Productivity differences, technology adoption and economic growth : the case of India

When the acronym of ëBRICí was coined in 2001 by Jim OíNeill of Goldman Sachs, it was expected that economic growth rates in India, Brazil and Russia would eventually catch up with that of China. However, China has continued to outperform the other economies in the group, even after it was renamed ëBRICSí to reflect the inclusion of South Africa in 2010. The focus of this chapter is on one of the BRICS economies, namely India. Its aim is to examine from an economic perspective, why Indiaís performance has not lived up to expectations, and comment on the key challenges it faces in meeting them. We begin with some descriptive statistics regarding the progress of the Indian economy since 1990. While it has been growing at a rapid rate since the reforms it introduced in the1990s, there has been a slowdown in its overall GDP growth rates since 2008. The rate of growth experienced in the period 2003ñ07 was an average of 10.5 per cent. However, since the recession following the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008, the growth rate has fallen. From the period 2008ñ12 it has only registered an average growth rate of 6.5 per cent (World Bank, 2013). This chapter suggests that one of the major factors underpinning this slowdown is the performance of Indiaís agricultural sector. The importance of the agricultural sector is highlighted by the following stylized facts.

Expanding horizons : scientific frontiers, legal regulation, and globalization

In the six decades since the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA by Watson and Crick in 1953, developments in genetic science have transformed our understanding of human health and disease. These developments, along with those in other areas such as computer science, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, have opened exciting new possibilities for the future. In addition, the increasing trend for technologies to converge and build upon each other potentially increases the pace of change, constantly expanding the boundaries of the scientific frontier. At the same time, however, scientific advances are often accompanied by public unease over the potential for unforeseen, negative outcomes. For governments, these issues present significant challenges for effective regulation. This Article analyzes the challenges associated with crafting laws for rapidly changing science and technology. It considers whether we need to regulate, how best to regulate for converging technologies, and how best to ensure the continued relevance of laws in the face of change.

Enhancing student learning in the workplace through developing the leadership capabilities of clinical supervisors in the nursing discipline

The purpose of this project was to build the leadership capacity of clinical supervisors in the nursing discipline by developing, implementing and systematically embedding a leadership model into the structure and practice of student supervision. The University worked in partnership with three major metropolitan hospitals in Queensland to develop a framework and professional development program incorporating leadership and clinical supervision. The Leadership and Clinical Education (LaCE) program consisted of two structured workshops complemented by individual personal development projects undertaken by participants. Participants were supported in these activities with a purpose-built website that provides access to a wide variety of information and other learning resources. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations indicated that the approach was highly valued by participants, as it promoted useful peer dialogue, sharing of experiences and personal development in relation to assisting leadership development and student learning in the workplace. The LaCE program provides an ideal springboard for introducing the development of welltrained leaders into the clinical workplace. The resources developed have the potential to provide ongoing support for clinical supervisors to improve the learning of undergraduate nursing student. The challenge will be to achieve continued innovation within clinical education through sustainable leadership programs.

Promoting resilience and effective workplace functioning in international students in health courses

The purpose of this project was to improve the quality of the learning experiences of international students in nursing, public health and nutrition and dietetics, both at university and in the clinical setting. The university worked in partnership with three major metropolitan health care facilities/services in Queensland to develop a framework and resources designed to promote quality work-integrated learning experiences for international students and clinical supervisory staff. The Resilience in International Student Education (RISE) model consists of student and staff workshops complemented by a purpose-built Cultural Connections for Learning (CCL) website that provides access to a wide variety of information and other learning resources. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations indicate that the approach is highly valued by participants as it promotes useful dialogue, sharing of experiences and greater understanding regarding quality learning experiences for international students in the health workplace. It provides an ideal springboard for promoting collaboration between international students and clinical supervisors in the workplace. The resources developed have the potential to enhance student learning as well as clinical teaching. The challenge will be to achieve continued progress within international student education through the development of sustainable strategies to embed the program within the context of individual curricula.

