SERS-barcoded colloidal gold NP assemblies as imaging agents for use in biodiagnostics

There is a growing need for new biodiagnostics that combine high throughput with enhanced spatial resolution and sensitivity. Gold nanoparticle (NP) assemblies with sub-10 nm particle spacing have the benefits of improving detection sensitivity via Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and being of potential use in biomedicine due to their colloidal stability. A promising and versatile approach to form solution-stable NP assemblies involves the use of multi-branched molecular linkers which allows tailoring of the assembly size, hot-spot density and interparticle distance. We have shown that linkers with multiple anchoring end-groups can be successfully employed as a linker to assemble gold NPs into dimers, linear NP chains and clustered NP assemblies. These NP assemblies with diameters of 30-120 nm are stable in solution and perform better as SERS substrates compared with single gold NPs, due to an increased hot-spot density. Thus, tailored gold NP assemblies are potential candidates for use as biomedical imaging agents. We observed that the hot-spot density and in-turn the SERS enhancement is a function of the linker polymer concentration and polymer architecture. New deep Raman techniques like Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS) have emerged that allow detection from beneath diffusely scattering opaque materials, including biological media such as animal tissue. We have been able to demonstrate that the gold NP assemblies could be detected from within both proteinaceous and high lipid containing animal tissue by employing a SORS technique with a backscattered geometry.

Multi-events stadium Buchanan Park redevelopment

Multi-purpose Community Entertainment and Recreation Venue, catering for the Mount Isa Rodeo; including campdraft, equine sports, shows, exhibition, trade events, concerts and other community activities. The design involved redevelopment of a portion of the Buchanan Park Race Course located in Mount Isa. The project included community infrastructure planning, major landscaping and the construction of built facilities.

Clients’ understanding of the role of nurse practitioners

Introduction: Nurse Practitioners (NPs) have an emerging role in the Australian healthcare system. However, there remains a dearth of available data about public understanding of the NP role. ---------- Aim: To evaluate clients’ understanding of the role of the NP and their satisfaction with education received, quality of care and NP knowledge and skill. ---------- Method: All authorised NPs working in a designated NP position in Western Australia and those working in three area health services in New South Wales (NSW) were invited to recruit five consecutive clients to complete the self-administered survey. ---------- Results: Thirty two NPs (NP response rate 93%) recruited 129 clients (client response rate 90%). Two thirds of clients (63%) were aware they were consulting an NP. The majority rated the following NP related outcomes as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’: education provided (89%); quality of care (95%); and knowledge and skill (93%). Less than half reported an understanding that NPs could prescribe medications (40.5%) or interpret X-rays (33.6%). Clients of NPs practising in a rural or remote setting were more likely than those in an urban setting to have previously consulted an NP (p=0.005), and where applicable would to prefer to see a NP rather than a doctor (p=0.022). ---------- Discussion: Successful implementation and expansion of the NP role requires NP visibility in the community. Despite high levels of satisfaction more awareness of the scope of the NP role is required.

Subtropical design in South East Queensland : a handbook for planners, developers and decision makers

Subtropical Design in South East Queensland provides a direct link between climatic design, applied urban design and sustainable planning policy. The role that character and identity of a place plays in achieving environmental sustainability is explained. Values of local distinctiveness to do with climate, landscape and culture are identified and the environmental, social and economic benefits of applying subtropical design principles to planning are described. The handbook provides planners and urban designers with an understanding of how subtropical design principles apply within the different contexts of urban planning including the entire spectrum of urban scales from the regional scale, to the city, neighbourhood, street, individual building or site. Twelve interactive principles, and interrelated strategies, drawn predominantly from the body of knowledge of landscape architecture, architectural science and urban design are described in detail in text, and richly illustrated with diagrams and photographs.

Optimization of container process at seaport terminals

Seaport container terminals are an important part of the logistics systems in international trades. This paper investigates the relationship between quay cranes, yard machines and container storage locations in a multi-berth and multi-ship environment. The aims are to develop a model for improving the operation efficiency of the seaports and to develop an analytical tool for yard operation planning. Due to the fact that the container transfer times are sequence-dependent and with the large number of variables involve, the proposed model cannot be solved in a reasonable time interval for realistically sized problems. For this reason, List Scheduling and Tabu Search algorithms have been developed to solve this formidable and NP-hard scheduling problem. Numerical implementations have been analysed and promising results have been achieved.

