Modelling NPO-government relations : Australian case studies

Non-profit organizations (NPOs) are major providers of services in many fields of endeavour, and often receive financial support from government. This article investigates different forms of government/nonprofit funding relationships, with the viewpoint being mainly, though not exclusively, from the perspective of the non-profit agencies. While there are a number of existing typologies of government/NPO relations, these are dated and in need of further empirical analysis and testing. The article advances an empirically derived extension to current models of government/NPO relations. A future research agenda is outlined based on the constructs that underpin typologies, rather than discrete categorization of relationships.

Medium and mode : relationships between visual experience and perception in an installation arts practice

Working primarily within the natural landscape, this practice-led research project explored connections between the artist's visual and perceptual experience of a journey or place while simultaneously emphasizing the capacity for digital media to create a perceptual dissonance. By exploring concepts of time, viewpoint, duration of sequences and the manipulation of traditional constructs of stop-frame animation, the practical work created a cognitive awareness of the elements of the journey through optical sensations. The work allowed an opportunity to reflect on the nature of visual experience and its mediation through images. The project recontextualized the selected mediums of still photography, animation and projection within contemporary display modes of multiple screen installations by analysing relationships between the experienced and the perceived. The resulting works added to current discourse on the interstices between still and moving imagery in a digital world.

Silicate-based bioceramics for periodontal regeneration

Periodontal disease is characterized by the destruction of the tissues that attach the tooth to the alveolar bone. Various methods for regenerative periodontal therapy including the use of barrier membranes, bone replacement grafts, and growth factor delivery have been investigated; however, true regeneration of periodontal tissue is still a significant challenge to scientists and clinicians. The focus on periodontal tissue engineering has shifted from attempting to recreate tissue replacements/constructs to the development of biomaterials that incorporate and release regulatory signals to achieve in situ periodontal regeneration. The release of ions and molecular cues from biomaterials may help to unlock latent regenerative potential in the body by regulating cell proliferation and differentiation towards different lineages (e.g. osteoblasts and cementoblasts). Silicate-based bioactive materials, including bioactive silicate glasses and ceramics, have become the materials of choice for periodontal regeneration, due to their favourable osteoconductivity and bioactivity. This article will focus on the most recent advances in the in vitro and in vivo biological application of silicate-based ceramics, specifically as it relates to periodontal tissue engineering.

Bone regeneration based on tissue engineering conceptions – a 21st century perspective

The role of Bone Tissue Engineering in the field of Regenerative Medicine has been the topic of substantial research over the past two decades. Technological advances have improved orthopaedic implants and surgical techniques for bone reconstruction. However, improvements in surgical techniques to reconstruct bone have been limited by the paucity of autologous materials available and donor site morbidity. Recent advances in the development of biomaterials have provided attractive alternatives to bone grafting expanding the surgical options for restoring the form and function of injured bone. Specifically, novel bioactive (second generation) biomaterials have been developed that are characterised by controlled action and reaction to the host tissue environment, whilst exhibiting controlled chemical breakdown and resorption with an ultimate replacement by regenerating tissue. Future generations of biomaterials (third generation) are designed to be not only osteo- conductive but also osteoinductive, i.e. to stimulate regeneration of host tissues by combining tissue engineer- ing and in situ tissue regeneration methods with a focus on novel applications. These techniques will lead to novel possibilities for tissue regeneration and repair. At present, tissue engineered constructs that may find future use as bone grafts for complex skeletal defects, whether from post-traumatic, degenerative, neoplastic or congenital/developmental “origin” require osseous reconstruction to ensure structural and functional integrity. Engineering functional bone using combinations of cells, scaffolds and bioactive factors is a promising strategy and a particular feature for future development in the area of hybrid materials which are able to exhibit suitable biomimetic and mechanical properties. This review will discuss the state of the art in this field and what we can expect from future generations of bone regeneration concepts.

