A vibrational spectroscopic study of the silicate mineral analcime – Na2(Al4SiO4O12)·2H2O : a natural zeolite

We have studied the mineral analcime using a combination of scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy and vibrational spectroscopy. The mineral analcime Na2(Al4SiO4O12)·2H2O is a crystalline sodium silicate. Chemical analysis shows the mineral contains a range of elements including Na, Al, Fe2+ and Si. The mineral is characterized by intense Raman bands observed at 1052, 1096 and 1125 cm−1. The infrared bands are broad; nevertheless bands may be resolved at 1006 and 1119 cm−1. These bands are assigned to SiO stretching vibrational modes. Intense Raman band at 484 cm−1 is attributed to OSiO bending modes. Raman bands observed at 2501, 3542, 3558 and 3600 cm−1 are assigned to the stretching vibrations of water. Low intensity infrared bands are noted at 3373, 3529 and 3608 cm−1. The observation of multiple water bands indicate that water is involved in the structure of analcime with differing hydrogen bond strengths. This concept is supported by the number of bands in the water bending region. Vibrational spectroscopy assists with the characterization of the mineral analcime.

1000 voices : an online public collection of life stories

1000 voices is an international web-based platform for gathering and displaying more than 1000 life stories about the lived experience of people with disability. The site contains life stories told by people with disability that are presented in multiple media and formats, including text, audio, video, graphics and visual art...

Mapping eQTLs in the Norfolk Island genetic isolate identifies candidate genes for CVD risk traits

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) affects millions of people worldwide and is influenced by numerous factors, including lifestyle and genetics. Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) influence gene expression and are good candidates for CVD risk. Founder-effect pedigrees can provide additional power to map genes associated with disease risk. Therefore, we identified eQTLs in the genetic isolate of Norfolk Island (NI) and tested for associations between these and CVD risk factors. We measured genome-wide transcript levels of blood lymphocytes in 330 individuals and used pedigree-based heritability analysis to identify heritable transcripts. eQTLs were identified by genome-wide association testing of these transcripts. Testing for association between CVD risk factors (i.e., blood lipids, blood pressure, and body fat indices) and eQTLs revealed 1,712 heritable transcripts (p < 0.05) with heritability values ranging from 0.18 to 0.84. From these, we identified 200 cis-acting and 70 trans-acting eQTLs (p < 1.84 × 10(-7)) An eQTL-centric analysis of CVD risk traits revealed multiple associations, including 12 previously associated with CVD-related traits. Trait versus eQTL regression modeling identified four CVD risk candidates (NAAA, PAPSS1, NME1, and PRDX1), all of which have known biological roles in disease. In addition, we implicated several genes previously associated with CVD risk traits, including MTHFR and FN3KRP. We have successfully identified a panel of eQTLs in the NI pedigree and used this to implicate several genes in CVD risk. Future studies are required for further assessing the functional importance of these eQTLs and whether the findings here also relate to outbred populations.

Everyone’s watching it : the role of hype in television engagement through social media

Social media is playing an ever-increasing role in both viewers engagement with television and in the television industries evaluation of programming, in Australia – which is the focus of our study - and beyond. Twitter hashtags and viewer comments are increasingly incorporated into broadcasts, while Facebook fan pages provide a means of marketing upcoming shows and television personalities directly into the social media feed of millions of users. Additionally, bespoke applications such as FanGo and ZeeBox, which interact with the mainstream social networks, are increasingly being utilized by broadcasters for interactive elements of programming (c.f. Harrington, Highfield and Bruns, 2012). However, both the academic and industry study of these platforms has focused on the measure of content during the specific broadcast of the show, or a period surrounding it (e.g. 3 hours before until 3 am the next day, in the case of 2013 Nielsen SocialGuide reports). In this paper, we argue that this focus ignores a significant period for both television producers and advertisers; the lead-up to the program. If, as we argue elsewhere (Bruns, Woodford, Highfield & Prowd, forthcoming), users are persuaded to engage with content both by advertising of the Twitter hash-tag or Facebook page and by observing their network connections engaging with such content, the period before and between shows may have a significant impact on a viewers likelihood to watch a show. The significance of this period for broadcasters is clearly highlighted by the efforts they afford to advertising forthcoming shows through several channels, including television and social media, but also more widely. Biltereyst (2004, p.123) has argued that reality television generates controversy to receive media attention, and our previous small-scale work on reality shows during 2013 and 2014 supports the theory that promoting controversial behavior is likely to lead to increased viewing (Woodford & Prowd, 2014a). It remains unclear, however, to what extent this applies to other television genres. Similarly, while networks use of social media has been increasing, best practices remain unclear. Thus, by applying our telemetrics, that is social media metrics for television based on sabermetric approaches (Woodford, Prowd & Bruns, forthcoming; c.f. Woodford & Prowd, 2014b), to the period between shows, we are able to better understand the period when key viewing decisions may be made, to establish the significance of observing discussions within your network during the period between shows, and identify best practice examples of promoting a show using social media.

