Adaptive laboratory evolution of cupriavidus necator H16 for carbon co-utilization with glycerol

Cupriavidus necator H16 is a non-pathogenic Gram-negative betaproteobacterium that can utilize a broad range of renewable heterotrophic resources to produce chemicals ranging from polyhydroxybutyrate (biopolymer) to alcohols, alkanes, and alkenes. However, C. necator H16 utilizes carbon sources to different efficiency, for example its growth in glycerol is 11.4 times slower than a favorable substrate like gluconate. This work used adaptive laboratory evolution to enhance the glycerol assimilation in C. necator H16 and identified a variant (v6C6) that can co-utilize gluconate and glycerol. The v6C6 variant has a specific growth rate in glycerol 9.5 times faster than the wild-type strain and grows faster in mixed gluconate–glycerol carbon sources compared to gluconate alone. It also accumulated more PHB when cultivated in glycerol medium compared to gluconate medium while the inverse is true for the wild-type strain. Through genome sequencing and expression studies, glycerol kinase was identified as the key enzyme for its improved glycerol utilization. The superior performance of v6C6 in assimilating pure glycerol was extended to crude glycerol (sweetwater) from an industrial fat splitting process. These results highlight the robustness of adaptive laboratory evolution for strain engineering and the versatility and potential of C. necator H16 for industrial waste glycerol valorization

Synthesis and characterisation of new complexes with soft donor hybrid ligands

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Clinical governance and nursing : a sociological analysis

The primary focus for this Thesis is an account of the degree to which nurses and other stakeholders in one National Health Service hospital Trust have responded to the ‘clinical governance’ initiative, the effects on quality improvement and professional regulation and the practical accomplishment of legitimacy. ‘Clinical governance’ involves demonstrating that quality assurance is routine practice within every healthcare organization. A case study was undertaken, using broadly ethnographic methods. The qualitative data were obtained by documentary analysis, non-participant observation of meetings and day-to-day ward activity and semi-structured interviews. In terms of the analysis of documents and observation of meetings, new institutionalism theory was found to be useful as a framework for understanding the political and ceremonial conformity that marked the clinical governance process. Errors and inconsistencies were found in formal documentation and the Trusts’ reporting systems were fraught with problems. Nevertheless, during the same period the Trust obtained national recognition for having appropriate structures and systems in place in relation to clinical governance. A grounded theory approach was adopted in the analysis of the semi-structured interviews. Emerging themes from interview data were identified under the main categories of: ‘Making Sense,’ ‘Knowledge Construction,’ ‘Somebody Else’s Job’ and ‘Real Work.’ It was concluded that at a practice level, clinical governance was poorly understood and that the corporate organizational goals were ambiguous and seen as unrealistic on a day-to-day basis. The study concludes that what is happening is not a ‘failure’ but an unintended consequence that has resulted from an inadequate understanding of how organizations work. It is suggested that the organization has conformed to the appropriate standards in order to survive legitimately, but the ultimate impact of clinical governance on the quality of care in practice is inconsistent.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Male Antarctic fur seals: neglected food competitors of bioindicator species in the context of an increasing Antarctic krill fishery.

The fishery for Antarctic krill is currently managed using a precautionary, ecosystem-based approach to limiting catch, with performance indices from a long-term monitoring program focused on several krill-dependent predators that are used to track ecosystem health. Concerns over increased fishing in concentrated areas and ongoing efforts to establish a Marine Protected Area along the Peninsula, a key fishing region, is driving the development of an adaptive management system for the fishery. The cumulative effects of fishing effort and interactions among krill-dependent predators and their performance is at present neglected in the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program. However, we show considerable overlap between male Antarctic fur seals and the krill fishery in a complex mosaic, suggesting potential for cumulative impacts on other krill dependent predators. A holistic view is required as part of future efforts to manage the krill fishery that incorporates various sources of potential impacts on the performance of bioindicator species, including the fishery and its interactions with various krill dependent predators. © 2020, The Author(s)

Entanglement of Antarctic fur seals at Bird Island, South Georgia

Between November 1989 and March 2013, 1033 Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella were observed entangled in marine debris at Bird Island, South Georgia. The majority of entanglements involved plastic packaging bands (43%), synthetic line (25%) or fishing net (17%). Juvenile male seals were the most commonly entangled (44%). A piecewise regression analysis showed that a single breakpoint at 1994 gave the best description of inter-annual variability in the data, with higher levels of entanglements prior to 1994 (mean = 110 ± 28) followed by persistent lower levels (mean = 28 ± 4). Records of entanglements from other sites monitored in the Scotia Sea are also presented. Legislation imposed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has, to a certain extent, been effective, but persistent low levels of seal entanglements are still a cause for concern at South Georgia

