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In this paper we focus specifically on start-ups in remote island entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) and consider the differences between these entrepreneurs compared to their mainland Scottish and UK counterparts. We find that Island new start-up entrepreneurs tend to be older, less well educated, more likely to be female, and less likely to be from an ethnic minority. They borrow similar amounts of start-up capital than their mainland counterparts and are equally likely to survive. Despite their geographical remoteness, this suggests that entrepreneurial activity makes a meaningful contribution to their respective EEs. • This paper focuses on start-ups in remote island entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs). • It finds that Island new start-up entrepreneurs tend to be older, less well educated, more likely to be female, and less likely to be from an ethnic minority. • They borrow similar amounts of start-up capital than their mainland counterparts and are equally likely to survive. • Entrepreneurial activity is salient feature of the Scottish Islands, making a valuable contribution to their respective EEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many organizational analysis tasks are solved by collaborating teams. In technology-mediated collaborations, enabling relevant visual cues is a core issue with existing technology. We explore whether avatars can provide relevant cues in collaborative virtual environments. To do so, we develop a research prototype for a collaborative virtual environment that utilises avatars to improve workspace awareness in collaborative tasks. We test this solution through two studies, qualitative and quantitative, in which participants have to collaborate to jointly validate and correct a diagrammatic model of operational procedures. Our evaluations provide both positive and negative results about the proposed prototype. Collaboration patterns changed and became significantly easier, but, task performance was only slightly improved. Together, these findings inform both the ongoing development of collaborative 3D virtual environments and the role of technology-mediated collaboration for validating and fixing models of processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business process models have become an effective way of examining business practices to identify areas for improvement. While common information gathering approaches are generally efficacious, they can be quite time consuming and have the risk of developing inaccuracies when information is forgotten or incorrectly interpreted by analysts. In this study, the potential of a role-playing approach to process elicitation and specification has been examined. This method allows stakeholders to enter a virtual world and role-play actions similarly to how they would in reality. As actions are completed, a model is automatically developed, removing the need for stakeholders to learn and understand a modelling grammar. An empirical investigation comparing both the modelling outputs and participant behaviour of this virtual world role-play elicitor with an S-BPM process modelling tool found that while the modelling approaches of the two groups varied greatly, the virtual world elicitor may not only improve both the number of individual process task steps remembered and the correctness of task ordering, but also provide a reduction in the time required for stakeholders to model a process view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variability in northern hemisphere (NH) spring and summer snow extent is strongly influenced by snow cover duration (SCD) across the Canadian Arctic. In order to assess the accuracy with which satellite-derived snow extent datasets capture the dynamic melt period (1 April–31 July), SCD datasets derived from the weekly NOAA snow chart record (1979–2004), daily IMS product (2000–2004), passive microwave (PMW) brightness temperatures (1979–2004), and Ku-band QuikSCAT scatterometer data (2000–2004) were assessed against in situ measurements across the Canadian Arctic (north of 60°). The higher resolution IMS and QSCAT datasets showed the best ability to capture spatial variability in spring SCD over the Canadian Arctic, followed by the NOAA and PMW datasets. The poorer performance of the PMW was anticipated because of documented difficulties monitoring snow cover over forested and mountainous terrain. Both the IMS and the NOAA datasets exhibited positive biases of ∼22–26 days which can be related to elevation effects and frequent cloud cover. The NOAA dataset was unable to capture interannual variability in spring snow cover over the central Canadian Arctic tundra region (66–74° N, 80–120° W) while the PMW was able to capture a significant fraction of the observed variability. This fact, combined with anomalous snow-cover temperature responses in the NOAA data further reinforces the conclusions of Wang et al. [Wang, L., Sharp, M., Brown, R., Derksen, C., & Rivard, B., (2005a). Evaluation of spring snow covered area depletion in the Canadian Arctic from NOAA snow charts. Remote Sensing of Environment, 95, 453–463] that considerable care be taken when using NOAA data during the summer months (June–August) where NH snow cover variability is controlled by relatively small regions with frequent cloud cover. QuikSCAT data were able to provide comparable results to IMS over the 2000–2004 period, indicating that Ku-band scatterometer measurements can make an important contribution to monitoring terrestrial snow extent during spring melt. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper discusses a mechanism of broadening of the UV absorption spectra of an adsorbed species in a microporous material, with specific reference to a pyrene derivative adsorbed on silica gels [Lacombe et al. Micropororous Mesopororous Mater., 46 (2001) 311]. We show that broadening by resonance exchange interactions between clustered molecules explains the novel qualitative features of the data. The influences of pore size and adsorbate concentration are explored in a simple model of molecules adsorbed randomly on spherical pores. Absorption spectra are calculated from a tight binding Hamiltonian for the excited state, including inhomogeneous broadening and resonance exchange. Quantitative differences between the model and the experimental spectra show that spectral broadening is due to non-random clustering in the ground state of the adsorbate molecules. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The confinement of multiplemyeloma (MM) to the bone marrow microenvironment requires an invasive bone marrow biopsy to monitor the malignant compartment. The existing clinical tools used to determine treatment response and tumor relapse are limited in sensitivity mainly because they indirectly measure tumor burden inside the bone marrow and fail to capture the patchy, multisite tumor infiltrates associated with MM. Microparticles (MPs) are 0.1- to 1.0-µm membrane vesicles, which contain the cellular content of their originating cell. MPs are functional mediators and convey prothrombotic, promalignant, proresistance, and proinflammatory messages, establishing intercellular cross talk and bypassing the need for direct cell-cell contact in many pathologies. In this study, we analyzed plasma cell-derived MPs (CD138+) from deidentified MM patients (n=64) and normal subjects (n=18) using flow cytometry. The morphology and size of the MPs were further analyzed using scanning electron microscopy. Our study shows the proof of a systemic signature of MPs in MM patients. We observed that the levels of MPs were significantly elevated in MM corresponding to the tumor burden. We provide the first evidence for the presence of MPs in the peripheral blood of MM patients with potential applications in personalized MM clinical monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: New pan-Arctic (> 60°N) snowmelt onset and end date records (2000–2005) were produced from enhanced resolution (4.45 km) QuikSCAT (QSCAT) Ku-band backscatter measurements. A modified threshold method was used to detect multiple melt events and the main melt event was identified by the longest melt duration or the largest melt intensity. Algorithm validation was performed with a Circum-Arctic network of station measurements extracted from the Global Surface Summary of Day product maintained by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). Estimates of melt onset date corresponded to a clear shift in the statistical distribution of mean daily air temperatures from largely below freezing to above freezing. Melt was not detected in 7% of the cases mainly over dense boreal forest cover, or very shallow tundra snow cover. QSCAT- derived melt end dates were significantly correlated with station-derived snow-off estimates (r 2 = 0.79; RMSE = 11.6 days). The difference between the two estimates was within one week for 70% of the cases so there is good potential to use QSCAT-derived melt end dates to approximate snow-off dates across the pan-Arctic region. There was a tendency for QSCAT-derived snow-off dates to be biased early over dense forest regions due to a diminished backscatter melt signature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weekly snow cover dataset (1966–) is the longest available record of snow cover extent (SCE) over the Northern Hemisphere (NH). This dataset has been used extensively to derive trends in continental SCE and in climate-related studies, but it has received only limited validation, particularly in high latitude areas of the NH. This study evaluated spring snow cover depletion in the NOAA dataset over a study area in the Canadian Arctic mainland north of the tree line. The evaluation used four sources of information: (1) surface snow depth and snow survey observations, (2) snow cover extent produced from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), (3) snow cover extent derived from Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I), and (4) Landsat 5 TM browse images. Six spring seasons from the period 1981–2000 with low (1984, 1988, and 1998) and high (1985, 1995, and 1997) spring snow cover extent were evaluated. The evaluation revealed that the NOAA weekly dataset consistently overestimated snow cover extent during the spring melt period, with delays of up to 4 weeks in melt onset. A number of possible reasons for this delay were investigated. The most likely causes for the delayed melt onset were frequent cloud cover in the spring melt period, and the low frequency of data coverage over higher latitudes. The results suggest that caution should be exercised when using this dataset in any studies related to the timing of snowmelt in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Aims: To describe the effectiveness of a portable hand-held ultrasound machine when used by clinicians in the early evaluation and resuscitation of trauma victims.Methods: The study was a prospective evaluation in a level-I urban trauma center. The focussed assessment with sonography for trauma is a specifically defined examination for free fluid known as the focused assessment with sonography for trauma (FAST) exam. Seventy-one patients had a hand-held FAST (HHFAST) examination