Dynamic modelling of long-term care decisions

This paper describes and analyzes research on the dynamics of long-term care and the policy relevance of identifying the sources of persistence in caregiving arrangements (including the effect of dynamics on parameter estimates, implications for family welfare, parent welfare, child welfare, and cost of government programs). We discuss sources and causes of observed persistence in caregiving arrangements including inertia/state dependence (confounded by unobserved heterogeneity) and costs of changing caregivers. We comment on causes of dynamics including learning/human capital accumulation; burnout; and game-playing. We suggest how to deal with endogenous geography; dynamics in discrete and continuous choices; and equilibrium issues (multiple equilibria, dynamic equilibria). We also present an overview of commonly used longitudinal data sets and evaluate their relative advantages/disadvantages. We also discuss other data issues related to noisy measures of wealth and family structure. Finally, we suggest some methods to handle econometric problems such as endogeneous geography. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Multi-scale bio-inspired place recognition

This paper presents a novel place recognition algorithm inspired by the recent discovery of overlapping and multi-scale spatial maps in the rodent brain. We mimic this hierarchical framework by training arrays of Support Vector Machines to recognize places at multiple spatial scales. Place match hypotheses are then cross-validated across all spatial scales, a process which combines the spatial specificity of the finest spatial map with the consensus provided by broader mapping scales. Experiments on three real-world datasets including a large robotics benchmark demonstrate that mapping over multiple scales uniformly improves place recognition performance over a single scale approach without sacrificing localization accuracy. We present analysis that illustrates how matching over multiple scales leads to better place recognition performance and discuss several promising areas for future investigation.

Molecular profiling of human mammary gland links breast cancer risk to a p27(+) cell population with progenitor characteristics

Early full-term pregnancy is one of the most effective natural protections against breast cancer. To investigate this effect, we have characterized the global gene expression and epigenetic profiles of multiple cell types from normal breast tissue of nulliparous and parous women and carriers of BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. We found significant differences in CD44+ progenitor cells, where the levels of many stem cell-related genes and pathways, including the cell-cycle regulator p27, are lower in parous women without BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations. We also noted a significant reduction in the frequency of CD44+p27+ cells in parous women and showed, using explant cultures, that parity-related signaling pathways play a role in regulating the number of p27+ cells and their proliferation. Our results suggest that pathways controlling p27+ mammary epithelial cells and the numbers of these cells relate to breast cancer risk and can be explored for cancer risk assessment and prevention.

Modelling of arc welding : the importance of including the arc plasma in the computational domain

We present results of computational simulations of tungsten-inert-gas and metal-inert-gas welding. The arc plasma and the electrodes (including the molten weld pool when necessary) are included self-consistently in the computational domain. It is shown, using three examples, that it would be impossible to accurately estimate the boundary conditions on the weld-pool surface without including the arc plasma in the computational domain. First, we show that the shielding gas composition strongly affects the properties of the arc that influence the weld pool: heat flux density, current density, shear stress and arc pressure at the weld-pool surface. Demixing is found to be important in some cases. Second, the vaporization of the weld-pool metal and the diffusion of the metal vapour into the arc plasma are found to decrease the heat flux density and current density to the weld pool. Finally, we show that the shape of the wire electrode in metal-inert-gas welding has a strong influence on flow velocities in the arc and the pressure and shear stress at the weld-pool surface. In each case, we present evidence that the geometry and depth of the weld pool depend strongly on the properties of the arc.

