Biotech prospects for the control of introduced mammals in Australia

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert F. Seamark
Keyword(s):  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Fertility Control ◽  
Emerging Diseases ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Wildlife Diseases ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Immune Resistance ◽  
Livestock Health

More than twenty exotic vertebrate species are now listed as pests in Australia. Collectively, these pests have a huge economic and environmental impact and pose a major threat to Australia’s ecosystems and unique biodiversity. Management of such pests on a continental scale is a major challenge. Recent advances in biotechnology suggest alternatives to the lethal diseases normally sought for use as biological control agents. One proposal, being investigated in the Pest Animal Control Cooperative Research Centre, Canberra, is the use of biotechnology to develop a new generation of agents that act through controlling reproduction to prevent the build up of pest populations. The core concept is fertility control through immunocontraceptive vaccines delivered by viruses that specifically infect the target pest population. Proof of this exciting concept has been obtained for the mouse and, very recently, the rabbit, and a candidate vaccine vector identified for the fox, portending better control of a trio of Australia’s most pervasive pests. Other advances in biotechnology suggest ways to negate the build up of both innate and acquired immune resistance in target pest populations that normally act to limit the efficacy and effective life of biocontrol agents in the field. Prospects for extending the use of virally vectored vaccines to the field management of wildlife diseases are also identified. Targets for such vaccines include a growing suite of emerging diseases, hosted by Australia’s wildlife, which pose a threat to human and livestock health. Numerous technical challenges remain to be addressed before any of these new agents are ready for use in the field. However, the major risk to their development is now no longer viewed as being technical, but the failure to gain public acceptance for their use in the field. This already significant risk is exasperated by the present heightened level of public concern about all introductions of genetically modified organisms.

Can foxes be controlled by reducing their fertility?

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Pech ◽  
G. M. Hood ◽  
J. McIlroy ◽  
G. Saunders
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Variability ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Fertility Control ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
Changes In Pregnancy ◽  
Contraceptive Agent

A model based on data from research in New South Wales conducted by the Cooperative Research Centre for the Biological Control of Vertebrate Pest Populations suggests that the effectiveness of fertility control in reducing the abundance of foxes (Vulpes vulpes) can be strongly influenced by environmental variability. The model includes age-specific recruitment and survival as functions of resources indexed by rainfall. It is assumed that fertility control will affect only female foxes and that the use of a baiting regime to deliver a contraceptive agent will result in fixed proportional changes in pregnancy rates. By comparing the variability in the rate of increase of treated and untreated fox populations, the model predicts that: (i) frequent baiting, every one or two years, will be more effective than applications of baits at longer time intervals; (ii) the abundance of foxes will decline more rapidly with higher levels of fertility control; (iii) infertility which lasts for only one breeding season is less effective than permanent sterility which allows for accumulation of sterile animals in the population; and (iv) highly variable results are likely to be the outcome of low-frequency baiting with an agent that produces only temporary infertility.

scholarly journals Australian Biosecurity CRC for Emerging Infectious Diseases (AB-CRC)

2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
John S Mackenzie ◽  
Lisa Adams
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Emerging Infectious Diseases ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Emerging Infectious Disease ◽  
Emerging Diseases ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Cooperative Research

The Australian Biosecurity Cooperative Research Centre for Emerging Infectious Disease (AB-CRC) was a successful applicant under the Federal Government?s 2002 CRC programme, and will be formally established from July 2003. The aim of the AB-CRC is to protect Australia?s health, livestock, wildlife and economic resources by developing new capabilities to monitor, assess, predict and respond to emerging and exotic disease threats which impact on national and regional biosecurity. Emerging diseases are defined as those which are novel, previously unrecognised diseases, or those which are increasing in incidence or geographic range. The threats may be natural, accidental (such as an infected traveller) or deliberate (as in bioterrorism).

scholarly journals Innovation Performance and Its Impact on Profitability Among Different Sectors in the Australian Construction Industry

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Hardie ◽  
Graham Miller ◽  
Karen Manley ◽  
Stephen McFallan
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Innovation Performance ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Research Information ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Building Research ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Formal Evaluation ◽  
Industry Sectors

