Hyaluronic acid : evaluation as a potential delivery vehicle for vitronectin:growth factor complexes in wound healing applications

We have previously reported that novel vitronectin:growth factor (VN:GF) complexes significantly increase re-epithelialization in a porcine deep dermal partial-thickness burn model. However, the potential exists to further enhance the healing response through combination with an appropriate delivery vehicle which facilitates sustained local release and reduced doses of VN:GF complexes. Hyaluronic acid (HA), an abundant constituent of the interstitium, is known to function as a reservoir for growth factors and other bioactive species. The physicochemical properties of HA confer it with an ability to sustain elevated pericellular concentrations of these species. This has been proposed to arise via HA prolonging interactions of the bioactive species with cell surface receptors and/or protecting them from degradation. In view of this, the potential of HA to facilitate the topical delivery of VN:GF complexes was evaluated. Two-dimensional (2D) monolayer cell cultures and 3D de-epidermised dermis (DED) human skin equivalent (HSE) models were used to test skin cell responses to HA and VN:GF complexes. Our 2D studies revealed that VN:GF complexes and HA stimulate the proliferation of human fibroblasts but not keratinocytes. Experiments in our 3D DED-HSE models showed that VN:GF complexes, both alone and in conjunction with HA, led to enhanced development of both the proliferative and differentiating layers in the DED-HSE models. However, there was no significant difference between the thicknesses of the epidermis treated with VN:GF complexes alone and VN:GF complexes together with HA. While the addition of HA did not enhance all the cellular responses to VN:GF complexes examined, it was not inhibitory, and may confer other advantages related to enhanced absorption and transport that could be beneficial in delivery of the VN:GF complexes to wounds.

Vibrational spectroscopy of the multi anion mineral zykaite Fe4(AsO4)(SO4)(OH)•15H2O – implications for arsenate removal

Some minerals are colloidal and are poorly diffracting . Vibrational spectroscopy offers one of the few methods for the assessment of the structure of these types of minerals. Among this group of minerals is zykaite with formula Fe4(AsO4)(SO4)(OH)•15H2O. The objective of this research is to determine the molecular structure of the mineral zykaite using vibrational spectroscopy. Raman and infrared bands are attributed to the AsO43-, SO42- and water stretching vibrations. The sharp band at 3515 cm-1 is assigned to the stretching vibration of the OH units. This mineral offers a mechanism for the formation of more crystalline minerals such as scorodite and bukovskyite. Arsenate ions can be removed from aqueous systems through the addition of ferric compounds such as ferric chloride. This results in the formation of minerals such as zykaite and pitticite (Fe3+,AsO4,SO4,H2O).

Raman spectroscopy of the multi anion mineral arsentsumebite Pb2Cu(AsO4)(SO4)(OH) and in comparison with tsumebite Pb2Cu(PO4)(SO4)(OH)

The mineral arsentsumebite Pb2Cu(AsO4)(SO4)(OH), a copper arsenate-sulfate hydroxide of the brackebuschite group has been characterised by Raman spectroscopy. The brackebuschite mineral group are a series of monoclinic arsenates, phosphates and vanadates of the general formula A2B(XO4)(OH,H2O), where A may be Ba, Ca, Pb, Sr, while B may be Al, Cu2+,Fe2+, Fe3+, Mn2+, Mn3+, Zn and XO4 may be AsO4, PO4, SO4,VO4. Bands are assigned to the stretching and bending modes of SO42- AsO43- and HOAsO3 units. Raman spectroscopy readily distinguishes between the two minerals arsentsumebite and tsumebite. Raman bands attributed to arsenate are not observed in the Raman spectrum of tsumebite. Phosphate bands found in the Raman spectrum of tsumebite are not found in the Raman spectrum of arsentsumebite. Raman spectroscopy readily distinguishes the two minerals tsumebite and arsentsumebite.

