The Role and Potentials of Field User Interaction Data in the Automotive UX Development Lifecycle: An Industry Perspective

We are interested in the role of field user interaction data in the development of IVIS, the potentials practitioners see in analyzing this data, the concerns they share, and how this compares to companies with digital products. We conducted interviews with 14 UX professionals, 8 from automotive and 6 from digital companies, and analyzed the results by emergent thematic coding. Our key findings indicate that implicit feedback through field user interaction data is currently not evident in the automotive UX development process. Most decisions regarding the design of IVIS are made based on personal preferences and the intuitions of stakeholders. However, the interviewees also indicated that user interaction data has the potential to lower the influence of guesswork and assumptions in the UX design process and can help to make the UX development lifecycle more evidence-based and user-centered

Seismic resilience timber connection-adoption of shape memory alloy tubes as dowels

This study investigates a novel timber dowel-type connection system using superelastic shape memory alloy (SMA) bar and tubes as dowels, in order to provide self-centering effect. Double-shear connections with SMA and mild steel dowels were tested under dynamic loadings at different displacement levels. The results showed that SMA dowel-type connections have good self-centering behaviours and can mitigate the residual deformation effectively compared with steel dowel-type connections after excessive deformation; although the steel dowel-type connections present higher strength. These tests reveal that the connection with tube dowels show higher equivalent viscous damping ratio than those use solid bar as tube would allow larger deformation to dissipate energy. To demonstrate application of the benefit of this system, an analytical model of a 3-storey timber framed structure was built for parametric study. The results showed that the structures with conventional dowel-type type connections exhibit large unrecoverable deformation after timber framed structures experience an earthquake. In comparison, those with the connections developed in this project show limited unrecoverable deformation due to the self-centering capacity of the connections

Alpha-particle-induced complex chromosome exchanges transmitted through extra-thymic lymphopoiesis in vitro show evidence of emerging genomic instability

Human exposure to high-linear energy transfer α-particles includes environmental (e.g. radon gas and its decay progeny), medical (e.g. radiopharmaceuticals) and occupational (nuclear industry) sources. The associated health risks of α-particle exposure for lung cancer are well documented however the risk estimates for leukaemia remain uncertain. To further our understanding of α-particle effects in target cells for leukaemogenesis and also to seek general markers of individual exposure to α-particles, this study assessed the transmission of chromosomal damage initially-induced in human haemopoietic stem and progenitor cells after exposure to high-LET α-particles. Cells surviving exposure were differentiated into mature T-cells by extra-thymic T-cell differentiation in vitro. Multiplex fluorescence in situ hybridisation (M-FISH) analysis of naïve T-cell populations showed the occurrence of stable (clonal) complex chromosome aberrations consistent with those that are characteristically induced in spherical cells by the traversal of a single α-particle track. Additionally, complex chromosome exchanges were observed in the progeny of irradiated mature T-cell populations. In addition to this, newly arising de novo chromosome aberrations were detected in cells which possessed clonal markers of α-particle exposure and also in cells which did not show any evidence of previous exposure, suggesting ongoing genomic instability in these populations. Our findings support the usefulness and reliability of employing complex chromosome exchanges as indicators of past or ongoing exposure to high-LET radiation and demonstrate the potential applicability to evaluate health risks associated with α-particle exposure.This work was supported by the Department of Health, UK. Contract RRX95 (RMA NSDTG)

Surface Incompressibility from Semiclassical Relativistic Mean Field Calculations

By using the scaling method and the Thomas-Fermi and Extended Thomas-Fermi approaches to Relativistic Mean Field Theory the surface contribution to the leptodermous expansion of the finite nuclei incompressibility has been self-consistently computed. The validity of the simplest expansion, which contains volume, volume-symmetry, surface and Coulomb terms, is examined by comparing it with self-consistent results of the finite nuclei incompressibility for some currently used non-linear sigma-omega parameter sets. A numerical estimate of higher-order contributions to the leptodermous expansion, namely the curvature and surface-symmetry terms, is made.Comment: 18 pages, REVTeX, 3 eps figures, changed conten

An automated, 0.5Hz nano-foil target positioning system for intense laser plasma experiments

