University of Queensland

About: University of Queensland is a education organization based out in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 51138 authors who have published 155721 publications receiving 5717659 citations. The organization is also known as: UQ & The University of Queensland.

Recent Progress in Corrosion and Protection of Magnesium Alloys

Abstract: Magnesium alloys are advanced light structural and functional materials being increasingly used in the automotive, aerospace, electronic, and energy industries. However, their corrosion performance at the current stage of development is still not good enough for increasingly diverse practical applications. The Cooperative Research Centre for Cast Metals Manufacturing (CAST) in Australia is one of the most active research organizations in the world established to cope with the problems associated with the development and application of advanced light metals. Corrosion and prevention of magnesium and its alloys is an important part of CAST'S research program. This paper presents a brief summary of recent research achievements by CAST and relevant research work in this area in the world. This overview covers "anodic hydrogen evolution", estimation of corrosion rate, corrosion of aluminum- and non-aluminum-containing magnesium alloys, influences of composition and microstructure on corrosion, corrosion of a die-cast magnesium alloy, galvanic corrosion, coolant corrosion, and an aluminum-alloyed coating. The aim of this overview is to deepen the current understanding of corrosion and protection of magnesium and its alloys and to provide a base for future research work in this field.

Greater sensitivity to drought accompanies maize yield increase in the U.S. Midwest

Abstract: A key question for climate change adaptation is whether existing cropping systems can become less sensitive to climate variations. We use a field-level data set on maize and soybean yields in the central United States for 1995 through 2012 to examine changes in drought sensitivity. Although yields have increased in absolute value under all levels of stress for both crops, the sensitivity of maize yields to drought stress associated with high vapor pressure deficits has increased. The greater sensitivity has occurred despite cultivar improvements and increased carbon dioxide and reflects the agronomic trend toward higher sowing densities. The results suggest that agronomic changes tend to translate improved drought tolerance of plants to higher average yields but not to decreasing drought sensitivity of yields at the field scale.

Demonstration of an all-optical quantum controlled-NOT gate.

Abstract: The promise of tremendous computational power, coupled with the development of robust error-correcting schemes, has fuelled extensive efforts to build a quantum computer. The requirements for realizing such a device are confounding: scalable quantum bits (two-level quantum systems, or qubits) that can be well isolated from the environment, but also initialized, measured and made to undergo controllable interactions to implement a universal set of quantum logic gates. The usual set consists of single qubit rotations and a controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate, which flips the state of a target qubit conditional on the control qubit being in the state 1. Here we report an unambiguous experimental demonstration and comprehensive characterization of quantum CNOT operation in an optical system. We produce all four entangled Bell states as a function of only the input qubits' logical values, for a single operating condition of the gate. The gate is probabilistic (the qubits are destroyed upon failure), but with the addition of linear optical quantum non-demolition measurements, it is equivalent to the CNOT gate required for scalable all-optical quantum computation.

Targeting natural killer cells in cancer immunotherapy

Abstract: Alteration in the expression of cell-surface proteins is a common consequence of malignant transformation. Natural killer (NK) cells use an array of germline-encoded activating and inhibitory receptors that scan for altered protein-expression patterns, but tumor evasion of detection by the immune system is now recognized as one of the hallmarks of cancer. NK cells display rapid and potent immunity to metastasis or hematological cancers, and major efforts are now being undertaken to fully exploit NK cell anti-tumor properties in the clinic. Diverse approaches encompass the development of large-scale NK cell-expansion protocols for adoptive transfer, the establishment of a microenvironment favorable to NK cell activity, the redirection of NK cell activity against tumor cells and the release of inhibitory signals that limit NK cell function. In this Review we detail recent advances in NK cell-based immunotherapies and discuss the advantages and limitations of these strategies.