An anthropologist's perspective on criminal justice in North Queensland

The vastly over-representative incarceration rates of indigenous adults and youth in Australia (especially in the North) are underpinned by ongoing profound cultural tensions which in turn drive economic marginalisation of indigenous populations. This paper outlines some explanatory frameworks that may help the law and justice community better understand how cultural difference (particularly with regard to economic personhood) and economic inequality drive criminalisation of indigenous people in North Queensland. The concept of the Possessive Individual is central to normative capitalist behaviour but is a mode of economic personhood alien to indigenous Australians. While I do not have case material to offer from Australia, I provide salient illustrations from neighbouring Melanesian cultures, which are similar in many respects. The economic marginalisation that ensues from cultural incompatibility with the dominant settler capitalist population exacerbates inequality, which is now empirically linked with a range of social problems, including mental illness, substance abuse, depression, suicide, violence and other conditions that are strongly correlated with criminality. I argue that greater cultural and social scientific literacy among the North Queensland law and justice community regarding these particular issues could greatly improve engagements with the indigenous community and ultimately reduce their representation within the custodial system

Conserving Melanesia’s coral reef heritage in the face of climate change

In this article I use the lens of natural heritage to examine the nexus between Western and Melanesian ways of conceptualising and valuing coral reefs. I discuss the impacts of various pressures, including rising sea temperatures, on the ecological functioning of coral reefs and their ability to deliver ecosystem services, primarily fisheries, to the people who own and depend on them. I argue that while demand from Chinese markets has led to over-harvesting of a number of artisanal fisheries, the impact of subsistence fishing is still limited by relatively low human population densities. Escalating pressure on sharks (for their fins) looks likely to seriously damage shark populations in the near future. Despite these threats the ecological resilience of most Melanesian reefs, with localised exceptions, does not appear to be seriously threatened at present. However projected increases in the severity and frequency of coral bleaching, along with increasing subsistence and artisanal fishing pressures are likely to lead to significant and possibly irreversible degradation of reefs in the region before long, unless more culturally enlightened approaches to marine resource management and economic development are embraced by aid donors and non-government organisations

Project 1: Characterising the neural potential of dental pulp mesenchymal stem cells in comparison to other mesenchymal stem cell sources for neural stem cell generation And Project 2: Investigating the role of the dynamic synaptic cleft size and its role in plastic processes

Project 1: Generating novel neurons in vitro would be beneficial for replacement therapies, however accessing neural stem cells is dangerous. This study focused on characterizing the neural induced stem cells from three mesenchymal stem cell sources, adipose, bone marrow and dental pulp, through semi-quantitative PCR analysis and immunofluorescence staining. Dental pulp stem cells showed the fewest mesenchymal signs prior to induction, however both adipose and bone marrow stem cells showed a reduction after treatment. This study suggests that CD133 and vimentin are promising targets to indicate neural/mesenchymal phenotypes. No cell type was found to be favourable for neural induction. Project 2: Synaptic cleft size is likely to play a role in endogenous long-term potentiation (LTP). Smaller synaptic clefts will allow efficient transfer of neurotransmitters. Previous investigations into the synaptic cleft size have relied on fixation, altering the synaptic structure, creating inaccurate results. We used fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) microscopy with lipophilic dyes, DiI and DiO, to indirectly measure synaptic cleft size in vitro. We have shown the use of FRET microscopy to examine dynamic changes in neuronal populations. Our data suggests an enlargement of synaptic clefts following aldehyde fixation. Unexpectedly, the synaptic cleft also appears to enlarge after forskolin induced LTP

Characterising the role of AMIGO3 in oligodendrocytes and demyelinating diseases

Demyelination disrupts neuronal signalling and can have profound effects on neurological control. No therapies currently exist to encourage remyelination and treatment options are based on preventing further demyelination highlighting the need to develop effective therapies for demyelinating diseases. Recent trials aimed at the leucine rich repeat (LRR) protein, LINGO1 to encourage remyelination have shown promising preclinical data however phase II clinical trials have been unsuccessful. The analogous LRR protein, AMIGO3 is predicted to overcome LINGO1 inhibition and therefore needs to be investigated for its role in oligodendroglia. We have investigated the expression profile of AMIGO3 in myelination and demyelinating disease. AMIGO3 is upregulated rapidly in oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) following trauma and in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Downregulation of AMIGO3 also corresponds with development myelination however AMIGO3 mRNA levels do not change following induction of OPC maturation in vitro. As AMIGO3 is raised following trauma, AMIGO3 could provide a pathological inhibition of OPC maturation in demyelinating diseases. We have also identified the NgR1 receptor complex on OPCs highlighting a potential biding partner that AMIGO3 could function through in disease. These data suggest that therapies aimed at inhibiting AMIGO3 will be promising in encouraging remyelination and treating demyelinating diseases

Fish rejections in the marine aquarium trade: an initial case study raises concern for village-based fisheries

