Differential Item Functioning Analysis of High-Stakes Test in Terms of Gender: A Rasch Model Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alavi, Seyed Mohammad; Bordbar, Soodeh

2017-01-01

Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analysis is a key element in evaluating educational test fairness and validity. One of the frequently cited sources of construct-irrelevant variance is gender which has an important role in the university entrance exam; therefore, it causes bias and consequently undermines test validity. The present study aims…

Consequences of climate change for biotic disturbances in North American forests

Treesearch

Aaron S. Weed; Matthew P. Ayres; Jeffrey A. Hicke

2013-01-01

About one-third of North America is forested. These forests are of incalculable value to human society in terms of harvested resources and ecosystem services and are sensitive to disturbance regimes. Epidemics of forest insects and diseases are the dominant sources of disturbance to North American forests. Here we review current understanding of climatic effects...

A Generalized Evolution Criterion in Nonequilibrium Convective Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ichiyanagi, Masakazu; Nisizima, Kunisuke

1989-04-01

A general evolution criterion, applicable to transport processes such as the conduction of heat and mass diffusion, is obtained as a direct version of the Le Chatelier-Braun principle for stationary states. The present theory is not based on any radical departure from the conventional one. The generalized theory is made determinate by proposing the balance equations for extensive thermodynamic variables which will reflect the character of convective systems under the assumption of local equilibrium. As a consequence of the introduction of source terms in the balance equations, there appear additional terms in the expression of the local entropy production, which are bilinear in terms of the intensive variables and the sources. In the present paper, we show that we can construct a dissipation function for such general cases, in which the premises of the Glansdorff-Prigogine theory are accumulated. The new dissipation function permits us to formulate a generalized evolution criterion for convective systems.

Childhood lead poisoning - United States: report to the Congress by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

The long-term consequences of unabated exposures to environmental lead sources can be serious, particularly for children. Recent scientific studies have shown a progressive decline in the lowest exposure levels of lead at which adverse effects can be reliably detected in children. In recognition of this, Congress directed the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), in consultation with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to examine the nature and extent of childhood lead poisoning in the United States. The study was to address such areas as the long-term health implications of environmental lead exposure in children, the extent of leadmore » intoxication of children in terms of geographic areas and sources of lead in the United States, and methods and strategies for removing lead from the environment of US children. This article summarizes the key findings of the report.« less

Einstein-like field equations with conserved source and decreasing and Λ term; Their cosmological consequences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Massa, Corrado

1996-03-01

The consequences of a cosmological ∧ term varying asS -2 in a spatially isotropic universe with scale factorS and conserved matter tensor are investigated. One finds a perpetually expanding universe with positive ∧ and gravitational ‘constant’G that increases with time. The ‘hard’ equation of state 3P>U (U mass-energy density,P scalar pressure) applied to the early universe leads to the expansion lawS∝t (t cosmic time) which solves the horizon problem with no need of inflation. Also the flatness problem is resolved without inflation. The model does not affect the well known predictions on the cosmic light elements abundance which come from standard big bang cosmology. In the present, matter dominated universe one findsdG/dt=2∧H/U (H is the Hubble parameter) which is consistent with observations provided ∧<10-57 cm-2. Asymptotically (S→∞) the ∧ term equalsGU/2, in agreement with other studies.

Fish stranding in freshwater systems: sources, consequences, and mitigation.

PubMed

Nagrodski, Alexander; Raby, Graham D; Hasler, Caleb T; Taylor, Mark K; Cooke, Steven J

2012-07-30

Fish can become stranded when water levels decrease, often rapidly, as a result of anthropogenic (e.g., canal drawdown, hydropeaking, vessel wakes) and natural (e.g., floods, drought, winter ice dynamics) events. We summarize existing research on stranding of fish in freshwater, discuss the sources, consequences, and mitigation options for stranding, and report current knowledge gaps. Our literature review revealed that ∼65.5% of relevant peer-reviewed articles were found to focus on stranding associated with hydropower operations and irrigation projects. In fact, anthropogenic sources of fish stranding represented 81.8% of available literature compared to only 19.9% attributed to natural fish stranding events. While fish mortality as a result of stranding is well documented, our analysis revealed that little is known about the sublethal and long-term consequences of stranding on growth and population dynamics. Furthermore, the contribution of stranding to annual mortality rates is poorly understood as are the potential ecosystem-scale impacts. Mitigation strategies available to deal with stranding include fish salvage, ramping rate limitations, and physical habitat works (e.g., to contour substrate to minimize stranding). However, a greater knowledge of the factors that cause fish stranding would promote the development and refinement of mitigation strategies that are economically and ecologically sustainable. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of severe accident risks: Quantification of major input parameters: MAACS (MELCOR Accident Consequence Code System) input

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sprung, J.L.; Jow, H-N; Rollstin, J.A.

1990-12-01

Estimation of offsite accident consequences is the customary final step in a probabilistic assessment of the risks of severe nuclear reactor accidents. Recently, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reassessed the risks of severe accidents at five US power reactors (NUREG-1150). Offsite accident consequences for NUREG-1150 source terms were estimated using the MELCOR Accident Consequence Code System (MACCS). Before these calculations were performed, most MACCS input parameters were reviewed, and for each parameter reviewed, a best-estimate value was recommended. This report presents the results of these reviews. Specifically, recommended values and the basis for their selection are presented for MACCS atmospheric andmore » biospheric transport, emergency response, food pathway, and economic input parameters. Dose conversion factors and health effect parameters are not reviewed in this report. 134 refs., 15 figs., 110 tabs.« less

Nuclear risk analysis of the Ulysses mission

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bartram, Bart W.; Vaughan, Frank R.; Englehart, Richard W., Dr.

1991-01-01

The use of a radioisotope thermoelectric generator fueled with plutonium-238 dioxide on the Space Shuttle-launched Ulysses mission implies some level of risk due to potential accidents. This paper describes the method used to quantify risks in the Ulysses mission Final Safety Analysis Report prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy. The starting point for the analysis described herein is following input of source term probability distributions from the General Electric Company. A Monte Carlo technique is used to develop probability distributions of radiological consequences for a range of accident scenarios thoughout the mission. Factors affecting radiological consequences are identified, the probability distribution of the effect of each factor determined, and the functional relationship among all the factors established. The probability distributions of all the factor effects are then combined using a Monte Carlo technique. The results of the analysis are presented in terms of complementary cumulative distribution functions (CCDF) by mission sub-phase, phase, and the overall mission. The CCDFs show the total probability that consequences (calculated health effects) would be equal to or greater than a given value.

Sample Based Unit Liter Dose Estimates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

JENSEN, L.

The Tank Waste Characterization Program has taken many core samples, grab samples, and auger samples from the single-shell and double-shell tanks during the past 10 years. Consequently, the amount of sample data available has increased, both in terms of quantity of sample results and the number of tanks characterized. More and better data is available than when the current radiological and toxicological source terms used in the Basis for Interim Operation (BIO) (FDH 1999a) and the Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) (FDH 1999b) were developed. The Nuclear Safety and Licensing (NS and L) organization wants to use the new datamore » to upgrade the radiological and toxicological source terms used in the BIO and FSAR. The NS and L organization requested assistance in producing a statistically based process for developing the source terms. This report describes the statistical techniques used and the assumptions made to support the development of a new radiological source term for liquid and solid wastes stored in single-shell and double-shell tanks. The results given in this report are a revision to similar results given in an earlier version of the document (Jensen and Wilmarth 1999). The main difference between the results in this document and the earlier version is that the dose conversion factors (DCF) for converting {mu}Ci/g or {mu}Ci/L to Sv/L (sieverts per liter) have changed. There are now two DCFs, one based on ICRP-68 and one based on ICW-71 (Brevick 2000).« less

Long-term consequences of pain in human neonates.

PubMed

Grunau, Ruth E; Holsti, Liisa; Peters, Jeroen W B

2006-08-01

The low tactile threshold in preterm infants when they are in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), while their physiological systems are unstable and immature, potentially renders them more vulnerable to the effects of repeated invasive procedures. There is a small but growing literature on pain and tactile responsivity following procedural pain in the NICU, or early surgery. Long-term effects of repeated pain in the neonatal period on neurodevelopment await further research. However, there are multiple sources of stress in the NICU, which contribute to inducing high overall 'allostatic load', therefore determining specific effects of neonatal pain in human infants is challenging.

Evaluation of radiological dispersion/consequence codes supporting DOE nuclear facility SARs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

O`Kula, K.R.; Paik, I.K.; Chung, D.Y.

1996-12-31

Since the early 1990s, the authorization basis documentation of many U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear facilities has been upgraded to comply with DOE orders and standards. In this process, many safety analyses have been revised. Unfortunately, there has been nonuniform application of software, and the most appropriate computer and engineering methodologies often are not applied. A DOE Accident Phenomenology and Consequence (APAC) Methodology Evaluation Program was originated at the request of DOE Defense Programs to evaluate the safety analysis methodologies used in nuclear facility authorization basis documentation and to define future cost-effective support and development initiatives. Six areas, includingmore » source term development (fire, spills, and explosion analysis), in-facility transport, and dispersion/ consequence analysis (chemical and radiological) are contained in the APAC program. The evaluation process, codes considered, key results, and recommendations for future model and software development of the Radiological Dispersion/Consequence Working Group are summarized in this paper.« less

Lack of training threatening drilling talent supply

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Von Flatern, R.

When oil prices crashed in the mid-1980s, the industry tightened budgets. Among the austerity measures taken to survive the consequences of low product prices was an end to expensive, long-term investment training of drilling engineers. In the absence of traditional sources of trained drilling talent, forward-looking contractors are creating their own training programs. The paper describes the activities of some companies who are setting up their own training programs, and an alliance being set up by Chevron and Amoco for training. The paper also discusses training drilling managers, third-party trainers, and the consequences for the industry that does not renewmore » its inventory of people.« less

Uncertainty and research needs for supplementing wild populations of anadromous Pacific salmon

USGS Publications Warehouse

Reisenbichler, R.R.

2005-01-01

Substantial disagreement and uncertainty attend the question of whether the benefits from supplementing wild populations of anadromous salmonids with hatchery fish outweigh the risks. Prudent decisions about supplementation are most likely when the suite of potential benefits and hazards and the various sources of uncertainty are explicitly identified. Models help by indicating the potential consequences of various levels of supplementation but perhaps are most valuable for showing the limitations of available data and helping design studies and monitoring to provide critical data. Information and understanding about the issue are deficient. I discuss various benefits, hazards, and associated uncertainties for supplementation, and implications for the design of monitoring and research. Several studies to reduce uncertainty and facilitate prudent supplementation are described and range from short-term reductionistic studies that help define the issue or help avoid deleterious consequences from supplementation to long-term studies (ca. 10 or more fish generations) that evaluate the net result of positive and negative genetic, behavioral, and ecological effects from supplementation.

M-H characteristics and demagnetization resistance of samarium-cobalt permanent magnets to 300 C

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Niedra, J. M.

1992-01-01

The influence of temperature on the M-H demagnetization characteristics of permanent magnets is important information for the full utilization of the capabilities of samarium-cobalt magnets at high temperatures in demagnetization-resistant permanent magnet devices. In high temperature space power converters, such as free-piston Stirling engine driven linear alternators, magnet demagnetization can occur as long-term consequence of thermal agitation of domains and of metallurgical change, and also as an immediate consequence of too large an applied field. Investigated here is the short-term demagnetization resistance to applied fields derived from basic M-H data. These quasistatic demagnetization data were obtained for commercial, high-intrinsic-coercivity, Sm2Co17-type magnets from 5 sources, in the temperature range 23 to 300 C. An electromagnet driven, electronic hysteresigraph was used to test the 1-cm cubic samples. The observed variation of the 2nd quadrant M-H characteristics was a typical rapid loss of M-coercivity and a relatively lesser loss of remanence with increasing temperature.

Lessons Learned Through the Follow-up of the Long-Term Effects of Over-Exposure to an Ir192 Industrial Radiography Source in Bangladesh

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jalil, A.; Rabbani, G.; Hossain, M. K.

2003-02-24

An industrial radiographer was accidentally over-exposed while taking the radiograph of weld-joints of gas pipe-lines in 1985 in Bangladesh. Symptoms of high radiation exposure occurred immediately after the accident and skin erythema developed leading to progressive tissue deterioration. The consequences of this over-exposure is being followed up to assess the long-term effects of ionizing radiation on the victim. Progressive tissue deteriorations have already led to multiple surgeries and successive amputations of the finger-tips so far. Lessons learned from this accident are also reported in this paper.

The long-term evolution of multilocus traits under frequency-dependent disruptive selection.

PubMed

van Doorn, G Sander; Dieckmann, Ulf

2006-11-01

Frequency-dependent disruptive selection is widely recognized as an important source of genetic variation. Its evolutionary consequences have been extensively studied using phenotypic evolutionary models, based on quantitative genetics, game theory, or adaptive dynamics. However, the genetic assumptions underlying these approaches are highly idealized and, even worse, predict different consequences of frequency-dependent disruptive selection. Population genetic models, by contrast, enable genotypic evolutionary models, but traditionally assume constant fitness values. Only a minority of these models thus addresses frequency-dependent selection, and only a few of these do so in a multilocus context. An inherent limitation of these remaining studies is that they only investigate the short-term maintenance of genetic variation. Consequently, the long-term evolution of multilocus characters under frequency-dependent disruptive selection remains poorly understood. We aim to bridge this gap between phenotypic and genotypic models by studying a multilocus version of Levene's soft-selection model. Individual-based simulations and deterministic approximations based on adaptive dynamics theory provide insights into the underlying evolutionary dynamics. Our analysis uncovers a general pattern of polymorphism formation and collapse, likely to apply to a wide variety of genetic systems: after convergence to a fitness minimum and the subsequent establishment of genetic polymorphism at multiple loci, genetic variation becomes increasingly concentrated on a few loci, until eventually only a single polymorphic locus remains. This evolutionary process combines features observed in quantitative genetics and adaptive dynamics models, and it can be explained as a consequence of changes in the selection regime that are inherent to frequency-dependent disruptive selection. Our findings demonstrate that the potential of frequency-dependent disruptive selection to maintain polygenic variation is considerably smaller than previously expected.

Maintaining activity engagement: individual differences in the process of self-regulating motivation.

PubMed

Sansone, Carol; Thoman, Dustin B

2006-12-01

Typically, models of self-regulation include motivation in terms of goals. Motivation is proposed to differ among individuals as a consequence of the goals they hold as well as how much they value those goals and expect to attain them. We suggest that goal-defined motivation is only one source of motivation critical for sustained engagement. A second source is the motivation that arises from the degree of interest experienced in the process of goal pursuit. Our model integrates both sources of motivation within the goal-striving process and suggests that individuals may actively monitor and regulate them. Conceptualizing motivation in terms of a self-regulatory process provides an organizing framework for understanding how individuals might differ in whether they experience interest while working toward goals, whether they persist without interest, and whether and how they try to create interest. We first present the self-regulation of motivation model and then review research illustrating how the consideration of individual differences at different points in the process allows a better understanding of variability in people's choices, efforts, and persistence over time.

Climate change and drinking water production in The Netherlands: a flexible approach.

PubMed

Ramaker, T A B; Meuleman, A F M; Bernhardi, L; Cirkel, G

2005-01-01

Climate change increases water system dynamics through temperature changes, changes in precipitation patterns, evaporation, water quality and water storage in ice packs. Water system dependent economical stakeholders, such as drinking water companies in The Netherlands, have to cope with consequences of climate change, e.g. floods and water shortages in river systems, upconing brackish ground water, salt water intrusion, increasing peak demands and microbiological activity. In the past decades, however, both water systems and drinking water production have become more and more inflexible; water systems have been heavily regulated and the drinking water supply has grown into an inflexible, but cheap and reliable, system. Flexibility and adaptivity are solutions to overcome climate change related consequences. Flexible adaptive strategies for drinking water production comprise new sources for drinking water production, application of storage concepts in the short term, and a redesign of large centralised systems, including flexible treatment plants, in the long term. Transition to flexible concepts will take decades because investment depreciation periods of assets are long. This implies that long-term strategies within an indicated time path have to be developed. These strategies must be based on thorough knowledge of current assets to seize opportunities for change.

Long-Term Evolution of the Sun and our Biosphere: Causes and Effects?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Des Marais, D. J.

2000-05-01

The course of early biological evolution felt the environmental consequences of changes in the solar output (discussed here), as well as long-term decreases in planetary heat flow and the flux of extraterrestrial impactors. A large, early UV flux fueled the photodissociation of atmospheric water vapor, sustaining a significant hydrogen flux to space. This flux caused Earth's crust to become oxidized, relative to its mantle. Accordingly, reduced gases and aqueous solutes that were erupted volcanically into the relatively more oxidized surface environment created sources of chemical redox energy for the origin and early evolution of life. Although the solar constant has increased some 30 percent over Earth's lifetime, oceans remained remarkably stable for more than 3.8 billion years. Thus a very effective climate regulation was probably achieved by decreasing over time the atmospheric inventories of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. Such decreases probably had major consequences for the biosphere. Substantial early marine bicarbonate and carbon dioxide inventories sustained abundant abiotic precipitation of carbonates, with consequences for the stability and habitability of key aqueous environments. A long-term decline in carbon dioxide levels increased the bioenergetic requirements for carbon dioxide as well as other aspects of the physiology of photosynthetic microorganisms. The long-term trend of global mean surface temperature is still debated, as is the role of the sun's evolution in that trend. Future increases in the solar constant will drive atmospheric carbon dioxide levels down further, challenging plants to cope with ever-dwindling concentrations of carbon substrates. Climate regulation will be achieved by modulating an increasing abundance of high-albedo water vapor clouds. Future biological evolution defies precise predictions, however it is certain that the sun's continuing evolution will play a key role.

A prospective study of the potential moderating role of social support in preventing marginalization among individuals exposed to bullying and abuse in junior high school.

PubMed

Strøm, Ida Frugård; Thoresen, Siri; Wentzel-Larsen, Tore; Sagatun, Åse; Dyb, Grete

2014-10-01

Negative physical and psychological long-term consequences of abuse and bullying are well documented. It is reasonable to assume that abuse and bullying early in life also may have an impact on the ability to work and stay economically independent later in life, but such prospective studies are lacking. This study investigates the consequences of exposure to abuse and bullying in junior high school, as measured by receiving long-term social welfare benefits in young adulthood. In addition, it explores the potential protective role of social support. Self-reported data from 13,633 (50.3% female) junior high school students were linked to registry data on their use of social welfare benefits from the age of 18 and for eight consecutive years. Cox regression analyses were applied to test the relationship between exposure to life adversities and the use of social welfare benefits, and the potential moderating role of social support. The analyses showed that individuals exposed to abuse and bullying had an increased likelihood of receiving social-welfare benefits compared with individuals not exposed to these types of abuse. Exposure to multiple types of abuse led to a higher likelihood of using social welfare benefits compared with single types of abuse and no abuse. The findings on the potential moderating role of social support were mixed, depending on the source of social support. Family support and classmate relationships were protective in reducing the likelihood of the use of social welfare benefits, whereas peer and teachers' support showed inconsistent patterns. These results are promising in terms of preventing the long-term negative consequences of abuse and bullying.

Biphonation in voice signals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herzel, Hanspeter; Reuter, Robert

1996-06-01

Irregularities in voiced speech are often observed as a consequence of vocal fold lesions, paralyses, and other pathological conditions. Many of these instabilities are related to the intrinsic nonlinearities in the vibrations of the vocal folds. In this paper, a specific nonlinear phenomenon is discussed: The appearance of two independent fundamental frequencies termed biphonation. Several narrow-band spectrograms are presented showing biphonation in signals from voice patients, a newborn cry, a singer, and excised larynx experiments. Finally, possible physiological mechanisms of instabilities of the voice source are discussed.

Health information needs and preferences in relation to survivorship care plans of long-term cancer survivors in the American Cancer Society's Study of Cancer Survivors-I.

PubMed

Playdon, Mary; Ferrucci, Leah M; McCorkle, Ruth; Stein, Kevin D; Cannady, Rachel; Sanft, Tara; Cartmel, Brenda

2016-08-01

Survivorship care plans (SCPs) provide cancer patients and health care providers with a treatment summary and outline of recommended medical follow-up. Few studies have investigated the information needs and preferred sources among long-term cancer survivors. Cancer survivors of the ten most common cancers enrolled in the longitudinal Study of Cancer Survivors-I (SCS-I) completed a survey 9 years post-diagnosis (n = 3138); at time of diagnosis of the SCS-I cohort, SCPs were not considered usual care. We assessed participants' current desire and preferred sources for information across ten SCP items and evaluated factors associated with information need 9 years after diagnosis. The proportion of long-term cancer survivors endorsing a need for cancer and health information 9 years post-diagnosis ranged from 43 % (cancer screening) to 9 % (consequences of cancer on ability to work). Print media and personalized reading materials were the most preferred information sources. Younger age, higher education, race other than non-Hispanic white, later cancer stage, having breast cancer, having ≥2 comorbidities, and self-reporting poor health were associated with greater informational need (p < 0.05). Long-term cancer survivors continue to report health information needs for most SCP items and would prefer a print format; however, level of need differs by socio-demographic and cancer characteristics. Cancer survivors who did not previously receive a SCP may still benefit from receiving SCP content, and strategies for enabling dissemination to long-term survivors warrant further investigation.

Defining the concept of ‘tick repellency’ in veterinary medicine

PubMed Central

HALOS, L.; BANETH, G.; BEUGNET, F.; BOWMAN, A. S.; CHOMEL, B.; FARKAS, R.; FRANC, M.; GUILLOT, J.; INOKUMA, H.; KAUFMAN, R.; JONGEJAN, F.; JOACHIM, A.; OTRANTO, D.; PFISTER, K.; POLLMEIER, M.; SAINZ, A.; WALL, R.

2012-01-01

SUMMARY Although widely used, the term repellency needs to be employed with care when applied to ticks and other periodic or permanent ectoparasites. Repellency has classically been used to describe the effects of a substance that causes a flying arthropod to make oriented movements away from its source. However, for crawling arthropods such as ticks, the term commonly subsumes a range of effects that include arthropod irritation and consequent avoiding or leaving the host, failing to attach, to bite, or to feed. The objective of the present article is to highlight the need for clarity, to propose consensus descriptions and methods for the evaluation of various effects on ticks caused by chemical substances. PMID:22216951

Inflationary cosmology with Chaplygin gas in Palatini formalism

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Borowiec, Andrzej; Wojnar, Aneta; Stachowski, Aleksander

2016-01-01

We present a simple generalisation of the ΛCDM model which on the one hand reaches very good agreement with the present day experimental data and provides an internal inflationary mechanism on the other hand. It is based on Palatini modified gravity with quadratic Starobinsky term and generalized Chaplygin gas as a matter source providing, besides a current accelerated expansion, the epoch of endogenous inflation driven by type III freeze singularity. It follows from our statistical analysis that astronomical data favors negative value of the parameter coupling quadratic term into Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian and as a consequence the bounce instead of initialmore » Big-Bang singularity is preferred.« less

Reduced flight-to-light behaviour of moth populations exposed to long-term urban light pollution

PubMed Central

Ebert, Dieter

2016-01-01

The globally increasing light pollution is a well-recognized threat to ecosystems, with negative effects on human, animal and plant wellbeing. The most well-known and widely documented consequence of light pollution is the generally fatal attraction of nocturnal insects to artificial light sources. However, the evolutionary consequences are unknown. Here we report that moth populations from urban areas with high, globally relevant levels of light pollution over several decades show a significantly reduced flight-to-light behaviour compared with populations of the same species from pristine dark-sky habitats. Using a common garden setting, we reared moths from 10 different populations from early-instar larvae and experimentally compared their flight-to-light behaviour under standardized conditions. Moths from urban populations had a significant reduction in the flight-to-light behaviour compared with pristine populations. The reduced attraction to light sources of ‘city moths' may directly increase these individuals' survival and reproduction. We anticipate that it comes with a reduced mobility, which negatively affects foraging as well as colonization ability. As nocturnal insects are of eminent significance as pollinators and the primary food source of many vertebrates, an evolutionary change of the flight-to-light behaviour thereby potentially cascades across species interaction networks. PMID:27072407

Reduced flight-to-light behaviour of moth populations exposed to long-term urban light pollution.

PubMed

Altermatt, Florian; Ebert, Dieter

2016-04-01

The globally increasing light pollution is a well-recognized threat to ecosystems, with negative effects on human, animal and plant wellbeing. The most well-known and widely documented consequence of light pollution is the generally fatal attraction of nocturnal insects to artificial light sources. However, the evolutionary consequences are unknown. Here we report that moth populations from urban areas with high, globally relevant levels of light pollution over several decades show a significantly reduced flight-to-light behaviour compared with populations of the same species from pristine dark-sky habitats. Using a common garden setting, we reared moths from 10 different populations from early-instar larvae and experimentally compared their flight-to-light behaviour under standardized conditions. Moths from urban populations had a significant reduction in the flight-to-light behaviour compared with pristine populations. The reduced attraction to light sources of 'city moths' may directly increase these individuals' survival and reproduction. We anticipate that it comes with a reduced mobility, which negatively affects foraging as well as colonization ability. As nocturnal insects are of eminent significance as pollinators and the primary food source of many vertebrates, an evolutionary change of the flight-to-light behaviour thereby potentially cascades across species interaction networks. © 2016 The Author(s).

Nitrogen enrichment regulates calcium sources in forests

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hynicka, Justin D.; Pett-Ridge, Julie C.; Perakis, Steven

2016-01-01

Nitrogen (N) is a key nutrient that shapes cycles of other essential elements in forests, including calcium (Ca). When N availability exceeds ecosystem demands, excess N can stimulate Ca leaching and deplete Ca from soils. Over the long term, these processes may alter the proportion of available Ca that is derived from atmospheric deposition vs. bedrock weathering, which has fundamental consequences for ecosystem properties and nutrient supply. We evaluated how landscape variation in soil N, reflecting long-term legacies of biological N fixation, influenced plant and soil Ca availability and ecosystem Ca sources across 22 temperate forests in Oregon. We also examined interactions between soil N and bedrock Ca using soil N gradients on contrasting basaltic vs. sedimentary bedrock that differed 17-fold in underlying Ca content. We found that low-N forests on Ca-rich basaltic bedrock relied strongly on Ca from weathering, but that soil N enrichment depleted readily weatherable mineral Ca and shifted forest reliance toward atmospheric Ca. Forests on Ca-poor sedimentary bedrock relied more consistently on atmospheric Ca across all levels of soil N enrichment. The broad importance of atmospheric Ca was unexpected given active regional uplift and erosion that are thought to rejuvenate weathering supply of soil minerals. Despite different Ca sources to forests on basaltic vs. sedimentary bedrock, we observed consistent declines in plant and soil Ca availability with increasing N, regardless of the Ca content of underlying bedrock. Thus, traditional measures of Ca availability in foliage and soil exchangeable pools may poorly reflect long-term Ca sources that sustain soil fertility. We conclude that long-term soil N enrichment can deplete available Ca and cause forests to rely increasingly on Ca from atmospheric deposition, which may limit ecosystem Ca supply in an increasingly N-rich world.

Restoration of the covariant gauge α in the initial field of gravity in de Sitter spacetime

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cheong, Lee Yen; Yan, Chew Xiao

2014-03-05

The gravitational field generated by a mass term and the initial surface through covariant retarded Green's function for linearized gravity in de Sitter spacetime was studied recently [4, 5] with the covariant gauges set to β = 2/3 and α = 5/3. In this paper we extend the work to restore the gauge parameter α in the field coming from the initial data using the method of shifting the parameter. The α terms in the initial field cancels exactly with the one coming from the source term. Consequently, the correct field configuration, with two equal mass points moving in itsmore » geodesic, one located at the North pole and another one located at the South pole, is reproduced in the whole manifold of de Sitter spacetime.« less

M-H characteristics and demagnetization resistance of samarium-cobalt permanent magnets to 300 C

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Niedra, Janis M.

1992-01-01

The influence of temperature on the M-H demagnetization characteristics of permanent magnets is important information for the full utilization of the capabilities of samarium-cobalt magnets at high temperatures in demagnetization-resistant permanent magnet devices. In high temperature space power converters, such as free-piston Stirling engine driven linear alternators, magnet demagnetization can occur as a long-term consequence of thermal agitation of domains and of metallurgical change, and also as an immediate consequence of too large an applied field. Investigated here is the short-term demagnetization resistance to applied fields derived from basic M-H data. This quasistatic demagnetization data was obtained for commercial, high-intrinsic-coercivity, Sm2Co17-type magnets from 5 sources, in the temperature range 23 to 300 C. An electromagnet driven, electronic hysteresigraph was used to test the 1-cm cubic samples. The observed variation of the 2nd quadrant M-H characteristics was a typical rapid loss of M-coercivity and a relatively lesser loss of remanence with increasing temperature. The 2nd quadrant M-H curve knee point is used to define the limits of operation safe against irreversible demagnetization due to an excessive bucking field for a given flux density swing at temperature. Such safe operating area plots are shown to differentiate the high temperature capabilities of the samples from different sources. For most of the samples, their 2nd quadrant M-H loop squareness increased with temperature, reaching a peak or a plateau above 250 C.

Consequences of the Chernobyl accident for the natural and human environments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dreicer, M.; Aarkog, A.; Alexakhin, R.

1996-07-01

In the ten years since the Chernobyl accident, an enormous amount of work has been done to assess the consequences to the natural and human environment. Although it is difficult to summarize such a large and varied field, some general conclusions can be drawn. This background paper includes the main findings concerning the direct impacts of radiation on the flora and fauna; the general advances of knowledge in the cycling of radionuclides in natural, seminatural and agricultural environments; some evaluation of countermeasures that were used; and a summary of the human radiation doses resulting from the environmental contamination. although openmore » questions still remain, it can be concluded that: (1) at high radiation levels, the natural environment has shown short term impacts but any significant long term impacts remain to be seen; (2) effective countermeasures can be taken to reduce the transfer of contamination from the environment to humans but these are highly site specific and must be evaluated in terms of practicality as well as population does reduction; (3) the majority of the doses have already been received by the human population. If agricultural countermeasures are appropriately taken, the main source of future doses will be the gathering of food and recreational activities in natural and seminatural ecosystems.« less

"It was only a mild concussion": Exploring the description of sports concussion in online news articles.

PubMed

Ahmed, Osman Hassan; Hall, Eric E

2017-01-01

Concussion is widely discussed in online sports news articles, but the terms used to report this injury vary. This study aimed to use a systematic search strategy and explore the description of sports concussion in online sports news articles. A systematic approach was employed to obtain online articles related to sports concussion from four sports associated with concussion (hockey, football, soccer, and rugby). Included articles were evaluated for the descriptors used in relation to concussion and possible consequences associated with concussion. Data was analysed to determine trends between each sport as well between the countries of origin of the articles. From 200 articles retrieved, 153 were included for analysis. The terms "Head injury" (30.1%) and "Brain injury" (20.9%) were most used to describe a concussive injury, and the most frequently mentioned consequence of concussion was "Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy" (15%). Modifiers which potentially play down the importance of the injury were noted in 9.8% of the articles, with journalists the primary source of these terms. The variability in reporting of concussion by online news articles may limit the transmission of correct concussion information to the public. To improve the consistency of this reporting, the "Media Concussion Checklist" was developed. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Simulation of a beam rotation system for a spallation source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reiss, Tibor; Reggiani, Davide; Seidel, Mike; Talanov, Vadim; Wohlmuther, Michael

2015-04-01

With a nominal beam power of nearly 1 MW on target, the Swiss Spallation Neutron Source (SINQ), ranks among the world's most powerful spallation neutron sources. The proton beam transport to the SINQ target is carried out exclusively by means of linear magnetic elements. In the transport line to SINQ the beam is scattered in two meson production targets and as a consequence, at the SINQ target entrance the beam shape can be described by Gaussian distributions in transverse x and y directions with tails cut short by collimators. This leads to a highly nonuniform power distribution inside the SINQ target, giving rise to thermal and mechanical stresses. In view of a future proton beam intensity upgrade, the possibility of homogenizing the beam distribution by means of a fast beam rotation system is currently under investigation. Important aspects which need to be studied are the impact of a rotating proton beam on the resulting neutron spectra, spatial flux distributions and additional—previously not present—proton losses causing unwanted activation of accelerator components. Hence a new source description method was developed for the radiation transport code MCNPX. This new feature makes direct use of the results from the proton beam optics code TURTLE. Its advantage to existing MCNPX source options is that all phase space information and correlations of each primary beam particle computed with TURTLE are preserved and transferred to MCNPX. Simulations of the different beam distributions together with their consequences in terms of neutron production are presented in this publication. Additionally, a detailed description of the coupling method between TURTLE and MCNPX is provided.

Cretaceous extinctions - Evidence for wildfires and search for meteoritic material

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolbach, W. S.; Lewis, R. S.; Anders, E.

1985-01-01

The results of analyses of the contents of deposits in the Cretaceous-Ternary (K-T) transition at three sites worldwide are discussed. The study was undertaken to examine the composition of the object which may have struck the earth, causing widespread biotic extinction. The data indicate that most of the parent body was destroyed on impact, a condition which would also hold true for comets, suggesting that comets were not a source of prebiotic life. A four-orders-of-magnitude excess of carbon in the K-T layer is considered in terms of its source, which is suspected to be deposits from wildfires. The consequent extinctions of species are regarded as possibly making the current nuclear winter scenarios too optimistic.

Israeli and Palestinian families in the peace process: sources of stress and response patterns.

PubMed

Lavee, Y; Ben-David, A; Azaiza, F

1997-09-01

The Israeli-Palestinian peace process is characterized by its unknown outcomes and consequences for the families involved. The purpose of this study was to identify family processes under conditions of prolonged uncertainty. Data were collected from both Israeli and Palestinian families in the West Bank by means of semi-structured interviews. Qualitative and quantitative analyses showed cross-cultural differences in the perception of the situation; different kinds of concerns and sources of stress; different coping responses; and differences in dyadic interaction patterns and intrafamily processes. The findings are discussed in social-contextual terms, particularly the ways in which political and cultural contexts shape the perception of the situation and family processes under prolonged stressful conditions.

Automated source term and wind parameter estimation for atmospheric transport and dispersion applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bieringer, Paul E.; Rodriguez, Luna M.; Vandenberghe, Francois; Hurst, Jonathan G.; Bieberbach, George; Sykes, Ian; Hannan, John R.; Zaragoza, Jake; Fry, Richard N.

2015-12-01

Accurate simulations of the atmospheric transport and dispersion (AT&D) of hazardous airborne materials rely heavily on the source term parameters necessary to characterize the initial release and meteorological conditions that drive the downwind dispersion. In many cases the source parameters are not known and consequently based on rudimentary assumptions. This is particularly true of accidental releases and the intentional releases associated with terrorist incidents. When available, meteorological observations are often not representative of the conditions at the location of the release and the use of these non-representative meteorological conditions can result in significant errors in the hazard assessments downwind of the sensors, even when the other source parameters are accurately characterized. Here, we describe a computationally efficient methodology to characterize both the release source parameters and the low-level winds (eg. winds near the surface) required to produce a refined downwind hazard. This methodology, known as the Variational Iterative Refinement Source Term Estimation (STE) Algorithm (VIRSA), consists of a combination of modeling systems. These systems include a back-trajectory based source inversion method, a forward Gaussian puff dispersion model, a variational refinement algorithm that uses both a simple forward AT&D model that is a surrogate for the more complex Gaussian puff model and a formal adjoint of this surrogate model. The back-trajectory based method is used to calculate a ;first guess; source estimate based on the available observations of the airborne contaminant plume and atmospheric conditions. The variational refinement algorithm is then used to iteratively refine the first guess STE parameters and meteorological variables. The algorithm has been evaluated across a wide range of scenarios of varying complexity. It has been shown to improve the source parameters for location by several hundred percent (normalized by the distance from source to the closest sampler), and improve mass estimates by several orders of magnitude. Furthermore, it also has the ability to operate in scenarios with inconsistencies between the wind and airborne contaminant sensor observations and adjust the wind to provide a better match between the hazard prediction and the observations.

