Globalisation, transnational academic mobility and the Chinese knowledge diaspora: an Australian case study

The master discourses of economic globalisation and the knowledge economy each cite knowledge diasporas as vital ‘trans-national human capital’. Based on a case study of a major Australian university, this article examines the potential to deploy China's large and highly-skilled diaspora in the service of Chinese and Australian scientific and technological development. It finds that at a time when much of the world is deeply mired in a global financial crisis, this treasured resource of highly-skilled intellectuals assumes even greater significance. Meanwhile, there are key challenges to be confronted to fully utilise China's overseas talent. It argues that the Chinese knowledge diaspora are a modern kind of cosmopolitan literati, and could contribute actively to higher education internationalisation in both Australia and China.postprin

‘Sing Every Day’: The wider benefits of a school-based singing project with disadvantaged children

The paper reports on a research evaluation of a six-month specialist singing project ‘Sing Every Day’ that was undertaken with young disadvantaged inner-city 6yo children in the London Borough of Hackney. A team of professional singers from the London-based VOCES8 Foundation visited two classes in each of two Primary schools to provide focused mentoring to generalist (non-music specialist) class teachers. Children from two identically aged classes in a neighbouring school acted as controls. The mentoring embraced a specially designed programme of singing and vocal activities across two school terms. This was undertaken in each classroom with the staff and their Year 1 children numbering N=121 in total. An independent evaluation of the impact of the project included both musical and other-than-musical measures of children’s development. In particular, in addition to an assessment of participant children’s singing behaviours at the start and at end of the project, other assessments included measures of possible changes in children’s reading development and in aspects of Executive Functions. Overall, the implications from the data are that the mentored classroom-based singing activities resulted in significant improvements in children’s singing, as well as positive changes in reading and aspects of Executive Function related to inhibition and phonological working memory – the latter being closely correlated to changes in the same children’s reading scores. Although there is previous research literature reporting positive links separately between music, singing, reading and aspects of Executive Functions, this small-scale study is one of the first to explore these three aspects collectively. As such, the current data suggest that more detailed research would be useful, both in seeking possible replication of the findings with a larger group of participants and also to understand the mechanisms of such possible linkage in terms of both basic research and also its implications for music pedagogy

Lack of phenotypic and evolutionary cross-resistance against parasitoids and pathogens in Drosophila melanogaster

BackgroundWhen organisms are attacked by multiple natural enemies, the evolution of a resistance mechanism to one natural enemy will be influenced by the degree of cross-resistance to another natural enemy. Cross-resistance can be positive, when a resistance mechanism against one natural enemy also offers resistance to another; or negative, in the form of a trade-off, when an increase in resistance against one natural enemy results in a decrease in resistance against another. Using Drosophila melanogaster, an important model system for the evolution of invertebrate immunity, we test for the existence of cross-resistance against parasites and pathogens, at both a phenotypic and evolutionary level.MethodsWe used a field strain of D. melanogaster to test whether surviving parasitism by the parasitoid Asobara tabida has an effect on the resistance against Beauveria bassiana, an entomopathogenic fungus; and whether infection with the microsporidian Tubulinosema kingi has an effect on the resistance against A. tabida. We used lines selected for increased resistance to A. tabida to test whether increased parasitoid resistance has an effect on resistance against B. bassiana and T. kingi. We used lines selected for increased tolerance against B. bassiana to test whether increased fungal resistance has an effect on resistance against A. tabida.Results/ConclusionsWe found no positive cross-resistance or trade-offs in the resistance to parasites and pathogens. This is an important finding, given the use of D. melanogaster as a model system for the evolution of invertebrate immunity. The lack of any cross-resistance to parasites and pathogens, at both the phenotypic and the evolutionary level, suggests that evolution of resistance against one class of natural enemies is largely independent of evolution of resistance against the other

Functional rescue of REP1 following treatment with PTC124 and novel derivative PTC-414 in human choroideremia fibroblasts and the nonsense-mediated zebrafish model

Choroideremia (CHM) is an X-linked chorioretinal dystrophy that is caused by mutations within a single gene, CHM Currently no effective treatment exists for these patients. Since over 30% of patients harbour nonsense mutations in CHM, nonsense suppression therapy using translational readthrough inducing drugs may provide functional rescue of REP1, thus attenuating progressive sight loss. Here, we employed two CHM model systems to systematically test the efficacy and safety of ataluren (PTC124) and its novel analog PTC-414: (1) the chm(ru848) zebrafish, the only nonsense mutation animal model of CHM harbouring a TAA nonsense mutation, and (2) a primary human fibroblast cell line from a CHM patient harbouring a TAG nonsense mutation. PTC124 or PTC-414 treatment of chm(ru848) embryos led to a ∼2.0-fold increase in survival, prevented the onset of retinal degeneration with reduced oxidative stress and apoptosis, increased rep1 protein by 23.1% (PTC124) and 17.2% (PTC-414) and restored biochemical function as confirmed through in vitro prenylation assays (98 ± 2% [PTC124] and 68 ± 5% [PTC-414]). In CHM(Y42X/y) fibroblasts, there was a recovery of prenylation activity following treatment with either PTC124 (42 ± 5%) or PTC-414 (36 ± 11%), although an increase in REP1 protein was not detected in these cells, in contrast to the zebrafish model. This comprehensive study on the use of PTC124 and PTC-414 as successful nonsense suppression agents for the treatment of CHM highlights the translational potential of these drugs for inherited retinal disease

