Disrupting the new orthodoxy: Emergency intervention and Indigenous social policy

This article develops a critical analysis of the ideological framework that informed the Australian Federal government’s 2007 intervention into Northern Territory Indigenous communities (ostensibly to address the problem of child sexual abuse). Continued by recently elected Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, the NT ‘emergency response’ has aroused considerable public debate and scholarly inquiry. In addressing what amounts to a broad bi-partisan approach to Indigenous issues we highlight the way in which Indigenous communities are problematised and therefore subject to interventionist regimes that override differentiated Indigenous voices and intensify an internalised sense of rage occasioned by disempowering interventionist projects. We further argue that in rushing through the emergency legislation and suspending parts of the Racial Discrimination Act, the Howard and Rudd governments have in various ways perpetuated racialised and neo-colonial forms of intervention that override the rights of Indigenous people. Such policy approaches require critical understanding on the part of professions involved most directly in community practice, particularly when it comes to mounting effective opposition campaigns. The article offers a contribution to this end

Southeast Asian Macroeconomic Management: Pragmatic Orthodoxy?

This article provides an introductory analytical survey of macroeconomic policies andoutcomes in seven Southeast Asian economies, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, ThePhilippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It draws on the framework proposed byCorden (1996) to explain the generally good macroeconomic outcomes in the earlierWorld Bank study of the East Asian ‘miracle economies'. The main conclusion is that,notwithstanding the institutional and economic diversity of the seven, macroeconomicoutcomes have generally been good. However, there are some notable exceptions tothis generalization, and the unfinished reform agenda is substantial in some countrie

Essays and studies in youth justice, crime and social control

The thesis contains a report on the published work of Richard HiI covering the nature, thematic content, significance and origins of this work in relation to selected areas of inquiry. The document also contains, as appendices, a full bibliography of selected work published by Richard Hil, a significantly abbreviated curriculum vitae, and a chronology of select research and allied publications.The following report examines the contribution my publications have made over the course of a twenty-year career in government departments (in Britain) and academic institutions (in Australia) to advancing scholarly inquiry in the areas of Youth Justice, Young People and Social Welfare, and Criminology. In the section dealing with Youth Justice publications I have given patiicular attention to a dominant and coherent area of study under the heading Families, Crime and Juvenile Justice. The conmmon thematic content of my publications focuses on the ways in which celiain individuals and social groups perceive and experience systems of social control. Additionally, the report highlights a range of allied pUblications that have dealt with the consequences of largely state-sponsored policies and practices in relation to a range of 'subject populations'. It is argued that my contribution to advancing knowledge in the above areas has been achieved in two primary ways: (a) through a range of original pubEcations based on theoretical and empirical studies, and substantial polemical and critical work; (b) through significant engagement in scholarly debate and discussion (including citation of my work in the publications of other academics) and facilitation of reflexive discussion an10ng social welfare practitioners and policy makers. Finally, the report attempts to contextualise my publications through a detailed discussion of the personal and intellectual origins of my work over the past two decades. The latter involves a general review of the sociological, criminological and social welfare literature relating to a prevailing concern with what I have broadly tenned the 'phenomenology of social control'

Trans Care

A radical and necessary rethinking of trans care What does it mean for trans people to show up for one another, to care deeply for one another? How have failures of care shaped trans lives? What care practices have trans subjects and communities cultivated in the wake of widespread transphobia and systemic forms of trans exclusion? Trans Care is a critical intervention in how care labor and care ethics have been thought, arguing that dominant modes of conceiving and critiquing the politics and distribution of care entrench normative and cis-centric familial structures and gendered arrangements. A serious consideration of trans survival and flourishing requires a radical rethinking of how care operates. Forerunners is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital works. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship

Practical initialization of homoclinic orbits from a Bogdanov-Takens point

In a recent paper [IJBC, 24(04):1450057, 2014], we improved the theoretical base for the initialization of homoclinic orbits. However, practical application of this method is not very robust without the consideration of some numerical issues. We deal with these issues and provide examples from a robust implementation of the initialization procedure in the software package MatCont [ACM Trans. Math. Software, 29(2):141–164, 2003]

A dynamic neural model of localization of brief successive stimuli in saltation

Somatosensory saltation is an illusion robustly generated using short tactile stimuli [1,2]. There is a perceived displacement of a first stimulus if followed by a subsequent nearby stimulus with a short stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). Experimental reports suggest that this illusion results from spatiotemporal integration in early processing stages, but the exact neural mechanism is unknown. The neuronal mechanism involved is probably quite generic as similar phenomena occur in other modalities, audition for example [3]

Soya bean tempe extracts show antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus cells and spores

Aims: Tempe, a Rhizopus ssp.-fermented soya bean food product, was investigated for bacteriostatic and/or bactericidal effects against cells and spores of the food-borne pathogen Bacillus cereus. Methods and results: Tempe extract showed a high antibacterial activity against B. cereus ATCC 14579 based on optical density and viable count measurements. This growth inhibition was manifested by a 4 log CFU ml-1 reduction, within the first 15 min of exposure. Tempe extracts also rapidly inactivated B. cereus spores upon germination. Viability and membrane permeability assessments using fluorescence probes showed rapid inactivation and permeabilization of the cytoplasmic membrane confirming the bactericidal mode of action. Cooked beans and Rhizopus grown on different media did not show antibacterial activity, indicating the unique association of the antibacterial activity with tempe. Subsequent characterization of the antibacterial activity revealed that heat treatment and protease addition nullified the bactericidal effect, indicating the proteinaceous nature of the bioactive compound. Conclusions: During fermentation of soya beans with Rhizopus, compounds are released with extensive antibacterial activity against B. cereus cells and spores. Significance and Impact of Study: The results show the potential of producing natural antibacterial compounds that could be used as ingredients in food preservation and pathogen contro

Towards a computational model for stimulation of the Pedunculopontine nucleus

The pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) has recently been suggested as a new therapeutic target for deep brain stimulation (DBS) in patients suffering from Parkinson's disease, particularly those with severe gait and postural impairment [1]. Stimulation at this site is typically delivered at low frequencies in contrast to the high frequency stimulation required for therapeutic benefit in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) [1]. Despite real therapeutic successes, the fundamental physiological mechanisms underlying the effect of DBS are still not understood. A hypothesis is that DBS masks the pathological synchronized firing patterns of the basal ganglia that characterize the Parkinsonian state with a regularized firing pattern. It remains unclear why stimulation of PPN should be applied with low frequency in contrast to the high frequency stimulation of STN. To get a better understanding of PPN stimulation we construct a computational model for the PPN Type I neurons in a network