Between power and powerlessness: a meta-ethnography of sources of resilience in young refugees.

PubMed

Sleijpen, Marieke; Boeije, Hennie R; Kleber, Rolf J; Mooren, Trudy

2016-01-01

This article reviews available qualitative studies that report young refugees' ways of dealing with adversity to address their sources of resilience. We searched five electronic databases. Twenty-six empirical studies were included in the review. A meta-ethnography approach was used to synthesize these qualitative studies. Six sources of resilience emerged: (1) social support, (2) acculturation strategies, (3) education, (4) religion, (5) avoidance, and (6) hope. These sources indicated social as well as personal factors that confer resilience in young refugees, but most of them also had counterproductive aspects. The results, from an ecological developmental perspective, stressed the interplay between protective and risk processes in the mental health of young refugees who had resettled in Western countries, and they emphasized the variability as well as the universality of resilience-promoting processes. Further research is needed to explore the cultural shape of resilience and the long-term consequences of war and migration on young refugees.

Routes to short-term memory indexing: lessons from deaf native users of American Sign Language.

PubMed

Hirshorn, Elizabeth A; Fernandez, Nina M; Bavelier, Daphne

2012-01-01

Models of working memory (WM) have been instrumental in understanding foundational cognitive processes and sources of individual differences. However, current models cannot conclusively explain the consistent group differences between deaf signers and hearing speakers on a number of short-term memory (STM) tasks. Here we take the perspective that these results are not due to a temporal order-processing deficit in deaf individuals, but rather reflect different biases in how different types of memory cues are used to do a given task. We further argue that the main driving force behind the shifts in relative biasing is a consequence of language modality (sign vs. speech) and the processing they afford, and not deafness, per se.

Routes to short term memory indexing: Lessons from deaf native users of American Sign Language

PubMed Central

Hirshorn, Elizabeth A.; Fernandez, Nina M.; Bavelier, Daphne

2012-01-01

Models of working memory (WM) have been instrumental in understanding foundational cognitive processes and sources of individual differences. However, current models cannot conclusively explain the consistent group differences between deaf signers and hearing speakers on a number of short-term memory (STM) tasks. Here we take the perspective that these results are not due to a temporal order-processing deficit in deaf individuals, but rather reflect different biases in how different types of memory cues are used to do a given task. We further argue that the main driving force behind the shifts in relative biasing is a consequence of language modality (sign vs. speech) and the processing they afford, and not deafness, per se. PMID:22871205

Accelerated Stress Testing of Multi-Source LED Products: Horticulture Lamps and Tunable-White Modules

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Davis, Lynn; Rountree, Kelley; Mills, Karmann

This report discusses the use of accelerated stress testing (AST) to provide insights into the long-term behavior of commercial products utilizing different types of mid-power LEDs (MP-LEDs) integrated into the same LED module. Test results are presented from two commercial lamps intended for use in horticulture applications and one tunable-white LED module intended for use in educational and office lighting applications. Each of these products is designed to provide a custom spectrum for their targeted applications and each achieves this goal in different ways. Consequently, a comparison of the long-term stability of these devices will provide insights regarding approaches thatmore » could be used to possibly lengthen the lifetime of SSL products.« less

Temporal Consequences, Message Framing, and Consideration of Future Consequences: Persuasion Effects on Adult Fruit Intake Intention and Resolve.

PubMed

de Bruijn, Gert-Jan; Budding, Jeen

2016-08-01

Message framing is a persuasive strategy that has seen mixed evidence for promoting fruit intake intentions, potentially because framed messages for fruit intake have not (a) explicitly compared short-term consequences versus long-term consequences, (b) considered individual-level differences in time perspective, and (c) used alternative measures of fruit intake intentions. In the present online study, the effects of persuasive messages created from temporal context (short term vs. long term) and message frame (gain framed vs. loss framed) were investigated on fruit intake intentions and resolve among a sample of Dutch adults who were categorized as either present oriented or future oriented. For intention and resolve, results showed a significant Type of Frame × Type of Temporal Context interaction, such that gain-framed messages were more persuasive when combined with long-term consequences and loss-framed messages were more persuasive when combined with short-term consequences. The effect sizes for these differences were similar for resolve and intention, but only differences for intentions were significant. No other effects were found. These results demonstrate that message framing theory may usefully consider the inclusion of temporal context of outcomes and alternative motivation measures to maximize their persuasive effects.

A modeling approach to assess coastal management effects on benthic habitat quality: A case study on coastal defense and navigability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cozzoli, Francesco; Smolders, Sven; Eelkema, Menno; Ysebaert, Tom; Escaravage, Vincent; Temmerman, Stijn; Meire, Patrick; Herman, Peter M. J.; Bouma, Tjeerd J.

2017-01-01

The natural coastal hydrodynamics and morphology worldwide is altered by human interventions such as embankments, shipping and dredging, which may have consequences for ecosystem functionality. To ensure long-term ecological sustainability, requires capability to predict long-term large-scale ecological effects of altered hydromorphology. As empirical data sets at relevant scales are missing, there is need for integrating ecological modeling with physical modeling. This paper presents a case study showing the long-term, large-scale macrozoobenthic community response to two contrasting human alterations of the hydromorphological habitat: deepening of estuarine channels to enhance navigability (Westerschelde) vs. realization of a storm surge barrier to enhance coastal safety (Oosterschelde). A multidisciplinary integration of empirical data and modeling of estuarine morphology, hydrodynamics and benthic ecology was used to reconstruct the hydrological evolution and resulting long-term (50 years) large-scale ecological trends for both estuaries over the last. Our model indicated that hydrodynamic alterations following the deepening of the Westerschelde had negative implications for benthic life, while the realization of the Oosterschelde storm surge barriers had mixed and habitat-dependent responses, that also include unexpected improvement of environmental quality. Our analysis illustrates long-term trends in the natural community caused by opposing management strategies. The divergent human pressures on the Oosterschelde and Westerschelde are examples of what could happen in a near future for many global coastal ecosystems. The comparative analysis of the two basins is a valuable source of information to understand (and communicate) the future ecological consequences of human coastal development.

78 FR 48826 - Airworthiness Directives; The Boeing Company Airplanes

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-12

... could cause a fuel leak near an ignition source (e.g., hot brakes or engine exhaust nozzle... could cause a fuel leak near an ignition source (e.g., hot brakes or engine nozzle), consequently... ignition source (e.g., hot brakes or engine nozzle), consequently leading to a fuel-fed fire. (f...

A step towards ending the isolation of behavior analysis: A common language with evolutionary science

PubMed Central

Brown, J. F.; Hendy, Steve

2001-01-01

In spite of repeated efforts to explain itself to a wider audience, behavior analysis remains a largely misunderstood and isolated discipline. In this article we argue that this situation is in part due to the terms we use in our technical discussions. In particular, reinforcement and punishment, with their vernacular associations of reward and retribution, are a source of much misunderstanding. Although contemporary thinking within behavior analysis holds that reinforcement and punishment are Darwinian processes whereby behavioral variants are selected and deselected by their consequences, the continued use of the terms reinforcement and punishment to account for behavioral evolution obscures this fact. To clarify and simplify matters, we propose replacing the terms reinforcement and punishment with selection and deselection, respectively. These changes would provide a terminological meeting point with other selectionist sciences, thereby increasing the likelihood that behavior analysis will contribute to Darwinian science. PMID:22478361

Ancient bacterial endosymbionts of insects: Genomes as sources of insight and springboards for inquiry.

PubMed

Wernegreen, Jennifer J

2017-09-15

Ancient associations between insects and bacteria provide models to study intimate host-microbe interactions. Currently, a wealth of genome sequence data for long-term, obligately intracellular (primary) endosymbionts of insects reveals profound genomic consequences of this specialized bacterial lifestyle. Those consequences include severe genome reduction and extreme base compositions. This minireview highlights the utility of genome sequence data to understand how, and why, endosymbionts have been pushed to such extremes, and to illuminate the functional consequences of such extensive genome change. While the static snapshots provided by individual endosymbiont genomes are valuable, comparative analyses of multiple genomes have shed light on evolutionary mechanisms. Namely, genome comparisons have told us that selection is important in fine-tuning gene content, but at the same time, mutational pressure and genetic drift contribute to genome degradation. Examples from Blochmannia, the primary endosymbiont of the ant tribe Camponotini, illustrate the value and constraints of genome sequence data, and exemplify how genomes can serve as a springboard for further comparative and experimental inquiry. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The Fukushima releases: an inverse modelling approach to assess the source term by using gamma dose rate observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saunier, Olivier; Mathieu, Anne; Didier, Damien; Tombette, Marilyne; Quélo, Denis; Winiarek, Victor; Bocquet, Marc

2013-04-01

The Chernobyl nuclear accident and more recently the Fukushima accident highlighted that the largest source of error on consequences assessment is the source term estimation including the time evolution of the release rate and its distribution between radioisotopes. Inverse modelling methods have proved to be efficient to assess the source term due to accidental situation (Gudiksen, 1989, Krysta and Bocquet, 2007, Stohl et al 2011, Winiarek et al 2012). These methods combine environmental measurements and atmospheric dispersion models. They have been recently applied to the Fukushima accident. Most existing approaches are designed to use air sampling measurements (Winiarek et al, 2012) and some of them use also deposition measurements (Stohl et al, 2012, Winiarek et al, 2013). During the Fukushima accident, such measurements are far less numerous and not as well distributed within Japan than the dose rate measurements. To efficiently document the evolution of the contamination, gamma dose rate measurements were numerous, well distributed within Japan and they offered a high temporal frequency. However, dose rate data are not as easy to use as air sampling measurements and until now they were not used in inverse modelling approach. Indeed, dose rate data results from all the gamma emitters present in the ground and in the atmosphere in the vicinity of the receptor. They do not allow one to determine the isotopic composition or to distinguish the plume contribution from wet deposition. The presented approach proposes a way to use dose rate measurement in inverse modeling approach without the need of a-priori information on emissions. The method proved to be efficient and reliable when applied on the Fukushima accident. The emissions for the 8 main isotopes Xe-133, Cs-134, Cs-136, Cs-137, Ba-137m, I-131, I-132 and Te-132 have been assessed. The Daiichi power plant events (such as ventings, explosions…) known to have caused atmospheric releases are well identified in the retrieved source term, except for unit 3 explosion where no measurement was available. The comparisons between the simulations of atmospheric dispersion and deposition of the retrieved source term show a good agreement with environmental observations. Moreover, an important outcome of this study is that the method proved to be perfectly suited to crisis management and should contribute to improve our response in case of a nuclear accident.

Stress and ways of coping among nurse managers: An integrative review.

PubMed

Labrague, Leodoro J; McEnroe-Petitte, Denise M; Leocadio, Michael C; Van Bogaert, Peter; Cummings, Greta G

2018-04-01

To appraise and synthesise empirical studies examining sources of occupational stress and ways of coping utilised by nurse managers when dealing with stress. The Nurse Manager's role is challenging yet draining and stressful and has adverse consequences on an individual's overall health and well-being, patients' outcomes and organisational productivity. Considerable research has been carried out; however, an updated and broader perspective on this critical organisational issue has not been performed. An integrative review. Five databases (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, SCOPUS, PubMed, PsychINFO and MEDLINE) were searched to identify relevant articles. Search terms and MeSH terms included: "charge nurse," "coping," "coping strategy," "coping style," "psychological adaptation," "psychological stress," "stressors," "nurse manager" and "unit manager." Twenty-two articles were included in this review. Reporting followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement guidelines. Four themes were identified: moderate stress levels, common sources of stress, ways of coping and the impact of nurses' characteristics on stress. Nurse managers experienced moderate levels of stress mainly from heavy workloads, lack of resources and financial responsibilities. Enhancing social support and promoting job control were seen as important in reducing work stress and its related consequences. Additional studies using a more rigorous method and a larger sample size preferably in multicultural settings would shed more light on this topic. Hospital and nurse administrators play an important role in promoting supportive structures for daily professional practice for nurse managers through staffing, organisational resources, support services, leadership and stress management training. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration and social behaviour: Dissociation between the knowledge of its consequences and its conceptual meaning.

PubMed

Zahn, Roland; Green, Sophie; Beaumont, Helen; Burns, Alistair; Moll, Jorge; Caine, Diana; Gerhard, Alexander; Hoffman, Paul; Shaw, Benjamin; Grafman, Jordan; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A

2017-08-01

Inappropriate social behaviour is an early symptom of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) in both behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and semantic dementia (SD) subtypes. Knowledge of social behaviour is essential for appropriate social conduct. The superior anterior temporal lobe (ATL) has been identified as one key neural component for the conceptual knowledge of social behaviour, but it is unknown whether this is dissociable from knowledge of the consequences of social behaviour. Here, we used a newly-developed test of knowledge about long-term and short-term consequences of social behaviour to investigate its impairment in patients with FTLD relative to a previously-developed test of social conceptual knowledge. We included 19 healthy elderly control participants and 19 consecutive patients with features of bvFTD or SD and defined dissociations as performance differences between tasks for each patient (Bonferroni-corrected p < .05). Knowledge of long-term consequences was selectively impaired relative to short-term consequences in five patients and the reverse dissociation occurred in one patient. Six patients showed a selective impairment of social concepts relative to long-term consequences with the reverse dissociation occurring in one patient. These results corroborate the hypothesis that knowledge of long-term consequences of social behaviour is dissociable from knowledge of short-term consequences, as well as of social conceptual knowledge. Confirming our hypothesis, we found that patients with more marked grey matter (GM) volume loss in frontopolar relative to right superior ATL regions of interest exhibited poorer knowledge of the long-term consequences of social behaviour relative to the knowledge of its conceptual meaning and vice versa (n = 15). These findings support the hypothesis that frontopolar and ATL regions represent distinct aspects of social knowledge. This suggests that rather than being unable to suppress urges to behave inappropriately, FTLD patients often lose the knowledge of what appropriate social behaviour is and can therefore not be expected to behave accordingly. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Statistical aspects of evolution under natural selection, with implications for the advantage of sexual reproduction.

PubMed

Crouch, Daniel J M

2017-10-27

The prevalence of sexual reproduction remains mysterious, as it poses clear evolutionary drawbacks compared to reproducing asexually. Several possible explanations exist, with one of the most likely being that finite population size causes linkage disequilibria to randomly generate and impede the progress of natural selection, and that these are eroded by recombination via sexual reproduction. Previous investigations have either analysed this phenomenon in detail for small numbers of loci, or performed population simulations for many loci. Here we present a quantitative genetic model for fitness, based on the Price Equation, in order to examine the theoretical consequences of randomly generated linkage disequilibria when there are many loci. In addition, most previous work has been concerned with the long-term consequences of deleterious linkage disequilibria for population fitness. The expected change in mean fitness between consecutive generations, a measure of short-term evolutionary success, is shown under random environmental influences to be related to the autocovariance in mean fitness between the generations, capturing the effects of stochastic forces such as genetic drift. Interaction between genetic drift and natural selection, due to randomly generated linkage disequilibria, is demonstrated to be one possible source of mean fitness autocovariance. This suggests a possible role for sexual reproduction in reducing the negative effects of genetic drift, thereby improving the short-term efficacy of natural selection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Obesity and pregnancy: Mechanisms of short term and long term adverse consequences for mother and child

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Obesity is the most common medical condition in women of reproductive age. Obesity during pregnancy has short term and long term adverse consequences for both mother and child. Obesity causes problems with infertility, and in early gestation it causes spontaneous pregnancy loss and congenital anomal...

Short- and Long-Term Consequences of Adolescent Work.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mihalic, Sharon Wofford; Elliott, Delbert

1997-01-01

Examines the short- and long-term consequences of working during adolescence. Responses from 1,725 adolescents reveal that the negative short-term effects are in the domains of school, family and friend bonding, beliefs, and substance use. The long-term beneficial effect is that the duration of early work helps employability in adulthood. (GR)

Parental smoking and respiratory tract infections in children.

PubMed

Peat, J K; Keena, V; Harakeh, Z; Marks, G

2001-09-01

The adverse health consequences of exposing children to tobacco smoke have been well documented. Re-calculation of the data available from cohort and cross-sectional studies worldwide shows that between 500-2500 excess hospitalisations and between 1000 to 5000 excess diagnoses per 100 000 young children as result from respiratory infections can be directly attributed to parental smoking. Results of published meta-analyses support these figures, which are probably under-estimated because of the effects of non-differential misclassification bias. These excess infections are a source of preventable morbidity and have a high cost to the community. They also have important long-term consequences because children who have respiratory infections in early life are at an increased risk of developing asthma in later childhood. More effective strategies that prevent smoking in young people before they become parents have the potential to lead to reductions in these high rates of unnecessary morbidity in the next generation of children.

Towards a new approach to model guidance laws

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Borne, P.; Duflos, E.; Vanheeghe, P.

1994-12-31

Proportional navigation laws have been widely used and studied. Nevertheless very few publications explain rigorously the origin of all these laws. For researchers who are starting to work on guidance laws, a feeling of confusion can result. For others, this lack of explanation can be, for example, the source of the difficulties to make the true proportional navigation become equivalent to the pure proportional navigation. The authors propose here a way to model guidance laws in order to fill this lack of explanation. The first consequence is a better exploration of the kinematic behaviors arising during the guidance process. Themore » second consequence is the definition of a new 3D guidance law which can be seen as a generalization of the true proportional navigation. Moreover, this generalization allow this last law to become equivalent to the pure proportional navigation in terms of initial conditions which allow the object to reach its target.« less

Globalization, women's migration, and the long-term-care workforce.

PubMed

Browne, Colette V; Braun, Kathryn L

2008-02-01

With the aging of the world's population comes the rising need for qualified direct long-term-care (DLTC) workers (i.e., those who provide personal care to frail and disabled older adults). Developed nations are increasingly turning to immigrant women to fill these needs. In this article, we examine the impact of three global trends-population aging, globalization, and women's migration-on the supply and demand for DLTC workers in the United States. Following an overview of these trends, we identify three areas with embedded social justice issues that are shaping the DLTC workforce in the United States, with a specific focus on immigrant workers in these settings. These include world poverty and economic inequalities, the feminization and colorization of labor (especially in long-term care), and empowerment and women's rights. We conclude with a discussion of the contradictory effects that both population aging and globalization have on immigrant women, source countries, and the long-term-care workforce in the United States. We raise a number of policy, practice, and research implications and questions. For policy makers and long-term-care administrators in receiver nations such as the United States, the meeting of DLTC worker needs with immigrants may result in greater access to needed employees but also in the continued devaluation of eldercare as a profession. Source (supply) nations must balance the real and potential economic benefits of remittances from women who migrate for labor with the negative consequences of disrupting family care traditions and draining the long-term-care workforce of those countries.

Daily reports of intimate partner verbal aggression by self and partner: Short-term consequences and implications for measurement.

PubMed

Derrick, Jaye L; Testa, Maria; Leonard, Kenneth E

2014-10-01

Agreement within couples regarding the occurrence of aggression is surprisingly low. Survey research often collapses across partners' reports to create a pooled estimate of aggression in the relationship. This method ignores possible differences in partners' perceptions of the event, potentially weakening researchers' ability to detect consequences of aggression. The current study examines both partners' reports of verbal aggression to determine whether aggression reported by only one partner influences both partners' short-term outcomes. We used a 56-day daily diary to examine the effect of verbal aggression on short-term negative outcomes. We examined whether aggression reported by either partner is sufficient to predict consequences for both partners, or if an individual must report aggression to experience consequences. Victims' reports of receiving verbal aggression were a better predictor of next day victim consequences than perpetrators' reports. Perpetrators' reports of perpetrating verbal aggression were a better predictor of next day perpetrator consequences than victims' reports. Days when partners agreed that aggression had occurred generally predicted the worst outcomes. People's own reports of verbal aggression are the best predictor of short-term consequences. Pooling partner reports of aggression may make it more difficult to understand the consequences of intimate partner aggression.

Regulatory Technology Development Plan - Sodium Fast Reactor. Mechanistic Source Term - Metal Fuel Radionuclide Release

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Grabaskas, David; Bucknor, Matthew; Jerden, James

2016-02-01

The development of an accurate and defensible mechanistic source term will be vital for the future licensing efforts of metal fuel, pool-type sodium fast reactors. To assist in the creation of a comprehensive mechanistic source term, the current effort sought to estimate the release fraction of radionuclides from metal fuel pins to the primary sodium coolant during fuel pin failures at a variety of temperature conditions. These release estimates were based on the findings of an extensive literature search, which reviewed past experimentation and reactor fuel damage accidents. Data sources for each radionuclide of interest were reviewed to establish releasemore » fractions, along with possible release dependencies, and the corresponding uncertainty levels. Although the current knowledge base is substantial, and radionuclide release fractions were established for the elements deemed important for the determination of offsite consequences following a reactor accident, gaps were found pertaining to several radionuclides. First, there is uncertainty regarding the transport behavior of several radionuclides (iodine, barium, strontium, tellurium, and europium) during metal fuel irradiation to high burnup levels. The migration of these radionuclides within the fuel matrix and bond sodium region can greatly affect their release during pin failure incidents. Post-irradiation examination of existing high burnup metal fuel can likely resolve this knowledge gap. Second, data regarding the radionuclide release from molten high burnup metal fuel in sodium is sparse, which makes the assessment of radionuclide release from fuel melting accidents at high fuel burnup levels difficult. This gap could be addressed through fuel melting experimentation with samples from the existing high burnup metal fuel inventory.« less

Trends in Mortality of Tuberculosis Patients in the United States: The Long-term Perspective

PubMed Central

Barnes, Richard F.W.; Moore, Maria Luisa; Garfein, Richard S.; Brodine, Stephanie; Strathdee, Steffanie A.; Rodwell, Timothy C.

2011-01-01

PURPOSE To describe long-term trends in TB mortality and to compare trends estimated from two different sources of public health surveillance data. METHODS Trends and changes in trend were estimated by joinpoint regression. Comparisons between datasets were made by fitting a Poisson regression model. RESULTS Since 1900, TB mortality rates estimated from death certificates have declined steeply, except for a period of no change in the 1980s. This decade had long-term consequences resulting in more TB deaths in later years than would have occurred had there been no flattening of the trend. Recent trends in TB mortality estimated from National Tuberculosis Surveillance System (NTSS) data, which record all-cause mortality, differed from trends based on death certificates. In particular, NTSS data showed TB mortality rates flattening since 2002. CONCLUSIONS Estimates of trends in TB mortality vary by data source, and therefore interpretation of the success of control efforts will depend upon the surveillance dataset used. The datasets may be subject to different biases that vary with time. One dataset showed a sustained improvement in the control of TB since the early 1990s while the other indicated that the rate of TB mortality was no longer declining. PMID:21820320

Approaches to Refining Estimates of Global Burden and Economics of Dengue

PubMed Central

Shepard, Donald S.; Undurraga, Eduardo A.; Betancourt-Cravioto, Miguel; Guzmán, María G.; Halstead, Scott B.; Harris, Eva; Mudin, Rose Nani; Murray, Kristy O.; Tapia-Conyer, Roberto; Gubler, Duane J.

2014-01-01

Dengue presents a formidable and growing global economic and disease burden, with around half the world's population estimated to be at risk of infection. There is wide variation and substantial uncertainty in current estimates of dengue disease burden and, consequently, on economic burden estimates. Dengue disease varies across time, geography and persons affected. Variations in the transmission of four different viruses and interactions among vector density and host's immune status, age, pre-existing medical conditions, all contribute to the disease's complexity. This systematic review aims to identify and examine estimates of dengue disease burden and costs, discuss major sources of uncertainty, and suggest next steps to improve estimates. Economic analysis of dengue is mainly concerned with costs of illness, particularly in estimating total episodes of symptomatic dengue. However, national dengue disease reporting systems show a great diversity in design and implementation, hindering accurate global estimates of dengue episodes and country comparisons. A combination of immediate, short-, and long-term strategies could substantially improve estimates of disease and, consequently, of economic burden of dengue. Suggestions for immediate implementation include refining analysis of currently available data to adjust reported episodes and expanding data collection in empirical studies, such as documenting the number of ambulatory visits before and after hospitalization and including breakdowns by age. Short-term recommendations include merging multiple data sources, such as cohort and surveillance data to evaluate the accuracy of reporting rates (by health sector, treatment, severity, etc.), and using covariates to extrapolate dengue incidence to locations with no or limited reporting. Long-term efforts aim at strengthening capacity to document dengue transmission using serological methods to systematically analyze and relate to epidemiologic data. As promising tools for diagnosis, vaccination, vector control, and treatment are being developed, these recommended steps should improve objective, systematic measures of dengue burden to strengthen health policy decisions. PMID:25412506

Approaches to refining estimates of global burden and economics of dengue.

PubMed

Shepard, Donald S; Undurraga, Eduardo A; Betancourt-Cravioto, Miguel; Guzmán, María G; Halstead, Scott B; Harris, Eva; Mudin, Rose Nani; Murray, Kristy O; Tapia-Conyer, Roberto; Gubler, Duane J

2014-11-01

Dengue presents a formidable and growing global economic and disease burden, with around half the world's population estimated to be at risk of infection. There is wide variation and substantial uncertainty in current estimates of dengue disease burden and, consequently, on economic burden estimates. Dengue disease varies across time, geography and persons affected. Variations in the transmission of four different viruses and interactions among vector density and host's immune status, age, pre-existing medical conditions, all contribute to the disease's complexity. This systematic review aims to identify and examine estimates of dengue disease burden and costs, discuss major sources of uncertainty, and suggest next steps to improve estimates. Economic analysis of dengue is mainly concerned with costs of illness, particularly in estimating total episodes of symptomatic dengue. However, national dengue disease reporting systems show a great diversity in design and implementation, hindering accurate global estimates of dengue episodes and country comparisons. A combination of immediate, short-, and long-term strategies could substantially improve estimates of disease and, consequently, of economic burden of dengue. Suggestions for immediate implementation include refining analysis of currently available data to adjust reported episodes and expanding data collection in empirical studies, such as documenting the number of ambulatory visits before and after hospitalization and including breakdowns by age. Short-term recommendations include merging multiple data sources, such as cohort and surveillance data to evaluate the accuracy of reporting rates (by health sector, treatment, severity, etc.), and using covariates to extrapolate dengue incidence to locations with no or limited reporting. Long-term efforts aim at strengthening capacity to document dengue transmission using serological methods to systematically analyze and relate to epidemiologic data. As promising tools for diagnosis, vaccination, vector control, and treatment are being developed, these recommended steps should improve objective, systematic measures of dengue burden to strengthen health policy decisions.

North-South Asymmetric Solar Cycle Evolution: Signatures in the Photosphere and Consequences in the Corona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Virtanen, I. I.; Mursula, K.

2014-02-01

The heliospheric current sheet is the continuum of the coronal magnetic equator that divides the heliospheric magnetic field into two sectors (polarities). Several recent studies have shown that the heliospheric current sheet is southward shifted during approximately 3 years in the solar declining phase (the so-called bashful ballerina phenomenon). In this article we study the hemispherical asymmetry in the photospheric and coronal magnetic fields using Wilcox Solar Observatory measurements of the photospheric magnetic field since 1976 as well as the potential field source surface model. Multipole analysis of the photospheric magnetic field shows that during the late declining phase of solar cycles since the 1970s, the "bashful ballerina phenomenon" is a consequence of the g^{0}_{2} quadrupole term, signed oppositely to the dipole moment. Surges of new flux transport magnetic field from low latitudes to the poles, thus leading to a systematically varying contribution to the g^{0}_{2}-term from different latitudes. In the case of a north-south asymmetric flux production, this is seen as a quadrupole contribution traveling toward higher latitudes. When the quadrupole term is largest, the main contribution comes from the polar latitudes. At least during the four recent solar cycles, the g^{0}_{2}-term arises because the magnitude of the southern polar field is larger than the magnitude found in the north in the declining phase of the cycle. In the heliosphere this hemispheric asymmetry of the coronal fields is seen as a southward shift of the heliospheric current sheet by about 2°.

Endocrine and metabolic consequences due to restrictive carbohydrate diets in children with type 1 diabetes: An illustrative case series.

PubMed

de Bock, Martin; Lobley, Kristine; Anderson, Donald; Davis, Elizabeth; Donaghue, Kim; Pappas, Marcelle; Siafarikas, Aris; Cho, Yoon Hi; Jones, Timothy; Smart, Carmel

2018-02-01

Low carbohydrate diets for the management of type 1 diabetes have been popularised by social media. The promotion of a low carbohydrate diet in lay media is in contrast to published pediatric diabetes guidelines that endorse a balanced diet from a variety of foods for optimal growth and development in children with type 1 diabetes. This can be a source of conflict in clinical practice. We describe a series of 6 cases where adoption of a low carbohydrate diet in children impacted growth and cardiovascular risk factors with potential long-term sequelae. These cases support current clinical guidelines for children with diabetes that promote a diet where total energy intake is derived from balanced macronutrient sources. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Distributed and Collaborative Software Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghezzi, Giacomo; Gall, Harald C.

Throughout the years software engineers have come up with a myriad of specialized tools and techniques that focus on a certain type of software analysissoftware analysis such as source code analysis, co-change analysis or bug prediction. However, easy and straight forward synergies between these analyses and tools rarely exist because of their stand-alone nature, their platform dependence, their different input and output formats and the variety of data to analyze. As a consequence, distributed and collaborative software analysiscollaborative software analysis scenarios and in particular interoperability are severely limited. We describe a distributed and collaborative software analysis platform that allows for a seamless interoperability of software analysis tools across platform, geographical and organizational boundaries. We realize software analysis tools as services that can be accessed and composed over the Internet. These distributed analysis services shall be widely accessible in our incrementally augmented Software Analysis Broker software analysis broker where organizations and tool providers can register and share their tools. To allow (semi-) automatic use and composition of these tools, they are classified and mapped into a software analysis taxonomy and adhere to specific meta-models and ontologiesontologies for their category of analysis.

Negative affect as a moderator of the relationship between hookup motives and hookup consequences.

PubMed

Montes, Kevin S; Napper, Lucy E; Froidevaux, Nicole M; Kenney, Shannon; LaBrie, Joseph W

2016-01-01

The current study examined the extent to which negative affect moderates the relationships between distinct hookup motives and hookup consequences. Data were collected from 271 heavy-drinking undergraduate college students. Students from 3 US universities completed online surveys assessing hooking up-related motives, behaviors, and consequences. The results showed that conformity motives to hookup and negative affect predicted hookup consequences. Furthermore, negative affect moderated the relationship between hooking up for relationship reasons and hookup consequences. Specifically, among students with high negative affect, hooking up to secure a long-term relationship was positively associated with hookup consequences whereas among students with low negative affect, securing a long-term relationship was negatively associated with hookup consequences. These findings highlight the role that motives and negative affect play in the prediction of negative hookup consequences. Moreover, the findings from the current study have the potential to inform prevention efforts designed to reduce hookup consequences.

History of concussion impacts electrophysiological correlates of working memory.

PubMed

Hudac, Caitlin M; Cortesa, Cathryn S; Ledwidge, Patrick S; Molfese, Dennis L

2017-10-10

Sports-related concussions occur in approximately 21% of college athletes with implications for long-term cognitive impairments in working memory. Working memory involves the capacity to maintain short-term information and integrate with higher-order cognitive processing for planning and behavior execution, critical skills for optimal cognitive and athletic performance. This study quantified working memory impairments in 36 American football college athletes (18-23years old) using event-related potentials (ERPs). Despite performing similarly in a standard 2-back working memory task, athletes with history of concussion exhibited larger P1 and P3 amplitudes compared to Controls. Concussion History group latencies were slower for the P1 and faster for the N2. Source estimation analyses indicated that previously concussed athletes engaged different brain regions compared to athletes with no concussion history. These findings suggest that ERPs may be a sensitive and objective measure to detect long-term cognitive consequences of concussion. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Temporal framing and the decision to take part in type 2 diabetes screening: effects of individual differences in consideration of future consequences on persuasion.

PubMed

Orbell, Sheina; Hagger, Martin

2006-07-01

Reliable individual differences in the extent to which people consider the long- and short-term consequences of their own behaviors are hypothesized to influence the impact of a persuasive communication. In a field experiment, the time frame of occurrence of positive and negative consequences of taking part in a proposed Type 2 diabetes screening program was manipulated in a sample of 210 adults with a mean age of 53 years. Individual differences in consideration of future consequences (CFC; A. Strathman, F. Gleicher, D. S. Boninger, & C. S. Edwards, 1994) moderated (a) the generation of positive and negative thoughts and (b) the persuasive impact of the different communications. Low-CFC individuals were more persuaded when positive consequences were short term and negative consequences were long term. The opposite was true of high-CFC individuals. Path analyses show that net positive thoughts generated mediated the effect of the CFC x Time Frame manipulations on behavioral intentions.

Coastal risk forecast system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabino, André; Poseiro, Pedro; Rodrigues, Armanda; Reis, Maria Teresa; Fortes, Conceição J.; Reis, Rui; Araújo, João

2018-03-01

The run-up and overtopping by sea waves are two of the main processes that threaten coastal structures, leading to flooding, destruction of both property and the environment, and harm to people. To build early warning systems, the consequences and associated risks in the affected areas must be evaluated. It is also important to understand how these two types of spatial information integrate with sensor data sources and the risk assessment methodology. This paper describes the relationship between consequences and risk maps, their role in risk management and how the HIDRALERTA system integrates both aspects in its risk methodology. It describes a case study for Praia da Vitória Port, Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal, showing that the main innovations in this system are twofold: it represents the overtopping flow and consequent flooding, which are critical for coastal and port areas protected by maritime structures, and it works also as a risk assessment tool, extremely important for long-term planning and decision-making. Moreover, the implementation of the system considers possible known variability issues, enabling changes in its behaviour as needs arise. This system has the potential to become a useful tool for the management of coastal and port areas, due to its capacity to effectively issue warnings and assess risks.

Coastal risk forecast system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabino, André; Poseiro, Pedro; Rodrigues, Armanda; Reis, Maria Teresa; Fortes, Conceição J.; Reis, Rui; Araújo, João

2018-04-01

The run-up and overtopping by sea waves are two of the main processes that threaten coastal structures, leading to flooding, destruction of both property and the environment, and harm to people. To build early warning systems, the consequences and associated risks in the affected areas must be evaluated. It is also important to understand how these two types of spatial information integrate with sensor data sources and the risk assessment methodology. This paper describes the relationship between consequences and risk maps, their role in risk management and how the HIDRALERTA system integrates both aspects in its risk methodology. It describes a case study for Praia da Vitória Port, Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal, showing that the main innovations in this system are twofold: it represents the overtopping flow and consequent flooding, which are critical for coastal and port areas protected by maritime structures, and it works also as a risk assessment tool, extremely important for long-term planning and decision-making. Moreover, the implementation of the system considers possible known variability issues, enabling changes in its behaviour as needs arise. This system has the potential to become a useful tool for the management of coastal and port areas, due to its capacity to effectively issue warnings and assess risks.

When climate change is a fact! Adaptive strategies for drinking water production in a changing natural environment.

