An Ecological Dynamics perspective on Adventure Tourism

Traditional definitions for adventure tourism have focused on the adventure tourism activity or the adventure tourism environment. In these cases the activity is most often associated with risk and the environment associated with unfamiliarity and natural terrains. Critiques of these definitions have pointed out that this traditional perspective is limited. The risk focus is paradoxical as clients purchase adventure experiences involving risk and uncertainty, whereas tour operators must minimize the risk and emphasize safety. Additionally, adventure tourism can also take place in urban or man-made environments. Furthermore, the traditional definitions mostly ignore the lived experience of the adventure consumer. Individuals undertake adventure for a variety of reasons, including risk and thrills, health and well-being, connection to others and nature, recreational mastery, and personal development. We propose a nuanced conceptual understanding of adventure tourism within an ecological dynamics perspective that considers the relationship between the person, the adventure activity and the surrounding environment, and the recognition of affordances that support well-being. This theoretical approach provides a useful framework for operators and researchers that encourages a more personalized and meaningful experience for the tourist

Microwave Continuum Emission and Dense Gas Tracers in NGC 3627: Combining Jansky VLA and ALMA Observations

We present Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) Ka band (33 GHz) and Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) Band 3 (94.5 GHz) continuum images covering the nucleus and two extranuclear star-forming regions within the nearby galaxy NGC 3627 (M 66), observed as part of the Star Formation in Radio Survey (SFRS). Both images achieve an angular resolution of $\lesssim$2\arcsec, allowing us to map the radio spectral indices and estimate thermal radio fractions at a linear resolution of $\lesssim$90 pc at the distance of NGC 3627. The thermal fraction at 33 GHz reaches unity at and around the peaks of each HII region; we additionally observed the spectral index between 33 and 94.5 GHz to become both increasingly negative and positive away from the peaks of the HII regions, indicating an increase of non-thermal extended emission from diffusing cosmic-ray electrons and the possible presence of cold dust, respectively. While the ALMA observations were optimized for collecting continuum data, they also detected line emission from the $J=1\rightarrow0$ transitions of HCN and HCO$^{+}$. The peaks of dense molecular gas traced by these two spectral lines are spatially offset from the peaks of the 33 and 94.5 GHz continuum emission for the case of the extranuclear star-forming regions, indicating that our data reach an angular resolution at which one can spatially distinguish sites of recent star formation from the sites of future star formation. Finally, we find trends of decreasing dense gas fraction and velocity dispersion with increasing star formation efficiency among the three regions observed, indicating that the dynamical state of the dense gas, rather than its abundance, plays a more significant role in the star formation process.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Tablet PCs in schools: Case study report: A report for Becta by the Open University

The publication provides an analysis of twelve case studies involving schools in England that were using Tablet PCs. The analysis is complemented by brief individual reports describing aspects of how each of these schools was using Tablet PCs

Patritumab or Placebo Plus Cetuximab and Platinum-Based Therapy in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck (SCCHN): a Phase 2 Study

BACKGROUND: P is a fully human monoclonal antibody against human epidermal growth factor receptor 3. P blocks activation by the ligand, heregulin (HRG), inducing receptor internalization. Evidence is growing that HRG presence determines disease progression and survival; in a phase 2 study in non–small-cell lung cancer, P + erlotinib increased progression-free survival (PFS) in high HRG mRNA expression (HRG-high) patients. A phase 1b study in SCCHN demonstrated safety, tolerability and tumor response of P + C + cisplatin or carboplatin and informed the P phase 2 dose. January 2016 (N = 15) response rate = 47%; best responses = 3 complete response (CR), 4 partial response (PR) and 8 stable disease (SD). This phase 2 study (NCT02633800) evaluates first-line P + C + platinum (P arm) vs. PBO + C + platinum (PBO arm) in recurrent and/or metastatic (R/M) SCCHN. The primary objective is to evaluate PFS in the HRG-high population (P vs. PBO arms). METHODS: This is arandomized, controlled, double-blind first-line study in Europe. Patients aged ≥ 18 years with confirmed R/M SCCHN, ECOG performance status ≤ 1 and documented HRG expression (per archived or fresh biopsies) are eligible. The primary efficacy endpoint is PFS. Secondary endpoints include overall survival, overall response rate, pharmacokinetics and safety (including human antihuman antibody incidence). Approximately 105 patients will be stratified 2:1 by HRG status (70 high; 35 low), and then randomized 1:1 to the P or PBO arm. All patients will receive either intravenous P (18mg/kg loading dose [LD]; 9mg/kg maintenance dose [MD] every 3 weeks [q3w]) or PBO, and C (400mg/m2 LD; 250mg/m2 MD weekly) + ≤ 6 cycles of cisplatin (100mg/m2 q3w) or carboplatin (area under the curve of 5). Patients demonstrating CR, PR or SD will be treated with P/PBO + C + ≤ 6 cycles platinum for the study duration (until all patients have died or ≥ 13 months postrandomization of last patient); those benefiting may continue treatment uninterrupted in an open-label extension phase until progressive disease, toxicity or withdrawal. Survival status will be obtained ≥ 13 months after discontinuation. The first patient was dosed December 2015 and enrollment is open. Clinical trial information: NCT0263380

The effect of age and font size on reading text on handheld computers

Though there have been many studies of computer based text reading, only a few have considered the small screens of handheld computers. This paper presents an investigation into the effect of varying font size between 2 and 16 point on reading text on a handheld computer. By using both older and younger participants the possible effects of age were examined. Reading speed and accuracy were measured and subjective views of participants recorded. Objective results showed that there was little difference in reading performance above 6 point, but subjective comments from participants showed a preference for sizes in the middle range. We therefore suggest, for reading tasks, that designers of interfaces for mobile computers provide fonts in the range of 8-12 point to maximize readability for the widest range of users

Handling uncertainties in modelling manufacturing processes with hybrid swarm intelligence

Seldom has research regarding manufacturing process modelling considered the two common types ofuncertainties which are caused by randomness as in material properties and by fuzziness as in the inexact knowledge in manufacturing processes. Accuracies of process models can be downgraded if these uncertainties are ignored in the development of process models. In this paper, a hybrid swarm intelligence algorithm for developing process models which intends to achieve significant accuracies for manufacturing process modelling by addressing these two uncertainties is proposed. The hybrid swarm intelligence algorithm first applies the mechanism of particle swarm optimisation to generate structures of process models in polynomial forms, and then it applies the mechanism of fuzzy least square regression algorithm to determine fuzzy coefficients on polynomials so as to address the two uncertainties, fuzziness and randomness. Apart from addressing the two uncertainties, the common feature in manufacturing processes, nonlinearities between process parameters, which are not inevitable in manufacturing processes, can also be addressed. The effectiveness of the hybrid swarm algorithm is demonstrated by modelling of the solder paste dispensing process

Mode transitions in a model reaction-diffusion system driven by domain growth and noise

Pattern formation in many biological systems takes place during growth of the underlying domain. We study a specific example of a reaction–diffusion (Turing) model in which peak splitting, driven by domain growth, generates a sequence of patterns. We have previously shown that the pattern sequences which are presented when the domain growth rate is sufficiently rapid exhibit a mode-doubling phenomenon. Such pattern sequences afford reliable selection of certain final patterns, thus addressing the robustness problem inherent of the Turing mechanism. At slower domain growth rates this regular mode doubling breaks down in the presence of small perturbations to the dynamics. In this paper we examine the breaking down of the mode doubling sequence and consider the implications of this behaviour in increasing the range of reliably selectable final patterns