Integrated plasma-aided nanofabrication facility: Operation, parameters, and assembly of quantum structures and functional nanomaterials

The development, operation, and applications of two configurations of an integrated plasma-aided nanofabrication facility (IPANF) comprising low-frequency inductively coupled plasma-assisted, low-pressure, multiple-target RF magnetron sputtering plasma source, are reported. The two configurations of the plasma source have different arrangements of the RF inductive coil: a conventional external flat spiral "pancake" coil and an in-house developed internal antenna comprising two orthogonal RF current sheets. The internal antenna configuration generates a "unidirectional" RF current that deeply penetrates into the plasma bulk and results in an excellent uniformity of the plasma over large areas and volumes. The IPANF has been employed for various applications, including low-temperature plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of vertically aligned single-crystalline carbon nanotips, growth of ultra-high aspect ratio semiconductor nanowires, assembly of optoelectronically important Si, SiC, and Al1-xInxN quantum dots, and plasma-based synthesis of bioactive hydroxyapatite for orthopedic implants.

Analysis of albumin-associated peptides and proteins from ovarian cancer patients

Albumin binds low–molecular-weight molecules, including proteins and peptides, which then acquire its longer half-life, thereby protecting the bound species from kidney clearance. We developed an experimental method to isolate albumin in its native state and to then identify [mass spectrometry (MS) sequencing] the corresponding bound low–molecular-weight molecules. We used this method to analyze pooled sera from a human disease study set (high-risk persons without cancer, n= 40; stage I ovarian cancer, n = 30; stage III ovarian cancer, n = 40) to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach as a discovery method. Methods Albumin was isolated by solid-phase affinity capture under native binding and washing conditions. Captured albumin-associated proteins and peptides were separated by gel electrophoresis and subjected to iterative MS sequencing by microcapillary reversed-phase tandem MS. Selected albumin-bound protein fragments were confirmed in human sera by Western blotting and immunocompetition. Results In total, 1208 individual protein sequences were predicted from all 3 pools. The predicted sequences were largely fragments derived from proteins with diverse biological functions. More than one third of these fragments were identified by multiple peptide sequences, and more than one half of the identified species were in vivo cleavage products of parent proteins. An estimated 700 serum peptides or proteins were predicted that had not been reported in previous serum databases. Several proteolytic fragments of larger molecules that may be cancer-related were confirmed immunologically in blood by Western blotting and peptide immunocompetition. BRCA2, a 390-kDa low-abundance nuclear protein linked to cancer susceptibility, was represented in sera as a series of specific fragments bound to albumin. Conclusion Carrier-protein harvesting provides a rich source of candidate peptides and proteins with potential diverse tissue and cellular origins that may reflect important disease-related information.

NESSTI : norms for environmental sound stimuli

In this paper we provide normative data along multiple cognitive and affective variable dimensions for a set of 110 sounds, including living and manmade stimuli. Environmental sounds are being increasingly utilized as stimuli in the cognitive, neuropsychological and neuroimaging fields, yet there is no comprehensive set of normative information for these type of stimuli available for use across these experimental domains. Experiment 1 collected data from 162 participants in an on-line questionnaire, which included measures of identification and categorization as well as cognitive and affective variables. A subsequent experiment collected response times to these sounds. Sounds were normalized to the same length (1 second) in order to maximize usage across multiple paradigms and experimental fields. These sounds can be freely downloaded for use, and all response data have also been made available in order that researchers can choose one or many of the cognitive and affective dimensions along which they would like to control their stimuli. Our hope is that the availability of such information will assist researchers in the fields of cognitive and clinical psychology and the neuroimaging community in choosing well-controlled environmental sound stimuli, and allow comparison across multiple studies.

