A soil-based microbial biofilm exposed to 2,4-D: bacterial community development and establishment of conjugative plasmid pJP4

A soil suspension was used as a source to initiate the development of microbial communities in flow cells irrigated with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) (25 mu g ml(-1)). Culturable bacterial members of the community were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and found to be members of the genera Pseudomonas, Burkholderia, Collimonas and Rhodococcus. A 2,4-D degrading donor strain, Pseudomonas putida SM 1443 (pJP4::gfp), was inoculated into flow cell chambers containing 2-day old biofilm communities. Transfer of pJP4::gfp from the donor to the bacterial community was detectable as GFP fluorescing cells and images were captured using confocal scanning laser microscopy (GFP fluorescence was repressed in the donor due to the presence of a chromosomally located lacl(q) repressor gene). Approximately 5-10 transconjugant microcolonies, 20-40 mu m in diameter, could be seen to develop in each chamber. A 2,4-D degrading transconjugant strain was isolated from the flow cell system belonging to the genus Burkholderia.

The practice of participatory planning at Mapoon Aboriginal settlement: Towards community control, ownership and autonomy

The practice of participatory planning in discrete Indigenous settlements has been established since the early 1990s. In addition to technical and economic goals, participatory planning also seeks community development outcomes, including community control, ownership and autonomy. This paper presents an evaluation of one such planning project, conducted at Mapoon in 1995. The Plan successfully improved physical infrastructure and housing, but had mixed success in terms of community development. Despite various efforts to follow participatory processes, the Plan was essentially a passing event, community control progressively diminished after its completion, and outcomes fell short of notions of ownership and autonomy. This suggests some misunderstandings between the practice of participatory planning and the workings of governance.

Fragmented coherence: Solid waste management in Colombo

Notwithstanding the increasingly fragmented organizational relationships within Colombo's urban governance system, the cooperative nature of stakeholder relationships lends a high level of coherence to the overall system. Since 1995, Colombo's solid waste management system has been characterized by the increased role of the private sector, community-based organizations and NGOs. Whilst the increasingly fragmented nature of this system exhibits some deeply ingrained problems, there are also a number of positives associated with the increased role of civil society actors and, in particular, the informal sector. Reforming regulatory frameworks so as to integrate some of the social norms that are integral to the lives of the majority of urban residents will contribute to regulatory frameworks being considerably more enforceable than is currently the case. Such reform requires that institutional and regulatory frameworks need to be flexible enough to adapt to the changing social, political and economic context. In the Colombo case, effective cooperation between public sector and civil society stakeholders illustrates that adaptive institutional arrangements grounded in pragmatism are feasible. The challenge that arises is to translate these institutional arrangements into adaptive regulatory frameworks - something that would require a significant mind shift on the part of planners and urban managers.

Localizing a global discipline - Designing new planning programs in Sri Lanka

In order to be relevant and useful in a fragmented developing country context, community and regional planning needs to shift away from the use of rigid tools to more flexible, adaptive approaches. An international review of planning curricula indicated a widespread consensus with respect to key competencies required of planners. This understanding was used in the development of new teaching programs at three Sri Lankan universities. Complementing the technical core knowledge areas, strong emphases on problem structuring, critical and strategic thinking, and the understanding of the political and institutional contexts appear to be crucial to making the agenda of planning for sustainable development more than a fashionable cliche. In order for these core areas to have relevance in a developing country context, however, planning curricula need to achieve a balance between local priorities and a global perspective.

Actual and preferred work activites of mental health Occupational Therapists: Congruence or Discrepancy

The reform of Australian mental health services has resulted in new models of care and changed work practices for all mental health professionals. Occupational therapists today are as likely to be working in multidisciplinary teams performing a range of generic clinical roles as they are to be working in specialist rehabilitation units. These kinds of changes have taken place in other countries, with anecdotal and some empirical evidence that the changes have resulted in concerns about loss of professional identity and roles. This study sought to identify the current work activities carried out by occupational therapists and to determine whether there was a discrepancy between their actual and desired work activities. It was expected that, overall, they would indicate a preference to do more specialist rehabilitation focused work and less generic case management work. A survey of 196 occupational therapists investigated their actual and preferred work activities in 55 specific roles across four broad categories (senior administration, specialist clinical, general clinical and community development). As expected, the participants indicated that they would prefer to be undertaking more specialist rehabilitation oriented work activities than they were actually doing. Contrary to expectations, they also wished to undertake more rather than less generic clinical work activities, to be more engaged in community development work and to take on more senior and administrative roles. They indicated a preference for less rather than more activity on only 5 of the 55 work roles examined. On examining a subset of 113 participants who reported that 50% or more of their time was spent in case management, there was greater evidence of resistance to generic clinical roles. It was therefore concluded that occupational therapists in Australia are seeking to deploy their specialist skills to a greater degree than the current practice environment permits. They have broadly accepted the generic roles required in multidisciplinary community case management, but those who are actually working in these roles are most likely to have reservations about this kind of work.

Work activities of occupational therapists in Australian mental health services

The aim of this study was to obtain a profile of occupational therapists’ work activities in contemporary Australian mental health services so as to better understand the specific contribution of this profession. The study also aimed to determine whether or not actual work activity was congruent with the preferred roles of occupational therapists. A cross-sectional survey of 196 occupational therapists working in mental health was conducted. For the purposes of the study, a new instrument was developed that evaluated both actual and preferred work roles in four broad categories: administrative, general clinical skills, specialist clinical skills and community development. Respondents were engaged in a greater proportion of generic than discipline-specific work activities. They reported a preference for higher levels of activity in each of the work categories. These findings suggest that, contrary to some previous reports, not only are occupational therapists in Australia engaged in a broad spectrum of non-specialist mental health work activities, but these activities are mostly congruent with their expectations and wishes.

Does health assessment improve health outcomes in Indigenous people? An RCT with 13 years of follow-up

Objective: To examine the impact of a multi-component health assessment on mortality and morbidity in Kimberley Aboriginal residents during a 13-year follow-up. Method. A population-based randomised controlled trial using linked hospital, cancer and death records to evaluate outcomes in 620 intervention and 6,736 control subjects. Results: The intervention group had a higher rate of first-time hospitalisation for any reason (IRR = 1.37; 95 % Cl 1.25-1.50), a higher rate of injury-related hospital episodes (IRR = 1.31; 95 % Cl 1.15-1.48) and a higher notification rate of alcohol-related cancers. There was a smaller difference in the rates of multiple hospitalisations (IRR = 1.14; 95 % Cl 0.751.74) and no improvement in overall mortality compared with controls (IRR = 1.08; 95 % Cl 0.91-1.29). Conclusions: There was no overall mortality benefit despite increased health service contact associated with the intervention. Implications: Although not influencing mortality rates, multi-component health assessment may result in a period of increased health service use in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations, thus constituting an 'intervention'. However, this should not be confused with systematic and sustained interventions and investment in community development to achieve better health outcomes.

Two Australian islander communitities as audiences, and their news needs

Many of the 8000 mapped islands within the Australian Exclusive Economic zone are home to full-time but small communities, and many in the far north are home to relatively large Indigenous communities. But small remote communities such as on these islands, and individuals within those communities, become isolated because conventional news media providers regard them as unviable markets. Community development is at risk in such apparently unviable news media markets because individuals an lose touch with each other, others in the community and those in the "outside world".