Knowledge-based urban development of multimedia super corridor, Malaysia : an overview

In recent years, with the impact of the global knowledge economy, a more comprehensive urban development approach, so called 'knowledge-based urban development', has gained significant popularity. This paper discusses the critical connections among knowledge-based urban development strategies, knowledge-intensive industries and information and communication technology infrastructures. In particular, the research focuses on investigating the application of the knowledge-based urban development concept by discussing one of the South East Asia's large scale knowledge-based urban development manifestations of Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor. The paper scrutinises Malaysia's experience in the development and evolution of the Multimedia Super Corridor from the angle of knowledge-based urban development policy implementation, infrastructural implications, and actors involved in its development and management. This paper provides a number of lessons learned from the Multimedia Super Corridor on the orchestration of knowledge-based development that is a necessity for cities seeking successful knowledge city and knowledge economy transformations.

Computing with motile bio-agents

We describe a model of computation of the parallel type, which we call 'computing with bio-agents', based on the concept that motions of biological objects such as bacteria or protein molecular motors in confined spaces can be regarded as computations. We begin with the observation that the geometric nature of the physical structures in which model biological objects move modulates the motions of the latter. Consequently, by changing the geometry, one can control the characteristic trajectories of the objects; on the basis of this, we argue that such systems are computing devices. We investigate the computing power of mobile bio-agent systems and show that they are computationally universal in the sense that they are capable of computing any Boolean function in parallel. We argue also that using appropriate conditions, bio-agent systems can solve NP-complete problems in probabilistic polynomial time.

E-portfolios : developing nurse practitioner competence and capability

Objective: This paper aims to integrate nurse practitioner literature on competence and capability with post graduate and nursing literature on e‑portfolios in order to demonstrate the potential merits of e‑portfolios in nurse practitioner education for competence and capability development. Primary Argument In the Nurse Practitioner Standards Project, competence and capability were proposed as key criteria to assess candidates in nurse practitioner educational courses. Portfolios have traditionally been used to demonstrate competence in nursing and are integral to nursing education as well. An examination of the portfolio and electronic portfolio literature in postgraduate nursing education and professional practice indicates that these portfolios fall under two main structures, each with different purposes: 1) A spinal column structure, with evidence and reflective pieces aligned to competency standards or course objectives, for the purposes of meeting prescribed competencies, professional development planning and showcasing evidence for authorisation or potential employers; and 2) A cake mix structure, which consists of a reflective narrative tying evidence together, which enables a greater focus on personal learning journeys, reflection and the development of personal qualities. Finally, evidence from the general nursing literature suggests the complexity of e‑portfolios in assessment and evaluation can be overcome by using qualitative research methods. Conclusion: To meet the competence and capability needs of nurse practitioners, portfolios could be used, for competence and showcasing and for learning and capability. Further research would be useful to refine and explore the use of e‑portfolios to meet the needs of NP candidates and their educators, clinical mentors, authorisation personal and employers. The current evidence on nurse practitioner education, competence, capability and e‑portfolios points to the integration of the use of an e‑portfolio into current nurse practitioner curriculum models to meet the unique needs of nurse practitioner candidates.

Scheduling a flow-shop with combined buffer conditions

In this paper, No-Wait, No-Buffer, Limited-Buffer, and Infinite-Buffer conditions for the flow-shop problem (FSP) have been investigated. These four different buffer conditions have been combined to generate a new class of scheduling problem, which is significant for modelling many real-world scheduling problems. A new heuristic algorithm is developed to solve this strongly NP-hard problem. Detailed numerical implementations have been analysed and promising results have been achieved.

