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While there is broad consensus that involving children in research is critically important for understanding their lives, there is considerable caution around their participation in social research on 'sensitive' issues. Such caution is further amplified by a lack of agreement about what constitutes a 'sensitive topic'. This article draws on data from interviews with a range of Australian stakeholders, including children, parents, researchers, ethics committee members, government and non-government organisation representatives, and other decision-makers, specifically related to the question of "what is a sensitive topic?" While participants identified a range of sensitive topics, findings point to sensitivities being closely linked with the contexts of children's lives and experiences. This requires researchers to approach research in ways that reflect more nuanced understandings of these sensitivities, help address potential concerns and facilitate the development of research relationships that promote ethical conduct of research with children.

Art and design students in SL experience the advantages of a visually rich environment where they can take a leading role in their own learning, have the opportunity to create objects that defy real world limitations, are immersive and interactive, and where they are able to collaborate with a community of global art practitioners. The 3D Art Challenges started at the University of Western Australia in Second Life in 2009. Since that time, UWA has rapidly emerged as a central hub of art activity in SL. The story of UWA's journey into Second Life and a recent survey of past and present participants of the UWA Art Challenges indicate that the environment of a virtual world is well suited to the teaching of art and design skills. The UWA Art Challenges have the potential to be valuable resources for educators and students.

Objective: To obtain clinicians' views on the use of cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEP) in the clinical pathway. Design: A questionnaire aimed at clinicians who use the HEARLab system with the Aided Cortical Assessment (ACA) Module. Results compared for Australians (where HEARLab produced) to other countries Sample: The questionnaire was completed by 49 clinicians; 33 from Australia and 13 clinicians outside of Australia and 3 clinicians, destination unknown. Results: The findings of this research demonstrated that clinicians using CAEPs found them valuable for clinical practice. CAEPs were used to verify or modify hearing aid fittings and were used for counselling parents to reinforce the need for hearing aids. With the use of speech token as the stimulus clinicians had more relevant information to increase confidence in decision-making on paediatric hearing management. Conclusions: The main benefit from the use of CAEPs (using speech token stimuli) was for infant hearing aid fitting programmes, to facilitate earlier decisions relating to hearing aid fitting, for fine-tuning the aids and as an additional measure for cochlear implant referrals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the existing guidance in Australian legislative and regulatory frameworks to inform the process of young people moving through varying stages of maturity towards independent decision-making. In the context of exploratory research to develop a stable online repository of personal documents for young people in out-of-home care, the researchers envisioned in-built, age-appropriate levels of decision-making authority, associated with what was stored, who had access, and who owned these records. They sought guidance to protect young people themselves and to support workers and other mentors. Little unqualified guidance emerged from the documentary search. Supporting any young people in the journey towards independent decision-making relies on individual judgements about the type of decision and risks involved, and the age, maturity, and experience of the young person. Above all, a supportive trusting relationship with an adult allows young people to learn through their own mistakes. IMPLICATIONS Young people's competence in decision-making depends on a range of individual, familial, and social factors, and individualised guidance is necessary to support their participation. A supportive, trusting relationship with an adult provides the best environment for balancing vulnerable young peoples’ participation rights with their continuing needs for protection. The policy and practice challenge is to harness digital technologies without being distracted from the importance of relationship-based work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the ‘plating up’ of Peruvian food in two very different Melbourne establishments, each reflective of the changing face of Peruvian cuisine outside of Peru. We argue that despite a move from the suburban periphery of ‘ethnic’ dining to the cosmopolitan centre of high-end cuisine, Peruvian food in Melbourne is subject to exoticization and the demand for ‘authenticity’. In our analysis of the plating up of Peruvian cuisine in two very different establishments, we draw on theories of ethnic dining (in particular Heldke’s profile of the ‘food adventurer’) and of restaurateur practice (Hamada’s study of Japanese restaurants as an ‘exotic genre’) as well as the broader context of expectations of ‘ethnic eating’ (Hage). