Innovative new production systems for low-chill stonefruit in Australia and South-East Asia: a review

Fruit size and quality are major problems in early-season stonefruit cultivars grown in Australia and South-East Asia. In Australia, Thailand and Vietnam, new training and trellising systems are being developed to improve yield and fruit quality. Australian trials found that new training systems, such as the Open Tatura system, are more productive compared with standard vase-trained trees. We established new crop-loading indices for low-chill stonefruit to provide a guide for optimum fruit thinning based on fruit number per canopy surface and butt cross sectional area. Best management practices were developed for low-chill stonefruit cultivation using growth retardants, optimizing leaf nitrogen concentrations and controlling rates and timing of irrigation. Regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) improved fruit sugar concentrations by restricting water application during stage II of fruit growth. New pest and disease control measures are also being developed using a new generation of fruit fly baits. Soft insecticides such as (Spinosad) are used at significantly lower concentrations and have lower mammalian toxicity than the organophosphates currently registered in Australia. In addition, fruit fly exclusion netting effectively eliminated fruit fly and many other insect pests from the orchard with no increase in diseases. This netting system increased sugar concentrations of peach and nectarine by as much as 30%. Economic analyses showed that the break-even point can be reduced from 12 to 6 years Open Tatura trellising and exclusion netting.

Penology from city to country: Rurality and penality in Australia

There is a long tradition of social inquiry concerned with locational patterns and place-based explanations of crime in which urban/rural differences have been regarded as of cardinal importance. The geographical and socio-spatial aspects of punishment have on the other hand been widely neglected. One reason for this is that cities have been treated as the site of the major crime problems, presenting a contrast with what are commonly assumed (often without careful empirical research) to be the naturally cohesive character of rural communities. Thus punishment, like crime, is not a significant or distinctive issue in rural communities, requiring the attention of criminologists. But just as there are significant and distinctive dimensions to rural crime, the practice of punishment in rural contexts raises important questions worthy of attention. These questions relate to (1) the demand for punishment (i.e. the penal sensibilities to be found in rural communities); (2) the supply of punishment according to principles of legal equality (notably the question of the effective availability in rural courts of the full range of penalties administered by urban courts, in particular alternatives to incarceration); and (3) the differential impact of the same penalties when imposed in different geographical settings (e.g. imprisonment may involve distant removal from an offender’s community in addition to segregation from it; license disqualification is a great deal more consequential in settings where public transport is unavailable). The chapter examines these questions by reference to available knowledge concerning patterns of punishment in rural Australia. This will be set against the background of an analysis of the differential social organisation of penality in rural and urban settings. The generally more attenuated nature of the social state and social provision in rural contexts can, depending upon the profile of particular communities (and in particular their degree of social homogeneity), produce very different penal consequences: more heavy reliance on the penal state on the one hand, or greater recourse to informal social controls on the other.

Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium pseudograminearum caused the 2010 head blight epidemics in Australia

Wheat crops in southeast Queensland (Qld) and northern New South Wales (NSW) were infected with fusarium head blight (FHB)-like symptoms during the 201011 wheat growing season. Wheat crops in this region were surveyed at soft dough or early maturity stage to determine the distribution, severity, aetiology and toxigenicity of FHB. FHB was widespread on bread wheat and durum, and Fusarium graminearum and/or F.pseudograminearum were diagnosed from 42 of the 44 sites using species-specific PCR primers directly on spikelets or from monoconidial cultures obtained from spikelets. Stem base browning due to crown rot (CR) was also evident in some samples from both states. The overall FHB and CR severity was higher for NSW than Qld. Deoxynivalenol (DON) concentration of immature grains was more than 1 mg kg-1 in samples from 11 Qld and 14 NSW sites, but only 13 of 498 mature grain samples sourced from the affected areas had more than 1 mg kg-1 DON. DON concentration in straw also exceeded 1 mg kg-1 in eight Qld and all but one NSW sites but this was not linked to DON concentration of immature grains. The proportion of spikelets with positive diagnosis for F.graminearum and/or F.pseudograminearum and weather-related factors influenced DON levels in immature grains. The average monthly rainfall for AugustNovember during crop anthesis and maturation exceeded the long-term monthly average by 10150%. Weather played a critical role in FHB epidemics for Qld sites but this was not apparent for the NSW sites, as weather was generally favourable at all sites.