Raman spectroscopy of the multi-anion mineral mallestigite Pb3Sb5+(SO4)(AsO4)(OH)6•3H2O – a mineral of archaeological significance

Some minerals are formed which show poorly defined X-ray diffraction patterns. Vibrational spectroscopy offers one of the few methods for the assessment of the structure of the oxyanions in such minerals. Among this group of minerals is mallestigite with formula Pb3Sb5+(SO4)(AsO4)(OH)6•3H2O. The objective of this research is to determine the molecular structure of the mineral mallestigite using vibrational spectroscopy. Raman and infrared bands are attributed to the AsO43- , SO42- and water stretching vibrations. Mallestigite is a mineral formed in ancient waste dumps such as occurs at Mallestiger, Carinthia, Austria and as such is a mineral of archaeological significance.

A multi-resolution image alignment technique based on direct methods for pose estimation of aerial vehicles

In this paper, we seek to expand the use of direct methods in real-time applications by proposing a vision-based strategy for pose estimation of aerial vehicles. The vast majority of approaches make use of features to estimate motion. Conversely, the strategy we propose is based on a MR (Multi- Resolution) implementation of an image registration technique (Inverse Compositional Image Alignment ICIA) using direct methods. An on-board camera in a downwards-looking configuration, and the assumption of planar scenes, are the bases of the algorithm. The motion between frames (rotation and translation) is recovered by decomposing the frame-to-frame homography obtained by the ICIA algorithm applied to a patch that covers around the 80% of the image. When the visual estimation is required (e.g. GPS drop-out), this motion is integrated with the previous known estimation of the vehicles’ state, obtained from the on-board sensors (GPS/IMU), and the subsequent estimations are based only on the vision-based motion estimations. The proposed strategy is tested with real flight data in representative stages of a flight: cruise, landing, and take-off, being two of those stages considered critical: take-off and landing. The performance of the pose estimation strategy is analyzed by comparing it with the GPS/IMU estimations. Results show correlation between the visual estimation obtained with the MR-ICIA and the GPS/IMU data, that demonstrate that the visual estimation can be used to provide a good approximation of the vehicle’s state when it is required (e.g. GPS drop-outs). In terms of performance, the proposed strategy is able to maintain an estimation of the vehicle’s state for more than one minute, at real-time frame rates based, only on visual information.

QoS-aware web service composition using genetic algorithms

Web service technology is increasingly being used to build various e-Applications, in domains such as e-Business and e-Science. Characteristic benefits of web service technology are its inter-operability, decoupling and just-in-time integration. Using web service technology, an e-Application can be implemented by web service composition — by composing existing individual web services in accordance with the business process of the application. This means the application is provided to customers in the form of a value-added composite web service. An important and challenging issue of web service composition, is how to meet Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirements. This includes customer focused elements such as response time, price, throughput and reliability as well as how to best provide QoS results for the composites. This in turn best fulfils customers’ expectations and achieves their satisfaction. Fulfilling these QoS requirements or addressing the QoS-aware web service composition problem is the focus of this project. From a computational point of view, QoS-aware web service composition can be transformed into diverse optimisation problems. These problems are characterised as complex, large-scale, highly constrained and multi-objective problems. We therefore use genetic algorithms (GAs) to address QoS-based service composition problems. More precisely, this study addresses three important subproblems of QoS-aware web service composition; QoS-based web service selection for a composite web service accommodating constraints on inter-service dependence and conflict, QoS-based resource allocation and scheduling for multiple composite services on hybrid clouds, and performance-driven composite service partitioning for decentralised execution. Based on operations research theory, we model the three problems as a constrained optimisation problem, a resource allocation and scheduling problem, and a graph partitioning problem, respectively. Then, we present novel GAs to address these problems. We also conduct experiments to evaluate the performance of the new GAs. Finally, verification experiments are performed to show the correctness of the GAs. The major outcomes from the first problem are three novel GAs: a penaltybased GA, a min-conflict hill-climbing repairing GA, and a hybrid GA. These GAs adopt different constraint handling strategies to handle constraints on interservice dependence and conflict. This is an important factor that has been largely ignored by existing algorithms that might lead to the generation of infeasible composite services. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our GAs for handling the QoS-based web service selection problem with constraints on inter-service dependence and conflict, as well as their better scalability than the existing integer programming-based method for large scale web service selection problems. The major outcomes from the second problem has resulted in two GAs; a random-key GA and a cooperative coevolutionary GA (CCGA). Experiments demonstrate the good scalability of the two algorithms. In particular, the CCGA scales well as the number of composite services involved in a problem increases, while no other algorithms demonstrate this ability. The findings from the third problem result in a novel GA for composite service partitioning for decentralised execution. Compared with existing heuristic algorithms, the new GA is more suitable for a large-scale composite web service program partitioning problems. In addition, the GA outperforms existing heuristic algorithms, generating a better deployment topology for a composite web service for decentralised execution. These effective and scalable GAs can be integrated into QoS-based management tools to facilitate the delivery of feasible, reliable and high quality composite web services.

