bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Fatty acid biosynthesis is involved in solvent tolerance in Pseudomonas putida DOT‐T1E
Authors: Segura Ana , Duque Estrella , Rojas Antonia , Godoy Patricia , Delgado Antonio , Hurtado Ana , E. Cronan John , Ramos Juan‐Luis 
Published: March 2004

SummaryThe unusual tolerance of Pseudomonas putida DOT‐T1E to toluene is based on the extrusion of this solvent by constitutive and inducible efflux pumps and rigidification of its membranes via phospholipid alterations. Pseudomonas putida DOT‐T1E‐109 is a solvent‐sensitive mutant. Mutant cells were less efficient in solvent extrusion than the wild‐type cells, as shown by the limited efflux of 14C‐1,2,4‐trichlorobenzene from the cell membranes, despite the fact that the efflux pumps are overexpressed as a result of increased expression of the ttgDEF and ttgGHI efflux pump operons. This limitation could be the result of alterations in the outer membrane because the mutant cells released more β‐lactamase to the external medium than the wild‐type cells. The mutant P. putida DOT‐T1E‐109 showed negligible synthesis of fatty acids in the presence of sublethal concentrations of toluene as revealed by analysis of 13CH3‐13COOH incorporation into fatty acids. In contrast, the mutant strain in the absence of solvents, and the wild‐type strain, both in the presence and in the absence of toluene, incorporated 13CH3‐13COOH at a high rate into de novo synthesized lipids. The mutation in P. putida DOT‐T1E‐109 increases sensitivity to the solvent because of a limited efflux of the solvent from the cell membranes with the concomitant inhibition of fatty acid biosynthesis.
Optimization of diagnostic microarray for application in analysing landfill methanotroph communities under different plant covers
Authors: Stralis‐Pavese Nancy , Sessitsch Angela , Weilharter Alexandra , Reichenauer Thomas , Riesing Johann , Csontos József , Murrell J. Colin , Bodrossy Levente 
Published: March 2004

SummaryLandfill sites are responsible for 6–12% of global methane emission. Methanotrophs play a very important role in decreasing landfill site methane emissions. We investigated the methane oxidation capacity and methanotroph diversity in lysimeters simulating landfill sites with different plant vegetations. Methane oxidation rates were 35 g methane m−2 day−1 or higher for planted lysimeters and 18 g methane m−2 day−1 or less for bare soil controls. Best methane oxidation, as displayed by gas depth profiles, was found under a vegetation of grass and alfalfa. Methanotroph communities were analysed at high throughput and resolution using a microbial diagnostic microarray targeting the particulate methane monooxygenase (pmoA) gene of methanotrophs and functionally related bacteria. Members of the genera Methylocystis and Methylocaldum were found to be the dominant members in landfill site simulating lysimeters. Soil bacterial communities in biogas free control lysimeters, which were less abundant in methanotrophs, were dominated by Methylocaldum. Type Ia methanotrophs were found only in the top layers of bare soil lysimeters with relatively high oxygen and low methane concentrations. A competetive advantage of type II methanotrophs over type Ia methanotrophs was indicated under all plant covers investigated. Analysis of average and individual results from parallel samples was used to identify general trends and variations in methanotroph community structures in relation to depth, methane supply and plant cover. The applicability of the technology for the detection of environmental perturbations was proven by an erroneous result, where an unexpected community composition detected with the microarray indicated a potential gas leakage in the lysimeter being investigated.
Formation of granules and Methanosaeta fibres in an anaerobic migrating blanket reactor (AMBR)
Authors: Angenent Largus T. , Sung Shihwu , Raskin Lutgarde 
Published: March 2004

SummaryIt has generally been accepted that the formation of granules in anaerobic wastewater treatment systems requires a hydraulic upflow pattern. To evaluate this hypothesis, we operated an anaerobic migrating blanket reactor (AMBR) without a hydraulic upflow pattern, using a synthetic wastewater containing acetate, propionate, butyrate and sucrose. We provided conditions amenable to the formation of granules by operating the system with a moderate hydraulic selection pressure, which in this system was not the result of a hydraulic upflow pattern, but was provided by migration of biomass and intermittent mechanical mixing. Granules were first noticed after 2 months of operation, and it took another 2 months for a mature granular blanket to develop. Besides granules, ≈ 1‐cm‐long Methanosaeta fibres developed and, after 6 months of operation, 30% of biomass consisted of these fibres. Quantitative membrane hybridization showed that almost all the total 16S rRNA extracted from fibres consisted of 16S rRNA from Methanosaeta concilii. This finding indicates that it was possible to develop pockets consisting almost entirely of an organism with a very limited substrate utilization spectrum (only acetate) in a system that was fed a synthetic wastewater containing acetate, propionate, butyrate and sucrose and that is known for its ability to develop biomass with a complex microbial community structure.
Economic Evaluation in Health Care: Is It Really Useful or Are We Just Kidding Ourselves?
Authors: Drummond Michael 
Published: March 2004

