NNEP: The Navy NASA Engine Program

A computer code capable of simulating almost any conceivable turbine engine is described. This code uses stacked component maps and multiple flowpaths to simulate variable cycle engines with variable component geometry. It is capable of design and off-design (matching) calculations and can optimize free variables such as nozzle areas to minimize specific fuel consumption

Multiscale modelling of nanoparticle distribution in a realistic tumour geometry following local injection

Radiosensitizers have proven to be an effective method of improving radiotherapy outcomes, with the distribution of particles being a crucial element to delivering optimal treatment outcomes due to the short range of effect of these particles. Here we present a computational model for the transport of nanoparticles within the tumour, whereby the fluid velocity and particle deposition are obtained and used as input into the convection-diffusion equation to calculate the spatio-temporal concentration of the nanoparticles. The effect of particle surface charge and injection locations on the distribution of nanoparticle concentration within the interstitial fluid and deposited onto cell surfaces is assessed. The computational results demonstrate that negatively charged particles can achieve a more uniform distribution throughout the tumour as compared to uncharged or positively charged particles, with particle volume within the fluid being 100% of tumour volume and deposited particle volume 44.5%. In addition, varying the injection location from the end to the middle of the tumour caused a reduction in particle volume of almost 20% for negatively charged particles. In conclusion, radiosensitizing particles should be negatively charged to maximise their spread and penetration within the tumour. Choosing an appropriate injection location can further improve the distribution of these particles

Environmental Effects on Cephalopod Life History and Fisheries

Editorial de un número especial de la Revista Aquatic Living ResourcesThe present collection of papers arises from a theme session on “Cephalopod Stocks: Review, Analyses, Assessment, and Sustainable Management” at the 2004 ICES Annual Science Conference, Vigo, Spain. The original proposal for the theme session was justified by the availability of much unpublished information on cephalopod biology and fisheries arising from various CEC-funded R&D projects during the last 15 years. The theme session also related directly to the EC-funded Concerted Action: CEPHSTOCK (Q5CA-2002-00962), and provided a route for dissemination of the review and synthesis work carried out under this project. The theme session was intended to facilitate the wider dissemination and publication of these results, with the long-term aim of informing future management decisions for the major fished stocks of cephalopods in European waters. Any future European research programme, related to cephalopod biology and fisheries, will need to take into account of knowledge acquired on cephalopod populations. The theme session aimed to attract scientists working on cephalopod stocks outside the NE Atlantic as well as those from ICES countries. The scope of the theme session was: • The current state of knowledge on exploited cephalopods (biology, fisheries, environmental relationships, stock identity) in European waters; • Current fishery data collection, stock assessment and management practices for cephalopod capture fisheries world-wide; • The current status of cephalopod culture and the prospects for commercial aquaculture; • Socio-economic issues related to cephalopod fisheries; • Current knowledge of aspects of cephalopod biology and ecology related to their suitability as resource species for capture and culture fisheries, and assessment of environmental factors which affect the immuno-competence and physiology of cephalopods; • Assessment and management options for currently unregulated cephalopod fisheries. The theme session attracted 28 oral presentations and 12 posters that could be broadly divided into those more concerned with biology and ecology, and those focusing on fisheries. Some of these presentations appear elsewhere, e.g. Guerra et al. (2005) on giant squid strandings. The selection of papers presented in Aquatic Living Resources vol. 18, No. 4, 2005, “Environmental effects on cephalopod life history and fisheries”, illustrates how cephalopod studies could contribute to a development of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management (FAO 2003), by analysing a series of environmental effects operating at different scales. Environmental effects on life histories The life-cycle characteristics of cephalopods contribute the main reasons for the large inter-annual fluctuations of population densities (Boyle and Boletzky 1996). In teleost fishes differences in biological parameters have been analysed in relation to fishing, considered sometimes as the main environmental impact (Rochet et al. 2000). As a first step to transposing this approach to cephalopods, substantial biological data sets and new statistical approaches are applied to answer questions about squid life history. Vidal et al. evaluated the influence of food supply on yolk utilization, metabolism and growth of paralarvae of Loligo vulgaris reynaudii while Smith et al. re-examined historical life history data to infer the relationships between nutritional state, growth and maturation in Loligo forbesi. Moreno et al. examined differences in age, size-at-maturity and reproductive investment in different cohorts of Loligo vulgaris in relation to environmental influences. Consequences of such influences on cohort success have to be analysed taking into account the spatial organization of fished populations. Walters et al. (2004) encouraged this approach presenting “spatial life history trajectories” which involve nested designs or time-stepping structures

Surgical Determinants of Patient-Reported Outcomes following Postmastectomy Reconstruction in Women with Breast Cancer.

