On eschatology and the 'return to religion'

We begin with Tony Blair's July 2009 Australian visit. Mr Blair converted publicly to Catholicism in 2008. In Australia that year, he argued that the West was facing an internal crisis of confidence, as well as external threats. Blair warned in particular against what he called 'aggressive secularism' and the Western tendency to 'see people of religious faith as people to be pushed to one side'. The Australian's 'editor at large', Paul Kelly, responded enthusiastically. Blair's position represented 'the best argument against the rise of secular intolerance and its distorting of history in the education system by seeking to downgrade or eliminate religion in the West's story'. This stood in contrast to the Australian Labour Party's disastrous' distancing from the Christian tradition. Kelly styled Blair as opposing 'the fashionable Western idea that religion can be suppressed or confined to the private realm' as 'a delusion and dangerous'. The Australian's position is not surprising, given the news paper's long- standing, US-influenced neoconservative position.

Fidelity to foraging sites, consistency of migration routes and habitat modulation of home range by sea turtles

Aim  Resources can shape patterns of habitat utilization. Recently a broad foraging dichotomy between oceanic and coastal sites has been revealed for loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta). Since oceanic and coastal foraging sites differ in prey availability, we might expect a gross difference in home-range size across these habitats. We tested this hypothesis by equipping nine adult male loggerhead sea turtles with GPS tracking devices. Location  National Marine Park of Zakynthos (NMPZ) Greece, central and eastern Mediterranean (Adriatic, Ionian and Aegean seas). Methods  In 2007, 2008 and 2009, Fastloc GPS-Argos transmitters were attached to nine male loggerheads. In addition, a Sirtrack PTT unit was attached to one male in 2007. Four of the turtles were tracked on successive years. We filtered the GPS data to ensure comparable data volumes. Route consistency between breeding and foraging sites of the four re-tracked turtles was conducted. Foraging site home range areas and within site movement patterns were investigated by the fixed kernel density method. Results  Foraging home range size ranged between circa 10 km2 at neritic habitats (coastal and open-sea on the continental shelf) to circa 1000 km2 at oceanic sites (using 90% kernel estimates), the latter most probably reflecting sparsely distributed oceanic prey. Across different years individuals did not follow exactly the same migration routes, but did show fidelity to their previous foraging sites, whether oceanic or neritic, with accurate homing in the final stages of migration. Main conclusions  The broad distribution and diverse life-history strategies of this population could complicate the identification of priority marine protected areas beyond the core breeding site.

International housing market analysis based on housing commencements

Additions to the aggregate housing stock are a broad measure of the state of an economy and overall level of confidence in a particular region over a designated period. This is due to the direct and indirect effect (e.g. employment in the housing construction industry) upon on the local economy and is linked to the confidence of local households in the future direction of housing investment, the level of housing affordability by households as related to employment levels and the relationship between supply and demand in each region. Another consideration is the ability of the government to monitor and successfully intervene in the operation of the household market (e.g. mortgage interest rates) with the intent of restricting an over-supply situation which may take years to fully recover. The analysis in this section examines new housing commencements for Scotland, Australia, USA and Canada over an extended time period with the specific focus placed on the periods before, during and after the high profile global financial crisis in 2007-2008. The graph in Figure 1 was adapted from data sourced from The Scottish Government (2013) and covers the 15-year period between 1998 and 2012. With the exception of 1999 there were been relatively few years with substantial additions to the housing market. However, the effect of the GFC can clearly be observed post 2007 although by 2012 there was relatively change from the previous year.

The expression of pre- and postcopulatory sexually selected traits reflects levels of dietary stress in guppies

Environmental and ecological conditions can shape the evolution of life history traits in many animals. Among such factors, food or nutrition availability can play an important evolutionary role in moderating an animal's life history traits, particularly sexually selected traits. Here, we test whether diet quantity and/or composition in the form of omega-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (here termed 'n3LC') influence the expression of pre- and postcopulatory traits in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata), a livebearing poeciliid fish. We assigned males haphazardly to one of two experimental diets supplemented with n3LC, and each of these diet treatments was further divided into two diet 'quantity' treatments. Our experimental design therefore explored the main and interacting effects of two factors (n3LC content and diet quantity) on the expression of precopulatory (sexual behaviour and sexual ornamentation, including the size, number and spectral properties of colour spots) and postcopulatory (the velocity, viability, number and length of sperm) sexually selected traits. Our study revealed that diet quantity had significant effects on most of the pre- and postcopulatory traits, while n3LC manipulation had a significant effect on sperm traits and in particular on sperm viability. Our analyses also revealed interacting effects of diet quantity and n3LC levels on courtship displays, and the area of orange and iridescent colour spots in the males' colour patterns. We also confirmed that our dietary manipulations of n3LC resulted in the differential uptake of n3LC in body and testes tissues in the different n3LC groups. This study reveals the effects of diet quantity and n3LC on behavioural, ornamental and ejaculate traits in P. reticulata and underscores the likely role that diet plays in maintaining the high variability in these condition-dependent sexual traits.

