Contextual factors influencing early return to work in the rural and remote sector

Early return to work (RTW) interventions are important in facilitating successful and timely resumption of the worker role following a work-related injury. Early RTW strategies include strong communication between the employer, injured worker and treating physician; maintenance of the worker role, and accommodation of the injured worker through the provision of suitable alternative duties and modification of the workplace. In the State of Western Australia, all regions beyond the capital city are considered rural and remote. Workplace rehabilitation providers working in rural and remote regions face unique challenges in implementing early RTW interventions for injured workers due to issues of geographic distance, work cultures and limited availability of alternative jobduties. This paper discusses some of the factors restricting early RTW interventions and possible strategies to overcome these hurdles

A dynamic spatial econometric diffusion model with common factors:The rise and spread of cigarette consumption in Italy

This paper adopts a dynamic spatial panel data model with common factors to explain the non-stationary diffusion process of cigarette consumption across 69 Italian provinces over the period 1877-1913. The CD-test of Pesaran (2015a), the exponent alpha-test of Bailey et al. (2015), the cross-sectionally augmented panel unit root test of Pesaran et al. (2013), and the spatial stability test of Yu et al. (2012) are used to show that both global common factors and local spatial dependence are important drivers of the propagation of cigarette demand over this period and to determine the point at which the hypothesis of stationarity no longer needs to be rejected in favor of a unit root. The direct and indirect effects derived from the coefficient estimates of the model show that cigarettes were a normal good with an income elasticity of 0.4 and a price elasticity -0.4 in the long term. This price elasticity of -0.4 consists of a direct effect of -0.54 in the own region and a spillover effect to other regions of 0.15. This positive spillover effect is in line with previous spatial econometric studies which investigated cigarette demand in the U.S. states over a more recent period

A genealogical survey on the main bloodline of the Australian Cattle Dog in Italy

This paper presents the results of genetic variability analyses using genealogical data on the main genetic bloodline of the Australian Cattle Dog in Italy, a line that has had a significant impact on the development of the breed. All the genealogical data on the progeny and ancestors of one of the first stallions introduced in Italy were considered, i.e. Cattlefarm's Comeback Jack born on 1/2/1997 in Finland. Animals from the bloodline born between 1962 and 2019 were considered. A total number of 1722 animals were found to be from the line which represents the entire population (WP), including the basic population (BP) and the reference population (RP) defined as the animals currently living. A total of 982 animals were in the RP, with the oldest living dogs born in 2004. A total of 854 dogs were inbred. The average inbreeding coefficient (F) in the RP was 5.1%, while the average inbreeding of the inbred animals was 5.8%. The F was < 0.10 in 711 dogs (77.3% of inbred), and > 0.20 in only 36 dogs (3.91% of inbred). Fifteen traced generations were highlighted. A maximum average inbreeding value (6.45%) was observed in the dogs with 11 traced generations. This research highlighted the good genetic variability of this Australian Cattle Dog bloodline thanks to the efficient management of the breeders who in the past introduced some stallions from abroad. Currently, the lines in Italy are not sufficiently high to prevent inbreeding in the new matings, which is becoming frequent. It is, therefore, important to continue to import new stallions for reproduction to expand the genetic variability. However, at the same time, the old lines need to be preserved genetically, aptitudinally and morphologically, as they are an important heritage of the breed in Italy

Spin gating electrical current

We use an aluminium single electron transistor with a magnetic gate to directly quantify the chemical potential anisotropy of GaMnAs materials. Uniaxial and cubic contributions to the chemical potential anisotropy are determined from field rotation experiments. In performing magnetic field sweeps we observe additional isotropic magnetic field dependence of the chemical potential which shows a non-monotonic behavior. The observed effects are explained by calculations based on the $\mathbf{k}\cdot\mathbf{p}$ kinetic exchange model of ferromagnetism in GaMnAs. Our device inverts the conventional approach for constructing spin transistors: instead of spin-transport controlled by ordinary gates we spin-gate ordinary charge transport.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

HDAC inhibition is associated to valproic acid induction of early megakaryocytic markers

Valproic acid (VPA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, causes differentiation in different cell lines and in a cell-specific manner; yet, its effect on megakaryocytic (MK) differentiation has not been studied. We evaluated whether VPA induces MK differentiation in a UT-7 cell line through histone acetylation in the GpIIIa gene region and activation of the ERK pathway. UT-7 cells, derived from megakaryoblastic leukemia, were treated with VPA at various concentrations, and the expression of differentiation markers as well as the gene expression profile was assessed. Flow cytometry, immunoblot analysis, and RT-PCR demonstrated that VPA induced the expression of the early MK markers GpIIIa (CD61) and GpIIb/IIIa (CD41) in a dose-dependent manner. The VPA-treated cells showed hyperacetylation of the histones H3 and H4; in particular, histone acetylation was found to have been associated with CD61 expression, in that the GpIIIa promoter showed H4 hyperacetylation, as demonstrated by the chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. Furthermore, activation of the ERK pathway was involved in VPA-mediated CD61/CD41 expression and in cell adhesion, as demonstrated by using the MEK/ERK inhibitor U0126. In conclusion, the capacity of VPA to commit UT-7 cells to MK differentiation is mediated by its inhibitory action on HDAC and the long-lived activation of ERK1/2

