Minerva Access

Protein and energy delivery in critically ill adult patients and the impact on nutritional and patient-centred outcomes

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Fetterplace, Kate Emily 2020 Protein and energy delivery in critically ill adult patients and the impact on nutritional and patient-centred outcomes Adult patients who survive critical illness are known to be at risk of several adverse health consequences, including substantial muscle loss, impaired muscle function and reduced quality of life. While nutrition interventions for critically ill patients may attenuate muscle loss, this therapeutic approach remains unproven. Evidence published by others over the period of this PhD program challenged the existing orthodoxy that greater overall calorie provision during the acute phase of critical illness improves overall patient outcomes. Accordingly, the PhD candidate specifically investigated the relationship between protein provision in critical illness and patient-centred outcomes. This thesis comprises several discrete but aligned studies, including a systematic and narrative review of the literature, three observational studies, and a pilot parallel group randomised clinical trial (RCT). The systematic review and meta-analysis established that current practice guidelines recommending the amount of enteral protein are not based on strong evidence. Moreover, there is a lack of high-quality data about the impact of protein provision on functional outcomes that are important to patients. The narrative review evaluated the methodologies and outcomes used to quantify the effect of nutrition therapy in the critically ill. While patient centred and less direct surrogate clinical outcomes are increasingly being used in the nutrition literature, there remains substantial variation in the tools used and the outcomes selected. In a prospective observational study of patients surviving an intensive care unit (ICU) admission following serious trauma, it was identified that many of the outcomes that would be desirable to measure were not feasible after ICU discharge in this patient cohort. In contrast, it was feasible to implement these methodologies in ICU in a separate cohort of critically ill patients, and cumulative nutrition deficits in the latter study were associated with inferior nutritional and patient-centred outcomes, including the presence of malnutrition and ICU-acquired weakness and greater loss of fat-free mass. To evaluate whether it was feasible to increase the enteral protein received by at-risk ICU patients to the doses recommended in practice guidelines, and establish point estimates for the impact of this strategy on patient-centred outcomes, a parallel group RCT was conducted. This single-centre single-blinded pilot trial compared an intervention of a ‘volume-based’ enteral feeding protocol with protein supplementation to usual care. The intervention delivered greater amounts of protein and energy than received by the usual care group, and this was associated with attenuation of muscle loss and reduced prevalence of malnutrition in survivors at ICU discharge. These data are novel, describing the first successful delivery of enteral protein within current guideline recommendations and a consequent favourable effect on muscle mass. Based on this program of work, a multi-centre randomised clinical trial is required to explore the signals observed in these studies, and to generate robust evidence regarding optimal provision of enteral protein during critical illness and the impacts on functional recovery and quality of life in those who survive. © 2020 Kate Emily Fetterplace PhD thesis

Dynamic Electrophoretic Assembly of Metal–Phenolic Films: Accelerated Formation and Cytocompatible Detachment

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Yun, G; Youn, W; Lee, H; Han, SY; Oliveira, MB; Cho, H; Caruso, F; Mano, JF; Choi, IS 2020-09-22 Dynamic Electrophoretic Assembly of Metal–Phenolic Films: Accelerated Formation and Cytocompatible Detachment Journal Article

Nanofabrication and characterization of nitrogen doped ultra-nanocrystalline diamond for the bionic eye

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Artificial intelligence and Article 36: Implementing minimum standards for reviewing artificially intelligent military systems

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Falconer, Stephanie Anne 2020 Artificial intelligence and Article 36: Implementing minimum standards for reviewing artificially intelligent military systems Artificially intelligent military technologies are being rapidly developed for use in the contemporary battlefield. Such technology includes drones, sentry-robots, and missile-launch systems, as well as surveillance, reconnaissance, and decision-making support systems. With such complicated and sophisticated systems in use, it is increasingly important to ensure that these systems comply with international humanitarian law (‘IHL’). Recent debates in international fora indicate that a specific and effective treaty governing the uses of artificial intelligence in the military context is unlikely. There is, nevertheless, a very real need to ensure that systems used in armed conflict comply with IHL. This paper proposes that the best way to monitor and regulate the development of artificially intelligent military technologies is to subject them to thorough testing, verification, validation and certification processes. © 2020 Stephanie Anne Falconer Masters Coursework thesis

Particle engineering enabled by polyphenol-mediated supramolecular networks.

