Performing the 1950s New Australian

As a tentative beginning to locating a particularly local Australian brand of a post-colonial materialist (formalist) cinema this paper contextualises the recycling and re-samplings of mainstream industrial cinema that I have recently undertaken. I aim to place this practice within emerging discourses of hybridity, crossing-borders and a Global Cinema. This research speaks to my earliest experiences of migration into Australia, of becoming Australian, unfolding in my 50s childhood and enunciates the pressures my parents’ migration placed on them. The focus of this work articulates the somewhat emptied and gutted voice of the New Australian, a 50s term for the assimilated migrant (CAB 1948) of which the Dutch were considered exemplar performers, good white New Australians, who neatly left their Dutch identity at the door but who never-the-less witnessed the ambiguities of the ideologies they implicitly embraced.

I'm searching for solutions: why are obese individuals turning to the Internet for help and support with 'being fat'?

INTRODUCTION: This study explores what types of information obese individuals search for on the Internet, their motivations for seeking information and how they apply it in their daily lives. METHOD: In-depth telephone interviews with an Australian community sample of 142 individuals with a BMI ≥ 30 were conducted. Theoretical, purposive and strategic samplings were employed. Data were analysed using a constant comparative method. RESULTS: Of the 142 individuals who participated in the study, 111 (78%) searched for information about weight loss or obesity. Of these, about three quarters searched for weight loss solutions. The higher the individual's weight, the more they appeared to search for weight loss solutions. Participants also searched for information about health risks associated with obesity (n = 28), how to prevent poor health outcomes (n = 30) and for peer support forums with other obese individuals (n = 25). Whilst participants visited a range of websites, including government-sponsored sites, community groups and weight loss companies, they overwhelmingly acted upon the advice given on commercial diet websites. However, safe, non-judgemental spaces such as the Fatosphere (online fat acceptance community) provided much needed solidarity and support. CONCLUSIONS: The Internet provides a convenient source of support and information for obese individuals. However, many turn to the same unsuccessful solutions online (e.g. fad dieting) they turn to in the community. Government and community organisations could draw upon some lessons learned in other consumer-driven online spaces (e.g. the Fatosphere) to provide supportive environments for obese individuals that resonate with their health and social experiences, and address their needs.

Long-term epidemiological survey of Kudoa thyrsites (Myxozoa) in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) from commercial aquaculture farms

Kudoa thyrsites (Myxozoa) encysts within myocytes of a variety of fishes. While infected fish appear unharmed, parasite-derived enzymes degrade the flesh post-mortem. In regions of British Columbia (BC), Canada, up to 4-7% of fillets can be affected, thus having economic consequences and impacting the competitiveness of BC's farms. K. thyrsites was monitored in two farms having high (HP) or low (LP) historical infection prevalence. At each farm, 30 fish were sampled monthly for blood and muscle during the first year followed by nine samplings during year two. Prevalence and intensity were measured by PCR and histology of muscle samples. In parallel, fillet tests were used to quantify myoliquefaction. Infections were detected by PCR after 355 and 509 degree days at LP and HP farms, respectively. Prevalence reached 100% at the HP farm by 2265 degree days and declined during the second year, whereas it plateaued near 50% at the LP farm. Infection intensities decreased after 1 year at both farms. Blood was PCR-positive at both farms between 778 and 1113 degree days and again after 2000 degree days. This is the first monitoring project in a production environment and compares data between farms with different prevalence.