Occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes in reclaimed water and river water in the Werribee Basin, Australia

The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in water used for irrigation in the Werribee River Basin, Australia, including river water and reclaimed effluent water (reclaimed water). Samples of reclaimed water, collected over a one-year period, were screened for the occurrence of ARGs using PCR detection assays. The presence of ARGs in the reclaimed water samples were contrasted with that of water samples taken from the Werribee River Basin, collected over the same time period, from five points selected for varying levels of urban and agricultural impact. Of the 54 river water samples collected, 2 (4%), 2 (4%), 0 and 0 were positive for methicillin, sulfonamide, gentamicin and vancomycin-resistant genes, respectively, while 6 of 11 reclaimed water samples were positive for methicillin (9%) and sulfonamide (45%). The presence/absence of ARGs did not appear to correlate with other measured water quality parameters. The low detection of ARGs in river water indicates that, regardless of its poor quality, the river has not yet been severely contaminated with ARGs. The greater prevalence of ARGs in reclaimed water indicates that this important agricultural water source will need to be monitored into the future.

Lower Permian brachiopods from Wasp Head Formation, Sydney Basin, southeastern Australia

Although there is a generally accepted framework for the Permian marine biogeography of Australia, significant uncertainties remain concerning the temporal biogeographical changes closely related to the timing of Permian glacial-interglacial events. Several recent studies along these research lines demonstrate the importance of a reliable high-resolution biostratigraphical timescale for paleobiogeographical and paleoclimatic reconstructions. This paper provides, for the first time, a full taxonomic and biostratigraphical study of the brachiopod fauna from the Wasp Head Formation, southern Sydney Basin, southeastern Australia. The fauna is associated with deposits of the first Permian glacial interval suggested for eastern Australia. Three brachiopod assemblages are recognized. The lower and middle assemblages contain scarce brachiopods although associated bivalves are comparatively more common. Despite very low diversity and low abundance, these two brachiopod assemblages contain characteristic species of the Strophalosia concentrica and Strophalosia subcircularis brachiopod zones, both considered of late Asselian age. The third assemblage, occurring in the uppermost part of the formation, contains more brachiopods than bivalves and is referred to early Sakmarian in age. The species diversity and stratigraphic occurrences of the brachiopod assemblages in relation to sedimentary facies suggest that the lower two assemblages may represent an intra-glacial interval while the younger third assemblage, characterized by abundant occurrences of Trigonotreta and Tomiopsis species, accompanied by the bivalve Eurydesma, is more indicative of a post-glacial benthic marine fauna comparable to coeval brachiopod faunas found elsewhere in Gondwana. © 2014, The Paleontological Society.

An early Permian brachiopod–gastropod fauna from the Calytrix Formation, Barbwire Terrace, Canning Basin, Western Australia

A small brachiopod–gastropod fauna from a core close to the base of the Calytrix Formation within the Grant Group includes the brachiopods Altiplecus decipiens (Hosking), Myodelthyrium dickinsi (Thomas), Brachythyrinella narsarhensis (Reed), Neochonetes (Sommeriella) obrieni Archbold, Tivertonia barbwirensis sp. nov. and the gastropod Peruvispira canningensis sp. nov. The fauna has affinities with that of the late Sakmarian‒early Artinskian Nura Nura Member directly overlying the Grant Group in other parts of the basin but, as with all lower Cisuralian (and Pennsylvanian) glacial strata in Western Australia, its precise age remains poorly constrained, especially in terms of correlation to international stages. Although the Calytrix fauna lies within the Pseudoreticulatispora confluens Palynozone, the only real constraint on its age (and that of the associated glacially influenced strata) is from Sakmarian (Sterlitamakian) and stratigraphically younger faunas. A brief review of radiometric ages from correlative strata elsewhere in Gondwana shows that those ages need to be updated. The presence of Asselian strata and the position of the Carboniferous‒Permian boundary remain unclear in Western Australia.Arturo César Taboada [ataboada@unpata.edu.ar], CONICET-Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Evolución y Biodiversidad (LIEB), Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Sede Esquel, Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia ‘San Juan Bosco’, Edificio de Aulas, Ruta Nacional 259, km. 16,5, Esquel U9200, Chubut, Argentina; Arthur Mory [arthur.mory@dmp.wa.gov.au], Geological Survey of Western Australia, 100 Plain Street, East Perth, WA 6004, School of Earth and Environment, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia; Guang R. Shi [grshi@deakin.edu.au], School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Melbourne Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia; David W. Haig [david.haig@uwa.edu.au], School of Earth and Environment (M004), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia; María Karina Pinilla [mkpinilla@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar], División Paleozoología Invertebrados, Museo de Ciencias Naturales de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, 1900 La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Nearshore-offshore-basin species diversity and body size variation patterns in Late Permian (Changhsingian) brachiopods

