Tourist experiences of individuals with vision impairments

People with visual disabilities Travel Australia. Tourism Research Australia

‘But I can do the job’: examining disability employment practice through human rights complaint cases

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Natural data on the Australian Human Rights Commission’s website outlining the complaint cases generated from Disability Discrimination Act, 1992 (DDA) were used to examine the social construction of disability employment discrimination. Using a social model and human rights citizenship lens, some 987 complaint cases were analysed to assess the prevalence of disability discrimination in employment, and its relationship to the types of disability, gender, entity undertaking the actions and organisational context. Of all complaint cases across the Australian Human Rights Commission’s operations, by far the largest proportion involves disability discrimination. Within the disability discrimination complaint cases, employment makes up the greatest proportion of these cases. In examining the patterns of discrimination seven major themes emerged involving: distinctive patterns across disability type; access to premises; human resource mismanagement; selection of new employees; integration of assistive technology; perception of cost of disability inclusions; and inflexible organisational workplace practices. The discussion examines the underlying reasons for the emergent themes where employers misunderstood key legal concepts that underpin the DDA including: unjustifiable hardship; inherent requirements; reasonable adjustment; direct; and indirect discrimination. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings as a way of understanding the social construction of disability discrimination in employment to signal ways to better develop inclusive organisational practice

Life-Threatening Adenovirus Infections in the Setting of the Immunocompromised Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant Patients

A single institution case series of adenovirus infections after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is presented to highlight the consideration for adenovirus infections as an etiology in patients with rapid hepatic or other sudden organ deterioration in the setting of apparent GVHD stabilization. The series also highlights that survival is limited with these infections often due in part to concomitant opportunistic infections. In addition, the pathophysiological events, such as GVHD and hepatic dysfunction, may complicate the clinical picture and delay therapy of an opportunistic infection. This is particularly true for adenoviral infections as they also have a distinct clinical picture in immunocompromised patients when compared to immune competent patients. Adenovirus infections also have the additional challenge that its treatment, cidofovir, has associated toxicities that can delay its administration. Recent developments has yielded an assay that can be used in the early detection and for serial determinations of adenovirus in patients with advanced GVHD, as well as a new therapeutic agent currently undergoing clinical trials

DESIGNING AND TESTING A PARK-BASED VISITOR SURVEY

This technical report is part of a broader national project ‘Systematic and strategic collection and use of visitor information in protected area management’, funded by Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC), and conducted in partnership with protected area agencies across Australia. The aim of this report is to provide a systematic approach to using a set of core variables to collect data in a way that can be consistently applied across Australian protected areas. This information is most relevant to park-level management, but is also of central interest for corporate reporting. An associated aim was to develop and test a questionnaire for collecting these data. The questionnaire was developed and tested in collaboration with the WA Department of Environment and Conservation (WA DEC) and Parks Australia (PA). Surveys were conducted in Yanchep National Park, a moderately sized peri-urban park managed by WA DEC, in April 2008 and in Booderee National Park, NSW, which encompasses marine features and a botanic garden, and is managed by Parks Australia (PA), in January 2009. In WA following the survey, a focus group was held with staff to obtain their feedback on the efficacy of the questionnaire. The following recommendations are based on statistical analyses of the results, feedback from the focus group, and the observations of the researchers conducting the surveys

FAILURE OF TRANSMISSION OF LOW-PATHOGENIC AVIAN INFLUENZA VIRUS BETWEEN MALLARDS AND FRESHWATER SNAILS: AN EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION

In aquatic bird populations, the ability of avian influenza (AI) viruses to remain infectious in water for extended periods provides a mechanism that allows viral transmission to occur long after shedding birds have left the area. However, this also exposes other aquatic organisms, including freshwater invertebrates, to AI viruses. Previous researchers found that AI viral RNA can be sequestered in snail tissues. Using an experimental approach, we determined whether freshwater snails (Physa acuta and Physa gyrina) can infect waterfowl with AI viruses by serving as a means of transmission between infected and naı¨ve waterfowl via ingestion. In our first experiment, we exposed 20 Physa spp. snails to an AI virus (H3N8) and inoculated embryonated specific pathogen–free (SPF) chicken eggs with the homogenized snail tissues. Sequestered AI viruses remain infectious in snail tissues; 10% of the exposed snail tissues infected SPF eggs. In a second experiment, we exposed snails to water contaminated with feces of AI virus–inoculated Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) to evaluate whether ingestion of exposed freshwater snails was an alternate route of AI virus transmission to waterfowl. None of the immunologically naı¨ve Mallards developed an infection, indicating that transmission via ingestion likely did not occur. Our results suggest that this particular trophic interaction may not play an important role in the transmission of AI viruses in aquatic habitats

