Circumventing embryonic lethality with Lcmt1 deficiency: generation of hypomorphic Lcmt1 mice with reduced protein phosphatase 2A methyltransferase expression and defects in insulin signaling.

Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), the major serine/threonine phosphatase in eukaryotic cells, is a heterotrimeric protein composed of structural, catalytic, and targeting subunits. PP2A assembly is governed by a variety of mechanisms, one of which is carboxyl-terminal methylation of the catalytic subunit by the leucine carboxyl methyltransferase LCMT1. PP2A is nearly stoichiometrically methylated in the cytosol, and although some PP2A targeting subunits bind independently of methylation, this modification is required for the binding of others. To examine the role of this methylation reaction in mammalian tissues, we generated a mouse harboring a gene-trap cassette within intron 1 of Lcmt1. Due to splicing around the insertion, Lcmt1 transcript and LCMT1 protein levels were reduced but not eliminated. LCMT1 activity and methylation of PP2A were reduced in a coordinate fashion, suggesting that LCMT1 is the only PP2A methyltransferase. These mice exhibited an insulin-resistance phenotype, indicating a role for this methyltransferase in signaling in insulin-sensitive tissues. Tissues from these animals will be vital for the in vivo identification of methylation-sensitive substrates of PP2A and how they respond to differing physiological conditions

Exploring a new security framework for remote patient monitoring devices

Security has been an issue of contention in healthcare. The lack of familiarity and poor implementation of security in healthcare leave the patients’ data vulnerable to attackers. The main issue is assessing how we can provide security in an RPM infrastructure. The findings in literature show there is little empirical evidence on proper implementation of security. Therefore, there is an urgent need in addressing cybersecurity issues in medical devices. Through the review of relevant literature in remote patient monitoring and use of a Microsoft threat modelling tool, we identify and explore current vulnerabilities and threats in IEEE 11073 standard devices to propose a new security framework for remote patient monitoring devices. Additionally, current RPM devices have a limitation on the number of people who can share a single device, therefore, we propose the use of NFC for identification in Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) devices for multi-user environments where we have multiple people sharing a single device to reduce errors associated with incorrect user identification. We finally show how several techniques have been used to build the proposed framewor

A search for electron cyclotron maser emission from compact binaries

Unipolar induction (UI) is a fundamental physical process, which occurs when a conducting body transverses a magnetic field. It has been suggested that UI is operating in RX J0806+15 and RX J1914+24, which are believed to be ultra-compact binaries with orbital periods of 5.4 min and 9.6 min respectively. The UI model predicts that those two sources may be electron cyclotron maser sources at radio wavelengths. Other systems in which UI has been predicted to occur are short period extra-solar terrestrial planets with conducting cores. If UI is present, circularly polarised radio emission is predicted to be emitted. We have searched for this predicted radio emission from short period binaries using the VLA and ATCA. In one epoch we find evidence for a radio source, coincident in position with the optical position of RX J0806+15. Although we cannot completely exclude that this is a chance alignment between the position of RX J0806+15 and an artifact in the data reduction process, the fact that it was detected at a significance level of 5.8 sigma and found to be transient, suggests that it is more likely that RX J0806+15 is a transient radio source. We find an upper limit on the degree of circular polarisation to be ~50%. The inferred brightness temperature exceeds 10^18 K, which is too high for any known incoherent process, but is consistent with maser emission and UI being the driving mechanism. We did not detect radio emission from ES Cet, RX J1914+24 or Gliese 876.Comment: Accepted for publication MNRA

Post-Foucauldian governmentality: what does it offer critical social policy analysis?

This article considers the theoretical perspective of post-Foucauldian governmentality, especially the insights and challenges it poses for applied researchers within the critical social policy tradition. The article firstly examines the analytical strengths of this approach to understanding power and rule in contemporary society, before moving on to consider its limitations for social policy. It concludes by arguing that these insights can be retained, and some of the weaknesses overcome, by adopting a ‘realist governmentality’ approach (Stenson 2005, 2008). This advocates combining traditional discursive analysis with more ethnographic methods in order to render visible the concrete activity of governing, and unravel the messiness, complexity and unintended consequences involved in the struggles around subjectivity

Exploring a new security framework for cloud storage using capabilities

We are seeing the deployment of new types of networks such as sensor networks for environmental and infrastructural monitoring, social networks such as facebook, and e-Health networks for patient monitoring. These networks are producing large amounts of data that need to be stored, processed and analysed. Cloud technology is being used to meet these challenges. However, a key issue is how to provide security for data stored in the Cloud. This paper addresses this issue in two ways. It first proposes a new security framework for Cloud security which deals with all the major system entities. Secondly, it introduces a Capability ID system based on modified IPv6 addressing which can be used to implement a security framework for Cloud storage. The paper then shows how these techniques are being used to build an e-Health system for patient monitoring

Flexible Buffer Materials to Reduce Contact Resistance in Thermal Insulation Measurements

