The evolutionary history of cockatoos (Aves: Psittaciformes: Cacatuidae)

Cockatoos are the distinctive family Cacatuidae, a major lineage of the order of parrots (Psittaciformes) and distributed throughout the Australasian region of the world. However, the evolutionary history of cockatoos is not well understood. We investigated the phylogeny of cockatoos based on three mitochondrial and three nuclear DNA genes obtained from 16 of 21 species of Cacatuidae. In addition, five novel mitochondrial genomes were used to estimate time of divergence and our estimates indicate Cacatuidae diverged from Psittacidae approximately 40.7 million years ago (95% CI 51.6–30.3 Ma) during the Eocene. Our data shows Cacatuidae began to diversify approximately 27.9 Ma (95% CI 38.1–18.3 Ma) during the Oligocene. The early to middle Miocene (20–10 Ma) was a significant period in the evolution of modern Australian environments and vegetation, in which a transformation from mainly mesic to xeric habitats (e.g., fire-adapted sclerophyll vegetation and grasslands) occurred. We hypothesize that this environmental transformation was a driving force behind the diversification of cockatoos. A detailed multi-locus molecular phylogeny enabled us to resolve the phylogenetic placements of the Palm Cockatoo (Probosciger aterrimus), Galah (Eolophus roseicapillus), Gang-gang Cockatoo (Callocephalon fimbriatum) and Cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus), which have historically been difficult to place within Cacatuidae. When the molecular evidence is analysed in concert with morphology, it is clear that many of the cockatoo species’ diagnostic phenotypic traits such as plumage colour, body size, wing shape and bill morphology have evolved in parallel or convergently across lineages.

An interview with Jacques Rancière : on medium-specificity and discipline crossovers in modern art

Jacques Rancière's work on aesthetics has received a great deal of attention in recent years. Given his work has enormous range – covering art and literature, political theory, historiography, pedagogy and worker's history – Andrew McNamara and Toni Ross (UNSW) explore his wider critical ambitions in this interview, while showing how it leads to alternative insights into aesthetics. Rancière sets aside the core suppositions linking the medium to aesthetic judgment, which has informed many definitions of modernism. Rancière is emphatic in freeing aesthetic judgment from issues of medium-specificity. He argues that the idea of autonomy associated with medium-specificity – or 'truth to the medium' – was 'a very late one' in modernism, and that post-medium trends were already evident in early modernism. While not stressing a simple continuity between early modernism and contemporary art, Ranciere nonetheless emphasizes the on-going ethical and political ramifications of maintaining an a-disciplinary stance.

Triple Helix: Film Noir, Neo Noir and Los Angeles – imagining history and remembering the future in the most contemporary city

Modern and Postmodern Los Angeles is examined through the lens of film noir and neo noir. The unique relationship between the city of Los Angeles and cinema is discussed in terms of a historiography emphasizing the role played by these defining film styles and genres. The research draws and extends on the work conducted by Edward Dimendberg, Paula Rabinowitz and Mike Davis, and urban theory approaches associated with the Los Angeles School of Urbanism.

Discerning the timing and cause of historical mortality events in modern Porites from the Great Barrier Reef

