Characterization of IS2112, a new insertion sequence from Rhodococcus, and its relationship with mobile elements belonging to the IS110 family

A new insertion sequence (IS2112) was identified in the genome of the 1-haloalkane-utilizing bacterium Rhodococcus rhodochrous NCIMB 13064. The insertion element is 1415 bp long, does not contain terminal inverted repeats, and is not flanked by directly repeated sequences. IS2112 belongs to the IS110 family of transposable elements, and forms a separate subfamily, along with IS116, Two copies of IS2112 were found in R, rhodochrous NCIMB 13064 and one, two or three copies of a similar sequence were detected in five other 1-haloalkane-degrading Rhodococcus strains. There were no sequences homologous to IS2112 found in the l-haloalkane-degrading 'Pseudomonas pavonaceae' 170 and Rhodococcus sp, HA1 or in several Rhodococcus strains which do not utilize haloalkanes, IS2112 was originally found in plasmid pRTL1 of R. rhodochrous NCIMB 13064 which harbours genes encoding utilization of l-haloalkanes, and was located 5 kbp upstream of the haloalkane dehalogenase gene (dhaA), Although the second copy of IS2112 in strain NCIMB 13064 was also present on the pRTL1 plasmid, these sequences do not apparently comprise a single composite transposon encoding haloalkane utilization. An analysis of derivatives of NCIMB 13064 revealed that IS2112 was involved in genome rearrangements. IS2112 appeared to change its location as a result of transposition and as a result of other rearrangements of the NCIMB 13064 genome.

London 2012 and Climate Change. Examining the potential impact of the current economic crisis in the environmental legacy of the Games

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) declares environmental protection to be the third dimension of the Olympic movement. That, in effect, means that nations wishing to host the Games have to present themselves as reliable practitioners of environmental sustainability (ES) in their applications. The greening of sports mega-events, and the hosting of Olympic Games in particular, is now reasonably well established. Yet evidence from the first decade of environmentally-conscious Olympics points to diverging patterns of achievement in the operationalisation of the IOC’s ‘third pillar’. As is now common knowledge, for example, Sydney 2000 was the first ‘Green Olympics’ in the history of the Games; yet four years later, Athens provided a stark contrast, and was the subject of highly critical assessment reports by environmental organisations. Yet Athens has not stopped the Bid Committee for the Beijing 2008 Games claiming that it would ‘leave the greatest Olympic Games environmental legacy ever’ (UNEP 2007: 26), while the London 2012 promotes the concept of the ‘One Planet Olympics’.

In this context and in light of the current global economic crisis, can we claim that London 2012 has the capacity to fulfil its environmental ambitions? This question is adopted in continuity with similar framed questions that have been posed in relation to the most recent Olympics and it is tackled by adopting an investigative model that is placed within discourses of ‘reflexive modernisation’.

Vision and Virtuality:The Construction of Narrative Space in Film and Computer Games

This paper seeks to explore the construction of narrative space in 3D PC computer games. With reference to Stephen Heath’s theory of filmic narrative space, the paper will examine how computer games, based on the rendition of a continuous 3D, real-time interactive environment, construct a distinct mode of narrativisation. The dynamic imbrication of the manipulation of 3D objects in a virtual world and the (re)presentation of this virtual mise-en-scene constitute an interaction that affects the concept of narrative in computer games. This leads to several questions that the paper seeks to investigate: How does the construction of space in PC games contribute to the meaning-making process or the gamer’s experience of narrative? How then is this experience of narrative game-space different from that of film?