The governance of grapes: The NSW Inquiry into the Wine Grape Market and Prices (2010) -- An assessment

The contribution of the grape growing and wine making industries to Australia’s continued economic prosperity is under threat. While international market dynamics are often cited as the cause, the problem of oversupply and more specifically calls for government intervention were the focus of the recently completed NSW Legislative Council’s Standing Committee on State Development Wine Grape Market and Prices Inquiry (Catanzariti Inquiry, 2010a). This paper examines the process and outcomes of the Inquiry and the NSW Government’s response to its recommendations. It is argued that a mandatory Code of Conduct ought to be adopted by the industry to govern the relationships between winegrape growers and wine makers

Aerosols from biomass burning over the tropical South Atlantic region: Distributions and impacts

The NASA Global Tropospheric Experiment (GTE) Transport and Atmospheric Chemistry Near the Equator-Atlantic (TRACE A) expedition was conducted September 21 through October 26, 1992, to investigate factors responsible for creating the seasonal South Atlantic tropospheric ozone maximum. During these flights, fine aerosol (0.1-3.0 μm) number densities were observed to be enhanced roughly tenfold over remote regions of the tropical South Atlantic and greater over adjacent continental areas, relative to northern hemisphere observations and to measurements recorded in the same area during Ac wet season. Chemical and meteorological analyses as well as visual observations indicate that the primary source of these enhancements was biomass burning occurring within grassland regions of north central Brazil and southeastern Africa. These fires exhibited fine aerosol (N) emission ratios relative to CO (dN/dCO) of 22.5 ± 9.7 and 23.6 ± 15.1 cm-3 parts per billion by volume (ppbv)-1 over Brazil and Africa, respectively. Convection coupled with counterclockwise flow around the South Atlantic subtropical anticyclone subsequently distributed these aerosols throughout the remote South Atlantic troposphere. We calculate that dilute smoke from biomass burning produced an average tenfold enhancement in optical depth over the continental regions as well as a 50% increase in this parameter over the middle South Atlantic Ocean; these changes correspond to an estimated net cooling of up to 25 W m-2 and 2.4 W m-2 during clear-sky conditions over savannas and ocean respectively. Over the ocean our analyses suggest that modification of CCN concentrations within the persistent eastern Atlantic marine stratocumulus clouds by entrainment of subsiding haze layers could significantly increase cloud albedo resulting in an additional surface radiative cooling potentially greater in magnitude than that caused by direct extinction of solar radiation by the aerosol particles themselves

THE NEED FOR A NEW JOINING TECHNOLOGY FOR THE CLOSURE WELDING OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS CONTAINERS

One of the activities associated with cleanup throughout the Department of Energy (DOE) complex is packaging radioactive materials into storage containers. Much of this work will be performed in high-radiation environments requiring fully remote operations, for which existing, proven systems do not currently exist. These conditions demand a process that is capable of producing acceptable (defect-free) welds on a consistent basis; the need to perform weld repair, under fully-remote operations, can be extremely costly and time consuming. Current closure welding technology (fusion welding) is not well suited for this application and will present risk to cleanup cost and schedule. To address this risk, Fluor and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), are proposing that a new and emerging joining technology, Friction Stir Welding (FSW), be considered for this work. FSW technology has been demonstrated in other industries (aerospace and marine) to produce near flaw-free welds on a consistent basis. FSW is judged capable of providing the needed performance for fully-remote closure welding of containers for radioactive materials for the following reasons: FSW is a solid-state process; material is not melted. As such, FSW does not produce the type of defects associated with fusion welding, e.g., solidification-induced porosity, cracking, distortion due to weld shrinkage, and residual stress. In addition, because FSW is a low-heat input process, material properties (mechanical, corrosion and environmental) are preserved and not degraded as can occur with 'high-heat' fusion welding processes. When compared to fusion processes, FSW produces extremely high weld quality. FSW is performed using machine-tool technology. The equipment is simple and robust and well-suited for high radiation, fully-remote operations compared to the relatively complex equipment associated with the fusion-welding processes. Additionally, for standard wall thicknesses of radioactive materials containers, the FSW process can perform final closure welding in a single pass (GTAW requires multiple passes) resulting in increased productivity. Together, the performance characteristics associated with FSW, i.e., high weld quality, simple machine-tool equipment and increased welding efficiency, are expected to reduce risk to upcoming DOE radioactive materials packaging campaigns. FSW technology requires some development/adaptation for this application, along with approval from the governing code of construction prior to production operations. This paper addresses the need for a new joining technology, a description of the FSW process and why it is well-suited for this application, and several activities required for commercialization

Large-scale air mass characteristics observed over the remote tropical Pacific Ocean during March-April 1999: Results from PEM-Tropics B field experiment

