Serious gaming to stimulate participatory urban tourism planning.

This paper examines how a serious game approach could support a participatory planning process by bringing stakeholders together to discuss interventions that assist the development of sustainable urban tourism. A serious policy game was designed and played in six European cities by a total of 73 participants, reflecting a diverse array of tourism stakeholders. By observing in-game experiences, a pre- and post -game survey and short interviews six months after playing the game, the process and impact of the game was investigated. While it proved difficult to evaluate the value of a serious game approach, results demonstrate that enacting real-life policymaking in a serious game setting can enable stakeholders to come together, and become more aware of the issues and complexities involved with urban tourism planning. This suggests a serious game can be used to stimulate the uptake of academic insights in a playful manner. However, it should be remembered that a game is a tool and does not, in itself, lead to inclusive participatory policymaking and more sustainable urban tourism planning. Consequently, care needs to be taken to ensure inclusiveness and prevent marginalization or disempowerment both within game-design and the political formation of a wider participatory planning approach.</p

Automatic identification of sleep and wakefulness using single-channel EEG and respiratory polygraphy signals for the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea

Polysomnography (PSG) is necessary for the accurate estimation of total sleep time (TST) and the calculation of the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI). In type III home sleep apnea testing (HSAT), TST is overestimated because of the lack of electrophysiological sleep recordings. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of a novel automated sleep/wake scoring algorithm combining a single electroencephalogram (EEG) channel with actimetry and HSAT signals. The study included 160 patients investigated by PSG for suspected obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Each PSG was recorded and scored manually using American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) rules. The automatic sleep/wake-scoring algorithm was based on a single-channel EEG (FP2-A1) and the variability analysis of HSAT signals (airflow, snoring, actimetry, light and respiratory inductive plethysmography). Optimal detection thresholds were derived for each signal using a training set. Automatic and manual scorings were then compared epoch by epoch considering two states (sleep and wake). Cohen\u27s kappa coefficient between the manual scoring and the proposed automatic algorithm was substantial, 0.74 ± 0.18, in separating wakefulness and sleep. The sensitivity, specificity and the positive and negative predictive values for the detection of wakefulness were 76.51% ± 21.67%, 95.48% ± 5.27%, 81.84% ± 15.42% and 93.85% ± 6.23% respectively. Compared with HSAT signals alone, AHI increased by 22.12% and 27 patients changed categories of OSA severity with the automatic sleep/wake-scoring algorithm. Automatic sleep/wake detection using a single-channel EEG combined with HSAT signals was a reliable method for TST estimation and improved AHI calculation compared with HSAT

European Extremely Large Telescope Site Characterization II: High angular resolution parameters

This is the second article of a series devoted to European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) site characterization. In this article we present the main properties of the parameters involved in high angular resolution observations from the data collected in the site testing campaign of the E-ELT during the Design Study (DS) phase. Observations were made in 2008 and 2009, in the four sites selected to shelter the future E-ELT (characterized under the ELT-DS contract): Aklim mountain in Morocco, Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM) in Spain, Mac\'on range in Argentina, and Cerro Ventarrones in Chile. The same techniques, instruments and acquisition procedures were taken on each site. A Multiple Aperture Scintillation Sensor (MASS) and a Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM) were installed at each site. Global statistics of the integrated seeing, the free atmosphere seeing, the boundary layer seeing and the isoplanatic angle were studied for each site, and the results are presented here. In order to estimate other important parameters such as the coherence time of the wavefront and the overall parameter "coherence \'etendue" additional information of vertical profiles of the wind speed was needed. Data were retrieved from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) archive. Ground wind speed was measured by Automatic Weather Stations (AWS). More aspects of the turbulence parameters such as their seasonal trend, their nightly evolution and their temporal stability were also obtained and analyzed.Comment: 46 pages and 17 figures. Accepted to be published in PAS

Efficient ortho-formylation in vitamin E series, application to the semi-synthesis of natural 5- and 7-formyl-δ-tocotrienols revealing an unprecedented 5-bromo-7-formyl exchange

Semi-synthesis of 5- and 7-formyltocopherols and tocotrienols has been developed by ortho-formylation of C-5 or C-7-unsubstituted vitamin E derivatives (14 examples) up to 90% yield, through heating in the presence of respectively 10-10-15 equivalents of MgCl2-Et3N-(CH2O)n. Formylation of 5-bromo-δ-tocotrienol revealed an unprecedented 5-bromo/7-formyl exchange and yielded 7-bromo-5-formyl-δ-tocotrienol as major product. The minor 5-bromo-7-formyl-δ-tocotrienol led in three steps to 7-formyl-δ-tocotrienol previously isolated from the stem bark of Garcinia virgata

Equilibrium conditions for semi-clathrate hydrates formed with CO2, N2 or CH4 in the presence of tri-n-butylphosphine oxide

We measured the thermodynamic stability conditions for the N, CO, or CH semiclathrate hydrate formed from the aqueous solution of tri-n-butylphosphine oxide (TBPO) at 26 wt %, corresponding to the stoichiometric composition for TBPO·34.5HO. The measurements were performed in the temperature range 283.71-300.34 K and pressure range 0.35-19.43 MPa with the use of an isochoric equilibrium step-heating pressure-search method. The results showed that the presence of TBPO made these semiclathrate hydrates much more stable than the corresponding pure N , CO, and CH hydrates. At a given temperature, the semiclathrate hydrate of 26 wt % TBPO solution + CH was more stable than that of 26 wt % TBPO solution + CO, which in turn was more stable than that of 26 wt % TBPO solution + N. We analyzed the phase equilibrium data using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation and found that, in the pressure range 0-20 MPa, the mean dissociation enthalpies for the semiclathrate hydrate systems of 26 wt % TBPO solution + N, 26 wt % TBPO solution + CO, and 26 wt % TBPO solution + CH were 177.75, 206.23, and 159.00 kJ·mol, respectively

The impact of type 2 diabetes on health related quality of life in Bangladesh: results from a matched study comparing treated cases with non-diabetic controls

Background Little is known about the association between diabetes and health related quality of life (HRQL) in lower-middle income countries. This study aimed to investigate HRQL among individuals with and without diabetes in Bangladesh. Methods The analysis is based on data of a case-control study, including 591 patients with type 2 diabetes (cases) who attended an outpatient unit of a hospital in Dhaka and 591 age -and sex-matched individuals without diabetes (controls). Information about socio-demographic characteristics, health conditions, and HRQL were assessed in a structured interview. HRQL was measured with the EuroQol (EQ) visual analogue scale (VAS) and the EQ five-dimensional (5D) descriptive system. The association between diabetes status and quality of life was examined using multiple linear and logistic regression models. Results Mean EQ-VAS score of patients with diabetes was 11.5 points lower (95 %-CI: −13.5, −9.6) compared to controls without diabetes. Patients with diabetes were more likely to report problems in all EQ-5D dimensions than controls, with the largest effect observed in the dimensions ‘self-care’ (OR = 5.9; 95 %-CI: 2.9, 11.8) and ‘mobility’ (OR = 4.5; 95 %-CI: 3.0, −6.6). In patients with diabetes, male gender, high education, and high-income were associated with higher VAS score and diabetes duration and foot ulcer associated with lower VAS scores. Other diabetes-related complications were not significantly associated with HRQL. Conclusions Our findings suggest that the impact of diabetes on HRQL in the Bangladeshi population is much higher than what is known from western populations and that unlike in western populations comorbidities/complications are not the driving factor for this effect