Publications

Eager, DM 2010, Dictionary of Acoustics and Noise Pollution, 1st, McGraw-Hill, Sydney, Australia.
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The Dictionary of Acoustics and Noise Pollution is a comprehensive assembly of terms and definitions with a particular emphasis on the engineering area of acoustics.

Ling, SS 2010, Genetic Algorithm and Variable Feed-Forward Neural Networks: Theory and Application, 1, Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany.
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This thesis focuses on the real-coded genetic algorithm and different topologies of feedforward neural networks. Results in the following areas will be reported: (1) a real-coded genetic algorithm with new crossover and mutation operations, and its applications; (2) three different topologies of variable feed-forward neural networks, and their applications to shortterm electric load forecasting in Hong Kong and hand~written graffiti recognition.

Collins, J, Darcy, S & Jordan, K 2010, 'Multi-method research on ethnic cultural tourism in Australia' in Richards, G & Munsters, W (eds), Cultural Tourism Research Methods, CABI, UK, pp. 87-103.
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Crowdy, D & Evans, M 2010, 'Introduction' in Holst, HV, Nguyen, H & Wikander, J (eds), Innovation Driven Research Education, Equinox Publishing, Sweden, pp. 5-6.
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Introduction to Volume 11.1

Darcy, S & Buhalis, D 2010, 'Conceptualising disability' in Buhalis, D & Darcy, S (eds), Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issues, Channel View Publications, UK, pp. 21-45.
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Disability is a social construct with approaches to and concepts of disability changing over history, between societies within historical periods and having cultural contexts (Gleeson, 1999). At different times and places, the dominant worldview affects the position of disability within the social context. It is important to understand these conceptual approaches and the implications they have for the treatment of people with disabilities in a tourism context. This chapter reviews the contemporary models and discourses of disability to provide a theoretical base on which to understand tourism from a disability perspective and, hence, the development of accessible tourism.

Darcy, S & Buhalis, D 2010, 'Introduction: From disabled tourists to accessible tourism' in Buhalis, D & Darcy, S (eds), Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issues, Channel View Publications, UK, pp. 1-20.
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Darcy, S & Small, J 2010, 'Theorizing Precincts: Disciplinary Perspectives' in City Spaces - Tourist Places: Urban Tourism Precincts, pp. 63-92.
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Darcy, S, Ambrose, I, Schweinsberg, F & Buhalis, D 2010, 'Conclusion: Universal approaches to accessible tourism' in Buhalis, D & Darcy, S (eds), Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issues, Channel View Publications, UK, pp. 300-316.
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This book aimed to explore and document the current theoretical approaches, foundations and issues in the study of accessible tourism. As has already been alluded to in a number of chapters, the tourism industry interest in accessible tourism has accelerated in recent years as stakeholders wrestle with notions of accessibility, `tourism for all, and the way in which these ideas can be incorporated into business practices. What should become apparent from a reading of the chapters is that accessible tourism is by its very nature multifaceted, which is conceptualised through a range of diverse theoretical discourses and networks. Due to this, it would be hubris for us to suggest in the course of this concluding chapter that a book such as this can ever hope to offer a comprehensive appraisal of the scope of accessible tourism as a developing and dynamic field.

Darcy, S, Ambrose, I, Schweinsberg, S & Buhalis, D 2010, 'Chapter 19. Conclusion: Universal Approaches to Accessible Tourism' in Accessible Tourism, Multilingual Matters, pp. 300-316.
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Davidson, PM & Phillips, JL 2010, 'Focus Group Methodology: Being Guided on a Journey from Novice to Expert' in Minichiello, V & Kottler, JA (eds), Qualitative Journeys: Student and Mentor Experiences with Research, SAGE, Thousand Oaks, California, pp. 255-276.

Dwyer, L & Darcy, S 2010, 'Economic contribution of tourists with disabilities: An Australian approach and methodology' in Buhalis, D & Darcy, S (eds), Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issues, Channel View Publications, UK, pp. 214-240.
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This chapter presents the findings of a study into the economic contribution of tourists with disabilities to the Australian economy. The importance of including economic modelling within the research project is that rudimentary market estimates of tourists with disabilities in Australia were undertaken over a decade ago (Darcy, 1998). These estimates used a basic gross demand approach without having any detailed understanding of the expenditure patterns of the group. Further, while more detailed work has been undertaken in the US (HarrisInteractive Market Research, 2003, 2005) and Europe (Buhalis et al., 2005; Neumann & Reuber, 2004) these continued to use basic gross demand estimates rather than any form of sophisticated economic modelling.

Hayllar, B, Griffin, T & Edwards, D 2010, 'City spaces - Tourist places' in Hayllar, B, Griffin, T & Edwards, D (eds), City Spaces - Tourist Places: Urban Tourism Precincts, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK, pp. 1-381.
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Over the last decade, commentaries and research on urban tourism precincts have predominantly focused on: their role in the tourism attractions mix; their physical and functional forms; their economic significance; their role as a catalyst for urban renewal; their evolution and associated development processes; and, perhaps more broadly, their role, locality and function within the context of urban planning. City Spaces - Tourist Places both consolidates and develops the extant knowledge of urban tourism precincts into a coherent research driven contemporary work. It revisits and examines the foundational literature but, more importantly, engages with aspects of precinct development that have previously been either underdeveloped or received only limited consideration, such as the psychological and socio-cultural dimensions of the precinct experience. Written by an international team of contributors it provides the reader with: A comprehensive analysis of foundational theory and cutting-edge advances in the knowledge of the precinct phenomenon. An examination of previously underdeveloped topics and themes based on contemporary and ground-breaking research. Typological and theoretical frameworks in which to locate precinct form, function and experience Brilliantly edited to ensure theoretical continuity and coherence City Spaces - Tourist Places is vital reading for anyone involved in the study or planning of urban tourism precincts. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Small, J & Darcy, S 2010, 'Tourism, disability and mobility' in Cole, S & Morgan, N (eds), Tourism and Inequality: Problems and Prospects, CABI, UK, pp. 1-20.
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In more economically developed countries, tourism is considered part of the modern experience with all people having the right to travel. None the less, there are many groups of people who do not take holidays or do not fully participate in the holiday experience for reasons such as low income, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, body size and disability. This chapter focuses on disability, in particular mobility, and argues that people with disabilities should expect the same rights to citizenship and the same quality of life as the non-disabled, which include the right to travel and participate in leisure activities (United Nations , 1993).

Small, J & Darcy, S 2010, 'Understanding tourist experience through embodiment: The contribution of critical tourism and disability studies' in Buhalis, D & Darcy, S (eds), Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issues, Channel View Publications, UK, pp. 73-97.
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This chapter seeks to understand the tourist experiences of people with disabilities, including the seniors who also constitute the accessible tourism market. Tourism experiences can be viewed through many approaches. The following discussion is situated within the framework of critical theory in tourism studies and critical disability studies theory, both of which focus on ends rather than means, examining social power structures with a commitment to emancipation. The lived experience of the person is the subject matter and within the approaches of critical tourism and critical disability studies, the lived experience is a bodily experience. This chapter examines the embodied experience of those with disabilities within the tourism context.

Adair, D, Taylor, T & Darcy, S 2010, 'Managing ethnocultural and ‘racial’ diversity in sport: Obstacles and opportunities', Sport Management Review, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 307-312.
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Diversity involves coming to terms with alterity (otherness) and negotiating inclusion (togetherness). That goal is more likely, philosopher Emmanuel Levinas argues, when people usually separated socially culturally, politically, economically geographically are brought together in consensual face-to-face contact and in social contexts where equitable interpersonal co-operation and group cohesion are fostered (Burggraeve, 2002, 2008). Such a quest for consensus about diversity and mutuality, as opposed to discordance through disdain for difference (Grillo, 2007), is a challenge (but also an opportunity) in a range of normative environments, such as business, education and sport (Kostogriz & Doecke, 2007; Lim, 2007; Sykes, 2006). In an overarching sense, the management of diversity and the policies that underpin mutuality are arguably contributions to cosmopolitanism, which Vertovec and Cohen (2002, p. 4) argue incorporates `variously complex repertoires of allegiance, identity and interest. They conclude that cosmopolitanism, as an applied philosophical position, `seems to offer a mode of managing cultural and political multiplicities (2002, p. 4).

Alexander, K, Eager, D, Scarrott, C & Sushinsky, G 2010, 'Effectiveness of pads and enclosures as safety interventions on consumer trampolines', Injury Prevention, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 185-189.
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Background Trampolines continue to be a major source of childhood injury. Objective To examine available data on trampoline injuries in order to determine the effectiveness of padding and enclosures. Design Trampoline injuries from the NEISS database from 2002 to 2007 were reclassified into five cause-categories, to examine evidence for injury trends. Setting The ASTM trampoline standard recommendations for safety padding were upgraded in 1999 and enclosures were introduced in 1997. This is the first study to examine the impact of these changes. Patients The sampling frame comprises patients with NEISS product code 'consumer trampolines' (1233). A systematic sample of 360 patients each year is taken. Interventions The prominent interventions recommended by the ASTM are netting enclosures to prevent falling off and safety padding to cover frames and springs. Main outcome measures Proportion of injuries within each cause-category and trend estimates. Results There was no evidence for a decline within the injury cause-categories that should be prevented by these interventions from 2002 to 2007. Conclusions If these interventions were effective the associated injury causes would be in decline. Instead they remain close to half of all trampoline injuries with no significant change over the period of the study. Follow-up studies are proposed to determine the reasons. Given the number of injuries involved it is recommended that steps be taken to ensure these safety interventions or their equivalents are in place, work properly and remain effective for the life of consumer trampolines.

Al‐Hajjar, M, Leslie, IJ, Tipper, J, Williams, S, Fisher, J & Jennings, LM 2010, 'Effect of cup inclination angle during microseparation and rim loading on the wear of BIOLOX® delta ceramic‐on‐ceramic total hip replacement', Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials, vol. 95B, no. 2, pp. 263-268.
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AbstractCeramic‐on‐ceramic (CoC) bearings in total hip replacements (THRs) have shown low wear volumes under standard gait in hip simulator studies. However, clinical reports have indicated variations in wear rates and formation of stripe‐like wear area on the ceramic femoral heads. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of cup inclination angle and microseparation on the wear of CoC bearings in THRs. The six station Leeds II Physiological Anatomical Joint Simulator was used to investigate the wear of 28 mm diameter alumina matrix composite ceramic bearings (BIOLOX®delta). It was shown that increasing the cup inclination angle from 55o to 65o had no significant effect on the wear rate of BIOLOX®delta CoC under both standard gait and microseparation conditions in this in vitro study. Under standard gait conditions, the mean wear rate for both cup inclination angle conditions was very low at 0.05 mm3/million cycles. The introduction of microseparation to the standard gait cycle increased the mean wear rates to 0.13 mm3/million cycles for the cup inclination angle of 55o and 0.11 mm3/million cycles for that of 65°. The level of increased wear with microseparation was not dependent on cup angle. A stripe of wear on the head also formed, with corresponding superior rim wear on the cup. The wear rates obtained were low compared to the HIPed third generation alumina ceramic (BIOLOX®forte) tested under the same adverse conditions (1.84 mm3/million cycles). BIOLOX®delta has shown lower wear than previous ceramic materials used in ...

Anandagopu, P, Banu, S & Li, J 2010, 'Low thymine content in PINK1 mRNAs and insights into Parkinson’s disease', Bioinformation, vol. 4, no. 10, pp. 452-455.
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Thymine is the only nucleotide base which is changed to uracil upon transcription, leaving mRNA less hydrophobic compared to its DNA counterpart. All the 16 codons that contain uracil (or thymine in gene) as the second nucleotide code for the five large hydrophobic residues (LHRs), namely phenylalanine,v isoleucine, leucine, methionine and valine. Thymine content (i.e. the fraction of XTX codons, where X = A, C, G, or T) in PINK1 mRNA sequences and its relationship with protein stability and function are the focus of this work. This analysis will shed light on PINK1's stability, thus a clue can be provided to understand the mitochondrial dysfunction and the failure of oxidative stress control frequently observed in Parkinson's disease. We obtained the complete PINK1 mRNA sequences of 8 different species. The distributions of XTX codons in different frames are calculated. We observed that the thymine content reached the highest level in the coding frame 1 of the PINK1 mRNA sequence of Bos Taurus (Bt), that is peaked at 27%. Coding frame 1 containing low thymine leads to the reduction in LHRs in the corresponding proteins. Therefore, we conjecture that proteins from the other organisms, including Homo sapiens, lost some of their hydrophobicity and became susceptible to dysfunction. Genes such as PINK1 have reduced thymine in the evolutionary process thereby making their protein products potentially being susceptible to instability and causing disease. Adding more hydrophobic residues (thymine) at appropriate places might help conserve important biological functions.

Balasubramanian, V & Hoang, DB 2010, 'Reliability Measure Model for Assistive Care Loop Framework Using Wireless Sensor Networks', JOURNAL OF HEALTHCARE ENGINEERING, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 239-254.
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Body area wireless sensor networks (BAWSNs) are time-critical systems that rely on the collective data of a group of sensor nodes. Reliable data received at the sink is based on the collective data provided by all the source sensor nodes and not on individual data. Unlike conventional reliability, the definition of retransmission is inapplicable in a BAWSN and would only lead to an elapsed data arrival that is not acceptable for time-critical application. Time-driven applications require high data reliability to maintain detection and responses. Hence, the transmission reliability for the BAWSN should be based on the critical time. In this paper, we develop a theoretical model to measure a BAWSN's transmission reliability, based on the critical time. The proposed model is evaluated through simulation and then compared with the experimental results conducted in our existing Active Care Loop Framework (ACLF). We further show the effect of the sink buffer in transmission reliability after a detailed study of various other co-existing parameters.

Barbero-Álvarez, JC, Coutts, A, Granda, J, Barbero-Álvarez, V & Castagna, C 2010, 'The validity and reliability of a global positioning satellite system device to assess speed and repeated sprint ability (RSA) in athletes', Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 232-235.
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There is a limited understanding of the validity and reliability of commercially available global positioning satellite (GPS) devices for assessing repeated sprint performance in athletes. The aims of this study were to assess the convergent validity and the testâretest reliability of a GPS device for measuring repeated sprint ability test (RSAT) variables. Two groups participated in this study, a group of 21 physical education students (age: 20.2±2.3 years, stature: 1.75±0.42m, body mass: 68.0±6.8kg) and a second group 14 elite junior soccer players (age: 14.5±1.2 years, stature: 1.60±0.09m, body mass: 57.7±3.8kg) volunteered to participate in this study. Convergent validity was assessed as the correlation between sprint performance (15 and 30-m) using both timing lights and a portable GPS device during a RSAT (7Ã30-m sprints with 30-s of active recovery). The 7Ã30-m RSAT testâretest reliability using GPS device was assessed in elite junior soccer players repeating the test 1 week apart and expressing reliability as a coefficient of variation. Results showed a strong correlation between peak speed measures with the GPS device and RSAT performance measured with timing lights for the 15-m (r2=0.87, p<0.001, N=147) and 30-m (r2=0.94, p<0.001, N=147) splits, respectively. There was a low coefficient of variation for summated maximal speed (1.7%) and peak speed (1.2%) during the 7Ã30-m RSAT, but high variation for the percentage decrement score (36.2%). These results provide evidence to support the use of the GPS device as an alternative measure to assess repeated sprint performance but suggest a percentage decrement score is not a reliable measure of RSAT performance.

Bernardo, DV & Hoang, DB 2010, 'Securing data transfer in the cloud through introducing identification packet and UDT-authentication option field: a characterization', International Journal of Network Security & Its Applications (IJNSA), Vol.2, No.4, October 2010, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 13-28.
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The emergence of various technologies has since pushed researchers to developnew protocols that support high density data transmissions in Wide AreaNetworks. Many of these protocols are TCP protocol variants, which havedemonstrated better performance in simulation and several limited networkexperiments but have limited practical applications because of implementationand installation difficulties. On the other hand, users who need to transferbulk data (e.g., in grid/cloud computing) usually turn to application levelsolutions where these variants do not fair well. Among protocols considered inthe application level solutions are UDP-based protocols, such as UDT (UDP-basedData Transport Protocol) for cloud /grid computing. Despite the promisingdevelopment of protocols like UDT, what remains to be a major challenge thatcurrent and future network designers face is to achieve survivability andsecurity of data and networks. Our previous research surveyed various securitymethodologies which led to the development of a framework for UDT. In thispaper we present lowerlevel security by introducing an Identity Packet (IP) andAuthentication Option (AO) for UDT.

Besinger, A, Sztynda, T, Lal, S, Duthoit, C, Agbinya, J, Jap, B, Eager, D & Dissanayake, G 2010, 'Optical flow based analyses to detect emotion from human facial image data', EXPERT SYSTEMS WITH APPLICATIONS, vol. 37, no. 12, pp. 8897-8902.
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Artificial recognition of facial expression has attracted a lot of attention in the last few years and different facial expression detection methods have been developed. The current study uses a feature point tracking technique separately applied to the five facial image regions (eyebrows, eyes and mouth) to capture basic emotions. The used dataset contains a total 60 facial images from subject's different genders and nationality not wearing glasses and/or facial hair. Results show that the used point tracking algorithm separately applied to the five facial image regions can detect emotions in image sequences. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bjørnerem, Å, Johnsen, SL, Nguyen, TV, Kiserud, T & Seeman, E 2010, 'The shifting trajectory of growth in femur length during gestation', Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 1029-1033.
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Abstract Bone size is a determinant of bone strength and tracks in its percentile of origin during childhood and adolescence. We hypothesized that the ranking of an individual's femur length (FL) is established in early gestation and tracks thereafter. Fetal FL was measured serially using 2D ultrasound in 625 Norwegian fetuses. Tracking was assessed using Pearson correlation, a generalized estimating equation model, and by calculating the proportion of fetuses whose FL remained within the same quartile. Baseline FL Z-score (weeks 10 to 19) and later measurements correlated, but more weakly as gestation advanced: r = 0.59 (weeks 20 to 26); r = 0.45 (weeks 27 to 33); and r = 0.32 (weeks 34 to 39) (p &lt; 0.001). Tracking within the same quartile throughout gestation occurred in 13% of fetuses. Of the 87% deviating, 21% returned to the quartile of origin, so 34% began and ended in the same quartile, 38% deviated by one quartile, and 28% deviated by two or more quartiles by the end of gestation. A standard deviation higher baseline FL Z-score, placental weight (150 g), maternal height (5 cm), and weight (10 kg), was associated with a 0.25, 0.15, 0.10, and 0.05 SD higher FL Z-score at the end of gestation, respectively (p ranging from &lt;0.001 to 0.02). Tracking within the same percentile throughout the whole of gestation, as suggest by growth charts, is uncommon. Deviation from tracking is more common and is the result of changes in growth velocity within and between fetuses and is partly influenced by maternal, fetal, and placental factors. © 2010 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research

Bolitho, C, Hahn, MA, Baxter, RC & Marsh, DJ 2010, 'The chemokine CXCL1 induces proliferation in epithelial ovarian cancer cells by transactivation of the epidermal growth factor receptor', Endocrine-Related Cancer, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 929-940.
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The chemokine CXCL1 is elevated in plasma and ascites from patients with ovarian cancer. We have previously shown that CXCL1 is a marker of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signalling in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cell lines, a pathway that is commonly activated in ovarian tumours. To investigate whether CXCL1 also has functional significance in ovarian cancer, this chemokine was either down-regulated using siRNAs or overexpressed by transfection of CXCL1 into the EOC cell lines SKOV3 and OVCAR-3 and proliferation assessed over 7 days. Overexpression of CXCL1 increased proliferation of ovarian cancer cells over 7 days, while down-regulation was inhibitory. Treatment of cells with recombinant CXCL1 induced epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) phosphorylation at Y1068, indicating crosstalk between the CXCL1 G-protein-coupled receptor CXCR2 and the EGFR. CXCL1-induced proliferation was also decreased by inhibition of EGFR kinase activity and was dependent on extracellular matrix metalloproteinase-mediated release of heparin-binding EGF (HB-EGF). Involvement of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) signalling was also evident since inhibition of both Ras and MEK activity decreased CXCL1-induced proliferation. CXCL1-induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation was inhibited by the MEK1 inhibitor PD98059; however, EGFR phosphorylation was unaffected, indicating that CXCL1 activation of MAPK signalling is downstream of the EGFR. Taken together, these data show that CXCL1 functions through CXCR2 to transactivate the EGFR by proteolytic cleavage of HB-EGF, leading to activation of MAPK signalling and increased proliferation of EOC cells.

