Product stability and sequestration mechanisms in Solanum tuberosum engineered to biosynthesize high value ketocarotenoids

To produce commercially valuable ketocarotenoids in Solanum tuberosum, the 4, 4′ β-oxygenase (crtW) and 3, 3′ β-hydroxylase (crtZ) genes from Brevundimonas spp. have been expressed in the plant host under constitutive transcriptional control. The CRTW and CRTZ enzymes are capable of modifying endogenous plant carotenoids to form a range of hydroxylated and ketolated derivatives. The host (cv. Désirée) produced significant levels of nonendogenous carotenoid products in all tissues, but at the apparent expense of the economically critical metabolite, starch. Carotenoid levels increased in both wild-type and transgenic tubers following cold storage; however, stability during heat processing varied between compounds. Subcellular fractionation of leaf tissues revealed the presence of ketocarotenoids in thylakoid membranes, but not predominantly in the photosynthetic complexes. A dramatic increase in the carotenoid content of plastoglobuli was determined. These findings were corroborated by microscopic analysis of chloroplasts. In tuber tissues, esterified carotenoids, representing 13% of the total pigment found in wild-type extracts, were sequestered in plastoglobuli. In the transgenic tubers, this proportion increased to 45%, with esterified nonendogenous carotenoids in place of endogenous compounds. Conversely, nonesterified carotenoids in both wild-type and transgenic tuber tissues were associated with amyloplast membranes and starch granules.

Safety of OPRA procedure for individuals with upper limb amputation

Surgical implantations of osseointegrated fixations for bone-anchored prosthesis are developing at an unprecedented pace worldwide while initial skepticism in the orthopedic community is slowly fading away. Clearly, this option is becoming accessible to a wide range of individuals with limb loss. [1-18] The team led by Dr Rickard Branemark has previously published a number of landmark articles focusing on the benefits and safety of the OPRA fixation mainly for individual with lower limb loss, particularly those with transfemoral amputation. [1-3, 19-32] However, similar information is lacking for those with upper limb amputation. This team is once again taking a leading role by sharing a retrospective study focusing on the implant survival, adverse events, implant stability, and bone remodelling for 18 individuals with transhumeral amputation over a 5-year post-operative period. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of the safety of the procedure is accessible for the first time. In essence, the results showed an implant survival rate of 83% and 80% at 2 and 5 year follow ups, respectively. The most frequent adverse events were superficial skin infections that occurred for 28% (5) participants while the least frequent was deep bone infection that happened only once. More importantly, 38% of complications due to infections were effectively managed with nonoperative treatments (e.g., revision of skin penetration site, local cleaning, antibiotics, restriction of soft tissue mobility). Implant stability and bone remodelling were satisfactory. Clearly, this study provided better understanding of the safety of the OPRA surgical and rehabilitation procedure for individuals with upper limb amputation while establishing standards and benchmark data for future studies. However, strong evidences of the benefits are yet to be demonstrated. However, increase in health related quality of life and functional outcomes (e.g., range of movement) are likely. Altogether, the team of authors are providing further evidence that bone-anchored attachment is definitely a promising alternative to socket prostheses.

Design and synthesis of a screening library using the natural product scaffold 3-chloro-4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid

The fungal metabolite 3-chloro-4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (1) was utilized in the generation of a unique drug-like screening library using parallel solution-phase synthesis. A 20-membered amide library (3–22) was generated by first converting 1 to methyl (3-chloro-4-hydroxyphenyl)acetate (2), then reacting this scaffold with a diverse series of primary amines via a solvent-free aminolysis procedure. The structures of the synthetic analogues (3–22) were elucidated by spectroscopic data analysis. The structures of compounds 8, 12, and 22 were confirmed by single X-ray crystallographic analysis. All compounds were evaluated for cytotoxicity against a human prostate cancer cell line (LNCaP) and for antiparasitic activity toward Trypanosoma brucei brucei and Plasmodium falciparum and showed no significant activity at 10 μM. The library was also tested for effects on the lipid content of LNCaP and PC-3 prostate cancer cells, and it was demonstrated that the fluorobenzyl analogues (12–14) significantly reduced cellular phospholipid and neutral lipid levels.

Examining the effectiveness of Police-Citizens Youth Clubs on crime prevention and community safety

PCYCs, individually and as a whole, are highly valued in communities across Queensland. Participants in this evaluation identified numerous benefits of PCYCs, including: providing structured low-cost activities for young people and other community groups; developing positive relationships and trust between young people and police; developing young people into effective citizens; providing a safe place for young people and a hub for whole communities; addressing disadvantages faced by young people; and fostering social inclusion. Depending on the particular activities and programs delivered by a branch, PCYCs have the capacity to minimise risk factors and enhance protective factors relating to young people’s involvement in crime. For example, PCYCs can play an important role in strengthening young people’s engagement with education and family. However, the crime prevention and community safety aims of PCYCs, and measures that might work towards these aims are not widely- or well-understood, or appreciated, by those working in and with PCYCs. The key recommendation of this evaluation is therefore that the crime prevention and community safety aims of PCYCs in Queensland need to be better articulated, understood and reflected in the practice of those working in and with PCYCs. A related key finding is that many of the activities and programs currently provided by PCYCs could be better oriented towards the goals of crime prevention and community safety without major resource implications.