PubMed

Meuleman, A F M; Cirkel, G; Zwolsman, G J J

2007-01-01

Climate change increases water system dynamics through temperature changes, changes in precipitation patterns, evaporation, and water quality and water storage in ice packs. Water system dependent economical stakeholders, such as drinking water companies in the Netherlands, have to cope with consequences of climate change, e.g. floods and water shortages in river systems, upcoming of brackish ground water, salt water intrusion, increasing peak demands and microbiological activity due to temperature rise. In the past decades, however, both water systems and drinking water production have become more and more inflexible; water systems have been heavily regulated aiming at maximum security and economic functions and the drinking water supply in the Netherlands has grown into an inflexible, but cheap and reliable, system. At a water catchment scale, flexibility and adaptation are solutions to overcome climate change related consequences. Flexible adaptive strategies for drinking water production comprise new sources for drinking water production, application of storage concepts in the short term, and a redesign of large centralized systems, including flexible treatment plants, in the long term. Transition to flexible concepts will take decades because investment depreciation periods of assets are long. These strategies must be based on thorough knowledge of current assets to seize opportunities for change.

Prader-Willi Syndrome: Causes, Characteristics, Interventions, Long-Term Consequences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Otto, Tracy L.; Barber, William H.

1992-01-01

An overview of Prader-Willi syndrome, the most common form of dysmorphic genetic obesity associated with mental retardation, is presented, with an emphasis on associated causes, characteristics, diagnosis and counseling, intervention, and long-term consequences. (Author/DB)

Farewell TID-14844; hello SECY-92-127

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lahti, G.P.; Johnson, W.J.

This year, 1992, marks the 50th anniversary of the first sustained nuclear reaction in the pile at the University of Chicago's Stagg Field. But it also marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of TID-14844, which has served as the design-basis source term for radiological assessments supporting the licensing of nuclear power plants in the United States since its inception. The conservative TID-14844 model assumes that 100% of the noble gases and 50% of the iodines are instantaneously released to the containment and are available for leakage to the environment. TID-14844 is formally embodied in the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission'smore » (NRC's) regulations in parts 10CFR100 (siting) and 10CFR50 (review of control room habitability, postaccident shielding and sampling systems). It is also embodied in a host of NRC Regulatory Guides and NUREG reports that address off-site consequences of releases of radioactivity, equipment qualification, and other postaccident radiological concerns. On April 20, 1992, the NRC staff presented to the NRC commissioners the draft Revised Accident Source Terms for Light-Water Nuclear Power Plants.' This effort is documented in SECY-92-127 and provides the first official position of the NRC in this matter.« less

Demand-driven biogas production by flexible feeding in full-scale - Process stability and flexibility potentials.

PubMed

Mauky, Eric; Weinrich, Sören; Jacobi, Hans-Fabian; Nägele, Hans-Joachim; Liebetrau, Jan; Nelles, Michael

2017-08-01

For future energy supply systems with high proportions from renewable energy sources, biogas plants are a promising option to supply demand-driven electricity to compensate the divergence between energy demand and energy supply by uncontrolled sources like wind and solar. Apart expanding gas storage capacity a demand-oriented feeding with the aim of flexible gas production can be an effective alternative. The presented study demonstrated a high degree of intraday flexibility (up to 50% compared to the average) and a potential for an electricity shutdown of up to 3 days (decreasing gas production by more than 60%) by flexible feeding in full-scale. Furthermore, the long-term process stability was not affected negatively due to the flexible feeding. The flexible feeding resulted in a variable rate of gas production and a dynamic progression of individual acids and the respective pH-value. In consequence, a demand-driven biogas production may enable significant savings in terms of the required gas storage volume (up to 65%) and permit far greater plant flexibility compared to constant gas production. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Managing nuclear power plant induced disasters.

PubMed

Kyne, Dean

2015-01-01

To understand the management process of nuclear power plant (NPP) induced disasters. The study shields light on phases and issues associated with the NPP induced disaster management. This study uses Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station as study subject and Arizona State as study area. This study uses the Radiological Assessment System for Consequence Analysis (RASCAL) Source Term to Dose (STDose) of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a computer software to project and assess the source term dose and release pathway. This study also uses ArcGIS, a geographic information system to analyze geospatial data. A detailed case study of Palo Verde Nuclear Power Generation (PVNPG) Plant was conducted. The findings reveal that the NPP induced disaster management process is conducted by various stakeholders. To save lives and to minimize the impacts, it is vital to relate planning and process of the disaster management. Number of people who expose to the radioactive plume pathway and level of radioactivity could vary depending on the speed and direction of wind on the day the event takes place. This study findings show that there is a need to address the burning issue of different racial and ethnic groups' unequal exposure and unequal protection to potential risks associated with the NPPs.

Surveillance system for air pollutants by combination of the decision support system COMPAS and optical remote sensing systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Flassak, Thomas; de Witt, Helmut; Hahnfeld, Peter; Knaup, Andreas; Kramer, Lothar

1995-09-01

COMPAS is a decision support system designed to assist in the assessment of the consequences of accidental releases of toxic and flammable substances. One of the key elements of COMPAS is a feedback algorithm which allows us to calculate the source term with the aid of concentration measurements. Up to now the feedback technique is applied to concentration measurements done with test tubes or conventional point sensors. In this paper the extension of the actual method is presented which is the combination of COMPAS and an optical remote sensing system like the KAYSER-THREDE K300 FTIR system. Active remote sensing methods based on FTIR are, among other applications, ideal for the so-called fence line monitoring of the diffuse emissions and accidental releases from industrial facilities, since from the FTIR spectra averaged concentration levels along the measurement path can be achieved. The line-averaged concentrations are ideally suited as on-line input for COMPAS' feedback technique. Uncertainties in the assessment of the source term related with both shortcomings of the dispersion model itself and also problems of a feedback strategy based on point measurements are reduced.

Illuminant and observer metamerism and the Hardy-Rand-Rittler color vision test editions.

PubMed

Dain, Stephen J

2006-01-01

A previous study identified a significant metamerism in the several editions of the Hardy-Rand-Rittller pseudoisochromatic plates (HRR) but did not proceed to quantify the consequences of that metamerism (Dain, 2004). Metamerism arises from two sources and is almost inevitable when a printed color vision test is reproduced in several editions. Metamerism has two consequences; these are illuminant/source-based changes in performance and changes in performance with observer (less well known) when assessing anomalous trichromats. This study addresses the effects of illuminant/source and observer metamerism on the fourth editions of HRR. Groups of colors intended to lie on a dichromat confusion line generally remain on a confusion line when the source id changed. The plates appear to be resistant to each form of metamerism, perhaps because the features of the spectral reflectance are similar for figure color and background gray. As a consequence, the clinician needs to be less concerned about using a non-recommended source than was previously believed.

Drive beam stabilisation in the CLIC Test Facility 3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Malina, L.; Corsini, R.; Persson, T.; Skowroński, P. K.; Adli, E.

2018-06-01

The proposed Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) uses a high intensity, low energy drive beam to produce the RF power needed to accelerate a lower intensity main beam with 100 MV/m gradient. This scheme puts stringent requirements on drive beam stability in terms of phase, energy and current. The consequent experimental work was carried out in CLIC Test Facility CTF3. In this paper, we present a novel analysis technique in accelerator physics to find beam drifts and their sources in the vast amount of the continuously gathered signals. The instability sources are identified and adequately mitigated either by hardware improvements or by implementation and commissioning of various feedbacks, mostly beam-based. The resulting drive beam stability is of 0.2°@ 3 GHz in phase, 0.08% in relative beam energy and about 0.2% beam current. Finally, we propose a stabilisation concept for CLIC to guarantee the main beam stability.

Fine-Tuning the Accretion Disk Clock in Hercules X-1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Still, M.; Boyd, P.

2004-01-01

RXTE ASM count rates from the X-ray pulsar Her X-1 began falling consistently during the late months of 2003. The source is undergoing another state transition similar to the anomalous low state of 1999. This new event has triggered observations from both space and ground-based observatories. In order to aid data interpretation and telescope scheduling, and to facilitate the phase-connection of cycles before and after the state transition, we have re-calculated the precession ephemeris using cycles over the last 3.5 years. We report that the source has displayed a different precession period since the last anomalous event. Additional archival data from CGRO suggests that each low state is accompanied by a change in precession period and that the subsequent period is correlated with accretion flux. Consequently our analysis reveals long-term accretion disk behaviour which is predicted by theoretical models of radiation-driven warping.

Optical flip-flops in a polarization-encoded optical shadow-casting scheme.

PubMed

Rizvi, R A; Zubairy, M S

1994-06-10

We propose a novel scheme that optically implements various types of binary sequential logic elements. This is based on a polarization-encoded optical shadow-casting system. The proposed system architecture is capable of implementing synchronous as well as asynchronous sequential circuits owing to the inherent structural flexibility of optical shadow casting. By employing the proposed system, we present the design and implementation schemes of a J-K flip-flop and clocked R-S and D latches. The main feature of these flip-flops is that the propagation of the signal from the input plane to the output (i.e., processing) and from the output plane to the source plane (i.e., feedback) is all optical. Consequently the efficiency of these elements in terms of speed is increased. The only electronic part in the system is the detection of the outputs and the switching of the source plane.

Dynamics of charged bulk viscous collapsing cylindrical source with heat flux

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shah, S. M.; Abbas, G.

2017-04-01

In this paper, we have explored the effects of dissipation on the dynamics of charged bulk viscous collapsing cylindrical source which allows the out-flow of heat flux in the form of radiations. The Misner-Sharp formalism has been implemented to drive the dynamical equation in terms of proper time and radial derivatives. We have investigated the effects of charge and bulk viscosity on the dynamics of collapsing cylinder. To determine the effects of radial heat flux, we have formulated the heat transport equations in the context of Müller-Israel-Stewart theory by assuming that thermodynamics viscous/heat coupling coefficients can be neglected within some approximations. In our discussion, we have introduced the viscosity by the standard (non-causal) thermodynamics approach. The dynamical equations have been coupled with the heat transport equation; the consequences of the resulting coupled heat equation have been analyzed in detail.

Critical analysis of active methods of ozone layer recovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bekker, S. Z.; Doronin, A. P.; Kozlov, S. I.

2017-09-01

A critical analysis is given for various methods for recovery of the ozone layer of the Earth: the emission of alkane gases, the destruction of freons by laser IR radiation and with microwave discharge, exposure to laser UV radiation and electric discharge in the atmosphere, the use of solar radiation, laser infrared radiation, and gamma rays, and the creation of an artificial formation at high altitudes that shields the solar radiation dissociating ozone. The optimal methods are discussed in terms of their effectiveness, economic costs, and environmental consequences. These include the use of gamma rays sources, electric discharge in the atmosphere, and microwave breakdown.

Tracking PACS usage with open source tools.

PubMed

French, Todd L; Langer, Steve G

2011-08-01

A typical choice faced by Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) administrators is deciding how many PACS workstations are needed and where they should be sited. Oftentimes, the social consequences of having too few are severe enough to encourage oversupply and underutilization. This is costly, at best in terms of hardware and electricity, and at worst (depending on the PACS licensing and support model) in capital costs and maintenance fees. The PACS administrator needs tools to asses accurately the use to which her fleet is being subjected, and thus make informed choices before buying more workstations. Lacking a vended solution for this challenge, we developed our own.

77 FR 30015 - Disease, Disability, and Injury Prevention and Control Special Emphasis Panel (SEP): Initial Review

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-21

... announced below concerns Characterizing the Short and Long Term Consequences of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI... ``Characterizing the Short and Long Term Consequences of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) among Children in the United...

Drinking water sources, availability, quality, access and utilization for goats in the Karak Governorate, Jordan.

PubMed

Al-Khaza'leh, Ja'far Mansur; Reiber, Christoph; Al Baqain, Raid; Valle Zárate, Anne

2015-01-01

Goat production is an important agricultural activity in Jordan. The country is one of the poorest countries in the world in terms of water scarcity. Provision of sufficient quantity of good quality drinking water is important for goats to maintain feed intake and production. This study aimed to evaluate the seasonal availability and quality of goats' drinking water sources, accessibility, and utilization in different zones in the Karak Governorate in southern Jordan. Data collection methods comprised interviews with purposively selected farmers and quality assessment of water sources. The provision of drinking water was considered as one of the major constraints for goat production, particularly during the dry season (DS). Long travel distances to the water sources, waiting time at watering points, and high fuel and labor costs were the key reasons associated with the problem. All the values of water quality (WQ) parameters were within acceptable limits of the guidelines for livestock drinking WQ with exception of iron, which showed slightly elevated concentration in one borehole source in the DS. These findings show that water shortage is an important problem leading to consequences for goat keepers. To alleviate the water shortage constraint and in view of the depleted groundwater sources, alternative water sources at reasonable distance have to be tapped and monitored for water quality and more efficient use of rainwater harvesting systems in the study area is recommended.

Characterizing open and non-uniform vertical heat sources: towards the identification of real vertical cracks in vibrothermography experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Castelo, A.; Mendioroz, A.; Celorrio, R.; Salazar, A.; López de Uralde, P.; Gorosmendi, I.; Gorostegui-Colinas, E.

2017-05-01

Lock-in vibrothermography is used to characterize vertical kissing and open cracks in metals. In this technique the crack heats up during ultrasound excitation due mainly to friction between the defect's faces. We have solved the inverse problem, consisting in determining the heat source distribution produced at cracks under amplitude modulated ultrasound excitation, which is an ill-posed inverse problem. As a consequence the minimization of the residual is unstable. We have stabilized the algorithm introducing a penalty term based on Total Variation functional. In the inversion, we combine amplitude and phase surface temperature data obtained at several modulation frequencies. Inversions of synthetic data with added noise indicate that compact heat sources are characterized accurately and that the particular upper contours can be retrieved for shallow heat sources. The overall shape of open and homogeneous semicircular strip-shaped heat sources representing open half-penny cracks can also be retrieved but the reconstruction of the deeper end of the heat source loses contrast. Angle-, radius- and depth-dependent inhomogeneous heat flux distributions within these semicircular strips can also be qualitatively characterized. Reconstructions of experimental data taken on samples containing calibrated heat sources confirm the predictions from reconstructions of synthetic data. We also present inversions of experimental data obtained from a real welded Inconel 718 specimen. The results are in good qualitative agreement with the results of liquids penetrants testing.

The Sleeper Effect of Intimate Partner Violence Exposure: Long-Term Consequences on Young Children's Aggressive Behavior

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holmes, Megan R.

2013-01-01

Background: Children who have been exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) experience a wide variety of short-term social adjustment and emotional difficulties, including externalizing behavioral problems such as aggression. While children are affected by IPV at all ages, little is known about the long-term consequences of IPV exposure at…

Diagnostic Error in Correctional Mental Health: Prevalence, Causes, and Consequences.

PubMed

Martin, Michael S; Hynes, Katie; Hatcher, Simon; Colman, Ian

2016-04-01

While they have important implications for inmates and resourcing of correctional institutions, diagnostic errors are rarely discussed in correctional mental health research. This review seeks to estimate the prevalence of diagnostic errors in prisons and jails and explores potential causes and consequences. Diagnostic errors are defined as discrepancies in an inmate's diagnostic status depending on who is responsible for conducting the assessment and/or the methods used. It is estimated that at least 10% to 15% of all inmates may be incorrectly classified in terms of the presence or absence of a mental illness. Inmate characteristics, relationships with staff, and cognitive errors stemming from the use of heuristics when faced with time constraints are discussed as possible sources of error. A policy example of screening for mental illness at intake to prison is used to illustrate when the risk of diagnostic error might be increased and to explore strategies to mitigate this risk. © The Author(s) 2016.

A financial planning model for estimating hospital debt capacity.

PubMed Central

Hopkins, D S; Heath, D; Levin, P J

1982-01-01

A computer-based financial planning model was formulated to measure the impact of a major capital improvement project on the fiscal health of Stanford University Hospital. The model had to be responsive to many variables and easy to use, so as to allow for the testing of numerous alternatives. Special efforts were made to identify the key variables that needed to be presented in the model and to include all known links between capital investment, debt, and hospital operating expenses. Growth in the number of patient days of care was singled out as a major source of uncertainty that would have profound effects on the hospital's finances. Therefore this variable was subjected to special scrutiny in terms of efforts to gauge expected demographic trends and market forces. In addition, alternative base runs of the model were made under three distinct patient-demand assumptions. Use of the model enabled planners at the Stanford University Hospital (a) to determine that a proposed modernization plan was financially feasible under a reasonable (that is, not unduly optimistic) set of assumptions and (b) to examine the major sources of risk. Other than patient demand, these sources were found to be gross revenues per patient, operating costs, and future limitations on government reimbursement programs. When the likely financial consequences of these risks were estimated, both separately and in combination, it was determined that even if two or more assumptions took a somewhat more negative turn than was expected, the hospital would be able to offset adverse consequences by a relatively minor reduction in operating costs. PMID:7111658

The modelling and assessment of whale-watching impacts

USGS Publications Warehouse

New, Leslie; Hall, Ailsa J.; Harcourt, Robert; Kaufman, Greg; Parsons, E.C.M.; Pearson, Heidi C.; Cosentino, A. Mel; Schick, Robert S

2015-01-01

In recent years there has been significant interest in modelling cumulative effects and the population consequences of individual changes in cetacean behaviour and physiology due to disturbance. One potential source of disturbance that has garnered particular interest is whale-watching. Though perceived as ‘green’ or eco-friendly tourism, there is evidence that whale-watching can result in statistically significant and biologically meaningful changes in cetacean behaviour, raising the question whether whale-watching is in fact a long term sustainable activity. However, an assessment of the impacts of whale-watching on cetaceans requires an understanding of the potential behavioural and physiological effects, data to effectively address the question and suitable modelling techniques. Here, we review the current state of knowledge on the viability of long-term whale-watching, as well as logistical limitations and potential opportunities. We conclude that an integrated, coordinated approach will be needed to further understanding of the possible effects of whale-watching on cetaceans.

Numerical and experimental study of the fundamental flow characteristics of a 3D gully box under drainage.

PubMed

Lopes, Pedro; Carvalho, Rita F; Leandro, Jorge

2017-05-01

Numerical studies regarding the influence of entrapped air on the hydraulic performance of gullies are nonexistent. This is due to the lack of a model that simulates the air-entrainment phenomena and consequently the entrapped air. In this work, we used experimental data to validate an air-entrainment model that uses a Volume-of-Fluid based method to detect the interface and the Shear-stress transport k-ω turbulence model. The air is detected in a sub-grid scale, generated by a source term and transported using a slip velocity formulation. Results are shown in terms of free-surface elevation, velocity profiles, turbulent kinetic energy and discharge coefficients. The air-entrainment model allied to the turbulence model showed a good accuracy in the prediction of the zones of the gully where the air is more concentrated.

Long-Term Consequences of Traumatic Brain Injury: Current Status of Potential Mechanisms of Injury and Neurological Outcomes.

PubMed

Bramlett, Helen M; Dietrich, W Dalton

2015-12-01

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant clinical problem with few therapeutic interventions successfully translated to the clinic. Increased importance on the progressive, long-term consequences of TBI have been emphasized, both in the experimental and clinical literature. Thus, there is a need for a better understanding of the chronic consequences of TBI, with the ultimate goal of developing novel therapeutic interventions to treat the devastating consequences of brain injury. In models of mild, moderate, and severe TBI, histopathological and behavioral studies have emphasized the progressive nature of the initial traumatic insult and the involvement of multiple pathophysiological mechanisms, including sustained injury cascades leading to prolonged motor and cognitive deficits. Recently, the increased incidence in age-dependent neurodegenerative diseases in this patient population has also been emphasized. Pathomechanisms felt to be active in the acute and long-term consequences of TBI include excitotoxicity, apoptosis, inflammatory events, seizures, demyelination, white matter pathology, as well as decreased neurogenesis. The current article will review many of these pathophysiological mechanisms that may be important targets for limiting the chronic consequences of TBI.

The XSD-Builder Specification Language—Toward a Semantic View of XML Schema Definition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fong, Joseph; Cheung, San Kuen

In the present database market, XML database model is a main structure for the forthcoming database system in the Internet environment. As a conceptual schema of XML database, XML Model has its limitation on presenting its data semantics. System analyst has no toolset for modeling and analyzing XML system. We apply XML Tree Model (shown in Figure 2) as a conceptual schema of XML database to model and analyze the structure of an XML database. It is important not only for visualizing, specifying, and documenting structural models, but also for constructing executable systems. The tree model represents inter-relationship among elements inside different logical schema such as XML Schema Definition (XSD), DTD, Schematron, XDR, SOX, and DSD (shown in Figure 1, an explanation of the terms in the figure are shown in Table 1). The XSD-Builder consists of XML Tree Model, source language, translator, and XSD. The source language is called XSD-Source which is mainly for providing an environment with concept of user friendliness while writing an XSD. The source language will consequently be translated by XSD-Translator. Output of XSD-Translator is an XSD which is our target and is called as an object language.

Measuring and mitigating agricultural greenhouse gas production in the US Great Plains, 1870-2000.

PubMed

Parton, William J; Gutmann, Myron P; Merchant, Emily R; Hartman, Melannie D; Adler, Paul R; McNeal, Frederick M; Lutz, Susan M

2015-08-25

The Great Plains region of the United States is an agricultural production center for the global market and, as such, an important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This article uses historical agricultural census data and ecosystem models to estimate the magnitude of annual GHG fluxes from all agricultural sources (e.g., cropping, livestock raising, irrigation, fertilizer production, tractor use) in the Great Plains from 1870 to 2000. Here, we show that carbon (C) released during the plow-out of native grasslands was the largest source of GHG emissions before 1930, whereas livestock production, direct energy use, and soil nitrous oxide emissions are currently the largest sources. Climatic factors mediate these emissions, with cool and wet weather promoting C sequestration and hot and dry weather increasing GHG release. This analysis demonstrates the long-term ecosystem consequences of both historical and current agricultural activities, but also indicates that adoption of available alternative management practices could substantially mitigate agricultural GHG fluxes, ranging from a 34% reduction with a 25% adoption rate to as much as complete elimination with possible net sequestration of C when a greater proportion of farmers adopt new agricultural practices.

Hepatocyte transplantation and advancements in alternative cell sources for liver-based regenerative medicine.

PubMed

Lee, Charlotte A; Sinha, Siddharth; Fitzpatrick, Emer; Dhawan, Anil

2018-06-01

Human hepatocyte transplantation has been actively perused as an alternative to liver replacement for acute liver failure and liver-based metabolic defects. Current challenges in this field include a limited cell source, reduced cell viability following cryopreservation and poor engraftment of cells into the recipient liver with consequent limited life span. As a result, alternative stem cell sources such as pluripotent stem cells, fibroblasts, hepatic progenitor cells, amniotic epithelial cells and mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) can be used to generate induced hepatocyte like cells (HLC) with each technique exhibiting advantages and disadvantages. HLCs may have comparable function to primary human hepatocytes and could offer patient-specific treatment. However, long-term functionality of transplanted HLCs and the potential oncogenic risks of using stem cells have yet to be established. The immunomodulatory effects of MSCs are promising, and multiple clinical trials are investigating their effect in cirrhosis and acute liver failure. Here, we review the current status of hepatocyte transplantation, alternative cell sources to primary human hepatocytes and their potential in liver regeneration. We also describe recent clinical trials using hepatocytes derived from stem cells and their role in improving the phenotype of several liver diseases.

Measuring and mitigating agricultural greenhouse gas production in the US Great Plains, 1870–2000

PubMed Central

Parton, William J.; Gutmann, Myron P.; Merchant, Emily R.; Hartman, Melannie D.; Adler, Paul R.; McNeal, Frederick M.; Lutz, Susan M.

2015-01-01

The Great Plains region of the United States is an agricultural production center for the global market and, as such, an important source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This article uses historical agricultural census data and ecosystem models to estimate the magnitude of annual GHG fluxes from all agricultural sources (e.g., cropping, livestock raising, irrigation, fertilizer production, tractor use) in the Great Plains from 1870 to 2000. Here, we show that carbon (C) released during the plow-out of native grasslands was the largest source of GHG emissions before 1930, whereas livestock production, direct energy use, and soil nitrous oxide emissions are currently the largest sources. Climatic factors mediate these emissions, with cool and wet weather promoting C sequestration and hot and dry weather increasing GHG release. This analysis demonstrates the long-term ecosystem consequences of both historical and current agricultural activities, but also indicates that adoption of available alternative management practices could substantially mitigate agricultural GHG fluxes, ranging from a 34% reduction with a 25% adoption rate to as much as complete elimination with possible net sequestration of C when a greater proportion of farmers adopt new agricultural practices. PMID:26240366

Marital Processes, Arranged Marriage, and Contraception to Limit Fertility

PubMed Central

Ghimire, Dirgha J.; Axinn, William G.

2013-01-01

An international transition away from familially-arranged marriages toward participation in spouse choice has endured for decades and continues to spread through rural Asia today. Though we know this transformation has important consequences for childbearing early in marriage, we know much less about longer-term consequences of this marital revolution. This study draws upon theories of family and fertility change and a rural Asian panel study designed to investigate changes in both marital and childbearing behaviors to investigate these long-term consequences. Controlling for social changes that shape both marital practices and childbearing behaviors, and explicitly considering multiple dimensions of marital processes, we find evidence consistent with an independent, long-standing association of participation in spouse choice with higher rates of contraception to terminate childbearing. These results add a new dimension to the evidence linking revolutions in marital behavior to long-term declines in fertility, but also motivate new research to consider a broader range of long-term consequences of changing marital processes. PMID:23709184

THE "MACK" WORKER, THE IMPACT OF HIS JOB LOSS 2 1/2 YEARS LATER. AUTOMATION MANPOWER SERVICES, PROGRAM REPORT.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

INDIK, BERNARD P.

THE LONG TERM CONSEQUENCES OF A LARGE PLANT SHUTDOWN IN TERMS OF THE INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED AND CHARACTERISTICS SHOWN TO BE IMPORTANT INDICATORS OF THEIR REEMPLOYABILITY WERE DESCRIBED IN A 1962 STUDY. THIS FOLLOWUP STUDY CLARIFIED AND AMPLIFIED THE EARLIER FINDINGS TO SHOW MORE LONG TERM CONSEQUENCES. OF THE 3,100 PEOPLE LAID OFF, THE ORIGINAL…

Individual, interpersonal, and organisational factors of healthcare conflict: A scoping review.

PubMed

Kim, Sara; Bochatay, Naike; Relyea-Chew, Annemarie; Buttrick, Elizabeth; Amdahl, Chris; Kim, Laura; Frans, Elise; Mossanen, Matthew; Khandekar, Azhar; Fehr, Ryan; Lee, Young-Mee

2017-05-01

Unresolved conflicts among healthcare professionals can lead to difficult patient care consequences. This scoping review examines the current healthcare literature that reported sources and consequences of conflict associated with individual, interpersonal, and organisational factors. We identified 99 articles published between 2001 and 2015 from PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Excerpta Medical Database. Most reviewed studies relied on healthcare professionals' perceptions and beliefs associated with conflict sources and consequences, with few studies reporting behavioural or organisational change outcomes. Individual conflict sources included personal traits, such as self-focus, self-esteem, or worldview, as well as individuals' conflict management styles. These conflicts posed threats to one's physical, mental, and emotional health and to one's ability to perform at work. Interpersonal dynamics were hampered by colleagues' uncivil behaviours, such as low degree of support, to more destructive behaviours including bullying or humiliation. Perceptions of disrespectful working environment and weakened team collaboration were the main interpersonal conflict consequences. Organisational conflict sources included ambiguity in professional roles, scope of practice, reporting structure, or workflows, negatively affecting healthcare professionals' job satisfactions and intent to stay. Future inquiries into healthcare conflict research may target the following: shifting from research involving single professions to multiple professions; dissemination of studies via journals that promote interprofessional research; inquiries into the roles of unconscious or implicit bias, or psychological capital (i.e., resilience) in healthcare conflict; and diversification of data sources to include hospital or clinic data with implications for conflict sources.

Inverse modelling of radionuclide release rates using gamma dose rate observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamburger, Thomas; Stohl, Andreas; von Haustein, Christoph; Thummerer, Severin; Wallner, Christian

2014-05-01

Severe accidents in nuclear power plants such as the historical accident in Chernobyl 1986 or the more recent disaster in the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in 2011 have drastic impacts on the population and environment. The hazardous consequences reach out on a national and continental scale. Environmental measurements and methods to model the transport and dispersion of the released radionuclides serve as a platform to assess the regional impact of nuclear accidents - both, for research purposes and, more important, to determine the immediate threat to the population. However, the assessments of the regional radionuclide activity concentrations and the individual exposure to radiation dose underlie several uncertainties. For example, the accurate model representation of wet and dry deposition. One of the most significant uncertainty, however, results from the estimation of the source term. That is, the time dependent quantification of the released spectrum of radionuclides during the course of the nuclear accident. The quantification of the source terms of severe nuclear accidents may either remain uncertain (e.g. Chernobyl, Devell et al., 1995) or rely on rather rough estimates of released key radionuclides given by the operators. Precise measurements are mostly missing due to practical limitations during the accident. Inverse modelling can be used to realise a feasible estimation of the source term (Davoine and Bocquet, 2007). Existing point measurements of radionuclide activity concentrations are therefore combined with atmospheric transport models. The release rates of radionuclides at the accident site are then obtained by improving the agreement between the modelled and observed concentrations (Stohl et al., 2012). The accuracy of the method and hence of the resulting source term depends amongst others on the availability, reliability and the resolution in time and space of the observations. Radionuclide activity concentrations are observed on a relatively sparse grid and the temporal resolution of available data may be low within the order of hours or a day. Gamma dose rates on the other hand are observed routinely on a much denser grid and higher temporal resolution. Gamma dose rate measurements contain no explicit information on the observed spectrum of radionuclides and have to be interpreted carefully. Nevertheless, they provide valuable information for the inverse evaluation of the source term due to their availability (Saunier et al., 2013). We present a new inversion approach combining an atmospheric dispersion model and observations of radionuclide activity concentrations and gamma dose rates to obtain the source term of radionuclides. We use the Lagrangian particle dispersion model FLEXPART (Stohl et al., 1998; Stohl et al., 2005) to model the atmospheric transport of the released radionuclides. The gamma dose rates are calculated from the modelled activity concentrations. The inversion method uses a Bayesian formulation considering uncertainties for the a priori source term and the observations (Eckhardt et al., 2008). The a priori information on the source term is a first guess. The gamma dose rate observations will be used with inverse modelling to improve this first guess and to retrieve a reliable source term. The details of this method will be presented at the conference. This work is funded by the Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz BfS, Forschungsvorhaben 3612S60026. References Davoine, X. and Bocquet, M., Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 1549-1564, 2007. Devell, L., et al., OCDE/GD(96)12, 1995. Eckhardt, S., et al., Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 3881-3897, 2008. Saunier, O., et al., Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 11403-11421, 2013. Stohl, A., et al., Atmos. Environ., 32, 4245-4264, 1998. Stohl, A., et al., Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 2461-2474, 2005. Stohl, A., et al., Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 2313-2343, 2012.

Competitive Advantage and its Sources in an Evolving Market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaridis, Apostolos D.

2009-08-01

In a continuously altered and evolving Market, as is the food manufacturing market, the main and long-lasting objective of firm that is the maximization of its wealth and consequently the continuous remaining in profit regions, appears that it is possible to be achieved via the obtainment and maintenance of diachronically long-term competitive advantage, which it will render the firm unique or leader force in a inexorable competition that is continuously extended in a globalized market. Various definitions and different regards are developed in regard to the competitive advantage and the way with which a firm it is possible, acquiring it, to star in the market in which it is activated. As result of sustainable competitive advantage in a firm comes the above the average performance. Abundance of resources and competences that are proposed as sources of competitive advantage in the resource-based view literature exists, while they are added continuously new based on empiric studies. In any case, it appears to suffer hierarchy of sources of competitive advantage, with regard to sustainability of these.

Unrecognized astrometric confusion in the Galactic Centre

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plewa, P. M.; Sari, R.

2018-06-01

The Galactic Centre is a crowded stellar field and frequent unrecognized events of source confusion, which involve undetected faint stars, are expected to introduce astrometric noise on a sub-mas level. This confusion noise is the main non-instrumental effect limiting the astrometric accuracy and precision of current near-infrared imaging observations and the long-term monitoring of individual stellar orbits in the vicinity of the central supermassive black hole. We self-consistently simulate the motions of the known and the yet unidentified stars to characterize this noise component and show that a likely consequence of source confusion is a bias in estimates of the stellar orbital elements, as well as the inferred mass and distance of the black hole, in particular if stars are being observed at small projected separations from it, such as the star S2 during pericentre passage. Furthermore, we investigate modelling the effect of source confusion as an additional noise component that is time-correlated, demonstrating a need for improved noise models to obtain trustworthy estimates of the parameters of interest (and their uncertainties) in future astrometric studies.

Imbalances of Water and Solutes in Experimental Watersheds: Spatial or Temporal Origin?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruiz, L.; Fovet, O.; Sekhar, M.; Riotte, J.; Braun, J.; Gascuel-odoux, C.; Durand, P.

2012-12-01

Experimental watersheds where originally conceived as a tool to measure water balance in different landscapes and climates and in particular evapotranspiration fluxes. Pioneering experimentalists where paying attention to all possible causes of unmeasured losses, for example by ensuring that the watershed outlet was lying on impervious bedrock and that the hydrological boundary was consistent with the topographic divide. Nowadays, watershed studies encompass a large range of objectives, from hydrological process quantification, to diffuse pollution assessment. In many cases, the above-mentioned experimental precautions are not much considered and the closure of the water balance is rarely achieved, although this fact is even more rarely publicized in the scientific communications. As a consequence, it is very often very difficult to determine whether an observed difference between input and output of water or solutes is due to some hidden deep losses or to variation of storage in internal compartments of the watershed. In this presentation, we will discuss this issue based on long term hydrological and geochemical monitoring of experimental watersheds belonging to the research observatories BVET (http://bvet.omp.obs-mip.fr/ ) in South India and AgrHys (http://www.inra.fr/ore_agrhys/) in Western France. In the South Indian forested watershed of Mule Hole (10 years of monitoring) we demonstrated that transpiration by deep tree roots was a significant component of the water balance, and that the main pathway for hydrological and geochemical fluxes was groundwater underflow. In the French agricultural watersheds of Kerbernez and Kerrien (20 years of monitoring) significant water and solute losses through groundwater underflow was also demonstrated. In both sites, a model with flexible structure was calibrated and validated on the observation and then long-term simulations were produced using available long term weather data series of 50 years. Results demonstrated that the water or solute imbalances at the watershed scale depended, to a large extent, on the duration considered in the analysis. In the Mule Hole watershed, water storage in the unsaturated weathered bedrock was the major cause of water imbalance for short time series (less than 10 years) while deep loses were the only source of imbalance for long term analysis (more than 30 years). On the contrary, in the Kerrien and Kerbernez watersheds, solute imbalance were mainly attributed to underflow for short term analysis (less than 10 years) while variation of solute storage in the weathered bedrock became a major source of imbalance for long term analysis (more than 20 years). Discussion will focus on the consequences of these results on the validity of the hypotheses used in hydrological and hydrochemical modeling studies, and on the interest of long term environmental observatories for understanding water and element cycles.

Economic impact of Tegaderm chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) dressing in critically ill patients.

