Pearlescence

“Pearlescence” is a one-­‐piece women’s swimsuit inspired by the texture and dynamic form of the sea’s skilled swimmers. The piece was created as a complex, asymmetric design to offer a unique aesthetic value. In the same way a compression garment shows off the true contours of the body it is covering, the scales made of blue Lycra fabric showcase the silver layer underneath when the body is in motion and the swimsuit is tight

Green IS Assimilation: A Theoretical Framework and Research Agenda

The current paper presents a theoretical framework on the assimilation of Green IS in organizations. The assimilation of Green IS comprises three stages, namely, Green IS initiation, adoption, and routinization. The different stages of assimilation are proposed to be affected by different groups of factors. Based on institutional theory, organizational information processing theory and organization theory, environmental uncertainty, organizational slack, and institutional pressure are employed to explain Green IS assimilation, and the importance of each of these factors will vary in different stages of assimilation. Institutional factors and environmental uncertainty will affect the initiation of adoption of Green IS, while organizational resources will affect the adoption and rountinization of Green IS. Organizational resources will moderate the relationship between environmental uncertainty and Green IS adoption. The proposed framework is planned to be tested in the future empirical study. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications of the proposed conceptual model are presented

Design and analysis of a liquid nitrogen delivery system for cooling a high temperature superconducting magnet for MAGLEV

Thesis (B.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1995.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 60).by Eric Fong.B.S

Advanced Model for Extreme Lift and Improved Aeroacoustics (AMELIA)

With the very recent advent of NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project (ERA), which is dedicated to designing aircraft that will reduce the impact of aviation on the environment, there is a need for research and development of methodologies to minimize fuel burn, emissions, and reduce community noise produced by regional airliners. ERA tackles airframe technology, propulsion technology, and vehicle systems integration to meet performance objectives in the time frame for the aircraft to be at a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 4-6 by the year of 2020 (deemed N+2). The proceeding project that investigated similar goals to ERA was NASA's Subsonic Fixed Wing (SFW). SFW focused on conducting research to improve prediction methods and technologies that will produce lower noise, lower emissions, and higher performing subsonic aircraft for the Next Generation Air Transportation System. The work provided in this investigation was a NASA Research Announcement (NRA) contract #NNL07AA55C funded by Subsonic Fixed Wing. The project started in 2007 with a specific goal of conducting a large-scale wind tunnel test along with the development of new and improved predictive codes for the advanced powered-lift concepts. Many of the predictive codes were incorporated to refine the wind tunnel model outer mold line design. The large scale wind tunnel test goal was to investigate powered lift technologies and provide an experimental database to validate current and future modeling techniques. Powered-lift concepts investigated were Circulation Control (CC) wing in conjunction with over-the-wing mounted engines to entrain the exhaust to further increase the lift generated by CC technologies alone. The NRA was a five-year effort; during the first year the objective was to select and refine CESTOL concepts and then to complete a preliminary design of a large-scale wind tunnel model for the large scale test. During the second, third, and fourth years the large-scale wind tunnel model design would be completed, manufactured, and calibrated. During the fifth year the large scale wind tunnel test was conducted. This technical memo will describe all phases of the Advanced Model for Extreme Lift and Improved Aeroacoustics (AMELIA) project and provide a brief summary of the background and modeling efforts involved in the NRA. The conceptual designs considered for this project and the decision process for the selected configuration adapted for a wind tunnel model will be briefly discussed. The internal configuration of AMELIA, and the internal measurements chosen in order to satisfy the requirements of obtaining a database of experimental data to be used for future computational model validations. The external experimental techniques that were employed during the test, along with the large-scale wind tunnel test facility are covered in great detail. Experimental measurements in the database include forces and moments, and surface pressure distributions, local skin friction measurements, boundary and shear layer velocity profiles, far-field acoustic data and noise signatures from turbofan propulsion simulators. Results and discussion of the circulation control performance, over-the-wing mounted engines, and the combined performance are also discussed in great detail

Activated lymphocyte recruitment into the tumor microenvironment following preoperative sipuleucel-T for localized prostate cancer.

BackgroundSipuleucel-T is a US Food and Drug Administration-approved immunotherapy for asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). Its mechanism of action is not fully understood. This prospective trial evaluated the direct immune effects of systemically administered sipuleucel-T on prostatic cancer tissue in the preoperative setting.MethodsPatients with untreated localized prostate cancer were treated on an open-label Phase II study of sipuleucel-T prior to planned radical prostatectomy (RP). Immune infiltrates in RP specimens (posttreatment) and in paired pretreatment biopsies were evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Correlations between circulating immune response and IHC were assessed using Spearman rank order.ResultsOf the 42 enrolled patients, 37 were evaluable. Adverse events were primarily transient, mild-to-moderate and infusion related. Patients developed T cell proliferation and interferon-γ responses detectable in the blood following treatment. Furthermore, a greater-than-three-fold increase in infiltrating CD3(+), CD4(+) FOXP3(-), and CD8(+) T cells was observed in the RP tissues compared with the pretreatment biopsy (binomial proportions: all P < .001). This level of T cell infiltration was observed at the tumor interface, and was not seen in a control group consisting of 12 concurrent patients who did not receive any neoadjuvant treatment prior to RP. The majority of infiltrating T cells were PD-1(+) and Ki-67(+), consistent with activated T cells. Importantly, the magnitude of the circulating immune response did not directly correlate with T cell infiltration within the prostate based upon Spearman's rank order correlation.ConclusionsThis study is the first to demonstrate a local immune effect from the administration of sipuleucel-T. Neoadjuvant sipuleucel-T elicits both a systemic antigen-specific T cell response and the recruitment of activated effector T cells into the prostate tumor microenvironment

