Mutual capacity building: Mt Hagen local government and Orange City

Orange City Council and Mount Hagen Urban Local Level Government (MHULLG) in the Papua New Guinea Highlands have had a strong history of working in partnership to build capacity. This is based on a Sister City relationship extending to 30 years founded on the acceptance that to build better communities more than just physical infrastructure is needed. The Australian Government AusAID organisation funded the capacity building program, supported by the Commonwealth Local Government Forum who provide back-end administration and acts as a broker in drawing together a number of partnership agreements and AusAID funding applications in addition to information exchange. Council’s work has been recognised and supported nationally in PNG and by AusAID, and there has been a tight focus on assisting the 60,000 people that live in and around the township of Mt Hagen. So far, Council has worked on numerous issues including waste management, sanitation, traffic and pedestrian plans and governance

An Assessment of Trihalomethanes and Haloacetic Acids on the Cancer Exposure Risk of Ohio Drinking Water Systems

The cancer exposure risk from drinking chlorine-based disinfection by-products (DBPs) such as trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) has been established as a major concern to public health as 98% of the United States drinking water systems in operation use chlorinated systems to disinfect the water they provide [2]. Using data collected from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency from January 2014 to September 2017 in the cites of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Canton, and Akron this study attempts to look at the risk of cancer caused by the DBPs. To show the relative risk of several different systems in operation from the state of Ohio cancer exposure risk values were used to show the varying levels of risk of cancer from each of the studied drinking water systems. This study used an assumed ingestion rate of 2.0 liters per day of drinking water. With additional data, these risk values can be used to calculate disability-adjusted life years which are a standard measure of cancer exposure risk used by the World Health Organization. The highest averaging city system that was found during the duration of the study time was Akron (cancer exposure risk of 1.5927) which was 267 percent more likely that the lowest averaging risk was in Canton (cancer exposure risk of 0.5962). The highest recorded cancer exposure risk value from a single sampling site was in Akron (cancer exposure risk of 3.7889) which is 237 percent of the average value. This study attempted to use cancer exposure risk values to assess the relative cancer exposure risk factors of five cites in Ohio which will help in the prioritization of programs to reduce THMs and HAAs in the water provided by these systems

Context-Aware Mobile Apps using iBeacons: Towards Smarter Interactions

In this paper we describe four mobile apps for iOS devices that use Bluetooth Low Energy iBeacons to provide contextual relevance and personalized experiences for the user. The applications span a number of vertical markets including asset tracking, food transportation logistics and health care. We developed these apps in collaboration with an industry partner located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. In this paper we present the relevant background of work in this area, the architectural framework that we designed and developed to support these context-aware apps, the apps themselves, and report on the findings of real use test case scenarios

Novel immune-modulator identified by a rapid, functional screen of the parapoxvirus ovis (Orf virus) genome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The success of new sequencing technologies and informatic methods for identifying genes has made establishing gene product function a critical rate limiting step in progressing the molecular sciences. We present a method to functionally mine genomes for useful activities <it>in vivo</it>, using an unusual property of a member of the poxvirus family to demonstrate this screening approach.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The genome of <it>Parapoxvirus ovis </it>(<it>Orf virus</it>) was sequenced, annotated, and then used to PCR-amplify its open-reading-frames. Employing a cloning-independent protocol, a viral expression-library was rapidly built and arrayed into sub-library pools. These were directly delivered into mice as expressible cassettes and assayed for an immune-modulating activity associated with parapoxvirus infection. The product of the B2L gene, a homolog of vaccinia F13L, was identified as the factor eliciting immune cell accumulation at sites of skin inoculation. Administration of purified B2 protein also elicited immune cell accumulation activity, and additionally was found to serve as an adjuvant for antigen-specific responses. Co-delivery of the B2L gene with an influenza gene-vaccine significantly improved protection in mice. Furthermore, delivery of the B2L expression construct, without antigen, non-specifically reduced tumor growth in murine models of cancer.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A streamlined, functional approach to genome-wide screening of a biological activity <it>in vivo </it>is presented. Its application to screening in mice for an immune activity elicited by the pathogen genome of <it>Parapoxvirus ovis </it>yielded a novel immunomodulator. In this inverted discovery method, it was possible to identify the adjuvant responsible for a function of interest prior to a mechanistic study of the adjuvant. The non-specific immune activity of this modulator, B2, is similar to that associated with administration of inactivated particles to a host or to a live viral infection. Administration of B2 may provide the opportunity to significantly impact host immunity while being itself only weakly recognized. The functional genomics method used to pinpoint B2 within an ORFeome may be more broadly applicable to screening for other biological activities in an animal.</p

On-demand pitch tuning of printed chiral nematic liquid crystal droplets

Identifying facile means with which to tune the pitch of, and therefore the reflected colour from, chiral nematic liquid crystals (CLC) is of interest for many different photonics applications including optical filters, coloured displays, and mirrorless lasers. Precise control of the pitch of the helix, however, can be challenging. Here, we demonstrate the ability to tune the pitch, and consequently the reflection band, by depositing picolitre volumes of nematic LC into printed CLC droplets with a short pitch. Results are presented that demonstrate mixing of the nematic LC and CLC droplets such that the pitch elongates causing the reflection band located at blue wavelengths (430 nm) to redshift to longer wavelengths. The magnitude of the redshift can be controlled by varying the number of nematic LC droplets deposited into each CLC droplet. We consider the process of diffusion of these two separate mixtures using inkjet printing and showcase how this process of tuning the pitch can be employed to create coloured images in the form of an alphanumeric logo