A novel method for the synthesis of monodisperse gold-coated silica nanoparticles

Monodisperse silica nanoparticles were synthesised by the well-known Stober protocol, then dispersed in acetonitrile (ACN) and subsequently added to a bisacetonitrile gold(I) coordination complex ([Au(MeCN)2]?) in ACN. The silica hydroxyl groups were deprotonated in the presence of ACN, generating a formal negative charge on the siloxy groups. This allowed the [Au(MeCN)2]? complex to undergo ligand exchange with the silica nanoparticles and form a surface coordination complex with reduction to metallic gold (Au0) proceeding by an inner sphere mechanism. The residual [Au(MeCN)2]? complex was allowed to react with water, disproportionating into Au0 and Au(III), respectively, with the Au0 adding to the reduced gold already bound on the silica surface. The so-formed metallic gold seed surface was found to be suitable for the conventional reduction of Au(III) to Au0 by ascorbic acid (ASC). This process generated a thin and uniform gold coating on the silica nanoparticles. The silica NPs batches synthesised were in a size range from 45 to 460 nm. Of these silica NP batches, the size range from 400 to 480 nm were used for the gold-coating experiments.

Gold coating of silica and zinc oxide nanoparticles by the surface reduction of gold(I) chloride

The possibility of a surface inner sphere electron transfer mechanism leading to the coating of gold via the surface reduction of gold(I) chloride on metal and semi-metal oxide nanoparticles was investigated. Silica and zinc oxide nanoparticles are known to have very different surface chemistry, potentially leading to a new class of gold coated nanoparticles. Monodisperse silica nanoparticles were synthesised by the well known Stöber protocol in conjunction with sonication. The nanoparticle size was regulated solely by varying the amount of ammonia solution added. The presence of surface hydroxyl groups was investigated by liquid proton NMR. The resultant nanoparticle size was directly measured by the use of TEM. The synthesised silica nanoparticles were dispersed in acetonitrile (MeCN) and added to a bis acetonitrile gold(I) co-ordination complex [Au(MeCN)2]+ in MeCN. The silica hydroxyl groups were deprotonated in the presence of MeCN generating a formal negative charge on the siloxy groups. This allowed the [Au(MeCN)2]+ complex to undergo ligand exchange with the silica nanoparticles, which formed a surface co-ordination complex with reduction to gold(0), that proceeded by a surface inner sphere electron transfer mechanism. The residual [Au(MeCN)2]+ complex was allowed to react with water, disproportionating into gold(0) and gold(III) respectively, with gold(0) being added to the reduced gold already bound on the silica surface. The so-formed metallic gold seed surface was found to be suitable for the conventional reduction of gold(III) to gold(0) by ascorbic acid. This process generated a thin and uniform gold coating on the silica nanoparticles. This process was modified to include uniformly gold coated composite zinc oxide nanoparticles (Au@ZnO NPs) using surface co-ordination chemistry. AuCl dissolved in acetonitrile (MeCN) supplied chloride ions which were adsorbed onto ZnO NPs. The co-ordinated gold(I) was reduced on the ZnO surface to gold(0) by the inner sphere electron transfer mechanism. Addition of water disproportionated the remaining gold(I) to gold(0) and gold(III). Gold(0) bonded to gold(0) on the NP surface with gold(III) was reduced to gold(0) by ascorbic acid (ASC), which completed the gold coating process. This gold coating process of Au@ZnO NPs was modified to incorporate iodide instead of chloride. ZnO NPs were synthesised by the use of sodium oxide, zinc iodide and potassium iodide in refluxing basic ethanol with iodide controlling the presence of chemisorbed oxygen. These ZnO NPs were treated by the addition of gold(I) chloride dissolved in acetonitrile leaving chloride anions co-ordinated on the ZnO NP surface. This allowed acetonitrile ligands in the added [Au(MeCN)2]+ complex to surface exchange with adsorbed chloride from the dissolved AuCl on the ZnO NP surface. Gold(I) was then reduced by the surface inner sphere electron transfer mechanism. The presence of the reduced gold on the ZnO NPs allowed adsorption of iodide to generate a uniform deposition of gold onto the ZnO NP surface without the use of additional reducing agents or heat.