Chirp-spread-spectrum-based real time location system for construction safety management: A case study

Observing the working procedure of construction workers is an effective means of maintaining the safety performance of a construction project. It is also difficult to achieve due to a high worker-to-safety-officer ratio. There is an imminent need for the development of a tool to assist in the real-time monitoring of workers, in order to reduce the number of construction accidents. The development and application of a real time locating system (RTLS) based on the Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS) technique is described in this paper for tracking the real-time position of workers on construction sites. Experiments and tests were carried out both on- and off-site to verify the accuracy of static and dynamic targets by the system, indicating an average error of within one metre. Experiments were also carried out to verify the ability of the system to identify workers’ unsafe behaviours. Wireless data transfer was used to simplify the deployment of the system. The system was deployed in a public residential construction project and proved to be quick and simple to use. The cost of the developed system is also reported to be reasonable (around 1800USD) in this study and is much cheaper than the cost of other RTLS. In addition, the CCS technique is shown to provide an economical solution with reasonable accuracy compared with other positioning systems, such as ultra wideband. The study verifies the potential of the CCS technique to provide an effective and economical aid in the improvement of safety management in the construction industry.

Applying digital product memories in industrial production

Industrial production and supply chains face increased demands for mass customization and tightening regulations on the traceability of goods, leading to higher requirements concerning flexibility, adaptability, and transparency of processes. Technologies for the ’Internet of Things' such as smart products and semantic representations pave the way for future factories and supply chains to fulfill these challenging market demands. In this chapter a backend-independent approach for information exchange in open-loop production processes based on Digital Product Memories DPMs is presented. By storing order-related data directly on the item, relevant lifecycle information is attached to the product itself. In this way, information handover between several stages of the value chain with focus on the manufacturing phase of a product has been realized. In order to report best practices regarding the application of DPM in the domain of industrial production, system prototype implementations focusing on the use case of producing and handling a smart drug case are illustrated.

Toward the multilevel older person's transportation and road safety model: A new perspective on the role of demographic, functional, and psychosocial factors

Objectives Self-regulation refers to the practice of using self-imposed restrictions to protect oneself from situations that are, or are perceived to be, unsafe. Within the driving context, self-regulation refers the compensatory practices that some older adults adopt to restrict their driving to situations in which they feel safe. However, the way in which demographic, functional, and psychosocial factors, and the interactions between these factors, influence older adults’ driving self-regulation is not well understood. Improving this understanding could lead to new ways of considering the mobility concerns faced by older drivers. Method A systematic review of the current literature was conducted to explore this issue. Twenty-nine empirical studies investigating the factors associated with older adults’ self-regulatory driving behaviors were examined. Results The review findings were used to construct the Multilevel Older Persons Transportation and Road Safety (MOTRS) model. The MOTRS model proposes that individual and environmental factors such as age, gender, and the availability of alternative transportation predict older adults’ practice of driving-related self-regulation. However, these variables influence self-regulation through psychosocial variables such as driving confidence, affective attitude, and instrumental attitude toward driving. Discussions The MOTRS model extends previous attempts to model older adults’ driving by focusing on a novel target, driving self-regulation, and by including a wider range of predictors identified on the basis of the systematic literature review. This focus enables consideration of broader mobility issues and may inform new strategies to support the mobility of older adults.

Proactive behavior-based safety management for construction safety improvement

Construction is one of the most hazardous industries due to its dynamic, temporary, and decentralized nature. The Hong Kong Commissioner for Labor identifies worker behavior as the root cause of construction accidents. Behavior-based safety (BBS) is one effective approach in managing employee safety issues. However, there is little research on the application of BBS in the construction industry. This research proposes an extension of the BBS approach, proactive behavior-based safety (PBBS), to improve construction safety. PBBS integrates the theory of BBS with the technology of Proactive Construction Management System (PCMS). The innovations of PBBS are: (1) automatically monitoring location-based behaviors; (2)quantitatively measuring safety performance; (3) investigating potential causes of unsafe behaviors; and (4) improving the efficiency of safety management. A pilot study of a Hong Kong construction site practicing PBBS was conducted. The experiment results showed that PBBS performed well on construction accident prevention and the Safety Index (SI) of the two project teams, with increased improvements by 36.07% and 44.70% respectively. It is concluded that PBBS is effective and adaptable to construction industry.