Boord, P, Craig, A, Tran, Y & Nguyen, H 2010, 'Discrimination of left and right leg motor imagery for brain–computer interfaces', Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 343-350.
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This article reports on a study to identify electroencephalography (EEG) signals with potential to provide new BCI channels through mental motor imagery (MMI). Leg motion was assessed to see if left and right leg MMI could be discriminated in the EEG. The study also explored simultaneous observation of leg movement as a means to enhance MMI evoked EEG signals. The results demonstrate that MMI of the left and right leg produce a contralateral preponderance of EEG alpha band desynchronization, which can be spatially discriminated. This suggests that lower extremity MMI could provide signals for additional BCI channels. The study also shows that movement imitation enhances alpha band desynchronization during MMI, and might provide a useful aid in the identification and training of BCI signals. © International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering 2010.

Budka, M, Gabrys, B & Ravagnan, E 2010, 'Robust predictive modelling of water pollution using biomarker data', Water Research, vol. 44, no. 10, pp. 3294-3308.
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Burgess, JK, Boustany, S, Moir, LM, Weckmann, M, Lau, JY, Grafton, K, Baraket, M, Hansbro, PM, Hansbro, NG, Foster, PS, Black, JL & Oliver, BG 2010, 'Reduction of Tumstatin in Asthmatic Airways Contributes to Angiogenesis, Inflammation, and Hyperresponsiveness', AMERICAN JOURNAL OF RESPIRATORY AND CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE, vol. 181, no. 2, pp. 106-115.
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Rationale: Angiogenesis is a prominent feature of remodeling in asthma. Many proangiogenic factors are up-regulated in asthma, but little is known about levels of endogenous antiangiogenic agents. Collagen IV is decreased in the airway basement membrane in asthma. It has six α chains, of which the noncollagenous domain-1 domains have endogenous antiangiogenic properties. Objectives: To study the expression of the noncollagenous domain-1 of the α3 chain of collagen IV, tumstatin, in the airways of subjects with and without asthma and to examine the potential for tumstatin to regulate angiogenesis and inflammation. Methods: We used immunohistochemistry and dot blots to examine the expression of tumstatin in bronchial biopsies, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and serum. We then used an in vitro angiogenesis assay and a murinemodel of allergic airways disease to explore tumstatin's biological function. Measurements and Main Results: The level of tumstatin is decreased 18-fold in the airways of patients with asthma but not in subjects without asthma, including those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, and bronchiectasis. In vitro, recombinant tumstatin inhibited primary pulmonary endothelial cell tube formation. In a mouse model of chronic allergic airways disease, tumstatin suppressed angiogenesis, airway hyperresponsiveness, inflammatory cell infiltration, and mucus secretion and decreased levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and IL-13. Conclusions: The observation that tumstatin is decreased in asthmatic airways and inhibits airway hyperresponsiveness and angiogenesis demonstrates the potential use of antiangiogenic agents such as tumstatin as a therapeutic intervention in diseases that are characterized by aberrant angiogenesis and tissue remodeling, such as asthma.

Catchpoole, DR, Kennedy, P, Skillicorn, DB & Simoff, S 2010, 'The Curse of Dimensionality: A Blessing to Personalized Medicine', Journal of Clinical Oncology, vol. 28, no. 34, pp. e723-e724.
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Charro, MA, Aoki, MS, Coutts, AJ, Araujo, RC & Bacurau, RF 2010, 'Hormonal, metabolic and perceptual responses to different resistance training systems', JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE AND PHYSICAL FITNESS, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 229-234.
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AIM: The purpose of the present study was to compare the effect of different resistance training systems (Multiple-set [MS] and Pyramid [P]) on hormonal, metabolic and perceptual markers of internal load. METHODS: Ten healthy men performed two resistance training sessions (MS and P) which consisted of three exercises (bench press, peck deck and decline bench press) with the same total volume of load lifted. The training sessions were performed 14 days apart and allocated in a counter-balanced order. Hormonal (plasma insulin, growth hormone [GH], testosterone and cortisol) and metabolic (blood glucose and lactate) responses were assessed before and after each exercise bout. Session rating of perceived exertion (session RPE) was taken 30-min following each bout. RESULTS: No difference was observed for session-RPE between P and MS bouts (P>0.05). Plasma GH, cortisol and lactate increased significantly after exercise both bouts (P<0.01), but there were no significant changes between MS and P (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: It is concluded that the acute bout of resistance exercise following MS and P systems provide similar training strain when the total volume of load lifted is matched.

Chen, L, Warkiani, ME, Liu, H-B & Gong, H-Q 2010, 'Polymeric micro-filter manufactured by a dissolving mold technique', Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, vol. 20, no. 7, pp. 075005-075005.
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Chen, P & Li, J 2010, 'Prediction of protein long-range contacts using an ensemble of genetic algorithm classifiers with sequence profile centers', BMC Structural Biology, vol. 10, no. Suppl 1, pp. S2-S2.
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Background. Prediction of long-range inter-residue contacts is an important topic in bioinformatics research. It is helpful for determining protein structures, understanding protein foldings, and therefore advancing the annotation of protein functions. Results. In this paper, we propose a novel ensemble of genetic algorithm classifiers (GaCs) to address the long-range contact prediction problem. Our method is based on the key idea called sequence profile centers (SPCs). Each SPC is the average sequence profiles of residue pairs belonging to the same contact class or non-contact class. GaCs train on multiple but different pairs of long-range contact data (positive data) and long-range non-contact data (negative data). The negative data sets, having roughly the same sizes as the positive ones, are constructed by random sampling over the original imbalanced negative data. As a result, about 21.5% long-range contacts are correctly predicted. We also found that the ensemble of GaCs indeed makes an accuracy improvement by around 5.6% over the single GaC. Conclusions. Classifiers with the use of sequence profile centers may advance the long-range contact prediction. In line with this approach, key structural features in proteins would be determined with high efficiency and accuracy. © 2010 Li and Chen; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Chen, P & Li, J 2010, 'Sequence-based identification of interface residues by an integrative profile combining hydrophobic and evolutionary information', BMC Bioinformatics, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 0-0.
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Background: Protein-protein interactions play essential roles in protein function determination and drug design. Numerous methods have been proposed to recognize their interaction sites, however, only a small proportion of protein complexes have been successfully resolved due to the high cost. Therefore, it is important to improve the performance for predicting protein interaction sites based on primary sequence alone.Results: We propose a new idea to construct an integrative profile for each residue in a protein by combining its hydrophobic and evolutionary information. A support vector machine (SVM) ensemble is then developed, where SVMs train on different pairs of positive (interface sites) and negative (non-interface sites) subsets. The subsets having roughly the same sizes are grouped in the order of accessible surface area change before and after complexation. A self-organizing map (SOM) technique is applied to group similar input vectors to make more accurate the identification of interface residues. An ensemble of ten-SVMs achieves an MCC improvement by around 8% and F1 improvement by around 9% over that of three-SVMs. As expected, SVM ensembles constantly perform better than individual SVMs. In addition, the model by the integrative profiles outperforms that based on the sequence profile or the hydropathy scale alone. As our method uses a small number of features to encode the input vectors, our model is simpler, faster and more accurate than the existing methods.Conclusions: The integrative profile by combining hydrophobic and evolutionary information contributes most to the protein-protein interaction prediction. Results show that evolutionary context of residue with respect to hydrophobicity makes better the identification of protein interface residues. In addition, the ensemble of SVM classifiers improves the prediction performance.Availability: Datasets and software are available at http://mail.ustc.edu.cn/~bigeagle/BMCBioinfo2010/index.ht...

Chen, P, Liu, C, Burge, L, Li, J, Mohammad, M, Southerland, W, Gloster, C & Wang, B 2010, 'DomSVR: domain boundary prediction with support vector regression from sequence information alone', Amino Acids, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 713-726.
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Protein domains are structural and fundamental functional units of proteins. The information of protein domain boundaries is helpful in understanding the evolution, structures and functions of proteins, and also plays an important role in protein classification. In this paper, we propose a support vector regression-based method to address the problem of protein domain boundary identification based on novel input profiles extracted from AA-index database. As a result, our method achieves an average sensitivity of ∼36.5% and an average specificity of ∼ 81% for multi-domain protein chains, which is overall better than the performance of published approaches to identify domain boundary. As our method used sequence information alone, our method is simpler and faster.© Springer-Verlag 2010.

Clark, K & Phillips, J 2010, 'End of life care - the importance of culture and ethnicity.', Aust Fam Physician, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 210-213.
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BACKGROUND: Australia is a culturally and ethnically diverse country. Within such diversity there will be differing beliefs systems about death and dying. This may be a challenging prospect for health professionals. OBJECTIVE: This article discusses how cultural diversity may impact care and provides some strategies for the general practitioner when considering the provision of end of life care. DISCUSSION: This article does not attempt to provide GPs with a prescriptive approach to multicultural care, as this would run the risk of stereotyping individuals. Rather, it discusses the barriers to end of life care among different cultural and ethnic groups, and suggests ways in which to improve understanding of different cultural needs in end of life care.

Cordingley, R, Kohan, L & Ben-Nissan, B 2010, 'What happens to femoral neck bone mineral density after hip resurfacing surgery?', The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. British volume, vol. 92-B, no. 12, pp. 1648-1653.
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The major advantage of hip resurfacing is the decreased amount of bone resection compared with a standard total hip replacement. Fracture of the femoral neck is the most common early complication and poor bone quality is a major risk factor. We undertook a prospective consecutive case control study examining the effect of bone mineral density changes in patients undergoing hip resurfacing surgery. A total of 423 patients were recruited with a mean age of 54 years (24 to 87). Recruitment for this study was dependent on pre-operative bilateral femoral bone mineral density results not being osteoporotic. The operated and non-operated hips were assessed. Bone mineral density studies were repeated over a two-year period. The results showed no significant deterioration in the bone mineral density in the superolateral region in the femoral neck, during that period. These findings were in the presence of a markedly increased level of physical activity, as measured by the short-form 36 health survey physical function score.

Coutts, A & Alexiou, H 2010, 'Efficacy of submaximal field tests for monitoring aerobic fitness changes in women football players', Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, vol. 12, pp. e124-e124.
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Coutts, A, McLean, B, Kelly, V, Cormack, S & McGuigan, M 2010, 'The influence of the number of days between matches on neuromuscular, hormonal and perceptual responses in professional rugby league players', Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, vol. 12, pp. e50-e50.
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Coutts, AJ & Duffield, R 2010, 'Validity and reliability of GPS devices for measuring movement demands of team sports', JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE IN SPORT, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 133-135.
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There is limited information regarding the validity and reliability of global positioning system (GPS) devices for measuring movement during team sports. The aim of this study was to assess the validity and intra-model reliability of different GPS devices for quantifying high-intensity, intermittent exercise performance. Two moderately trained males each completed eight bouts of a standard circuit that consisted of six laps around a 128.5-m course involving intermittent exercise. Distance and speed were collected concurrently at 1-Hz using six GPS devices (2 SPI-10, 2 SPI Elite and 2 WiSPI, GPSports, Canberra, Australia). Performance measures were: (1) total distance covered for each bout and each lap; (2) high-intensity running distance (>14.4 km h-1, HIR); very high-intensity running distance (>20 km h-1, VHIR) during each bout. Peak speed was also measured during a 20-m sprint at the start of each lap of the circuit (N = 192). Actual distance was measured using a measuring tape. Mean (±SD) circuit total distance was significantly different between each of the GPS devices (P < 0.001); however, all devices were within 5 m of the actual lap distance and had a good level of reliability (coefficient of variation (CV) <5%). The CV for total distance (3.6-7.1%) and peak speed (2.3-5.8%) was good-to-moderate, but poor for HIR (11.2-32.4%) and VHIR (11.5-30.4%) for all GPS devices. These results show that the GPS devices have an acceptable level of accuracy and reliability for total distance and peak speeds during high-intensity, intermittent exercise, but may not be provide reliable measures for higher intensity activities. © 2008 Sports Medicine Australia.

Coutts, AJ, Gomes, RV, Viveiros, L & Aoki, MS 2010, 'Monitoring training loads in elite tennis DOI:10.5007/1980-0037.2010v12n3p217', Revista Brasileira de Cineantropometria e Desempenho Humano, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 217-220.
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Training load (TL) is influenced by both training volume and training intensity. A precise understanding of the TLs completed during training is crucial to achieve desirable training outcomes and to avoid overtraining. TL can be monitored in many different ways; however, we recommend the session-rate of perceived exertion (session-RPE) method for quantifying TL because of its low cost and because it is easy to understand and relatively simple to implement. In this report, we provide data regarding TLs collected during the 2008 Roland Garros Tournament. Our experience in tennis suggests the session-RPE method to be a valuable tool that can be used to control training and to avoid excessive TLs. We also believe that accurate monitoring of TL will enable the coach to better understand of the sports training process, ultimately leading to the improvement of performance.

Coutts, AJ, Quinn, J, Hocking, J, Castagna, C & Rampinini, E 2010, 'Match running performance in elite Australian Rules Football', JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE IN SPORT, vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 543-548.
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There is little information describing the match running demands of elite-level Australian Rules Football (AF). The aims of this study were to examine: (1) match running demands; and (2) the influence of periods of increased physical activity on subsequent running performance in the Australian Football League. Time-motion analyses were performed 1-9 times per player from 16 professional AF players from the same club during games in 2005-2007, using portable global positioning systems during 65 matches. Game movements (standing, walking, jogging, running, higher-speed running, and sprinting) and distances (total distance covered [TD]; low-intensity activity [LIA, distance <14.4kmh-1]; and, high-intensity running distance [HIR, distance>14.4kmh-1]) were collected. The influence of the first half physical activities on second half activities, and each quarter on the subsequent quarter were analysed. The mean (±SD) TD and HIR distance covered during the games were 12,939±1145m and 3880±663m respectively. There were reductions in TD in the second (-7.3%), third (-5.5%) and fourth (-10.7%) quarters compared to the first quarter (p<0.01). The HIR was reduced after the first quarter (p<0.001). Players that covered larger TD or HIR during the first half or quarter decreased distance in the next half and quarter, respectively (p<0.001). These results show that a reduction in exercise intensity is inevitable during an AF match and that higher intensity activities reduce towards the end of games. High average speed during each half or quarter also affects subsequent running performance in elite-level AF. © 2009 Sports Medicine Australia.

Csorba, T, Lózsa, R, Hutvágner, G & Burgyán, J 2010, 'Polerovirus protein P0 prevents the assembly of small RNA-containing RISC complexes and leads to degradation of ARGONAUTE1', The Plant Journal, vol. 62, no. 3, pp. 463-472.
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RNA silencing plays an important role in plants in defence against viruses. To overcome this defence, plant viruses encode suppressors of RNA silencing. The most common mode of silencing suppression is sequestration of double-stranded RNAs involved in the antiviral silencing pathways. Viral suppressors can also overcome silencing responses through protein-protein interaction. The poleroviral P0 silencing suppressor protein targets ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins for degradation. AGO proteins are the core component of the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). We found that P0 does not interfere with the slicer activity of pre-programmed siRNA/miRNA containing AGO1, but prevents de novo formation of siRNA/miRNA containing AGO1. We show that the AGO1 protein is part of a high-molecular-weight complex, suggesting the existence of a multi-protein RISC in plants. We propose that P0 prevents RISC assembly by interacting with one of its protein components, thus inhibiting formation of siRNA/miRNA-RISC, and ultimately leading to AGO1 degradation. Our findings also suggest that siRNAs enhance the stability of co-expressed AGO1 in both the presence and absence of P0. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Cywinski, PJ, Idzik, KR, Cranfield, CG, Beckert, R & Mohr, GJ 2010, 'Synthesis and sensing properties of a new carbazole fluorosensor for detection of abacavir', SUPRAMOLECULAR CHEMISTRY, vol. 22, no. 10, pp. 598-602.
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Darcy, S 2010, 'Inherent complexity: Disability, accessible tourism and accommodation information preferences', Tourism Management, vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 816-826.
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Studies have identified constraints with the way that accessible accommodation information is documented and marketed. Yet, no research has investigated the criteria that people with disabilities determine as 'important' to selecting accommodation and their preference for presenting this information. This paper presents the results of a survey (n = 566) to determine the relative importance of room selection criteria through the development of a 55-item Hotel Accessibility Scale. Four information formats were then presented to ascertain the preferences of the respondents. The results suggest that while sociodemographic variables offered some insight into criteria selection, the most significant explanation for criteria selection and information preferences were the dimensions of disability and level of support needs. The preferred format of accessible accommodation information provision was based on a combination of textual, floorplan and digital photography. The management implications suggest that detailed information provision using this format has benefits for accommodation stock yield and social sustainability. © 2009.

Darcy, S, Cameron, B & Pegg, S 2010, 'Accessible tourism and sustainability: a discussion and case study', Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 515-537.
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This paper explores the concept of accessible tourism and its links with triple-bottom-line (TBL) sustainability. Accessible tourism is reviewed through some of its central features including dimensions of access, universal design and the nexus between ageing and disability. The TBL is then examined to better understand the financial, environmental and social considerations that arise from accessible tourism. The research design used in this explorative research incorporated a case study approach, where a business case study instrument was developed. Methods included a Delphi group, review of management information systems, in-depth interviews with key informants, observation and participant observation. The study results revealed that rather than accessible tourism being a single construct, it forms one critical dimension of a series of interrelated, overlapping and interdependent business arrangements that extend beyond the business entity through a series of social networks within the destination region. It is argued that to properly satisfy the accessible tourism market, a more sophisticated understanding of accessible destination experiences is needed by tourism operators. The case study illustrates the considerable size and multi-niche markets served by accessible tourism destinations, the good fit between accessible tourism and TBL sustainable tourism, and the need for further research. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.

Davidson, PM & Phillips, JL 2010, 'Facing the inevitable - death from chronic illness', EoL-Towards quality care at the end of life, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 14-15.
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Globally there is an epidemic of chronic illnesses challenging individuals, health care providers and systems.9 In contemporary society, many people live for extended periods with conditions which were in previous decades an immediate death sentence. However, these welcome changes in longevity do not defy the future certainty of death.

Eley, R, Parker, D, Tuckett, A & Hegney, D 2010, 'Career breaks and intentions for retirement by Queensland's nurses—A sign of the times?', Collegian, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 38-42.
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Feng, M, Dong, G, Li, J, Tan, Y-P & Wong, L 2010, 'PATTERN SPACE MAINTENANCE FOR DATA UPDATES AND INTERACTIVE MINING', COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 282-317.
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This article addresses the incremental and decremental maintenance of the frequent pattern space. We conduct an in-depth investigation on how the frequent pattern space evolves under both incremental and decremental updates. Based on the evolution analysis, a new data structure, Generator-Enumeration Tree (GE-tree), is developed to facilitate the maintenance of the frequent pattern space. With the concept of GE-tree, we propose two novel algorithms, Pattern Space Maintainer+ (PSM+) and Pattern Space Maintainer- (PSM-), for the incremental and decremental maintenance of frequent patterns. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms, on average, outperform the representative state-of-the-art methods by an order of magnitude. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Fleming, PA, Argraves, WS, Gentile, C, Neagu, A, Forgacs, G & Drake, CJ 2010, 'Fusion of uniluminal vascular spheroids: A model for assembly of blood vessels', Developmental Dynamics, vol. 239, no. 2, pp. 398-406.
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AbstractWe evaluated the self‐assembly properties of uniluminal vascular spheroids having outer layers of vascular smooth muscle cells and a contiguous inner layer of endothelial cells lining a central lumen. We showed that while pairs of uniluminal vascular spheroids suspended in culture medium fused to form a larger diameter spheroidal structure, spheroids in collagen hydrogels formed elongated structures. These findings highlight the potential use of uniluminal vascular spheroids as modules to engineer blood vessels. We also demonstrate that uniluminal vascular spheroid fusion conforms to models describing the coalescence of liquid drops. Furthermore, the fusion of uniluminal vascular spheroids in vitro closely resembled the in vivo process by which the descending aorta forms from the fusion of the paired dorsal aortae during embryonic development. Together, the findings indicate that tissue liquidity underlies uniluminal vascular spheroid fusion and that in vivo anastomosis of blood vessels may involve a similar mechanism. Developmental Dynamics 239:398–406, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Gallagher, IJ, Scheele, C, Keller, P, Nielsen, AR, Remenyi, J, Fischer, CP, Roder, K, Babraj, J, Wahlestedt, C, Hutvagner, G, Pedersen, BK & Timmons, JA 2010, 'Integration of microRNA changes in vivo identifies novel molecular features of muscle insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes', Genome Medicine, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 9-9.
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Background: Skeletal muscle insulin resistance (IR) is considered a critical component of type II diabetes, yet to date IR has evaded characterization at the global gene expression level in humans. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are considered fine-scale rheostats of protein-coding gene product abundance. The relative importance and mode of action of miRNAs in human complex diseases remains to be fully elucidated. We produce a global map of coding and non-coding RNAs in human muscle IR with the aim of identifying novel disease biomarkers.Methods: We profiled >47,000 mRNA sequences and >500 human miRNAs using gene-chips and 118 subjects (n = 71 patients versus n = 47 controls). A tissue-specific gene-ranking system was developed to stratify thousands of miRNA target-genes, removing false positives, yielding a weighted inhibitor score, which integrated the net impact of both up- and down-regulated miRNAs. Both informatic and protein detection validation was used to verify the predictions of in vivo changes.Results: The muscle mRNA transcriptome is invariant with respect to insulin or glucose homeostasis. In contrast, a third of miRNAs detected in muscle were altered in disease (n = 62), many changing prior to the onset of clinical diabetes. The novel ranking metric identified six canonical pathways with proven links to metabolic disease while the control data demonstrated no enrichment. The Benjamini-Hochberg adjusted Gene Ontology profile of the highest ranked targets was metabolic (P < 7.4 × 10-8), post-translational modification (P < 9.7 × 10-5) and developmental (P < 1.3 × 10-6) processes. Protein profiling of six development-related genes validated the predictions. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor protein was detectable only in muscle satellite cells and was increased in diabetes patients compared with controls, consistent with the observation that global miRNA changes were opposite from those found during myogenic differentiation.Conclusions: We provide eviden...

