radiations in the sclerophyll vegetation types of Australia and South Africa. This brief paper comments on Hayes et al. (2021), who have mapped leaf phosphorus concentration on to the phylogenetic tree for the family. Conclusions: Considered across all seed plants worldwide, Proteaceae contribute most of the lowest leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations known. Hayes et al. concluded that they have used low-phosphorus strategy from their origins ca. 100 My ago. Occasional excursions into higher leaf P have been relatively recent and have not produced many species. The family as a whole is an instance of phylogenetic niche conservatism. The conservatism arises not from trait inertia but from the intensity of competition in continental vegetation, giving Proteaceae competitive advantage within distinct niches and inhibiting them from radiating into other ways of life. When a distinct niche is concentrated into a single clade in this way, quantitative methods that test for replicate patterns across multiple clades will not detect strong signal. However, niche-conservative clades make important and distinctive contributions to the world's ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural criminology as a topic of scholarly study, neglected over the past two to three decades, has bounced into the spotlight, with claims now being made that rural criminology is receiving justified attention among the academic fraternity. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the major challenge facing two countries with different levels of development as identified by the United Nations Human Development Index. A predicament for rural criminology is that the world is not equal: rural crimes is researched in developed countries but not in developing countries. This paper compares the types and prevalence of agricultural crimes in Australia (NSW) and South Africa to determine whether significant differences or similarities exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tree Acacia mearnsii is native to south-eastern Australia but has become an aggressive invader in many countries. In South Africa, it is a significant threat to the conservation of biomes. Detecting and mapping its early invasion is critical. The current ground-based methods to map A. mearnsii are accurate but are neither economical nor practical. Remote sensing (RS) provides accurate and repeatable spatial information on tree species. The potential of RS technology to map A. mearnsii distributions remains poorly understood, mainly due to a lack of knowledge on the spectral properties of A. mearnsii relative to co-occurring native plants. We investigated the spectral uniqueness of A. mearnsii compared to co-occurring native plant species within the South African landscape. We explored full-range (400–2500 nm), leaf and canopy hyperspectral reflectance of the species. The spectral reflectance was collected biweekly from December 23, 2016 and May 31, 2017. We conducted a time series analysis, to assess the effect of seasonality on species discrimination. For comparison, two classification models were employed: parametric interval extended canonical variate discriminant (iECVA-DA) and nonparametric random forest discriminant classifiers (RF-DA). The results of this paper suggest that phenology plays a crucial role in discriminating between A. mearnsii and sampled species. The RF classifier discriminated A. mearnsii with slightly higher accuracies (from 92% to 100%) when compared with the iECVA-DA (from 85% to 93%). The study showed the potential of RS to discriminate between A. mearnsii and co-occurring plant species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Indigenous health matters have largely been neglected in the speech-language pathology literature and have particular import for the aphasia clinician. The influence of culture on people’s experiences and expectations after an event such as stroke can vary widely and there is a need to understand the impact of context on assessment and therapy. Standard approaches may not be adequate or relevant, nor always ethical to apply. Examination of aphasia in contexts with Indigenous populations provides an opportunity to explore methods and approaches with socially complex and marginalised communities and to expand our understanding of the lived experience of aphasia. Aims:The goal of this paper is to explore the role of culture in aphasia in Indigenous populations and drawing from a body of emerging research, highlight relevant dimensions of understanding and practice for the aphasia clinician. Main Contribution:A series of qualitative studies undertaken with Indigenous people with aphasia in two separate contexts – Australia and South Africa – will be described and their findings considered along several dimensions. A consideration of methods of approach and understanding will be provided, followed by discussion of some central constructs. A series of conceptual and clinical propositions for culturally safe research and practice in aphasia will be derived from this evidence. Models of collaboration are derived which are decolonising and potentially transformative and supplement models of knowledge and intervention in a local community. Particular attention is paid to temporal and spatial issues, the role of family, identity and community, the notion of resilience in such communities and addressing some of the specific challenges that may be involved such as working with cultural brokers. A series of recommendations is provided which allows for a critical engagement with interdisciplinary frameworks of understanding aphasia in context. Conclusion:As a reflective piece, this paper has enabled a collation of knowledge about aphasia in two Indigenous cultures and has helped consolidate some novel principles and insights and the need for expanded skills, attitudes, insights, explanations and methodologies – ones that acknowledge and accommodate diversity and difference, and that are relevant to Indigenous communities. Language difficulties are only one cause of social exclusion and issues such as poverty and identity make a huge impact on the lives of our clients and their families, and on the approach we adopt. A shift from the primary framework of our profession is required to accommodate the central role of culture in communication. