Caves of Steel: Mapping Hong Kong in the 21st Century

Hong Kong’s extraordinary density, the results of a unique geography, economy, and political history, is often represented in cramped housing conditions, unusual sectional conditions, and variations on building typologies. This paper argues that Hong Kong’s density, in combination with its climate and consumer economy, has in fact effected a wholesale interiorisation of public society unprecedented in contemporary urban form. 'Caves of Steel' is borrowed from the title of a 1954 novel by science fiction master Isaac Azimov, in which humanity has been divided into interior and exterior factions. The radical separation of public society in Hong Kong that accompanies the growing disparity of interior and exterior urban space is perhaps better understood through Manuel DeLanda’s (Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy, 2002) application of the terms ‘intensive’ and ‘extensive’ from the physical sciences to a description of abstract space. Through Reiser (Atlas of Novel Tectonics, 2005) ‘intensive’ and ‘extensive’ properties may be understood in the urban context as competing and collaborating ‘infrastructural’ and ‘topological’ conditions. In Hong Kong the infrastructural (dense interiorised infrastructure of multilevel shopping warrens) and the topological (vast open topology of country parks, new towns, and industrial estates) exist often in immediate proximity, while the gap between their respective public societies continues to grow. Recent proposals for the development of a variety of sites on Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour waterfront are examined in detail as a case study of this condition and its attendant effects on mapping complex and three-dimensional urban conditions, on notions of post-colonial and post-industrial image and identity, and on the evolution of public space in an Asian context

Maritime Deception and Concealment: Concepts for Defeating Wide-Area Oceanic Surveillance-Reconnaissance-Strike Networks

Deception and concealment can help mitigate the risks that an adversary might cripple U.S. forward maritime forces in a massive, war-opening strike, achieve in the first days or weeks some fait accompli, or inflict severe losses on maritime forces as they maneuver within a contested zone to retake the initiative

Neuregulin-1 attenuates experimental cerebral malaria (ECM) pathogenesis by regulating ErbB4/AKT/STAT3 signaling.

BACKGROUND:Human cerebral malaria (HCM) is a severe form of malaria characterized by sequestration of infected erythrocytes (IRBCs) in brain microvessels, increased levels of circulating free heme and pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, brain swelling, vascular dysfunction, coma, and increased mortality. Neuregulin-1β (NRG-1) encoded by the gene NRG1, is a member of a family of polypeptide growth factors required for normal development of the nervous system and the heart. Utilizing an experimental cerebral malaria (ECM) model (Plasmodium berghei ANKA in C57BL/6), we reported that NRG-1 played a cytoprotective role in ECM and that circulating levels were inversely correlated with ECM severity. Intravenous infusion of NRG-1 reduced ECM mortality in mice by promoting a robust anti-inflammatory response coupled with reduction in accumulation of IRBCs in microvessels and reduced tissue damage. METHODS:In the current study, we examined how NRG-1 treatment attenuates pathogenesis and mortality associated with ECM. We examined whether NRG-1 protects against CXCL10- and heme-induced apoptosis using human brain microvascular endothelial (hCMEC/D3) cells and M059K neuroglial cells. hCMEC/D3 cells grown in a monolayer and a co-culture system with 30 μM heme and NRG-1 (100 ng/ml) were used to examine the role of NRG-1 on blood brain barrier (BBB) integrity. Using the in vivo ECM model, we examined whether the reduction of mortality was associated with the activation of ErbB4 and AKT and inactivation of STAT3 signaling pathways. For data analysis, unpaired t test or one-way ANOVA with Dunnett's or Bonferroni's post test was applied. RESULTS:We determined that NRG-1 protects against cell death/apoptosis of human brain microvascular endothelial cells and neroglial cells, the two major components of BBB. NRG-1 treatment improved heme-induced disruption of the in vitro BBB model consisting of hCMEC/D3 and human M059K cells. In the ECM murine model, NRG-1 treatment stimulated ErbB4 phosphorylation (pErbB4) followed by activation of AKT and inactivation of STAT3, which attenuated ECM mortality. CONCLUSIONS:Our results indicate a potential pathway by which NRG-1 treatment maintains BBB integrity in vitro, attenuates ECM-induced tissue injury, and reduces mortality. Furthermore, we postulate that augmenting NRG-1 during ECM therapy may be an effective adjunctive therapy to reduce CNS tissue injury and potentially increase the effectiveness of current anti-malaria therapy against human cerebral malaria (HCM)

Using Wearable Assistive Technology to Improve Time Management of Students with Disabilities in a School-Based Employment Training Setting

All areas of life require time management, but those skills are especially integral and require a different level of accountability for an individual to be successful in academia or when employed (DiPipi-Hoy et al., 2009; Macan et al., 1990). A study by Janeslätt et al. (2015) measured daily time management of adults and found individuals with cognitive disabilities possessed low daily time management skills compared to neurotypical peers. In a study by Button et al. (2019) the majority of college students with disabilities at one university who sought out support services spent most of their time working on the area of time management. A potential way to address these deficits is a new trending tool to assist students with disabilities to improve time management skills, wearable and mobile assistive technology. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a vibrating smart watch (Apple Watch® Series 6) using preprogrammed calendar events to improve the time management skills of students with disabilities

Neuregulin-1 attenuates mortality associated with experimental cerebral malaria.

