Dropping off the edge 2015: persistent communal disadvantage in Australia

This report shows that complex and entrenched disadvantage is experienced by a small but persistent number of locations in each state and territory across Australia. Foreword In 2007, Jesuit Social Services and Catholic Social Services Australia commissioned ground-breaking research into place-based disadvantage across the nation. The resulting report, Dropping off the edge, built on previous work that Jesuit Social Services had engaged Professor Tony Vinson to undertake on its behalf and quickly became a critical resource for governments, service providers and communities attempting to address the challenge of entrenched and often complex geographical disadvantage. That report received over 284 scholarly citations and supported the establishment of the Australian Social Inclusion Board – a body charged with identifying long-term strategies to end poverty in Australia. Since the publication of Dropping off the edge, our organisations have received many requests to update the findings and produce a new report tracking the wellbeing of communities in Australia over the intervening time. Sadly, the current report drives home the enormous challenge that lies in front of our policy makers and service providers, as many communities identified as disadvantaged in 2007 once again head the list in each state and territory. As a society we cannot, and should not, turn away from the challenge of persistent and entrenched locational disadvantage, no matter how difficult it may be to solve the problem. We call on government, community and business to come together to work alongside these communities to ensure long term sustainable change. We hold hope that the young people and future generations in these communities will have a better outlook and life opportunities than is currently available to them. It is our belief that every Australian should have access to the opportunities in life that will enable them to flourish – to complete their education, to get a job, to access safe and affordable housing, to raise their children in safe communities and to see the next generation thrive. Jesuit Social Services and Catholic Social Services Australia are indebted to the dedication and perseverance of Professor Tony Vinson in leading this important research and analysis over the past 15 years. Julie Edwards Chief Executive Officer Jesuit Social Services Marcelle Mogg Chief Executive Officer Catholic Social Services Australi

Comunicazione italiana nel mondo: interviste a distanza. Prove d'Europa a Radio Colonia

L’Europa è di casa a Radio Colonia, l’emittente italiana del WDR, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, l’ente radiotelevisivo pubblico del Land Nord Reno-Westfalia, che il primo dicembre scorso ha celebrato il mezzo secolo di vita. Il suo direttore, Tommaso Pedicini, ricorda i motivi che portarono alla nascita della Radio, nel 1961, in un periodo in cui esplodeva il fenomeno dell’emigrazione italiana in Germania ed i Gastarbeiter (“lavoratori ospiti”) italiani avevano bisogno di una voce amica. Da allora molti sono stati i cambiamenti, ma Radio Colonia è rimasta la finestra italiana nel panorama radiofonico tedesco, impegnata in particolare, dopo l’avvio nel 1999 della Funkhaus Europa, a coltivare i temi del plurilinguismo e dell’integrazione degli immigrati

A hazard analysis method for systematic identification of safety requirements for user interface software in medical devices

© Springer International Publishing AG (outside the US) 2017. Formal methods technologies have the potential to verify the usability and safety of user interface (UI) software design in medical devices, enabling significant reductions in use errors and consequential safety incidents with such devices. This however depends on comprehensive and verifiable safety requirements to leverage these techniques for detecting and preventing flaws in UI software that can induce use errors. This paper presents a hazard analysis method that extends Leveson’s System Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA) with a comprehensive set of causal factor categories, so as to provide developers with clear guidelines for systematic identification of use-related hazards associated with medical devices, their causes embedded in UI software design, and safety requirements for mitigating such hazards. The method is evaluated with a case study on the Gantry-2 radiation therapy system, which demonstrates that (1) as compared to standard STPA, our method allowed us to identify more UI software design issues likely to cause use-related hazards; and (2) the identified UI software design issues facilitated the definition of precise, verifiable safety requirements for UI software, which could be readily formalized in verification tools such as Prototype Verification System (PVS).- U.S. Food and Drug Administration(NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000016)Sandy Weininger (FDA), Scott Thiel (Navigant Consulting, Inc.), Michelle Jump (Stryker), Stefania Gnesi (ISTI/CNR) and the CHI+MED team (www.chi-med.ac.uk) provided useful feedback and inputs. Paolo Masci’s work is supported by the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020) under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) within Project “NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000016”.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A framework for modelling soil structure dynamics induced by biological activity

