No COUNTER, No Problem: Electronic resource assessment in the absence of COUNTER data

COUNTER data is not always available through database vendors for all electronic resources. We present strategies for assessing these resources. We focus on using downloads, pageviews, online searches and product registration data to assess resources that do not have COUNTER data available. Example assessments include EndNote, the Financial Times and the Economist

Can we live in the bulk without a brane?

We suggest a braneless scenario that still hides large-volume extra dimensions. Ordinarily the strength of bulk gauge interactions would be diluted over the large internal volume, making all the four dimensional forces weak. We use the fact that if the gauge fields result from the dimensional reduction of pure higher-dimensional gravity, then the strengths of the four dimensional gauge interactions are related to the sizes of corresponding cycles averaged over the compact internal manifold. Therefore, if a gauge force is concentrated over a small cycle it will not be diluted over the entire manifold. Gravity, however, remains diluted over the large volume. Thus large-volume, large mass gap extra dimensions with small cycles can remain hidden and result in a hierarchy between gravity and the other forces. However, problematically, the cycles are required to be smaller than the higher-dimensional Planck length and this raises concern over quantum gravity corrections. We speculate on possible cures.Comment: 5 page

Diversity and dynamics of Escherichia coli ST131 causing bacteremia in a tertiary hospital in Madrid (1996-2016) using genomic tools and latest generation bioinformatics

Trabajo de fin de máster en Bioinformática y Biología ComputacionalMotivation: Extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli is the leading cause of urinary tract infections and of adult bacteremia. The clonal group STc131 has been identified as the primary cause of the global pandemic of multidrug resistance within these E. coli. Objective: To analyze the diversity of STc131 from a representative sample of isolates of phylogroup B2 E. coli that caused bacteremia in the hospital Ramón y Cajal in the last 20 years. Material and Methods: Eighty-three E. coli strains, primarily identified as STc131 from a representative sample of 528 B2-EC isolates associated with non-duplicated episodes of bacteremia in Hospital Ramón y Cajal from the years 1996-2016, were selected for next generation sequencing. Bioinformatic techniques were used to annotate the genomes and to identify epidemiological markers and mobile genetic elements that may contribute to the pathogenic success of particular STc131 clades. Results: The number of clade C subgroups of STc131 samples isolated from episodes of bacteremia in Hospital Ramón y Cajal has increased over the period of collection (1996-2016), while clade B maintained a stable frequency. Analysis of the accessory genomes of these isolates indicate a high degree of diversity between and within the different STc131 clades. Less than a quarter (23.7%) of the sample were ESBL positive. Conclusions. These data indicate the importance of the accessory genome, including the plasmid content of the isolates, in the dynamics of this STc131 population with each clade having a distinct plasmid, virulence, and antibiotic resistance signature. The results highlight diversification of the STc131 before and after the selection by first line antibiotics including fluoroquinolones and cephalosporins

Expanding the boundaries of science learning

How can a centralised, innovative, research intensive university overcome barriers to high quality science education for geographically diverse student cohorts? La Trobe is firmly established as a multi-campus university catering cohorts of students in campuses across Northern Victoria. Yet our history and traditional science research and teaching success do not fit well with new demands on teaching science. The size and disparity of the campuses means that the hub and spoke paradigm whereby a large central campus devolves learning via video-link to smaller rural and regional campuses is inappropriate. The Multi-campus teaching project is being undertaken concurrently with a whole scale curriculum review and re-design (Design for Learning). The project aims to develop guidelines that support academics to design their teaching around activities that are commensurable with optimal learning opportunities at different locations. In this presentation we will discuss the aspects of pedagogy, technology and organisational structure that need modification and the means by which the Faculty of Science, Technology and Engineering can holistically integrate the skills and demands of all academics and professional staff to overcome some of the disadvantages of regionalisation and build on strengths wherever they exist

Marine ecotoxicity of nitramines, transformation products of amine-based carbon capture technology

