Relative Arrangement Research Articles

Abstract 1922: Application of an interpretable graph neural network to predict gene expression signatures associated with tertiary lymphoid structures in histopathological images

Abstract Background: Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) are vascularized lymphocyte aggregates in the tumor microenvironment (TME) that correlate with better patient outcomes. Previous studies identified a 12 chemokine gene expression signature associated with disease progression and the type and degree of TLS. These signatures could provide insight important for clinical decision making during pathologic evaluation, but predicting gene expression from whole slide images (WSI) may be impeded by low prediction accuracy and lack of interpretability. Here we report an artificial intelligence (AI)-based, state-of-the-art workflow to predict the 12-chemokine TLS gene signature from lung cancer WSI, and identify histological features relevant to model predictions. Methods: Models were trained using 538 cases of paired lung cancer WSI and mRNA-seq expression data (The Cancer Genome Atlas). Cell and tissue classifiers, based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) were trained on WSI, and a graph neural network (GNN) model that leverages the relative spatial arrangement of the CNN-identified cells and tissues was used to predict gene expression. GNN predictions of TLS signature genes were compared with the predictions of models trained using hand-crafted, task-specific features (TLS feature models) describing the number, size, and cellular composition of identified TLS. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess the accuracy of GNN and TLS feature model predictions. GNNExplainer1, a tool that simultaneously identifies a subgraph and a subset of node features important for predictions, was applied to interpret the GNN model predictions. Results: GNN model predictions show reasonable accuracy: GNN models significantly predicted mRNA expression of all 12 genes (p<0.05), and the predicted expression of six genes was moderately correlated with ground-truth measurements (Pearson-r>0.5). The correlation of GNN predictions was higher than that of the TLS feature models for all 12 signature genes. The GNNExplainer identified relevant features including the mean and standard deviation of lymphocyte count, and fraction of lymphocytes in cancer stroma. Subgraphs selected by the GNNExplainer focus on, but extend beyond, regions of human-annotated TLS objects, indicating that TLS may influence gene expression and the TME in regions beyond their immediate vicinity. Conclusion: Here, we show a comparison of two interpretable AI methods for the prediction of TLS-induced gene expression from WSI. The outperforming GNN-based approach is highly reproducible and accurate, predicting histopathology features relevant to TLS that may be used to inform patient prognosis and treatment. These methods could be applied to predict additional clinically relevant transcriptomic signatures. 1. ​​Ying, R, et al. 2019. arXiv:1903.03894v4 Citation Format: Ciyue Shen, Collin Schlager, Deepta Rajan, Maryam Pouryahya, Mary Lin, Victoria Mountain, Ilan Wapinski, Amaro Taylor-Weiner, Benjamin Glass, Robert Egger, Andrew Beck. Application of an interpretable graph neural network to predict gene expression signatures associated with tertiary lymphoid structures in histopathological images [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 1922.

The impact of the war in Ukraine on changing Russia-Austria relations.

ObjectivesThe article considers the changes that occurred in bilateral relations between Russia and Austria in the period before and after the start of the military invasion of Ukraine in February 2014. Austria, as the subject of the study, was chosen because of its peculiarities as a perpetually neutral country and state - member of the European Union. The country to shape its bilateral relations with Russia in a particular way, which has changed since the beginning of military operations in Ukraine.MethodsThe analysis and synthesis of knowledge, the case study method, the hard and soft power theory of Joseph Nye, a method of observing current political and military events.Results1. Until the conflict with Ukraine, which took the form of war in February 2022, relations between Russia and Austria were friendly, based on mutual benefits. 2. The Austrian government to take an unambiguous stance towards the conflict and to stand in solidarity with other EU countries. 3. The bilateral relations to rapidly weaken and deteriorate, which can be seen in the public statements of Russian politicians.ConclusionsAustria played a special role in bilateral and multilateral contacts in the international environment. Russian sought to influence Austria through diplomatic, informational and economic means. By publicly condemning the armed invasion in Ukraine and accepting the sanctions imposed on Russia by EU countries, Austria received a harsh reaction from Russia in the diplomatic forum. In the long run, this may dramatically change the arrangement of mutual relations between the two countries.