AbstractDespite the growth in published studies year on year, and its adoption as a formal requirement in some jurisdictions, there are still doubts about whether economic evaluation is really useful in health care decision making. This article considers evidence for and against the proposition that economic evaluation is useful. Two decision making contexts are considered: the central level, where a single agency or organisation makes decisions for the whole health care system; and the local level, where decisions are made by various actors within the health care system. Four conditions that seem to foster the use of economic evaluation are identified. It is concluded that economic evaluation is not being used to its full potential, but that ways can be found to increase its use.
Medical Expenditures and Health Status in Australia: A Story of Increasing or Decreasing Returns?
Authors: Connelly Luke B. , Doessel Darrel P. 
Published: March 2004

AbstractWe use a three‐equation model to estimate a health production function for Australia using population data for 1996. Working at the level of the Statistical Local Area (n= 1335) we match (i) data on private practice medical services (derived from the Medicare scheme), (ii) mortality data derived from the de‐identified unit records produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), and (Hi) social and economic data from the Australian Census of Population and Housing (ABS 1997). We detect strong and statistically significant positive marginal effects of medical expenditure on health status as well as increasing returns. These findings are remarkably different from those of US health production studies, which have tended to lend support to the hypothesis of ‘flat‐of‐the‐curve (that is, zero marginal product) medicine’. Moreover, our conclusions are in stark contrast to those produced by Richardson and Peacock (2003, p. 6), who have argued that their econometric work indicates that ‘an increase in the [Australian] doctor supply is associated with increasing mortality’.
Community Antagonism Towards Asylum Seekers in Port Augusta, South Australia
Authors: Klocker Natascha 
Published: March 2004

AbstractAn overtly hostile response to asylum seekers was observed in questionnaire responses provided by residents of Port Augusta, South Australia in April 2002. A social construction approach to identity and representation was used to interrogate this antagonism within its social, cultural, political and geographical contexts. Asylum seekers were constructed as ‘burdensome’, ‘threatening’ and ‘illegal’, and opposition to them was set within the discursive framework of a ‘Self/Other’ binary. Enmity towards asylum seekers was articulated concurrently with overwhelming support for the Federal Government's exclusive and deterrence‐oriented asylum policies. However, vehement opposition was expressed regarding the government's decision to construct Baxter Immigration Reception and Processing Centre in close proximity to Port Augusta. Factors contributing to the respondents’ negative perceptions of asylum seekers include xenophobia (specifically Islamophobia), events of geopolitical significance, and problematic government and media representations of asylum seekers. An awareness of these factors is necessary to unpack and, potentially, to destabilise the negative constructions of asylum seekers circulating in contemporary Australian discourses. Their entrenchment in the national consciousness may lead to tangible social implications including fear, friction and ultimately violence between the ‘Self’ and ‘Other’, and this should therefore be countered. Community antagonism also contradicts notions of a culturally tolerant Australia and fosters electoral support for the policies of exclusion and deterrence that undermine Australia's commitment to international human rights frameworks.
ACRONYMSABC The Australian Broadcasting CorporationABS The Australian Bureau of StatisticsDIMIA Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous AffairsIRPC Immigration Reception and Processing CentreRCOA Refugee Council of AustraliaTPV Temporary Protection VisaUNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Changing Geographies of Power and Control in Rural Service Provision: Recent Restructuring Within the Australian Tractor Dealership System
Authors: Herbert Bronwyn , Pritchard Bill 
Published: March 2004

AbstractOver the past few years a considerable body of research has illuminated the changing geographies of service provision in rural Australia. Mostly, this work has emphasised the quantitative aspects of restructuring, by way of documenting numerical reductions in service delivery points and their implications for local employment and service access. In this paper, an examination of recent restructuring within the dealership system for high‐horsepower tractors underlines that these quantitative changes also intersect with qualitative shifts to the character of service delivery. Interviews with 31 participants in the tractor dealership system of Central‐West New South Wales reveal the recent evolution of a producer‐driven supply chain in which two dominant, multinational, tractor‐machinery companies have sought to exercise tighter control over customer relations through the restructuring of franchise agreements with dealers. There has been a resultant demise of the independent dealership, and its replacement by a system of standardised, company‐affiliated outlets operated by franchise holders. Hence, the spatial restructuring of this industry represents the surface manifestations of corporate strategies in which large economic entities are re‐organising their interests in light of globalised theatres of competition and profit. In this sense, the tractor‐dealership system is emblematic of changes to power and control in rural service provision as the franchise models propagated by large corporate interests increasingly subsume the small‐business sector activities of Australia's rural towns.
Response to Wet Season Rainfall of an Alluvial Aquifer System in the Lower Herbert Floodplain, Queensland, Australia
Authors: Pearce Meryl W. , Bohl Heiko P. 
Published: March 2004

