19683 research outputs found
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Defining the Molecular Factors Underpinning Post-Apoptotic Processes
No full textA thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.</p
Gender-Critical/Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist Representations of Transgender People Online: A Transfeminist Analysis
No full textA thesis is submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.</p
Trauma and hallucinations across the sensory modalities: the importance of considering experiences in childhood and adulthood
No full textIt is widely acknowledged that trauma is related to auditory hallucinations in psychotic disorders. Yet, this relationship has not been well explored in hallucinations across other sensory modalities. The current study investigated whether hallucination modality groups (auditory, visual, olfactory, tactile, multisensory) were significantly related to physical, sexual, or emotional trauma. The age at which the trauma was experienced (16 or below, 17 and above) was also considered. Multivariate linear models, analysis of variance, and regression analyses for sixty-six participants with a psychotic disorder sought to determine whether trauma was related to hallucinations. Specifically, we used a modified version of the Life-Stressor Checklist Revised and the Multimodal Hallucinations Schedule (MHS) to identify whether the number of trauma items endorsed, or severity of trauma, at different developmental stages were significantly associated with the severity of lifetime hallucinations across different modalities, and the number of hallucination modalities experienced. We found that the severity of visual hallucinations was significantly associated with a history of sexual trauma. Notably, we revealed that experiencing sexual trauma in both childhood and adulthood was related to an increased self-reported severity of the trauma, and possibly the severity of visual hallucinations. These preliminary findings suggest that type of trauma may be uniquely related to specific hallucination modality and severity. Further, it is important to consider adulthood traumas as well as those occurring in childhood. These results have implications for clinical assessment and intervention.</p
DNA transfer in packaging: Investigation of mitigation strategies
No full textCrime scene exhibits are often packaged at a crime scene and transported to a laboratory for DNA analysis. DNA-containing material may be lost from the sampling site of the exhibit to the inside of the packaging, preventing identification of a suspect, or may transfer to other parts of the exhibit complicating the interpretation of results. We sought to mitigate this DNA transfer by testing packaging that reduced direct contact with the exhibit, limited the exhibit's movement, or contained physical barriers to separate areas of the exhibit. Blood, saliva, or touch DNA were deposited onto mock exhibits that were packaged by one of four methods: unsecured, secured to bottom, secured suspended, or secured suspended with barrier separating areas. Packaged exhibits were then transported in a manner resembling casework, after which the location and amount of DNA on the exhibit and packaging were assessed. Control samples, which were not transported, were also tested. Touch and saliva deposits appeared to transfer by direct contact with the packaging and this transfer could be mitigated by suspending and/or securing the exhibits within packaging to minimize contact. Blood flaking from the exhibits meant the transfer of blood was inevitable under the conditions tested. While limiting direct contact between the exhibit and packaging minimized relocation of blood on the exhibit, the use of physical barriers prevented its transfer to other parts of the packaging. We show that while DNA transfer in packaging is not uncommon, there are strategies to mitigate this.</p
Honey as an eDNA Reservoir: Detecting Spiroplasma apis and Spiroplasma melliferum in Australian honey bee populations
No full textAbstract:Spiroplasma apis and Spiroplasma melliferum are often overlooked pathogens that harm honey bee health. This study used environmental DNA (eDNA) from honey to identify these pathogens. We amplified DNA from 135 honey samples across Australia using Spiroplasma –specific PCR primers. The results revealed a high prevalence of S. melliferum (70%) across Australia, in contrast to S. apis , which was detected in 13% of samples. The findings indicate that S. melliferum is widespread in Australia, potentially threatening honey bee health. We present the first phylogenetic analysis of Australian Spiroplasma apis and Spiroplasma melliferum isolates, with Spiroplasma apis showing high similarity with reference strains from the USA, Belgium, and Taiwan, whereas Spiroplasma melliferum displays broader genetic diversity.</p
A Fault-Tolerant Sharding Mechanism for Resilience and Scalability in Blockchain Using Backup Pool
No full textWith the development of blockchain technology, an increasing number of devices are joining the network and generating numerous transactions, which pose significant performance and scalability challenges to blockchain networks. Sharding technology is one solution that improves throughput by parallelising transaction validation and block generation, thereby alleviating this challenge. However, during the process of dividing shard groups in large-scale networks, the uneven distribution of malicious nodes or dynamic changes in joined nodes may lead to failures in the availability and liveness of shard groups. This paper proposes an enhanced sharding blockchain system that improves fault tolerance and reliability to ensure high shard group performance, scalability, and reliability. We also propose the concept of a backup pool and achieve the detection and recovery of faulty shards through pre-deployed backup pool nodes and redesigned consensus algorithms. After a thorough security analysis, we conclude that the proposed sharding blockchain system can increase the Resilience of shard groups from 33.3% to 66.6%. Additionally, we evaluate the proposed system, and the results show that it ensures the security, reliability, and high performance of sharding while increasing the scalability of the system’s network nodes from 104 to 106 compared to existing sharding blockchains.</p
Yes, One Nation’s poll numbers are climbing. But major party status – let alone government – is still a long way off
No full text"Recent polling has delivered a spike for the anti-immigration party One Nation, triggering media speculation that Australian politics is on the cusp of a populist realignment."</p
Effectiveness of Digitally Delivered Continuous Care Intervention on the Self-Management of Type 2 Diabetes. A 12-month Single-Arm, Pre-Post Intervention Study
No full textA thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.</p
Sustainable High-Pressure Laser-Induced Synthesis of Novel Carbon Allotropes and Diamond-Like Carbon
No full textA thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.</p
Synergies between data science methods and innovative drug delivery technologies
No full textMost areas of science and technology and beyond are undergoing an almost unprecedented rate of change, driven largely by the rapid growth in automation and robotics, computational power, and AI and machine learning algorithms. Many areas of science and medicine have adopted these technologies or are on a steep learning curve to do so in the short to medium term. Drug delivery systems that are very important for optimising therapeutic efficacy, patient compliance, and amelioration of side-effects are similarly undergoing a quiet revolution in modalities. However, drug delivery systems are arguably lagging many other scientific and biomedical fields in applying informatics, physics-based computational design and simulation approaches, and AI and machine learning to design, optimisation, and simulation of drug delivery systems. Here I review studies in which selected computational methods have been employed for these purposes, aiming to highlight their potential to accelerate the provision of more effective drug delivery systems and to identify modalities in which the benefits of these computational methods have not been achieved at all, or at least sub-optimally. The aim is to focus on less well-addressed existing and emerging drug delivery systems and to provide a perspective on what needs to be done, what could be done better, and where the synergistic partnership between computational/AI methods and contemporary drug delivery system may lead in the future.</p