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Zhou, J; Lin, Z; Penna, M; Pan, S; Ju, Y; Li, S; Han, Y; Chen, J; Lin, G; Richardson, JJ; Yarovsky, I; Caruso, F 2020-09-23 Particle engineering enabled by polyphenol-mediated supramolecular networks. We report a facile strategy for engineering diverse particles based on the supramolecular assembly of natural polyphenols and a self-polymerizable aromatic dithiol. In aqueous conditions, uniform and size-tunable supramolecular particles are assembled through π-π interactions as mediated by polyphenols. Owing to the high binding affinity of phenolic motifs present at the surface, these particles allow for the subsequent deposition of various materials (i.e., organic, inorganic, and hybrid components), producing a variety of monodisperse functional particles. Moreover, the solvent-dependent disassembly of the supramolecular networks enables their removal, generating a wide range of corresponding hollow structures including capsules and yolk-shell structures. The versatility of these supramolecular networks, combined with their negligible cytotoxicity provides a pathway for the rational design of a range of particle systems (including core-shell, hollow, and yolk-shell) with potential in biomedical and environmental applications. Journal Article

A layered investigation of Chinese in the linguistic landscape

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Yao, X; Gruba, P 2020-09-11 A layered investigation of Chinese in the linguistic landscape Abstract Increased attention to urban diversity as a site of study has fostered the recent development of linguistic landscape studies. To date, however, much of the research in this area has concerned the use and spread of English to the exclusion of other global languages. In a case study situated in Box Hill, a large suburb of Melbourne, we adopted a layered approach to investigate the role of Chinese language in Australia. Our data set consisted of hundreds of photographs of street signage in one square block area of the shopping district. Results of our analyses show that signage portrays a variety of code preferences and semiotic choices that in turn reveal insights into the identities, ideologies, and strategies that help to structure the urban environment. As demonstrated in our study, such complexity requires a renewed and situated understanding of key principles of linguistic landscape research (Ben-Rafael & Ben-Rafael, 2015). Journal Article

Green bans forever: the public and the Press in the 1970s Sydney green ban movement

Tue, 01 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Hogg, James 2019 Green bans forever: the public and the Press in the 1970s Sydney green ban movement This thesis recounts the relationship between the New South Wales Builders Labourers' Federation and the Press in Sydney between 1970-1975. The thesis contends that the Press maintained an adversarial role in the 'green ban' movement, despite prior claims in the historiography that criticisms of the movement waned as it grew in size and significance. © 2019 James Hogg Honours thesis

A software-defined networking framework for IoT

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Jurado Lasso, Fabian Fernando 2020 A software-defined networking framework for IoT In recent years, we have witnessed a shift from traditional internet networks interconnecting computers based on well-established standards, towards a pervasive network of networks that provides internet connectivity even to the smallest physical objects. This Internet of Things (IoT) network is an enabling technology to the next industrial revolution (aka Industry 4.0) where the operational technology meets the information technology or computer-based world. The creation of new IoT applications across special context such as smart cities, smart homes, smart agriculture, etc., are realised upon sensors and actuators. The networking of sensors and actuators has extended the scope of networked sensing technologies such as Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). However, the networking of wireless sensor devices, or sensor nodes, imposes several challenges due to their inherent resource limitations such as computational capabilities, energy, memory, and communication bandwidth. The management of the limited resources of WSNs becomes challenging and its complexity increases as the network size grows. Thus, the current state of WSNs would not be able to meet the IoT requirements unless appropriate solutions to the aforementioned challenges are found. The focus of this thesis is to investigate the challenges and benefits of Software- Defined Wireless Sensor Networks (SDWSNs) as a solution to flexible resource management and reconfiguration of WSNs. In short, the contributions of this thesis are as follows. (i) the feasibility and practicability, of SDWSNs, to perform network and resource management was demonstrated. This research work shows the ease of managing: the network topology and the transmission power of sensor nodes, using a centralized controller without any firmware modification. (ii) The previous research work is extended to an SDN-based management system for IP sensor networks and compare it with the Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPL) to show the advantages of removing energy- and processing-intensive functions from sensor nodes. This contribution also presents, for the first time, the control overhead metric of an SDWSN, and compare it against a WSN running RPL. (iii) Next, the effects in network performance when making the WSN reprogrammable were examined by, proposing a model-based characterisation of energy consumption to calculate the energy consumed and control overhead introduced for small, large and ‘pseudo-dynamic’ SDWSNs. (iv) Last, the benefit of SDWSNs to augment the network lifetime, whilst keeping the control overhead low, was demonstrated by, proposing an energy-aware routing protocol for software-defined multihop wireless sensor networks, that seeks to prolong the overall network lifetime of the sensor network while also maintaining a high packet delivery ratio. Extensive simulation and experimental results were carried out, to validate the benefits and impacts in network performance, for all aforesaid research works. This thesis also puts forth SDWSN as a potential pathway to overcome the rigidity in management that currently exists in WSNs. © 2020 Fabian Fernando Jurado Lasso PhD thesis

