Fine-mapping the HOXB region detects common variants tagging a rare coding allele : evidence for synthetic association in prostate cancer

The HOXB13 gene has been implicated in prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility. We performed a high resolution fine-mapping analysis to comprehensively evaluate the association between common genetic variation across the HOXB genetic locus at 17q21 and PrCa risk. This involved genotyping 700 SNPs using a custom Illumina iSelect array (iCOGS) followed by imputation of 3195 SNPs in 20,440 PrCa cases and 21,469 controls in The PRACTICAL consortium. We identified a cluster of highly correlated common variants situated within or closely upstream of HOXB13 that were significantly associated with PrCa risk, described by rs117576373 (OR 1.30, P = 2.62×10(-14)). Additional genotyping, conditional regression and haplotype analyses indicated that the newly identified common variants tag a rare, partially correlated coding variant in the HOXB13 gene (G84E, rs138213197), which has been identified recently as a moderate penetrance PrCa susceptibility allele. The potential for GWAS associations detected through common SNPs to be driven by rare causal variants with higher relative risks has long been proposed; however, to our knowledge this is the first experimental evidence for this phenomenon of synthetic association contributing to cancer susceptibility.

EUTOPIA 75+ : exploratory futures scenarios for baby boomers’ preferred living spaces

Australia is experiencing the global phenomenon of an ageing population with the baby boomer generation starting to reach retirement age in large numbers. As a result, there is a growing need for appropriate accommodation and this will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. However, the needs of the fit, mobile and techno savvy baby boomers are likely to be far different from those of previous generations of older people, but are as yet unknown and unanticipated. This paper reports on the findings of a Futuring research project to explore the preferred housing futures for the baby boomer generation in the city of Brisbane, an aspiring creative city in South East Queensland (SEQ), Australia. Their future home design and service needs are predicted by firstly employing a global environmental scan of related and associated ageing futures issues. This was followed by a micro-Futuring workshop, based on Inayatullah’s Futures Triangle Analysis, to identify a range of scenarios. The key aspects of the workshop culminated in the development of a Transformational Scenario – EUTOPIA 75+. From this, a suite of six design recommendations for seniors’ housing design and smart services provision are synthesised to give a sense of direction of preferred living styles, especially in terms of physical housing spaces, with a view to identifying new house design opportunities for the allied industries and research organisations. The issues identified are also of concern for aged care service providers, retirement living developers, and for academics involved in the social and physical design of living spaces for older people.

Mandatory Reporting Laws for Child Sexual Abuse in Australia : A Legislative History

This work conducts a comprehensive historical review and analysis of the legislative principles for mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse in each State and Territory of Australia. The research traces and explains all the significant changes in the development of the laws in each jurisdiction since their inception in 1969 to the year 2013. The research also identifies why the legislation changed in each jurisdiction, covering research into publicly available records, focusing on significant government inquiries and law reform reports, and parliamentary debates. The research is situated within a treatment of the modern discovery of child sexual abuse as a widespread phenomenon of significant public health concern.

Cinema Cities, Media Cities: The Contemporary International Studio Complex

This report, written for the Australian Film Commission (now Screen Australia) is the first major study of the development and role of studio complexes in the spread of film production around the world. The report is divided in to five chapters. First, it examines policy-making around studios, including government support for new facilities around the world. Second, it situates the phenomenon of the contemporary studio complex within the international production ecology. Third, it provides examples of the three types of studio complex: production precinct; cinema city; and media city. Fourth, it describes the networks of production that sustain studios. And fifth it explores the place of the studio in the relationship between 'local' and international production.

Information encountering on social media and tacit knowledge sharing

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how social media may support information encountering (i.e., where individuals encounter useful and interesting information while seeking or browsing for some other information) and how this may lead to facilitation of tacit knowledge creation and sharing. The study employed a qualitative survey design that interviewed twenty-four physicians who were active users of social media to better understand the phenomenon of information encountering on social media. The data was analysed using the thematic analysis approach. The study found six main ways through which social media supports information encountering. Furthermore, drawing upon knowledge creation theories, the study concluded that information encountering on social media facilitates tacit knowledge creation and sharing among individuals. The study provides new directions for further empirical investigations to examine whether information encountering on social media actually leads to tacit knowledge creation and sharing. The findings of the study may also provide opportunities for users to adopt social media effectively or gain greater value from social media use.