Structural abstraction of process specifications

Software engineers constantly deal with problems of designing, analyzing, and improving process specifications, e.g., source code, service compositions, or process models. Process specifications are abstractions of behavior observed or intended to be implemented in reality which result from creative engineering practice. Usually, process specifications are formalized as directed graphs in which edges capture temporal relations between decisions, synchronization points, and work activities. Every process specification is a compromise between two points: On the one hand engineers strive to operate with less modeling constructs which conceal irrelevant details, while on the other hand the details are required to achieve the desired level of customization for envisioned process scenarios. In our research, we approach the problem of varying abstraction levels of process specifications. Formally, developed abstraction mechanisms exploit the structure of a process specification and allow the generalization of low-level details into concepts of a higher abstraction level. The reverse procedure can be addressed as process specialization.

Business process model abstraction

In order to execute, study, or improve operating procedures, companies document them as business process models. Often, business process analysts capture every single exception handling or alternative task handling scenario within a model. Such a tendency results in large process specifications. The core process logic becomes hidden in numerous modeling constructs. To fulfill different tasks, companies develop several model variants of the same business process at different abstraction levels. Afterwards, maintenance of such model groups involves a lot of synchronization effort and is erroneous. We propose an abstraction technique that allows generalization of process models. Business process model abstraction assumes a detailed model of a process to be available and derives coarse-grained models from it. The task of abstraction is to tell significant model elements from insignificant ones and to reduce the latter. We propose to learn insignificant process elements from supplementary model information, e.g., task execution time or frequency of task occurrence. Finally, we discuss a mechanism for user control of the model abstraction level – an abstraction slider.

The triconnected abstraction of process models

Companies use business process models to represent their working procedures in order to deploy services to markets, to analyze them, and to improve upon them. Competitive markets necessitate complex procedures, which lead to large process specifications with sophisticated structures. Real world process models can often incorporate hundreds of modeling constructs. While a large degree of detail complicates the comprehension of the processes, it is essential to many analysis tasks. This paper presents a technique to abstract, i.e., to simplify process models. Given a detailed model, we introduce abstraction rules which generalize process fragments in order to bring the model to a higher abstraction level. The approach is suited for the abstraction of large process specifications in order to aid model comprehension as well as decomposing problems of process model analysis. The work is based on process structure trees that have recently been introduced to the field of business process management.

Multiphasic construct studied in an ectopic osteochondral defect model

In vivo osteochondral defect models predominantly consist of small animals, such as rabbits. Although they have an advantage of low cost and manageability, their joints are smaller and more easily healed compared with larger animals or humans. We hypothesized that osteochondral cores from large animals can be implanted subcutaneously in rats to create an ectopic osteochondral defect model for routine and high-throughput screening of multiphasic scaffold designs and/or tissue-engineered constructs (TECs). Bovine osteochondral plugs with 4 mm diameter osteochondral defect were fitted with novel multiphasic osteochondral grafts composed of chondrocyte-seeded alginate gels and osteoblast-seeded polycaprolactone scaffolds, prior to being implanted in rats subcutaneously with bone morphogenic protein-7. After 12 weeks of in vivo implantation, histological and micro-computed tomography analyses demonstrated that TECs are susceptible to mineralization. Additionally, there was limited bone formation in the scaffold. These results suggest that the current model requires optimization to facilitate robust bone regeneration and vascular infiltration into the defect site. Taken together, this study provides a proof-of-concept for a high-throughput osteochondral defect model. With further optimization, the presented hybrid in vivo model may address the growing need for a cost-effective way to screen osteochondral repair strategies before moving to large animal preclinical trials.

Feeding beliefs and practices of Chinese immigrant mothers : validation of a modified version of the child feeding questionnaire

The Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) developed by Birch and colleagues (2001) is a widely used tool for measuring parental feeding beliefs, attitudes and practices. However, the appropriateness of the CFQ for use with Chinese populations is unknown. This study tested the construct validity of a novel Chinese version of the CFQ using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Participants included a convenience sample of 254 Chinese-Australian mothers of children aged 1-4 years. Prior to testing, the questionnaire was translated into Chinese using a translation-back-translation method, one item was re-worded to be culturally appropriate, a new item was added (monitoring), and five items that were not age-appropriate for the sample were removed. Based on previous literature, both a 7-factor and an 8-factor model were assessed via CFA. Results showed that the 8-factor model, which separated restriction and use of food rewards, improved the conceptual clarity of the constructs and provided a good fit to the data. Internal consistency of all eight factors was acceptable (Cronbach’s α: .60−.93). This modified 8-factor CFQ appears to be a linguistically and culturally appropriate instrument for assessing feeding beliefs and practices in Chinese-Australian mothers of young children.

