Presenting dynamic information on mobile computers

A problem with mobile computing devices is the output of dynamic information owing to their small screens. This paper describes an experiment to investigate the use of non-speech sounds to present dynamic information without using visual display space. Results showed that non-speech sound could be used in a simple share-dealing scenario to present a “sound graph” of share prices. This allowed participants to reduce the workload they had to invest in share-price monitoring as they could listen to the graph whilst they worked in a share accumulation window

Growth and elemental accumulation by canola on soil amended with coal fly ash

To explore the agronomic potential of an Australian coal fly ash, we conducted two glasshouse experiments in which we measured chlorophyll fluorescence, CO2 assimilation (A), transpiration, stomacal conductance, biomass accumulation, seed yield, and elemental uptake for canola (Brassica napus) grown on soil amended with an alkaline fly ash. In Experiment 1, application of up to 25 Mg/ha of fly ash increased A and plant weight early in the season before flowering and seed yield by up to 21%. However, at larger rates of ash application A, plant growth, chlorophyll concentration, and yield were all reduced. Increases in early vigor and seed yield were associated with enhanced uptake of phosphorus (P) by the plants treated with fly ash. Fly ash application did not influence accumulation of B, Cu, Mo, or Zn in the stems at any stage of plant growth or in the seed at harvest, except Mo concentration, which was elevated in the seed. Accumulation of these elements was mostly in the leaves, where concentrations of Cu and Mo increased with any amount of ash applied while that of B occurred only with ash applied at 625 Mg/ha. In Experiment 2, fly ash applied at 500 Mg/ha and mixed into die whole 30 cm soil core was detrimental to growth and yield of canola, compared with restricting mixing to 5 or 15 cm depth. In contrast, application of ash at 250 Mg/ha with increasing depth of mixing increased A and seed yield. We concluded that fly ash applied at not more than 25 Mg/ha and mixed into the top 10 to 15 cm of soil is sufficient to obtain yield benefits. Copyright © 2008 by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America. All rights reserved

Evaluation of cost-effective strategies for rabies post-exposure vaccination in low-income countries

<b>Background:</b> Prompt post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is essential in preventing the fatal onset of disease in persons exposed to rabies. Unfortunately, life-saving rabies vaccines and biologicals are often neither accessible nor affordable, particularly to the poorest sectors of society who are most at risk and upon whom the largest burden of rabies falls. Increasing accessibility, reducing costs and preventing delays in delivery of PEP should therefore be prioritized.<p></p> <b>Methodology/Principal Findings:</b> We analyzed different PEP vaccination regimens and evaluated their relative costs and benefits to bite victims and healthcare providers. We found PEP vaccination to be an extremely cost-effective intervention (from $200 to less than$60/death averted). Switching from intramuscular (IM) administration of PEP to equally efficacious intradermal (ID) regimens was shown to result in significant savings in the volume of vaccine required to treat the same number of patients, which could mitigate vaccine shortages, and would dramatically reduce the costs of implementing PEP. We present financing mechanisms that would make PEP more affordable and accessible, could help subsidize the cost for those most in need, and could even support new and existing rabies control and prevention programs.<p></p> <b>Conclusions/Significance:</b> We conclude that a universal switch to ID delivery would improve the affordability and accessibility of PEP for bite victims, leading to a likely reduction in human rabies deaths, as well as being economical for healthcare providers.<p></p&gt

Safety, tumor trafficking and immunogenicity of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells specific for TAG-72 in colorectal cancer.

BackgroundT cells engineered to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) have established efficacy in the treatment of B-cell malignancies, but their relevance in solid tumors remains undefined. Here we report results of the first human trials of CAR-T cells in the treatment of solid tumors performed in the 1990s.MethodsPatients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) were treated in two phase 1 trials with first-generation retroviral transduced CAR-T cells targeting tumor-associated glycoprotein (TAG)-72 and including a CD3-zeta intracellular signaling domain (CART72 cells). In trial C-9701 and C-9702, CART72 cells were administered in escalating doses up to 1010 total cells; in trial C-9701 CART72 cells were administered by intravenous infusion. In trial C-9702, CART72 cells were administered via direct hepatic artery infusion in patients with colorectal liver metastases. In both trials, a brief course of interferon-alpha (IFN-α) was given with each CART72 infusion to upregulate expression of TAG-72.ResultsFourteen patients were enrolled in C-9701 and nine in C-9702. CART72 manufacturing success rate was 100% with an average transduction efficiency of 38%. Ten patients were treated in CC-9701 and 6 in CC-9702. Symptoms consistent with low-grade, cytokine release syndrome were observed in both trials without clear evidence of on target/off tumor toxicity. Detectable, but mostly short-term (≤14 weeks), persistence of CART72 cells was observed in blood; one patient had CART72 cells detectable at 48 weeks. Trafficking to tumor tissues was confirmed in a tumor biopsy from one of three patients. A subset of patients had 111Indium-labeled CART72 cells injected, and trafficking could be detected to liver, but T cells appeared largely excluded from large metastatic deposits. Tumor biomarkers carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and TAG-72 were measured in serum; there was a precipitous decline of TAG-72, but not CEA, in some patients due to induction of an interfering antibody to the TAG-72 binding domain of humanized CC49, reflecting an anti-CAR immune response. No radiologic tumor responses were observed.ConclusionThese findings demonstrate the relative safety of CART72 cells. The limited persistence supports the incorporation of co-stimulatory domains in the CAR design and the use of fully human CAR constructs to mitigate immunogenicity