Indigenous Australian women and work : an historical context

The aim of this on-going research is to interrogate the era of colonialism in Australia (1896-1966) and the denial of paid employment of Aboriginal women. The 1897 Aborigines Protection and the Restriction of the Sale of Opium Act witnessed thousands of Aboriginal people placed on Government run reserves and missions. This resulted in all aspects of their lives being controlled through state mechanisms. Under various Acts of Parliament, Aboriginal women were sent to privately owned properties to be utilised as ‘domestic servants’ through a system of forced indentured labour, which continued until the 1970’s. This paper discusses the hidden histories of these women through the use of primary sources documents including records from the Australian Department of Native Affairs and Department of Home and Health. This social history research reveals that the practice of removing Aboriginal women from their families at the age of 12 or 13 and to white families was more common practice than not. These women were often: not paid, worked up to 15 hour days, not allowed leave and subjected to many forms of abuse. Wages that were meant to be paid were re-directed to other others, including the Government. Whilst the retrieval of these ‘stolen wages’ is now an on-going issue resulting in the Queensland Government in 2002 offering AUS $2,000 to $4,000 in compensation for a lifetime of work, Aboriginal women were also asked to waive their legal right to further compensation. There are few documented histories of these Aboriginal women as told through the archives. This hidden Aboriginal Australian women’s history needs to be revealed to better understand the experiences and depth of misappropriation of Aboriginal women as domestic workers. In doing so, it also reveals a more accurate reflection of women’s work in Australia.

Complex regulation of membrane-type matrix metalloproteinase expression and matrix metalloproteinase-2 activation by concanavalin A in MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells

Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) is secreted as a zymogen, the activation of which has been associated with metastatic progression in human breast cancer (HBC). Concanavalin A (Con A) has been found to induce activation of MMP-2 in invasive HBC cell lines. Con A effects on the expression of mRNA for membrane-type matrix metalloproteinase (MT-MMP), a newly described cell surface-associated MMP, showed a close temporal correlation with induction of MMP-2 activation. It is surprising that MT-MMP mRNA is constitutively present in the uninduced MDA-MB-231 cell, despite a lack of MMP-2 activation. We have used actinomycin D to demonstrate a partial requirement for de novo gene expression in the induction of MMP-2 activation by Con A in MDA-MB-231 HBC cells. Furthermore, this transcriptional response to Con A appeared to require the continued presence of Con A for its manifestation. The nontranscriptional component of the Con A induction manifests rapidly, is quite substantial, and persists strongly despite actinomycin D abrogation of both constitutive and Con A-induced MT-MMP. Cycloheximide analyses suggest that protein synthesis may be involved in this rapid transcription-independent response. These studies suggest that Con A induces MMP-2-activation in part by up-regulation of MT-MMP expression but has a more complicated mode of action, involving additional nontranscriptional effects, which apparently require protein synthesis.

An acute growth factor treatment that preserves function after spinal cord contusion injury

Inflammation of the spinal cord after traumatic spinal cord injury leads to destruction of healthy tissue. This “secondary degeneration” is more damaging than the initial physical damage and is the major contributor to permanent loss of functions. In our previous study we showed that combined delivery of two growth factors, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), significantly reduced secondary degeneration after hemi-section injury of the spinal cord in the rat. Growth factor treatment reduced the size of the lesion cavity at 30d compared to control animals and further reduced the cavity at 90d in treated animals while in control animals the lesion cavity continued to increase in size. Growth factor treatment also reduced astrogliosis and reduced macroglia/macrophage activation around the injury site. Treatment with individual growth factors alone had similar effects to control treatments. The present study investigated whether growth factor treatment would improve locomotor behaviour after spinal contusion injury, a more relevant preclinical model of spinal cord injury. The growth factors were delivered for the first 7d to the injury site via osmotic minipump. Locomotor behaviour was monitored at 1-28d after injury using the BBB score and at 30d using automated gait analysis. Treated animals had BBB scores of 18; Control animals scored 10. Treated animals had significantly reduced lesion cavities and reduced macroglia/macrophage activation around the injury site. We conclude that growth factor treatment preserved spinal cord tissues after contusion injury, thereby allowing functional recovery. This treatment has the potential to significantly reduce the severity of human spinal cord injuries.

Implication of calcium hydroxide in the seawater neutralisation of bauxite refinery liquors

Tricalcium aluminate, hydrocalumite and residual lime have been identified as reversion contributing compounds after the seawater neutralisation of bauxite refinery residues. The formation of these compounds during the neutralisation process is dependent on the concentration of residual lime, pH and aluminate concentrations in the residue slurry. Therefore, the effect of calcium hydroxide (CaOH2) in bauxite refinery liquors was analysed and the degree of reversion monitored. This investigation found that the dissolution of tricalcium aluminate, hydrocalumite and CaOH2 caused reversion and continued to increase the pH of the neutralised residue until a state of equilibrium was reached at a solution pH of 10.5. The dissolution mechanism for each compound has been described and used to demonstrate the implications that this has on reversion in seawater neutralised Bayer liquor. This investigation describes the limiting factors for the dissolution and formation of these trigger compounds as well as confirming the formation of Bayer hydrotalcite (mixture of Mg6Al2(OH)16(CO32-,SO42-)•xH2O and Mg8Al2(OH)12(CO32-,SO42-)•xH2O) as the primary mechanism for reducing reversion during the neutralisation process. This knowledge then allowed for a simple but effective method (addition of magnesium chloride or increased seawater to Bayer liquor ratio) to be devised to reduce reversion occurring after the neutralisation of Bayer liquors. Both methods utilise the formation of Bayer hydrotalcite to permanently (stable in neutralised residue) remove hydroxyl (OH-) and aluminate (Al(OH)4-) ions from solution.

