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Agricultural industries are facing a dual challenge of increasing production to meet the growing population with a disruptive changing climate and, at the same time, reducing its environmental impacts. Digital agriculture supported by big data technology has been regarded as a solution to address such challenges. However, realising the potential value promised by big data technology depends upon farm-level data generated by digital agriculture being aggregated at scale. Yet, there is limited understanding of farmers' willingness to contribute agricultural data for analysis and how that willingness could be affected by their perceived beneficiary of the aggregated data. The present study aimed to investigate farmers' perspective on who would benefit the most from the aggregated agricultural data, and their willingness to share their input and output farm data with a range of agricultural sector stakeholders (i.e. other farmers, industry and government statistical organisations, technology businesses, and research institutions). To do this, we conducted a computer-assisted telephone interview with 880 Australian farmers from broadacre agricultural sectors. The results show that only 34 % of participants regarded farmers as the primary beneficiary of aggregated agricultural data, followed by agribusiness (35 %) and government (21 %) as the main beneficiary. The participants' willingness to share data was mostly positive. However, the level of willingness fluctuated depending on who was perceived as the primary beneficiary and with which stakeholder the data would be shared. While participants reported concerns over aggregated farm data being misused and privacy of own farm data, perception of farmers being the primary beneficiary led to the lowest levels of concerns. The findings highlight that, to seize the opportunities of sustainable agriculture through applying big data technologies, significant value propositions for farmers need to be created to provide a reason for farmers to share data, and a higher level of trust between farmers and stakeholders, especially technology and service providers, needs to be established. • Only 34 % respondents regarded farmers as the main beneficiary of agricultural big data. • Willingness to share data was affected by who was perceived as the main beneficiary. • Willingness to share data was the highest when farmers as the main beneficiary. • Levels of willingness to share data varied across various stakeholders. • Levels of concerns over aggregated farm data was affected by who was perceived as the main beneficiary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bone quality has a significant effect on the insertion torque of dental implant. In most clinical studies, bone density is used as a gold standard in predicting insertion torque. By contrast, trabecular microstructure is ignored. In this study, a microstructure-based numerical computational method with high accuracy and efficiency for the insertion torque of dental implant was proposed by introducing two microscopic variables, namely, volume fraction and fabric tensor. First, two kinds of 3D microstructural solid models with same volume fraction and fabric tensor were established on the basis of the microstructural topology of six reference specimens. Second, a new numerical simulation method based on homogenous theory was used to explore the material models of these 3D microstructural solid models at the microscopic scale. Then, the anisotropic material models of specimens were developed on the basis of the mixture rule. Thereafter, a numerical simulation based on the anisotropic finite element (FE) model was carried out to acquire the insertion torque. To demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the simulation based on the anisotropic FE model, numerical simulations based on isotropic FE model and micro-computer tomography (micro-CT) FE models were also implemented as comparisons. Comparison of the simulated peak insertion torques of the anisotropic, isotropic, and micro-CT FE models with insertion experiments demonstrated the feasibility and potential of the proposed method. The anisotropic FE model reduced the time consumption by 91.85% and enhanced the accuracy by 11.82% compared with the micro-CT and isotropic FE models, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cortical bone provides the main form of support in humans and other vertebrates against various forces. Thus, capturing its mechanical properties is important. In this study, the mechanical properties of cortical bone were investigated by using automated ball indentation and graphics processing at both the macroscopic and microstructural levels under dry conditions. First, all polished samples were photographed under a metallographic microscope, and the area ratio of the circumferential lamellae and osteons was calculated through the graphics processing method. Second, fully-computer-controlled automated ball indentation (ABI) tests were performed to explore the micro-mechanical properties of the cortical bone at room temperature and a constant indenter speed. The indentation defects were examined with a scanning electron microscope. Finally, the macroscopic mechanical properties of the cortical bone were estimated with the graphics processing method and mixture rule. Combining ABI and graphics processing proved to be an effective tool to obtaining the mechanical properties of the cortical bone, and the indenter size had a significant effect on the measurement. The methods presented in this paper provide an innovative approach to acquiring the macroscopic