Thermal insulation test methods approach their lower limits as thermal resistance falls below 0.1 m2⋅K/W. This is the minimum value specified in ASTM C 518 (ASTM International, 2010b) while ASTM C 177 (ASTM International, 2010a) proposes about 0.06 m2⋅K/W. Nevertheless these are the test methods, along with their ISO equivalents, required by Australasian building codes and directed at many products and materials with thermal resistance on the low side of 0.1 m2⋅K/W. Alternatives, such as ASTM E 1530 (ASTM International, 2011), cover much lower resistances but require carefully prepared small specimens and very-high contact pressures and are therefore largely unsuitable for both technical and compliance reasons. For these low resistances, the insulation test methods face large errors because of interface resistance between specimen and the apparatus hot and cold plates. Staying with C 518, the problem can be avoided by using direct measurement of the test specimen surface temperatures, but this is difficult, has its own accuracy issues, and is often impractical for commercial laboratories. This technique is generally used in conjunction with interface materials such as flexible foam between the specimen and the hot and cold plates, to enhance contact and also provide an access path for temperature sensors. The alternative prospect of using these interface materials to ensure good specimen contact has been studied, in conjunction with a simple two-step thermal resistance determination based on the difference between presence and absence of the test specimen. This article presents results of a study using this difference approach for the measurement of 12 highly conducting materials, including sheets of aluminum, phenolic, HDPE, MgO, bonded rubber and cork granules, PMMA, and compressed wood fiber. For each material, repeated measurements have been performed with four different interface or “buffer” materials: PVC, silicone, EVA, and nitrile. Silicone sponge provides the most uniform results, consistent with a measurably lower hysteresis. The difference technique yielded a lower indicated thermal resistance than direct measurement by between 0.003 and 0.01 m2⋅K/W, with some variation depending on the specimen surface characteristics and to a lesser extent on the choice of buffer. Larger differences were associated with bowed, uneven or roughly surfaced specimens. The difference-technique results have greater variability, but they may be seen as better estimates of the actual specimen resistance, as contact resistance is much lower for soft-surface interfaces. An interface resistance of up to 0.01 m2⋅K/W is large enough to be of significance in many thermal measurements

Constraining the Randall-Sundrum modulus in the light of recent PVLAS data

Recent PVLAS data put stringent constraints on the measurement of birefringence and dichroism of electromagnetic waves travelling in a constant and homogeneous magnetic field. There have been theoretical predictions in favour of such phenomena when appropriate axion-electromagnetic coupling is assumed. Origin of such a coupling can be traced in a low energy string action from the requirement of quantum consistency. The resulting couplings in such models are an artifact of the compactification of the extra dimensions present inevitably in a string scenario. The moduli parameters which encode the compact manifold therefore play a crucial role in determining the axion-photon coupling. In this work we examine the possible bounds on the value of compact modulus that emerge from the experimental limits on the coupling obtained from the PVLAS data. In particular we focus into the Randall-Sundrum (RS) type of warped geometry model whose modulus parameter is already restricted from the requirement of the resolution of gauge hierarchy problem in connection with the mass of the Higgs. We explore the bound on the modulus for a wide range of the axion mass for both the birefringence and the dichroism data in PVLAS. We show that the proposed value of the modulus in the RS scenario can only be accommodated for axion mass \gsim 0.3 eV.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figure, LaTex; added references, typos corrected. Minor changes in the text, a comment added in the Conclusio

Nod1 signaling overcomes resistance of S. pneumoniae to opsonophagocytic killing

Airway infection by the Gram-positive pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp) leads to recruitment of neutrophils but limited bacterial killing by these cells. Co-colonization by Sp and a Gram-negative species, Haemophilus influenzae (Hi), provides sufficient stimulus to induce neutrophil and complement-mediated clearance of Sp from the mucosal surface in a murine model. Products from Hi, but not Sp, also promote killing of Sp by ex vivo neutrophil-enriched peritoneal exudate cells. Here we identify the stimulus from Hi as its peptidoglycan. Enhancement of opsonophagocytic killing was facilitated by signaling through nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-1 (Nod1), which is involved in recognition of γ-D-glutamyl-meso-diaminopimelic acid (meso-DAP) contained in cell walls of Hi but not Sp. Neutrophils from mice treated with Hi or compounds containing meso-DAP, including synthetic peptidoglycan fragments, showed increased Sp killing in a Nod1-dependent manner. Moreover, Nod1-/- mice showed reduced Hi-induced clearance of Sp during co-colonization. These observations offer insight into mechanisms of microbial competition and demonstrate the importance of Nod1 in neutrophil-mediated clearance of bacteria in vivo

Diatom analysis of three Norwegian cores

The purpose of this project is to supply diatom data to the Norwegian Institute of Water Research for cores from three Norwegian lakes: Steinsfjorden, Lyseren and Gjersjøen. The data will feed into a palaeolimnological project which also includes analysis of algal pigments and radiometric dating of the cores. The study aims to assess shifts in the diatom assemblages and to determine the nature of the baseline assemblages. Additionally the project aims to apply an existing diatom-phosphorus (P) transfer function to the diatom data in order to infer the trophic histories of the lakes

Computational and Experimental Investigation of Flow Around a 3-1 Prolate Spheroid

The flow around a 3-1 prolate spheroid near the critical Reynolds number is investigated experimentally and numerically. This work was conducted as part of a larger project to examine the flow around Unmanned Underwater Vehicles. The experimental investigation has been performed in a water tunnel at the Australian Maritime College. Fast response pressure probes and a 3-D automated traverse have been developed to investigate the state of the boundary layer. A commercial CFD code has been modified to allow the experimentally determined boundary layer state to be included in the computation. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons between the measured and calculated results are discussed. The tests on the spheroid were conducted within a Reynolds numbers range of 0 .6 ×106 to 4×106. The results presented here are for an incidence of 10