performed with a Sonosite™ 180, 2.4 kg ultrasound machine. Sixty-seven examinations were immediately repeated with a Toshiba SSH 140A portable floor-based machine. This repeat scan (formal FAST or FFAST) was used as a comparison standard between the devices for study purposes. Four patients had a HHFAST only, all with positive result, two being taken for immediate laparotomy, and two having a follow-up computed tomographic (CT) scan. Patient follow-up from other imaging studies, operative intervention, and clinical outcomes were also compared to the performance of each device.Results: There were 58 victims of blunt, and 13 of penetrating abdominal trauma. One examination was indeterminate using both machines. The apparent HHFAST performance yielded; sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictable value, and accuracy (S, S, PPV, NPV, A) of 83, 100, 100, 98, 98%. Upon review, a CT scan finding and benign clinical course found the HHFAST diagnosis to be correct rather than the FFAST in one case. Considering the ultimate clinical course of the patients, yielded a (S, S, PPV, NPV, A) of 78, 100, 100, 97, and 97% for the HHFAST and 75, 98, 86, 97, and 96% for the FFAST. Statistically, there was no significant difference in the actual performance of the HHFAST compared to the FFAST in this clinical setting.Discussion: Hand-held portable sonography can simplify early and accurate performance of FAST exams in victims of abdominal trauma. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Millimetres long bundles of hydrate fibres grow from surface macropores of a porous substrate. • Surface macropores confirmed by confocal reflectance and scanning electron microscopies. • X-ray radiography shows fluid exchange in the peripheral layers of the substrate. • X-ray computed microtomography reveals a belt of organised peripheral porosity and connection to surface macropores. • These features explain the unprecedented observation of comb or whale-bone like bundles of hydrate fibres. Venet et al., reported unprecedented, bundled growth of ≈ 1-10 mm long, hollow gas hydrate fibres, diameter ≈ 1-10 μ m, on an activated carbon close to a guest-water interface, circumventing the hydrate growth bottleneck. Here, in situ video microscopy traces growth (2-3 μ m s - 1 at 0.5 ° C) to surface macropores of similar diameter, further exhibited by confocal and scanning electron microscopies. X-ray radiography shows fluid exchange to a depth of ≈ 50-100 μ m in a total porous fraction 40 % (gravimetric porometry). Computed X-ray microtomography reveals a belt of organised peripheral porosity of aligned ≈ 5 μ m pores. These structures explain the origin of the comb or whalebone-like appearance of the hydrate. Whereas hydrate promotion by porous media is usually assumed to proceed inside the materials, like tiny hydrate storage warehouses, we find that the substrate behaves more like a 'lean' or 'just in time' production line, with hydrate extruded as fast as it is produced near the surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microporous, mesoporous and hydrophobic silica materials with high specific surface area are obtained by an easy and cheap sol–gel synthesis. The effect of pore size and of water content on gas adsorption and separation are investigated. We also identified the relative amounts of different types of water in the porous silica, around 25% and 75% for bound and free water. The kinetics of rehydration is extremely slow, 60% recovery after 4 days implying that the material can be used as is over several hours. Adsorption isotherms of pure gaseous CO 2 and CH 4 , and of their mixtures at different pressures, show that among the materials synthesised, the microporous hydrophilic silica exhibits the best performance in terms of CO 2 adsorption capacity (2.8 mmol.g−1) and a separation factor over 10 at low CO 2 content and low pressure. Both properties are highly sensitive to the presence of residual water and to terminal chemical groups. This work highlights the possibility to develop competitive and cheap silica materials that could be scaled up to industrial uses. [Display omitted] • Porous silicas with both controlled hydrophilicity and micro-/meso-porosity. • Materials exhibiting a high separation factor (SF), favouring CO 2 relative to CH 4. • Degree of residual water favours CO 2 adsorption. • Easy and cheap one-pot synthesis. • Gas physisorption favours low cost regeneration. • Optimal use at low pressures and low CO 2 content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous organisations collect data in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), but they are rarely analysed together due to different program objectives, methods, and data quality. We developed a weighted spatio-temporal Bayesian model and used it to integrate image-based hard-coral data collected by professional and citizen scientists, who captured and/or classified underwater images. We used the model to predict coral cover across the GBR with estimates of uncertainty; thus filling gaps in space and time where no data exist. Additional data increased the model's predictive ability by 43%, but did not affect model inferences about pressures (e.g. bleaching and cyclone damage). Thus, effective integration of professional and high-volume citizen data could enhance the capacity and cost-efficiency of monitoring programs. This general approach is equally viable for other variables collected in the marine environment or other ecosystems; opening up new opportunities to integrate data and provide pathways for community engagement/stewardship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]