Factors impacting upon Australian university student participation in educational exchange programs

With globalisation and technological innovation changing the global marketplace, research (e.g. Australian International Education Foundation, 1998; Kling, Alexander, McCorkle, & Martinez, 1999; Webb, Mayer, Pioche, & Allen, 1999) has shown that employers are seeking graduates with international competencies. Moreover, it is argued that it is the role of universities to prepare students to work in the new international context, thus meeting the needs of business and society (Fantini, Arias-Galicia, & Guay, 2001; Higher Education Council, 1990). International education opportunities such as student exchange programs have been identified as effective means through which university students may develop such skills and knowledge (Clyne & Rizvi, 1998; Fantini et al., 2001; Wallace, 1993). Currently, less than one percent of Australian undergraduate students complete part of their qualification in an overseas institution (IDP Education Australia, 1995). Much research to date has focused on issues such as psychological and social adjustment of international students. Yet, there is a paucity of literature relating to the effects of international education experiences for Australian domestic students. Hence, this paper will examine the issues affecting Australian students’ participation in academic mobility programs, with a particular focus on the factors influencing the decision to participate in a student exchange program

Preschoolers Focus on Others’ Intentions When Forming Sociomoral Judgments

Many studies suggest that preschoolers initially privilege outcome over intention in their moral judgments. The present findings reveal that, in contrast, even younger preschoolers can privilege intentions when evaluating characters who successfully or unsuccessfully help or hinder a third party in achieving its goal. Following a live-action puppet show originally created for infant populations, children made a forced-choice social judgment (which puppet was liked) and two forced-choice moral judgments (which puppet was nicer, which puppet should be punished), and were asked to explain their punishment allocations. In two experiments (N = 195), 3- and 4-year-olds evaluated characters with distinct intentions to help or to hinder who were associated with either positive or negative outcomes. Both ages judged characters with more positive intentions as nicer, and allocated punishment to characters with more negative intentions; neither of these tendencies depended on the outcomes the characters were associated with. Three-year-olds’ responses were somewhat less consistent than were 4-year-olds’, in that 3-year-olds’ judgments were disrupted by ambiguous harmful intent. Notably, children’s social judgments were less consistent than their moral judgments. In a third and final experiment (N = 100), children evaluated characters with the same intention but who were associated with different outcomes. Children showed inconsistent responding across age and outcome valence, but only 4-year-olds evaluating two characters with positive intentions reliably responded based on outcome. When providing informative responses in all three studies, children most frequently explained their punishment allocations by appealing to the puppet’s (attempted) hindering action or failure to help. These findings raise questions as to what underlies different patterns of response across studies in the literature, and suggests that observing live interactions may facilitate young children’s intention-based moral judgments

Isolation and characterization of two specific regulatory Aspergillus niger mutants shows antagonistic regulation of arabinan and xylan metabolism

This paper describes two Aspergillus niger mutants (araA and araB) specifically disturbed in the regulation of the arabinanase system in response to the presence of L-arabinose. Expression of the three known L-arabinose-induced arabinanolytic genes, abfA, abfB and abnA, was substantially decreased or absent in the araA and araB strains compared to the wild-type when incubated in the presence of L-arabinose or L-arabitol. In addition, the intracellular activities Of L-arabitol dehydrogenase and L-arabinose reductase, involved in L-arabinose catabolism, were decreased in the araA and araB strains. Finally, the data show that the gene encoding D-xylulose kinase, xkiA, is also under control of the arabinanolytic regulatory system. L-Arabitol, most likely the true inducer of the arabinanolytic and L-arabinose catabolic genes, accumulated to a high intracellular concentration in the araA and araB mutants. This indicates that the decrease of expression of the arabinanolytic genes was not due to lack of inducer accumulation. Therefore, it is proposed that the araA and araB mutations are localized in positive-acting components of the regulatory system involved in the expression of the arabinanase-encoding genes and the genes encoding the L-arabinose catabolic pathway

Identification of a mitotic recombination hotspot on chromosome III of the asexual fungus Aspergillus niger and its possible correlation elevated basal transcription

Genetic recombination is an important tool in strain breeding in many organisms. We studied the possibilities of mitotic recombination in strain breeding of the asexual fungus Aspergillus niger. By identifying genes that complemented mapped auxotrophic mutations, the physical map was compared to the genetic map of chromosome III using the genome sequence. In a program to construct a chromosome III-specific marker strain by selecting mitotic crossing-over in diploids, a mitotic recombination hotspot was identified. Analysis of the mitotic recombination hotspot revealed some physical features, elevated basal transcription and a possible correlation with purine stretches

Genome sequencing and analysis of the versatile cell factory Aspergillus niger CBS 513.88

The filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger is widely exploited by the fermentation industry for the production of enzymes and organic acids, particularly citric acid. We sequenced the 33.9-megabase genome of A. niger CBS 513.88, the ancestor of currently used enzyme production strains. A high level of synteny was observed with other aspergilli sequenced. Strong function predictions were made for 6,506 of the 14,165 open reading frames identified. A detailed description of the components of the protein secretion pathway was made and striking differences in the hydrolytic enzyme spectra of aspergilli were observed. A reconstructed metabolic network comprising 1,069 unique reactions illustrates the versatile metabolism of A. niger. Noteworthy is the large number of major facilitator superfamily transporters and fungal zinc binuclear cluster transcription factors, and the presence of putative gene clusters for fumonisin and ochratoxin A synthesis

Microbiome to Brain:Unravelling the Multidirectional Axes of Communication

The gut microbiome plays a crucial role in host physiology. Disruption of its community structure and function can have wide-ranging effects making it critical to understand exactly how the interactive dialogue between the host and its microbiota is regulated to maintain homeostasis. An array of multidirectional signalling molecules is clearly involved in the host-microbiome communication. This interactive signalling not only impacts the gastrointestinal tract, where the majority of microbiota resides, but also extends to affect other host systems including the brain and liver as well as the microbiome itself. Understanding the mechanistic principles of this inter-kingdom signalling is fundamental to unravelling how our supraorganism function to maintain wellbeing, subsequently opening up new avenues for microbiome manipulation to favour desirable mental health outcome

Disruption of the Aspergillus niger argB gene : a tool for transformation

We disrupted the Aspergillus niger gene argB, encoding ornithine transcarbamylase. Full characterisation of the argB deletion was performed by Southern blot analysis, growth tests and by means of mitotic recombination, complementation and transformation. The argB locus was found to be physically removed, thus creating an auxotrophic mutation. The latter can be supplemented by addition of arginine into the culture medium. The argB gene and its disruption do not correlate to the argI13 (formerly argB13) allele described. The (argB is on chromosome I whereas argI13 is on V. In addition, the argI13 mutation can only be complemented by the A. nidulans argB gene, whereas the new argB deletion can be complemented by both the A. niger and A. nidulans argB genes. The (argB strain has been used to generate several strains in a breeding programme and to study the expression of important genes, such as areA and kexB

Selection and characterisation of a xylitol-derepressed Aspergillus niger mutant that is apparently impaired in xylitol transport

Aspergillus niger is known for its biotechnological applications, such as the use of xylanase enzyme for the degradation of hemicellulose. Depending on culture conditions, several polyols may also be accumulated, such as xylitol during D-xylose oxidation. Also during industrial fermentation of xylose for the production of fuel ethanol by recombinant yeast, xylitol is a by-product. We studied xylitol metabolism by isolating mutants that have impaired xylitol-mediated repression. Genetic and biochemical characterisation revealed that one of these mutants was affected not only in xylitol-mediated carbon repression, but also had impaired xylitol transpor