Pleiotropic and Epistatic Network-Based Discovery: Integrated Networks for Target Gene Discovery

Biological organisms are complex systems that are composed of functional networks of interacting molecules and macro-molecules. Complex phenotypes are the result of orchestrated, hierarchical, heterogeneous collections of expressed genomic variants. However, the effects of these variants are the result of historic selective pressure and current environmental and epigenetic signals, and, as such, their co-occurrence can be seen as genome-wide correlations in a number of different manners. Biomass recalcitrance (i.e., the resistance of plants to degradation or deconstruction, which ultimately enables access to a plant’s sugars) is a complex polygenic phenotype of high importance to biofuels initiatives. This study makes use of data derived from the re-sequenced genomes from over 800 different Populus trichocarpa genotypes in combination with metabolomic and pyMBMS data across this population, as well as co-expression and co-methylation networks in order to better understand the molecular interactions involved in recalcitrance, and identify target genes involved in lignin biosynthesis/degradation. A Lines Of Evidence (LOE) scoring system is developed to integrate the information in the different layers and quantify the number of lines of evidence linking genes to target functions. This new scoring system was applied to quantify the lines of evidence linking genes to lignin-related genes and phenotypes across the network layers, and allowed for the generation of new hypotheses surrounding potential new candidate genes involved in lignin biosynthesis in P. trichocarpa, including various AGAMOUS-LIKE genes. The resulting Genome Wide Association Study networks, integrated with Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) correlation, co-methylation, and co-expression networks through the LOE scores are proving to be a powerful approach to determine the pleiotropic and epistatic relationships underlying cellular functions and, as such, the molecular basis for complex phenotypes, such as recalcitrance

Using remote substituents to control solution structure and anion binding in lanthanide complexes.

A study of the anion-binding properties of three structurally related lanthanide complexes, which all contain chemically identical anion-binding motifs, has revealed dramatic differences in their anion affinity. These arise as a consequence of changes in the substitution pattern on the periphery of the molecule, at a substantial distance from the binding pocket. Herein, we explore these remote substituent effects and explain the observed behaviour through discussion of the way in which remote substituents can influence and control the global structure of a molecule through their demands upon conformational space. Peripheral modifications to a binuclear lanthanide motif derived from α,α′-bis(DO3 Ayl)-m-xylene are shown to result in dramatic changes to the binding constant for isophthalate. In this system, the parent compound displays considerable conformational flexibility, yet can be assumed to bind to isophthalate through a well-defined conformer. Addition of steric bulk remote from the binding site restricts conformational mobility, giving rise to an increase in binding constant on entropic grounds as long as the ideal binding conformation is not excluded from the available range of conformers

Seismic hazard and risk in Shanghai and estimation of expected building damage

The People's Republic of China is in the process of rapid demographic, economic and urban change including nationwide engineering and building construction at an unprecedented scale. The mega-city of Shanghai is at the centre of China's modernisation. Rapid urbanisation and building growth have increased the exposure of people and property to natural disasters. The seismic hazard of Shanghai and its vicinity is presented from a seismogenic free-zone methodology. A PGA value of 49 cm s-2 and a maximum intensity value of VII for the Chinese Seismic Intensity Scale (a scale similar to the Modified Mercalli) for a 99% probability of non-exceedance in 50 years are determined for Shanghai city. The potential building damage for three independent districts of the city centre named Putuo, Nanjing Road and Pudong are calculated using damage vulnerability matrices. It is found that old civil houses of brick and timber are the most vulnerable buildings with potentially a mean probability value of 7.4% of this building structure type exhibiting the highest damage grade at intensity VII

A chromatographic approach to distinguish Gram-positive from Gram-negative bacteria using exogenous volatile organic compound metabolites

This paper utilized L-alanine aminopeptidase activity as a useful approach to distinguish between Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. This was done using two enzyme substrates, specifically 2-amino-N-phenylpropanamide and 2-amino-N-(4-methylphenyl)propanamide which liberated the volatile compounds aniline and p-toluidine, respectively. Two complementary analytical techniques have been used to identify and quantify the VOCs, specifically static headspace multicapillary column gas chromatography ion mobility spectrometry (SHS-MCC-GC-IMS) and headspace solid phase microextraction gas chromatography mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS). Superior limits of detection were obtained using HS-SPME-GC-MS, typically by a factor of x6 such that the LOD for aniline was 0.02 μg/mL and 0.01 μg/mL for p-toluidine. In addition, it was also possible to determine indole interference-free by HS-SPME-GC-MS at an LOD of 0.01 μg/mL. The approach was applied to a range of selected bacteria: 15 Gram-negative and 7 Gram-positive bacteria. Use of pattern recognition, in the form of Principal Component Analysis, confirmed that it is possible to differentiate between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria using the enzyme generated VOCs, aniline and p-toluidine. The exception was Stenotrophomonas maltophilia which showed negligible VOC concentrations for both aniline and p-toluidine, irrespective of the analytical techniques used and hence was not characteristic of the other Gram-negative bacteria investigated. The developed methodology has the potential to be applied for clinical and food applications