Rapid fabrication of Au nanoparticle films with the aid of centrifugal force

In this work, rapid fabrication of Au nanoparticle (Au NP) films has been simply achieved by alternate adsorption of citrate-stabilized Au NPs and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) with the aid of centrifugal force. In contrast to conventional electrostatic assembly, we carried out the assembly process in a centrifuge with a rotating speed of 4000 rpm, where centrifugal force can be imposed on Au NPs. Scanning electron microscopy and cyclic voltammetry were employed to characterize the assembly procedure and the thus-prepared thin solid films. Our results demonstrate that centrifugal force can promote the assembly of Au NPs and therefore enable the rapid fabrication of functional Au NP films.

Impact of Brunswick river mouth training walls on adjacent beaches, Brunswick heads, New South Wales, Australia

River training walls have been built at scores of locations along the NSW coast and their impacts on shoreline change are still not fully understood. In this study, the Brunswick River entrance and adjacent beaches are selected for examination of the impact of the construction of major training walls. Thirteen sets of aerial photographs taken between 1947 and 1994 are used in a CIS approach to accurately determine tire shoreline Position, beach contours and sand volumes, and their changes in both time and space, and then to assess the contribution of both tire structures and natural hydrodynamic conditions to large scale (years-decades and kilometres) beach changes. The impact of the training walls can be divided into four stages: natural conditions prior to their construction (pre 1959), major downdrift erosion and updrift accretion during and. following the construction of the walls in 1959 similar to 1962 and 1966. diminishing impact of the walls between 1966 and 1987, and finally no apparent impact between 1987 similar to 1994. The impact extends horizontally about 8 km updrift and 17 km downdrift, and temporally up to 25 years..

基于可复制性的独立成分分析——应用于功能磁共振成像数据

This dissertation systematically depicted and improved the application of Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), following the logic of verification, improvement, extension, and application. The concept of “reproducibility” was the philosophy throughout its four concluded studies. In the “verification” study, ICA was applied to the resting-state fMRI data, verified the resultant components with reproducibility, and examined the consistency of the results from ICA and traditional “seed voxel” method. At the meantime, the limitation of ICA application on fMRI data analysis was presented. In the “improvement” study, an improved ICA algorithm based on reproducibility, RAICAR, was developed to aid some of the limitations of ICA application. RAICAR was able to rank ICA components by reproducibility, determine the number of reliable components, and obtain more stable results. RAICAR provided useful tools for validation and interpretation of ICA results. In the “extension” study, RAICAR as well as the concept of “reproducibility” was extended to multi-subject ICA analysis, and gRAICAR algorithm was developed. gRAICAR allows some variation across subjects, examining common components among subjects. gRAICAR is also capable to detect potential subject grouping on some components. It is a new way for exploratory group analysis on fMRI. In the “application” study, two newly developed methods, RAICAR and gRAICAR, were used to investigate the effect of early music training on the brain mechanism of memory and learning. The results showed brain mechanism difference in memory retrieval and learning process between two groups of subjects. This study also verified the usefulness and importance of the new methods.

An in silico approach for screening flavonoids as P-glycoprotein inhibitors based on a Bayesian-regularized neural network

P-glycoprotein (P-gp), an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter, functions as a biological barrier by extruding cytotoxic agents out of cells, resulting in an obstacle in chemotherapeutic treatment of cancer. In order to aid in the development of potential P-gp inhibitors, we constructed a quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) model of flavonoids as P-gp inhibitors based on Bayesian-regularized neural network (BRNN). A dataset of 57 flavonoids collected from a literature binding to the C-terminal nucleotide-binding domain of mouse P-gp was compiled. The predictive ability of the model was assessed using a test set that was independent of the training set, which showed a standard error of prediction of 0.146 +/- 0.006 (data scaled from 0 to 1). Meanwhile, two other mathematical tools, back-propagation neural network (BPNN) and partial least squares (PLS) were also attempted to build QSAR models. The BRNN provided slightly better results for the test set compared to BPNN, but the difference was not significant according to F-statistic at p = 0.05. The PLS failed to build a reliable model in the present study. Our study indicates that the BRNN-based in silico model has good potential in facilitating the prediction of P-gp flavonoid inhibitors and might be applied in further drug design.

