On the use of Bluetooth MAC Scanners for live reporting of the transport network

Recently there has been significant interest of researchers and practitioners on the use of Bluetooth as a complementary transport data. However, literature is limited with the understanding of the Bluetooth MAC Scanner (BMS) based data acquisition process and the properties of the data being collected. This paper first provides an insight on the BMS data acquisition process. Thereafter, it discovers the interesting facts from analysis of the real BMS data from both motorway and arterial networks of Brisbane, Australia. The knowledge gained is helpful for researchers and practitioners to understand the BMS data being collected which is vital to the development of management and control algorithms using the data.

The wrong tool for the job? The predictive powers of the DBQ in a sample of Queensland motorists

Introduction This study reports on the application of the Manchester Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) to examine the self-reported driving behaviours (e.g., speeding, errors & aggressive manoeuvres) and predict crash involvement among a sample of general Queensland motorists. Material and Methods Surveys were completed by 249 general motorists on-line or via a pen-and-paper format. Results A factor analysis revealed a three factor solution for the DBQ which was consistent with previous Australian-based research. It accounted for 40.5% of the total variance, although some cross-loadings were observed on nine of the twenty items. The internal reliability of the DBQ was satisfactory. However, multivariate analysis using the DBQ revealed little predictive ability of the tool to predict crash involvement or demerit point loss e.g. violation notices. Rather, exposure to the road was found to be predictive of crashes, although speeding did make a small contribution to those who recently received a violation notice. Conclusions Taken together, the findings contribute to a growing body of research that raises questions about the predictive ability of the most widely used driving assessment tool globally. Ongoing research (which also includes official crash and offence outcomes) is required to better understand the actual contribution that the DBQ can make to understanding and improving road safety. Future research should also aim to confirm whether this lack of predictive efficacy originates from broader issues inherent within self-report data (e.g., memory recall problems) or issues underpinning the conceptualisation of the scale.

Regulation of the Fear Network by Mediators of Stress: Norepinephrine Alters the Balance between Cortical and Subcortical Afferent Excitation of the Lateral Amygdala

Pavlovian auditory fear conditioning involves the integration of information about an acoustic conditioned stimulus (CS) and an aversive unconditioned stimulus in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA). The auditory CS reaches the LA subcortically via a direct connection from the auditory thalamus and also from the auditory association cortex itself. How neural modulators, especially those activated during stress, such as norepinephrine (NE), regulate synaptic transmission and plasticity in this network is poorly understood. Here we show that NE inhibits synaptic transmission in both the subcortical and cortical input pathway but that sensory processing is biased toward the subcortical pathway. In addition binding of NE to β-adrenergic receptors further dissociates sensory processing in the LA. These findings suggest a network mechanism that shifts sensory balance toward the faster but more primitive subcortical input

Scrapping the Australia network affects more than the ABC

The termination in the 2014 budget of the ABC’s international television broadcasting contract to run the federal government’s Australia Network service, barely a year into its ten-year term, was hardly a surprise. “Soft power” or “soft diplomacy” initiatives such as the Australia Network and international aid schemes have been hit especially hard in this budget. If, as Treasurer Hockey has repeatedly claimed, this was a budget for the nation, then what do these decisions say about the value this government places on Australia’s international cultural image and internationalism more generally?

Language and Letters of the Bluestocking Network : Sociolinguistic Issues in Eighteenth Century Epistolary English

This study deals with language change and variation in the correspondence of the eighteenth-century Bluestocking circle, a social network which provided learned men and women with an informal environment for the pursuit of scholarly entertainment. Elizabeth Montagu (1718 1800), a notable social hostess and a Shakespearean scholar, was one of their key figures. The study presents the reconstruction of Elizabeth Montagu s social networks from her youth to her later years with a special focus on the Bluestocking circle, and linguistic research on private correspondence between Montagu and her Bluestocking friends and family members between the years 1738 1778. The epistolary language use is investigated using the methods and frameworks of corpus linguistics, historical sociolinguistics, and social network analysis. The approach is diachronic and concerns real-time language change. The research is based on a selection of manuscript letters which I have edited and compiled into an electronic corpus (Bluestocking Corpus). I have also devised a network strength scale in order to quantify the strength of network ties and to compare the results of the linguistic research with the network analysis. The studies range from the reconstruction and analysis of Elizabeth Montagu s most prominent social networks to the analysis of changing morphosyntactic features and spelling variation in Montagu s and her network members correspondence. The linguistic studies look at the use of the progressive construction, preposition stranding and pied piping, and spelling variation in terms of preterite and past participle endings in the regular paradigm (-ed, - d, -d, - t, -t) and full / contracted spellings of auxiliary verbs. The results are analysed in terms of social network membership, sociolinguistic variables of the correspondents, and, when relevant, aspects of eighteenth-century linguistic prescriptivism. The studies showed a slight diachronic increase in the use of the progressive, a significant decrease of the stigmatised preposition stranding and increase of pied piping, and relatively informal but socially controlled epistolary spelling. Certain significant changes in Elizabeth Montagu s language use over the years could be attributed to her increasingly prominent social standing and the changes in her social networks, and the strength of ties correlated strongly with the use of the progressive in the Bluestocking Corpus. Gender, social rank, and register in terms of kinship/friendship had a significant influence in language use, and an effect of prescriptivism could also be detected. Elizabeth Montagu s network ties resulted in language variation in terms of network membership, her own position in a given network, and the social factors that controlled eighteenth-century interaction. When all the network ties are strong, linguistic variation seems to be essentially linked to the social variables of the informants.