National testing from an Australian perspective

Introduction This book examines a pressing educational issue: the global phenomenon of national testing in schooling and its vernacular development in Australia. The Australian National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), introduced in 2008, involves annual census testing of students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in nearly all Australian schools. In a variety of ways, NAPLAN affects the lives of Australia’s 3.5 million school students and their families, as well as more than 350,000 school staff and many other stakeholders in education. This book is organised in relation to a simple question: What are the effects of national testing for systems, schools and individuals? Of course, this simple question requires complex answers. The chapters in this edited collection consider issues relating to national testing policy, the construction of the test, usages of the testing data and various effects of testing in systems, schools and classrooms. Each chapter examines an aspect of national testing in Australia using evidence drawn from research. The final chapter by the editors of this collection provides a broader reflection on this phenomenon and situates developments in testing globally...

Older entrepreneurs: Do they work smarter or harder?

Entrepreneurs starting their first businesses between the ages of 55 and 64 years represent the fastest growing entrepreneurship segment in America and Australia. There is sparse research on older entrepreneurs with conflicting results, particularly with respect to generational differences. Previous literature on generational differences focuses on family businesses, but characteristics of founders of family businesses are quite different than those of founders of non-family businesses. Consequently, we compare characteristics of older entrepreneurs to younger entrepreneurs as they start new ventures. Are there differences in their work styles and venture performance? This study makes a contribution to entrepreneurship literature by studying the growing phenomenon of older entrepreneurs. We make a contribution to practice by helping older entrepreneurs identify their strengths, which could lead to more successful older entrepreneurs and provide satisfying and rewarding careers to those leaving wage and salary employment to pursue self employment.

Self-organized criticality in dynamics without branching

We demonstrate the phenomenon of self-organized criticality (SOC) in a simple random walk model described by a random walk of a myopic ant, i.e., a walker who can see only nearest neighbors. The ant acts on the underlying lattice aiming at uniform digging, i.e., reduction of the height profile of the surface but is unaffected by the underlying lattice. In one, two, and three dimensions we have explored this model and have obtained power laws in the time intervals between consecutive events of "digging." Being a simple random walk, the power laws in space translate to power laws in time. We also study the finite size scaling of asymptotic scale invariant process as well as dynamic scaling in this system. This model differs qualitatively from the cascade models of SOC.

Thermal Crystallization Studies On Ga-Te Glasses

Semieonducting GaxTe~oo-x (17 -< x _< 25) glasses have been prepared by melt quenching method and thermal crystallization studies carried out using differential scanning calorimetry. On heating, virgin GaxTel0o-x glasses exhibit one glass transition and two crystallization reactions.The first crystallization reaction corresponds to the precipitation of hexagonal Te and the second one to the crystallization of the matrix into zinc blende Ga2Te3 phase. If GaxTeloo-x glasses are quenched to ambient temperature from Tcrl and reheated, they exhibit the phenomenon of double glass transition.

La contextualisation du discours radiophonique par des moyens prosodiques. L’exemple de cinq grands philosophes français du XXe siècle

"Radiodiskurssin kontekstualisointi prosodisin keinoin. Esimerkkinä viisi suurta ranskalaista 1900-luvun filosofia" Väitöskirja käsittelee puheen kontekstualisointia prosodisin keinoin. Toisin sanottuna työssä käsitellään sitä, miten puheen prosodiset piirteet (kuten sävelkulku, intensiteetti, tauot, kesto ja rytmi) ohjaavat puheen tulkintaa vanhastaan enemmän tutkittujen sana- ja lausemerkitysten ohella. Työssä keskitytään seitsemään prosodisesti merkittyyn kuvioon, jotka koostuvat yhden tai usean parametrin silmiinpistävistä muutoksista. Ilmiöitä käsitellään sekä niiden akustisten muotojen että tyypillisten esiintymisyhteyksien ja diskursiivisten tehtävien näkökulmasta. Aineisto koostuu radio-ohjelmista, joissa puhuu viisi suurta ranskalaista 1900-luvun filosofia: Gaston Bachelard, Albert Camus, Michel Foucault, Maurice Merleau-Ponty ja Jean-Paul Sartre. Ohjelmat on lähetetty eri radiokanavilla Ranskassa vuosina 1948–1973. Väitöskirjan tulokset osoittavat, että prosodisesti merkityt kuviot ovat moniulotteisia puheen ilmiöitä, joilla on keskeinen rooli sanotun kontekstualisoinnissa: ne voivat esimerkiksi nostaa tai laskea sanotun informaatioarvoa, ilmaista puhujan voimakasta tai heikkoa sitoutumista sanomaansa, ilmaista rakenteellisen kokonaisuuden jatkumista tai päättymistä, jne. Väitöskirja sisältää myös kontrastiivisia osia, joissa ilmiöitä verrataan erääseen klassisessa pianomusiikissa esiintyvään melodiseen kuvioon sekä erääseen suomen kielen prosodiseen ilmiöön. Tulokset viittaavat siihen, että tietynlaista melodista kuviota käytetään samankaltaisena jäsentämiskeinona sekä puheessa että klassisessa musiikissa. Lisäksi tulokset antavat viitteitä siitä, että tiettyjä melodisia muotoja käytetään samankaltaisten implikaatioiden luomiseen kahdessa niinkin erilaisessa kielessä kuin suomessa ja ranskassa. Yksi väitöskirjan osa käsittelee pisteen ja pilkun prosodista merkitsemistä puheessa. Tulosten mukaan pisteellä ja pilkulla on kummallakin oma suullinen prototyyppinsä: piste merkitään tyypillisesti sävelkulun laskulla ja tauolla, ja pilkku puolestaan sävelkulun nousulla ja tauolla. Merkittävimmät tulokset koskevat kuitenkin tapauksia, joissa välimerkki tulkitaan prosodisesti epätyypillisellä tavalla: sekä pisteellä että pilkulla vaikuttaisi olevan useita eri suullisia vastaavuuksia, ja välimerkkien tehtävät voivat muotoutua hyvin erilaisiksi niiden prosodisesta tulkinnasta riippuen.