The European Union and its post-communist neighbours: EU enlargement and the European neighbourhood policy

Fri, 27 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Petrovic, M; Klatt, M 2015-02-27 The European Union and its post-communist neighbours: EU enlargement and the European neighbourhood policy Chapter

Education policy: Mapping the landscape and scope

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Bohlinger, S; Dang, T; Klatt, M 2016 Education policy: Mapping the landscape and scope This book maps recent developments in the landscape of education policy in higher and vocational education, the returns of education, curriculum design and education reforms, driven by social, economic, political and cultural factors. Contributed by over twenty authors from five continents, this collection provides diverse, innovative and useful perspectives on the ways education policy is researched, implemented and enacted. It helps researchers, policy makers, students and practitioners to better understand processes of policy making, its theory, practice and outcomes. Despite national differences, many shared features and challenges emerge from this book as education systems face the common need to reinvent their existing systems and processes. Book

Education Reforms and youth transitions in Central Europe - the case of Poland

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Klatt, M; Elliott, K 2016 Education Reforms and youth transitions in Central Europe - the case of Poland Since the collapse of communism, Central Europe has undergone complex economic, political and social reforms, including deep, structural reforms of its education systems. This chapter provides an overview of the three major reform phases undertaken in Central Europe since the late 1980s. This is done in order to support analysis of how Central European countries have tackled the task of implementing supranational and national education reforms and the effects of these on youth transitions. Poland has been selected as a core case study by which to illustrate the successes and weak points of the ongoing system transformation. Post-communist phases of transition within Central Europe – herein referred to as ‘deconstruction’, ‘reconstruction’ and ‘Europeanisation’ – have transpired over various timeframes, sometimes overlapping and on many occasions uneven and incomplete. This is due to the acute complexity of the social, economic and political processes and constraints faced by reformers working within this region. Chapter

On the notion of education policy: Mapping its landscape and scope.

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Bohlinger, S; Dang, T; Klatt, M 2016 On the notion of education policy: Mapping its landscape and scope. Education policy is a complex policy field that falls on the borderlines between education, economic policy and social policy. According to Callewaert (2006, 767), policy is “a set of guidelines within a ‘governing text’’’. At the same time, policy is a product and a process that ‘is still being made, and re-made as it is being implemented’ (Bowe et al. 1992, 14). Policy is closely linked with the notion of power, which in turn can be defined as ‘a relation between people, and is expressed in simple symbolic notation’ (Dahl 1957, 201). In the diverse constructions of policy, Jones (2013, 3ff.; see also Ball 1994; Bell & Stevenson 2006, 17f.) identifies four types of key themes in the field of education policy: policy as text, policy as values-laden actions, policy as process and policy as discourse. Chapter

Tafe, Schools and Industry: the benefits and challenges of cross-sectoral partnerships

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Klatt, M 2016 Tafe, Schools and Industry: the benefits and challenges of cross-sectoral partnerships Preparing school students for adulthood and for the world of employment is an increasing policy focus in Australia and internationally. Supporting young people preparing for work, while they are still at school, is a complex task and schools cannot do it in isolation. Since the early 1990s, when Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs were introduced into Australian secondary schools, the growth of partnerships between schools, TAFEs, workplaces and community organisations has been unprecedented. The majority of secondary schools form partnerships with a number of organisations, ranging from other education and training providers to community groups, businesses and associations to support attainment, qualifications and pathways to work. Journal Article

Understanding the nature of school partnerships with business in delivery of vocational programmes in schools in Australia

Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Polesel, J; Klatt, M; Blake, D; Starr, K 2017-01-01 Understanding the nature of school partnerships with business in delivery of vocational programmes in schools in Australia Journal Article

Working their way to school completion: a snapshot of School-based Apprenticeships and Traineeships for young Australians

Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Klatt, M; Clarke, K; Dulfer, N 2017-01-01 Working their way to school completion: a snapshot of School-based Apprenticeships and Traineeships for young Australians Journal Article

Governing Adult Education Policy Development in Europe: A critical appraisal of the Renewed Agenda for adult learning

Mon, 29 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Milana, M; Klatt, M 2019-07-29 Governing Adult Education Policy Development in Europe: A critical appraisal of the Renewed Agenda for adult learning This handbook brings together and promotes research on the area of vocational education and training (VET). Chapter