Eighteen long-range flights over the Pacific Ocean between 38° S to 20° N and 166° E to 90° W were made by the NASA DC-8 aircraft during the NASA Pacific Exploratory Mission (PEM) Tropics B conducted from March 6 to April 18, 1999. Two lidar systems were flown on the DC-8 to remotely measure vertical profiles of ozone (O3), water vapor (H2O), aerosols, and clouds from near the surface to the upper troposphere along their flight track. In situ measurements of a wide range of gases and aerosols were made on the DC-8 for comprehensive characterization of the air and for correlation with the lidar remote measurements. The transition from northeasterly flow of Northern Hemispheric (NH) air on the northern side of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) to generally easterly flow of Southern Hemispheric (SH) air south of the ITCZ was accompanied by a significant decrease in O3, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and aerosols and an increase in H2O. Trajectory analyses indicate that air north of the ITCZ came from Asia and/or the United States, while the air south of the ITCZ had a long residence time over the Pacific, perhaps originating over South America several weeks earlier. Air south of the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) came rapidly from the west originating over Australia or Africa. This air had enhanced O3 and aerosols and an associated decrease in H2O. Average latitudinal and longitudinal distributions of O3 and H2O were constructed from the remote and in situ O3 and H2O data, and these distributions are compared with results from PEM-Tropics A conducted in August-October 1996. During PEM-Tropics B, low O3 air was found in the SH across the entire Pacific Basin at low latitudes. This was in strong contrast to the photochemically enhanced O3 levels found across the central and eastern Pacific low latitudes during PEM-Tropics A. Nine air mass types were identified for PEM-Tropics B based on their O3, aerosols, clouds, and potential vorticity characteristics. The data from each flight were binned by altitude according to air mass type, and these results showed the relative observational frequency of the different air masses as a function of altitude in seven regions over the Pacific. The average chemical composition of the major air mass types was determined from in situ measurements in the NH and SH, and these results provided insight into the origin, lifetime, and chemistry of the air in these regions. Copyright 2001 by the American Geophysical Union

An assessment of western North Pacific ozone photochemistry based on springtime observations from NASA's PEM-West B (1994) and TRACE-P (2001) field studies

The current study provides a comparison of the photochemical environments for two NASA field studies focused on the western North Pacific (PEM-West-B (PWB) and TRACE-P (TP)). These two studies were separated in calendar time by approximately 7 years. Both studies were carried out under springtime conditions, with PWB being launched in 1994 and TP being deployed in 2001 (i.e., 23 February - 15 March 1994 and 10 March-15 April 2001, respectively). Because of the 7-year time separation, these two studies presented a unique scientific opportunity to assess whether evidence could be found to support the Department of Energy\u27s projections in 1997 that increases in anthropogenic emissions from East Asia could reach 5%/yr. Such projections would lead one to the conclusion that a significant shift in the atmospheric photochemical properties of the western North Pacific would occur. To the contrary, the findings from this study support the most recent emission inventory data [Streets et al., 2003] in that they show no significant systematic trend involving increases in any O3 precursor species and no evidence for a significant shift in the level of photochemical activity over the western North Pacific. This conclusion was reached in spite of there being real differences in the concentration levels of some species as well as differences in photochemical activity between PWB and TP. However, nearly all of these differences were shown to be a result of a near 3-week shift in TP\u27s sampling window relative to PWB, thus placing it later in the spring season. The photochemical enhancements seen during TP were most noticeable for latitudes in the range of 25-45°N. Most important among these were increases in J(O1D), OH, and HO2 and values for photochemical ozone formation and destruction, all of which were typically two times larger than those calculated for PWB. A comparison of these airborne results with ozonesonde data from four Japanese stations provided further evidence showing that the 3-week shift in the respective sampling windows of PWB and TP was a likely cause for the differences seen in O3 levels and in photochemical activity between the two airborne studies. Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union

Vitamin D receptor ChIP-seq in primary CD4+ cells: relationship to serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and autoimmune disease

PMCID: PMC3710212This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Ras Conformational Switching: Simulating Nucleotide-Dependent Conformational Transitions with Accelerated Molecular Dynamics

