Search

© 2018, © 2018 Taylor & Francis. Farmers and farm workers have been recognized as a group at high risk of suicide in Australia. This study aims to identify and better understand environmental factors associated with suicide among Australian farmers and farm workers. Qualitative analysis was undertaken in accordance with the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research. Male and female focus groups were conducted separately with people who lived or worked on a farm in six farming communities. Qualitative analyses showed that a number of environmental influences may contribute to the increased risk of suicide: extreme climatic events; isolation; service availability; access to, and frequent use of firearms; death and suffering of animals; government and legislation; technology; and property values. Both the physical and socio-cultural environments in which farmers operate appear to contribute to farmer suicide and need to be considered in suicide prevention.

PURPOSE:Rural communities in Australia have an elevated risk of suicide. The aim of the current study was to evaluate a well-being and suicide prevention education workshop, SCARF (Suspect, Connect, Ask, Refer, Follow-Up) developed for Australian farming and rural communities. METHODS:The SCARF program was delivered to 14 groups, a convenience sample including frontline agricultural workers and farmers from New South Wales. The Literacy of Suicide Scale, Stigma of Suicide Scale, and items assessing confidence to assist others were administered immediately before and after the workshop, and at 3-month follow-up. The Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale was given immediately before and at 3-month follow-up. In total, 255 agreed to participate in the study, with 127 completing 3-month follow-up. Data were analyzed using linear mixed-effects regression. FINDINGS:There was a significant increase in suicide literacy and confidence to assist others immediately after the workshop, which remained significant at 3-month follow-up. Mental well-being significantly improved at 3-month follow-up. CONCLUSION:The SCARF program is unique for its brevity, cultural specificity, focus on health, and incorporation of the biopsycho-ecological model and the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide. It represents a useful program for Australian farming and rural communities to improve mental well-being, suicide literacy, and confidence to recognize and respond to suicidality.

Bench-scale flotation tests play a major role in the geometallurgical process value chain. Despite their apparent simplicity, these tests pose pitfalls in terms of operation, as well as the interpretation and modelling of results. In this paper we highlight key aspects to consider in generating accurate and reproducible experimental results, and critically review some assumptions relating to the estimation of entrainment and froth recovery. We subsequently focus on first-order equations to model kinetics and propose a method that accounts more realistically for the decay in kinetics over the duration of a float, and the contributions of froth stability and hence mass pull. The method was applied to three case studies on platinum group metal (PGM) ores and matched or outperformed first-order, two-component models. Also, it allows for a deeper analysis of the integrity of the bench-scale flotation results.

Coal mining and extraction of methane from coal beds generate effluent with elevated salinity or major ion concentrations. If discharged to freshwater systems, these effluents may have adverse environmental effects. There is a growing body of work on freshwater invertebrates that indicates variation in the proportion of major ions can be more important than salinity when determining toxicity. However, it is not known if saline toxicity in a subset of species is representative of toxicity across all freshwater invertebrates. If patterns derived from a subset of species are representative of all freshwater invertebrates, then we would expect a correlation in the relative sensitivity of these species to multiple saline waters. Here, we determine if there is a correlation between the acute (96 h) lethal toxicity in freshwater invertebrates to synthetic marine salts (SMS) and sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO 3 ) added to dechlorinated Sydney tap water. NaHCO 3 is a major component of many coal bed effluents. However, most salinization in Australia exhibits ionic composition similar to seawater, which has very little HCO 3 − . Across all eight species tested, NaHCO 3 was 2–50 times more toxic than SMS. We also observed strong correlations in the acute toxicity of seven of the tested species to SMS and NaHCO 3 . The strongest relationship (LC50 r 2 = 0.906) was dependent on the exclusion of one species, Paratya australiensis (Decopoda: Atyidae), which was the most sensitive species tested to NaHCO 3 , but the second-most tolerant of SMS. We conclude that differences in the toxicity of different proportions of major ions can be similar across a wide range of species. Therefore, a small subset of the invertebrate community can be representative of the whole. However, there are some species, which based on the species tested in the current study appear to be a minority, that respond differently to saline effluent and need to be considered separately. We discuss the implications of this study for the management of saline coal bed waters. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Salt in freshwaters: causes, ecological consequences and future prospects'.

