Crowdsourced intuitive visual design feedback

For many people images are a medium preferable to text and yet, with the exception of star ratings, most formats for conventional computer mediated feedback focus on text. This thesis develops a new method of crowd feedback for designers based on images. Visual summaries are generated from a crowd’s feedback images chosen in response to a design. The summaries provide the designer with impressionistic and inspiring visual feedback. The thesis sets out the motivation for this new method, describes the development of perceptually organised image sets and a summarisation algorithm to implement it. Evaluation studies are reported which, through a mixed methods approach, provide evidence of the validity and potential of the new image-based feedback method. It is concluded that the visual feedback method would be more appealing than text for that section of the population who may be of a visual cognitive style. Indeed the evaluation studies are evidence that such users believe images are as good as text when communicating their emotional reaction about a design. Designer participants reported being inspired by the visual feedback where, comparably, they were not inspired by text. They also reported that the feedback can represent the perceived mood in their designs, and that they would be enthusiastic users of a service offering this new form of visual design feedback

Significant New Records of Amphibians and Reptiles From Georgia, USA

Distributional maps found in Amphibians and Reptiles of Georgia (Jensen et al. 2008), along with subsequent geographical distribution notes published in Herpetological Review, serve as essential references for county-level occurrence data for herpetofauna in Georgia. Collectively, these resources aid biologists by helping to identify distributional gaps for which to target survey efforts. Herein we report newly documented county records for a variety of amphibian and reptile species in Georgia. All records below were verified by David Bechler (VSU), Nikole Castleberry (GMNH), David Laurencio (AUM), Lance McBrayer (GSU), and David Steen (SRSU), and datum used was WGS84. Standard English names follow Crother (2012)

V1V2-specific complement activating serum IgG as a correlate of reduced HIV-1 infection risk in RV144

<div><p>Non-neutralizing IgG to the V1V2 loop of HIV-1 gp120 correlates with a decreased risk of HIV-1 infection but the mechanism of protection remains unknown. This V1V2 IgG correlate was identified in RV144 Thai trial vaccine recipients, who were primed with a canarypox vector expressing membrane-bound gp120 (vCP1521) and boosted with vCP1521 plus a mixture gp120 proteins from clade B and clade CRF01_AE (B/E gp120). We sought to determine whether the mechanism of vaccine protection might involve antibody-dependent complement activation. Complement activation was measured as a function of complement component C3d deposition on V1V2-coated beads in the presence of RV144 sera. Variable levels of complement activation were detected two weeks post final boosting in RV144, which is when the V1V2 IgG correlate was identified. The magnitude of complement activation correlated with V1V2-specific serum IgG and was stronger and more common in RV144 than in HIV-1 infected individuals and two related HIV-1 vaccine trials, VAX003 and VAX004, where no protection was seen. After adjusting for gp120 IgA, V1V2 IgG, gender, and risk score, complement activation by case-control plasmas from RV144 correlated inversely with a reduced risk of HIV-1 infection, with odds ratio for positive versus negative response to TH023-V1V2 0.42 (95% CI 0.18 to 0.99, p = 0.048) and to A244-V1V2 0.49 (95% CI 0.21 to 1.10, p = 0.085). These results suggest that complement activity may have contributed in part to modest protection against the acquisition of HIV-1 infection seen in the RV144 trial.</p></div

Correlation between RV144 case-control readouts for three V1V2-specific complement activating antibody specificities (92TH023, A244, MN) and primary IgA and IgG V1V2 readouts.

<p>The log-transformed MFI or OD values are displayed in pairwise scatter plots below the diagonal or as a histogram on the diagonal. For each pair of readouts the Spearman correlation is displayed above the diagonal. Scatter plots include a blue loess smooth line. The primary IgA and IgG V1V2 primary variables were studied in the original case-control analysis [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0180720#pone.0180720.ref002" target="_blank">2</a>].</p

Analysis of V2 antibody responses induced in vaccinees in the ALVAC/AIDSVAX HIV-1 vaccine efficacy trial.

The RV144 clinical trial of a prime/boost immunizing regimen using recombinant canary pox (ALVAC-HIV) and two gp120 proteins (AIDSVAX B and E) was previously shown to have a 31.2% efficacy rate. Plasma specimens from vaccine and placebo recipients were used in an extensive set of assays to identify correlates of HIV-1 infection risk. Of six primary variables that were studied, only one displayed a significant inverse correlation with risk of infection: the antibody (Ab) response to a fusion protein containing the V1 and V2 regions of gp120 (gp70-V1V2). This finding prompted a thorough examination of the results generated with the complete panel of 13 assays measuring various V2 Abs in the stored plasma used in the initial pilot studies and those used in the subsequent case-control study. The studies revealed that the ALVAC-HIV/AIDSVAX vaccine induced V2-specific Abs that cross-react with multiple HIV-1 subgroups and recognize both conformational and linear epitopes. The conformational epitope was present on gp70-V1V2, while the predominant linear V2 epitope mapped to residues 165-178, immediately N-terminal to the putative α4β7 binding motif in the mid-loop region of V2. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated to compare the risk of infection with data from 12 V2 assays, and in 11 of these, the ORs were ≤1, reaching statistical significance for two of the variables: Ab responses to gp70-V1V2 and to overlapping V2 linear peptides. It remains to be determined whether anti-V2 Ab responses were directly responsible for the reduced infection rate in RV144 and whether anti-V2 Abs will prove to be important with other candidate HIV vaccines that show efficacy, however, the results support continued dissection of Ab responses to the V2 region which may illuminate mechanisms of protection from HIV-1 infection and may facilitate the development of an effective HIV-1 vaccine

Association of complement activation with the primary ADCC variable in RV144.

<p>Shown are associations between complement activation and ADCC activity against CM2544, MN.3 and TH023.</p

Results testing the correlation of categorical complement readouts with HIV-1 infection for all models and all variables analyzed.

<p>Results testing the correlation of categorical complement readouts with HIV-1 infection for all models and all variables analyzed.</p