Knowledge-based urban development performance analysis : moving towards an integrated system

Knowledge-based urban development (KBUD) has become the new development paradigm for the cities of the global knowledge economy era. Nevertheless, to date international KBUD performance analysis of prosperous knowledge cities is understudied. This paper, therefore, introduces the methodology and application of a novel performance analysis approach to comprehensively scrutinise the global perspectives on KBUD of cities—i.e., The KBUD Assessment Model (KBUD/AM). This indexing model puts 11 renowned knowledge cities—i.e., Birmingham, Boston, Brisbane, Helsinki, Istanbul, Manchester, Melbourne, San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver—under the KBUD microscope to provide a benchmarked international outlook. The results of the indexing provide internationally benchmarked snapshot of the degree of achievements in various KBUD performance areas. This paper discusses the further development avenues and potentialities of the index to become an integrated system for the policy-making circles of cities to benchmark themselves against their competitors and develop relevant KBUD policies.

Damage assessment in beams and plates using variations in modal properties

Damage detection using modal properties is a widely accepted method. However, quantifying such damage using modal properties is still not well established. With this in mind, a research project is presently underway towards the development of a procedure to detect, locate and quantify damage in structural components using the variations in modal properties. A novel vibration based parameter called Vibration based Damage Index is introduced into the damage assessment procedure. This paper presents the early part of the research project which treats flexural members. The proposed procedure is validated using experimental data and/or theoretical techniques and illustrated through application. Outcomes of this research highlight the ability of the proposed procedure to successfully detect, locate and quantify damage in flexural structural components using the modal properties of the first few modes.

Current practice in nutrition assessment for the management of Parkinson’s disease in Australia and Canada

AIM: To document and compare current practice in nutrition assessment of Parkinson’s disease by dietitians in Australia and Canada in order to identify priority areas for review and development of practice guidelines and direct future research. METHODS: An online survey was distributed to DAA members and PEN subscribers through their email newsletters. The survey captured current practice in the phases of the Nutrition Care Plan. The results of the assessment phase are presented here. RESULTS: Eighty-four dietitians responded. Differences in practice existed in the choice of nutrition screening and assessment tools, including appropriate BMI ranges. Nutrition impact symptoms were commonly assessed, but information about Parkinson’s disease medication interactions were not consistently assessed. CONCLUSIONS: he variation in practice related to the use of screening and assessment methods may result in the identification of different goals for subsequent interventions. Even more practice variation was evident for those items more specific to Parkinson’s disease and may be due to the lack of evidence to guide practice. Further research is required to support decisions for nutrition assessment of Parkinson’s disease.

A matrix for appropriate assessment of workplace learning in stem disciplines

With increasing interest shown by Universities in workplace learning, especially in STEM disciplines, an issue has arisen amongst educators and industry partners regarding authentic assessment tasks for work integrated learning (WIL) subjects. This paper describes the use of a matrix, which is also available as a decision-tree, based on the features of the WIL experience, in order to facilitate the selection of appropriate assessment strategies. The matrix divides the WIL experiences into seven categories, based on such factors as: the extent to which the experience is compulsory, required for membership of a professional body or elective; whether the student is undertaking a project, or embedding in a professional culture; and other key aspects of the WIL experience. One important variable is linked to the fundamental purpose of the assessment. This question revolves around the focus of the assessment: whether on the person (student development); the process (professional conduct/language); or the product (project, assignment, literature review, report, software). The matrix has been trialed at QUT in the Faculty of Science and Technology, and also at the University of Surrey, UK, and has proven to have good applicability in both universities.