PubMed

Thokala, Praveen; Arrowsmith, Martin; Poku, Edith; Martyn-St James, Marissa; Anderson, Jeff; Foster, Steve; Elliott, Tom; Whitehouse, Tony

2016-09-01

To estimate the economic impact of a Tegaderm TM chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) gel dressing compared with a standard intravenous (i.v.) dressing (defined as non-antimicrobial transparent film dressing), used for insertion site care of short-term central venous and arterial catheters (intravascular catheters) in adult critical care patients using a cost-consequence model populated with data from published sources. A decision analytical cost-consequence model was developed which assigned each patient with an indwelling intravascular catheter and a standard dressing, a baseline risk of associated dermatitis, local infection at the catheter insertion site and catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI), estimated from published secondary sources. The risks of these events for patients with a Tegaderm CHG were estimated by applying the effectiveness parameters from the clinical review to the baseline risks. Costs were accrued through costs of intervention (i.e. Tegaderm CHG or standard intravenous dressing) and hospital treatment costs depended on whether the patients had local dermatitis, local infection or CRBSI. Total costs were estimated as mean values of 10,000 probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) runs. Tegaderm CHG resulted in an average cost-saving of £77 per patient in an intensive care unit. Tegaderm CHG also has a 98.5% probability of being cost-saving compared to standard i.v. dressings. The analyses suggest that Tegaderm CHG is a cost-saving strategy to reduce CRBSI and the results were robust to sensitivity analyses.

Logic-based assessment of the compatibility of UMLS ontology sources

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The UMLS Metathesaurus (UMLS-Meta) is currently the most comprehensive effort for integrating independently-developed medical thesauri and ontologies. UMLS-Meta is being used in many applications, including PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov. The integration of new sources combines automatic techniques, expert assessment, and auditing protocols. The automatic techniques currently in use, however, are mostly based on lexical algorithms and often disregard the semantics of the sources being integrated. Results In this paper, we argue that UMLS-Meta’s current design and auditing methodologies could be significantly enhanced by taking into account the logic-based semantics of the ontology sources. We provide empirical evidence suggesting that UMLS-Meta in its 2009AA version contains a significant number of errors; these errors become immediately apparent if the rich semantics of the ontology sources is taken into account, manifesting themselves as unintended logical consequences that follow from the ontology sources together with the information in UMLS-Meta. We then propose general principles and specific logic-based techniques to effectively detect and repair such errors. Conclusions Our results suggest that the methodologies employed in the design of UMLS-Meta are not only very costly in terms of human effort, but also error-prone. The techniques presented here can be useful for both reducing human effort in the design and maintenance of UMLS-Meta and improving the quality of its contents. PMID:21388571

Estimation of the clinical and economic consequences of non-compliance with antimicrobial treatment of canine skin infections.

PubMed

Van Vlaenderen, Ilse; Nautrup, Barbara Poulsen; Gasper, Sabina M

2011-05-01

The goal of this study was to estimate the health and economic consequences of non-compliance with oral antimicrobial treatment in dogs with superficial pyoderma, wounds or abscesses in the US. A mathematical model (Markov model) which simulated treatment with long-term injectable cefovecin versus oral amoxicillin/clavulanic acid was developed and accounted for the effect of non-compliance on clinical outcomes and mean total treatment costs per patient. Efficacy parameters considered in the model were derived from clinical studies. Treatment failure due to oral antimicrobial treatment non-compliance was approximated from published data at 13.6%. US cost data for 2009 were derived from public sources. When non-compliance was considered as a cause of treatment failure with oral medication, the long-term injectable antibiotic was more effective than oral comparator (162 versus 158 days without clinical signs). Mean total treatment costs were lower with cefovecin (USD 376.74) versus amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (USD 382.34) in dogs of 25 kg; and cefovecin remained cost-saving up to a body weight of 31 kg. In large dogs, cefovecin was more costly; however, total therapy costs were less than 6% greater than with amoxicillin/clavulanic acid. Accordingly the higher drug and administration costs of the long-term injectable antibiotic were totally or substantially offset when non-compliance was considered as reason for treatment failure with oral medication. The model also allowed for the estimation of the impact of various non-compliance scenarios. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Long-term psychosocial consequences of surgical congenital malformations.

PubMed

Diseth, Trond H; Emblem, Ragnhild

2017-10-01

Surgical congenital malformations often represent years of treatment, large number of hospital stays, treatment procedures, and long-term functional sequels affecting patients' psychosocial functioning. Both functional defects and psychosocial difficulties that occur commonly in childhood may pass through adolescence on to adulthood. This overview presents reports published over the past 3 decades to elucidate the long-term psychosocial consequences of surgical congenital malformations. Literature searches conducted on PubMed database revealed that less than 1% of all the records of surgical congenital malformations described long-term psychosocial consequences, but with diverse findings. This inconsistency may be due to methodological differences or deficiencies; especially in study design, patient sampling, and methods. Most of the studies revealed that the functional deficits may have great impact on patients' mental health, psychosocial functioning, and QoL; both short- and long-term negative consequences. Factors other than functional problems, e.g., repeated anesthesia, multiple hospitalization, traumatic treatment procedures, and parental dysfunctioning, may also predict long-term mental health and psychosocial functioning. Through multidisciplinary approach, pediatric surgeons should also be aware of deficits in emotional and psychosocial functioning. To achieve overall optimal psychosocial functioning, the challenge is to find a compromise between physically optimal treatment procedures and procedures that are not psychologically detrimental. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Bayesian inverse modeling and source location of an unintended 131I release in Europe in the fall of 2011

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tichý, Ondřej; Šmídl, Václav; Hofman, Radek; Šindelářová, Kateřina; Hýža, Miroslav; Stohl, Andreas

2017-10-01

In the fall of 2011, iodine-131 (131I) was detected at several radionuclide monitoring stations in central Europe. After investigation, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was informed by Hungarian authorities that 131I was released from the Institute of Isotopes Ltd. in Budapest, Hungary. It was reported that a total activity of 342 GBq of 131I was emitted between 8 September and 16 November 2011. In this study, we use the ambient concentration measurements of 131I to determine the location of the release as well as its magnitude and temporal variation. As the location of the release and an estimate of the source strength became eventually known, this accident represents a realistic test case for inversion models. For our source reconstruction, we use no prior knowledge. Instead, we estimate the source location and emission variation using only the available 131I measurements. Subsequently, we use the partial information about the source term available from the Hungarian authorities for validation of our results. For the source determination, we first perform backward runs of atmospheric transport models and obtain source-receptor sensitivity (SRS) matrices for each grid cell of our study domain. We use two dispersion models, FLEXPART and Hysplit, driven with meteorological analysis data from the global forecast system (GFS) and from European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) weather forecast models. Second, we use a recently developed inverse method, least-squares with adaptive prior covariance (LS-APC), to determine the 131I emissions and their temporal variation from the measurements and computed SRS matrices. For each grid cell of our simulation domain, we evaluate the probability that the release was generated in that cell using Bayesian model selection. The model selection procedure also provides information about the most suitable dispersion model for the source term reconstruction. Third, we select the most probable location of the release with its associated source term and perform a forward model simulation to study the consequences of the iodine release. Results of these procedures are compared with the known release location and reported information about its time variation. We find that our algorithm could successfully locate the actual release site. The estimated release period is also in agreement with the values reported by IAEA and the reported total released activity of 342 GBq is within the 99 % confidence interval of the posterior distribution of our most likely model.

Aggression at the workplace--psychological consequences of abusive encounter with coworkers and clients.

PubMed

Merecz, Dorota; Drabek, Marcin; Mościcka, Agnieszka

2009-01-01

The aim of the study was to evaluate the consequences of the exposure to workplace aggression from coworkers and clients. Participants belonged to two professional groups: nurses (N = 1163) and public service workers (N = 391). Aggression from coworkers and clients/patients was analysed separately. Several multiple regression models were tested to assess the effect of work-related aggression experienced by the subjects on their job satisfaction, professional functioning and mental health status. The frequency and type of violent behaviours against employee was measured by Exposure to Workplace Aggression Questionnaire (EWAQ), level of burnout was determined by Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), mental health status by General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), and the level of work satisfaction was measured by 22-items survey, developed at NIOM Work Psychology Department. In the regression models, several possible confounders were controlled (sex, age, individual direct reaction to aggressive act, and physical health status). Results of our study point to adverse consequences of exposure to aggression at workplace, irrespective of its source. Employees experiencing workplace aggression are less satisfied with work, show symptoms of burnout, and their general health is poorer. We assume that aggression towards coworkers by peers and supervisors, as the phenomenon reflecting quality of long term interpersonal relationships, may affect health and functioning of workers stronger than a single incident in the short term contacts with clients. Aggression from clients usually results in compassion of peers, and it is perceived as the organisational problem that should be solved. On the contrary, dealing with an aggressive coworker usually is perceived as employee's own business and results in the sense of unfairness and isolation.

Buying Green

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Layng, T. V. Joe

2010-01-01

In "Buying Green," Joe Layng recognizes that, like all choices we make, our decisions as consumers are more likely to be influenced by their short-term consequences for us as individuals (price, quality) than they are by their long-term consequences for society (environmental impact). He believes that the equation can be tilted in favor of greener…

Family Violence: Psychological Consequences and Beliefs in Asian and Asian-American Women.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maker, Azmaira; Heiple, Becky

This study specifically explored the relationships among childhood trauma, long-term psychological consequences, beliefs about family violence, and gender role stereotypes in Asian and Asian American women. A prediction was made that childhood physical violence and witnessing family violence would create long-term negative symptoms; higher levels…

Erratum to "Solar Sources and Geospace Consequences of Interplanetary Magnetic Clouds Observed During Solar Cycle 23-Paper 1" [J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phys. 70(2-4) (2008) 245-253

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gopalswamy, N.; Akiyama, S.; Yashiro, S.; Michalek, G.; Lepping, R. P.

2009-01-01

One of the figures (Fig. 4) in "Solar sources and geospace consequences of interplanetary magnetic Clouds observed during solar cycle 23 -- Paper 1" by Gopalswamy et al. (2008, JASTP, Vol. 70, Issues 2-4, February 2008, pp. 245-253) is incorrect because of a software error in t he routine that was used to make the plot. The source positions of various magnetic cloud (MC) types are therefore not plotted correctly.

On the numerical calculation of hydrodynamic shock waves in atmospheres by an FCT method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmitz, F.; Fleck, B.

1993-11-01

The numerical calculation of vertically propagating hydrodynamic shock waves in a plane atmosphere by the ETBFCT-version of the Flux Corrected Transport (FCT) method by Boris and Book is discussed. The results are compared with results obtained by a characteristic method with shock fitting. We show that the use of the internal energy density as a dependent variable instead of the total energy density can give very inaccurate results. Consequent discretization rules for the gravitational source terms are derived. The improvement of the results by an additional iteration step is discussed. It appears that the FCT method is an excellent method for the accurate calculation of shock waves in an atmosphere.

An update on the role of opioids in the management of chronic pain of nonmalignant origin.

PubMed

Højsted, Jette; Sjøgren, Per

2007-10-01

To summarize and reflect over primarily recent epidemiological and randomized controlled trials in opioid-treated chronic nonmalignant pain patients, focusing on effects, side effects, risks and long-term consequences of the treatment. In the western world opioids are increasingly being used for long-term treatment of chronic nonmalignant pain. While the long-term benefits of opioids regarding pain relief, functional capacity and health-related quality of life still remain to be proven, studies are emerging that describe serious long-term consequences such as addiction, opioid-induced hyperalgesia, cognitive disorders, and suppression of the immune and reproductive systems. Much more research is needed concerning long-time effects and consequences of opioid therapy in chronic nonmalignant pain patients; however, some clear warning signals have been sent out within recent years.

Renewable Sources of Energy and Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diatta, Christian Sina

1979-01-01

Reviewed are the status of conventional sources of energy, prospects for the development of alternative sources of energy, and the consequences of that development on countries that are in the process of industrialization. (BT)

78 FR 7860 - Initial Research on the Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure to Burn Pits in Iraq and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-04

... design features. Existing research studies, such as the Million Veteran Program, the Cooperative Studies..., study designs, research and evaluation protocols, and results from burn pit emissions research. VA has... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Initial Research on the Long-Term Health Consequences of Exposure...

Short-term emergency response planning and risk assessment via an integrated modeling system for nuclear power plants in complex terrain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Ni-Bin; Weng, Yu-Chi

2013-03-01

Short-term predictions of potential impacts from accidental release of various radionuclides at nuclear power plants are acutely needed, especially after the Fukushima accident in Japan. An integrated modeling system that provides expert services to assess the consequences of accidental or intentional releases of radioactive materials to the atmosphere has received wide attention. These scenarios can be initiated either by accident due to human, software, or mechanical failures, or from intentional acts such as sabotage and radiological dispersal devices. Stringent action might be required just minutes after the occurrence of accidental or intentional release. To fulfill the basic functions of emergency preparedness and response systems, previous studies seldom consider the suitability of air pollutant dispersion models or the connectivity between source term, dispersion, and exposure assessment models in a holistic context for decision support. Therefore, the Gaussian plume and puff models, which are only suitable for illustrating neutral air pollutants in flat terrain conditional to limited meteorological situations, are frequently used to predict the impact from accidental release of industrial sources. In situations with complex terrain or special meteorological conditions, the proposing emergency response actions might be questionable and even intractable to decisionmakers responsible for maintaining public health and environmental quality. This study is a preliminary effort to integrate the source term, dispersion, and exposure assessment models into a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) to tackle the complex issues for short-term emergency response planning and risk assessment at nuclear power plants. Through a series model screening procedures, we found that the diagnostic (objective) wind field model with the aid of sufficient on-site meteorological monitoring data was the most applicable model to promptly address the trend of local wind field patterns. However, most of the hazardous materials being released into the environment from nuclear power plants are not neutral pollutants, so the particle and multi-segment puff models can be regarded as the most suitable models to incorporate into the output of the diagnostic wind field model in a modern emergency preparedness and response system. The proposed SDSS illustrates the state-of-the-art system design based on the situation of complex terrain in South Taiwan. This system design of SDSS with 3-dimensional animation capability using a tailored source term model in connection with ArcView® Geographical Information System map layers and remote sensing images is useful for meeting the design goal of nuclear power plants located in complex terrain.

Short-sighted confession decisions: the role of uncertain and delayed consequences.

PubMed

Yang, Yueran; Madon, Stephanie; Guyll, Max

2015-02-01

Suspects have a propensity to focus on short-term contingencies, giving disproportionate weight to the proximal consequences that are delivered by police during an interrogation, and too little consideration to the distal (and often more severe) consequences that may be levied by the judicial system if they are convicted. In this research, the authors examined whether the perceived uncertainty and temporal distance of distal consequences contribute to this propensity. Using the repetitive question paradigm (Madon et al., 2012), participants (N = 209) were interviewed about 20 prior criminal and unethical behaviors and were required to admit or deny each one. Participants' denials and admissions were paired with both a proximal consequence and a distal consequence, respectively. Results indicated that the distal consequence had less impact on participants' admission decisions when it was uncertain and temporally remote. These results provide evidence that the perceived uncertainty and temporal distance of future punishment are key factors that lead suspects to confess to crimes in exchange for short-term gains.

PolEASIA Project: Pollution in Eastern Asia - towards better Air Quality Prevision and Impacts' Evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dufour, Gaëlle; Albergel, Armand; Balkanski, Yves; Beekmann, Matthias; Cai, Zhaonan; Fortems-Cheiney, Audrey; Cuesta, Juan; Derognat, Claude; Eremenko, Maxim; Foret, Gilles; Hauglustaine, Didier; Lachatre, Matthieu; Laurent, Benoit; Liu, Yi; Meng, Fan; Siour, Guillaume; Tao, Shu; Velay-Lasry, Fanny; Zhang, Qijie; Zhang, Yuli

2017-04-01

The rapid economic development and urbanization of China during the last decades resulted in rising pollutant emissions leading to amongst the largest pollutant concentrations in the world for the major pollutants (ozone, PM2.5, and PM10). Robust monitoring and forecasting systems associated with downstream services providing comprehensive risk indicators are highly needed to establish efficient pollution mitigation strategies. In addition, a precise evaluation of the present and future impacts of Chinese pollutant emissions is of importance to quantify: first, the consequences of pollutants export on atmospheric composition and air quality all over the globe; second, the additional radiative forcing induced by the emitted and produced short-lived climate forcers (ozone and aerosols); third, the long-term health consequences of pollution exposure. To achieve this, a detailed understanding of East Asian pollution is necessary. The French PolEASIA project aims at addressing these different issues by providing a better quantification of major pollutants sources and distributions as well as of their recent and future evolution. The main objectives, methodologies and tools of this starting 4-year project will be presented. An ambitious synergistic and multi-scale approach coupling innovative satellite observations, in situ measurements and chemical transport model simulations will be developed to characterize the spatial distribution, the interannual to daily variability and the trends of the major pollutants (ozone and aerosols) and their sources over East Asia, and to quantify the role of the different processes (emissions, transport, chemical transformation) driving the observed pollutant distributions. A particular attention will be paid to assess the natural and anthropogenic contributions to East Asian pollution. Progress made with the understanding of pollutant sources, especially in terms of modeling of pollution over East Asia and advanced numerical approaches such as inverse modeling will serve the development of an efficient and marketable forecasting system for regional outdoor air pollution. The performances of this upgraded forecasting system will be evaluated and promoted to ensure a good visibility of the French technology. In addition, the contribution of Chinese pollution to the regional and global atmospheric composition, as well as the resulting radiative forcing of short-lived species will be determined using both satellite observations and model simulations. Health Impact Assessment (HIA) methods coupled with model simulations will be used to estimate the long-term impacts of exposure to pollutants (PM2.5 and ozone) on cardiovascular and respiratory mortality. First results obtained in this framework will be presented.

Numerical simulations of LNG vapor dispersion in Brayton Fire Training Field tests with ANSYS CFX.

PubMed

Qi, Ruifeng; Ng, Dedy; Cormier, Benjamin R; Mannan, M Sam

2010-11-15

Federal safety regulations require the use of validated consequence models to determine the vapor cloud dispersion exclusion zones for accidental liquefied natural gas (LNG) releases. One tool that is being developed in industry for exclusion zone determination and LNG vapor dispersion modeling is computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This paper uses the ANSYS CFX CFD code to model LNG vapor dispersion in the atmosphere. Discussed are important parameters that are essential inputs to the ANSYS CFX simulations, including the atmospheric conditions, LNG evaporation rate and pool area, turbulence in the source term, ground surface temperature and roughness height, and effects of obstacles. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to illustrate uncertainties in the simulation results arising from the mesh size and source term turbulence intensity. In addition, a set of medium-scale LNG spill tests were performed at the Brayton Fire Training Field to collect data for validating the ANSYS CFX prediction results. A comparison of test data with simulation results demonstrated that CFX was able to describe the dense gas behavior of LNG vapor cloud, and its prediction results of downwind gas concentrations close to ground level were in approximate agreement with the test data. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Long-Term Effects of Concussion on Electrophysiological Indices of Attention in Varsity College Athletes: An Event-Related Potential and Standardized Low-Resolution Brain Electromagnetic Tomography Approach.

PubMed

Ledwidge, Patrick S; Molfese, Dennis L

2016-12-01

This study investigated the effects of a past concussion on electrophysiological indices of attention in college athletes. Forty-four varsity football athletes (22 with at least one past concussion) participated in three neuropsychological tests and a two-tone auditory oddball task while undergoing high-density event-related potential (ERP) recording. Athletes previously diagnosed with a concussion experienced their most recent injury approximately 4 years before testing. Previously concussed and control athletes performed equivalently on three neuropsychological tests. Behavioral accuracy and reaction times on the oddball task were also equivalent across groups. However, athletes with a concussion history exhibited significantly larger N2 and P3b amplitudes and longer P3b latencies. Source localization using standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography indicated that athletes with a history of concussion generated larger electrical current density in the left inferior parietal gyrus compared to control athletes. These findings support the hypothesis that individuals with a past concussion recruit compensatory neural resources in order to meet executive functioning demands. High-density ERP measures combined with source localization provide an important method to detect long-term neural consequences of concussion in the absence of impaired neuropsychological performance.

Long-Term Effects of Concussion on Electrophysiological Indices of Attention in Varsity College Athletes: An Event-Related Potential and Standardized Low-Resolution Brain Electromagnetic Tomography Approach

PubMed Central

Molfese, Dennis L.

2016-01-01

Abstract This study investigated the effects of a past concussion on electrophysiological indices of attention in college athletes. Forty-four varsity football athletes (22 with at least one past concussion) participated in three neuropsychological tests and a two-tone auditory oddball task while undergoing high-density event-related potential (ERP) recording. Athletes previously diagnosed with a concussion experienced their most recent injury approximately 4 years before testing. Previously concussed and control athletes performed equivalently on three neuropsychological tests. Behavioral accuracy and reaction times on the oddball task were also equivalent across groups. However, athletes with a concussion history exhibited significantly larger N2 and P3b amplitudes and longer P3b latencies. Source localization using standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography indicated that athletes with a history of concussion generated larger electrical current density in the left inferior parietal gyrus compared to control athletes. These findings support the hypothesis that individuals with a past concussion recruit compensatory neural resources in order to meet executive functioning demands. High-density ERP measures combined with source localization provide an important method to detect long-term neural consequences of concussion in the absence of impaired neuropsychological performance. PMID:27025905

Branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers in Arctic lake sediments: Sources and implications for paleothermometry at high latitudes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peterse, Francien; Vonk, Jorien E.; Holmes, R. Max; Giosan, Liviu; Zimov, Nikita; Eglinton, Timothy I.

2014-08-01

Branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) are analyzed in different lakes of the Mackenzie (Canadian Arctic) and Kolyma (Siberian Arctic) River basins to evaluate their sources and the implications for brGDGT-based paleothermometry in high-latitude lakes. The comparison of brGDGT distributions and concentrations in the lakes with those in river suspended particulate matter, riverbank sediments, and permafrost material indicates that brGDGTs in Arctic lake sediments have mixed sources. In contrast to global observations, distributional offsets between brGDGTs in Arctic lakes and elsewhere in the catchment are minor, likely due to the extreme seasonality and short window of biological production at high latitudes. Consequently, both soil- and lake-calibrated brGDGT-based temperature proxies return sensible temperature estimates, even though the mean air temperature (MAT) in the Arctic is below the calibration range. The original soil-calibrated MBT-CBT (methylation of branched tetraethers-cyclisation of branched tetraethers) proxy generates MATs similar to those in the studied river basins, whereas using the recently revised MBT'-CBT calibration overestimates MAT. The application of the two global lake calibrations, generating summer air temperatures (SAT) and MAT, respectively, illustrates the influence of seasonality on the production of brGDGTs in lakes, as the latter overestimates actual MAT, whereas the SAT-based lake calibration accounts for this influence and consequently returns more accurate temperatures. Our results in principle support the application of brGDGT-based temperature proxies in high-latitude lakes in order to obtain long-term paleotemperature records for the Arctic, although the calibration and associated transfer function have to be selected with care.

Modelling the effects of trade-offs between long and short-term objectives in fisheries management.

PubMed

Mardle, Simon; Pascoe, Sean

2002-05-01

Fisheries management is typically a complex problem, from both an environmental and political perspective. The main source of conflict occurs between the need for stock conservation and the need for fishing community well-being, which is typically measured by employment and income levels. For most fisheries, overexploitation of the stock requires a reduction in the level of fishing activity. While this may lead to long-term benefits (both conservation and economic), it also leads to a short-term reduction in employment and regional incomes. In regions which are heavily dependent on fisheries, short-term consequences of conservation efforts may be considerable. The relatively high degree of scientific uncertainty with respect to the status of the stocks and the relatively short lengths of political terms of office, generally give rise to the short-run view taking the highest priority when defining policy objectives. In this paper, a multi-objective model of the North Sea is developed that incorporates both long-term and short-term objectives. Optimal fleet sizes are estimated taking into consideration different preferences between the defined short-term and long-term objectives. The subsequent results from the model give the short-term and long-term equilibrium status of the fishery incorporating the effects of the short-term objectives. As would be expected, an optimal fleet from a short-term perspective is considerably larger than an optimal fleet from a long-run perspective. Conversely, stock sizes and sustainable yields are considerably lower in the long-term if a short-term perspective is used in setting management policies. The model results highlight what is essentially a principal-agent problem, with the objectives of the policy makers not necessarily reflecting the objectives of society as a whole.

Source of humidity in the terrestrial water cycle over the forested monsoon arid of Sahel; changes in the water recycle and atmospheric instability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yosef, G.; Avissar, R.; Walko, R. L.; Yakir, D.

2017-12-01

Land-cover change from low-level shrubs to forest over semi-arid monsoon regions such as the Sahel, can significantly influence the surface energy budget and, in turn, the local atmospheric circulation. These regions, influenced at the summer by the monsoon rain following the migration of the tropical convergence zones (ITCZ). And low-level easterly jet that acts as a barrier to the penetration of the precipitation into the semi arid areas. In this study we follow-up first the results of large-scale afforestation numerical experiment in the Sahel that changes the local and regional atmospheric circulation and, consequently, increasing of precipitation. We aim for explicitly investigation of the change in the sources and pathways of humidity in the terrestrial water cycle over the Sahel as result afforestation. The GCM OLAM was used to performing simulations of afforestation scenarios in the Sahel. The area (Sahel 2.6 E6 km2) was afforested with a mature pine forest, using the extensive data form the long-term semi-arid Yatir forest in Israel as a reference forest for surface parameterization. The regional effect of the afforestation was analyzed using the following parameters; the index of water recycling (WR), which refers to the contribution of local ET fluxes to precipitation; the Moist Static Energy (MSE), is the sum of the potential, inertial and latent energy; and the vertical motion. The result shows increases of the WR in the south of the afforested area and north of the footprint, mainly as consequences of increasing in the vertical integrated moist flux convergence (MFC). Explaining this mechanism in terms of MSE shows that although the forest area become cooler and stabilizes the atmospheric column, its shift and weaken the African Easterly Jet enable the penetration of additional humidity to increase the MFC. On the other hand positive MSE observed over the northern footprint area mainly as a results of increasing the leant energy (e.g. humidity). Over all the result shows a self-sustainable system, where water is recharged to the atmosphere through ET, supported by the convergence process, as can be seen over the west part of the Sahel. As a consequence the forest system is not reliant on external water alone and also uses recycled water from its own ET to increase precipitation.

Exploring antismoking ads: appeals, themes, and consequences.

PubMed

Beaudoin, Christopher E

2002-01-01

In this study we seek a descriptive understanding of antismoking television advertising in light of the problem cigarette consumption poses for society today. We establish relationships between ad characteristics and whether ads have a youth or adult orientation, based on a content analysis of 197 antismoking television advertisements produced between 1991 and 1999. The study finds that youth-oriented ads have youth characters, sociability, and humor as common appeals, and social and short-term consequences. In contrast, adult-oriented ads relied on fear appeals and long-term, health-related consequences.

Short-Term Medical Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident: Lessons for the Future

PubMed Central

Gale, Robert Peter

1988-01-01

The author of this article discusses the world's most serious nuclear accident to date: the Chernobyl nuclear accident of April 1986. His major focus is on the short-term medical consequences of the accident, including reduction of exposure to persons at risk, evaluation of persons potentially affected, dosimetry, and specific medical interventions. PMID:21253129

Faecal contamination of drinking water in a Brazilian shanty town: importance of household storage and new human faecal marker testing.

PubMed

Copeland, Curtis C; Beers, Benjamin B; Thompson, Meghan R; Fitzgerald, Relana P; Barrett, Leah J; Sevilleja, Jesus E; Alencar, Sayonara; Lima, Aldo A M; Guerrant, Richard L

2009-06-01

Worldwide, contaminated drinking water poses a major health threat, particularly to child development. Diarrhoea represents a large part of the water-related disease burden and enteric infections have been linked to nutritional and growth shortfalls as well as long-term physical and cognitive impairment in children. Previous studies detailed the frequency of infection and the consequences for child health in a shanty town in north-east Brazil. To determine the frequency of contaminated water, we measured faecal contamination in primary drinking water samples from 231 randomly selected households. Risk for contamination was compared across source and storage types. Nearly a third of the study households (70/231: 30.3%) had contaminated drinking water; the source with the highest frequency of contamination was well water (23/24: 95.8%). For tap water, the type of storage had a significant effect on the susceptibility to contamination (chi(2) = 12.090; p = 0.007). The observed pattern of contamination demonstrated the relative potential contributions of both source and storage. With evidence that supports the inclusion of source and storage in water quality surveys, this study, like others, suggests that contaminated drinking water in storage vessels may be an important factor for the documented diarrhoea disease burden in the Brazilian shanty town.

[Estimation of urban non-point source pollution loading and its factor analysis in the Pearl River Delta].

PubMed

Liao, Yi-Shan; Zhuo, Mu-Ning; Li, Ding-Qiang; Guo, Tai-Long

2013-08-01

In the Pearl Delta region, urban rivers have been seriously polluted, and the input of non-point source pollution materials, such as chemical oxygen demand (COD), into rivers cannot be neglected. During 2009-2010, the water qualities at eight different catchments in the Fenjiang River of Foshan city were monitored, and the COD loads for eight rivulet sewages were calculated in respect of different rainfall conditions. Interesting results were concluded in our paper. The rainfall and landuse type played important roles in the COD loading, with greater influence of rainfall than landuse type. Consequently, a COD loading formula was constructed that was defined as a function of runoff and landuse type that were derived SCS model and land use map. Loading of COD could be evaluated and predicted with the constructed formula. The mean simulation accuracy for single rainfall event was 75.51%. Long-term simulation accuracy was better than that of single rainfall. In 2009, the estimated COD loading and its loading intensity were 8 053 t and 339 kg x (hm2 x a)(-1), and the industrial land was regarded as the main source of COD pollution area. The severe non-point source pollution such as COD in Fenjiang River must be paid more attention in the future.

A West Virginia case study: does erosion differ between streambanks clustered by the bank assessment of nonpoint source consequences of sediment (BANCS) model parameters?

Treesearch

Abby L. McQueen; Nicolas P. Zegre; Danny L. Welsch

2013-01-01

The integration of factors and processes responsible for streambank erosion is complex. To explore the influence of physical variables on streambank erosion, parameters for the bank assessment of nonpoint source consequences of sediment (BANCS) model were collected on a 1-km reach of Horseshoe Run in Tucker County, West Virginia. Cluster analysis was used to establish...

Getting the lead out: understanding risks in the distribution ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This presentation discusses the importance of the water distribution system as a component of the source-to-tap continuum in public health protection. Issues covered include: understanding source water quality changes and their impacts throughout the system; use of mitigation measures such as filters); and holistic approaches and/or strategies that could be used to avoid unintended consequences of decisions from source to tap. Invited presentation on topics indicated as of interest. With exposure to lead as the context, this presentation discusses the importance of the water distribution system as a component of the source-to-tap continuum in public health protection. Issues covered include: understanding source water quality changes and their impacts throughout the system; use of mitigation measures such as filters); and holistic approaches and/or strategies that could be used to avoid unintended consequences of decisions from source to tap.

Oral sensory nerve damage: Causes and consequences.

PubMed

Snyder, Derek J; Bartoshuk, Linda M

2016-06-01

Oral sensations (i.e., taste, oral somatosensation, retronasal olfaction) are integrated into a composite sense of flavor, which guides dietary choices with long-term health impact. The nerves carrying this input are vulnerable to peripheral damage from multiple sources (e.g., otitis media, tonsillectomy, head injury), and this regional damage can boost sensations elsewhere in the mouth because of central interactions among nerve targets. Mutual inhibition governs this compensatory process, but individual differences lead to variation in whole-mouth outcomes: some individuals are unaffected, others experience severe loss, and some encounter sensory increases that may (if experienced early in life) elevate sweet-fat palatability and body mass. Phantom taste, touch, or pain sensations (e.g., burning mouth syndrome) may also occur, particularly in those expressing the most taste buds. To identify and treat these conditions effectively, emerging clinical tests measure regional vs. whole-mouth sensation, stimulated vs. phantom cues, and oral anatomy. Scaling methods allowing valid group comparisons have strongly aided these efforts. Overall, advances in measuring oral sensory function in health and disease show promise for understanding the varied clinical consequences of nerve damage.

Oral Sensory Nerve Damage: Causes and Consequences

PubMed Central

Snyder, Derek J.; Bartoshuk, Linda M.

2016-01-01

Oral sensations (i.e., taste, oral somatosensation, retronasal olfaction) are integrated into a composite sense of flavor, which guides dietary choices with long-term health impact. The nerves carrying this input are vulnerable to peripheral damage from multiple sources (e.g., otitis media, tonsillectomy, head injury), and this regional damage can boost sensations elsewhere in the mouth because of central interactions among nerve targets. Mutual inhibition governs this compensatory process, but individual differences lead to variation in whole-mouth outcomes: some individuals are unaffected, others experience severe loss, and some encounter sensory increases that may (if experienced early in life) elevate sweet-fat palatability and body mass. Phantom taste, touch, or pain sensations (e.g., burning mouth syndrome) may also occur, particularly in those expressing the most taste buds. To identify and treat these conditions effectively, emerging clinical tests measure regional vs. whole-mouth sensation, stimulated vs. phantom cues, and oral anatomy. Scaling methods allowing valid group comparisons have strongly aided these efforts. Overall, advances in measuring oral sensory function in health and disease show promise for understanding the varied clinical consequences of nerve damage. PMID:27511471

Comparative Evaluation of Biomass Power Generation Systems in China Using Hybrid Life Cycle Inventory Analysis

PubMed Central

Liu, Huacai; Yin, Xiuli; Wu, Chuangzhi

2014-01-01

There has been a rapid growth in using agricultural residues as an energy source to generate electricity in China. Biomass power generation (BPG) systems may vary significantly in technology, scale, and feedstock and consequently in their performances. A comparative evaluation of five typical BPG systems has been conducted in this study through a hybrid life cycle inventory (LCI) approach. Results show that requirements of fossil energy savings, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, as well as emission reductions of SO2 and NOx, can be best met by the BPG systems. The cofiring systems were found to behave better than the biomass-only fired system and the biomass gasification systems in terms of energy savings and GHG emission reductions. Comparing with results of conventional process-base LCI, an important aspect to note is the significant contribution of infrastructure, equipment, and maintenance of the plant, which require the input of various types of materials, fuels, services, and the consequent GHG emissions. The results demonstrate characteristics and differences of BPG systems and help identify critical opportunities for biomass power development in China. PMID:25383383

Behavioural consequences of child abuse

PubMed Central

Al Odhayani, Abdulaziz; Watson, William J.; Watson, Lindsay

2013-01-01

Abstract Objective To discuss the consequences of abuse on childhood behavioural development, to highlight some behavioural clues that might alert physicians to ongoing child abuse, and to explore the specific role of the family physician in this clinical situation. Sources of information A systematic search was used to review relevant research, clinical review articles, and child protection agency websites. Main message A child’s behaviour is an outward manifestation of inner stability and security. It is a lens through which the family physician can observe the development of the child throughout his or her life. All types of abuse are damaging to children—physically, emotionally, and psychologically—and can cause long-term difficulties with behaviour and mental health development. Family physicians need to be aware of and alert to the indicators of child abuse and neglect so that appropriate interventions can be provided to improve outcomes for those children. Conclusion Child abuse might cause disordered psychological development and behaviour problems. Family physicians have an important role in recognizing behaviour clues that suggest child abuse and in providing help to protect children. PMID:23946022

Comparative evaluation of biomass power generation systems in China using hybrid life cycle inventory analysis.

PubMed

Liu, Huacai; Yin, Xiuli; Wu, Chuangzhi

2014-01-01

There has been a rapid growth in using agricultural residues as an energy source to generate electricity in China. Biomass power generation (BPG) systems may vary significantly in technology, scale, and feedstock and consequently in their performances. A comparative evaluation of five typical BPG systems has been conducted in this study through a hybrid life cycle inventory (LCI) approach. Results show that requirements of fossil energy savings, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions, as well as emission reductions of SO2 and NOx, can be best met by the BPG systems. The cofiring systems were found to behave better than the biomass-only fired system and the biomass gasification systems in terms of energy savings and GHG emission reductions. Comparing with results of conventional process-base LCI, an important aspect to note is the significant contribution of infrastructure, equipment, and maintenance of the plant, which require the input of various types of materials, fuels, services, and the consequent GHG emissions. The results demonstrate characteristics and differences of BPG systems and help identify critical opportunities for biomass power development in China.