When is it OK to learn at work? The learning work of organisational practices

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of “learning” through what we have termed “integrated development practices”. These are common organisational practices that both enhance organisational effectiveness and contribute to organisational and employee learning.Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyses the ways in which learning and being a learner were talked about and enacted with regard to one of the integrated development practices identified in a study of four different organisations – safety practices, and how learning and being a learner regarding safety were legitimate in one of the organisations. Data are drawn from semi‐structured interviews with members of a variety of workgroups in one major division of the organisation.Findings – Interviewees' responses reflected that learning was fully embedded as an accepted part of a necessary function of the organisation. This use of a learning discourse is discussed in the light of findings from an earlier study on informal learning at work that suggested that learning and the identity of being a learner were sometimes resisted in the everyday culture of work.Originality/value – Using the theorisations of practice of Schatzki and the lifelong education framework of Delors the paper discusses the implications of these findings to examine when it is acceptable to articulate learning as part of work and be identified as a learner at work.

Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid radiosensitizes tumor hypoxic cells in vitro through the oxidation of nitroxyl to nitric oxide

The pharmacological effects of hydroxamic acids are partially attributed to their ability to serve as HNO and/or NO donors under oxidative stress. Previously, it was concluded that oxidation of the histone deacetylase inhibitor suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) by the metmyoglobin/H2O2 reaction system releases NO, which was based on spin trapping of NO and accumulation of nitrite. Reinvestigation of this system demonstrates the accumulation of N2O, which is a marker of HNO formation, at similar rates under normoxia and anoxia. In addition, the yields of nitrite that accumulated in the absence and the presence of O2 did not differ, implying that the source of nitrite is other than autoxidation of NO. In this system metmyoglobin is instantaneously and continuously converted into compound II, leading to one-electron oxidation of SAHA to its respective transient nitroxide radical. Studies using pulse radiolysis show that one-electron oxidation of SAHA (pKa=9.56 ± 0.04) yields the respective nitroxide radical (pKa=9.1 ± 0.2), which under all experimental conditions decomposes bimolecularly to yield HNO. The proposed mechanism suggests that compound I oxidizes SAHA to the respective nitroxide radical, which decomposes bimolecularly in competition with its oxidation by compound II to form HNO. Compound II also oxidizes HNO to NO and NO to nitrite. Given that NO, but not HNO, is an efficient hypoxic cell radiosensitizer, we hypothesized that under an oxidizing environment SAHA might act as a NO donor and radiosensitize hypoxic cells. Preincubation of A549 and HT29 cells with 2.5 μM SAHA for 24h resulted in a sensitizer enhancement ratio at 0.01 survival levels (SER0.01) of 1.33 and 1.59, respectively. Preincubation of A549 cells with oxidized SAHA had hardly any effect and, with 2mM valproic acid, which lacks the hydroxamate group, resulted in SER0.01=1.17. Preincubation of HT29 cells with SAHA and Tempol, which readily oxidizes HNO to NO, enhanced the radiosensitizing effect of SAHA. Pretreatment with SAHA blocked A549 cells at the G1 stage of the cell cycle and upregulated γ-H2AX after irradiation. Overall, we conclude that SAHA enhances tumor radioresponse by multiple mechanisms that might also involve its ability to serve as a NO donor under oxidizing environments.

Does political capital create value in the IPO market? Evidence from China

This study examines the value of political capital in the Chinese IPO market. We find a positive relationship between a politically connected executive and the probability of IPO approval of entrepreneurial firms. We further identify that shareholders value those connections and give a market premium to connected firms after the firms go public. We provide evidence that other types of political capital gained through external sources, such as politically connected sponsors and PE investors, also bring benefits to the firms in their IPO approval, and these connections substitute for the effect of the executive's political connections on IPO approval. We argue that in emerging markets where government intervention is still prevalent, political capital does create value and entrepreneurial firms usually build political capital to facilitate their access to the IPO market, although other types of political capital do not bring further benefits into the post-IPO market.

