“I drove after drinking alcohol” and other risky driving behaviours reported by young novice drivers in Queensland, Australia

Background. Volitional risky driving behaviours such as drink- and drug-driving (i.e. substance-impaired driving) and speeding contribute to the overrepresentation of young novice drivers in road crash fatalities, and crash risk is greatest during the first year of independent driving in particular. Aims. To explore the: 1) self-reported compliance of drivers with road rules regarding substance-impaired driving and other risky driving behaviours (e.g., speeding, driving while tired), one year after progression from a Learner to a Provisional (intermediate) licence; and 2) interrelationships between substance-impaired driving and other risky driving behaviours (e.g., crashes, offences, and Police avoidance). Methods. Drivers (n = 1,076; 319 males) aged 18-20 years were surveyed regarding their sociodemographics (age, gender) and self-reported driving behaviours including crashes, offences, Police avoidance, and driving intentions. Results. A relatively small proportion of participants reported driving after taking drugs (6.3% of males, 1.3% of females) and drinking alcohol (18.5% of males, 11.8% of females). In comparison, a considerable proportion of participants reported at least occasionally exceeding speed limits (86.7% of novices), and risky behaviours like driving when tired (83.6% of novices). Substance-impaired driving was associated with avoiding Police, speeding, risky driving intentions, and self-reported crashes and offences. Forty-three percent of respondents who drove after taking drugs also reported alcohol-impaired driving. Discussion and Conclusions. Behaviours of concern include drink driving, speeding, novice driving errors such as misjudging the speed of oncoming vehicles, violations of graduated driver licensing passenger restrictions, driving tired, driving faster if in a bad mood, and active punishment avoidance. Given the interrelationships between the risky driving behaviours, a deeper understanding of influential factors is required to inform targeted and general countermeasure implementation and evaluation during this critical driving period. Notwithstanding this, a combination of enforcement, education, and engineering efforts appear necessary to improve the road safety of the young novice driver, and for the drink-driving young novice driver in particular.

The SCRAMSPACE I scramjet flight design and construction

The design activities of the development of the SCRAMSPACE I scramjet-powered free-flight experiment are described in this paper. The objectives of this flight are first described together with the definition of the primary, secondary and tertiary experiments. The Scramjet configuration studied is first discussed together with the rocket motor system selected for this flight. The different flight sequences are then explained, highlighting the SCRAMSPACE I free-flyer separation and re-orientation procedures. A design trade-off study is then described considering vehicle stability, packaging, thermo-structural analysis and trajectory, discussing the alignment of the predicted performance with the mission scientific requirements. The global system architecture and instrumentation of the vehicle are then explained. The conclusions of this design phase are that a vehicle design has been produced which is able to meet the mission scientific goals and the procurement & construction of the vehicle are ongoing.

It’s not only what I think but what they think! The moderating effect of social norms

The current research extends our knowledge of the main effects of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived control over the individual’s technology adoption. We propose a critical buffering role of social influence on the collectivistic culture in the relationship between attitude, perceived behavioral control, and Information Technology (IT) adoption. Adoption behavior was studied among 132 college students being introduced to a new virtual learning system. While past research mainly treated these three variables as being in parallel relationships, we found a moderating role for subjective norm on technology attitude and perceived control on adoption intent. Implications and limitations for understating the role of social influence in the collectivistic society are discussed.

The effect of electrode material on the electrochemical formation of porous copper surfaces using hydrogen bubble templating

The electrodeposition of copper onto copper, gold, palladium and glassy carbon (GC) electrodes via a hydrogen bubble templating method is reported. It is found that the composition of the underlying electrode material significantly influences the morphology of the copper electrodeposit. Highly ordered porous structures are achieved with Cu and Au electrodes, however on Pd this order is disrupted and a rough randomly oriented surface is formed whereas on GC a bubble templating effect is not observed. Chronopotentiograms recorded during the electrodeposition process allows bubble formation and detachment from the surface to be monitored where distinctly different potential versus time profiles are observed at the different electrodes. The porous Cu surfaces are characterised with scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and cyclic voltammetric measurements recorded under alkaline conditions. The latter demonstrates that there are active sites present on electrodeposited copper whose coverage and reactivity depend on the underlying electrode material. The most active Cu surface is achieved at a Pd substrate for both the hydrogen evolution reaction and the catalytic reduction of ferricyanide ions with thiosulphate ions. This demonstrates that the highly ordered porous structure on the micron scale which typifies the morphology that can be achieved with the hydrogen bubbling template method is not required in producing the most effective material.

