Accessing the Japanese food grain market by supplying Australian non GMO grain inputs: the case of an Australian small business food quality corn and soybeans exporter

[Abstract]: This dissertation investigates how an independent Australian grain exporting SME has been able to access the Japanese market for food quality soybeans and corn. This firm has succeeded in entering this market despite entrenched competition from traditional suppliers in the USA and Canada and in the face of rigorous food safety and quality standards as required in this particular market. The research in this dissertation focuses on outlining the critical ‘enabling competencies’ that the firm and its suppliers developed in order to enter the Japanese market. A single case methodology involving multiple in-depth interviews with key stakeholders was used to provide triangulated evidence concerning the necessary and sufficient conditions for SME exporters to compete successfully in such mature markets, particularly in the face of entrenched competition from large scale suppliers of similar products from the United States and Canada. From the data collected in this research, a model of SME internationalisation was proposed highlighting the driving forces which stimulated the development of a set of ‘enabling competencies’ enabling successful entry into the Japanese market for food grains. This model has both practical and theoretical implications for the development of trade between Australia and Japan in the food grain sector. In conclusion this dissertation suggests that firms with the capacity to develop such competencies can succeed in entering enter such productmarkets

Flow-based assembly of nucleic acid-loaded polymer nanoparticles

Since the development of messenger RNA (mRNA)-based SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) vaccines, there is increased public awareness of the importance of nanoparticles, in this case lipid nanoparticles, to ensure safe delivery of an active compound. To ensure the formation of high-quality nanoparticles with reproducible results, these lipid nanoparticles are assembled with the nucleic acid drug using flow-based devices. Although flow assembly using lipid nanoparticles for nucleic acid delivery is well described in the literature, only a few examples use polymers. This is surprising because the field of polymers for nucleic acid delivery is substantial as hundreds of polymers for nucleic acid delivery have been reported in the literature. In this review, we discuss several aspects of flow-based assembly of nucleic acid-loaded polymer nanoparticles. Initially, we introduce the concept of chip-based or capillary-based systems that can be either used as single-phase or multiphase systems. Initially, researchers have to choose the type of mixing, which can be active or passive. The type of flow, laminar or turbulent, also significantly affects the quality of the nanoparticles. We then present the type of polymers that have so far been assembled with mRNA, small interfering RNA (siRNA) or plasmid DNA (pDNA) using flow devices. We discuss effects such as flow rate, concentration and polymer lengths on the outcome. To conclude, we highlight how flow assembly is an excellent way to generate well-defined nanoparticles including polyplexes in a reproducible manner

A gas-phase reaction cell for modern Atom Probe systems

In this work, we demonstrate a new system for the examination of gas interactions with surfaces via Atom Probe Tomography. This system provides the capability to examine the surface and subsurface interactions of gases with a wide range of specimens, as well as a selection of input gas types. This system has been primarily developed to aid the investigation of hydrogen interactions with metallurgical samples, to better understand the phenomenon of hydrogen embrittlement. In its current form, it is able to operate at pressures from 106 to 1000 mbar (abs), can operate using a variety of gasses, and is equipped with heating and cryogenic quenching capabilities. We use this system to examine the interaction of hydrogen with Pd, as well as the interaction of water vapour and oxygen in Mg samples

Bayesian EM algorithm for scoring polymorphic deletions from SNP data and application to a common CNV on 8q24

Copy number variations (CNVs) in the human genome provide exciting candidates for functional polymorphisms. Hence, we now assess association between CNV carrier status and diseases status by evaluating the signal intensity of SNP genotyping assays. Here, we present a novel statistical method designed to perform such inference and apply this method to a known CNV in a bipolar disorder linkage region. Using Bayesian computations we calculate the posterior probability for carrier status of a CNV in each individual of a sample by jointly analyzing genotype information and hybridization intensity. We model the signal intensity as a mixture of normal distributions, allowing for locus-specific and allele-specific distributions. Using an expectation maximization algorithm we estimate the parameters of these distributions and use these estimates for inferring carrier status of each individual and for the boundaries of the CNV. We applied the method to a sample of 3,512 individuals to a previously described common deletion on 8q24, a region consistently showing linkage to bipolar disorder, and unambiguously inferred 172 heterozygous and 1 homozygous deletion carrier. We observed no significant association between bipolar disorder and carrier status.  We carefully assessed the validity of the inferred carrier status and observed no indication of errors. Furthermore, the algorithm precisely identifies the boundaries of the CNV. Finally, we assessed the power of this algorithm to detect shorter CNVs by sub-sampling from the SNPs covered by this deletion, demonstrating that our EM algorithm produces precise estimates of carrier status. Genet. Epidemiol . 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62152/1/20391_ftp.pd