Galvin, AL, Jennings, LM, Tipper, JL, Ingham, E & Fisher, J 2010, 'Wear and Creep of Highly Crosslinked Polyethylene against Cobalt Chrome and Ceramic Femoral Heads', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine, vol. 224, no. 10, pp. 1175-1183.
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The wear and creep characteristics of highly crosslinked ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) articulating against large-diameter (36 mm) ceramic and cobalt chrome femoral heads have been investigated in a physiological anatomical hip joint simulator for 10 million cycles. The crosslinked UHMWPE/ceramic combination showed higher volume deformation due to creep plus wear during the first 2 million cycles, and a steady-state wear rate 40 per cent lower than that of the crosslinked UHMWPE/cobalt chrome combination. Wear particles were isolated and characterized from the hip simulator lubricants. The wear particles were similar in size and morphology for both head materials. The particle isolation methodology used could not detect a statistically significant difference between the particles produced by the cobalt chrome and alumina ceramic femoral heads.

Ge, Q, Moir, LM, Black, JL, Oliver, BG & Burgess, JK 2010, 'TGF beta 1 Induces IL-6 and Inhibits IL-8 Release in Human Bronchial Epithelial Cells: The Role of Smad2/3', JOURNAL OF CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY, vol. 225, no. 3, pp. 846-854.
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Human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells contribute to asthmatic airway inflammation by secreting cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors, including interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8 and transforming growth factor (TGF) β1, all of which are elevated in asthmatic airways. This study examines the signaling pathways leading to TGFβ1 induced IL-6 and IL-8 in primary HBE cells from asthmatic and non-asthmatic volunteers. HBE cells were stimulated with TGFβ1 in the presence or absence of signaling inhibitors. IL-6 and IL-8 protein and mRNA were measured by ELISA and real-time PCR respectively, and cell signaling kinases by Western blot. TGFβ1 increased IL-6, but inhibited IL-8 production in both asthmatic and non-asthmatic cells; however, TGF induced significantly more IL-6 in asthmatic cells. Inhibition of JNK MAP kinase partially reduced TGFβ1 induced IL-6 in both cell groups. TGFβ1 induced Smad2 phosphorylation, and blockade of Smad2/3 prevented both the TGFβ1 modulated IL-6 increase and the decrease in IL-8 production in asthmatic and non-asthmatic cells. Inhibition of Smad2/3 also increased basal IL-8 release in asthmatic cells but not in non-asthmatic cells. Using CHIP assays we demonstrated that activated Smad2 bound to the IL-6, but not the IL-8 promoter region. We conclude that the Smad2/3 pathway is the predominant TGFβ1 signaling pathway in HBE cells, and this is altered in asthmatic bronchial epithelial cells. Understanding the mechanism of aberrant pro-inflammatory cytokine production in asthmatic airways will allow the development of alternative ways to control airway inflammation. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Gomes, R, Viveiros, L, Coutts, A, Ugrinowistch, C & Aoki, M 2010, 'Effect of carbohydrate supplementation on tennis match play performance', Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, vol. 12, pp. e122-e122.
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Gorrie, CA, Hayward, I, Cameron, N, Kailainathan, G, Nandapalan, N, Sutharsan, R, Wang, J, Mackay-Sim, A & Waite, PME 2010, 'Effects of human OEC-derived cell transplants in rodent spinal cord contusion injury', BRAIN RESEARCH, vol. 1337, no. 1, pp. 8-20.
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Numerous reports indicate that rodent olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) assist in spinal cord repair and clinical trials have been undertaken using autologous transplantation of human olfactory ensheathing cells (hOECs) as a treatment for spinal cord injury. However, there are few studies investigating the efficacy of hOECs in animal models of spinal cord injury. In this study hOECs were derived from biopsies of human olfactory mucosa, purifed by culture in a serum-free medium containing neurotrophin-3, genetically labelled with EGFP, and stored frozen. These hOEC-derived cells were thawed and transplanted into the spinal cord injury site 7 days after a moderate contusion injury of the spinal cord at thoracic level T10 in the athymic rat. Six weeks later the animals receiving the hOEC-derived transplants had greater functional improvement in their hindlimbs than controls, assessed using open field (BBB scale) and horizontal rung walking tests. Histological analysis demonstrated beneficial effects of hOEC-derived cell transplantation: reductions in the volume of the lesion and the cavities within the lesion. The transplanted cells were located at the periphery of the lesion where they integrated with GFAP-positive astrocytes resulting in a significant reduction of GFAP staining intensity adjacent to the lesion. Although their mechanism of action is unclear we conclude that hOEC-derived cell transplants improved functional recovery after transplantation into the contused spinal cord, probably by modulating inflammatory responses and reducing secondary damage to the cord. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hain, D, Bettencourt, BR, Okamura, K, Csorba, T, Meyer, W, Jin, Z, Biggerstaff, J, Siomi, H, Hutvagner, G, Lai, EC, Welte, M & Müller, H-AJ 2010, 'Natural Variation of the Amino-Terminal Glutamine-Rich Domain in Drosophila Argonaute2 Is Not Associated with Developmental Defects', PLoS ONE, vol. 5, no. 12, pp. e15264-e15264.
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The Drosophila argonaute2 (ago2) gene plays a major role in siRNA mediated RNA silencing pathways. Unlike mammalian Argonaute proteins, the Drosophila protein has an unusual amino-terminal domain made up largely of multiple copies of glutamine-rich repeats (GRRs). We report here that the ago2 locus produces an alternative transcript that encodes a putative short isoform without this amino-terminal domain. Several ago2 mutations previously reported to be null alleles only abolish expression of the long, GRR-containing isoform. Analysis of drop out (dop) mutations had previously suggested that variations in GRR copy number result in defects in RNAi and embryonic development. However, we find that dop mutations genetically complement transcript-null alleles of ago2 and that ago2 alleles with variant GRR copy numbers support normal development. In addition, we show that the assembly of the central RNAi machinery, the RISC (RNA induced silencing complex), is unimpaired in embryos when GRR copy number is altered. In fact, we find that GRR copy number is highly variable in natural D. melanogaster populations as well as in laboratory strains. Finally, while many other insects share an extensive, glutamine-rich Ago2 amino-terminal domain, its primary sequence varies drastically between species. Our data indicate that GRR variation does not modulate an essential function of Ago2 and that the amino-terminal domain of Ago2 is subject to rapid evolution. © 2010 Hain et al.

Hegney, D, Tuckett, A, Parker, D & Eley, RM 2010, 'Workplace violence: Differences in perceptions of nursing work between those exposed and those not exposed: A cross‐sector analysis', International Journal of Nursing Practice, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 188-202.
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Hegney D, Tuckett A, Parker D, Eley RM. International Journal of Nursing Practice 2010; 16: 188–202
Workplace violence: Differences in perceptions of nursing work between those exposed and those not exposed: A cross‐sector analysisNurses are at high risk of incurring workplace violence during their working life. This paper reports the findings on a cross‐sectional, descriptive, self‐report, postal survey in 2007. A stratified random sample of 3000 of the 29 789 members of the Queensland Nurses Union employed in the public, private and aged care sectors resulted in 1192 responses (39.7%). This paper reports the differences: between those nurses who experienced workplace violence and those who did not; across employment sectors. The incidence of workplace violence is highest in public sector nursing. Patients/clients/residents were the major perpetrators of workplace violence and the existence of a workplace policy did not decrease levels of workplace violence. Nurses providing clinical care in the private and aged care sectors experienced more workplace violence than more senior nurses. Although workplace violence was associated with high work stress, teamwork and a supportive workplace mitigated workplace violence. The perception of workplace safety was inversely related to workplace violence. With the exception of public sector nursing, nurses reported an inverse relationship with workplace violence and morale.

Hegney, D, Tuckett, A, Parker, D & Robert, E 2010, 'Access to and support for continuing professional education amongst Queensland nurses: 2004 and 2007', Nurse Education Today, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 142-149.
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Hill-Haas, SV, Coutts, AJ, Dawson, BT & Rowsell, GJ 2010, 'TIME-MOTION CHARACTERISTICS AND PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF SMALL-SIDED GAMES IN ELITE YOUTH PLAYERS: THE INFLUENCE OF PLAYER NUMBER AND RULE CHANGES', JOURNAL OF STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING RESEARCH, vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 2149-2156.
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Hill-Haas, SV, Coutts, AJ, Dawson, BT, and Rowsell, GJ. Time-motion characteristics and physiological responses of small-sided games in elite youth players: The influence of player number and rule changes. J Strength Cond Res 24(8): 2149-2156, 2010-The aim of this study was to examine acute physiological responses and time-motion characteristics associated with 4 soccer-specific small-sided game (SSG) formats (3 vs. 4 players, 3 vs. 3 players + floater, 5 vs. 6 players, and 5 vs. 5 players + floater) and 4 rule changes in elite youth soccer players. Sixteen male youth soccer players (mean ± SD: age = 15.6 ± 0.8 years, stature = 170.8 ± 6.6 cm, body mass = 67.5 ± 6.2 kg, and 20-m shuttle run estimated [latin capital V with dot above]o2max = 57.4 ± 3.7 ml·kg-1·min-1) participated in the study, in which heart rate (HR), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), blood lactate (La-), and time-motion characteristics were recorded. The rule change requiring extra sprint running had a greater effect on the time-motion characteristics than all other rule modifications but no effect on acute %HRmax, La-, and RPE. Rule changes had no effect on RPE. Fixed underload teams (i.e., lower number of players compared with the opponent team) recorded a significantly higher RPE compared with the fixed overload teams, although there were no differences in %HRmax and La-. The major practical findings are that subtle changes in SSGs playing rules can influence the physiological, perceptual, and time-motion responses in young elite soccer players. Rules that are related to a team's chances of scoring may improve player motivation and thereby increase training intensity during SSGs. There were no differences between fixed and variable formats in terms of physiological and perceptual responses, although both may provide useful technical-tactical training. Coaches should take care in designing different soccer SSGs as each rule or game format change may influence exercise intensity independently...

Homer, CSE, Catling-Paull, CJ, Sinclair, D, Faizah, N, Balasubramanian, V, Foureur, MJ, Hoang, DB & Lawrence, E 2010, 'Developing an interactive electronic maternity record', British Journal of Midwifery, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 384-389.
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Women have a strong need to be involved in their own maternity care. Pregnancy hand-held records encourage women's participation in their maternity care; gives them an increased sense of control and improves communication among care providers. They have been successfully used in the UK and New Zealand for almost 20 years. Despite evidence that supports the use of hand-held records, widespread introduction has not occurred in Australia. The need for an electronic version of pregnancy hand-held records has become apparent, especially after the introduction of the Electronic Medical Record in Australia. A personal digital assistant (PDA) was developed as an interactive antenatal electronic maternity record that health-care providers could use in any setting and women could access using the internet. This article will describe the testing of the antenatal electronic maternity record.

Ho‐Pham, LT, Lai, TQ, Nguyen, ND, Barrett‐Connor, E & Nguyen, TV 2010, 'Similarity in Percent Body Fat Between White and Vietnamese Women: Implication for a Universal Definition of Obesity', Obesity, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 1242-1246.
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It has been widely assumed that for a given BMI, Asians have higher percent body fat (PBF) than whites, and that the BMI threshold for defining obesity in Asians should be lower than the threshold for whites. This study sought to test this assumption by comparing the PBF between US white and Vietnamese women. The study was designed as a comparative cross‐sectional investigation. In the first study, 210 Vietnamese women ages between 50 and 85 were randomly selected from various districts in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). In the second study, 419 women of the same age range were randomly selected from the Rancho Bernardo Study (San Diego, CA). In both studies, lean mass (LM) and fat mass (FM) were measured by dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA) (QDR 4500; Hologic). PBF was derived as FM over body weight. Compared with Vietnamese women, white women had much more FM (24.8 ± 8.1 kg vs. 18.8 ± 4.9 kg; P < 0.0001) and greater PBF (36.4 ± 6.5% vs. 35.0 ± 6.2%; P = 0.012). However, there was no significant difference in PBF between the two groups after matching for BMI (35.1 ± 6.2% vs. 35.0 ± 5.7%; P = 0.87) or for age and BMI (35.6 ± 5.1% vs. 35.8 ± 5.9%; P = 0.79). Using the criteria of BMI ≥30, 19% of US white women and 5% of Vietnamese women were classified as obese. Approximately 54% of US white women and 53% of Vietnamese women had their PBF >35% (P = 0.80). Although white women had greater BMI, body weight, and FM than Vietnamese women, their PBF was virtually identical. Further research is required to derive a more appropriate BMI threshold for defining obesity for Asian women.

Ho-Pham, LT, Nguyen, ND, Lai, TQ & Nguyen, TV 2010, 'Contributions of lean mass and fat mass to bone mineral density: a study in postmenopausal women', BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, vol. 11, no. 1.
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Background: The relative contribution of lean and fat to the determination of bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women is a contentious issue. The present study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that lean mass is a better determinant of BMD than fat mass. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 210 postmenopausal women of Vietnamese background, aged between 50 and 85 years, who were randomly sampled from various districts in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam). Whole body scans, femoral neck, and lumbar spine BMD were measured by DXA (QDR 4500, Hologic Inc., Waltham, MA). Lean mass (LM) and fat mass (FM) were derived from the whole body scan. Furthermore, lean mass index (LMi) and fat mass index (FMi) were calculated as ratio of LM or FM to body height in metre squared (m2). Results: In multiple linear regression analysis, both LM and FM were independent and significant predictors of BMD at the spine and femoral neck. Age, lean mass and fat mass collectively explained 33% variance of lumbar spine and 38% variance of femoral neck BMD. Replacing LM and FM by LMi and LMi did not alter the result. In both analyses, the influence of LM or LMi was greater than FM and FMi. Simulation analysis suggested that a study with 1000 individuals has a 78% chance of finding the significant effects of both LM and FM, and a 22% chance of finding LM alone significant, and zero chance of finding the effect of fat mass alone. Conclusions: These data suggest that both lean mass and fat mass are important determinants of BMD. For a given body size -- measured either by lean mass or height --women with greater fat mass have greater BMD.

Ho-Pham, LT, Nguyen, ND, Nguyen, TT, Nguyen, DH, Bui, PK, Nguyen, VN & Nguyen, TV 2010, 'Association between vitamin D insufficiency and tuberculosis in a vietnamese population', BMC Infectious Diseases, vol. 10, no. 1.
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Background: Recent in vitro evidence suggests a link between vitamin D status and the risk of tuberculosis (TB). This study sought to examine the association between vitamin D status, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and the risk of TB in a Vietnamese population. Methods: The study was designed as a matched case-control study, which involved 166 TB patients (113 men and 53 women), who were age-and-sex matched with 219 controls (113 men and 106 women). The average age of men and women was 49 and 50, respectively. TB was diagnosed by the presence of acid-fast bacilli on smears from sputum, and the isolation of M. tuberculosis. All patients were hospitalized for treatment in a TB specialist hospital. Controls were randomly drawn from the general community within the Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH) D] and PTH was measured prior to treatment by an electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) on a Roche Elecsys. A serum level of 25(OH) D below 30 ng/mL was deemed to be vitamin D insufficient. Results: The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency was 35.4% in men with TB and 19.5% in controls (P = 0.01). In women, there were no significant differences in serum 25(OH) D and serum PTH levels between TB patients and controls. The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in women with TB (45.3%) was not significantly different from those without TB (47.6%; P = 0.91). However, in both genders, serum calcium levels in TB patients were significantly lower than in non-TB individuals. Smoking (odds ratio [OR] 1.25; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10 - 14.7), reduced 25(OH) D (OR per standard deviation [SD]: 1.14; 95% CI 1.07 - 10.7) and increased PTH (OR per SD 1.13; 95% CI 1.05 - 10.4) were independently associated with increased risk of TB in men. Conclusion: These results suggest that vitamin D insufficiency was a risk factor for tuberculosis in men, but not in women. However, it remains to be established whether the association is a causal relationship.

Jennings, D, Cormack, S, Coutts, AJ, Boyd, L & Aughey, RJ 2010, 'The Validity and Reliability of GPS Units for Measuring Distance in Team Sport Specific Running Patterns', International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 328-341.
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Purpose:To assess the validity and reliability of distance data measured by global positioning system (GPS) units sampling at 1 and 5 Hz during movement patterns common to team sports.Methods:Twenty elite Australian Football players each wearing two GPS devices (MinimaxX, Catapult, Australia) completed straight line movements (10, 20, 40 m) at various speeds (walk, jog, stride, sprint), changes of direction (COD) courses of two different frequencies (gradual and tight), and a team sport running simulation circuit. Position and speed data were collected by the GPS devices at 1 and 5 Hz. Distance validity was assessed using the standard error of the estimate (±90% confidence intervals [CI]). Reliability was estimated using typical error (TE) ± 90% CI (expressed as coefficient of variation [CV]).Results:Measurement accuracy decreased as speed of locomotion increased in both straight line and the COD courses. Difference between criterion and GPS measured distance ranged from 9.0% to 32.4%. A higher sampling rate improved validity regardless of distance and locomotion in the straight line, COD and simulated running circuit trials. The reliability improved as distance traveled increased but decreased as speed increased. Total distance over the simulated running circuit exhibited the lowest variation (CV 3.6%) while sprinting over 10 m demonstrated the highest (CV 77.2% at 1 Hz).Conclusion:Current GPS systems maybe limited for assessment of short, high speed straight line running and efforts involving change of direction. An increased sample rate improves validity and reliability of GPS devices.

Jennings, D, Cormack, S, Coutts, AJ, Boyd, LJ & Aughey, RJ 2010, 'Variability of GPS Units for Measuring Distance in Team Sport Movements', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPORTS PHYSIOLOGY AND PERFORMANCE, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 565-569.
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To examine the difference in distance measured by two global positioning system (GPS) units of the same model worn by the same player while performing movements common to team sports. Methods: Twenty elite Australian football players completed two trials of the straight line movement (10, 20, 40 m) at four speeds (walk, jog, stride, sprint), two trials of the changes of direction (COD) courses of two different frequencies (gradual and tight), and five trials of a team sport running simulation circuit. To assess inter-unit variability for total and high intensity running (HIR) distance measured in matches, data from eight field players were collected in three Australian Hockey League (AHL) matches during the 2009 season. Each subject wore two GPS devices (MinimaxX v2.5, Catapult, Australia) that collected position data at 5 Hz for each movement and match trial. The percentage difference ±90% confidence interval (CI) was used to determine differences between units

Johnston, M, Geoffroy, M-C, Sobala, A, Hay, R & Hutvagner, G 2010, 'HSP90 Protein Stabilizes Unloaded Argonaute Complexes and Microscopic P-bodies in Human Cells', Molecular Biology of the Cell, vol. 21, no. 9, pp. 1462-1469.
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Key components of the miRNA-mediated gene regulation pathway are localized in cytoplasmic processing bodies (P-bodies). Mounting evidence suggests that the presence of microscopic P-bodies are not always required for miRNA-mediated gene regulation. Here we have shown that geldanamycin, a well-characterized HSP90 inhibitor, abolishes P-bodies and significantly reduces Argonaute and GW182 protein levels but does not affect the miRNA level and the efficiency of miRNA-mediated gene repression; however, it significantly impairs siRNA loading and the efficacy of exogenous siRNA. Our data suggests that HSP90 protein chaperones Argonautes before binding RNA and may facilitate efficient loading of small RNA.

