tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/standardisation-2817/articlesStandardisation – The Conversation2023-07-06T10:38:19Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2082512023-07-06T10:38:19Z2023-07-06T10:38:19ZKiswahili: how a standard version of the east African language was formed – and spread across the world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534332/original/file-20230627-17-hl1r78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jasmin Merdan/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Kiswahili originated in east Africa, spreading around the continent and the globe. It’s been <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60333796">adopted</a> as a working language at the African Union and there’s a push for it to become Africa’s lingua franca or common language. Morgan J. Robinson is a <a href="https://www.history.msstate.edu/directory/mjr530">historian</a> of east Africa with a research focus on language who has published a <a href="https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/A+Language+for+the+World">book</a> on Kiswahili called A Language for the World. We asked her how today’s accepted standard version of Kiswahili came into being.</em></p>
<h2>Where is Kiswahili spoken?</h2>
<p>Kiswahili is spoken across eastern and central Africa. Mother-tongue speakers are found mainly along the coast, but Kiswahili is spoken as a second or third language by people around the world. According to Unesco, which in 2021 proclaimed 7 July as <a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/7-july-2023-edition-world-kiswahili-language-day#:%7E:text=7%20July%3A%20The%202023%20Edition%20of%20the%20World%20Kiswahili%20Language%20Day">World Kiswahili Language Day</a>, it’s <a href="https://www.unesco.org/en/kiswahili-language-day">spoken</a> by 200 million people.</p>
<h2>What led to it becoming so prominent?</h2>
<p>Kiswahili’s role as a prominent symbolic and practical language in Africa is the result of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-how-swahili-became-africas-most-spoken-language-177259">multiple factors</a>. These range from political and economic to cultural and historical. Already by the 1800s Kiswahili was being used all along the caravan trade network that crisscrossed east-central Africa. In the centuries before this, the language had been used to formulate legal, philosophical and poetic contributions that influenced the entire Indian Ocean world.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534279/original/file-20230627-15-p2dmk2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A book cover with a black and white photo of a man in a library, holding some books in one hand and reading from a book in the other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534279/original/file-20230627-15-p2dmk2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534279/original/file-20230627-15-p2dmk2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534279/original/file-20230627-15-p2dmk2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534279/original/file-20230627-15-p2dmk2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534279/original/file-20230627-15-p2dmk2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534279/original/file-20230627-15-p2dmk2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534279/original/file-20230627-15-p2dmk2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ohio University Press</span></span>
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<p>But one of the arguments of my book is that the creation of a standardised version of the language resulted by the mid-1900s in a version of Kiswahili that was more portable than ever before. A standard language is a uniform written version that is generally recognised as the “official” form. This comes with the creation of dictionaries, grammars and literature that allow this version to travel further. </p>
<p>Another important part of the story of the standardisation of Kiswahili is that it was central to a variety of community-building projects across the course of a century. It was used by formerly enslaved students and missionaries alongside native speakers on Zanzibar and was central as a language of administration in Tanganyika, Zanzibar, Kenya and parts of Uganda during the colonial period. Kiswahili also played a political role in the anti-colonial movements of eastern Africa and among southern African freedom fighters who trained in Tanzania in the 1960s and 1970s. It was even embraced by some US civil rights activists. </p>
<p>All these communities used the language at various times to strengthen ties and communicate across barriers that otherwise might have kept people apart. This led not only to an increase in the number of people speaking and writing Kiswahili, but also to its reputation as a potential pan-African and even global connecting language.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-how-swahili-became-africas-most-spoken-language-177259">The story of how Swahili became Africa's most spoken language</a>
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<p>Many, including literary heavyweights <a href="https://udadisi.com/kiswahili-urithi-wetu-afrika/?fbclid=IwAR1g4MY3MvaTMdMuTVner-_Sfo3M5_KDQ-wNTvI2ZiLO4lv40vtp2BMcus0">Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o</a> from Kenya and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/23/books/wole-soyinka-writing-africa-and-politics.html">Wole Soyinka</a> from Nigeria, have advocated for the embracing of Kiswahili as a pan-African language of communication. </p>
<p>But there’s legitimate concern that the expanded use of Kiswahili in official and unofficial realms could endanger the linguistic diversity of east Africa.</p>
<p>It’s a problem for which I don’t have an answer. Perhaps multilingualism is the key. As Ngũgĩ encouraged in a 2021 <a href="https://udadisi.com/kiswahili-urithi-wetu-afrika/?fbclid=IwAR1g4MY3MvaTMdMuTVner-_Sfo3M5_KDQ-wNTvI2ZiLO4lv40vtp2BMcus0">speech</a> in Mombasa: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Therefore let us be proud of our mother tongues; let us be proud of Kiswahili as the national language; and on top of that let us add the knowledge of English or Mandarin or French or Yoruba, etcetera. These will only give strength to our proficiency and communication. But our foundation is made of our mother tongues and the language of the entire nation, that is Kiswahili.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What exactly is standardised Kiswahili?</h2>
