The molecular structure of the borate mineral inderite Mg(H4B3O7)(OH)⋅5H2O – A vibrational spectroscopic study

We have undertaken a study of the mineral inderite Mg(H4B3O7)(OH)⋅5H2O a hydrated hydroxy borate mineral of magnesium using scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetry and vibrational spectroscopic techniques. The structure consists of [B3O3(OH)5]2-[B3O3(OH)5]2- soroborate groups and Mg(OH)2(H2O)4 octahedra interconnected into discrete molecules by the sharing of two OH groups. Thermogravimetry shows a mass loss of 47.2% at 137.5 °C, proving the mineral is thermally unstable. Raman bands at 954, 1047 and 1116 cm−1 are assigned to the trigonal symmetric stretching mode. The two bands at 880 and 916 cm−1 are attributed to the symmetric stretching mode of the tetrahedral boron. Both the Raman and infrared spectra of inderite show complexity. Raman bands are observed at 3052, 3233, 3330, 3392 attributed to water stretching vibrations and 3459 cm−1 with sharper bands at 3459, 3530 and 3562 cm−1 assigned to OH stretching vibrations. Vibrational spectroscopy is used to assess the molecular structure of inderite.

Confirmation of the assignment of vibrations of goethite: An ATR and IES study of goethite structure

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM/EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the morphology of synthetic goethite. The behavior of the hydroxyl/water molecular units of goethite and its thermally treated products were characterized using Fourier transform-infrared emission spectroscopy (FT-IES) and attenuated total reflectance–Fourier transform infrared (ATR–FTIR) spectroscopy. The results showed that all the expected vibrational bands between 4000 and 650 cm−1 including the resolved bands (3800–2200 cm−1) were confirmed. A band attributed to a new type of hydroxyl unit was found at 3708 cm−1 and assigned to the FeO–H stretching vibration without hydrogen bonding. This hydroxyl unit was retained up to the thermal treatment temperature of 500 °C. On the whole, seven kinds of hydroxyl units, involving three surface hydroxyls, a bulk hydroxyl, a FeO–H without hydrogen bonding, a nonstoichiometric hydroxyl and a reversed hydroxyl were observed, and three kinds of adsorbed water were found in/on goethite.

Career implications of multi-layered institutional settings

Project work has grown significantly in volume and recognition in recent decades as projects have ‘become a common form of work organization in all sectors of the economy’ (Lindgren & Packendorff, 2006: 841). This increase in project-based work is just one of the many changes that have been affecting the nature of work, the employment relationship and the associated conceptualization and experience of careers (Baruch, 2004b; Söderlund & Bredin, 2006). A career can be defined as a process of development along a path of work experience and roles in one or more organizations (Baruch & Rosenstein, 1992), and careers involving project-based work take place within multi layered institutional settings. Projects are generally undertaken by small temporary organizations (Ekstedt, Lundin, Söderholm & Wirdenius, 1999; Pettigrew, 2003; Söderlund, 2012) which in turn may form part of larger, permanent entities; involve people drawn from a number of disciplines and organizations; or be formed as partnerships, joint ventures or strategic alliances between two or more organizations (Scott, 2007).

Aligned poly(L-lactic-co-ε-caprolactone) electrospun microfibers and knitted structure: a novel composite scaffold for ligament tissue engineering

We developed a novel technique involving knitting and electrospinning to fabricate a composite scaffold for ligament tissue engineering. Knitted structures were coated with poly(L-lactic-co-e-caprolactone) (PLCL) and then placed onto a rotating cylinder and a PLCL solution was electrospun onto the structure. Highly aligned 2-μm-diameter microfibers covered the space between the stitches and adhered to the knitted scaffolds. The stress–strain tensile curves exhibited an initial toe region similar to the tensile behavior of ligaments. Composite scaffolds had an elastic modulus (150 ± 14 MPa) similar to the modulus of human ligaments. Biological evaluation showed that cells proliferated on the composite scaffolds and they spontaneously orientated along the direction of microfiber alignment. The microfiber architecture also induced a high level of extracellular matrix secretion, which was characterized by immunostaining. We found that cells produced collagen type I and type III, two main components found in ligaments. After 14 days of culture, collagen type III started to form a fibrous network. We fabricated a composite scaffold having the mechanical properties of the knitted structure and the morphological properties of the aligned microfibers. It is difficult to seed a highly macroporous structure with cells, however the technique we developed enabled an easy cell seeding due to presence of the microfiber layer. Therefore, these scaffolds presented attractive properties for a future use in bioreactors for ligament tissue engineering.