Survival of rat functional dental pulp cells in vascularized tissue engineering chambers

Regenerative endodontics aims to preserve, repair or regenerate the dental pulp tissue. Dental pulp stem cells, have a potential use in dental tissue generation. However, specific requirements to drive the dental tissue generation are still obscured. We established an in vivo model for studying the survival of dental pulp cells (DPC) and their potential to generate dental pulp tissue. DPC were mixed with collagen scaffold with or without slow release bone morphogenic protein 4 (BMP-4) and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2). The cell suspension was transplanted into a vascularized tissue engineering chamber in the rat groin. Tissue constructs were harvested after 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks and processed for histomorphological and immunohistochemical analysis. After 2 weeks newly formed tissue with new blood vessel formation were observed inside the chamber. DPC were found around dentin, particularly around the vascular pedicle and also close to the gelatin microspheres. Cell survival, was confirmed up to 8 weeks after transplantation. Dentin Sialophosphoprotein (DSPP) positive matrix production was detected in the chamber, indicating functionality of dental pulp progenitor cells. This study demonstrates the potential of our tissue engineering model to study rat dental pulp cells and their behavior in dental pulp regeneration, for future development of an alternative treatment using these techniques.

Transient gene expression in Medicago truncatula leaves via agroinfiltration

Transient expression is a powerful method for the functional characterization of genes. In this chapter, we outline a protocol for the transient expression of constructs in Medicago truncatula leaves using Agrobacterium tumefaciens infiltration. Using quantitative real-time PCR we demonstrate that the infiltration of a construct containing the LEGUME ANTHOCYANIN PRODUCTION 1 (LAP1) transcription factor results in the strong upregulation of key biosynthetic genes and the accumulation of anthocyanin pigment in the leaves after just 3 days. Thus, this method provides a rapid and powerful way to the discovery of downstream targets of M. truncatula transcription factors.

Three-dimensional hydrogen-bonded structures in the hydrated proton-transfer salts of isonipecotamide with the dicarboxylic oxalic and adipic acid analogues

The structures of the 1:1 hydrated proton-transfer compounds of isonipecotamide (piperidine-4-carboxamide) with oxalic acid, 4-carbamoylpiperidinium hydrogen oxalate dihydrate, C6H13N2O+·C2HO4-·2H2O, (I), and with adipic acid, bis­(4-car­bam­oylpiperidinium) adipate dihydrate, 2C6H13N2O+·C6H8O42-·2H2O, (II), are three-dimensional hydrogen-bonded constructs involving several different types of enlarged water-bridged cyclic associations. In the structure of (I), the oxalate monoanions give head-to-tail carb­oxy­lic acid O-HOcarboxyl hydrogen-bonding inter­actions, forming C(5) chain substructures which extend along a. The isonipecotamide cations also give parallel chain substructures through amide N-HO hydrogen bonds, the chains being linked across b and down c by alternating water bridges involving both carboxyl and amide O-atom acceptors and amide and piperidinium N-HOcarboxyl hydrogen bonds, generating cyclic R43(10) and R32(11) motifs. In the structure of (II), the asymmetric unit comprises a piperidinium cation, half an adipate dianion, which lies across a crystallographic inversion centre, and a solvent water mol­ecule. In the crystal structure, the two inversion-related cations are inter­linked through the two water mol­ecules, which act as acceptors in dual amide N-HOwater hydrogen bonds, to give a cyclic R42(8) association which is conjoined with an R44(12) motif. Further N-HOwater, water O-HOamide and piperidinium N-HOcarbox­yl hydrogen bonds give the overall three-dimensional structure. The structures reported here further demonstrate the utility of the isonipecotamide cation as a synthon for the generation of stable hydrogen-bonded structures. The presence of solvent water mol­ecules in these structures is largely responsible for the non-occurrence of the common hydrogen-bonded amide-amide dimer, promoting instead various expanded cyclic hydrogen-bonding motifs.

