The Curious Country

By definition scientists are an inquisitive lot. But what are the scientific curiosities and concerns on the minds of Australians? What worries them, baffles them, and sets their curiosity meter to 10 out of 10? To find out, the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) took the nation’s intellectual temperature, surveying 1186 Australians: men and women aged 18 to 65, from all education levels and locations around Australia. The results frame this book: a collection of essays covering the diverse areas of science Australians are curious about. Edited by eminent science writer Leigh Dayton and including a foreword from Australia’s Chief Scientist, Ian Chubb. The collection covers a range of issues, including food and farming technology, environmental upheaval, health, fuel and energy technology and space exploration

Microsystems platforms for array-based single-cell biological assays

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-164).For much of the past century, plated cell cultures have served investigations regarding a variety of fundamental biological processes. Though this in vitro approach has been fruitful, for surveying topics including cell cycle effects3' 8, pro-survival4, 7, 9, 10 and apoptotic2' 11 signaling networks, gene regulationl2' 13, and stress dynamicsl4' 15 (among others), it caters best to harvesting the averaged responses from binned populations of cells and offers only limited avenues for tracking individual cell behaviors. Microsystems-based initiatives16-28 are beginning to aid this investigative shortcoming by offering a variety of strategies for handling individual cells. Such efforts, may ultimately serve studies of cross-population heterogeneity29-33, an effect often masked when tracking responses via averaged population-based means. As it is believed that small subpopulations of cells may be responsible or determining the fate of various diseases and developmental processes34-36, this new paradigm for probing cell function will likely offer key insights.In my dissertation, I offer a unique suite of microsystems-based tools37-42 for servicing novel biological assays centered on cross-population dynamics. This work leverages the investigative potential enabled by arrayed groupings of precisely-spaced single cells and presents innovations in active and passive cell trapping architectures, packaging design, and the use of novel materials for microfabrication41' 43. From proof-of-concept forays, where I discuss the first reported row/column-based electrically-addressable platform40 for trapping, imaging, and releasing collections of individual cells, to scaled implementations that employ frequency modulation to assign unique forcing effects to in-system constructs, I outlay fundamentals for designing, building, and evaluating dielectrophoresis-reliant (DEP) microsystems architectures.(cont.) I further present matured platforms that, for the first time, parallelize single-cell manipulations within microfluidic devices by combining hydrodynamic weir-based cell capture with DEP-based actuation37-39. In progressions toward functional on-chip bioassays, I experimentally validate conditions for in-device cell viability and offer a novel means for tracking mitosis in individual cells. Ongoing work, related to the developments presented here, offers the hope of new empirical approaches to drug discovery, the assignment of gene function in the aftermath of the human genome project, and enhanced understandings of cell communication-linked dynamic responses.by Brian M. Taff.Ph.D

The Curious Country

By definition scientists are an inquisitive lot. But what are the scientific curiosities and concerns on the minds of Australians? What worries them, baffles them, and sets their curiosity meter to 10 out of 10? To find out, the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) took the nation’s intellectual temperature, surveying 1186 Australians: men and women aged 18 to 65, from all education levels and locations around Australia. The results frame this book: a collection of essays covering the diverse areas of science Australians are curious about. Edited by eminent science writer Leigh Dayton and including a foreword from Australia’s Chief Scientist, Ian Chubb. The collection covers a range of issues, including food and farming technology, environmental upheaval, health, fuel and energy technology and space exploration

Personality Identification from Social Media Using Deep Learning: A Review

Social media helps in sharing of ideas and information among people scattered around the world and thus helps in creating communities, groups, and virtual networks. Identification of personality is significant in many types of applications such as in detecting the mental state or character of a person, predicting job satisfaction, professional and personal relationship success, in recommendation systems. Personality is also an important factor to determine individual variation in thoughts, feelings, and conduct systems. According to the survey of Global social media research in 2018, approximately 3.196 billion social media users are in worldwide. The numbers are estimated to grow rapidly further with the use of mobile smart devices and advancement in technology. Support vector machine (SVM), Naive Bayes (NB), Multilayer perceptron neural network, and convolutional neural network (CNN) are some of the machine learning techniques used for personality identification in the literature review. This paper presents various studies conducted in identifying the personality of social media users with the help of machine learning approaches and the recent studies that targeted to predict the personality of online social media (OSM) users are reviewed

Geotechnical Engineering for the Preservation of Monuments and Historic Sites III

The conservation of monuments and historic sites is one of the most challenging problems facing modern civilization. It involves, in inextricable patterns, factors belonging to different fields (cultural, humanistic, social, technical, economical, administrative) and the requirements of safety and use appear to be (or often are) in conflict with the respect of the integrity of the monuments. The complexity of the topic is such that a shared framework of reference is still lacking among art historians, architects, structural and geotechnical engineers. The complexity of the subject is such that a shared frame of reference is still lacking among art historians, architects, architectural and geotechnical engineers. And while there are exemplary cases of an integral approach to each building element with its static and architectural function, as a material witness to the culture and construction techniques of the original historical period, there are still examples of uncritical reliance on modern technology leading to the substitution from earlier structures to new ones, preserving only the iconic look of the original monument. Geotechnical Engineering for the Preservation of Monuments and Historic Sites III collects the contributions to the eponymous 3rd International ISSMGE TC301 Symposium (Naples, Italy, 22-24 June 2022). The papers cover a wide range of topics, which include: 　 - Principles of conservation, maintenance strategies, case histories - The knowledge: investigations and monitoring - Seismic risk, site effects, soil structure interaction - Effects of urban development and tunnelling on built heritage - Preservation of diffuse heritage: soil instability, subsidence, environmental damages The present volume aims at geotechnical engineers and academics involved in the preservation of monuments and historic sites worldwide