The Existence of Phillips Curve theory in Ethiopia

To continue Ethiopia’s successful path towards becoming a middle income country, it is an important issue focusing on macroeconomic variables. In this modern world inflation and unemployment’s are a most sensitive issue and needs critical attention to overcome problems which come from those two macroeconomic variables. Thus, the objective of the study was to investigate the long run and short run relationships, plus to this to look the causality between inflation rate and unemployment in Ethiopia. The study utilized Augmented Dickey-Fuller test, Auto Regressive Distributed Lag model and Granger causality test by using Vector Error Correction Model with a time spam of 1984/85-2019/20. The finding appears unemployment (contrarily and pitifully) and expected inflation (positively) has long run impact on the current inflation rate. Within the short run as it were anticipated inflation (positively) affect inflation rate but there's no short run relationship between inflation rate and unemployment rate. From this, the researcher proofs that Phillips curve exist in long run (contrary to 1970’s theory), not in short run (contrary to 1950 and 1960’s theory). At long last, the study suggests the government ought to center on fiscal approach which plays an incredible part on unemployment decrease and money related arrangement for inflation rate. Besides, a government ought to maintain a strategic distance from fumble on outside obligation utilization and outside coordinate venture. The government ought to alter the populace growth to economic progress. Keywords: Augmented Phillips curve, Ethiopia, Inflation, Unemployment DOI: 10.7176/JESD/13-11-03 Publication date: June 30 th 2022

Political ecologies of resettlement in river deltas

AbstractIn river deltas, human interference with regional and global socio‐ecological systems has led to a plethora of gradual and more abrupt environmental changes that result in inundation, coastal and river bank erosion, land loss and, ultimately, displaced people. Often apolitically framed as protective, state‐led transfer of people to new housing grounds,resettlementhas become a common response to such displacements. In its process, existing arrangements of land tenure and occupancy and, at times more covertly, related arrangements of capital, labor and the social fabric become dislocated and reassembled. In line with emerging critical geographies of resettlement, this paper conceptualizes resettlement in river deltas against the background of environmental change as a highly political process with far‐reaching environmental, economic, social and cultural implications. For this article is based on an in‐depth review of both resettlement and political ecology literature, we first elucidate the concept of resettlement before providing a structured overview of categories and recent trends in resettlement literature. We then focus on river deltas that due to multi‐scale environmental change are about to become hotspots of future resettlement. Building on identified gaps in resettlement literature, the article concludes with opening up three analytical strands of political ecology as entry points to resettlement studies, understood as critical geographic research into localized manifestations of environmental change in river deltas. Overall, our paper aims to initialize conceptual debate, grounded in a thorough review of recent case study literature on resettlement that is informed by political ecology. The review challenges positivist reductions of resettlement processes as technocratic‐managerial tasks that so far have dominated scientific literature in this field and opens up new perspectives for critical research on resettlements in river deltas for human geographers.

Vertical-axis wind-turbine farm design: Impact of rotor setting and relative arrangement on aerodynamic performance of double rotor arrays