This national prospective cohort study compared the patient-reported outcomes of breast cancer patients undergoing postmastectomy autologous reconstruction to those who had breast implants, in terms of aesthetic appearance; levels of psychological, physical, and sexual well-being; and overall satisfaction. Of 5063 women who underwent immediate reconstruction (n = 3349) or delayed reconstruction (n = 1714) between January 1, 2008, and March 31, 2009, in England, 2923 women who gave informed consent were sent validated, procedure-specific, 18-month follow-up questionnaires. Outcome scale scores ranged from 0 (poor) to 100 (excellent); multiple linear regression was used to adjust scores for patient and treatment characteristics. Two thousand two hundred eighty-nine women (78 percent) returned completed questionnaires (immediate reconstruction, n = 1528; delayed reconstruction, n = 761). For immediate reconstruction, mean overall satisfaction scores for the various techniques ranged from 67 to 85 (median, 67 to 93). For delayed reconstruction, mean overall satisfaction scores ranged from 70 to 85 (median, 75 to 100). For both groups, similar gradients were observed for the other outcome scales across techniques. Reconstruction using patients' own tissues tended to have higher mean adjusted scores compared with those techniques using implants alone (p < 0.0001 for aesthetic appearance, psychological well-being, sexual well-being, and satisfaction with outcomes for immediate and delayed reconstruction groups). Women who underwent autologous reconstruction tended to report greater satisfaction than those who underwent implant reconstruction. These results can inform patients of the anticipated outcomes of their selected surgery, but further research is required to confirm whether autologous reconstruction is superior in general. Therapeutic, II

Designing environmental research for impact

Transdisciplinary research, involving close collaboration between researchers and the users of research, has been a feature of environmental problem solving for several decades, often spurred by the need to find negotiated outcomes to intractable problems. In 2005, the Australian government allocated funding to its environment portfolio for public good research, which resulted in consecutive four-year programmes (Commonwealth Environmental Research Facilities, National Environmental Research Program). In April 2014, representatives of the funders, researchers and research users associated with these programmes met to reflect on eight years of experience with these collaborative research models.This structured reflection concluded that successful multi-institutional transdisciplinary research is necessarily a joint enterprise between funding agencies, researchers and the end users of research. The design and governance of research programmes need to explicitly recognise shared accountabilities among the participants, while respecting the different perspectives of each group. Experience shows that traditional incentive systems for academic researchers, current trends in public sector management, and loose organisation of many end users, work against sustained transdisciplinary research on intractable problems, which require continuity and adaptive learning by all three parties. The likelihood of research influencing and improving environmental policy and management is maximised when researchers, funders and research users have shared goals; there is sufficient continuity of personnel to build trust and sustain dialogue throughout the research process from issue scoping to application of findings; and there is sufficient flexibility in the funding, structure and operation of transdisciplinary research initiatives to enable the enterprise to assimilate and respond to new knowledge and situations

Advancing DNA barcoding and metabarcoding applications for plants requires systematic analysis of herbarium collections-an Australian perspective

Building DNA barcode databases for plants has historically been ad hoc, and often with a relatively narrow taxonomic focus. To realize the full potential of DNA barcoding for plants, and particularly its application to metabarcoding for mixed-species environmental samples, systematic sequencing of reference collections is required using an augmented set of DNA barcode loci, applied according to agreed data generation and analysis standards. The largest and most complete reference collections of plants are held in herbaria. Australia has a globally significant flora that is well sampled and expertly curated by its herbaria, coordinated through the Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria. There exists a tremendous opportunity to provide a comprehensive and taxonomically robust reference database for plant DNA barcoding applications by undertaking coordinated and systematic sequencing of the entire flora of Australia utilizing existing herbarium material. In this paper, we review the development of DNA barcoding and metabarcoding and consider the requirements for a robust and comprehensive system. We analyzed the current availability of DNA barcode reference data for Australian plants, recommend priority taxa for database inclusion, and highlight future applications of a comprehensive metabarcoding system. We urge that large-scale and coordinated analysis of herbarium collections be undertaken to realize the promise of DNA barcoding and metabarcoding, and propose that the generation and curation of reference data should become a national investment priority

Age, growth, and mortality of Loligo vulgaris wild paralarvae : implications for understanding of the life cycle and longevity

Peer reviewedPreprin