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper traces the evolution of the Twin Peaks model of financial regulation in Australia, outlines certain key aspects and draws comparisons with the model that is being implemented in South Africa. It also highlights ongoing areas of debate in Australia and what the debate reveals about the operation of the Twin Peaks model generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the attitudes and intentions of pre-service teachers towards inclusive education, across two teacher preparation institutions in Australia and South Africa. There were multiple aims to the study: among these was a need to explore the impact of contextual factors on pre-service teacher attitudes towards inclusive education, and to investigate factors that may impact on their intention to include students with additional learning needs into regular classrooms. The study utilised a published survey as a measuring instrument. One-way analyses of variance were used to establish whether statistically significant relationships existed between specific demographic variables and respondent attitudes towards inclusive education. This paper presents the findings of this investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the notion of African music as a way forward to negotiate a 'space' in contemporary society. The word 'space' is used as a metaphor to explore and experiment with the dynamics of culture and hybridity. The authors view themselves as 'agents of change' and knowledgeable professionals in the teaching of African music, one based in South Africa (Johannesburg) and the other in Australia (Melbourne). They reflect on examples from their own teaching and learning experiences as they argue that the translation of 'traditional' African music can only be brought about by means of cultural dialogue, within cultures and between cultures. This paper also addresses the issues of cultural authenticity as a redefined and renegotiated space when teaching and learning African music. The authors also consider the difficulties of addressing 'difference' and 'otherness' when teaching African music, with South Africa and Australia both previously seen as outposts of the British Empire. They contend that such differences can prove to be productive and rewarding through subtle mediation and accommodation when crossing cultural borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is common to find final or near final year undergraduate Information Technology students undertaking a substantial development project; a project where the students have the opportunity to be fully involved in the analysis, design, and development of an information technology service or product. This involvement has been catalyzed and prepared for during their previous studies where the students have been told and shown how to develop similar systems. It is the belief that only through this 'real' project do they get the chance to experience something similar to what is expected of them when they embark on their chosen profession; that is, as an information technology professional. The high value of 'near real life' educational experience is recognized by many universities across the globe. The aim of this paper is to present examples from three countries - Australia, United Kingdom and South Africa, of the delivery of these team, capstone or industrial experience projects; their curricula and management processes. Academics from institutions in each of the countries share experiences, challenges and pitfalls encountered during the delivery of these information technology projects within their institutions. An overview of each institution's strategies is provided and highlights specific issues such as the selection of projects, allocation of teams to projects, legal requirements, assessment methods, challenges and benefits. The pedagogies presented here are not exhaustive; however, the three institutions do have in common the implementation of a combination of constructivism with a community of practice approach in delivering the project unit. The three universities recognize the need for industrial experience and learning of applied skills, and therefore make these projects a compulsory part of the curriculum. The projects tend to be real life business problems which are solved over a period of two semesters, and in the case of Cape Town it could be two consecutive years of two semesters each. These projects tend to involve practical development (for example databases and web sites). The process of project-to-team allocation is generally similar in all cases. Despite their differences, team work related problems are quite similar in all three cases presented, and seem to appear as a result of team work complexity, and the number of stakeholders involved. The intention of this paper is not to propose solutions to these problems (as these would be context dependent), but to draw the attention to the main problem categories for similar schemes, these are; • project selection, • management of students, • management of academic staff, • student team motivation, • equality and diversity, • passengers, and • assessment. Furthermore, it is not the intention of the authors to portray one approach as better than another, however, the approaches are representative of how team projects are being delivered across the globe, and in particular, in the contributing institutions. It is hoped that the assimilation and dissemination of information regarding the various approaches presented will nurture further discussion, and open communication across the globe with the view to enhancing the teaching and learning experience of such projects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aims This study aimed to compare the findings of the quality of nursing doctoral education survey