Disability due to road traffic crashes and the management of road safety in developing countries

Injury as a result of road traffic crashes is one of the most significant public health problems in developing countries. It intersects with disability as a development issue because a substantial proportion of people injured in road traffic crashes experience disability, both short term and long term. While there have been significant steps towards better management of road safety globally, especially in developing countries, the implications for road safety policy and practice of disability due road traffic crashes is not fully appreciated. In particular, qualitative information on the lived experience people with a long term disability as a result of a road traffic crash can inform better road safety policy and practice, as demonstrated in a case study from Thailand. The benefits of better policies and practices are likely to accrue to a wide range of road users, and to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development.

An empirical study of capability development within product innovation projects

The objective of this paper is to develop insights into firms’ strategic capability development processes within product innovation projects. In particular, the research aims at investigating the interactions among product innovation, knowledge processes, and capability development within firms. Building on qualitative data from the auto-industry, our analysis reveals that across four product innovation projects, the case company developed architectural knowledge and capability. Findings reveal that, along with changes at each level of product architecture, “design knowledge” and “design capability” have been developed at the same level of product architecture, leading to capability development at that level. Furthermore, findings suggest that such capability transformation resulting from knowledge and capability creation over the course of case projects leads to modularization of product architecture. Overall, the research contributes to identifying and emphasizing the role of micro processes in capability development and renewal, which in turn enhances our understanding of strategic capability development processes.

Perceived safety, quality and cultural competency of maternity care for culturally and linguistically diverse women in Queensland

Various policies, plans, and initiatives have been implemented to provide safe, quality, and culturally competent care to patients within Queensland’s healthcare system. A series of models of maternity care are available in Queensland that range from standard public care to private midwifery care. The current study aimed to determine whether identifying as Culturally or Linguistically Diverse (CALD) was associated with the perceived safety, quality, and cultural competency of maternity care from a consumer perspective, and to identify specific needs and preferences of CALD maternity care consumers. Secondary analysis of data collected in the Having a Baby in Queensland Survey 2012 was used to compare the experiences of 655 CALD women to those of 4049 non-CALD women in Queensland, Australia, across three stages of maternity care: pregnancy, labour and birth, and after birth. After adjustment for model of maternity care received and socio-demographic characteristics, CALD women were significantly more likely than non-CALD women to experience suboptimal staff technical competence in pregnancy, overall perceived safety in pregnancy and labour/birth, and interpersonal sensitivity in pregnancy and labour/birth. Approximately 50% of CALD women did not have the choice to use a translator or interpreter, or the gender of their care provider, during labour and birth. Thirteen themes of preferences and needs of CALD maternity care consumers based on ethnicity, cultural beliefs, or traditions were identified, however, these were rarely met. Findings imply that CALD women in Queensland experience disadvantageous maternity care with regards to perceived staff technical competence, safety, and interpersonal sensitivity, and receive care that lacks cultural competence. Improved access to support persons, continuity and choice of carer, and staff availability and training is recommended.

A normal-distribution based rating aggregation method for generating product reputations

With the extensive use of rating systems in the web, and their significance in decision making process by users, the need for more accurate aggregation methods has emerged. The Naïve aggregation method, using the simple mean, is not adequate anymore in providing accurate reputation scores for items [6 ], hence, several researches where conducted in order to provide more accurate alternative aggregation methods. Most of the current reputation models do not consider the distribution of ratings across the different possible ratings values. In this paper, we propose a novel reputation model, which generates more accurate reputation scores for items by deploying the normal distribution over ratings. Experiments show promising results for our proposed model over state-of-the-art ones on sparse and dense datasets.

User centred engineering in automotive design: A shift from technology-driven product development

The research assessed how best to transition engineering-based automotive firms towards more customer-orientated design and development approaches, whilst identifying the main barriers and concerns facing such a shift. The research investigates the ability of a firm to empower individual engineers with user centred design tools traditionally used by designers, whilst understanding the company-wide needs to facilitate their implementation.

Road safety and pavement management: A case study of Tanzania

The implementation of pavement management seems to ignore road safety, with its focus being mainly on infrastructure condition. Safety management as part of pavement management should consider various means of reducing the frequency of vehicle crashes by allocating corrective measures to mitigate accident exposure, as well as reduce accident severity and likelihood. However, it is common that lack of accident records and crash contributing factors impedes incorporating safety into pavement management. This paper presents a case study for the initial development of pavement management systems considering data limitations for 3000 km of Tanzania’s national roads. A performance based optimization utilizes indices for safety and surface condition to allocate corrective measures. A modified Pareto analysis capable of accounting for annual performance and of balancing resources to achieve good surface condition and low levels of safety was applied. Tradeoff analysis for the case study found the need to assign 30% relevance to condition and 70% to road safety. Safety and condition deficiencies were corrected within 5 years with the majority of improvements dedicated to surface treatments and some geometric corrections. Large investments for correcting geometric issues were observed in years two and three if more money was made available.