Ice Ice Baby: Improving Water Quantification of Hydrous Minerals by Cryofocussed Ion Beam and Cryo Vaccum Transfer to Atom Probe

No abstract available

Broadband Quantum Enhancement of the LIGO Detectors with Frequency-Dependent Squeezing

Quantum noise imposes a fundamental limitation on the sensitivity of interferometric gravitational-wave detectors like LIGO, manifesting as shot noise and quantum radiation pressure noise. Here, we present the first realization of frequency-dependent squeezing in full-scale gravitational-wave detectors, resulting in the reduction of both shot noise and quantum radiation pressure noise, with broadband detector enhancement from tens of hertz to several kilohertz. In the LIGO Hanford detector, squeezing reduced the detector noise amplitude by a factor of 1.6 (4.0 dB) near 1 kHz; in the Livingston detector, the noise reduction was a factor of 1.9 (5.8 dB). These improvements directly impact LIGO's scientific output for high-frequency sources (e.g., binary neutron star postmerger physics). The improved low-frequency sensitivity, which boosted the detector range by 15%-18% with respect to no squeezing, corresponds to an increase in the astrophysical detection rate of up to 65%. Frequency-dependent squeezing was enabled by the addition of a 300-meter-long filter cavity to each detector as part of the LIGO A+ upgrade

A search using GEO600 for gravitational waves coincident with fast radio bursts from SGR 1935+2154

The magnetar SGR 1935+2154 is the only known Galactic source of fast radio bursts (FRBs). FRBs from SGR 1935+2154 were first detected by the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME)/FRB and the Survey for Transient Astronomical Radio Emission 2 in 2020 April, after the conclusion of the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA Collaborations' O3 observing run. Here, we analyze four periods of gravitational wave (GW) data from the GEO600 detector coincident with four periods of FRB activity detected by CHIME/FRB, as well as X-ray glitches and X-ray bursts detected by NICER and NuSTAR close to the time of one of the FRBs. We do not detect any significant GW emission from any of the events. Instead, using a short-duration GW search (for bursts ≤1 s) we derive 50% (90%) upper limits of 1048 (1049) erg for GWs at 300 Hz and 1049 (1050) erg at 2 kHz, and constrain the GW-to-radio energy ratio to ≤1014−1016. We also derive upper limits from a long-duration search for bursts with durations between 1 and 10 s. These represent the strictest upper limits on concurrent GW emission from FRBs

Search for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in the first part of the fourth LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing run

Continuous gravitational waves (CWs) emission from neutron stars carries information about their internal structure and equation of state, and it can provide tests of general relativity. We present a search for CWs from a set of 45 known pulsars in the first part of the fourth LIGO–Virgo–KAGRA observing run, known as O4a. We conducted a targeted search for each pulsar using three independent analysis methods considering single-harmonic and dual-harmonic emission models. We find no evidence of a CW signal in O4a data for both models and set upper limits on the signal amplitude and on the ellipticity, which quantifies the asymmetry in the neutron star mass distribution. For the single-harmonic emission model, 29 targets have the upper limit on the amplitude below the theoretical spin-down limit. The lowest upper limit on the amplitude is 6.4 × 10−27 for the young energetic pulsar J0537−6910, while the lowest constraint on the ellipticity is 8.8 × 10−9 for the bright nearby millisecond pulsar J0437−4715. Additionally, for a subset of 16 targets, we performed a narrowband search that is more robust regarding the emission model, with no evidence of a signal. We also found no evidence of nonstandard polarizations as predicted by the Brans–Dicke theory