Something Old, Something New...

Early phase clinical trials continue to have difficulty with enrolling real-world populations with many minorities being underrepresented. Reasons for this include patient or clinician perception as well as cultural, linguistic, or social barriers. In Australia, there is currently no prospective data in the early phase clinical trial space regarding recruitment of priority populations. Patient Diversity in Early Phase Clinical Trials was a multicenter, prospective, cohort study involving 2 major early phase clinical trial centers in Sydney, Australia. All participants who were consented to an early phase clinical trial between August 2023 and August 2024 were enrolled. Participants completed a baseline demographic survey, which included cultural and linguistic status, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and regional diversity. A total of 114 participants were recruited. Median age was 63 years (range = 25-83 years) with predominance for female participants (52%). No participant reported a nonbinary gender. All participants reported their sexuality as heterosexual, with no LGBTQIA+ participants recruited. A total of 34 (30%) participants were identified as culturally diverse, while 28 (25%) were linguistically diverse. One patient identified as Indigenous Australian. Of the participants, 26% were born overseas, with 44% having at least 1 parent born overseas. The majority were living in households with family members, with 8% of participants living alone. Patient Diversity in Early Phase Clinical Trials is the first prospective study that provides granular description of social, cultural, linguistic, economic, and sexual diversity among early phase clinical trial participants. Certain subgroups are underrepresented, including those with sexual diversity, gender diversity, and Indigenous backgrounds. Ongoing efforts to monitor and promote inclusion of diverse populations in clinical trials are vital.

In this Afterword, we briefly discuss new developments relating to the themes of this book and make some corrections to the first edition. Since the mid-1990s, cultural diversity and its relationship to national identity has become a topic of intense debate within Japanese society. The principal contributors to this debate include the authors of several chapters in the volume. Amino Yoshihiko has published a number of widely discussed works drawing attention to the fluidity of the historical boundaries of Japanese identity. His study ‘ Nihon’ to wa nani ka (What is ‘Japan’?), the introductory volume to a 26 volume series surveying Japanese history, highlights both the regional and cultural diversity which has always characterised Japanese history and the long history of cross-border interactions between inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago and the surrounding Asian regions. Nishikawa Nagao's works have continued to explore the political construction of the modern Japanese sense of national identity and to expose the ways in which images of ‘the nation's people’ ( kokumin ) were used to obscure the diversity and contradictions within Japanese society. Meanwhile, Ueno Chizuko's widely debated study Nashionarizumu to jendā (Nationalism and Gender) seeks to open a space for the expression of a complex personal identity that can transcend essentialised categories of ethnicity and nationality. John Maher's work has also produced further contributions to the understanding of cultural and linguistic diversity in Japan which he helped to pioneer during the 1990s.

This chapter focuses on cultural diversity, its conflicts, and its possibilities. Cultural diversity is the bringing together of individuals with different cultures. Immigrants bring cultural diversity to our country, communities, and classrooms. Conflicts are created in our country, communities and classrooms with the presence of cultural diversity. On the other hand, cultural diversity can boost the creative and innovative energy of a country, rejuvenate a lackluster community, and enable world-class education in the classroom. Young people are the future of our country and communities and minimizing the conflicts and promoting the possibilities that come with cultural diversity will not happen by itself. These young people must be educated for their future in a global community dominated by cultural diversity. Multicultural education provides what students need to be successful in the future. Preparing students for this future requires an education that is culturally sensitive and what might this culturally sensitive education look like and how might it be delivered? The knowledge and skills students need to successfully interact with diverse populations are the “what” and the practical experiences students receive by interaction and collaboration are the “how” multicultural education might be delivered. The what and the how of multicultural education are discussed in more detail in this chapter, but it is worthwhile to mention that the delivery mechanism for this multicultural education is the conceptual pedagogy in visual arts through project-based activities. Cultural diversity can be present in schools, but multicultural education is not promoted because of the lack of support from the community and the archaic systems and structures of the education enterprise can be a barrier to promoting multicultural education as well. The rationale for developing the pedagogical approach is not only to promote multicultural education directly but to encourage the community, as a stakeholder, to buy into the idea of multicultural education and to reimage the education enterprise systems making them responsive to the advancement of various tenets of multicultural education. If this pedagogical approach and strategy are successful, students will receive a multicultural education that enable them to be successful in the global community.

China, one of the world's oldest civilizations, has undergone a remarkable transformation from an agrarian society to a global superpower. This article provides a comprehensive overview of China's cultural foundations, historical progression, and contemporary realities. It traces the origins of Chinese civilization along the Yellow River, highlighting the influence of early dynasties, philosophical traditions like Confucianism and Daoism, and the intertwining of religion and governance. The article explores China's cultural richness and regional diversity, encompassing language, cuisine, art forms, and literature. It chronicles the major dynastic eras, from the unifying Qin Dynasty to the cosmopolitan Tang, innovative Song, and the last imperial Qing Dynasty. The 20th century brought profound upheavals, including the fall of imperial rule, the rise of the Communist Party, and the far-reaching reforms of Deng Xiaoping. China's modern identity is characterized by rapid urbanization, technological advancement, and environmental challenges. The article also examines China's social structure, global diplomacy, and prospects, emphasizing the balance between tradition and innovation. Understanding China requires appreciating its cultural depth, recognizing its modern transformation, and acknowledging its growing global influence as it shapes its destiny and the world around it.