Soil phosphorus–crop response calibration relationships and criteria for winter cereal crops grown in Australia

Soil testing is the most widely used tool to predict the need for fertiliser phosphorus (P) application to crops. This study examined factors affecting critical soil P concentrations and confidence intervals for wheat and barley grown in Australian soils by interrogating validated data from 1777 wheat and 150 barley field treatment series now held in the BFDC National Database. To narrow confidence intervals associated with estimated critical P concentrations, filters for yield, crop stress, or low pH were applied. Once treatment series with low yield (<1 t/ha), severe crop stress, or pHCaCl2 <4.3 were screened out, critical concentrations were relatively insensitive to wheat yield (>1 t/ha). There was a clear increase in critical P concentration from early trials when full tillage was common compared with those conducted in 1995–2011, which corresponds to a period of rapid shift towards adoption of minimum tillage. For wheat, critical Colwell-P concentrations associated with 90 or 95% of maximum yield varied among Australian Soil Classification (ASC) Orders and Sub-orders: Calcarosol, Chromosol, Kandosol, Sodosol, Tenosol and Vertosol. Soil type, based on ASC Orders and Sub-orders, produced critical Colwell-P concentrations at 90% of maximum relative yield from 15 mg/kg (Grey Vertosol) to 47 mg/kg (Supracalcic Calcarosols), with other soils having values in the range 19–27 mg/kg. Distinctive differences in critical P concentrations were evident among Sub-orders of Calcarosols, Chromosols, Sodosols, Tenosols, and Vertosols, possibly due to differences in soil properties related to P sorption. However, insufficient data were available to develop a relationship between P buffering index (PBI) and critical P concentration. In general, there was no evidence that critical concentrations for barley would be different from those for wheat on the same soils. Significant knowledge gaps to fill to improve the relevance and reliability of soil P testing for winter cereals were: lack of data for oats; the paucity of treatment series reflecting current cropping practices, especially minimum tillage; and inadequate metadata on soil texture, pH, growing season rainfall, gravel content, and PBI. The critical concentrations determined illustrate the importance of recent experimental data and of soil type, but also provide examples of interrogation pathways into the BFDC National Database to extract locally relevant critical P concentrations for guiding P fertiliser decision-making in wheat and barley.

Interactions between two naturalised invasive predators in Australia: are feral cats suppressed by dingoes?

Top-predators can play important roles in terrestrial food webs, fuelling speculation that top-predators might be used as biocontrol tools against invasive mesopredators. Feral cats are believed to be largely responsible for the current declines of native fauna across tropical northern Australia, where substantial beef cattle production occurs. Dingoes are known to impact cattle production there and are predicted to impact native fauna also. However, dingoes are forecasted to curtail the impacts of cats and reverse native fauna declines. We review (1) empirical studies investigating the relationships between dingoes and cats, and dingo control and cats, (2) records of cat remains in dingo diets, and (3) historical records of lethal dingo control using 1080-poisoned baits across Australia between 1999 and 2008 to show how two naturalised invasive species can interact in dynamic agro-ecological landscapes. From the 35 studies assessed, most reported no detectable relationship between dingoes and cats; negative or positive relationships were seldom detected. Dingoes do not appear to exclude cats beyond fine scales, but may alter cat activity periods under certain conditions. Cat remains were found in only 0.63 % of over 31,000 dingo diet records. Lethal dingo control occurs (in varying degrees) across about two-thirds of Australia and does not appear to substantially influence dingo-cat relationships. We conclude that the presently available data provides little evidence that bolstering dingo populations will reduce the impacts of cats. Much more work is needed to identify situations where top-predators might be used as effective biocontrol tools against invasive mesopredators in agro-ecological systems.