The term ‘intercultural’ (as in ‘intercultural creativity’) acknowledges the complexity of locations, identities, and modes of expression in a global world, and the desire to raise awareness, foster intercultural dialogue, and facilitate understanding across and between cultures. In a globalized world faced with unprecedented challenges, intercultural communication and dialogue is considered key to facilitating possibilities that, previously, might not have been available to us. In this chapter, we identify how intercultural creativity can be recognized and evaluated in the practice of community musicians. The notion of ‘translation’ is related to the interrogation, not only of what intercultural creativity is, but also how it is experienced. This chapter features the work of Netherlands-based Musicians without Borders and UK-based Music Action International, and the voice of a Malaysia-based composer working in an intercultural environment. We examine collaboration between diverse communities and musicians. The chapter concludes with implications for educating and developing the community musician.

Aim. Driving is an important step towards autonomy. The driving task consists of several subtasks, running inparallel. This requires the ability to switch in a smooth manner (e.g., shifting, steering, changing lanes, andkeeping traffic rules into account). Therefore, driving is a complex goal-directed task that places high demandson perceptual, cognitive, and motor processes. The little research that exists suggests that people with ASDexperience difficulties more specifically in complex driving situations, requiring multi-tasking and inducingincreased cognitive load. Furthermore, it is not only necessary to handle the vehicle, but also to navigatethrough rural, urban, and highway traffic environments while concurrently remembering appointments andobeying a schedule. People with ASD however experience difficulties with coordinating and sequencingactivities, and with planning ahead. Following this, prospective memory (PM) might interfere with driving. PMis the ability to remember to carry out intended actions in the future while being engaged in other ongoingactivities. Two subtypes of PM are event-based PM (EBPM) and time-based PM (TBPM). The former refers tothe execution of intentions at certain events (i.e., prospective cues), the latter refers to the execution ofintentions at certain times.Methods. This driving simulator study aims to investigate PM (i.e., EBPM and TBPM) as an underlyingmechanism of driving in adults with ASD (i.e., 18-62 years old). To this end, we translated several EBPM and time-based PM (TBPM). The former refers tothe execution of intentions at certain events (i.e., prospective cues), the latter refers to the execution ofintentions at certain times.Methods. This driving simulator study aims to investigate PM (i.e., EBPM and TBPM) as an underlyingmechanism of driving in adults with ASD (i.e., 18-62 years old). To this end, we translated several EBPM andTBPM tasks to a simulated driving environment. The influence of cognitive abilities (e.g., working memory, planning) is also investigated. A control group, balanced for age and gender, is included. The inclusion of abroad age range allows the investigation of developmental cognitive differences.Results. Data collection is ongoing and will be finished in February. The analyses are planned in March.

Difficulties with autonomy impact several quality-of-life outcomes in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Driving is an important step towards gaining autonomy by allowing the development and maintenance of work- and social-related contacts. Nonetheless, people with ASD depend highly on friends and family for their transportation needs. Due to the complexity of the driving task, specific ASD characteristics might interfere negatively with driving. The driving task consists of several subtasks, running in parallel. This requires the ability to switch in a smooth manner (e.g., shifting, steering, changing lanes, and keeping traffic rules into account). An additional difficulty concerns sudden changes in the traffic environment (e.g., traffic density, weather conditions). Therefore, driving is a complex goal-directed task that places high demands on perceptual, cognitive, and motor processes. The little research that exists suggests that people with ASD experience difficulties more specifically in complex driving situations, requiring multi-tasking and inducing increased cognitive load. Applied to autonomy, in order to maintain work and social contacts, it is not only necessary to handle the vehicle, but also to navigate through rural, urban, and highway traffic environments while concurrently remembering appointments and obeying a schedule. People with ASD however experience difficulties with coordinating and sequencing activities, and with planning ahead. Following this, prospective memory (PM) might interfere negatively with driving. PM is the ability to remember to carry out intended actions in the future while being engaged in other ongoing activities. Two subtypes of PM are event-based PM (EBPM) and time-based PM (TBPM). The former refers to the execution of intentions at certain events (i.e., prospective cues), the latter refers to the execution of intentions at certain times. This driving simulator study aims to investigate PM (i.e., EBPM and TBPM) as an underlying mechanism of driving in adults with ASD. To this end, a pc-based ‘virtual reality (VR) city task’ was translated to a driving simulator environment. The influence of several cognitive abilities (e.g., working memory, planning), from which the importance is indicated in previous literature, is also investigated. Data collection is ongoing and will be finished in December. The analyses are planned in January.