AbstractAustralia is one of the world's largest exporters of raw sugar. The lower Herbert River floodplain, one of the four main cane growing areas in Queensland, is subject to extremes of rainfall. Some areas are prone to waterlogging, which can lead to reductions in cane and sugar yields. This paper examines the risk of waterlogging and the role of surface drains in the Ripple Creek area, a subcatchment of the lower Herbert River floodplain. Following above‐average rains at the onset of this study, a perched water table developed and remained for the duration of the 19 month study. The responses of the perched watertable and a deeper semi‐confined aquifer following rainfall are examined. The rapid response of the perched water table following rainfall is attributed to the shallow depth of the water table, with soil properties exerting a dominant influence on hydrograph response. In the second year of the study, after above‐average rainfall, the water table of the deeper aquifer was on average 1 m higher than during the former months of the study. This trend, however, did not occur in the perched water table, and this is attributed to the efficiency of the surface drainage network.
A 6000 Year‐old Fossil Dugong from Botany Bay: Inferences about Changes in Sydney's Climate, Sea Levels and Waterways
Authors: Haworth R. J. , Baker R. G. V. , Flood P. J. 
Published: March 2004

AbstractThe excavation in the 1890s of a skeleton of the warm‐water marine mammal Dugong dugon, associated with Aboriginal artefacts, from a Botany Bay salt marsh, marked the beginning of speculation about climate and sea level change in Australia over the period of human occupation. The dugong bones have recently been dated, giving a conventional 14C age of 5520±70 years BP, which is consistent with three older 14C dates for a layer of buried trees that underlies much of the north Botany sediments. The carefully drawn cross‐sections of depositional strata produced by the original discoverers allow further interpretation of the pattern of Holocene sea‐level fluctuations in the Sydney region. Layers of estuarine sediment, such as the one containing the dugong skeleton, are inter‐bedded with peat layers containing in situ roots and stumps, suggesting that the site alternated between sub‐aerial exposure and submergence throughout the Holocene. The presence of the dugong is suggestive of warmer conditions, and its inland location indicates a more extensive Botany Bay in the recent past. This is in agreement with other work from southern New South Wales describing both warm‐water marine species and higher sea levels several thousand years ago.
ACRONYMSBP Radiocarbon years Before Present (1950 AD).CalBP Radiocarbon years Before Present calibrated to tree ring data curves to give a better approximation of true calendar dates.
Fishing Lifestyles: ‘Territorians’, Traditional Owners and the Management of Recreational Fishing in Kakadu National Park
Authors: Palmer Lisa 
Published: March 2004

AbstractThe relationships between traditional Aboriginal land owners and other Park users in Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory are characterised by competing agendas and competing ideas about appropriate ways of relating to the environment. Similarly, the management of recreational fishing in the Park is permeated by the tensions and opposition of contested ideas and perspectives from non‐Aboriginal fishers and Aboriginal traditional owners. The local know‐ledge and rights of ‘Territorians’[non‐Aboriginal Northern Territory residents] are continually pitted against the local knowledge and rights of Aboriginal traditional owners. Under these circumstances, debates between non‐Aboriginal fishers and Aboriginal traditional owners are overwhelmingly dominated by the unequal power relationships created through an alliance between science and the State. The complex and multi‐dimensional nature of Aboriginal traditional owners’ concerns for country renders these concerns invisible or incomprehensible to government, science and non‐Aboriginal fishers who are each guided by very different epistemic commitments. It is a state of affairs that leaves the situated knowledge of Aboriginal traditional owners with a limited authority in the non‐Aboriginal domain and detracts from their ability to manage and care for their homelands.
ACRONYMSAFANT Amateur Fishermen's Association of the Northern TerritoryALRA Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (Cth)ANCA Australian Nature Conservation AgencyANPWS Australian National Parks and Wildlife ServiceKNPBoM Kakadu National Park Board of Management
Holocene Elevated Sea Levels on the North Coast of Vietnam
Authors: Boyd William Edgar , Lam Doan Dinh 
Published: March 2004