Direct iminization of PEEK

Semi-crystalline poly(ether ketone)s are important high-temperature engineering thermoplastics, but are difficult to characterize at the molecular level because of their insolubility in conventional organic solvents. Here we report that polymers of this type, including PEEK, react cleanly at high temperatures with low-volatility aralkyl amines to afford stable, noncrystalline poly(ether-imine)s, which are readily soluble in solvents such as chloroform, THF and DMF and so characterizable by conventional size-exclusion chromatography

Habitat use and spatial fidelity of male South American sea lions during the nonbreeding period

Conditions experienced during the nonbreeding period have profound long-term effects on individual fitness and survival. Therefore, knowledge of habitat use during the nonbreeding period can provide insights into processes that regulate populations. At the Falkland Islands, the habitat use of South American sea lions (Otaria flavescens) during the nonbreeding period is of particular interest because the population is yet to recover from a catastrophic decline between the mid-1930s and 1965, and nonbreeding movements are poorly understood. Here, we assessed the habitat use of adult male (n = 13) and juvenile male (n = 6) South American sea lions at the Falkland Islands using satellite tags and stable isotope analysis of vibrissae. Male South American sea lions behaved like central place foragers. Foraging trips were restricted to the Patagonian Shelf and were typically short in distance and duration (127 ± 66 km and 4.1 ± 2.0 days, respectively). Individual male foraging trips were also typically characterized by a high degree of foraging site fidelity. However, the isotopic niche of adult males was smaller than juvenile males, which suggested that adult males were more consistent in their use of foraging habitats and prey over time. Our findings differ from male South American sea lions in Chile and Argentina, which undertake extended movements during the nonbreeding period. Hence, throughout their breeding range, male South American sea lions have diverse movement patterns during the nonbreeding period that intuitively reflects differences in the predictability or accessibility of preferred prey. Our findings challenge the long-standing notion that South American sea lions undertake a winter migration away from the Falkland Islands. Therefore, impediments to South American sea lion population recovery likely originate locally and conservation measures at a national level are likely to be effective in addressing the decline and the failure of the population to recover

Disentangling the cause of a catastrophic population decline in a large marine mammal

Considerable uncertainties often surround the causes of long-term changes in population abundance. One striking example is the precipitous decline of southern sea lions (SSL; Otaria flavescens) at the Falkland Islands, from 80 555 pups in the mid 1930s to just 5506 pups in 1965. Despite an increase in SSL abundance over the past two decades, the population has not recovered, with the number of pups born in 2014 (minimum 4443 pups) less than 6% of the 1930s estimate. The order-of-magnitude decline is primarily attributed to commercial sealing in Argentina. Here, we test this established paradigm and alternative hypotheses by assessing (1) commercial sealing at the Falkland Islands, (2) winter migration of SSL from the Falkland Islands to Argentina, (3) whether the number of SSL in Argentina could have sustained the reported level of exploitation, and (4) environmental change. The most parsimonious hypothesis explaining the SSL population decline was environmental change. Specifically, analysis of 160 years of winter sea surface temperatures revealed marked changes, including a period of warming between 1930 and 1950 that was consistent with the period of SSL decline. Sea surface temperature changes likely influenced the distribution or availability of SSL prey and impacted its population dynamics. We suggest that historical harvesting may not always be the “smoking gun” as is often purported. Rather, our conclusions support the growing evidence for bottom-up forcing on the abundance of species at lower trophic levels (e.g., plankton and fish) and resulting impacts on higher trophic levels across a broad range of ecosystems

Versatile routes to selenoether functionalised tertiary phosphines

New selenoether functionalised tertiary phosphines, based on aryl (2a, 2b) or alkyl (4) backbones, have been synthesised and characterised. P,Se-chelation has been achieved upon complexation to square-planar PtII (3a) or PdII (3b) metal centres. For 3a and 3b, weak non-covalent M◊ ◊ ◊ Se contacts were established using single crystal X-ray crystallography

Draft Genome Sequence of Magnetovibrio blakemorei Strain MV-1, a Marine Vibrioid Magnetotactic Bacterium.

We report here the genome sequence of Magnetovibrio blakemorei MV-1, a marine vibrioid magnetotactic bacterium with a single polar flagellum. The current assembly consists of 91 contigs with a combined size of 3,638,804 bp (54.3% G+C content). This genome allows for further investigations of the molecular biomineralization mechanisms of magnetosome formation