Adventures, hardship and a scientific legacy : Ludwig Leichhardt's 1843 journey to Mt Royal in the Hunter Valley, NSW

In January 1843, curiosity for natural history led a young German naturalist, Ludwig Leichhardt, to spend about three weeks exploring Mt Royal on the north of the Hunter Valley, about 70 km north west of Newcastle, New South Wales. This was a sidetrack on his journey from Newcastle, through the Hunter Valley and inland to Moreton Bay (Brisbane) and preceded the journeys for which he was to become famous; his 1844–45 overland journey from Moreton Bay to Port Essington (in Northern Territory) and his disappearance without trace in 1848 attempting to cross Australia. Using his Diary and herbarium records this paper brings together the chronological events of the 29 year old Leichhardt’s journey, the plant and animal species recorded, the specimens collected and his landscape descriptions and compares the 1843 landscape with the area today. Most of it is now in Mount Royal National Park, and part of the Gondwana Rainforest Reserves World Heritage Area. Using Mt Royal as an example of the richness of Leichhardt’s scientific legacy, we draw attention to the existence of a considerable number of Leichhardt’s plant specimens in herbaria in Sydney and Melbourne relating to his early collecting around Sydney and the little-known journey from Newcastle to Moreton Bay. Leichhardt’s visit to Mt Royal provides an insight into a gifted young naturalist coping with some of the hardships of nineteenth century botanical exploration, in a landscape which is easily recognizable and of which much is remarkably little changed since European settlement

External Perceptions of the European Union: A Survey of New Zealanders' Perceptions and Attitudes towards the European Union. NCRE Research Series No. 1, February-March 2003

[From the Introduction] The changing profile of New Zealand society, the possible weakening of traditional ties to the UK, as well as New Zealand’s potential Asian “identity”, all serve to underline the need for empirical analysis of contemporary general public perceptions of Europe, one of the dominant economic, political and cultural partners for New Zealand. On the other side of this important relationship, the European Union places great value on its external relations. This initial study offers a unique view of the EU from the outside; the findings constitute the beginning of a longer-term analysis of NZ-EU perceptions. This brochure presents the results and concluding comments of a quantitative study of the perceptions of the EU among New Zealand citizens. The study was launched and carried out by the National Centre for Research on Europe, at the University of Canterbury. These results are the first of their kind in New Zealand. There has been no previous study that explores public opinion on the EU within New Zealand. It is hoped that this report will be useful to all those interested in this important region. It is also anticipated that the survey will be repeated at regular intervals to track the trends in New Zealand views of the EU

On blocks of Deligne's category Rep(S_t)

Recently P. Deligne introduced the tensor category Rep(S_t) (for t not necessarily an integer) which in a certain precise sense interpolates the categories Rep(S_d) of representations of the symmetric groups S_d. In this paper we describe the blocks of Deligne's category Rep(S_t).Comment: 43 pages, final version, includes an added appendix as well as other modifications recommended by the refere

The scope of ECT practice in South Africa

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) involves the administration of an electrical current to the brain in order to produce a tonic-clonic seizure which is deemed therapeutic. It is an effective and safe procedure for the treatment of severe mental illnesses such as major depression, mania and schizophrenia. Currently little is known about the characteristics of ECT practice in South Africa. This study aims to determine current electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) practice and to compare it with reported ECT practice internationally. This is a retrospective, descriptive study, to determine the characteristics of ECT practice in South Africa; data was collected using a self-report questionnaire. The study population consisted of doctors and nurses who practiced ECT in any 12 month period between 2011 and 2012. Both private and state facilities were included in the study. Initially contact was made with hospital mental health facilities to ascertain whether an ECT machine was present on site. Once formal approval was obtained from the appropriate designated bodies, questionnaires were sent to clinical staff involved in ECT at active sites. The 36-item questionnaire covered relevant questions on: utilization rates, equipment, staffing, practice and monitoring parameters, and indications for use. Forty two institutions had an ECT machine on site, of which thirteen institutions reported non-use. Questionnaires were sent to the 29 active ECT sites. Facilities responding to the questionnaire amounted to 83% (n=24), but of these, 21 units responded to the ECT utilization questions. ECT is performed as a modified procedure in six provinces by psychiatrists, registrars, medical officers and general practitioners. In-and outpatient ECT is offered in 79% (n=19) of hospitals. The number of persons treated with ECT/10 000 population per year (ppy) is 0.22 while the number of ECT procedures/10 000 ppy is 1.19. More patients in the private sector receive ECT as a treatment modality than in the public sector (U = 22, p = 0.045). ECT is performed in a minor theatre/operating room in 79% of units, while the rest is performed in a treatment room. All but one unit had a separate recovery room. Informed consent or assent was used in all institutions. Pre-ECT work-up most commonly involved a physical examination (95.5%, n = 21) and basic blood work investigations (87%, n=20). Bilateral, unilateral and bifrontal electrode placements are used, while various dosage- determination and monitoring methods are employed. The vast majority of patients (89.22%, n=869) receiving ECT are between the ages of 18 and 59. The most common indication for ECT is depression (84.77%, n=796). The utilization rate in South Africa is similar to that of countries like Bulgaria, Poland and India, but less than that of some high-income countries. Even though ECT practices in South Africa generally follow international guidelines, standardisation of practice is still recommended