The impact of rotor setting and relative arrangement on the individual and overall power performance and aerodynamics of double rotor vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) arrays is investigated. Eight rotor settings are considered: two relative rotational directions (co-rotating, CO, and counter-rotating, CN), two relative positionings (downstream turbine positioned in the leeward, LW, and windward, WW, of the upstream rotor), and two phase lags (Δθ = 0° and 180°). For each of the eight rotor settings, 63 different relative arrangements are considered resulting in 504 unique cases. The arrangements are considered within 1.25d≤R≤ 10d (d = rotor diameter) and 0° ≤Φ≤ 90°, where R and Φ are relative distance and angle of the rotors, respectively. Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (URANS) CFD simulations, validated with experimental data, are employed. The results show that the power performance of the array is significantly influenced by the relative rotational direction and positioning, ∼8% in power coefficient (CP), while it is marginally dependent on relative phase lag. The different performance of the studied arrays is because of different parts of the downstream turbine revolution being affected by the wake of the upstream turbine and dissimilar strength/width of the shear layer created in the two rotors’ wake overlap. The preferred rotational direction for WW arrays is co-rotating while for LW arrays counter-rotating is favored. For the same arrangement, counter-rotating turbines with LW relative positioning have the highest CP due to their downstream turbine blade moving along the flow direction in the wake overlap region resulting in little energy dissipation and weak shear layer. In contrast, counter-rotating arrays with WW relative positioning have the lowest CP, because the downstream turbine blade moves against the flow in the wake overlap region, resulting in extensive velocity deficit and a thick, strong shear layer.

Connectivity and constructive algorithms of disjoint paths in dragonfly networks

Dragonfly networks have been widely used in the current High Performance Computing (HPC) computers due to lower global network diameter and other advantages of communication performance such as modularity and cost-effectiveness. The original definition of the dragonfly network was very loose on account of its uncertain and diversified global link arrangements. In this paper, we study the logical structure of the dragonfly network which can be treated as a compound graph of complete graphs. Firstly, we give the general definition of the dragonfly network, named DF(n,h,g), and the specific definition of the dragonfly network under the relative global link arrangement, named D(n,h). Then, we prove that the connectivity of D(n,h) is n−1+h. In the end, we propose an O(n) algorithm to give the disjoint path between any two distinct vertices in D(n,h) and analyze the maximum length of these disjoint paths which is no more than 7.

Peculiarities of Ownership to Sunken Property Located in the Territorial Waters of the Russian Federation

The paper is devoted to the analysis of various aspects of the legal regulation of ownership to sunken property located within the territorial waters of the Russian Federation. The following areas of application of the rules governing the ownership to sunken (submerged) property are considered as the subject of regulation of ownership to sunken property and geographical arrangement in relation with regard to maritime areas. The author justifies the expediency of the Russian Federation’s accession to the International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks of 2007 that regulates the universal mechanism of liability insurance for the removal of wrecks. It is concluded that it is necessary for Russian courts to take into account the judicial and arbitration practice of dispute resolution arising from the application of unified norms that have accumulated in the States Parties to international treaties on the law of the sea. Numerous legal gaps have been identified in the special legal regulation of ownership of sunken property that are proposed to be eliminated by legislative amendments. The author dwells on the necessity of defining a clear procedure for the removal and destruction of sunken objects, ways of exercising the rights of persons who accidentally raised sunken property, as well as consideration of the issue of submerged ships and vessels that plays an important role in the protection of the environment from pollution by harmful substances and ensuring the safety of navigation at the state level by adopting a federal program in Russia on raising, removal, disposal of sunken property also as an objective before different departments. As a conclusion, the author emphasizes the need to register all submerged objects in the territorial waters of Russia on a specialized account in order to prevent unauthorized work on such objects, declare by a special government decree all submerged ships and vessels containing the remains of the soldiers killed in action as military graves, as well as conduct systematic scientific and technical studies of all submerged objects in order to identify the real environmental safety of the marine environment.