Epithelial-mesenchymal axis in head and neck cancer cell lines

Objectives: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a heterogeneous tumour type which necessitates multiple invitro models to attain an appreciation of its multiple subtypes. The phenomenon of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) isimportant to the development of a metastatic cancer cell phenotype being relevant to the ability of cancer cells to intravasate intovasculature and to invade tissues. The role of EMT in human papilloma virus (HPV) positive HNSCC is not well understood. Thispaper aims to characterize seven HNSCC cell lines (FaDu, SCC-25, SCC-15, CAL27, RPMI2650) including two new HPV-16positive HNSCC cell lines (UD-SCC2, 93-VU-147T) for their epithelial and mesenchymal properties. Materials and methods: A panel of HNSCC cell lines from multiple head and neck anatomical sites were profiled for basalexpression of epithelial and mesenchymal characteristics at mRNA, protein and functional levels (proliferative, migratory andinvasive properties). Furthermore, 3D spheroid forming capabilities were investigated. Results: We found that the HPV-16 positive cell line, in particular UD-SCC2 demonstrated a more invasive and mesenchymalphenotype at the molecular and functional levels suggesting HPV infection may mediate some of these cellular properties.Moreover, HPV-negative cell lines were not strictly epithelial presenting with a dynamic range of expression. Conclusions: This study presents the molecular and phenotypic diversity of HNSCC cell lines. It highlights the need formore studies in this field and a scoring system where HNSCC cell lines are ranked according to their respective epithelial andmesenchymal nature. This data will be useful to anyone modelling HNSCC behaviour, providing a molecular context which willenable them to decipher cell phenotypes and to develop therapies which block EMT progression.

Yliopistokoulutuksen avoimuus ja refleksiivisyys : Suomalaisen yliopistoaikuiskoulutuksen rakenteistumisen analyysia

Openness and reflexivity of university education in the analysis of structuration of Finnish university adult education This research has been organised on three levels around a specific theoretical theme of the reflexivity of schooling. The argument developed has the same layered structure. At the first level, within the theoretical disposition of structuration, I develop methodological solutions, which allow the theme of reflexivity to be taken into account in the research concerning the organisational change of schooling. The conceptual work has been carried out in the research setting “morphogenesis vs. structuration”, which was initially formulated by Margaret Archer. Following this setting, structuration is taken to be a concern of the theoretical thinking of both Anthony Giddens and Pierre Bourdieu. The essential results achieved at this research level are presented as developing a synthesis of the theoretical thinking of Giddens and Bourdieu. I am arguing in favour of meta theoretical possibility and the empirical fertility of such a synthesis. The latter is especially the case, when the aim is to grasp the cultural dynamics in the processes of organising schooling. At the second level of empirical-historical theorising about schooling I confine the treatment of the theme of reflexivity to the topic of the openness of university education. While operating through the level of substantive theorising of schooling, I am constructing a cross disciplinary point of view on the phenomenon of openness and its empirical research. This is done in such manner that demonstrates how the structuration approach, understood as synthesising the meta theory of Giddens and Bourdieu, can take into account the theme of the reflexivity of schooling. In the actual empirical part of the study, the third level, I explore the genesis of the Finnish open university. This leads to narrowing down the topic of openness and to focussing on how adult education is organised. The analysis of structuration is supported by the ideal type -like notion of university adult education, since this allows the comparative and historical research strategy required for the task. I argue the importance of such a notion at the level of substantive theorising of schooling. The results of my historical analysis are presented through three articles and a commentary chapter.

