The Vicissitudes of Criticism in the Landscape Metropolis

The editors of this themed issue of SPOOL place the discussion on the possibilities and impossibilities of criticism within the field of the design disciplines at centre stage. We are especially interested in how criticism can make an active contribution to taking a position vis-à-vis what we have called, in earlier issues of SPOOL, the contemporary condition of ‘the landscape metropolis’. Criticism is an important means of reflection on the creative processes and interventions that are part and parcel of this landscape metropolis. It throws light on particular projects by describing and explaining them, but also by evaluating and generalising these reflections in relation to an entire discipline, be it landscape architecture, architecture, or urban design. As Miriam Gusevitch sharply notices: “Criticism is riskier than commentary. It is willing to judge and to condemn, to stake out and substantiate a particular position. Serious criticism is the careful and thoughtful disclosure of dimensions that might otherwise elude us...

Successive parabolic interpolation as extremum seeking control for microbial fuel & electrolysis cells

Microbial Fuel Cell (MFC) power production and Microbial Electrolysis Cell (MEC) organic production depend strongly on their dynamic environment conditions, like inlet substrate concentration, temperature, etc. This work presents a discrete extremum seeking controller to quickly tune the MFC and MEC electrical settings in order to achieve maximum performance irrespective of these dynamic environment conditions using the successive parabolic interpolation iteration scheme. The controller converges in about 3.5 days within 5% of the cell's maximum performance and in about 5.4 days within 1% for an established MFC model. The proposed discrete parabola controller converges 3x faster than the state-of-the-art controllers without requiring a time-consuming calibration procedure. Equally fast convergence speed is achieved on a MEC model

'Feeling' risk and seeing solutions: Predicting vaccination intention against Hepatitis B infection among men who have sex with men

This study assessed cognitive and affective predictors of intention to obtain vaccination against the hepatitis B virus (HBV) among men who have sex with men (MSM), based on leading social cognitive models of health behavior. The key predictors of vaccination intention were perceived risk of contracting HBV, expectancies regarding the outcome of vaccination, and the interaction between risk perception and outcome expectancies. Negative affect increased risk perceptions, which, in turn, positively affected vaccination intention. It is concluded that MSM should feel they are at risk for HBV, and see solutions to this risk. Copyright © 2008 SAGE Publications

The vicissitudes of criticism in the landscape metropolis

In the field of the arts, criticism often plays a key role in situating artistic production and instigating debate, but especially in propelling theory and practice. As Dave Hickey suggests “Criticism, at its most serious, tries to channel change.” However, in the domains of landscape architecture, architecture, and urban design, criticism seems to have a more distanced role from reflection and design. Besides a few notable examples, such as the influence of the critical writings of Reyner Banham and Alan Colquhoun on a generation of British architects and urban designers in the 1960s, criticism seems to hold a marginal position in these fields

Self-Control as Conceptual Framework to Understand and Support People Who Use Drugs During Sex

Few theory-informed interventions to support people who use drugs during sex have been conceptualized and developed. We conceptualize sexualized drug use, also referred to as chemsex or pharmacosex, as a self-control challenge, and draw on extant theory and research to propose intervention approaches that can be tailored to meet the differing needs of people who engage in sexualized drug use. We draw on a continuum perspective of sexualized drug use, in particular chemsex, and discuss the role of reasoned and automatic processes in behavioral decisions, as well as critical components of effective self-control of behavior. A self-control approach can empower people to tackle their sexualized drug use, and classify their experienced sex-related drug use as problematic. Self-control encompasses clarifying one's goals and identifying strategies to mitigate behaviors to achieve these goals, despite competing pharmacosex desires. Our approach to self-control sexualized drug use contains three critical components: goal setting, goal enactment, and goal progress appraisal and goal adjustment. Goals should be formulated specific, ambitious yet realistic, and tailored to the individual's needs and wishes. Goals may target aspects of drug use, protecting sexual health and mitigating negative impacts. Implementing goal enactment implies translating goals into concrete (short-term) actions to move toward the higher-order goal via goal intentions and action/coping plans. During the goal progress appraisal and adjustment stage, people compare their actual with their planned behavior. This reflection may result in goal adjustment through feedback loops to adjust their goals and action/coping plans. We propose that our self-control approach can guide the development of interventions to effectively support people to prevent or limit pharmacosex, and helps to effectively mitigate or reduce negative impacts via self-help, peer support or professional support, offered via personal counseling or digital tools

Growth responses of the nuisance algae Gonyostomum semen (Raphidophyceae) to DOC and associated alterations of light quality and quantity

In recent decades, the freshwater alga Gonyostomum semen (Ehrenberg) Diesing has increased in abundance and distribution, which has created problems regarding the use of lakes for drinking water and recreation. Increases in lake dissolved organic carbon (DOC; browning) and climate warming are among current hypotheses that explain the phenomenon of increased abundance of G. semen. A replicated, multifactorial laboratory experiment was performed in order to test the effects of DOC and light quality and irradiance on growth of G. semen in 96-well plates. Each well had a separate light source, creating a gradient of irradiance (10-140 µmol photons m-2 s-1) and wavelength (white, red, green and blue), combined with a DOC gradient (0-50 mg C l-1), all within representative ranges for the summer epilimnion in boreal waters. The experiment showed that growth of G. semen was significantly enhanced by the addition of DOC. No growth response relating to wavelengths was found, but where irradiance was inhibitory, a shading effect from DOC was evident. A composed response to increases in DOC suggests a versatility of G. semen that gives it a competitive advantage over other phytoplankton in humic lake ecosystems. Hence, further increases in abundance and bloom frequency of G. semen as browning continues in boreal lakes are to be expected.publishedVersio