A randomised controlled trial investigating the effects of Mediterranean diet and aerobic exercise on cognition in cognitively healthy older people living independently within aged care facilities: The Lifestyle Intervention in Independent Living Aged Car

Background: The rapid ageing of the population is becoming an area of great concern, both globally and in Australia. On a societal level, the cost of supporting an ageing demographic, particularly with their associated medical requirements, is becoming an ever increasing burden that is only predicted to rise in the foreseeable future. The progressive decline in individuals' cognitive ability as they age, particularly with respect to the ever increasing incidence of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and other cognitive complications, is in many respects one of the foundation stones of these concerns. There have been numerous observational studies reporting on the positive effects that aerobic exercise and the Mediterranean diet appear to have on improving cognitive ability. However, the ability of such interventions to improve cognitive ability, or even reduce the rate of cognitive ageing, has not been fully examined by substantial interventional studies within an ageing population. Methods: The LIILAC trial will investigate the potential for cognitive change in a cohort of cognitively healthy individuals, between the ages of 60 and 90 years, living in independent accommodation within Australian aged care facilities. This four-arm trial will investigate the cognitive changes which may occur as a result of the introduction of aerobic exercise and/or Mediterranean diet into individuals' lifestyles, as well as the mechanisms by which these changes may be occurring. Participants will be tested at baseline and 6 months on a battery of computer based cognitive assessments, together with cardiovascular and blood biomarker assessments. The cardiovascular measures will assess changes in arterial stiffness and central pulse pressures, while the blood measures will examine changes in metabolic profiles, including brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), inflammatory factors and insulin sensitivity. Conclusion: It is hypothesised that exercise and Mediterranean diet interventions, both individually and in combination, will result in improvements in cognitive performance compared with controls. Positive findings in this research will have potential implications for the management of aged care, particularly in respect to reducing the rate of cognitive decline and the associated impacts both on the individual and the broader community.

Toward a standard approach to measurement and reporting of perioperative mortality rate as a global indicator for surgery

INTRODUCTION: The proportion of patients who die during or after surgery, otherwise known as the perioperative mortality rate (POMR), is a credible indicator of the safety and quality of operative care. Its accuracy and usefulness as a metric, however, particularly one that enables valid comparisons over time or between jurisdictions, has been limited by lack of a standardized approach to measurement and calculation, poor understanding of when in relation to surgery it is best measured, and whether risk-adjustment is needed. Our aim was to evaluate the value of POMR as a global surgery metric by addressing these issues using 4, large, mixed, surgical datasets that represent high-, middle-, and low-income countries. METHODS: We obtained data from the New Zealand National Minimum Dataset, the Geelong Hospital patient management system in Australia, and purpose-built surgical databases in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, and Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. For each site, we calculated the POMR overall as well as for nonemergency and emergency admissions. We assessed the effect of admission episodes and procedures as the denominator and the difference between in-hospital POMR and POMR, including postdischarge deaths up to 30 days. To determine the need for risk-adjustment for age and admission urgency, we used univariate and multivariate logistic regression to assess the effect on relative POMR for each site. RESULTS: A total of 1,362,635 patient admissions involving 1,514,242 procedures were included. More than 60% of admissions in Pietermaritzburg and Port Moresby were emergencies, compared with less than 30% in New Zealand and Geelong. Also, Pietermaritzburg and Port Moresby had much younger patient populations (P < .001). A total of 8,655 deaths were recorded within 30 days, and 8-20% of in-hospital deaths occurred on the same day as the first operation. In-hospital POMR ranged approximately 9-fold, from 0.38 per 100 admissions in New Zealand to 3.44 per 100 admissions in Pietermaritzburg. In New Zealand, in-hospital 30-day POMR underestimated total 30-day POMR by approximately one third. The difference in POMR if procedures were used instead of admission episodes ranged from 7 to 70%, although this difference was less when central line and pacemaker insertions were excluded. Age older than 65 years and emergency admission had large, independent effects on POMR but relatively little effect in multivariate analysis on the relative odds of in-hospital death at each site. CONCLUSION: It is possible to collect POMR in countries at all level of development. Although age and admission urgency are strong, independent associations with POMR, a substantial amount of its variance is site-specific and may reflect the safety of operative and anesthetic facilities and processes. Risk-adjustment is desirable but not essential for monitoring system performance. POMR varies depending on the choice of denominator, and in-hospital deaths appear to underestimate 30-day mortality by up to one third. Standardized approaches to reporting and analysis will strengthen the validity of POMR as the principal indicator of the safety of surgery and anesthesia care.

Ideology for the 10 billion: introduction to globalization of marketing ideology

Discussions of ideology are akin to walking a tightrope, especially in a discipline that largely views itself as nonideological, but whose concepts are used to advance ideas and ideologies of all kinds. Through three insightful refereed articles and four invited commentaries, this special issue of the Journal of Macromarketing manages to walk the tightrope, even though the balance bar lurches dangerously to one side and then to the other. As the special issue editors, in this introductory essay, we set up the context for discussions of ideology and marketing, provide some of our views, and then introduce the seven contributions via brief previews.