Comparison of surveys used to measure physical activity

Objective To compare the level of agreement in results obtained from four physical activity (PA) measurement instruments that are in use in Australia and around the world. Methods 1,280 randomly selected participants answered two sets of PA questions by telephone. 428 answered the Active Australia (AA) and National Health Surveys, 427 answered the AA and CDC Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys (BRFSS), and 425 answered the AA survey and the short International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Results Among the three pairs of survey items, the difference in mean total PA time was lowest when the AA and NHS items were asked (difference=24) (SE:17) minutes, compared with 144 (SE:21) mins for AA/BRFSS and 406 (SE:27) mins for AA/IPAQ). Correspondingly, prevalence estimates for 'sufficiently active' were similar for AA and NHS (56% and 55% respectively), but about 10% higher when BRFSS data were used, and about 26% higher when the IPAQ items were used, compared with estimates from the AA survey. Conclusions The findings clearly demonstrate that there are large differences in reported PA times and hence in prevalence estimates of 'sufficient activity' from these four measures. Implications It is important to consistently use the same survey for population monitoring purposes. As the AA survey has now been used three times in national surveys, its continued use for population surveys is recommended so that trend data ever a longer period of time can be established.

lacZ transduced human breast cancer xenografts as an in vivo model for the study of invasion and metastasis

A number of human cancer cell lines have been described as being invasive and metastatic in immune incompetent animals. However, it is difficult to assess metastatic spread of a subcutaneously injected or inoculated cell line, since an exact detection of all microfoci of human tumour cells in the animals by usual histological procedures would require extensive sectioning of the whole animal. To overcome this problem, we transduced human breast cancer cells with a replication-defective Moloney murine leukaemia retroviral vector (M-MuLV) containing both neo(R) (neomycin resistance) and lacZ genes. The resulting cell lines were selected for antibiotic (G418) resistance, and cell-sorted for lacZ expression. lacZ continued to be expressed in cultured cells for at least 20 passages without further G418 selection. The lacE gene codes for β-D-galactosidase, and cells expressing this gene stain blue with the chromogenic substrate X-gal. The lacZ-expressing cells retained the pre-transduction ability to traverse Matrigel in vitro, to form subcutaneous tumours in nude mice, and to grow invasively with the formation of metastases. X-gal staining showed high specificity, staining the tumour cells but not the surrounding mouse tissue on either whole tissue blocks or histological sections. The staining procedure was highly sensitive, allowing detection of microfoci of human cancer cells, and quantitative estimation of the metastatic capacity of the cells. These results indicate that lacZ transduction of human tumour cells is a powerful means of studying human cancer cell invasion and metastases in vivo.

Fatty acid synthesis and pyruvate metabolism pathways remain active in dihydroartemisinin induced dormant ring stages of Plasmodium falciparum

Artemisinin (ART) based combination therapy (ACT) is used as the first line treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria worldwide. However, despite high potency and rapid action there is a high rate of recrudescence associated with ART monotherapy or ACT long before the recent emergence of ART resistance. ART induced ring stage dormancy and recovery has been implicated as possible cause of recrudescence; however, little is known about the characteristics of dormant parasites including whether dormant parasites are metabolically active. We investigated the transcription of 12 genes encoding key enzymes in various metabolic pathways in P. falciparum during dihydroartemisinin (DHA) induced dormancy and recovery. Transcription analysis showed an immediate down regulation for 10 genes following exposure to DHA, but continued transcription of 2 genes encoding apicoplast and mitochondrial proteins. Transcription of several additional genes encoding apicoplast and mitochondrial proteins, particularly genes encoding enzymes in pyruvate metabolism and fatty acid synthesis pathways, were also maintained. Additions of inhibitors for biotin acetyl CoA carbozylase and enoyl-acyl carrier reductase of the fatty acid synthesis pathways delayed the recovery of dormant parasites by 6 and 4 days, respectively following DHA treatment. Our results demonstrate most metabolic pathways are down regulated in DHA induced dormant parasites. In contrast fatty acid and pyruvate metabolic pathways remain active. These findings highlight new targets to interrupt recovery of parasites from ART-induced dormancy and to reduce the rate of recrudescence following ART treatment.