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In Australian public discourse food multiculturalism has been celebrated as a sign of the country's openness to migrant cultures. Yet, as we show in this article, this apparent celebration of Australia's ethnically diverse foodscape has emerged alongside a virulent culinary xenophobia at the level of public discourse. In particular, we identify how fears about Asian immigration are often expressed in a distaste for foreign food in the Australian media and official discourse. First, we demonstrate how an advertising campaign jointly funded by government and Australian industry deployed a xenophobic fear of contamination to encourage consumers to avoid food imports and buy Australian foods instead. We then look at how newspaper and television coverage of food poisoning in restaurants and food courts suggests a link between ethnicity and contamination. This analysis of a range of public attitudes to "foreign" foodstuffs highlights that the mainstream enjoyment of ethnic cuisines is not a panacea for long-standing xenophobic discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:A national Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) system was made available across Australia in July 2012. While the technical, policy, and commercial aspects of the new Australian PCEHR system were examined thoroughly by the National E-Health Transition Authority in developing the new e-health record system, little attention was given to examining the related ethical implications of PCEHR advances. This article reports on ethical concerns about the new Australian electronic health record system identified by expert stakeholders.Methods:A qualitative study using semistructured interviews with a purposive sample of key informants from Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, and Sydney with expert knowledge about electronic health records was conducted. The 12 participants represented a range of health and other professionals, research, policy, and consumer/patient groups.Results:Major themes identified were the importance of privacy safeguards at implementation and in future PCEHR uses, the appropriate uses of PCEHR data in research, unique ethical challenges around children and adolescents with PCEHRs, conflicting stakeholder interests around record access and use, and cultural diversity and engagement.Conclusions:The technical, policy, and commercial aspects of the new Australian PCEHR system have been examined thoroughly to date. A greater focus is needed on the ethical implications of PCEHR advances. A continuing failure to address ethical issues in the national implementation and utilization of the PCEHR could limit its uptake and success in Australia, and is also not without risks to the future participants of such a system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Highly siderophile elements (HSEs), including Re and Os, are used extensively as geochemical tracers and geochronometers to investigate the formation and evolution of Earth's crust and mantle. Mantle rocks are commonly serpentinized, but the effect of serpentinization on the distribution of HSEs is controversial because HSEs are commonly hosted by rare, micrometerto sub-micrometer-scale grains of platinum group minerals (PGMs) of ambiguous origin that are challenging to identify, characterize, and interpret. In this study, atom probe tomography (APT) is used to characterize two spatially close PGM grains hosted by a partially serpentinized harzburgite from Macquarie Island, Australia. The APT data reveal an extraordinary level of detail that provides insights into the origin of a complex Cu--Pt alloy grain (average composition Cu4Pt). The grain hosts Fe-, Ni-, and Pt-rich sub-grains associated with Rh, variably overlapping networks of Pd- and Cd-enrichment, and OH-rich volumes identified as fluid inclusions. Osmium and Ru are hosted by an idioblastic laurite (RuS2) grain. Compositional, textural, and phase-diagram constraints are consistent with a modified pre-serpentinization origin for the PGMs, and a comparison between observed and calculated grain distributions indicate that while Os isotope ratios were probably unaffected by serpentinization, whole-rock and grain-scale HSE and isotopic ratios may have been decoupled during serpentinization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National electronic health record initiatives are in progress in many countries around the world but the debate about the ethical issues and how they are to be addressed remains overshadowed by other issues. The discourse to which all others are answerable is a technical discourse, even where matters of privacy and consent are concerned. Yet a focus on technical issues and a failure to think about ethics are cited as factors in the failure of the UK health record system. In this paper, while the prime concern is the Australian Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR), the discussion is relevant to and informed by the international context. The authors draw attention to ethical and conceptual issues that have implications for the success or failure of electronic health records systems. Important ethical issues to consider as Australia moves towards a PCEHR system include: issues of equity that arise in the context of personal control, who benefits and who should pay, what are the legitimate uses of PCEHRs, and how we should implement privacy. The authors identify specific questions that need addressing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consent to research involving children is complex and provides a difficult challenge for researchers and ethics review bodies. The concept of “consent,” both of the parent and the child, is not as well defined as it could be and can lead to a problematic lack of clarity of the role and requirements for consent. Our aim is to address this problem. Presented here are findings from interviews with Australian researchers and members of Human Research Ethics Committees identifying what is problematic, what may be stopping or hindering research, and issues that warrant further investigation. Issues identified are not relevant only to the Australian context—they are common to research involving children generally. The focus is on ethical practice rather than on conforming to current regulations. This paper also provides evidence in the literature that researchers and reviewers outside of Australia are grappling with the same or similar ethical issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The goal of genome wide analyses of polymorphisms is to achieve a better understanding of the link between genotype and phenotype. Part of that goal is to understand the selective