Photoinduced conjugation of Dithioester- and Trithiocarbonate-Functional RAFT polymers with alkenes

We report the photoinduced conjugation of polymers synthesized via reversible addition−fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization with a number of low molecular weight (functional) olefins. Upon irradiation of a solution of an aliphatic alkene and the benzyl dithioacetic acid ester (CPDA) or dodecyl trithiocarbonate (DoPAT) functional poly(alkyl acrylate) at the absorption wavelength of the thiocarbonyl group (315 nm), incorporation of the alkene at the polymer chain-end occurred. The most efficient systems identified with regard to the rate of reaction and yield were poly(butyl acrylate)/CPDA/ethyl vinyl ether (78% monoinsertion product after 1 h) and poly(butyl acrylate)/CPDA/1-pentene (73% insertion product after 7 h) at ambient temperature. An in-depth analysis of the reaction mechanism by 1H NMR and online size-exclusion chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (SEC/ESI−MSn) revealed that a possible [2 + 2] photoaddition mechanism of conjugation does not take place. Instead, fast β-cleavage of the photoexcited RAFT-end group with subsequent radical addition of an alkene was observed for all employed systems. The presented reaction thus provides a means of spatial and temporal control for the conjugation of alkenes to thiocarbonyl thio-capped macromolecules via the use of UV radiation.

Functional fixation : experimental evidence on the presentation of financial information through different digital formats

This study examines whether, in the presentation of financial information, digital formats address the concern over users’ functional fixation. The accounting literature indicates that the presentation of financial information either within the financial statements or in the notes to the financial statements often creates functional fixation where users of financial statements fail to adjust for differences in accounting policy. This leads users to judge what would otherwise be identical financial situations as being different due to the different accounting policies and methods adopted. It has been suggested that the use of digital formats in presenting financial reports may overcome functional fixation. Using an experimental design involving accountants in public practice, the results indicate that the use of digital formats to present financial reports does not fully overcome the issue of functional fixation in the processing of financial information. Although the participants were able to identify and extract relevant information, irrespective of whether or not the information was presented within the financial statements or in the notes to the accounts, the evidence indicates that functional fixation remained when the participants made final decisions based on available information. This suggests that functional fixation may not be caused by access to or extraction of information but by the level of perceived significance based on where the information is reported in the financial statements. In general, the results indicate that current technology may not be able to fully reduce functional fixation in the evaluation of financial information prepared in accordance with different accounting policies and methods.

Negative determinant of Hessian features

Local image feature extractors that select local maxima of the determinant of Hessian function have been shown to perform well and are widely used. This paper introduces the negative local minima of the determinant of Hessian function for local feature extraction. The properties and scale-space behaviour of these features are examined and found to be desirable for feature extraction. It is shown how this new feature type can be implemented along with the existing local maxima approach at negligible extra processing cost. Applications to affine covariant feature extraction and sub-pixel precise corner extraction are demonstrated. Experimental results indicate that the new corner detector is more robust to image blur and noise than existing methods. It is also accurate for a broader range of corner geometries. An affine covariant feature extractor is implemented by combining the minima of the determinant of Hessian with existing scale and shape adaptation methods. This extractor can be implemented along side the existing Hessian maxima extractor simply by finding both minima and maxima during the initial extraction stage. The minima features increase the number of correspondences by two to four fold. The additional minima features are very distinct from the maxima features in descriptor space and do not make the matching process more ambiguous.

Defining the role of phytoene synthase in carotenoid accumulation of high provitamin A bananas