Audit of epilepsy healthcare provision in a large UK category B prison

PurposeWe reviewed all prisoners diagnosed with epilepsy within a large UK category B prison: collecting demographic information and the prevalence and nature of their seizure disorder; and reviewed standards of their epilepsy healthcare provision. Previous work has highlighted poorer seizure control and limited access to specialist services in this patient group. MethodsFifty-five male prisoners with a previously established diagnosis of epilepsy were identified by the prison healthcare manager during the six-month audit period. Anonymised audit data was collected during clinical interviews undertaken by members of a regional specialist epilepsy service and recorded on a standardised proforma. Data collection occurred during six prison visits within the audit period. ResultsPoint prevalence of epilepsy was 2%. Data suggest that demographics are complex and challenging in this patient group. We found increased rates of alcohol (40%) and drug (82%) misuse and mental health problems (85.5%). Just over one third of cases were prescribed medications with potential for misuse (diversion). Further optimization of anti-seizure medication (ASM) regimens was required in 67.3% of the study sample, with only 12.7% of cases being free of seizures for the last 12 months. Access to specialist epilepsy services was limited; only 38.2% had a specialist review in the last 12 months. Most cases (76.4%) did not recall receiving guidance on precautions that should be taken regarding duties or cell arrangements in relation to having a diagnosis of epilepsy. ConclusionsTighter collaboration between prison healthcare and local NHS specialist services is recommended to optimise epilepsy healthcare in UK prison settings.

Determinants of Surgical Care and Outcomes for Patients with Appendicitis in a Tertiary Public Hospital with Tiered Services

Background. Tiered services, differentiated by the financial capacity of patients and related payment arrangements with hospitals, are the norm in Philippine facilities. This study considered how these, together with selected demographic and clinical factors, were associated with surgical care utilization, provision, and outcomes for patients with appendicitis in a public university hospital.
 Methods. This was a retrospective cohort study, utilizing data obtained from an electronic patient registry. Patients who underwent emergent appendectomies from January 2017 to December 2018 were included. Data were analyzed using multivariate and logistic regression, with the following dependent variables: time from symptom onset to emergency department consultation (ED Lag), time from consult to surgery (OR Lag), selection for laparoscopic appendectomy (LA), the occurrence of complicated appendicitis (CA), and length of stay (LOS). Morbidities and mortalities were tallied.
 Results. There were 1,501 patients included in the study. Young adult males comprised the majority and mostly had non-private accommodations. Non-CA was the impression in more than 80% of cases. Extremes of age were associated with longer ED and OR Lags, greater likelihood of CA, and longer LOS. Patients initially assessed as having CA had shorter OR Lags, were less likely to undergo LA, and had longer LOS. Private patients were more likely to have undergone LA, lower CA odds, and slightly longer LOS.
 Conclusions. Variations in surgical care utilization, provision, and outcomes for patients with appendicitis were independently associated with socioeconomic and clinical status differences.

Exploring The Impacts and Aftershocks of Covid-19 on Islamic Banking and Conventional Banking in Pakistan

This paper examines main points of contention connected with the lead of money related strategy in nations with Islamic banks. It portrays the large-scale monetary foundation and money related arrangement systems in which Islamic banks ordinarily work and talks about the component of financial transmission in economies where Islamic and ordinary banks exist together. Most economies with Islamic banks likewise have regular banks, and this requires a complete way to deal with financial strategy. Simultaneously, a double money related strategy approach ought to be thought of in the event that the Islamic section of the monetary framework isn't generally so evolved as the traditional one. The record looks to reveal insight into possible overflows among customary and Islamic monetary frameworks and gives explicit suggestions on the best way to shape Islamic money related approach tasks and work with the exchange of assets through the Islamic monetary framework.

Design and Refabrication of Advanced Mechanism for Indian Toilet Cleaning

As per technical evolution and latest trends take into consideration here effective created an advanced system i.e. Design and Refabrication of Advanced Mechanism for Indian Toilet Cleaning. This system uses a controlled cleaning process and can be able to move anywhere so as to wash another toilet. This project uses multiple geared rack and pinion structures to enter into the toilet seat for cleaning. These rack and pinion arrangements are processed by a high torque motor. There is a brushing arrangement for cleaning along with to and fro movement with the help of a combinational arrangement of rack and pinion link. This project uses a high torque motor, long geared racks, geared pinion, pump, and related arrangements. This project can be useful in public toilets. This project is shock resistant as here used electricity for the motor. This project can be moved anywhere with an optimistic design. This project is easy to operate and has less maintenance so can be used anywhere. In this project, there is rearranged management for water cleaning and rotating brushing system so that all other queries can be sorted out. This complete assembly works on stored power so that where there is no the availability of electricity, we can use it according to application. As this system uses low-power devices so power requirement will be less.