Flame propagation across an obstacle: OH-PLIF and 2-D simulations with detailed chemistry

Flame propagation across a single obstacle inside a closed square channel is studied experimentally and numerically using a stoichiometric H_2/O_2 mixture at initial conditions 15 kPa and 300 K. The 50% blockage obstacle consists of a pair of fence-type obstacles mounted on the top and bottom walls of the channel. Direct optical visualization was performed using single-image measurement of the planar laser-induced fluorescence of the OH radical (OH-PLIF) and simultaneous high-speed schlieren video to study the flame topology and the flame tip velocity along the channel streamwise axis, respectively. The OH-PLIF images provide a novel level of detail and permit a thorough evaluation of the simulation accuracy. The flame tip accelerates to a peak velocity of 590 m/s just downstream of the obstacle followed by a deceleration and subsequent re-acceleration. The unburnt gas flow ahead of the flame is subsonic at all times. The flame does not show any signs of diffusive-thermal instability. Vortex–flame interactions in the recirculation zones downstream of the obstacle wrinkle the flame. The numerical simulations, based on solving the 2-D compressible reactive Navier–Stokes equations with detailed chemistry, predict the flame tip velocity accurately. However, differences in flame topology are observed, specifically, wrinkling is over-estimated. The over-prediction of flame wrinkling suggests a lower dissipation rate in the numerical simulations than in reality, which could be a consequence of neglecting the third channel dimension. Conditional means of the fuel consumption rate are similar to the consumption rates of 1-D unstretched laminar flames at all times. The increase in pressure during flame propagation causes an increase in fuel consumption rate which needs to be accounted for in simplified modeling approaches

Reconfigurable Boolean Logic using Magnetic Single-Electron Transistors

We propose a novel hybrid single-electron device for reprogrammable low-power logic operations, the magnetic single-electron transistor (MSET). The device consists of an aluminium single-electron transistors with a GaMnAs magnetic back-gate. Changing between different logic gate functions is realized by reorienting the magnetic moments of the magnetic layer which induce a voltage shift on the Coulomb blockade oscillations of the MSET. We show that we can arbitrarily reprogram the function of the device from an n-type SET for in-plane magnetization of the GaMnAs layer to p-type SET for out-of-plane magnetization orientation. Moreover, we demonstrate a set of reprogrammable Boolean gates and its logical complement at the single device level. Finally, we propose two sets of reconfigurable binary gates using combinations of two MSETs in a pull-down network

TGF-b Signaling Mechanisms in \u3ci\u3eCaenorhabditis elegans\u3c/i\u3e Response to Bacterial Pathogens

When exposed to infection, the nematode C. elegans mounts an innate immune response through secretion of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Different signaling pathways in the worm regulate release of these AMPs. One highly conserved pathway is the C. elegans BMP like pathway – regulated by the ligand DBL-1. The DBL-1 pathway is noted for its significant role in development but has also been shown to regulate many post-developmental processes within the worm, including the immune response. We are interested in determining how DBL-1 signaling can mediate a response specific to immunity, separate from its other functions in the worm. Through survival analysis we have shown that when exposed to pathogenic bacteria, expression of the DBL-1 effector SMA-3 in either the hypodermis or pharynx improves survival rate compared to sma-3 mutants. These results suggest crosstalk between the pharynx and the intestinal site of infection. Using qRT-PCR we have found two immune-related genes with expression patterns that indicate regulation by DBL-1 signaling through SMA-3. We have demonstrated that sma-3 expression in either the hypodermis or pharynx is sufficient to induce expression of these two AMPs in infection conditions. These results suggest that non cell- autonomous signaling of the DBL-1 pathway to regulate gene expression plays a role in the response to infection. We have also looked at the role that all five TGF- β ligands – DBL-1, TIG- 2, T IG-3, UNC-129, DAF-7 – play in the C. elegans immune response and show that mutations in any of these ligands have an effect on survival against bacterial infection. Through the use of double mutant analyses, we have shown that multiple TGF- β ligands demonstrate cooperative interaction in the immune response. Finally, we have shown that multiple canonical signaling components of the DBL-1 pathway are involved in the response to bacterial infection, whereas the DAF-7 R-Smad DAF-14 has no effect on survival. Taken together, our work shows that when faced with bacterial infection C. elegans mounts an immune response that uses complex signaling from the five TGF- β ligands and that through DBL-1, regulation of AMP expression is mediated by non cell-autonomous signaling