across seven countries and discuss the strategic directions for improving quality. Background No comparative evaluation of global quality of nursing doctoral education has been reported to date despite the rapid increase in the number of nursing doctoral programmes. Design A descriptive, cross-country, comparative design was employed. Methods Data were collected from 2007-2010 from nursing schools in seven countries: Australia, Japan, Korea, South Africa, Thailand, UK and USA. An online questionnaire was used to evaluate quality of nursing doctoral education except for Japan, where a paper version was used. Korea and South Africa used e-mails quality of nursing doctoral education was evaluated using four domains: Programme, Faculty (referring to academic staff), Resource and Evaluation. Descriptive statistics, correlational and ordinal logistic regression were employed. Results A total of 105 deans/schools, 414 faculty and 1149 students/graduates participated. The perceptions of faculty and students/graduates about the quality of nursing doctoral education across the seven countries were mostly favourable on all four domains. The faculty domain score had the largest estimated coefficient for relative importance. As the overall quality level of doctoral education rose from fair to good, the resource domain showed an increased effect. Conclusions Both faculty and students/graduates groups rated the overall quality of nursing doctoral education favourably. The faculty domain had the greatest importance for quality, followed by the programme domain. However, the importance of the resource domain gained significance as the overall quality of nursing doctoral education increased, indicating the needs for more attention to resources if the quality of nursing doctoral education is to improve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the relatively new phenomenon of online child exploitation -- an important area of criminological and policy concern - it is difficult to obtain long term trend data on reported convictions. Existing legislative and prosecution-based approaches, while important, are unlikely to be adequate. This analysis of the legislative and prosecution-based responses in five Commonwealth countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and United Kingdom), highlights the need for clear national and international definitions as the lack of consistency in the international legislative environment creates opportunities for sexual exploitation of children. To provide a multi-faceted and non-prosecutorial approach to address online child exploitation including the commercial exploitation of children, this paper identifies five potential research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The macadamia industry is growing rapidly. • There is limited research on macadamia water use. • Macadamia is characterised by strict stomatal regulation. • Macadamia is drought-tolerant. • The hydrological implications of macadamia expansion remain unknown. Growing macadamia nut trees continues to gain popularity due to the delicacy and nutritional value associated with the nuts. These evergreen trees are grown in areas where rainfall quantity and distribution is often inadequate to sustain optimum yields. As a result, irrigation is often required to meet demands and achieve maximum profits. However, there is little detail on the minimum volume of water required during different growth stages to obtain optimal yields. This paper reviews existing studies on the plant-water relations of macadamia nut trees from the perspective of understanding their impacts on water resources. Macadamia trees have been found to use an average 75 L tree−1 day−1 in Australia, while values range between 4 and 71 L tree−1 day−1 for trees grown in South Africa. Macadamia trees are characterised by strict stomatal control, enabling them to maintain a favourable water status for prolonged periods under water stressed conditions. However, stress during the premature nut drop and oil accumulation stages decreases yield and quality. On the other hand, imposing stress at floral initiation increases yield. Therefore, stress manipulation may be a useful management tool for improved water use efficiency in commercial orchards. This requires accurate measurements of the thresholds for the maximum stress and minimum water required at these critical stages. Yield response to irrigation has been difficult to determine with confidence. Due to the cyclical nature of macadamia yields, it has been recommended that a minimum of five years is required to establish a relationship between water use and yield. There has been a limited amount of work done on the impacts of macadamia production on water resources and financial constraints are likely to limit this in the future. However, based on the rapid development of commercial macadamia orchards, future water-related research needs to consider macadamia production beyond tree and orchard scales, viewing macadamia as part of a socioecological system where orchard water use may impact on the availability and quality of water for other users, including the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our paper analyses and explains the migration decision and labour market experience of migrant elites, by drawing on the case of South African-trained doctors in Australia. In doing so, we expand on the limited conceptualisation of skilled migration to which we offer a different interpretation by drawing on a multi-scale and integrated model of analysis tracing the experience of this group over a 60-year period. The research is informed by a sample of almost 500 culturally diverse South African-trained male and female medical practitioners migrating to and working in Australia from the 1950s through to 2009. Through an iterative process of analysing empirical findings and simultaneously examining the policy and scholarship on medical migration, we refine the concept of migrant elite as a category of skilled migration and respond to an absence we have identified in the scholarship and policy