Cultural landscapes of tourism in New South Wales and Victoria

The field of cultural landscapes tourism is under-developed in Australia at the level of theory, research and policy development. Yet international research suggests that cultural landscapes tourism has significant potential in attracting new tourists. This research project is a scoping study designed to set out the parameters involved in cultural landscapes tourism research in Australia. It aims to identify how cultural heritage and contemporary cultural diversity impact on visitor experience and on local communities. The objective is to assist the Australian tourism industry particularly those located in regional and rural areas in understanding the growing importance of cultural tourism, by developing a number of case studies of cultural landscapes tourism in two Australia states. These case studies provide examples of existing tourism in a range of different cultural landscape sites, enabling the development of a process by which to identify change in cultural heritage tourism regions, including examining how multicultural precincts can operate as sustainable tourism destinations. Fieldwork with tourists and stakeholders will enable the development of industry strategies to increase tourism in the future. In addition, this fieldwork will facilitate the development of an innovative, multi-disciplinary theory of cultural landscapes tourism. This will set the stage for future research and policy development

Numerical Investigation of Pyrolysis Gas Blowing Pattern and Thermal Response using Orthotropic Charring Ablative Material

An orthotropic material model is implemented in a three-dimensional material response code, and numerically studied for charring ablative material. Model comparison is performed using an iso-Q sample geometry. The comparison is presented using pyrolysis gas streamlines and time series of temperature at selected virtual thermocouples. Results show that orthotropic permeability affects both pyrolysis gas flow and thermal response, but orthotropic thermal conductivity essentially changes the thermal performance of the material. The effect of orthotropic properties may have practical use such that the material performance can be manipulated by altering the angle of orthotropic orientation

High-resolution state-selected ion-molecule reaction studies using pulsed field ionization photoelectron-secondary ion coincidence method

We have developed an octopole-quadrupole photoionization apparatus at the Advanced Light Source for absolute integral cross-section measurements of rovibrational-state-selected ion-molecule reactions. This apparatus consists of a high-resolution photoionization ion source, a wired ion gate lens, a dual radio-frequency (rf) octopole ion guide reaction gas cell, and a quadrupole mass spectrometer for reactant and product ion detection. The unique feature of this apparatus is the implementation of the high-resolution pulsed field ionization-photoelectron (PFI-PE)-photoion coincidence (PFI-PEPICO) technique, which has allowed the rotational-state selection of diatomic ions for ion-molecule reaction studies. The novel application of the wired ion gate lens for the rejection of false coincidence background ions is described. This application, along with the differential-ion-gate scheme, has made possible the measurements of rovibrational-state-selected absolute integral reaction cross sections for ion-molecule collisions using the PFI-PE-secondary ion coincidence PFI-PESICO method. The successful measurement of absolute state-selected cross sections for H2 + (X,v+,N+)+Ar(Ne) with v+ up to 17 [the third to the last vibrational state of H2+(X)] demonstrates the high sensitivity of this differential-ion-gate PFI-PESICO method. In order to gain a detailed understanding and to obtain optimal performance of the wired ion gate lens for PFI-PESICO measurements, we have carried out ion trajectory calculations of reactant ions between the photoionization region and the rf-octopole ion guide. On the basis of these calculations, possible future improvements for the application of this differential-ion-gate PFI-PESICO scheme are discussed

Ultrastructural and functional fate of recycled vesicles in hippocampal synapses

Efficient recycling of synaptic vesicles is thought to be critical for sustained information transfer at central terminals. However, the specific contribution that retrieved vesicles make to future transmission events remains unclear. Here we exploit fluorescence and time-stamped electron microscopy to track the functional and positional fate of vesicles endocytosed after readily releasable pool (RRP) stimulation in rat hippocampal synapses. We show that most vesicles are recovered near the active zone but subsequently take up random positions in the cluster, without preferential bias for future use. These vesicles non-selectively queue, advancing towards the release site with further stimulation in an actin-dependent manner. Nonetheless, the small subset of vesicles retrieved recently in the stimulus train persist nearer the active zone and exhibit more privileged use in the next RRP. Our findings reveal heterogeneity in vesicle fate based on nanoscale position and timing rules, providing new insights into the origins of future pool constitution