Exercise training can induce cardiac autophagy at end-stage chronic conditions: Insights from a graft-versus-host-disease mouse model

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) is a frequent cause of morbimortality after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT), and severely compromises patients' physical capacity. Despite the aggressive nature of the disease, aerobic exercise training can positively impact survival as well as clinical and functional parameters. We analyzed potential mechanisms underlying the recently reported cardiac function improvement in an exercise-trained cGVHD murine model receiving lethal total body irradiation and immunosuppressant treatment (Fiuza-Luces et al., 2013. Med Sci Sports Exerc 45, 1703-1711). We hypothesized that a cellular quality-control mechanism that is receiving growing attention in biomedicine, autophagy, was involved in such improvement. Our results suggest that exercise training elicits a positive autophagic adaptation in the myocardium that may help preserve cardiac function even at the end-stage of a devastating disease like cGVHD. These preliminary findings might provide new insights into the cardiac exercise benefits in chronic/debilitating conditions.

Muscle function and body composition profile in adolescents withrestrictive anorexia nervosa: Does resistance training help?

The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of short-term resistance training on the body composition profile and muscle function in a group of Anorexia Nervosa restricting type (AN-R) patients. The sample consisted of AN-R female adolescents (12.8 ± 0.6 years) allocated into the control and intervention groups (n¼18 each). Body composition and relative strength were assessed at baseline, after 8 weeks and 4 weeks following the intervention. Body mass index (BMI) increased throughout the study (p = 0.011). Significant skeletal muscle mass (SMM) gains were found in the intervention group (p = 0.045, d = 0.6) that correlated to the change in BMI (r = 0.51, p < 0.031). Meanwhile, fat mass (FM) gains were significant in the control group (p = 0.047, d = 0.6) and correlated (r > 0.60) with change in BMI in both the groups. Significant relative strength increases (p < 0.001) were found in the intervention group and were sustained over time.

Improving bilingual higher education: Training university professors in content and language integrated learning

With increasing international mobility, higher education must cater to the varying linguistic and cultural needs of students. Successful delivery of courses through English as the vehicular language is essential to encourage international enrollment. However, this cannot be achieved without preparing university professors in the many intricacies delivering their subjects in English may pose. This paper aims to: share preliminary data concerning Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) at Laureate Network Universities worldwide as few studies have been conducted at the tertiary level, reflect upon data regarding student and teacher satisfaction with CLIL at the Universidad Europea de Madrid (UEM), and to propose improvements in English-taught subjects.

The What? and How? of education and training for information professionals in a changing world: some experiences from Wales, Slovakia and the Asia-Pacific region

Tedd, L.A. (2003). The What? and How? of education and training for information professionals in a changing world: some experiences from Wales, Slovakia and the Asia-Pacific region. Journal of Information Science, 29(1), 79-86.

Systematic assessment of the training needs of health library staff

Urquhart, C., Spink, S., Thomas, R. & Durbin, J. (2005). Systematic assessment of the training needs of health library staff. Library and Information Research, 29(93), 35-42. Sponsorship: National Library for Health (NLH)

Training needs analysis of healthcare library staff, undertaken for South Yorkshire Workforce Development Confederation

Urquhart, C., Durbin, J. & Spink, S. (2004). Training needs analysis of healthcare library staff, undertaken for South Yorkshire Workforce Development Confederation. Aberystwyth: Department of Information Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth. Sponsorship: South Yorkshire WDC (NHS)

Assessing training and professional development needs of library staff. Report for National Library of Health

Urquhart, C., Spink, S. & Thomas, R., Assessing training and professional development needs of library staff. Report for National Library of Health. (2005). Aberystwyth: Department of Information Studies, University of Wales Aberystwyth Sponsorship: National Library for Health (NHS Information Authority)

Evolving Controllers for Real Robots: A Survey of the Literature

Walker,J. and Garrett,S. and Wilson,M.S., 'Evolving Controllers for Real Robots: A Survey of the Literature', Adaptive Behavior, 2003, volume 11, number 3, pp 179--203, Sage

Training for professional librarians in Slovakia by distance-learning methods: an overview of the PROLIB and EDULIB projects

Tedd, L.A., Dahl, K., Francis, S.,Tet?evov?, M.& ?ihlavn?kov?, E.(2002).Training for professional librarians in Slovakia by distance-learning methods: an overview of the PROLIB and EDULIB projects. Library Hi Tech, 20(3), 340-351. Sponsorship: European Union and the Open Society Institute

Lessons learned in an information skills training programme for a mental health Trust

Parker, R. & Urquhart, C. (2007). Lessons learned in an information skills training programme for a mental health Trust. Health Information and Libraries Journal, 24(1), 58-61.