The experience of Indigenous students in a Bachelor of Nursing Program in Australia: cultural safety and decolonising nurse education

Background In Australia significant health inequalities, such as an 11year life expectancy gap, impact on the continent’s traditional owners, the Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders. Evidence suggests links between improved Indigenous health and a greater proportion of Indigenous people employed in all sectors. Achieving a greater proportion of Indigenous people in health services and in the health education workforce, requires improved higher education completion rates. Currently Indigenous people are under-represented in higher education and attrition rates amongst those who do participate are high. We argue these circumstances make health and education matters of social justice, largely related to unexamined relations of power within universities where the pedagogical and social environment revolve around the norms and common-sense of the dominant culture. Project Research at Queensland University of Technology in 2010-2012, aimed to gain insights into attrition/retention in the Bachelor of Nursing. A literature review on Indigenous participation in higher education in nursing contextualised a mixed methods study. The project examined enrolment, attrition and success by an analysis of enrolment data from 1984-2012. Using Indigenous Research Assistants we then conducted 20 in-depth interviews with Indigenous students followed by a thematic analysis seeking to gain insights into the impact of students’ university experience on retention. Our findings indicate that cultural safety, mentorship, acceptance and support are crucial in student academic success. They also indicate that inflexible systems based on ethnocentric assumptions exacerbate the structural issues that impact on the students’ everyday life and are also part of the story of attrition. The findings reinforced the assumption that educational environments and processes are inherently cultural and political. This perspective calls into question the role of the students’ cultural experience at university in attrition rates. A partnership between the School of Nursing and the Indigenous Education Unit is working to better support Indigenous students.

Graduate School for Jewish Social Work (New York, N.Y.) records, undated, 1925-1950.

The collection consists of records of the administration of the school; records of a Lower East Side documentation project, including photographs; and letters from a project on the Men's and Women's Department of Der Tag. The collection is arranged in four series: Series I. Administration, Series II. Committee on Research, Series III. Der Tag Project, and Series IV. East Side Project.

Identification of pathotypes of the sorghum rust pathogen, Puccinia purpurea, in Australia

This study aimed to determine if pathotypic diversity of the sorghum rust pathogen, P. purpurea, exists in eastern Australia. A differential set of 10 Sorghum bicolor genotypes was used to identify four putative pathotypes from the 28 P. purpurea isolates that were tested. Pathotypes 1 and 3 were the most common, together comprising 85.7 % of the isolates tested, while pathotype 2 comprised 10.7 % of isolates, and pathotype 4 the remainder. Based on the limited number of isolates that were tested, there was evidence of geographic specialization amongst the pathotypes, with pathotype 1 not being found in north Queensland. This work has provided conclusive evidence that pathotypes of P. purpurea exist in the sorghum growing regions of Australia and has resulted in the development of a protocol for identifying pathotypes and screening breeding and experimental lines for resistance to these pathotypes. However, further investigations on the pathotypic diversity of P. purpurea and on the temporal and geographic distribution of these four as well as any additional undiscovered pathotypes are needed.

Barriers to and facilitators of cervical screening practice among African immigrant women from refugee and non-refugee backgrounds living in Brisbane

This thesis investigated and compared barriers and facilitators of cervical screening among African-born refugee and non-refugee women living in Brisbane. Refugee women were more likely to have limited or no knowledge about cervical cancer and the screening test and also less likely to use Pap smear services than non-refugee women. The analysis identified belief systems, lack of knowledge about cervical cancer and screening practices, and lack of culturally appropriate screening programs as major barriers. In the context of health promotion interventions, these findings will contribute to addressing major differential screening needs among African immigrant refugee and non-refugee women.

Choosing physical science courses: The importance of cultural and social capital in the enrolment decisions of high achieving students

This paper reports and discusses findings from a recent study which explored the science enrolment decisions of high achieving, or ‘science proficient’ secondary level students in Australia (Lyons 2003). The research was prompted by the increasing reluctance of such students to enrol in postcompulsory science courses, particularly in physics and chemistry. The study investigated the influences on students’ deliberations about taking a range of science courses. However, this report confines itself to decisions about enrolling in the physical sciences. The paper summarises the students’ experiences and conceptions of school science, as well as the characteristics of their ‘family worlds’ found to be influential in their decisions1. The paper discusses the important roles of cultural and social capital in these decisions, and concludes that enrolment in physical science courses was associated with congruence between the students’ conceptions of school science, and characteristics of their family backgrounds.

