Optimization of Light Irradiance During the Early Life of Sexually-Produced Porites astreoides and Agaricia agaricites Recruits

Current solutions of coral restoration rely mainly on fragmentation. Though a reliable technique, this asexual form of reproduction does not benefit the genetic diversity of the coral reef. With many global and local stressors threatening corals’ existence, the resiliency of corals to future ocean conditions depends highly on sexual reproduction to produce new genotypes. New technology allows coral spawning/larval release, larval settlement and rearing to be carried out in an aquarium system. Many of the techniques necessary to maintain coral recruits are well-established, however the effects of light intensity remain to be studied for these early life stages. Newly settled corals have been found on vertical surfaces and the undersides of ledges and crevices, suggesting full solar irradiance is detrimental to their health. Newly settled Porites astreoides and Agaricia agaricites recruits were placed under varying irradiance levels to test their survivorship, growth and pigmentation. In the first four weeks post-settlement, growth was significantly different between recruits under a PAR of 10 µmol quanta m-2 s-1 and 240 µmol quanta m-2 s-1. In a separate experiment, growth curves were significantly different between six different irradiance increase regimens in the first 14 weeks post-settlement. This study shows, for the first time, a definitive preference by newly settled coral recruits to lower intensity irradiance, devoid of ultraviolet radiation, in the first four weeks post-settlement, and that Porites astreoides recruits can acclimatize to higher intensities at a rate of ~ 11 µmol quanta m-2 s-1 per week for up to 15 weeks

A scalable bioreactor for the expansion of anchorage-dependent stem cells

Figure 1 - (a) Pump driven continuous perfusion 3D bioreactor. (b) The 3D bioreactor matrix. (c) Matrix cross-section (d) Assembled bioreactor. Currently, there is a lack of suitable bioreactors for the expansion of stem cells and other anchorage-dependent cells. Existing bioreactors are either limited in scalability, have a significantly different culture environment from the traditional 2D culture, or difficult to harvest single-cells suspensions. Cell manufacturing using existing bioreactors is an expensive, labor-intensive cell culture process, and typically requires a high-cost ISO 5 cleanroom environment. Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) has developed a novel cell expansion bioreactor to propagate cells using a 3D printed, single-use, scalable device, and a closed-loop system. SwRI’s patented bioreactor (Figure 1) features tightly packed interconnected spherical voids providing a large surface-to-volume ratio for cell proliferation under perfusion flow. The concave spherical surfaces reduce the hydrodynamic shear to less than 3×10-4 Pa, suitable for shear-sensitive anchorage-dependent cell proliferation [2]. This average shear stress in the bioreactor is much lower than the average shear stress in hollow fiber and microcarrier-based bioreactors [3, 4]. The 3D printed bioreactor is easy to scale up while maintaining the same structure. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

VALIDATION OF A COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE STRAIN GAUGE AGAINST A SERIES OF KNOWN LOADS USING A SHORT TIME APPROACH

The purpose of this study was to identify the content validity and accuracy of a commercially available strain gauge (GSTRENGTH (Exsurgo Technologies, Virginia, USA), aimed at use within athletic populations. Six standardised IWF (International Weightlifting Federation) calibrated weights (5-, 25-, 50-, 100-, 200-, 250-kg) were hung from the strain gauge and raw data was collected over a five-second period and exported to a computer. A perfect relationship between the known loads and the strain gauge (r = 1.00, p\u3c0.001) was identified, although the strain gauge was found to have a small overestimation error with no fixed or proportional bias. During data collection there were non-significant, trivial-small differences between the first and last second, demonstrating minimal drift. The commercially available strain gauge was found to be valid when compared to the known loads. Further investigation of the strain gauge is required to assess the concurrent validity when compared to gold standard methods of assessment, such as force plates, in a range of test designs

A scalable 3D printed bioreactor for the expansion of anchorage-dependent stem cells

Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Force plate-derived countermovement jump normative data and benchmarks for professional Rugby League players

The countermovement jump (CMJ) is an important test in rugby league (RL), and the force plate is the recommended assessment device, as it permits the calculation of several variables that explain jump strategy, alongside jump height. The purpose of this study was to produce normative CMJ data and objective benchmarks for professional RL forwards and backs. Normative data for jump height, modified reactive strength index, and jump momentum are provided for 121 professional RL players (66 forwards and 55 backs) who completed CMJ testing on a portable force plate during preseason training. Standardized T-scores (scaled from 0 to 100) were calculated from the respective positional group mean and standard deviation to create CMJ performance bands that were combined with a qualitative description (ranging from extremely poor to excellent) and a traffic light system to facilitate data interpretation and objective benchmark setting by RL practitioners. The jump height and modified reactive strength index benchmarks were larger for the lighter backs, whereas the jump momentum benchmarks were larger for the heavier forwards. The presented novel approach to compiling and presenting normative data and objective benchmarks may also be applied to other data (i.e., from other tests or devices) and populations

EFFECT OF THE NORDIC HAMSTRING EXERCISE ABILITY ON IN-VIVO FASCICLE DYNAMICS DURING VARIATIONS OF THE NORDIC HAMSTRING EXERCISE.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the ability to perform the Nordic hamstring exercise (NHE) impacts upon the fascicle dynamics of the bicep femoris long head during the NHE performed flat, declined and inclined. 10 physically active individuals (8 males and 2 females, age 24.1±3.9 years, body mass 81.8±8.9kg, height 178.8±7.7cm) with a history of performing the NHE, were separated into two equal groups of high and low performers of the NHE via break point angle assessed using 3D motion capture. Dynamic ultrasound (US) videos were collected using a 10cm probe, while semi-automatic software analysed the dynamic US videos. Fascicle lengthening during the NHE is dependent on NHE performance ability, with likely differences (non- overlapping control limits) between high and low performers. While absolute fascicle change was greater in the incline NHE for low performers, greater FL change was observed in the flat NHE for high performers. This could be as a result of the high performers possessing greater resting fascicle length and eccentric hamstring strength

Exploratory Modelling of Financial Reporting and Analysis Practices in Small Growth Enterprises

This paper reports an exploratory study of statistical modelling of historical financial reporting and analysis in a sample of small growth enterprises. The study sought to identify those factors that determine whether particular financial reporting and analysis practices are undertaken, and to represent these explanatory factors in expressions that reflect their relative and combined influence. Dichotomous logistic regression is employed to model financial analysis and polytomous logistic regression is used to model financial reporting. The models developed seem moderately encouraging in terms of the statistical significance and predictive ability. The overall classification success for financial analysis is a modest 65 percent; but identifying users of financial ratio analysis is achieved with just below 90 percent accuracy. The overall classification success for a trichotomous financial reporting scale exceeds 70 percent; with anticipation of financial reporting at the highest level being as accurate as 90 percent. External validation of the models remains an important priority

The combinatorics of tensor products of higher Auslander algebras of type AA

We consider maximal non-$l$-intertwining collections, which are a higher-dimensional version of the maximal non-crossing collections which give clusters of Pl\"ucker coordinates in the Grassmannian coordinate ring, as described by Scott. We extend a method of Scott for producing such collections, which are related to tensor products of higher Auslander algebras of type $A$. We show that a higher preprojective algebra of the tensor product of two $d$-representation-finite algebras has a $d$-precluster-tilting subcategory. Finally we relate mutations of these collections to a form of tilting for these algebras