Application of autologous periosteal cells for the regeneration of class III furcation defects in Beagle dogs

The aim of this study was to evaluate the healing of class III furcation defects following transplantation of autogenous periosteal cells combined with b-tricalcium phosphate (b-TCP). Periosteal cells obtained from Beagle dogs’ periosteum explant cultures, were inoculated onto the surface of b-TCP. Class III furcation defects were created in the mandibular premolars. Three experimental groups were used to test the defects’ healing: group A, b-TCP seeded with periosteal cells were transplanted into the defects; group B, b-TCP alone was used for defect filling; and group C, the defect was without filling materials. Twelve weeks post surgery, the tissue samples were collected for histology, immunohistology and X-ray examination. It was found that both the length of newly formed periodontal ligament and the area of newly formed alveolar bone in group A, were significantly increased compared with both group B and C. Furthermore, both the proportion of newly formed periodontal ligament and newly formed alveolar bone in group A were much higher than those of group B and C. The quantity of cementum and its percentage in the defects (group A) were also significantly higher than those of group C. These results indicate that autogenous periosteal cells combined with b-TCP application can improve periodontal tissue regeneration in class III furcation defects.

Changing pedagogic codes in a class of landscape architects learning 'ecologically sustainable development'

Professional discourse in education has been the focus of research conducted mostly with teachers and professional practitioners but the work of students in the built environment has largely been ignored. This article presents an analysis of students’ visual discourse in the final professional year of a landscape architecture course in Brisbane, Australia. The study has a multi-method design and includes drawings, interviews and documentary materials, but focuses on the drawings in this paper. Using the theory of Bernstein, the analysis considers student representations as interrelations between professional identity and discretionary space for legitimate knowledge formation in landscape planning. It shows a shift in how students persuade the teacher of their expanding views of this field. The discussion of this shift centres on the professional knowledge that students choose rather than need to learn. It points to the differences within a class that a teacher must address in curriculum design in a contemporary professional course.

A new approach for finding an appropriate combination of texture parameters for classification

This paper suggests an approach for finding an appropriate combination of various parameters for extracting texture features (e.g. choice of spectral band for extracting texture feature, size of the moving window, quantization level of the image, and choice of texture feature etc.) to be used in the classification process. Gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) method has been used for extracting texture from remotely sensed satellite image. Results of the classification of an Indian urban environment using spatial property (texture), derived from spectral and multi-resolution wavelet decomposed images have also been reported. A multivariate data analysis technique called ‘conjoint analysis’ has been used in the study to analyze the relative importance of these parameters. Results indicate that the choice of texture feature and window size have higher relative importance in the classification process than quantization level or the choice of image band for extracting texture feature. In case of texture features derived using wavelet decomposed image, the parameter ‘decomposition level’ has almost equal relative importance as the size of moving window and the decomposition of images up to level one is sufficient and there is no need to go for further decomposition. It was also observed that the classification incorporating texture features improves the overall classification accuracy in a statistically significant manner in comparison to pure spectral classification.

Combination of Kalman filter and least error square techniques in power system

An algorithm based on the concept of combining Kalman filter and Least Error Square (LES) techniques is proposed in this paper. The algorithm is intended to estimate signal attributes like amplitude, frequency and phase angle in the online mode. This technique can be used in protection relays, digital AVRs, DGs, DSTATCOMs, FACTS and other power electronics applications. The Kalman filter is modified to operate on a fictitious input signal and provides precise estimation results insensitive to noise and other disturbances. At the same time, the LES system has been arranged to operate in critical transient cases to compensate the delay and inaccuracy identified because of the response of the standard Kalman filter. Practical considerations such as the effect of noise, higher order harmonics, and computational issues of the algorithm are considered and tested in the paper. Several computer simulations and a laboratory test are presented to highlight the usefulness of the proposed method. Simulation results show that the proposed technique can simultaneously estimate the signal attributes, even if it is highly distorted due to the presence of non-linear loads and noise.

"I'm a designer, get me out of tech class!" : closing the gap between design and technology education

The following paper explores the use of collaborative pedagogical approaches to advance foundational architectural design education, by linking design process to sustainable technology principles. After a brief discussion on architectural design education, the mentioned collaborative approach is described. This approach facilitates students’ exchange of knowledge between two courses, despite no explicit/assessable requirement to do so. The result for the students is deeper learning and a design process that is enriched through collaboration with sustainable technology. The success of this approach has been measured through questionnaires, evaluation surveys, and a comparative assessment of students common to both courses. The paper focuses on the challenges and innovations in connecting architectural design and technology education, where students are encouraged to implement lessons learnt, thereby closing the gap that these courses have traditionally represented.

Positioning refugee students as intellectual class members

This chapter looks at the 'smart links' and 'smart paths' created by some English as a second language (ESL) teachers to enable refugee students with little, no or severely interrupted schooling to participate in class after re-settlement in the West. Data are drawn from an interview study conducted in an intensive English language school for adolescents and three mainstream high schools. Findings show how teachers who rejected deficit discourses enabled student participation in the intellectual work of the classroom. The Bourdieusian concept of capital is used to describe teacher competence for diverse classrooms in a world of student mobility and unequal educational access.

Optimisation of a class of transportation problems using genetic algorithms

This paper presents a Genetic Algorithms (GA) approach to search the optimized path for a class of transportation problems. The formulation of the problems for suitable application of GA will be discussed. Exchanging genetic information in the sense of neighborhoods will be introduced for generation reproduction. The performance of the GA will be evaluated by computer simulation. The proposed algorithm use simple coding with population size 1 converged in reasonable optimality within several minutes.