Brazilian Agriculture and Environmental Legislation: Status and Future Challenges

Brazilian agriculture covers about one-third of the land area and is expected to expand further We assessed the compliance of present Brazilian agriculture with environmental legislation and identified challenges for agricultural development connected to this legislation We found (i) minor illegal land use in protected areas under public administration, (ii) a large deficit in legal reserves and protected riparian zones on private farmland, and large areas of unprotected natural vegetation in regions experiencing agriculture expansion Achieving full compliance with the environmental laws as they presently stand would require drastic changes in agricultural land use, where large agricultural areas are taken out of production and converted back to natural vegetation The outcome of a full compliance with environmental legislation might not be satisfactory due to leakage, where pristine unprotected areas become converted to compensate for lost production as current agricultural areas are reconverted to protected natural vegetation. Realizing the desired protection of biodiversity and natural vegetation, while expanding agriculture to meet food and biofuel demand, may require a new approach to environmental protection New legal and regulatory instruments and the establishment of alternative development models should be considered

Generic drugs in Brazil: historical overview and legislation

The Brazilian generic drugs policy was implemented in 1999 with the aim of stimulating competition in the market, improve the quality of drugs and improve the access of the population to drug treatment. The process of implementing this policy allowed the introduction and discussion of concepts that had never before been used in the context of drug registration in Brazil: bioavailability, bioequivalence, pharmaceutical equivalence, generic drugs, biopharmaceutical classification system, biowaiver. The present article provides definitions for these concepts in the context of Brazilian legislation as well as a historical and chronological description of the implementation of the generic drugs policy in Brazil, including a list of current generic drug legislation. This article contributes to the understanding of the Brazilian generic drugs policy and facilitates the search for information concerning the legal requirements for registration of drugs in Brazil.

Demonstrations during Marshall Ky's visit to Brisbane, Australia in 1967

Demonstrations during visit of former South Vietnamese vice president Nguyen Cao Ky to Australia in January 1967.

Peace march 1964 Brisbane Australia

Marchers during the 1964 peace march, Brisbane, Australia, holding banners and placards

Biopolitics meets Terrapolitics: Political Ontologies and Governance in Settler-Colonial Australia

Crises persist in Australian Indigenous affairs because current policy approaches do not address the intersection of Indigenous and European political worlds. This paper responds to this challenge by providing a heuristic device for delineating Settler and Indigenous Australian political ontologies and considering their interaction. It first evokes Settler and Aboriginal ontologies as respectively biopolitical (focused through life) and terrapolitical (focused through land). These ideal types help to identify important differences that inform current governance challenges. The paper discusses the entwinement of these traditions as a story of biopolitical dominance wherein Aboriginal people are governed as an “included-exclusion” within the Australian political community. Despite the overall pattern of dominance, this same entwinement offers possibilities for exchange between biopolitics and terrapolitics, and hence for breaking the recurrent crises of Indigenous affairs.

Movements of feral camels in central Australia determined by satellite telemetry

Movements of two female one-humped camels in central Australia were tracked using satellite telemetry between March 1986 and July 1987. During that time both animals travelled a minimum distance of over 1000 km within a radius of 125 km for one animal, and 200 km for the other. However, their movements were uite punctuated and both animals spent periods of up to several months in rleatively small areas before moving over longer distances to new areas. Both camels moved at greater rates overnight. An activity index, probably measuring feeding rate, declined during the study period for both animals. Patchy and sporadic rainfall may explain some of these results.

Aboriginal Art Collection: Highlights from Australia's Public Museums and Galleries

Contents: Introduction SUSAN COCHRANE National Gallery of Australia, Canberra WALLY CARUANA National Museum of Australia, Canberra DAVID KAUS Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin MARGIE WEST Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney HETTI PERKINS AND KEN WATSON Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney BERNICE MURPHY Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane MARCO NEALE Queensland Museum, Brisbane RICHARD ROBINS National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne JUDITH RYAN Museum Victoria, Melbourne GAYE SCULTHORPE Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart KIM AKERMAN AND DAVID HANSEN Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth MICHAEL O'FERRALL AND BRENDA L. CROFT Western Australian Museum, Perth ROSS CHADWICK AND MANCE LOFGREN Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide JANE HYLTON South Australian Museum, Adelaide PHILIP A. CLARKE List of Plates Bibliography Editor's Acknowledgments Contributors Index

Moratorium march September 18 1970 in Brisbane

Protestors with banner during the Moratorium march in Brisbane Australia, September 18 1970.

Leaflets left in gutter after Ky demonstration Brisbane, Australia

Leaflets in gutter after demonstration of former South Vietnamese vice president Nguyen Cao Ky to Brisbane, Australia in January 1967.

