Addressing challenges to building information modelling implementation in UK: Designers' perspectives

Building information modelling (BIM) has been proposed as a technology-enabled process for more efficient and effective management of information in digital and virtual environments. Many challenges, however, exist and undermine its effective implementation within the construction industry. The identification of these challenges is critical to the successful implementation and adoption of BIM, especially in view of many implementation risks. Despite the critical role of the design phase to project delivery and BIM usage, few studies have sought to interrogate the challenges faced by designers and the solutions that are being applied to address them. To address this gap, this study aimed to identify and classify challenges faced by designers with particular focus on proposed solutions for alleviating the identified challenges. Through a qualitative research strategy, semi-structured interviews were used to solicit perspectives of UK design professionals on design profession-specific BIM implementation challenges and solutions. Findings reveal that challenges are mostly organisational and external environmental issues with rather cursory allusion to technological challenges which are widely reported in the literature. The solutions identified for alleviating designers’ BIM implementation challenges include earlier input and integration from whole supply chain as well as more support institutional support and facilitation. The promotion of open-BIM standards, tailored insurance as well as principal supplier leadership were also proposed as viable solutions to BIM implementation challenges. Variations in the challenges and proposed solutions appear to differ across different categories of firms investigated in this study, particularly in relation to the cost of implementation

Modeling the Relationship Between Risks and the Sustainability of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Ghana

A number of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) both in Ghana and in other countries have had risk-related challenges that have affected their sustainability. In recent years, strategic decisions of risk have affected MFIs operations in Ghana significantly. This paper seeks to demonstrate the relationship between risk factors and MFIs sustainability in Ghana. The paper adopts a quantitative strategy for the data source with a deductive approach. The hypothesis carried out on various drivers of sustainability were upheld with a significant p-value of 0.000 < 0.01p and concluded that all the drivers of sustainability identified have a significant effect on MFIs sustainability in Ghana. The measurement model and structural model of the Partial Least Square Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) was used to measure the relationship between risk and MFIs sustainability. The path coefficient between risk factors and the drivers of MFIs sustainability was 0.582 with a significant p-value of 0.000 < 0.01. This establishes that risk factors have a significant effect on all drivers of microfinance institutions sustainability. Operators of microfinance in Ghana need to take an appreciable and well-managed level of risk to enhance their sustainability. Keywords: institutions, microfinance, risk, sustainability DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-12-11 Publication date:June 30th 201

Antitumor and Immunopotentiating Activity of Polysaccharide PST001 Isolated from the Seed Kernel of Tamarindus indica: An InVivo Study inMice

Antitumor activity of polysaccharide PST001 isolated from the seed kernel of Tamarindus indica was evaluated using different cancer cell lines. Human cancer cell lines A549, KB, and MCF-7 and murine cancer cell lines DLA and EAC were treated with PST001 and cell growth inhibition was assessed by MTT assay. In vivo studies were carried out for toxicity, tumor reduction and immunomodulation. The respective IC50 of PST001 in A549, KB, and DLA was at 80.72, 190.99, and 91.14 μg/mL. Significant tumor reduction was obtained in both DLA and EAC tumors on treatment with PST001 which was more prominent when PST001 was administered with CTX/5-fluorouracil. Increase in total WBC, CD4+ T-cell population, and bonemarrow cellularity suggested strong immunomodulatory activity for this compound. No significant abnormality was observed in toxicity studies. Thus the results of the present study suggest that PST001 has immunomodulatory and tumor inhibitory activities and has the potential to be developed as an anticancer agent and immunomodulator either as a sole agent or as an adjuvant to other chemotherapeutic drugs

Antimycobacterial and cytotoxic activity of selected medicinal plant extracts

AbstractEthnopharmacological relevanceTuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis remains an ongoing threat to human health. Several medicinal plants are used traditionally to treat tuberculosis in Ghana. The current study was designed to investigate the antimycobacterial activity and cytotoxicity of crude extracts from five selected medicinal plants.Material and methodsThe microplate alamar blue assay (MABA) was used for antimycobacterial studies while the CellTiter 96® AQueous Assay, which is composed of solutions of a novel tetrazolium compound [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium, inner salt; MTS] and an electron coupling reagent (phenazine methosulfate) PMS, was used for cytotoxic studies. Correlation coefficients were used to compare the activity of crude extracts against nonpathogenic strains and the pathogenic Mycobacterium tuberculosis subsp.tuberculosis.ResultsResults of the MIC determinations indicated that all the crude extracts were active on all the three tested mycobacterial strains. Minimum inhibitory concentration values as low as 156.3µg/mL against M. tuberculosis; Strain H37Ra (ATCC® 25,177™) were recorded from the leaves of Solanum torvum Sw. (Solanaceae). Cytotoxicity of the extracts varied, and the leaves from S. torvum had the most promising selectivity index. Activity against M. tuberculosis; Strain H37Ra was the best predictor of activity against pathogenic Mycobacterium tuberculosis subsp.tuberculosis (correlation coefficient=0.8).ConclusionThe overall results of the present study provide supportive data on the use of some medicinal plants for tuberculosis treatment. The leaves of Solanum torvum are a potential source of anti-TB natural products and deserve further investigations to develop novel anti-TB agents against sensitive and drug resistant strains of M. tuberculosis