Market subjectivity and neoliberal governmentality in higher education

Using an interpretive case study in a business school in India, this research examines student behaviour and offers an understanding of a marketisation process in higher education. The study deploys Foucault's conceptualisation of governmentality and uncovers processes through which market subjectivity is fostered among students as they strive to become responsible, active, and entrepreneurial subjects. The subject position is attributed to several governmental discourses of peer pressure, abnormality, uncritical pedagogy, loan repayment, and elitism that prevail in the business school. The study further highlights the roles of English language and preference for western corporations which are unique to postcolonial India. Market subjectivity results in the prevalence of instrumental rationality, failure to develop a critical academic perspective, subordination of social concerns, and disenchantment and exclusion among some students.

Multi-dimensional liquid chromatography and metabolomics, are two dimensions better than one?

 While data processing methods in metabolomic studies often work with 'n' number of dimensions, analytical techniques, with the notable exception of NMR, have mostly stuck only to one. Peak overlap continues to be a problem and there is an ever-present demand to maximize the number of metabolites that can be separated and identified in a single run. One method that might help to overcome these issues is multidimensional liquid chromatography, which uses two columns of different phases. A sequential collection of aliquots is made from the first column and reinjected onto a second, and the resulting data are then plotted in 2D or 3D space. The total peak capacity of such a system is the combined peak capacities of each column. The 'offline' version of this technique, using a fraction collector, was introduced over 30 years ago but with recent advances in instrumentation and software, particularly the 'online' approach using automated switching valves, has led to increasing interest in the technique. Both offline and online methods can be carried out as a comprehensive procedure, or via 'heart-cutting', in which only specific peaks are analysed in the second dimension. Past applications include proteomics, natural product chemistry, forensic science and pharmaceutical analysis. These successes are likely to be built on in the future as new column chemistries and bio-informatic approaches are developed. In this review an overview of the theory of twodimensional liquid chromatography is presented, its potential in the field of metabolomics is assessed and predictions for future research directions are made.

Behavioural flexibility allows an invasive vertebrate to survive in a semi-arid environment

Plasticity or evolution in behavioural responses are key attributes of successful animal invasions. In northern Australia, the invasive cane toad (Rhinella marina) recently invaded semi-arid regions. Here, cane toads endure repeated daily bouts of severe desiccation and thermal stress during the long dry season (April-October). We investigated whether cane toads have shifted their ancestral nocturnal rehydration behaviour to one that exploits water resources during the day. Such a shift in hydration behaviour could increase the fitness of individual toads by reducing exposure to desiccation and thermal stress suffered during the day even within terrestrial shelters. We used a novel method (acoustic tags) to monitor the daily hydration behaviour of 20 toads at two artificial reservoirs on Camfield station, Northern Territory. Remarkably, cane toads visited reservoirs to rehydrate during daylight hours, with peaks in activity between 9.00 and 17.00. This diurnal pattern of rehydration activity contrasts with nocturnal rehydration behaviour exhibited by adult toads in their native geographical range and more mesic parts of Australia. Our results demonstrate that cane toads phase shift a key behaviour to survive in a harsh semi-arid landscape. Behavioural phase shifts have rarely been reported in invasive species but could facilitate ongoing invasion success.

Ships, planes and automobiles – the perils and pluses of place - making in an outer Melbourne suburb

Building a new suburb is increasingly seen as creating a “place” as well as a set of houses and neighbourhoods. Developers view “place-making” as a way to differentiate one estate from another and to capture a market segment; planners see the practice as the basis of good master planning. Local governments too support the concept to give residents a sense of pride and identity. While usually seen as a contemporary exercise, imprinted on the blank slate of greenfield sites, the experience of at least one outer suburb suggests that place-making is as much historical as contemporary and may be both a welcome element of a community and a focus of disaffection. The example of Point Cook in Melbourne’s west offers a range of iconic “places” – historical and contemporary markers of identity and difference – which have formed both the basis of local pride but also tension. Thus the RAAF base, Point Cook Homestead and Werribee Mansion long pre-dated the expansion of the city but they have been embraced as centres of pride, historical achievement and as tourist attractions. In contrast, a massive pirate-ship playground built in the centre of a park by a developer as a marker of difference and centre of community attraction was widely appreciated before being burned to the ground! This paper will report on a sample of resident experiences of place-making in outer suburban Melbourne which highlights some of the local complexities of place-making.