General paralysis of the insane: with special reference to its treatment by malaria

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The Durban water tank system

The Durban water tank syste

Contest and co-option : the struggle for schooling in the African independent churches of the Cape Colony

The establishment of schools by independent African churches reflected changes in the complex amalgam of forces that constituted the social fabric of ordinary black people in the Cape Colony between 1895 and 1920. These churches and schools were in part a creative response to discriminatory mission church politics, a general decline in black economic fortunes, and changes in the nature of black political mobilisation. However, the advent of independent church schools did not merely reflect an ideological preoccupation with colonial dominance. They were initiated to meet a range of educational needs articulated by numbers of urban and rural blacks. This demand for educational opportunities signalled the progressive incorporation of formal western education within the social lives of many black people in the Cape. Moreover, in this crucial period, schooling in the Cape Colony was being segregated as the principal element in a programme introduced by the Education Department to curtail spending on black education and to boost subsidies to white education. Blacks were therefore limited to mission schools which were inadequate and characterised by a lack of community control. Consequently, independent church communities were preoccupied with the politics of access and control in the schools. Within the gradually unfolding Cape education 'system', missionary control was tenuous in the uncoordinated rural mission outstation schools. There, independent school communities seized the opportunity to pursue their own objectives. However, each group of independent church schools was in some way conditioned by the ability of colonial representatives to dictate the political, financial and administrative terms of their existence. In this respect, the independent school communities negotiated the ambiguous terrain between the poles of contest and co-option. The more successful initiatives managed to solicit Education Department funding while minimising interference from white intermediaries, school inspectors and mission church agents. Nevertheless, government recognition and funding mechanisms facilitated the eventual capture of the independent schools within the colonial education system. Thus, this work reflects as much on the emergence of the Cape education system, as on the question of resistance to mission control. The independent church schools were not solely characterised by contest with missionaries or the government education authorities. African Christian school communities in rural locations in the Eastern Cape were divided internally by school, ethnic and church allegiances which affected their access to scarce commodities such as education and land. Competition over access to schooling therefore gave rise to serious conflict between African independent church adherents, and groups that remained loyal to the mission churches. In contrast, independent school initiatives in the rural Western Cape were characterised less by intra-community conflicts, than by bureaucratic engagement with the Education Department hierarchy, and the utilisation of supra-ethnic and supra-denominational political conduits such as the African Political Organisation

Peri-urbanisation, Social Heterogeneity and Ecological Simplification

Peri-urban development pressure on and near Australian coastlines is resulting in the conversion of agricultural land for rural-residential use. The impact of larger and more diverse human populations upon the ecological assets remaining in agricultural landscapes has consequently become a policy concern. This paper contributes to these policy debates by integrating the results of parallel social and ecological research projects commissioned to improve natural resource management in peri-urbanising regions. The research was undertaken in the case study region of South East Queensland, the region supporting Australia’s most rapid population growth. Our results indicate that both social and ecological communities cross a fragmentation threshold due to peri-urban development whereby they become ecologically simple and socially heterogeneous in a coupling that cedes a poor diagnosis for biodiversity retention.stored soil water, dryland grain cropping, extension, social systems, RD&E, differentiation

Managing Grassy Woodlands: Balancing Production and Conservation of Resources

Eastern Australian eucalypt woodlands are important agricultural areas that have been widely modified during two centuries of European-style use. Despite this they contain important natural resources including significant biodiversity. Long term sustainability of production depends on maintaining resources and management must be for both production and conservation. A research program on four properties in south east Queensland showed the properties were in generally good condition although all had some problems, and has highlighted a number of significant costs and barriers to adopting a more balanced approach to production and conservation

Rangeland Ecosystem Services: Improving Decisions with a Systematic Approach

Delivering ecosystem services from rangelands represents a unique challenge. While social, ecological and economic complexity and diversity often lend stability to rangeland systems, the broad array of services, users and connections makes the process of identifying what services to manage for, which management practices are most effective and how to deliver them challenging. In addition, lag times between management changes and responses, climatic variability and changes in demand can further complicate decision-making. We propose a structured process that includes: (1) inventory of existing conditions; (2) identification of relevant scenarios; (3) stakeholder involvement; and (4) monitoring for verification based on the unique nature of rangelands as complex socio-ecological systems. Our objectives are to improve the quality of management planning and implementation by land managers, better inform the policies and programs that assist managers and to enhance the credibility of delivery systems. The goal of this approach is to improve sustainability by expanding the mix of ecosystem services rangelands can deliver and stabilizing income to support people who depend on rangelands

