4,182 research outputs found
Support for equipment - Quick mounting with quick release
Temporary support device for equipment consists of pin bracket for attachment to item and socket bracket for mounting on any structure. System is adaptable to broad range of temporary storage media. No engagement, release, or adjustment of components is required
Morphological traits can track coral reef responses to the Anthropocene
MD was supported by the John Templeton Foundation (60501) and JM was supported by the Australian Research Council (FT110100609) during the period this research was undertaken.1. Susceptibility to human-driven environmental changes is mediated by species traits. Therefore, identifying traits that predict organism performance, ecosystem function and response to changes in environmental conditions can help forecast how ecosystems are responding to the Anthropocene. 2. Morphology dictates how organisms interact with their environment and other organisms, partially determining the environmental and biological contexts in which they are successful. Morphology is important for autogenic ecosystem engineering organisms, such as reef-building corals, because it determines the shape of the structures they create and by extension the communities they support. 3. Here, we present six morphological traits that capture variation in volume compactness, surface complexity and top-heaviness. With support from the literature, we propose causal links between morphology and a performanceâfunctionâresponse framework. 4. To illustrate these concepts, we combine 3D scanning and coral survey data to predict morphological traits from in situ colonies. We present a case study that examines how assemblage-scale morphological traits have responded to two cyclones and the 2016 mass bleaching eventâtwo phenomena predicted to increase in severity in the Anthropoceneâand discuss how these changes may impact ecosystem function. 5. The morphological traits outlined here offer a generalised and hypothesis-driven approach to tracking how reefs respond to the Anthropocene. The ability to predict these traits from field data and the increasing use of photogrammetry makes them readily applicable across broad spatiotemporal scales.PostprintPeer reviewe
Engineering molecular chains in carbon nanotubes
A range of mono- and bis-functionalised fullerenes have been synthesised and inserted into single-walled carbon nanotubes. The effect of the size and shape of the functional groups of the fullerenes on the resultant 1D arrays formed within the nanotubes was investigated by high resolution transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The addition of non-planar, sterically bulky chains to the fullerene cage results in highly ordered 1D structures in which the fullerenes are evenly spaced along the internal nanotube cavity. Theoretical calculations reveal that the functional groups interact with neighbouring fullerene cages to space the fullerenes evenly within the confines of the nanotube. The addition of two functional groups to opposite sides of the fullerene cages results in a further increase in the separation of the fullerene cages within the nanotubes at the cost of lower nanotube filling rates.This work was financially supported by FWF project I83-N20 (ESF IMPrESS), the Royal Society, the European Research Council (ERC), "Fundacao para a Ciencia ea Tecnologia" through the program Ciencia 2008, the project SeARCH (Services and Advanced Research Computing with HTC/HPC clusters) and Nottingham Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Centre (NNNC)
Subthreshold antiproton production in proton-carbon reactions
Data from KEK on subthreshold antiproton as well as on pi(+-) and K(+-)
production in proton-nucleus reactions are described at projectile energies
between 3.5 and 12.0 GeV. We use a model which considers a hadron-nucleus
reaction as an incoherent sum over collisions of the projectile with a varying
number of target nucleons. It samples complete events and allows thus for the
simultaneous consideration of all particle species measured. The overall
reproduction of the data is quite satisfactory. It is shown that the
contributions from the interaction of the projectile with groups of several
target nucleons are decisive for the description of subthreshold production.
Since the collective features of subthreshold production become especially
significant far below the threshold, the results are extrapolated down to COSY
energies. It is concluded that an antiproton measurement at ANKE-COSY should be
feasible, if the high background of other particles can be efficiently
suppressed.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, gzipped tar file, submitted to J. Phys. G v2:
Modification of text due to demands of referee
Who knows best? A Q methodology study to explore perspectives of professional stakeholders and community participants on health in low-income communities
Abstract Background Health inequalities in the UK have proved to be stubborn, and health gaps between best and worst-off are widening. While there is growing understanding of how the main causes of poor health are perceived among different stakeholders, similar insight is lacking regarding what solutions should be prioritised. Furthermore, we do not know the relationship between perceived causes and solutions to health inequalities, whether there is agreement between professional stakeholders and people living in low-income communities or agreement within these groups. Methods Q methodology was used to identify and describe the shared perspectives (âsubjectivitiesâ) that exist on i) why health is worse in low-income communities (âCausesâ) and ii) the ways that health could be improved in these same communities (âSolutionsâ). Purposively selected individuals (n =â53) from low-income communities (n =â25) and professional stakeholder groups (n =â28) ranked ordered sets of statements â 34 âCausesâ and 39 âSolutionsâ â onto quasi-normal shaped grids according to their point of view. Factor analysis was used to identify shared points of view. âCausesâ and âSolutionsâ were analysed independently, before examining correlations between perspectives on causes and perspectives on solutions. Results Analysis produced three factor solutions for both the âCausesâ and âSolutionsâ. Broadly summarised these accounts for âCausesâ are: i) âUnfair Societyâ, ii) âDependent, workless and lazyâ, iii) âIntergenerational hardshipsâ and for âSolutionsâ: i) âEmpower communitiesâ, ii) âPaternalismâ, iii) âRedistributionâ. No professionals defined (i.e. had a significant association with one factor only) the âCausesâ factor âDependent, workless and lazyâ and the âSolutionsâ factor âPaternalismâ. No community participants defined the âSolutionsâ factor âRedistributionâ. The direction of correlations between the two sets of factor solutions â âCausesâ and âSolutionsâ â appear to be intuitive, given the accounts identified. Conclusions Despite the plurality of views there was broad agreement across accounts about issues relating to money. This is important as it points a way forward for tackling health inequalities, highlighting areas for policy and future research to focus on