Exercise in the Heat. II. Critical Concepts in Rehydration, Exertional Heat Illnesses, and Maximizing Athletic Performance

PubMed Central

Casa, Douglas J.

1999-01-01

Objective: To acquaint athletic trainers with the numerous interrelated components that must be considered when assisting athletes who exercise in hot environments. Useful guidelines to maximize performance and minimize detrimental health consequences are presented. Data Sources: The databases MEDLINE and SPORT Discus were searched from 1980 to 1999, with the terms. “body cooling,” “dehydration,” “exercise,” “heat illnesses,” “heat,” “fluid replacement,” “acclimatization,” “hydration,” “rehydration,” “performance,” and “intravenous,” among others. Data Synthesis: This paper provides an in-depth look at issues regarding physiologic and performance considerations related to rehydration, strategies to maximize rehydration, modes of rehydration, health consequences of exercise in the heat, heat acclimatization, body cooling techniques, and practice and competition modifications. Conclusions/Recommendations: Athletic trainers have a responsibility to ensure that athletes who exercise in hot environments are prepared to do so in an optimal manner and to act properly to avoid the potentially harmful heat illnesses that can result from exercise in the heat. PMID:16558573

Testing the effects of a message framing intervention on intentions towards hearing loss prevention in adolescents.

PubMed

de Bruijn, Gert-Jan; Spaans, Pieter; Jansen, Bastiaan; van't Riet, Jonathan

2016-04-01

Adolescent hearing loss is a public health problem that has eluded effective intervention. A persuasive message strategy was tested for its effectiveness on adolescents' intention to listen to music at a reduced volume. The messages manipulated both type of message frame [positive consequences of listening to music at a reduced volume (gain-framed) versus negative consequences of not listening to music at a reduced volume (loss-framed)] and type of temporal context (short-term versus long-term consequences). Participants were recruited from four vocational and secondary education schools in the Netherlands and message exposure took place online during class hours. Two weeks prior to message exposure, adolescents provided data on intention and risk perception towards hearing loss and use of (digital) music players. After message exposure, 194 adolescents (mean age = 14.71 years, SD = 1.00, 37.8% males) provided immediate follow-up data on intention. Results revealed that intention to listen to music at a reduced volume increased in those exposed to a loss-framed message with short-term consequences. No changes were found in the other conditions. Messages that emphasize negative short-term consequences of not listening to music at a moderate volume have the ability to influence adolescents' intention towards hearing loss prevention. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

CIRMIS Data system. Volume 2. Program listings

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Friedrichs, D.R.

1980-01-01

The Assessment of Effectiveness of Geologic Isolation Systems (AEGIS) Program is developing and applying the methodology for assessing the far-field, long-term post-closure safety of deep geologic nuclear waste repositories. AEGIS is being performed by Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) under contract with the Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation (OWNI) for the Department of Energy (DOE). One task within AEGIS is the development of methodology for analysis of the consequences (water pathway) from loss of repository containment as defined by various release scenarios. Analysis of the long-term, far-field consequences of release scenarios requires the application of numerical codes which simulate the hydrologicmore » systems, model the transport of released radionuclides through the hydrologic systems, model the transport of released radionuclides through the hydrologic systems to the biosphere, and, where applicable, assess the radiological dose to humans. The various input parameters required in the analysis are compiled in data systems. The data are organized and prepared by various input subroutines for utilization by the hydraulic and transport codes. The hydrologic models simulate the groundwater flow systems and provide water flow directions, rates, and velocities as inputs to the transport models. Outputs from the transport models are basically graphs of radionuclide concentration in the groundwater plotted against time. After dilution in the receiving surface-water body (e.g., lake, river, bay), these data are the input source terms for the dose models, if dose assessments are required.The dose models calculate radiation dose to individuals and populations. CIRMIS (Comprehensive Information Retrieval and Model Input Sequence) Data System is a storage and retrieval system for model input and output data, including graphical interpretation and display. This is the second of four volumes of the description of the CIRMIS Data System.« less

Assessment of effectiveness of geologic isolation systems. CIRMIS data system. Volume 4. Driller's logs, stratigraphic cross section and utility routines

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Friedrichs, D.R.

1980-01-01

The Assessment of Effectiveness of Geologic Isolation Systems (AEGIS) Program is developing and applying the methodology for assessing the far-field, long-term post-closure safety of deep geologic nuclear waste repositories. AEGIS is being performed by Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) under contract with the Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation (ONWI) for the Department of Energy (DOE). One task within AEGIS is the development of methodology for analysis of the consequences (water pathway) from loss of repository containment as defined by various release scenarios. Analysis of the long-term, far-field consequences of release scenarios requires the application of numerical codes which simulate the hydrologicmore » systems, model the transport of released radionuclides through the hydrologic systems to the biosphere, and, where applicable, assess the radiological dose to humans. The various input parameters required in the analysis are compiled in data systems. The data are organized and prepared by various input subroutines for use by the hydrologic and transport codes. The hydrologic models simulate the groundwater flow systems and provide water flow directions, rates, and velocities as inputs to the transport models. Outputs from the transport models are basically graphs of radionuclide concentration in the groundwater plotted against time. After dilution in the receiving surface-water body (e.g., lake, river, bay), these data are the input source terms for the dose models, if dose assessments are required. The dose models calculate radiation dose to individuals and populations. CIRMIS (Comprehensive Information Retrieval and Model Input Sequence) Data System is a storage and retrieval system for model input and output data, including graphical interpretation and display. This is the fourth of four volumes of the description of the CIRMIS Data System.« less

Effect of biogas sparging on the performance of bio-hydrogen reactor over a long-term operation.

PubMed

Nualsri, Chatchawin; Kongjan, Prawit; Reungsang, Alissara; Imai, Tsuyoshi

2017-01-01

This study aimed to enhance hydrogen production from sugarcane syrup by biogas sparging. Two-stage continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor were used to produce hydrogen and methane, respectively. Biogas produced from the UASB was used to sparge into the CSTR. Results indicated that sparging with biogas increased the hydrogen production rate (HPR) by 35% (from 17.1 to 23.1 L/L.d) resulted from a reduction in the hydrogen partial pressure. A fluctuation of HPR was observed during a long term monitoring because CO2 in the sparging gas and carbon source in the feedstock were consumed by Enterobacter sp. to produce succinic acid without hydrogen production. Mixed gas released from the CSTR after the sparging can be considered as bio-hythane (H2+CH4). In addition, a continuous sparging biogas into CSTR release a partial pressure in the headspace of the methane reactor. In consequent, the methane production rate is increased.

A modified carrier-to-code leveling method for retrieving ionospheric observables and detecting short-term temporal variability of receiver differential code biases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Baocheng; Teunissen, Peter J. G.; Yuan, Yunbin; Zhang, Xiao; Li, Min

2018-03-01

Sensing the ionosphere with the global positioning system involves two sequential tasks, namely the ionospheric observable retrieval and the ionospheric parameter estimation. A prominent source of error has long been identified as short-term variability in receiver differential code bias (rDCB). We modify the carrier-to-code leveling (CCL), a method commonly used to accomplish the first task, through assuming rDCB to be unlinked in time. Aside from the ionospheric observables, which are affected by, among others, the rDCB at one reference epoch, the Modified CCL (MCCL) can also provide the rDCB offsets with respect to the reference epoch as by-products. Two consequences arise. First, MCCL is capable of excluding the effects of time-varying rDCB from the ionospheric observables, which, in turn, improves the quality of ionospheric parameters of interest. Second, MCCL has significant potential as a means to detect between-epoch fluctuations experienced by rDCB of a single receiver.

Citizenship, human rights, and dementia: Towards a new embodied relational ethic of sexuality.

PubMed

Kontos, Pia; Grigorovich, Alisa; Kontos, Alexis P; Miller, Karen-Lee

2016-05-01

Sexual citizenship and sexual rights scholarship have made important contributions to broadening citizenship and more fully accommodating rights related to sexuality. However, this scholarship has concentrated primarily on the sexuality and intimacy-related needs of younger people and those who are not cognitively impaired. Consequently, it has inadvertently served to marginalize persons living with dementia who reside in long-term residential care settings. We argue that supporting sexual rights for persons with dementia requires a particular human rights ontology for citizenship-one that recognizes that corporeality is a fundamental source of self-expression, interdependence, and reciprocal engagement. This is an ontology that underpins our model of relational citizenship and that grounds our articulation of an ethic of embodied relational sexuality. In our view, this ethic offers important direction for the development of policy, legislation, and clinical guidelines to support sexual rights for persons with dementia in long-term residential care. © The Author(s) 2016.

Effect of biogas sparging on the performance of bio-hydrogen reactor over a long-term operation

PubMed Central

Nualsri, Chatchawin; Kongjan, Prawit; Imai, Tsuyoshi

2017-01-01

This study aimed to enhance hydrogen production from sugarcane syrup by biogas sparging. Two-stage continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor were used to produce hydrogen and methane, respectively. Biogas produced from the UASB was used to sparge into the CSTR. Results indicated that sparging with biogas increased the hydrogen production rate (HPR) by 35% (from 17.1 to 23.1 L/L.d) resulted from a reduction in the hydrogen partial pressure. A fluctuation of HPR was observed during a long term monitoring because CO2 in the sparging gas and carbon source in the feedstock were consumed by Enterobacter sp. to produce succinic acid without hydrogen production. Mixed gas released from the CSTR after the sparging can be considered as bio-hythane (H2+CH4). In addition, a continuous sparging biogas into CSTR release a partial pressure in the headspace of the methane reactor. In consequent, the methane production rate is increased. PMID:28207755

Laboratory investigations: Low Earth orbit environment chemistry with spacecraft surfaces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cross, Jon B.

1990-01-01

Long-term space operations that require exposure of material to the low earth orbit (LEO) environment must take into account the effects of this highly oxidative atmosphere on material properties and the possible contamination of the spacecraft surroundings. Ground-based laboratory experiments at Los Alamos using a newly developed hyperthermal atomic oxygen (AO) source have shown that not only are hydrocarbon based materials effected but that inorganic materials such as MoS2 are also oxidized and that thin protective coatings such as Al2O3 can be breached, producing oxidation of the underlying substrate material. Gas-phase reaction products, such as SO2 from oxidation of MoS2 and CO and CO2 from hydrocarbon materials, have been detected and have consequences in terms of spacecraft contamination. Energy loss through gas-surface collisions causing spacecraft drag has been measured for a few select surfaces and has been found to be highly dependent on the surface reactivity.

Microbial biogeochemistry of uranium mill tailings

USGS Publications Warehouse

Landa, Edward R.

2005-01-01

Uranium mill tailings (UMT) are the crushed ore residues from the extraction of uranium (U) from ores. Among the radioactive wastes associated with the nuclear fuel cycle, UMT are unique in terms of their volume and their limited isolation from the surficial environment. For this latter reason, their management and long-term fate has many interfaces with environmental microbial communities and processes. The interactions of microorganisms with UMT have been shown to be diverse and with significant consequences for radionuclide mobility and bioremediation. These radionuclides are associated with the U-decay series. The addition of organic carbon and phosphate is required to initiate the reduction of the U present in the groundwater down gradient of the mills. Investigations on sediment and water from the U-contaminated aquifer, indicates that the addition of a carbon source stimulates the rate of U removal by microbial reduction. Moreover, most attention with respect to passive or engineered removal of U from groundwaters focuses on iron-reducing and sulfate-reducing bacteria.

A Disorder of Executive Function and Its Role in Language Processing

PubMed Central

Martin, Randi C.; Allen, Corinne M.

2014-01-01

R. Martin and colleagues have proposed separate stores for the maintenance of phonological and semantic information in short-term memory. Evidence from patients with aphasia has shown that damage to these separable buffers has specific consequences for language comprehension and production, suggesting an interdependence between language and memory systems. This article discusses recent research on aphasic patients with limited-capacity short-term memories (STMs) and reviews evidence suggesting that deficits in retaining semantic information in STM may be caused by a disorder in the executive control process of inhibition, specific to verbal representations. In contrast, a phonological STM deficit may be due to overly rapid decay. In semantic STM deficits, it is hypothesized that the inhibitory deficit produces difficulty inhibiting irrelevant verbal representations, which may lead to excessive interference. In turn, the excessive interference associated with semantic STM deficits has implications for single-word and sentence processing, and it may be the source of the reduced STM capacity shown by these patients. PMID:18720317

The role and requirements of digestible dietary carbohydrates in infants and toddlers

PubMed Central

Stephen, A; Alles, M; de Graaf, C; Fleith, M; Hadjilucas, E; Isaacs, E; Maffeis, C; Zeinstra, G; Matthys, C; Gil, A

2012-01-01

Digestible carbohydrates are one of the main sources of dietary energy in infancy and childhood and are essential for growth and development. The aim of this narrative review is to outline the intakes of digestible carbohydrates and their role in health and disease, including the development of food preferences, as well the consequences of excess carbohydrate. Key experts in these fields provided up-to-date reviews of the literature. A search of available information on dietary intakes of children below the age of 4 years was conducted from 1985 up to 2010. Articles and reports including information about sugars and/or starch intakes were selected. A number of factors limit the ability to obtain an overall picture of carbohydrate intakes and food sources in this age group. These include small numbers of intake studies, differing approaches to analysing carbohydrate, a variety of terms used to describe sugars intakes and a dearth of information about starch intakes. Data suggest that sweet taste is preferred in infancy and later food choices. There are few established adverse consequences of high intakes of digestible carbohydrate for young children. The greatest evidence is for dental caries, although this is influenced by high intake frequency and poor oral hygiene. Evidence for detrimental effects on nutrient dilution, obesity, diabetes or cognition is limited. In infants, minimum carbohydrate (mainly lactose) intake should be 40% of total energy, gradually increasing to 55% energy by the age of 2 years. PMID:22473042

2009 AERA Distinguished Lecture: Causes and Consequences of Cognitive Functioning across the Life Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hauser, Robert M.

2010-01-01

Research on variation in cognitive abilities has focused largely on their genetic or experiential sources and on their economic consequences. This article takes a broader look at the consequences of cognitive ability--IQ--across the life course. Contrary to received wisdom, the effects of IQ on economic success are almost entirely mediated by…

Coherent Imaging at 2.4 THz with a CW Quantum Cascade Laser Transmitter

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-01-01

of the source, or signal bandwidth, with consequent improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio. Image data obtained with the system will be...reciprocal of the source, or signal bandwidth, with consequent improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio. Image data obtained with the system will be...b) 2.4 THz image of the medal. The words “Boston Athletic Association” and the unicorn are well-resolved. However, the words “113 Boston Marathon

[French general practitioners and electromagnetic fields].

PubMed

Lambrozo, Jacques; Souques, Martine; Bourg, Fabrice; Guillaume, Xavier; Perrin, Anne

2013-05-01

To assess the perception of risk of general practitioners (GPs) about electromagnetic fields (EMF), their sources of information, as well as their patients' level of concern. Six hundred French GPs were selected according to the quotas method. They were asked to answer 24 items via an electronic questionnaire using the Computer-Assisted Web Interviewing (CAWI) method. The GPs know the main EMF sources: cell phone towers, cell phones, power-lines, microwave ovens and WiFi networks. Patients mostly complain or worry about the first three sources and ask their GP for information about these. GPs themselves search for information in the mainstream media rather than in the usual scientific and medical press. As a consequence, their knowledge about potential risks of EMF is deemed rather crude. The GPs are sensitive to environmental concerns, particularly regarding EMF exposure. However, according to the results analysis, they do not have the same approach because of an obvious lack of mastery in a complex and poorly informed situation. A serious educational effort is essential and would be welcomed by practitioners, who are aware of their responsibilities in terms of counseling, diagnosis and care. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Health and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals pollution in an antimony mining region: a case study from South China.

PubMed

Fei, Jiang-Chi; Min, Xiao-Bo; Wang, Zhen-Xing; Pang, Zhi-Hua; Liang, Yan-Jie; Ke, Yong

2017-12-01

In recent years, international research on the toxicity of the heavy metal, antimony, has gradually changed focus from early medical and pharmacological toxicology to environmental toxicology and ecotoxicology. However, little research has been conducted for sources identification and risk management of heavy metals pollution by long-term antimony mining activities. In this study, a large number of investigations were conducted on the temporal and spatial distribution of antimony and related heavy metal contaminants (lead, zinc, and arsenic), as well as on the exposure risks for the population for the Yuxi river basin in the Hunan province, China. The scope of the investigations included mine water, waste rock, tailings, agricultural soil, surface water, river sediments, and groundwater sources of drinking water. Health and ecological risks from exposure to heavy metal pollution were evaluated. The main pollution sources of heavy metals in the Yuxi River basin were analyzed. Remediation programs and risk management strategies for heavy metal pollution were consequently proposed. This article provides a scientific basis for the risk assessment and management of heavy metal pollution caused by antimony basin ore mining.

Face-to-Face versus Distance Learning: Psychological Consequences and Practical Implications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kahl, Thomas N.; Cropley, Arthur J.

1986-01-01

Summarizes differences between face-to-face and distance learners at Fernuniversitat (West Germany) in terms of demographics, motivation, study conditions, and personal consequences, in order to provide some empirically derived insights into the psychological consequences of distance learning for learners. (MBR)

Effects of topography and crustal heterogeneities on the source estimation of LP event at Kilauea volcano

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cesca, S.; Battaglia, J.; Dahm, T.; Tessmer, E.; Heimann, S.; Okubo, P.

2008-01-01

The main goal of this study is to improve the modelling of the source mechanism associated with the generation of long period (LP) signals in volcanic areas. Our intent is to evaluate the effects that detailed structural features of the volcanic models play in the generation of LP signal and the consequent retrieval of LP source characteristics. In particular, effects associated with the presence of topography and crustal heterogeneities are here studied in detail. We focus our study on a LP event observed at Kilauea volcano, Hawaii, in 2001 May. A detailed analysis of this event and its source modelling is accompanied by a set of synthetic tests, which aim to evaluate the effects of topography and the presence of low velocity shallow layers in the source region. The forward problem of Green's function generation is solved numerically following a pseudo-spectral approach, assuming different 3-D models. The inversion is done in the frequency domain and the resulting source mechanism is represented by the sum of two time-dependent terms: a full moment tensor and a single force. Synthetic tests show how characteristic velocity structures, associated with shallow sources, may be partially responsible for the generation of the observed long-lasting ringing waveforms. When applying the inversion technique to Kilauea LP data set, inversions carried out for different crustal models led to very similar source geometries, indicating a subhorizontal cracks. On the other hand, the source time function and its duration are significantly different for different models. These results support the indication of a strong influence of crustal layering on the generation of the LP signal, while the assumption of homogeneous velocity model may bring to misleading results. ?? 2008 The Authors Journal compilation ?? 2008 RAS.

Fukushima Daiichi Radionuclide Inventories

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cardoni, Jeffrey N.; Jankovsky, Zachary Kyle

Radionuclide inventories are generated to permit detailed analyses of the Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns. This is necessary information for severe accident calculations, dose calculations, and source term and consequence analyses. Inventories are calculated using SCALE6 and compared to values predicted by international researchers supporting the OECD/NEA's Benchmark Study on the Accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (BSAF). Both sets of inventory information are acceptable for best-estimate analyses of the Fukushima reactors. Consistent nuclear information for severe accident codes, including radionuclide class masses and core decay powers, are also derived from the SCALE6 analyses. Key nuclide activity ratios are calculated asmore » functions of burnup and nuclear data in order to explore the utility for nuclear forensics and support future decommissioning efforts.« less

‘Her body [was] like a hard-worked machine’: Women’s work and disability in coalfields literature, 1880-1950

PubMed Central

Jones, Alexandra

2018-01-01

This essay considers the representation of women’s work and disability in British coalfields literature in the period 1880-1950. Industrial settings are a rich source for literature concerned with bodily health, injury and disability and offer insights into the gendering of the working body whether male or female. Situating this largely realist body of novels, stories and plays in its historical context, this article will focus on intersections between work, class and gender. It shows how the vital, but unpaid, work of women in domestic labour was depicted as an extension of the industrial machine, which had clear consequences in terms of high mortality and morbidity rates amongst women. PMID:29333333

Helping pregnant teenagers.

PubMed Central

Bluestein, D; Starling, M E

1994-01-01

Teenagers who are pregnant face many difficult issues, and counseling by physicians can be an important source of help. We suggest guidelines for this counseling, beginning with a review of the scope and consequences of adolescent pregnancy. Communication strategies should be aimed at building rapport with techniques such as maintaining confidentiality, avoiding judgmental stances, and gearing communication to cognitive maturity. Techniques for exploring family relationships are useful because these relationships are key influences on subsequent decisions and behaviors. We discuss topics related to abortion and childbearing, such as safety, facilitation of balanced decision making, the use of prenatal care, and the formulation of long-term plans. Physicians who can effectively discuss these topics can help pregnant teenagers make informed decisions and improve their prospects for the future. PMID:7941531

Stereotype Threat.

PubMed

Spencer, Steven J; Logel, Christine; Davies, Paul G

2016-01-01

When members of a stigmatized group find themselves in a situation where negative stereotypes provide a possible framework for interpreting their behavior, the risk of being judged in light of those stereotypes can elicit a disruptive state that undermines performance and aspirations in that domain. This situational predicament, termed stereotype threat, continues to be an intensely debated and researched topic in educational, social, and organizational psychology. In this review, we explore the various sources of stereotype threat, the mechanisms underlying stereotype-threat effects (both mediators and moderators), and the consequences of this situational predicament, as well as the means through which society and stigmatized individuals can overcome the insidious effects of stereotype threat. Ultimately, we hope this review alleviates some of the confusion surrounding stereotype threat while also sparking further research and debate.

Children and wives of deceased veterans--pride and suffering.

PubMed

Gruden, V; Gruden, Z; Gruden, V

1999-06-01

A widow is a women who lost her partner, Separation is what happened to her. Every separation is a big trauma and a possible source of psychopathology. The widow's children have experienced trauma as well, with all known consequences of separation. Admixture of pride partially reduces the intensity of frustration. However, this pride will soon lead to the sense of guilt and auto-aggressive component becomes dominant. Eighty nine widows, members of the Club "April 3, 1992" in Valpovo, were examined by the means of a questionnaire. Due to the widow's anxiety, depression and thinking about their own death and children's psychosomatic disturbances there is the imperative of the long-term psychotherapeutic work with them which is aimed at the correction of possible psychopathology.

Child sexual abuse: consequences and implications.

PubMed

Hornor, Gail

2010-01-01

Sexual abuse is a problem of epidemic proportions in the United States. Given the sheer numbers of sexually abused children, it is vital for pediatric nurse practitioners to understand both short-term and long-term consequences of sexual abuse. Understanding consequences of sexual abuse can assist the pediatric nurse practitioner in anticipating the physical and mental health needs of patients and also may assist in the identification of sexual abuse victims. Sexual abuse typically does not occur in isolation. Implications for practice will be discussed. Copyright © 2010 National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Focus Groups of Parents and Teens Help Develop Messages to Prevent Early Marijuana Use in the Context of Legal Retail Sales.

PubMed

Skinner, Martie L; Haggerty, Kevin P; Casey-Goldstein, Mary; Thompson, Ronald W; Buddenberg, Laura; Mason, W Alex

2017-02-23

The changes in Washington State and Colorado marijuana laws call for the development of new brief family-focused adolescent marijuana use preventive interventions that are relevant for and tailored to the context of legalization for retail sale. To that end, focus groups with parents and teens were conducted to find out about their concerns and needs in the context of legalization. Six semi-structured focus groups (3 with parents, 3 with teens) were conducted in Washington State in 2013 related to consequences of teen marijuana use and messages that would be effective in helping to prevent teens from using marijuana in the context of legal adult use. A total of 33 teens and 35 parents participated. Three primary themes were common to these parents and teens: the negative consequences of marijuana use during adolescence on mental, physical, and social health; the need for more or better information; and the need for information/messages to come from trusted sources. The themes related to potential prevention messages include the use of fear; stories about real people; focusing on short-term consequences; and teens needing alternative activities (something better to do). The results suggest that parents and teens need information about the new retail marijuana legalization law. Teens are open to both information and guidance from parents as long as it is calm and respectful. Firsthand accounts of consequences of marijuana use from peers and adults, rather than threats from authority figures, could hold some promise for persuading teens to avoid marijuana use.

Focus Groups of Parents and Teens Help Develop Messages to Prevent Early Marijuana Use in the Context of Legal Retail Sales

PubMed Central

Skinner, Martie L.; Haggerty, Kevin P.; Casey-Goldstein, Mary; Thompson, Ronald W.; Buddenberg, Laura; Mason, W. Alex

2016-01-01

Purpose The changes in Washington State and Colorado marijuana laws call for the development of new brief family-focused adolescent marijuana use preventive interventions that are relevant for and tailored to the context of legalization for retail sale. To that end, focus groups with parents and teens were conducted to find out about their concerns and needs in the context of legalization. Methods Six semi-structured focus groups (3 with parents, 3 with teens) were conducted in Washington State in 2013 related to consequences of teen marijuana use and messages that would be effective in helping to prevent teens from using marijuana in the context of legal adult use. A total of 33 teens and 35 parents participated. Results Three primary themes were common to these parents and teens: the negative consequences of marijuana use during adolescence on mental, physical, and social health; the need for more or better information; and the need for information/messages to come from trusted sources. The themes related to potential prevention messages include the use of fear; stories about real people; focusing on short-term consequences; and teens needing alternative activities (something better to do). Conclusions The results suggest that parents and teens need information about the new retail marijuana legalization law. Teens are open to both information and guidance from parents as long as it is calm and respectful. Firsthand accounts of consequences of marijuana use from peers and adults, rather than threats from authority figures, could hold some promise for persuading teens to avoid marijuana use. PMID:27768528

Long-Term Cultured Human Term Placenta-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells of Maternal Origin Displays Plasticity

PubMed Central

Sabapathy, Vikram; Ravi, Saranya; Srivastava, Vivi; Srivastava, Alok; Kumar, Sanjay

2012-01-01

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are an alluring therapeutic resource because of their plasticity, immunoregulatory capacity and ease of availability. Human BM-derived MSCs have limited proliferative capability, consequently, it is challenging to use in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. Hence, placental MSCs of maternal origin, which is one of richest sources of MSCs were chosen to establish long-term culture from the cotyledons of full-term human placenta. Flow analysis established bonafied MSCs phenotypic characteristics, staining positively for CD29, CD73, CD90, CD105 and negatively for CD14, CD34, CD45 markers. Pluripotency of the cultured MSCs was assessed by in vitro differentiation towards not only intralineage cells like adipocytes, osteocytes, chondrocytes, and myotubules cells but also translineage differentiated towards pancreatic progenitor cells, neural cells, and retinal cells displaying plasticity. These cells did not significantly alter cell cycle or apoptosis pattern while maintaining the normal karyotype; they also have limited expression of MHC-II antigens and are Naive for stimulatory factors CD80 and CD 86. Further soft agar assays revealed that placental MSCs do not have the ability to form invasive colonies. Taking together all these characteristics into consideration, it indicates that placental MSCs could serve as good candidates for development and progress of stem-cell based therapeutics. PMID:22550499

Both glucocentric and cardiocentric approaches are necessary for a resilient disease such as diabetes.

PubMed

Caramelli, Bruno; Gualandro, Danielle Menosi

2018-03-01

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a complex disease that compromises almost all systems in the human organism. Independently of the intrinsic mechanisms, the source of all consequences of DM is hyperglycemia, a condition associated to intense metabolic changes that will lead to increased morbidity and mortality in the long term. Several different therapeutic hypoglycemic oral agents were developed and significantly facilitated the treatment of hyperglycemia acting at different sites, since patients could take more than one agent. This glucocentric approach was somehow criticized as those hypoglycemic drugs have shown weaker than expected benefits in terms of cardiovascular outcomes and there was a sub use of statins and antihypertensive agents in this population. On the other hand, the catastrophic cardiovascular consequences of hypoglycemia in older adults submitted to tight glycemic control and the results of recent clinical trials that showed impressive reduction in cardiovascular outcomes with less potent antidiabetic agents seem to pave the way to a cardiocentric approach including a lax treatment of DM. Interestingly, the results obtained in recent studies with SGLT2 inhibitors are being mostly attributed to mechanisms other than its hypoglycemic effect in spite of including patients at high cardiovascular risk already taking hypoglycemic agents. Considering the worldwide growing number of patients with diabetes, caregivers must follow a dialectical thinking and choose a synthesis approach where glycemic control is the first and foremost target to be achieved, followed by control of cardiovascular risk factors.

The field becomes the laboratory? The impact of the contextual digital footprint on the discipline of E/HF.

PubMed

Sharples, Sarah; Houghton, Robert J

2017-02-01

The increasing prevalence of affordable digital sensors, ubiquitous networking and computation puts us at what is only the start of a new era in terms of the volume, coverage and granularity of data that we can access about individuals and workplaces. This paper examines the consequences of harnessing this data deluge for the practice of E/HF. Focusing on what we term the 'contextual digital footprint', the trail of data we produce through interactions with many different digital systems over the course of even a single day, we describe three example scenarios (drawn from health care, distributed work and transportation) and examine how access to data directly drawn in considerable volume from the field will potentially change our application of design and evaluation methods. We conclude with a discussion of issues relevant to ethical and professional practice within this new environment including the increased challenges of respecting anonymity, working with n = all data-sets and the central role of ergonomists in promulgating positive uses of data while retaining a systems-based humanistic approach to work design. Practitioner summary: The paper envisions the impact of new and emerging sources of data about people and workplaces upon future practice in E/HF. We identify practical consequences for ergonomics practice, highlight new areas of professional competence likely to be required and flag both the risks and benefits of adopting a more data-driven approach.

The Stereo Electron Spikes and the Interplanetary Magnetic Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jokipii, J. R.; Sheeley, N. R., Jr.; Wang, Y. M.; Giacalone, J.

2016-12-01

A recent paper (Klassen etal, 2015) discussed observations of a spike event of 55-65 keV electrons which occurred very nearly simultaneously at STEREO A and STEREO B, which at the time were separated in longitude by 38 degrees. The authors associated the spikes with a flare at the Sun near the footpoint of the nominal Archimedean spiral magnetic field line passing through STEREO A. The spike at STEREO A was delayed by 2.2 minutes from that at STEREOB. We discuss the observations in terms of a model in which the electrons, accelerated at the flare, propagate without significant scattering along magnetic field lines which separate or diverge as a function of radial distance from the Sun. The near simultaneity of the spikes at the two spacecraft is a natural consequence of this model. We interpret the divergence of the magnetic field lines as a consequence of field-line random walk and flux-tube expansion. We show that the field-line random walk in the absence of flux-tube expansion produces an rms spread of field lines significantly less than that which is required to produce to observed divergence. We find that observations of the solar wind and its source region at the time of the event can account for the observations in terms of propagation along interplanetary magnetic field-lines. Klassen, A., Dresing, N., Gomez-Herrero, R, and Heber, B., A&A 580, A115 (2015) Financial support for NS and YMW was provided by NASA and CNR.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rutqvist, Jonny; Cappa, Frédéric; Rinaldi, Antonio P.

In this paper, we present model simulations of ground motions caused by CO 2 -injection-induced fault reactivation and analyze the results in terms of the potential for damage to ground surface structures and nuisance to the local human population. It is an integrated analysis from cause to consequence, including the whole chain of processes starting from earthquake inception in the subsurface, wave propagation toward the ground surface, and assessment of the consequences of ground vibration. For a small magnitude (M w =3) event at a hypocenter depth of about 1000m, we first used the simulated ground-motion wave train in anmore » inverse analysis to estimate source parameters (moment magnitude, rupture dimensions and stress drop), achieving good agreement and thereby verifying the modeling of the chain of processes from earthquake inception to ground vibration. We then analyzed the ground vibration results in terms of peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV) and frequency content, with comparison to U.S. Geological Survey's instrumental intensity scales for earthquakes and the U.S. Bureau of Mines' vibration criteria for cosmetic damage to buildings, as well as human-perception vibration limits. Our results confirm the appropriateness of using PGV (rather than PGA) and frequency for the evaluation of potential ground-vibration effects on structures and humans from shallow injection-induced seismic events. For the considered synthetic M w =3 event, our analysis showed that the short duration, high frequency ground motion may not cause any significant damage to surface structures, but would certainly be felt by the local population.« less

More than just records: analysing natural history collections for biodiversity planning.

PubMed

Ward, Darren F

2012-01-01

Natural History Collections (NHCs) play a central role as sources of data for biodiversity and conservation. Yet, few NHCs have examined whether the data they contain is adequately representative of local biodiversity. I examined over 15,000 databased records of Hymenoptera from 1435 locations across New Zealand collected over the past 90 years. These records are assessed in terms of their geographical, temporal, and environmental coverage across New Zealand. Results showed that the spatial coverage of records was significantly biased, with the top four areas contributing over 51% of all records. Temporal biases were also evident, with a large proportion (40%) of records collected within a short time period. The lack of repeat visits to specific locations indicated that the current set of NHC records would be of limited use for long-term ecological research. Consequently, analyses and interpretation of historical data, for example, shifts in community composition, would be limited. However, in general, NHC records provided good coverage of the diversity of New Zealand habitats and climatic environments, although fewer NHC records were represented at cooler temperatures (<5°C) and the highest rainfalls (>5000 mm/yr). Analyses of NHCs can be greatly enhanced by using simple techniques that examine collection records in terms of environmental and geographical space. NHCs that initiate a systematic sampling strategy will provide higher quality data for biodiversity research than ad hoc or point samples, as is currently the norm. Although NHCs provide a rich source of information they could be far better utilised in a range of large-scale ecological and conservation studies.

More Than Just Records: Analysing Natural History Collections for Biodiversity Planning

PubMed Central

Ward, Darren F.

2012-01-01

Natural History Collections (NHCs) play a central role as sources of data for biodiversity and conservation. Yet, few NHCs have examined whether the data they contain is adequately representative of local biodiversity. I examined over 15,000 databased records of Hymenoptera from 1435 locations across New Zealand collected over the past 90 years. These records are assessed in terms of their geographical, temporal, and environmental coverage across New Zealand. Results showed that the spatial coverage of records was significantly biased, with the top four areas contributing over 51% of all records. Temporal biases were also evident, with a large proportion (40%) of records collected within a short time period. The lack of repeat visits to specific locations indicated that the current set of NHC records would be of limited use for long-term ecological research. Consequently, analyses and interpretation of historical data, for example, shifts in community composition, would be limited. However, in general, NHC records provided good coverage of the diversity of New Zealand habitats and climatic environments, although fewer NHC records were represented at cooler temperatures (<5°C) and the highest rainfalls (>5000 mm/yr). Analyses of NHCs can be greatly enhanced by using simple techniques that examine collection records in terms of environmental and geographical space. NHCs that initiate a systematic sampling strategy will provide higher quality data for biodiversity research than ad hoc or point samples, as is currently the norm. Although NHCs provide a rich source of information they could be far better utilised in a range of large-scale ecological and conservation studies. PMID:23185605

Short-, Medium-, and Long-Term Consequences of Poor Infant Health: An Analysis Using Siblings and Twins

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oreopoulos, Philip; Stabile, Mark; Walld, Randy; Roos, Leslie L.