 B.V. Body size is a fundamental and defining character of an organism, and its variation in space and time is generally considered to be a function of its biology and interactions with its living environment. A great deal of body size related ecological and evolutionary research has been undertaken, mostly in relation to extant animals. Among the many body size-related hypotheses proposed and tested, the size-bathymetry relationship is probably the least studied. In this study, we compiled a global body size dataset of Changhsingian (Late Permian, ca. 254. Ma-252. Ma) brachiopod species from low-latitude areas (30°S-30°N) and analyzed their species diversity and body size distribution patterns in relation to the nearshore-offshore-basin bathymetric gradient. The dataset contained 1768 brachiopod specimens in 435 species referred to 159 genera and 9 orders, from 135 occurrences (localities) of 18 different palaeogeographic regions. Treating the whole of the Changhsingian Stage as a single time slice, we divided the nearshore-offshore-basin bathymetric gradient into three broad depth-related environments: nearshore, offshore and basinal environments, and compared how the species diversity and body size varied along this large-scale bathymetric gradient.Here, we report an array of complex patterns. First, we found a clear overall inverse correlation between species diversity and water depth along the nearshore-offshore-basin gradient, with most species concentrating in the nearshore environment. Second, when the median sizes of all low-latitude brachiopod species from the three environments were compared, we found that there was no significant size difference between the nearshore and offshore environments, suggesting that neither the wave base nor the hydrostatic pressure exerts a critical influence on the body size of brachiopods. On the other hand, the median sizes of brachiopods from the nearshore environment and, to a lesser extent, the offshore environment were found to be significantly larger than that of basinal brachiopods. This trend of significant size reduction in basinal brachiopods mirrors the relative low species diversity in the basinal environment, and neither can be easily explained by the tendency of decreasing food availability towards deeper sea environments. Rather, both trends are consistent with the hypothesis of an expanding Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ) in the bathyal (slope to deepsea) environments, where hypoxic to anoxic conditions are considered to have severely restricted the diversification of benthos and favored the relative proliferation of small-sized brachiopods. Finally, a significant difference was also found between eurybathic and stenobathic species in their body size response to the nearshore-offshore-basin gradient, in that eurybathic species (species found in all three environments) did not tend to change their body size significantly according to depth, whereas stenobathic forms (species restricted to a single environment) exhibit a decline in body size towards the basinal environment. This pattern is interpreted to suggest that bathymetrically more tolerant species are less sensitive to depth control with respect to their body size change dynamics, in contrast to stenobathic species which tend to grow larger in shallower water depths.

Fuel ethanol price drivers in the Atlantic basin : Brazil & the U.S. traders perspectives

Como a oportunidade de exportação de etanol combustível é muito recente, o agronegócio carece de literatura para formação de gestores e estrategistas. Este trabalho tem como objetivo descrever o mecanismo de formação de preços de etanol tanto no Brasil como nos Estados Unidos da America. Decupei as variáveis que impactam na formação de preços, custo de produção de etanol de cana-de-açúcar, custo da logística e desidratação no Caribe, custo do etanol de milho e fiz algumas análises de cenários de formação de preços das principais variáveis e consegui organizar este conhecimento em um gráfico que contém no eixo superior preço do etanol hidratado na usina no Brasil e no eixo inferior o preço do bushel de milho em Chicago cujas interceções nas retas da taxa do dólar e do preço do gás natural, fornecem no eixo Y o preço do produto no porto de Nova York, ficando uma visualização simples das possibilidades da janela de exportação. A metodologia permite assumir diferentes cenários de oferta, demanda e preços e estabelecer diferentes estratégias de comercialização.

Desenvolvimento de formulações para produção de grés porcelanato a partir de matérias-primas da região da bacia do Parnaíba

Brazil is a great ceramic raw materials productor because of the its big number of clay deposits, in various areas of the ceramic industry. Although, the majority of the natural reservations are unknown or not studied yet, so there is no scientific technical dates that can guide their usage and industrial application, as well as the racional and optimazed way of usage by the industrial sector. The state of Maranhão has a gigant mineral wealth as esmectite, bentonite, kaolin, clays, feldspates, marine salt, iron and others, but produce only products with small agregated value compared to the porcelanato, one of the most expensives ceramic cover tiles, the reason for that is the low water absorption (lower than 0,5%), beside present amazing tecnicals features, like mechanical resistence. The main objective of the work is to do the characterization of four clays, with the finallity of find an application by the results and develop formulations to produce porcelanato using these raw materials from Timon-MA. For this were made the raw materials characterization using X ray fluorecence; X ray diffraction; Differencial thermal analysis; Dilatometric analysis and Tecnological properties, planing three formulations that were sinterized at six different temperatures: 1150, 1170, 1190, 1210, 1230 and 1250ºC for 7 minutes. After the sinteratization, the samples were submitted to tension resistance analysis. Were attained two formulations with the requested properties to produce porcelanato