Building an augmented map for road risk assessment

Recent road safety statistics show that the decades-long fatalities decreasing trend is stopping and stagnating. Statistics further show that crashes are mostly driven by human error, compared to other factors such as environmental conditions and mechanical defects. Within human error, the dominant error source is perceptive errors, which represent about 50% of the total. The next two sources are interpretation and evaluation, which accounts together with perception for more than 75% of human error related crashes. Those statistics show that allowing drivers to perceive and understand their environment better, or supplement them when they are clearly at fault, is a solution to a good assessment of road risk, and, as a consequence, further decreasing fatalities. To answer this problem, currently deployed driving assistance systems combine more and more information from diverse sources (sensors) to enhance the driver's perception of their environment. However, because of inherent limitations in range and field of view, these systems' perception of their environment remains largely limited to a small interest zone around a single vehicle. Such limitations can be overcomed by increasing the interest zone through a cooperative process. Cooperative Systems (CS), a specific subset of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), aim at compensating for local systems' limitations by associating embedded information technology and intervehicular communication technology (IVC). With CS, information sources are not limited to a single vehicle anymore. From this distribution arises the concept of extended or augmented perception. Augmented perception allows extending an actor's perceptive horizon beyond its "natural" limits not only by fusing information from multiple in-vehicle sensors but also information obtained from remote sensors. The end result of an augmented perception and data fusion chain is known as an augmented map. It is a repository where any relevant information about objects in the environment, and the environment itself, can be stored in a layered architecture. This thesis aims at demonstrating that augmented perception has better performance than noncooperative approaches, and that it can be used to successfully identify road risk. We found it was necessary to evaluate the performance of augmented perception, in order to obtain a better knowledge on their limitations. Indeed, while many promising results have already been obtained, the feasibility of building an augmented map from exchanged local perception information and, then, using this information beneficially for road users, has not been thoroughly assessed yet. The limitations of augmented perception, and underlying technologies, have not be thoroughly assessed yet. Most notably, many questions remain unanswered as to the IVC performance and their ability to deliver appropriate quality of service to support life-saving critical systems. This is especially true as the road environment is a complex, highly variable setting where many sources of imperfections and errors exist, not only limited to IVC. We provide at first a discussion on these limitations and a performance model built to incorporate them, created from empirical data collected on test tracks. Our results are more pessimistic than existing literature, suggesting IVC limitations have been underestimated. Then, we develop a new CS-applications simulation architecture. This architecture is used to obtain new results on the safety benefits of a cooperative safety application (EEBL), and then to support further study on augmented perception. At first, we confirm earlier results in terms of crashes numbers decrease, but raise doubts on benefits in terms of crashes' severity. In the next step, we implement an augmented perception architecture tasked with creating an augmented map. Our approach is aimed at providing a generalist architecture that can use many different types of sensors to create the map, and which is not limited to any specific application. The data association problem is tackled with an MHT approach based on the Belief Theory. Then, augmented and single-vehicle perceptions are compared in a reference driving scenario for risk assessment,taking into account the IVC limitations obtained earlier; we show their impact on the augmented map's performance. Our results show that augmented perception performs better than non-cooperative approaches, allowing to almost tripling the advance warning time before a crash. IVC limitations appear to have no significant effect on the previous performance, although this might be valid only for our specific scenario. Eventually, we propose a new approach using augmented perception to identify road risk through a surrogate: near-miss events. A CS-based approach is designed and validated to detect near-miss events, and then compared to a non-cooperative approach based on vehicles equiped with local sensors only. The cooperative approach shows a significant improvement in the number of events that can be detected, especially at the higher rates of system's deployment.

Princess Alexandra Hospital model of comprehensive geriatric assessment of cancer patients : methodological and logistical aspects

There is increasing momentum in cancer care to implement a two stage assessment process that accurately determines the ability of older patients to cope with, and benefit from, chemotherapy. The two-step approach aims to ensure that patients clearly fit for chemotherapy can be accurately identified and referred for treatment without undergoing a time- and resource-intensive comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA). Ideally, this process removes the uncertainty of how to classify and then appropriately treat the older cancer patient. After trialling a two-stage screen and CGA process in the Division of Cancer Services at Princess Alexandra Hospital (PAH) in 2011-2012, we implemented a model of oncogeriatric care based on our findings. In this paper, we explore the methodological and practical aspects of implementing the PAH model and outline further work needed to refine the process in our treatment context.

Not losing the plot : creating, collecting and curating qualitative data through a web-based application

Collecting regular personal reflections from first year teachers in rural and remote schools is challenging as they are busily absorbed in their practice, and separated from each other and the researchers by thousands of kilometres. In response, an innovative web-based solution was designed to both collect data and be a responsive support system for early career teachers as they came to terms with their new professional identities within rural and remote school settings. Using an emailed link to a web-based application named goingok.com, the participants are charting their first year plotlines using a sliding scale from ‘distressed’, ‘ok’ to ‘soaring’ and describing their self-assessment in short descriptive posts. These reflections are visible to the participants as a developing online journal, while the collections of de-identified developing plotlines are visible to the research team, alongside numerical data. This paper explores important aspects of the design process, together with the challenges and opportunities encountered in its implementation. A number of the key considerations for choosing to develop a web application for data collection are initially identified, and the resultant application features and scope are then examined. Examples are then provided about how a responsive software development approach can be part of a supportive feedback loop for participants while being an effective data collection process. Opportunities for further development are also suggested with projected implications for future research.