<p>Just as there are many “Englishes” spoken around the world, so are there multiple “Kiswahilis”. That’s to say, Kiswahili is a language of multiple dialects – the Kimvita spoken at Mombasa, for instance, or the Kiamu of Lamu – of which Standard Swahili is just one. It is the version that shapes the textbooks and curricula with which Kiswahili is taught around the world, so that most students learning Kiswahili in classrooms are learning Standard Swahili.</p>
<p>Its history is a long one that did not follow a single, straight path. However, broadly speaking, Standard Swahili is based on Kiunguja, the Zanzibari dialect of the language. It’s also important to note that while Standard Swahili is written in the Latin script – the alphabet used to write English, French, Italian etcetera – Kiswahili has a much longer history of being written in the Arabic script, a tradition that lives on in some communities.</p>
<h2>What were the key moments in the standardisation of the language?</h2>
<p>One of my main arguments is that the standardisation of Kiswahili was a long-term and, by necessity, collaborative process. The standard version was neither wholly imposed by the British colonial regime in the 1920s, nor was it a “naturally” developed tool of anti-colonial resistance. Starting in 1864 with the arrival of Anglican missionaries on Zanzibar, through the independence and early post-colonial eras, multiple communities participated in the process. They all used the language to create their own diverse communities.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-kiswahili-science-fiction-award-charts-a-path-for-african-languages-163876">New Kiswahili science fiction award charts a path for African languages</a>
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<p>One of my favourite examples to describe this process is the figure of Owen Makanyassa. He was enslaved as a young man, but before arriving at its destination the ship carrying him was captured by the British Royal Navy and, in the late 1860s or early 1870s, Makanyassa was placed under the care of a missionary society on Zanzibar. He attended the mission’s school and became an invaluable worker at its printing press, producing some of the translations that would go on to form the basis of Standard Swahili. Though Makanyassa and his fellow students and workers spoke a variety of mother tongues, their language of communication very quickly became Kiswahili, and they all participated in this early stage of its standardisation – though they haven’t always been credited for their contributions. </p>
<p>In my book I zoom in on moments like this, moments in which freedom and unfreedom, oppression and empowerment, official and unofficial knowledge production combined, slowly creating a written version of Swahili that would be exported around the world, creating a truly global language.</p>
<p><em>Download a <a href="https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/A+Language+for+the+World">free copy</a> of the book at Ohio University Press</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208251/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morgan J. Robinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>By the 1950s a standard version of the language emerged, today spoken by an estimated 200 million people.Morgan J. Robinson, Assistant Professor, Mississippi State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1966522023-01-05T13:26:24Z2023-01-05T13:26:24ZNanomedicines for various diseases are in development – but research facilities produce vastly inconsistent results on how the body will react to them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502207/original/file-20221220-6047-jjdm3d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2048%2C1637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nanoparticles (white disks) can be used to deliver treatment to cells (blue).</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/KjvnhT">Brenda Melendez and Rita Serda/National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2018.00360">Nanomedicines</a> took the spotlight during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers are using these very small and intricate materials to develop diagnostic tests and treatments. Nanomedicine is already used for various diseases, such as the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-020-0757-7">COVID-19 vaccines</a> and therapies for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2017.167">cardiovascular disease</a>. The “nano” refers to the use of particles that are only a few hundred nanometers in size, which is <a href="https://www.nano.gov/nanotech-101/what/nano-size">significantly smaller than</a> the width of a human hair.</p>
<p>Although researchers have developed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-022-00922-5">several methods</a> to improve the reliability of nanotechnologies, the field still faces one major roadblock: a lack of a standardized way to analyze <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2016.08.011">biological identity</a>, or how the body will react to nanomedicines. This is essential information in evaluating how effective and safe new treatments are. </p>
<p>I’m a researcher studying <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=D-qg1JwAAAAJ&hl=en">overlooked factors in nanomedicine development</a>. In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34438-8">recently published research</a>, my colleagues and I found that analyses of biological identity are highly inconsistent across proteomics facilities that specialize in studying proteins.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Gold is one of the materials used in nanotechnologies.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Inconsistent results</h2>