The BRITE (Building Research Information Technology and Environment) project was established by the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation to encourage innovation in the construction industry. While innovation is generally perceived to be broadly beneficial, there has been little formal study of its occurrence or impact in Australian construction or of the factors which foster an innovative atmosphere within an enterprise. In order to benchmark innovation performance, the BRITE project conducted a survey in 2004 into the nature, incidence and variety of technological and organisational innovations in various sectors of the industry. With some exceptions, the survey found that clients and consultants engaged in significantly higher levels of innovation than did suppliers, main contractors or trade contractors. Within the industry sectors those organisations classified as high innovators favoured the adoption of advanced management practices and had formal evaluation systems in place to judge their progress. They reported significant positive impacts on their profitability from innovation and can therefore provide instructive examples for the rest of the industry to follow.

CRC 'Regional Combinations' project — effects of genetics and growth paths on beef production and meat quality: experimental design, methods and measurements.

2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 959 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. A. McKiernan ◽  
J. F. Wilkins ◽  
S. A. Barwick ◽  
G. D. Tudor ◽  
B. L. McIntyre ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Meat Quality ◽  
Bos Taurus ◽  
Experimental Designs ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Eating Quality ◽  
Beef Production ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Beef Quality ◽  
Genetic Potential ◽  
And Storage

As a component of the second term of the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Cattle and Beef Quality, a project to further test and validate the effects of varying nutritional growth paths pre-finishing and slaughter on cattle of varying genetic potential for meat yield and eating quality was designed and implemented. This project, ‘Regional Combinations’, was a multi-site experiment, using Bos taurus cattle generated at 4 locations across southern Australia. The design of imposing different growth paths between weaning and finishing on cattle with specific genetic potential is common across sites. Treatment and interaction effects on beef production and meat quality were examined within and across sites. This paper describes the experimental designs, generation of experimental cattle at the various sites and the measurements, collection and storage of the data for multi-site analyses.

Building on ‘Red Dirt’ Perspectives: What Counts as Important for Remote Education?

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Guenther ◽  
Samantha Disbray ◽  
Sam Osborne
Keyword(s):  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Remote Education ◽  
Community Expectations ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Indicators Of Success

The Remote Education Systems (RES) project within the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation (CRC-REP) has, over the last four years, gathered and analysed qualitative data directly from over 230 remote education stakeholders and from more than 700 others through surveys. The research was designed to answer four questions: (1) What is education for in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities?; (2) What defines ‘successful’ educational outcomes from the remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander standpoint?; (3) How does teaching need to change in order to achieve ‘success’ as defined by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander standpoint?; and (4) What would an effective education system in remote Australia look like? Based on this data, the paper reveals how perceptions differ for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from remote communities compared with people who come from elsewhere. The analysis points to the need for some alternative indicators of ‘success’ to match the aspirations of local people living in remote communities. It also points to the need for school and system responses that resonate with community expectations of education, and to develop narratives of aspiration and success alongside community views.

A review of genetic and non-genetic opportunities for manipulation of marbling

2004 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 687 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. M. Bindon
Keyword(s):  
Vitamin A Deficiency ◽  
Genetic Correlations ◽  
Consumer Preference ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Water Soluble ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Chemical Extraction ◽  
Eating Quality ◽  
Gene Marker ◽  
Cooperative Research

