Enhancing rice resistance to fungal pathogens by transformation with cell wall degrading enzyme genes from<Emphasis Type="Italic">Trichoderma atroviride</Emphasis>

Three genes encoding for fungal cell wall degrading enzymes (CWDEs),ech42, nag70 andglu78 from the biocontrol fungusTrichoderma atroviride were inserted into the binary vector pCAMBIA1305.2 singly and in all possible combinations and transformed to rice plants. More than 1800 independently regenerated plantlets in seven different populations (for each of the three genes and each of the four gene combinations) were obtained. Theech42 gene encoding for an endochitinase increased resistance to sheath blight caused byRhizoctonia solani, while the exochitinase-encoding gene,nag70, had lesser effect. The expression level of endochitinase but exochitinase was correlated with disease resistance. Nevertheless, exochitinase enhanced the effect of endochitinase on disease resistance when the two genes co-expressed in transgenics. Resistance toMagnaporthe grisea was found in all kinds of regenerated plants including that with singlegluc78. A few lines expressing eitherech42 ornag70 gene were immune to the disease. Transgenic plants are being tested to further evaluate disease resistance at field level. This is the first report of multiple of expression of genes encoding CWDEs fromTrichoderma atroviride that result in resistance to blast and sheath blight in rice. Project (No. 3997002) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China     

Australian science and technology academics and university-industry research links

Australian science and technology academics see advantages in closer research links with industry but at the same time are aware of potential dangers. Academics in these areas with industry research funding tend to be older and more senior than those without such funding, and a higher proportion of them hold national competitive grants. These industry-funded academics tend to spend longer hours at work and more time on postgraduate teaching, administration, committee work and interaction with colleagues. They also have better publication records.     

A Merger that Failed: The Case of the University of New England

In 1989–90 the University of New England combined with three colleges of advanced education in northern New South Wales to form a network university. Unfortunately the merger negotiations and the experience of this network university were marred by conflict and the network University is to split into two separate universities from 1 January 1994 at the latest. The paper provides a case-study of the merger and tries to explain why the merger failed.     

Merging divergent campus cultures into coherent educational communities: Challenges for higher education leaders

Mergers in higher education areviewed here as a sociocultural issue. Concentrating particularly on mergers inAustralia during the late 1980s and beyond,highlighted are some cultural challenges thatarose and strategies adopted by institutionalleaders in trying to create integratedcommunities from the merging of campus culturesthat were historically and symbolicallyun-complementary. By viewing a number ofcases, how hoped-for post-merger integration or`coherent educational communities' were andwere not achieved is a specific focus. Evidence indicates that in newly mergedcampuses integrated as opposed to federal structures provide more scope for tightercultural integration. In particular, expertleadership is needed that keeps culturalconflict to a minimum and pays specialattention to developing new loyalties, highmorale and a sense of community within thenewly created institution.     

Academic staff and academic drift in Australian colleges of advanced education

The Australian colleges of advanced education have been developed since the mid-1960s mainly on the initiative of the federal government with the aim of creating a separate sector of higher education parallel to the universities. They illustrate well what has been referred to in the literature as academic drift, a process whereby non-university institutions aspire to become more like universities. Academics in the colleges of advanced education have contributed to the process of upward drift. Academic drift in turn has produced important changes on some key characteristics of college academics.     

The Umanities in an Age of Science

Many persons today question the meaningfulness of the traditional formulations of some of the basic questions which have been asked in the humanities, and also the validity of the introspective means by which answers have been sought. These challengers often appear to have behind them the great weight of the scientific progress of recent centuries. The basic issue on which the behavioral scientist and the scientific humanist appear to differ so from the poet, the artist, or the religious philosopher has to do with the physical and the spiritual aspects of reality. Predominately, the scientist tends to operate on the implicit assumption that only the physical or sense-perceived world has reality; the poet and the mystic live in both worlds. The behavioral scientist tends to see values as culturally generated and acquired, the poet, as inherent in the structure of things. Questions about the nature of reality are not to be decided by disputation among ourselves, but by conducting such experiments as will enable us to discern what that nature really is. The nature of such experiments and suggestions for the possible resolution of this basic issue form the subject matter of this paper.     

Institutional Mergers in Higher Education: Lessons from International Experience

Higher education systems andinstitutions have used institutional mergers toaddress a range of different problems,particularly fragmentation amongstnon-university institutions, lack of financialand academic viability, pressures for majorsystem restructuring and external competitivethreats. While mergers frequently aredisruptive, strongly contested and costly inboth human and financial terms, they have thepotential to produce substantial longer-termbenefits, particularly larger and morecomprehensive institutions, stronger academicprogrammes, improved student services, enhancedstudent choice, greater institutionalflexibility and, under certain conditions,increased efficiencies and cost-savings. Sensitivity to human and cultural factors andeffective leadership are of utmost importancein achieving success in merger processes.     

Understanding Science and Language Connections: New Approaches to Assessment with Bilingual Learners

Research in Science Education - We report on the use of bilingual constructed response science assessments in the context of a research and development partnership with secondary school science...