<p>Nanomedicines, just like with all medications, are surrounded by proteins from the body once they come into contact with the bloodstream. This protein coating, known as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.12.108">protein corona</a>, gives nanoparticles a biological identity that determines how the body will recognize and interact with it, like how the immune system has specific reactions against certain pathogens and allergens.</p>
<p>Knowing the precise type, amount and configuration of the proteins and other biomolecules attached to the surface of nanomedicines is critical to determine safe and effective dosages for treatments. However, one of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27643-4">few available approaches</a> to analyze the composition of protein coronas requires instruments that many nanomedicine laboratories lack. So these labs typically send their samples to separate proteomics facilities to do the analysis for them. Unfortunately, many facilities use <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-019-0037-y">different sample preparation methods and instruments</a>, which can lead to differences in results.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502192/original/file-20221220-20-iflyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Cryo-electron microscopy images of protein coronas on nanoparticles" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502192/original/file-20221220-20-iflyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/502192/original/file-20221220-20-iflyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502192/original/file-20221220-20-iflyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502192/original/file-20221220-20-iflyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502192/original/file-20221220-20-iflyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502192/original/file-20221220-20-iflyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/502192/original/file-20221220-20-iflyr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Protein coronas give nanoparticles their biological identities. Images A to C show nanoparticles without protein coronas, while images D to F show proteins (black dots) coating the surface of the particles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34438-8">Ashkarran et al. (2022)/Nature Communications</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>We wanted to test how consistently these proteomics facilities analyzed protein corona samples. To do this, my colleagues and I sent biologically identical protein coronas to 17 different labs in the U.S. for analysis. </p>
<p>We had striking results: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34438-8">Less than 2%</a> of the proteins the labs identified were the same. </p>
<p>Our results reveal an extreme lack of consistency in the analyses researchers use to understand how nanomedicines work in the body. This may pose a significant challenge not only to ensuring the accuracy of diagnostics, but also the effectiveness and safety of treatments based on nanomedicines.</p>
<h2>Why standardize nanomedicine?</h2>
<p>Researchers have been working to improve the safety and efficacy of nanomedicine through various approaches. These include modifying study protocols, methodologies and analytical techniques to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-018-0246-4">standardize the field</a> and improve the reliability of nanomedicine data.</p>
<p>Aligned with these efforts, my team and I have identified several critical but often overlooked factors that can influence the performance of a nanomedicine, such as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23230-9">person’s sex</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/C4BM00131A">prior medical conditions</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/C9NH00097F">disease type</a>. Taking these factors into account when designing studies and interpreting results could enable researchers to produce more reliable and accurate data and lead to better nanomedicine treatments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196652/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Morteza Mahmoudi receives funding from the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (grant DK131417). He is affiliated with PGWC, NanoServ, and Target's Tip. He is a co-founder and director of the Academic Parity Movement (<a href="http://www.paritymovement.org">www.paritymovement.org</a>), a non-profit organization dedicated to addressing academic discrimination, violence and incivility. He receives royalties/honoraria for his published books, plenary lectures, and licensed patents. </span></em></p>The proteins that cover nanoparticles are essential to understanding how they work in the body. Across 17 proteomics facilities in the US, less than 2% of the identified proteins were identical.Morteza Mahmoudi, Assistant Professor of Radiology, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/471542015-10-14T09:02:12Z2015-10-14T09:02:12ZCan’t take the heat? We need a universal measure on temperature<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95314/original/image-20150918-12351-3bfjdk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A measure of temperature here may be different to elsewhere.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnsyweb/2151563670/">Flickr/Pete Johns</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Which weighs more: a kilo of cheese or a kilo of Vegemite? Surprisingly, the answer depends on where they come from.</p>
<p>The science of measurement has a communications problem: how do people agree on how much they are talking about? </p>
<p>Historically, things were measured by convenient but variable references, such as the width of a thumb (an inch) or a foot (a foot) – no doubt responsible for many an <a href="https://vimeo.com/94459739">ancient argument</a>.</p>