Kabakova, IV, de Sterke, CM & Eggleton, BJ 2010, 'Bistable switching and reshaping of optical pulses in a Bragg grating cavity', Journal of the Optical Society of America B, vol. 27, no. 12, pp. 2648-2648.
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Kabakova, IV, Walsh, T, de Sterke, CM & Eggleton, BJ 2010, 'Performance of field-enhanced optical switching in fiber Bragg gratings', Journal of the Optical Society of America B, vol. 27, no. 7, pp. 1343-1343.
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Kabli, N, Martin, N, Fan, T, Nguyen, T, Hasbi, A, Balboni, G, O'Dowd, BF & George, SR 2010, 'Agonists at the δ‐opioid receptor modify the binding of µ‐receptor agonists to the µ–δ receptor hetero‐oligomer', British Journal of Pharmacology, vol. 161, no. 5, pp. 1122-1136.
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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE µ‐ and δ‐opioid receptors form heteromeric complexes with unique ligand binding and G protein‐coupling profiles linked to G protein α z‐subunit (Gαz) activation. However, the mechanism of action of agonists and their regulation of the µ–δ receptor heteromer are not well understood.EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH Competition radioligand binding, cell surface receptor internalization in intact cells, confocal microscopy and receptor immunofluorescence techniques were employed to study the regulation of the µ–δ receptor heteromer in heterologous cells with and without agonist exposure.KEY RESULTS Gαz enhanced affinity of some agonists at µ–δ receptor heteromers, independent of agonist chemical structure. δ‐Opioid agonists displaced µ‐agonist binding with high affinity from µ–δ heteromers, but not µ receptor homomers, suggestive of δ‐agonists occupying a novel µ‐receptor ligand binding pocket within the heteromers. Also, δ‐agonists induced internalization of µ‐opioid receptors in cells co‐expressing µ‐ and δ‐receptors, but not those expressing µ‐receptors alone, indicative of µ–δ heteromer internalization. This dose‐dependent, Pertussis toxin‐resistant and clathrin‐ and dynamin‐dependent effect required agonist occupancy of both µ‐ and δ‐opioid receptors. In contrast to µ‐receptor homomers, agonist‐induced internalization of µ–δ heteromers persisted following chronic morphine exposure.CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS The µ–δ receptor heteromer may contain a novel δ‐agonist‐detected, high‐affinity, µ‐receptor ligand binding pocket and is regulated differently from the µ‐receptor homomer following chronic morphine exposure. Occupancy of both µ‐ and δ‐receptor binding pockets is required for δ‐agonist‐induced endocytosis of µ–δ recepto...

Kerr, ID, Jones, PM & George, AM 2010, 'Multidrug efflux pumps: The structures of prokaryotic ATP‐binding cassette transporter efflux pumps and implications for our understanding of eukaryotic P‐glycoproteins and homologues', The FEBS Journal, vol. 277, no. 3, pp. 550-563.
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One of the Holy Grails of ATP‐binding cassette transporter research is a structural understanding of drug binding and transport in a eukaryotic multidrug resistance pump. These transporters are front‐line mediators of drug resistance in cancers and represent an important therapeutic target in future chemotherapy. Although there has been intensive biochemical research into the human multidrug pumps, their 3D structure at atomic resolution remains unknown. The recent determination of the structure of a mouse P‐glycoprotein at subatomic resolution is complemented by structures for a number of prokaryotic homologues. These structures have provided advances into our knowledge of the ATP‐binding cassette exporter structure and mechanism, and have provided the template data for a number of homology modelling studies designed to reconcile biochemical data on these clinically important proteins.

Lau, JY, Oliver, BG, Baraket, M, Beckett, EL, Hansbro, NG, Moir, LM, Wilton, SD, Williams, C, Foster, PS, Hansbro, PM, Black, JL & Burgess, JK 2010, 'Fibulin-1 Is Increased in Asthma - A Novel Mediator of Airway Remodeling?', PLOS ONE, vol. 5, no. 10.
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Background: The extracellular matrix is a dynamic and complex network of macromolecules responsible for maintaining and influencing cellular functions of the airway. The role of fibronectin, an extracellular matrix protein, is well documented in asthma. However, the expression and function of fibulin-1, a secreted glycoprotein which interacts with fibronectin, has not been reported. Fibulin-1 is widely expressed in basement membranes in many organs including the lung. There are four isoforms in humans (A-D) of which fibulin-1C and 1D predominate. The objective of this study was to study the expression of fibulin-1 in volunteers with and without asthma, and to examine its function in vitro. Methodology/Principal Findings: We used immunohistochemistry and dot-blots to examine fibulin-1 levels in bronchial biopsies, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and serum. Real-time PCR for fibulin-1C and 1D, and ELISA and western blotting for fibulin-1 were used to study the levels in airway smooth muscle cells. The function of fibulin-1C was determined by assessing its role, using an antisense oligonucleotide, in cell proliferation, migration and wound healing. A murine model of airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) was used to explore the biological significance of fibulin-1. Levels of fibulin-1 were significantly increased in the serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of 21 asthmatics compared with 11 healthy volunteers. In addition fibulin-1 was increased in asthma derived airway smooth muscle cells and fibulin-1C contributed to the enhanced proliferation and wound repair in these cells. These features were reversed when fibulin-1C was suppressed using an antisense oligomer. In a mouse model of AHR, treatment with an AO inhibited the development of AHR to methacholine. Conclusions: Our data collectively suggest fibulin-1C may be worthy of further investigation as a target for airway remodeling in asthma. © 2010 Lau et al.

Lau, JY, Oliver, BG, Moir, LM, Black, JL & Burgess, JK 2010, 'Differential expression of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma and cyclin D1 does not affect proliferation of asthma- and non-asthma-derived airway smooth muscle cells', RESPIROLOGY, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 303-312.
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Background and objective: Airway remodelling involves thickening of the airway smooth muscle (ASM) bulk. Proliferation of asthma-derived ASM cells is increased in vitro, but underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Peroxisome proliferators activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) regulates the cell cycle. It is suggested that PPARγ agonists have anti-inflammatory effects, which may be valuable in the treatment of asthma, but information regarding their antiproliferative properties in ASM is lacking. Although corticosteroids reduce airway inflammation, in vitro they inhibit proliferation in only non-asthma ASM cells by reducing cyclin D1. We therefore investigated the effects of mitogenic stimulation (foetal bovine serum (FBS)), and a PPARγ ligand (ciglitazone), on PPARγ and cyclin D1 expression and proliferation of ASM cells. In addition, we examined the effects of ciglitazone on ASM cell proliferation. Methods: We assessed PPARγ and cyclin D1 mRNA and protein levels using quantitative PCR and immunoblotting. Cell proliferation was assessed using bromodeoxyuridine uptake. Results: In the presence of 5% FBS, PPARγ and cyclin D1 expression decreased over time in non-asthmatic cells but increased in asthmatic cells (compared with sub-confluent cells). FBS-induced proliferation of asthmatic cells increased at all time points, but occurred only at day 7 with non-asthmatic cells (compared with unstimulated time-matched control). Ciglitazone increased PPARγ expression in both groups, but did not alter cell proliferation, while fluticasone increased PPARγ protein only in asthmatic cells. Conclusions: Although in the presence of a mitogenic stimulus, PPARγ was differentially expressed in asthma-and non-asthma-derived ASM; its expression was not related to the increased proliferation observed in asthmatic ASM. © 2009 Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.

Lemke, C & Gabrys, B 2010, 'Meta-learning for time series forecasting and forecast combination', Neurocomputing, vol. 73, no. 10-12, pp. 2006-2016.
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Lewis, K, Wuhrer, R, Ben-Nissan, B, Valenzuela, SM & Moran, K 2010, 'X-Ray Mapping of Mineral Phases Incorporated into Liposomes', Microscopy Today, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 30-32.
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A liposome is a spherical particle formed by a lipid bilayer enclosing an aqueous compartment at its center. These particles can be comprised of a variety of lipids, particularly phospholipids. They have been long considered as potential delivery devices in the medical and pharmaceutical industries because of their ability to encapsulate different compounds as the lipids form into liposomes. The biocompatibility of many liposomes has been widely studied, and this has led to the development of a number of drug formulations. The ability of liposomes to be stored in the body and to be taken up by cells makes them ideal for drug delivery.

Li, Z & Li, J 2010, 'Geometrically centered region: A “wet” model of protein binding hot spots not excluding water molecules', Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics, vol. 78, no. 16, pp. 3304-3316.
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AbstractA protein interface can be as “wet” as a protein surface in terms of the number of immobilized water molecules. This important water information has not been explicitly taken by computational methods to model and identify protein binding hot spots, overlooking the water role in forming interface hydrogen bonds and in filing cavities. Hot spot residues are usually clustered at the core of the protein binding interfaces. However, traditional machine learning methods often identify the hot spot residues individually, breaking the cooperativity of the energetic contribution. Our idea in this work is to explore the role of immobilized water and meanwhile to capture two essential properties of hot spots: the compactness in contact and the far distance from bulk solvent. Our model is named geometrically centered region (GCR). The detection of GCRs is based on novel tripartite graphs, and atom burial levels which are a concept more intuitive than SASA. Applying to a data set containing 355 mutations, we achieved an F measure of 0.6414 when ΔΔG ≥ 1.0 kcal/mol was used to define hot spots. This performance is better than Robetta, a benchmark method in the field. We found that all but only one of the GCRs contain water to a certain degree, and most of the outstanding hot spot residues have water‐mediated contacts. If the water is excluded, the burial level values are poorly related to the ΔΔG, and the model loses its performance remarkably. We also presented a definition for the O‐ring of a GCR as the set of immediate neighbors of the residues in the GCR. Comparative analysis between the O‐rings and GCRs reveals that the newly defined O‐ring is indeed energetically less important than the GCR hot spot, confirming a long‐standing hypothesis. Proteins 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Ling, SH 2010, 'A New Neural Network Structure: Node-to-Node-Link Neural Network.', J. Intell. Learn. Syst. Appl., vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-11.
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This paper presents a new neural network structure and namely node-to-node-link neural network (N-N-LNN) and it is trained by real-coded genetic algorithm (RCGA) with average-bound crossover and wavelet mutation [1]. The N-N-LNN exhibits a node-to-node relationship in the hidden layer and the network parameters are variable. These characteristics make the network adaptive to the changes of the input environment, enabling it to tackle different input sets distributed in a large domain. Each input data set is effectively handled by a corresponding set of network parame-ters. The set of parameters is governed by other nodes. Thanks to these features, the proposed network exhibits better learning and generalization abilities. Industrial application of the proposed network to hand-written graffiti recognition will be presented to illustrate the merits of the network.

Little, H & Eager, D 2010, 'Risk, challenge and safety: implications for play quality and playground design', European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 497-513.
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In many countries playground design is driven more by safety than developmental benefits. As risk minimisation strategies become more stringent, many researchers and practitioners are questioning whether young children are able to take sufficient risks in play in order for their play experiences to be interesting and developmentally challenging. This study examined the outdoor play choices and risk-taking behaviour of 38 children (25 boys, 13 girls) aged between 48 and 64 months from Sydney, Australia. Semi-structured interviews examined children's play preferences and playground equipment usage. Observations of play explored engagement in risk-taking behaviour. Selection of equipment indicated a strong preference for challenge and excitement. However, the dominant observed play behaviours involved little risk suggesting equipment at these parks provided few opportunities to practice mastery of skills already in their behavioural repertoire, learning new skills or building on current capabilities. The findings have implications for play provision and playground design. © 2010 EECERA.

Liu, Q & Li, J 2010, 'Propensity vectors of low‐ASA residue pairs in the distinction of protein interactions', Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics, vol. 78, no. 3, pp. 589-602.
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AbstractWe introduce low‐ASA residue pairs as classification features for distinguishing the different types of protein interactions. A low‐ASA residue pair is defined as two contact residues each from one chain that have a small solvent accessible surface area (ASA). This notion of residue pairs is novel as it first combines residue pairs with the O‐ring theory, an influential proposition stating that the binding hot spots at the interface are often surrounded by a ring of energetically less important residues. As binding hot spots lie in the core of the stability for protein interactions, we believe that low‐ASA residue pairs can sharpen the distinction of protein interactions. The main part of our feature vector is 210‐dimensional, consisting of all possible low‐ASA residue pairs; the value of every feature is determined by a propensity measure. Our classification method is called OringPV, which uses propensity vectors of protein interactions for support vector machine. OringPV is tested on three benchmark datasets for a variety of classification tasks such as the distinction between crystal packing and biological interactions, the distinction between two different types of biological interactions, etc. The evaluation frameworks include within‐dataset, cross‐dataset comparison, and leave‐one‐out cross‐validation. The results show that low‐ASA residue pairs and the propensity vector description of protein interactions are truly strong in the distinction. In particular, many cross‐dataset generalization capability tests have achieved excellent recalls and overall accuracies, much outperforming existing benchmark methods. Proteins 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Liu, Q & Li, J 2010, 'Protein binding hot spots and the residue-residue pairing preference: a water exclusion perspective', BMC Bioinformatics, vol. 11, no. 1.
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Luo, F, Liu, J & Li, J 2010, 'Discovering conditional co-regulated protein complexes by integrating diverse data sources.', BMC Syst Biol, vol. 4 Suppl 2, no. Suppl 2, pp. S4-13.
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BACKGROUND: Proteins interacting with each other as a complex play an important role in many molecular processes and functions. Directly detecting protein complexes is still costly, whereas many protein-protein interaction (PPI) maps for model organisms are available owing to the fast development of high-throughput PPI detecting techniques. These binary PPI data provides fundamental and abundant information for inferring new protein complexes. However, PPI data from different experiments do not overlap very much usually. The main reason is that the functions of proteins can activate only on certain environment or stimulus. In a short, PPI is condition-specific. Therefore specifying the conditions on when complexes are present is necessary for a deep understanding of their behaviours. Meanwhile, proteins have various interaction ways and control mechanisms to form different kinds of complexes. Thus the discovery of a certain type of complexes should depend on their own distinct biological or topological characteristics. We do not attempt to find all kinds of complexes by using certain features. Here, we integrate transcription regulation data (TR), gene expression data (GE) and protein-protein interaction data at the systems biology level to discover a special kind of protein complex called conditional co-regulated protein complexes. A conditional co-regulated protein complex has three remarkable features: the coding genes of the member proteins share the same transcription factor (TF), under a certain condition the coding genes express co-ordinately and the member proteins interact mutually as a complex to implement a common biological function. RESULTS: A framework of discovering the conditional co-regulated protein complexes is proposed. Testing on the Yeast data sets under the Cell Cycle, DNA Damage and Dauxic Shift conditions, we identified a total of 29 conditional co-regulated complexes, among which the coding genes in 14 complexes show a strong a...

Mann, S, Li, J & Chen, Y-PP 2010, 'Insights into Bacterial Genome Composition through Variable Target GC Content Profiling', Journal of Computational Biology, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 79-96.
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This study presents a new computational method for guanine (G) and cytosine (C), or GC, content profiling based on the idea of multiple resolution sampling (MRS). The benefit of our new approach over existing techniques follows from its ability to locate

McGrath, KC-Y, Hill, MD, McRobb, LS & Heather, AK 2010, 'The androgen receptor drives the sex-specific expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 in endothelial cells but not lipid metabolism genes in monocyte-derived macrophages', hmbci, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 203-209.
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Abstract Background: Anecdotal evidence suggests that male sex hormones are proatherogenic. We hypothesized that the male sex hormone receptor, the androgen receptor (AR), acts as a molecular switch in sex-specific inflammatory signaling in vascular cells. Materials and methods: AR expression in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) or HeLa cells was modulated by transfection with AR siRNA or human AR cDNA expression vector. Activity and expression levels were measured by luciferase reporter assays, Western blotting or real-time PCR analysis. Results: AR knockdown reduced expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) in genetically male HUVECs. Conversely, AR upregulation in genetically female HUVECs induced VCAM-1 expression and increased dihydrotestosterone-stimulated monocyte adhesion. Co-transfection of an AR expression vector with VCAM-1 or NF-κB-reporter vectors into phenotypically female, AR-negative HeLa cells confirmed AR regulation of VCAM-1 expression as well as AR activation of NF-κB. AR upregulation was not sufficient to increase ICAM-1 levels in female HUVECs or lipoprotein metabolism gene expression in female MDMs, despite AR knockdown limiting expression in their male counterparts. Conclusions: AR acts as a molecular switch to induce VCAM-1 expression. Low AR levels in female HUVECs limit NF-κB/VCAM-1 induction and monocyte adhesion and could contribute to the gender bias in cardiovascular disease. Unidentified factors in female cells limit induction of other proatherogenic genes not primarily regulated by NF-κB.

McLean, BD, Coutts, AJ, Kelly, V, McGuigan, MR & Cormack, SJ 2010, 'Neuromuscular, Endocrine, and Perceptual Fatigue Responses During Different Length Between-Match Microcycles in Professional Rugby League Players', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPORTS PHYSIOLOGY AND PERFORMANCE, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 367-383.
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The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in neuromuscular, perceptual and hormonal measures following professional rugby league matches during different length between-match microcycles. Methods: Twelve professional rugby league players from the same team were assessed for changes in countermovement jump (CMJ) performance (flight time and relative power), perceptual responses (fatigue, well-being and muscle soreness) and salivary hormone (testosterone [T] and cortisol [C]) levels during 5, 7 and 9 d between-match training microcycles. All training was prescribed by the club coaches and was monitored using the session-RPE method. Results: Lower mean daily training load was completed on the 5 d compared with the 7 and 9 d microcycles. CMJ flight time and relative power, perception of fatigue, overall well-being and muscle soreness were significantly reduced in the 48 h following the match in each microcycle (P < .05). Most CMJ variables returned to near baseline values following 4 d in each microcycle. Countermovement jump relative power was lower in the 7 d microcycle in comparison with the 9 d microcycle (P < .05). There was increased fatigue at 48 h in the 7 and 9 d microcycles (P < .05) but had returned to baseline in the 5 d microcycle. Salivary T and C did not change in response to the match. Discussion: Neuromuscular performance and perception of fatigue are reduced for at least 48 h following a rugby league match but can be recovered to baseline levels within 4 d. These findings show that with appropriate training, it is possible to recover neuromuscular and perceptual measures within 4 d after a rugby league match

Milton, J & Kennedy, PJ 2010, 'Static and Dynamic Selection Thresholds Governing the Accumulation of Information in Genetic Algorithms Using Ranked Populations', EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 229-254.
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Mutation applied indiscriminately across a population has, on average, a detrimental effect on the accumulation of solution alleles within the population and is usually beneficial only when targeted at individuals with few solution alleles. Many common selection techniques can delete individuals with more solution alleles than are easily recovered by mutation. The paper identifies static and dynamic selection thresholds governing accumulation of information in a genetic algorithm (GA). When individuals are ranked by fitness, there exists a dynamic threshold defined by the solution density of surviving individuals and a lower static threshold defined by the solution density of the information source used for mutation. Replacing individuals ranked below the static threshold with randomly generated individuals avoids the need for mutation while maintaining diversity in the population with a consequent improvement in population fitness. By replacing individuals ranked between the thresholds with randomly selected individuals from above the dynamic threshold, population fitness improves dramatically. We model the dynamic behavior of GAs using these thresholds and demonstrate their effectiveness by simulation and benchmark problems.

Monk, CE, Hutvagner, G & Arthur, JSC 2010, 'Regulation of miRNA Transcription in Macrophages in Response to Candida albicans', PLoS ONE, vol. 5, no. 10, pp. e13669-e13669.
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Macrophages detect pathogens via pattern recognition receptors (PRRS), which trigger several intracellular signaling cascades including the MAPK and NFKB pathways. These in turn mediate the up-regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines that are essential to combat the pathogen. However as the over-production of pro-inflammatory cytokines results in tissue damage or septic shock, precise control of these signaling pathways is essential and achieved via the induction of multiple negative feedback mechanisms. MIRNAS are small regulatory RNAS that are able to affect protein expression, via the regulation of either mRNA stability or translation. Up-regulation of specific MIRNAS could have the potential to modulate PRR signaling, as has been shown for both miR-146 and miR-155. Here we have analysed which MIRNAS are up-regulated in mouse macrophages in response to the fungal pathogen heat killed Candida albicans and compared the profile to that obtained with the TLR4 ligand LPS. We found that in addition to miR-146 and miR-155, both Candida albicans and LPS were also able to up-regulate miR-455 and miR-125a. Analysis of the signaling pathways required showed that NFKB was necessary for the transcription of all 4 pri-MIRNAS, while the ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK pathways were also required for pri-miR-125a transcription. In addition the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 was found to be able to induce miR-146a and b, but inhibited miR-155 induction. These results suggest that miR-455, miR-125, miR-146 and miR-155 may play important roles in regulating macrophage function following PRR stimulation. © 2010 Monk et al.