Understanding Quantum Plasmonic Enhancement in Nanorod Dimers from Time-Dependent Orbital-Free Density Functional Theory

Localized surface plasmon resonances could yield extreme enhancement of local electric fields at surfaces of plasmonic nanostructures. Herein, we have performed quantum mechanical simulations to systematically study plasmonic resonances in sodium (Na) nanorod dimers based on time-dependent orbital-free density functional theory. Several representative geometries, including end-to-end, side-to-side, and right-angle T- and L-shaped dimer arrangements are explored in detail. The optical spectra, tunneling electric current, and electric field enhancement (hot spots) are examined as a function of the size of the nanorods, their relative arrangement, and their gap distance (≤2 nm). Two plasmon resonant modes are identified to be responsible for the observed electric field enhancement. One of them is of quantum nature, arising from quantum tunneling across the gap of the two nanorods. The other mode is of electrostatic nature, originating from the dipolar interaction between the plasmonic oscillations of each nanorod. Among the examined geometries, the end-to-end dimer exhibits the strongest field enhancement, which increases with the aspect ratio and the gap distance. The interplay between electron tunneling across the gap and the spill-out of electrons at the nanorod surfaces is revealed to dominate the modulation of plasmonic resonances and field enhancement in the nanorod dimers.

Antioxidant Activity of a Selenopeptide Modelling the Thioredoxin Reductase Active Site is Enhanced by NH···Se Hydrogen Bond in the Mixed Selenosulfide Intermediate

Background: Thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), one of the representative selenoenzymes, is an important antioxidant enzyme suppressing oxidative stress in living organisms. At the active site of human TrxR, the presence of a Sec•••His•••Glu catalytic triad was previously suggested. Method. In this study, a short selenopeptide mimicking this plausible triad, i.e., H-CUGHGE-OH (1), was designed, synthesized, and evaluated for the TrxR-like catalytic activity. Method: In this study, a short selenopeptide mimicking this plausible triad, i.e., H-CUGHGE-OH (1), was designed, synthesized, and evaluated for the TrxR-like catalytic activity Results: The molecular simulation in advance by REMC/SAAP3D predicted the preferential formation of Sec•••His•••Glu hydrogen bonding networks in the aqueous solution. Indeed, a significant antioxidant activity was observed for 1 in the activity assay using NADPH as a reductant and H2O2 as a substrate. Tracking the reaction between 1 and GSH by 77Se NMR revealed a reductive cleavage of the selenosulfide (Se-S) bond to generate the diselenide species. The observation suggested that in the transiently formed mixed Se-S intermediate, the NH•••Se hydrogen bond between the Sec and His residues leads a nucleophilic attack of the second thiol molecule not to the intrinsically more electrophilic Se atom but to the less electrophilic S atom of the Se-S bond. Ab initio calculations for the complex between MeSeSMe and an imidazolium ion at the MP2/6-31++G(d,p) level demonstrated that NH•••Se and NH•••S hydrogen bonds are equally favorable as the interaction modes. Thus, importance of the relative spatial arrangement of the Se-S bond with respect to the imidazole ring was suggested for the exertion of the TrxR-like catalytic activity. Conclusion: The proposed umpolung effect of NH•••Se hydrogen bond on the reactivity of a Se-S bond will be a useful tool for developing efficient TrxR models with high redox catalytic activity.

