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Quality Assessment System (QLASSIC) was introduced in Malaysia in 2016 and the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) plans to enforce QLASSIC as mandatory for all construction projects by the year 2020. However, there has been doubts whether this is practical as the current rate of adoption is low. This research aims to study the practicality of implementing QLASSIC on all construction projects by 2020. Quantitative approach has been employed with the target respondents being G7 Contractors in Selangor. The results of this research show that, the respondents feel that QLASSIC's mandatory status should be delayed beyond 2020, identify barriers to the implementation and provide suggestions to encourage its adoption in the industry. This research was carried out in early 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endosymbiotic Wolbachia bacteria are, to date, considered the most widespread symbionts in arthropods and are the cornerstone of major biological control strategies. Such a high prevalence is based on the ability of Wolbachia to manipulate their hosts' reproduction. One manipulation called cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is based on the death of the embryos generated by crosses between infected males and uninfected females or between individuals infected with incompatible Wolbachia strains. CI can be seen as a modification‐rescue system (or mod‐resc) in which paternal Wolbachia produce mod factors, inducing embryonic defects, unless the maternal Wolbachia produce compatible resc factors. Transgenic experiments in Drosophila melanogaster and Saccharomyces cerevisiae converged towards a model where the cidB Wolbachia gene is involved in the mod function while cidA is involved in the resc function. However, as cidA expression in Drosophila males was required to observe CI, it has been proposed that cidA could be involved in both resc and mod functions. A recent correlative study in natural Culex pipiens mosquito populations has revealed an association between specific cidA and cidB variations and changes in mod phenotype, also suggesting a role for both these genes in mod diversity. Here, by studying cidA and cidB genomic repertoires of individuals from newly sampled natural C. pipiens populations harbouring wPipIV strains from North Italy, we reinforce the link between cidB variation and mod phenotype variation fostering the involvement of cidB in the mod phenotype diversity. However, no association between any cidA variants or combination of cidA variants and mod phenotype variation was observed. Taken together our results in natural C. pipiens populations do not support the involvement of cidA in mod phenotype variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates the level of satisfaction with the South African Department of Public Work's Contractor Development Programme (CDP) in terms of its effectiveness. A mixed method research approach (combination of quantitative and qualitative approach) is employed for the collection of both statistical and in-depth information on the perceptions of participants on the CDP. Survey data collected from 364 participants and interview data from six focus-group participants in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province of South Africa forms the data sets for the article. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. Descriptive statistics is used to report the reliability of the various constructs, mean scores, standard deviations, and correlations. The findings show that participants not only deemed the programme unsatisfactory, but also reported an overall negative experience with the programme. Specific findings show that the CDP offers no training opportunities to registered members, lacks effective communication mediums, and benefited only those with political connections. The correlation results show that there is a strong relation between population and registering on the CDP, thus confirming that the open and easy access when registering on the CDP allows any interested person to automatically become a contractor creating the possibility of abuse of the programme. The study was limited to KZN contractors only and may, therefore, not be generalised to the entire national population of contractors. This article is relevant, as it gives insight into how satisfied contractors are with the CDP. It may help potential contractors to consider whether the CDP will be beneficial to them, before they decide to join the programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wolbachia-mediated cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is a conditional embryonic lethality induced when Wolbachia -modified sperm fertilizes an uninfected egg. The Wolbachia proteins, CidA and CidB control CI. CidA is a rescue factor that reverses lethality. CidA binds to CidB. CidB contains a deubiquitinating enzyme and induces CI. Precisely how CidB induces CI and what it targets are unknown. Likewise, how CidA prevents sterilization by CidB is not clear. To identify CidB substrates in mosquitos we conducted pull-down assays using recombinant CidA and CidB mixed with Aedes aegypti lysates to identify the protein interactomes of CidB and the CidB/CidA protein complex. Our data allow us to cross compare CidB interactomes across taxa for Aedes and Drosophila. Our data replicate several convergent interactions , suggesting that CI targets conserved substrates across insects. Our data support a hypothesis that CidA rescues CI by tethering CidB away from its substrates. Specifically, we identify ten convergent candidate substrates including P32 (protamine-histone exchange factor), karyopherin alpha, ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme, and bicoid stabilizing factor. Future analysis on how these candidates contribute to CI will clarify mechanisms. [Display omitted] • Interactions of Wolbachia Cif proteins, CidA and CidB, in Aedes aegypti were identified. • We identified ten convergent CidB candidate substrates in Aedes and Drosophila. • Interaction preferences suggest CidA tethers CidB away from CI induction substrates. • Our data suggest that CI induction involves conserved targets across insect taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wolbachia are widespread endosymbiotic bacteria that manipulate the reproduction of arthropods through a diversity of cellular mechanisms. In cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), a sterility syndrome originally discovered in the mosquito Culex pipiens , uninfected eggs fertilized by sperm from infected males are selectively killed during embryo development following the abortive segregation of paternal chromosomes in the zygote. Despite the recent discovery of Wolbachia CI factor (cif) genes, the mechanism by which they control the fate of paternal chromosomes at fertilization remains unknown. Here, we have analyzed the cytological distribution and cellular impact of CidA and CidB, a pair of Cif proteins from the Culex -infecting Wolbachia strain w Pip. We show that expression of CidB in Drosophila S2R+ cells induces apoptosis unless CidA is co-expressed and associated with its partner. In transgenic Drosophila testes, both effectors colocalize in germ cells until the histone-to-protamine transition in which only CidB is retained in maturing spermatid nuclei. We further show that CidB is similarly targeted to maturing sperm of naturally infected Culex mosquitoes. At fertilization, CidB associates with paternal DNA regions exhibiting DNA replication stress, as a likely cause of incomplete replication of paternal chromosomes at the onset of the first mitosis. Importantly, we demonstrate that inactivation of the deubiquitylase activity of CidB does not abolish its cell toxicity or its ability to induce CI in Drosophila. Our study thus demonstrates that CI functions as a transgenerational toxin-antidote system and suggests that CidB acts by poisoning paternal DNA replication in incompatible crosses. [Display omitted] • CidA and CidB function as a toxin-antidote system in Drosophila S2R+ cells • CidA and CidB associate in male germ cells until mid-spermiogenesis • The CidB toxin is loaded into sperm nuclei in transgenic flies and infected Culex • In eggs, CidB associates with replication stress markers on paternal chromosomes Wolbachia -mediated cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is an insect sterility syndrome controlled by the protein effectors CidA and CidB. By characterizing the distribution and impact of CidA and CidB in Drosophila and Culex mosquitoes, Horard et al. demonstrate that CidA and CidB function as a transgenerational toxin-antidote system to mediate CI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]