Towards ecological sustainability: observations on the role of the arts

This paper describes how the arts shape environmental behaviour of individuals and society and is a synthesis arising from a program of previous publication. The literature suggests that the arts may have a role in shaping environmental behaviour but it is not clear how or in what circumstances this might occur. Hence we set out to describe ways in which the arts shape environmental behaviour at the individual level and, through the accumulated actions of individuals, at the societal level. Through this examination we aim to explain the role of the arts in moving society towards ecological sustainability. Our research drew on interviews with 96 key informants working in the arts and in the natural resource management sectors, combined with a mix of empirical, experimental and post hoc studies of eight community-based art and environment events. On the basis of this research, a model was developed to describe how the arts can shape environmental behaviour. Three pathways are proposed: communicating information in an engaging form; creating empathy towards the natural environment; and embedding the arts in ecologically sustainable development

Fair and healthy food for all: A Victorian independent food system dialogue

This report summarises presentations and a series of facilitated conversations at the "Healthy and Fair Food for All Summit," an independent dialogue process forming part of the global process leading to the first United Nations Food Systems Summit. Held on 27 June 2021, the all-day event was convened by partners of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project, ’Strengthening Food Systems Governance at the Local Level’ (University of Sydney, University of Wollongong, and William Angliss Institute), along with Sustain: The Australian Food Network and the Right to Food Coalition (RTFC). ​The event brought together 120 participants from across the food system, and together attendees explored key challenges and opportunities facing Victoria’s food system (and other food systems) now and in the coming decades, along with concrete actions that needed to advance an agenda of progressive change

Opportunities for enhanced surveillance of foot‐and‐mouth disease in endemic settings using milk samples

Under‐reporting of foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) masks the true prevalence in parts of the world where the disease is endemic. Laboratory testing for the detection of FMD virus (FMDV) is usually reliant upon the collection of vesicular epithelium and fluid samples that can only be collected from acutely infected animals, and therefore animals with sub‐clinical infection may not be identified. Milk is a non‐invasive sample type routinely collected from dairy farms that has been utilised for surveillance of a number of other diseases. The aim of this study was to examine the application of milk as an alternative sample type for FMDV detection and typing, and to evaluate milk as a novel approach for targeted surveillance of FMD in East Africa. FMDV RNA was detected in 73/190 (38%) individual milk samples collected from naturally infected cattle in northern Tanzania. Further, typing information by lineage‐specific rRT‐PCR assays was obtained for 58% of positive samples, and corresponded with the virus types identified during outbreak investigations in the study area. The VP1‐coding sequence data obtained from milk samples corresponded with the sequence data generated from paired epithelial samples collected from the same animal. This study demonstrates that milk represents a potentially valuable sample type for FMDV surveillance and might be used to overcome some of the existing biases of traditional surveillance methods. However, it is recommended that care is taken during sample collection and testing to minimise the likelihood of cross‐contamination. Such approaches could strengthen FMDV surveillance capabilities in East Africa, both at the individual animal and herd level

Waves of endemic foot-and-mouth disease in eastern Africa suggest feasibility of proactive vaccination approaches

Livestock production in Africa is key to national economies, food security and rural livelihoods, and > 85% of livestock keepers live in extreme poverty. With poverty elimination central to the Sustainable Development Goals, livestock keepers are therefore critically important. Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious livestock disease widespread in Africa that contributes to this poverty. Despite its US$2.3 billion impact, control of the disease is not prioritized: standard vaccination regimens are too costly, its impact on the poorest is underestimated, and its epidemiology is too weakly understood. Our integrated analysis in Tanzania shows that the disease is of high concern, reduces household budgets for human health, and has major impacts on milk production and draft power for crop production. Critically, foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks in cattle are driven by livestock-related factors with a pattern of changing serotype dominance over time. Contrary to findings in southern Africa, we find no evidence of frequent infection from wildlife, with outbreaks in cattle sweeping slowly across the region through a sequence of dominant serotypes. This regularity suggests that timely identification of the epidemic serotype could allow proactive vaccination ahead of the wave of infection, mitigating impacts, and our preliminary matching work has identified potential vaccine candidates. This strategy is more realistic than wildlife-livestock separation or conventional foot-and-mouth disease vaccination approaches. Overall, we provide strong evidence for the feasibility of coordinated foot-and-mouth disease control as part of livestock development policies in eastern Africa, and our integrated socioeconomic, epidemiological, laboratory and modelling approach provides a framework for the study of other disease systems