The life history strategies of massive Porites corals make them a valuable resource not only as key providers of reef structure, but also as recorders of past environmental change. Yet recent documented evidence of an unprecedented increase in the frequency of mortality in Porites warrants investigation into the history of mortality and associated drivers. To achieve this, both an accurate chronology and an understanding of the life history strategies of Porites are necessary. Sixty-two individual Uranium–Thorium (U–Th) dates from 50 dead massive Porites colonies from the central inshore region of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) revealed the timing of mortality to have occurred predominantly over two main periods from 1989.2 ± 4.1 to 2001.4 ± 4.1, and from 2006.4 ± 1.8 to 2008.4 ± 2.2 A.D., with a small number of colonies dating earlier. Overall, the peak ages of mortality are significantly correlated with maximum sea-surface temperature anomalies. Despite potential sampling bias, the frequency of mortality increased dramatically post-1980. These observations are similar to the results reported for the Southern South China Sea. High resolution measurements of Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca obtained from a well preserved sample that died in 1994.6 ± 2.3 revealed that the time of death occurred at the peak of sea surface temperatures (SST) during the austral summer. In contrast, Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca analysis in two colonies dated to 2006.9 ± 3.0 and 2008.3 ± 2.0, suggest that both died after the austral winter. An increase in Sr/Ca ratios and the presence of low Mg-calcite cements (as determined by SEM and elemental ratio analysis) in one of the colonies was attributed to stressful conditions that may have persisted for some time prior to mortality. For both colonies, however, the timing of mortality coincides with the 4th and 6th largest flood events reported for the Burdekin River in the past 60 years, implying that factors associated with terrestrial runoff may have been responsible for mortality. Our results show that a combination of U–Th and elemental ratio geochemistry can potentially be used to precisely and accurately determine the timing and season of mortality in modern massive Porites corals. For reefs where long-term monitoring data are absent, the ability to reconstruct historical events in coral communities may prove useful to reef managers by providing some baseline knowledge on disturbance history and associated drivers.

Book review "Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation by Tom Sito , The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, 2013"

As a Lecturer of Animation History and 3D Computer Animator, I received a copy of Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation by Tom Sito with an element of anticipation in the hope that this text would clarify the complex evolution of Computer Graphics (CG). Tom Sito did not disappoint, as this text weaves together the multiple development streams and convergent technologies and techniques throughout history that would ultimately result in modern CG. Universities now have students who have never known a world without computer animation and many students are younger than the first 3D CG animated feature film, Toy Story (1996); this text is ideal for teaching computer animation history and, as I would argue, it also provides a model for engaging young students in the study of animation history in general. This is because Sito places the development of computer animation within the context of its pre-digital ancestry and throughout the text he continues to link the discussion to the broader history of animation, its pioneers, technologies and techniques...

Mandatory Reporting Laws for Child Sexual Abuse in Australia : A Legislative History

This work conducts a comprehensive historical review and analysis of the legislative principles for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse in each State and Territory of Australia. The research traces and explains all the significant changes in the development of the laws in each jurisdiction since their inception in 1969 to the year 2013. The research also identifies why the legislation changed in each jurisdiction, covering research into publicly available records, focusing on significant government inquiries and law reform reports, and parliamentary debates. The research is situated within a treatment of the modern discovery of child sexual abuse as a widespread phenomenon of significant public health concern.

The evolutionary history of termites as inferred from 66 mitochondrial genomes

Termites have colonized many habitats and are among the most abundant animals in tropical ecosystems, which they modify considerably through their actions. The timing of their rise in abundance and of the dispersal events that gave rise to modern termite lineages is not well understood. To shed light on termite origins and diversification, we sequenced the mitochondrial genome of 48 termite species and combined them with 18 previously sequenced termite mitochondrial genomes for phylogenetic and molecular clock analyses using multiple fossil calibrations. The 66 genomes represent most major clades of termites. Unlike previous phylogenetic studies based on fewer molecular data, our phylogenetic tree is fully resolved for the lower termites. The phylogenetic positions of Macrotermitinae and Apicotermitinae are also resolved as the basal groups in the higher termites, but in the crown termitid groups, including Termitinae + Syntermitinae + Nasutitermitinae + Cubitermitinae, the position of some nodes remains uncertain. Our molecular clock tree indicates that the lineages leading to termites and Cryptocercus roaches diverged 170 Ma (153-196 Ma 95% confidence interval [CI]), that modern Termitidae arose 54 Ma (46-66 Ma 95% CI), and that the crown termitid group arose 40 Ma (35-49 Ma 95% CI). This indicates that the distribution of basal termite clades was influenced by the final stages of the breakup of Pangaea. Our inference of ancestral geographic ranges shows that the Termitidae, which includes more than 75% of extant termite species, most likely originated in Africa or Asia, and acquired their pantropical distribution after a series of dispersal and subsequent diversification events.