terrain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim Anthropogenic introductions of Australian Acacia spp. that become classed as alien invasive species have consequences besides the physical, spatial and ecological: there are also cultural, ethical and political considerations that demand attention from scholars in the humanities and social sciences. As practitioners in these disciplines, our aim is to reflect upon some of the social and conceptual ideas and attitudes relating to the spread of Australian Acacia spp. around the world. We therefore provide a longer-term historical and philosophical perspective using South Africa as a key example. We explain some of the cultural aspects of Australian acacias, relating them to history, philosophy and societal ideas that were once, or indeed remain, important, either regarding their exportation from Australia or their importation into other countries. Focussing principally on South Africa and Australia but including brief references to other locations, we augment the literature by making connections between acacia introductions and environmental ethics and aesthetics, national and environmental history and symbolic and other discourses. We evaluate a number of the cultural and philosophical dimensions of invasion biology as a societal response and explicate the interesting contradiction of Australian acacia introductions as simultaneously economically valuable and environmentally transformative in South Africa. Location South Africa, Australia, with references to other parts of the world. Methods This paper has been written by an interdisciplinary team (two historians, two geographers, a philosopher and an ecologist) and is conceptual and historical, conforming in language and structure to the humanities style. It relies on published and unpublished literature from this disciplinary domain and the critical evaluation of these sources. Results Many Acacia spp. from Australia have been introduced around the world, generally guided in different eras by a variety of overarching mindsets, including the colonial ethos of 'improvement' (1800s to mid 1900s), an economically driven mindset of 'national development' (1900s), by a people-centred frame combining concerns of environment and livelihood in 'sustainable development' (1980s onwards), and an aesthetic ethos of ornamental planting that surfaces in all periods. The newest ethos of controlling or managing alien invasive species, a normative attitude deriving from the burgeoning of invasion biology, has more recently shaped the ideology of these plant exchanges and sharpened the focus on species that may be simultaneously both weeds and commercially valuable crops. Our perspective from the humanities and social sciences calls for a more transparent approach that clearly acknowledges such contradictions. Main conclusions We conclude that the global experiment of human-mediated Australian acacia introductions raises a number of issues that reflect changing societal concerns and demand attention from scholars in disciplines apart from the natural sciences. Here we highlight the impact of historical context in plant exchanges, the history and philosophy of science as it relates to invasion biology, and changing - sometimes divisive - societal priorities in terms of aesthetic, economic and conservation values. In particular, the case of Acacia spp. in South Africa highlights the contradictory aspects of introductions in that some species are both commercially important and environment-altering invasive plants. We argue that the contribution of disciplines beyond ecology to the debates about the invasive status of acacias enlarges our understanding and provides useful insights for botanists, foresters, managers and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars studying the globalization of Australian trees have previously emphasized the rapid natural propagation of Australian trees outside of their native habitats, believing their success to be a reversal of 'ecological imperialism' from the 'new world' to the 'old world.' This article argues that the expansion of Australian trees should not be viewed as a biological phenomenon, but as the result of a long-term attempt by powerful states and state-sponsored scientists to select and breed Australian species that could grow in a variety of climates and ecological conditions. Five non-biological factors largely determined the success of these attempts to grow Australian trees: the abundance or paucity of natural forests, state power, the amount of scientific research directed to planting Australian trees, the cost of labor, and the ability to utilize hardwood timbers and bark. This paper compares the use of Australian trees in Australia, India, and South Africa to demonstrate that biology was not the determining factor in the long-term success of many Australian genera and species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we go about our daily lives in ways that are unlikely to return to the pre-COVID-19 levels. A key feature of the COVID-19 era is likely to be a rethink of the way we work and the implications on commuting activity. Working from home (WFH) has been the 'new normal' during the period of lockdown, except for essential services that require commuting. In recognition of the new normal as represented by an increasing amount of WFH, this paper develops a model to identify the incidence of WFH and what impact this could have on the number of weekly commuting trips. Using data collected in eight countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and South Africa), we developed a Poisson regression model for the number of days individuals worked from home during the pandemic. Simulated scenarios quantify the impact of the different variables on the probability of WFH by country. The findings provide a reference point as we continue to undertake similar analysis at different points through time during the pandemic and after when restrictions are effectively removed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual sector universities (or