<p>Resolving the ambiguity inherent in these rough rules of thumb became important enough to medieval commerce that the <a href="http://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/magna-carta-english-translation">Magna Carta</a> – apparently catering to inebriated textile workers, and now celebrating its 800th year – required that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(35) There shall be standard measures of wine, ale, and corn (the London quarter), throughout the kingdom. There shall also be a standard width of dyed cloth, russet, and haberject, namely two ells within the selvedges. Weights are to be standardised similarly.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>During the scientific and industrial revolutions, increasing demands for precision and standardisation in science, mass-production and global commerce lead to the development of the metric system, based on units like the metre, kilogram and second.</p>
<p>This system became the bedrock for the modern scientific edifice, enabling people to quantitatively study phenomena such as gravity, electricity or temperature, for which there are no convenient, everyday references.</p>
<h2>A reference to measure</h2>
<p>Standard units were originally defined by a reference artefact. For instance, a platinum mass in Paris defines the <a href="http://www.bipm.org/en/bipm/mass/prototype.html">primary kilogram</a>, with derivative secondary copies stored in various <a href="http://www.measurement.gov.au/Services/calibrationtesting/Pages/Massandrelatedquantities.aspx#">National Measurement Institutes</a>. </p>
<p>But there remains the problem of reliably distributing the standard. For example, when primary and secondary kilogram masses are periodically compared, they differ slightly. Since National Measurement labs legally define measures within their <a href="http://www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure/chapter1.html">jurisdiction</a>, a kilo of French cheese is currently a <a href="http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/final_reports/M/M-K1/CCM.M-K1.pdf">microgram lighter</a> than a kilo of Australian Vegemite!</p>
<p>To fix this problem, scientists have been working to redefine the system of units in terms of universal constants, such as the speed of light, the frequency of certain atoms, or the electrical resistance of quantum devices. This program is more or less complete for <a href="http://www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure/second.html">time</a>, <a href="http://www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure/metre.html">length</a> and <a href="http://www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure/ampere.html">electrical charge</a>.</p>
<p>Others, such as mass and temperature, still rely on artefacts. The <a href="http://www.bipm.org/metrology/thermometry/units.html">Kelvin</a> unit for temperature is defined in terms of “<a href="https://nucleus.iaea.org/rpst/referenceproducts/referencematerials/Stable_Isotopes/2H18O-water-samples/VSMOW2.htm">Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water</a>”, specially prepared by the International Atomic Energy Agency. In the current <a href="http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/its-90/ITS-90_metrologia.pdf">ITS-90</a> temperature scale, the triple-point (where liquid, solid and gas phases coexist) of this peculiarly named water defines exactly 273.16 Kelvin (0.01°C).</p>
<h2>A universal measure of temperature</h2>
<p>Internationally, there are various approaches being pursued to <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/0026-1394/page/Focus_on_the_Boltzmann_Constant">redefine the Kelvin</a> in terms of universal quantities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95359/original/image-20150918-17709-328yku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95359/original/image-20150918-17709-328yku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/95359/original/image-20150918-17709-328yku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95359/original/image-20150918-17709-328yku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95359/original/image-20150918-17709-328yku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95359/original/image-20150918-17709-328yku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95359/original/image-20150918-17709-328yku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/95359/original/image-20150918-17709-328yku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Infrared image of a laser probing a Caesium vapour cell.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">GW Truong.</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Our approach, published in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9345">Nature Communications</a>, is based on Doppler spectroscopy of Caesium atoms in a low pressure vapour at room temperature. An example of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-doppler-effect-7475">Doppler effect</a> is the audible change in frequency of a police siren as it passes by.</p>
<p>Atoms in a gas are zipping around, and the higher the temperature, the larger their typical velocity. </p>
<p>Using very precise lasers we were able to measure the Doppler frequency shift of the atomic spectrum, from which we determine the atomic velocities – just like a traffic cop at a speed trap measures vehicle speeds with a Doppler radar gun.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98049/original/image-20151012-17807-11imhn2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98049/original/image-20151012-17807-11imhn2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98049/original/image-20151012-17807-11imhn2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98049/original/image-20151012-17807-11imhn2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98049/original/image-20151012-17807-11imhn2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98049/original/image-20151012-17807-11imhn2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98049/original/image-20151012-17807-11imhn2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/98049/original/image-20151012-17807-11imhn2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Formula for calculating the temperature.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From the atomic velocity (<em>v</em>), we calculate the temperature (<em>T</em>) of the gas using the formula (right; <em>m</em> is the atomic mass and <em>k</em> is <a href="http://physics.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Value?k%7Csearch_for=physchem_in!">Boltzmann’s constant</a>).</p>