European Governance in Adult Education: On the comparative advantage of joining working groups and networks

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Milana, M; Tronca, L; Klatt, G 2020-06-01 European Governance in Adult Education: On the comparative advantage of joining working groups and networks Journal Article

Europe's Lifelong Learning Markets, Governance and Policy Using an Instruments Approach

Sun, 17 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Milana, M; Klatt, G; Vatrella, S 2020-05-17 Europe's Lifelong Learning Markets, Governance and Policy Using an Instruments Approach This book explores European governance and policy coordination within lifelong learning markets. Book

A National Strategic Geospatial Information Framework to Support the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Scott, Gregory Paul 2020 A National Strategic Geospatial Information Framework to Support the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, anchored by 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 169 targets, and a global indicator framework, provides a transformative and integrated approach to sustainable development. Although not readily apparent, the SDGs are highly dependent on geospatial information and enabling technologies as the primary data and tools for relating people to their location, place and environment, and to measure ‘where’ progress is, or is not, being made, particularly at sub-national and local levels. For this reason, the 2030 Agenda specifically references the need to exploit geospatial information and other data sources to ensure that high-quality, timely and reliable data, disaggregated by geographic location and other characteristics, is available – especially to developing countries. However, in the pursuit for sustainable development, many countries continue to face a series of impediments that exacerbate their ability and ‘opportunity’ to participate fully in the implementation of the SDGs, to support national development, economic prosperity, and, through that, a global and thriving information economy. These include institutional challenges in data production: having the required human capital and skillsets; effective and sustained access to digital technology, the Internet and the corresponding computer literacy; to the provision and exploitation of new data needs, information systems, analytics, and associated enabling tools and technologies to support the timely and reliable implementation of the SDGs. They also include policy challenges, including strategic leadership, understanding and awareness of national geospatial information policy, frameworks, and associated implementation roadmaps. Governments are failing in their attempts to address the geospatial needs of the SDGs, as they lack the required guidance to assist them. National data systems are often fragmented, and with no integrative strategic frameworks, roadmaps, and tools in place to determine how geospatial information can be implemented and integrated into the SDGs. These problems are a very real impediment for many developing countries, those most affected by the challenges and need to achieve national development, to being able to fully realise the implementation of the SDGs – and to ensure no one is left behind. As a tangible means to support the implementation of the SDGs, this research investigates the key aspects and impediments as to why geospatial information remains unable to adequately contribute its data, systems, and integrative capabilities to support the measuring, monitoring, and implementation of the SDGs, particularly at a national level. The research addresses this problem through its overall aim; to define, develop, test, and apply a new national strategic geospatial information framework to enable countries to integrate geospatial information into national sustainable development strategies and processes, with particular application to the SDGs. Through the implementation of the strategic framework, countries will be able to measure and monitor progress and transformative change within their national circumstances, and mainstream evidence-based policy-setting and decision-making to achieve sustainable development. To achieve the research aim, a mixed methods research design is employed through the application of archival research and a two-dimensional case study. Archival research is used to: examine and investigate existing concepts on sustainable development theory and practice, and review the relationships with and role of geospatial information; and evaluate the evolution and development of geospatial information, its uptake at the intergovernmental level, applicability to the SDGs, and identify issues and challenges impeding geospatial information from contributing more to sustainable development. Given the emphasis on the SDGs and developing countries, a precursor to the development of the strategic framework was to first review the relevance of the digital divide and the related data availability and integration issues for the SDGs. Therefore, the research introduces and develops the components of the ‘geospatial digital divide’ and the complex challenges that continue to exacerbate the ability for many developing countries to bridge this divide. The research then develops a conceptual integrated geospatial information systems framework as an integrative sustainable development ‘data flow’ to provide the building blocks and processes for countries to measure and monitor the SDGs with relevant and timely location-based data. A two-dimensional case study approach, focusing on developing countries, is then undertaken – regionally within the continent of Africa, and nationally within the country of Ethiopia. The first part of the case study iteratively defines, develops, and tests the prototype strategic framework with experts in African countries. The second part of the case study implements and applies the strategic framework in Ethiopia, through the Ethiopian Geospatial Information Institute. During the course of this research, the legitimacy of the strategic framework was recognised by the United Nations and World Bank as a means to progress an overarching geospatial framework to assist developing countries to bridge the geospatial digital divide. In August 2018, the strategic framework was adopted by UN-GGIM as the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework (IGIF). The outcome of the framework’s adoption by UN-GGIM immediately validated its critical need. The research findings confirmed the need for an overarching strategic framework that could be general enough to address many systemic institutional barriers through aspirational principles and goals, while also being detailed enough to provide the pragmatic pathways and roadmap to overcome the research problem. The IGIF now provides that framework. While linking to, and building upon NSDIs, the strength of the IGIF is that it is not a data infrastructure. It is an integrated framework and a knowledge infrastructure that can be applied to all countries and all situations and circumstances. © 2020 Gregory Paul Scott PhD thesis