2008-01-01

We use administrative data on a sample of births between 1978 and 1985 to investigate the short-, medium-, and long-term consequences of poor infant health. Our findings offer several advances to the existing literature on the effects of early infant health on subsequent health, education, and labor force attachment. First, we use a large sample…

A Promising Tool to Assess Long Term Public Health Effects of Natural Disasters: Combining Routine Health Survey Data and Geographic Information Systems to Assess Stunting after the 2001 Earthquake in Peru

PubMed Central

Rydberg, Henny; Marrone, Gaetano; Strömdahl, Susanne; von Schreeb, Johan

2015-01-01

Background Research on long-term health effects of earthquakes is scarce, especially in low- and middle-income countries, which are disproportionately affected by disasters. To date, progress in this area has been hampered by the lack of tools to accurately measure these effects. Here, we explored whether long-term public health effects of earthquakes can be assessed using a combination of readily available data sources on public health and geographic distribution of seismic activity. Methods We used childhood stunting as a proxy for public health effects. Data on stunting were attained from Demographic and Health Surveys. Earthquake data were obtained from U.S. Geological Survey’s ShakeMaps, geographic information system-based maps that divide earthquake affected areas into different shaking intensity zones. We combined these two data sources to categorize the surveyed children into different earthquake exposure groups, based on how much their area of residence was affected by the earthquake. We assessed the feasibility of the approach using a real earthquake case – an 8.4 magnitude earthquake that hit southern Peru in 2001. Results and conclusions Our results indicate that the combination of health survey data and disaster data may offer a readily accessible and accurate method for determining the long-term public health consequences of a natural disaster. Our work allowed us to make pre- and post- earthquake comparisons of stunting, an important indicator of the well-being of a society, as well as comparisons between populations with different levels of exposure to the earthquake. Furthermore, the detailed GIS based data provided a precise and objective definition of earthquake exposure. Our approach should be considered in future public health and disaster research exploring the long-term effects of earthquakes and potentially other natural disasters. PMID:26090999

A Promising Tool to Assess Long Term Public Health Effects of Natural Disasters: Combining Routine Health Survey Data and Geographic Information Systems to Assess Stunting after the 2001 Earthquake in Peru.

PubMed

Rydberg, Henny; Marrone, Gaetano; Strömdahl, Susanne; von Schreeb, Johan

2015-01-01

Research on long-term health effects of earthquakes is scarce, especially in low- and middle-income countries, which are disproportionately affected by disasters. To date, progress in this area has been hampered by the lack of tools to accurately measure these effects. Here, we explored whether long-term public health effects of earthquakes can be assessed using a combination of readily available data sources on public health and geographic distribution of seismic activity. We used childhood stunting as a proxy for public health effects. Data on stunting were attained from Demographic and Health Surveys. Earthquake data were obtained from U.S. Geological Survey's ShakeMaps, geographic information system-based maps that divide earthquake affected areas into different shaking intensity zones. We combined these two data sources to categorize the surveyed children into different earthquake exposure groups, based on how much their area of residence was affected by the earthquake. We assessed the feasibility of the approach using a real earthquake case--an 8.4 magnitude earthquake that hit southern Peru in 2001. Our results indicate that the combination of health survey data and disaster data may offer a readily accessible and accurate method for determining the long-term public health consequences of a natural disaster. Our work allowed us to make pre- and post-earthquake comparisons of stunting, an important indicator of the well-being of a society, as well as comparisons between populations with different levels of exposure to the earthquake. Furthermore, the detailed GIS based data provided a precise and objective definition of earthquake exposure. Our approach should be considered in future public health and disaster research exploring the long-term effects of earthquakes and potentially other natural disasters.

Psychological Aspects of Genetic Counselling: A Review of the Experience with Huntington's Disease.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ten Kroode, Herman F. J.; van't Spijker, Adriaan

1997-01-01

Psychological consequences of presymptomatic DNA-testing for Huntington's disease are reviewed. Both carriers and noncarriers experience emotional reactions after disclosure of their test results; however, no long-term adverse emotional consequences have been revealed. Consequences for the family are discussed. Future research should include…

Accuracy-preserving source term quadrature for third-order edge-based discretization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nishikawa, Hiroaki; Liu, Yi

2017-09-01

In this paper, we derive a family of source term quadrature formulas for preserving third-order accuracy of the node-centered edge-based discretization for conservation laws with source terms on arbitrary simplex grids. A three-parameter family of source term quadrature formulas is derived, and as a subset, a one-parameter family of economical formulas is identified that does not require second derivatives of the source term. Among the economical formulas, a unique formula is then derived that does not require gradients of the source term at neighbor nodes, thus leading to a significantly smaller discretization stencil for source terms. All the formulas derived in this paper do not require a boundary closure, and therefore can be directly applied at boundary nodes. Numerical results are presented to demonstrate third-order accuracy at interior and boundary nodes for one-dimensional grids and linear triangular/tetrahedral grids over straight and curved geometries.

Tests and consequences of disk plus halo models of gamma-ray burst sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, I. A.

1995-01-01

The gamma-ray burst observations made by the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) and by previous experiments are still consistent with a combined Galactic disk (or Galactic spiral arm) plus extended Galactic halo model. Testable predictions and consequences of the disk plus halo model are discussed here; tests performed on the expanded BATSE database in the future will constrain the allowed model parameters and may eventually rule out the disk plus halo model. Using examples, it is shown that if the halo has an appropriate edge, BATSE will never detect an anisotropic signal from the halo of the Andromeda galaxy. A prediction of the disk plus halo model is that the fraction of the bursts observed to be in the 'disk' population rises as the detector sensitivity improves. A careful reexamination of the numbers of bursts in the two populations for the pre-BATSE databases could rule out this class of models. Similarly, it is predicted that different satellites will observe different relative numbers of bursts in the two classes for any model in which there are two different spatial distribiutions of the sources, or for models in which there is one spatial distribution of the sources that is sampled to different depths for the two classes. An important consequence of the disk plus halo model is that for the birthrate of the halo sources to be small compared to the birthrate of the disk sources, it is necessary for the halo sources to release many orders of magnitude more energy over their bursting lifetime than the disk sources. The halo bursts must also be much more luminous than the disk bursts; if this disk-halo model is correct, it is necessary to explain why the disk sources do not produce halo-type bursts.

Snacking now or later? Individual differences in following intentions or habits explained by time perspective.

PubMed

Onwezen, M C; Van 't Riet, J; Dagevos, H; Sijtsema, S J; Snoek, H M

2016-12-01

Even when individuals are aware of long-term health effects of their diet, and form healthy intentions, they often engage in relatively unhealthy snacking habits. Some individuals fall back on unhealthy habits more easily than others. We aim to explore whether time perspective can explain why some individuals are more prone to rely on habits and others on intentions. Study 1 (N = 1503) provides a first exploration of the role of time perspective by exploring individual differences in perception of long-term and short-term consequences. In accordance with our hypotheses, Study 1 shows that habits are associated with short-term consequences and intentions with long-term consequences. Study 2 (N = 1497) shows that the effects of habits on snacking behaviour are strengthened by a present time perspective, whereas the effects of intentions on snacking behaviour are strengthened by a future time perspective. These findings imply that there is a fundamental difference in the guiding function of intentions and habits which might explain individual differences in following intentions versus habits. Individuals with a long-term perspective are more inclined to follow intentions and individuals with a short-term perspective are more inclined to follow habits. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

INEEL Subregional Conceptual Model Report Volume 3: Summary of Existing Knowledge of Natural and Anthropogenic Influences on the Release of Contaminants to the Subsurface Environment from Waste Source Terms at the INEEL

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Paul L. Wichlacz

2003-09-01

This source-term summary document is intended to describe the current understanding of contaminant source terms and the conceptual model for potential source-term release to the environment at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), as presented in published INEEL reports. The document presents a generalized conceptual model of the sources of contamination and describes the general categories of source terms, primary waste forms, and factors that affect the release of contaminants from the waste form into the vadose zone and Snake River Plain Aquifer. Where the information has previously been published and is readily available, summaries of the inventorymore » of contaminants are also included. Uncertainties that affect the estimation of the source term release are also discussed where they have been identified by the Source Term Technical Advisory Group. Areas in which additional information are needed (i.e., research needs) are also identified.« less

Short- and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption.

PubMed

Medic, Goran; Wille, Micheline; Hemels, Michiel Eh

2017-01-01

Sleep plays a vital role in brain function and systemic physiology across many body systems. Problems with sleep are widely prevalent and include deficits in quantity and quality of sleep; sleep problems that impact the continuity of sleep are collectively referred to as sleep disruptions. Numerous factors contribute to sleep disruption, ranging from lifestyle and environmental factors to sleep disorders and other medical conditions. Sleep disruptions have substantial adverse short- and long-term health consequences. A literature search was conducted to provide a nonsystematic review of these health consequences (this review was designed to be nonsystematic to better focus on the topics of interest due to the myriad parameters affected by sleep). Sleep disruption is associated with increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, metabolic effects, changes in circadian rhythms, and proinflammatory responses. In otherwise healthy adults, short-term consequences of sleep disruption include increased stress responsivity, somatic pain, reduced quality of life, emotional distress and mood disorders, and cognitive, memory, and performance deficits. For adolescents, psychosocial health, school performance, and risk-taking behaviors are impacted by sleep disruption. Behavioral problems and cognitive functioning are associated with sleep disruption in children. Long-term consequences of sleep disruption in otherwise healthy individuals include hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, weight-related issues, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and colorectal cancer. All-cause mortality is also increased in men with sleep disturbances. For those with underlying medical conditions, sleep disruption may diminish the health-related quality of life of children and adolescents and may worsen the severity of common gastrointestinal disorders. As a result of the potential consequences of sleep disruption, health care professionals should be cognizant of how managing underlying medical conditions may help to optimize sleep continuity and consider prescribing interventions that minimize sleep disruption.

Short- and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption

PubMed Central

Medic, Goran; Wille, Micheline; Hemels, Michiel EH

2017-01-01

Sleep plays a vital role in brain function and systemic physiology across many body systems. Problems with sleep are widely prevalent and include deficits in quantity and quality of sleep; sleep problems that impact the continuity of sleep are collectively referred to as sleep disruptions. Numerous factors contribute to sleep disruption, ranging from lifestyle and environmental factors to sleep disorders and other medical conditions. Sleep disruptions have substantial adverse short- and long-term health consequences. A literature search was conducted to provide a nonsystematic review of these health consequences (this review was designed to be nonsystematic to better focus on the topics of interest due to the myriad parameters affected by sleep). Sleep disruption is associated with increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, metabolic effects, changes in circadian rhythms, and proinflammatory responses. In otherwise healthy adults, short-term consequences of sleep disruption include increased stress responsivity, somatic pain, reduced quality of life, emotional distress and mood disorders, and cognitive, memory, and performance deficits. For adolescents, psychosocial health, school performance, and risk-taking behaviors are impacted by sleep disruption. Behavioral problems and cognitive functioning are associated with sleep disruption in children. Long-term consequences of sleep disruption in otherwise healthy individuals include hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, weight-related issues, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and colorectal cancer. All-cause mortality is also increased in men with sleep disturbances. For those with underlying medical conditions, sleep disruption may diminish the health-related quality of life of children and adolescents and may worsen the severity of common gastrointestinal disorders. As a result of the potential consequences of sleep disruption, health care professionals should be cognizant of how managing underlying medical conditions may help to optimize sleep continuity and consider prescribing interventions that minimize sleep disruption. PMID:28579842

Short- and long-term psychosocial of a single episode of alcoholic intoxication: a cohort study among Dutch adolescents.

PubMed

de Boo, Gerly M; Thijssen, Maartje A; Lasham, Carole; Plötz, Frans B

2016-07-01

The short- and long-term psychological consequences of a single episode of alcohol intoxication in adolescents are unknown. Twenty-four adolescents (12 M, 12 F), mean age 18.3 ± 1.1 years, who had been admitted to the pediatric ward with alcohol intoxication (mean age at admission 15.6 ± 1.1) and thirty-two parents were interviewed on the intoxication episode and the subsequent consequences. This interview took place 2-3 years after the alcohol intoxication. At the same time, all participants completed questionnaires, assessing general and demographic information, detailed information about current alcohol use, present-day health-related quality of life, and psychological well-being. We observed that short-term (<6 months) psychosocial consequences on family life, family rules, friendships, and school were retrospectively judged more neutral and even more positive than negative by adolescents and their parents. Eighty-six percent of all reported changes by adolescents and parents, directly after the intoxication, lasted 6 months or less. At follow-up present-day quality of life was comparable to the norm, social functioning was significantly better and their mental health proved to be within the normal range (no emotional and behavioral problems). Since the intoxication, none of the participants had dropped out of school and their present-day alcohol use was comparable to estimated averages for their age. Short- and long-term psychosocial consequences of a single episode of alcohol intoxication were positively judged by adolescents and their parents. • Alcohol abuse among adolescents is a growing concern both in society and pediatrics. What is new: • This manuscript describes short and long term psychological consequences of a single episode of alcohol intoxication in adolescents.

Long-term Consequences of Finasteride vs Placebo in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial

PubMed Central

Till, Cathee; Thompson, Ian M.; Tangen, Catherine M.; Goodman, Phyllis J.; Wright, Jason D.; Barlow, William E.; Ramsey, Scott D.; Minasian, Lori M.; Hershman, Dawn L.

2016-01-01

Background: Finasteride has been found to reduce the risk of low-grade prostate cancer but to have no impact on overall survival. The long-term adverse and beneficial consequences of finasteride have not been examined. Methods: We used a linkage between data from the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) and Medicare claims. Patients were examined by randomized study arm (finasteride vs placebo for 7 years) for long-term consequences of the intervention, including cardiac, endocrine, and sexual dysfunction, depression, diabetes, and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)–related events. To examine time to events, we used cumulative incidence and Cox regression, adjusting for covariates. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: A total of 13 935 of 18 880 participants (73.8%) in the PCPT were linked to Medicare claims, with median Medicare follow-up assessment time of 16 years from trial registration. There were no differences between finasteride and placebo participants with respect to important baseline factors or amount of Medicare follow-up assessment time. Finasteride patients had a 10% higher risk of new claims for depression (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.10, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01 to 1.19, P = .04) and a 6% lower risk of procedures for BPH-related events (primarily lower urinary tract symptoms; HR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.89 to 1.00, P = .03). No other differences were found in rates of long-term consequences of intervention in the two study arms. Conclusions: Finasteride use is associated with reduced need for procedures for relief of BPH-related events and a modest increase in depression. Overall, there is little need to worry about long-term noncancer consequences of finasteride use in those who use it for treatment of symptomatic BPH, hair growth, or prevention of cancer. PMID:27565902

Long-term fitness consequences of early environment in a long-lived ungulate

PubMed Central

Festa-Bianchet, Marco; Pelletier, Fanie

2017-01-01

Cohort effects can be a major source of heterogeneity and play an important role in population dynamics. Silver-spoon effects, when environmental quality at birth improves future performance regardless of the adult environment, can induce strong lagged responses on population growth. Alternatively, the external predictive adaptive response (PAR) hypothesis predicts that organisms will adjust their developmental trajectory and physiology during early life in anticipation of expected adult conditions but has rarely been assessed in wild species. We used over 40 years of detailed individual monitoring of bighorn ewes (Ovis canadensis) to quantify long-term cohort effects on survival and reproduction. We then tested both the silver-spoon and the PAR hypotheses. Cohort effects involved a strong interaction between birth and current environments: reproduction and survival were lowest for ewes that were born and lived at high population densities. This interaction, however, does not support the PAR hypothesis because individuals with matching high-density birth and adult environments had reduced fitness. Instead, individuals born at high density had overall lower lifetime fitness suggesting a silver-spoon effect. Early-life conditions can induce long-term changes in fitness components, and their effects on cohort fitness vary according to adult environment. PMID:28424347

Measurement of untruncated nuclear spin interactions via zero- to ultralow-field nuclear magnetic resonance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blanchard, J. W.; Sjolander, T. F.; King, J. P.; Ledbetter, M. P.; Levine, E. H.; Bajaj, V. S.; Budker, D.; Pines, A.

2015-12-01

Zero- to ultralow-field nuclear magnetic resonance (ZULF NMR) provides a new regime for the measurement of nuclear spin-spin interactions free from the effects of large magnetic fields, such as truncation of terms that do not commute with the Zeeman Hamiltonian. One such interaction, the magnetic dipole-dipole coupling, is a valuable source of spatial information in NMR, though many terms are unobservable in high-field NMR, and the coupling averages to zero under isotropic molecular tumbling. Under partial alignment, this information is retained in the form of so-called residual dipolar couplings. We report zero- to ultralow-field NMR measurements of residual dipolar couplings in acetonitrile-2-13C aligned in stretched polyvinyl acetate gels. This permits the investigation of dipolar couplings as a perturbation on the indirect spin-spin J coupling in the absence of an applied magnetic field. As a consequence of working at zero magnetic field, we observe terms of the dipole-dipole coupling Hamiltonian that are invisible in conventional high-field NMR. This technique expands the capabilities of zero- to ultralow-field NMR and has potential applications in precision measurement of subtle physical interactions, chemical analysis, and characterization of local mesoscale structure in materials.

How Business Cycles Affect the Healthcare Sector: A Cross-country Investigation.

PubMed

Cleeren, Kathleen; Lamey, Lien; Meyer, Jan-Hinrich; De Ruyter, Ko

2016-07-01

The long-term relationship between the general economy and healthcare expenditures has been extensively researched, to explain differences in healthcare spending between countries, but the midterm (i.e., business cycle) perspective has been overlooked. This study explores business cycle sensitivity in both public and private parts of the healthcare sector across 32 countries. Responses to the business cycle vary notably, both across spending sources and across countries. Whereas in some countries, consumers and/or governments cut back, in others, private and/or public healthcare buyers tend to spend more. We also assess long-term consequences of business cycle sensitivity and show that public cost cutting during economic downturns deflates the mortality rates, whereas private cut backs increase the long-term growth in total healthcare expenditures. Finally, multiple factors help explain variability in cyclical sensitivity. Private cost cuts during economic downturns are smaller in countries with a predominantly publicly funded healthcare system and more preventive public activities. Public cut backs during contractions are smaller in countries that rely more on tax-based resources rather than social health insurances. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Pediatric Concerns Due to Expanded Cannabis Use: Unintended Consequences of Legalization.

PubMed

Wang, George Sam

2017-03-01

An "unintended consequence" of marijuana legalization is the impact on the pediatric population. From prenatal exposure to unintentional childhood exposures, through concerns of adolescence abuse and marijuana use for medicinal indications in children, marijuana exposure can affect pediatric patients at every stage in childhood. Regardless of the stage or reason of exposure, concerns exist about short-term and long-term consequences in a child's physical and mental health. The use of cannabidiol (CBD) may have some benefit for the treatment of epilepsy, but emphasis needs to be on rigorous clinical trials to evaluate efficacy and safety. As more states allow both medical and recreational marijuana, availability and prevalence of use will likely increase and more surveillance and research is needed to evaluate the consequences on the pediatric population.

Comparison of the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents: a review of the environmental impacts.

PubMed

Steinhauser, Georg; Brandl, Alexander; Johnson, Thomas E

2014-02-01

The environmental impacts of the nuclear accidents of Chernobyl and Fukushima are compared. In almost every respect, the consequences of the Chernobyl accident clearly exceeded those of the Fukushima accident. In both accidents, most of the radioactivity released was due to volatile radionuclides (noble gases, iodine, cesium, tellurium). However, the amount of refractory elements (including actinides) emitted in the course of the Chernobyl accident was approximately four orders of magnitude higher than during the Fukushima accident. For Chernobyl, a total release of 5,300 PBq (excluding noble gases) has been established as the most cited source term. For Fukushima, we estimated a total source term of 520 (340-800) PBq. In the course of the Fukushima accident, the majority of the radionuclides (more than 80%) was transported offshore and deposited in the Pacific Ocean. Monitoring campaigns after both accidents reveal that the environmental impact of the Chernobyl accident was much greater than of the Fukushima accident. Both the highly contaminated areas and the evacuated areas are smaller around Fukushima and the projected health effects in Japan are significantly lower than after the Chernobyl accident. This is mainly due to the fact that food safety campaigns and evacuations worked quickly and efficiently after the Fukushima accident. In contrast to Chernobyl, no fatalities due to acute radiation effects occurred in Fukushima. © 2013.

Radiological assessment. A textbook on environmental dose analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Till, J.E.; Meyer, H.R.

1983-09-01

Radiological assessment is the quantitative process of estimating the consequences to humans resulting from the release of radionuclides to the biosphere. It is a multidisciplinary subject requiring the expertise of a number of individuals in order to predict source terms, describe environmental transport, calculate internal and external dose, and extrapolate dose to health effects. Up to this time there has been available no comprehensive book describing, on a uniform and comprehensive level, the techniques and models used in radiological assessment. Radiological Assessment is based on material presented at the 1980 Health Physics Society Summer School held in Seattle, Washington. Themore » material has been expanded and edited to make it comprehensive in scope and useful as a text. Topics covered include (1) source terms for nuclear facilities and Medical and Industrial sites; (2) transport of radionuclides in the atmosphere; (3) transport of radionuclides in surface waters; (4) transport of radionuclides in groundwater; (5) terrestrial and aquatic food chain pathways; (6) reference man; a system for internal dose calculations; (7) internal dosimetry; (8) external dosimetry; (9) models for special-case radionuclides; (10) calculation of health effects in irradiated populations; (11) evaluation of uncertainties in environmental radiological assessment models; (12) regulatory standards for environmental releases of radionuclides; (13) development of computer codes for radiological assessment; and (14) assessment of accidental releases of radionuclides.« less

Meconium proteins as a source of biomarkers for the assessment of the intrauterine environment of the fetus.

PubMed

Lisowska-Myjak, B; Skarżyńska, E; Bakun, M

2018-06-01

Intrauterine environmental factors can be associated with perinatal complications and long-term health outcomes although the underlying mechanisms remain poorly defined. Meconium formed exclusively in utero and passed naturally by a neonate may contain proteins which characterise the intrauterine environment. The aim of the study was proteomic analysis of the composition of meconium proteins and their classification by biological function. Proteomic techniques combining isoelectrofocussing fractionation and LC-MS/MS analysis were used to study the protein composition of a meconium sample obtained by pooling 50 serial meconium portions from 10 healthy full-term neonates. The proteins were classified by function based on the literature search for each protein in the PubMed database. A total of 946 proteins were identified in the meconium, including 430 proteins represented by two or more peptides. When the proteins were classified by their biological function the following were identified: immunoglobulin fragments and enzymatic, neutrophil-derived, structural and fetal intestine-specific proteins. Meconium is a rich source of proteins deposited in the fetal intestine during its development in utero. A better understanding of their specific biological functions in the intrauterine environment may help to identify these proteins which may serve as biomarkers associated with specific clinical conditions/diseases with the possible impact on the fetal development and further health consequences in infants, older children and adults.

Unintended Consequences: New Problems, New Solutions. Contributions From 2015.

PubMed

Koppel, R; Chen, Y

2016-11-10

To select the best of the 2015 published papers on unintended consequences of healthcare information technology (HIT). Literature searches in several areas of scholarship, including IT, human factors, evaluation studies, medical errors, medical informatics, and implementation science. Also, because the specific terms "unintended consequences" were not often included in abstracts and titles, a more nuanced search algorithm was developed. We identified 754 papers that had some empirical research on unintended consequences of HIT. An initial screen of titles and abstracts reduced this to 171 papers of potential interest. We then further filtered out papers that did not meet the following criteria: 1) the paper had to report an original empirical investigation, and 2) the impact reported had to be not negligible, i.e., in quantitative studies, the results related to unintended consequences were statistically significant; and in qualitative studies the relevant themes emerged were prominent. This resulted in 33 papers of which 15 were selected as best paper candidates. Each of these 15 papers was then separately evaluated by four reviewers. The final selection of four papers was made jointly by the external reviewers and the two section editors. There is a growing awareness of the importance of HIT's unintended consequences-be they generated by the HIT vendors, the implementation process, the consultants, the users, or most probably, some combination of the above. There has also been greater creativity in use of data sources, including secondary data (e.g., medical malpractice cases and surveys) and a wider acceptance of mixed methods to identify unintended consequences. Unfortunately, the complexity of causes mitigates the value of recommendations to avoid unwanted outcomes. Suggestions are often contentious rather than obvious, setting-specific, and not universally applicable. "Lessons learned" often take on generalized-and perhaps platitudinous-forms, such as: "plan extra time," "involve all of the stakeholders," "recognize the different needs of different units or disciplines." The greater awareness of these problems, and the increased desire to identify and eliminate them is clearly reflected in the area's growing literature. We are hopeful the topic will receive additional attention and the discipline will improve its ability to identify and address these unexpected and usually adverse outcomes.

Clinically assessed consequences of workplace physical violence.

PubMed

De Puy, Jacqueline; Romain-Glassey, Nathalie; Gut, Melody; Wild, Pascal; Pascal, Wild; Mangin, Patrice; Danuser, Brigitta

2015-02-01

To assess consequences of physical violence at work and identify their predictors. Among the patients in a medicolegal consultation from 2007 to 2010, the subsample of workplace violence victims (n = 185) was identified and contacted again in average 30 months after the assault. Eighty-six victims (47 %) participated. Ordinal logistic regression analyses assessed the effect of 9 potential risk factors on physical, psychological and work consequences summarized in a severity score (0-9). Severity score distribution was as follows: 4+: 14 %; 1-3: 42 %; and 0: 44 %. Initial psychological distress resulting from the violence was a strong predictor (p < 0.001) of the severity score both on work and long-term psychological consequences. Gender and age did not reach significant levels in multivariable analyses even though female victims had overall more severe consequences. Unexpectedly, only among workers whose jobs implied high awareness of the risk of violence, first-time violence was associated with long-term psychological and physical consequences (p = 0.004). Among the factors assessed at follow-up, perceived lack of employers' support or absence of employer was associated with higher values on the severity score. The seven other assessed factors (initial physical injuries; previous experience of violence; preexisting health problems; working alone; internal violence; lack of support from colleagues; and lack of support from family or friends) were not significantly associated with the severity score. Being a victim of workplace violence can result in long-term consequences on health and employment, their severity increases with the seriousness of initial psychological distress. Support from the employer can help prevent negative outcomes.

Job demands and stress reactions in repetitive and uneventful monotony at work.

PubMed

Johansson, G

1989-01-01

Monotonous work has been analyzed from sociological and social psychological perspectives in terms of consequences for job satisfaction, life satisfaction, leisure activities, and health. In this article, a distinction is made between repetitive and uneventful monotony. Psychobiological reactions to these tasks are analyzed and related to possible long-term consequences for health. Strategies for work reform required for the two types of monotony are discussed.

Gender Differences in the Consequences of Divorce: A Study of Multiple Outcomes.

PubMed

Leopold, Thomas

2018-06-01

In this study, I examined gender differences in the consequences of divorce by tracing annual change in 20 outcome measures covering four domains: economic, housing and domestic, health and well-being, and social. I used data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) and fixed-effects panel regression models on a sample of N = 18,030 individuals initially observed in a marital union, N = 1,220 of whom divorced across the observation period (1984-2015). Three main findings emerged from the analysis. First, men were more vulnerable to short-term consequences of divorce for subjective measures of well-being, but postdivorce adaptation alleviated gender differences in these outcomes. Second, a medium-term view on multiple outcomes showed more similarity than differences between women and men. The medium-term consequences of divorce were similar in terms of subjective economic well-being; mental health, physical health, and psychological well-being; residential moves, homeownership, and satisfaction with housework; and chances of repartnering, social integration with friends and relatives, and feelings of loneliness. Third, the key domain in which large and persistent gender differences emerged were women's disproportionate losses in household income and associated increases in their risk of poverty and single parenting. Taken together, these findings suggest that men's disproportionate strain of divorce is transient, whereas women's is chronic.

Food environments of young people: linking individual behaviour to environmental context.

PubMed

Tyrrell, Rachel L; Greenhalgh, Fiona; Hodgson, Susan; Wills, Wendy J; Mathers, John C; Adamson, Ashley J; Lake, Amelia A

2017-03-01

We aimed to identify and characterize the food environments from which young people obtain food and to explore associations between the type of food environment and food intakes. Young people (n = 86, mean age 17 years; combined data of two sequential pilot studies (collected in 2008-09) and a study conducted in 2011-12) recorded in 4-day self-complete food diaries what food they consumed and where food was sourced. Nutrient, fruit and vegetable intake was calculated according to the source of food, categorized using a food environment classification tool. Over 4 days, respondents sourced food from an average of 4.3 different food environments. Home food was used daily and was more favourable in terms of nutrient profile than out-of-home food. Food sourced from specialist outlets, convenience stores and retail bakers had the highest energy density. Food from retail bakers and 'takeaway and fast food' outlets were the richest sources of fat while vending machines and convenience stores had the highest percentage of energy from sugar. This work provides details of 'where' young people obtain food and the nutritional consequences of choosing those food environments. While home food was a significant contributor to total dietary intake, food was obtained from a broad range of environments; particularly takeaway, fast food and education establishments. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Source-receptor probability of atmospheric long-distance dispersal of viruses to Israel from the eastern Mediterranean area.

PubMed

Klausner, Z; Klement, E; Fattal, E

2018-02-01

Viruses that affect the health of humans and farm animals can spread over long distances via atmospheric mechanisms. The phenomenon of atmospheric long-distance dispersal (LDD) is associated with severe consequences because it may introduce pathogens into new areas. The introduction of new pathogens to Israel was attributed to LDD events numerous times. This provided the motivation for this study which is aimed to identify all the locations in the eastern Mediterranean that may serve as sources for pathogen incursion into Israel via LDD. This aim was achieved by calculating source-receptor relationship probability maps. These maps describe the probability that an infected vector or viral aerosol, once airborne, will have an atmospheric route that can transport it to a distant location. The resultant probability maps demonstrate a seasonal tendency in the probability of specific areas to serve as sources for pathogen LDD into Israel. Specifically, Cyprus' season is the summer; southern Turkey and the Greek islands of Crete, Karpathos and Rhodes are associated with spring and summer; lower Egypt and Jordan may serve as sources all year round, except the summer months. The method used in this study can easily be implemented to any other geographic region. The importance of this study is the ability to provide a climatologically valid and accurate risk assessment tool to support long-term decisions regarding preparatory actions for future outbreaks long before a specific outbreak occurs. © 2017 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

The effects of majority versus minority source status on persuasion: a self-validation analysis.

PubMed

Horcajo, Javier; Petty, Richard E; Briñol, Pablo

2010-09-01

The present research proposes that sources in the numerical majority (vs. minority) can affect persuasion by influencing the confidence with which people hold their thoughts in response to the persuasive message. Participants received a persuasive message composed of either strong or weak arguments that was presented by a majority or a minority source. Consistent with the self-validation hypothesis, we predicted and found that the majority (vs. minority) status of the source increased the confidence with which recipients held their thoughts. As a consequence, majority (vs. minority) sources increased argument quality effects in persuasion when source status information followed message processing (Experiment 1). In contrast, when the information regarding source status preceded (rather than followed) the persuasive message, it validated the perception of the position advocated, reducing message processing. As a consequence of having more confidence in the position advocated before receiving the message, majority (vs. minority) sources reduced argument quality effects in persuasion (Experiment 2). Finally, Experiment 3 isolated the timing of the source status manipulation, revealing that sources in the numerical majority (vs. minority) can increase or decrease persuasion to strong arguments depending on whether source status is introduced before or after processing the message. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Risk management for surgical energy-driven devices used in the operating room.

PubMed

Borie, F; Mathonnet, M; Deleuze, A; Millat, B; Gravié, J-F; Johanet, H; Lesage, J-P; Gugenheim, J

2017-12-27

Complications related to energy sources in the operating room are not well-recognized or published, despite occasionally dramatic consequences for the patient and the responsible surgeon. The goal of this study was to evaluate the risks and consequences related to use of energy sources in the operating room. Between 2009 and 2015, 876 adverse events related to health care (AERHC) linked to energy sources in the operating room were declared in the French experience feedback data base "REX". We performed a descriptive analysis of these AERHC and analyzed the root causes of these events and of the indications for non-elective repeat operations, for each energy source. Five different energy sources were used, producing 876 declared AERHC: monopolar electrocoagulation: 614 (70%) AERHC, advanced bipolar coagulation (thermofusion): 137 (16%) AERHC, ultrasonic devices: 69 (8%) AERHC, traditional bipolar electrocoagulation: 32 AERHC, and cold light: 24 AERHC. The adverse events reported were skin burns (27.5% of AERHC), insulation defects (16% of AERHC), visceral burns or perforation (30% of AERHC), fires (11% of AERHC), bleeding (7.5% of AERHC) and misuse or miscellaneous causes (8% of AERHC). For the five energy sources, the root causes were essentially misuse, imperfect training and/or cost-related reasons regarding equipment purchase or maintenance. One hundred and forty-six non-elective procedures (17% of AERHC) were performed for complications related to the use of energy sources in the operating room. This study illustrates the risks related to the use of energy sources on the OR and their consequences. Most cases were related to persistent misunderstanding of appropriate usage within the medical and paramedical teams, but complications are also related to administrative decisions concerning the purchase and maintenance of these devices. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

A novel integrated approach for the hazardous radioactive dust source terms estimation in future nuclear fusion power plants.

PubMed

Poggi, L A; Malizia, A; Ciparisse, J F; Gaudio, P

2016-10-01

An open issue still under investigation by several international entities working on the safety and security field for the foreseen nuclear fusion reactors is the estimation of source terms that are a hazard for the operators and public, and for the machine itself in terms of efficiency and integrity in case of severe accident scenarios. Source term estimation is a crucial key safety issue to be addressed in the future reactors safety assessments, and the estimates available at the time are not sufficiently satisfactory. The lack of neutronic data along with the insufficiently accurate methodologies used until now, calls for an integrated methodology for source term estimation that can provide predictions with an adequate accuracy. This work proposes a complete methodology to estimate dust source terms starting from a broad information gathering. The wide number of parameters that can influence dust source term production is reduced with statistical tools using a combination of screening, sensitivity analysis, and uncertainty analysis. Finally, a preliminary and simplified methodology for dust source term production prediction for future devices is presented.

Amphetamine Challenge: A Marker of Brain Function That Mediates Risk for Drug and Alcohol Abuse

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-08-05

sexual behavior, even if the long-term consequences of those behaviors are harmful. In this study the relationship between the response to a stimulant... sexual behavior, even if the long-term consequences may be harmful. When these tendencies occur together, individuals are more likely to try...this characteristic is sometimes associated with poor control. One possibility is that the same neural system—namely, the mesolimbic dopamine system

What Is so Special about School Shooters? Commentary on: "Bullying, Romantic Rejection, and Conflicts with Teachers: The Crucial Role of Social Dynamics in the Development of School Shootings--A Systematic Review"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allroggen, Marc

2014-01-01

Social support and social relationships are essential for psychological and physical health. Social rejection, on the other hand, is associated with increased stress and negative long and short-term consequences for a person's well-being. The long-term consequences of ostracism include the development of internalizing and externalizing psychiatric…

A geologic approach to field methods in fluvial geomorphology

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fitzpatrick, Faith A.; Thornbush, Mary J; Allen, Casey D; Fitzpatrick, Faith A.

2014-01-01

A geologic approach to field methods in fluvial geomorphology is useful for understanding causes and consequences of past, present, and possible future perturbations in river behavior and floodplain dynamics. Field methods include characterizing river planform and morphology changes and floodplain sedimentary sequences over long periods of time along a longitudinal river continuum. Techniques include topographic and bathymetric surveying of fluvial landforms in valley bottoms and describing floodplain sedimentary sequences through coring, trenching, and examining pits and exposures. Historical sediment budgets that include floodplain sedimentary records can characterize past and present sources and sinks of sediment along a longitudinal river continuum. Describing paleochannels and floodplain vertical accretion deposits, estimating long-term sedimentation rates, and constructing historical sediment budgets can assist in management of aquatic resources, habitat, sedimentation, and flooding issues.