duals) are a growing international phenomenon that cut across the divide that typically exists in post-secondary education. Duals combine ‘further’ and ‘higher’ education within a single institution providing enhanced opportunities for student transition between post-secondary sectors. This paper reports the results of an international survey of duals in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK. The results indicate that duals operate divergent operational models in managing the structural challenges of cross-sector education characterised as unitary and binary. Many duals contend that state and provincial government regulation militates against the integration of structures, processes and human resources within a dual sector context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines theater actor and director Oscar Asche's Shakespearean productions in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa from 1912-1913. According to the article, accumulation of material from different places provides evidence that Asche, or one of his company, manipulated the correspondence pages of local papers, to foster controversies about Asche's innovations or departures from stage tradition. The article notes that Asche's productions lasted over three hours and, despite arrangements for delayed trains, caused practical problems for colonial audience.

Objectives: This article reviews and comments on the development, strengths and limitations of the US National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) from a variety of domestic and international perspectives. Methods: The authors were provided preliminary copies of the manuscripts in this special edition and examined them to understand and put in context the elements and uses of the NVDRS so far. Their comments are based on their reading and interpretation of these papers plus their own combined experience in injury and public health surveillance from four different countries: the US, Colombia, Australia, and South Africa. Results: The NVDRS is bigger than the sum of its parts because it links existing data from multiple sources. Its adoption of modern relational database technologies offers advantages over traditional injury surveillance databases and creates new opportunities for understanding, collaboration, and partnerships. Challenges include overcoming resource limitations so that it can become a truly national system, measuring and improving its sensitivity and comparability, and the need to examine mortality in context with serious non-fatal violent events. Conclusion: The NVDRS is an important work in progress for the US. Each country should examine its own needs, traditions, resources, and existing infrastructure when deciding what kind of violence surveillance system to develop. However, collaboration in developing common definitions and classifications provides an important foundation for international comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through museum and shopping mall and the possibilities, subtleties, banalities and disparities of reconciliation in South Africa and Australia, this paper immerses itself in the question of pedagogies and in particular the pedagogies of reconciliation, public spaces and postcolonialism. In both Australia and South Africa postcolonialism as theory and pedagogy is ambiguously positioned especially in relation to issues of reconciliation which in turn is arguably also ambiguously located. Reconciliation is or has variously been state-sanctioned policy, project and agenda which, in part, is a process and practice of recognising and addressing histories of racism and its effects. Projects in both nations have included public, educational and schooling spheres and range, for instance, from the building of large-scale museums to self-initiated school and community projects. All of these involve ways of knowing and knowledge of the colonial past and a postcolonial present. Not insignificantly, they all involve the ways in which race, racism and postcolonialism are understood and represented. Central to this, the authors contend, is a necessity to bring into question the discursive practices of both racism and anti-racism particularly as they influence and shape new emerging modalities of anti-racism within postcolonial contexts and practices. The authors argue that an ability to analyse and deconstruct everyday spaces such as shopping malls is as integral to pedagogy as is a class excursion to a museum such as the Hector Pieterson or the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. Still further, they argue that postcolonial pedagogy is itself an artefact of fraught histories deeply informed by colonial origins, local specificities and contemporary strategies of remembrance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia's relationship with South Africa was founded on their being two groups of colonies, and later dominions, in the British Empire. As remote settler societies there were certain affinities, anxiously promoted by South Africa and usually resisted by Australia. Australian prime ministers played a major role in helping to bring about majority rule, but since 1994 the relationship has stiffened. For South Africa, partly for geopolitical reasons, the Commonwealth remains a functional concept; for Australia, it has lost much of its efficacy. Australia and South Africa have also exchanged two significant migrations: of Australian miners and artisans to the Rand around the turn of last century, and of South African emigrants to Australia in our own time. Trade between the two countries is increasing, and a new range and diversity in contact has occurred, with the resumption of full relations since the apartheid years. Given South Africa's disjunction from its immediate past, it is difficult at present to indicate what forms the relationship might take in future. The paper therefore sketches the whole history of interaction between the two countries, drawing attention to its phases and reconfigurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, we present a process