7,125 research outputs found
Human beta-defensin 2 induces a vigorous cytokine response in peripheral blood mononuclear cells
No full textbeta-Defensins are a family of small cationic peptides involved in the innate response to microbial infection. Although their role in microbial killing is well established, the mechanisms through which this occurs remain largely undefined. Here, using protein array technology, we describe a role for human beta-defensins in the induction of an inflammatory cytokine response by human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Human beta-defensins 1, 2, and 3 were examined for induction of an array of cytokines and chemokines. Some cytokines, such as interleukin 8 (IL-8) and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, were up-regulated by all three defensins, while others, such as IL-6 and IL-10, were induced more selectively. It was notable that each defensin induced a unique pattern of cytokines. This report documents, for the first time, an analysis of the composite cytokine response of human PBMCs to beta-defensins. The induction or up-regulation of a number of cytokines involved in the adaptive immune response suggests a possible role for these defensins in linking innate and acquired immunity
Nursing students gain hands-on experience in Broken Hill
No full textFour Nursing students from The University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney have spent the last month in the isolated New South Wales mining town, Broken Hill, gaining hands-on experience in rural health care.
The trip was part of their clinical elective practicum component which provides students with the opportunity to experience different facets of health care in remote areas of Australia.
The third year students, Eloise Connell, Chantal Brawand, Tamzen Tooher-Burell and Ruth Mychael, spent their time working in the local hospital and learning about the local community.
Ms Connell said the four students took on many nursing functions within the hospital, including primary health care, maternal and family care, paediatric nursing, aged care and mental health care.
“We were also given many tasks within the local community such as helping with lead testing, diabetes awareness, indigenous health and the Royal Flying Doctors Service,” said Ms Connell.
All four students elected to undertake the practicum because of their interest in rural and remote nursing and their desire to experience the very special environment of Broken Hill.
“We enjoyed every minute of our time in Broken Hill. I began the practicum with the aim of learning more about rural health, and came home with respect for rural communities, knowledge of local history and insight into life outside the city”, said Ms Connell.
Media contact:
Moira Saunders 02 8204 440
Colourful children’s author visits Notre Dame
No full textOne of Australia’s most cherished authors, Morris Gleitzman, spoke about his passion for writing, the impacts of his literature on children and the enjoyment he receives from exploring his imagination every day to a vast audience at Notre Dame’s Fremantle Campus on Monday 21 May.
Author of more than 30 books, including the timeless classics Worry Warts, Two Weeks with the Queen and Adults Only, Mr Gleitzman said his stories reflected the essential qualities and values each person held dear in their lives.
“I wanted to suggest that stories, while we use them often for entertainment, have been around the centre of human culture for millennia,” Mr Gleitzman said.
“These stories are modelling exactly the same skills, abilities and cultural traits via the main characters as teachers hope to develop in their students in the classroom.”
The British-born author was an avid reader as a child and soon found a love for writing after migrating to Australia in 1969. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Mr Gleitzman’s colourful career included working as a department store Santa Claus, a frozen chicken defroster and as a paperboy.
Mr Gleitzman also worked as a television screenwriter for the popular Norman Gunston Show in the 1970s.
However, it was not until a publishing company presented Mr Gleitzman with an opportunity to turn his script about a schoolboy who drove his family and friends “bonkers” into a book that his vocation as an author was realised.
He says that, for him, writing is a technical process that is assisted by a love of language and the ability to explore and evolve characters in any given setting.
“The aspect of writing that I most enjoy is going into my imagination, a place free of all the constraints of the physical and social world where I can have adventures in the context of that freedom,” Mr Gleitzman said.
“When I’m looking for, as I do with each new character, the biggest problem in their life, the problem is almost always timeless and universal.
“The biggest problems we face in our lives today are problems that humans have faced forever and everywhere. Everyone has a need for love, friendship, recognition, validation and, sometimes, survival in their lives.”
Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the Fremantle Campus, Dr Angeline O’Neill, said Mr Gleitzman exemplified the power and importance of children’s literature in contemporary society.
Notre Dame was indeed fortunate to host the first week of Morris Gleitzman’s Perth visit,” Dr O’Neill said.
“He is a major Australian author with a significant global readership, ranging from child readers to adults.
“We see literature in action through Mr Gleitzman’s work. His novels simultaneously entertain and inform young readers, promoting social awareness through the pleasure of reading.
While in Perth, Mr Gleitzman was sponsored by Notre Dame to conduct a series of school visits which included Mercedes College and John XXIII College. These visits provided students with the opportunity to hear about his new book titled After and the chance to speak to the highly acclaimed author.