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition : new insights in signaling, development, and disease

The conversion of an epithelial cell to a mesenchymal cell is critical to metazoan embryogenesis and a de. ning structural feature of organ development. Current interest in this process, which is described as an epithelial- mesenchymal transition (EMT), stems from its developmental importance and its involvement in several adult pathologies. Interest and research in EMT are currently at a high level, as seen by the attendance at the recent EMT meeting in Vancouver, Canada (October 1-3, 2005). The meeting, which was hosted by The EMT International Association, was the second international EMT meeting, the . rst being held in Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia in October 2003. The EMT International Association was formed in 2002 to provide an international body for those interested in EMT and the reverse process, mesenchymal-epithelial transition, and, most importantly, to bring together those working on EMT in development, cancer, . brosis, and pathology. These themes continued during the recent meeting in Vancouver. Discussion at the Vancouver meeting spanned several areas of research, including signaling pathway activation of EMT and the transcription factors and gene targets involved. Also covered in detail was the basic cell biology of EMT and its role in cancer and . brosis, as well as the identi. cation of new markers to facilitate the observation of EMT in vivo. This is particularly important because the potential contribution of EMT during neoplasia is the subject of vigorous scientific debate (Tarin, D., E.W. Thompson, and D.F. Newgreen. 2005. Cancer Res. 65:5996-6000; Thompson, E.W., D.F. Newgreen, and D. Tarin. 2005. Cancer Res. 65:5991-5995).

OCIS and Beyond: International Relations in Australia: Introduction

The Oceanic Conference for International Studies (OCIS) has grown from a small, mostly Australian and New Zealand, affair to an international biennial gathering of scholars from North America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. Established by a small organising committee drawn from universities across Australia and New Zealand, the principal aim of OCIS was to bring together the Oceanic International Relations (IR) community in an organic and inclusive fashion. There would be no secretariat, minimal bureaucracy, costs would be kept as low as possible, and assistance provided to graduate students. The first OCIS, held at the Australian National University in 2004, proved more successful than the organisers had envisaged. The conference continued to grow at its subsequent meetings at the University of Melbourne (2006) and the University of Queensland (2008). With each conference, a new organising committee was established to take carriage of OCIS. At the 2008 meeting, the question of creating a permanent organising meeting and beginning the transition towards a professional association was discussed in detail. If the transition happens at all, it will be gradual, organic, inclusive, and will prioritise the maintenance of the sense of community OCIS has helped establish. Whilst OCIS itself has flourished, associated initiatives such as OCIS working groups and the OCIS newsletter and listserv have withered on the vine, confirming the original organising committee’s view that endeavours such as this will only prosper to the extent that they are derived and driven from the community as a whole. In 2010, OCIS will hold its first conference in New Zealand, hosted by the University of Auckland...

Legitimising Rejection : International Refugee Law in Southeast Asia

The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees are the two primary international legal instruments that states use to process asylum seekers' claim to refugee status. However, in Southeast Asia only two states have acceded to these instruments. This is seemingly paradoxical for a region that has been host to a large number of asylum seekers who, as a result, are forced to live as ‘illegal migrants’. This book examines the region's continued rejection of international refugee law through extensive archival analysis and argues that this rejection was shaped by the region’s response to its largest refugee crisis in the post-1945 era: the Indochinese refugee crisis from 1975 to 1996. The result is a seminal study into Southeast Asian's relationship with international refugee law and the impact that this has had on states surrounding the region, the UNHCR and the asylum seekers themselves.

Converse results to the Wiener attack on RSA

A well-known attack on RSA with low secret-exponent d was given by Wiener about 15 years ago. Wiener showed that using continued fractions, one can efficiently recover the secret-exponent d from the public key (N,e) as long as d < N 1/4. Interestingly, Wiener stated that his attack may sometimes also work when d is slightly larger than N 1/4. This raises the question of how much larger d can be: could the attack work with non-negligible probability for d=N 1/4 + ρ for some constant ρ > 0? We answer this question in the negative by proving a converse to Wiener’s result. Our result shows that, for any fixed ε > 0 and all sufficiently large modulus lengths, Wiener’s attack succeeds with negligible probability over a random choice of d < N δ (in an interval of size Ω(N δ )) as soon as δ > 1/4 + ε. Thus Wiener’s success bound d 1/4. The known attacks in this class (by Verheul and Van Tilborg and Dujella) run in exponential time, so it is natural to ask whether there exists an attack in this class with subexponential run-time. Our second converse result answers this question also in the negative.