Students' cultural capital : a study of assessment for learning as a field of exchange

This study was conducted within the context of a flexible education institution where conventional educational assessment practices and tests fail to recognise and assess the creativity and cultural capital of a cohort of marginalised young people. A new assessment model which included an electronic-portfolio-social-networking system (EPS) was developed and trialled to identify and exhibit evidence of students' learning. The study aimed to discern unique forms of cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986) possessed by students who attend the Edmund Rice Education Australia Flexible Learning Centre Network (EREAFLCN). The EPS was trialled at the case study schools in an intervention and developed a space where students could make evident culturally specific forms of capital and funds of knowledge (Gonzalez, Moll, & Amanti, 2005). These resources were evaluated, modified and developed through dialogic processes utilising assessment for learning approaches (Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, 2009) in online and classroom settings. Students, peers and staff engaged in the recognition, judgement, revision and evaluation of students' cultural capital in a subfield of exchange (Bourdieu, 1990). The study developed the theory of assessment for learning as a field of exchange incorporating an online system as a teaching and assessment model. The term efield has been coined to describe this particular capital exchange model. A quasi-ethnographic approach was used to develop a collective case study (Stake, 1995). This case study involved an in-depth exploration of five students' forms of cultural capital and the ways in which this capital could be assessed and exchanged using the efield model. A comparative analysis of the five cases was conducted to identify the emergent issues of students' recognisable cultural capital resources and the processes of exchange that can be facilitated to acquire legitimate credentials for these students in the Australian field of education. The participants in the study were young people at two EREAFLC schools aged between 12 and 18 years. Data was collected through interviews, observations and examination of documents made available by the EREAFLCN. The data was coded and analysed using a theoretical framework based on Bourdieu's analytical tools and a sociocultural psychology theoretical perspective. Findings suggest that processes based on dialogic relationships can identify and recognise students' forms of cultural capital that are frequently misrecognised in mainstream school environments. The theory of assessment for learning as a field of exchange was developed into praxis and integrated in an intervention. The efield model was found to be an effective sociocultural tool in converting and exchanging students' capital resources for legitimated cultural and symbolic capital in the field of education.

Platinum-based chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer : current status

Cisplatin and carboplatin are active in previously untreated patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC) with mean response rates (RRs) of 50 and 32%, respectively. In pretreated patients the RR to cisplatin/carboplatin monotherapy declines markedly to <10%. Cisplatin and carboplatin have been combined with many other cytotoxics. In first-line setting high activity has been observed in combination with taxanes or vinorelbine (RRs consistently ∼60%). It appears that these newer combinations are superior to older regimens with etoposide (RRs 30 to 50%) or 5-fluorouracil (RRs 40 to 60%). Cisplatin-/carboplatin-based regimens with infusional 5-FU and epirubicin/paclitaxel/vinorelbine achieve high RRs of around 60 to 80%. However these regimens are difficult to administer in all patients because they require central venous access for continuous 5-FU infusion. In pretreated MBC the combinations of cisplatin-taxane/vinorelbine/gemcitabine or carboplatin-docetaxel/vinorelbine yield RRs of 40 to 50%, which are higher than those achieved with platinum-etoposide/5-FU. In locally advanced disease cisplatin-based regimens achieve very high RRs (>80%). This would suggest that in chemotherapy-naïve patients platinum-based therapy might have an important role to play. Additionally the synergy demonstrated between platinum compounds, taxanes and herceptin, in preclinical and clinical studies is of immense importance and the results of the two ongoing Breast Cancer International Research Group randomized phase III studies are eagerly awaited. These studies may help clarify the role of platinum compounds in the treatment of metastatic and possibly early breast cancer. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessment of traffic noise level before and after freeway widening using traffic microsimulation and a refined classic noise prediction method

