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Semiconducting colloidal quantum dots and their assemblies exhibit superior optical properties owing to the quantum confinement effect. Thus, they are attracting tremendous interest from fundamental research to commercial applications. However, the electrical conducting properties remain detrimental predominantly due to the orientational disorder of quantum dots in the assembly. Here we report high conductivity and the consequent metallic behaviour of semiconducting colloidal quantum dots of lead sulphide. Precise facet orientation control to forming highly-ordered quasi-2-dimensional epitaxially-connected quantum dot superlattices is vital for high conductivity. The intrinsically high mobility over 10 cm2 V−1 s−1 and temperature-independent behaviour proved the high potential of semiconductor quantum dots for electrical conducting properties. Furthermore, the continuously tunable subband filling will enable quantum dot superlattices to be a future platform for emerging physical properties investigations, such as strongly correlated and topological states, as demonstrated in the moiré superlattices of twisted bilayer graphene.

Background: For older people, place is crucial as it is where support networks, social relationships and family are. Older people develop a sense of belonging to their local community through participation and place is strongly linked to personal histories. For older people, ageing in their own home also allows for continuity of relationships and informal support networks in the area.While there are significant benefits of ageing in place, for older people with low wellbeing, the provision of services is going to be essential to allow them to age in place. Therefore, this article aims to identify areas where older people have low wellbeing using an index of wellbeing developed using a range of data; and to show how the domains and indicators can be used to identify why older people in an area have low wellbeing. This analysis can then be used to help to identify what types of services are required to improve wellbeing in an area of low wellbeing best. Methods: We use Principal Components Analysis (PCA) to create the Index of Wellbeing for Older Australians, for each domain and then adding the domains together using a transformation. One of the advantages of this method is that areas can be identified as having low wellbeing, but then using the domains, the reason for the low wellbeing can be identified.A case study is used to show how low wellbeing can be attributed to a particular domain in the area; and then show how the indicators that were used for this domain can be used to identify exactly what is driving the low wellbeing for older people in the area.Results: Our overall findings show that the participation domain matters as the proportion of older people who are volunteers has the highest contribution to the well being index followed closely by the employment rate of older people. In contrast, functional ability domain reveals the need for assistance indicator has the highest contribution to reduce the wellbeing. Conclusion: We conclude that the index method used encourages the de-construction of the overall index, and provides a way to inform service providers in an area on the most effective ways to enhance wellbeing for older people in an area.

Using a novel district-level dataset of three poverty indicators and related determinants, this paper attempts to examine the convergence process in terms of poverty reduction across 514 districts over the 2010–2018 period. The main findings of this study are fourfold. First, results of both distributional convergence and spatial convergence analyses suggest that poverty convergence takes place in all three poverty indicators. Second, there is an overall clustering pattern and a persistent West–East polarization in terms of poverty indicators. In addition, decreasing patterns of poverty inequality are significantly associated with increasing patterns of spatial dependence. Third, spatial effects are significantly low in accelerating convergence rates in poverty reduction. However, substantial differences in the speed of convergence among three poverty indicators is apparent. Under specifications of the Spatial Durbin Model as the best model, convergence regression in poverty rate model appears to generate the longest half-life for the catching-up process in poverty reduction across districts. Fourth, regression results from the spatial convergence framework suggest that mean years of schooling tend to contribute the largest effect to the catching-up process in poverty reduction.

The molecular mechanisms of luminal cell differentiation are not understood well enough to determine how differentiation goes awry during oncogenesis. Using RNA-Seq analysis, we discovered that CREB1 plays a central role in maintaining new luminal cell survival and that oncogenesis dramatically changes the CREB1-induced transcriptome. CREB1 is active in luminal cells, but not basal cells. We identified ING4 and its E3 ligase, JFK, as CREB1 transcriptional targets in luminal cells. During luminal cell differentiation, transient induction of ING4 expression is followed by a peak in CREB1 activity, while JFK increases concomitantly with CREB1 activation. Transient expression of ING4 is required for luminal cell induction; however, failure to properly down-regulate ING4 leads to luminal cell death. Consequently, blocking CREB1 increased ING4 expression, suppressed JFK, and led to luminal cell death. Thus, CREB1 is responsible for the suppression of ING4 required for luminal cell survival and maintenance. Oncogenic transformation by suppressing PTEN resulted in constitutive activation of CREB1. However, the tumor cells could no longer fully differentiate into luminal cells, failed to express ING4, and displayed a unique CREB1 transcriptome. Blocking CREB1 in tumorigenic cells suppressed tumor growth in vivo, rescued ING4 expression, and restored luminal cell formation, but ultimately induced luminal cell death. IHC of primary prostate tumors demonstrated a strong correlation between loss of ING4 and loss of PTEN. This is the first study to define a molecular mechanism whereby oncogenic loss of PTEN, leading to aberrant CREB1 activation, suppresses ING4 expression causing disruption of luminal cell differentiation.