The Covid-19 Pandemic Response: A Study of Teleworking During the Malaysian MCO: What Penang Employees Had to Say

One of the main effects of the Covid-19 pandemic is the working arrangement of many employees to work from home across occupations. It is understood that when unplanned change needs to be implemented, employees from some employment groups who had very little experience with working from home have to embrace the new arrangement while employees across employment who preferred to work from home, are now able to jump into such working arrangements. Consequently, the blanket arrangement to work from home may affect the employees differently. Determining the conditions that positively support teleworking will ensure companies to be more prepared if the needs arise in the future or even to continuously implement such arrangement in relation to the current situation. A descriptive qualitative study was conducted in Penang and a total of sixteen employees were approached for the study. The participants in the study were purposively selected to ensure best contribution to the issues highlighted in the study. In general, many of the participants have mixed feelings towards teleworking and some of them had no intention of continuing with teleworking in the future. Based on the thematic analysis, results showed that three themes emerged from the data and they are: conflict of commitment, context, and proficiencies.

Exploring the effects of prospective corporate social responsibility on firm performance: the mediating role of innovation

ABSTRACT When corporate social responsibility (CSR) plays not only the role of respondent to consumer expectations and government policy, but further connects to innovation output and operating performance, it is likely that prospective CSR will become a forward-looking strategy and operating guideline of the firm. Given the social commentary on enterprise strategic arrangements in relation to environmental protection, green investment, labour rights, and the global concern over CSR, this study integrates a firm’s prospective CSR, innovation, and operating performance into a conceptual framework, taking firms in Taiwan’s technology and manufacturing industry as its survey target. Structural equational modelling is adopted in this research to analyse the response data (n = 230) by applying stakeholder theory, the value chain concept, and the resource-based view. The test results of the conceptual model show that internal CSR, external CSR, and environmental and social CSR benefit firms’ innovation performance through different levels of influence. The effects of CSR initiatives on firm operating performance vary, mediated by the degree of innovation. The importance of knowledge management (KM) related to CSR is identified and explored in this study. KM helps generate innovation and sustainability through distinct integrative CSR implementation practices.

Diffusion of volatile organics and water in the epicuticular waxes of petunia petal epidermal cells.

Plant cuticles are a mixture of crystalline and amorphous waxes that restrict the exchange of molecules between the plant and the atmosphere. The multicomponent nature of cuticular waxes complicates the study of the relationship between the physical and transport properties. Here, a model cuticle based on the epicuticular waxes of Petunia hybrida flower petals was formulated to test the effect of wax composition on diffusion of water and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The model cuticle was composed of an n-tetracosane (C24 H50 ), 1-docosanol (C22 H45 OH), and 3-methylbutyl dodecanoate (C17 H34 O2 ), reflecting the relative chain length, functional groups, molecular arrangements, and crystallinity of the natural waxes. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to obtain diffusion coefficients for compounds moving through waxes of varying composition. Simulated VOC diffusivities of the model system were found to highly correlate with in vitro measurements in isolated petunia cuticles. VOC diffusivity increased up to 30-fold in completely amorphous waxes, indicating a significant effect of crystallinity on cuticular permeability. The crystallinity of the waxes was highly dependent on the elongation of the lattice length and decrease in gap width between crystalline unit cells. Diffusion of water and higher molecular weight VOCs were significantly affected by alterations in crystalline spacing and lengths, whereas the low molecular weight VOCs were less affected. Comparison of measured diffusion coefficients from atomistic simulations and emissions from petunia flowers indicates that the role of the plant cuticle in the VOC emission network is attributed to the differential control on mass transfer of individual VOCs by controlling the composition, amount, and dynamics of scent emission.

Barriers to Accessing, Commencing and Completing Cancer Treatment Among Geriatric Patients in Rural Australia: A Qualitative Perspective.