In the context of reducing CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, chemical absorption with amines is emerging as the most advanced technology for post-combustion CO2 capture from exhaust gases of fossil fuel power plants. Despite amine solvent recycling during the capture process, degradation products are formed and released into the environment, among them aliphatic nitramines, for which the environmental impact is unknown. In this study, we determined the acute and chronic toxicity of two nitramines identified as important transformation products of amine-based carbon capture, dimethylnitramine and ethanolnitramine, using a multi-trophic suite of bioassays. The results were then used to produce the first environmental risk assessment for the marine ecosystem. In addition, the in vivo genotoxicity of nitramines was studied by adapting the comet assay to cells from experimentally exposed fish. Overall, based on the whole organism bioassays, the toxicity of both nitramines was considered to be low. The most sensitive response to both compounds was found in oysters, and dimethylnitramine was consistently more toxic than ethanolnitramine in all bioassays. The Predicted No Effect Concentrations for dimethylnitramine and ethanolnitramine were 0.08 and 0.18 mg/L, respectively. The genotoxicity assessment revealed contrasting results to the whole organism bioassays, with ethanolnitramine found to be more genotoxic than dimethylnitramine by three orders of magnitude. At the lowest ethanolnitramine concentration (1 mg/L), 84% DNA damage was observed, whereas 100 mg/L dimethylnitramine was required to cause 37% DNA damage. The mechanisms of genotoxicity were also shown to differ between the two compounds, with oxidation of the DNA bases responsible for over 90% of the genotoxicity of dimethylnitramine, whereas DNA strand breaks and alkali-labile sites were responsible for over 90% of the genotoxicity of ethanolnitramine. Fish exposed to > 3 mg/L ethanolnitramine had virtually no DNA left in their red blood cells.Marine ecotoxicity of nitramines, transformation products of amine-based carbon capture technologyacceptedVersio

Doing Film Feminisms in the Age of Popular Feminism: A Roundtable Convened by Claire Perkins and Jodi Brooks

In a move that has now been thoroughly documented, the Anglophone West of the past decade or so has become an environment in which feminism is popular. Film and television, and the discourses around them, have been central to this development, with productions from Eternals (Chloé Zhao, 2021) to Fleabag (2016-2019) to Barbie (Greta Gerwig, 2023) prompting an infoglut of commentary that foregrounds and debates the feminist credentials of a wave of new media content that centres women as both characters and creators. But what does it mean to label this content ‘feminist’? Focusing on screen culture and education, the short reflections in this forum consider the tensions of this moment from a variety of perspectives – teaching, screen production, criticism, history and the academy

Synchronization in Retrospective Respiratory Gating using Deep Learning

Breathing motion introduces artifacts during CT acquisition, what affect the quality and subsequent reconstruction of the images. This study aims to reduce artefact in CT images using deep learning techniques. Specifically, we propose the implementation of an autoencoder based on convolutional neural networks. Once the model was trained, we employed a morphing technique to generate new images with reduced respiratory motion. By analyzing the respiratory signal, we classified the different images into phases and selected those most suitable for correction. Subsequently, we applied the de- scribed method, obtaining a more homogeneous data set. The results demonstrate a significant reduction in motion when comparing intensity changes within the regions most affected by motion. Thus, we validated the efficacy of the proposed approach to mitigate breathing-induced artifacts. The appli- cation of artificial intelligence (AI) in this field represents a significant advance. This study provides promising initial results and opens up new possibilities for research and de- velopment. By complementing existing techniques, AI offers enhanced motion reduction capabilities, thus improving the quality of CT images. The potential for future advances in this direction are substantial, promising further reduction in respiratory motion artifacts and improvement to the overall quality of CT images.This work has been supported by the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No. 853989. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA and Global Alliance for TB Drug Development non-profit organisation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and University of Dundee

Innovations in ex vivo light sheet fluorescence microscopy

Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy (LSFM) has revolutionized how optical imaging of biological specimens can be performed as this technique allows to produce 3D fluorescence images of entire samples with a high spatiotemporal resolution. In this manuscript, we aim to provide readers with an overview of the field of LSFM on ex vivo samples. Recent advances in LSFM architectures have made the technique widely accessible and have improved its acquisition speed and resolution, among other features. These developments are strongly supported by quantitative analysis of the huge image volumes produced thanks to the boost in computational capacities, the advent of Deep Learning techniques, and by the combination of LSFM with other imaging modalities. Namely, LSFM allows for the characterization of biological structures, disease manifestations and drug effectivity studies. This information can ultimately serve to develop novel diagnostic procedures, treatments and even to model the organs physiology in healthy and pathological conditions.This work was produced with the support of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (TEC2016-78052-R, RTC-2017-6600-1, PID2019-109820RB-100, FPU19/02854)

Electromagnetism at 140 km

ABSTRACT La Trobe University has a small but strong physics research presence on the Melbourne campus and is developing a coherent offering of undergraduate physics subjects to support a similarly small band of high-achieving students in physics and nano-technology. On the Bendigo campus, physics had become, in the main, a service subject to the Engineering program, with a very small number of science students looking for further options in the areas of physics and physical chemistry that involve minimal disruption to their geographic location. Through the multi-campus teaching project, we are exploring ways to articulate second year physics programs so that student cohorts and discipline and teaching expertise is brought together. In this paper we discuss the methods used to offer second year electromagnetism concurrently to a class of 30 students in Melbourne and 5 students at Bendigo. The re-design is a collaborative, action research project involving stakeholders from across the University and incorporating IT, student support, regional support , academic language and literacy and other groups to create an engaging subject without breaking the good-will bank