Novel vaccine acceptance in emerging infectious diseases: a case study of Hendra virus vaccine uptake in Australia

Background: The development of a horse vaccine against Hendra virus has been hailed as a good example of a One Health approach to the control of human disease. Although there is little doubt that this is true, it is clear from the underwhelming uptake of the vaccine by horse owners to date (approximately 10%) that realisation of a One Health approach requires more than just a scientific solution. As emerging infectious diseases may often be linked to the development and implementation of novel vaccines this presentation will discuss factors influencing their uptake; using Hendra virus in Australia as a case study. Methods: This presentation will draw on data collected from the Horse owners and Hendra virus: A Longitudinal cohort study To Evaluate Risk (HHALTER) study. The HHALTER study is a mixed methods research study comprising a two-year survey-based longitudinal cohort study and qualitative interview study with horse owners in Australia. The HHALTER study has investigated and tracked changes in a broad range of issues around early uptake of vaccination, horse owner uptake of other recommended disease risk mitigation strategies, and attitudes to government policy and disease response. Interviews provide further insights into attitudes towards risk and decision-making in relation to vaccine uptake. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data analysis will be reported. Results: Data collected from more than 1100 horse owners shortly after vaccine introduction indicated that vaccine uptake and intention to vaccinate was associated with a number of risk perception factors and financial cost factors. In addition, concerns about side effects and veterinarians refusing to treat unvaccinated horses were linked to uptake. Across the study period vaccine uptake in the study cohort increased to more than 50%, however, concerns around side effects, equine performance and breeding impacts, delays to full vaccine approvals, and attempts to mandate vaccination by horse associations and event organisers have all impacted acceptance. Conclusion: Despite being provided with a safe and effective vaccine for Hendra virus that can protect horses and break the transmission cycle of the virus to humans, Australian horse owners have been reluctant to commit to it. General issues pertinent to novel vaccines, combined with challenges in the implementation of the vaccine have led to issues of mistrust and misconception with some horse owners. Moreover, factors such as cost, booster dose schedules, complexities around perceived risk, and ulterior motives attributed to veterinarians have only served to polarise attitudes to vaccine acceptance.

Who does nutrition prevention work in Queensland? An investigation of structural and political workforce reforms

- Aim This study aimed (i) to determine the change in the number of government-funded nutrition positions following structural and political reforms and (ii) to describe the remaining workforce available to do nutrition prevention work, including student placements, in Queensland. - Methods Positions funded by the Queensland government were counted using departmental human resource data and compared with data collected 4 years earlier. Positions not funded by the government were identified using formal professional networks and governance group lists. Both groups were sent an online survey that explored their position name, funding source, employer, qualifications, years of experience, work in prevention and ability to supervise students. - Results There was a 90% reduction in the number of nutrition prevention positions funded by the government between 2009 (137 full time equivalents (FTE)) and 2013 (14 FTE). In 2013, 313 specialist (n = 92) and generalist (n = 221) practitioners were identified as potentially working in nutrition prevention throughout Queensland. A total of 30 permanent FTEs indicated over 75% of their work focused on prevention. This included the 14 FTE funded by the Queensland government and an additional 16 FTE from other sectors. Generalists did not consider themselves part of the nutrition workforce. - Conclusions Queensland experienced an extreme reduction in its nutrition prevention workforce as a result of political and structural reforms. This disinvestment by the Queensland government was not compensated for by other sectors, and has left marked deficits in public health nutrition capacity, including student placements.