Motschiedler, S & Coutts, A 2010, 'The influence of exercise program structure on motivation and adherence', Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, vol. 13, pp. e28-e29.
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Moutzouris, JP, Che, W, Ramsay, EE, Manetsch, M, Alkhouri, H, Bjorkman, AM, Schuster, F, Ge, Q & Ammit, AJ 2010, 'Proteasomal inhibition upregulates the endogenous MAPK deactivator MKP-1 in human airway smooth muscle: Mechanism of action and effect on cytokine secretion', Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Cell Research, vol. 1803, no. 3, pp. 416-423.
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Munoz, L & Ammit, AJ 2010, 'Targeting p38 MAPK pathway for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease', Neuropharmacology, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 561-568.
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Munoz, L, Ramsay, EE, Manetsch, M, Ge, Q, Peifer, C, Laufer, S & Ammit, AJ 2010, 'Novel p38 MAPK inhibitor ML3403 has potent anti-inflammatory activity in airway smooth muscle', European Journal of Pharmacology, vol. 635, no. 1-3, pp. 212-218.
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Nguyen, HB, Loomba, M, Yang, JJ, Jacobsen, G, Shah, K, Otero, RM, Suarez, A, Parekh, H, Jaehne, A & Rivers, EP 2010, 'Early lactate clearance is associated with biomarkers of inflammation, coagulation, apoptosis, organ dysfunction and mortality in severe sepsis and septic shock', Journal of Inflammation, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 6-6.
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Background. Lactate clearance, a surrogate for the magnitude and duration of global tissue hypoxia, is used diagnostically, therapeutically and prognostically. This study examined the association of early lactate clearance with selected inflammatory, coagulation, apoptosis response biomarkers and organ dysfunction scores in severe sepsis and septic shock. Methods. Measurements of serum arterial lactate, biomarkers (interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, interleukin-6, interleukin-8, interleukin-10, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, high mobility group box-1, D-Dimer and caspase-3), and organ dysfunction scores (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II, Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Multiple Organ Dysfunction Score, and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment) were obtained in conjunction with a prospective, randomized study examining early goal-directed therapy in severe sepsis and septic shock patients presenting to the emergency department (ED). Lactate clearance was defined as the percent change in lactate levels after six hours from a baseline measurement in the ED. Results. Two-hundred and twenty patients, age 65.0 17.1 years, were examined, with an overall lactate clearance of 35.5 43.1% and in-hospital mortality rate of 35.0%. Patients were divided into four quartiles of lactate clearance, -24.3 42.3, 30.1 7.5, 53.4 6.6, and 75.1 7.1%, respectively (p < 0.01). The mean levels of all biomarkers and organ dysfunction scores over 72 hours were significantly lower with higher lactate clearance quartiles (p < 0.01). There was a significant decreased in-hospital, 28-day, and 60-day mortality in the higher lactate clearance quartiles (p < 0.01). Conclusions. Early lactate clearance as a surrogate for the resolution of global tissue hypoxia is significantly associated with decreased levels of biomarkers, improvement in organ dysfunction and outcome in severe sepsis and septic shock. © 2010 Nguyen et al; licensee BioMed Centra...

Nguyen, TH, Truong, ATL, Ba Ngo, M, Bui, CTQ, Dinh, QV, Doan, TC, Nguyen, LTK, Phan, TC, Phan, MV, Nguyen, TV & Le, TV 2010, 'Intravenous Thrombolysis', International Journal of Stroke, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 516-516.
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Pampanin, DM, Ravagnan, E, Apeland, S, Aarab, N, Godal, BF, Westerlund, S, Hjermann, DØ, Eftestøl, T, Budka, M, Gabrys, B, Viarengo, A & Barsiene, J 2010, 'The marine environment I.Q. concept', Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, vol. 157, pp. S52-S52.
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Parker, D 2010, 'Palliative care in residential aged care facilities', Progress in Palliative Care, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 352-357.
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This aim of this paper is to discuss the latest evidence in regard to palliative care in residential aged care with particular emphasis on three areas: (i) initiatives in providing palliative care; (ii) dementiaspecific initiatives in providing palliative care; and (iii) advance care planning. © 2010 Maney Publishing.

Parker, D & Hodgkinson, B 2010, 'A comparison of palliative care outcome measures used to assess the quality of palliative care provided in Residential Aged Care Facilities: a systematic review', JBI Library of Systematic Reviews, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 90-120.
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Parker, D, Hodgkinson, B & Care, B 2010, 'A COMPARISON OF PALLIATIVE CARE OUTCOME MEASURES USED TO ASSESS THE QUALITY OF PALLIATIVE CARE PROVIDED IN RESIDENTIAL AGED CARE FACILITIES: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW', JBI Library of Systematic Reviews, vol. 8, no. Supplement, pp. 1-10.
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Parker, D, Tuckett, A, Eley, R & Hegney, D 2010, 'Construct validity and reliability of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index for Queensland nurses', International Journal of Nursing Practice, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 352-358.
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Parker D, Tuckett A, Eley R, Hegney D. International Journal of Nursing Practice 2010; 16: 352–358
Construct validity and reliability of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index for Queensland nursesThis article reports on construct validity and reliability of 30 items of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index (PES‐NWI). Australia, like other countries, is experiencing a shortage of nurses; a multifactor approach to retention of nurses is required. One significant factor that has received increasing attention in the last decade, particularly in the USA, is the nursing practice environment. The reliability of the 30 items of the PES‐NWI was assessed by Cronbach's alpha and factor analysis was performed using principal component analysis. The PES‐NWI was completed by nurses working in the aged‐care, private and public sectors in Queensland, Australia. A total of 3000 surveys were distributed to a random sample of members of the Queensland Nurses Union. Of these, 1192 surveys were returned, a response rate of 40%. The PES‐NWI was shown to be reliable demonstrating internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha of the total scale of 0.948. The 30 items loaded onto five factors explaining 57.7% of the variance. The items across the factors differed slightly from those reported by the original author of the PES‐NWI. This study indicates that the PES‐NWI has construct validity and reliability in the Australian setting for nurses.

Patel, M, Lal, S, Kavanagh, D & Rossiter, P 2010, 'Fatigue detection using computer vision', International Journal of Electronics and Telecommunications, vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 457-461.
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Long duration driving is a significant cause of fatigue related accidents of cars, airplanes, trains and other means of transport. This paper presents a design of a detection system which can be used to detect fatigue in drivers. The system is based on computer vision with main focus on eye blink rate. We propose an algorithm for eye detection that is conducted through a process of extracting the face image from the video image followed by evaluating the eye region and then eventually detecting the iris of the eye using the binary image. The advantage of this system is that the algorithm works without any constraint of the background as the face is detected using a skin segmentation technique. The detection performance of this system was tested using video images which were recorded under laboratory conditions. The applicability of the system is discussed in light of fatigue detection for drivers.

Phillips, J, Sharpe, L & Nemeth, D 2010, 'Maternal Psychopathology and Outcomes of a Residential Mother-Infant Intervention for Unsettled Infant Behaviour', Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 280-289.
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Objective: Residential mother-infant intervention programmes for unsettled infant behaviour have been shown to be associated with positive child and maternal outcomes. Despite evidence of elevated rates of maternal psychopathology among residential unit populations, little is known about whether psychological disorders interfere with the effectiveness of such interventions.Method: Two cohorts (n = 104 and 147, respectively) were recruited from a residential mother-infant intervention programme for unsettled infant behaviour. In study 1, mothers completed self-report questionnaires measuring depression, anxiety and parenting stress at three time points (admission, 1 month after discharge and 3 months after discharge). In study 2, mothers were interviewed using a structured clinical interview for depressive and anxiety disorders. In both studies, nurses recorded infant behaviours over the duration of the 5 day admission using 24 h behaviour charts.Results: Study 1 showed the intervention to be associated with significant improvements in child behaviours and in levels of maternal depression, anxiety and parenting stress. These improvements were evident for women who scored above the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale threshold for major depression during the admission, as well as for women in the normal range. Study 2 confirmed that the intervention was associated with significant improvements in infant behaviours. Infants of mothers with a depressive or anxiety disorder were less unsettled on admission, but improvements over the course of the admission were comparable for infants of women who had, or had not, experienced an anxiety or depressive disorder during the admission.Conclusions: These results show positive infant and maternal outcomes associated with a residential mother-infant intervention for unsettled infant behaviour, regardless of the women's psychiatric status on admission. This s...

Phillips, J, Sharpe, L, Matthey, S & Charles, M 2010, 'Subtypes of postnatal depression? A comparison of women with recurrent and de novo postnatal depression', Journal of Affective Disorders, vol. 120, no. 1-3, pp. 67-75.
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BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that there may be two groups of women with postnatal depression (PND) - one who have a history of depression and whose depression is etiologically similar to depression experienced at other times of life, and another who develop depression de novo in the postnatal period and whose depression is uniquely 'postnatal'. The primary aim of this study was to clarify the role of negative attitudes (general and maternal-specific) for these proposed subtypes, whilst also considering the role of a range of other potentially relevant etiological factors. METHODS: 157 postnatal women were classified into four groups: (i) 'recurrent depression', (ii) 'de novo PND', (iii) 'prior (but not current) depression', (iv) 'healthy control'. Groups were compared on known vulnerability and situational risk factors for depression including negative attitudes (general and maternal-specific), personality style vulnerability, relationship insecurity, low social support, stressful life events and difficult infant behaviour. Hierarchical regressions were conducted to examine the role of general and maternal-specific negative attitudes in mediating the relationship between previous depression and PND. RESULTS: Women with recurrent depression had more personality vulnerability and maternal-specific negative attitudes than women with de novo PND, but there were no differences in general negative attitudes or relationship insecurity. Non-depressed women with a history of prior depression were characterized by elevated general depression vulnerability but lower maternal-specific negative attitudes. General negative attitudes mediated the relationship between previous depression and PND. LIMITATIONS: All participants had unsettled infants and the generalizability of results to general postpartum samples is not known. CONCLUSIONS: Although these results do not provide support for the proposed subtypes of PND, they highlight encouraging new avenues for cognitively ba...

Phillips, JL & Currow, DC 2010, 'Cancer as a chronic disease', COLLEGIAN, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 47-50.
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Background Over the past two decades the number of people living with cancer has increased. Many cancer survivors end up with long term disabilities requiring ongoing care and support. For many people, cancer survival now means living with a chronic and complex condition. Aim The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the long term management issues for cancer survivors and strategies to enhance their care. Discussion Cancer survivors require ongoing support in four key areas: prevention; surveillance; intervention for consequences of cancer and its treatment; and coordination between specialist and generalist providers. Conclusion Cancer survivors experience significant physical and psychological morbidity which makes minimising their burden of disability and distress an important priority. Survivors require ongoing care that is well co-ordinated, focuses on prevention, provides going surveillance whilst minimising and managing the long term effects of treatment and other co-morbidities.

Rajia, S, Chen, H & Morris, MJ 2010, 'Maternal Overnutrition Impacts Offspring Adiposity and Brain Appetite Markers‐Modulation by Postweaning Diet', Journal of Neuroendocrinology, vol. 22, no. 8, pp. 905-914.
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Maternal obesity has long‐term consequences for the development of hypothalamic neurones involved in energy homeostasis and the metabolic profile in offspring. In the present study, we compared the effects of maternal obesity induced by longstanding high‐fat diet (HFD) with milder postnatal overfeeding during suckling induced by litter size reduction. Female Sprague–Dawley rats consumed chow (C) or HFD. On postnatal day 1, litters from chow dams were adjusted to three per dam (small litter, CS) versus 12 control (normal litter, CN). Litters from HFD dams were adjusted to 12 per dam and fed HFD after weaning to induce obesity (HN). Thus, two degrees of maternal overnutrition were produced (CS and HN). To test whether postweaning diet can amplify the effects of maternal obesity, male offspring weaned onto chow or HFD were followed to 21 weeks. Maternal postnatal overnutrition (CS) and HFD‐induced maternal obesity (HN) increased body weight and fat mass in offspring compared to those from control dams (CN). Significant glucose intolerance was induced by both degrees of maternal overnutrition, but only in offspring consuming HFD. HFD‐induced maternal obesity (HN) was linked to increased offspring leptin, insulin, lipids, insulin resistance and hyperphagia, and was exaggerated by postweaning HFD. No effect of maternal postnatal overnutrition (CS) was seen on these parameters. Hypothalamic signal transducer and activator of transcription‐3 and suppressor of cytokine signalling‐3 mRNA were significantly elevated by maternal HFD (HN) in the HFD‐fed offspring. The data obtained suggest that even mild maternal overnutrition (CS) led to increased adiposity, glucose intolerance and altered brain appetite regulators in offspring. A greater impact of HFD‐induced maternal obesity was evident. Marked additive effects were observed when animals consumed a HFD postweaning.

Ramjan, JM, Costa, CM, Hickman, LD, Kearns, M & Phillips, JL 2010, 'Integrating palliative care content into a new undergraduate nursing curriculum: The University of Notre Dame, Australia - Sydney experience', COLLEGIAN, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 85-91.
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The majority of society's deaths occur in a health care environment. Regardless of whether a death occurs in acute care, hospice, residential aged care or community settings, nurses are the health professionals that will spend the largest proportion of time with the patient who has a terminal condition and their families. As few nurses have specialist palliative care qualifications it is essential that nursing education prepares graduates to achieve the core capabilities required for the delivery of best evidenced based palliative care. This reality makes the integration of palliative care content into the undergraduate nursing curricula an important priority. This paper aims to describe how palliative care content has been embedded throughout the three-year University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney (UNDA) undergraduate nursing degree. Method: The School of Nursing at the University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney campus is committed to ensuring that students graduate with the capabilities to deliver appropriate care to people with requiring end-of-life care. The establishment of this new School of Nursing coincided with the release of the 'The Palliative Care Curricula for Undergraduates Program' (PCC4U) learning resources. These resources have been integrated into relevant units across the three-year nursing curricula. The nursing curriculum has been design to supports the integration of palliative care knowledge into clinical practice. The Palliative Care Curricula for Undergraduates Program learning resources offer engaging palliative care case studies and scenarios for academics to utilise. Adopting an iterative approach where palliative care content is spiralled across multiple units provides opportunities for undergraduate nursing students to sequentially build and consolidate their palliative care capabilities.

Remenyi, J, Hunter, CJ, Cole, C, Ando, H, Impey, S, Monk, CE, Martin, KJ, Barton, GJ, Hutvagner, G & Arthur, JSC 2010, 'Regulation of the miR-212/132 locus by MSK1 and CREB in response to neurotrophins', BIOCHEMICAL JOURNAL, vol. 428, no. 2, pp. 281-291.
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Neurotrophins are growth factors that are important in neuronal development and survival as well as synapse formation and plasticity. Many of the effects of neurotrophins are mediated by changes in protein expression as a result of altered transcription or translation. To determine whether neurotrophins regulate the production of microRNAs (miRNAs), small RNA species that modulate protein translation or mRNA stability, we used deep sequencing to identify BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor)-induced miRNAs in cultured primary cortical mouse neurons. This revealed that the miR-212/132 cluster contained the miRNAs most responsive to BDNF treatment. This cluster was found to produce four miRNAs: miR-132, miR-132*, miR-212 and miR-212*. Using specific inhibitors, mouse models and promoter analysis we have shown that the regulation of the transcription of the miR-212/132 miRNA cluster and the miRNAs derived from it are regulated by the ERK1/2 (extracellular-signal-regulated kinase 1/2) pathway, via bothMSK (mitogen and stress-activated kinase)-dependent and -independent mechanisms. © The Authors.

Sandhu, SK, Nguyen, ND, Center, JR, Pocock, NA, Eisman, JA & Nguyen, TV 2010, 'Prognosis of fracture: evaluation of predictive accuracy of the FRAX™ algorithm and Garvan nomogram', Osteoporosis International, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 863-871.
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We evaluated the prognostic accuracy of fracture risk assessment tool (FRAX™) and Garvan algorithms in an independent Australian cohort. The results suggest comparable performance in women but relatively poor fracture risk discrimination in men by FRAX™. These data emphasize the importance of external validation before widespread clinical implementation of prognostic tools in different cohorts. Introduction: Absolute risk assessment is now recognized as a preferred approach to guide treatment decision. The present study sought to evaluate accuracy of the FRAX™ and Garvan algorithms for predicting absolute risk of osteoporotic fracture (hip, spine, humerus, or wrist), defined as major in FRAX™, in a clinical setting in Australia. Methods: A retrospective validation study was conducted in 144 women (69 fractures and 75 controls) and 56 men (31 fractures and 25 controls) aged between 60 and 90 years. Relevant clinical data prior to fracture event were ascertained. Based on these variables, predicted 10-year probabilities of major fracture were calculated from the Garvan and FRAX™ algorithms, using US (FRAX-US) and UK databases (FRAX-UK). Area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) was computed for each model. Results: In women, the average 10-year probability of major fracture was consistently higher in the fracture than in the nonfracture group: Garvan (0.33 vs. 0.15), FRAX-US (0.30 vs. 0.19), and FRAX-UK (0.17 vs. 0.10). In men, although the Garvan model yielded higher average probability of major fracture in the fracture group (0.32 vs. 0.14), the FRAX™ algorithm did not: FRAX-US (0.17 vs. 0.19) and FRAX-UK (0.09 vs. 0.12). In women, AUC for the Garvan, FRAX-US, and FRAX-UK algorithms were 0.84, 0.77, and 0.78, respectively, vs. 0.76, 0.54, and 0.57, respectively, in men. Conclusion: In this analysis, although both approaches were reasonably accurate in women, FRAX™ discriminated fracture risk poorly in men. These data support the conc...

Shapiro, NI, Trzeciak, S, Hollander, JE, Birkhahn, R, Otero, R, Osborn, TM, Moretti, E, Nguyen, HB, Gunnerson, K, Milzman, D, Gaieski, DF, Goyal, M, Cairns, CB, Kupfer, K, Lee, S-W & Rivers, EP 2010, 'The Diagnostic Accuracy of Plasma Neutrophil Gelatinase–Associated Lipocalin in the Prediction of Acute Kidney Injury in Emergency Department Patients With Suspected Sepsis', Annals of Emergency Medicine, vol. 56, no. 1, pp. 52-59.e1.
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Study objective: We assess the diagnostic accuracy of plasma neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) to predict acute kidney injury in emergency department (ED) patients with suspected sepsis. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of a prospective observational study of a convenience sample of patients from 10 academic medical center EDs. Inclusion criteria were adult patients aged 18 years or older, with suspected infection or a serum lactate level greater than 2.5 mmol/L; 2 or more systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria; and a subsequent serum creatinine level obtained within 12 to 72 hours of enrollment. Exclusion criteria were pregnancy, do-not-resuscitate status, cardiac arrest, or dialysis dependency. NGAL was measured in plasma collected at ED presentation. Acute kidney injury was defined as an increase in serum creatinine measurement of greater than 0.5 mg/dL during 72 hours. Results: There were 661 patient enrolled, with 24 cases (3.6%) of acute kidney injury that developed within 72 hours after ED presentation. Median plasma NGAL levels were 134 ng/mL (interquartile range 57 to 277 ng/mL) in patients without acute kidney injury and 456 ng/mL (interquartile range 296 to 727 ng/mL) in patients with acute kidney injury. Plasma NGAL concentrations of greater than 150 ng/mL were 96% sensitive (95% confidence interval [CI] 79% to 100%) and 51% (95% CI 47% to 55%) specific for acute kidney injury. In comparison, to achieve equivalent sensitivity with initial serum creatinine level at ED presentation required a cutoff of 0.7 mg/dL and resulted in specificity of 17% (95% CI 14% to 20%). Conclusion: In this preliminary investigation, increased plasma NGAL concentrations measured on presentation to the ED in patients with suspected sepsis were associated with the development of acute kidney injury. Our findings support NGAL as a promising new biomarker for acute kidney injury; however, further research is warranted. © 2009 American College...

Sieveking, DP, Lim, P, Chow, RWY, Dunn, LL, Bao, S, McGrath, KCY, Heather, AK, Handelsman, DJ, Celermajer, DS & Ng, MKC 2010, 'A sex-specific role for androgens in angiogenesis', Journal of Experimental Medicine, vol. 207, no. 2, pp. 345-352.
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Mounting evidence suggests that in men, serum levels of testosterone are negatively correlated to cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. We studied the role of androgens in angiogenesis, a process critical in cardiovascular repair/regeneration, in males and females. Androgen exposure augmented key angiogenic events in vitro. Strikingly, this occurred in male but not female endothelial cells (ECs). Androgen receptor (AR) antagonism or gene knockdown abrogated these effects in male ECs. Overexpression of AR in female ECs conferred androgen sensitivity with respect to angiogenesis. In vivo, castration dramatically reduced neovascularization of Matrigel plugs. Androgen treatment fully reversed this effect in male mice but had no effect in female mice. Furthermore, orchidectomy impaired blood-flow recovery from hindlimb ischemia, a finding rescued by androgen treatment. Our findings suggest that endogenous androgens modulate angiogenesis in a sex-dependent manner, with implications for the role of androgen replacement in men.

Sobala, A & Hutvágner, G 2010, 'Small RNAs and their effects on gene expression', Bio Tech International, vol. 22, no. SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, pp. 19-22.
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The cellular spectrum of small RNAs, and processes regulated by them, is very diverse. This article summarises the wide variety of endogenous small RNAs in mammals and explains how they regulate gene expression.