We report on a target system supporting automated positioning of nano-targets with a precision resolution of in three dimensions. It relies on a confocal distance sensor and a microscope. The system has been commissioned to position nanometer targets with 1Hz repetition rate. Integrating our prototype into the table-top ATLAS 300 TW-laser system at the Laboratory for Extreme Photonics in Garching, we demonstrate the operation of a 0.5Hz laser-driven proton source with a shot-to-shot variation of the maximum energy about 27% for a level of confidence of 0.95. The reason of laser shooting experiments operated at 0.5Hz rather than 1Hz is because the synchronization between the nano-foil target positioning system and the laser trigger needs to improve.DFG Cluster of Excellence Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics (MAP); Centre for Advanced Laser Applications; China Scholarship [201508080084]SCI(E)ARTICLE

Opening the archives for state of the art tumour genetic research: sample processing for array-CGH using decalcified, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue-derived DNA samples

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Molecular genetic studies on rare tumour entities, such as bone tumours, often require the use of decalcified, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue (dFFPE) samples. Regardless of which decalcification procedure is used, this introduces a vast breakdown of DNA that precludes the possibility of further molecular genetic testing. We set out to establish a robust protocol that would overcome these intrinsic hurdles for bone tumour research.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>The goal of our study was to establish a protocol, using a modified DNA isolation procedure and quality controls, to select decalcified samples suitable for array-CGH testing. Archival paraffin blocks were obtained from 9 different pathology departments throughout Europe, using different fixation, embedding and decalcification procedures, in order to preclude a bias for certain lab protocols. Isolated DNA samples were subjected to direct chemical labelling and enzymatic labelling systems and were hybridised on a high resolution oligonucleotide chip containing 44,000 reporter elements.</p> <p>Genomic alterations (gains and losses) were readily detected in most of the samples analysed. For example, both homozygous deletions of 0.6 Mb and high level of amplifications of 0.7 Mb were identified.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We established a robust protocol for molecular genetic testing of dFFPE derived DNA, irrespective of fixation, decalcification or sample type used. This approach may greatly facilitate further genetic testing on rare tumour entities where archival decalcified, formalin fixed samples are the only source.</p

Synergy between the ESCRT-III complex and Deltex defines a ligand-independent Notch signal

The ESCRT-III complex component Shrub plays a pivotal rate-limiting step in late endosomal ligand-independent Notch activation

Synergy between the ESCRT-III complex and Deltex defines a ligand-independent Notch signal

The ESCRT-III complex component Shrub plays a pivotal rate-limiting step in late endosomal ligand-independent Notch activation

Evidence for an ependymoma tumour suppressor gene in chromosome region 22pter–22q11.2

Ependymomas are glial tumours of the brain and spinal cord. The most frequent genetic change in sporadic ependymoma is monosomy 22, suggesting the presence of an ependymoma tumour suppressor gene on that chromosome. Clustering of ependymomas has been reported to occur in some families. From an earlier study in a family in which four cousins developed an ependymoma, we concluded that an ependymoma-susceptibility gene, which is not the NF2 gene in 22q12, might be located on chromosome 22. To localize that gene, we performed a segregation analysis with chromosome 22 markers in this family. This analysis revealed that the susceptibility gene may be located proximal to marker D22S941 in 22pter–22q11.2. Comparative genomic hybridization showed that monosomy 22 was the sole detectable genetic aberration in the tumour of one of the patients. Loss of heterozygosity studies in that tumour revealed that, in accordance to Knudson’s two-hit theory of tumorigenesis, the lost chromosome 22 originated from the parent presumed to have contributed the wild-type allele of the susceptibility gene. Thus, our segregation and tumour studies collectively indicate that an ependymoma tumour suppressor gene may be present in region 22pter–22q11.2. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

An automated, 0.5 Hz nano-foil target positioning system for intense laser plasma experiments

We report on a target system supporting automated positioning of nano-targets with a precision resolution of in three dimensions. It relies on a confocal distance sensor and a microscope. The system has been commissioned to position nanometer targets with 1Hz repetition rate. Integrating our prototype into the table-top ATLAS 300 TW-laser system at the Laboratory for Extreme Photonics in Garching, we demonstrate the operation of a 0.5Hz laser-driven proton source with a shot-to-shot variation of the maximum energy about 27% for a level of confidence of 0.95. The reason of laser shooting experiments operated at 0.5Hz rather than 1Hz is because the synchronization between the nano-foil target positioning system and the laser trigger needs to improve.DFG Cluster of Excellence Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics (MAP); Centre for Advanced Laser Applications; China Scholarship [201508080084]SCI(E)ARTICLE