AbstractWe present evidence of elevated Holocene sea levels on the north coast of Vietnam, comprising radiocarbon dating of raised coastal geomorphological and palaeobiological features at localities on the margins of the Bac Bo (Red River) Plain. This evidence indicates that by ca. 5500 cal yr B.P. mid‐tide lay approximately 5.4 m above national datum, that is 3.25 m above present local mid‐tide. By c. 3500 cal yr B.P., sea level was lowering and, by ca. 2000 cal yr B.P., mid‐tide lay at or above 1.5 m above present local mid‐tide. It is not yet possible to infer patterns of sea‐level fluctuation other than an overall lowering of elevation, although the separation of the raised and modern erosion notches does suggest two dominant mid to late Holocene periods of erosion — probably periods of sea‐level still‐stand or relatively slow sea‐level change. The intervening period of relatively rapid sea‐level change and associated reduced erosion probably dates to after ca. 2000 cal yr B.P..
Decentralisation and Environmental Management in Australia: a Comment on the Prescriptions of The Wentworth Group
Authors: Lane Marcus B. , McDonald G. T. , Morrison T. H. 
Published: March 2004

AbstractThe prescriptions of The Wentworth Group of scientists for delivering improved environmental management and remediation are reviewed against the backdrop of international experience with decentralisation. The Group's preferred means of implementation — here referred to as decentralised regionalism — is examined and shown to be idealised and therefore naive to its complexities and potential pitfalls. Five problem areas are highlighted: 1. defining a ‘region’; 2. power, conflict and community; 3. developing mechanisms for accountability; 4. subsidiarity, and 5. the tensions between democracy and technocracy
Surveying for Mars Analogue Research Sites in the Central Australian Deserts
Authors: Mann G. A. , Clarke J. D. A. , Gostin V. A. 
Published: March 2004

AbstractIn anticipation of a future crewed mission to Mars, the international non‐profit organisation known as the Mars Society is currently establishing four mockup bases at which planetary surface operations simulations, equipment testing and personnel training exercises will be conducted over the next decade. These should provide valuable design data for, and raise public awareness about, plans to explore the red planet. One of these bases, which are organised around a habitat of the kind that is likely to serve as shelter for surface‐dwelling astronauts, is to be sited in central Australia under the name MARS‐OZ. To find a suitable location, the Mars Society Australia has conducted a ground‐truth survey of 15 potential sites as practical scientific analogues of the Martian surface, recording these in a specialised database. Each site was assessed on a set of geomorphic, science/engineering, logistic and visual analogue criteria. Six circular exploration zones 200 km in diameter were identified as clusters of the most significant, observed, comparative planetological features. These zones were then ranked to recommend a series of ‘landing sites’, at which future field seasons of exploratory science may be conducted.
Sharing Death and Dying: Advance Directives, Autonomy and the Family
Authors: Chan Ho Mun 
Published: March 2004

ABSTRACTThis paper critically examines the liberal model of decision making for the terminally ill and contrasts it with the familial model that can be found in some Asian cultures. The contrast between the two models shows that the liberal model is excessively patient‐centred, and misconceives and marginalises the role of the family in the decision making process. The paper argues that the familial model is correct in conceiving the last journey of one's life as a sharing process rather than a process of exercising one's prior or counterfactual choice, and concludes by suggesting a policy framework for the practice of familialism that can answer the liberal challenge that familialism cannot safeguard the patient from abuse and neglect.
Cruel Choices: Autonomy and Critical Care Decision‐Making
Authors: Meyers Christopher 
Published: March 2004

ABSTRACTAlthough autonomy is clearly still the paradigm in bioethics, there is increasing concern over its value and feasibility. In agreeing with those concerns, I argue that autonomy is not just a status, but a skill, one that must be developed and maintained. I also argue that nearly all healthcare interactions do anything but promote such decisional skills, since they rely upon assent, rather than upon genuinely autonomous consent. Thus, throughout most of their medical lives, patients are socialised to be heteronomous, rather than autonomous. Yet, at the worst possible time – critical care decision‐making – when life and death consequences are attached to the choices, the paradigm shifts and real consent is sought, even demanded, thereby making an often traumatic situation even harder.I go on, though, to also reject paternalistic models of beneficence as an alternative. Rather, I conclude that the problem is so fundamental in healthcare that a genuine solution would require a radical restructuring. I recommend steps that can be taken in the interim to improve the situation and to move toward such a restructuring.
The Deprivation Argument Against Abortion
Authors: Stretton Dean 
Published: March 2004

ABSTRACTThe most plausible pro‐life argument claims that abortion is seriously wrong because it deprives the foetus of something valuable. This paper examines two recent versions of this argument. Don Marquis's version takes the valuable thing to be a ‘future like ours’, a future containing valuable experiences and activities. Jim Stone's version takes the valuable thing to be a future containing conscious goods, which it is the foetus's biological nature to make itself have. I give three grounds for rejecting these arguments. First, they lead to unacceptable inequalities in the wrongness of killing. Second, they lead to counterintuitive results in a range of imaginary cases. Third, they ignore the role of psychological connectedness in determining the magnitude or seriousness of deprivation‐based harms: because the foetus is only weakly psychologically connected to its own future, it cannot be seriously harmed by being deprived of that future.