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The forgotten facility: Australia’s lax response to controlling antibiotic resistance in nursing homes
Get PDFAntibiotic resistance poses a significant threat to public health globally. Awareness and measures to address antibiotic resistance in the acute hospital setting are evident and successful, yet the same attention to this in Australian nursing homes is lacking. With Australia’s population ageing, a deficit such as this is clearly worrisome. This review examines current strategies that address antibiotic resistance in Australian nursing homes to demonstrate that while infection control strategies are in place in nursing homes, a standardised and comprehensive approach to control antibiotic resistance is absent. One strategy proposed is the implementation of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) to optimise and regulate the use of antibiotics. In theory, AMS has been proven to be an effective strategy to control antibiotic resistance in nursing homes, however as the determinants of antibiotic resistance in this setting are complex and multifaceted, the practical application of AMS is compromised. Such determinants include a current lack of awareness of AMS by nursing home staff, poor microbiological testing practices, and sociocultural pressures that increase antibiotic prescribing rates and reduce patient compliance to treatment regimes. When combined, these factors have a detrimental effect which acts to increase antibiotic misuse in this setting, strongly correlating with the emergence of antibiotic resistance. This review underscores the lacuna in action focused on overcoming such barriers which clearly hinders our efforts to control antibiotic resistance. Hence, if effective and feasible strategies to address antibiotic resistance are to be developed, further research into the role of the institutional determinants that surround AMS implementation in Australian nursing homes is urgently needed
Japan’s Cold War nuclear decisionmaking: Improving upon competing theoretical perspectives
Get PDFThis paper investigates Japan’s self-contradictory nuclear status, which has constituted a puzzle for international relations theorists and historians who have advanced several competing interpretations for this peculiar development. Adherents of the security model assert that Japan’s general weakness vis-avis others in the region, or the availability of a credible security guarantor through its alliance with the United States, explains Tokyo’s decision to forgo a homegrown nuclear deterrent. Recently, however, opponents of this view have instead favoured an ideational approach which focuses on the threat and identity perceptions of Japanese leaders. This article presents these two competing interpretations of the proliferation puzzle and applies them to Japan’s postwar nuclear decision-making. The paper demonstrates the limits of the security model and then improves upon the ideational approach by incorporating the oft-overlooked two-level game assumption popular with foreign policy analysis scholars. In doing so, I recognise the importance of focusing on Japanese leaders rather than international systemic factors, but also acknowledge that these individuals play a two-level game. They must, in turn, not only contend with the public’s antinuclear attitudes but also their nation’s alliance with the United States—the cornerstone of postwar Japanese security policy
Linguistic preservation and legal rights: An analysis of the status of Indigenous language rights under international law
Get PDFThe United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2019 to be the International Year of Indigenous Languages, in recognition of the continuing importance of traditional languages to Indigenous peoples around the world. The integral role of language means that its endangerment causes loss of culture, identity, and connection to land. For many Indigenous people, this also represents assimilation, disadvantage, and trauma borne of generations of systemic discrimination and genocide. This paper firstly examines the effects of language endangerment in the Kimberley, then discusses the inadequacy of the international human rights regime in protecting Indigenous languages and the rights attached to them. The few rights that are enshrined in binding international instruments have not been adequately enforced, with international judicial and quasi-judicial bodies treating them merely as a matter of procedural fairness instead of as inherent human rights. Furthermore, the current international rights regime is based on colonial perceptions of justice and fails to recognise Indigenous peoples as nations. If the international rights regime is to offer true protection to language rights, structural transformations that address the colonised nature of the international system must transpire
Changing Climates and Changing Global Orders: Australia’s new era of uncertainty
Get PDFThe international order is undergoing rapid change at an unprecedented scale, and whilst change can bring new opportunities for Australia, it also brings many challenges. Australia faces an increasingly concerning strategic outlook, and the two most critical security challenges we face are the threats of climate change and threats to the rules-based global order. In discussing climate change, this paper firstly addresses the localised security impacts on Australian land and domestic resources. However, the most critical dangers of climate change to our security ultimately stem from collateral impacts of destabilisation within neighbouring states in the Asia Pacific region. Climate change threatens Australian security most profoundly as a ‘threat multiplier’ that reduces state capacity, thus paving the way for transnational security challenges in our immediate region, including refugee crises, regional instability and terrorism. In discussing the second challenge of an uncertain future in the rules-based global order, this paper will explain why Australia’s security hinges so greatly upon the existence of such an order. It will then discuss how this order could be threatened by a rising China and an increasingly unreliable United States (US).