The ‘good, bad and merit’ arguments in Australian news coverage of workplace gender diversity

Wed, 30 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Sojo Monzon, V; Fine, C; Lawford-Smith, H; Yang, Z; Verspoor, C 2020-09-30 The ‘good, bad and merit’ arguments in Australian news coverage of workplace gender diversity Report

Nitrogen-Doped Oxygenated Molybdenum Phosphide as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution in Alkaline Media

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Khan, MW; Loomba, S; Ali, R; Mohiuddin, M; Alluqmani, A; Haque, F; Liu, Y; Sagar, RUR; Zavabeti, A; Alkathiri, T; Shabbir, B; Jian, X; Ou, JZ; Mahmood, A; Mahmood, N 2020-08-28 Nitrogen-Doped Oxygenated Molybdenum Phosphide as an Efficient Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution in Alkaline Media Phosphides of transition metals (TMPs) are a developing class of materials for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) as an alternative to expensive noble metals to produce clean energy. Herein, the nitrogen-doped molybdenum oxide (MoOx) is developed via a facile and simple hydrothermal method, followed by annealing in the N2 atmosphere and phosphorization to form a nitrogen-doped oxygenated molybdenum phosphide (N-MoP) sphere-shaped structure. The developed N-doped phosphide structure depicts enhanced HER activity by reaching a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at a very low overpotential of only 87 mV, which is much better than annealed nitrogen-doped molybdenum oxide (A-MoOx) 138 mV in alkaline medium. N-MoP is a highly efficient electrocatalyst for HER attributed to a more exposed surface, large electrode/electrolyte interface and appropriate binding energies for reactants. This study extends the opportunity of developing nitrogen-doped TMPs, which can display exceptional properties as compared to their oxides. Journal Article

Numerical study of pedestrian suspension bridge with innovative composite deck

Thu, 30 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Ali, S; Thambiratnam, D; Liu, X; Fawzia, S 2020-07-30 Numerical study of pedestrian suspension bridge with innovative composite deck The increasing trend of using light and slender deck in pedestrian bridge has raised the issue of instability under pedestrian movement. The suspension pedestrian bridges are more vulnerable as lateral vibration often occurred in such type of bridges. Hence, the current paper targeted to develop a pedestrian suspension bridge with a new type of composite deck using Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) in the bottom layer and laminated glass in the top layer. The safety and serviceability of the developed pedestrian bridge is rigorously investigated. The performance of the suspension pedestrian bridge is comprehensively investigated by monitoring important response parameters such as stress, deflections, natural frequencies and accelerations under pedestrian loads and compared with current bridge design code requirements. The developed suspension pedestrian bridge with new type of composite deck could adhere the requirements of the bridge design code. Hence, the suspension pedestrian bridge mentioned in this paper is recommended for pedestrian use for its standard safety and serviceability. Journal Article