PurposeTo explore patients’, caregivers’, and health professionals’ perspectives on barriers and challenges to accessing, commencing and completing cancer therapy, with a focus on geriatric patients and the impacts of comorbidities and rurality.Patients and MethodsA qualitative sub-study using focus group discussions was conducted in a regional cancer center and one of its outreach clinics in rural New South Wales, Australia. Five discussions with three distinct cohorts were undertaken, including: 1) geriatric cancer patients (two discussions); 2) caregivers (two discussions); and 3) health professionals (one discussion). Each focus group comprised eight to ten participants. A question guide was used to elicit participants’ experiences of receiving/providing cancer care and support during cancer treatment in a rural setting. Iterative thematic analysis was undertaken, with transcripts coded using NVivo software.ResultsParticipants identified travel to larger regional centers and/or metropolitan areas and related arrangements as primary challenges to accessing diagnostic tests, surgeries, some treatments, and follow-up tests. Financial stress, and a lack of knowledge regarding available support services and mechanisms, was also a key issue for most patients and caregivers. Differences in availability of specific testing equipment, such as PET-CT, further complicated patients’ and caregivers’ experience of seeking diagnosis and management of cancer. While all interview cohorts identified positive rapport between clinicians and patients as a key characteristic of their experience of cancer management in rural and regional areas, difficulty in retaining clinical staff and related staffing levels at some health services were understood to negatively impact patients’ and caregivers’ experiences.ConclusionOverall, the study highlights the effects of geographical, social, and informational isolation on patients’ and caregivers’ experience of cancer diagnosis and management, and suggests several implications for further research and practice improvement.

Rigid-body assignment in integrative determination of protein complex structures

Integrative modeling of macromolecular protein complexes typically involve representing structurally available components of the complex generated using X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM or comparative modeling, as rigid bodies, and sampling their relative spatial arrangements to generate an ensemble of models that are maximally consistent with input information. While there exist some sparse guidelines in the literature for optimizing the resolution of flexible regions used to represent missing residues within and between the rigid components, the process of defining rigid regions is entirely ad-hoc, often leading to several tedious rounds of trial and error between the computational modeler and their experimental collaborator, alternating between guessing a rigid body definition and running a computationally expensive structural sampling using this definition, until the model achieves both a desirable precision and a quantifiably good fit to input data.

Integrated whole-cell geometric modeling of organelle interactions in S. cerevisiae

Cellular organization—the cumulative morphology and relative arrangement of subcellular structures—forms robust patterns that support cellular function. Establishing causative links between whole-cell organization and functional phenotypes remains a major challenge. Robust methods to quantitatively define cellular organization and distinguish organization of healthy cells from disorganization in stress and disease states are needed. We present a whole-cell integrated modeling approach to describe the constraints and variation in cell organization, and geometric, spatial, and physical relationships between organelles in S.

Assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of the provincial MuniMEC forum inter-government relations structures in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Background: This research examines the effectiveness and efficiency of the Provincial MuniMEC in facilitating the Inter-Government Relations (IGR) arrangements for improvement provincial service provision mandate in the Eastern Cape Province. Post-1994 local government reforms led to the establishment of wall-to-wall municipalities to accelerate municipal services provision and the introduction of systemic municipal service provision guidelines as part of socio-economic transformation. Objective: The effectiveness and efficiency of this plan remains unclear. This research intends to address this issue with the view to contribute on strategies that can be adopted to improve service provision through the integration of IGR structures. Method: The study adopted a qualitative approach by administering structured questionnaires to purposely selected participants and carefully reviewed various documents and policies in IGR and Local Government. The questionnaire analysis included theoretical propositions that incorporated the efficiency of the provincial MuniMEC IGR structures, the legal IGR framework, and the participatory approach in MuniMEC IGR structures by stakeholders. Result: One core finding is that the MuniMEC IGR structure has contributed to the coordination and integration of government service delivery interventions at municipalities, yet little empirical evidence explains this improvement. Research shows that government’s IGR obligation to coordinate the integration of government service delivery interventions to municipalities could have more impact on service delivery improvement than the utilisation of a single-oriented approach. This study provides lessons on the view that any regulation without a structured implementation plan leads to poor service delivery. A key recommendation is that both the national and provincial government need to promote shared service delivery through the enhancement of the IGR framework.