An exploratory study on the significance of outbound travelling for the older persons in Hong Kong

Hong Kong has been experiencing demographic ageing with an increasing number of older population and prolonged life expectancy. It is projected that population will increase from 12% in 2004 to 24% in 2031 (Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong, 2002). Older people in the future are expected to be wealthier and healthier and the potential demand for recreational activities will strongly be associated with this group. As highlighted in the Chief Executive of the HKSAR 2001 policy address, the future direction of elderly care and services is to improve the quality of life of older persons, ensuring that they will continue to enjoy a sense of security, belonging and a feeling of good health and worthiness. The report on healthy ageing by the Elderly Commission suggested that promoting physical well-being alone is not enough for older people and therefore a number of ways to enhance their psychological well-being are necessary (Elderly Commission, 2001). The importance of psychological well-being to quality of life of older people and their life expectancy is an integral part of the concept of successful ageing and also forms a main plank in the WHO’s policy framework of active ageing (WHO, 2002). More active social participation or leisure activities are very widely recognized as crucial. According to reports published by the Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA, 1998), Hong Kong residents departures to overseas destinations increased from 3.4 million in 1996 to 3.8 million in 1997, representing a growth rate of 9.1%. Although the trend for older people in Hong Kong is not clear from literature and existing data, outbound travelling for older people seems to be a development which is both commercially viable and probably socially desirable. A popular activity to enhance the quality of life of older people in Hong Kong is outbound travelling. The “graying” of population in Hong Kong has aroused the attention of people running overseas tourism and it is not surprising that given the increasing number of older people and the large amount of unoccupied time available to them, this has captured the interest of those examining travel characteristics of the market (Van Harssel, 1994). Indeed, many people identified by demographic age as “elderly” may be cognitively young (Schiffman & Sherman, 1991) and open to innovation in their travel behaviour (Szmigin & Carrigan, 2001). Moreover, in all likelihood, older tourists will be as strongly motivated to travel as younger people (Sharpley, 1994). Thereby, senior travel is becoming a widely recognized aspect for promoting healthy and active ageing. However, the research conducted in Hong Kong concerning the meaning and significance of outbound travelling amongst older people in Hong Kong has been very limited so far. The present research presents an exploratory study on senior travel in the context of Hong Kong and four dimensions are addressed as follows: The motivations for outbound travelling amongst older people in Hong Kong. The perceived barriers to outbound travelling amongst older people in Hong Kong. To describe and analyze the travel modes and activities conducted during outbound travel. To explore the psychological meaning(s) of outbound travel for older people

A report on an exploratory study on visual conditions of older people living in public housing

HOPE worldwide (HWW) has been a chartered charity organization in Hong Kong since 1993, with its focus on organizing service programmes in China and Hong Kong. Volunteers for Seniors Day (formerly Hope for Seniors Day) is one of the many programmes initiated by HWW to meet the urgent needs of the growing ageing population in Hong Kong. Starting in 1996, volunteers from corporations and social organizations have been recruited for Volunteers for Seniors Days on an annual basis. Since 2000, the programme has been jointly organized with the Housing Authority to provide cleaning and painting services to single elderly tenants living in public housing estates. It also helps to build relationships between the volunteers and the elderly people in the community. Over the past nine years, the programme has served over 5,300 single elderly people and mobilized more than 20,000 volunteers to participate. In the survey conducted by HWW during Volunteers for Seniors Day 2004, we found that there were up to 40.1% and 49.6% of the single elderly living in public housing estates suffering from various kinds of eye diseases and poor eyesight respectively. The prevalence of eye diseases and poor eyesight would result in a high percentage of falls and thereby affect their functional activities of daily living (ADL). In fact, most of the eye diseases are curable with early detection and treatment, and elderly people with poor eyesight may need minor home adaptation e.g. handrails or night lights to prevent home accidents. According to a study by the Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology of Chinese University, exercise is important to the elderly and can strengthen their low-limb and upper-limb muscles, which in turn prevents falls at home or on the street. Due to the above findings, HWW cooperated with Housing Authority to initiate a pilot programme to help identify the eye diseases as well as provide public health education to the elderly in 30 public estates in the second half of 2004. Health care professionals provided training to 150 volunteers on eye care knowledge and simple eye screening tests that could be carried out in road shows in shopping arcades of public housing estates. In addition, experienced ophthalmologists or optometrists were present to answer elderly participants’ inquiries on eye health and delivered health information during the kick-off ceremony and road shows in the shopping arcades. The programme had the following objectives: To enhance the awareness of eye health and eye diseases of the elderly through 30 public eye screenings at public housing arcades; To carry out a survey on the visual conditions of elderly living in public housing; and To foster partnership between government, NGO and business sectors in promoting the health of the elderly in the community

How Sales Taxes Affect Customer and Firm Behavior: The Role of Search on the Internet

When a multichannel retailer opens its first retail store in a state, the firm is obligated to collect sales taxes on all Internet and catalog orders shipped to that state. This article assesses how opening a store affects Internet and catalog demand. The authors analyze purchase behavior among customers who live far from the retail store but must now pay sales taxes on catalog and Internet purchases. A comparable group of customers in a neighboring state serves as a control. The results show that Internet sales decrease significantly, but catalog sales are unaffected. Further investigation indicates that the difference in these outcomes is partly attributable to the ease with which customers can search for lower prices at competing retailers. The authors extend the analysis to a panel of multichannel firms and show that retailers that earn a large proportion of their revenue from direct channels avoid opening a first store in high-tax states. They conclude that current U.S. sales taxes laws have significant effects on both customer and firm behavior