Stanca, SE, Nietzsche, S, Fritzsche, W, Cranfield, CG & Biskup, C 2010, 'Intracellular ion monitoring using a gold-core polymer-shell nanosensor architecture', NANOTECHNOLOGY, vol. 21, no. 5.
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In this study, we describe the design of new ratiometric fluorescent nanosensors, whose architecture is based on a gold core surrounded by a poly(vinyl alcohol)polyacetal shell. To the gold core, indicator dyes and reference dyes are attached via a cysteine linker. This nanosensor architecture is flexible with regards to the number and types of fluorophore linkages possible. The robust poly(vinyl alcohol)polyacetal shell protects the fluorophores linked to the core from non-specific interactions with intracellular proteins. The nanosensors developed in this way are biocompatible and can be easily incorporated into mammalian cells without the use of transfection agents. Here, we show the application of these nanosensors for intracellular pH and sodium ion measurements.

Strand, H & Parker, D 2010, 'Effectiveness of medical compared to multidisciplinary models of care for adult persons with pre-dialysis chronic kidney disease: a systematic review', JBI Library of Systematic Reviews, vol. 8, no. 26, pp. 1058-1087.
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Su, SW, Chen, W, Liu, D, Fang, Y, Kuang, W, Yu, X, Guo, T, Celler, BG & Nguyen, HT 2010, 'Dynamic Modelling of Heart Rate Response Under Different Exercise Intensity', The Open Medical Informatics Journal, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 81-85.
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Heart rate is one of the major indications of human cardiovascular response to exercises. This study investigates human heart rate response dynamics to moderate exercise. A healthy male subject has been asked to walk on a motorised treadmill under a predefined exercise protocol. ECG, body movements, and oxygen saturation (SpO2) have been reliably monitored and recorded by using non-invasive portable sensors. To reduce heart rate variation caused by the influence of various internal or external factors, the designed step response protocol has been repeated three times. Experimental results show that both steady state gain and time constant of heart rate response are not invariant when walking speed is faster than 3 miles/hour, and time constant of offset exercise is noticeably longer than that of onset exercise.

Su, SW, Huang, S, Wang, L, Celler, BG, Savkin, AV, Guo, Y & Cheng, TM 2010, 'Optimizing Heart Rate Regulation for Safe Exercise', ANNALS OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 758-768.
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Safe exercise protocols are critical for effective rehabilitation programs. This paper aims to develop a novel control strategy for an automated treadmill system to reduce the danger of injury during cardiac rehabilitation. We have developed a control-oriented nonparametric Hammerstein model for the control of heart rate during exercises by using support vector regression and correlation analysis. Based on this nonparametric model, a model predictive controller has been built. In order to guarantee the safety of treadmill exercise during rehabilitation, this new automated treadmill system is capable of optimizing system performance over predefined ranges of speed and acceleration. The effectiveness of the proposed approach was demonstrated with six subjects by having their heart rate track successfully a predetermined heart rate. © 2009 Biomedical Engineering Society.

Ta, MTT, Nguyen, KT, Nguyen, ND, Campbell, LV & Nguyen, TV 2010, 'Identification of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes by systolic blood pressure and waist-to-hip ratio', Diabetologia, vol. 53, no. 10, pp. 2139-2146.
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We estimated the current prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the Vietnamese population and developed simple diagnostic models for identifying individuals at high risk of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes. The study was designed as a cross-sectional investigation with 721 men and 1,421 women, who were aged between 30 and 72 years and were randomly sampled from Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in Vietnam. A 75 g oral glucose tolerance test to assess fasting and 2 h plasma glucose concentrations were determined for each individual. The ADA diagnostic criteria were used to determine the prevalence of type 2 diabetes. WHR and blood pressure were also measured in all individuals. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes was 10.8% in men and 11.7% in women. Higher WHR and blood pressure were independently associated with a greater risk of type 2 diabetes. Compared with participants without central obesity and hypertension, the odds of diabetes was increased by 6.4-fold (95% CI 3.2-13.0) in men and 4.1-fold (2.2-7.6) in women with central obesity and hypertension. Two nomograms were developed that help identify men and women at high risk of type 2 diabetes. The current prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the Vietnamese population is high. Simple field measurements such as waist-to-hip ratio and systolic blood pressure can identify individuals at high risk of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes.

Thai, A, Xiao, J, Ammit, AJ & Rohanizadeh, R 2010, 'Development of inhalable formulations of anti-inflammatory drugs to potentially treat smoke inhalation injury in burn victims', International Journal of Pharmaceutics, vol. 389, no. 1-2, pp. 41-52.
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Thomson, A, Darcy, S & Pearce, S 2010, 'Ganma theory and third-sector sport-development programmes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth: Implications for sports management', Sport Management Review, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 313-330.
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Sport-development programmes provide opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth to excel and overcome social inequities. In Australia, all levels of government have identified sport-development programmes in their policy responses as a method to redress inequity amongst this population. Yet, a recent report has shown that national sport organisations have been more reactive in establishing anti-discrimination policy and less proactive in cultivating culturally inclusive programmes and meaningful sporting experiences (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 2007). At the same time, neo-liberal approaches to policy in Australia have seen the emphasis on grassroots community sport-development shift to third-sector organisations. However, little research has examined how the third-sector organisations operate with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and how culturally inclusive the programmes they deliver are for the communities in which they operate. Three case studies with the objectives of analysing organisational approaches to: structure and governance; sport-development philosophies; and cultural inclusiveness of the programmes, are presented here. The case studies were informed by the cultural lens of Ganma, a theory belonging to the Yolngu community of Yirrkala (Marika, Ngurruwutthun, & White, 1992). The case study method included in-depth interviews with programme leaders, reviews of management information systems and programme observation. The findings provided evidence of the importance of culturally inclusive programmes through governance and an informal lived approach to philosophy and culture. The implications for sports management are discussed, including: the benefits of involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at the board level; the need for collaboration between local communities and partners; the explicit need to empower local communities to develop the skills to sustain programmes and...

Trian, T, Moir, LM, Ge, Q, Burgess, JK, Kuo, C, King, NJC, Reddel, HK, Black, JL, Oliver, BG & McParland, BE 2010, 'Rhinovirus-Induced Exacerbations of Asthma How Is the beta(2)-Adrenoceptor Implicated?', AMERICAN JOURNAL OF RESPIRATORY CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 227-233.
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Rhinovirus (RV) infections are the major cause of asthma exacerbations in children and adults. Under normal circumstances, asthmatic airway obstruction improves spontaneously or characteristically briskly in response to inhaled β2-adrenergic receptor (β2AR) agonists. During virus-associated exacerbations, an impaired response to β2AR agonists is observed; the reason for this is not known. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of RV infection on airway smooth muscle β2AR function. The human cell line Beas-2B and primary human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs) were infected with RV (multiplicity of infection = 1). After 1 or 5 days for primary and Beas-2B cells, respectively, cell culture supernatants were harvested, UV-irradiated to inactivate RV, and applied to human airway smooth muscle cells for 3 days to assess modifications of β2AR function. RV conditioned medium from Beas-2B and HBECs decreased β2AR agonist-induced cAMP by 50 and 65%, respectively (n = 5; P < 0.05). When cAMP was induced independently of the β2AR using forskolin, no impairment was found. Using flow cytometry, we demonstrated that this decrease was likely the result of β2AR desensitization because membrane but not total cell receptor β2AR was decreased. Pretreatment of HBECs and Beas-2B cells but not human airway smooth muscle cells with the corticosteroids dexamethasone or fluticasone abolished virus-mediated β2AR loss of function. This study shows that epithelial infection with RV induces a decrease of β2AR function on airway smooth muscle cells, potentially explaining the clinical observation of loss of β2AR agonist function during RV-induced asthma exacerbations.

Vicars, R, Hyde, PJ, Brown, TD, Tipper, JL, Ingham, E, Fisher, J & Hall, RM 2010, 'The effect of anterior–posterior shear load on the wear of ProDisc-L TDR', European Spine Journal, vol. 19, no. 8, pp. 1356-1362.
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Visconti, RP, Kasyanov, V, Gentile, C, Zhang, J, Markwald, RR & Mironov, V 2010, 'Towards organ printing: engineering an intra-organ branched vascular tree', Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 409-420.
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Wroe, S, Ferrara, TL, McHenry, CR, Curnoe, D & Chamoli, U 2010, 'The craniomandibular mechanics of being human', Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 277, no. 1700, pp. 3579-3586.
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Diminished bite force has been considered a defining feature of modern Homo sapiens , an interpretation inferred from the application of two-dimensional lever mechanics and the relative gracility of the human masticatory musculature and skull. This conclusion has various implications with regard to the evolution of human feeding behaviour. However, human dental anatomy suggests a capacity to withstand high loads and two-dimensional lever models greatly simplify muscle architecture, yielding less accurate results than three-dimensional modelling using multiple lines of action. Here, to our knowledge, in the most comprehensive three-dimensional finite element analysis performed to date for any taxon, we ask whether the traditional view that the bite of H. sapiens is weak and the skull too gracile to sustain high bite forces is supported. We further introduce a new method for reconstructing incomplete fossil material. Our findings show that the human masticatory apparatus is highly efficient, capable of producing a relatively powerful bite using low muscle forces. Thus, relative to other members of the superfamily Hominoidea, humans can achieve relatively high bite forces, while overall stresses are reduced. Our findings resolve apparently discordant lines of evidence, i.e. the presence of teeth well adapted to sustain high loads within a lightweight cranium and mandible.

Xiaowen Liu, Jinyan Li & Lusheng Wang 2010, 'Modeling Protein Interacting Groups by Quasi-Bicliques: Complexity, Algorithm, and Application', IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 354-364.
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Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are one of the most important mechanisms in cellular processes. To model protein interaction sites, recent studies have suggested to find interacting protein group pairs from large PPI networks at the first step and then to search conserved motifs within the protein groups to form interacting motif pairs. To consider the noise effect and the incompleteness of biological data, we propose to use quasi-bicliques for finding interacting protein group pairs. We investigate two new problems that arise from finding interacting protein group pairs: the maximum vertex quasi-biclique problem and the maximum balanced quasi-biclique problem. We prove that both problems are NP-hard. This is a surprising result as the widely known maximum vertex biclique problem is polynomial time solvable [1]. We then propose a heuristic algorithm that uses the greedy method to find the quasi-bicliques from PPI networks. Our experiment results on real data show that this algorithm has a better performance than a benchmark algorithm for identifying highly matched BLOCKS and PRINTS motifs. We also report results of two case studies on interacting motif pairs that map well with two interacting domain pairs in iPfam. Availability: The software and supplementary information are available at http://www.cs.cityu.edu.hk/~lwang/software/ppi/index.html. © 2006 IEEE.

Zhao, L & Li, J 2010, 'Mining for the antibody-antigen interacting associations that predict the B cell epitopes', BMC Structural Biology, vol. 10, no. Suppl 1, pp. S6-S6.
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Background. Predicting B-cell epitopes is very important for designing vaccines and drugs to fight against the infectious agents. However, due to the high complexity of this problem, previous prediction methods that focus on linear and conformational epitope prediction are both unsatisfactory. In addition, antigen interacting with antibody is context dependent and the coarse binary classification of antigen residues into epitope and non-epitope without the corresponding antibody may not reveal the biological reality. Therefore, we take a novel way to identify epitopes by using associations between antibodies and antigens. Results. Given a pair of antibody-antigen sequences, the epitope residues can be identified by two types of associations: paratope-epitope interacting biclique and cooccurrent pattern of interacting residue pairs. As the association itself does not include the neighborhood information on the primary sequence, residues' cooperativity and relative composition are then used to enhance our method. Evaluation carried out on a benchmark data set shows that the proposed method produces very good performance in terms of accuracy. After compared with other two structure-based B-cell epitope prediction methods, results show that the proposed method is competitive to, sometimes even better than, the structure-based methods which have much smaller applicability scope. Conclusions. The proposed method leads to a new way of identifying B-cell epitopes. Besides, this antibody-specified epitope prediction can provide more precise and helpful information for wet-lab experiments. © 2010 Li and Zhao; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Anaissi, A, Kennedy, PJ & Goyal, M 1970, 'A framework for high dimensional data reduction in the microarray domain', 2010 IEEE Fifth International Conference on Bio-Inspired Computing: Theories and Applications (BIC-TA), 2010 IEEE Fifth International Conference on Bio-Inspired Computing: Theories and Applications (BIC-TA), IEEE, Changsha, China, pp. 903-907.
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Microarray analysis and visualization is very helpful for biologists and clinicians to understand gene expression in cells and to facilitate diagnosis and treatment of patients. However, a typical microarray dataset has thousands of features and a very small number of observations. This very high dimensional data has a massive amount of information which often contains some noise, non-useful information and small number of relevant features for disease or genotype. This paper proposes a framework for very high dimensional data reduction based on three technologies: feature selection, linear dimensionality reduction and non-linear dimensionality reduction. In this paper, feature selection based on mutual information will be proposed for filtering features and selecting the most relevant features with the minimum redundancy. A kernel linear dimensionality reduction method is also used to extract the latent variables from a high dimensional data set. In addition, a non-linear dimensionality reduction based on local linear embedding is used to reduce the dimension and visualize the data. Experimental results are presented to show the outputs of each step and the efficiency of this framework.

Baig, D-E-Z, Su, H, Cheng, TM, Savkin, AV, Su, SW, Celler, BG & IEEE 1970, 'Modeling of Human Heart Rate Response during Walking, Cycling and Rowing', 2010 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC), IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Annual Conference, The Printing House, Inc., Buenos Aires, Argentina, pp. 2553-2556.
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The aim of this paper is to study the human Heart Rate (HR) response during walking, cycling and rowing exercises using linear time varying (LTV) models. We used the frequency of exercise locomotion as the input to the model. This frequency characterizes the stride rate, cadence rate and strokes rate of the walking, cycling and rowing exercises respectively. The time varying parameters in the LTV models were estimated by the Kalman Filter (KF). The results in this study demonstrate that HR responses to these exercises exhibit some degree of time varying nature. © 2010 IEEE.

Balasubramanian, V & Hoang, DB 1970, 'Availability measure model for Assistive Care Loop Framework using wireless sensor networks', 2010 Sixth International Conference on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing, 2010 Sixth International Conference on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing (ISSNIP), IEEE, Brisbane, Australia, pp. 281-286.
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Nowadays, body area wireless sensor networks (BAWSNs) applications are increasingly being used in in-house health monitoring systems. These applications have stringent timing requirements and often run continuously without interruptions. Hence, it becomes imperative to determine the operational continuity of the BAWSN applications by measuring their availability. The BAWSN applications rely on the collection of data within a critical time from all of the source sensor nodes rather than the data from an individual source. Subsequently, the measure of availability for a BAWSN application should be based on the time and the data delivery from all the sensor nodes. Taking into account these specific characteristics and the constraints of the BAWSN, we develop a model to measure the availability of a BAWSN application based on the unavailable time. The proposed model is evaluated through a series of experiments conducted in our existing Assistive Care Loop Framework (ACLF). Furthermore, we also develop an analogous theoretical model to evaluate the availability of a BAWSN application.

Bernardo, DV & Hoang, D 1970, 'Protecting Next Generation High Speed Network Protocol - UDT through Generic Security Service Application Program Interface - GSS-API', 2010 Fourth International Conference on Emerging Security Information, Systems and Technologies, 2010 Fourth International Conference on Emerging Security Information, Systems and Technologies (SECURWARE), IEEE, Venice/Mestre Italy, pp. 266-272.
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Network protocols do not solely rely on the lower layers of the stack for security. Many of these protocols rely on a combination of layers to develop a more secure channel for data transmission. UDT, like other new next generation high speed protocols, relies on Transport, on IP, and on Network layers for data delivery and protection. However, like other existing protocols, UDT has a socket interface to link with API, a feature that makes it flexible in its implementation. This paper contends that UDT's user interface provides a means of protection by using another application service interface to cater for its security requirements. By implementing GSS-API, UDT can achieve authentication, confidentiality, and integrity during data transmission. This work provides another way of securing high speed network protocols such as UDT when implemented in various network environments.

Bernardo, DV & Hoang, D 1970, 'Security Analysis of the Proposed Practical Security Mechanisms for High Speed Data Transfer Protocol', ADVANCES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, PROCEEDINGS, Information, Security and Assurance, Springer, Miyazaki, Japan, pp. 100-114.
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The development of next generation protocols, such as UDT (UDP-based data transfer), promptly addressess various infrastructure requirements for transmitting data in high speed networks. However, this development creates new vulnerabilities when these protocols are designed to solely rely on existing security solutions of existing protocols such as TCP and UDP. It is clear that not all security protocols (such as TLS) can be used to protect UDT, just as security solutions devised for wired networks cannot be used to protect the wired ones. The development of UDT, similarly in the development of TCP/UDP many years ago, lacked a well-thought security architecture to address the problems that networks are presently experiencing. This paper proposed and analyses practical security mechanisms for UDT.

Bernardo, DV & Hoang, DB 1970, 'End-to-End Security Methods for UDT Data Transmissions', FUTURE GENERATION INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, Future Generation Information Technology Second International Conference, Springer-Verlag, Jeju Island, Korea, pp. 383-393.
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UDT (UDP-based data transfer protocol) is one of the most promising network protocols developed for high data speed data transfer. It does not, however, have any inherent security mechanisms, and thus relies on other transport protocols to provide them.

Bernardo, DV, Hoang, DB & IEEE 1970, 'A Conceptual Approach against Next Generation Security Threats: Securing a High Speed Network Protocol - UDT', SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FUTURE NETWORKS: ICFN 2010, IEEE International Conference on Future Networks, IEEE Computer Society, Sanya Hainan, pp. 367-371.
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The following topics are dealt with: computing network reliability; network security policy; wireless sensor network; routing protocol; web based intrusion detection system; network topology; BP neural network, WMAN; WDM optical network; WMAN;WDM optical network; TCP/IP networks; OFDMA relay networks; and mobile ad hoc networks.

Budka, M & Gabrys, B 1970, 'Correntropy-based density-preserving data sampling as an alternative to standard cross-validation', The 2010 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN), 2010 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN), IEEE.
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Estimation of the generalization ability of a predictive model is an important issue, as it indicates expected performance on previously unseen data and is also used for model selection. Currently used generalization error estimation procedures like cross-validation (CV) or bootstrap are stochastic and thus require multiple repetitions in order to produce reliable results, which can be computationally expensive if not prohibitive. The correntropy-based Density Preserving Sampling procedure (DPS) proposed in this paper eliminates the need for repeating the error estimation procedure by dividing the available data into subsets, which are guaranteed to be representative of the input dataset. This allows to produce low variance error estimates with accuracy comparable to 10 times repeated cross-validation at a fraction of computations required by CV, which has been investigated using a set of publicly available benchmark datasets and standard classifiers. © 2010 IEEE.

Budka, M & Gabrys, B 1970, 'Ridge regression ensemble for toxicity prediction', Procedia Computer Science, International Conference on Computational Science (ICCS), Elsevier BV, Univ Amsterdam, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS, pp. 193-201.
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Chan, KY, Ling, SH, Dillon, TS, Nguyen, H & IEEE 1970, 'Classification of Hypoglycemic Episodes for Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus based on Neural Networks', 2010 IEEE CONGRESS ON EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION (CEC), IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, IEEE, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 1444-1448.
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Hypoglycemia is dangerous for Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. Based on the physiological parameters, we have developed a classification unit with hybridizing the approaches of neural networks and genetic algorithm to identify the presences of hypoglycemic episodes for TIDM patients. The proposed classification unit is built and is validated by using the real T1DM patients' data sets collected from Department of Health, Government of Western Australia. Experimental results show that the proposed neural network based classification unit can achieve more accurate results on both trained and unseen T1DM patients' data sets compared with those developed based on the commonly used classification methods for medical diagnosis including statistical regression, fuzzy regression and genetic programming. © 2010 IEEE.

Chan, KY, Zhu, H, Lau, C, Dillon, TS, Ling, SH & IEEE 1970, 'Determination of chemo-responses for osteosarcoma using a hybrid evolutionary algorithm', 2010 IEEE CONGRESS ON EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION (CEC), IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, IEEE, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 1865-1869.
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In this paper, a hybrid evolutionary algorithm (HEA) based on the approaches of the evolutionary algorithm and a local search (LS) is proposed to determine the gene signatures for predicting histologic response of chemotherapy on osteosarcoma patients, which is one of the most common malignant bone tumor in children. The HEA consists of a population of individuals but the evolution of individuals is conducted by a LS, rather than the crossover and mutation used in the traditional evolutionary algorithms. The proposed HEA can simultaneously optimize the feature subset and the classifier through a common solution coding mechanism. Experimental results indicate that HEA can obtain more accurate signatures than the other existing approaches in determining chemoresponse for osteosarcoma. © 2010 IEEE.