Acknowledgments: This work was funded by the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS) in the project “Soil structure and soil degradation: improved model tools to meet sustainable development goals under climate and land use change” (grant no. 2018-02319). We would also like to thank Mikael Sasha Dooha for carrying out the measurements for the water retention curves shown in figure 4.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Repression of Smoothened by Patched-Dependent (Pro-)Vitamin D3 Secretion

The developmentally important hedgehog (Hh) pathway is activated by binding of Hh to patched (Ptch1), releasing smoothened (Smo) and the downstream transcription factor glioma associated (Gli) from inhibition. The mechanism behind Ptch1-dependent Smo inhibition remains unresolved. We now show that by mixing Ptch1-transfected and Ptch1 small interfering RNA–transfected cells with Gli reporter cells, Ptch1 is capable of non–cell autonomous repression of Smo. The magnitude of this non–cell autonomous repression of Smo activity was comparable to the fusion of Ptch1-transfected cell lines and Gli reporter cell lines, suggesting that it is the predominant mode of action. CHOD-PAP analysis of medium conditioned by Ptch1-transfected cells showed an elevated 3β-hydroxysteroid content, which we hypothesized to mediate the Smo inhibition. Indeed, the inhibition of 3β-hydroxysteroid synthesis impaired Ptch1 action on Smo, whereas adding the 3β-hydroxysteroid (pro-)vitamin D3 to the medium effectively inhibited Gli activity. Vitamin D3 bound to Smo with high affinity in a cyclopamine-sensitive manner. Treating zebrafish embryos with vitamin D3 mimicked the smo (–/–) phenotype, confirming the inhibitory action in vivo. Hh activates its signalling cascade by inhibiting Ptch1-dependent secretion of the 3β-hydroxysteroid (pro-)vitamin D3. This action not only explains the seemingly contradictory cause of Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS), but also establishes Hh as a unique morphogen, because binding of Hh on one cell is capable of activating Hh-dependent signalling cascades on other cells

Sperm motility and fertilisation success in an acidified and hypoxic environment

The distribution and function of many marine species is largely determined by the effect of abiotic drivers on their reproduction and early development, including those drivers associated with elevated CO2 and global climate change. A number of studies have therefore investigated the effects of elevated pCO2 on a range of reproductive parameters, including sperm motility and fertilisation success. To date, most of these studies have not examined the possible synergistic effects of other abiotic drivers, such as the increased frequency of hypoxic events that are also associated with climate change. The present study is therefore novel in assessing the impact that a hypoxic event could have on reproduction in a future high CO2 ocean. Specifically, this study assesses sperm motility and fertilisation success in the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus exposed to elevated pCO2 for 6 months. Gametes extracted from these pre acclimated individuals were subjected to hypoxic conditions simulating an hypoxic event in a future high CO2 ocean. Sperm swimming speed increased under elevated pCO2 and decrease under hypoxic conditions resulting in the elevated pCO2 and hypoxic treatment being approximately equivalent to the control. There was also a combined negative effect of increased pCO2 and hypoxia on the percentage of motile sperm. There was a significant negative effect of elevated pCO2 on fertilisation success, and when combined with a simulated hypoxic event there was an even greater effect. This could potentially affect cohort recruitment and in turn reduce the density of this ecologically and economically important ecosystem engineer therefore potentially effecting biodiversity and ecosystem services

Threshold-Dependent BMP-Mediated Repression: A Model for a Conserved Mechanism That Patterns the Neuroectoderm

