Giant magnetoresistance in granular cobalt copper thin films prepared by pulsed laser ablation deposition

Giant magnetoresistance of up to 9.5% in 1.5 T at 14 K has been observed in Co19Cu81, thin films prepared by pulsed laser ablation deposition from rotated, split targets. The as-grown films show a small GMR effect but this may be enhanced by a factor of 4 by appropriate annealing. The volume ratio of material in the target is found to be reproduced in the film. Measurements of the remanence and initial susceptibility of the films indicate a distribution of energy barriers to the rotation of the magnetic moments of the cobalt particles and also the presence of inter-particle interactions. The choice of operating parameters to control these effects and thus optimise the GMR is discussed

The evolution of online teaching and learning in engineering at Deakin University

This paper presents a brief history of the use of online technologies in the support of teaching and learning in the School of Engineering and Technology at Deakin University, Victoria, Australia. It addresses the following topics: flexible engineering programs at Deakin University; computer-based learning in the School of Engineering and Technology; progression from individual efforts to formal, centralized control of the World Wide Web (Web); the costs of information technology; experiences with grant funded development projects; managing the development of online material; student access and equity; and staff development and cultural change. A sustainable online content development model is proposed to carry the School&rsquo;s online initiatives in support of teaching and learning activities into the future.<br /

Biological effects of daily inhalation of radon and its short-lived daughters in experimental animals

From symposium on noble gases; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (24 Sep 1973). Exposures of rats, mice, and hamsters for 90 hours per week to radon daughters nanging from 2000 to 8500 WL, with and without 18 mu g per liter uranium ore dust, caused marked lifeshortening in all three species. Marked reduction in body weights occurred in all three species, with weight losses of 30 to 50% of control animal values in all species after 31/2 months of exposures. Mice exposed to radon daughters and ore dust were particularly susceptible in terms of mortality, although the lungs of these animals showed very little pathological change. Classical radiation pneumonitis with alveolar septal fibrosis and occasional bronchiolar epithelial hyperplasia were the predominant deep lung lesions seen in all species. In contrast to hamsters exposed 30 hours per week to 1200 WL of radon daughters and uranium ore dust, proportionately more of the pathology was seen in the upper respiratory tracts of the hamsters in the present study. The contrast between markedly affected trachea and major bronchi vs. relatively little effects in deep lung was most evident in rats. Findings of severe suppurative laryngitis and bronchitis were frequent in rats, and may have been an important contributing factor to their death. These findings dictate further studies involving sacrifice and radioactivity analyses of tracheal and lung tissues to determine relative absorbed radiation doses at these sites for correlation with developing degenerative and proliferation changes of the respiratory tract in each species. (auth

The robustness of objective fabric pilling evaluation method

Previously, we proposed a new method to identify fabric pilling and objectively measure fabric pilling intensity based on the two-dimensional dual-tree complex wavelet reconstruction and neural network classification. Here we further evaluate the robustness of the method. Our results indicate that the pilling identification method is robust to significant variation in the brightness and contrast of the image, rotation of the image, and 2 i (i is an integer) times dilation of the image. The pilling feature vector developed to characterize the pilling intensity is robust to brightness change but is sensitive to large rotations of the image. As long as all fabric images are adjusted to have the same contrast level and the sample is illuminated from the same direction, the pilling feature vectors are comparable and can be used to classify the pilling intensity.<br /

A preliminary modelling investigation into the safe correction zone for high tibial osteotomy

Purpose: High tibial osteotomy (HTO) re-aligns the weight-bearing axis (WBA) of the lower limb. The surgery reduces medial load (reducing pain and slowing progression of cartilage damage) while avoiding overloading the lateral compartment. The optimal correction has not been established. This study investigated how different WBA re-alignments affected load distribu- tion in the knee, to consider the optimal post-surgery re-alignment. Methods: We collected motion analysis and 7T MRI data from 3 healthy sub- jects, and combined this data to create sets of subject-specific finite element models (total=45 models). Each set of models simulated a range of potential post-HTO knee re-alignments. We shifted the WBA from its native align- ment to between 40% and 80% medial-lateral tibial width (corresponding to 2.8◦-3.1◦ varus and 8.5◦-9.3◦ valgus), in 3% increments. We then compared stress/pressure distributions in the models. Results/Discussion: Correcting the WBA to 50% tibial width (0◦ varus- valgus) approximately halved medial compartment stresses, with minimal changes to lateral stress levels, but provided little margin for error in under- correction. Correcting the WBA to a more commonly-used 62%-65% tibial width (3.4◦-4.6◦ valgus) further reduced medial stresses but introduced the danger of damaging lateral compartment tissues. To balance optimal loading environment with that of the historical risk of under-correction, we propose a new target: WBA correction to 55% tibial width (1.7◦-1.9◦ valgus), which anatomically represented the apex of the lateral tibial spine. Conclusions: Finite element models can successfully simulate a variety of HTO re-alignments. Correcting the WBA to 55% tibial width (1.7◦-1.9◦ valgus) optimally distributes medial and lateral stresses/pressures