Child social exclusion (CSE) is a complex and multi-dimensional measure of social and material disadvantage in which children lack the opportunities and resources to participate fully in their communities and feel connected. The aim of this article is to provide an update of the risk of child social exclusion at small area level in Australia in 2016 and compare the trends and patterns to 2011. We found that many children are experiencing disadvantage on multiple fronts and are unable to participate fully in their community. Australia’s capital cities paint a contrasting picture having clear clusters of neighbourhoods at risk of high but also low levels of child social exclusion. Areas outside capital cities have much lower proportions of children experiencing the lowest levels of social exclusion. We found that from 2011 to 2016, the geographical patterns of the least and most excluded areas remain largely unchanged over time, with 73 per cent of the small areas in Australia remaining in the same quintile in 2011 and 2016. Of the local communities having the highest risk of child social exclusion in 2011, 87% were still in the most excluded quintile in 2016. Between 2011 and 2016, 279 small areas (14%) improved their CSE quintile, but 268 local communities shifted into a more socially excluded quintile. The key drivers of improvement in child social exclusion were ‘above-average’ improvement in the socio-economic well-being of families in these areas and in their educational attainment, and reduced exposure to increases in housing stress.

Social media act as primary means of connection between the stake-holding public and varied enterprises, including nonprofit entities. The media also have great potency to assist nonprofit organizations (NPOs) to deliver real-time transparency to the public. While prior studies have assessed how NPO online accountability is discharged through organization website, fewer ones discussed on social media usage to deliver online accountability. This study, therefore, aims to find out how social media act as online accountability channels for NPOs and observe which social media is the most effective in performing such an objective. The study follows a qualitative case study approach on a nonprofit Indonesian humanitarian organization. While the data was collected through a document review, semi-structured interviews, and content analysis of massive social media statistical data (including 18,929 posts made by the NPO from January 1, 2012 to August 28, 2020). The data was subsequently analyzed through the use of the thematic method. Using NPO accountability framework developed from former literature, it is found that NPOs can fulfill various dimensions of accountability through social media: formal-informal and upward-downward. Nonetheless, their current use of social media is still restricted to short-term rather than strategic accountability. In terms of effectiveness, Facebook followed by Instagram surpassed other media in terms of attracting fans, engagement, and total reactions-comments-shares. This study offers several implications for the management of NPOs by outlining a framework of optimizing social media for discharging online accountability as well as further research agendas to scholars interested in the subject.

Despite the wide range of wellbeing frameworks utilised globally, no consensus exists regarding how a wellbeing framework might be assessed. This article aims to fill this gap by proposing a method of assessment to review potential indicators of wellbeing and then shows how this method can be used to assess evidence for a number of indicators. It answers the research question: what indicators have been successfully validated and applied in population settings? To identify the current evidence and any potential research gaps, we investigated key international and Australian frameworks on wellbeing. After identifying the wellbeing indicators used in these frameworks, we assessed the quality of evidence in the academic literature using three criteria: frequency of use, reliability and availability. We then made an overall assessment of the indicators’ practicality and usability weighing up both the quality of evidence and data availability. From the 96 indicators analysed, we identified 16 high usability indicators in the domains of economic, home, health, education and skills, and social and community. These indicators are household income, educational attainment, employment, unemployment, financial hardship, overcrowding, housing affordability, homelessness, life expectancy, self-reported health status, disability, smoking behaviour, mental health, cognitive skills, social network/support and volunteering. This practical method of assessment is not limited to wellbeing indicators and can also be applied in other settings, providing a useful tool for policymakers across the world.