Content-based video indexing for sports applications using integrated multi-modal approach

To sustain an ongoing rapid growth of video information, there is an emerging demand for a sophisticated content-based video indexing system. However, current video indexing solutions are still immature and lack of any standard. This doctoral consists of a research work based on an integrated multi-modal approach for sports video indexing and retrieval. By combining specific features extractable from multiple audio-visual modalities, generic structure and specific events can be detected and classified. During browsing and retrieval, users will benefit from the integration of high-level semantic and some descriptive mid-level features such as whistle and close-up view of player(s).

Barriers to information transfer for multi-trauma patients upon discharge from the Emergency Department in a tertiary level hospital

Purpose: Communication is integral to effective trauma care provision. This presentation will report on barriers to meaningful information transfer for multi-trauma patients upon discharge from the Emergency Department (ED) to the care areas of Intensive Care Unit, High Dependency Unit, and Perioperative Services. This is an ongoing study at one tertiary level hospital in Queensland. Method: This is a multi-phase, mixed method study. In Phase 1 data were collected about information transfer. This Phase was initially informed by a comprehensive literature review, then via focus groups, chart audit, staff survey and review of national and international trauma forms. Results: The barriers identified related to nursing handover, documented information, time inefficiency, patient complexity and stability and time of transfer. Specifically this included differences in staff expectations and variation in the nursing handover processes, no agreed minimum dataset of information handed over, missing, illegible or difficult to find information in documentation (both medical and nursing), low compliance with some forms used for documentation. Handover of these patients is complex with information coming from many sources, dealing with issues is more difficult for these patients when transferred out of hours. Conclusions and further directions: This study investigated the current communication processes and standards of information transfer to identify barriers and issues. The barriers identified were the structure used for documentation, processes used (e.g. handover), patient acuity and time. This information is informing the development, implementation and evaluation of strategies to ameliorate the issues identified.

Creating new narratives through shared time and space : the performer/audience connection in multi-site dance events

Site-specific performance provides choices in audience experience via degrees of scale, proximity, levels of immersion and viewing perspectives. Beyond these choices, multi-site promenade events also form a connected audience/performer relationship in which moving together in time and space can produce a shared narrative and aesthetic sensibility of collective, yet individuated and shifting meanings. This paper interrogates this notion through audience/performer experiences in two separate multi-site, dance-led events. here/there/then/now occurred in four intimate sites within the Brisbane Powerhouse, providing a theatricalised platform for audiences to create linked narratives through open-ended and fragmented intertextuality. Accented Body, based on the concept of “the body as site and in site” and notions of connectivity, provided a more expansive platform for a similar, but heightened, shared engagement. Audiences traversed 6 outdoor and 2 indoor Brisbane sites moving to varying levels of a large complex. Eleven, predominantly interactive, screens provided links to other sites as well as to distributed presences in Seoul and London. The differentiation in scale and travel time between sites deepened the immersive experiences of audiences who reported transformative engagements with both site and architecture, accompanied by a sense of extended and yet quickened time.