Group of marchers during Mayday procession 1966 Brisbane, Australia

Group of marchers during Mayday procession 1966 Brisbane, Australia including children and dog. The group is passing Pearl Assurance House in Queen Street, Brisbane. Marchers have flags and banners relating to anti war and anti nuclear tests.

Girl with dog during Mayday procession 1966 Brisbane, Australia

Girl with dog during Mayday procession 1966 Brisbane, Australia. Bystanders including policeman are outside the Bank of New South Wales building in Queen Street, Brisbane.

Tenure, mobility and retention of nurses in Queensland, Australia: 2001 and 2004

Aim. Data were collected on tenure, mobility and retention of the nursing workforce in Queensland to aid strategic planning by the Queensland Nurses Union (QNU). Background. Shortages of nurses negatively affect the health outcomes of patients. Population rise is increasing the demand for nurses in Queensland. The supply of nurses is affected by recruitment of new and returning nurses, retention of the existing workforce and mobility within institutions. Methods. A self-reporting, postal survey was undertaken by the QNU members from the major employment sectors of aged care, public acute and community health and private acute and community health. Results. Only 60% of nurses had been with their current employer more than 5 years. In contrast 90% had been in nursing for 5 years or more and most (80%) expected to remain in nursing for at least another 5 years. Breaks from nursing were common and part-time positions in the private and aged care sectors offered flexibility. Conclusion. The study demonstrated a mobile nursing workforce in Queensland although data on tenure and future time in nursing suggested that retention in the industry was high. Concern is expressed for replacement of an ageing nursing population.

A rapid single-step multiplex method for discriminating between Trichogramma (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) species in Australia

Inaccurate species identification confounds insect ecological studies. Examining aspects of Trichogramma ecology pertinent to the novel insect resistance management strategy for future transgenic cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., production in the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) of Western Australia required accurate differentiation between morphologically similar Trichogramma species. Established molecular diagnostic methods for Trichogramma identification use species-specific sequence difference in the internal transcribed spacer (ITS)-2 chromosomal region; yet, difficulties arise discerning polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fragments of similar base pair length by gel electrophoresis. This necessitates the restriction enzyme digestion of PCR-amplified ITS-2 fragments to readily differentiate Trichogramma australicum Girault and Trichogramma pretiosum Riley. To overcome the time and expense associated with a two-step diagnostic procedure, we developed a “one-step” multiplex PCR technique using species-specific primers designed to the ITS-2 region. This approach allowed for a high-throughput analysis of samples as part of ongoing ecological studies examining Trichogramma biological control potential in the ORIA where these two species occur in sympatry.

Geochronology of weathering and landscape evolution, Dugald River valley, NW Queensland, Australia

40Ar/39Ar laser incremental heating analyses of individual grains of supergene jarosite, alunite, and cryptomelane from weathering profiles in the Dugald River area, Queensland, Australia, show a strong positive correlation between a sample’s age and its elevation. We analyzed 125 grains extracted from 35 hand specimens collected from weathering profiles at 11 sites located at 3 distinct elevations. The highest elevation profile hosts the oldest supergene minerals, whereas progressively younger samples occur at lower positions in the landscape. The highest elevation sampling sites (three sites), located on top of an elongated mesa (255 to 275 m elevation), yield ages in the 16 to 12 Ma range. Samples from an intermediate elevation site (225 to 230 m elevation) yield ages in the 6 to 4 Ma range. Samples collected at the lowest elevation sites (200 to 220 m elevation) yield ages in the 2.2 to 0.8 Ma interval. Grains of supergene alunite, jarosite, and cryptomelane analyzed from individual single hand specimens yield reproducible results, confirming the suitability of these minerals to 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. Multiple samples collected from the same site also yield reproducible results, indicating that the ages measured are true precipitation ages for the samples analyzed. Different sites, up to 3 km apart, sampled from weathering profiles at the same elevation again yield reproducible results. The consistency of results confirms that 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of supergene jarosite, alunite, and cryptomelane yields ages of formation of weathering profiles, providing a reliable numerical basis for differentiating and correlating these profiles. The age versus elevation relationship obtained suggest that the stepped landscapes in the Dugald River area record a progressive downward migration of a relatively flat weathering front. The steps in the landscape result from differential erosion of previously weathered bedrock displaying different susceptibility to weathering and contrasting resistance to erosion. Combined, the age versus elevation relationships measured yield a weathering rate of 3.8 m. Myr−1 (for the past 15 Ma) if a descending subhorizontal weathering front is assumed. The results also permit the calculation of the erosion rate of the more easily weathered and eroded lithologies, assuming an initially flat landscape as proposed in models of episodic landscape development. The average erosion rate for the past 15 Ma is 3.3 m. Myr−1, consistent with erosion rates obtained by cosmogenic isotope studies in the region.