forces that have operated on a population. Results: In this study we compared the signals of selection, identified through population divergence in the Bovine HapMap project, to those found in an independent sample of cattle from Australia. Evidence for population differentiation across the genome, as measured by FST, was highly correlated in the two data sets. Nevertheless, 40% of the variance in FST between the two studies was attributed to the differences in breed composition. Seventy six percent of the variance in FST was attributed to differences in SNP composition and density when the same breeds were compared. The difference between FST of adjacent loci increased rapidly with the increase in distance between SNP, reaching an asymptote after 20 kb. Using 129 SNP that have highly divergent FST values in both data sets, we identified 12 regions that had additive effects on the traits residual feed intake, beef yield or intramuscular fatness measured in the Australian sample. Four of these regions had effects on more than one trait. One of these regions includes the R3HDM1 gene, which is under selection in European humans. Conclusion: Firstly, many different populations will be necessary for a full description of selective signatures across the genome, not just a small set of highly divergent populations. Secondly, it is necessary to use the same SNP when comparing the signatures of selection from one study to another. Thirdly, useful signatures of selection can be obtained where many of the groups have only minor genetic differences and may not be clearly separated in a principal component analysis. Fourthly, combining analyses of genome wide selection signatures and genome wide associations to traits helps to define the trait under selection or the population group in which the QTL is likely to be segregating. Finally, the FST difference between adjacent loci suggests that 150,000 evenly spaced SNP will be required to study selective signatures in all parts of the bovine genome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on a study related to biology of Australian and United States strains of Trissokus basalis, a parasitoid of the green vegetable bug, Nezara viridula. The ecotypes or strains of T. basalis have developed in different geographical locations. Because some biological characteristics of T. basalis from the U.S. differ from Australia strains, there is the possibility that more successful biological control of N. viridula may be achieved by introducing strains from Australia into the U.S. Higher fecundity of the Australian strains is especially important in biological control because denser populations of parasitoids would build up in the field.

The article discusses the role housewifery plays in women's labor in the modern industrialized societies. The author states that housewifery modifies a woman's preparation for any work. The relationship between childbirth and women's sexual identity is examined. The author explains how housewifery is largely ignored because it is not a dynamic sector of the economy and not counted in the gross national product. Subjects of the article also include personal relationships of the housewife, the history of the household, and the training of women in the workforce.

The Neoproterozoic to end-Paleozoic Terra Australis orogen extended along the Gondwana margin of the paleo--Pacific Ocean, and it now provides a detailed record of orogenic activity and continental stabilization within an ongoing convergent, accretionary plate margin. New geochronological data from end-Paleozoic plutonic and volcanic rocks associated with the Gondwanide orogeny in the New England region of eastern Australia, integrated with information on the nature and timing of associated sedimentation, deformation, and metamorphism, allow resolution of a high-fidelity record of orogenesis. At the end of the Carboniferous, around 305 Ma, convergent margin magmatism, which had been active along the western margin of the New England region, terminated and was followed by a short pulse of regional compressional deformation and metamorphism, marking the commencement of the Tablelands phase of Gondwanide orogenesis. Deformation was almost immediately followed by the onset of clastic sedimentation and local calc-alkaline volcanism, dated at 293 Ma, in the extensional Barnard Basin. Emplacement of the two New England S-type granitic suites, the Bundarra and the Hillgrove suites, along with localized high-temperature, low-pressure metamorphism, was essentially contemporaneous, ranging in age from 296 to 288 Ma, and overlapped in time with I-type magmatism and the switch from regional compression to extension and Barnard Basin rifting. The Hunter-Bowen phase of the Gondwanide orogeny commenced with contractional deformation, resulting in termination of sedimentation in the Barnard Basin and regional deformation and metamorphism across New England and into the Sydney and Gunnedah basins to the west at around 265-- 260 Ma. Contractional loading of the Sydney and Gunnedah basins resulted in their conversion from extensional to foreland basins, which received ongoing pulses of sediment from the New England orogenic welt until 230 Ma. The Hunter-Bowen phase was associated with widespread I-type plutonism and volcanic activity in New England that ceased around 230 Ma, marking the termination of Gondwanide orogenesis. Orogenesis occurred in an evolving convergent plate-margin setting. S- and I-type magmatic activity ranging in age from ca. 300 to 230 Ma represents a stepping out of arc magmatism from the western margin of New England (prior to 305 Ma) into the preexisting arc-trench gap. There is no evidence that deformation was related to the collision of the convergent margin with a major lithospheric mass, and the widespread development of extensional basins in the eastern third of Australia in the Early Permian indicates control by phenomena acting on a continental scale, probably changing plate kinematics associated with the amalgamation of Pangea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]