<p>Importantly, there are no unknown calibration factors in our technique; we rely only on universal constants such as the atomic mass and the speed of light. So with sufficient technical skill, any lab – whether on Earth or in the Andromeda galaxy – could replicate our experiment; no reference artefacts required. Even better, our approach scales over a large range of temperatures, from well below freezing to the interior of furnaces.</p>
<p>One of the challenges of this technique is that the laser light used to probe the atoms also changes their internal state, even for extremely low power lasers. Just as motorists become agitated after spotting a speed radar, so the atoms in our experiment become excited by the light used to measure them.</p>
<p>The change in the atomic state is small – just one part in 10,000 – but this is large compared to our target accuracy of one part in a million. Fortunately atoms of the same Caesium isotope are all exactly alike, so we can account for these small changes using quantum theory to dramatically improve our measurement performance. </p>
<p>Getting our system of units right is critical: it is the foundation on which science and technology are built. Upgrading the Kelvin definition will require backward compatibility with the current system, and pursuing several different experimental avenues will ensure we get it right.</p>
<p>As with any upgrade, this one will be deemed successful if the public hardly notice the transition. But to those at the cutting edge – whether developing high-temperature materials processing, studying the cosmic microwave background or making ultra-cold quantum gases – basing the Kelvin on universal and fundamental principles will enable the most rigorous tests of the universe.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47154/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Stace receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the US Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology. </span></em></p>How do we know that a measure of something in one location can be replicated precisely in another. We already have a universal measure of mass and time, but what about temperture?Thomas Stace, Associate Professor in Physics, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/411992015-05-27T04:22:08Z2015-05-27T04:22:08ZWe standardise training for pilots and doctors. We must do the same for teachers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82367/original/image-20150520-11428-7jdarj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Literacy levels in South Africa are low, so training educators who can teach reading is more vital than ever.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">From www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Teacher preparation programmes at many of South Africa’s universities are failing to produce graduates with the right skills to tackle the country’s literacy challenges.</p>
<p>Many South African children simply <a href="http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/sa-s-shocking-literacy-stats-1.1595411#.VVs4b_mqqko">can’t read</a> at their grade level. This means the country must produce world class reading literacy teachers more urgently than ever before. A great teacher of reading can be the first line of defence against a child’s future reading difficulties.</p>
<p>But educators can’t teach what they don’t know. A fourth-year Bachelor of Education student recently told me: “I had to present a lesson on diagraphs and consonant blends … when I realised that I was having a difficult time recalling exactly what a consonant blend was myself.”</p>
<p>There is a chasm between the research knowledge base about reading literacy development and teachers’ classroom practices. Teacher preparation programmes at universities are partly to blame for this divide. Many of these programmes have failed to adequately prepare their candidates to teach reading. </p>
<p>South Africa’s Department of Basic Education <a href="http://www.education.gov.za/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=wjYeFLi8NC0%3D&tabid=454&mid=401">reveals</a> in its national reading strategy document that many teachers have an underdeveloped understanding of how to teach literacy, reading and writing. Others don’t know how to teach reading at all, while some know only one method of teaching reading that doesn’t cater to every learners’ needs.</p>
<h2>Shortfalls in training</h2>
<p>Some universities have badly underestimated the demands of competent literacy instruction and the training that’s required. Teacher preparation in reading literacy instruction is often too brief, too shallow or depends too much on ideas that aren’t supported by research. For instance, too few courses focus specifically on the <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar04/vol61/num06/The-Science-of-Reading-Research.aspx">science of reading</a>. Understanding this science equips educators to teach reading literacy better.</p>
<p>This flies in the face of the stringent training and preparation that is required for other professionals. Pilots, engineers, optometrists and medical doctors must learn concepts, facts and skills to a prescribed level. They conduct their practice under supervision and must pass rigorous entry exams that are standardised across the profession. </p>
<p>There are no such rules or standards to ensure that teachers who instruct children in reading have mastered the relevant knowledge base and acquired the necessary skills. Even within universities that prepare hundreds of teachers every year, there may be no curricular specifications or standards. What a teacher candidate learns depends on their lecturer for a particular module. The lecturer will teach what he or she knows and believes. This means that preparation for teaching reading is often more <a href="http://jet.org.za/publications/bulletins/bulletin-february-2015">grounded in ideology</a> than evidence.</p>
