A Colour Design Tool Based on Empirical Studies

A colour design tool targeted at both unskilled consumers and professional designers is currently under development, on the basis of psychophysical studies into semantic associations of colour, the cultural influences and colour harmony. From experimental results for single-colour associations, 3 underlying factors were identified: “warm-cool”, “heavy-light” and “active-passive”, which were found to agree well with those identified by earlier research. For colour-combination associations, an “additive property” of colour association was discovered: the semantic score of a colour combination can be determined by averaging semantic scores of each constituent colour in that combination. According to the experimental results, there were 4 general patterns of colour harmony: similarity in hue and chroma, difference in lightness, high lightness and the hue effects. While the proposed colour design tool is still in its development stage and has a number of shortcomings, the system is believed to provide practical assistance and support not only for unskilled users but also for designers. Keywords: colour design; colour harmony; colour association; cross-cultural study; e-shopping; colour decision-making; design process; psychophysical method</p

Investigating the Changes in Teacher Professional Learning: A Case Study of QMEA Schools

Teacher professional learning plays an important role in teaching outcomes and student performance. Teachers who engage in professional learning often find themselves in empowering cycle. Although not all teachers follow this path, those who do benefit from improvements in their teaching. This paper investigates the issue of changes of teacher professional learning provided by schools under Queensland Minerals and Energy Academy, how much these QMEA schools invested in it, and how teachers were involved in it by analysing professional learning initiatives presented in the Annual Reports of these schools. The research findings indicate that there is variance in quantity and variety in initiative offerings in different QMEA schools. Teachers’ involvement in the professional learning offered is not in direct proportion to the schools’ investment in the initiatives. The initiatives provided by almost all the QMEA schools still centre on academic knowledge building and pedagogical skills. Key words: Teacher Professional Learning; QMEA Schools; VET; Change Resumé: L'apprentissage professionnel des enseignants joue un rôle important dans les résultats d'enseignement et dans la performance des élèves. Les enseignants qui s'engagent dans l'apprentissage professionnel se retrouvent souvent dans le cycle d'autonomisation. Bien que tous les enseignants ne suivent pas cette voie, ceux qui le font bénéficient d'une amélioration dans leur enseignement. Cet article étudie la question des changements dans l'apprentissage professionnel des enseignants fourni par les écoles de l'Académine des minéraux et de l'énergie de Queensland (AMEQ) , combien ces écoles AEMQ y ont investi, et comment les enseignants ont été impliqués en analysant les initiatives d'apprentissage professionnelles présentées dans les rapports annuels de ces écoles. Les résultats de la recherche indiquent qu'il existe une variance dans la quantité et une variété de l'offre de l'initiative dans les différentes écoles AEMQ. La participation des enseignants dans l'apprentissage professionnel offert n'est pas en proportion directe avec les investissements des écoles dans les initiatives. Les initiatives prévues par presque toutes les écoles AEMQ se concentrent encore sur le renforcement des connaissances académiques et les compétences pédagogiques. Mots-clés: Apprentissage Professionnel Des Enseignants; ÉColes AEMQ; EFP; Changemen

Co-delivery of Cisplatin(IV) and Capecitabine as an Effective and Non-toxic Cancer Treatment

A strategy for preparing composite micelles (CM) containing both cisplatin(IV) [CisPt(IV)] prodrug and capecitabine using a co-assembly method is described in this study. The CM are capable of an effective release of the anticancer drug cisplatin(II) [CisPt(II)] and capecitabine via acid hydrolysis once they are internalized by cancer cells. Moreover, the CM display a synergistic effect in vitro and the combination therapy in the micellar dosage form leads to reduced systemic toxicity and enhanced antitumor efficacy in vivo

Facet-Dependent Activity of Pt Nanoparticles as Cocatalyst on TiO 2

The photocatalytic activities of polyoriented and preferential Pt(111) nanoparticles supported on TiO2 (Pt(poly)/TiO2 and Pt(111)/TiO2) were investigated by the photocatalytic hydrogen generation from water under visible-light irradiation. The photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of Pt(111)/TiO2 was 1.6 times higher than that of Pt(poly)/TiO2. The corresponding apparent activation energy on Pt(111)/TiO2 was about 2.39 KJ/mol, while on Pt(poly)/TiO2, it was about 4.83 KJ/mol. The difference in the apparent activation energies was probably due to the diversity in the number of surface atoms at corners and edges between the Pt(poly) and Pt(111) nanoparticles. The photocurrent of Pt(111)/TiO2 was also bigger than that of Pt(poly)/TiO2, implying that the surface structure of Pt(111) nanoparticles can improve the transfer efficiency of photo-induced electrons from the conduction band of TiO2 to Pt nanoparticles. As a result, the surface structure of Pt nanoparticles played an important role in the reactivity and kinetics performance of hydrogen evolution. Therefore, the photocatalytic properties of Pt/TiO2 strongly depended on the surface structure of Pt nanoparticles