Quantification of particle emission characteristics and development of an emission model for use in transport microenvironments affected by traffic emissions

Vehicle emitted particles are of significant concern based on their potential to influence local air quality and human health. Transport microenvironments usually contain higher vehicle emission concentrations compared to other environments, and people spend a substantial amount of time in these microenvironments when commuting. Currently there is limited scientific knowledge on particle concentration, passenger exposure and the distribution of vehicle emissions in transport microenvironments, partially due to the fact that the instrumentation required to conduct such measurements is not available in many research centres. Information on passenger waiting time and location in such microenvironments has also not been investigated, which makes it difficult to evaluate a passenger’s spatial-temporal exposure to vehicle emissions. Furthermore, current emission models are incapable of rapidly predicting emission distribution, given the complexity of variations in emission rates that result from changes in driving conditions, as well as the time spent in driving condition within the transport microenvironment. In order to address these scientific gaps in knowledge, this work conducted, for the first time, a comprehensive statistical analysis of experimental data, along with multi-parameter assessment, exposure evaluation and comparison, and emission model development and application, in relation to traffic interrupted transport microenvironments. The work aimed to quantify and characterise particle emissions and human exposure in the transport microenvironments, with bus stations and a pedestrian crossing identified as suitable research locations representing a typical transport microenvironment. Firstly, two bus stations in Brisbane, Australia, with different designs, were selected to conduct measurements of particle number size distributions, particle number and PM2.5 concentrations during two different seasons. Simultaneous traffic and meteorological parameters were also monitored, aiming to quantify particle characteristics and investigate the impact of bus flow rate, station design and meteorological conditions on particle characteristics at stations. The results showed higher concentrations of PN20-30 at the station situated in an open area (open station), which is likely to be attributed to the lower average daily temperature compared to the station with a canyon structure (canyon station). During precipitation events, it was found that particle number concentration in the size range 25-250 nm decreased greatly, and that the average daily reduction in PM2.5 concentration on rainy days compared to fine days was 44.2 % and 22.6 % at the open and canyon station, respectively. The effect of ambient wind speeds on particle number concentrations was also examined, and no relationship was found between particle number concentration and wind speed for the entire measurement period. In addition, 33 pairs of average half-hourly PN7-3000 concentrations were calculated and identified at the two stations, during the same time of a day, and with the same ambient wind speeds and precipitation conditions. The results of a paired t-test showed that the average half-hourly PN7-3000 concentrations at the two stations were not significantly different at the 5% confidence level (t = 0.06, p = 0.96), which indicates that the different station designs were not a crucial factor for influencing PN7-3000 concentrations. A further assessment of passenger exposure to bus emissions on a platform was evaluated at another bus station in Brisbane, Australia. The sampling was conducted over seven weekdays to investigate spatial-temporal variations in size-fractionated particle number and PM2.5 concentrations, as well as human exposure on the platform. For the whole day, the average PN13-800 concentration was 1.3 x 104 and 1.0 x 104 particle/cm3 at the centre and end of the platform, respectively, of which PN50-100 accounted for the largest proportion to the total count. Furthermore, the contribution of exposure at the bus station to the overall daily exposure was assessed using two assumed scenarios of a school student and an office worker. It was found that, although the daily time fraction (the percentage of time spend at a location in a whole day) at the station was only 0.8 %, the daily exposure fractions (the percentage of exposures at a location accounting for the daily exposure) at the station were 2.7% and 2.8 % for exposure to PN13-800 and 2.7% and 3.5% for exposure to PM2.5 for the school student and the office worker, respectively. A new parameter, “exposure intensity” (the ratio of daily exposure fraction and the daily time fraction) was also defined and calculated at the station, with values of 3.3 and 3.4 for exposure to PN13-880, and 3.3 and 4.2 for exposure to PM2.5, for the school student and the office worker, respectively. In order to quantify the enhanced emissions at critical locations and define the emission distribution in further dispersion models for traffic interrupted transport microenvironments, a composite line source emission (CLSE) model was developed to specifically quantify exposure levels and describe the spatial variability of vehicle emissions in traffic interrupted microenvironments. This model took into account the complexity of vehicle movements in the queue, as well as different emission rates relevant to various driving conditions (cruise, decelerate, idle and accelerate), and it utilised multi-representative segments to capture the accurate emission distribution for real vehicle flow. This model does not only helped to quantify the enhanced emissions at critical locations, but it also helped to define the emission source distribution of the disrupted steady flow for further dispersion modelling. The model then was applied to estimate particle number emissions at a bidirectional bus station used by diesel and compressed natural gas fuelled buses. It was found that the acceleration distance was of critical importance when estimating particle number emission, since the highest emissions occurred in sections where most of the buses were accelerating and no significant increases were observed at locations where they idled. It was also shown that emissions at the front end of the platform were 43 times greater than at the rear of the platform. The CLSE model was also applied at a signalled pedestrian crossing, in order to assess increased particle number emissions from motor vehicles when forced to stop and accelerate from rest. The CLSE model was used to calculate the total emissions produced by a specific number and mix of light petrol cars and diesel passenger buses including 1 car travelling in 1 direction (/1 direction), 14 cars / 1 direction, 1 bus / 1 direction, 28 cars / 2 directions, 24 cars and 2 buses / 2 directions, and 20 cars and 4 buses / 2 directions. It was found that the total emissions produced during stopping on a red signal were significantly higher than when the traffic moved at a steady speed. Overall, total emissions due to the interruption of the traffic increased by a factor of 13, 11, 45, 11, 41, and 43 for the above 6 cases, respectively. In summary, this PhD thesis presents the results of a comprehensive study on particle number and mass concentration, together with particle size distribution, in a bus station transport microenvironment, influenced by bus flow rates, meteorological conditions and station design. Passenger spatial-temporal exposure to bus emitted particles was also assessed according to waiting time and location along the platform, as well as the contribution of exposure at the bus station to overall daily exposure. Due to the complexity of the interrupted traffic flow within the transport microenvironments, a unique CLSE model was also developed, which is capable of quantifying emission levels at critical locations within the transport microenvironment, for the purpose of evaluating passenger exposure and conducting simulations of vehicle emission dispersion. The application of the CLSE model at a pedestrian crossing also proved its applicability and simplicity for use in a real-world transport microenvironment.

