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We obtained 14,140 interception records of ants arriving in Australia between 1986 and 2010 to examine taxonomic and biogeographic patterns of invasion. We also evaluated how trade and transport data influenced interception rates, the identity of species being transported, the commerce most associated with the transport of ants, and which countries are the primary sources for ants arriving in Australia. The majority of ant interceptions, accounting for 48% of interceptions, were from Asia and Oceania. The top commodities associated with ant interceptions were: (1) Live trees, plants, cut flowers; (2) Wood and wood products; (3) Edible vegetables; and (4) Edible fruit and nuts. The best fitting model for predicting ant interceptions included volumes for these four commodities, as well as total trade value, transport volume, and geographic distance (with increased distance decreasing predicted ant interceptions). Intercepted ants identified to species consisted of a combination of species native to Australia, introduced species already established in Australia, and species not yet known to be established. 82% of interceptions identified to species level were of species already known to be established in Australia with Paratrechina longicornis having the most records. These data provide key biogeographic insight into the overlooked transport stage of the invasion process. Given the difficult nature of eradication, once an ant species is firmly established, focusing on early detection and quarantine is key for reducing the establishment of new invasions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Australian Government’s Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper aims to create a profitable and resilient Australian agriculture sector. In doing so, the White Paper emphasises farmers’ individual responses to the structural problems which have undermined farmers’ profitability, such as consolidated commodities markets. In particular, the White Paper recommends that farmers shape their farming practice to make their farms more attractive to private investors. This is presented as a normal response to farm profitability concerns. Farms are portrayed as investment targets and securing investment is framed as an essential skill of the modern farmer. To understand how this discursive construction has been made possible, this article develops a genealogical analysis of changing constructions of farmers, farming and of the role of the State. This research reveals the subtle discursive shifts which have helped shift responsibility for farming, from the State, to the self-reliant individual, and most recently, towards the private sector. Whereas the construct of the self-reliant, independent farmer has been used to facilitate deregulation of agricultural industries, this recent shift in power towards the private sector may potentially undermine farmers’ autonomy and increase dependence on private sector investment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The University of New South Wales in Sydney and Providence Asset Group (PAG) have founded the Hydrogen Energy Research Centre, as a university-industry partnership to translate hydrogen technologies research into commercial products and support Australia's vision to become a major player in the global hydrogen market [ see also page 14 ]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial production of wine results in the generation of large volumes of wastewater, which typically contains large amounts of organic material and salts as a result of product loss and cleaning processes. The treatment and management of this waste stream is of significant concern, especially considering increasing environmental restrictions. There are numerous treatment options available for the management of wastewaters, which vary with respect to efficacy, cost and reliability. This review presents a summary of these treatment options, and describes the mechanism of each process, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of their use within the wine industry. The current knowledge of winery wastewater (WWW) composition and current and emerging management and/or treatment options are described, within an Australian context. Firstly WWW composition is discussed, and then both established and emerging physicochemical and biological treatment options reviewed, and options for disposal/re-entry to the environment considered. Knowledge gaps and a way forward are presented in conclusion, and focus primarily on research in areas relating to WWW composition, and effects of WWW application on soil and plant health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A characteristic of advanced economies like Australia is continual growth in household income and plunging costs of electric appliances, resulting in rapid growth in peak demand. The power grid in turn requires substantial incremental generating and network capacity, which is utilized momentarily at best. The result is the Boomerang Paradox, in which the nation''s rising wealth has created the pre-conditions for fuel poverty. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Patent systems around the world are being pressed to protect new and exciting subject matter in order to keep pace with the rapid technological advancement of our age. This rapid development and pressure to expand the bounds of what has traditionally been recognised as patentable subject matter has created uncertainty regarding what it is that the patent system is actually supposed to protect. Among other things, the patent system has had to contend with uncertainty surrounding claims to horticultural and agricultural methods, artificial living micro-organisms, methods of treating the human body, computer software and business methods. The contentious issue of the moment is one at whose heart lies the important distinction between what is a mere abstract idea and what is properly an invention deserving of the monopoly protection afforded by a patent. That question is whether purely non-physical inventions, being methods that do not involve a physical effect or cause a physical transformation of matter, constitute patentable subject matter. This paper goes some way to addressing these uncertainties by considering how the Australian approach to the question can be informed by developments arising inthe United States and canvassing some of the possible lessons we in Australia might learn from the approaches taken thus far inthe United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia and other parts of the world, contaminated eggs or egg-containing food products are common vehicles for human Salmonella outbreaks. Recently, an uncommon serotype, Salmonella Hessarek, has emerged in foodborne salmonellosis due to the consumption of contaminated eggs and egg products. Limited research is available on the behaviour of Salmonella Hessarek in eggs. Therefore, this study was performed to understand the penetration ability and transcriptional behavior of Salmonella Hessarek in table eggs stored at different temperatures. The assay revealed that the penetration ability of Salmonella Hessarek was significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the egg storage temperature. Salmonella penetration into egg contents was significantly higher in cold (collected 3 h post-oviposition) compared with warm (collected immediately post-oviposition) eggs stored at 25 °C. There was 4 and 2.39 log increase in Salmonella cells in yolk and albumen, respectively, of the eggs stored at ambient temperature. The gene expression data indicated that genes regulate the pathways involved in stress and metabolism, such as yafD , proP , rpoS , phoP , adkF , and purG were significantly upregulated in yolk and on the eggshell surface, at refrigerated temperature. The gene expression data suggested that at refrigerated temperature, Salmonella Hessarek maintained its cell viability through upregulating the key genes necessary for survival. The findings further showed that not all genes involved in the vital functions of Salmonella were consistently regulated at 5 °C and 25 °C in different egg contents. This study revealed that Salmonella Hessarek has the capacity to penetrate and survive in eggshell pores. Storage of eggs at refrigerated temperature can reduce the penetration and replication risk of Salmonella Hessarek in eggs. • Salmonella Hessarek can survive in eggshell pores. • Ambient temperature enhances the eggshell penetration of Salmonella Hessarek. • Egg refrigeration immediately after lay reduces the rate of bacterial penetration. • Genes regulating the stress pathway influence Salmonella Hessarek survival in eggs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has shown that while some people favor foreign-sourced products, others prefer to purchase goods made in their own country. From the perspective of the Australian wine market, consumption of wine has been consistently increasing in recent years. While sales of Australian made wine are booming, sales of imported sources are also increasing in terms of dollar value. This paper examines the effect of consumer ethnocentrism and animosity on willingness to buy foreign wine products, in an effort to better understand the factors involved in the consumer decision making process when purchasing wine products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports findings of research into the dynamics of customer satisfaction formation amongst fruit producers and their distribution channel(s), within the economically important northern Victorian (Australia)fruit industry. The paper suggests reasons why previous approaches to the issue of satisfaction in channel member relationships, which typically utilize constructs of `economic' and `non-economic' satisfaction, may usefully be supplemented by application of the `disconfirmation of expectations' model. The research actually tests a modification of the traditional disconfirmation model that incorporates dimensions of `outcome' and `process' at the levels of expectations, performance and disconfirmation-a `dualistic' model. This had previously been tested only in a radically different business-to business context, that of advertising creative services. The findings suggest that satisfactory measurement of growers' expectations can be achieved They also suggest that the discomfirmation model does appear to apply in this previously untested service context, whether unitary measures of expectations and performance, or the dualistic interpretation of expectations/performance, are utilized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on commodification and consumption of Asians in Australia concerning the contemporary consumer culture theory of Jean Baudrillard and Edward Said. It mentions that Mark Gottdiener considers the theory of Baudrillard to be materialist semiotic exercise in which it says that Gottdiener tried to address the issues related to material semiotics or socio-semiotics by focusing on material culture. It explores the argument of Said regarding orientalism mentioning that the orientalism discourse of Said continued to influence the Asian perception related to commodification and consumption culture in Asian and Western consumer culture. It adds that the Asian consumption and commodified culture of Asians can contribute to racial political and cultural awareness.