mechanical properties of cortical bone in a nondestructive manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on the knowledge that procedural fairness of and trust in mining companies, as well as confidence in governance, are key determinants of social licence to operate (SLO), the present research aims to examine how these preconditions of SLO are affected by the terms of engagement set out in initial letters sent to residents. Through an experimental study, quasi-experimental methodology was employed with four experimental conditions, where participants read an initial letter introducing a hypothetical mining proposal issued by a fictitious mining company (Nortor Mining Corporation – NMC) and then answered a number of questions regarding procedural fairness of and trust in NMC, as well as confidence in its governance. Condition 1 (i.e. a basic overview of the project) was modelled on a notice from a real mining company outlining opportunities for community engagement. Conditions 2 (Condition 1 plus commitment to engage), 3 (Condition 2 plus adherence to government requirements), and 4 (Condition 3 plus community’s opportunity to contribute) were established through systematically and accumulatively adding information on NMC’s detailed community engagement plan, the government assessment process, and opportunities for community involvement. The findings suggest that Condition 3 and Condition 4 resulted in higher scores for all three preconditions of SLO. The results demonstrate that the information presented in an initial community engagement letter can significantly influence community members’ attitudes toward a proposed mining development, highlighting the importance of mining companies having concrete community engagement plans in place and demonstrating strong commitment to regulatory requirements right at the beginning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining and maintaining a social licence to operate is a major challenge for the mining industry around the world. This study examines how the public's perceptions of the distributional fairness of the benefits of mining, procedural fairness in the interactions between the mining industry and society, and confidence in the governance arrangements surrounding the industry affect the public's trust in the mining industry and, in turn, their acceptance of mining activities at a national scale. The aim of this study was also to understand how the contexts in which mining companies operate influence the public's perceptions of and attitudes toward mining. To this end, large-scale national surveys were conducted in Australia (N = 5121), China (N = 5122), and Chile (N = 1598). The results reveal that the key predictors of the public's acceptance of the mining industry were found to be relatively low across all three countries. In addition, distributional fairness, procedural fairness, and confidence in governance were all found to affect acceptance of mining, both directly and indirectly, by influencing the level of public trust in the mining industry. The findings also reveal that each of these three elements predicted trust and acceptance to varying degrees across the three countries. This suggests that the different elements are variously important to the public in accepting mining activities in their own contextual landscapes, highlighting that acceptance of mining is highly context dependent. The relatively low public perceptions of the three key predictors further suggest that in order to achieve a more socially sustainable mining industry where social conflict around mining operations is minimised and the public is able to experience the benefits of resource development, both the mining industry and governments may need to review their own methods of engaging with citizens to build trust in those stakeholder relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• HSP70 is induced in leukomonocytes from the blood of ALL patients. • HSP70 suppression enhances apoptosis and inhibits cell proliferation. • HSP70 inhibition suppresses TAK1 and induces Egr-1. • HSP70 inhibition regulates Egr-1 via TAK1. • Hsp70 suppression induces cell apoptosis and decreases proliferation via Egr-1. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), usually treated with chemotherapy, has limited therapeutic effects and high toxicity. Upregulation of HSP70 induces tumor development, however, the molecular mechanism of HSP70 in ALL remains unclear. In our research, we aimed to investigate the role of HSP70 in ALL, specifically the molecular mechanisms underlying cell apoptosis and proliferation. We found that HSP70 expression in leukomonocytes from ALL patients was increased compared with the control group. HSP70 expression in NALM-6 and BE-13 was also up-regulated contrast with AHH-1. Inhibition of HSP70 significantly promoted cell apoptosis and suppressed cell proliferation in ALL cell lines. Suppression of HSP70 decreased TAK1 and increased Egr-1 protein expression. Further experiments indicated that overexpression of TAK1 ameliorated the effect of HSP70 inhibition on Egr-1 protein expression, cell apoptosis and proliferation. In order to determine whether the effect of HSP70 inhibition on apoptosis and proliferation of ALL cell lines could be achieved via regulation of Egr-1, we performed a loss-of-function experiment for Egr-1. Egr-1 suppression was found to reverse the effect of HSP70 inhibition on cell apoptosis and proliferation in ALL. Taken together, our results suggest that HSP70 inhibition upregulates Egr-1 via TAK1, inducing apoptosis and restricting proliferation in ALL cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]