Redemptive advice: Dorothy Leigh's The Mother's Blessing

Issue title: Women Writing 1550-1750

Loss as a universal concept: Review of the literature to identify common aspects of loss in diverse situations

It has long been recognized that loss and its associated grief are important elements of many adverse life events that affect the entire global population: death, disability, traumatic events, abuse., terminal and chronic illness, aging, addiction, unemployment, relationship breakdown, war, migration, and educational failure. While there is significant empirical evidence of the potential deleterious effects of specific situations of loss across the global community, systematic discussion concerning the common elements of loss that are associated with adverse life situations in general has been limited. This review of the theoretical and empirical literature concerning various losses and the recommendations for care of those affected by such losses identifies common aspects of situations of loss and common recommendations in the care of those confronted by such losses. These common themes of loss are described by simple summary statements that can be communicated to a broad audience, hence enhancing community education and, potentially, community-wide mental health promotion.

Stability of nest range, home range and movement of the northern bettong (Bettongia tropica) following moderate-intensity fire in a tropical woodland, north-eastern Queensland

Nest use, home-range characteristics and nightly movements by the northern bettong (Bettongia tropica) were examined before and after a low- to moderate-intensity fire in sclerophyll woodland in north-eastern Australia using radio-telemetry. In all, 23 animals were radio-tracked at three-month intervals between February 1995 and May 1996. During November 1995 a low- intensity experimental fire burned the entire home range of most animals. The northern bettong appeared fairly catholic in choice of nest site, with a variety of nest locations and nesting materials used. Prior to the fire, nests were generally located in areas of dense cover, such as the skirts of grass trees (46%) or grass close to a log (29%). After fire removed most ground cover in the nesting areas of most animals, bettongs used remaining shelter such as boulder piles (45%), recently fallen trees (8%) and patches of unburnt vegetation (21%). Nest areas (10.1 ha) of males were significantly larger than those of females (5.4 ha). Home ranges of both sexes were large (59 ha) and most ranges lacked distinct core areas, suggesting that bettongs used all parts of their home ranges equally. High mean rates of nightly movement by the northern bettong indicated that large distances were moved within home ranges during nightly foraging. No significant fire-related changes were detected in home-range size, home-range location, nest-area location or mean rates of nightly movement, suggesting that the northern bettong is well adapted to the low- and medium-intensity fires that characterise its habitat.

Determination of the hemispheric character (i.e. southern or northern latitudinal position) of equatorial ionosonde stations as deduced from long-term recordings of the minimum height of the F-region (h ' F)

The virtual (or minimum) height of the F-region (h'F), recorded over a number of solar cycles for I I equatorial and mid-latitude ionosonde stations, was used to deduce the hemispheric (i.e. southern or northern hemisphere) character of equatorial stations. The semi-annual median monthly height (h'F) variations consist of two components: major local summer maximum and winter sub-maximum (about 5 percent of the summer maximum). This hemispheric pattern was most consistently observed for equatorial stations (within 5degrees of the geomagnetic equator) in a period centred on the local midnight (21-03 LT) but was also present, to a lesser extent, at mid-latitude stations and at other time intervals. It is evident that the physical parameter h'F defines the hemispheric character of an equatorial station which has different (sometimes opposite) geographic and geomagnetic latitudes. There is a sharp transition in the latitudinal character of the stations on both sides of the equator leading to hypothesis that the equal maxima in h'F in December and June solstices are observed at a near-equator position labelled as ionosonde deduced equator (IDE). Such a signature was observed for an American equatorial (both geographic and geomagnetic) station Talara (Peru) which is an experimental support of the hypothesis. The IDE can be another useful parameter characterising the equatorial ionosphere. This finding reveals a new application of the standard ionosonde data in defining the geophysical character of equatorial stations, being an important contribution to space climatology. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Drosophilidae (Diptera) of Australia's Northern Territory: Ecology and biogeography

The drosophilid fauna is well documented in eastern Australia but is poorly known in other parts of the continent. This paper summarises what is known of this fauna in the Northern Territory (NT), and includes results from banana trapping in the humid and arid zones. The 42 recorded species include species that breed in fruit, fungi and/or flowers, and a larval predator of scale insects. Drosophilids occur in all three major climate zones (humid, semiarid and arid) but predominate in the humid zone. Banana-attracted species in the humid zone (wet-dry tropics) were common in all sampled habitats: urban, rainforest and open woodland. They included predominantly urban and/or rainforest species. Of the species collected in open woodland, some are likely to be breeding there, whereas others may have been intercepted during movement across the area. The semiarid fauna is a depauperate version of that found in the humid region. Only three species have been recorded in the arid region: an endemic arid specialist, and two cosmopolitan species (D. simulans and D. melanogaster ) in urban Alice Springs. Overall, the NT drosophilid fauna represents a depauperate version of that found in eastern Australia, probably because of climatic factors and natural barriers to range expansion. There is little evidence of regional endemism, with probably only one (and at most three) species endemic to the NT, and no evidence of independent, natural dispersion from nearby Indonesia.

New product warranty: A literature review

Warranty is an important element of marketing new products as better warranty signals higher product quality and provides greater assurance to customers. Servicing warranty involves additional costs to the manufacturer and this cost depends on product reliability and warranty terms. Product reliability is influenced by the decisions made during the design and manufacturing of the product. As such warranty is very important in the context of new products. Product warranty has received the attention of researchers from many different disciplines and the literature on warranties is vast. This paper carries out a review of the literature that has appeared in the last ten years. It highlights issues of interest to manufacturers in the context of managing new products from an overall business perspective. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Possible reasons for variation in Ixodes holocyclus toxicity

Tick paralysis caused by Ixodes holocyclus affects an estimated 20,000 domestic animals each year along the eastern coast of Australia (Stone 1988). Animals are presented with clinical signs ranging from mild paresis to ascending flaccid paralysis and varying degrees of respiratory and cardiac compromise. Mortality rates are significantly increased in animals presented with respiratory compromise compared to those animals without respiratory compromise, regardless of the degree of flaccid paralysis (Atwell et al 2001). Anecdotal evidence of ticks (collected from different sites in northern New South Wales) causing different clinical signs and mortality in hyper-immune dogs used for serum production, suggests that there may be a variation in toxin production and toxin content between individual ticks (Warne, N 2002 pers comm). This literature review suggests that two possible contributing factors to toxin variation may be the genetic variation within the I. holocyclus species and the variation in the host's response to tick feeding.

The triad of bilateral retinoblastoma, dysplastic naevus syndrome and multiple cutaneous malignant melanomas: a case report and review of the literature

We report a case of a patient with the triad of retinoblastoma, dysplastic naevus syndrome (DNS) and multiple cutaneous melanomas. The combination of retinoblastoma and DNS is a significant risk factor for the development of cutaneous melanoma. This risk extends to family members. We recommend that survivors of (inherited) retinoblastoma and their relatives are closely screened for the presence of dysplastic naevi. (C) 2002 Lippincott Williams Wilkins.

Erotic Literature in Nineteenth-Century Bali

Two nineteenth-century Balinese genres in which the erotic predominates are epic kakawin poetry and tutur (religious manuals) on sexual yoga. The article points to the strong intertextual links between these diverse genres. Through their focus on practical sexual matters and on the pursuit of sexual pleasure as integral to spiritual growth, tutur and kakawin also offer insight into notions of gender and sexuality in nineteenth-century Bali.