Micro-CT based characterisation of changes to the vascular network following closed soft tissue trauma and cryotherapy

This project has investigated how the architecture of the blood vessels supplying nutrients to skeletal muscles is affected by muscle contusion injuries, and how it changes during healing with or without initial treatment of the injury by icing. In order to do this, we used contrast agents to visualise blood vessels in 3D with micro-computed tomography imaging. This research significantly contributes to the fields of orthopaedics, traumatology and sports medicine, as it improves our understanding of muscle contusion injuries. Furthermore, the methods developed in this thesis may help to improve the diagnosis and monitoring of these injuries.

Fine-tuning of the signalling network controlling morphogenesis and stem cell development in teeth

Tooth development is regulated by sequential and reciprocal interactions between epithelium and mesenchyme. The molecular mechanisms underlying this regulation are conserved and most of the participating molecules belong to several signalling families. Research focusing on mouse teeth has uncovered many aspects of tooth development, including molecular and evolutionary specifi cs, and in addition offered a valuable system to analyse the regulation of epithelial stem cells. In mice the spatial and temporal regulation of cell differentiation and the mechanisms of patterning during development can be analysed both in vivo and in vitro. Follistatin (Fst), a negative regulator of TGFβ superfamily signalling, is an important inhibitor during embryonic development. We showed the necessity of modulation of TGFβ signalling by Fst in three different regulatory steps during tooth development. First we showed that tinkering with the level of TGFβ signalling by Fst may cause variation in the molar cusp patterning and crown morphogenesis. Second, our results indicated that in the continuously growing mouse incisors asymmetric expression of Fst is responsible for the labial-lingual patterning of ameloblast differentiation and enamel formation. Two TGFβ superfamily signals, BMP and Activin, are required for proper ameloblast differentiation and Fst modulates their effects. Third, we identifi ed a complex signalling network regulating the maintenance and proliferation of epithelial stem cells in the incisor, and showed that Fst is an essential modulator of this regulation. FGF3 in cooperation with FGF10 stimulates proliferation of epithelial stem cells and transit amplifying cells in the labial cervical loop. BMP4 represses Fgf3 expression whereas Activin inhibits the repressive effect of BMP4 on the labial side. Thus, Fst inhibits Activin rather than BMP4 in the cervical loop area and limits the proliferation of lingual epithelium, thereby causing the asymmetric maintenance and proliferation of epithelial stem cells. In addition, we detected Lgr5, a Wnt target gene and an epithelial stem cell marker in the intestine, in the putative epithelial stem cells of the incisor, suggesting that Lgr5 is a marker of incisor stem cells but is not regulated by Wnt/β-catenin signalling in the incisor. Thus the epithelial stem cells in the incisor may not be directly regulated by Wnt/β-catenin signalling. In conclusion, we showed in the mouse incisors that modulating the balance between inductive and inhibitory signals constitutes a key mechanism regulating the epithelial stem cells and ameloblast differentiation. Furthermore, we found additional support for the location of the putative epithelial stem cells and for the stemness of these cells. In the mouse molar we showed the necessity of fi ne-tuning the signalling in the regulation of the crown morphogenesis, and that altering the levels of an inhibitor can cause variation in the crown patterning.