Photochemistry and chemometrics : an overview

Photochemistry has made significant contributions to our understanding of many important natural processes as well as the scientific discoveries of the man-made world. The measurements from such studies are often complex and may require advanced data interpretation with the use of multivariate or chemometrics methods. In general, such methods have been applied successfully for data display, classification, multivariate curve resolution and prediction in analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry, engineering, medical research and industry. However, in photochemistry, by comparison, applications of such multivariate approaches were found to be less frequent although a variety of methods have been used, especially with spectroscopic photochemical applications. The methods include Principal Component Analysis (PCA; data display), Partial Least Squares (PLS; prediction), Artificial Neural Networks (ANN; prediction) and several models for multivariate curve resolution related to Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC; decomposition of complex responses). Applications of such methods are discussed in this overview and typical examples include photodegradation of herbicides, prediction of antibiotics in human fluids (fluorescence spectroscopy), non-destructive in- and on-line monitoring (near infrared spectroscopy) and fast-time resolution of spectroscopic signals from photochemical reactions. It is also quite clear from the literature that the scope of spectroscopic photochemistry was enhanced by the application of chemometrics. To highlight and encourage further applications of chemometrics in photochemistry, several additional chemometrics approaches are discussed using data collected by the authors. The use of a PCA biplot is illustrated with an analysis of a matrix containing data on the performance of photocatalysts developed for water splitting and hydrogen production. In addition, the applications of the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) ranking methods and Fuzzy Clustering are demonstrated with an analysis of water quality data matrix. Other examples of topics include the application of simultaneous kinetic spectroscopic methods for prediction of pesticides, and the use of response fingerprinting approach for classification of medicinal preparations. In general, the overview endeavours to emphasise the advantages of chemometrics' interpretation of multivariate photochemical data, and an Appendix of references and summaries of common and less usual chemometrics methods noted in this work, is provided. Crown Copyright © 2010.