Comparison of high sensitivity troponin T and I assays in the diagnosis of non-ST elevation acute myocardial infarction in emergency patients with chest pain

Objectives: Concentrations of troponin measured with high sensitivity troponin assays are raised in a number of emergency department (ED) patients; however many are not diagnosed with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Clinical comparisons between the early use (2 h after presentation) of high sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) and I (hs-cTnI) assays for the diagnosis of AMI have not been reported. Design and methods: Early (0 h and 2 h) hs-cTnT and hs-cTnI assay results in 1571 ED patients with potential acute coronary syndrome (ACS) without ST elevation on electrocardiograph (ECG) were evaluated. The primary outcome was diagnosis of index MI adjudicated by cardiologists using the local cTnI assay results taken ≥6 h after presentation, ECGs and clinical information. Stored samples were later analysed with hs-cTnT and hs-cTnI assays. Results: The ROC analysis for AMI (204 patients; 13.0%) for hs-cTnT and hs-cTnI after 2 h was 0.95 (95% CI: 0.94–0.97) and 0.98 (95% CI: 0.97–0.99) respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PLR, and NLR of hs-cTnT and hs-cTnI for AMI after 2 h were 94.1% (95% CI: 90.0–96.6) and 95.6% (95% CI: 91.8–97.7), 79.0% (95% CI: 76.8–81.1) and 92.5% (95% CI: 90.9–93.7), 4.48 (95% CI: 4.02–5.00) and 12.86 (95% CI: 10.51–15.31), and 0.07 (95% CI: 0.04–0.13) and 0.05 (95% CI:0.03–0.09) respectively. Conclusions: Exclusion of AMI 2 h after presentation in emergency patients with possible ACS can be achieved using hs-cTnT or hs-cTnI assays. Significant differences in specificity of these assays are relevant and if using the hs-cTnT assay, further clinical assessment in a larger proportion of patients would be required.

Stress effects caused by the expression of a mutant cellobiohydrolase I and proteasome inhibition in Trichoderma reesei Rut-C30

Trichoderma reesei Rut-C30 is used widely as an expression host for various gene products. We have explored cellular effects caused by the expression of a mutant form of cellobiohydrolase I (CBHI), the major secreted protein of T. reesei using biochemical and transcriptomic analyses and confocal laser scanning microscopy. The mutated CBHI was tagged fluorescently with Venus to establish the subcellular location of the fusion protein and its potential association with the proteasome, an organelle assigned for the disposal of misfolded proteins. Expression of the mutant CBHI in the high protein-secreting host Rut-C30 caused physiological changes in the fungal hyphae, affected protein secretion and elicited ER stress. A massive upregulation of UPR- and ERAD-related genes sec61, der1, uba1, bip1, pdi1, prp1, cxl1 and lhs1 was observed by qRT-PCR in the CBHIΔ4-Venus strain with four mutations introduced in the DNA encoding the core domain of CBHI. Further stress was applied to this strain by inhibiting function of the proteasome with MG132 (N-benzoylcarbonyl(Cbz)-Leu-Leu-leucinal). The effect of MG132 was found to be specific to the proteasome-associated genes. There are no earlier reports on the effect of proteasome inhibition on protein quality control in filamentous fungi. Confocal fluorescence microscopy studies suggested that the mutant CBHI accumulated in the ER and colocalized with the fungal proteasome. These results provide an indication that there is a limit to how far T. reesei Rut-C30, already under secretion stress, can be pressed to produce higher protein yields.

‘I now know I can do this now’: Indigenous women and writing in the Australian higher education sector

This paper explores the challenges of writing and publishing faced by Indigenous women who work in the Australian higher education sector. It demonstrates that Indigenous women are under-represented in the academy and argues that Indigenous styles of writing are typically not valued for broader publication. The authors describe a writing mentoring and support program specifically developed for Indigenous academic women in Australia. The Tiddas Writin’ Up Workshop provided a safe and culturally-appropriate space for women to learn about academic writing and develop their writing skills. The workshop led to the publication of a special issue of the Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues – known as the Tiddas Collection. The authors highlight the power and strength of well-developed support programs to address skills development, confidence, inequities and under-representation of Indigenous women within the higher education workforce.