Bicarbonate is often a major ionic constituent associated with produced waters from methane gas extraction and coal mining, yet few studies have determined its specific toxicity. Currently, the environmental risk of bicarbonate anion in water discharges is assessed based on the toxicity of sodium chloride or artificial seawater and is regulated via electrical conductivity. Increased NaHCO3 added to Ceriodaphnia dubia in synthetic or natural water gave similar 48-h 10% effective concentration (EC10) values of 1750 ± 125 mg NaHCO3/L (mean ± standard error) and 1670 ± 180 mg NaHCO3/L, respectively. Bicarbonate was toxic to C. dubia in both waters with conductivities above 1900 µS/cm. In contrast, when conductivity was elevated with NaCl, toxicity to C. dubia was observed only above 2800 µS/cm. Bicarbonate also impaired C. dubia reproduction with an EC10 of 340 mg NaHCO3/L. Major ion composition also influenced Zn bioavailability, a common co-occurring metal contaminant in coal mine waters, with sublethal concentrations of NaHCO3 and elevated pH increasing Zn toxicity. Higher pH was the dominant parameter determining a 10-fold increase in the 48-h 50% effective concentration (EC50) for Zn toxicity to C. dubia at pH 8.6 of 34 µg Zn/L (95% confidence limit = 32–37 µg Zn/L) compared with the Zn toxicity at approximately circumneutral pH. Exposure of the freshwater shrimp Paratya australiensis (Atyidae) in natural water to increasing bicarbonate gave a mean 10-d 10% lethal concentration (LC10) of 850 ± 115 mg NaHCO3/L, associated with a mean conductivity EC10 of 1145 µS/cm, which is considerably lower than toxicity of NaCl and artificial seawater to this species reported elsewhere. Because toxicity was influenced by salt composition, specific ions should be regulated rather than conductivity alone in mine wastewater discharges. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;33:1179–1186. © 2014 SETAC

Increasing and widespread use of neonicotinoid insecticides all over the world, together with their environmental persistence mean that surface and ground waters need to be monitored regularly for their residues. However, current multi-residue analytical methods for waters are inadequate for trace residue analysis of these compounds, while passive sampling devices are unavailable. A new method using UltraPerformance Liquid Chromatography provided good separation of the five most common neonicotinoid compounds, with limits of quantitation in the range 0.6-1.0ng. The method was tested in a survey of rivers around Sydney (Australia), where 93% of samples contained two or more neonicotinoids in the range 0.06-4.5μgL(-1). Styrenedivinylbenzene-reverse phase sulfonated Empore™ disks were selected as the best matrix for use in passive samplers. Uptake of clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiacloprid in a flow-through laboratory system for 3weeks was linear and proportional to their water concentrations over the range 1-10μgL(-1). Sampling rates of 8-15mLd(-1) were correlated to the hydrophobicity of the individual compounds. The passive samplers and analytical methods presented here can detect trace concentrations of neonicotinoids in water.

The genetic structure of populations is impacted by environmental factors of both natural and anthropogenic origin. These factors can affect dispersion, gene flow and selective pressures. We test whether natural environmental factors or anthropogenic factors influence the genetic structure of the amphipod, Melita plumulosa (Crustacea: Melitidae), which serves as an indicator of environmental health in estuaries along eastern Australia. Sequence data from one mitochondrial and two nuclear loci were collected and analyzed from eight geographically distinct populations spanning the known distribution of this species. We identified two major clades corresponding to the east and south coasts of Australia, and populations also largely grouped according to geography within each clade. Population differentiation indicated all sampling localities to be distinct from one another and sequence divergences suggested ancient divergence, with the deepest genetic divergences between the eastern and southern populations. Reproductive compatibility did not indicate cryptic speciation between populations. Sequence divergence and population differentiation suggest historic geographic isolation dating back to the Pleistocene to have influenced the population biogeography of M. plumulosa.