Elevated formation of pyridinoline cross-links by profibrotic cytokines is associated with enhanced lysyl hydroxylase 2b levels

AbstractThe hallmark of fibrosis is the excessive accumulation of collagen. The deposited collagen contains increased pyridinoline cross-link levels due to an overhydroxylation of lysine residues within the collagen telopeptides. Lysyl hydroxylase 2b (LH2b) is the only lysyl hydroxylase consistently up-regulated in several forms of fibrosis, suggesting that an enhanced LH2b level is responsible for the overhydroxylation of collagen telopeptides. The present paper reports the effect of profibrotic cytokines on the expression of collagen, lysyl hydroxylases and lysyl oxidase in normal human skin fibroblasts, as well as the effect on pyridinoline formation in the deposited matrix. All three isoforms of TGF-β induce a substantial increase in LH2b mRNA levels, also when expressed relatively to the mRNA levels of collagen type I α2 (COL1A2). The TGF-β isoforms also clearly influence the collagen cross-linking pathway, since higher levels of pyridinoline cross-links were measured. Similar stimulatory effects on LH2b/COL1A2 mRNA expression and pyridinoline formation were observed for IL-4, activin A, and TNF-α. An exception was BMP-2, which has no effect on LH2b/COL1A2 mRNA levels nor on pyridinoline formation. Our data show for the first time that two processes, i.e., up-regulation of LH2b mRNA levels and increased formation of pyridinoline cross-links, previously recognized to be inherent to fibrotic processes, are induced by various profibrotic cytokines

Calibration cone penetration testing in silty soils

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FAM-MDR: A Flexible Family-Based Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction Technique to Detect Epistasis Using Related Individuals

We propose a novel multifactor dimensionality reduction method for epistasis detection in small or extended pedigrees, FAM-MDR. It combines features of the Genome-wide Rapid Association using Mixed Model And Regression approach (GRAMMAR) with Model-Based MDR (MB-MDR). We focus on continuous traits, although the method is general and can be used for outcomes of any type, including binary and censored traits. When comparing FAM-MDR with Pedigree-based Generalized MDR (PGMDR), which is a generalization of Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction (MDR) to continuous traits and related individuals, FAM-MDR was found to outperform PGMDR in terms of power, in most of the considered simulated scenarios. Additional simulations revealed that PGMDR does not appropriately deal with multiple testing and consequently gives rise to overly optimistic results. FAM-MDR adequately deals with multiple testing in epistasis screens and is in contrast rather conservative, by construction. Furthermore, simulations show that correcting for lower order (main) effects is of utmost importance when claiming epistasis. As Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is a complex phenotype likely influenced by gene-gene interactions, we applied FAM-MDR to examine data on glucose area-under-the-curve (GAUC), an endophenotype of T2DM for which multiple independent genetic associations have been observed, in the Amish Family Diabetes Study (AFDS). This application reveals that FAM-MDR makes more efficient use of the available data than PGMDR and can deal with multi-generational pedigrees more easily. In conclusion, we have validated FAM-MDR and compared it to PGMDR, the current state-of-the-art MDR method for family data, using both simulations and a practical dataset. FAM-MDR is found to outperform PGMDR in that it handles the multiple testing issue more correctly, has increased power, and efficiently uses all available information

The combined use of steroids and immune checkpoint inhibitors in brain metastasis patients:a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have been a breakthrough for selected cancer patients, including those with brain metastases (BMs). Likewise, steroids have been an integral component of symptomatic management of BM patients. However, clinical evidence on the interaction between ICI and steroids in BM patients is conflicting and has not adequately been summarized thus far. Hence, the aim of this study was to perform a systematic literature review and meta-analysis on the association between steroid use and overall survival (OS) in BM patients receiving ICI. METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed. Pooled effect estimates were calculated using random-effects models across included studies. RESULTS: After screening 1145 abstracts, 15 observational studies were included. Fourteen studies reported sufficient data for meta-analysis, comprising 1102 BM patients of which 32.1% received steroids. In the steroid group, median OS ranged from 2.9 to 10.2 months. In the nonsteroid group, median OS ranged from 4.9 to 25.1 months. Pooled results demonstrated significantly worse OS (HR = 1.84, 95% CI 1.22-2.77) and systemic progression-free survival (PFS; HR = 2.00, 95% CI 1.37-2.91) in the steroid group. Stratified analysis showed a consistent effect across the melanoma subgroup; not in the lung cancer subgroup. No significant association was shown between steroid use and intracranial PFS (HR = 1.31, 95% CI 0.42-4.07). CONCLUSIONS: Administration of steroids was associated with significantly worse OS and PFS in BM patients receiving ICI. Further research on dose, timing, and duration of steroids is needed to elucidate the cause of this association and optimize outcomes in BM patients receiving ICI