Effectiveness of 2-Phenoxyethanol for Anesthetizing Striped Mullet (Mugil cephalus) (Linnaeus, 1758) for Transportation

Anesthetized fish transport is creating new opportunities for aquaculture, as it offers ease of handling and reduction of stress and helps to reduce mortality rates. In this study, 2-phenoxyethanol was administered to Striped Mullet (Mugil cephalus) (Linnaeus, 1758) to determine its effects on the ease of handling and transportation. Four dosage levels were tested—100, 200, 300 and 400 mg l-1. Three levels of induction and three of recovery were recorded. The lowest effective concentration was 300 mg l-1. At this dosage, the time required to achieve the final stage of induction was 159±13 s (mean ± SD) and that to achieve the final stage of recovery was 193±16s. These times are significantly different from those for the other dosages

Reproducibility in Radiomics: A Comparison of Feature Extraction Methods and Two Independent Datasets

Radiomics involves the extraction of information from medical images that are not visible to the human eye. There is evidence that these features can be used for treatment stratification and outcome prediction. However, there is much discussion about the reproducibility of results between different studies. This paper studies the reproducibility of CT texture features used in radiomics, comparing two feature extraction implementations, namely the MATLAB toolkit and Pyradiomics, when applied to independent datasets of CT scans of patients: (i) the open access RIDER dataset containing a set of repeat CT scans taken 15 min apart for 31 patients (RIDER Scan 1 and Scan 2, respectively) treated for lung cancer; and (ii) the open access HN1 dataset containing 137 patients treated for head and neck cancer. Gross tumor volume (GTV), manually outlined by an experienced observer available on both datasets, was used. The 43 common radiomics features available in MATLAB and Pyradiomics were calculated using two intensity-level quantization methods with and without an intensity threshold. Cases were ranked for each feature for all combinations of quantization parameters, and the Spearman’s rank coefficient, rs, calculated. Reproducibility was defined when a highly correlated feature in the RIDER dataset also correlated highly in the HN1 dataset, and vice versa. A total of 29 out of the 43 reported stable features were found to be highly reproducible between MATLAB and Pyradiomics implementations, having a consistently high correlation in rank ordering for RIDER Scan 1 and RIDER Scan 2 (rs > 0.8). 18/43 reported features were common in the RIDER and HN1 datasets, suggesting they may be agnostic to disease site. Useful radiomics features should be selected based on reproducibility. This study identified a set of features that meet this requirement and validated the methodology for evaluating reproducibility between datasets

A Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibody Targeting the Acid-Sensitive Region in Chikungunya Virus E2 Protects from Disease.

The mosquito-borne alphavirus, chikungunya virus (CHIKV), has recently reemerged, producing the largest epidemic ever recorded for this virus, with up to 6.5 million cases of acute and chronic rheumatic disease. There are currently no licensed vaccines for CHIKV and current anti-inflammatory drug treatment is often inadequate. Here we describe the isolation and characterization of two human monoclonal antibodies, C9 and E8, from CHIKV infected and recovered individuals. C9 was determined to be a potent virus neutralizing antibody and a biosensor antibody binding study demonstrated it recognized residues on intact CHIKV VLPs. Shotgun mutagenesis alanine scanning of 98 percent of the residues in the E1 and E2 glycoproteins of CHIKV envelope showed that the epitope bound by C9 included amino-acid 162 in the acid-sensitive region (ASR) of the CHIKV E2 glycoprotein. The ASR is critical for the rearrangement of CHIKV E2 during fusion and viral entry into host cells, and we predict that C9 prevents these events from occurring. When used prophylactically in a CHIKV mouse model, C9 completely protected against CHIKV viremia and arthritis. We also observed that when administered therapeutically at 8 or 18 hours post-CHIKV challenge, C9 gave 100% protection in a pathogenic mouse model. Given that targeting this novel neutralizing epitope in E2 can potently protect both in vitro and in vivo, it is likely to be an important region both for future antibody and vaccine-based interventions against CHIKV