American hegemony: the view from Australia

Australia and the United States have been extremely close allies since World War II. The engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq have continued this tradition. Yet even before the bombings in Bali and the confrontation with Iraq, an important debate about the costs and benefits of the relationship with the United States was underway in Australia. At a number of levels—economic, political, and even strategic—increasing numbers of Australians were critically reassessing the relationship and questioning the supposed benefits. Recent events have accelerated this process and thrown the relationship into even starker relief. This paper argues that the increasingly unilateral nature of American economic and strategic policy is imposing major costs on even its most loyal allies, a situation that threatens to undermine the legitimacy of, and support for, U.S. hegemony

Coming to Terms with China: Managing Complications in the Sino-Australian Economic Relationship

The ascent of China has irrevocably changed Australia’s external strategic environment. While China became Australia’s top trading partner during the mid-2000s, tensions in the bilateral economic relationship have posed a series of complications for Australian policymakers. In this article, we explore four areas where these complications have become salient: economic asymmetries, Chinese state capitalism, the so-called resource curse, and tensions with geopolitical imperatives. We argue these demonstrate that China’s rise is not only a security challenge for Australia but also an economic one, which demands new strategies that are sensitive to the challenges and vulnerabilities of the Sino-Australian economic relationship

A Treatment Sequence for “Phonological Aphasias”: Strengthening the Core Deficit

Phonological impairment is a common core deficit in individuals with left perisylvian damage resulting in the classic aphasia syndromes (Broca’s, Wernicke’s, and Conduction aphasia). The impairment is particularly evident on written language tasks that require transcoding of sound-letter correspondences, such as nonwords, but many individuals with these chronic “phonological aphasias” have limited residual ability to write real words as well. We report here on a treatment sequence intended to strengthen phonological skills in individuals with aphasia and global agraphia. Treatment outcomes from a case series of 16 participants demonstrated the value of this approach for written and spoken language

Global surrogacy practices

This report summarises discussions of participants in Thematic Area 5 (Global Surrogacy Practices) of the International Forum on Intercountry Adoption and Global Surrogacy held in August 2014. The Forum brought together advocates of women’s health, children’s rights and human rights; scholars from a range of disciplines; social workers; and legal and policy analysts with expertise in third-party reproduction and/or adoption. To the best of our knowledge, this was the first major convening of scholars, advocates and policy experts to jointly consider these topics and to highlight practices that should be either encouraged or avoided. Participants affirmed the importance of resolving the legal and citizenship status of children resulting from international surrogacy arrangements. In addition, they highlighted the need for greater policy and public attention to a wide range of effects on all the parties involved, particularly women working as surrogates and the children they gestate and bear. In addition to these status issues, concerns deemed particularly troubling included practices posing unnecessary medical risks to surrogate mothers and children; restrictions on personal autonomy of surrogates; the need to maintain records so that participants in surrogacy arrangements retain the option of future contact; the absence of basic screening of commissioning parents to reduce risks of abandonment or abuse of children born via surrogacy; and the absence of regulation or oversight of intermediaries in these commercial arrangements. Participants stressed the importance of these concerns being taken into account in any future Hague Conference convention on intercountry surrogacy

Coming to Terms with the Authoritarian Alternative: The Implications and Motivations of China's Environmental Policies

China has assumed a crucial importance in debates about climate change mitigation. On the one hand, China is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gasses and pollution. On the other, it has invested more in renewable energy than any other country and is making real efforts to address the consequences of rapid industrialisation. There are three key questions for students of comparative political economy that emerge from the Chinese experience: first, what is the relationship between economic development and authoritarian rule? Second, what role has China's distinct social and political system played in creating and addressing environmental problems? Third, what domestic and international implications does the 'China model' have? In short, will China's authoritarian leaders be able to manage the expectations of its own people and those of the so-called international community? This article considers the often paradoxical and contradictory nature of the authoritarian Chinese government's current environmental policies and suggests that while they may have some success at the domestic level, they may still be an obstacle to international cooperation

A Novel Means to Examine Response to Spelling Treatment

According to a dual-route model of written language processing, spelling of irregular words provides an index of the status of lexical spelling procedures, whereas nonword spelling provides information about non-lexical processing that relies on phoneme-grapheme conversion. Because regular words can be spelled using either route, accuracy for such words may reflect the combined function of the two routes, and may be mathematically predicted on the basis of spelling accuracy for irregular words and nonwords. Pre- and post-treatment spelling performance of a group of eight individuals with acquired spelling impairment demonstrated the utility of comparing such predictions with actual performance

A randomised crossover trial investigating actual and perceived changes in peak knee extensor torque following Kinesio Tape® application.

Also presented by E. Walsh as a "Rapid 5" presentation at the conferenceAbstract: Background: The application and use of Kinesio tape® (KT) has become increasingly popular over the last decade. Previous studies investigating the effect of KT on strength at the knee have provided inconclusive results, and have highlighted the potential for KT to have a placebo effect. Aim: The primary aim investigated the correlation between actual and perceived change in peak knee extensor torque following KT application. The secondary aim sought to determine the extent to which KT improves peak knee extensor torque. Methods: A randomised crossover, placebo controlled design was used. A convenience sample of 36 healthy adults between 18-30 years of age were recruited via email. The three conditions investigated included no tape, acting as a baseline measure, followed by KT and sham tape in a randomised order. Outcome measures included the isokinetic dynamometer to measure peak knee extensor torque at 180°/s and the Global Rating of Change Scale (GRCS) to measure participants’ perception of strength. Results/Findings: No significant correlation was identified between actual and perceived peak knee extensor torque following KT application (P = 0.408). The majority of participants (56%) perceived their strength to have improved following KT. The secondary aim found a significant decrease in peak knee extensor torque after KT compared to no tape (P = 0.005), with no statistical difference when KT was compared to sham tape (P = 0.975). Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that there is no relationship between participants’ actual strength and their perception of strength following the application of KT. The results of this study do not support the use of KT to improve peak knee extensor torque

Methods of improving cotton by seed selection on the farm

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