Liability in negligence and the failure to disclose multiple risks in surgery : I would have been willing to run the risk

It has been 21 years since the decision in Rogers v Whitaker and the legal principles concerning informed consent and liability for negligence are still strongly grounded in this landmark High Court decision. This paper considers more recent developments in the law concerning the failure to disclose inherent risks in medical procedures, focusing on the decision in Wallace v Kam [2013] HCA 19. In this case, the appellant underwent a surgical procedure that carried a number of risks. The surgery itself was not performed in a sub-standard way, but the surgeon failed to disclose two risks to the patient, a failure that constituted a breach of the surgeon’s duty of care in negligence. One of the undisclosed risks was considered to be less serious than the other, and this lesser risk eventuated causing injury to the appellant. The more serious risk did not eventuate, but the appellant argued that if the more serious risk had been disclosed, he would have avoided his injuries completely because he would have refused to undergo the procedure. Liability was disputed by the surgeon, with particular reference to causation principles. The High Court of Australia held that the appellant should not be compensated for harm that resulted from a risk he would have been willing to run. We examine the policy reasons underpinning the law of negligence in this specific context and consider some of the issues raised by this unusual case. We question whether some of the judicial reasoning adopted in this case, represents a significant shift in traditional causation principles.

Bimolecular interaction of Insulin-Like Growth Factor (IGF) binding protein-2 with αvβ3 negatively modulates IGF-I-Mediated migration and tumor growth

Both the integrin and insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP) families independently play important roles in modulating tumor cell growth and progression. We present evidence for a specific cell surface localization and a bimolecular interaction between the αvβ3 integrin and IGFBP-2. The interaction, which could be specifically perturbed using vitronectin and αvβ3 blocking antibodies, was shown to modulate IGF-mediated cellular migration responses. Moreover, this interaction was observed in vivo and correlated with reduced tumor size of the human breast cancer cells, MCF-7β3, which overexpressed the αvβ3 integrin. Collectively, these results indicate that αvβ3 and IGFBP-2 act cooperatively in a negative regulatory manner to reduce tumor growth and the migratory potential of breast cancer cells.

Type I collagen abrogates the clathrin-mediated internalization of membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) via the MT1-MMP hemopexin domain

Type I collagen (Col I)-stimulated matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) activation via membrane type 1 MMP (MT1-MMP) involves both a transcriptional increase in MT1-MMP expression and a nontranscriptional response mediated by preexisting MT1-MMP. In order to identify which MT1-MMP domains were required for the nontranscriptional response, MCF-7 cells that lack endogenous MT1-MMP were transfected with either wild type or domain mutant MT1-MMP constructs. We observed that mutant constructs lacking the MT1-MMP cytoplasmic tail were able to activate MMP-2 in response to Col I but not a construct lacking the MT1-MMP hemopexin domain. Col I did not alter total MT1-MMP protein levels; nor did it appear to directly induce MT1-MMP oligomerization. Col I did, however, redistribute preexisting MT1-MMP to the cell periphery compared with unstimulated cells that displayed amore diffuse staining pattern. In addition, Col I blocked the internalization of MT1-MMP in a dynamin-dependent manner via clathrin-coated pit-mediated endocytosis. This mechanism of impaired internalization is different from that reported for concanavalin A, since it is not mediated by the cytoplasmic tail of MT1-MMP but rather by the hemopexin domain. In summary, upon Col I binding to its cell surface receptor, MT1-MMP internalization via clathrin-coated pit-mediated endocytosis is impaired through interactions with the hemopexin domain, thereby regulating its function and ability to activate MMP-2.

Implication of collagen type I-induced membrane-type 1-matrix metalloproteinase expression and matrix metalloproteinase-2 activation in the metastatic progression of breast carcinoma

We have previously demonstrated that fibroblasts and invasive human breast carcinoma (HBC) cells specifically activate matrix metalloproteinase- 2 (MMP-2) when cultured on 3-dimensional gels of type I collagen but not a range of other substrates. We show here the constitutive expression of membrane-type 1 (MT1)-MMP in both fibroblasts, and invasive HBC cell lines, that have fibroblastic attributes presumably acquired through an epithelial- to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Treatment with collagen type I increased the steady-state MT1-MMP mRNA levels in these cells but did not induce either MT1-MMP expression or MMP-2 activation in noninvasive breast carcinoma cell lines, which retain epithelial features. Basal MT3-MMP mRNA expression had a pattern similar to that of MT1-MMP but was not up-regulated by collagen. MT4- MMP mRNA was seen in both invasive and noninvasive HBC cell lines and was also not collagen-regulated, and MT2-MMP mRNA was not detected in any of the HBC cell lines tested. These data support a role for MT1-MMP in the collagen- induced MMP-2-activation seen in these cells. In situ hybridization analysis of archival breast cancer specimens revealed a close parallel in expression of both collagen type I and MT1-MMP mRNA in peritumoral fibroblasts, which was correlated with aggressiveness of the lesion. Relatively high levels of expression of both mRNA species were seen in fibroblasts close to invasive tumor nests and, although only focally, in certain areas close to preinvasive tumors. These foci may represent hot spots for local degradation and invasive progression. Collectively, these results implicate MT1-MMP in collagen- stimulated MMP-2 activation and suggest that this mechanism may be employed in vivo by both tumor-associated fibroblasts and EMT-derived carcinoma cells to facilitate increased invasion and/or metastasis.