Causal inference and large‐scale expert validation shed light on the drivers of SDM accuracy and variance

Aim: To develop a causal understanding of the drivers of Species distribution model (SDM) performance. Location: United Kingdom (UK). Methods: We measured the accuracy and variance of SDMs fitted for 518 species of invertebrate and plant in the UK. Our measure of variance reflects variation among replicate model fits, and taxon experts assessed model accuracy. Using directed acyclic graphs, we developed a causal model depicting plausible effects of explanatory variables (e.g. species' prevalence, sample size) on SDM accuracy and variance and quantified those effects using a multilevel piecewise path model. Results: According to our model, sample size and niche completeness (proportion of a species' niche covered by sampling) directly affect SDM accuracy and variance. Prevalence and range completeness have indirect effects mediated by sample size. Challenging conventional wisdom, we found that the effect of prevalence on SDM accuracy is positive. This reflects the facts that sample size has a positive effect on accuracy and larger sample sizes are possible for widespread species. It is possible, however, that the omission of an unobserved confounder biased this effect. Previous studies, which reported negative correlations between prevalence and SDM accuracy, conditioned on sample size. Main conclusions: Our model explicates the causal basis of previously reported correlations between SDM performance and species/data characteristics. It also suggests that niche completeness has similarly large effects on SDM accuracy and variance as sample size. Analysts should consider niche completeness, or proxies thereof, in addition to sample size when deciding whether modelling is worthwhile

Lack of Detectable HIV-1 Molecular Evolution during Suppressive Antiretroviral Therapy

A better understanding of changes in HIV-1 population genetics with combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) is critical for designing eradication strategies. We therefore analyzed HIV-1 genetic variation and divergence in patients' plasma before cART, during suppression on cART, and after viral rebound. Single-genome sequences of plasma HIV-1 RNA were obtained from HIV-1 infected patients prior to cART (N = 14), during suppression on cART (N = 14) and/or after viral rebound following interruption of cART (N = 5). Intra-patient population diversity was measured by average pairwise difference (APD). Population structure was assessed by phylogenetic analyses and a test for panmixia. Measurements of intra-population diversity revealed no significant loss of overall genetic variation in patients treated for up to 15 years with cART. A test for panmixia, however, showed significant changes in population structure in 2/10 patients after short-term cART (<1 year) and in 7/10 patients after long-term cART (1-15 years). The changes consisted of diverse sets of viral variants prior to cART shifting to populations containing one or more genetically uniform subpopulations during cART. Despite these significant changes in population structure, rebound virus after long-term cART had little divergence from pretherapy virus, implicating long-lived cells infected before cART as the source for rebound virus. The appearance of genetically uniform virus populations and the lack of divergence after prolonged cART and cART interruption provide strong evidence that HIV-1 persists in long-lived cells infected before cART was initiated, that some of these infected cells may be capable of proliferation, and that on-going cycles of viral replication are not evident

Sensitization in Transplantation: Assessment of Risk (STAR) 2017 Working Group Meeting Report

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144684/1/ajt14752_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144684/2/ajt14752.pd

Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research

Multiple Sources of Contamination in Samples from Patients Reported to Have XMRV Infection

Xenotropic murine leukemia virus (MLV)-related retrovirus (XMRV) was reported to be associated with prostate cancer by Urisman, et al. in 2006 and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) by Lombardi, et al. in 2009. To investigate this association, we independently evaluated plasma samples from 4 patients with CFS reported by Lombardi, et al. to have XMRV infection and from 5 healthy controls reported to be XMRV uninfected. We also analyzed viral sequences obtained from supernatants of cell cultures found to contain XMRV after coculture with 9 clinical samples from 8 patients. A qPCR assay capable of distinguishing XMRV from endogenous MLVs showed that the viral sequences detected in the CFS patient plasma behaved like endogenous MLVs and not XMRV. Single-genome sequences (N = 89) from CFS patient plasma were indistinguishable from endogenous MLVs found in the mouse genome that are distinct from XMRV. By contrast, XMRV sequences were detected by qPCR in 2 of the 5 plasma samples from healthy controls (sequencing of the qPCR product confirmed XMRV not MLV). Single-genome sequences (N = 234) from the 9 culture supernatants reportedly positive for XMRV were indistinguishable from XMRV sequences obtained from 22Rv1 and XMRV-contaminated 293T cell-lines. These results indicate that MLV DNA detected in the plasma samples from CFS patients evaluated in this study was from contaminating mouse genomic DNA and that XMRV detected in plasma samples from healthy controls and in cultures of patient samples was due to cross-contamination with XMRV (virus or nucleic acid)