The modern primitive and the antipodes: The visual arts and Oceania

In a book seeking to redraw the boundaries between interdisciplinary and transnational modernisms, this chapter contributes to the reorientation in modernist studies by revisiting "primitivism." While no one freely identifies as “primitive,” the spectre of primitivism was a magnet of attraction as well as of critical refusal. It resided on the knife-edge of envy and denunciation, as well as for the projection of alternate imaginative utopias and the worst forms of racial chauvinism. This chapter asserts that primitivism endures as a provocation as much as a utopian aspiration, but it also provides a different understanding of cultures on the "periphery", which is how Antipodean art history has understood itself. The spectre of primitivism not only amplifies the quandaries of modernist cultures—both alerting one to the aesthetic alternatives to modernist cultures, yet also highlighting the fate of traditional culture pitted against modernist cultures, it also suggests the quandaries of a peripheral modernity.

Filosofins renässans eller modern mystik : Bergsondebatten i Finland

The study examines the debate in Finland at the beginning of the 20th century surrounding the philosophy of Henri Bergson. Both within as well as outside of academic philosophy Bergsonism was adapted to the philosophical and cultural landscape in Finland by a process of selective appropriation. The ambiguous relationship between the sender and the receiver is accentuated in reference to philosophical celebrities such as Bergson, whose reputations spread more quickly than the content of their philosophy and whose names are drawn into the political and social discourse. As a philosophical movement the aim of Bergsonism was to create a scientific philosophy of life as an alternative to both idealism and modern empirical and antimetaphysical currents, during a period when European philosophy was searching for new guidelines after the collapse of the idealistic system philosophies of the 19th century. This reorientation is examined from a Finnish viewpoint and in the light of the process of intellectual importation. The study examines how elements from an international discourse were appropriated within the philosophical field in Finland against a background of changes in the role of the university and the educated elites as well as the position of philosophy within the disciplinary hierarchy. Philosophical reception was guided by expectations that had arisen in a national context, for example when Bergsonism in Finland was adjusted to a moral and educational ideal of self-cultivation, and often served as a means for philosophers to internationalize their own views in order to strengthen their position on the national stage. The study begins with some introductory remarks on the international circulation of ideas from the point of view of the periphery. The second section presents an overview of the shaping of the philosophical field at the turn of the 20th century, the naturalism and positivism of the late 19th century that were the objects of Bergson s critique, and an introduction to the attempts of a philosophy of life to make its way between idealism and naturalism. The third and main section of the study begins with a brief presentation of the main features of the philosophy of Bergson, followed by a closer examination of the different comments and analyses that it gave rise to in Finland. The final section addresses the ideological implications of Bergsonism within the framework of a political annexation of the philosophy of life at the beginning of the 20th century.

