Resilience Factors Reconciled with Complexity: The Dynamics of Order and Disorder

One of the main challenges in crisis management is to assess, ahead of time, the resilience of a system before a crisis erupts (pandemic, computer bug with large‐scale effects, cascade effects in critical infrastructure, etc.). In this article, we propose to reconcile the multiple and sometimes divergent definition of resilience by explaining the complementarity of stability and adaptability inherent to the concept. Also, we integrate a new dimension to the assessment of resilience by analysing the dynamics of negentropy (order, stability) and entropy (disorder, change) between factors. Until now, the evaluation of organizational and interorganizational resilience focused on analysing the presence or absence of resilience factors. With this new dimension, we show the complementarity and interdependence of resilience factors. Finally, we demonstrate how resilience is based on both favourable order and favourable disorder which create diversity and conformity in the system, while vulnerability relies on unfavourable order and unfavourable disorder.     

Accurate assessment of carotid artery stenosis in atherosclerotic mice using accelerated high-resolution 3D magnetic resonance angiography

Object  

High-resolution magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) enables non-invasive detection and longitudinal monitoring of atherosclerosis in mouse models of human disease. However, MRA is hampered by long acquisition times putting high demands on the physiological stability of the animal. Therefore, we evaluated the feasibility of accelerated MRA using the parallel imaging technique SENSE with regard to both lesion detection and quantification.     

Web accessibility implementation in private sector organizations: motivations and business impact

Despite the prominence of the World Wide Web in people’s everyday lives, most Web presences in private sector organizations still fail to comply with contemporary accessibility standards. As a consequence, a large group of users—i.e., people with impairments—are excluded from accessing these Web presences. In order to explain the managerial rationale, an exploratory case study was conducted in three industry sectors. The results of the analysis shed light on organizations’ motivations to implement or reject Web accessibility standards, reveal positive and negative consequences of implementation, and provide in-depth insights into the determinants for successful and unsuccessful Web accessibility implementation. This study supports organizations in making better decisions on the implementation of Web accessibility.     

Locational signals to reduce network investments in smart distribution grids: What works and what not?

Locational pricing can reduce the investment needs arising in distribution networks from the transformation towards smart grids with high shares of renewable generation. We analyse different approaches. Locational signals in a general tariff plan for either energy or network pricing require substantial system reform which impedes feasibility. We propose smart contracts with locational elements as hybrid form. System reform is only modest since contractual solutions emerge in smart grids anyhow. The responsibility for tariff setting stays with the network operator. The regulator’s task is limited to incentivizing efficient network investment and allowing network operators maximum flexibility in contract design.     

Graphical methods for evaluating covering arrays

Covering arrays relax the condition of orthogonal arrays by only requiring that all combination of levels be covered but not requiring that the appearance of all combination of levels be balanced. This allows for a much larger number of factors to be simultaneously considered but at the cost of poorer estimation of the factor effects. To better understand patterns between sets of columns and evaluate the degree of coverage to compare and select between alternative arrays, we suggest several new graphical methods that show some of the patterns of coverage for different designs. These graphical methods for evaluating covering arrays are illustrated with some examples. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Addition of Interleukin-21 for Expansion of T-Cells for Adoptive Immunotherapy of Murine Melanoma

We previously demonstrated that interleukin (IL)-7/15 was superior to IL-2 for expansion of T cells in vitro for adoptive immunotherapy. We sought to ascertain whether IL-21 would further improve yield and therapeutic efficacy of T cells in culture. Naïve T cell receptor (TcR) transgenic splenocytes or antigen-sensitized lymph node cells were harvested from PMEL-1 mice and exposed to bryostatin-1 and ionomycin (B/I) for 18 h. Cells were then cultured in IL-2, IL-21, IL-7/15 or IL-7/15/21 for six days. Harvested cells were analyzed by flow cytometry and used to treat C57Bl/6 mice injected intravenously with B16 melanoma. Lungs were harvested and metastases counted 14 days after treatment. Culturing lymphocytes in IL-7/15/21 increased expansion compared to IL-2 or IL-7/15. IL-21 and IL-7/15/21 increased CD8+ cells compared to IL-2 or IL-7/15. IL-21 preferentially expanded a CD8+CD44−CD62L+ T “naïve” population, whereas IL-7/15/21 increased CD8+CD44+CD62Lhigh central-memory T cells. T cells grown in IL-7/15/21 were more effective at reducing metastases than IL-2. The addition of IL-21 to IL-7/15 induced greater expansion of lymphocytes in culture and increased the yield of CD8+ T central-memory cells vs. IL-7/15 alone. This may have significant impact on future clinical trials of adoptive immunotherapy, particularly for generating adequate numbers of lymphocytes for treatment.