Modelling nonlinearity in piezoceramic transducers: From equations to nonlinear equivalent circuits.

PubMed

Parenthoine, D; Tran-Huu-Hue, L-P; Haumesser, L; Vander Meulen, F; Lematre, M; Lethiecq, M

2011-02-01

Quadratic nonlinear equations of a piezoelectric element under the assumptions of 1D vibration and weak nonlinearity are derived by the perturbation theory. It is shown that the nonlinear response can be represented by controlled sources that are added to the classical hexapole used to model piezoelectric ultrasonic transducers. As a consequence, equivalent electrical circuits can be used to predict the nonlinear response of a transducer taking into account the acoustic loads on the rear and front faces. A generalisation of nonlinear equivalent electrical circuits to cases including passive layers and propagation media is then proposed. Experimental results, in terms of second harmonic generation, on a coupled resonator are compared to theoretical calculations from the proposed model. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

EMP/GMD Phase 0 Report, A Review of EMP Hazard Environments and Impacts

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rivera, Michael Kelly; Backhaus, Scott N.; Woodroffe, Jesse Richard

The purpose of this study is to determine methods to analyze the hazard environments, impacts, and consequences of different sources of electromagnetic pulse (EMP), including nuclear electromagnetic pulse (NEMP) and geomagnetic disturbance (GMD) on the U.S. electric power infrastructures and to use those methods to determine EMP and GMD events of concern. The study will be carried out in four phases, each of which will provide higher levels of analytic fidelity that focuses on those EMP/GMD sources and events that create significant consequences, or whose consequences are sufficiently uncertain, to require more in-depth study. This study will leverage the bestmore » experimental data; device, equipment and system models; and simulation tools currently available. This study focuses primarily on the bulk electric system (BES) including large generating stations, large power transformers, the transmission network, and transmission system protection. Electrical distribution systems may potentially be included, if warranted, after consideration of the consequences for the bulk power system.« less

The Earth: Plasma Sources, Losses, and Transport Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Welling, Daniel T.; André, Mats; Dandouras, Iannis; Delcourt, Dominique; Fazakerley, Andrew; Fontaine, Dominique; Foster, John; Ilie, Raluca; Kistler, Lynn; Lee, Justin H.; Liemohn, Michael W.; Slavin, James A.; Wang, Chih-Ping; Wiltberger, Michael; Yau, Andrew

2015-10-01

This paper reviews the state of knowledge concerning the source of magnetospheric plasma at Earth. Source of plasma, its acceleration and transport throughout the system, its consequences on system dynamics, and its loss are all discussed. Both observational and modeling advances since the last time this subject was covered in detail (Hultqvist et al., Magnetospheric Plasma Sources and Losses, 1999) are addressed.

Waste management to improve food safety and security for health advancement.

PubMed

Lin, Angela Yu-Chen; Huang, Susana Tzy-Ying; Wahlqvist, Mark L

2009-01-01

Economic growth inevitably influences the food chain. Growing demand with changes in lifestyle and health consciousness encourage use of packaged and pre-prepared foods. The needs of environmental protection from waste generated are largely overlooked, and a lack of knowledge about the impact on the environment and its health effects constitute food security/safety problems. Food production and waste generation directly affect resource (i.e., energy and water) consumption and often contaminate the environment. More pressure on food production has inculcated the use of pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and chemical fertilizers which add to current global pollution. At least half of food grown is discarded before and after it reaches consumers. It is estimated that one third to half of landfill waste comes from the food sector. This landfill releases green house gases (GHG) as well as leachate which worsen soil and water quality and safety. Pharmaceutical and chemical contaminations from residential, industrial and agricultural sources make their way into nearby water and soil and can eventually affect our food systems. Phthalates, PFOA, BPA, commonly used in plastics and personal care products, are found in unacceptable concentrations in Taiwanese waters. They, too, contribute to food contamination and long-term health risk. Existing waste management strategies warrant more stringent norms for waste reduction at source. Awareness through education could reduce food waste and its consequences. This review encompasses impacts of food production systems on the environment, pollution which results from food waste, costs and economic advantages in food waste management, and health consequences of waste.

Stable Postdivorce Family Structures during Late Adolescence and Socioeconomic Consequences in Adulthood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Yongmin; Li, Yuanzhang

2008-01-01

Using four waves of panel data from 6,954 American young adults in the National Education Longitudinal Study, we compare the long-term socioeconomic consequences of growing up in two types of divorced families. Our findings show that the negative socioeconomic consequences of growing up in unstable postdivorce families are at least twice as large…

Relationship of work-family conflict with burnout and marital satisfaction: cross-domain or source attribution relations?

PubMed

Bagherzadeh, Razieh; Taghizadeh, Ziba; Mohammadi, Eesa; Kazemnejad, Anoshirvan; Pourreza, Abolghasem; Ebadi, Abbas

2016-01-01

The present study was conducted to examine the relationship between two dimensions of work-family conflict (WFC) with marital satisfaction and burnout in a society in which few studies have been done about the consequences of WFC. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2015. Surveys were distributed to 420 employed married women with various jobs living in Bushehr province, Iran. Data were collected using a questionnaire for demographic characteristic, the Netmeyer's WFC questionnaire, Maslach Burnout Inventory: General Survey (MBI-GS), and Enrich maritalsatisfaction questionnaire. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. There was a negatively significant association between work interference with family(WIF) and overall burnout as well as emotional exhaustion (P < .01). Family interference with work (FIW) was significantly associated with depersonalization (P < .01). The overall marital satisfaction and its subscales were significantly associated with WIF (P < .01) and FIW (P < .01 for overall marital satisfaction and P < .05 for its subscales). In terms of practical implication, to avoid creating disadvantages of WIF and FIW,facilitation in two domains of improving work and family conditions can be a useful means to prevent WFC and its consequences.

Do immunotherapy and beta cell replacement play a synergistic role in the treatment of type 1 diabetes?

PubMed

Li, Dong-Sheng; Warnock, Garth L; Tu, Han-Jun; Ao, Ziliang; He, Zehua; Lu, Hong; Dai, Long-Jun

2009-10-07

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is the result of the autoimmune response against pancreatic insulin-producing ss-cells. Its ultimate consequence is beta-cell insufficiency-mediated dysregulation of blood glucose control. In terms of T1D treatment, immunotherapy addresses the cause of T1D, mainly through re-setting the balance between autoimmunity and regulatory mechanisms. Regulatory T cells play an important role in this immune intervention. An alternative T1D treatment is beta-cell replacement, which can reverse the consequence of the disease by replacing destroyed beta-cells in the diabetic pancreas. The applicable insulin-producing cells can be directly obtained from islet transplantation or generated from other cell sources such as autologous adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells, and induced pluripotent stem cells. In this review, we summarize the recent research progress and analyze the possible advantages and disadvantages of these two therapeutic options especially focusing on the potential synergistic effect on T1D treatment. Exploring the optimal combination of immunotherapy and beta-cell replacement will pave the way to the most effective cure for this devastating disease.

Compassion satisfaction: A concept analysis in nursing.

PubMed

Sacco, Tara L; Copel, Linda Carman

2018-01-01

Nurses experience an intrinsic sense of fulfillment derived from their work in caring for other people. There is a need to further investigate the concept of compassion satisfaction as it is experienced in the profession of nursing. The aim of this analysis is to provide clarity to the concept of compassion satisfaction in nursing. A search of social work and nursing literature was completed. The search terms "compassion satisfaction," "nursing," "social workers," "teachers," and "educators" were entered in various combinations to the CINAHL, Journals@Ovid, ProQuest Nursing & Allied Health Source, ProQuest Psychology Journals, PsychINFO, ERIC, and Education Full Text databases. A comprehensive review of the literature was completed to identify features of compassion satisfaction. Utilizing the Walker and Avant method, assumptions, antecedents, characteristics, and consequences of compassion satisfaction were identified. A conceptual model of compassion satisfaction was developed encompassing 7 antecedents, 11 characteristics, and 8 consequences. Further, a theoretical definition of compassion satisfaction in nursing was derived. There is a need to focus on the positive effects of caring. This concept analysis provides the initial step to strengthening the science related to compassion satisfaction in nursing and other helping professions. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Implementing shared decision-making: consider all the consequences.

PubMed

Elwyn, Glyn; Frosch, Dominick L; Kobrin, Sarah

2016-08-08

The ethical argument that shared decision-making is "the right" thing to do, however laudable, is unlikely to change how healthcare is organized, just as evidence alone will be an insufficient factor: practice change is governed by factors such as cost, profit margin, quality, and efficiency. It is helpful, therefore, when evaluating new approaches such as shared decision-making to conceptualize potential consequences in a way that is broad, long-term, and as relevant as possible to multiple stakeholders. Yet, so far, evaluation metrics for shared decision-making have been mostly focused on short-term outcomes, such as cognitive or affective consequences in patients. The goal of this article is to hypothesize a wider set of consequences, that apply over an extended time horizon, and include outcomes at interactional, team, organizational and system levels, and to call for future research to study these possible consequences. To date, many more studies have evaluated patient decision aids rather than other approaches to shared decision-making, and the outcomes measured have typically been focused on short-term cognitive and affective outcomes, for example knowledge and decisional conflict. From a clinicians perspective, the shared decision-making process could be viewed as either intrinsically rewarding and protective, or burdensome and impractical, yet studies have not focused on the impact on professionals, either positive or negative. At interactional levels, group, team, and microsystem, the potential long-term consequences could include the development of a culture where deliberation and collaboration are regarded as guiding principles, where patients are coached to assess the value of interventions, to trade-off benefits versus harms, and assess their burdens-in short, to new social norms in the clinical workplace. At organizational levels, consistent shared decision-making might boost patient experience evaluations and lead to fewer complaints and legal challenges. In the long-term, shared decision-making might lead to changes in resource utilization, perhaps to reductions in cost, and to modification of workforce composition. Despite the gradual shift to value-based payment, some organizations, motivated by continued income derived from achieving high volumes of procedures and contacts, will see this as a negative consequence. We suggest that a broader conceptualization and measurement of shared decision-making would provide a more substantive evidence base to guide implementation. We outline a framework which illustrates a hypothesized set of proximal, distal, and distant consequences that might occur if collaboration and deliberation could be achieved routinely, proposing that well-informed preference-based patient decisions might lead to safer, more cost-effective healthcare, which in turn might result in reduced utilization rates and improved health outcomes.

[Analysis of varieties and standards of Scrophulariaceae plants used in Tibetan medicine].

PubMed

Cao, Lan; Mu, Ze-jing; Zhong, Wei-hong; Zhong, Wei-jin; He, Jun-wei; Du, Xiao-lang; Zhong, Guo-yue

2015-12-01

In this paper, the popular domestic varieties and quality standard of Scrophulariaceae plants used in Tibetan medicine were analyzed. The results showed that there were 11 genera and 99 species (including varieties), as well as 28 medicinal materials varieties of Scrophulariaceae plants were recorded in the relevant literatures. In relevant Tibetan standards arid literatures, there are great differences in varieties, sources, parts, and efficacies of medicinal plant. Among them, about 41.4% (including 41 species) of endemic plants, about 15.2% (including 15 species) of the original plants have medicinal standard legal records, except the medicinal materials of Scrophalaria ningpoensis, Lagotis brevituba, Picrorhiza scrophulariiflora, Veronica eriogyne general, most varieties have not completed quality standard. Consequently it is necessary to reinforce the herbal textual, resources and the use present situation investigation, the effects of the species resources material foundation and biological activity, quality standard, specification the medical terms of the plants, and promote Tibetan medicinal vareties-terminologies-sources such as the criterion and quality standard system for enriching the varieties of Tibetan medicinal materials and Chinese medicinal resources.

A new pattern of the moisture transport for precipitation related to the drastic decline in Arctic sea ice extent

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gimeno-Sotelo, Luis; Nieto, Raquel; Vázquez, Marta; Gimeno, Luis

2018-05-01

In this study we use the term moisture transport for precipitation for a target region as the moisture coming to this region from its major moisture sources resulting in precipitation over the target region (MTP). We have identified changes in the pattern of moisture transport for precipitation over the Arctic region, the Arctic Ocean, and its 13 main subdomains concurrent with the major sea ice decline that occurred in 2003. The pattern consists of a general decrease in moisture transport in summer and enhanced moisture transport in autumn and early winter, with different contributions depending on the moisture source and ocean subregion. The pattern is statistically significant and consistent with changes in the vertically integrated moisture fluxes and frequency of circulation types. The results of this paper also reveal that the assumed and partially documented enhanced poleward moisture transport from lower latitudes as a consequence of increased moisture from climate change seems to be less simple and constant than typically recognised in relation to enhanced Arctic precipitation throughout the year in the present climate.

Fire in the vein: Heroin acidity and its proximal effect on users’ health

PubMed Central

Ciccarone, Daniel; Harris, Magdalena

2016-01-01

The loss of functioning veins (venous sclerosis) is a root cause of suffering for long-term heroin injectors. In addition to perpetual frustration and loss of pleasure/esteem, venous sclerosis leads to myriad medical consequences including skin infections, for example, abscess, and possibly elevated HIV/HCV risks due to injection into larger jugular and femoral veins. The etiology of venous sclerosis is unknown and users’ perceptions of cause/meaning unexplored. This commentary stems from our hypothesis that venous sclerosis is causally related to heroin acidity, which varies by heroin source-form and preparation. We report pilot study data on first ever in vivo measurements of heroin pH and as well as qualitative data on users’ concerns and perceptions regarding the caustic nature of heroin and its effects. Heroin pH testing in natural settings is feasible and a useful tool for further research. Our preliminary findings, for example, that different heroin source-forms and preparations have a two log difference in acidity, have potentially broad, vital and readily implementable harm reduction implications. PMID:26077143

Fire in the vein: Heroin acidity and its proximal effect on users' health.

PubMed

Ciccarone, Daniel; Harris, Magdalena

2015-11-01

The loss of functioning veins (venous sclerosis) is a root cause of suffering for long-term heroin injectors. In addition to perpetual frustration and loss of pleasure/esteem, venous sclerosis leads to myriad medical consequences including skin infections, for example, abscess, and possibly elevated HIV/HCV risks due to injection into larger jugular and femoral veins. The etiology of venous sclerosis is unknown and users' perceptions of cause/meaning unexplored. This commentary stems from our hypothesis that venous sclerosis is causally related to heroin acidity, which varies by heroin source-form and preparation. We report pilot study data on first ever in vivo measurements of heroin pH and as well as qualitative data on users' concerns and perceptions regarding the caustic nature of heroin and its effects. Heroin pH testing in natural settings is feasible and a useful tool for further research. Our preliminary findings, for example, that different heroin source-forms and preparations have a two log difference in acidity, have potentially broad, vital and readily implementable harm reduction implications. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Recovery of soluble proteins from migratory locust (Locusta migratoria) and characterisation of their compositional and techno-functional properties.

PubMed

Purschke, Benedict; Tanzmeister, Helene; Meinlschmidt, Pia; Baumgartner, Sabine; Lauter, Kathrin; Jäger, Henry

2018-04-01

Edible insects emerged as an alternative source of high-quality proteins. Therefore, the effect of an extraction procedure for the recovery of migratory locust (Locusta migratoria) protein concentrate (MLPC) on the compositional characteristics and techno-functional properties was studied. The influence of pH value (2-10) and salt concentration (0, 1 and 3% w/v) on techno-functional properties was evaluated. Proteins were identified and characterized by RP-HPLC, SDS-PAGE and LC-MS/MS. The initial crude protein content of the whole locusts (65.9% on dry base) could be enhanced to 82.3% (MLPC). Solubility profiles of MLPC showed maximum solubility at pH9 (100%). Promising functionality comparable to egg white protein in terms of emulsifying activity at pH5, foamability at pH3 and 3% NaCl, and foam stability at pH9 were found. Consequently, MLPC offers a nutritious protein source with good functional properties at certain conditions, which could be used as food ingredient in a variety of food systems. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pleasing the Masses: Messages for Daily Life Management in African American Women's Popular Media Sources

PubMed Central

Peacock, Nadine

2011-01-01

Objectives. Using African American women's insights on their own health experiences, we explored how their daily life management was linked to the “strong Black woman” (SBW) script, and the health implications of that script. Methods. Using the search term “strong Black woman,” we identified 20 articles from African American women's magazines and 10 blog sites linked to the SBW script and analyzed their content. We created thematic categories (role management, coping, and self-care) and extracted issues relevant to African American women's health. Results. Adherence to the SBW script was linked to women's daily life management and health experiences. Themes such as self-sacrificial role management (“please the masses”), emotional suppression (“game face”), and postponement of self-care (“last on the list”) incited internal distress and evinced negative health consequences. Conclusions. Scientists, activists, and health care professionals would be aided in forming initiatives aimed at reducing health disparities among African American women by heeding the insights on their health experiences that they express in popular media sources. PMID:21088274

Radon Levels Measured at a Touristic Thermal Spa Resort in Montagu (South Africa) and Associated Effective Doses.

PubMed

Botha, R; Newman, R T; Maleka, P P

2016-09-01

Radon activity concentrations (in water and in air) were measured at 13 selected locations at the Avalon Springs thermal spa resort in Montagu (Western Cape, South Africa) to estimate the associated effective dose received by employees and visitors. A RAD-7 detector (DURRIDGE), based on alpha spectrometry, and electret detectors (E-PERM®Radelec) were used for these radon measurements. The primary source of radon was natural thermal waters from the hot spring, which were pumped to various locations on the resort, and consequently a range of radon in-water analyses were performed. Radon in-water activity concentration as a function of time (short term and long term measurements) and spatial distributions (different bathing pools, etc.) were studied. The mean radon in-water activity concentrations were found to be 205 ± 6 Bq L (source), 112 ± 5 Bq L (outdoor pool) and 79 ± 4 Bq L (indoor pool). Radon in-air activity concentrations were found to range between 33 ± 4 Bq m (at the outside bar) to 523 ± 26 Bq m (building enclosing the hot spring's source). The most significant potential radiation exposure identified is that due to inhalation of air rich in radon and its progeny by the resort employees. The annual occupational effective dose due to the inhalation of radon progeny ranges from 0.16 ± 0.01 mSv to 0.40 ± 0.02 mSv. For the water samples collected, the Ra in-water activity concentrations from samples collected were below the lower detection limit (~0.7 Bq L) of the γ-ray detector system used. No significant radiological health risk can be associated with radon and progeny from the hot spring at the Avalon Springs resort.

Neuroendocrine mechanisms in pregnancy and parturition.

PubMed

Petraglia, Felice; Imperatore, Alberto; Challis, John R G

2010-12-01

The complex mechanisms controlling human parturition involves mother, fetus, and placenta, and stress is a key element activating a series of physiological adaptive responses. Preterm birth is a clinical syndrome that shares several characteristics with term birth. A major role for the neuroendocrine mechanisms has been proposed, and placenta/membranes are sources for neurohormones and peptides. Oxytocin (OT) is the neurohormone whose major target is uterine contractility and placenta represents a novel source that contributes to the mechanisms of parturition. The CRH/urocortin (Ucn) family is another important neuroendocrine pathway involved in term and preterm birth. The CRH/Ucn family consists of four ligands: CRH, Ucn, Ucn2, and Ucn3. These peptides have a pleyotropic function and are expressed by human placenta and fetal membranes. Uterine contractility, blood vessel tone, and immune function are influenced by CRH/Ucns during pregnancy and undergo major changes at parturition. Among the others, neurohormones, relaxin, parathyroid hormone-related protein, opioids, neurosteroids, and monoamines are expressed and secreted from placental tissues at parturition. Preterm birth is the consequence of a premature and sustained activation of endocrine and immune responses. A preterm birth evidence for a premature activation of OT secretion as well as increased maternal plasma CRH levels suggests a pathogenic role of these neurohormones. A decrease of maternal serum CRH-binding protein is a concurrent event. At midgestation, placental hypersecretion of CRH or Ucn has been proposed as a predictive marker of subsequent preterm delivery. While placenta represents the major source for CRH, fetus abundantly secretes Ucn and adrenal dehydroepiandrosterone in women with preterm birth. The relevant role of neuroendocrine mechanisms in preterm birth is sustained by basic and clinic implications.

Aeronet-based Microphysical and Optical Properties of Smoke-dominated Aerosol near Source Regions and Transported over Oceans, and Implications for Satellite Retrievals of Aerosol Optical Depth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sayer, A. M.; Hsu, N. C.; Eck, T. F.; Smirnov, A.; Holben, B. N.

2013-01-01

Smoke aerosols from biomass burning are an important component of the global aerosol cycle. Analysis of Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) retrievals of size distribution and refractive index reveals variety between biomass burning aerosols in different global source regions, in terms of aerosol particle size and single scatter albedo (SSA). Case studies of smoke transported to coastal/island AERONET sites also mostly lie within the range of variability at near-source sites. Two broad families of aerosol properties are found, corresponding to sites dominated by boreal forest burning (larger, broader fine mode, with midvisible SSA 0.95), and those influenced by grass, shrub, or crop burning with additional forest contributions (smaller, narrower particles with SSA 0.88-0.9 in the midvisible). The strongest absorption is seen in southern African savanna at Mongu (Zambia), with average SSA 0.85 in the midvisible. These can serve as candidate sets of aerosol microphysicaloptical properties for use in satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieval algorithms. The models presently adopted by these algorithms over ocean are often insufficiently absorbing to represent these biomass burning aerosols. A corollary of this is an underestimate of AOD in smoke outflow regions, which has important consequences for applications of these satellite datasets.

Progress in nutritional and health profile of milk and dairy products: a novel drug target.

PubMed

Martemucci, Giovanni; D'Alessandro, Angela Gabriella

2013-09-01

There is an increasing focus on diet as a tool to maintain human health and prevent disease. Milk and milk products of ruminants are important source of fat and saturated fatty acids, which are not considered to be very favourable to human health, but are valuable sources of nutrients including bioactive fatty acids (FA), vitamins, and minerals, which can promote positive health effects. The nutritional characteristics of milk and dairy products are related to their composition, which depends on the source species, and varies due to numerous factors, among which the animal diet is the most important. An improvement in milk FA composition and other micronutrients can be reached through an animal feeding strategy. Natural pasture-based farming systems increase microconstituents that are beneficial to human health (CLA, PUFAs, n-3 FAs, antioxidants, vitamins A and E, and Se) and volatile compounds (flavour, and terpenes) in milk and cheese. There are still uncertainties about the health benefits of various milk FAs and other compounds; deep and extensive long-term clinical studies with humans are needed. The contamination of milk and dairy products by heavy metals or dioxins has dramatic negative consequences for human and livestock health and necessitates very urgent consideration and intervention.

Shoot, shovel and shut up: cryptic poaching slows restoration of a large carnivore in Europe.

PubMed

Liberg, Olof; Chapron, Guillaume; Wabakken, Petter; Pedersen, Hans Christian; Hobbs, N Thompson; Sand, Håkan

2012-03-07

Poaching is a widespread and well-appreciated problem for the conservation of many threatened species. Because poaching is illegal, there is strong incentive for poachers to conceal their activities, and consequently, little data on the effects of poaching on population dynamics are available. Quantifying poaching mortality should be a required knowledge when developing conservation plans for endangered species but is hampered by methodological challenges. We show that rigorous estimates of the effects of poaching relative to other sources of mortality can be obtained with a hierarchical state-space model combined with multiple sources of data. Using the Scandinavian wolf (Canis lupus) population as an illustrative example, we show that poaching accounted for approximately half of total mortality and more than two-thirds of total poaching remained undetected by conventional methods, a source of mortality we term as 'cryptic poaching'. Our simulations suggest that without poaching during the past decade, the population would have been almost four times as large in 2009. Such a severe impact of poaching on population recovery may be widespread among large carnivores. We believe that conservation strategies for large carnivores considering only observed data may not be adequate and should be revised by including and quantifying cryptic poaching.

Shoot, shovel and shut up: cryptic poaching slows restoration of a large carnivore in Europe

PubMed Central

Liberg, Olof; Chapron, Guillaume; Wabakken, Petter; Pedersen, Hans Christian; Hobbs, N. Thompson; Sand, Håkan

2012-01-01

Poaching is a widespread and well-appreciated problem for the conservation of many threatened species. Because poaching is illegal, there is strong incentive for poachers to conceal their activities, and consequently, little data on the effects of poaching on population dynamics are available. Quantifying poaching mortality should be a required knowledge when developing conservation plans for endangered species but is hampered by methodological challenges. We show that rigorous estimates of the effects of poaching relative to other sources of mortality can be obtained with a hierarchical state–space model combined with multiple sources of data. Using the Scandinavian wolf (Canis lupus) population as an illustrative example, we show that poaching accounted for approximately half of total mortality and more than two-thirds of total poaching remained undetected by conventional methods, a source of mortality we term as ‘cryptic poaching’. Our simulations suggest that without poaching during the past decade, the population would have been almost four times as large in 2009. Such a severe impact of poaching on population recovery may be widespread among large carnivores. We believe that conservation strategies for large carnivores considering only observed data may not be adequate and should be revised by including and quantifying cryptic poaching. PMID:21849323

Structural Modification of Organic Thin-Film Transistors for Photosensor Application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeong, Hyeon Seok; Bae, Jin-Hyuk; Lee, Hyeonju; Ndikumana, Joel; Park, Jaehoon

2018-05-01

We investigated the light response characteristics of bottom-gate/top-contact organic TFTs fabricated using pentacene and polystyrene as an organic semiconductor and a polymeric insulator, respectively. The pentacene TFT with overlaps (50 μm) between the source and gate electrodes as well as between the drain and gate electrodes exhibited negligible hysteresis in its transfer characteristics upon reversal of the gate voltage sweep direction. When the TFTs were structurally modified to produce an underlap structure between the source and gate electrodes, clockwise hysteresis and a drain-current decrease were observed, which were further augmented by increasing the gate underlap (from 30 μm to 50 μm and 70 μm). Herein, these results are explained in terms of space charge formation and accumulation capacitance reduction. Importantly, we found that space charges formed under the source electrode contributed to the drain currents via light irradiation through the underlap region. Under constant bias conditions, the TFTs with gate underlap structures thus exhibited on-state drain current changes in response to light signals. In our study, an optimal photosensitivity exceeding 11 was achieved by the TFT with a 30 μm gate underlap. Consequently, we suggest that gate underlap structure modification is a viable means of implementing light responsiveness in organic TFTs.

SINQ layout, operation, applications and R&D to high power

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bauer, G. S.; Dai, Y.; Wagner, W.

2002-09-01

Since 1997, the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) is operating a 1 MW class research spallation neutron source, named SINQ. SINQ is driven by a cascade of three accelerators, the final stage being a 590 MeV isochronous ring cyclotron which delivers a beam current of 1.8 mA at an rf-frequency of 51 MHz. Since for neutron production this is essentially a dc-device, SINQ is a continuous neutron source and is optimized in its design for high time average neutron flux. This makes the facility similar to a research reactor in terms of utilization, but, in terms of beam power, it is, by a large margin, the most powerful spallation neutron source currently in operation world wide. As a consequence, target load levels prevail in SINQ which are beyond the realm of existing experience, demanding a careful approach to the design and operation of a high power target. While the best neutronic performance of the source is expected for a liquid lead-bismuth eutectic target, no experience with such systems exists. For this reason a staged approach has been embarked upon, starting with a heavy water cooled rod target of Zircaloy-2 and proceeding via steel clad lead rods towards the final goal of a target optimised in both, neutronic performance and service life time. Experience currently accruing with a test target containing sample rods with different materials specimens will help to select the proper structural material and make dependable life time estimates accounting for the real operating conditions that prevail in the facility. In parallel, both theoretical and experimental work is going on within the MEGAPIE (MEGAwatt Pilot Experiment) project, a joint initiative by six European research institutions and JAERI (Japan), DOE (USA) and KAERI (Korea), to design, build, operate and explore a liquid lead-bismuth spallation target for 1MW of beam power, taking advantage of the existing spallation neutron facility SINQ.

Committing to coal and gas: Long-term contracts, regulation, and fuel switching in power generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rice, Michael

Fuel switching in the electricity sector has important economic and environmental consequences. In the United States, the increased supply of gas during the last decade has led to substantial switching in the short term. Fuel switching is constrained, however, by the existing infrastructure. The power generation infrastructure, in turn, represents commitments to specific sources of energy over the long term. This dissertation explores fuel contracts as the link between short-term price response and long-term plant investments. Contracting choices enable power plant investments that are relationship-specific, often regulated, and face uncertainty. Many power plants are subject to both hold-up in investment and cost-of-service regulation. I find that capital bias is robust when considering either irreversibility or hold-up due to the uncertain arrival of an outside option. For sunk capital, the rental rate is inappropriate for determining capital bias. Instead, capital bias depends on the regulated rate of return, discount rate, and depreciation schedule. If policies such as emissions regulations increase fuel-switching flexibility, this can lead to capital bias. Cost-of-service regulation can shorten the duration of a long-term contract. From the firm's perspective, the existing literature provides limited guidance when bargaining and writing contracts for fuel procurement. I develop a stochastic programming framework to optimize long-term contracting decisions under both endogenous and exogenous sources of hold-up risk. These typically include policy changes, price shocks, availability of fuel, and volatility in derived demand. For price risks, the optimal contract duration is the moment when the expected benefits of the contract are just outweighed by the expected opportunity costs of remaining in the contract. I prove that imposing early renegotiation costs decreases contract duration. Finally, I provide an empirical approach to show how coal contracts can limit short-term fuel switching in power production. During the era prior to shale gas and electricity market deregulation, I do not find evidence that gas generation substituted for coal in response to fuel price changes. However, I do find evidence that coal plant operations are constrained by fuel contracts. As the min-take commitment to coal increases, changes to annual coal plant output decrease. My conclusions are robust in spite of bias due to the selective reporting of proprietary coal delivery contracts by utilities.

Application of WebGIS for traffic risk assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voumard, Jérémie; Aye, Zar Chi; Derron, Marc-Henri; Jaboyedoff, Michel

2015-04-01

Roads and railways are threatened throughout the year by several natural hazards around the world, leading to the closing of transportation corridors, loss of access, deviation travels and potentially infrastructures damages and loss of human lives and also financial, social and economic consequences. Protection measures used to reduce the exposure to natural hazards are usually expensive and cannot be deployed on an entire transportation network. It is thus necessary to choose priority areas where protection measures need to be built. The aim of this study is to propose a friendly tool to evaluate and to understand issues and consequences of section closing and affected parts of a transportation network at small region scale. The proposed tool, currently in its design and building phase, will provide ways to simulate different closure scenarios and to analyze their consequences on transportation network; like deviating traffic on others roads and railways sections, additional time and distance travel or accessibility for emergency services like police, firefighters and ambulances. The tool is based on OpenGeo architecture, which is composed of open-source components. It integrates PostGIS for database, GeoServer and GeoWebCache for application servers and finally GeoExt and OpenLayers for user interface. Users will be able to attribute quantitative (like roads and railway type and closure consequences) and qualitative (like section unavailability duration, season, etc.) data to the different roads and railways sections based on their user rights. They will also be able to evaluate different track closures consequences in terms of different scenarios. Once finalized, the goal of this project including natural hazards, traffic and geomatic thematic is to propose a decision support tool for public authorities firstly and for specialists secondly so that they can evaluate easily and accurately as much as possible to highlight the weakpoints of the transportation network in the case track closures due to natural hazards.

Three Views of the River: Three Reviews of "The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions" by William G. Bowen and Derek Bok.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chavez, Linda; Lerner, Robert; O'Neill, Dave; Clegg, Roger

This paper presents three reviews of the book, "The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions," by William Bowen and Derek Bok. The book defends affirmative action in college admissions. The first review says that the book presents important data, but it is seriously flawed…

Long term consequences of a controlled slash burn and slash mastication to soil moisture and CO2 at a southern Colorado site

Treesearch

W. J. Massman; J. M. Frank; A. E. Jimenez Esquilin; M. E. Stromberger; W. D. Shepperd

2006-01-01

Thinning of forest stands is frequently used to reduce the risk of catastrophic fire. But thinning requires that the refuse (or slash) be removed from the site, which can be done either by burning it or by mastication and dispersal. Either method has long term consequences to the soil and to soil moisture and soil CO2 levels. For example, after the initial drying of...

Long-term monitoring of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) at the Norwegian Troll station in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kallenborn, R.; Breivik, K.; Eckhardt, S.; Lunder, C. R.; Manø, S.; Schlabach, M.; Stohl, A.

2013-03-01

A first long-term monitoring of selected persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Antarctic air has been conducted at the Norwegian Research station Troll (Dronning Maud Land). As target contaminants 32 PCB congeners, a- and g-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), trans- and cis-chlordane, trans- and cis-nonachlor, p,p'- and o,p-DDT, DDD, DDE as well as hexachlorobenzene (HCB) were selected. The monitoring program with weekly samples taken during the period 2007-2010 was coordinated with the parallel program at the Norwegian Arctic monitoring site (Zeppelin mountain, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard) in terms of priority compounds, sampling schedule as well as analytical methods. The POP concentration levels found in Antarctica were considerably lower than Arctic atmospheric background concentrations. Similar as observed for Arctic samples, HCB is the predominant POP compound with levels of around 22 pg m-3 throughout the entire monitoring period. In general, the following concentration distribution was found for the Troll samples analyzed: HCB > Sum HCH > Sum PCB > Sum DDT > Sum chlordanes. Atmospheric long-range transport was identified as a major contamination source for POPs in Antarctic environments. Several long-range transport events with elevated levels of pesticides and/or compounds with industrial sources were identified based on retroplume calculations with a Lagrangian particle dispersion model (FLEXPART). The POP levels determined in Troll air were compared with 1 concentrations found in earlier measurement campaigns at other Antarctic research stations from the past 18 yr. Except for HCB for which similar concentration distributions were observed in all sampling campaigns, concentrations in the recent Troll samples were lower than in samples collected during the early 1990s. These concentration reductions are obviously a direct consequence of international regulations restricting the usage of POP-like chemicals on a worldwide scale.

Separated by a common language: awareness of term usage differences between languages and disciplines in biopreparedness.

PubMed

Andersson, M Gunnar; Tomuzia, Katharina; Löfström, Charlotta; Appel, Bernd; Bano, Luca; Keremidis, Haralampos; Knutsson, Rickard; Leijon, Mikael; Lövgren, Susanna Ekströmer; De Medici, Dario; Menrath, Andrea; van Rotterdam, Bart J; Wisselink, Henk J; Barker, Gary C

2013-09-01

Preparedness for bioterrorism is based on communication between people in organizations who are educated and trained in several disciplines, including law enforcement, health, and science. Various backgrounds, cultures, and vocabularies generate difficulties in understanding and interpretating terms and concepts, which may impair communication. This is especially true in emergency situations, in which the need for clarity and consistency is vital. The EU project AniBioThreat initiated methods and made a rough estimate of the terms and concepts that are crucial for an incident, and a pilot database with key terms and definitions has been constructed. Analysis of collected terms and sources has shown that many of the participating organizations use various international standards in their area of expertise. The same term often represents different concepts in the standards from different sectors, or, alternatively, different terms were used to represent the same or similar concepts. The use of conflicting terminology can be problematic for decision makers and communicators in planning and prevention or when handling an incident. Since the CBRN area has roots in multiple disciplines, each with its own evolving terminology, it may not be realistic to achieve unequivocal communication through a standardized vocabulary and joint definitions for words from common language. We suggest that a communication strategy should include awareness of alternative definitions and ontologies and the ability to talk and write without relying on the implicit knowledge underlying specialized jargon. Consequently, cross-disciplinary communication skills should be part of training of personnel in the CBRN field. In addition, a searchable repository of terms and definitions from relevant organizations and authorities would be a valuable addition to existing glossaries for improving awareness concerning bioterrorism prevention planning.