In developing countries, such as Indonesia, urbanization equates to industrialization. To actuate rapid economic development, the government generally puts in place strong policies to transform rural into industrialized peri-urban/urban areas. This triggers a number of environmental problems, one of which is the degradation of groundwater resources. This study aimed to investigate whether rural to urban transformation caused such environmental degradation. We selected the Majalaya District, a typical peri-urban area of Bandung Metropolitan, where rapid industrialization, mainly related to the textile industry, is taking place. This research adopted a water balance analysis applied to a shallow groundwater resource, contrasting supply with demand after 9 years of development (2005–2014). Data concerning water supply and demand were collected from relevant stakeholders, except for water consumption by vegetation and agricultural land use. For the latter, GIS and QuickBird image analysis were conducted. The results indicate that the industrial development in Majalaya has caused a groundwater crisis. A nine-year period of fast-growing number of industries has caused water deficit, which was also intensified by the rate of land conversion.

Polymer nanocomposites are often produced using in situ approaches where an inorganic filler (as the dispersed phase) is synthesized directly in an organic matrix. Such an approach generally leads to improved dispersion and reduced agglomeration of the filler material. Epoxy-based nanocomposites have demonstrated promising properties for application as high-voltage insulation materials. In this work, a sol–gel based method has been adapted to synthesize surface-functionalized SiO2 in situ in epoxy. The synthesized SiO2 moieties were dispersed in clusters of 10–80 nm, and formed chemical bonds with the epoxy monomers via a silane coupling agent. Raman spectra show the formation of four-membered D1 rings, which may be part of a cage-like structure similar to that of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS). SAXS measurements indicate that the SiO2 clusters consist of a hierarchical structure with an increasing fractal dimension with increasing SiO2 content. The nanocomposites displayed improved thermal stability, while the glass transition behavior varied depending on the structure and content of the SiO2 moieties. While the relative permittivity showed no significant changes from that of pure epoxy, the onset of the dielectric relaxation changed with the SiO2 structure and content, similar to the behavior observed for the glass transition. © The Author(s) 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://crea tivecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Prostate cancer metastases primarily localize in the bone where they induce a unique osteoblastic response. Elevated Notch activity is associated with high-grade disease and metastasis. To address how Notch affects prostate cancer bone lesions, we manipulated Notch expression in mouse tibia xenografts and monitored tumor growth, lesion phenotype, and the bone microenvironment. Prostate cancer cell lines that induce mixed osteoblastic lesions in bone expressed 5-6 times more Notch3, than tumor cells that produce osteolytic lesions. Expression of active Notch3 (NICD3) in osteolytic tumors reduced osteolytic lesion area and enhanced osteoblastogenesis, while loss of Notch3 in osteoblastic tumors enhanced osteolytic lesion area and decreased osteoblastogensis. This was accompanied by a respective decrease and increase in the number of active osteoclasts and osteoblasts at the tumor-bone interface, without any effect on tumor proliferation. Conditioned medium from NICD3-expressing cells enhanced osteoblast differentiation and proliferation in vitro, while simultaneously inhibiting osteoclastogenesis. MMP-3 was specifically elevated and secreted by NICD3-expressing tumors, and inhibition of MMP-3 rescued the NICD3-induced osteoblastic phenotypes. Clinical osteoblastic bone metastasis samples had higher levels of Notch3 and MMP-3 compared to patient matched visceral metastases or osteolytic metastasis samples. We identified a Notch3-MMP-3 axis in human prostate cancer bone metastases that contributes to osteoblastic lesion formation by blocking osteoclast differentiation, while also contributing to osteoblastogenesis. These studies define a new role for Notch3 in manipulating the tumor microenvironment in bone metastases.