synthesis approach to the development of Life Cycle Inventories (LCIs) for production of minerals from primary ore bodies, based on a heuristics-driven flowsheeting methodology. Technologies are specified to a level of detail consistent with information availability and mass balance closure. This approach enables the creation of flowsheets for all minerals processing activities using a “cradle-to-gate” system boundary, from which it is possible to generate LCIs using accepted practices for the mapping of resource flows and emissions onto a profile of environmental burdens. In this work, LCIs are presented only for the foreground system (i.e. the flows from background systems, such as electricity generation, are documented but their environmental burden profile is not included in the LCIs reported). This method allows for the detailing of these inventories on a commodity, sector, or geographic (regional) basis. The approach has been demonstrated for all sub-sectors of the Australian and the South African minerals processing industries. A case study of the gold sub-sector in each region is presented in some detail, in order to highlight the key features of the approach and the usefulness of the LCI profiles generated. The potential for this approach to support comparative technology assessment and sub-sectoral performance is demonstrated for the copper sub-sector. Some indication of the value of the approach to assist in company benchmarking is presented. The performance of all key sectors, namely coal, gold, non-ferrous metals, ferrous metals, uranium, platinum group metals and mineral sands, though not detailed here, is available on our on-line data-base. [1] http://www.chem.eng.usyd.edu.au/Env_Sys 1 . This information is used to develop an aggregated picture of minerals LCIs for the minerals processing activity in Australian and South Africa. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Aim Rainfall reliability has been neglected as a determinant of plant trait convergence and divergence in mediterranean-climate ecosystems. This paper reports on patterns of rainfall reliability — quantified as interannual variation in monthly and seasonal rainfall, and as the frequency of individual events in terms of their size, duration and intensity — for four fire-prone mediterranean-climate ecosystems. Location The four mediterranean-climate regions of the world with fire-prone ecosystems, namely SW Cape (South Africa), SW Australia, California and the Mediterranean Basin (Andalusia, Spain). Methods Using long-term monthly rainfall data from stations dispersed across the four regions, we computed monthly means and interannual variation for each month of the year — the latter quantified as the coefficient of variation (CV) — and divided these into winter and summer seasons. We also computed the mean number of rainfall events, the mean frequency in various categories of event duration (days), the amount of rainfall per event (mm) and the rainfall intensity per event (mm/day) per year for winter and summer seasons for a subset of the rainfall stations. Results The fraction of rain falling in summer was lowest in California (5%) and similarly low ( c. 25%) in the other three regions. The hierarchy of values of coefficient of variation (CV) of monthly rainfall during the winter period was as follows: California > Andalusia >> SW Cape > SW Australia; results for summer were: California > > Andalusia >> SW Australia ∼ SW Cape. SW Australian sites experienced the greatest frequency of short, small and low-intensity rainfall events in both seasons; patterns in the SW Cape were intermediate between Australia and the two northern hemisphere sites which both received fewer, larger and more intense events. Overall, the two southern hemisphere regions (SW Australia and the SW Cape) had significantly more reliable regimes than the two northern hemisphere ones (Mediterranean Basin and California). Main conclusions These differences in rainfall reliability regimes may provide a novel perspective on the distribution of certain plant life-history traits in mediterranean-climate ecosystems. Less reliable regimes would select for germination and seedling survival traits that enable persistence of genets in the face of uncertain moisture conditions during the winter and spring establishment phase. Study systems that accommodate for phylogenetic constraints, namely invasive species derived from mediterranean-climate ecosystems, as well as shared lineages, provide good opportunities to develop and test hypotheses on the implication of different rainfall reliability regimes. One of the novel implications of this study is that the distinctive trait of assemblages in the southern hemisphere regions may be a consequence not so much of their shared nutrient-poor soils as of their similarly reliable rainfall regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia and South Africa an ecologically diverse coastline is the focal point for virtually the whole spectrum of human activities. A key to coastal area management in both polities is "co-operative governance", that provides a solution to the dilemmas arising from divided jurisdiction and overlapping or competing claims for responsibility between different units of government. This paper examines the respective roles of national, sub-national and local government in coastal area management in South Africa and Australia focusing on legal and political factors supporting co-operative governance of the coastal area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical trials for the treatment of schizophrenia now often include cognitive assessments in addition to clinical ratings of symptoms. Recently, these trials have included cross-national assessments. It is not clear if translated psychological tests produce consistent results across different languages. This paper presents the results of a study of the comparability of the results of cognitive assessments in different English-speaking countries and a number of countries where tests were translated into other languages. Performance on tests