In the decades following the Second World War super markets and retail outlets in North America, Western Europe, and Australasia became the most important sites for the sale of food products. This dominance in food saIes was generally confined to the retail sector as super-markets tended to act as a nexus or distribution point between agri-food producers and consumers. In the 1970s this relationship began to break down as supermarkets moved up the chain of production. Supermarkets began to directly source materials from producers to use in "own" brand and generic products, which soon came to compete with the branded products of agri-food manufacturers. This paper traces the beginnings of these shifts and investigates the consequences of globally-sourced super-market goods in the context of the Australian agri-food system, with pineapples and wine as case studies The paper concludes that the increasing size and scope of supermarket buying power and the presence and growth of "own" brands suggests that capital organized through retail channels is coming to rival manufacturing capital as a significant fraction of the Australian agri-food system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is not just a hackneyed formula but the heart of modern-Austrian economics to describe "Austrian" economics as the "less-known themes of the Austrians". Ask any economist to explain this characterisation and he is likely to answer "subjectivism" and "market processes". By this he probably has in mind the two contentions that an economic theory "systematically recomposes market phenomena in terms of typical structural components of everyday decision making" (O'Driscoll and Rizzo, 1986, p. 252) and that "the appropriate starting point for a theory… is… the pattern of market adjustments set in motion by conditions of disequilibrium" (Kirzner, 1967, p. 788). In this contribution I analyse one of the less-known, almost forgotten, themes from the subjectivistic Austrian tradition and show its implications for modern Austrian ideas on market processes. After an introductory section, I state and interpret Menger's and Böhm-Bawerk's characterisation of goods in the second and third sections. This consists of my "less-known theme", taken from the subjectivistic Austrian tradition. In the fourth and fifth section, I state and interpret the theories in modern Austrian thought about market processes. Section six shows how useful the less-known theme actually is for the solution of a paradox that arises. The last section contains a summary and a conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continuous growth in urban population has led to intense competition for space among the various actors in the urban system. Planning and managing this competition requires a better understanding of both personal travel and goods movements. Urban planning in the past has however, focused on providing a sustainable and efficient transport system to solve personal mobility challenges with almost total neglect of the goods movement sector. However, with the growing importance of freight to both local and national economies, and also the disproportionate impacts of freight related activities on congestion, pollution, accidents and other road hazards, there is a stronger call for a better understanding of the freight system. Central to freight movement models is an understanding of where the freight commodities are produced and consumed. An important driver in the production and/or consumption of each commodity is the production and consumption of other commodities. In this paper, these important interactions between commodities are captured in a path analysis freight model which incorporates models of commodity production and consumption. We identify the key factors driving the consumption and production of each commodity. To be suitable for forecasting and policy testing, the estimated models are transformed into linked logit models to also allow for important policy measures such as accessibility and commodity generation influences such as population and employment to be estimated. The proposed model has been implemented to generate the amount of commodity of each type produced and consumed in each state of Australia with illustrations of how the production and/or consumption of one commodity triggers the production and/or consumption of other commodities. The study also demonstrates the differential impacts of changes in demographics or employment growth on the consumption and/production of different commodities. When built into an integrated transport and land use model system that accommodates both passenger and freight activity, and includes models that account for spatial dependency (which is not a requirement of the macro level commodity generation stage), this freight generation capability contribute to the way in which freight movements influence and hence impact on the performance of the entire transport network, for both passenger and freight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports about the sufferings of Australian biotechnology companies that is due to float on the Sydney-based Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). On the trend of recent listings, the next two companies to float on the ASX, Perth's drug discovery company Phylogica, and Melbourne's medical device firm Kryocor, are likely to suffer a rapid slump in share value. In Australia's relatively young biotech sector, options are limited because there are too few mid-sized biotech companies around to partner with on more equal terms. Australia's young biotechnology sector remains terra incognita to most local investors, so companies with good prospects and solid commercialization strategies are caught up in the cycle of speculative buying and selling.