Genetic algorithms to schedule container transfers at multimodal terminals

Optimising the container transfer schedule at the multimodal terminals is known to be NP-hard, which implies that the best solution becomes computationally infeasible as problem sizes increase. Genetic Algorithm (GA) techniques are used to reduce container handling/transfer times and ships' time at the port by speeding up handling operations. The GA is chosen due to the relatively good results that have been reported even with the simplest GA implementations to obtain near-optimal solutions in reasonable time. Also discussed, is the application of the model to assess the consequences of increased scheduled throughput time as well as different strategies such as the alternative plant layouts, storage policies and number of yard machines. A real data set used for the solution and subsequent sensitivity analysis is applied to the alternative plant layouts, storage policies and number of yard machines.

Scheduling techniques to optimise rail operations

In Australia, railway systems play a vital role in transporting the sugarcane crop from farms to mills. The sugarcane transport system is very complex and uses daily schedules, consisting of a set of locomotives runs, to satisfy the requirements of the mill and harvesters. The total cost of sugarcane transport operations is very high; over 35% of the total cost of sugarcane production in Australia is incurred in cane transport. Efficient schedules for sugarcane transport can reduce the cost and limit the negative effects that this system can have on the raw sugar production system. There are several benefits to formulating the train scheduling problem as a blocking parallel-machine job shop scheduling (BPMJSS) problem, namely to prevent two trains passing in one section at the same time; to keep the train activities (operations) in sequence during each run (trip) by applying precedence constraints; to pass the trains on one section in the correct order (priorities of passing trains) by applying disjunctive constraints; and, to ease passing trains by solving rail conflicts by applying blocking constraints and Parallel Machine Scheduling. Therefore, the sugarcane rail operations are formulated as BPMJSS problem. A mixed integer programming and constraint programming approaches are used to describe the BPMJSS problem. The model is solved by the integration of constraint programming, mixed integer programming and search techniques. The optimality performance is tested by Optimization Programming Language (OPL) and CPLEX software on small and large size instances based on specific criteria. A real life problem is used to verify and validate the approach. Constructive heuristics and new metaheuristics including simulated annealing and tabu search are proposed to solve this complex and NP-hard scheduling problem and produce a more efficient scheduling system. Innovative hybrid and hyper metaheuristic techniques are developed and coded using C# language to improve the solutions quality and CPU time. Hybrid techniques depend on integrating heuristic and metaheuristic techniques consecutively, while hyper techniques are the complete integration between different metaheuristic techniques, heuristic techniques, or both.

A ‘Value Ecology’ approach to the performing arts

In recent years, ecological thinking has been applied to a range of social, cultural and aesthetic systems, including performing arts as a living system of policy makers, producers, organisations, artists and audiences. Ecological thinking is systems-based thinking which allows us to see the performing arts as a complex and protean ecosystem; to explain how elements in this system act and interact; and to evaluate its effects on Australia’s social fabric over time. According to Gallasch, ecological thinking is “what we desperately need for the arts.” It enables us to “defeat the fragmentary and utilitarian view of the arts that dominates, to make connections, to establish overviews of the arts that can be shared and debated” (Gallasch NP). John Baylis took up these issues in "Mapping Queensland Theatre" (2009), an Arts Queensland-funded survey designed to map practices in Brisbane and in Queensland more broadly, and to provide a platform to support future policy-making. In this paper, we propose a new approach to mapping Brisbane’s and Queensland’s theatre that extends Baylis’ ‘value chain’ into a ‘value ecology’ that provides a more textured picture of players, patterns, relationships and activity levels in local performing arts.

A simulated annealing algorithm for energy efficient virtual machine placement

Improving energy efficiency has become increasingly important in data centers in recent years to reduce the rapidly growing tremendous amounts of electricity consumption. The power dissipation of the physical servers is the root cause of power usage of other systems, such as cooling systems. Many efforts have been made to make data centers more energy efficient. One of them is to minimize the total power consumption of these servers in a data center through virtual machine consolidation, which is implemented by virtual machine placement. The placement problem is often modeled as a bin packing problem. Due to the NP-hard nature of the problem, heuristic solutions such as First Fit and Best Fit algorithms have been often used and have generally good results. However, their performance leaves room for further improvement. In this paper we propose a Simulated Annealing based algorithm, which aims at further improvement from any feasible placement. This is the first published attempt of using SA to solve the VM placement problem to optimize the power consumption. Experimental results show that this SA algorithm can generate better results, saving up to 25 percentage more energy than First Fit Decreasing in an acceptable time frame.