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a serious problem in developing countries, affecting approximately 127 million children of preschool age and 7.2 million pregnant women each year. However, this deficiency is readily treated and prevented through adequate nutrition. This can potentially be achieved through genetically engineered biofortification of staple food crops to enhance provitamin A (pVA) carotenoid content. Bananas are the fourth most important food crop with an annual production of 100 million tonnes and are widely consumed in areas affected by VAD. However, the fruit pVA content of most widely consumed banana cultivars is low (~ 0.2 to 0.5 ìg/g dry weight). This includes cultivars such as the East African highland banana (EAHB), the staple crop in countries such as Uganda, where annual banana consumption is approximately 250 kg per person. This fact, in addition to the agronomic properties of staple banana cultivars such as vegetative reproduction and continuous cropping, make bananas an ideal target for pVA enhancement through genetic engineering. Interestingly, there are banana varieties known with high fruit pVA content (up to 27.8 ìg/g dry weight), although they are not widely consumed due to factors such as cultural preference and availability. The genes involved in carotenoid accumulation during banana fruit ripening have not been well studied and an understanding of the molecular basis for the differential capacity of bananas to accumulate carotenoids may impact on the effective production of genetically engineered high pVA bananas. The production of phytoene by the enzyme phytoene synthase (PSY) has been shown to be an important rate limiting determinant of pVA accumulation in crop systems such as maize and rice. Manipulation of this gene in rice has been used successfully to produce Golden Rice, which exhibits higher seed endosperm pVA levels than wild type plants. Therefore, it was hypothesised that differences between high and low pVA accumulating bananas could be due either to differences in PSY enzyme activity or factors regulating the expression of the psy gene. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to investigate the role of PSY in accumulation of pVA in banana fruit of representative high (Asupina) and low (Cavendish) pVA banana cultivars by comparing the nucleic acid and encoded amino acid sequences of the banana psy genes, in vivo enzyme activity of PSY in rice callus and expression of PSY through analysis of promoter activity and mRNA levels. Initially, partial sequences of the psy coding region from five banana cultivars were obtained using reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR with degenerate primers designed to conserved amino acids in the coding region of available psy sequences from other plants. Based on phylogenetic analysis and comparison to maize psy sequences, it was found that in banana, psy occurs as a gene family of at least three members (psy1, psy2a and psy2b). Subsequent analysis of the complete coding regions of these genes from Asupina and Cavendish suggested that they were all capable of producing functional proteins due to high conservation in the catalytic domain. However, inability to obtain the complete mRNA sequences of Cavendish psy2a, and isolation of two non-functional Cavendish psy2a coding region variants, suggested that psy2a expression may be impaired in Cavendish. Sequence analysis indicated that these Cavendish psy2a coding region variants may have resulted from alternate splicing. Evidence of alternate splicing was also observed in one Asupina psy1 coding region variant, which was predicted to produce a functional PSY1 isoform. The complete mRNA sequence of the psy2b coding regions could not be isolated from either cultivar. Interestingly, psy1 was cloned predominantly from leaf while psy2 was obtained preferentially from fruit, suggesting some level of tissue-specific expression. The Asupina and Cavendish psy1 and psy2a coding regions were subsequently expressed in rice callus and the activity of the enzymes compared in vivo through visual observation and quantitative measurement of carotenoid accumulation. The maize B73 psy1 coding region was included as a positive control. After several weeks on selection, regenerating calli showed a range of colours from white to dark orange representing various levels of carotenoid accumulation. These results confirmed that the banana psy coding regions were all capable of producing functional enzymes. No statistically significant differences in levels of activity were observed between banana PSYs, suggesting that differences in PSY activity were not responsible for differences in the fruit pVA content of Asupina and Cavendish. The psy1 and psy2a promoter sequences were isolated from Asupina and Cavendish gDNA using a PCR-based genome walking strategy. Interestingly, three Cavendish psy2a promoter clones of different sizes, representing possible allelic variants, were identified while only single promoter sequences were obtained for the other Asupina and Cavendish psy genes. Bioinformatic analysis of these sequences identified motifs that were previously characterised in the Arabidopsis psy promoter. Notably, an ATCTA motif associated with basal expression in Arabidopsis was identified in all promoters with the exception of two of the Cavendish psy2a promoter clones (Cpsy2apr2 and Cpsy2apr3). G1 and G2 motifs, linked to light-regulated responses in Arabidopsis, appeared to be differentially distributed between psy1 and psy2a promoters. In the untranscribed regulatory regions, the G1 motifs were found only in psy1 promoters, while the G2 motifs were found only in psy2a. Interestingly, both ATCTA and G2 motifs were identified in the 5’ UTRs of Asupina and Cavendish psy1. Consistent with other monocot promoters, introns were present in the Asupina and Cavendish psy1 5’ UTRs, while none were observed in the psy2a 5’ UTRs. Promoters were cloned into expression constructs, driving the â-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene. Transient expression of the Asupina and Cavendish psy1 and psy2a promoters in both Cavendish embryogenic cells and Cavendish fruit demonstrated that all promoters were active, except Cpsy2apr2 and Cpsy2apr3. The functional Cavendish psy2a promoter (Cpsy2apr1) appeared to have activity similar to the Asupina psy2a promoter. The activities of the Asupina and Cavendish psy1 promoters were similar to each other, and comparable to those of the functional psy2a promoters. Semi-quantitative PCR analysis of Asupina and Cavendish psy1 and psy2a transcripts showed that psy2a levels were high in green fruit and decreased during ripening, reinforcing the hypothesis that fruit pVA levels were largely dependent on levels of psy2a expression. Additionally, semi-quantitative PCR using intron-spanning primers indicated that high levels of unprocessed psy2a and psy2b mRNA were present in the ripe fruit of Cavendish but not in Asupina. This raised the possibility that differences in intron processing may influence pVA accumulation in Asupina and Cavendish. In this study the role of PSY in banana pVA accumulation was analysed at a number of different levels. Both mRNA accumulation and promoter activity of psy genes studied were very similar between Asupina and Cavendish. However, in several experiments there was evidence of cryptic or alternate splicing that differed in Cavendish compared to Asupina, although these differences were not conclusively linked to the differences in fruit pVA accumulation between Asupina and Cavendish. Therefore, other carotenoid biosynthetic genes or regulatory mechanisms may be involved in determining pVA levels in these cultivars. This study has contributed to an increased understanding of the role of PSY in the production of pVA carotenoids in banana fruit, corroborating the importance of this enzyme in regulating carotenoid production. Ultimately, this work may serve to inform future research into pVA accumulation in important crop varieties such as the EAHB and the discovery of avenues to improve such crops through genetic modification.