Reservoirs play a strategic role in the context of sustainable energy supply. Unfortunately, the majority of the reservoirs are facing water-quality degradation due to complex pollutants originating from activities both in the catchment and inside the reservoir. This research was aimed at assessing the extent of the water degradation, in terms of corrosivity level, and at examining its impacts on hydropower capacity and operation. Water quality data (total dissolved solids, pH, calcium, bicarbonate, and temperature) were obtained from 20 sampling stations in the Cirata Reservoir from 2007 to 2016. The results show that the river water is already corrosive (Langelier Saturation Index, LSI = − 0.21 to − 1.08), and, the corrosiveness becoming greater when entering the reservoir (LSI = − 0.52 to − 1.49). The water corrosivity has caused damage to the hydro-mechanical equipment and lowering production capacity. The external environment of the catchment hosts complex human activities, such as agriculture, land conversion, urban and industrial discharge, which have all played a major role in the water corrosiveness. Meanwhile, the internal environment, such as floating net cage aquaculture, has intensified the problem. As the water corrosiveness has increased, the maintenance of the hydro-mechanical facilities has also increased. Strategies must be applied as current conditions are certainly a threat to the sustainability of the hydropower operation and, hence, the energy supply.

Despite their massive application in tea plantation, synthetic pyrethroids had never been detected in tropical soils of tea plantation thus their risk has never been assessed. This research reported the detection of synthetic pyrethroids in tea plantation and assessed their aquatic ecotoxicological risk. A simplified analytical method based on the application of a miniaturized sample, solvent, and efficient ultra-sonic assisted extraction was developed for the determination of pyrethroids in the soil. The method was validated with the result of all parameters (recovery, % relative standard deviations, linearity, limit of detection (LoD), and matrix effect) met the acceptance limits suggested by European Commission guideline, thus deemed acceptable for the assessment of pyrethroids in tropical soil of tea plantation during the wet and dry season. Of the five synthetic pyrethroids, only permethrin was detected in both wet and dry seasons (< LoD – 0.36 μg g− 1), whereas deltamethrin was detected only in wet season (< LoD – 0.12 μg g− 1). Scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry and X-ray diffraction revealed that the soil constituted by various soil minerals made permethrin more likely to persist than deltamethrin. Aquatic ecotoxicological risk assessment was performed on the basis of comparison between the maximum equilibrium concentration expected in water (ECEWmax) value and lethal concentration (LC50) of pyrethroids exposure for aquatic species (algae, crustacean, and fish) inhabiting the Upper Citarum River. The ECEWmax value for the present condition was lower than LC50 for all examined species, indicating that the high-level contamination in the future should have posed a high risk for all aquatic species based on their LC50.

Education has long been seen as a crucial factor to the economic wellbeing and achievement of people and localities. Therefore, inequality of educational attainment often precedes inequalities in other aspects of life. Although Australia mandates compulsory secondary education, the outcomes vary nationwide. Concern has been expressed about the gap in educational achievement between rural and urban areas. This study analyses regional inequalities of secondary school education outcomes by examining spatial disparities among smaller spatial units and how factors contributing to secondary school education outcomes perform regionally. The results confirm a rural–urban disparity, reveal disparities within regional capital cities and indicate that some rural areas, especially in Victoria, perform relatively well. Disparities are triggered by socio-economic conditions and by the quantity of resources devoted to school systems. Wealthier areas generally provide better resources.

Breast cancer (BCa) bone metastases cause osteolytic bone lesions, which result from the interactions of metastatic BCa cells with osteoclasts and osteoblasts. Osteoclasts differentiate from myeloid lineage cells. To understand the cell-specific role of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) in the myeloid lineage, in BCa bone metastases, MDA-MB-231 BCa cells were intra-tibially or intra-cardially injected into LysM(Cre)/Tgfbr2(floxE2/floxE2) knockout (LysM(Cre)/Tgfbr2 KO) or Tgfbr2(floxE2/floxE2) mice. Metastatic bone lesion development was compared by analysis of both lesion number and area. We found that LysM(Cre)/Tgfbr2 knockout significantly decreased MDA-MB-231 bone lesion development in both the cardiac and tibial injection models. LysM(Cre)/Tgfbr2 knockout inhibited the tumor cell proliferation, angiogenesis and osteoclastogenesis of the metastatic bones. Cytokine array analysis showed that basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was downregulated in MDA-MB-231-injected tibiae from the LysM(Cre)/Tgfbr2 KO group, and intravenous injection of the recombinant bFGF to LysM(Cre)/Tgfbr2 KO mice rescued the inhibited metastatic bone lesion development. The mechanism by which bFGF rescued the bone lesion development was by promotion of tumor cell proliferation through the downstream mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-cFos pathway after binding to the FGF receptor 1 (FGFR1). Consistent with animal studies, we found that in human BCa bone metastatic tissues, TGF-β type II receptor (TβRII) and p-Smad2 were expressed in osteoclasts and tumor cells, and were correlated with the expression of FGFR1. Our studies suggest that myeloid-specific TGF-β signaling-mediated bFGF in the bone promotes BCa bone metastasis.

