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The purpose of this paper is to investigate how successful lean six sigma (LSS) manifests in the Australasian (Australian and New Zealand) context relative to the context in the USA in terms of LSS project definition, structure and practices.

In-depth investigation through case studies – 12 Australian/New Zealand cases and 4 US cases – on the implementation mechanisms of successful LSS initiatives.

A significant difference was found between Australasian and US definitions of an LSS project. However, firms in both regions followed similar project selection, initiating and execution practices. LSS reporting structures were found to be well-established in US organizations, but none of the Australasian organizations were found to be equipped with such a structure, although the effectiveness of LSS implementation success remained unaffected.

Sufficient uniformity of LSS was found across two regions implying its usefulness/generalizability, but the findings are based only on 12 cases.

The paper provides the groundwork to develop a unique LSS model for Australasian organizations to improve processes in an effective and efficient manner.

Science Education Outdoors provides students with direct contact with natural phenomena and enables active learning, a key factor in Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE), a student-centred methodology for the acquisition, construction and understanding of knowledge.

This chapter will describe three case studies which used the IBSE methodology as both a teaching and learning methodology, promoting a deeper understanding of how IBSE can contribute to the success of learning and teaching in outdoor settings.

The three case studies were based on three training courses conducted at the Botanical Garden of the University of Coimbra (BGUC, Portugal). The first case study was the annual regular course for garden educators, and the other two were the two editions of the COInquire professional and accreditation training course for teachers and educators. Involving a total of 70 participants, data was collected through the application of questionnaires.

The study revealed that all participants considered IBSE a successful teaching–learning process and they remarked the opportunities created for the active construction of new knowledge. Strengthened by numerous live educational resources, the use of IBSE in the garden facilitated the questioning and interpretation of nature, supporting the open-minded and well-founded training of teachers, educators and students.

Additionally, the participants considered IBSE to be an effective methodology to boost their professional improvement, contributing to the development of innovative approaches to the curricular programmes on biodiversity and sustainability.

In a recent speech LORD ROSEBERY charged the people of this country with possessing, to an inordinate extent, the fatal gift of complacency, and he observed that the nation which is not progressive is retrogressive. “Rest and be thankful,” said LORD ROSEBERY, is a motto which spells decay, and those who have any experience of the methods of the manufacturers of the country will admit that this seemingly severe impeachment is by no means unfounded or uncalled‐for. Industries, of which at one time the English were masters, are now gradually falling into other hands. The workers of other lands are successfully competing with our own, and yet, in spite of this condition of our mercantile affairs, the spirit of complacency is rampant. The sons are content to continue in the footsteps of the fathers, oblivious of the fact that time and seasons do not stand still and that they may be overwhelmed by the advancing flood of competition. The trade conservatism which was in the past opposed to the introduction of the steam‐engine, the power‐loom, and other mechanical appliances, is still responsible for the extreme slowness with which English firms appreciate the necessity for such innovations in the conduct of their business as would place them in a position to hold their own in the markets of the world. In respect to the protection of pure food production Great Britain and the British manufacturers are still a long way behind. Although the Sale of Food and Drugs Act of 1875 was one of the first Acts passed in any country to prevent the sale of adulterated food and drink, its machinery is cumbrous, and the subsequent Amendment Acts have not added materially to its efficiency; with the result that the Adulteration Acts do not compare favourably with those of many other countries. The spirit of complacency in regard to food products has affected alike the producer and the distributor, and the result is that in many instances there is no adequate inducement to produce anything but a mediocre article—such an article, in fact, as only escapes condemnation because of the faulty construction of the machinery of the law.

My Lord, in this case, if you brush away—as I invite you to brush away—all the irrelevancies introduced by my friend, Mr. Hume‐Williams, I submit to you with confidence that this case is reasonably clear; but the elaborate argument he has delivered requires me, I am afraid, to repeat what I said in opening, that the only way to approach a case of this kind is to look at the Section of the Statute, and to see what the Section of the Statute was intended to prohibit. I am not going to trouble you with the earlier cases decided under the Food and Drugs Act. I know there have been decisions by the Divisional Court, but they cannot be looked to because the Act under which these proceedings were taken was avowedly intended to meet the difficulties that had arisen in the administration of the earlier Acts. The purpose of the Act is absolutely clear, especially in regard to Section 3, but let me remind you again that this Act contains several different offences, provided with appropriate defences, and guarded by certain specific conditions.

Next after butter and milk—as regards the total number of samples examined—come spirits, of which 6,938 samples were dealt with. Of the articles of which sufficiently numerous analyses were made to furnish reliable data, spirits as a class are the most extensively adulterated, and the 12 per cent. of adulteration recorded for the year under review does not, in all probability, nearly represent the real extent of the evil. Many samples are returned as genuine which have been watered beyond the legal limit because the vendors have exhibited dilution notices, a method of legalising what are essentially fraudulent practices which is, unfortunately, being extended to other foods and drinks, and bids fair to bring the whole execution of the “Acts” to a standstill. In addition to this there are the widest differences of opinion and practice amongst both Public Analysts and Local Authorities as regards those spirits which have been the subjects of prosecution, on account of their origin or mode of manufacture, i.e., for being partially or entirely the product of the “patent still.” Prosecutions of brandy for containing spirit not derived from the grape have been fairly common, and similar offences connected with whisky and rum have also been brought before the courts, and yet the proportion of “spirits” now found to be adulterated is 30 per cent. lower than it was ten years ago, when watering was practically the only offence recorded. In view of the interest aroused and the intrinsic importance of the whole question some details and some guidance also might be looked for in such a report as this. Unfortunately the spirits are all lumped together under one heading, and although the presence in brandy of alcohol not derived from the grape is referred to, no further details are given. It is, no doubt, the case that the Local Government Board is not in a position to express an authoritative opinion on any of the difficult problems to which we have referred, and has no legal power to fix standards or enforce their use; nevertheless the mere statement of the number of prosecutions, of brandy, for instance (for containing other than grape‐derived spirit) together with the maximum and minimum proportions of the foreign spirit or the figures for esters in the corresponding cases would have at least shown to what extent the recently promulgated standards for this liquor had gained acceptance throughout the country.