Kehittämisen kompastuskivet - myytit kehittämishankkeen keskusteluissa

I studied discussions during development project. Aim of the study was to analyse, what way workers represented their work: how normalized way of interpretation myths appeared in discourse and what consequences these utterances caused to drift of discussion. Change laboratory, which is a development method, is based to developmental work research methodology. Development is designed to be successful by learning activity and learning acts. Preventing factors of learning have been studied widely. Research has leaned to concept of resistance to change. Phenomenon of learning has been interpreted to be successful only if everybody has an agreement about the situation. There is also a new kind of concept of resistance. Resistance can be seen as a part of learning, normal processing of the learning activity. Another preventing factor can be seen as disorders of discourse, which are verbal ways of telling something that aren t real. Theoretically I consider these verbal ways as myth interpretations, which can be used as argumentative tools. I used analysis of discourse as an analytical method. Results of analysis revealed four different myth interpretations in workers discussions. Character of work was been described with myths unforeseen situations and disturbances are normal . Work was also described to be functional with myths system works and workers cause disturbances . Change laboratory discussions can be described as different social languages, which caused diverse perspectives to workers and researchers representations. Social languages also affected the way people analysed disturbances and system. Critical phase of change laboratory method seems to be analysis of disturbances and planning new mode of action. Myth utterances were used to reject ways of developing, analysis of system level and need of development. Myth utterances worked three different ways: ineffective, active or passive.

A risk perspective on human resource management: A review and directions for future research

Arguing the value of effective HRM practice has long been a focus in the HRM literature. However, there is also a case for identifying the risks presented by inappropriate or absent HRM practices. Although risk management has been established in the broader management literature for over two decades, human resource related risks have not featured as prominently as other types of risks. HRM as a discipline has a role to play in addressing this situation and raising awareness of human resource issues as risks for the organization. A review of papers published since the year 2000 in a broad range of high quality management journals, identifies that limited research has thus far taken a risk management perspective on human resources. Although the HRM and risk management disciplines stand to benefit from drawing the two areas together, this review concludes that further research and development of the phenomenon of human resource risk management is needed.

Radiative transfer, interception and scattering in coniferous forests : models and applications for production ecology and remote sensing

This work develops methods to account for shoot structure in models of coniferous canopy radiative transfer. Shoot structure, as it varies along the light gradient inside canopy, affects the efficiency of light interception per unit needle area, foliage biomass, or foliage nitrogen. The clumping of needles in the shoot volume also causes a notable amount of multiple scattering of light within coniferous shoots. The effect of shoot structure on light interception is treated in the context of canopy level photosynthesis and resource use models, and the phenomenon of within-shoot multiple scattering in the context of physical canopy reflectance models for remote sensing purposes. Light interception. A method for estimating the amount of PAR (Photosynthetically Active Radiation) intercepted by a conifer shoot is presented. The method combines modelling of the directional distribution of radiation above canopy, fish-eye photographs taken at shoot locations to measure canopy gap fraction, and geometrical measurements of shoot orientation and structure. Data on light availability, shoot and needle structure and nitrogen content has been collected from canopies of Pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis (Dougl.) Forbes) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.). Shoot structure acclimated to light gradient inside canopy so that more shaded shoots have better light interception efficiency. Light interception efficiency of shoots varied about two-fold per needle area, about four-fold per needle dry mass, and about five-fold per nitrogen content. Comparison of fertilized and control stands of Norway spruce indicated that light interception efficiency is not greatly affected by fertilization. Light scattering. Structure of coniferous shoots gives rise to multiple scattering of light between the needles of the shoot. Using geometric models of shoots, multiple scattering was studied by photon tracing simulations. Based on simulation results, the dependence of the scattering coefficient of shoot from the scattering coefficient of needles is shown to follow a simple one-parameter model. The single parameter, termed the recollision probability, describes the level of clumping of the needles in the shoot, is wavelength independent, and can be connected to previously used clumping indices. By using the recollision probability to correct for the within-shoot multiple scattering, canopy radiative transfer models which have used leaves as basic elements can use shoots as basic elements, and thus be applied for coniferous forests. Preliminary testing of this approach seems to explain, at least partially, why coniferous forests appear darker than broadleaved forests in satellite data.