262 research outputs found
Consumer perceptions of wine packaging design styles : the moderating role of involvement
The influence of packaging design (PD) on consumer choice is well documented,
most notably through its perceived attractiveness and the product beliefs it can
generate. However, these aspects of PDâs influence have been tested only in isolation
and with little attention paid to the moderating role of consumersâ personal
characteristics. Drawing from theories in the fields of visual perception, information
processing and response to product form and using the product category of wine, the
present thesis investigates consumersâ perceptions of PD styles more holistically,
incorporating the moderating role of consumer involvement. Specifically, the thesis
hypothesises that consumersâ involvement levels in wine moderate their affective
and cognitive responses to wine PD styles, which in turn influence their purchase
intentions. The empirical investigation follows a mixed methods approach,
comprising seven focus group discussions and an online survey (n = 540) of low
involvement (LI) and high involvement (HI) wine consumers. The results confirm
that consumers show both affective and cognitive responses to PD and that both
types of response have significant effects on purchase intention. However, the study
also reveals that consumersâ involvement level determines, which type of PD
response is more influential. Affective responses to PD had greater impact for LI
respondentsâ purchase intention than for HI respondentsâ purchase intention. An
opposite effect was found for cognitive responses to PD. These results demonstrate
the need to take account of different types of consumer response when investigating
PDâs effects and they highlight the value of involvement as a factor to predict the
types of response consumers may have to PD in a purchase decision
Generating Functional for Strong and Nonleptonic Weak Interactions
The generating functional for Green functions of quark currents is given in
closed form to next-to-leading order in the low-energy expansion for chiral
SU(3), including one-loop amplitudes with up to three meson propagators. Matrix
elements and form factors for strong and nonleptonic weak processes with at
most six external states can be extracted from this functional by performing
three-dimensional flavour traces. To implement this procedure, a Mathematica
program is provided that evaluates amplitudes with at most six external mesons,
photons (real or virtual) and virtual W (semileptonic form factors). The
program is illustrated with several examples that can be compared with existing
calculations.Comment: 26 pages; references added, comparison with other programs added,
small changes in the text, version to appear in JHE
The diagnostic and prognostic role of liquid-based cytology: are we ready to monitor therapy and resistance?
Here, we evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic role of liquid-based cytology (LBC) in different body lesions, including thyroid, lung, effusions and malignant breast lesions. LBC has gained consensus after being applied to both non-gynecologic and fine-needle aspiration cytology. Although some remain sceptical regarding the diagnostic efficacy of LBC, mainly when used alone, in recent years, good results have been obtained as long as it showed a high diagnostic accuracy. Here, we discuss the additional possibility of storing material for the application of ancillary techniques (immunocytochemistryâmolecular analysis) with several diagnostic and prognostic advantages, which may pave the way for the challenging evaluation of both monitoring responses to treatment and resistance to targeted therapies in thyroid, lung, breast carcinoma or malignant effusions. Furthermore, it provides the use of several molecular spots as specific targets for personalized therapy
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Nonspherical Nanoparticle Shape Stability Is Affected by Complex Manufacturing Aspects: Its Implications for Drug Delivery and Targeting
The shape of nanoparticles is known recently as an important design parameter influencing considerably the fate of nanoparticles with and in biological systems. Several manufacturing techniques to generate nonspherical nanoparticles as well as studies on in vitro and in vivo effects thereof have been described. However, nonspherical nanoparticle shape stability in physiological-related conditions and the impact of formulation parameters on nonspherical nanoparticle resistance still need to be investigated. To address these issues, different nanoparticle fabrication methods using biodegradable polymers are explored to produce nonspherical nanoparticles via the prevailing film-stretching method. In addition, systematic comparisons to other nanoparticle systems prepared by different manufacturing techniques and less biodegradable materials (but still commonly utilized for drug delivery and targeting) are conducted. The study evinces that the strong interplay from multiple nanoparticle properties (i.e., internal structure, Young's modulus, surface roughness, liquefaction temperature [glass transition (Tg) or melting (Tm)], porosity, and surface hydrophobicity) is present. It is not possible to predict the nonsphericity longevity by merely one or two factor(s). The most influential features in preserving the nonsphericity of nanoparticles are existence of internal structure and low surface hydrophobicity (i.e., surface-free energy (SFE) > â55 mN mâ1, materialâwater interfacial tension 10 nm), porous (>1 m2 gâ1), and in possession of low bulk liquefaction temperature (<100 °C). Interestingly, low surface hydrophobicity of nanoparticles can be obtained indirectly by the significant presence of residual stabilizers. Therefore, it is strongly suggested that nonsphericity of particle systems is highly dependent on surface chemistry but cannot be appraised separately from other factors. These results and reviews allot valuable guidelines for the design and manufacturing of nonspherical nanoparticles having adequate shape stability, thereby appropriate with their usage purposes. Furthermore, they can assist in understanding and explaining the possible mechanisms of nonspherical nanoparticles effectivity loss and distinctive material behavior at the nanoscale. © 2019 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinhei
Compatibility and noncontextuality for sequential measurements
A basic assumption behind the inequalities used for testing noncontextual
hidden variable models is that the observables measured on the same individual
system are perfectly compatible. However, compatibility is not perfect in
actual experiments using sequential measurements. We discuss the resulting
"compatibility loophole" and present several methods to rule out certain hidden
variable models which obey a kind of extended noncontextuality. Finally, we
present a detailed analysis of experimental imperfections in a recent trapped
ion experiment and apply our analysis to that case.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, v2: problem with latex solve
A Combined Approach of Process Mining and Rule-based AI for Study Planning and Monitoring in Higher Education
This paper presents an approach of using methods of process mining and
rule-based artificial intelligence to analyze and understand study paths of
students based on campus management system data and study program models.
Process mining techniques are used to characterize successful study paths, as
well as to detect and visualize deviations from expected plans. These insights
are combined with recommendations and requirements of the corresponding study
programs extracted from examination regulations. Here, event calculus and
answer set programming are used to provide models of the study programs which
support planning and conformance checking while providing feedback on possible
study plan violations. In its combination, process mining and rule-based
artificial intelligence are used to support study planning and monitoring by
deriving rules and recommendations for guiding students to more suitable study
paths with higher success rates. Two applications will be implemented, one for
students and one for study program designers.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, conference, 30 reference
Assessment of choroidal blood flow using laser speckle flowgraphy
Background/aims There is considerable interest in novel techniques to quantify choroidal blood flow (CBF) in humans. In the present study, we investigated a novel technique to measure CBF based on laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG) in healthy subjects. Methods This study included 31 eyes of 31 healthy, non-smoking subjects aged between 19 and 74 years. A commercial LSFG instrument was used to measure choroidal vessel diameter (CVD) and relative flow volume (RFV) in choroidal vessels that were identified on fundus photos, an approach that was used previously only for retinal vessels. The reproducibility and the effect of isometric exercise on these parameters were investigated. The latter was compared with measurement of subfoveal CBF using laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF). Results Intraclass correlation coefficients for CVD and RFV were higher than 0.8 indicating excellent reproducibility. During isometric exercise, we observed an increase in ocular perfusion pressure of approximately 60% (P<0.001). The increase in RFV and CBF was lower, but also highly significant versus baseline (at minute 6 of isometric exercise: RFV 10.5%+/- 4.2%, CBF 8.3%+/- 3.6%;P< 0.001 each) indicating choroidal autoregulation. Conclusion LSFG may be a novel approach to study blood flow in choroidal vessels. Data are reproducible and show good agreement with LDF data
Nonspherical Nanoparticle Shape Stability Is Affected by Complex Manufacturing Aspects: Its Implications for Drug Delivery and Targeting
The shape of nanoparticles is known recently as an important design parameter influencing considerably the fate of nanoparticles with and in biological systems. Several manufacturing techniques to generate nonspherical nanoparticles as well as studies on in vitro and in vivo effects thereof have been described. However, nonspherical nanoparticle shape stability in physiologicalârelated conditions and the impact of formulation parameters on nonspherical nanoparticle resistance still need to be investigated. To address these issues, different nanoparticle fabrication methods using biodegradable polymers are explored to produce nonspherical nanoparticles via the prevailing filmâstretching method. In addition, systematic comparisons to other nanoparticle systems prepared by different manufacturing techniques and less biodegradable materials (but still commonly utilized for drug delivery and targeting) are conducted. The study evinces that the strong interplay from multiple nanoparticle properties (i.e., internal structure, Young's