Subdivision of the neuroectoderm into three rows of cells along the dorsal-ventral axis by neural identity genes is a highly conserved developmental process. While neural identity genes are expressed in remarkably similar patterns in vertebrates and invertebrates, previous work suggests that these patterns may be regulated by distinct upstream genetic pathways. Here we ask whether a potential conserved source of positional information provided by the BMP signaling contributes to patterning the neuroectoderm. We have addressed this question in two ways: First, we asked whether BMPs can act as bona fide morphogens to pattern the Drosophila neuroectoderm in a dose-dependent fashion, and second, we examined whether BMPs might act in a similar fashion in patterning the vertebrate neuroectoderm. In this study, we show that graded BMP signaling participates in organizing the neural axis in Drosophila by repressing expression of neural identity genes in a threshold-dependent fashion. We also provide evidence for a similar organizing activity of BMP signaling in chick neural plate explants, which may operate by the same double negative mechanism that acts earlier during neural induction. We propose that BMPs played an ancestral role in patterning the metazoan neuroectoderm by threshold-dependent repression of neural identity genes

Design, Synthesis and Characterization of a Highly Effective Inhibitor for Analog-Sensitive (as) Kinases

Highly selective, cell-permeable and fast-acting inhibitors of individual kinases are sought-after as tools for studying the cellular function of kinases in real time. A combination of small molecule synthesis and protein mutagenesis, identified a highly potent inhibitor (1-Isopropyl-3-(phenylethynyl)-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4-amine) of a rationally engineered Hog1 serine/threonine kinase (Hog1T100G). This inhibitor has been successfully used to study various aspects of Hog1 signaling, including a transient cell cycle arrest and gene expression changes mediated by Hog1 in response to stress. This study also underscores that the general applicability of this approach depends, in part, on the selectivity of the designed the inhibitor with respect to activity versus the engineered and wild type kinases. To explore this specificity in detail, we used a validated chemogenetic assay to assess the effect of this inhibitor on all gene products in yeast in parallel. The results from this screen emphasize the need for caution and for case-by-case assessment when using the Analog-Sensitive Kinase Allele technology to assess the physiological roles of kinases

Dynamic Assignment and Maintenance of Positional Identity in the Ventral Neural Tube by the Morphogen Sonic Hedgehog

During development of the vertebrate neural tube, cells acquire their positional identity from not only the spatial level of the Sonic Hedgehog signaling gradient, but also the temporal duration

Physical and biogeochemical controls on the variability in surface pH and calcium carbonate saturation states in the Atlantic sectors of the Arctic and Southern Oceans

Polar oceans are particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification due to their low temperatures and reduced buffering capacity, and are expected to experience extensive low pH conditions and reduced carbonate mineral saturations states (Ω) in the near future. However, the impact of anthropogenic CO2 on pH and Ω will vary regionally between and across the Arctic and Southern Oceans. Here we investigate the carbonate chemistry in the Atlantic sector of two polar oceans, the Nordic Seas and Barents Sea in the Arctic Ocean, and the Scotia and Weddell Seas in the Southern Ocean, to determine the physical and biogeochemical processes that control surface pH and Ω. High-resolution observations showed large gradients in surface pH (0.10–0.30) and aragonite saturation state (Ωar) (0.2–1.0) over small spatial scales, and these were particularly strong in sea-ice covered areas (up to 0.45 in pH and 2.0 in Ωar). In the Arctic, sea-ice melt facilitated bloom initiation in light-limited and iron replete (dFe>0.2 nM) regions, such as the Fram Strait, resulting in high pH (8.45) and Ωar (3.0) along the sea-ice edge. In contrast, accumulation of dissolved inorganic carbon derived from organic carbon mineralisation under the ice resulted in low pH (8.05) and Ωar (1.1) in areas where thick ice persisted. In the Southern Ocean, sea-ice retreat resulted in bloom formation only where terrestrial inputs supplied sufficient iron (dFe>0.2 nM), such as in the vicinity of the South Sandwich Islands where enhanced pH (8.3) and Ωar (2.3) were primarily due to biological production. In contrast, in the adjacent Weddell Sea, weak biological uptake of CO2 due to low iron concentrations (dFe<0.2 nM) resulted in low pH (8.1) and Ωar (1.6). The large spatial variability in both polar oceans highlights the need for spatially resolved surface data of carbonate chemistry variables but also nutrients (including iron) in order to accurately elucidate the large gradients experienced by marine organisms and to understand their response to increased CO2 in the future