Influence of viewing conditions on cross-media color matching

We investigated observer metamerism under a variety of viewing conditions, in a set of color-matching experiments using displays and printed color samples under specific light sources. A selection was made of light sources with different illuminances, spectral power distributions, and correlated color temperatures, as well as displays with different sets of primaries. A panel of 157 observers with normal color vision and ages between 20 and 59 years old performed 5465 visual color matches around 9 different color centers. The results from the simulated and real experiments were quite different. Specifically, the mean color difference from the mean changed with experimental viewing conditions, ranging from 0.73 to 1.64 CIELAB units (average 0.99 CIELAB units) in simulated experiments, and from 3.12 to 4.03 CIELAB units (average 3.55 CIELAB units) in real experiments. In real experiments, observers’ variability reduced for light sources with high illuminance and high correlated color temperature. Spectral power distributions affected observer metamerism, but the role played by the primaries of the two displays employed was unclear.National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC), 61675029. Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of the Government of Spain, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union, research project FIS2016-80983-P

Influence of Different Cultures and Display Media on Colour Emotions

This study investigates whether colour emotions are affected by different cultures, display media, and subject’s educational backgrounds. Psychophysical experiments were carried out at three locations, two in Britain and the other in Taiwan. In the experiments single colours and colour pairs were presented on Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitors and were assessed on four colour-emotion scales. Colour samples used in the previous experiment were accurately reproduced in the present experiments onto CRT monitors. This allows the same colours to be assessed at different locations. The four colour-emotion scales used in the experiments include ‘warm-cool’, ‘heavy-light’, ‘active-passive’, and ‘like-dislike’. A total of 49 subjects took part in the experiments. The experimental data obtained from the three locations were compared. The results show little difference in colour emotions for colour pairs between different cultures (British vs. Taiwanese), different display media (CRT vs. surface colours), and different backgrounds of subjects (design vs. non-design). However, for single colours the scale ‘like-dislike’ show low correlation between data sets. In the previous study an ‘additivity theory’ was developed for predicting colour-pair emotions. The theory predicts the intensity of a colour emotion for a colour pair by the mean value of the colour emotion for individual colours in that pair. The present experimental results show the ‘additivity theory’, which was developed originally for surface colours, also applies to CRT colours

Direct Signal Detection Without Data‐Aided: A MIMO Functional Network Approach

Functional network (FN) has been successfully applied in many fields, but so far no methods of direct signal detection (DSD) using FN have been published. In this chapter, a novel DSD approach using FN, which can be applied to cases with a plural source signal sequence, with short sequence, and even with the absence of a training sequence, is presented. Firstly, a multiple‐input multiple‐output FN (MIMOFN), in which the initial input vector is devised via QR decomposition of the receiving signal matrix, is constructed to solve the special issues of DSD. In the meantime, the design method for the neural function of this special MIMOFN is proposed. Then the learning rule for the parameters of neural functions is trained and updated by back‐propagation (BP) algorithm. The correctness and effectiveness of the new approach are verified by simulation results, together with some special simulation phenomena of the algorithm. The proposed method can detect the source sequence directly from the observed output data by utilizing MIMOFN without a training sequence and estimating the channel impulse response

Downregulation of TLX induces TET3 expression and inhibits glioblastoma stem cell self-renewal and tumorigenesis

International audienceGlioblastomas have been proposed to be maintained by highly tumorigenic glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) that are resistant to current therapy. Therefore, targeting GSCs is critical for developing effective therapies for glioblastoma. In this study, we identify the regulatory cascade of the nuclear receptor TLX and the DNA hydroxylase Ten eleven translocation 3 (TET3) as a target for human GSCs. We show that knockdown of TLX expression inhibits human GSC tumorigenicity in mice. Treatment of human GSC-grafted mice with viral vector-delivered TLX shRNA or nanovector-delivered TLX siRNA inhibits tumour development and prolongs survival. Moreover, we identify TET3 as a potent tumour suppressor downstream of TLX to regulate the growth and self-renewal in GSCs. This study identifies the TLX-TET3 axis as a potential therapeutic target for glioblastoma