‘CHOU GAGS CRITICS IN BANDOENG or how the media framed Premier Zhou Enlai at the Bandung Conference, 1955

At the Asian-African Conference at Bandung, Indonesia, in April 1955, the world's press concentrated its gaze on Premier Zhou Enlai of the People's Republic of China. Premier Zhou's every gesture, interaction and statement was scrutinized for evidence that his motivations at Bandung were antagonistic to Western interests. This preoccupation with the motivations of the Chinese was, however, no new phenomenon. By 1955, literary tropes of the ‘Yellow Peril’ had been firmly established in the Western imagination and, after 1949, almost seamlessly made their transition into fears of infiltrating communist Chinese ‘Reds’.

The first half of this paper explores the historical roots of the West's perceptions of the Chinese, through the literary works of Daniel Defoe to the pulp fiction of Sax Rohmer's Dr Fu Manchu series, which ran from 1917 to 1959. It then examines how this negative template was mobilised by the print media at the height of the Cold War to characterize Premier Zhou Enlai, not only as untrustworthy, but also as antagonistically anti-Western. This reading of representations of Premier Zhou at Bandung, as well as the literary tropes propagated in support of eighteenth and nineteenth-century imperial expansion, exposes a history of Western (mis)interpretations of China, and sheds light upon the media network's role in constructing a Chinese enemy in the mid-1950s.

Ecology of fish inhabiting the inter-tidal zone of Swan Bay, Victoria, Australia

Swan Bay is a shallow marine embayment of Port Phillip Bay, just north of Queenscliff, Victoria. It has been part of the Harold Holt Marine Reserves since 1977 and is a seagrass habitat. This study investigated the species of fish present in the inter-tidal zone of Swan Bay, collected information on their ecology, investigated the importance of Swan Bay compared to Port Phillip Bay as a nursery and/or breeding area and compared these results with those of similar seagrsss habitats. Field work was carried out monthly over a two year period, from April 1981 to April 1983, using beach seine nets at Swan Bay and Portarlington. Forty four species of fish were identified from Swan Bay and nineteen from Portarlington. Fish were most abundant during the summer and autumn months when seagrass growth was at a maximum and least abundant during winter due to the absence of seasonal residents and decreased numbers of permanent residents. Swan Bay was found to be an important nursery ground for two commercially-caught species: the Yellow-eye Mullet and the King George Whiting. Juvenile Yellow-eye Mullet were more numerous in Swan Bay than at Portarlington. Smell juvenile King George Whiting were more abundant at Portarlington than in Swan Bay where older juveniles were more numerous. The fish fauna of Swan Bay was found to be similar to western Port but the abundance of species varied. Atherinosome microstoma was the dominant species in terms of abundance and biomass. Diet was found to be different from that reported by Robertson (1979) at Western Port due to the different range of prey items.

Healthy markets - healthy people/ : reforming health care in Cambodia

Health care reform has been described as a global epidemic. This thesis deals with nature and experience of health care reform in developing countries. Increasing privatisation, economic transition, and structural adjustment have provided the context for health system changes. Different approaches to reform have been developed by international organisations such as the World Bank, WHO and UNICEF. What has driven national health care reforms? Are such policies really appropriate to developing countries? Has a consensus now emerged in relation to international health policy? Has a new health care ‘model’ appeared? The study of health care reform in Cambodia is a timely opportunity to investigate the implementation of health care reform under extreme conditions. These conditions include a legacy of genocide, long-term conflict, political isolation, and economic transition. This case study uses both qualitative and quantitative methods and multiple sources of data to analyse the reform program. The study reinforces the conclusion that, under conditions of extreme poverty, market based reforms are likely to have limited positive impact. Rather, understanding the cultural conditions that determine demand, delivering health care of a satisfactory quality, providing appropriate incentives for health practitioners, and supporting services with adequate public funding are the prerequisites for improved service delivery and utilisation. Cambodia's strategy of integrated district health service development and universal population coverage may provide an instructive example of reform. Emerging policy issues identified by this case study include the fundamental role of equity in service provision, the influence of the social determinants of health and illness and interest in the appropriate use of evidence in international health policy-making.

Modelling the public health consequences of cannabis use in Australia

Aims: To detail and validate a simulation model that describes the dynamics of cannabis use, including its probable causal relationships with schizophrenia, road traffic accidents (RTA) and heroin/poly-drug use (HPU).

Methods: A Markov model with 17 health-states was constructed. Annual cycles were used to simulate the initiation of cannabis use, progression in use, reduction and complete remission. The probabilities of transition between health-states were derived from observational data. Following 10-year-old Australian children for 90 years, the model estimated age-specific prevalence for cannabis use. By applying the relative risks according to the extent of cannabis use, the age-specific prevalence of schizophrenia and HPU, and the annual RTA incidence and fatality rate were also estimated. Predictive validity of the model was tested by comparing modelled outputs with data from other credible sources. Sensitivity and scenario analyses were conducted to evaluate technical validity and face validity.