Enhancing CAR T cell therapy

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Michie, Jessica 2020 Enhancing CAR T cell therapy Adoptive cell therapy using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells has shown remarkable efficacy in the treatment of haematological malignancies, with complete remission rates of 90% reported in early clinical trials. Following this success, two CD19 targeting CAR T cell products have been approved in Australia for the treatment of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. However, acquired resistance to this therapy through CD19 antigen loss is an emerging problem. Moreover, such promising results have not been recapitulated against solid tumours. This is thought to be due in part to poor CAR T cell trafficking and infiltration, the immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment and antigen heterogeneity in solid tumours, as well as intrinsic and acquired tumour resistance. Therefore, it is necessary to uncover mechanisms of resistance to CAR T cell therapy in both the haematological and solid tumour settings, in order to improve patient outcomes. In this thesis, we sought to uncover the tumour-intrinsic mechanisms of resistance to CAR T cell therapy. Whole-genome loss-of-function CRISPR-Cas9 screening has recently emerged as a powerful tool to screen all protein-coding genes in the genome for conferring resistance to various immune and drug pressures. Herein, we utilised a genome-wide mouse pooled-sgRNA library to investigate genes that protect MC38 mouse adenocarcinoma cells from CAR T cell killing. Here, we identified that loss of cytokine response pathways, in particular, TNF and IFN-y signalling were critical for the effector function of CAR T cells. Additionally, we report for the first time that loss of the transcriptional co-binding partner Cbfb protects tumour cells against T cell killing. Investigation in to the mechanisms of Cbfb-mediated resistance uncovered that loss of tumour cell Cbfb protected tumour cells against T cell-derived TNF. Importantly, we report that mice bearing Cbfb-deficient MC38 tumours did not respond to anti-PD-1 in vivo, and analysis of clinical trial data suggests that in melanoma cohorts, low expression of CBFB or the transcriptional co-binding partner RUNX1 was correlated with a poorer prognosis following immune checkpoint blockade or adoptive cell therapy. Next, we sought to design a rational combination therapy to overcome some of the challenges associated with CAR T cell therapy against solid tumours and enhance CAR T cell therapy in this context. Based on data from the CRISPR screen which highlighted the role of TNF in CAR T cell-mediated cytotoxicity, we sought to enhance TNF-mediated killing using a small-molecule smac-mimetic. We demonstrated that antagonism of the Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins with the smac-mimetic birinapant, significantly enhanced CAR T cell killing in a TNF-dependent manner. Using a syngeneic HER2+ self-antigen model, we report that birinapant significantly enhanced CAR T cell-mediated tumour clearance in a combination therapy approach, and we demonstrated enhanced human CAR T cell killing in patient biopsy-derived tumouroids. Critically, we report that birinapant significantly enhanced TNF-mediated “bystander killing”, which occurred in the absence of target antigen expression, which may be a strategy to overcome the challenge of tumour antigen heterogeneity associated with solid tumours. Finally, we sought to uncover mechanisms by which B cells lose CD19 antigen expression following CAR T cell attack. By utilising a second genome-wide CRISPR screening approach, we applied a human pooled sgRNA library to the CD19+ B-ALL cell line MHH-CALL4, and sorted 3 times the cells with the lowest 20% CD19 surface expression by flow cytometry, in order to uncover genes or pathways of interest that are implicated in down-regulation of CD19 surface expression. Along with several known factors, such as CD81 trafficking and N-linked glycosylation, we also identified several novel processes including histone methylation, aryl hydrocarbon receptor processing and E3 ubiquitin ligase activity, which will be the focus of future investigations. In summary, insights gained from the work in this thesis elucidate some of the resistance pathways utilised by tumour cells in order to evade immune pressure from CAR T cells, and highlight the cytotoxic potential of TNF in CAR T cell therapy. In addition, we herein present a novel strategy to enhance CAR T cell efficacy in solid tumours, and demonstrate the potential for combination therapy approaches to overcome the challenges associated with CAR T cell therapy against solid tumours. Taken together, this work significantly addresses several of the existing limitation of CAR T cell therapy in both B cell leukaemias and against solid malignancies, and the novel combination therapy we describe is poised to be rapidly translated in to the clinic. © 2020 Jessica Michie PhD thesis

Understanding How and Why Organisations Implement Pay Secrecy

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Griffin, Leanne 2020 Understanding How and Why Organisations Implement Pay Secrecy Pay secrecy is an established organisational practice. However, little is known about why or how organisations implement this policy as the focus of research has been on employee reactions to pay secrecy. The widespread use of pay secrecy is puzzling since it blocks pay signals that can stimulate employee performance. To investigate this issue, two qualitative studies (an interview study and two cases studies) were conducted based on signalling theory. The research found that organisational decisions to implement pay secrecy were based on perceptions held by management about employees’ likely responses to pay information. Factors identified to be important included: employees’ emotions, objectivity and understanding; managerial competency, conflict avoidance and paternalism; and organisational characteristics relating to complexity, culture and leadership values. This research expands signalling theory (Spence, 1973) to the context of pay secrecy from an organisational perspective. It offers new insights by applying signalling theory to the study of organisations’ signalling goals and the deliberate signals that they send to employees. This provides the theoretical framework that has been missing in previous explanations about why and how organisations implement pay secrecy. Future research should take into account how employees perceive the pay secrecy signals sent by organisations. © 2020 Leanne Griffin PhD thesis

The Health of the Australian Construction Industry

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Sharkey, J; Greenham, P; Bell, M; JOCIC, W; KOROLKOVA, J; Hu, D 2020 The Health of the Australian Construction Industry Report

Mapping Urban Tree Cover Changes Using Object-Based Convolution Neural Network (OB-CNN)