of executive functioning, verbal and visuo-spatial learning and memory, language skills, psychomotor speed, and vigilance was compared across the first episode patients with schizophrenia (n=301) assessed in six different languages (English, French, Finnish, German, Hebrew, and Afrikaans), including two different countries where patients were assessed in English and other languages: Canada (French) and South Africa (Afrikaans). The variance in performance across the sites tested in English was as large as the variance between English and non-English speakers when all tests were considered. Performance differences across English and other languages were found only for executive functions, vigilance, and psychomotor speed, with executive functioning differences nonsignificant when education was considered. No differences were found between English and non-English speakers in Canada. These results suggest that the translation of tests of memory and verbal skills can lead to consistent results across translated versions of the tests. Differences between countries were greater than differences between languages, suggesting the need to consider representativeness of patient samples in terms of local educational attainment. In general, these data support the validity of cross-national neuropsychological assessments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Over the last decade universities across the world have been grappling with quality and quality assurance issues. In several countries national policies on higher education quality assurance have been evolving, mostly with the purpose of putting external systems of quality assurance in place. In many instances, these policies and systems had less effect on the quality of teaching and learning than had been expected. This paper serves as a comparison of national quality policy developments in two countries, Australia and South Africa, and goes on to investigate the emerging tensions in quality policy processes in these countries. Whereas a number of similarities were discerned, differences were as evident, verifying the underlying assumption of the authors that notions of quality, and quality policies and their implementation are very much dependent on the particular localised contexts in which they exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key reason for undertaking transdisciplinary processes such as knowledge co-production in natural resource management is to access and apply different knowledge systems to complex issues. However, the value of co-production is predominantly framed by academics. They have focused on research design and outcomes in the form of 'science informing policy'. In this paper we build a more inclusive and holistic framing of knowledge co-production incorporating values of non-academic participants, and values related to the participatory process. Specifically, we examine how knowledge is communicated and deliberated upon and the requirements for this to be done effectively. We draw upon empirical data from interviews with natural resource managers who participated in two case studies of knowledge co-production in Australia and South Africa. Their perspectives are captured in eight evaluation principles that build upon existing evaluation frameworks for public participation. Critically, decision-makers valued science-based outputs not just as salient knowledge sources, but to give legitimacy to their decisions. This need for legitimacy necessitates transparency, fairness and inclusivity in knowledge selection, participation and dialogue within knowledge co-production processes. The practice-based knowledge of decision-makers was important for contextualizing and applying science to specific decision contexts. Another key finding is that communicative competence is central to the process of knowledge co-production because it enables participants to critically explore and understand the knowledge claims of others. • Decision-makers provide new perspectives on the value of knowledge co-production. • Science is valued to both inform and legitimize decisions. • Decision-makers' expertise is critical to apply science in specific decision contexts. • Understanding and applying participant knowledge requires communicative competence. • Transparent knowledge selection and inclusive dialogue promote legitimacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On June 1, 2006, the trade associations representing the personal care industry of the European Union, the U.S., Japan and South Africa agreed on an International Sunscreen Protection Method. What will this mean? Sunscreens are regulated throughout the world either as cosmetics, over-the-counter (OTC) drugs which do not require a governmental pre-approval or OTC drugs that require a pre-approval before they are placed on the market. Regardless of how they are regulated, all of these product regulations are very similar concerning sunscreens! Each country has a pre-approved list of permitted UV filters, an accepted method of running efficacy by SPF determination, and regulated labels. Some countries have approved methods for UVA claims and water-resistance testing. The latest changes are in Australia, where some sunscreens will be regulated as cosmetics based on SPF and claims, and Canada, where some sunscreens will be regulated as Natural Health Products depending on their actives! And now here comes a new variable, the harmonized SPF method. What confusion! This paper will cover the different SPF test methods (Harmonized, Australia, and US-FDA) along with the formulations of reference standards, currently approved UVA methods, water-resistant testing, some labeling requirements and finally a brief review of cGMPs and other requirements for the U.S. It will have an update of the recent changes in regulations and cover the approved UV filters permitted in the U.S., EU, Japan, Canada and Australia as well as their maximum use level and correct ingredient designation. There is also a master cross reference list by INCI designation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]