Whether the study of languages should be a core element of a balanced and broadly based curriculum for all pupils in England’s 11–16 state-funded secondary schools is also part of a wider debate concerning how to harness England’s rich linguistic and cultural diversity and improve the quality and range of language skills of the country. While learning a second language throughout compulsory schooling is increasingly the norm across the world, fewer than 50% of 14–16 year olds in state-funded schools in England gained a modern language qualification (General Certification of Secondary Education or GCSE) in 2015. From 2015, recent government education policy has required the majority of pupils commencing secondary school to study a language to GCSE level, suggesting that schools who do not comply will be unable to gain the top inspection grade. This paper reviews the state of the debate examining divergent and contradictory perspectives within education policy and in the literature. It concludes by setting out six conditions for achieving this policy goal for enabling secondary schools to successfully implement a coherent and relevant languages curriculum for all young people, such that they can develop the linguistic and intercultural competencies needed to contribute to and thrive in increasingly diverse local and global communities.

As the world grows less biologically diverse, it is becoming less linguistically and culturally diverse as well. Biologists estimate annual loss of species at 1,000 times or more greater than historic rates, and linguists predict that 50-90% of the world's languages will disappear by the end of this century. Prior studies indicate similarities in the geographic arrangement of biological and linguistic diversity, although conclusions have often been constrained by use of data with limited spatial precision. Here we use greatly improved datasets to explore the co-occurrence of linguistic and biological diversity in regions containing many of the Earth's remaining species: biodiversity hotspots and high biodiversity wilderness areas. Results indicate that these regions often contain considerable linguistic diversity, accounting for 70% of all languages on Earth. Moreover, the languages involved are frequently unique (endemic) to particular regions, with many facing extinction. Likely reasons for co-occurrence of linguistic and biological diversity are complex and appear to vary among localities, although strong geographic concordance between biological and linguistic diversity in many areas argues for some form of functional connection. Languages in high biodiversity regions also often co-occur with one or more specific conservation priorities, here defined as endangered species and protected areas, marking particular localities important for maintaining both forms of diversity. The results reported in this article provide a starting point for focused research exploring the relationship between biological and linguistic-cultural diversity, and for developing integrated strategies designed to conserve species and languages in regions rich in both.

Research in tourism, leisure, and sports in Mexico is justified by the country's rich cultural, natural, and traditional diversity, as well as its economic and sociocultural relevance. Despite growth in these fields, challenges persist, such as lack of international recognition, limitations in interdisciplinary research, and barriers to knowledge publication and dissemination. This work presents a consensus derived from the Latin American Colloquium on Interspecies Relations in Tourism, Leisure, and Sports in 2023. The consensus highlights the increase in interdisciplinary collective research in these areas but acknowledges the scarcity of scientific studies in Mexico. Complex sociocultural practices and conditions shape various tourism, leisure, and sports activities, implying a need and opportunity for research in the country. Additionally, the importance of integrating local Mexican knowledge into the global academic discourse and overcoming challenges such as editorial biases and language barriers is emphasised. Lastly, Mexican academics and the global community are urged to collaborate in disseminating and challenging intellectual colonialism concerning knowledge about leisure, tourism, and sports in Mexico.

Understanding variation of species richness along latitudinal gradients, with more species toward the tropics, represents a challenge for ecologists. Species richness also varies according to the available area, with more species in larger regions, with area and latitude posited as major drivers of richness variations. However, species richness does not fully capture the evolutionary history behind those patterns. Phylogenetic diversity can provide insights on the role of time and evolutionary drivers of environmental gradients. We analyzed here the latitudinal gradient of endemic snakes from the Atlantic Forest of South America, a megadiverse and highly threatened portion of the Neotropics. We assessed the effect of area and average clade age on species richness and phylogenetic diversity, testing whether species richness and phylogenetic diversity increase with area availability and in lower latitudes. We found that area can predict species richness, but not phylogenetic diversity. Brazilian southeastern mountain ranges include larger patches of Atlantic Forest and the highest richness levels, but generally harboring snakes from relatively recent clades (neoendemics). There is a negative relationship between species richness and average clade age along the latitudinal gradient, with older clades found mainly in northern portions, increasing phylogenetic diversity at lower latitudes. Different dimensions of diversity, species richness and phylogenetic diversity, are thus affected in different ways by area and time for speciation in the Atlantic Forest, and this may be a trend in highly diverse tropical regions.

