People, animals and biosecurity in and through cities

About the book: A collection of writings by leading experts and newer researchers on the SARS outbreak and its relation to infectious disease management in progressively global and urban societies

Marshall University Music Department Presents the MUSIC ALIVE!

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Connected or informed?: local Twitter networking in a London neighbourhood

This paper asks whether geographically localised, or ‘hyperlocal’, uses of Twitter succeed in creating peer-to-peer neighbourhood networks or simply act as broadcast media at a reduced scale. Literature drawn from the smart cities discourse and from a UK research project into hyperlocal media, respectively, take on these two opposing interpretations. Evidence gathered in the case study presented here is consistent with the latter, and on this basis we criticise the notion that hyperlocal social media can be seen as a community in itself. We demonstrate this by creating a network map of Twitter followers of a popular hyperlocal blog in Brockley, southeast London. We describe various attributes of this network including its average degree and clustering coefficient to suggest that a small and highly connected cluster of visible local entities such as businesses form a clique at the centre of this network, with individual residents following these but not one another. We then plot the locations of these entities and demonstrate that sub-communities in the network are formed due to close geographical proximity between smaller sets of businesses. These observations are illustrated with qualitative evidence from interviews with users who suggest instead that rather than being connected to one another they benefit from what has been described as ‘neighbourhood storytelling’. Despite the limitations of working with Twitter data, we propose that this multi-modal approach offers a valuable way to investigate the experience of using social media as a communication tool in urban neighbourhoods

Undulation instability in a bilayer lipid membrane due to electric field interaction with lipid dipoles

Bilayer lipid membranes [BLMs] are an essential component of all biological systems, forming a functional barrier for cells and organelles from the surrounding environment. The lipid molecules that form membranes contain both permanent and induced dipoles, and an electric field can induce the formation of pores when the transverse field is sufficiently strong (electroporation). Here, a phenomenological free energy is constructed to model the response of a BLM to a transverse static electric field. The model contains a continuum description of the membrane dipoles and a coupling between the headgroup dipoles and the membrane tilt. The membrane is found to become unstable through buckling modes, which are weakly coupled to thickness fluctuations in the membrane. The thickness fluctuations, along with the increase in interfacial area produced by membrane buckling, increase the probability of localized membrane breakdown, which may lead to pore formation. The instability is found to depend strongly on the strength of the coupling between the dipolar headgroups and the membrane tilt as well as the degree of dipolar ordering in the membrane.Comment: 29 pages 8 fig

Bayes One-Sample and One-Way Random Effects Analyses for 3-D Orientations with Application to Materials Science

We consider Bayes inference for a class of distributions on orientations in 3 dimensions described by 3×3 rotation matrices. Non-informative priors are identified and Metropolis-Hastings within Gibbs algorithms are used to generate samples from posterior distributions in one-sample and one-way random effects models. A simulation study investigates the performance of Bayes analyses based on non-informative priors in the one-sample case, making comparisons to quasi-likelihood inference. A second simulation study investigates the behavior of posteriors for some informative priors. Bayes one-way random effect analyses of orientation matrix data are then developed and the Bayes methods are illustrated in a materials science application

Concurrent learning : how firms develop multiple dynamic capabilities in parallel

Much is known about the importance of dynamic capabilities. Yet, surprisingly little is known about how multiple dynamic capabilities might be developed in parallel, since most existing work explores a particular dynamic capability in isolation. Using rich quantitative and qualitative data on Dow Chemical's acquisitions, joint ventures, and divestitures over the past 20 years, we seek to address this gap. Besides contributing by adding fresh insights about managing growth and the utility of distributed practice, and by shedding light on positive and negative experience transfer, our core contribution is an emergent theoretical framework that develops the concept of “concurrent learning. ” Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Strategy for Youth Empowerment and Entrepreneurship: An assessment of WOW Outreach, Flint, MI

This project will develop an outline for youth entrepreneurship in the North Side of Flint, Michigan with the help of WOW Outreach of Flint. The report will further WOW Outreach’s goals of reducing violence through positive opportunities and increasing economic opportunities through the use of Flint’s Community Capitals Framework. Through this research WOW Outreach will be able to address critical development needs, specifically focusing on youth empowerment, and allow youth entrepreneurship to grow and prosper in the North Side of Flint

Doped Sr2FeIrO6 – phase separation and a Jeff ≠ 0 state for Ir5+

High-resolution synchrotron X-ray and neutron powder diffraction data demonstrate that, in contrast to recent reports, Sr2FeIrO6 adopts an I1 symmetry double perovskite structure with an a–b–c– tilting distortion. This distorted structure does not tolerate cation substitution, with low levels of A-site (Ca, Ba, La) or Fe-site (Ga) substitution leading to separation into two phases: a stoichiometric I1 phase and a cation-substituted, P21/n symmetry, a–a–c+ distorted double perovskite phase. Magnetization, neutron diffraction and 57Fe Mössbauer data show that in common with Sr2FeIrO6, the cation substituted Sr2-xAxFe1-yGayIrO6 phases undergo transitions to type-II antiferromagnetically ordered states at TN ~ 120 K. However, in contrast to stoichiometric Sr2FeIrO6, cation substituted samples exhibit a further magnetic transition at TA ~ 220 K, which corresponds to the ordering of reff ≠ 0 Ir5+ centers in the cation-substituted, P21/n symmetry, double perovskite phases

Pin1 plays a key role in the response to treatment and clinical outcome in triple negative breast cancer

Background: Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the subset of breast cancer associated with the poorest outcome, and currently lacks targeted treatments. Standard of care (SoC) chemotherapy often consists of DNA damaging chemotherapies ± taxanes, with a range of responses observed. However, we currently lack biomarkers to predict this response and lack alternate treatment options. Methods: Pin1 expression was modulated in vitro and proliferation and treatment response was studied. Pin1 expression was analysed in patient samples and correlated with clinical outcome. Results: In this study, we have shown that the prolyl isomerase, Pin1, which is highly expressed in TNBC, plays a key role in pathogenesis of the disease. Knockdown of Pin1 in TNBC resulted in cell death while the opposite is seen in normal cells. We revealed for the first time that loss of Pin1 leads to increased sensitivity to Taxol but only in the absence of functional BRCA1. Conversely, loss of Pin1 results in decreased sensitivity to DNA-damaging agents independent of BRCA1 status. Analysis of Pin1 gene or IHC-based expression in over 200 TNBC patient samples revealed a novel role for Pin1 as a TNBC-specific biomarker, with high expression associated with improved outcome in the context of SoC chemotherapy. Preliminary data indicated this may be extended to other treatment options (e.g. Cisplatin/Parp Inhibitors) that are gaining traction for the treatment of TNBC. Conclusions: This study highlights the important role played by Pin1 in TNBC and highlights the context-dependent functions in modulating cell growth and response to treatment