Work motivation as a determinant of organizational and professional commitment in case of temporary organizations : theoretical perspectives

The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical framework to investigate the relationship between work motivation, organizational commitment, and professional commitment in temporary organizations. Through a review of theory, we contend that work motivation has two major patterns- internal motivation (that includes intrinsic, need-based, and self-deterministic theories), and external motivation (that includes cognitive or process-based theories of motivation) through which it has been investigated. We also subsume the nature of employee commitment to be of three types- affective, continuance, and normative. This commitment may either be towards organization or profession. A literature review reveals that the characteristics of the temporary organization - specifically tenure, and task - regulate the relationship between work motivation, and organizational commitment, and professional commitment. Relevant propositions are presented.

Early local functional changes in the human diabetic retina : a global flash multifocal electroretinogram study

Purpose: To investigate early functional changes of local retinal defects in type II diabetic patients using the global flash multifocal electroretinogram (MOFO mfERG). Methods: Thirty-eight diabetic patients and 14 age-matched controls were recruited. Nine of the diabetics were free from diabetic retinopathy (DR), while the remainder had mild to moderate non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The MOFO mfERG was performed at high (98%) and low (46%) contrast levels. MfERG responses were grouped into 35 regions for comparison with DR classification at those locations. Z-scores of the regional mfERG responses were compared across different types of DR defects. Results: The mfERG waveform consisted of the direct component (DC) and the induced component (IC). Local reduction in DC and IC amplitudes were found in diabetic patients with and without DR. With increasing severity of retinopathy, there was a further deterioration in amplitude of both components. Under MOFO mfERG paradigm, amplitude was a useful screening parameter. Conclusion: The MOFO mfERG can help in detecting early functional anomalies before the appearance of visible signs, and may assist in monitoring further functional deterioration in diabetic patients.