The following is the text of Mr. JOHN BURNS' Bill for securing the purity of articles of food and preventing the misdescription thereof, which was introduced in the House of Commons on August 6:—

In reference to the administration of the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts by the various local authorities in England and Wales during the year 1908 the following remarks appear in the recently issued report of the Local Government Board for that year. “Our attention has been drawn to the practice which has been adopted recently by certain local authorities of inviting applicants for the office of public analyst to state the terms upon which they are prepared to accept the appointment. We consider the offering of such appointment ‘on tender’ as open to strong objection, and we trust that the practice will be discontinued.”

The Sanitary Committee of a certain County Council, strong with the strength of recent creation, have lately been animated by a desire to distinguish themselves in some way, and, proceeding along the lines of least resistance, they appear to have selected the Public Analyst as the most suitable object for attack. The charge against this unfortunate official was not that he is incompetent, or that he had been in any way negligent of his duties as prescribed by Act of Parliament, but simply and solely that he has the temerity to reside in London, which city is distant by a certain number of miles from the much favoured district controlled by the County Council aforesaid. The committee were favoured in their deliberations by the assistance of no less an authority than the “Principal” of a local “Technical School”;—and who could be more capable than he to express an opinion upon so simple a matter? This eminent exponent of scientific truths, after due and proper consideration, is reported to have delivered himself of the opinion that “scientifically it would be desirable that the analyst should reside in the district, as the delay occasioned by the sending of samples of water to London is liable to produce a misleading effect upon an analysis.” Apparently appalled by the contemplation of such possibilities, and strengthened by another expression of opinion to the effect that there were as “good men” in the district as in London, the committee resolved to recommend the County Council to determine the existing arrangement with the Public Analyst, and to appoint a “local analyst for all purposes.” Thus, the only objection which could be urged to the employment of a Public Analyst resident in London was the ridiculous one that the composition of a sample of water was likely to seriously alter during the period of its transit to London, and this contention becomes still more absurd when it is remembered that the examination of water samples is no part of the official duty of a Public Analyst. The employment of local scientific talent may be very proper when the object to be attained is simply the more or less imperfect instruction of the rising generation in the rudiments of what passes in this country for “technical education”; but the work of the Public Analyst is serious and responsible, and cannot be lightly undertaken by every person who may be acquainted with some of the uses of a test‐tube. The worthy members of this committee may find to their cost, as other committees have found before them, that persons possessing the requisite knowledge and experience are not necessarily indigenous to their district. Supposing that the County Council adopts the recommendation, the aspirations of the committee may even then be strangled in their infancy, as the Local Government Board will want to know all about the matter, and the committee will have to give serious and valid reasons in support of their case.

The Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the use of preservatives and colouring matters in the preservation and colouring of food, have now issued their report, and the large amount of evidence which is recorded therein will be found to be of the greatest interest to those concerned in striving to obtain a pure and unsophisticated food‐supply. It is of course much to be regretted that the Committee could not see their way to recommend the prohibition of all chemical preservatives in articles of food and drink; but, apart from this want of strength, they have made certain recommendations which, if they become law, will greatly improve the character of certain classes of food. It is satisfactory to note that formaldehyde and its preparations may be absolutely prohibited in foods and drinks; but, on the other hand, it is suggested that salicylic acid may be allowed in certain proportions in food, although in all cases its presence is to be declared. The entire prohibition of preservatives in milk would be a step in the right direction, although it is difficult to see why, in view of this recommendation, boric acid should be allowed to the extent of 0·25 per cent. in cream, more especially as by another recommendation all dietetic preparations intended for the use of invalids or infants are to be entirely free from preservative chemicals; but it will be a severe shock to tho3e traders who are in the habit of using these substances to be informed that they must declare the fact of the admixture by a label attached to the containing vessel. The use of boric acid and borax only is to be permitted in butter and margarine, in proportions not exceeding 0·5 per cent. expressed as boric acid, without notification. It is suggested that the use of salts of copper in the so‐called greening of vegetables should not be allowed, but upon this recommendation the members of the Committee were not unanimous, as in a note attached to the report one member states that he does not agree with the entire exclusion of added copper to food, for the strange reason that certain foods may naturally contain traces of copper. With equal truth it can be said that certain foods may naturally contain traces of arsenic. Is the addition of arsenic therefore to be permitted? The Committee are to be congratulated upon the result of their labours, and when these recommendations become law Great Britain may be regarded as having come a little more into line— although with some apparent reluctance—with those countries who regard the purity of their food‐supplies as a matter of national importance.

The total number of samples analysed in 1911 was 103,221, an increase of 2,472 samples over the number for the previous year. The principal increases were the following: Milk, 2,954; flour, 405; bread, 291; and spirits, 255. The principal decreases occurred in lard, 973; cheese, 285; and margarine, 208.