Impact of the invasive rust Puccinia psidii (myrtle rust) on native Myrtaceae in natural ecosystems in Australia

The invasive rust Puccinia psidii (myrtle rust) was detected in Australia in 2010 and is now established along the east coast from southern New South Wales to far north Queensland. Prior to reaching Australia, severe damage from P. psidii was mainly restricted to exotic eucalypt plantations in South America, guava plantations in Brazil, allspice plantations in Jamaica, and exotic Myrtaceous tree species in the USA; the only previous record of widespread damage in native environments is of endangered Eugenia koolauensis in Hawai’i. Using two rainforest tree species as indicators of the impact of P. psidii, we report for the first time severe damage to endemic Myrtaceae in native forests in Australia, after only 4 years’ exposure to P. psidii. A 3-year disease exclusion trial in a natural stand of Rhodamnia rubescens unequivocally showed that repeated, severe infection leads to gradual crown loss and ultimately tree mortality; trees were killed in less than 4 years. Significant (p < 0.001) correlations were found between both incidence (r = 0.36) and severity (r = 0.38) of P. psidii and subsequent crown loss (crown transparency). This provided supporting evidence to conclude a causal association between P. psidii and crown loss and tree mortality in our field assessments of R. rubescens and Rhodomyrtus psidioides across their native range. Assessments revealed high levels of damage by P. psidii to immature leaves, shoots and tree crowns—averaging 76 % (R. rubescens) and 95 % (R. psidioides) crown transparency—as well as tree mortality. For R. psidioides, we saw exceptionally high levels of tree mortality, with over half the trees surveyed dead and 40 % of stands with greater than 50 % tree mortality, including two stands where all trees were dead. Tree mortality was less prevalent for R. rubescens, with only 12 % of trees surveyed dead and two sites with greater than 50 % mortality. Any alternative causal agents for this tree mortality have been discounted. The ecological implications of this are unclear, but our work clearly illustrates the potential for P. psidii to negatively affect Australia’s biodiversity.

Sirex woodwasp range expansion in Australia: performance and parasitism on two commercial pine species

Sirex woodwasp was detected in Queensland in 2009 and rapidly established in softwood plantations (Pinus radiata and P. taeda) in southern border regions. Biocontrol inoculations of Deladenus siricidicola began soon after, and adults were monitored to assess the success of the programme. Wasp size, sex ratios, emergence phenology and nematode parasitism rates were recorded, along with the assessment of wild-caught females. Patterns varied within and among seasons, but overall, P. taeda appeared to be a less suitable host than P. radiata, producing smaller adults, lower fat body content and fewer females. Sirex emerging from P. taeda also showed lower levels of nematode parasitism, possibly due to interactions with the more abundant blue-stain fungus in this host. Sirex adults generally emerged between November and March, with distinct peaks in January and March, separated by a marked drop in emergence in early February. Temperature provided the best correlate of seasonal emergence, with fortnights with higher mean minimum temperatures having higher numbers of Sirex emerging. This has implications for the anticipated northward spread of Sirex into sub-tropical coastal plantation regions. Following four seasons of inundative release of nematodes in Queensland, parasitism rates remain low and have resulted in only partial sterilization of infected females.

Lesser auger beetle Heterobostrychus aequalis(Coleoptera: Bostrichidae) in Australia: absent or elusive?

The lesser auger beetle, Heterobostrychus aequalis (Waterhouse), is a serious pest of seasoned hardwood timber throughout the Oriental region and several areas beyond. Some early collection records of H. aequalis from Australia in the 1950s and 1960s indicated that the insect was present in northern Queensland, but no confirmed breeding population has been found in the past few decades suggesting either that it may have not established permanently or it is difficult to detect. The ambiguity about the breeding status of the pest in Australia has caused confusion for regulating authorities needing to respond to each new post-border detection. We examined records of H. aequalis in Australian insect collections and from intensive plant pest surveillance activities in Queensland and northern Australia over the past 48 years to resolve this confusion. Until very recently, available evidence suggested that H. aequalis was not established in Australia, despite multiple introductions and apparently suitable climate and hosts. Collection records of the pest are predominantly linked to intercepted items or are recorded as of unknown origin, and no established populations have been found during many years of targeted surveillance. However, a detection of H. aequalis in suburban Cairns, north Queensland, in late 2013 and two more in mid-2015 in the same general locality do not appear to be linked to any imported material, indicating that there is at least a tenuously established local population. Investigations are underway to confirm this, but the insect is not widely established in Australia and, if present, remains elusive. Our recommended response to any future detection of H. aequalis is to fumigate or destroy the infested material, conduct tracing enquiries and limit surveys to the immediate vicinity of the detection.