In the Line of Fire: The Challenges of Managing Tourism Operations in the Victorian Alps

Understanding the impact of bushfires on tourism operations in Australian national parks and regional communities is of growing importance, with evidence of their increased frequency and severity linked, in part, to climate change. This is particularly critical for Australian alpine regions, given their greater emphasis on the summer season in the wake of lighter winter snowfalls. This article focuses on management issues and challenges of maintaining tourist operations within the Victorian Alps post-bushfire, including operator reactions to the bushfires and their subsequent implementation (or not) of crisis management and disaster recovery strategies. It is based on a qualitative study involving semistructured interviews with 13 tour operators based in the Mt. Buller and Alpine National Parks. Findings of this study suggest that the majority of operators will experience some impact on their business after the fires, albeit to different degrees, and point to a paucity of forward recovery planning. Operators expressed their concerns about prolonged negative media attention about the fires, but did not have strategies in place to deal with this issue proactively. There appears to be scope for assisting operators on the ground with disaster recovery, including the provision of more positive and timely media communication

Spirituality and Commemorative Events: The Centenary Of World War One In Australia

A number of dark commemorative events have been staged in recent years, marking the anniversaries of incidents that are distressing or involve death or suffering (Frost and Laing, 2013). They are a medium for thinking about and remembering the past and potentially promote healing and provide a sense of closure for those affected, yet there is a paucity of research about them from a socio-cultural perspective. This paper examines the role of the Centenary of World War One in Australia in promoting positive social outcomes that are linked to spiritual development and meaningful experiences. This commemoration of the Great War, to be staged between 2014 and 2018, encompasses a varied program of events including exhibitions, parades, ceremonies and memorial services. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with key stakeholders involved in the planning and management of this commemorative event. Findings suggest that organisers are actively seeking to achieve outcomes such as reconciliation, peace, empathy and compassion and encourage reflection on ideals of sacrifice and service. The Centenary of World War One might therefore be understood as an example of a positive event, a term given to events that seek to facilitate ‘human well-being and conditions (or various circumstances) for flourishing’ (Filep, Laing and Csikszentmihalyi, 2017: 10). The paper addresses the call by Filep, Volic and Lee (2015) for researchers to use positive psychology lenses to explore the social, and in this case, spiritual dimension of events

Long-Distance Walking In \u27The Way\u27: Promises of Healing and Redemption

Films can be a source of inspiration to travel and influence imaginings about travel (Frost, 2010; Frost and Laing, 2015). This paper analyses the depiction of long-distance walking as an activity that promotes healing in The Way (2010); a film about pilgrims on the Camino Way in Spain. The motif of redemption is used to understand this cinematic narrative. It is the third pillar of ‘the Christian eschatological narratives of sin, sacrifice and redemption’ (Taylor, 2001: 10), but also a common element in many sacred stories (McAdams et al., 2001), where the sinner atones for what they have done and is released from or cleansed of their sin. The redemption narrative sequence depicts something positive resulting from adversity and is thus a story of hope (McAdams et al., 2001). Even though the protagonist in The Way begins the journey with the intention of walking solo, grieving for the deatn of his son, it is his encounters with various people along the way that shapes his experience and ultimately provides him with a renewed sense of purpose and meaning in his life. We conclude with a consideration of the practical and theoretical implications of these findings

ΔRR vaccination protects from KA-induced seizures and neuronal loss through ICP10PK-mediated modulation of the neuronal-microglial axis

Ischemic brain injury and epilepsy are common neurodegenerative diseases caused by excitotoxicity. Their pathogenesis includes microglial production of inflammatory cytokines. Our studies were designed to examine whether a growth compromised HSV-2 mutant (ΔRR) prevents excitotoxic injury through modulation of microglial responses by the anti-apoptotic HSV-2 protein ICP10PK. EOC2 and EOC20 microglial cells, which are differentially activated, were infected with ΔRR or the ICP10PK deleted virus (ΔPK) and examined for virus-induced neuroprotective activity. Both cell lines were non-permissive for virus growth, but expressed ICP10PK (ΔRR) or the PK deleted ICP10 protein p95 (ΔPK). Conditioned medium (CM) from ΔRR-, but not ΔPK-infected cells prevented N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-induced apoptosis of primary hippocampal cultures, as determined by TUNEL and caspase-3 activation (76.9 ± 5.3% neuroprotection). Neuroprotection was associated with inhibition of TNF-α and RANTES and production of IL-10. The CM from ΔPK-infected EOC2 and EOC20 cells did not contain IL-10, but it contained TNF-α and RANTES. IL-10 neutralization significantly (p < 0.01) decreased, but did not abrogate, the neuroprotective activity of the CM from ΔRR-infected microglial cultures indicating that ICP10PK modulates the neuronal-microglial axis, also through induction of various microglial neuroprotective factors. Rats given ΔRR (but not ΔPK) by intranasal inoculation were protected from kainic acid (KA)-induced seizures and neuronal loss in the CA1 hippocampal fields. Protection was associated with a significant (p < 0.001) increase in the numbers of IL-10+ microglia (CD11b+) as compared to ΔPK-treated animals. ΔRR is a promising vaccination/therapy platform for neurodegeneration through its pro-survival functions in neurons as well as microglia modulation

Travel as Hell: Exploring the Katabatic Structure of Travel Fiction

positive and negative sense. Many novels depict travel in terms of ‘hell,’ depicting journeys that are exhausting, dangerous, and nightmarish. This narrative can be explored using the concept of the katabasis. Drawn from Ancient Greek mythology, it literally means ‘the descent,’ and more generally a journey to hell and back. The underworld is a ‘realm of death,’ where sacrifices are often demanded and the ‘other’ is encountered. Where the traveller returns, they are usually irrevocably changed by the experience. Erling Holtsmark observes that the central motif of these sojourns is identity: “The journey is in some central, irreducible way a journey of self-discovery, a quest for a lost self.” Through suffering, the traveller learns what they are capable of and understands themselves more deeply. The reader also absorbs the lesson that while travel is not necessarily straight-forward or enjoyable, the difficult passages and twists are intrinsically rewarding and enlightening. The mythic concept of the katabasis has been applied more broadly to cover fictional journeys drawn from many cultures and across different forms of media, including books and film. It also appears to apply across genres, including the Western, science-fiction, and crime fiction. It has been argued that the katabatic structure provides these fictional or cinematic journeys with resonance and power, and makes them compelling for an audience

Improving professional learning and teaching through the development of a quality process

Investigation of graduate attributes (GAs) and professional standards (PSs) within faculty curriculum development are rare, despite university importance. Examining learning objectives and assessment with PSs and accreditation, this project sought learning and teaching improvements through developing a cross discipline quality assurance process, aligning learning and assessment with PSs and GAs. This paper describes the results of interviews with those responsible for teaching and learning in four faculties at an Australian University. The results indicate that curriculum developers are often unable to align the GAs and PSs that creates challenges for an assurance of students’ learning

The Early Christian and later medieval ecclesiastical site at St Blane's Kingarth, Bute

A reappraisal of the Early Christian monastic site of St Blane's, Kingarth, Isle of Bute, began in 1997. Following a week of field survey including geophysical work a limited area was excavated which had previously been investigated in 1896, south-west of the present churchyard, as well as one small cutting adjacent to the south-east corner of the churchyard. The documentary and other evidence for the early monastery is discussed and the results of both episodes of archaeological work — in 1896 and 1997 — are described