In this paper, a refined classic noise prediction method based on the VISSIM and FHWA noise prediction model is formulated to analyze the sound level contributed by traffic on the Nanjing Lukou airport connecting freeway before and after widening. The aim of this research is to (i) assess the traffic noise impact on the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) campus before and after freeway widening, (ii) compare the prediction results with field data to test the accuracy of this method, (iii) analyze the relationship between traffic characteristics and sound level. The results indicate that the mean difference between model predictions and field measurements is acceptable. The traffic composition impact study indicates that buses (including mid-sizedtrucks) and heavy goods vehicles contribute a significant proportion of total noise power despite their low traffic volume. In addition, speed analysis offers an explanation for the minor differences in noise level across time periods. Future work will aim at reducing model error, by focusing on noise barrier analysis using the FEM/BEM method and modifying the vehicle noise emission equation by conducting field experimentation.

Single-agent versus combination chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer and a performance status of 2 : prognostic factors and treatment selection based on two large randomized clinical trials

Purpose: Data from two randomized phase III trials were analyzed to evaluate prognostic factors and treatment selection in the first-line management of advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients with performance status (PS) 2. Patients and Methods: Patients randomized to combination chemotherapy (carboplatin and paclitaxel) in one trial and single-agent therapy (gemcitabine or vinorelbine) in the second were included in these analyses. Both studies had identical eligibility criteria and were conducted simultaneously. Comparison of efficacy and safety was performed between the two cohorts. A regression analysis identified prognostic factors and subgroups of patients that may benefit from combination or single-agent therapy. Results: Two hundred one patients were treated with combination and 190 with single-agent therapy. Objective responses were 37 and 15%, respectively. Median time to progression was 4.6 months in the combination arm and 3.5 months in the single-agent arm (p < 0.001). Median survival imes were 8.0 and 6.6 months, and 1-year survival rates were 31 and 26%, respectively. Albumin <3.5 g, extrathoracic metastases, lactate dehydrogenase ≥200 IU, and 2 comorbid conditions predicted outcome. Patients with 0-2 risk factors had similar outcomes independent of treatment, whereas patients with 3-4 factors had a nonsignificant improvement in median survival with combination chemotherapy. Conclusion: Our results show that PS2 non-small cell lung cancer patients are a heterogeneous group who have significantly different outcomes. Patients treated with first-line combination chemotherapy had a higher response and longer time to progression, whereas overall survival did not appear significantly different. A prognostic model may be helpful in selecting PS 2 patients for either treatment strategy. © 2009 by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.

Thorough assessment of DNA preservation from fossil bone and sediments excavated from a late Pleistocene–Holocene cave deposit on Kangaroo Island, South Australia

Fossils and sediments preserved in caves are an excellent source of information for investigating impacts of past environmental changes on biodiversity. Until recently studies have relied on morphology-based palaeontological approaches, but recent advances in molecular analytical methods offer excellent potential for extracting a greater array of biological information from these sites. This study presents a thorough assessment of DNA preservation from late Pleistocene–Holocene vertebrate fossils and sediments from Kelly Hill Cave Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Using a combination of extraction techniques and sequencing technologies, ancient DNA was characterised from over 70 bones and 20 sediment samples from 15 stratigraphic layers ranging in age from >20 ka to ∼6.8 ka. A combination of primers targeting marsupial and placental mammals, reptiles and two universal plant primers were used to reveal genetic biodiversity for comparison with the mainland and with the morphological fossil record for Kelly Hill Cave. We demonstrate that Kelly Hill Cave has excellent long-term DNA preservation, back to at least 20 ka. This contrasts with the majority of Australian cave sites thus far explored for ancient DNA preservation, and highlights the great promise Kangaroo Island caves hold for yielding the hitherto-elusive DNA of extinct Australian Pleistocene species.