It takes more than good intentions : institutional and attitudinal impediments to engaging young people in participatory planning

While participatory processes have become an important part of planning, young people are a particularly vulnerable group in terms of potential marginalisation and exclusion from effective participation. Including the views of young people in participatory planning is not simply a matter of bringing them into existing processes. Instead, participatory processes must find ways to integrate and accommodate their needs and ways of expressing their views. Without these adjustments young people may simply move from being kept outside the planning process to a situation where, although they are formally included, their claims are not taken seriously and they are not treated with equal respect. In this paper we reflect on the success of a community advisory committee, formed to consider water planning issues, in integrating the views of young people into their deliberations. Using Iris Marion Young’s (1995) ideas of communicative democracy we highlight the challenges and opportunities presented by this participatory approach, as articulated by both the young people involved and the adult participants. We specifically consider how the elements of greeting, rhetoric and narrative were reflected in the committee process. We argue that both planners and adult participants need to ensure that participatory processes allow for the equal engagement of all participants and place equal value on their contributions. Our research shows that this involves both an institutional and attitudinal commitment to include the views of young people. The institutional commitment requires young people to be included in processes and for their involvement to be supported. However, the attitudinal commitment it is equally important and requires that adult participants be prepared not only to accept the views of younger participants but to actively encourage and support their full participation.

Fluid-structure interaction analysis of full scale vehicle-barrier impact using coupled SPH-FEA

Portable water-filled barriers (PWFB) are roadside structures used to separate moving traffic from work-zones. Numerical PWFB modelling is preferred in the design stages prior to actual testing. This paper aims to study the fluid-structure interaction of PWFB under vehicular impact using several methods. The strategy to treat water as non-structural mass was proposed and the errors were investigated. It was found that water can be treated with the FEA-NSM model for velocities higher than 80kmh-1. However, full SPH/FEA model is still the best treatment for water and necessary for lower impact velocities. The findings in this paper can be used as guidelines for modelling and designing PWFB.

Validation of a new tool to measure responsiveness and structure in the feeding context : the Authoritative Feeding Practices Questionnaire

How mothers interact with their toddlers around food lays the foundations for healthy eating and healthy weight gain in later life. This research involving 467 Australian first-time mothers of 2-year-old children resulted in the development of a new self-report tool, the Authoritative Feeding Practices Questionnaire, assessing maternal responsive feeding and mealtime structure. Secondary analysis of the NOURISH randomised controlled trial included theory-driven item selection, confirmatory factor analysis, evaluation of psychometric properties and construct validation. The result is a brief, reliable and valid new tool for evaluating the maternal feeding practices that support children to become healthy, independent eaters.

The structure of Pavlovian fear conditioning in the amygdala

Do different brains forming a specific memory allocate the same groups of neurons to encode it? One way to test this question is to map neurons encoding the same memory and quantitatively compare their locations across individual brains. In a previous study, we used this strategy to uncover a common topography of neurons in the dorsolateral amygdala (LAd) that expressed a learning-induced and plasticity-related kinase (p42/44 mitogen-activated protein kinase; pMAPK), following auditory Pavlovian fear conditioning. In this series of experiments, we extend our initial findings to ask to what extent this functional topography depends upon intrinsic neuronal structure. We first showed that the majority (87 %) of pMAPK expression in the lateral amygdala was restricted to principal-type neurons. Next, we verified a neuroanatomical reference point for amygdala alignment using in vivo magnetic resonance imaging and in vitro morphometrics. We then determined that the topography of neurons encoding auditory fear conditioning was not exclusively governed by principal neuron cytoarchitecture. These data suggest that functional patterning of neurons undergoing plasticity in the amygdala following Pavlovian fear conditioning is specific to memory formation itself. Further, the spatial allocation of activated neurons in the LAd was specific to cued (auditory), but not contextual, fear conditioning. Spatial analyses conducted at another coronal plane revealed another spatial map unique to fear conditioning, providing additional evidence that the functional topography of fear memory storing cells in the LAd is non-random and stable. Overall, these data provide evidence for a spatial organizing principle governing the functional allocation of fear memory in the amygdala.