How and why DNA barcodes underestimate the diversity of microbial eukaryotes

Background: Because many picoplanktonic eukaryotic species cannot currently be maintained in culture, direct sequencing of PCR-amplified 18S ribosomal gene DNA fragments from filtered sea-water has been successfully used to investigate the astounding diversity of these organisms. The recognition of many novel planktonic organisms is thus based solely on their 18S rDNA sequence. However, a species delimited by its 18S rDNA sequence might contain many cryptic species, which are highly differentiated in their protein coding sequences. Principal Findings: Here, we investigate the issue of species identification from one gene to the whole genome sequence. Using 52 whole genome DNA sequences, we estimated the global genetic divergence in protein coding genes between organisms from different lineages and compared this to their ribosomal gene sequence divergences. We show that this relationship between proteome divergence and 18S divergence is lineage dependant. Unicellular lineages have especially low 18S divergences relative to their protein sequence divergences, suggesting that 18S ribosomal genes are too conservative to assess planktonic eukaryotic diversity. We provide an explanation for this lineage dependency, which suggests that most species with large effective population sizes will show far less divergence in 18S than protein coding sequences. Conclusions: There is therefore a trade-off between using genes that are easy to amplify in all species, but which by their nature are highly conserved and underestimate the true number of species, and using genes that give a better description of the number of species, but which are more difficult to amplify. We have shown that this trade-off differs between unicellular and multicellular organisms as a likely consequence of differences in effective population sizes. We anticipate that biodiversity of microbial eukaryotic species is underestimated and that numerous ''cryptic species'' will become discernable with the future acquisition of genomic and metagenomic sequences

From presence to consciousness through virtual reality

Immersive virtual environments can break the deep, everyday connection between where our senses tell us we are and where we are actually located and whom we are with. The concept of 'presence' refers to the phenomenon of behaving and feeling as if we are in the virtual world created by computer displays. In this article, we argue that presence is worthy of study by neuroscientists, and that it might aid the study of perception and consciousness

Financing Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Proposed Model Based on the Experiences of Ugandan Higher Education Institutions and Exemplary Practices from the Asian Tigers

Financing higher education has become one of the most contentious educational issues in both developed and third world countries. Among the causes highlighted by researchers are changing fiscal policies and government resource allocation priorities, coupled with rapid increases in college-going populations. Today, there is an upsurge in the numbers of colleges and enrollments all over the world. This upsurge and the forces of globalization, which put demands on institutions in terms of international rankings and the need to adopt the latest technologies, are putting enormous fiscal pressure on higher education institutions and their funders. Increasing enrollments without sufficient funding lead to substandard facilities and a decline in academic standards. To close that funding gap, institutions have resorted to privatization, which includes (inter alia) tuition charges and other fees. This has effectively turned the traditional model of higher education upside down. The challenge is: How do universities ensure they admit only the most qualified students and provide them with the best instruction, using state-of-the-art facilities, in a learning system run by highly qualified and motivated faculty staff? Against that background, this chapter analyzes best practices for financing higher education in developing countries that have vibrant higher education sectors (such as Malaysia), together with the challenges, practices, and experiences of funding Ugandan higher education institutions. The chapter ultimately suggests a suitable framework for higher education financing in Uganda and similar sub-Saharan African countries

Phenotypic microarrays suggest Escherichia coli ST131 is not a metabolically distinct lineage of extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli

Extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) are the major aetiological agent of urinary tract infections (UTIs) in humans. The emergence of the CTX-M producing clone E. coli ST131 represents a major challenge to public health worldwide. A recent study on the metabolic potential of E. coli isolates demonstrated an association between the E. coli ST131 clone and enhanced utilisation of a panel of metabolic substrates. The studies presented here investigated the metabolic potential of ST131 and other major ExPEC ST isolates using 120 API test reagents and found that ST131 isolates demonstrated a lower metabolic activity for 5 of 120 biochemical tests in comparison to non-ST131 ExPEC isolates. Furthermore, comparative phenotypic microarray analysis showed a lack of specific metabolic profile for ST131 isolates countering the suggestion that these bacteria are metabolically fitter and therefore more successful human pathogens