Authority, Power and Distributed Leadership

This is the Accepted Manuscript version of an article accepted for publication in Management and Education following peer review. The version of record, Philip Woods, ‘Authority, power and distributed leadership’, Management and Education, Vol 30(4): 155-160, first published online 28 September 2016, is available online via doi: 10.1177/0892020616665779 © 2016 British Educational Leadership, Management & Administration Society (BELMAS) Published by SAGE.A much greater understanding is needed of power in the practice of distributed leadership. This article explores how the concept of social authority might be helpful in achieving this. It suggests that the practice of distributed leadership is characterized by multiple authorities which are constructed in the interactions between people. Rather than there being a uniform hierarchy (relatively flat or otherwise) of formal authority, organizational members may be ‘high’ in some authorities and ‘low’ in others, and people’s positioning in relation to these authorities is dynamic and changeable. The article maps different forms of authorities, provides illustrations from educational institutions, and concludes with implications for educational leadership. A key conclusion is that everyone is involved in the ongoing production of authorities by contributing to who is accepted as or excluded from exercising authority and leadershipPeer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Hookworm Infection and Environmental Factors in Mbeya Region, Tanzania: A Cross-sectional, Population-based study.

Hookworm disease is one of the most common infections and cause of a high disease burden in the tropics and subtropics. Remotely sensed ecological data and model-based geostatistics have been used recently to identify areas in need for hookworm control. Cross-sectional interview data and stool samples from 6,375 participants from nine different sites in Mbeya region, south-western Tanzania, were collected as part of a cohort study. Hookworm infection was assessed by microscopy of duplicate Kato-Katz thick smears from one stool sample from each participant. A geographic information system was used to obtain remotely sensed environmental data such as land surface temperature (LST), vegetation cover, rainfall, and elevation, and combine them with hookworm infection data and with socio-demographic and behavioral data. Uni- and multivariable logistic regression was performed on sites separately and on the pooled dataset. Univariable analyses yielded significant associations for all ecological variables. Five ecological variables stayed significant in the final multivariable model: population density (odds ratio (OR) = 0.68; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.63-0.73), mean annual vegetation density (OR = 0.11; 95% CI = 0.06-0.18), mean annual LST during the day (OR = 0.81; 95% CI = 0.75-0.88), mean annual LST during the night (OR = 1.54; 95% CI = 1.44-1.64), and latrine coverage in household surroundings (OR = 1.02; 95% CI = 1.01-1.04). Interaction terms revealed substantial differences in associations of hookworm infection with population density, mean annual enhanced vegetation index, and latrine coverage between the two sites with the highest prevalence of infection. This study supports previous findings that remotely sensed data such as vegetation indices, LST, and elevation are strongly associated with hookworm prevalence. However, the results indicate that the influence of environmental conditions can differ substantially within a relatively small geographic area. The use of large-scale associations as a predictive tool on smaller scales is therefore problematic and should be handled with care

Using interpretative phenomenological analysis to inform physiotherapy practice: An introduction with reference to the lived experience of cerebellar ataxia

The attached file is a pre-published version of the full and final paper which can be found at the link below.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Qualitative research methods that focus on the lived experience of people with health conditions are relatively underutilised in physiotherapy research. This article aims to introduce interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), a research methodology oriented toward exploring and understanding the experience of a particular phenomenon (e.g., living with spinal cord injury or chronic pain, or being the carer of someone with a particular health condition). Researchers using IPA try to find out how people make sense of their experiences and the meanings they attach to them. The findings from IPA research are highly nuanced and offer a fine grained understanding that can be used to contextualise existing quantitative research, to inform understanding of novel or underresearched topics or, in their own right, to provoke a reappraisal of what is considered known about a specified phenomenon. We advocate IPA as a useful and accessible approach to qualitative research that can be used in the clinical setting to inform physiotherapy practice and the development of services from the perspective of individuals with particular health conditions.This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund

Young women's use of a microbicide surrogate: The complex influence of relationship characteristics and perceived male partners' evaluations