Practical improvements to simultaneous computation of multi-view geometry and radial lens distortion

This paper discusses practical issues related to the use of the division model for lens distortion in multi-view geometry computation. A data normalisation strategy is presented, which has been absent from previous discussions on the topic. The convergence properties of the Rectangular Quadric Eigenvalue Problem solution for computing division model distortion are examined. It is shown that the existing method can require more than 1000 iterations when dealing with severe distortion. A method is presented for accelerating convergence to less than 10 iterations for any amount of distortion. The new method is shown to produce equivalent or better results than the existing method with up to two orders of magnitude reduction in iterations. Through detailed simulation it is found that the number of data points used to compute geometry and lens distortion has a strong influence on convergence speed and solution accuracy. It is recommended that more than the minimal number of data points be used when computing geometry using a robust estimator such as RANSAC. Adding two to four extra samples improves the convergence rate and accuracy sufficiently to compensate for the increased number of samples required by the RANSAC process.

Distribution feeder voltage support and power factor control by distributed multiple inverters

The potential of distributed reactive power control to improve the voltage profile of radial distribution feeders has been reported in literature by few authors. However, the multiple inverters injecting or absorbing reactive power across a distribution feeder may introduce control interactions and/or voltage instability. Such controller interactions can be alleviated if the inverters are allowed to operate on voltage droop. First, the paper demonstrates that a linear shallow droop line can maintain the steady state voltage profile close to reference, up to a certain level of loading. Then, impacts of the shallow droop line control on line losses and line power factors are examined. Finally, a piecewise linear droop line which can achieve reduced line losses and close to unity power factor at the feeder source is proposed.

Methods used in cross-cultural comparisons of vasomotor symptoms and their determinants

Methodological differences among studies of vasomotor symptoms limit rigorous comparison or systematic review. Vasomotor symptoms generally include hot flushes and night sweats although other associated symptoms exist. Prevalence rates vary between and within populations, but different studies collect data on frequency, bothersomeness, and/or severity using different outcome measures and scales, making comparisons difficult. We reviewed only cross-cultural studies of menopausal symptoms that explicitly examined symptoms in general populations of women in different countries or different ethnic groups in the same country. This resulted in the inclusion of nine studies: Australian/Japanese Midlife Women's Health Study (AJMWHS), Decisions At Menopause Study (DAMeS), Four Major Ethnic Groups (FMEG), Hilo Women's Health Survey (HWHS), Mid-Aged Health in Women from the Indian Subcontinent (MAHWIS), Penn Ovarian Aging Study (POAS), Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN), Women's Health in Midlife National Study (WHiMNS), and Women's International Study of Health and Sexuality (WISHeS). These studies highlight the methodological challenges involved in conducting multi-population studies, particularly when languages differ, but also highlight the importance of performing multivariate and factor analyses. Significant cultural differences in one or more vasomotor symptoms were observed in 8 of 9 studies, and symptoms were influenced by the following determinants: menopausal status, hormones (and variance), age (or actually, the square of age, age2), BMI, depression, anxiety, poor physical health, perceived stress, lifestyle factors (hormone therapy use, smoking and exposure to passive smoke), and acculturation (in immigrant populations). Recommendations are made to improve methodological rigor and facilitate comparisons in future cross-cultural menopause studies.