Timilsina, S; Aryal, J; Kirkpatrick, JB Mapping Urban Tree Cover Changes Using Object-Based Convolution Neural Network (OB-CNN) Urban trees provide social, economic, environmental and ecosystem services benefits that improve the liveability of cities and contribute to individual and community wellbeing. There is thus a need for effective mapping, monitoring and maintenance of urban trees. Remote sensing technologies can effectively map and monitor urban tree coverage and changes over time as an efficient and low-cost alternative to field-based measurements, which are time consuming and costly. Automatic extraction of urban land cover features with high accuracy is a challenging task, and it demands object based artificial intelligence workflows for efficiency and thematic accuracy. The aim of this research is to effectively map urban tree cover changes and model the relationship of such changes with socioeconomic variables. The object-based convolutional neural network (CNN) method is illustrated by mapping urban tree cover changes between 2005 and 2015/16 using satellite, Google Earth imageries and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) datasets. The training sample for CNN model was generated by Object Based Image Analysis (OBIA) using thresholds in a Canopy Height Model (CHM) and the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The tree heatmap produced from the CNN model was further refined using OBIA. Tree cover loss, gain and persistence was extracted, and multiple regression analysis was applied to model the relationship with socioeconomic variables. The overall accuracy and kappa coefficient of tree cover extraction was 96% and 0.77 for 2005 images and 98% and 0.93 for 2015/16 images, indicating that the object-based CNN technique can be effectively implemented for urban tree coverage mapping and monitoring. There was a decline in tree coverage in all suburbs. Mean parcel size and median household income were significantly related to tree cover loss (R2 = 58.5%). Tree cover gain and persistence had positive relationship with tertiary education, parcel size and ownership change (gain: R2 = 67.8% and persistence: R2 = 75.3%). The research findings demonstrated that remote sensing data with intelligent processing can contribute to the development of policy input for management of tree coverage in cities. Journal Article

School’s Back: Scaffolding Reminiscence in Social Virtual Reality with Older Adults

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Baker, S; Kelly, R; Waycott, J; Carrasco, R; bell, R; Joukhadar, Z; Hoang, T; Ozanne, E; Vetere, F 2020 School’s Back: Scaffolding Reminiscence in Social Virtual Reality with Older Adults Journal Article

A comprehensive analysis of the structural alterations occur in CO2- interacted coal: An insight into CO2 sequestration in coal

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Kadinappuli Hewage, Suresh Madushan Sampath 2020 A comprehensive analysis of the structural alterations occur in CO2- interacted coal: An insight into CO2 sequestration in coal Human activities from overpopulation to pollution are drastically increasing the global temperature and causing fundamental changes in the Earth. The primary reason for this phenomenon is the greenhouse gas effect that primarily comes from the destruction of the forest cover and conventional energy production. This would cause extreme weather conditions, consequently imperilling the natural habitats, ecosystems and all the Earth’s activities. Emission of an enormous amount of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) has become the primary reason for global warming; so, it is vital to advance towards novel techniques to alleviate the issue. Within a portfolio of options, CO2 sequestration has gained growing attention – aimed at carbon capture and storage in geological formations. In this context, CO2 sequestration in coal reservoirs is identified as an effective method, because the process is associated with enhanced coalbed methane (ECBM) extraction – that further offsets the cost of CO2 storage in coal reservoirs. The successful implementation of the process would certainly lead to a pollution-free world and ultimately a better future, through the mitigation of the greenhouse gas effect. Although the fundamental physics of CO2 sequestration have been evolved over several decades, there are some grey areas and unexplored aspects, that need further improvement through investigations. For instance, the injection of CO2 into coal affects its structural properties, and consequently, the efficiency of the sequestration process as well as the long-term integrity of the reservoir. The coal-CO2 interaction is a complicated physico-chemical and thermodynamic process that depends on multiple parameters, which in turn makes the evaluations quite challenging. A deep understanding of the structural alterations, in terms of coal hydro-mechanical properties, is thus essential to optimize the process, while minimizing the reservoir damage. Considering the above aspects, this research aims to comprehensively characterize the alterations in hydraulic and mechanical parameters of CO2-interacted coal, through a combination of systematic experimental, numerical and statistical analyses, integrated with advanced image analysis techniques and chemical analyses. The study is specifically focused on analysing the fully-coupled CO2 flow–adsorption–deformation process in coal and investigating the consequent hydro-mechanical modifications occur in coal structure, due to the complex coal-CO2 interaction. Initially, the fully-coupled process in a single coal matrix block was modelled, in which the multiple diffusion mechanisms in matrix pore network were simulated using a theoretically-extended diffusion modelling approach, and the consequent CO2 adsorption-induced matrix swelling was modelled and validated with experimental results. The analysis was then extended on a fractured coal geometry at the coal constituent-scale, through the inclusion of a 3D – discrete fracture matrix (DFM) network, in which the alterations in local fracture aperture and the subsequent fracture permeability were investigated. In general, the results conclude that the CO2 interaction-induced hydro-mechanical alterations of a fractured coal seam are largely geometry-dependent and highly-localized; thus, should be resolved accurately through a fully-coupled DFM modelling approach. Next, a series of experimental, numerical and statistical studies was conducted to further assess the CO2-interaction-induced complex mechanical property alterations in coal. The alterations in compressive strength, Young’s modulus, brittleness index and dynamic moduli were experimentally investigated, in which the temporal and localized mechanical alterations were specifically analysed in detail. A numerical model was developed to evaluate the free and adsorbed CO2-induced compressive strength alterations in coal, under both confined and unconfined conditions. The compressive strength was determined with the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, where a theoretically-modified cohesion model was derived, by integrating the effective stress change and the surface energy change – caused by CO2 interaction. Further, a statistical analysis was conducted using advanced soft computing techniques to predict the mechanical property alterations in coal, under different CO2 interaction conditions. The studies combinedly conclude that CO2 interaction results in adverse mechanical alterations in coal and the developed numerical and statistical models are capable of accurately simulating/capturing this behaviour. Finally, the conclusions, recommendations for future research and an insight into the field-application of CO2 sequestration technique were provided based on the results of the combined analyses. Overall, the outcome of this research is intended to provide knowledge and insight into the productivity and safety of the CO2 sequestration in coal reservoirs, by conclusively evaluating the CO2 interaction-induced structural alterations in coal, in terms of its hydro-mechanical properties. The information, results and conclusions given herein can be utilised by researchers to build upon and will be beneficial on reducing the global warming and climate change, through effectively minimising the atmospheric CO2 level. © 2020 Suresh Madushan Sampath Kadinappuli Hewage PhD thesis