Arguments on geoparks and geotourism have grown heated in recent years. However, few people can understand what “geo” means. This study considers how to share viewpoints of “geo” to build sustainable regional societies from a geographical perspective. First, the author defines geotourism as a type of ecotourism mainly focusing on the Earth's scientific resources. Second, the author argues that the concept of regional diversity proposed by the Japanese Geographical Union in 2005 is the core of Geography. The author has this concept connect the three existing concepts of the geosphere: biodiversity, cultural diversity, and geodiversity. Then, the author discusses promoting geotourism with the concept of regional diversity and familiar geographical views that are important for building sustainable societies. A geographical approach is inevitable for showing the relationship between our lives and “geo”. Humankind will have a better future by locating the geotourism as the main practice of “Earth Science for Society,” which was the slogan of the International Year of Planet Earth 2007-2009 (IYPE), and sustaining activities to develop ways of looking at “regional diversity”.

This article uncovers the normative commitments underlying discussions on compliance and institutional design in international law and international relations (IR) theory through an examination of the concept of “global community” in different disciplinary discourses. Three images of global community are conjured in these theoretical discussions: the pluralist, the solidarist, and the discursive. After outlining the first two and discussing the critiques waged against them, the article seeks to defend the third image, which offers an approach to global social integration that is both culturally attuned and ambitious in scope. Drawing on critical IR theory, political philosophy as well as discursive theories of law, the article argues that the proposed image of global community holds the potential to successfully resolve the inherent tension between order, justice and cultural diversity, and where international law may play a meaningful role.

Though the global community, including China, has adopted multiple actions for biodiversity conservation, the goal of holding the current trend of rapid biodiversity loss before 2010 (the International Year of Biodiversity) promised by the leaders at the UN's 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development has remained unfulfilled. One limitation in reaching this goal may be the ignorance of the important roles that cultural diversity, especially indigenous or ethnic ecological culture diversity, can play in biodiversity conservation. This paper approaches the important roles played by ethnic ecological culture in biodiversity conservation and its sustainable uses using the Xishuangbanna Dai's ecological culture of the southern Yunnan tropical rainforest as an example. This situation is like the two sides of a coin in that they supplement each other; one side cannot be present without the other.

The Serranias Costeiras of the Ribeira de Iguape River basin comprise landscapes with steep slopes, where many streams are contained in protected areas. We evaluated the importance of these protected areas for stream fish diversity. We sampled the ichthyofauna during the dry season of 2010, 2018 and 2019 in 36 stream stretches. We used beta diversity measures and estimated species richness and dark diversity in streams from two types of protected areas (full protection, FP and sustainable use, SU) and outside (Out). The altitude-width and velocity gradient of the streams explained the species turnover. The PA type promoted the richness difference, with FP streams having less species richness than SU and outside. Streams from FP presented lower species richness and dark diversity. These results indicate that the few species in FPs are well protected. The FP streams contain a relevant proportion of the regional species pool and, therefore, are essential for conserving fish stream diversity in the study region. On the other hand, streams from SU or Out have higher species richness, but their fish fauna is more vulnerable. Due to longitudinal stream connectivity, we highlight the importance of rethinking the limits of protected areas.

Effects of silvicultural treatments on forest biodiversity indicators in the Mediterranean

This study explores the role of religious beliefs and interfaith understanding as cultural bridges in enhancing diplomatic relations across diverse cultures. Religion significantly influences cultural and ideological values, often acting as both a unifying and divisive force in history. With the intensification of globalization, interfaith dialogue has emerged as a critical diplomatic tool for fostering mutual respect, cooperation, and social cohesion. Using a qualitative methodology, this research examines case studies from Qatar's Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue and Indonesia's Religion Twenty (R20) Forum. It analyzes their roles in promoting peace, reducing religious tensions, and contributing to reconciliation in conflict-prone areas. The findings reveal that interfaith dialogue transcends theological discussions by emphasizing shared values like compassion and tolerance, enabling collaborative diplomatic efforts. The discussion highlights the potential of interfaith initiatives to integrate religious leaders and institutions into peacebuilding processes while addressing challenges such as religious conflict and politicization. It underscores the necessity of structured interfaith training for diplomats and the inclusion of religious actors in policy-making to foster sustainable peace. The study concludes that interfaith understanding not only bridges cultural divides but also enhances international diplomacy by creating frameworks for inclusive, cooperative, and peaceful interactions across global communities. Future research should focus on measuring the long-term impact of such initiatives and exploring strategies for addressing persistent challenges.

With a land mass one and half times larger than the United Kingdom, a population of more than thirty million, and an economy that would rank sixth among world nations, the history of the state of California demands a closer look.The Human Tradition in California captures the region's rich history and diversity, taking readers into the daily lives of ordinary Californians at key moments in time. These brief biographies show how individual people and communities have influenced the broad social, cultural, political and economic forces that have shaped California history from the pre-mission period through the late-twentieth century. In personalizing California's history, this engaging new book brings the Golden State to life. About the Editors Clark Davis has written extensively about California and its colorful history. Hiswork has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and Pacific Historical Review. He is a professor of history at California State University, Fullerton. David Igler is a long-time historian of California history and culture. He has presented for the Western Historical Association, the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, and the California Studies Association. Dr. Igler is professor of history at the University of Utah.