Dietrich, S, Stanca, SE, Cranfield, CG, Hoffmann, B, Benndorf, K & Biskup, C 1970, 'New strategies to measure intracellular sodium concentrations', MULTIPHOTON MICROSCOPY IN THE BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES X, Conference on Multiphoton Microscopy in the Biomedical Sciences X, SPIE-INT SOC OPTICAL ENGINEERING, San Francisco, CA.
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Du, ZS & Watterson, PA 1970, 'Design and implementation of a radial magnetic bearing with permanent magnet bias', AUPEC 2010 - 20th Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference: 'Power Quality for the 21st Century', Australasian Universities Power Engineering Conference, IEEE, Christchurch, New Zealand, pp. 1-6.
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A new yoke winding for a radial magnetic bearing with permanent magnet bias flux is investigated and shown to reduce the copper loss and copper cost, by 32% in the prototype built. Magnetic circuit analysis neglecting fringing was found to give a poor estimate of the permanent magnet bias flux and 3D finite element analysis (FEA) would be needed to model it. However, 2D FEA was sufficient to model the field in the plane of the stator laminations, providing that the correct bias flux was imposed as a boundary condition. Solutions for the axial magnetic vector potential component Az were obtained, with a discontinuity prescribed across a cut from the inner to outer domain boundary. A small prototype was built and tested on a shaft whose other end was supported by a ball bearing race with free angular movement. For each of the horizontal and vertical directions, closed loop control was applied with Hall elements providing the shaft position signal. A lead-lag controller, designed using Matlab Simulink and implemented in Turbo Pascal 6, levitated the rotor.

Elliott, RM, McKinley, SM & Eager, D 1970, 'A pilot study of sound levels in an Australian adult general intensive care unit', NOISE & HEALTH, 6th Annual Congress of the World Federation of Critical Care Nurses and 10th Congress of the World Federation of the Societies of Intensive and Critical Care Medicine, WOLTERS KLUWER MEDKNOW PUBLICATIONS, Florence, Italy, pp. 26-36.
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BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: High technology and activity levels in the intensive care unit (ICU) lead to high sound levels. As noise has been shown to affect the ability of patients to rest and sleep continuous sound levels are required during sleep investigations. The aim of this pilot study was to develop a robust protocol to measure continuous sound levels for a larger more substantive future study to improve sleep for the ICU patient. METHODS: A review of published studies of sound levels revealed sufficient information to develop a study protocol (twenty-three papers were used). An integrated sound level meter Class 1 was used. The microphone was placed 0.75 to 1m above the patientâs head. Sound recording was simultaneous to 24 hour sleep monitoring (polysomnography). Five broadband parameters were set: LAeq, LCpeak, LAFmax, LAFmin and LCeq along with LZ spectra recorded at a sampling and logging frequency of one sample per second. RESULTS: The study protocol resulted in 10 usable recordings out of 11 attempts to collect pilot data. The mean recording time was 17.49±4.5 hours. Sound levels exceeded recommendations made by the World Health Organization (WHO) for hospitals. The mean equivalent sound level (LAeq) was 56.22±1.65 dB and LA90 was 46.8±2.46 dB. CONCLUSION: The data reveal the requirement for a noise reduction program within this ICU. GRANT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Australian College of Critical Care Nurses awarded a research grant of A$15,000 in 2008.

Gay, V, Leijdekkers, P & Barin, E 1970, 'Feasibility trial of a novel mobile cardiac rehabilitation application', The 12th IEEE International Conference on e-Health Networking, Applications and Services, 2010 12th IEEE International Conference on e-Health Networking, Applications and Services (Healthcom 2010), IEEE, Lyon, France, pp. 86-92.
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A trial with a cardiac rehabilitation centre is in progress where we test a novel cardiac rehab application using a standard mobile phone and wireless sensors. The goal is to obtain insight how remote monitoring compares to conventional rehabilitation methods in terms of adherence to cardiac rehabilitation programmes. In this trial we seek feedback from patients and health professionals regarding usability and practicability of the software and hardware used and we investigate whether the use of the novel mobile rehabilitation application provides clinically meaningful reassurance to patients during their cardiac rehabilitation. The trial also investigates whether physical and psychological measures improve using the system. This paper describes the mobile cardiac rehabilitation application as well as the setup of the trial.

Gay, VC & Leijdekkers, P 1970, 'Body Sensor networks for Mobile Health Monitoring', 2010 Fourth International Conference on Digital society ICDS 2010, 2010 Fourth International Conference on Digital society ICDS 2010, IEEE Computer Society, St Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, pp. 204-209.
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Abstractâ Remote ambulatory monitoring is widely seen as playing a key part in addressing the impending crisis in health care provision. We describe two mobile health solutions, one developed in the Netherlands and one in Australia. In both cases patientsâ biosignals are measured by means of body worn sensors which communicate wirelessly with a handheld device. Alarms and biosignals can be transmitted over wireless communication links to a remote location, and a remote health professional can view the biosignals via a web application. The clinical purposes are similar, however the technological approaches differ in some respects. We compare the two approaches and the experience gained working with a number of different patient groups and clinical specialties during trials in Europe and Australia.

Ge, Q, Oliver, BG, Moir, LM, Trian, T, Burgess, JK & Black, J 1970, 'PDGF-BB And TGF²1 Induce Differential Expression Of PI3-Kinase Isoforms P110² And P110 In Human Airway Smooth Muscle Cells', A65. GENE EXPRESSION, PHENOTYPE, AND FUNCTION IN AIRWAY SMOOTH MUSCLE: NEW INSIGHTS, American Thoracic Society 2010 International Conference, May 14-19, 2010 • New Orleans, American Thoracic Society.
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Geronimo, FRB, Barter, PJ, Rye, K-A & Rodgers, KJ 1970, 'Short-Term Intravenous Injections of Human Lipid-Free Apolipoprotein A-IV Reduced Inflammation, Oxidation, and Apoptosis and Improved Plaque Stability in Brachiocephalic Artery Atheromas in Apo E-Null Mice', ARTERIOSCLEROSIS THROMBOSIS AND VASCULAR BIOLOGY, Scientific Sessions on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS, San Francisco, CA, pp. E193-E193.

Golzan, SM, Graham, S & Avolio, A 1970, 'NON-INVASIVE ASSESSMENT OF CEREBROSPINAL FLUID PRESSURE BY MEANS OF SPONTANEOUS RETINAL VENOUS PULSATIONS: A MODELING STUDY', HYPERTENSION, 31st Annual Scientific Meeting of the High-Blood-Pressure-Research-Council-of-Australia, LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS, Sydney, AUSTRALIA, pp. 1498-1498.

Golzan, SM, Graham, SL & Avolio, A 1970, 'Non-invasive Estimation of Intracranial Pressure by Means of Retinal Venous Pulsatility', 26TH SOUTHERN BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING CONFERENCE: SBEC 2010, 26th Southern Biomedical Engineering Conference, SBEC 2010, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Univ Maryland, College Park, MD, pp. 81-84.
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Grafton, KT, Burgess, JK, Moir, LM, Black, J & Oliver, BG 1970, 'Proteases May Cause The Loss Of Tumstatin From The Airways Of Asthmatics', A62. THE EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX: SOURCES, MEDIATORS, STRUCTURE, AND FUNCTIONAL CONSEQUENCES, American Thoracic Society 2010 International Conference, May 14-19, 2010 • New Orleans, American Thoracic Society.
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Hoang, DB & Chen, L 1970, 'Mobile Cloud for Assistive Healthcare (MoCAsH)', 2010 IEEE Asia-Pacific Services Computing Conference, 2010 Asia-Pacific Services Computing Conference (APSCC), IEEE, Hangzhou, China, pp. 325-332.
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Deploying state-of-the-art technologies is vital and inevitable in assistive healthcare to cope with emerging services such as remote monitoring, collaborative consultation, and electronic health record. Grid computing has succeeded somewhat in enabling the sharing of resources across organizations but has not been deployed widely due to its complex implementation and interface. Cloud computing overcomes this aspect by allowing simple and easy user access, coping with users' dynamic and elastic demands, providing metered usage for its resources and hence is increasingly being adopted by individual users as well as enterprise users. The Cloud may just be the right technology for healthcare infrastructure. However, serveral serious issues concerning security, data protection and ownership, quality of services, and mobility need to be resolved before Cloud computing can be widely adopted... This paper proposes Mobile Cloud for Assistive Healthcare (MoCAsH) as an infrastructure for assistive healthcare. Besides inheriting the advantages of Cloud computing, MoCAsH embraces important concepts of mobile sensing, active sensor records, and collaborative planning by deploying intelligent mobile agents, context-aware middleware, and collaborative protocol for efficient resource sharing and planning. MoCAsH addresses security and privacy issues by deploying selective and federated P2P Cloud to protect data, preserve data ownership and strengthen aspects of security. It also addresses various quality-of-service issues concerning critical responses and energy consumption.

Hughes, JM, Khalil, N, Vanapalli, K, Yaputra, V, Alkhouri, H, Oliver, BG & Armour, CL 1970, 'Airway Smooth Muscle Cells From People With Asthma Shed Syndecan-4', A62. THE EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX: SOURCES, MEDIATORS, STRUCTURE, AND FUNCTIONAL CONSEQUENCES, American Thoracic Society 2010 International Conference, May 14-19, 2010 • New Orleans, American Thoracic Society.
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Jones, V, Gay, V & Leijdekkers, P 1970, 'Body sensor networks for Mobile Health Monitoring Experience in Europe and Australia', FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DIGITAL SOCIETY: ICDS 2010, PROCEEDINGS, 4th International Conference on the Digital-Society, IEEE COMPUTER SOC, St Maarten, NETHERLANDS, pp. 204-209.
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Kabakova, IV, de Sterke, CM & Eggleton, BJ 1970, 'Picoseconds all-optical switch and pulse re-shaper based in a bistable Bragg grating cavity', SPIE Proceedings, SPIE Photonics Europe, SPIE, Brussels, BELGIUM.
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Kabakova, IV, Grobnic, D, Mihailov, SJ, Mägi, EC, De Sterke, CM & Eggleton, BJ 1970, 'Bragg grating-based switching in highly-nonlinear bismuth-oxide fiber', Optics InfoBase Conference Papers.
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We report the first demonstration of Bragg grating-based all-optical switching in a highly nonlinear Bi2O3 fiber. At powers as low as 55 W the transmission changes from 90% to 20%, a 6.5 dB extinction ratio. © 2010 OSA /FiO/LS 2010.

Kabakova, IV, Grobnic, D, Mihailov, SJ, Mägi, EC, de Sterke, CM & Eggleton, BJ 1970, 'Bragg Grating-Based Switching in Highly-Nonlinear Bismuth-Oxide Fiber', Frontiers in Optics 2010/Laser Science XXVI, Frontiers in Optics, OSA.
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Kabakova, IV, Halliwell, D, De Sterke, CM, Yu, Z, Margulis, W, Fonjallaz, PY & Tarasenko, O 1970, 'Observation of frequency shift in a dynamically tuned fiber grating cavity by a beating technique', 35th Australian Conference on Optical Fibre Technology, ACOFT 2010.
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Dynamic frequency changes of light trapped in a fiber grating-based cavity, which is detuned by RF pulses, are detected by a simple, elegant, high-resolution method in which the trapped light beats with the incoming light. © 2010 Eng Australia & Australia O.

Kadlec, P & Gabrys, B 1970, 'Adaptive on-line prediction soft sensing without historical data', The 2010 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN), 2010 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN), IEEE.
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Current soft sensing algorithms assume the availability of a large amount of training data. The collection of the historical data often takes a lot of time and can be expensive. At the same time not being able to provide sufficient amount of training data can result in sacrificing the performance of the soft sensor. This can be problematic in situations, where a soft sensor is urgently required and, at the same time, there is not enough training data available. This situation can occur, for example, when a new plant is taken into operation or, more critically, when there is a significant change in some parameters (e.g. operating point or the input materials) in a running plant. To deal with such a situation, we propose an algorithm, called Recursive Soft Sensing Algorithm (ReSSA), which delivers predictions without any explicit training phase. The proposed algorithm is based on the recursive functionality of the RPLS technique, which is embedded into local learning framework. More than that, during the run-time of the algorithm, it is not necessary to store any past data as the algorithm requires only the latest data point for its operation and recursive adaptation. In order to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method, it is applied to the prediction of a catalyst activity in a multi-tube reactor. © 2010 IEEE.

Kaili Weng, Turk, B, Dolores, L, Nguyen, TN, Celler, B, Su, S & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'Fast tracking of a given heart rate profile in treadmill exercise', 2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology, 2010 32nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 2010), IEEE, Buenos Aires, Argentina, pp. 2569-2572.
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This paper investigates the application of a multi-loop PID controller in an automated treadmill exercise machine. The approach is to design a computer-controlled treadmill control system for the regulation of heart rate (HR) during treadmill exercise. A single-input and multiple-output (SIMO) controller was implemented to fast track a given heart rate profile in treadmill exercise. Two separate single-input and single-output (SISO) PID control systems are initially implemented to modify either the treadmill speed or its angle of inclination in order to achieve a desired HR. The purpose of this paper is to apply a SIMO control system by implementing a control algorithm which includes the two PID controllers working simultaneously to track the desired HR profile. The performance of the SIMO and SISO control systems are compared through the closed loop responses recorded during experimentation. This would also help future development of safe treadmill exercise system.

Kamyabpour, N & Hoang, DB 1970, 'A Hierarchy Energy Driven Architecture for Wireless Sensor Networks', 2010 IEEE 24th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications Workshops, 2010 IEEE 24th International Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications Workshops, IEEE, Perth Austtralia, pp. 668-673.
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In Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) one of the critical issues is the mazimization of their life time. These networks require a robust architecture that takes into account the energy consumption level of functional contituents and their interdependency. With such an architecture, the overall energy consumption can then be optimized with respects to the contstraints of an application. Unlike most current researches that focus on a single aspect of WSNs, this paper presents a Hierarchy Energy Driven Architecture (HEDA) as new architecture and a novel approach for minimising the total energy consumption of WSNs. The Energy Driven Architecture identifies generic and essential energy-consuming constituents of the network. HEDA as a constituent-based architecture is used to deploy WSNs according to energy dissipation through their contituents. This view of overall energy consumption in WSNs can be applied to optimizing and balancing energy consumption and increasing the network lifetime.

Korsunsky, AM, Hunter, A, Hukins, DWL, Gelman, L, Hogger, CJ, Ceglarek, DJ, Payne, S, Ao, SI, Ahmad, M, Alexandrou, I, Al-Nuaimy, W, Amavasai, BP, An, YY, Ariwa, E, Arteche, J, Audrino, F, Ayesh, A, Baber, C, Bailey, C, Balkan, N, Barria, J, Bartosova, J, Benkrid, K, Bleijs, H, Bluck, M, Bose, I, Bouzas, PR, Braiden, PM, Brdys, M, Burriesci, G, Cannataro, M, Carvalho, A, Chang, CC, Chen, D, Chen, GG, Chen, YS, Chiclana, F, Cooke, A, Das, DB, Davis, DN, Dayoub, I, Raman, SDCV, Demetriou, IC, Devai, F, Dilmaghani, RS, Dini, D, Drikakis, D, Durkan, C, Durodola, J, Etebar, K, Fenn, P, Figueiredo, A, Florou, G, Freear, S, Gabrys, B, Galbraith, GH, Gaskell, PH, Gaura, E, Ge, ZQ, Ghafouri-Shiraz, H, Ghavami, M, Giannopoulos, K, Pruneda Gonzalez, RE, Gracia, AM, Grecos, C, Guan, L, Gulpinar, N, Guo, R, Guo, Y, Hardalupas, Y, He, L, Herrero, JR, Hicks, BJ, Hines, EL, Hodgson, S, Horsfall, A, Hosein, P, Hu, F, Hu, O, Ijomah, W, Ming, J, James, A, Jancovic, P, Jhumka, A, Kamareddine, F, Kannan, R, Karsligil, ME, Katircioglu, ST, Khalid, A, Kokossis, A, Kontis, K, Kulekci, MO, Laukaitis, A, Leeson, M, Limbachiya, MC, Li, L, Li, L, Lin, P, Ling, WK & Macias Lopez, EM 1970, 'WCE 2010 - World Congress on Engineering 2010: Preface', WCE 2010 - World Congress on Engineering 2010.

Krimmer, DI, Kuo, C, Burgess, JK, Black, J & Oliver, BG 1970, 'The Response Of COPD Fibroblasts To Cigarette Smoke Is Enhanced By Rhinovirus Infection', B103. CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE: INSIGHTS INTO THE PATHOBIOLOGY, American Thoracic Society 2010 International Conference, May 14-19, 2010 • New Orleans, American Thoracic Society.
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Lai, JC, Leung, FH, Ling, S-H & IEEE 1970, 'A New Differential Evolution with Self-terminating Ability using Fuzzy Control and K-Nearest Neighbors', 2010 IEEE CONGRESS ON EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION (CEC), IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, IEEE, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 503-510.
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A new Differential Evolution (DE) that incorporates fuzzy control and k-nearest neighbors algorithm to determine the terminating condition is proposed. A technique called Iteration Windows is introduced to govern the number of iteration in each searching stage. The size of the iteration windows is controlled by a fuzzy controller, which uses the information provided by the k-nearest neighbors system to analyze the population during the searching process. The controller keeps controlling the iteration windows until the end of the searching process. The wavelet based mutation process is embedded in the DE searching process to enhance the searching performance of DE. The F weight of DE is also controlled by the fuzzy controller to further speed up the searching process. A suite of benchmark test functions is employed to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. It is shown empirically that the proposed method can terminate the searching process with a reasonable number of iteration. © 2010 IEEE.

Lai, JC, Leung, FH, Ling, S-H & IEEE 1970, 'Economic Load Dispatch using Differential Evolution with Double Wavelet Mutation Operations', 2010 IEEE CONGRESS ON EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION (CEC), IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, IEEE, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 2013-2018.
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In this paper, a modified Differential Evolution (DE) that incorporates double wavelet-based operations is proposed to handle a load flow problem. The wavelet based operation is embedded in the DE mutation and crossover operation. In the DE mutation operation, the scaling factor is controlled by a wavelet function. In the DE crossover operation, a wavelet-based mutation operation is embedded in it. The trial population vectors are thus modified by the wavelet function. The double wavelet mutations are applied in order to enhance DE in exploring the high-dimension solution space more effectively for better solution quality and stability. The proposed DE algorithm is employed to solve the Economic Load Dispatch with Valve-Point Loading (ELD-VPL) Problem. It is shown empirically that the proposed method out-performs significantly the conventional methods in terms of convergence speed, solution quality and solution stability. © 2010 IEEE.

Lemke, C & Gabrys, B 1970, 'Meta-learning for time series forecasting in the NN GC1 competition', International Conference on Fuzzy Systems, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE), IEEE.
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There are no algorithms that generally perform better or worse than random when looking at all possible data sets according to the no-free-lunch theorem. A specific forecasting method will hence naturally have different performances in different empirical studies. This makes it impossible to draw general conclusions, however, there will of course be specific problems for which one algorithm performs better than another in practice. Meta-learning exploits this fact by linking characteristics of the data set to the performances of methods, adapting the selection or combination of base methods to a specific problem. This contribution describes an approach using meta-learning for time series forecasting in the NN GC1 competition. In order to generate bigger and more reliable meta-data set, data of the past NN3 and NN5 competitions have been included. A pool of individual forecasting and combination models are combined using a ranking algorithm with weights being determined by past performance on similar series. © 2010 IEEE.

Li, J, Liu, Q & Zeng, T 1970, 'Negative correlations in collaboration', Proceedings of the 16th ACM SIGKDD international conference on Knowledge discovery and data mining, KDD '10: The 16th ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, ACM, Washington DC, pp. 463-472.
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Ling, S, Nuryani & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'Hypoglycaemia detection for type 1 diabetic patients based on ECG parameters using Fuzzy Support Vector Machine.', IJCNN, International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, IEEE, Spain, pp. 1-7.
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Nocturnal hypoglycaemia in type 1 diabetic patients can be dangerous in which symptoms may not be apparent while blood glucose level decreases to very low level, and for this reason, an effective detection system for hypoglycaemia is crucial. This research work proposes a detection system for the hypoglycaemia based on the classification of electrocardiographic (ECG) parameters. The classification uses a Fuzzy Support Vector Machine (FSVM) with inputs of heart rate, corrected QT (QTc) interval and corrected TpTe (TpTe c) interval. Three types of kernel functions (radial basis function (RBF), exponential radial basis function (ERBF) and polynomial function) are investigated in the classification. Moreover, parameters of the kernel functions are tuned to find the optimum of the classification. The results show that the FSVM classification using RBF kernel function demonstrates better performance than using SVM. However, both classifiers result approximately same performance if ERBF and polynomial kernel functions are used. © 2010 IEEE.