The politics of norm domestication in private transnational business regulation: A typology and illustrations

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Macdonald, K 2020-01-01 The politics of norm domestication in private transnational business regulation: A typology and illustrations Scholars and practitioners of global private business regulation have often recognised the importance of political and institutional dynamics “on the ground,” in shaping the degree to which social and environmental regulatory norms are institutionalised or resisted at the local level. Local dynamics of norm contestation generate dilemmas for global regulators who aspire to be responsive to varied contexts in producing countries without “watering down” global regulatory agendas. Drawing on a range of empirical illustrations from Southeast Asia and Latin America, this paper develops a typology of domestication strategies currently being used by global private regulators and examines the effects of these strategies on supporting or undermining the overall values and purposes of global regulatory agendas. In the presence of pervasive local contestation surrounding global regulatory norms, norm domestication strategies are shown to offer important means of countering challenges to the power and legitimacy of global regulators. Nonetheless, the effects of such strategies remain highly contingent on path‐dependent contests between competing regulatory coalitions at both local and global levels. Journal Article

Forces between oil drops in polymer-surfactant systems: Linking direct force measurements to microfluidic observations

Wed, 15 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Jamieson, EJ; Fewkes, CJ; Berry, JD; Dagastine, RR 2019-05-15 Forces between oil drops in polymer-surfactant systems: Linking direct force measurements to microfluidic observations Hypothesis Linking atomic force microscopy and microfluidics opens up the possibility of probing adhesive interactions between drops in a high-throughput context. A microfluidic device designed to form, and subsequently break-up, chains of drops, where the drop break-up is sensitive to the underlying surface forces between drops, not hydrodynamic drainage forces, would play a key role in developing this link. Experiments Both techniques have been used to quantify the forces between oil drops in the presence of complexes formed with anionic surfactant, sodium dodecylsulphate, and neutral, water soluble polymer, poly(vinylpyrrolidone). Measurement and modelling of the interaction forces between both rigid and deformable surfaces demonstrated that the attraction between the drops is due to depletion forces, whereas the repulsive force is a combination of electrical double layer and steric forces, indicating complexes exist both in the bulk and at the drop interface. Findings The interaction behaviour between the force measurements and the microfluidic observations showed a strong correlation, where the observed adhesion between drops in the microfluidics is sensitive to the drop deformation and Laplace pressure. Correlation between the two techniques provides insight into the surface forces between drops in flowing systems and has potential utility in the formulation of emulsions. Journal Article