Homo- and heteronuclear meso,meso-(E)-Ethene-1,2-diyl-Linked Diporphyrins : preparation, X-ray crystal structure, electronic absorption and emission spectra and density functional theory calculations

Homo-and heteronuclear meso,meso-(E)-ethene-1,2-diyl-linked diporphyrins have been prepared by the Suzuki coupling of porphyrinylboronates and iodovinylporphyrins. Combinations comprising 5,10,15-triphenylporphyrin (TriPP) on both ends of the ethene-1,2-diyl bridge M 210 (M 2=H 2/Ni, Ni 2, Ni/Zn, H 4, H 2Zn, Zn 2) and 5,15-bis(3,5-di-tert-butylphenyl)porphyrinato-nickel(II) on one end and H 2, Ni, and ZnTriPP on the other (M 211), enable the first studies of this class of compounds possessing intrinsic polarity. The compounds were characterized by electronic absorption and steady state emission spectra, 1H NMR spectra, and for the Ni 2 bis(TriPP) complex Ni 210, single crystal X-ray structure determination. The crystal structure shows ruffled distortions of the porphyrin rings, typical of Ni II porphyrins, and the (E)-C 2H 2 bridge makes a dihedral angle of 50° with the mean planes of the macrocycles. The result is a stepped parallel arrangement of the porphyrin rings. The dihedral angles in the solid state reflect the interplay of steric and electronic effects of the bridge on interporphyrin communication. The emission spectra in particular, suggest energy transfer across the bridge is fast in conformations in which the bridge is nearly coplanar with the rings. Comparisons of the fluorescence behaviour of H 410 and H 2Ni10 show strong quenching of the free base fluorescence when the complex is excited at the lower energy component of the Soret band, a feature associated in the literature with more planar conformations. TDDFT calculations on the gas-phase optimized geometry of Ni 210 reproduce the features of the experimental electronic absorption spectrum within 0.1 eV. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Should athletes return to sport after applying Ice? A systematic review of the effect of local 3 cooling on functional performance

Applying ice or other forms of topical cooling is a popular method of treating sports injuries. It is commonplace for athletes to return to competitive activity, shortly or immediately after the application of a cold treatment. In this article, we examine the effect of local tissue cooling on outcomes relating to functional performance and to discuss their relevance to the sporting environment. A computerized literature search, citation tracking and hand search was performed up to April, 2011. Eligible studies were trials involving healthy human participants, describing the effects of cooling on outcomes relating to functional performance. Two reviewers independently assessed the validity of included trials and calculated effect sizes. Thirty five trials met the inclusion criteria; all had a high risk of bias. The mean sample size was 19. Meta-analyses were not undertaken due to clinical heterogeneity. The majority of studies used cooling durations >20 minutes. Strength (peak torque/force) was reported by 25 studies with approximately 75% recording a decrease in strength immediately following cooling. There was evidence from six studies that cooling adversely affected speed, power and agility-based running tasks; two studies found this was negated with a short rewarming period. There was conflicting evidence on the effect of cooling on isolated muscular endurance. A small number of studies found that cooling decreased upper limb dexterity and accuracy. The current evidence base suggests that athletes will probably be at a performance disadvantage if they return to activity immediately after cooling. This is based on cooling for longer than 20 minutes, which may exceed the durations employed in some sporting environments. In addition, some of the reported changes were clinically small and may only be relevant in elite sport. Until better evidence is available, practitioners should use short cooling applications and/or undertake a progressive warm up prior to returning to play.

Functional and advanced functional and causal relationship diagrams for remote condition monitoring

Analysing the condition of an asset is a big challenge as there can be many aspects which can contribute to the overall functional reliability of the asset that have to be considered. In this paper we propose a two-step functional and causal relationship diagram (FCRD) to address this problem. In the first step, the FCRD is designed to facilitate the analysis of the condition of an asset by evaluating the interdependence (functional and causal) relationships between different components of the asset with the help of a relationship diagram. This is followed by the advanced FCRD (AFCRD) which refines the information from the FCRD into a comprehensive and manageable format. This new two-step methodology for asset condition monitoring is tested and validated for the case of a water treatment plant. © IMechE 2012.