This is the post-print version of the article. The official published version can be found at the link below.Currently in clinical trials, vaginal microbicides are proposed as a female-initiated method of sexually transmitted infection prevention. Much of microbicide acceptability research has been conducted outside of the United States and frequently without consideration of the social interaction between sex partners, ignoring the complex gender and power structures often inherent in young women’s (heterosexual) relationships. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to build on existing microbicide research by exploring the role of male partners and relationship characteristics on young women’s use of a microbicide surrogate, an inert vaginal moisturizer (VM), in a large city in the United States. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 young women (18–23 years old; 85% African American; 47.5% mothers) following use of the VM during coital events for a 4 week period. Overall, the results indicated that relationship dynamics and perceptions of male partners influenced VM evaluation. These two factors suggest that relationship context will need to be considered in the promotion of vaginal microbicides. The findings offer insights into how future acceptability and use of microbicides will be influenced by gendered power dynamics. The results also underscore the importance of incorporating men into microbicide promotion efforts while encouraging a dialogue that focuses attention on power inequities that can exist in heterosexual relationships. Detailed understanding of these issues is essential for successful microbicide acceptability, social marketing, education, and use.This study was funded by a grant from National Institutes of Health (NIHU19AI 31494) as well as research awards to the first author: Friends of the Kinsey Institute Research Grant Award, Indiana University’s School of HPER Graduate Student Grant-in-Aid of Research Award, William L. Yarber Sexual Health Fellowship, and the Indiana University Graduate and Professional Student Organization Research Grant

A model for selection of eyespots on butterfly wings

The development of eyespots on the wing surface of butterflies of the family Nympalidae is one of the most studied examples of biological pattern formation.However, little is known about the mechanism that determines the number and precise locations of eyespots on the wing. Eyespots develop around signaling centers, called foci, that are located equidistant from wing veins along the midline of a wing cell (an area bounded by veins). A fundamental question that remains unsolved is, why a certain wing cell develops an eyespot, while other wing cells do not. We illustrate that the key to understanding focus point selection may be in the venation system of the wing disc. Our main hypothesis is that changes in morphogen concentration along the proximal boundary veins of wing cells govern focus point selection. Based on previous studies, we focus on a spatially two-dimensional reaction-diffusion system model posed in the interior of each wing cell that describes the formation of focus points. Using finite element based numerical simulations, we demonstrate that variation in the proximal boundary condition is sufficient to robustly select whether an eyespot focus point forms in otherwise identical wing cells. We also illustrate that this behavior is robust to small perturbations in the parameters and geometry and moderate levels of noise. Hence, we suggest that an anterior-posterior pattern of morphogen concentration along the proximal vein may be the main determinant of the distribution of focus points on the wing surface. In order to complete our model, we propose a two stage reaction-diffusion system model, in which an one-dimensional surface reaction-diffusion system, posed on the proximal vein, generates the morphogen concentrations that act as non-homogeneous Dirichlet (i.e., fixed) boundary conditions for the two-dimensional reaction-diffusion model posed in the wing cells. The two-stage model appears capable of generating focus point distributions observed in nature. We therefore conclude that changes in the proximal boundary conditions are sufficient to explain the empirically observed distribution of eyespot focus points on the entire wing surface. The model predicts, subject to experimental verification, that the source strength of the activator at the proximal boundary should be lower in wing cells in which focus points form than in those that lack focus points. The model suggests that the number and locations of eyespot foci on the wing disc could be largely controlled by two kinds of gradients along two different directions, that is, the first one is the gradient in spatially varying parameters such as the reaction rate along the anterior-posterior direction on the proximal boundary of the wing cells, and the second one is the gradient in source values of the activator along the veins in the proximal-distal direction of the wing cell

A One Health Framework for the Evaluation of Rabies Control Programmes: A Case Study from Colombo City, Sri Lanka

<div><p>Background</p><p>One Health addresses complex challenges to promote the health of all species and the environment by integrating relevant sciences at systems level. Its application to zoonotic diseases is recommended, but few coherent frameworks exist that combine approaches from multiple disciplines. Rabies requires an interdisciplinary approach for effective and efficient management.</p><p>Methodology/Principal Findings</p><p>A framework is proposed to assess the value of rabies interventions holistically. The economic assessment compares additional monetary and non-monetary costs and benefits of an intervention taking into account epidemiological, animal welfare, societal impact and cost data. It is complemented by an ethical assessment. The framework is applied to Colombo City, Sri Lanka, where modified dog rabies intervention measures were implemented in 2007. The two options included for analysis were the control measures in place until 2006 (“baseline scenario”) and the new comprehensive intervention measures (“intervention”) for a four-year duration. Differences in control cost; monetary human health costs after exposure; Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) lost due to human rabies deaths and the psychological burden following a bite; negative impact on animal welfare; epidemiological indicators; social acceptance of dogs; and ethical considerations were estimated using a mixed method approach including primary and secondary data. Over the four years analysed, the intervention cost US $1.03 million more than the baseline scenario in 2011 prices (adjusted for inflation) and caused a reduction in dog rabies cases; 738 DALYs averted; an increase in acceptability among non-dog owners; a perception of positive changes in society including a decrease in the number of roaming dogs; and a net reduction in the impact on animal welfare from intermediate-high to low-intermediate.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>The findings illustrate the multiple outcomes relevant to stakeholders and allow greater understanding of the value of the implemented rabies control measures, thereby providing a solid foundation for informed decision-making and sustainable control.</p></div