Visions of Past Glory: Nationalism and the Construction of Early Finnish History

The study is an examination of how the distant national past has been conceived and constructed for Finland from the mid-sixteenth century to the Second World War. The author argues that the perception and need of a national 'Golden Age' has undergone several phases during this period, yet the perceived Greatness of the Ancient Finns has been of great importance for the growth and development of the fundamental concepts of Finnish nationalism. It is a question reaching deeper than simply discussing the Kalevala or the Karelianism of the 1890s. Despite early occurrences of most of the topics the image-makers could utilize for the construction of an Ancient Greatness, a truly national proto-history only became a necessity after 1809, when a new conceptual 'Finnishness' was both conceived and brought forth in reality. In this process of nation-building, ethnic myths of origin and descent provided the core of the nationalist cause - the defence of a primordial national character - and within a few decades the antiquarian issue became a standard element of the nationalist public enlightenment. The emerging, archaeologically substantiated, nationhood was more than a scholarly construction: it was a 'politically correct' form of ethnic self-imaging, continuously adapting its message to contemporary society and modern progress. Prehistoric and medieval Finnishness became even more relevant for the intellectual defence of the nation during the period of Russian administrative pressure 1890-1905. With independence the origins of Finnishness were militarized even further, although the 'hot' phase of antiquarian nationalism ended, as many considered the Finnish state reestablished after centuries of 'dependency'. Nevertheless, the distant past of tribal Finnishness and the conceived Golden Age of the Kalevala remained obligating. The decline of public archaeology is quite evident after 1918, even though the national message of the antiquarian pursuits remained present in the history culture of the public. The myths, symbols, images, and constructs of ancient Finnishness had already become embedded in society by the turn of the century, like the patalakki cap, which remains a symbol of Finnishness to this day. The method of approach is one of combining a broad spectrum of previously neglected primary sources, all related to history culture and the subtle banalization of the distant past: school books, postcards, illustrations, festive costumes, drama, satirical magazines, novels, jewellery, and calendars. Tracing the origins of the national myths to their original contexts enables a rather thorough deconstruction of the proto-historical imaginary in this Finnish case study. Considering Anthony D. Smith's idea of ancient 'ethnies' being the basis for nationalist causes, the author considers such an approach in the Finnish case totally misplaced.

An overview on the role of Hexanchiformes in marine ecosystems: biology, ecology and conservation status of a primitive order of modern sharks

The large size, high trophic level and wide distribution of Hexanchiformes (cow and frilled sharks) should position this order as important apex predators in coastal and deep-water ecosystems. This review synthesizes available information on Hexanchiformes, including information not yet published, with the purpose of evaluating their conservation status and assessing their ecological roles in the dynamics of marine ecosystems. Comprising six species, this group has a wide global distribution, with members occurring from shallow coastal areas to depths of c. 2500 m. The limited information available on their reproductive biology suggests that they could be vulnerable to overexploitation (e.g. small litter sizes for most species and suspected long gestation periods). Most of the fishing pressure exerted on Hexanchiformes is in the form of commercial by-catch or recreational fishing. Comprehensive stock and impact assessments are unavailable for most species in most regions due to limited information on life history and catch and abundance time series. When hexanchiform species have been commercially harvested, however, they have been unable to sustain targeted fisheries for long periods. The potentially high vulnerability to intense fishing pressure warrants a conservative exploitation of this order until thorough quantitative assessments are conducted. At least some species have been shown to be significant apex predators in the systems they inhabit. Should Hexanchiformes be removed from coastal and deep-water systems, the lack of sympatric shark species that share the same resources suggests no other species would be capable of fulfilling their apex predator role in the short term. This has potential ecosystem consequences such as meso-predator release or trophic cascades. This review proposes some hypotheses on the ecology of Hexanchiformes and their role in ecosystem dynamics, highlighting the areas where critical information is required to stimulate research directions.

History and development of public health

This chapter and the others that follow have the study of population health as their focus, as opposed to a focus on individual care and treatment. Clearly, however, we are concerned with the way in which population health is influenced by biomedical theories and practices, and the way population health is funded, and is influenced by the importance placed on therapeutic medicine. The discussions that follow include a brief overview of the ancient history of public health, and the modern history of Western public health dating from 1850. This date signifies the beginnings of a more organised, collective effort to protect the public’s health. These discussions will help you further expand your definition of public health. You will have an entertaining journey through public health achievements, and less successful outcomes, by examining the historical developments that have led us to a modern understanding of public health. The ancient Greeks and Romans, for example, had public health measures to ensure the safety and health of their populations, for a range of social and economic reasons. Convicts arrived in Australia with many health problems, and were put to work to satisfy the needs of a fledgling colony. It is important to understand the historical journey of public health and the way it is critically analysed, as it provides a looking-glass onto the present and the future.