The relationship between chronic disease self-efficacy and nutritional status, functional ability and quality of life in older adults at risk of hospital readmission

Background and significance: Older adults with chronic diseases are at increasing risk of hospital admission and readmission. Approximately 75% of adults have at least one chronic condition, and the odds of developing a chronic condition increases with age. Chronic diseases consume about 70% of the total Australian health expenditure, and about 59% of hospital events for chronic conditions are potentially preventable. These figures have brought to light the importance of the management of chronic disease among the growing older population. Many studies have endeavoured to develop effective chronic disease management programs by applying social cognitive theory. However, limited studies have focused on chronic disease self-management in older adults at high risk of hospital readmission. Moreover, although the majority of studies have covered wide and valuable outcome measures, there is scant evidence on examining the fundamental health outcomes such as nutritional status, functional status and health-related quality of life. Aim: The aim of this research was to test social cognitive theory in relation to self-efficacy in managing chronic disease and three health outcomes, namely nutritional status, functional status, and health-related quality of life, in older adults at high risk of hospital readmission. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed for this research. Three studies were undertaken. Study One examined the nutritional status and validation of a nutritional screening tool; Study Two explored the relationships between participants. characteristics, self-efficacy beliefs, and health outcomes based on the study.s hypothesized model; Study Three tested a theoretical model based on social cognitive theory, which examines potential mechanisms of the mediation effects of social support and self-efficacy beliefs. One hundred and fifty-seven patients aged 65 years and older with a medical admission and at least one risk factor for readmission were recruited. Data were collected from medical records on demographics, medical history, and from self-report questionnaires. The nutrition data were collected by two registered nurses. For Study One, a contingency table and the kappa statistic was used to determine the validity of the Malnutrition Screening Tool. In Study Two, standard multiple regression, hierarchical multiple regression and logistic regression were undertaken to determine the significant influential predictors for the three health outcome measures. For Study Three, a structural equation modelling approach was taken to test the hypothesized self-efficacy model. Results: The findings of Study One suggested that a high prevalence of malnutrition continues to be a concern in older adults as the prevalence of malnutrition was 20.6% according to the Subjective Global Assessment. Additionally, the findings confirmed that the Malnutrition Screening Tool is a valid nutritional screening tool for hospitalized older adults at risk of readmission when compared to the Subjective Global Assessment with high sensitivity (94%), and specificity (89%) and substantial agreement between these two methods (k = .74, p < .001; 95% CI .62-.86). Analysis data for Study Two found that depressive symptoms and perceived social support were the two strongest influential factors for self-efficacy in managing chronic disease in a hierarchical multiple regression. Results of multivariable regression models suggested advancing age, depressive symptoms and less tangible support were three important predictors for malnutrition. In terms of functional status, a standard regression model found that social support was the strongest predictor for the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, followed by self-efficacy in managing chronic disease. The results of standard multiple regression revealed that the number of hospital readmission risk factors adversely affected the physical component score, while depressive symptoms and self-efficacy beliefs were two significant predictors for the mental component score. In Study Three, the results of the structural equation modelling found that self-efficacy partially mediated the effect of health characteristics and depression on health-related quality of life. The health characteristics had strong direct effects on functional status and body mass index. The results also indicated that social support partially mediated the relationship between health characteristics and functional status. With regard to the joint effects of social support and self-efficacy, social support fully mediated the effect of health characteristics on self-efficacy, and self-efficacy partially mediated the effect of social support on functional status and health-related quality of life. The results also demonstrated that the models fitted the data well with relative high variance explained by the models, implying the hypothesized constructs under discussion were highly relevant, and hence the application for social cognitive theory in this context was supported. Conclusion: This thesis highlights the applicability of social cognitive theory on chronic disease self-management in older adults at risk of hospital readmission. Further studies are recommended to validate and continue to extend the development of social cognitive theory on chronic disease self-management in older adults to improve their nutritional and functional status, and health-related quality of life.