Understanding service firms brand value creation : a multilevel perspective including the overarching role of service brand marketing capability

Purpose This study seeks to extend the existing literature on value creation by specifically focusing on service brand value creation (SBVC) and the role of brand marketing. Design/methodology/approach The authors first develop a model of SBVC and simultaneously investigate SBVC from the firm perspective (service brand value offering – SBVO) and from the customer perspective (service brand perceive value-in use – SBPVI). Subsequently, they investigate the effects of SBVO on SBPVI and integrate the moderation role of service brand marketing capability (SBMC) on the relationship between SBVO-SBPVI outcomes. SBVO is viewed as the firms' interpretation of and responsiveness to customer requirements via the delivery of superior performance the value offering through the service brand and SBPVI customers' perceived value from the firms' service brand. The contributions of SBVC to customer-based performance outcomes are then investigated. Hypotheses were tested using a sample of the senior managers of service firms in Cambodia and their customers. A survey was used to gather data via a drop-and-collect approach. Findings Results indicated that SBVO is positively related to SBPVI and SBPVI is positively related to customer-based performance. Noticeably, the results revealed that SBMC enhances the positive relationship between the firm SBVO and the customers SBPVI. Originality/value The paper extends the previous literature on value creation to capture SBVC. More significantly, the premise of the theoretical framework provides a breakthrough in the current SBVC literature which has so far neglected to take into account the dyadic approach (firm-customer) in understanding value creation and more specifically SBVC. The model is expanded by looking at the contingency role of SBMC in communicating value to customers.

Multiple modular additions and crossword puzzle attack on NLSv2

NLS is a stream cipher which was submitted to the eSTREAM project. A linear distinguishing attack against NLS was presented by Cho and Pieprzyk, which was called Crossword Puzzle (CP) attack. NLSv2 is a tweak version of NLS which aims mainly at avoiding the CP attack. In this paper, a new distinguishing attack against NLSv2 is presented. The attack exploits high correlation amongst neighboring bits of the cipher. The paper first shows that the modular addition preserves pairwise correlations as demonstrated by existence of linear approximations with large biases. Next, it shows how to combine these results with the existence of high correlation between bits 29 and 30 of the S-box to obtain a distinguisher whose bias is around 2^−37. Consequently, we claim that NLSv2 is distinguishable from a random cipher after observing around 2^74 keystream words.

Modeling of protein signaling networks in clinical proteomics

Molecular interactions that underlie pathophysiological states are being elucidated using techniques that profile proteomicend points in cellular systems. Within the field of cancer research, protein interaction networks play pivotal roles in the establishment and maintenance of the hallmarks of malignancy, including cell division, invasion, and migration. Multiple complementary tools enable a multifaceted view of how signal protein pathway alterations contribute to pathophysiological states.One pivotal technique is signal pathway profiling of patient tissue specimens. This microanalysis technology provides a proteomic snapshot at one point in time of cells directly procured from the native context of a tumor micro environment. To study the adaptive patterns of signal pathway events over time, before and after experimental therapy, it is necessary to obtain biopsies from patients before, during, and after therapy. A complementary approach is the profiling of cultured cell lines with and without treatment. Cultured cell models provide the opportunity to study short-term signal changes occurring over minutes to hours. Through this type of system, the effects of particular pharmacological agents may be used to test the effects of signal pathway inhibition or activation on multiple endpoints within a pathway. The complexity of the data generated has necessitated the development of mathematical models for optimal interpretation of interrelated signaling pathways. In combination,clinical proteomic biopsy profiling, tissue culture proteomic profiling, and mathematical modeling synergistically enable a deeper understanding of how protein associations lead to disease states and present new insights into the design of therapeutic regimens.

Pharmacist prescribing of venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in a surgical pre-admission clinic

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is the term used to describe the disease process which presents as either deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism. It is a major cause of death and disability worldwide and places a large financial burden on healthcare systems. Multiple risk factors have been identified for the development of VTE, including hospitalisation for acute medical illness and surgery. Documentation of VTE risk assessment is a critical part of any patient admission, driven by evidence that a risk assessment is a trigger for VTE prophylaxis to be considered. In the United Kingdom, healthcare services have set targets for VTE risk assessment documentation and financial incentives are linked to targets being met...