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Chrysoprase is a popular gemstone with consumers because of its charming apple green colour but a scientific classification of its colour has not yet been achieved. In this research, we determined the most effective background of the Munsell Chart for chrysoprase colour grading under a 6504K fluorescent lamp and applied an affinity propagation (AP) clustering algorithm to the colour grading of coloured gems for the first time. Forty gem-quality chrysoprase samples from Australia were studied using a UV-VIS spectrophotometer and Munsell neutral grey backgrounds. The results determined the effects of a Munsell neutral grey background on the observed colour. It was found that the Munsell N9.5 background was the most effective for colour grading in this case. The observed chrysoprase colours were classified into five groups: Fancy Light, Fancy, Fancy Intense, Fancy Deep and Fancy Dark. The feasibility of the colour grading scheme was verified using the colour difference formula DE2000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese tourist shopping reflects the new consumer culture in contemporary China, but remains underexplored in the tourism literature despite its importance to many destinations. The present study applies social practice theory to tourist shopping research with the aim of exploring the key features of Chinese tourist shopping in Australia. Tourist shopping as a social practice is the basic unit of analysis, while tourists are decentralized as carriers of this practice. This study employed a qualitative methodology to analyze shopping-related posts in 40 travel blogs from two Chinese online travel communities. The findings show that tourist shopping practice consists of four interconnected elements: materials, competences, meanings, and settings—with utilitarian products purchased in large quantities and maintaining guanxi emerging as unique features of the Chinese tourist shopping practices. The article concludes with a discussion of the potential of social practice theory to enhance theoretical approaches in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What will be the nature of the relationships of the major Asia-Pacific Rim powers, including Japan, the United States and Australia with China following Beijing 2008? To what extent was China successful by means of Beijing 2008 in actually selling 'brand China' to the rest of the world, and particularly to its neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region? Were they able to achieve the soft power objective of changing the perception of how other nations perceive them? The overarching ambition of China was that by hosting a 'successful' Olympics they would further add to their credibility as a global power. To achieve this China had to overcome a series of major obstacles, including issues of human rights, governance and its reputation of being the world's biggest polluter. As the Beijing Olympics began on 8 August 2008 the global financial crisis was beginning to bite, and in this contribution it will be asked, to what extent did this negate any potential positive global or regional geopolitical or diplomatic outcomes that China may have otherwise elicited from their hosting of the Games? The centre of gravity of global geopolitical power is shifting to Asia with China being positioned as a future leader in the region. Did this process accelerate as a consequence of the Beijing Olympics, and to what extent can it said that the geopolitical balance in the Asia-Pacific region will in any way be altered as an outcome of the Games or will the effects of the global economic crisis neutralize the energy China was to draw from hosting the 2008 Olympics to power its advance to global leadership? These questions will be considered through the analysis of policies and actions of the Australian Labor Party government, led by Kevin Rudd, the Mandarin-speaking ex-diplomat, who gained power in late 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article lists the 2015 graduands of the Graduate Diploma of Applied Tax Law in Australia including Amy Adams, Matthew Barlow, and Andy Bubb.

• Hg anomalies of the end-CS 2 sediments were caused by eruptions of the ca. 510 Ma LIP. • Volcanic eruptions led to a high terrestrial SO 4 2 − input into the end-CS 2 ocean. • Upwelling of euxinic waters was the direct cause for the ca. 506 MA trilobite crisis. The first major mass extinction of trilobites occurred at the transition from Cambrian Series 2 (CS 2) to Miaolingian (M) and coincided with a large marine transgression and volcanic eruptions of a large igneous province (LIP). Understanding the causal links between these events is important in deciphering environmental changes and life evolution at that time. This paper presents S-Hg-C isotopic and Fe speciation data for calcareous shales from the CS 2 -M Yangliugang Formation in the Dongjin section, South China. In the lower part of this section (Interval I), calcareous shales have limited S isotopic differences between carbonate-associated sulfates (δ 34 S CAS) and pyrites (δ 34 S Py) with Δ 34 S values from –4.2‰ to +8.3‰; they also have high Fe HR /Fe T ratios from 0.5 to 0.66, that are indicative of a low SO 4 2 − content in anoxic seawater. Calcareous shales from Interval I display at least two Hg/TOC peaks (up to 207 ppb/wt%), coincident with volcanic eruptions associated with the ca. 510 Ma Kalkarindji LIP in Australia. In the middle part of the Dongjin section (Interval II), calcareous shales display negative excursions of Δ 199 Hg values, δ 34 S Py values and Fe HR /Fe T ratios, which were likely led by a large terrestrial input into a marginal basin from where Interval II deposited. Calcareous shales in the upper part of the section (Interval III) contain pyrite framboids with a mean diameter of <4 μm and high ratios of Fe HR /Fe T (>0.82) and Fe Py /Fe HR (>0.78), indicating an euxinic depositional environment. They also record negative excursions in δ 13 C and δ 202 Hg (with low values down to –3.05‰ and –1.68‰, respectively), providing evidence for ocean upwelling. The negative shift of δ 13 C values in the Dongjin section was temporally comparable to the C isotope excursions that coincided with the Redlichiid-Olenellid Extinction Carbon Isotope Excursion (ROECE). We conclude that volcanic eruptions of the ca. 510 Ma Kalkarindji LIP enhanced the continental erosion rate, leading to a high terrestrial SO 4 2 − input and an accumulation of H 2 S in deep marginal basins at the end of CS 2. The subsequent ocean upwelling (>506 Ma) brought anoxic/euxinic seawaters into the continental shelf, contributing to the mass extinction of Redlichiid and Olenellid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]