modulus, surface roughness, liquefaction temperature [glass transition (Tg) or melting (Tm)], porosity, and surface hydrophobicity) is present. It is not possible to predict the nonsphericity longevity by merely one or two factor(s). The most influential features in preserving the nonsphericity of nanoparticles are existence of internal structure and low surface hydrophobicity (i.e., surfaceâfree energy (SFE) > â55 mN mâ1, materialâwater interfacial tension 10 nm), porous (>1 m2 gâ1), and in possession of low bulk liquefaction temperature (<100 °C). Interestingly, low surface hydrophobicity of nanoparticles can be obtained indirectly by the significant presence of residual stabilizers. Therefore, it is strongly suggested that nonsphericity of particle systems is highly dependent on surface chemistry but cannot be appraised separately from other factors. These results and reviews allot valuable guidelines for the design and manufacturing of nonspherical nanoparticles having adequate shape stability, thereby appropriate with their usage purposes. Furthermore, they can assist in understanding and explaining the possible mechanisms of nonspherical nanoparticles effectivity loss and distinctive material behavior at the nanoscale
Extracorporeal Circulation During Lung Transplantation Procedures: a Meta-Analysis
Extracorporeal circulation (ECC) is an invaluable tool in lung transplantation (lutx). More than the past years, an increasing number of centers changed their standard for intraoperative ECC from cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) - with differing results. This meta-analysis reviews the existing evidence. An online literature research on Medline, Embase, and PubMed has been performed. Two persons independently judged the papers using the ACROBAT-NRSI tool of the Cochrane collaboration. Meta-analyses and meta-regressions were used to determine whether veno-arterial ECMO (VA-ECMO) resulted in better outcomes compared with CPB. Six papers - all observational studies without randomization - were included in the analysis. All were considered to have serious bias caused by heparinization as co-intervention. Forest plots showed a beneficial trend of ECMO regarding blood transfusions (packed red blood cells (RBCs) with an average mean difference of -0.46 units 95{\%} CI = -3.72, 2.80, fresh-frozen plasma with an average mean difference of -0.65 units 95{\%} CI = -1.56, 0.25, platelets with an average mean difference of -1.72 units 95{\%} CI = -3.67, 0.23). Duration of ventilator support with an average mean difference of -2.86 days 95{\%} CI = -11.43, 5.71 and intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay with an average mean difference of -4.79 days 95{\%} CI = -8.17, -1.41 were shorter in ECMO patients. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation treatment tended to be superior regarding 3 month mortality (odds ratio = 0.46, 95{\%} CI = 0.21-1.02) and 1 year mortality (odds ratio = 0.65, 95{\%} CI = 0.37-1.13). However, only the ICU length of stay reached statistical significance. Meta-regression analyses showed that heterogeneity across studies (sex, year of ECMO implementation, and underlying disease) influenced differences. These data indicate a benefit of the intraoperative use of ECMO as compared with CPB during lung transplant procedures regarding short-term outcome (ICU stay). There was no statistically significant effect regarding blood transfusion needs or long-term outcome. The superiority of ECMO in lutx patients remains to be determined in larger multi-center randomized trials
Evaluation of Host Serum Protein Biomarkers of Tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa.
Accurate and affordable point-of-care diagnostics for tuberculosis (TB) are needed. Host serum protein signatures have been derived for use in primary care settings, however validation of these in secondary care settings is lacking. We evaluated serum protein biomarkers discovered in primary care cohorts from Africa reapplied to patients from secondary care. In this nested case-control study, concentrations of 22 proteins were quantified in sera from 292 patients from Malawi and South Africa who presented predominantly to secondary care. Recruitment was based upon intention of local clinicians to test for TB. The case definition for TB was culture positivity for Mycobacterium tuberculosis; and for other diseases (OD) a confirmed alternative diagnosis. Equal numbers of TB and OD patients were selected. Within each group, there were equal numbers with and without HIV and from each site. Patients were split into training and test sets for biosignature discovery. A nine-protein signature to distinguish TB from OD was discovered comprising fibrinogen, alpha-2-macroglobulin, CRP, MMP-9, transthyretin, complement factor H, IFN-gamma, IP-10, and TNF-alpha. This signature had an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve in the training set of 90% (95% CI 86-95%), and, after adjusting the cut-off for increased sensitivity, a sensitivity and specificity in the test set of 92% (95% CI 80-98%) and 71% (95% CI 56-84%), respectively. The best single biomarker was complement factor H [area under the receiver operating characteristic curve 70% (95% CI 64-76%)]. Biosignatures consisting of host serum proteins may function as point-of-care screening tests for TB in African hospitals. Complement factor H is identified as a new biomarker for such signatures
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