BackgroundCerebral Malaria (CM) is a diffuse encephalopathy caused by Plasmodium falciparum infection. Despite availability of antimalarial drugs, CM-associated mortality remains high at approximately 30% and a subset of survivors develop neurological and cognitive disabilities. While antimalarials are effective at clearing Plasmodium parasites they do little to protect against CM pathophysiology and parasite-induced brain inflammation that leads to seizures, coma and long-term neurological sequelae in CM patients. Thus, there is urgent need to explore therapeutics that can reduce or prevent CM pathogenesis and associated brain inflammation to improve survival. Neuregulin-1 (NRG-1) is a neurotrophic growth factor shown to protect against brain injury associated with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and neurotoxin exposure. However, this drug has not been tested against CM-associated brain injury. Since CM-associated brain injuries and AIS share similar pathophysiological features, we hypothesized that NRG-1 will reduce or prevent neuroinflammation and brain damage as well as improve survival in mice with late-stage experimental cerebral malaria (ECM).MethodsWe tested the effects of NRG-1 on ECM-associated brain inflammation and mortality in P. berghei ANKA (PbA)-infected mice and compared to artemether (ARM) treatment; an antimalarial currently used in various combination therapies against malaria.ResultsTreatment with ARM (25 mg/kg/day) effectively cleared parasites and reduced mortality in PbA-infected mice by 82%. Remarkably, NRG-1 therapy (1.25 ng/kg/day) significantly improved survival against ECM by 73% despite increase in parasite burden within NRG-1-treated mice. Additionally, NRG-1 therapy reduced systemic and brain pro-inflammatory factors TNFalpha, IL-6, IL-1alpha and CXCL10 and enhanced anti-inflammatory factors, IL-5 and IL-13 while decreasing leukocyte accumulation in brain microvessels.ConclusionsThis study suggests that NRG-1 attenuates ECM-associated brain inflammation and injuries and may represent a novel supportive therapy for the management of CM

Cell-cell signaling and the regulation of development in Bacillus subtilis

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Biology, 1997.Includes bibliographical references.by Jonathan M. Solomon.Ph.D

BUSINESS-IT ALIGNMENT IN THE BANKING SECTOR: A CASE FROM A DEVELOPING COUNTRY

Business-IT Alignment (BITA), one of the widely explored topics in the IS research domain, remains to be challenging. The extant literature provides a long list of factors that need to be managed appropriately to achieve and maintain BITA. Among other things, both the intra-organisational as well as external factors, are found to determine whether organisations succeed to achieve BITA or not. However, previous BITA studies have been criticised for focusing on investigating a few industries and contextual factors in developed countries. This case study is aimed at addressing the lack of BITA studies in developing countries. The data was collected at a bank in Ethiopia through interviews with business as well as IT leaders. The study employed thematic analysis, which revealed several barriers to BITA. Business and IT leaders may find the result of the study invaluable to plan activities that might over- come BITA barriers and improve BITA maturity

Shared Decision Making for Clients With Mental Illness: A Randomized Factorial Survey

Objective: The goal of this study was to test the degree to which client clinical characteristics and environmental context and social workers’ practice values and experience influenced support for client’s autonomy and willingness to engage in shared decision making (SDM), and whether willingness to engage in SDM was mediated by support for autonomy. Method: A randomized factorial survey of social workers working with adults with severe mental illness was employed. Eighty-seven social workers responded yielding 435 vignettes. Results: Hypotheses were partially supported. Diagnosis, symptomology, threats of harm, treatment adherence, substance use, and social workers’ values and experience predicted support for autonomy and willingness to engage in SDM. Willingness to engage in SDM was modestly mediated by support for autonomy. Conclusion: Helping social workers avoid bias in decision making is critical to the goal of supporting clients’ autonomy, building their capacity, minimizing disempowerment, and promoting recovery

Malaria around large dams in Africa: effect of environmental and transmission endemicity factors.

BACKGROUND:The impact of large dams on malaria has received widespread attention. However, understanding how dam topography and transmission endemicity influence malaria incidences is limited. METHODS:Data from the European Commission's Joint Research Center and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission were used to determine reservoir perimeters and shoreline slope of African dams. Georeferenced data from the Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) were used to estimate malaria incidence rates in communities near reservoir shorelines. Population data from the WorldPop database were used to estimate the population at risk of malaria around dams in stable and unstable areas. RESULTS:The data showed that people living near (< 5 km) large dams in sub-Saharan Africa grew from 14.4 million in 2000 to 18.7 million in 2015. Overall, across sub-Saharan Africa between 0.7 and 1.6 million malaria cases per year are attributable to large dams. Whilst annual malaria incidence declined markedly in both stable and unstable areas between 2000 and 2015, the malaria impact of dams appeared to increase in unstable areas, but decreased in stable areas. Shoreline slope was found to be the most important malaria risk factor in dam-affected geographies, explaining 41-82% (P < 0.001) of the variation in malaria incidence around reservoirs. CONCLUSION:Gentler, more gradual shoreline slopes were associated with much greater malaria risk. Dam-related environmental variables such as dam topography and shoreline slopes are an important factor that should be considered in efforts to predict and control malaria around dams