Collective Network Capability in International Project Business Networks - A Case Study of the Business Network for the Ashanti Electrification Project in Ghana

Despite thirty years of research in interorganizational networks and project business within the industrial networks approach and relationship marketing, collective capability of networks of business and other interorganizational actors has not been explicitly conceptualized and studied within the above-named approaches. This is despite the fact that the two approaches maintain that networking is one of the core strategies for the long-term survival of market actors. Recently, many scholars within the above-named approaches have emphasized that the survival of market actors is based on the strength of their networks and that inter-firm competition is being replaced by inter-network competition. Furthermore, project business is characterized by the building of goal-oriented, temporary networks whose aims, structures, and procedures are clarified and that are governed by processes of interaction as well as recurrent contracts. This study develops frameworks for studying and analysing collective network capability, i.e. collective capability created for the network of firms. The concept is first justified and positioned within the industrial networks, project business, and relationship marketing schools. An eclectic source of conceptual input is based on four major approaches to interorganizational business relationships. The study uses qualitative research and analysis, and the case report analyses the empirical phenomenon using a large number of qualitative techniques: tables, diagrams, network models, matrices etc. The study shows the high level of uniqueness and complexity of international project business. While perceived psychic distance between the parties may be small due to previous project experiences and the benefit of existing relationships, a varied number of critical events develop due to the economic and local context of the recipient country as well as the coordination demands of the large number of involved actors. The study shows that the successful creation of collective network capability led to the success of the network for the studied project. The processes and structures for creating collective network capability are encapsulated in a model of governance factors for interorganizational networks. The theoretical and management implications are summarized in seven propositions. The core implication is that project business success in unique and complex environments is achieved by accessing the capabilities of a network of actors, and project management in such environments should be built on both contractual and cooperative procedures with local recipient country parties.

Communication pathways from the anti-codon region to the aminoacylation site in Methionyl tRNA Synthetase: Molecular dynamics simulations and the structure network analysis

The enzymes of the family of tRNA synthetases perform their functions with high precision by synchronously recognizing the anticodon region and the aminoacylation region, which are separated by ?70 in space. This precision in function is brought about by establishing good communication paths between the two regions. We have modeled the structure of the complex consisting of Escherichia coli methionyl-tRNA synthetase (MetRS), tRNA, and the activated methionine. Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed on the modeled structure to obtain the equilibrated structure of the complex and the cross-correlations between the residues in MetRS have been evaluated. Furthermore, the network analysis on these simulated structures has been carried out to elucidate the paths of communication between the activation site and the anticodon recognition site. This study has provided the detailed paths of communication, which are consistent with experimental results. Similar studies also have been carried out on the complexes (MetRS + activated methonine) and (MetRS + tRNA) along with ligand-free native enzyme. A comparison of the paths derived from the four simulations clearly has shown that the communication path is strongly correlated and unique to the enzyme complex, which is bound to both the tRNA and the activated methionine. The details of the method of our investigation and the biological implications of the results are presented in this article. The method developed here also could be used to investigate any protein system where the function takes place through long-distance communication.

Altruism in the (Social) Network

This paper explores the role of social integration on altruistic behavior. To this aim, we develop a two-stage experimental protocol based on the classic Dictator Game. In the first stage, we ask a group of 77 undergraduate students in Economics to elicit their social network; in the second stage, each of them has to unilaterally decide over the division of a fixed amount of money to be shared with another anonymous member in the group. Our experimental design allows to control for other variables known to be relevant for altruistic behavior: framing and friendship/acquaintance relations. Consistently with previous research, we find that subjects favor their friends and that framing enhances altruistic behavior. Once we control for these effects, social integration (measured by betweenness, a standard centrality measure in network theory) has a positive effect on giving: the larger social isolation within the group, the more likely it is the emergence of selfish behavior. These results suggest that information on the network structure in which subjects are embedded is crucial to account for their behavior.

Birkenhead Sixth Form College: Opening up remote access to the college network brings wider benefits to all

Birkenhead Sixth Form College implemented a virtual network to open up remote access to the college network for its students, staff and governors. In particular, for childcare students on work placements, this has meant 24/7 secure access to their work and resources, and the ability to make timely updates to their work evidence logs. The impact is better continuity of learning and a dramatic increase in the hand-in rate for work. For the staff, governors and college as a whole, the benefits of anytime-access to the network are more than were envisaged at the outset; not only is it saving them valuable time and eliminating the need for large print runs, it is expected to bring cost-savings to the College in the long term.

The Janet network, today and tommorow

Supporting slides from the Janet network end to end performance initiative workshop

Network monitoring and measurement on the Janet network

Supporting slides from the Janet network end to end performance initiative