The type I collagen induction of MT1-MMP-mediated MMP-2 activation is repressed by αVβ3 integrin in human breast cancer cells

The influence of αVβ3 integrin on MT1-MMP functionality was studied in human breast cancer cells of differing β3 integrin status. Overexpression of β3 integrin caused increased cell surface expression of αV integrin and increased cellular adhesion to extracellular matrix (ECM) substrates in BT-549, MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells. β3 integrin expression also enhanced the migration of breast cancer cells on ECM substrates and enhanced collagen gel contraction. In vivo, αVβ3 cooperated with MT1-MMP to increase the growth of MCF-7 cells after orthotopic inoculation in immunocompromised mice, but had no influence on in vitro proliferation. Despite these stimulatory effects, overexpression of β3 integrin suppressed the type I collagen (Col I) induced MMP-2 activation in all breast cancer cell lines analyzed. This was also evident in extracts from the MCF-7 tumors in vivo, where MMP-2 activation was stimulated by MT1-MMP transfection, but attenuated with β3 integrin expression. Although our studies confirm important biological effects of αVβ3 integrin on enhancing cell adhesion and migration, ECM remodeling and tumor growth, β3 integrin caused reduced MMP-2 activation in response to Col I in vitro, which appears to be physiologically relevant, as it was also seen in tumor xenografts in vivo. The reduction of MMP-2 activation (and thus MT1-MMP activity) by αVβ3 in response to Col I may be important in scenarios where cells which are activated for matrix degradation need to preserve some pericellular collagen, perhaps as a substrate for cell adhesion and migration, thus maintaining a balanced level of proteolysis required for efficient tumor growth.

Multiphase experiments with at least one later laboratory phase. I. orthogonal designs

The paper provides a systematic approach to designing the laboratory phase of a multiphase experiment, taking into account previous phases. General principles are outlined for experiments in which orthogonal designs can be employed. Multiphase experiments occur widely, although their multiphase nature is often not recognized. The need to randomize the material produced from the first phase in the laboratory phase is emphasized. Factor-allocation diagrams are used to depict the randomizations in a design and the use of skeleton analysis-of-variance (ANOVA) tables to evaluate their properties discussed. The methods are illustrated using a scenario and a case study. A basis for categorizing designs is suggested. This article has supplementary material online.

The analysis of large scale data taken from the world groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) germplasm collection I. Two-way quantitative data

Data associated with germplasm collections are typically large and multivariate with a considerable number of descriptors measured on each of many accessions. Pattern analysis methods of clustering and ordination have been identified as techniques for statistically evaluating the available diversity in germplasm data. While used in many studies, the approaches have not dealt explicitly with the computational consequences of large data sets (i.e. greater than 5000 accessions). To consider the application of these techniques to germplasm evaluation data, 11328 accessions of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L) from the International Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Andhra Pradesh, India were examined. Data for nine quantitative descriptors measured in the rainy and post-rainy growing seasons were used. The ordination technique of principal component analysis was used to reduce the dimensionality of the germplasm data. The identification of phenotypically similar groups of accessions within large scale data via the computationally intensive hierarchical clustering techniques was not feasible and non-hierarchical techniques had to be used. Finite mixture models that maximise the likelihood of an accession belonging to a cluster were used to cluster the accessions in this collection. The patterns of response for the different growing seasons were found to be highly correlated. However, in relating the results to passport and other characterisation and evaluation descriptors, the observed patterns did not appear to be related to taxonomy or any other well known characteristics of groundnut.

Energy efficiency in nanoscale synthesis using nanosecond plasmas

We report a nanoscale synthesis technique using nanosecond-duration plasma discharges. Voltage pulses 12.5 kV in amplitude and 40 ns in duration were applied repetitively at 30 kHz across molybdenum electrodes in open ambient air, generating a nanosecond spark discharge that synthesized well-defined MoO 3 nanoscale architectures (i.e. flakes, dots, walls, porous networks) upon polyamide and copper substrates. No nitrides were formed. The energy cost was as low as 75 eV per atom incorporated into a nanostructure, suggesting a dramatic reduction compared to other techniques using atmospheric pressure plasmas. These findings show that highly efficient synthesis at atmospheric pressure without catalysts or external substrate heating can be achieved in a simple fashion using nanosecond discharges.