Results: The estimated cannabis use prevalence in individuals aged 10-65 years was 12.2% which comprised 27.4% weekly and 18.0% daily users. The modelled prevalence and age profile were comparable to the reported cross-sectional data. The model also provided good approximations to the prevalence of schizophrenia (Modelled: 4.75/1,000 persons vs Observed: 4.6/1,000 persons), HPU (3.2/1,000 vs 3.1/1,000) and the RTA fatality rate (8.1 per 100,000 vs 8.2 per 100,000). Sensitivity analyses and scenario analysis provided expected and explainable trends.

Conclusions: The validated model provides a valuable tool to assess the likely effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions designed to affect patterns of cannabis use. It can be updated as new data becomes available and/or applied to other countries.

Negotiating masculinities : 'Yolngu Boy'

Concern with issues about masculinity has not only spread to many countries, but also into many fields.Health services re-noticing the relevance of men's gender to problems Educators are discussing programs for boys Criminologists have begun to explore why boys and men dominate the crime statistics, and violence prevention programs are taking increasing notice of gender issues. The intellectual debate about masculinity now has practical consequences. How we understand men and gender, what we believe about masculinity, what we know (or think we know) about the development of boys, may have large effects for good or ill in therapy, education, health services, violence prevention, policing and social services.

Nuclear weapons and deterrence

Discusses deterrence theory in relation to the nuclear armed nations. Suggests the world may turn from the deterrence of war using nuclear weapons to deterring countries and other oganisations from their acquisition.

Developing a relationship with place : art in the context of bioregional theory and practice

Investigates a proposed solution to Western culture's essentially separatist and destructive relationship with the earth from the perspective of the artist. Examines the author's bioregional philosophical model which is based on a belief in the importance of place in physical and spiritual well-being and argues that it is an appropriate one to apply in the context of contemporary Australian art practice.

Patenting the global plant kingdom : a Chinese perspective ; fact or fantasy?

Examines and evaluates the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) in the development of China's innovative research capacity and the Convention for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV) criteria in protecting new plant varieties in encouraging China's creativeness. Argues that whilst UPOV sets up principles and standards that condone uncompensated extraction of plant genetic resources from China to developed countries, TRIPs gives foreigners preferential patent protection in China.

What determines bilateral aid allocations? New evidence for time series data

This paper models the allocation of bilateral foreign development aid to developing countries. A simple theoretical framework is developed, in which aid is treated as a private good of a donor country bureaucratic group responsible for bilateral aid allocation. This model is applied to time series data for ten principal recipients of bilateral official development assistance. Features of this application are that it caters for the joint determination of aid allocations and for donor allocation behavior to differ among individual recipient countries. Results indicate that both recipient need and donor interest variables determine the amount of foreign aid to developing countries, and that donor allocation behavior often differs markedly among recipients.

Obesity epidemiology

Although recognised clinically for some time as an important condition that increases risk of ill-health in affected individuals, it is only recently that obesity had been recognised as a population-wide problem that requires preventive action. Obesity is a major contributor to diseases and disability, the associated health costs are enormous and obesity has already reached epidemic proportions in many countries, and incidence is continuing to increase in children and adults. Disturbingly the epidemic is not confined to developed countries, with many developing countries and those in transition affected. While recognised as a major population health problem, our understanding of the causes of the epidemic is poor, there has been relatively little population-based research that has focused on the prevention of unhealthy weight gain, and as a consequence knowledge regarding how and where best to intervene is limited.Revised and updated and now part of the From Aetiology to Public Health series, Obesity Epidemiology provides a scholarly text that assists those concerned with understanding prevalence and trends in obesity; its health, social and economic consequences, the underlying causes of the obesity epidemic, the existing evidence regarding strategies to prevent obesity, and the potential of public health initiatives to impact on the population prevalence of obesity. This edition not only provides a thorough update of the material presented in the previous edition (entitled Obesity Prevention and Public Health), but also includes twelve new chapters that cover the epidemiology of obesity in children and adults, and the potential of public health approaches to its prevention. This book will be of interest to all those working in public health and epidemiology; health policy makers, and clinicians and health practitioners working in the related fields of nutrition, exercise and diabetes.About the seriesBy looking at public health issues from a unique condition-based approach, the innovative From Aetiology to Public Health series examines top public health issues from aetiology through to public health and prevention

Reading indigeneity : the ethics of interpretation and representation

The transmission of indigenous stories is a fraught enterprise. In contrast to Western practices of the free circulation of ideas, many indigenous cultures view their stories as sacred, and have strict rules about who may tell certain tales, and in what settings and with whom they may be shared. Indigenous storytellers and novelists who want to tell contemporary stories also face the minefields of a history of (mis)representation of their cultures' values and practices. Australian literary scholar Clare Bradford picks her way carefully through this minefield, identifying its perils and proposing a self-reflexive practice that enables scholars to approach these works with sensitivity; Abenaki children's author Joseph Bruchac adds his own impressions and frustrations as an author to Clare's frank assessment of the possibilities of criticism, cross-talk, and mutual understanding in the fìeld.