<p>The academic freedom that lecturers often invoke certainly has a place in teacher education. But professional preparation programmes have a responsibility to teach a defined body of knowledge, skills and abilities that are based on the best research available in the field. </p>
<h2>Standardisation is crucial</h2>
<p>The Department of Basic Education has <a href="http://www.education.gov.za/Newsroom/OpinionPieces/tabid/609/ctl/Details/mid/1909/ItemID/3128/Default.aspx">identified</a> teacher quality as an area that needs attention. Its <a href="http://www.education.gov.za/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=tAJLh4fl3z8%3D&tabid=358&mid=2316">policy</a> on the minimum requirements for teacher education defines standards at a generic level for all teacher education qualifications. But what is needed now are far more specific standards that relate to the areas of expertise in which teachers need to specialise - like reading literacy. </p>
<p>There is successful international precedent for this. In the United States, standards for reading professionals have been <a href="http://www.reading.org/General/CurrentResearch/Standards/ProfessionalStandards2010.aspx">successfully developed</a> and implemented.</p>
<p>South African teacher preparation institutions differ in their preparation methodologies, teaching approaches and organisational purposes. They should, however, ascribe to a common set of professional reading literacy standards for the benefit of the students they serve. Compliance with these standards would assure the public that individuals who teach in South Africa’s diverse schools are equipped to implement scientifically based and clinically proven reading practices.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41199/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carisma Nel receives funding from European Union Sector Policy Support Programme - Strengthening Foundation Phase Teacher Education.</span></em></p>There is a chasm between the research knowledge base about reading literacy and teachers’ classroom practices. Standardisation could be a big part of the solution.Carisma Nel, Research Professor, Faculty of Education Sciences, North-West UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/162772013-09-15T20:41:01Z2013-09-15T20:41:01ZSetting the standard: Australia must choose an electric car charging norm<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/29052/original/5pxs3m9q-1376284566.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Choosing a plug matters.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">brx0/Flickr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More electric vehicles (EVs) are hitting Australia’s roads, and more public charging stations are being installed to support them. What is missing, however, is an Australian standard or even a recommendation for charging connectors - the plug that joins the car to the charging station.</p>
<p>When we started Australia’s <a href="http://evtrial.org">first electric vehicle trial</a> in Western Australia in 2010, there were no manufacturer-built cars available and we had to use locally built conversions. As of today, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Holden and Tesla offer electric cars in the Australian market. Nearly all international car manufacturers will follow in 2014 and 2015.</p>
<p>Charging networks have been established as well. In Perth we have a <a href="http://theREVproject.com/charging/">public charging network</a> of around 30 stations (7kW AC). There is a similar sized network in Melbourne, but less in other capital cities.</p>
<h2>Types of stations</h2>
<p>The two most prominent charging station types for AC charging are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_62196">IEC 62196</a> Type 1 (aka SAE J1772, used in the US and Japan) and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_62196">IEC 62196</a> Type 2 (aka Mennekes, used in Europe). The internal architecture of these station types is largely identical, but Type 1 stations are restricted to single-phase power, while Type 2 stations can provide single-phase or three-phase power, which means at least three times faster charging.</p>
<p>Therefore, Australia’s choice should obviously be Type 2, even more so since three-phase connections improve the grid balance.</p>
<p>The reason behind the two competing world standards is the difference in electric power transmission grid. Australia, like Europe, has a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-phase_electric_power">three-phase</a> power grid, while the US and Japan only have a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-phase_electric_power">split-phase single phase</a> grid.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27995/original/3sf5sc4n-1374660258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27995/original/3sf5sc4n-1374660258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27995/original/3sf5sc4n-1374660258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27995/original/3sf5sc4n-1374660258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27995/original/3sf5sc4n-1374660258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27995/original/3sf5sc4n-1374660258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27995/original/3sf5sc4n-1374660258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27995/original/3sf5sc4n-1374660258.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stuart Speidel with a “Type 1” connector and Prof. Thomas Braunl with a “Type 2” connector at the UWA EV charging station.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UWA/REV</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Isn’t variety good?</h2>
<p>Imagine the confusion if there was no standard for petrol car fuel nozzles! The equivalent is now happening for electric cars: Because Australia has not yet adopted an EV charging connector standard, a mix of stations is currently being installed.</p>
<p>Although we are still dealing with a very low number of charging stations overall, they do set a precedent. Whatever happens now will determine Australia’s EV charging future.</p>
<p>The availability of stations will influence car manufacturers when deciding which EV type to export to Australia. </p>