Community views on âCan perinatal services safely identify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents experiencing complex trauma?â
Family and extended kinship systems which nurture healthy, happy children are central to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Since colonisation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have been impacted by intergenerational cycles of trauma, stemming from colonial violence, genocidal policies and discrimination, including the forced removal of children from their families. Becoming a parent offers a unique life-course opportunity for trauma recovery and preventing intergenerational trauma. However, identifying or ârecognisingâ complex trauma carries significant risk of harm for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents due to reactive prenatal child protection involvement potentially compounding experiences of trauma, and limited benefits due to lack of culturally appropriate support. The Aboriginal-led participatory Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future project aims to co-design safe, accessible and feasible perinatal awareness, recognition, assessment and support strategies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents experiencing complex trauma. This paper presents views of 38 workshop participants to determine prerequisites for ensuring benefits outweigh risks of assessment to safely recognise parents experiencing complex trauma, consistent with screening criteria. Six essential elements were identified from thematic analysis: high-quality holistic care; cultural, social and emotional safety; empowerment, choice and control; flexible person-centred approaches; trusting relationships; and sensitive, skilled communication
Searching for music: understanding the discovery, acquisition, processing and organization of music in a domestic setting for design
This series of studies make it clear that a wide range of both physical and digital resources are involved in domestic music consumption. The selection of digital resources is particularly evident, and it can be observed that domestic music consumption is a fragmented business, taking advantage of many different "channels'' for getting, using and preparing music. While there are not a series of common channels, each home displayed a variety of methods in respect to using metadata in multiple different modalities: regardless, the activities involved in getting, using and preparing music cohere through a noticeable, emergent set of workflows. We find that not only does metadata support searching, as one might expect, but also it pervades all parts of the workflow and is used in real-time as a reflexive artifact and in terms of its future perceived/prescribed use. The findings of the research raise a series of possibilities and issues that form the basis for understanding and designing for metadata use
Glucose-induced down regulation of thiamine transporters in the kidney proximal tubular epithelium produces thiamine insufficiency in diabetes
Increased renal clearance of thiamine (vitamin B1) occurs in experimental and clinical diabetes producing thiamine insufficiency mediated by impaired tubular re-uptake and linked to the development of diabetic nephropathy. We studied the mechanism of impaired renal re-uptake of thiamine in diabetes. Expression of thiamine transporter proteins THTR-1 and THTR-2 in normal human kidney sections examined by immunohistochemistry showed intense polarised staining of the apical, luminal membranes in proximal tubules for THTR-1 and THTR-2 of the cortex and uniform, diffuse staining throughout cells of the collecting duct for THTR-1 and THTR-2 of the medulla. Human primary proximal tubule epithelial cells were incubated with low and high glucose concentration, 5 and 26 mmol/l, respectively. In high glucose concentration there was decreased expression of THTR-1 and THTR-2 (transporter mRNA: â76% and â53% respectively, p<0.001; transporter protein â77% and â83% respectively, p<0.05), concomitant with decreased expression of transcription factor specificity protein-1. High glucose concentration also produced a 37% decrease in apical to basolateral transport of thiamine transport across cell monolayers. Intensification of glycemic control corrected increased fractional excretion of thiamine in experimental diabetes. We conclude that glucose-induced decreased expression of thiamine transporters in the tubular epithelium may mediate renal mishandling of thiamine in diabetes. This is a novel mechanism of thiamine insufficiency linked to diabetic nephropathy
The ghosts of forests past and future : deforestation and botanical sampling in the Brazilian Amazon
The remarkable biodiversity of the Brazilian Amazon is poorly documented and threatened by deforestation. When undocumented areas become deforested, in addition to losing the fauna and flora, we lose the opportunity to know which unique species had occupied a habitat. Here we quantify such knowledge loss by calculating how much of the Brazilian Amazon has been deforested and will likely be deforested until 2050 without having its tree flora sufficiently documented. To this end, we analysed 399 147 digital specimens of nearly 6000 tree species in relation to official deforestation statistics and future deforestation scenarios. We find that by 2017, 30% of all the localities where tree specimens had been collected were mostly deforested. Some 300 000 km(2)(12%; 485 25 x 25 km grid cells) of the Brazilian Amazon had been deforested by 2017, without having a single tree specimen recorded. An additional 250 000-900 000 km(2)of severely under-collected rainforest will likely become deforested by 2050. If future tree sampling is to cover this area, sampling effort has to increase two- to six-fold. Nearly 255 000 km(2)or 7% of rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon is easily accessible but does yet but remain under-collected. Our study highlights how progressing deforestation increases the risk of losing undocumented species of a hyper-diverse tree flora.Peer reviewe
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