Race, history, and the Australian faith missions

In 1901, the parliament of the new Commonwealth of Australia passed a series of laws designed, in the words of the Prime Minister Edmund Barton, “to make a legislative declaration of our racial identity”. An Act to expel the large Pacific Islander community in North Queensland was followed by a law restricting further immigration to applicants who could pass a literacy test in a European language. In 1902, under the Commonwealth Franchise Act, “all natives of Asia and Africa” as well as Aboriginal people were explicitly denied the right to vote in federal elections. The “White Australia policy”, enshrined in these laws, was almost universally supported by Australian politicians, with only two members of parliament speaking against the restriction of immigration on racial grounds.

Prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease among African migrant and refugee adults in Melbourne

Migration to industrialised countries poses a “double whammy” for type 2 diabetes among sub-Saharan African migrant and refugee adults. This population group has been found to be at an increased risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes, which may be further aggravated by inadequate vitamin D status. Thus, this study aimed to describe the demographics of vitamin D insufficiency, obesity, and risk factors for type 2 diabetes among sub-Saharan African migrants and refugees aged 20 years or older living in Melbourne, Australia (n=49). Data were obtained by a questionnaire, medical assessment, and fasting blood samples. The mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D level was 27.3 nmol/L (95% CI: 22.2, 32.4 nmol/L); with 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels <50 nmol/L occurring in 88% of participants. Participants displayed a cluster of risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease: 62% were overweight or obese, 47% had insulin resistance (HOMA-IR ≥2), 25% had low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels ≥3.5 mmol/L, 24.5% had high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels ≤1.03 mmol/L, 34.6% had borderline or high levels of total cholesterol (≥5.2 mmol/L), 18.2% had borderline or high levels of triglyceride (≥1.7 mmol/L), and 16% had hypertension (systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg). These findings suggest that sub-Saharan African migrants and refugees may be at risk of type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis-related diseases such as ischemic heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. Well-designed vitamin D interventions that incorporate lifestyle changes are urgently needed in this sub-population.

The Sophists (Ancient Greek)

The sophists were itinerant professional teachers and intellectuals who frequented Athens and other Greek cities in the second half of the fifth century B.C.E. In return for a fee, the sophists offered young wealthy Greek men an education in aretē (virtue or excellence), thereby attaining wealth and fame while also arousing significant antipathy. Prior to the fifth century B.C.E., aretē was predominately associated with aristocratic warrior virtues such as courage and physical strength. In democratic Athens of the latter fifth century B.C.E., however, aretē was increasingly understood in terms of the ability to influence one’s fellow citizens in political gatherings through rhetorical persuasion; the sophistic education both grew out of and exploited this shift. The most famous representatives of the sophistic movement are Protagoras, Gorgias, Antiphon, Hippias, Prodicus and Thrasymachus.

The historical and philological difficulties confronting an interpretation of the sophists are significant. Only a handful of sophistic texts have survived and most of what we know of the sophists is drawn from second-hand testimony, fragments and the generally hostile depiction of them in Plato’s dialogues.

The philosophical problem of the nature of sophistry is arguably even more formidable. Due in large part to the influence of Plato and Aristotle, the term sophistry has come to signify the deliberate use of fallacious reasoning, intellectual charlatanism and moral unscrupulousness. It is, as the article explains, an oversimplification to think of the historical sophists in these terms because they made genuine and original contributions to Western thought. Plato and Aristotle nonetheless established their view of what constitutes legitimate philosophy in part by distinguishing their own activity – and that of Socrates – from the sophists. If one is so inclined, sophistry can thus be regarded, in a conceptual as well as historical sense, as the ‘other’ of philosophy.

Perhaps because of the interpretative difficulties mentioned above, the sophists have been many things to many people. For Hegel (1995/1840) the sophists were subjectivists whose sceptical reaction to the objective dogmatism of the presocratics was synthesised in the work of Plato and Aristotle. For the utilitarian English classicist George Grote (1904), the sophists were progressive thinkers who placed in question the prevailing morality of their time. More recent work by French theorists such as Jacques Derrida (1981) and Jean Francois-Lyotard (1985) suggests affinities between the sophists and postmodernism.

This article provides a broad overview of the sophists, and indicates some of the central philosophical issues raised by their work. Section 1 discusses the meaning of the term sophist. Section 2 surveys the individual contributions of the most famous sophists. Section 3 examines three themes that have often been taken as characteristic of sophistic thought: the distinction between nature and convention, relativism about knowledge and truth and the power of speech. Finally, section 4 analyses attempts by Plato and others to establish a clear demarcation between philosophy and sophistry.