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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on an exploratory study of third-year architecture students’ information behaviour. It focusses on information activities, personal experience, resource usage, preferences in working individually or collaboratively, preferences for information resources inspiring creativity and physical spaces to be creative.Design/methodology/approach It was a mixed methods study with a strongly qualitative component and limited descriptive quantitative data. Data were collected in October 2016 at a South African university using individual self-administered questionnaires and semi-structured individual interviews; 19 out of 60 (response rate 32 per cent) third-year architecture students doing a design project participated.Findings Creativity is important in architecture projects, as is information resources in stimulating creativity. Students preferred to work individually during their design projects; at times collaboration was needed for idea generation. Information activities included: information gathering, encountering, use and sharing. A range of theoretical, technical, artistic and practical skills and knowledge must be integrated to produce creative outcomes, in addition, to information searching and information usage. Factual information is also required. Students can benefit from a supportive information rich creative space (physical or virtual).Research limitations/implications The study was conducted at only one institution with a small number of participants. Although generalisation of findings is not possible, issues for further research can be noted.Practical implications Designers of physical and virtual creative spaces must take into account different facets of information behaviour and the information resources and services required during creative information-seeking activities.Originality/value Although there is literature on information behaviour and creativity, the authors could not find any that explores architecture students’ information behaviour in academic spaces of creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Studies of information behaviour can inform the design of information systems, services and creative workspaces. Creative workspaces are associated with access to tools, expertise, guidance, innovation and constructivist learning. The work of Kuhlthau on information seeking, the information search process (ISP) model, zones of intervention, and later with third space(s) might hold value for the exploitation of creative workspaces in academic libraries. Method. A thematic analysis of a selection of key publications of Kuhlthau is presented focusing on the value for creative workspaces. Analysis. Publications were analysed according to key characteristics of creative workspaces using makerspaces as an example: applicability to diverse contexts; provision of access to tools, expertise, and skills; the provision of safe spaces; providing an open environment for expressions; space to support a hands-on learning environment for guided and constructivist learning; and providing a space to cultivate character traits important to collective creativity. These were compared with information behaviour themes noted in the work of Kuhlthau. Results. Various issues in the work of Kuhlthau hold potential for creative workspaces; acknowledgement of uncertainty, complexity of tasks, the need for sense-making, and affective and cognitive experiences throughout information searching, seeking and other information activities encompassed by information behaviour. Conclusion. Kuhlthau's work can inform information behaviour studies that guide the development of creative workspaces in academic libraries. Specifically, with reference to the phases of creation, information seeking, information searches, thoughts, feelings, the development of zones of intervention, and third spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To delineate parameters contributing to the extracellular lifetime of retroviral vectors, we carried out stability tests of retroviruses derived from cell lines of different origin and kept under different cultivation conditions. Results show that amphotropic mouse retroviruses (MLV-A) derived from human and hamster cells exhibit 2- to 3-fold higher half-lives compared to retroviruses from mouse cells. Cultivation at 32°C has been reported to yield high virus titers. However, the benefit of virus production in mouse cells at 32°C is controversial. In our hands the cultivation temperature affected, hitherto not noticed, the half-life time of MLV-A. The 37/32°C shift resulted in a 3-fold decrease of viral half-lifes compared to MLV-A released from mouse cells at 37°C. Thus, MLV-A released at 37°C is phenotypically different from MLV-A synthesized at 32°C. Increased virus stability was inversely correlated with the level of cholesterol in the viral membrane. Finally, depletion of viral cholesterol in vitro resulted in intact virus with increased thermal stability. Thus, retrovirus lability depends on the host cell and parallels the cholesterol amount in the viral lipid shell. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • The genetic diversity of Echinococcus multilocularis was assessed in Switzerland. • A total of 12 EmsB profiles were described among 55 AE lesions from domestic pigs. • The data were compared to 123 other Swiss specimens to reach 18 EmsB profiles. • Three EmsB profiles presented a clear spatial organization in the Swiss plateau. • Pigs permit to assess the environmental presence and distribution of the parasite. Assessing the genetic diversity of the parasite Echinococcus multilocularis provides key information about the temporal and spatial strain flow in a given area. Previous studies indicated that a historical endemic area conventionally presents a relatively high genetic diversity, whereas peripheral or newly endemic areas exhibit a more restricted variability of the parasite. The Swiss plateau region is part of the European historically endemic area, and the genetic diversity has already been investigated by assessing either human metacestode isolates or adult worms from foxes. To date, there have been no studies covering the whole geographical area affected by the parasite. The aim of the present study was to make use of the domestic pig to investigate the genetic diversity of E. multilocularis in relation to spatial distribution. A total of 55 E. multilocularis -induced hepatic lesions from slaughtered pigs from Switzerland were studied using EmsB microsatellite analyzes, and findings were compared to already published data (originating from human, primate, foxes, and rodent samples). A total of 12 EmsB profiles were described among the domestic pigs, some of them presenting a clear spatial organization in the Swiss plateau, with three of the main profiles geographically separated. One of the 12 EmsB profiles has been newly identified for Switzerland in this study, while the other 11 profiles had been previously described in other Swiss E. multilocularis isolates from other hosts. Overall, a total of 18 EmsB profiles have so far been described within the Swiss endemic area. Six profiles appeared only among human, primate, rodent, and fox samples. Based on a richness and diversity accumulation analysis, the sampling efficiency for the whole studied area has now been improved considerably by compilation of 178 E. multilocularis specimens obtained from four different intermediate and one definitive host species in Switzerland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gallocanta Lake (NE Spain), with a high ecological value, is the largest and best preserved saline lake in Western Europe. The aim of this study is to map the landforms developed in the margins of the central sector of Gallocanta Lake, at adequate scale for the study of soils and habitats, which is needed for the delineation, management and protection of the wetland. Photointerpretation was combined with topographical, geological, and satellite data in a geographical information system. This study, applied in two selected areas of the central body of the lake, allowed the identification of contrasting landforms and processes in the lake margins. The southern margin, which receives most of the fluvial materials in the zone exhibits coastal progradation by means of barrier-island generation and sedimentation in the resulting coastal lagoon, a process that can be inferred from the map presented in this work and was confirmed by comparison of aerial photographs taken in different decades. With virtually no sediment supply on the margin, coastal erosion and shoreline retreat prevail. In summary, coastal landforms are a result of a complex combination of fluvial and lacustrine processes operating during high and low water-level periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the economic aspects of the Ebro water transfer, which have been overlooked in the Spanish National Hydrological Plan. The questions exam ined are the cost of transferred water, and irrigated agriculture in the Levante and south-eastern regions, which are the main water transfer destinations. Results show that the water transfer is not economically sustainable, because the costs of the diverted water are higher than the current marginal value of water in agriculture, and crop profitability is insufficient to pay for the whole volume of transferred water. A compromise solution between increasing water supply and demand management measures will combine a reasonable water price increase with water desalination in coastal counties. This solution would reduce water demand with a moderate effect on farmers' revenue and net income. Spain could find alternative investment projects to the water transfer, able to improve social welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]