'They never pass me the ball’: exposing ableism through the leisure experiences of disabled children, young people and their families.

In this paper, we explore the participation of disabled children, young people and their families in leisure activities. Drawing on the accounts of disabled children, young people and their parents and carers, we reflect on the leisure spaces that they access and record some of their experiences within them. Using the concept of ‘ableism’ (Campbell 2009) we interrogate the data gathered as part a two-year project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (RES – 062-23-1138) (http//www.rihsc.mmu.ac.uk/postblairproject/):‘Does every child matter, Post-Blair: the interconnections of disabled childhoods'. By doing so we identify some of the inherent and embedded discriminations in favour of those children and young people who are perceived to be ‘able’ that simultaneously work to exclude the young 'kinds of people' (Hacking 2007), categorised as 'disabled', and their families from leisure facilities and opportunities. We suggest that currently, disabled families and children occupy a mix of ‘mainstream', ‘segregated’ and ‘separate’ leisure spaces. We discuss the impact of occupying these spaces and ask: What do the experiences of accessing leisure by disabled children, young people and their families reveal about the processes and practices of ableism? To what extent are children and families required to 'pass'as'normal enough' to gain access to leisure spaces? To what extent are ‘segregated’ leisure opportunities regulated and produced by a kind of ‘diagnostic apartheid’ (Campbell 2008a: 155)? What is the role and value of 'separate' leisure activities? </p