A major difficulty in managing wildlife trade is the reliance on trade data (rather than capture data) to monitor exploitation of wild populations. Collected organisms that die or are rejected before a point of sale often go unreported. For the global marine aquarium trade, identifying the loss of collected fish from rejection, prior to export, is a first step in assessing true collection levels. This study takes a detailed look at fish rejections by buyers before export using the Papua New Guinea marine aquarium fishery as a case study. Utilizing collection invoices detailing the species and quantity of fish (Actinopteri and Elasmobranchii) accepted or rejected by the exporting company it was determined that, over a six month period, 24.2% of the total fish catch reported (n = 13,886) was rejected. Of the ten most collected fish families, rejection frequency was highest for the Apogonidae (54.2%), Chaetodontidae (26.3%), and Acanthuridae (18.2%) and lowest for Labridae (6.6%) and Hemiscylliidae (0.7%). The most frequently cited reasons for rejection were fin damage (45.6% of cases), undersized fish (21.8%), and fish deemed too thin (11.1%). Despite fishers receiving feedback on invoices explaining rejections, there was no improvement in rejection frequencies over time (r = -0.33, P = 0.15) with weekly rejection frequencies being highly inconsistent (range: 2.8% to 79.4%; s = 16.3%). These findings suggest that export/import statistics can greatly underestimate collection for the marine aquarium trade as additional factors such as fisher discards, escapees, post-collection mortalities, and unregulated domestic trade would further contribute to this disparity

Tourist initiatives and extreme wilderness in the Nakanai Mountains (PNG)

In 2013, the Government of Papua New Guinea identified East New Britain as the country’s tourism centre. Tourism operators in the provincial capital welcomed thegovernment’s plan, but warned that poor infrastructure and the country’s bad image overseas could prevent it from reaping the benefits of ‘huge’ tourism potential.Landowners in the Tentative World Heritage area of the Nakanai Mountains are keen to tap into the perceived potential of tourism development and are creatively monetising their rugged environment in the hope of attracting tourists for adventure tourism. Thedevelopment of adventure tourism initiatives tap into notions of wild and rugged landscapes, combined with Western fantasies involving travel to dangerous places(mountains, jungles, caves, cascading rivers). We argue that, unless local communities are able to effectively exercise power and control over tourism ventures, the desire to proclaim ecotourism as the ideal alternative form of development risks subsuming local communities and their livelihoods into a future defined primarily by outsiders

Adoption and diffusion of technical capacity-building innovations by small-scale artisanal fishers in Fiji

Adoption of innovations by farmers and fishers can depend on factors specific to both individuals and their social contexts. Research on the adoption and diffusion of innovations promoted through capacity-building training can provide lessons to support the design and implementation of future development programs. We assess the adoption, diffusion, and outcomes of a livelihoods training program focused on improving postharvest handling and processing of sea cucumbers in 29 coastal villages in Fiji. One year after delivery of the training program, we conducted interviews with sea cucumber fishers (n = 278) and commercial processors (n = 12), as well as focus group discussions (n = 27) with women to examine: (1) which modes of training (training video, manual, and workshops) were most useful; (2) individual- and community-scale characteristics related to adoption and knowledge sharing; (3) whether training produced long-term changes in processing methods used by fishers; and (4) perceived barriers to adoption. Among fishers who were exposed to two or more modes of training (n = 97), most (65%) reported the workshop and manual to be equally useful. Knowledge about the improved methods was shared by 71% of trained fishers and occurred more frequently among women (80%) than men (64%). Trained fishers used shorter, less variable first cooking durations than untrained fishers, and differences were significant for two of six sea cucumber species groups. Adoption and knowledge sharing was not significantly related to the multiscale characteristics examined (age, gender, education, resource dependence, village population size, market access). Some fishers could not access salt for processing, and others were constrained by patron-client relationships. Our study shows that technical capacity-building can benefit from complementary training modes, however other constraints on adoption (e.g., access to materials, patron-client relationships) may need to be addressed to achieve the full benefits of training programs

Tourist Initiatives and Extreme Wilderness in the Nakanai Mountains of New Britain

In 2013, the Government of Papua New Guinea identified East New Britain as the country’s tourism centre. Tourism operators in the provincial capital welcomed the government’s plan, but warned that poor infrastructure and the country’s bad image overseas could prevent it from reaping the benefits of ‘huge’ tourism potential. Landowners in the Tentative World Heritage area of the Nakanai Mountains are keen to tap into the perceived potential of tourism development and are creatively monetising their rugged environment in the hope of attracting tourists for adventure tourism. The development of adventure tourism initiatives tap into notions of wild and rugged landscapes, combined with Western fantasies involving travel to dangerous places (mountains, jungles, caves, cascading rivers). We argue that, unless local communities are able to effectively exercise power and control over tourism ventures, the desire to proclaim ecotourism as the ideal alternative form of development risks subsuming local communities and their livelihoods into a future defined primarily by outsiders