Countering Islamophobia : Muslim participation in multifaith networks

In recent years a heightened awareness of global risks has produced an unprecedented interest in global peace and security initiatives. This article discusses the impact of international crisis events on religiously diverse communities in Australia, in particular rising Islamophobia, migrantophobia and attacks on multiculturalism. Religious communities have been far from passive in their responses to the impact of these events, initiating dialogue and educational activities to dispel negative stereotypes and attitudes. In addition, state actors, including police, have prioritized engagement with religious leaders, and this has resulted in a rise of state supported multifaith peacebuilding activities. The article argues that, in response to global risks of terror and exclusion, multifaith movements and multi-actor networks, including religious leaders, state actors, educators and the media, have the potential to advance common security. In response to conflicts both local and global, these examples of cooperation between religious and non-religious actors in Australia can be instructive to other increasingly multifaith societies.

Transitioning communities : community, participation and the transition town movement

The Transition Town (TT) movement has grown to become a global phenomenon aimed at assisting towns and communities to envision sustainable and self-reliant futures post peak oil. Arguably, this movement offers an exciting alternative to traditional notions of growth and development. This paper explores the rise of the TT movement focusing particularly on the processes involved in establishing a ‘TT’ raising questions pertaining to governance and to notions of participatory democracy within the movement.

“The hope – the one hope – is that your generation will prove wiser and more responsible than mine.” Constructions of guilt in a selection of disaster texts for young adults

This paper explores a range of definitions of guilt, and argues that fiction for young adults which is set after a major disaster that has been caused by humans has surprisingly little emphasis on guilt. Focusing on Brother in the Land by Robert Swindells, Nuclear War Diary by James E. Sanford (Jr), The Last Children by Gudrun Pausewang, The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd and its sequel, The Carbon Diaries 2017, and Days Like This by Alison Stewart, the paper argues that in post-nuclear texts for young adults the emphasis tends to be on the perceived responsibility of the young adult reader's generation to work towards preventing the disaster from becoming reality, rather than on the guilt of the adult generation that caused the disaster. However, in texts dealing with environmental disaster, the young adult reader's generation can be seen to have some measure of culpability, and so the issues of guilt and responsibility become more complex

Avoiding piecemeal research on participation in cervical cancer screening : the advantages of a social identity framework

Background  Cervical cancer screening research has predominantly focused on one type of participation, namely compliance with medical recommendations, and has largely ignored other types of participation. While there is some research that has taken a different approach, findings in this research area are not well integrated under a theoretical framework.

Objective  The aim of this study is to show how consideration of a broader definition of participation and better integration of the theoretical conceptualization of participation in cervical cancer screening are both possible and desirable to enable a better understanding of women’s experiences of cervical cancer screening specifically and to improve women’s health generally.

Main Conclusion  It is suggested that alternative types of participation in cervical cancer screening warrant further investigation and that a social identity theoretical approach offers one way of integrating such conceptualizations of participation. The paper also argues for more explicit consideration of the role of social processes and of the variables, such as power, social identity and relational justice, which are involved in participation in cervical cancer screening.

Educating the person for democratic participation

English language

Children and university architecture students working together : a pedagogical model of children’s participation in architectural design

Increasing efforts have been made to engage children in the design of the built environment, and several participatory models have been developed. The aim of this paper is to propose a pedagogical model for children's genuine participation in architectural design, developed in an architectural education context. According to this pedagogical model, children (primary school students) and youth (university architecture students) work in teams to develop the architectural design proposals. This model was developed through a joint educational project between Deakin University and Wales Street Primary School (both institutions are based in Victoria, Australia). In the four-week duration of the project, first year architecture students worked with Grade 3 and 4 primary school children to design a school playground. The final product of the project was a 1:20 scale model of a playground, which was installed and presented at the end of the fourth week. The project received positive feedback from all the participants, including children, architecture students, university lecturers, primary school teachers and architects. In addition, it achieved a high level of children's genuine participation. This model can be refined and applied in new situations, and potentially with other primary schools working with Deakin University.

Mature reverse transcriptase (p66/p51) is responsible for low levels of viral DNA found in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)

Reverse transcription of the HIV RNA genome is thought to occur in the host cell cytoplasm after viral adsorption. However, viral DNA has been isolated in cell-free virus particles. We have quantitated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification the amount of viral DNA in virions as compared to RNA. Virus produced by proviral DNA transfections of cos-7 cells or by chronically-infected H9 cells; neither of which express the cell surface CD4 receptor, contained at least 1000 times more viral RNA than DNA. In contrast, only 60 times more RNA than DNA was present in virus particles produced by transfection of Jurkat cells, which were CD4-positive and thus potentially susceptible to superinfection. Protease-defective virus, carrying only the precursor of reverse transcriptase (RT) p160gag-pol, contained virtually no detectable DNA. These results indicate that only mature RT (p66/p51) and not its precursor (p160gag-pol) is responsible for the presence of viral DNA in HIV.

Industry self regulation of television food advertising : responsible or responsive?

Introduction. This study evaluated the impact of the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) self-regulatory initiative on unhealthy food marketing to children, introduced in January 2009. The study compared patterns of food advertising by AFGC and non-AFGC signatory companies in 2009, 2007 and 2006 on three Sydney commercial free-to-air television channels.

Methods. Data were collected across seven days in May 2006 and 2007, and four days in May 2009. Advertised foods were coded as core, non-core and miscellaneous. Regression for counts analyses was used to examine change in rates of advertisements across the sampled periods and differential change between AFGC-signatory or non-signatory companies between 2007 and 2009.

Results. Of 36 food companies that advertised during the 2009 sample period, 14 were AFGC signatories. The average number of food advertisements decreased significantly from 7.0 per hour in 2007 to 5.9 in 2009. There was a significant reduction in non-core food advertising from 2007 to 2009 by AFGC signatories compared with non-signatory companies overall and during peak times, when the largest numbers of children were viewing. There was no reduction in the rate of non-core food advertisements by all companies, and these advertisements continue to comprise the majority during peak viewing times.

Discussion. While some companies have responded to pressures to reduce unhealthy food advertising on television, the impact of the self-regulatory code is limited by the extent of uptake by food companies. The continued advertising of unhealthy foods indicates that this self-regulatory code does not adequately protect children.