MEDIA CONTACT: Shelley Robinson: Tel (08) 9433 0610; Mob 0408 959 138 Leigh Dawson: Tel (08) 9433 0569; Mob 0405 441 09
Defining simple nD operations based on prismatic nD objects
No full textAn alternative to the traditional approaches to model separately 2D/3D space, time, scale and other parametrisable characteristics in GIS lies in the higher-dimensional modelling of geographic information, in which a chosen set of non-spatial characteristics, e.g. time and scale, are modelled as extra geometric dimensions perpendicular to the spatial ones, thus creating a higher dimensional model. While higher-dimensional models are undoubtedly powerful, they are also hard to create and manipulate due to our lack of an intuitive understanding in dimensions higher than three. As a solution to this problem, this paper proposes a methodology that makes nD object generation easier by splitting the creation and manipulation process into three steps: (i) constructing simple nD objects based on nD prismatic polytopes—analogous to prisms in 3D—, (ii) defining simple modification operations at the vertex level, and (iii) simple postprocessing to fix errors introduced in the model. As a use case, we show how two sets of operations can be defined and implemented in a dimension-independent manner using this methodology: the most common transformations (i.e. translation, scaling and rotation) and the collapse of objects. The nD objects generated in this manner can then be used as a basis for an nD GIS.Urban Data Scienc
Executing convex polytope queries on nD point clouds
No full textEfficient spatial queries are frequently needed to extract useful information from massive nD point clouds. Most previous studies focus on developing solutions for orthogonal window queries, while rarely considering the polytope query. The latter query, which includes the widely adopted polygonal query in 2D, also plays a critical role in many nD spatial applications such as the perspective view selection. Aiming for an nD solution, this paper first formulates a convex nD-polytope for querying. Then, the paper integrates three approximate geometric algorithms – SWEEP, SPHERE, VERTEX, and a linear programming method CPLEX, developing a solution based on an Index-Organized Table (IOT) approach. IOT is applied with space filling curve based clustering and advanced querying mechanism which recursively refines hypercubic nD spaces to approach the query geometry for primary filtering. Results from experiments based on both synthetic and real data have confirmed the superior performance of SWEEP. However, the algorithm may lag behind CPLEX due to pessimistic intersection computation in high dimensional spaces. In a real application, by properly transforming a perspective view selection into a polytope query, the solution achieves a sub-second querying performance using SWEEP. In another flood risk query, SWEEP also leads the others. In general, the robust and efficient solution can be immediately used to address different polytope queries, including those abstract ones whose constraints on combinations of different dimensions are formed into a polytope model. Besides, the knowledge of high-dimensional computations acquired also provides significant guidance for handling more nD GIS issues.GIS Technologi
Award winning Indigenous author speaks at Notre Dame
No full textMultiple Miles Franklin Literary Award winning Indigenous author, Kim Scott, discussed the role of language in developing and exploring relationships between people of different cultures with guests at Notre Dame’s Fremantle Campus recently.
Scott spoke of the background and inspiration behind his recent publication That Deadman Dance to community members and Notre Dame’s Study Abroad students from the United States of America.
The event was hosted by the College of St Benedict (CSB) and St John’s University (SJU), Minnesota, with support from Notre Dame’s Study Abroad Office.
The students had been studying That Deadman Dance to further their understanding of Australia’s diverse and continually evolving culture.
The book explores the first contact between the Noongar people, European settlers and American whalers in a 19th century setting in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.
It follows the story of young Noongar man, Bobby Wabalanginy, and decisions that lay before him which could have potentially affected not only the lives of his ancestors, but the lives of his new-found settler friends in Australia.
Study Abroad Director from CSB and SJU, Janelle Hinchley, said the Study Abroad students responded well to the issues presented in the novel surrounding cultural diversity in Australia.
“He challenged our students to look at the layered dynamics involved in these early cultural exchanges and the propensity that the Aboriginal people had in the facilitation of multiculturalism in Australia,” Ms Hinchley said.
Study Abroad student Christine Schneider said That Deadman Dance provided her with an artistic outlook of the Aboriginal heritage in WA.
“After hearing Kim Scott speak, I realised how poetic and insightful he is which lent itself to the discovery of all the hidden meanings within his novel,” Ms Schneider said.
“It was a great example of being able to take written work and further develop our understanding of its impact on our lives.”
That Deadman Dance won several awards in 2011, including the Miles Franklin Literary Award for the best Australian novel or play which portrays the beauty, challenges and characteristics of Australian life. The novel also collected the Premier’s Prize and the Best Fiction Book prize at the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards.