The biology of marbling is a considerable issue for the Australian beef industry. Measurement of the trait is still a concern: subjective assessment based on the degree of visual fat deposition and its distribution is the 'industry standard' and the basis for payment of marbling grades. Yet this measurement may be subject to operator error and is influenced by chiller temperature. Chemical extraction gives an unequivocal measure of all fat in the muscle (intramuscular fat percentage: IMF%) and has higher heritability and genetic variation than marble score; but does this mirror exactly what the trade regards as 'marbling'?Progeny test results from the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Cattle and Beef Quality breeding projects provide improved understanding of breed and genetic effects on IMF% and marble score. Estimated breeding values (EBVs) for IMF% have been released to the industry for 7 breeds. Heritability estimates confirm that genetic progress will be faster when selection is based on IMF% rather than marble score. Genetic correlations of IMF% with growth, retail beef yield (RBY%), P8 fat, residual feed intake (RFI) and tenderness are now available to underpin selection indices. A favourable allele for marbling (TG5) on chromosome 14 has been identified by CSIRO/MLA as a direct gene marker for the trait. This is now being marketed as GeneSTAR marbling. Other favourable chromosomal regions are under investigation by the CRC.Nutritional manipulation of marbling remains problematic. It is accepted that high-energy grain diets achieve higher marbling than pasture diets. Within grain-based feedlot diets higher marbling is achieved with maize than barley, while barley diets in turn are better than sorghum. Steam flaking produces higher marbling than dry rolled grain and this effect is more marked with sorghum than maize. Beyond these establishments there are many uncertainties: experiments have examined the effects of diets with high protein; low protein; protected lipid; protected protein; added oil with and without calcium; vitamin A deficiency. None of these manipulations gave consistent improvement in marble score or IMF%. Commercial feedlots supplying Japanese B3/B4 markets may have successful dietary manipulations to enhance marbling but because of its proprietary nature the information is not normally available for scientific scrutiny.Japan is the only market for Australian beef where marbling is an important component of the market specification. There can be no doubt that marbling meets a special consumer preference in that niche market. In other markets scientific evidence for a link between marbling and beef tenderness or eating quality has been difficult to define (marbling is a key component of the USA grading scheme for primal cuts but Australia is not a big supplier to that market). In the domestic Meat Standards Australia market there is a trend for marbling to become more important as a consumer issue in 5-star products where higher order sensory attributes of beef come into play. Early meat science investigations concluded that beef flavour elements were water-soluble. This would exclude marbling fat as having a notable influence on flavour.Marbling remains the major determinant of carcass value in Australia's most valuable beef market. Research should continue to assist Australian producers to meet the specifications of that market with increased precision and reduced costs.

Current and future limits to automated 3D geological model construction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Jessell
Keyword(s):  
Structural Information ◽  
Mineral Exploration ◽  
Structural Data ◽  
Model Construction ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Geological Model ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Geological Modelling ◽  
3D Geological Model ◽  
Secondary Information

<p>In geological settings characterised by folded and faulted strata, and where good field data exist, we have been able to automate a large part of the 3D modelling process directly from the raw geological database (maps, bedding orientations and drillhole data). The automation is based upon the deconstruction of the geological maps and databases into positional, gradient and spatial and temporal topology information, and the combination of deconstructed data into augmented inputs for 3D geological modelling systems, notably LoopStructural and GemPy.</p><p>When we try to apply this approach to more complex terranes, such as greenstone belts, we come across two types of problem:</p><ul><li>1) Insufficient structural data, since the more complexly deformed the geology, the more we need to rely on secondary structural information, such as fold axial traces and vergence to ‘solve’ the structures. Unfortunately these types of data are not always stored in national geological databases. One approach to overcoming this is to analyse the simpler (i.e. bedding) data to try and estimate the secondary information automatically.</li> </ul><p> </p><ul><li>2) The available information is unsuited to the logic of the modelling system. Most modern modelling platforms assume the knowledge of a chronostratigraphic hierarchy, however, especially in more complexly deformed regions, a lithostratigraphy may be all that is available. Again a pre-processing of the map and stratigraphic information may be possible to overcome this problem.</li> </ul><p>This presentation will highlight the progress that has been made, as well as the road-blocks to universal automated 3D geological model construction.</p><p> </p><p>We acknowledge the support of the MinEx CRC and the Loop: Enabling Stochastic 3D Geological Modelling (LP170100985) consortia. The work has been supported by the Mineral Exploration Cooperative Research Centre whose activities are funded by the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centre Programme. This is MinEx CRC Document 2020/xxx.</p><p> </p>

Analysis of National Test Scores in Very Remote Australian Schools

2015 ◽  
pp. 125-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Guenther
Keyword(s):  
Test Scores ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
Remote Education ◽  
Assessment Program ◽  
Data Support ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
National Test

Based on the current research of the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation, this chapter presents an analysis of the 2012 Australian National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy data from very remote schools across Australia. The data support perceptions of apparent failure in remote education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The reasons for this failure are often attributed to disadvantage. In this chapter, the author proposes that the perceptions of failure are built on philosophical, sociological, economic, and psychological assumptions that may not be shared by those who are subjected to tests. It is therefore possible to critique remote education, not as a failure, but as a reflection of the values it embodies. That critique allows for different ways of understanding difference framed around the perspectives that come from the context of very remote schools.

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