Structure-preserving Runge-Kutta methods for stochastic Hamiltonian equations with additive noise

There has been considerable recent work on the development of energy conserving one-step methods that are not symplectic. Here we extend these ideas to stochastic Hamiltonian problems with additive noise and show that there are classes of Runge-Kutta methods that are very effective in preserving the expectation of the Hamiltonian, but care has to be taken in how the Wiener increments are sampled at each timestep. Some numerical simulations illustrate the performance of these methods.

The cultural impact of institutional remix : the formalisation of textual reappropriation within the ABC

In 2009, Mark Deuze proposed an updated approach to media studies to incorporate ‘media life’, a concept he suggests addresses the invisibleness of ubiquitous media. Media life provides a useful lens for researchers to understand the human condition in media and not with media. At a similar time, public service media (PSM) strategies have aligned audience participation with the so‐called Reithian trinity which suggest the PSB should inform, educate and entertain while performing its core values of public service broadcasting (Enli 2008). Remix within the PSM institution relies on audience participation, employing ‘the people formerly known as the audience’ (Rosen 2006) as cultural artifact producers, and draws on their experience from within the media. Remix as a practice then enables us to examine the shift of the core PSM values by understanding how audience participation, informed by a human condition mobilised from our existence of being in media and not merely with media. However, remix within PSM challenges the once elitist construction of meaning models with an egalitarian approach towards socially reappropriated texts, questioning its affect on the cultural landscape. This paper draws on three years of ethnographic data from within the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), exploring the remix culture of ABC Pool. ABC Pool operates under a Creative Commons licensing regime to enable remix practice under the auspices of the ABC. ABC Pool users provide a useful group of remix practitioners to examine as they had access to a vast ABC archival collection and were invited to remix those cultural artefacts, often adding cultural and fiscal value. This paper maintains a focus on the audience participation within PSM through remix culture by applying media dependency theory to remix as cultural practice and calls to expand and update the societal representation within the ABC.

Communication models of institutional online communities : the role of the ABC cultural intermediary

The co-creation of cultural artefacts has been democratised given the recent technological affordances of information and communication technologies. Web 2.0 technologies have enabled greater possibilities of citizen inclusion within the media conversations of their nations. For example, the Australian audience has more opportunities to collaboratively produce and tell their story to a broader audience via the public service media (PSM) facilitated platforms of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). However, providing open collaborative production for the audience gives rise to the problem, how might the PSM manage the interests of all the stakeholders and align those interests with its legislated Charter? This paper considers this problem through the ABC’s user-created content participatory platform, ABC Pool and highlights the cultural intermediary as the role responsible for managing these tensions. This paper also suggests cultural intermediation is a useful framework for other media organisations engaging in co-creative activities with their audiences.

Communication models of institutional online communities : the role of the ABC cultural intermediary

The co-creation of cultural artefacts has been democratised given the recent technological affordances of information and communication technologies. Web 2.0 technologies have enabled greater possibilities of citizen inclusion within the media conversations of their nations. For example, the Australian audience has more opportunities to collaboratively produce and tell their story to a broader audience via the public service media (PSM) facilitated platforms of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). However, providing open collaborative production for the audience gives rise to the problem, how might the PSM manage the interests of all the stakeholders and align those interests with its legislated Charter? This paper considers this problem through the ABC’s user-created content participatory platform, ABC Pool and highlights the cultural intermediary as the role responsible for managing these tensions. This paper also suggests cultural intermediation is a useful framework for other media organisations engaging in co-creative activities with their audiences.

Collaboration, connections and consequences : a study of cultural intermediation within the ABC Pool institutional online community

This thesis addresses the question of what it means to be a public broadcaster in the context of a rapidly changing media landscape, in which audiences no longer only watch and consume but now also make and share media content. Through a close investigation of the ABC Pool community, this thesis documents how the different interests of the stakeholders within an institutional online community intersect and how those interests are negotiated within the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It demonstrates a new approach towards the cultural intermediation of user-created content within institutional online communities. The research moves beyond the exploration of the community manager role as one type of intermediary to demonstrate the activities of multiple cultural intermediaries that engage in collaborative peer production. Cultural intermediation provides the basis for institutional online community governance.

A multilevel model of work-life : examining the impact of group structure and relational job design

One in five Australian workers believes that work doesn’t fit well with their family and social commitments. Concurrently, organisations are recognising that to stay competitive they need policies and practices that support the multiple aspects of employees’ lives. Many employees work in group environments yet there is currently little group level work-life balance research. This paper proposes a new theoretical framework developed to understand the design of work groups to better facilitate work-life balance. This new framework focuses on task and relational job designs, group structures and processes and workplace culture.