<p>Getting two different types of cars is not helpful for the early adopters of electric vehicles, nor for the operators of charging networks. Remember Beta versus VHS video? Eventually one standard will prevail and non-compliant stations and cars will have to be converted at a significant cost. </p>
<p>Or worse, both standards will remain side-by-side, similar to the situation we have with screw-type and bayonet-type light bulbs in Australia.</p>
<h2>If we wait, will things get simpler?</h2>
<p>Maybe the already available next generation of fast-DC chargers will solve this dilemma? Unfortunately not. Australia’s first fast-DC charging stations follow the Japanese ChaDeMo standard, which most likely will be obsolete in a couple of years. </p>
<p>That’s because the world’s eight leading automotive manufacturers from the US and Europe have instead agreed to support the new Combo DC-charging standard. Although a common US/European standard sounds great, there are again two different connectors in order to be compatible with slow AC charging: “Combo Type 1” for the US and “Combo Type 2” for Europe. </p>
<p>Maybe inductive charging will finally eliminate the choice by eliminating connectors altogether? We’ll see at the end of the decade.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/16277/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span> Thomas Bräunl received funding from an ARC Linkage project.</span></em></p>More electric vehicles (EVs) are hitting Australia’s roads, and more public charging stations are being installed to support them. What is missing, however, is an Australian standard or even a recommendation… Thomas Bräunl, Professor of Robotics; Director, WA Electric Vehicle Trial, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/63772012-04-17T20:40:40Z2012-04-17T20:40:40ZStandards, please! The third coming of electric vehicles<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9618/original/vymktjsg-1334538784.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Volvo's V60 Plug-in Hybrid – one of many attempts to make electric vehicles more seductive.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Overlaet, Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Electric vehicles (EVs) are not new. But recent developments could give them something of a boost in the eyes of the buying public. If so, it wouldn’t be the first time.</p>
<p>By the turn of the 20th century, EVs were so popular in America that they outsold all other types of cars. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au/lost_marques_baker.htm">Baker Motor Vehicle Company</a> of Cleveland, Ohio lead the EV industry by offering 15 different models, with production reaching 400 cars in 1905 (increasing to 800 in 1906) and selling for approximately US$850 each – about US$22,400 in modern money. </p>
<p>Famous owners of the Baker EV included <a href="http://www.thomasedison.com/biography.html">Thomas Edison</a>, the <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books?id=vfZceT8LpYoC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=King+of+Siam+baker+electric&source=bl&ots=bWGYMSgsuX&sig=GLURphu2IZt7TmA7DQ2SK28DYH4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=zcKMT6vTF8yiiAfElNHBCQ&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=King%20of%20Siam%20baker%20electric&f=false">King of Siam</a> and the famous American financier and philanthropist <a href="http://www.nndb.com/people/472/000177938/">“Diamond” Jim Brady</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9614/original/hgqwctfy-1334538238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9614/original/hgqwctfy-1334538238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9614/original/hgqwctfy-1334538238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9614/original/hgqwctfy-1334538238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9614/original/hgqwctfy-1334538238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9614/original/hgqwctfy-1334538238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9614/original/hgqwctfy-1334538238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">1912 Argo Brougham, made by the Argo Electric Vehicle Company.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">W. Zablosky, Wikimedia Commons </span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There was a perception by the 1900s that EVs had many advantages over their gasoline-powered rivals: they were silent, free from vibration, easy to start and produced less emissions.</p>
<p>But, as with today, buyers had similar concerns about their short driving range (a condition known as <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2011/03/110310-electric-car-range-anxiety/">range anxiety</a>) and high initial price. </p>
<p>In time their popularity waned.</p>
<h2>Second coming</h2>
<p>EVs attained prominence again at the beginning of the 1970s due to the oil crisis, when the members of Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, or the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_Arab_Petroleum_Exporting_Countries">OAPEC</a> (consisting of the Arab members of <a href="http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/25.htm">OPEC</a>, plus Egypt, Syria and Tunisia) proclaimed an oil embargo on other nations. When this crisis passed and oil prices began to fall, the interest in EVs once again waned. </p>
<p>But despite the public’s seemingly unbreakable love affair with the combustion engine over much of the past century, the EV as a viable transport alternative is experiencing a minor resurgence. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9612/original/2y3ymhcw-1334537883.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9612/original/2y3ymhcw-1334537883.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9612/original/2y3ymhcw-1334537883.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9612/original/2y3ymhcw-1334537883.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9612/original/2y3ymhcw-1334537883.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9612/original/2y3ymhcw-1334537883.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9612/original/2y3ymhcw-1334537883.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9612/original/2y3ymhcw-1334537883.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">1912 Argo Brougham, made by the Argo Electric Vehicle Company.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Once again, the flames are being fanned by factors external to the industry: our focus on climate change, renewable energy and global resource shortages. </p>