MEDIA CONTACT: Shelley Robinson: Tel (08) 9433 0610; Mob 0408 959 138 Leigh Dawson: Tel (08) 9433 0569; Mob 0405 441 09
Fundamentals, implementations and experimental benchmarks of nD-polytype queries on point cloud data sets
No full textAs an extension to 2D polygonal queries, the nD-polytope queries on point clouds also play a crucial rolein nD GIS applications such as the perspective view selection. This report rst denes the nD-polytopemathematically, and then develops an ecient nD-polytope querying solution by extending an index-organized table (IOT) approach. The solution integrates four novel intersection algorithms includingCPLEX, SWEEP, SPHERE and VERTEX, each of which can be used to realize the primary lteringfor polytope querying. The performance of these algorithms is then measured and compared using anrepresentative nD-simplex and an nD-prism query region, respectively. It turns out that SWEEP performsthe best over all, but it may degrade signicantly as dimensionality goes up. On the other hand, thelinear programming algorithm CPLEX although takes more time on intersection computation, performsmore stable. Besides, the experiments also reveal that the properties of a same geometry can changesignicantly across dierent dimensionality, and thus optimal strategies developed in 2D/3D may not beapplicable in high dimensional spaces.GIS Technologi
Recovery of neodymium as (Na, Nd)(SO4)2 from the ferrous fraction of a general WEEE shredder stream
No full textNeodymium is a critical element used in many high-tech applications. However, despite this, the EU is entirely dependent on China for its Nd supply. This has driven the EU to develop recycling strategies to recover its Nd from end-of-life (EoL) products and wastes, and establish a domestic supply. This paper proposes a process to recycle Nd from NdFeB magnet particles present in the ferrous fraction of shredded “Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment” (WEEE), after physical upgrading. This WEEE fraction represents a waste stream that has not been previously considered a source of Nd. A three-step process was developed. First, the upgraded ferrous WEEE fraction is oxidized by means of water corrosion. Second, the oxidized WEEE is leached with diluted H2SO4 to selectively extract Nd and other nonferrous elements. And finally, the leach liquor is treated with Na2SO4 to precipitate the Nd as its double sulfate (Nd, Na)(SO4)2. The oxidation process oxidizes 93% of the metallic iron to Fe(OH)3, leaving 7% of the iron unoxidized. The leaching process dissolves between 70 and 99% of the Nd, depending on the temperature and liquid/solid ratio (L/S); this is accompanied by an iron coextraction between 9 and 20%. The precipitation recovers 92% of the leached Nd. The purity of the obtained precipitates is dependent on the pH at which the precipitation takes place. A pH below 0.5 is required to prevent Fe contamination, and a pH below 0 reduces the Ca contamination to below 1 wt%. The developed process provides an effective and low-cost method to recycle Nd from a shredded WEEE stream with an overall Nd recovery of over 90%.(OLD) MSE-3Materials Science and Engineerin
Synergy of the Developed 6D BIM Framework and Conception of the nD BIM Framework and nD BIM Process Ontology
No full textThe author developed a unified nD framework and process ontology for Building Information Modeling (BIM). The research includes a framework developed for 6D BIM, nD BIM, and nD ontology that defines the domain and sub-domain constructs for future nD BIM dimensions. The nD ontology defines the relationships of kinds within any new proposed dimensional domain for BIM. The developed nD BIM framework and ontology takes into account the current 2D-5D BIM dimensions. There is a synergy between the 6D and nD framework that allows the nD framework and ontology to be utilized as a unified template for future dimensional development. Future dimensions for BIM are referred as nD dimensions. The Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facility Management (AEC/FM) industries are suffering from many problems in the area of interoperability among BIM dimensions. All nD dimensions must be interoperable. The congestion between interoperable dimensions and communication among AEC/FM stakeholders are the main problems to be resolved. The objective of the research is to solve these problems by utilizing one single nD framework and ontology for nD BIMs. The AEC/FM industries can benefit from the developed 6D framework, nD framework and nD process ontology. nD dimensions must have ontological rules that clearly define the new dimension. The AEC/FM needs non-abstract dimensions to succeed in the areas of seamless dimensional integration, interoperability, round tripping of dimensional data, and precise collaboration among stakeholders. Defined dimensions allow future dimensions to be implemented in an integrated workflow. nD ontology demonstrates new dimensional domain K\u27 shall be defined while also explicitly defining its subset-domains {K1, K2…Kn}, and subset domains K shall contain some x information for interoperability among dimensions that are within K\u27. The research contributions are the framework and ontology for nD BIM. The author conducted case studies that validate the nD methodology. The case studies show that the methodology of the input, output, control and mechanism are correct and the theory can be utilized in application for the AEC/FM and is applicable for other industries. Other contributions include the custom web-based BimServer that serves as the central repository for harvesting all control data within nD BIMs and allows all stakeholders to participate on projects in real-time via an embedded virtual environment in the BimServer. The nD BIM methodology consists of one object-oriented parametric product data model as the input and the output. A relational database is the mechanism for the nD BIM process that distributes the dimensional data. The database is the crux of the nD BIM and it allows the interoperability between the nD dimensions and querying of the nD parametric product data
The Willem C v International Commercial Arbitration Moot 2004-05
No full textNot Available
The Author:
Mr Tomas Fitzgeral
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