Crop Updates 1999 - Lupins

This article contains twenty three papers 1998 LUPIN HIGHLIGHTS LUPIN ANTHRACNOSE 1. Anthracnose overview, Greg Shea, Geoff Thomas and Mark Sweetingham, Agriculture Western Australia 2. Anthracnose – Critical seed infection levels for resistant and susceptible varieties, Geoff Thomas, Mark Sweetingham, Bill O\u27Neill and Greg Shea, Agriculture Western Australia 3. Fungicide seed treatment for anthracnose and brown spot control in lupin, G. Thomas and M. Sweetingham, Agriculture Western Australia LUPIN BREEDING AND AGRONOMY 4. Anthracnose resistance in lupins – an innovative Australian research effort 1996-1998, Wallace Cowling1\u272, Bevan Buirchell1,2 Mark Sweetinqham1,2, Hua\u27an Yang2, Geoff Thomas 1, David Luckett3, Allan Brown4 and John Hamblin2, 1 Agriculture Western Australia, 2 Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, University of Western Australia, 3 NSW Agriculture, Agricultural Institute, Wagga Wagga, NSW, 4 Consultant, 16 Rochester Way, Dianella, WA 5. Gene transfer to pulses: Challenges through 1989-99. Joanne E. Barton, Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, University of Western Australia 6. Can we select for restricted branching in narrow-leafed lupin (Lupinus angustifolius) Kedar Adhikari1, Nick Galwey1and Miles Dracup2, 1Plant Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia,2 Agriculture Western Australia 7. Getting the beat out of new lupin varieties, Dr Bob French, Grain Legume Agronomist, Agriculture Western Australia 8. Starter nitrogen on lupins, Dr Bob French, Grain Legume Agronomist, Agriculture Western Australia APHIDS AND VIRUS CONTROL 9. Forecasting aphid and virus risk in lupins, Debbie Thackray and Roger Jones, CRC for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture and Agriculture Western Australia 10. Screening for resistance to cucumber mosaic virus in lupins, Roger Jones, Brenda Coutts, Narelle Reeve, Wallace Cowling and Bevan Buirchell, Agriculture Western Australia and CRC for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture 11. The non-necrotic strain of bean yellow mosaic virus spreads faster than the necrotic strain in lupins, Y. Cheng 1 and R.A.C. Jones 1•2, 1 Cooperative Research Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, 2 Agriculture Western Australia 12. Spraying to control aphid feeding damage increases yields of some lupin varieties and faba bean, Francoise Berlandier and Linnet Cartwright, Entomology, Agriculture Western Australia LUPIN NUTRITION 13. Calculated lime requirements for rotations, James Fisher1, Art Diggle 1•2 and Bill Bowden 1•2, 1 Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, 2 Agriculture Western Australia 14. What does lime do to acidic soils – lupin nutrition, Chris Gazey, Research Officer, Agriculture Western Australia 15. Effect of application method of manganese fertiliser and manganese concentration of seed source on seed yield of lupins grown in the West Midlands, Luigi Moreschi, CSBP Area Manager HERBICIDE TOLERANCE AND WEED CONTROL 16. Herbicide tolerance of lupins, Terry Piper, Weed Science Group, Agriculture Western Australia 17. Weed control in Wodjil yellow lupins, Terry Piper, Weed Science Group, Agriculture Western Australia 18. Herbicide tolerance of new lupin varieties, Peter Newman, Agronomist, Elders Mingenew 19. Control of volunteer canola in lupins, Terry Piper and Dave Nicholson, Weed Science Group, Agriculture Western Australia LUPIN ESTABLISHMENT 20. A new seed pressing system for healthy lupin establishment and productivity, Mohammad Amjad, Glen Riethmuller and Ron Jarvis, Agriculture Western Australia 21. Encouragement for controlled traffic farming in the Northern Wheatbelt, Paul Blackwell, Agriculture Western Australia LUPIN HARVESTING 22. Improved lupin harvesting efficiency with different knife guard extensions, Glen Riethmuller, Agriculture Western Australia LUPIN AND PULSE UTILISATION 23. The value of pulse grains for sheep, C.L. White, CSIRO Division of Animal Productio

Psychological interventions for people with psychotic experiences: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Many people who have common mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, also have some psychotic experiences. These experiences are associated with higher clinical complexity, poor treatment response, and negative clinical outcomes. Psychological interventions have the potential to improve outcomes for people with psychotic experiences. The aims of this systematic review are to (1) synthesise the evidence on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of psychological interventions to reduce psychotic experiences and their associated distress and (2) identify key components of effective interventions. METHODS: Our search strategy will combine terms for (1) psychological interventions, (2) psychotic experiences, and (3) symptoms associated with psychotic experiences. We will search the following online databases: MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, all Cochrane databases, British Nursing Index (BNI), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC), Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), and EconLit. Our primary outcome is the proportion of people who recovered or remitted from psychotic experiences after the intervention. Our secondary outcomes are changes in positive psychotic symptoms, negative psychotic symptoms, depression, anxiety, functioning (including social, occupational, and academic), quality of life, and cost-effectiveness. Two independent reviewers will judge each study against pre-specified inclusion and exclusion criteria and will extract study characteristics, outcome data, and intervention components. Risk of bias and methodological quality will be assessed using the Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies and the Drummond Checklist. Results will be synthesised using random-effects meta-analysis and narrative synthesis. DISCUSSION: The identification of effective psychological interventions and of specific components associated with intervention effectiveness will augment existing evidence that can inform the development of a new, tailored intervention to improve outcomes related to psychotic symptoms, anxiety and depression, distress, functioning, and quality of life. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42016033869.This paper presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Programme Grants for Applied Research Programme (Reference Number RP-PG-0616-20003). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, or the Department of Health