<p>The big difference, when compared with previous affairs, is the considerable advancement in battery technologies, in part due to mass production in other sectors.</p>
<h2>Third time lucky?</h2>
<p>One big, and not-often-thought-about problem that must be resolved before EVs can begin to be sold in larger numbers is the issue of “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standardization">standardisation</a>” – simply, the process of developing and implementing agreed-upon technical standards that become the established norm across the EV industry.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9615/original/kcs49685-1334538419.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9615/original/kcs49685-1334538419.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/9615/original/kcs49685-1334538419.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9615/original/kcs49685-1334538419.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9615/original/kcs49685-1334538419.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9615/original/kcs49685-1334538419.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9615/original/kcs49685-1334538419.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/9615/original/kcs49685-1334538419.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Interested parties look over the ESB Sundancer, an experimental electric car in the 1970s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Last month, the peak non-government standards body in Australia, <a href="http://www.standards.org.au/Pages/default.aspx">Standards Australia</a>, announced the technical committee responsible for developing new Australian EV standards had issued <a href="http://www.standards.org.au/OurOrganisation/News/Documents/120330%20EV%20Standard%20MR.pdf">guidance on key definitions</a> for the EV industry. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
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<span class="caption">“Range anxiety” has been a constant with electric vehicles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Frank Lodge, Wikimedia Commons </span></span>
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<p>Such terminology, <a href="http://www.standards.org.au/OurOrganisation/News/Documents/120330%20EV%20Standard%20MR.pdf">said</a> the body’s chief executive officer Colin Blair, was a welcome step towards developing a suite of electric vehicle standards that would underpin EV industry growth in Australia. </p>
<p>For sure, the new documentation will provide a valuable guide for component and system developers. </p>
<p>The announcement by Standards Australia follows <a href="http://www.standards.org.au/OurOrganisation/News/Documents/Electric_vehicles_scoping_study.pdf">an extensive scoping study</a> by the same body into EV standards, released in May 2009, and a further report detailing a “<a href="http://www.standards.org.au/OurOrganisation/News/Documents/EV%20Standards%20Workplan%2029%20October%20final.pdf">standards workplan</a>” for the development of EV standards in Australia in 2010. Both of these were commissioned by Victoria’s Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development.</p>
<h2>Standards, IP and EVs</h2>
<p>A standard-setting development process can involve complex negotiations, not only over the most appropriate standard to adopt, but also regarding the underlying intellectual property (IP) rights and licensing terms of contributors to that standard – through patents, for instance.</p>
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<span class="caption">Maranello 4 Cycle, 2008.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mahlum, Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
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<p>Such a process can generate anti-competitive as well as pro-competitive effects. Significantly, anti-competitive behaviour may arise where one or a group of producers participating in the development of a formal standard set out individually or collaboratively to implement standards that incorporate technologies to which they hold exclusive IP rights, creating a patent “hold-up”.</p>
<p>As already mentioned, the public has traditionally faced two main hurdles to buying EVs: the initial cost of ownership and their shorter driving abilities. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/climatechange/ElectricVehiclesReport.pdf">2009 report</a> prepared for the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, highlighted that such concerns are “expected to converge over time as technology improves and production increases”. </p>
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<span class="caption">The Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is powered by A123’s advanced lithium ion batteries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">A123Systems</span></span>
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<p>In any case, contributors to the development of EV standards and standard-setting organisations (SSOs) have an opportunity to transform the EV landscape by driving innovation in the automotive industry. </p>
<p>If the respective governments and EV stakeholders don’t seize this opportunity and learn from history, we will see yet another missed opportunity and yet another loss of optimism that can be traced back through the “automotive century”. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/6377/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tyrone Berger does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations.</span></em></p>Electric vehicles (EVs) are not new. But recent developments could give them something of a boost in the eyes of the buying public. If so, it wouldn’t be the first time. By the turn of the 20th century…Tyrone Berger, PhD candidate (Law), Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.