Beginner\u27s Mind

My art distills my relationship to spirituality, digital culture, and the practices and side-effects therein, into a simplified visual language. The work manifests in the form of paintings, drawings, and light sculptures. Meditation and mindfulness training are a large part of my influence and interests. I often wonder how mindfulness practice can be mirrored in my artwork, not only in my process for creating the work, but also with what the resulting imagery does for the viewer. My intention is to provide an art form that invites one to look and experience one’s own capacity to observe, without the need for immediate intellectualization. I wish to offer people an opportunity to focus their attention on the phenomenological sensations that emanate from the art, to take a step back from the conceptual part of the mind, and step into a part that’s more fundamental to our moment to moment reality

Developmental constraints do not influence long-term phenotypic evolution of marsupial forelimbs as revealed by interspecific disparity and integration patterns

Marsupials show a smaller range of forelimb ecomorphologies than placental mammals, and it is hypothesized that this results from macroevolutionary constraints imposed by the specialized reproductive biology of marsupials. Specifically, the accelerated development of the marsupial forelimb allows neonates to crawl to the mother’s pouch but may constrain adult morphology. This hypothesis makes three main predictions: (i) that marsupial forelimbs should show less interspecific disparity than their hindlimbs, (ii) that morphological integration within the marsupial forelimb is stronger than integration between limbs, and (iii) that these patterns should be strongest in diprotodontians, which undergo the most rigorous crawls as neonates. We use a three-dimensional geometric morphometric data set of limb bones for 51 marsupial species to test these predictions. We find that (i) marsupial forelimbs and hindlimbs show similar disparities, (ii) no clear differences in integration exist either within or between limbs, and (iii) the same patterns occur in diprotodontians as in other marsupials, even correcting for lineage age. Therefore, there is currently little evidence that the developmental biology of marsupials has constrained their macroevolutionary patterns. It is possible that functional selection can overcome the effects of developmental constraint on macroevolutionary timescales. Our findings suggest that the role of developmental constraints in explaining the limited phenotypic variability of marsupials (compared with that of placentals) should be reconsidered

Rapid assembly of highly-functionalised difluorinated cyclooctenones via ring-closing metathesis

Building block methodology from trifluoroethanol and ringclosing metathesis using a Fürstner modification of Grubbs’ conditions allows the rapid synthesis of novel difluorinated cyclooctenones

Introduction to Tapestries Volume 7: Breaking the Shackles of Silence: Knowledge Production as Activism and Resistance

Introduction to volume 7 of Macalester College\u27s journal Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities

Measurement of the 0.511 MeV gamma ray line from the Galactic Center

The detection of the 0.511 MeV electron positron annihilation line coming from the Galactic Center to provide the means to estimate the rate of positron production and to test some theoretical sources of positrons is addressed. The results of the measurements of the 0.511 MeV line flux made with a gamma ray experiment on board a stratospheric balloon are presented. The detector field of view looked at the galactic longitude range -31 deg l(II) +41 deg. The observed flux is 0.0067 (+ or - 0.0005) photons 1/cm(2)5 which is in very good agreement with the expected flux when assuming that the Galactic Center is a line source emitting uniformly

Metabolomic study of the LDL receptor null mouse fed a high-fat diet reveals profound perturbations in choline metabolism that are shared with ApoE null mice

Failure to express or expression of dysfunctional low-density lipoprotein receptors (LDLR) causes familial hypercholesterolemia in humans, a disease characterized by elevated blood cholesterol concentrations, xanthomas, and coronary heart disease, providing compelling evidence that high blood cholesterol concentrations cause atherosclerosis. In this study, we used 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to examine the metabolic profiles of plasma and urine from the LDLR knockout mice. Consistent with previous studies, these mice developed hypercholesterolemia and atherosclerosis when fed a high-fat/cholesterol/cholate-containing diet. In addition, multivariate statistical analysis of the metabolomic data highlighted significant differences in tricarboxylic acid cycle and fatty acid metabolism, as a result of high-fat/cholesterol diet feeding. Our metabolomic study also demonstrates that the effect of high-fat/cholesterol/cholate diet, LDLR gene deficiency, and the diet-genotype interaction caused a significant perturbation in choline metabolism, notably the choline oxidation pathway. Specifically, the loss in the LDLR caused a marked reduction in the urinary excretion of betaine and dimethylglycine, especially when the mice are fed a high-fat/cholesterol/cholate diet. Furthermore, as we demonstrate that these metabolic changes are comparable with those detected in ApoE knockout mice fed the same high-fat/cholesterol/cholate diet they may be useful for monitoring the onset of atherosclerosis across animal models