There is a substantial literature within Australia examining poverty rates for different family types at the national level. This study presents the first Australian estimates of poverty rates for different types of families at a local level. This paper builds upon the SpatialMSM/08B model, which fuses together data from the 2006 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census of Population and Housing and the 2002–03 and 2003–04 Surveys of Income and Housing. We examine differences in rates of income poverty for lone persons, sole parents, couples and couples with children. The results show that people living by themselves and sole parents have the highest poverty rates. In addition, there are pronounced spatial differences in the poverty rates of people living in different family situations, although the highest poverty rates for all family types tend to be in Australia’s rural areas, with poverty clusters in most of the capital cities.

This paper examines whether the gap in fertility between women with higher education and in professional occupations and other women has narrowed or widened over time in Australia. Using data from the Australian Census of Population and Housing 1986, 1996 and 2006, the paper focuses on levels of childlessness. Both working women (using occupational categories) and all women (using educational attainment) aged between 20 and 44 were examined. Focusing particularly on women working in, or qualified for, some selected high-prestige professions (doctors, lawyers, dentists and vets), as well as on women with other tertiary qualifications and working in other professional or managerial occupations, the findings suggest that, between 1986 and 2006, childlessness has grown at a slower rate for women with tertiary education than for all women, although women with tertiary education continue to have the highest proportion of childlessness. Our findings for working women were similar, with women working in selected prestigious occupations having the highest rates of childlessness of all working women, but with this growing at a slower rate than was the case overall.

The radiopharmaceutical [153Sm]Sm-EDTMP is administered for painful bone metastases with the standard dosage of 37 MBq/kg, without evaluation of patient individual characteristics. For a better dose estimate in vivo stability should be considered, because labelled and unlabelled samarium do not have the same metabolic pathway. We evaluated radiopharmaceutical in vitro stability, measuring the activity by beta and gamma spectrometry. Subsequently we verified in vivo stability on serial blood and urine samples. The percentage of the unlabelled radiopharmaceutical is high and, on the basis of radiochemical data as well as blood clearance and urine excretion, we calculated the main parameters for a preliminary biokinetic model.

KAI1/CD82, a tetraspanin protein, was first identified as a metastasis suppressor in prostate cancer. How loss of CD82 expression promotes cancer metastasis is unknown. Restoration of CD82 expression to physiological levels in the metastatic prostate cell line PC3 inhibits integrin-mediated cell migration and invasion, but does not affect integrin expression. Integrin-dependent activation of the receptor kinase c-Met is dramatically reduced in CD82-expressing cells, as is c-Met activation by its ligand HGF/SF. CD82 expression also reduced integrin-induced activation and phosphorylation of the cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase Src, and its downstream substrates p130Cas and FAK Y861. Inhibition of c-Met expression or Src kinase function reduced matrigel invasion of PC3 cells to the same extent as CD82 expression. These data indicate that CD82 functions to suppress integrin-induced invasion by regulating signaling to c-Met and Src kinases, and suggests that CD82 loss may promote metastasis by removing a negative regulator of c-Met and Src signaling.

Unfortunately, erroneous author affiliations were published in the article "Tomotherapy PET-guided dose escalation – A dosimetric feasibility study for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma". The correct list of author affiliations reads as follows: Angelo Maggio 1, Claudia Cutaia 1, Amalia Di Dia 1, Sara Bresciani 1, Anna Miranti 1, Matteo Poli 1, Elena Delmastro 2, Elisabetta Garibaldi 2, Pietro Gabriele 2 and Michele Stasi 1. 1: Medical Physics Department, Candiolo Cancer Institute – FPO, IRCCS, Turin, Italy. 2: Radiotherapy Department, Candiolo Cancer Institute – FPO, IRCCS, Turin, Italy. We apologize for any inconveniences caused.