Transient expression vectors for functional genomics, quantification of promoter activity and RNA silencing in plants

Background We describe novel plasmid vectors for transient gene expression using Agrobacterium, infiltrated into Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. We have generated a series of pGreenII cloning vectors that are ideally suited to transient gene expression, by removing elements of conventional binary vectors necessary for stable transformation such as transformation selection genes. Results We give an example of expression of heme-thiolate P450 to demonstrate effectiveness of this system. We have also designed vectors that take advantage of a dual luciferase assay system to analyse promoter sequences or post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. We have demonstrated their utility by co-expression of putative transcription factors and the promoter sequence of potential target genes and show how orthologous promoter sequences respond to these genes. Finally, we have constructed a vector that has allowed us to investigate design features of hairpin constructs related to their ability to initiate RNA silencing, and have used these tools to study cis-regulatory effect of intron-containing gene constructs. Conclusion In developing a series of vectors ideally suited to transient expression analysis we have provided a resource that further advances the application of this technology. These minimal vectors are ideally suited to conventional cloning methods and we have used them to demonstrate their flexibility to investigate enzyme activity, transcription regulation and post-transcriptional regulatory processes in transient assays.

Measurement of general and specific approaches to physical activity parenting : a systematic review

Background Parents play a significant role in shaping youth physical activity (PA). However, interventions targeting PA parenting have been ineffective. Methodological inconsistencies related to the measurement of parental influences may be a contributing factor. The purpose of this article is to review the extant peer-reviewed literature related to the measurement of general and specific parental influences on youth PA. Methods A systematic review of studies measuring constructs of PA parenting was conducted. Computerized searches were completed using PubMed, MEDLINE, Academic Search Premier, SPORTDiscus, and PsycINFO. Reference lists of the identified articles were manually reviewed as well as the authors' personal collections. Articles were selected on the basis of strict inclusion criteria and details regarding the measurement protocols were extracted. A total of 117 articles met the inclusionary criteria. Methodological articles that evaluated the validity and reliability of PA parenting measures (n=10) were reviewed separately from parental influence articles (n=107). Results A significant percentage of studies used measures with indeterminate validity and reliability. A significant percentage of articles did not provide sample items, describe the response format, or report the possible range of scores. No studies were located that evaluated sensitivity to change. Conclusion The reporting of measurement properties and the use of valid and reliable measurement scales need to be improved considerably.

Physical activity parenting measurement and research : challenges, explanations, and solutions

Physical activity (PA) parenting research has proliferated over the past decade, with findings verifying the influential role that parents play in children's emerging PA behaviors. This knowledge, however, has not translated into effective family-based PA interventions. During a preconference workshop to the 2012 International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity annual meeting, a PA parenting workgroup met to: (1) Discuss challenges in PA parenting research that may limit its translation, (2) identify explanations or reasons for such challenges, and; (3) recommend strategies for future research. Challenges discussed by the workgroup included a proliferation of disconnected and inconsistently measured constructs, a limited understanding of the dimensions of PA parenting, and a narrow conceptualization of hypothesized moderators of the relationship between PA parenting and child PA. Potential reasons for such challenges emphasized by the group included a disinclination to employ theory when developing measures and examining predictors and outcomes of PA parenting as well as a lack of agreed-upon measurement standards. Suggested solutions focused on the need to link PA parenting research with general parenting research, define and adopt rigorous standards of measurement, and identify new methods to assess PA parenting. As an initial step toward implementing these recommendations, the workgroup developed a conceptual model that: (1) Integrates parenting dimensions from the general parenting literature into the conceptualization of PA parenting, (2) draws on behavioral and developmental theory, and; (3) emphasizes areas which have been neglected to date including precursors to PA parenting and effect modifiers.