Economic Trade-Offs of Novel Forage Use in Livestock Production Systems: Insights from Australia

Globally, livestock are a major component of agricultural systems and natural resource management, as well as an important contributor to nutrition and livelihoods, but are often undervalued (Herrero et al., 2009). In Australia, livestock production systems occupy half of the available land and contribute to ~50% of gross agricultural production. The main livestock systems are beef cattle grazing at low intensity in the arid and semi-arid regions of northern and central Australia; and sheep flocks integrated in crop-livestock systems in the temperate zone of southern Australia (Bell et al., 2014). Despite increased physical productivity (changes in outputs relative to inputs) in both sectors, real incomes have declined due to adverse terms of trade (Ash et al., 2015). Pressures are compounded by increasing public scrutiny on environmental performance and need to develop sustainable production practices. This situation has renewed the focus on improving the efficiency of current livestock systems, and coupling improvements in profitability to improvements in the natural resources. Diversifying feeding systems to overcome deficiencies in energy or nutrient supply can increase productivity and profitability, along with resource-use efficiency (Ash et al., 2015). In the north, irrigated forage crops have been identified as an avenue for promoting productivity through faster finishing of cattle, increased beef quality and reduced pressure on rangelands. In the south, plantings of forage shrubs have the potential to improve animal performance, economic returns and environmental management. With better understanding of the economic trade-offs and riskiness involved in the use of novel forages in livestock production systems, there is the opportunity to better design and deliver diversification options

Electrophysiological observations on the teleost olfactory bulb

Previous electrophysiological research on the fish olfactory system is reviewed and the conclusion reached that present knowledge concerning, in particular, the fundamental physiology of neuronal connections within the olfactory bulb, was rudimentary and confused. Field potentials were evoked in the olfactory bulb of teleost fish by electrical stimulation of the olfactory tract and nerve. The potential wave recorded at the bulbar surface consists of four components, N1, N2, N3, AND P, all of which appear to be of post-synaptic origin when the nerve is stimulated, whence they are usually preceded by a triphasic potential thought to represent the compound action potential of olfactory nerve fibres. The N1 wave evoked by olfactory tract stimulated is not of synaptic origin. It probably represents the synchronous antidromic activation of secondary neurons. The waves analysed with respect to voltage and time related to the underlying histology. The results indicate that the extracellular current flow around bulbar neuronal elements is essentially similar to that already described for mammals and is probably generated by similar pathways. This is surprising in view of fundamental anatomical dissimilarities, particularly regarding the dendritic field of mitral cells. The field potentials proved to be useful in the identification of single units at the time of recording. The spontaneous and evoked activity of identified mitral and granule cells could often be inhibited by stimulation of either the nerve or tract. The evoked field potentials could usually be similarly inhibited. Evidence has been obtained that this inhibition is mediated GABA and that it may well take place via a recurrent pathway involving reciprocal dendrodendritic synapses as in the mammalian system. Evidence was also obtained that this inhibition may, in part, result from the activation of granule cells by andrenergic centrifugal fibres when the olfactory tract is stimulated. Natural chemical stimulation of the olfactory mucosa with amino acid solutions produced a complex pattern of responses. Each odorant normally produced a unique pattern of excitatory and inhibitory responses across all units. Chi-square values were calculated for stimulatory effectiveness between forty-five pairs of odours. L-serine and L-alanine consistently showed a high degree of similarity with several other odours. The converse was true for GABA and L-histidine, although this pair had a high chi-square value when mutually compared. Enantiomeric pairs of amino acids were often found to have opposite stimulatory effects on bulbar units. These results are discussed in relation to the possible properties and configurations of odorant receptor sites for amino acids in the fish olfactory mucosa