The harmonic language in the keyboard works of C.P.E. Bach

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Trends in Pulse and Oilseed Crops in Winter Cereal Rotations in NSW

The key aims in this study are to assess the current level of importance of pulse and oilseed (broadleaf) crops in winter cereal rotations in NSW, and to identify recent trends. The production of broadleaf crops has increased in each region of NSW, but different crops have been favoured. Canola has played a key role in southern regions, and chickpea in the northern regions. In many areas, pulse crops have been grown more because of rotational benefits than their direct gross margins. If recent trends continue, the role of broadleaf crops will increase to 25% of the area sown to field crops in NSW by 2020. However, that will only be achieved with a focussed effort in both research and extension activities.broadleaf crop, oilseed, pulse, production, rotation, NSW, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q160,

Minimal climate impacts from short-lived climate forcers following emission reductions related to the COVID-19 pandemic

We present an assessment of the impacts on atmospheric composition and radiative forcing of short-lived pollutants following worldwide decrease in anthropogenic activity and emissions comparable to what has occurred in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, using the global composition-climate model UKCA. Emission changes reduce tropospheric hydroxyl radical and ozone burdens, increasing methane lifetime. Reduced SO2 emissions and oxidising capacity lead to a decrease in sulphate aerosol and increase in aerosol size, with accompanying reductions to cloud droplet concentration. However, large reductions in black carbon emissions increase aerosol albedo. Overall, the changes in ozone and aerosol direct effects (neglecting aerosol-cloud interactions which were statistically insignificant but whose response warrants future investigation) yield a radiative forcing of -33 to -78 mWm-2. Upon cessation of emission reductions the short-lived climate forcers rapidly return to pre-COVID levels, meaning these changes are unlikely to have lasting impacts on climate assuming emissions return to pre-intervention levels

5α-TETRAHYDROCORTICOSTERONE: A TOPICAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY GLUCOCORTICOID WITH AN IMPROVED THERAPEUTIC INDEX IN A MURINE MODEL OF DERMATITIS

Background and PurposeGlucocorticoids are powerful anti-inflammatory drugs, but are associated with many side-effects. Topical application in atopic dermatitis leads to skin thinning, metabolic changes, and adrenal suppression. 5α-Tetrahydrocorticosterone (5αTHB) is a potential selective anti-inflammatory with reduced metabolic effects. Here, the efficacy and side-effect profile of 5αTHB were compared with hydrocortisone in preclinical models of irritant dermatitis.Experimental ApproachAcute irritant dermatitis was invoked in ear skin of male C57BL/6 mice with a single topical application of croton oil. Inflammation was assessed as oedema via ear weight following treatment with 5αTHB and hydrocortisone. Side-effects of 5αTHB and hydrocortisone were assessed following chronic topical steroid treatment (28 days) to non-irritated skin. Skin thinning was quantified longitudinally by caliper measurements and summarily by qPCR for transcripts for genes involved in extracellular matrix homeostasis; systemic effects of topical steroid administration also were assessed. Clearance of 5αTHB and hydrocortisone were measured following intravenous and oral administration.Key Results5αTHB suppressed ear swelling in mice, with ED50 similar to hydrocortisone (23 μg vs. 13 μg). Chronic application of 5αTHB did not cause skin thinning, adrenal atrophy, weight loss, thymic involution, or raised insulin levels, all of which were observed with topical hydrocortisone. Transcripts for genes involved in collagen synthesis and stability were adversely affected by all doses of hydrocortisone, but only by the highest dose of 5αTHB (8× ED50). 5αTHB was rapidly cleared from the systemic circulation.Conclusions and ImplicationsTopical 5αTHB has potential to treat inflammatory skin conditions, particularly in areas of delicate skin

High resolution chemical mapping of biomimetic membranes by force volume imaging

Melbourne, VIC

Transmembrane Inhibitor of RICTOR/mTORC2 in Hematopoietic Progenitors

Summary Central to cellular proliferative, survival, and metabolic responses is the serine/threonine kinase mTOR, which is activated in many human cancers. mTOR is present in distinct complexes that are either modulated by AKT (mTORC1) or are upstream and regulatory of it (mTORC2). Governance of mTORC2 activity is poorly understood. Here, we report a transmembrane molecule in hematopoietic progenitor cells that physically interacts with and inhibits RICTOR, an essential component of mTORC2. Upstream of mTORC2 (UT2) negatively regulates mTORC2 enzymatic activity, reducing AKTS473, PKCα, and NDRG1 phosphorylation and increasing FOXO transcriptional activity in an mTORC2-dependent manner. Modulating UT2 levels altered animal survival in a T cell acute lymphoid leukemia (T-ALL) model that is known to be mTORC2 sensitive. These studies identify an inhibitory component upstream of mTORC2 in hematopoietic cells that can reduce mortality from NOTCH-induced T-ALL. A transmembrane inhibitor of mTORC2 may provide an attractive target to affect this critical cell regulatory pathway

Urban informality and confinement: toward a relational framework

In the 21st century, a growing number of people live ‘informal’ lives within fissures between legality and informality. Concomitantly, power relations are increasingly expressed through devices of confinement. While urban informality and confinement are on the rise often occurring simultaneously, scholars have so far studied them separately. By contrast, this article proposes a new framework for analysing urban informality and confinement relationally. It generates new insights into the role of informality in the (re)production of confinement and, vice versa, the role of confinement in shaping informal practices. While these insights are valuable for urban studies in general, the article charts new lines of research on urban marginality. It also discusses how the six articles included in this special issue signal the heuristic potential of this relational framework by empirically examining distinct urban configurations of ‘confined informalities’ and ‘informal confinements’ across the Global North and the Global South

Negotiating identities: ethnicity and social relations in a young offenders' institution

This article explores the situated nature of male prisoner identities in the late modern British context, using the contrasting theoretical frames of Sykes's (1958) indigenous model and Jacobs' (1979) importation model of prisoner subcultures and social relations. Drawing on eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in an ethnically, religiously and nationally diverse young offenders institution, consideration is given to how prisoners manage and negotiate difference, exploring the contours of racialization and racism which can operate in ambiguous and contradictory ways. Sociological understandings of identity, ethnicity, racialization and racism are used to inform a more empirically grounded theoretical criminology

Projected impacts of climate change on regional capacities for global plant species richness

Climate change represents a major challenge to the maintenance of global biodiversity. To date, the direction and magnitude of net changes in the global distribution of plant diversity remain elusive. We use the empirical multi-variate relationships between contemporary water-energy dynamics and other non-climatic predictor variables to model the regional capacity for plant species richness (CSR) and its projected future changes. We find that across all analysed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emission scenarios, relative changes in CSR increase with increased projected temperature rise. Between now and 2100, global average CSR is projected to remain similar to today (+0.3%) under the optimistic B1/+1.8°C scenario, but to decrease significantly (−9.4%) under the ‘business as usual’ A1FI/+4.0°C scenario. Across all modelled scenarios, the magnitude and direction of CSR change are geographically highly non-uniform. While in most temperate and arctic regions, a CSR increase is expected, the projections indicate a strong decline in most tropical and subtropical regions. Countries least responsible for past and present greenhouse gas emissions are likely to incur disproportionately large future losses in CSR, whereas industrialized countries have projected moderate increases. Independent of direction, we infer that all changes in regional CSR will probably induce on-site species turnover and thereby be a threat to native floras