ESARDA 39th Annual Meeting: 2017 Symposium

The 39th ESARDA symposium on Safeguards and Nuclear Non-Proliferation was held in Düsseldorf, Germany from 16-18 May, 2017. The Symposium has been preceded by meetings of the ESARDA Working Groups on 15 May 2017. The event has once again been an opportunity for research organisations, safeguards authorities and nuclear plant operators to exchange information on new aspects of international safeguards and non-proliferation, as well as recent developments in nuclear safeguards and non-proliferation related research activities and their implications for the safeguards community.JRC.G.II.7-Nuclear securit

1996 Laboratory directed research and development annual report

This report summarizes progress from the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program during fiscal year 1996. In addition to a programmatic and financial overview, the report includes progress reports from 259 individual R&D projects in seventeen categories. The general areas of research include: engineered processes and materials; computational and information sciences; microelectronics and photonics; engineering sciences; pulsed power; advanced manufacturing technologies; biomedical engineering; energy and environmental science and technology; advanced information technologies; counterproliferation; advanced transportation; national security technology; electronics technologies; idea exploration and exploitation; production; and science at the interfaces - engineering with atoms

ESARDA 37th Annual Meeting Proceedings

The 37th ESARDA symposium on Safeguards and Nuclear Non-Proliferation was held in Manchester, United Kingdom from 19-21 May, 2015. The Symposium has been preceded by meetings of the ESARDA Working Groups on 18 May 2015. The event has once again been an opportunity for research organisations, safeguards authorities and nuclear plant operators to exchange information on new aspects of international safeguards and non-proliferation, as well as recent developments in nuclear safeguards and non-proliferation related research activities and their implications for the safeguards community. The Proceedings contains the papers (118) submitted according to deadlines.JRC.E.8-Nuclear securit

Green Infrastructure and Climate Change Adaptation

This open access book introduces the function, implementation and governance of green infrastructure in Japan and other countries where lands are geologically fragile and climatologically susceptible to climate change. It proposes green infrastructure as an adaptation strategy for climate change and biodiversity conservation. In the face of climate change, dams, levees and floodways built as disaster prevention facilities do not sufficiently function against extraordinary events such as mega-floods and tsunami disasters. To prevent those disasters and loss of biodiversity in various ecosystems, we should shift from conventional hard measures to more adaptive strategies using various functions that natural and semi-natural ecosystems provide. Green infrastructure is an interconnected network of waterways, wetlands, woodlands, wildlife habitats and other natural areas that support native species, maintain natural ecological processes, sustain air and water resources and contribute to the health and quality of life for communities and people. Green infrastructure has mainly been discussed from adaptation strategy perspectives in cities and urban areas. However, to protect cities, which are generally situated at downstream lower elevations, we explore the preservation and restoration of forests at headwater basins and wetlands along rivers from a catchment perspective. In addition, the quantitative examination of flood risk, biodiversity, and social-economic benefits described in this book brings new perspectives to the discussion. The aim of this book is to accelerate the transformative changes from gray-based adaptation strategies to green- or hybrid-based strategies to adapt to climate change. The book provides essential information on the structure, function, and maintenance of green infrastructure for scientists, university students, government officers, and practitioners

African Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation

This open access book discusses current thinking and presents the main issues and challenges associated with climate change in Africa. It introduces evidences from studies and projects which show how climate change adaptation is being - and may continue to be successfully implemented in African countries. Thanks to its scope and wide range of themes surrounding climate change, the ambition is that this book will be a lead publication on the topic, which may be regularly updated and hence capture further works. Climate change is a major global challenge. However, some geographical regions are more severly affected than others. One of these regions is the African continent. Due to a combination of unfavourable socio-economic and meteorological conditions, African countries are particularly vulnerable to climate change and its impacts. The recently released IPCC special report "Global Warming of 1.5º C" outlines the fact that keeping global warming by the level of 1.5º C is possible, but also suggested that an increase by 2º C could lead to crises with crops (agriculture fed by rain could drop by 50% in some African countries by 2020) and livestock production, could damage water supplies and pose an additonal threat to coastal areas. The 5th Assessment Report produced by IPCC predicts that wheat may disappear from Africa by 2080, and that maize— a staple—will fall significantly in southern Africa. Also, arid and semi-arid lands are likely to increase by up to 8%, with severe ramifications for livelihoods, poverty eradication and meeting the SDGs. Pursuing appropriate adaptation strategies is thus vital, in order to address the current and future challenges posed by a changing climate. It is against this background that the "African Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation" is being published. It contains papers prepared by scholars, representatives from social movements, practitioners and members of governmental agencies, undertaking research and/or executing climate change projects in Africa, and working with communities across the African continent. Encompassing over 100 contribtions from across Africa, it is the most comprehensive publication on climate change adaptation in Africa ever produced