Ras mediates signaling pathways controlling cell proliferation and development by cycling between GTP- and GDP-bound active and inactive conformational states. Understanding the complete reaction path of this conformational change and its intermediary structures is critical to understanding Ras signaling. We characterize nucleotide-dependent conformational transition using multiple-barrier-crossing accelerated molecular dynamics (aMD) simulations. These transitions, achieved for the first time for wild-type Ras, are impossible to observe with classical molecular dynamics (cMD) simulations due to the large energetic barrier between end states. Mapping the reaction path onto a conformer plot describing the distribution of the crystallographic structures enabled identification of highly populated intermediate structures. These structures have unique switch orientations (residues 25–40 and 57–75) intermediate between GTP and GDP states, or distinct loop3 (46–49), loop7 (105–110), and α5 C-terminus (159–166) conformations distal from the nucleotide-binding site. In addition, these barrier-crossing trajectories predict novel nucleotide-dependent correlated motions, including correlations of α2 (residues 66–74) with α3-loop7 (93–110), loop2 (26–37) with loop10 (145–151), and loop3 (46–49) with α5 (152–167). The interconversion between newly identified Ras conformations revealed by this study advances our mechanistic understanding of Ras function. In addition, the pattern of correlated motions provides new evidence for a dynamic linkage between the nucleotide-binding site and the membrane interacting C-terminus critical for the signaling function of Ras. Furthermore, normal mode analysis indicates that the dominant collective motion that occurs during nucleotide-dependent conformational exchange, and captured in aMD (but absent in cMD) simulations, is a low-frequency motion intrinsic to the structure

The Distinct Conformational Dynamics of K-Ras and H-Ras A59G

Ras proteins regulate signaling cascades crucial for cell proliferation and differentiation by switching between GTP- and GDP-bound conformations. Distinct Ras isoforms have unique physiological functions with individual isoforms associated with different cancers and developmental diseases. Given the small structural differences among isoforms and mutants, it is currently unclear how these functional differences and aberrant properties arise. Here we investigate whether the subtle differences among isoforms and mutants are associated with detectable dynamical differences. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations reveal that wild-type K-Ras and mutant H-Ras A59G are intrinsically more dynamic than wild-type H-Ras. The crucial switch 1 and switch 2 regions along with loop 3, helix 3, and loop 7 contribute to this enhanced flexibility. Removing the gamma-phosphate of the bound GTP from the structure of A59G led to a spontaneous GTP-to-GDP conformational transition in a 20-ns unbiased simulation. The switch 1 and 2 regions exhibit enhanced flexibility and correlated motion when compared to non-transitioning wild-type H-Ras over a similar timeframe. Correlated motions between loop 3 and helix 5 of wild-type H-Ras are absent in the mutant A59G reflecting the enhanced dynamics of the loop 3 region. Taken together with earlier findings, these results suggest the existence of a lower energetic barrier between GTP and GDP states of the mutant. Molecular dynamics simulations combined with principal component analysis of available Ras crystallographic structures can be used to discriminate ligand- and sequence-based dynamic perturbations with potential functional implications. Furthermore, the identification of specific conformations associated with distinct Ras isoforms and mutants provides useful information for efforts that attempt to selectively interfere with the aberrant functions of these species

Reliability and validity of three questionnaires measuring context-specific sedentary behaviour and associated correlates in adolescents, adults and older adults

BACKGROUND: Reliable and valid measures of total sedentary time, context-specific sedentary behaviour (SB) and its potential correlates are useful for the development of future interventions. The purpose was to examine test-retest reliability and criterion validity of three newly developed questionnaires on total sedentary time, context-specific SB and its potential correlates in adolescents, adults and older adults. METHODS: Reliability and validity was tested in six different samples of Flemish (Belgium) residents. For the reliability study, 20 adolescents, 22 adults and 20 older adults filled out the age-specific SB questionnaire twice. Test-retest reliability was analysed using Kappa coefficients, Intraclass Correlation Coefficients and/or percentage agreement, separately for the three age groups. For the validity study, data were retrieved from 62 adolescents, 33 adults and 33 older adults, with activPAL as criterion measure. Spearman correlations and Bland-Altman plots (or non-parametric approach) were used to analyse criterion validity, separately for the three age groups and for weekday, weekend day and average day. RESULTS: The test-retest reliability for self-reported total sedentary time indicated following values: ICC = 0.37-0.67 in adolescents; ICC = 0.73-0.77 in adults; ICC = 0.68-0.80 in older adults. Item-specific reliability results (e.g. context-specific SB and its potential correlates) showed good-to-excellent reliability in 67.94%, 68.90% and 66.38% of the items in adolescents, adults and older adults respectively. All items belonging to sedentary-related equipment and simultaneous SB showed good reliability. The sections of the questionnaire with lowest reliability were: context-specific SB (adolescents), potential correlates of computer use (adults) and potential correlates of motorized transport (older adults). Spearman correlations between self-reported total sedentary time and the activPAL were different for each age group: rho = 0.02-0.42 (adolescents), rho = 0.06-0.52 (adults), rho = 0.38-0.50 (older adults). Participants over-reported total sedentary time (except for weekend day in older adults) compared to the activPAL, for weekday, weekend day and average day respectively by +57.05%, +46.29%, +53.34% in adolescents; +40.40%, +19.15%, +32.89% in adults; +10.10%, -6.24%, +4.11% in older adults. CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaires showed acceptable test-retest reliability and criterion validity. However, over-reporting of total SB was noticeable in adolescents and adults. Nevertheless, these questionnaires will be useful in getting context-specific information on SB