Design, implementation and multisite evaluation of a system suitability protocol for the quantitative assessment of instrument performance in liquid chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring-MS (LC-MRM-MS)

Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mass spectrometry coupled with stable isotope dilution (SID) and liquid chromatography (LC) is increasingly used in biological and clinical studies for precise and reproducible quantification of peptides and proteins in complex sample matrices. Robust LC-SID-MRM-MS-based assays that can be replicated across laboratories and ultimately in clinical laboratory settings require standardized protocols to demonstrate that the analysis platforms are performing adequately. We developed a system suitability protocol (SSP), which employs a predigested mixture of six proteins, to facilitate performance evaluation of LC-SID-MRM-MS instrument platforms, configured with nanoflow-LC systems interfaced to triple quadrupole mass spectrometers. The SSP was designed for use with low multiplex analyses as well as high multiplex approaches when software-driven scheduling of data acquisition is required. Performance was assessed by monitoring of a range of chromatographic and mass spectrometric metrics including peak width, chromatographic resolution, peak capacity, and the variability in peak area and analyte retention time (RT) stability. The SSP, which was evaluated in 11 laboratories on a total of 15 different instruments, enabled early diagnoses of LC and MS anomalies that indicated suboptimal LC-MRM-MS performance. The observed range in variation of each of the metrics scrutinized serves to define the criteria for optimized LC-SID-MRM-MS platforms for routine use, with pass/fail criteria for system suitability performance measures defined as peak area coefficient of variation <0.15, peak width coefficient of variation <0.15, standard deviation of RT <0.15 min (9 s), and the RT drift <0.5min (30 s). The deleterious effect of a marginally performing LC-SID-MRM-MS system on the limit of quantification (LOQ) in targeted quantitative assays illustrates the use and need for a SSP to establish robust and reliable system performance. Use of a SSP helps to ensure that analyte quantification measurements can be replicated with good precision within and across multiple laboratories and should facilitate more widespread use of MRM-MS technology by the basic biomedical and clinical laboratory research communities.

Assessment for Education : Standards, Judgement and Moderation

Do you need a practical guide to assessment, curriculum and policy? Are you also looking for a book that is firmly grounded in the theory of this subject? Assessment for Education combines both theory and practice, making it the perfect guide for students, researchers, academics and teachers. This book makes assessment processes transparent for practitioners, and shows how assessment should relate to education. It looks at evidence-informed decision-making and the interrelationships between standards, judgment and moderation practice for improved assessment, teacher quality, schools and systems. The book will provide you with: ' Knowledge about quality assessment and judgement practice ' Understanding of relationships across curriculum, assessment, teaching and learning ' Knowledge of the concept of front-ending assessment based on the learner's needs ' An analysis of practitioner judgement approaches ' Understanding of the conditions under which teacher assessment can be valid ' Principles derived from research of social moderation practices Whether you are studying and researching assessment or working in curriculum and assessment policy, this book will show you how practitioner use of achievement standards can improve learning, equity, social justice and accountability.

A bioengineered 3D ovarian cancer model for the assessment of peptidase-mediated enhancement of spheroid growth and intraperitoneal spread

Cancer-associated proteases promote peritoneal dissemination and chemoresistance in malignant progression. In this study, kallikrein-related peptidases 4, 5, 6, and 7 (KLK4-7)-cotransfected OV-MZ-6 ovarian cancer cells were embedded in a bioengineered three-dimensional (3D) microenvironment that contains RGD motifs for integrin engagement to analyze their spheroid growth and survival after chemotreatment. KLK4-7-cotransfected cells formed larger spheroids and proliferated more than controls in 3D, particularly within RGD-functionalized matrices, which was reduced upon integrin inhibition. In contrast, KLK4-7-expressing cell monolayers proliferated less than controls, emphasizing the relevance of the 3D microenvironment and integrin engagement. In a spheroid-based animal model, KLK4-7-overexpression induced tumor growth after 4 weeks and intraperitoneal spread after 8 weeks. Upon paclitaxel administration, KLK4-7-expressing tumors declined in size by 91% (controls: 87%) and showed 90% less metastatic outgrowth (controls: 33%, P<0.001). KLK4-7-expressing spheroids showed 53% survival upon paclitaxel treatment (controls: 51%), accompanied by enhanced chemoresistance-related factors, and their survival was further reduced by combination treatment of paclitaxel with KLK4/5/7 (22%, P=0.007) or MAPK (6%, P=0.006) inhibition. The concomitant presence of KLK4-7 in ovarian cancer cells together with integrin activation drives spheroid formation and proliferation. Combinatorial approaches of paclitaxel and KLK/MAPK inhibition may be more efficient for late-stage disease than chemotherapeutics alone as these inhibitory regimens reduced cancer spheroid growth to a greater extent than paclitaxel alone.