Ling, SH, Nguyen, H, Chan, KY & IEEE 1970, 'Genetic Algorithm based Fuzzy Multiple Regression for the Nocturnal Hypoglycaemia Detection', 2010 IEEE CONGRESS ON EVOLUTIONARY COMPUTATION (CEC), IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, IEEE, Barcelona, Spain, pp. 2659-2664.
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Low blood glucose (Hypoglycaemia) is dangerous and can result in unconsciousness, seizures and even death. It has a common and serious side effect of insulin therapy in patients with diabetes. We measure physiological parameters (heart rate, corrected QT interval of the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal, change of heart rate, and the change of corrected QT interval) continuously to provide detection of hypoglycaemic. Based on these physiological parameters, we have developed a genetic algorithm based multiple regression model to determine the presence of hypoglycaemic episodes. Genetic algorithm is used to determine the optimal parameters of the multiple regression. The overall data were organized into a training set (8 patients) and a testing set (another 8 patient) which are randomly selected. The clinical results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve predictions with good sensitivities and acceptable specificities. © 2010 IEEE.

Ling, SH, Nuryani & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'Evolved fuzzy reasoning model for hypoglycaemic detection', 2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBC'10, pp. 4662-4665.
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Hypoglycaemia is a serious side effect of insulin therapy in patients with diabetes. We measure physiological parameters (heart rate, corrected QT interval of the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal) continuously to provide early detection of hypoglycemic episodes in Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. Based on the physiological parameters, an evolved fuzzy reasoning model (FRM) to recognize the presence of hypoglycaemic episodes is developed. To optimize the fuzzy rules and the fuzzy membership functions of FRM, an evolutionary algorithm called hybrid particle swarm optimization with wavelet mutation operation is investigated. All data sets are collected from Department of Health, Government of Western Australia for a clinical study. The results show that the proposed algorithm performs well in terms of the clinical sensitivity and specificity. © 2010 IEEE.

Ling, SH, Nuryani, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'Evolved Fuzzy Reasoning Model for Hypoglycaemic Detection', 2010 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC), IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Annual Conference, Piscataway, USA, Buenos Aires, Argentina, pp. 4662-4665.
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Hypoglycaemia is a serious side effect of insulin therapy in patients with diabetes. We measure physiological parameters (heart rate, corrected QT interval of the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal) continuously to provide early detection of hypoglycemic episodes in Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) patients. Based on the physiological parameters, an evolved fuzzy reasoning model (FRM) to recognize the presence of hypoglycaemic episodes is developed. To optimize the fuzzy rules and the fuzzy membership functions of FRM, an evolutionary algorithm called hybrid particle swarm optimization with wavelet mutation operation is investigated. All data sets are collected from Department of Health, Government of Western Australia for a clinical study. The results show that the proposed algorithm performs well in terms of the clinical sensitivity and specificity.

Miro, JV & Dissanayake, G 1970, 'Automatic fine motor control behaviours for autonomous mobile agents operating on uneven terrains', Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Practical Cognitive Agents and Robots, PCAR '10: 2010 International Symposium on Practical Cognitive Agents and Robots, ACM, Toronto, Canada, pp. 33-40.
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A novel mechanism able to produce increasingly stable paths for mobile robotic agents travelling over uneven terrain is proposed in this paper. In doing so, cognitive agents can focus on higher-level goal planning, with the increased confidence the resulting tasks will be automatically accomplished via safe and reliable paths within the lower-level skills of the platform. The strategy proposes the extension of the Fast Marching level-set method of propagating interfaces in 3D lattices with a metric to reduce robot body instability. This is particularly relevant for kinematically reconfigurable platforms which significantly modify their mass distribution through posture adaptation, such as humanoids or mobile robots equipped with manipulator arms or varying traction arrangements. Simulation results of an existing reconfigurable mobile rescue robot operating on real scenarios illustrate the validity of the proposed strategy. Copyright 2010 ACM.

Miro, JV, Dumonteil, G, Beck, C, Dissanayake, G & IEEE 1970, 'A Kyno-dynamic Metric to Plan Stable Paths Over Uneven Terrain', IEEE/RSJ 2010 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT ROBOTS AND SYSTEMS (IROS 2010), IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IEEE, Taipei, Taiwan, pp. 294-299.
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A generic methodology to plan increasingly stable paths for mobile platforms travelling over uneven terrain is proposed in this paper. This is accomplished by extending the Fast Marching level-set method of propagating interfaces in 3D lattices with an analytical kyno-dynamic metric which embodies robot stability in the given terrain. This is particularly relevant for reconfigurable platforms which significantly modify their mass distribution through posture adaptation, such as robots equipped with manipulator arms or varying traction arrangements. Results obtained from applying the proposed strategy in a mobile rescue robot operating on simulated and real terrain data illustrate the validity of the proposed strategy. ©2010 IEEE.

Moir, LM, Trian, T, Ge, Q, Shepherd, P, Burgess, JK, Oliver, BGG & Black, J 1970, 'Different Roles For Class IA PI3 Kinase Isoforms In Asthma And Non-Asthma Derived Airway Smooth Muscle Cells', C108. AIRWAY SMOOTH MUSCLE CELL SIGNALING AND FUNCTION IN HEALTH AND DISEASE, American Thoracic Society 2010 International Conference, May 14-19, 2010 • New Orleans, American Thoracic Society.
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Nguyen, HT & Jones, TW 1970, 'Detection of nocturnal hypoglycemic episodes using EEG signals', 2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology, 2010 32nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 2010), IEEE, Buenos Aires, Argentina, pp. 4930-4933.
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Hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) or the fear of hypoglycemia constitutes a significant barrier to the achievement of good glycemic control in the insulin treated diabetic patients. By measuring physiological responses derived from EEG and analyzing these, we establish that hypoglycemia can be detected non-invasively. From a clinical study of six children with type 1 diabetes (T1D), associated with hypoglycemic episodes at night, their centroid (centre of gravity) alpha frequency reduced significantly (P<;;0.001) and their centroid theta frequency increased significantly (P<;;0.02). The overall data were organized into a training set (3 patients) and a test set (another 3 patients) randomly selected. Using the optimal Bayesian neural network which was derived from the training set with the highest log evidence, the estimated blood glucose profiles produced a significant correlation (P<;;0.005) against measured values in the test set.

Nguyen, JS, Su, SW, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'Spherical Vision Cameras in a Semi-autonomous Wheelchair System', 2010 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC), IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Annual Conference, The Printing House, Inc., Buenos Aires, Argentina, pp. 4064-4067.
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This paper is concerned with the methods developed for extending the capabilities of a spherical vision camera system to allow detection of surrounding objects and whether or not they pose a danger for movement in that direction during autonomous navigation of a power wheelchair. A Point Grey Research (PGR) Ladybug2 spherical vision camera system was attached to the power wheelchair for surrounding vision. The objective is to use this Ladybug2 system to provide information about obstacles all around the wheelchair and aid the automated decision-making process involved during navigation. Through instantaneous neural network classification of individual camera images to determine whether obstacles are present, detection of obstacles have been successfully achieved with accuracies reaching 96%. This assistive technology has the purpose of automated obstacle detection, navigational path planning and decision-making, and collision avoidance during navigation.

Nuryani, Ling, S & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'Electrocardiographic T-wave peak-to-end interval for hypoglycaemia detection', 2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBC'10, pp. 618-621.
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Electrocardiographic T wave peak-to-end interval (TpTe) is one parameter of T wave morphology, which contains indicators for hypoglycaemia. This paper shows the corrected TpTe (TpTec) interval as one of the inputs contributing to detect hypoglycaemia. Support vector machine (SVM) and fuzzy support vector machine (FSVM) utilizing radial basis function (RBF) are used as the classification methods in this paper. By comparing with the classification systems using inputs of corrected QT interval (QTc) and heart rate only, the results indicate that the inclusion of TpTec in combination with QTc and heart rate performs better in the detection of hypoglycaemia in terms of sensitivity, specificity and accuracy. © 2010 IEEE.

Nuryani, Ling, S, Nguyen, HT & IEEE 1970, 'Electrocardiographic T-wave Peak-to-end Interval for Hypoglycaemia Detection', 2010 ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE IEEE ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY SOCIETY (EMBC), IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Annual Conference, The Printing House, Inc., Buenos Aires, Argentina, pp. 618-621.
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Electrocardiographic T wave peak-to-end interval (TpTe) is one parameter of T wave morphology, which contains indicators for hypoglycaemia. This paper shows the corrected TpTe (TpTe(c)) interval as one of the inputs contributing to detect hypoglycaemia. Support vector machine (SVM) and fuzzy support vector machine (FSVM) utilizing radial basis function (RBF) are used as the classification methods in this paper. By comparing with the classification systems using inputs of corrected QT interval (QT(c)) and heart rate only, the results indicate that the inclusion of TpTec in combination with QTc and heart rate performs better in the detection of hypoglycaemia in terms of sensitivity, specificity and accuracy.

Patel, M, Khushaba, R, Miro, JV & Dissanayake, G 1970, 'Probabilistic models versus discriminate classifiers for human activity recognition with an instrumented mobility-assistance aid', Proceedings of the 2010 Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation, ACRA 2010, Proceedings of the Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation, Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, pp. 1-8.
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Detection of individuals' intentions and actions from a stream of human behaviour is an open and complex problem. There is however an intrinsic need to automatically recognise the activities performed by users of mobility assistive aids to better understand their behavioural patterns, with the ultimate objective of improving the utility of these devices. While discriminative algorithms such as Support Vector Machines (SVM) are well understood, generative probabilistic approaches to machine learning such as Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBN) have only recently started gaining increasing interest within the robotics community. In this paper, a comprehensive evaluation of these techniques is carried out for human activity recognition in the context of their applicability to assistive robotics. Results show comparable recognition rates, offering valuable insights into the advantageous characteristics of DBN in relation to their dynamic and unsupervised nature for realistic human-robot interaction modelling.

Patel, M, Miro, JV & Dissanayake, G 1970, 'Dynamic Bayesian Networks for Learning Interactions between Assistive Robotic Walker and Human Users', KI 2010: ADVANCES IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, Annual German Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Germany, pp. 333-340.
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Detection of individuals intentions and actions from a stream of human behaviour is an open problem. Yet for robotic agents to be truly perceived as human-friendly entities they need to respond naturally to the physical interactions with the surrounding environment, most notably with the user. This paper proposes a generative probabilistic approach in the form of Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBN) to seamlessly account for users attitudes. A model is presented which can learn to recognize a subset of possible actions by the user of a gait stability support power rollator walker, such as standing up, sitting down or assistive strolling, and adapt the behaviour of the device accordingly. The communication between the user and the device is implicit, without any explicit intention such as a keypad or voice.The end result is a decision making mechanism that best matches the users cognitive attitude towards a set of assistive tasks, effectively incorporating the evolving activity model of the user in the process. The proposed framework is evaluated in real-life condition. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Qudah, I, Leijdekkers, P & Gay, V 1970, 'Using mobile phones to improve medication compliance and awareness for cardiac patients.', PETRA, ACM International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environment, ACM, Samos, Greece, pp. 1-7.
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Improving cardiac patients' medication compliance is a major factor in reducing mortality rate and reducing hospitalization rate. This paper describes a novel medication compliance management system. Its novelty lies in the combination of functionalities that helps the patient to comply with their medication regimen, together with a personal health monitoring system that monitors their health and collects vital signs data using a mobile phone and wireless bio sensors. The system is designed to collect and analyse medication compliance, side effects and symptom responses and transfers the collected data in real time to a web based system for remote monitoring by caregivers and health professionals. Health professionals can use the system to assess the effect of the medication regimen on their patients' health and adapt it to reduce side effects and maximise the patient's wellbeing. Copyright © 2010 ACM.

Sivabalan, P, Brown, DA, Wu, C & Malmi, T 1970, 'Annual budgets, rolling forecasts and competitive strategy', 2010 AFAANZ Conference Program, AFAANZ 2010, AFAANZ, Christchurch, New Zealand.
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This study investigates relationships between the importance of four operational budget reasons and the intensity of the cost leader/differentiator strategy in business units. The study considers this relationship for both annual budgets and rolling forecasts. Using data collected from a survey of 331 medium to large Australian business units, we find that more intensive adopters of differentiator strategies appear to regard annual budgets and rolling forecasts as more important for both operational planning and performance evaluation reasons - this represented a broader range of reasons than that observed for cost leader business units, which have been traditionally argued to be more sensitive to formal financial controls.

Su, SW, Nguyen, HT, Ha, QP & IEEE 1970, 'Laboratory Demonstration for Model Predictive Multivariable Control with a Coupled Drive System', 11TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONTROL, AUTOMATION, ROBOTICS AND VISION (ICARCV 2010), International Conference on Control, Automation, Robotics and Vision, IEEE, Singapore, pp. 762-767.
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Teaching multivariable control usually involves a certain level of mathematical sophistication and hence requires some labaratorial exemplification of the material given in formal lectures. This paper reports on a hands-on approach to multivariable control education via the implementation of a model predictive controller on a two-input, two output coupled drive apparatus. This scaled-down system represents many industrial processes while provides an excellent set-up for demonstrating the cross-coupled effects in multi-input multi-output systems. Here, a model predictive controller (MPC) is developed and implemented on the basis of a constrained optimization problem to show control performance via the belt tension and velocity outputs, demonstrate the decoupling capability, and also illustrate such issues as control input saturation, the selection of operating point, reference inputs, and system robustness to external disturbance and varying parameters. The implementation is based on Labview and MATLAB Model Predictive Control Toolbox.

Tang, M, Wang, W, Jiang, Y, Zhou, Y, Li, J, Cui, P, Liu, Y & Yan, B 1970, 'Birds Bring Flues? Mining Frequent and High Weighted Cliques from Birds Migration Networks', DATABASE SYSTEMS FOR ADVANCED APPLICATIONS, PT II, PROCEEDINGS, 15th International Conference on Database Systems for Advanced Applications, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Tsukuba, JAPAN, pp. 359-369.
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Tran, T, Nguyen, HT, Ha, QP & IEEE 1970, 'Stability of Complex Systems with Mixed Connection Configurations under Shared Control', 11TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONTROL, AUTOMATION, ROBOTICS AND VISION (ICARCV 2010), Int. Conf. Control, Automation, Robotics and Vision, IEEE, Singapore, pp. 512-517.
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This paper presents a new stabilizing method for the control of complex systems operating in semi-automatic modes. The complex system is modeled by several spatially-coupled subsystems interconnected in parallel, serial and cycle configurations. Each subsystem is regulated by a dedicated autonomous controller that also allows for a manual control mode. An interconnection stability condition which takes the couplings between subsystems into consideration is derived from the renowned dissipative systems theory. Built upon this stability condition, decentralized stabilizing agents for autonomous controllers are subsequently deployed independently and segregatedly from the control algorithms. Due to this independence, human errors from man-machine interactions, that may destabilize the control systems, can be avoidable; also different types of control algorithms and controllers of subsystems are interoperable with the same stabilizing mechanism. To accomplish such tasks simultaneously, the stabilizing agents render overriding outputs for the automatic controllers, and at the same time, provide instability warning signals and manipulation guidance to the operators to successfully regulate the subsystems in the manual control mode, yet maintain the plant-wide stability. Real-time data of control inputs and plant outputs is exerted under the auspices of controller dissipativity indices and trajectories to stabilize the systems with closed-loop control and man-in-the-loop coexistence. Our main results are illustrated in simulation for a three-unit system. ©2010 IEEE.

Tran, Y, Craig, A, Wijesuriya, N & Hung Nguyen 1970, 'Improving classification rates for use in fatigue countermeasure devices using brain activity', 2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology, 2010 32nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 2010), IEEE, Buenos Aires, Argentina, pp. 4460-4463.
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Fatigue can be defined as a state that involves psychological and physical tiredness with a range of symptoms such as tired eyes, yawning and increased blink rate. It has major implications for work place and road safety as well as a negative symptom of many acute and chronic illnesses. As such there has been considerable research dedicated to systems or algorithms that can be used to detect and monitor the onset of fatigue. This paper examines using electroencephalography (EEG) signals to classify fatigue and alert states as a function of subjective self-report, driving performance and physiological symptoms. The results show that EEG classification network for fatigue improved from 75% to 80% when these factors are applied, especially when the data is grouped by subjective self-report of fatigue with classification accuracy improving to 84.5%.

Weckmann, M, Heckman, CA, Boustany, S, Oliver, BG, Burgess, JK, Moir, LM & Black, J 1970, 'Lamstatin, A Novel, Matrix-Derived, Endogenous Inhibitor Of Lymphangiogenesis Is Absent In LAM', A62. THE EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX: SOURCES, MEDIATORS, STRUCTURE, AND FUNCTIONAL CONSEQUENCES, American Thoracic Society 2010 International Conference, May 14-19, 2010 • New Orleans, American Thoracic Society.
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Weckmann, M, Svolos, M, Boustany, S, Oliver, BG, Burgess, JK, Moir, LM & Black, J 1970, 'Lamstatin And Tumstatin - Novel Inhibitors Of Lymphatic Cell Proliferation Are Absent In Lymphangioleiomyomatosis', A63. THE UNSTOPPABLE PROGRESS IN LYMPHANGIOLEIOMYOMATOSIS RESEARCH, American Thoracic Society 2010 International Conference, May 14-19, 2010 • New Orleans, American Thoracic Society.
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Weng, K, Turk, B, Dolores, L, Nguyen, TN, Celler, B, Su, S & Nguyen, HT 1970, 'Fast tracking of a given heart rate profile in treadmill exercise', 2010 Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBC'10, pp. 2569-2572.
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This paper investigates the application of a multi-loop PID controller in an automated treadmill exercise machine. The approach is to design a computer-controlled treadmill control system for the regulation of heart rate (HR) during treadmill exercise. A single-input and multiple-output (SIMO) controller was implemented to fast track a given heart rate profile in treadmill exercise. Two separate single-input and single-output (SISO) PID control systems are initially implemented to modify either the treadmill speed or its angle of inclination in order to achieve a desired HR. The purpose of this paper is to apply a SIMO control system by implementing a control algorithm which includes the two PID controllers working simultaneously to track the desired HR profile. The performance of the SIMO and SISO control systems are compared through the closed loop responses recorded during experimentation. This would also help future development of safe treadmill exercise system. © 2010 IEEE.

Zheng, L & Hoang, DB 1970, 'A QoS Mechanism of Registered Multi-Cycle Polling in Wireless Medium Access Control', 2010 IEEE RIVF International Conference on Computing & Communication Technologies, Research, Innovation, and Vision for the Future (RIVF), Communication Technologies, Research, Innovation, and Vision for the Future (RIVF), IEEE, Hanoi, pp. 1-6.
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Polling schemes in the IEEE 802 MAC layer provide some QoS support for multimedia applications above what can be provided with the contention scheme. However, in highly loaded environment, reliability and efficiency remain the main challenges for current detailed polling schemes. In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of polling medium access , and propose a novel mechanism, the Registered Multi-cycle polling. The new scheme performs particularly well especially under heavy load situations, where QoS guarantee for session-based applications is crucial to the network performance. The scheme provides not only parameterized QoS for session-based applications, but also improves the total network utilization. These performance gains are achieved with Registered Multi-cycle scheme with the use implicit information update and Multi-cycle enhancement.

Zhu, L & Li, J 1970, 'Water Bioinformatics: An Association between Estrogen Degradation and 16S rRNA Motifs', 2010 4th International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering, 2010 4th International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedical Engineering (iCBBE), IEEE.
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The existence of estrogenic compounds in the water severely pollutes the ecological environment. It is believed that microorganisms such as harmless bacterium can be used as a clean and safe medium to naturally degrade the estrogens. Many bacteria have been found to be capable of degrading estrogens in different ways and speeds. While the degradation mechanism, in particular, the association between the degradation capability and their phylogenetic motifs is unknown yet. In this paper, we analyzed the 16S rRNA gene sequences of 17 kinds of bacteria, which are usually used for phylogenetic studies. We examined the association between motifs and degradation by distinguishing such motifs that could separate those bacteria into several similar functional groups. Our computational result shows that the motifs have a various positive associations to the degradation, implying that different biodegradation factors are in the play. © 2010 IEEE.

Darcy, S, Cameron, B & Pegg, S STCRC 2010, Developing a business case for accessible tourism, Accessible Tourism: Concepts and Issues, pp. 241-259, Gold Coast.

Griffin, T, Moore, S, Crilley, G, Darcy, SA & Schweinsberg, SC Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Council 2010, Protected Area Management: Collection and Use of Visitor Data. Volume 1: Summary and Recommendations, pp. 1-50, Brisbane.
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The technical reports present data and its analysis, meta-studies and conceptual studies, and are considered to be of value to industry, government or other researchers. Unlike the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centres (STCRCs) Monograph series, these reports have not been subjected to an external peer review process. As such, the scientific accuracy and merit of the research reported here is the responsibility of the authors, who should be contacted for clarification of any content. Author contact details are at the back of this report. The views and opinions of the authors expressed in the reports or by the authors if you contact them do not necessarily state or reflect those of the STCRC.

Buhalis, D & Darcy, S 2010, 'Accessible tourism concepts and issues', Channel View Books, Bristol, UK, pp. 1-336.
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This book therefore sets out to explore and document the current theoretical approaches, foundations and issues in the study of accessible tourism.