 
End of Victoria Road
Get PDFThe piece, titled ‘The End of Victoria Road’, was done last year for my painting class, in which students were allowed to explore any subject matter and medium within painting. For my project, I explored a technique of painting from memory, recreating images from solely what I could remember of them. I have always been drawn to the significance of place within art, and I wanted to challenge myself to draw upon my memory rather than photographic reference in representing places that I love and that have meaning for me. This is an oil painting on small circular canvas, and it took me about 12 hours to complete. It depicts the Pine Woods in Formby in the UK, where my dad grew up
The significant role of chloroplast thioredoxins in the regulation of photosynthesis
No full textThis is a review article presenting, comparing and analysing the recent studies on plant chloroplast thioredoxin regulation on photosynthesis. There was a seed paper provided for this essay (Okegawa and Motohashi, 2015). We needed to do further research in the corresponding area and find subsequent journals after this paper, and compare their results and present new findings, as well as showing the importance of these findings and suggest further research directions. Photosynthesis is rather important in plant which converts light into chemical energy to ensure plants’ growth and productivity. Thioredoxins (Trxs) are ubiquitous proteins involved in regulation of redox reaction in chloroplast in photosynthesis. There are multiple isoforms of thioredoxins, and their roles are explained in the article. Trx m is the most abundant protein in chloroplast stroma, which predominantly regulates redox-dependant Calvin cycle enzymes, and further studies demonstrated the role of Trx m in protecting plant photosynthesis from excessive light. Trx f is indispensable for activation of the important Calvin cycle enzymes FBPase and Rubisco activase, and Trx f is essential for plants’ adaptation to short-day conditions and of photosynthetic efficiency. It would be challenging to investigate Trx systems with in vivo studies and produce convincing results. More research is required as the inconsistencies in previous research and the lack of study done in vivo. Regarding the importance of Trx systems in photosynthetic efficiency in plants, it could be used in increasing crop yield for the increasing population worldwide
The dopamine, glutamate, and GABA hypotheses of schizophrenia: Glutamate may be the key
Get PDFThis essay explores hypotheses postulating that the neurotransmitters dopamine, glutamate, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) cause schizophrenia, and reaches the conclusion that a joint model where glutamate affects dopamine and GABA is the most plausible explanatory mechanism. The dopamine hypothesis is supported by evidence that patients with schizophrenia have marked dopamine receptor and neurotransmitter increases and decreases in specific brain areas. Furthermore, drugs targeting dopamine receptors have been successful in reducing schizophrenic symptoms. The glutamate hypothesis proposes that the neurotransmitter glutamate is the basis of the disorder, as affecting NMDA (glutamate) receptors has been shown to cause positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms, including visual and auditory symptoms only ever seen in schizophrenia. Further, there are genetic associations with several genes associated with NMDA receptors and schizophrenia. The GABA model is also explored, as tampering with cells related to GABA has been shown to induce schizophrenic symptoms, though this can be explained as being in conjunction, not opposition, with the glutamate model. The hypotheses are flawed when considered in isolation. The dopamine model cannot explain negative schizophrenic symptoms, and drugs targeting dopamine receptors are still unable to completely reduce self-reported symptoms. Similarly, the glutamate model could be caused by irregular amounts of GABA, and the glutamate hypothesis may also explain the positive effects of treatments targeting dopamine. Evidence shows that drugs causing reduced functioning of NMDA receptors cause dopamine dysfunction. Pairing this with strong evidence of both dopamine and glutamate involvement, the most plausible model is one where NMDA dysfunction causes GABA and dopamine receptor issue
Counter-Terrorism Offences: A Comparison of the Australian and US Approaches
Get PDFSince September 11, 2001, there have been substantive differences in the approaches taken by Australia and the United States with respect to the legislation of new terrorism-related offences. These new offences are informed by their respective legislative approaches to terrorism prior to 9/11. While this had been an on-going issue for the US, Australia had little direct experience with terrorism prior to this incident. This new perceived threat of terrorism has challenged the efficacy of traditional criminal law principles where, rather than bringing perpetrators to justice, the trend is towards preventing the occurrence of harm altogether. Thus, while Australia sought to
implement a comprehensive counter-terrorism legislative framework, the US broadened existing
measures and, in doing so, sent law and power in new directions. While these differences are
subject to jurisdictional constraints, they also emerge owing to practical implications arising from
the separation of powers under the respective constitutions. Where the Australian approach can
be characterised as hyper-legislation, the US response is highlighted by a tendency to rely on
executive power which is less burdened by rights concerns whereas a greater legislative response
would be restrained by their constitutionally entrenched bill of rights. These differences are
illustrated through the use of a war paradigm, particularly through the notion of a ‘war on terror’.
While both the US and Australia have unique national security concerns, the pervasive US
approach to combating terrorism is highlighted by the notion of American exceptionalism
‘The Grey Box and the Magician’s Assistant’: Gendered Technology in Alex Garland’s Ex Machina
Get PDFAs a piece of Artificial Intelligence (AI), albeit one with a physical form, the creation in Alex Garland’s 2014 film Ex Machina has no biological need for a gender identity. With a narrative reminiscent of Mary Shelley’s 1818 Gothic novel Frankenstein, Ava, the artificial being in Ex Machina, cannot reproduce and consequently has no biological sex. However, her creator, Nathan, builds her to reflect the female form and identify as a heterosexual woman. Applying theories of gender performativity, this paper will consider the implications of Ava’s programmed gender in an environment dominated by male figures. Considering feminist theories of bodily autonomy, this paper will also explore the implications of Ava and Kyoko’s gender expression, given they were created by a man to suit his sexual and domestic needs. Ultimately, Ava’s manipulation of Caleb and Nathan, the former who overestimates her conformity to gendered interactions, and the latter who underestimates her capacity as a female of his own creation, demonstrates that although technology in itself has no gender, engaging with the gender binary is necessary to fully participate in the society Ava enters
Selected works
Get PDF\u27Charles Darwin\u27, \u27The Singularity\u27 and \u27Mass Extinction\u27.