Separated by a Common Language: Awareness of Term Usage Differences Between Languages and Disciplines in Biopreparedness

PubMed Central

Tomuzia, Katharina; Löfström, Charlotta; Appel, Bernd; Bano, Luca; Keremidis, Haralampos; Knutsson, Rickard; Leijon, Mikael; Lövgren, Susanna Ekströmer; De Medici, Dario; Menrath, Andrea; van Rotterdam, Bart J.; Wisselink, Henk J.; Barker, Gary C.

2013-01-01

Preparedness for bioterrorism is based on communication between people in organizations who are educated and trained in several disciplines, including law enforcement, health, and science. Various backgrounds, cultures, and vocabularies generate difficulties in understanding and interpretating terms and concepts, which may impair communication. This is especially true in emergency situations, in which the need for clarity and consistency is vital. The EU project AniBioThreat initiated methods and made a rough estimate of the terms and concepts that are crucial for an incident, and a pilot database with key terms and definitions has been constructed. Analysis of collected terms and sources has shown that many of the participating organizations use various international standards in their area of expertise. The same term often represents different concepts in the standards from different sectors, or, alternatively, different terms were used to represent the same or similar concepts. The use of conflicting terminology can be problematic for decision makers and communicators in planning and prevention or when handling an incident. Since the CBRN area has roots in multiple disciplines, each with its own evolving terminology, it may not be realistic to achieve unequivocal communication through a standardized vocabulary and joint definitions for words from common language. We suggest that a communication strategy should include awareness of alternative definitions and ontologies and the ability to talk and write without relying on the implicit knowledge underlying specialized jargon. Consequently, cross-disciplinary communication skills should be part of training of personnel in the CBRN field. In addition, a searchable repository of terms and definitions from relevant organizations and authorities would be a valuable addition to existing glossaries for improving awareness concerning bioterrorism prevention planning. PMID:23971818

Computational studies for a multiple-frequency electron cyclotron resonance ion source (abstract)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alton, G.D.

1996-03-01

The number density of electrons, the energy (electron temperature), and energy distribution are three of the fundamental properties which govern the performance of electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources in terms of their capability to produce high charge state ions. The maximum electron energy is affected by several processes including the ability of the plasma to absorb power. In principle, the performances of an ECR ion source can be realized by increasing the physical size of the ECR zone in relation to the total plasma volume. The ECR zones can be increased either in the spatial or frequency domains inmore » any ECR ion source based on B-minimum plasma confinement principles. The former technique requires the design of a carefully tailored magnetic field geometry so that the central region of the plasma volume is a large, uniformly distributed plasma volume which surrounds the axis of symmetry, as proposed in Ref. . Present art forms of the ECR source utilize single frequency microwave power supplies to maintain the plasma discharge; because the magnetic field distribution continually changes in this source design, the ECR zones are relegated to thin {open_quote}{open_quote}surfaces{close_quote}{close_quote} which surround the axis of symmetry. As a consequence of the small ECR zone in relation to the total plasma volume, the probability for stochastic heating of the electrons is quite low, thereby compromising the source performance. This handicap can be overcome by use of broadband, multiple frequency microwave power as evidenced by the enhanced performances of the CAPRICE and AECR ion sources when two frequency microwave power was utilized. We have used particle-in-cell codes to simulate the magnetic field distributions in these sources and to demonstrate the advantages of using multiple, discrete frequencies over single frequencies to power conventional ECR ion sources. (Abstract Truncated)« less

Landscape changes as a factor affecting the course and consequences of extreme floods in the Otava river basin, Czech Republic.

PubMed

Langhammer, Jakub; Vilímek, Vít

2008-09-01

The paper presents the analysis of anthropogenical modifications of the landscape in relation to the course and consequences of floods. The research was conducted in the Otava river basin which represents the core zone of the extreme flood in August 2002 in Central Europe. The analysis was focused on the key indicators of landscape modification potentially affecting the runoff process - the long-term changes of land-use, changes of land cover structure, land drainage, historical shortening of the river network and the modifications of streams and floodplains. The information on intensity and spatial distribution of modifications was derived from different data sources--historical maps, available GIS data, remote sensing and field mapping. The results revealed a high level of spatial diversity of anthropogenical modifications in different parts of the river basin. The intensive modifications in most of indicators were concentrated in the lowland region of the river basin due to its agricultural use; however important changes were also recorded in the headwater region of the basin. The high spatial diversity of the modifications may result in their varying effect on the course and consequences of floods in different parts of the river basin. This effect is demonstrated by the cluster analysis based on the matrix of indicators of stream and floodplain modification, physiogeographical characteristics and geomorphological evidences of the flood in August 2002, derived from the individual thematic layers using GIS.

Risk Due to Radiological Terror Attacks With Natural Radionuclides

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Friedrich, Steinhaeusler; Lyudmila, Zaitseva; Stan, Rydell

The naturally occurring radionuclides radium (Ra-226) and polonium (Po-210) have the potential to be used for criminal acts. Analysis of international incident data contained in the Database on Nuclear Smuggling, Theft and Orphan Radiation Sources (CSTO), operated at the University of Salzburg, shows that several acts of murder and terrorism with natural radionuclides have already been carried out in Europe and Russia. Five different modes of attack (T) are possible: (1) Covert irradiation of an individual in order to deliver a high individual dose; (2) Covert irradiation of a group of persons delivering a large collective dose; (3) Contamination ofmore » food or drink; (4) Generation of radioactive aerosols or solutions; (5) Combination of Ra-226 with conventional explosives (Dirty Bomb).This paper assesses the risk (R) of such criminal acts in terms of: (a) Probability of terrorist motivation deploying a certain attack mode T; (b) Probability of success by the terrorists for the selected attack mode T; (c) Primary damage consequence (C) to the attacked target (activity, dose); (d) Secondary damage consequence (C') to the attacked target (psychological and socio-economic effects); (e) Probability that the consequences (C, C') cannot be brought under control, resulting in a failure to manage successfully the emergency situation due to logistical and/or technical deficits in implementing adequate countermeasures. Extensive computer modelling is used to determine the potential impact of such a criminal attack on directly affected victims and on the environment.« less

Risk Due to Radiological Terror Attacks With Natural Radionuclides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Friedrich, Steinhäusler; Stan, Rydell; Lyudmila, Zaitseva

2008-08-01

The naturally occurring radionuclides radium (Ra-226) and polonium (Po-210) have the potential to be used for criminal acts. Analysis of international incident data contained in the Database on Nuclear Smuggling, Theft and Orphan Radiation Sources (CSTO), operated at the University of Salzburg, shows that several acts of murder and terrorism with natural radionuclides have already been carried out in Europe and Russia. Five different modes of attack (T) are possible: (1) Covert irradiation of an individual in order to deliver a high individual dose; (2) Covert irradiation of a group of persons delivering a large collective dose; (3) Contamination of food or drink; (4) Generation of radioactive aerosols or solutions; (5) Combination of Ra-226 with conventional explosives (Dirty Bomb). This paper assesses the risk (R) of such criminal acts in terms of: (a) Probability of terrorist motivation deploying a certain attack mode T; (b) Probability of success by the terrorists for the selected attack mode T; (c) Primary damage consequence (C) to the attacked target (activity, dose); (d) Secondary damage consequence (C') to the attacked target (psychological and socio-economic effects); (e) Probability that the consequences (C, C') cannot be brought under control, resulting in a failure to manage successfully the emergency situation due to logistical and/or technical deficits in implementing adequate countermeasures. Extensive computer modelling is used to determine the potential impact of such a criminal attack on directly affected victims and on the environment.

77 FR 19740 - Water Sources for Long-Term Recirculation Cooling Following a Loss-of-Coolant Accident

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-02

... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2010-0249] Water Sources for Long-Term Recirculation Cooling... Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.82, ``Water Sources for Long-Term Recirculation Cooling Following a Loss-of-Coolant... regarding the sumps and suppression pools that provide water sources for emergency core cooling, containment...

Stereotypes Associated With Age-related Conditions and Assistive Device Use in Canadian Media.

PubMed

Fraser, Sarah Anne; Kenyon, Virginia; Lagacé, Martine; Wittich, Walter; Southall, Kenneth Edmund

2016-12-01

Newspapers are an important source of information. The discourses within the media can influence public attitudes and support or discourage stereotypical portrayals of older individuals. This study critically examined discourses within a Canadian newspaper in terms of stereotypical depictions of age-related health conditions and assistive technology devices (ATDs). Four years (2009-2013) of Globe and Mail articles were searched for terms relevant to the research question. A total of 65 articles were retained, and a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the texts was conducted. The articles were coded for stereotypes associated with age-related health conditions and ATDs, consequences of the stereotyping, and context (overall setting or background) of the discourse. The primary code list included 4 contexts, 13 stereotypes, and 9 consequences of stereotyping. CDA revealed discourses relating to (a) maintaining autonomy in a stereotypical world, (b) ATDs as obstacles in employment, (c) barriers to help seeking for age-related conditions, and (d) people in power setting the stage for discrimination. Our findings indicate that discourses in the Canadian media include stereotypes associated with age-related health conditions. Further, depictions of health conditions and ATDs may exacerbate existing stereotypes about older individuals, limit the options available to them, lead to a reduction in help seeking, and lower ATD use. Education about the realities of age-related health changes and ATDs is needed in order to diminish stereotypes and encourage ATD uptake and use. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Unseen disadvantage: how American universities' focus on independence undermines the academic performance of first-generation college students.

PubMed

Stephens, Nicole M; Fryberg, Stephanie A; Markus, Hazel Rose; Johnson, Camille S; Covarrubias, Rebecca

2012-06-01

American universities increasingly admit first-generation college students whose parents do not have 4-year degrees. Once admitted, these students tend to struggle academically, compared with continuing-generation students--students who have at least 1 parent with a 4-year degree. We propose a cultural mismatch theory that identifies 1 important source of this social class achievement gap. Four studies test the hypothesis that first-generation students underperform because interdependent norms from their mostly working-class backgrounds constitute a mismatch with middle-class independent norms prevalent in universities. First, assessing university cultural norms, surveys of university administrators revealed that American universities focus primarily on norms of independence. Second, identifying the hypothesized cultural mismatch, a longitudinal survey revealed that universities' focus on independence does not match first-generation students' relatively interdependent motives for attending college and that this cultural mismatch is associated with lower grades. Finally, 2 experiments at both private and public universities created a match or mismatch for first-generation students and examined the performance consequences. Together these studies revealed that representing the university culture in terms of independence (i.e., paving one's own paths) rendered academic tasks difficult and, thereby, undermined first-generation students' performance. Conversely, representing the university culture in terms of interdependence (i.e., being part of a community) reduced this sense of difficulty and eliminated the performance gap without adverse consequences for continuing-generation students. These studies address the urgent need to recognize cultural obstacles that contribute to the social class achievement gap and to develop interventions to address them. 2012 APA, all rights reserved

Temporal framing and consideration of future consequences: effects on smokers' and at-risk nonsmokers' responses to cigarette health warnings.

PubMed

Zhao, Xiaoquan; Nan, Xiaoli; Iles, Irina Alexandra; Yang, Bo

2015-01-01

This research examines the influence of temporal framing (long-term vs. short-term) and individual difference in consideration of future consequences (CFC) on the effectiveness of cigarette health warnings among smokers and at-risk nonsmokers in a college population. An online experiment (N = 395) revealed a three-way interaction among temporal framing, CFC, and smoking status. The results among at-risk nonsmokers supported the temporal fit hypothesis--those high in CFC responded more favorably to long-term framing, whereas those low in CFC responded more positively to short-term framing. The findings among smokers revealed a different pattern in which short-term framing was more effective among high-CFC smokers, whereas among low-CFC smokers the framing effect was not distinct. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

SOARCA Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station Long-Term Station Blackout Uncertainty Analysis: Knowledge Advancement.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gauntt, Randall O.; Mattie, Patrick D.; Bixler, Nathan E.

2014-02-01

This paper describes the knowledge advancements from the uncertainty analysis for the State-of- the-Art Reactor Consequence Analyses (SOARCA) unmitigated long-term station blackout accident scenario at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station. This work assessed key MELCOR and MELCOR Accident Consequence Code System, Version 2 (MACCS2) modeling uncertainties in an integrated fashion to quantify the relative importance of each uncertain input on potential accident progression, radiological releases, and off-site consequences. This quantitative uncertainty analysis provides measures of the effects on consequences, of each of the selected uncertain parameters both individually and in interaction with other parameters. The results measure the modelmore » response (e.g., variance in the output) to uncertainty in the selected input. Investigation into the important uncertain parameters in turn yields insights into important phenomena for accident progression and off-site consequences. This uncertainty analysis confirmed the known importance of some parameters, such as failure rate of the Safety Relief Valve in accident progression modeling and the dry deposition velocity in off-site consequence modeling. The analysis also revealed some new insights, such as dependent effect of cesium chemical form for different accident progressions. (auth)« less

The intergenerational effects of war on the health of children.

PubMed

Devakumar, Delan; Birch, Marion; Osrin, David; Sondorp, Egbert; Wells, Jonathan C K

2014-04-02

The short- and medium-term effects of conflict on population health are reasonably well documented. Less considered are its consequences across generations and potential harms to the health of children yet to be born. Looking first at the nature and effects of exposures during conflict, and then at the potential routes through which harm may propagate within families, we consider the intergenerational effects of four features of conflict: violence, challenges to mental health, infection and malnutrition. Conflict-driven harms are transmitted through a complex permissive environment that includes biological, cultural and economic factors, and feedback loops between sources of harm and weaknesses in individual and societal resilience to them. We discuss the multiplicative effects of ongoing conflict when hostilities are prolonged. We summarize many instances in which the effects of war can propagate across generations. We hope that the evidence laid out in the article will stimulate research and--more importantly--contribute to the discussion of the costs of war; particularly in the longer-term in post-conflict situations in which interventions need to be sustained and adapted over many years.

Why and How We Age, and Is That Process Modifiable?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arking, R.

Aging is an almost-universal biological process that is better understood in terms of an evolutionary explanation than in terms of a medical or adaptationist explanation. The major advances in human longevity which took place in developed countries during the past century arose from decreases in external (e.g., environmental) sources of mortality, and not from any effect on the aging process. Laboratory studies show that the aging process is under genetic control, can be manipulated, and can be expressed in three different phenotypes. The adult lifespan consists of the health span (ages 20-55 yrs) and the senescent span (ages 55+), with a relatively short but variable transition phase between the two. The most socially desirable phenotype would be that where the transition phase is delayed and the health span extended with little effect on the senescent span. The genetic, nutritional, cell-signaling and pharmecutical interventions inducing this phenotype are discussed. The genetic architecture of senescence is discussed and its stochastic nature made clear. The social and ethical consequences of pharmecutical intervention into the aging process are briefly discussed.

Analysis of the flow, thermal and geomechanical behavior of offshore hydrate deposits at the NGHP-02-09-A site during short- and long-term gas production scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moridis, G. J.; Reagan, M. T.; Queiruga, A. F.

2017-12-01

We analyze the gas production potential of recently discovered offshore hydrate deposits at the NGHP-02-09-A sSite in the Krishna-Godawari Basin of India, and the corresponding geomechanical system response during short- and long-term production. Using the most current data on the flow and geomechanical properties of the hydrate-bearing media and of the overburden, as well as information on the system boundaries, we investigate (a) the production rates of gas (CH4) and of water, their relative magnitudes and the reservoir thermal behavior in an effort to assess the viability of these deposits as energy sources, as well as (b) the potential subsidence and the effect of changing pressure and stress regimes on the porosity and permeability (and, consequently, on production). Additionally, we conduct a thorough sensitivity analysis in order to determine (a) the properties and conditions that control and dominate the system behavior, and (b) the range of the possible system response to production.

The intergenerational effects of war on the health of children

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The short- and medium-term effects of conflict on population health are reasonably well documented. Less considered are its consequences across generations and potential harms to the health of children yet to be born. Discussion Looking first at the nature and effects of exposures during conflict, and then at the potential routes through which harm may propagate within families, we consider the intergenerational effects of four features of conflict: violence, challenges to mental health, infection and malnutrition. Conflict-driven harms are transmitted through a complex permissive environment that includes biological, cultural and economic factors, and feedback loops between sources of harm and weaknesses in individual and societal resilience to them. We discuss the multiplicative effects of ongoing conflict when hostilities are prolonged. Summary We summarize many instances in which the effects of war can propagate across generations. We hope that the evidence laid out in the article will stimulate research and – more importantly – contribute to the discussion of the costs of war; particularly in the longer-term in post-conflict situations in which interventions need to be sustained and adapted over many years. PMID:24694212

Delay and cost performance analysis of the diffie-hellman key exchange protocol in opportunistic mobile networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soelistijanto, B.; Muliadi, V.

2018-03-01

Diffie-Hellman (DH) provides an efficient key exchange system by reducing the number of cryptographic keys distributed in the network. In this method, a node broadcasts a single public key to all nodes in the network, and in turn each peer uses this key to establish a shared secret key which then can be utilized to encrypt and decrypt traffic between the peer and the given node. In this paper, we evaluate the key transfer delay and cost performance of DH in opportunistic mobile networks, a specific scenario of MANETs where complete end-to-end paths rarely exist between sources and destinations; consequently, the end-to-end delays in these networks are much greater than typical MANETs. Simulation results, driven by a random node movement model and real human mobility traces, showed that DH outperforms a typical key distribution scheme based on the RSA algorithm in terms of key transfer delay, measured by average key convergence time; however, DH performs as well as the benchmark in terms of key transfer cost, evaluated by total key (copies) forwards.

Kin networks and poverty among African Americans: past and present.

PubMed

Miller-Cribbs, Julie E; Farber, Naomi B

2008-01-01

Trends in social welfare policy and programs place increasing expectations on families to provide members with various forms of material and socioemotional support. The historic ability of kin networks of many African Americans to provide such support has been compromised by long-term community and family poverty. The potential mismatch between the expectations of social welfare systems for kin support and the actual functional capacities of kin networks places African Americans living in poverty at great risk of chronic poverty and its long-term multiple consequences. This article reviews historical and contemporary research on the structure and function of African American kin networks. On the basis of evidence of functional decline, the authors argue that social workers must re-examine the a priori assumption of viable kin networks as a reliable source of resilience among African Americans living in poverty. Social workers must focus assessment at all levels of practice on a variety of aspects of kin networks to make accurate judgments about not only the availability of resources, but also the perceived costs and benefits of participation in exchange for resources.

Model Evaluation Report for Corrective Action Unit 98: Frenchman Flat, Nevada National Security Site, Nye County, Nevada, Revision 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ruskauff, Greg; Marutzky, Sam

Model evaluation focused solely on the PIN STRIPE and MILK SHAKE underground nuclear tests’ contaminant boundaries (CBs) because they had the largest extent, uncertainty, and potential consequences. The CAMBRIC radionuclide migration experiment also had a relatively large CB, but because it was constrained by transport data (notably Well UE-5n), there was little uncertainty, and radioactive decay reduced concentrations before much migration could occur. Each evaluation target and the associated data-collection activity were assessed in turn to determine whether the new data support, or demonstrate conservatism of, the CB forecasts. The modeling team—in this case, the same team that developed themore » Frenchman Flat geologic, source term, and groundwater flow and transport models—analyzed the new data and presented the results to a PER committee. Existing site understanding and its representation in numerical groundwater flow and transport models was evaluated in light of the new data and the ability to proceed to the CR stage of long-term monitoring and institutional control.« less

Teaching Assistants' Self-Efficacy in Teaching Literature: Sources, Personal Assessments, and Consequences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mills, Nicole

2011-01-01

Byrnes (2001) has suggested that the disconnection between language and literature instruction within many foreign language departments has consequences on the professionalization of graduate students. These structural issues lead to questions about graduate students' development. How do teaching assistants (TAs) perceive their competency as…

Complex Landscape Terms in Seri

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Meara, Carolyn; Bohnemeyer, Jurgen

2008-01-01

The nominal lexicon of Seri is characterized by a prevalence of analytical descriptive terms. We explore the consequences of this typological trait in the landscape domain. The complex landscape terms of Seri classify geographic entities in terms of their material make-up and spatial properties such as shape, orientation, and merological…

Who is having a voice? Journalists' selection of sources in a creationism controversy in the UK press

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allgaier, Joachim

2011-06-01

Media accounts of reality have the potential to influence public opinion and decision making processes. Therefore who has and who does not have access to the media and can make their voice heard is a crucial question with serious political consequences. In this article it is investigated whether the speciality of journalists influences their source selection procedures. The coverage of science in schools is an interesting example, since it can be covered by specialized science or education correspondents, but also by general news reporters. A public controversy in the UK about the inclusion of creationism in a school is used to identify which types of sources were selected by various journalists. The focus is upon the selection of sources and whether journalists with different specialties consider various sources relevant and credible. A content analysis of articles, featuring this controversy, is combined with an analysis of correspondent's strategies for selecting sources based on interviews with them. The findings suggest that compared to journalists that specialize in education issues, science correspondents employ a narrower scope when seeking sources. This might have important consequences for the representation of views on science education in the media.

Intravenous lipid emulsions in term infants: impact on laboratory and clinical outcomes and long-term consequences.

PubMed

Hartman, Corina; Shamir, Raanan

2015-01-01

Parenteral nutrition (PN) in term newborns and older infants is often required for nutritional support for temporary or permanent intestinal failure from any reason. Lipid emulsions (LEs) are an essential source of high-density energy, essential fatty acids, and fat-soluble vitamins. Depending on the fatty acid type, LEs may also have significant immunomodulatory effects. All LEs, starting with soybean oil-based LE and subsequently with medium-chain triglycerides-, olive oil- and fish oil-based LEs, have been investigated in newborns and infants. Laboratory data (mainly liver enzymes, plasma lipid profiles and some metabolic markers) have been investigated for some LEs. The outcome of intestinal failure-associated liver disease after switching to new fish oil-based LEs has been sporadically reported. Long-term outcome data have only looked at the relationship between PN and mortality/morbidity, especially liver disease, and a few studies have looked at growth. There are no controlled studies in this age group that investigated the relationship between different types of LEs and long-term outcomes. In spite of their contribution to understanding the use and indications of various LEs as well as their advantages and adverse effects, most studies in newborns and infants have been observational or retrospective, and the investigated population has been heterogeneous, either in terms of the degree of maturation, age or diagnoses. High-quality studies, preferably randomized and controlled, in this particular population are needed, especially with the widespread use of PN and the emergence of new LEs. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Early comprehensive care of preterm infants-effects on quality of life, childhood development, and healthcare utilization: study protocol for a cohort study linking administrative healthcare data with patient reported primary data.

PubMed

Schmitt, Jochen; Arnold, Katrin; Druschke, Diana; Swart, Enno; Grählert, Xina; Maywald, Ulf; Fuchs, Andreas; Werblow, Andreas; Schemken, Maryan; Reichert, Jörg; Rüdiger, Mario

2016-07-22

About 9 % of all children in Germany are born preterm. Despite significant improvements of medical care, preterm infants are at a greater risk to develop short and long term health complications. Negative consequences of preterm birth include neurodevelopmental disabilities, behavioral problems or learning disorders. Most data on effects of prematurity are derived from single or multi-center studies and not population-based. Since some of the long term problems of preterm delivery are associated with a disturbed parent-child interaction originating in the neonatal period, several intervention programs became available aiming to strengthen the early parent-child relationship. However, there is insufficient knowledge regarding the psychosocial and socioeconomic impact of these interventions. Prior to introducing them into routine care, those effects have to be rigorously evaluated. The population-based cohort study EcoCare-PIn (Early comprehensive Care of Preterm Infants-effects on quality of life, childhood development, and healthcare utilization) will investigate the following primary research questions: 1) What are the short- and long-term consequences of preterm birth with regard to parental stress, parent-child relationship, childhood development, quality of life and healthcare utilization including costs? 2) Does early family-centered psychosocial care prevent the hypothesized negative consequences of preterm birth on the above mentioned outcomes? EcoCare-PIn examines the research questions by means of a linkage of a) pseudonymized administrative individual-level claims data from the German statutory health insurance AOK PLUS on approximately 140,000 children born between 2007 and 2013 in Saxony, and b) primary data collected from the parents/caregivers of all very low birth weight (<1,500 g; n = 1,000) and low birth weight infants (1,500 to 2,500 g; n = 5,500) and a matched sample of infants above 2,500 g birth weight (n = 10,000). In Saxony, approximately 50 % of all individuals are insured at the AOK PLUS. The linkage of patient-level administrative and primary data is a novel approach in neonatal research and probably the only way to overcome shortcomings of studies solely relying on one data source. The study results are based on an observation period of up to 8 years and will directly inform perinatal healthcare provision in Saxony and Germany as a whole.

Forced migration in childhood: are there long-term health effects?

PubMed

Saarela, Jan M; Elo, Irma T

2016-12-01

Studies on the health of migrants have increased considerably in number in recent years, but little is still known about the long-term health effects associated with forced migration, and particularly for people who were forced to migrate as children. Data shortcomings together with the methodological challenges of studying migrant populations limit the ability to disentangle the roles of various factors that influence migrant health outcomes. Finland provides an unusual opportunity to study long-term health consequences associated with forced migration. During World War II, twelve per cent of the Finnish population was forced to leave the region nowadays referred to as Ceded Karelia. After the war, these Karelians could not return home because the area was relinquished to the Soviet Union. Using high quality, linked register-based data for the period 1988-2012, we investigate whether this forced migration had long-term health consequences for those who were forced to migrate as children. Comparison groups are non-displaced persons born on the adjacent side of the new border, and people born elsewhere in Finland. Health at ages 43-65 years is measured by receipt of sickness benefit, which is an indicator of short-term illness, and receipt of disability pension, which reflects long-term illness or permanent disability. All-cause and cause-specific mortality is analysed at ages 43-84 years. We find no support for the hypothesis that the traumatic event of being forced to migrate during childhood has long-term negative health consequences. The forced child migrants have lower odds for receipt of sickness benefit, and women also have lower odds for receipt of disability pension. The mortality results are largely driven by patterns specific for eastern-born populations of Finland. A likely reason behind the absence of negative health consequences is that these migrants seem to have integrated well into post-war Finnish society.

Radiological analysis of plutonium glass batches with natural/enriched boron

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rainisch, R.

2000-06-22

The disposition of surplus plutonium inventories by the US Department of Energy (DOE) includes the immobilization of certain plutonium materials in a borosilicate glass matrix, also referred to as vitrification. This paper addresses source terms of plutonium masses immobilized in a borosilicate glass matrix where the glass components include both natural boron and enriched boron. The calculated source terms pertain to neutron and gamma source strength (particles per second), and source spectrum changes. The calculated source terms corresponding to natural boron and enriched boron are compared to determine the benefits (decrease in radiation source terms) for to the use ofmore » enriched boron. The analysis of plutonium glass source terms shows that a large component of the neutron source terms is due to (a, n) reactions. The Americium-241 and plutonium present in the glass emit alpha particles (a). These alpha particles interact with low-Z nuclides like B-11, B-10, and O-17 in the glass to produce neutrons. The low-Z nuclides are referred to as target particles. The reference glass contains 9.4 wt percent B{sub 2}O{sub 3}. Boron-11 was found to strongly support the (a, n) reactions in the glass matrix. B-11 has a natural abundance of over 80 percent. The (a, n) reaction rates for B-10 are lower than for B-11 and the analysis shows that the plutonium glass neutron source terms can be reduced by artificially enriching natural boron with B-10. The natural abundance of B-10 is 19.9 percent. Boron enriched to 96-wt percent B-10 or above can be obtained commercially. Since lower source terms imply lower dose rates to radiation workers handling the plutonium glass materials, it is important to know the achievable decrease in source terms as a result of boron enrichment. Plutonium materials are normally handled in glove boxes with shielded glass windows and the work entails both extremity and whole-body exposures. Lowering the source terms of the plutonium batches will make the handling of these materials less difficult and will reduce radiation exposure to operating workers.« less

Pay modernisation and healthcare governance.

PubMed

Benton, David C

Policies interact and have direct and indirect consequences resulting in both short-term and longer-term effects on the working lives of professionals, the care they offer and the education needed by future generations of staff. This article explores how pay modernisation could result in benefits and risks for corporate, clinical and staff governance. It is argued that if pay modernisation as a major enabler of service redesign is to succeed then far greater understanding of how various policies interact and their potential consequences is required.

Acute kidney injury and disease: Long-Term consequences and management.

PubMed

Rangaswamy, Dharshan; Sud, Kamal

2018-05-27

With increasing longevity and presence of multiple co-morbidities, a significant proportion of hospitalized patients and an even larger population in the community is at increased risk for developing an episode of acute kidney injury (AKI). Because of improvements in short term outcomes following an episode of AKI, survivors of an episode of AKI are now predisposed to develop its long-term sequel. Identification of risk for progression to chronic kidney disease (CKD) is complicated by the absence of good biomarkers that identify this risk and the variability of risk associated with clinical factors including, but not limited to number of AKI episodes, severity, duration of previous AKI and pre-existing chronic kidney disease that has made prediction for long-term outcomes in survivors of AKI more difficult. Being a significant contributor for the growing incidence of CKD, there is a need to implement measures to prevent AKI both in the community and hospital settings, target interventions to treat AKI that are also associated with better long-term outcomes, accurately identify patients at risk for adverse consequences following an episode of AKI and institute therapeutic strategies to improve these long-term outcomes. We discuss the lasting renal and non-renal consequences following an episode of AKI, available biomarkers and non-invasive testing to identify ongoing intra-renal pathology and review the currently available and future treatment strategies to help reduce these adverse long-term outcomes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Fission Product Appearance Rate Coefficients in Design Basis Source Term Determinations - Past and Present

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perez, Pedro B.; Hamawi, John N.

2017-09-01

Nuclear power plant radiation protection design features are based on radionuclide source terms derived from conservative assumptions that envelope expected operating experience. Two parameters that significantly affect the radionuclide concentrations in the source term are failed fuel fraction and effective fission product appearance rate coefficients. Failed fuel fraction may be a regulatory based assumption such as in the U.S. Appearance rate coefficients are not specified in regulatory requirements, but have been referenced to experimental data that is over 50 years old. No doubt the source terms are conservative as demonstrated by operating experience that has included failed fuel, but it may be too conservative leading to over-designed shielding for normal operations as an example. Design basis source term methodologies for normal operations had not advanced until EPRI published in 2015 an updated ANSI/ANS 18.1 source term basis document. Our paper revisits the fission product appearance rate coefficients as applied in the derivation source terms following the original U.S. NRC NUREG-0017 methodology. New coefficients have been calculated based on recent EPRI results which demonstrate the conservatism in nuclear power plant shielding design.

CO2 fluxes from a tropical neighborhood: sources and sinks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Velasco, E.; Roth, M.; Tan, S.; Quak, M.; Britter, R.; Norford, L.

2011-12-01

Cities are the main contributors to the CO2 rise in the atmosphere. The CO2 released from the various emission sources is typically quantified by a bottom-up aggregation process that accounts for emission factors and fossil fuel consumption data. This approach does not consider the heterogeneity and variability of the urban emission sources, and error propagation can result in large uncertainties. In this context, direct measurements of CO2 fluxes that include all major and minor anthropogenic and natural sources and sinks from a specific district can be used to evaluate emission inventories. This study reports and compares CO2 fluxes measured directly using the eddy covariance method with emissions estimated by emissions factors and activity data for a residential neighborhood of Singapore, a highly populated and urbanized tropical city. The flux measurements were conducted during one year. No seasonal variability was found as a consequence of the constant climate conditions of tropical places; but a clear diurnal pattern with morning and late afternoon peaks in phase with the rush-hour traffic was observed. The magnitude of the fluxes throughout daylight hours is modulated by the urban vegetation, which is abundant in terms of biomass but not of land-cover (15%). Even though the carbon uptake by vegetation is significant, it does not exceed the anthropogenic emissions and the monitored district is a net CO2 source of 20.3 ton km-2 day-1 on average. The carbon uptake by vegetation is investigated as the difference between the estimated emissions and the measured fluxes during daytime.

Rural Latino caregivers' beliefs and behaviors around their children's salt consumption.

PubMed

Hoeft, Kristin S; Guerra, Claudia; Gonzalez-Vargas, M Judy; Barker, Judith C

2015-04-01

Prevalence of high blood pressure has been increasing in U.S. children, with implications for long term health consequences. Sodium consumption, a modifiable risk factor for high blood pressure, is above recommended limits and increasing. Very little is known about Latino caregiver beliefs and behaviors around their children's salt consumption. In California's Central Valley, qualitative interviews in Spanish investigated low-income caregivers' views and understandings of their children's dietary salt consumption. Thirty individual interviews and 5 focus groups were conducted (N=61). Interview transcripts were translated and transcribed, coded and thematically analyzed. Seven primary topic areas around children's salt intake and its impact on health were identified: children's favorite foods, children's dietary salt sources, superiority of home-cooked foods, salty and sweet foods, managing salt for health, developing children's tastes, and adding salt added at the table. Parents recognize common sources of sodium such as "junk food" and processed food and made efforts to limit their children's consumption of these foods, but may overlook other significant sodium sources, particularly bread, cheese, prepared soups and sports drinks. Caregivers recognize excess salt as unhealthy for children, but don't believe health problems (like high blood pressure) can occur in young children. Nevertheless, they made efforts to limit how much salt their children consumed through a variety of strategies; school meals were a source of high sodium that they felt were outside of their control. Latino caregivers are concerned about their children's salt intake and attempt to limit consumption, but some common sources of sodium are under-recognized. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Understanding High Incidence of Severe Obesity and Very Low Food Security in Food Pantry Clients: Implications For Social Work.

PubMed

Kaiser, Michelle L; Cafer, Anne

2018-01-01

The United States is facing two interconnected social and public health crises of severe obesity and food insecurity within the social-ecological environment. Marginalized groups experience the highest rates and the greatest impacts in terms of morbidity, mortality, and financial burdens. Consequences include experiencing multimorbidities, mental health issues, and decreased quality of life. Food pantries have served as spaces to obtain food to meet household needs, but for some, food pantries have become long-term solutions. We surveyed 2,634 people who accessed pantries in 2005, 2010, and 2013 across 32 counties in a Midwest state. The authors sought to understand to what extent does length of time using a food pantry, food security status, income sources, use of federal food benefits, visiting a doctor, and demographic variables increase odds of severe obesity. More than 14% were severely obese; those who were long-term food pantry users and very low food secure were 1.732 times more likely to be severely obese. Receiving Disability/Supplemental Security Income, seeing a doctor in the last year, being female, and older age reduced the odds of severe obesity. Discussion includes implications for social workers who interact with groups likely to experience very low food security and severe obesity at different systems levels.

Modernization of the NASA scientific and technical information program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cotter, Gladys A.; Hunter, Judy F.; Ostergaard, K.

1993-01-01

The NASA Scientific and Technical Information Program utilizes a technology infrastructure assembled in the mid 1960s to late 1970s to process and disseminate its information products. When this infrastructure was developed it placed NASA as a leader in processing STI. The retrieval engine for the STI database was the first of its kind and was used as the basis for developing commercial, other U.S., and foreign government agency retrieval systems. Due to the combination of changes in user requirements and the tremendous increase in technological capabilities readily available in the marketplace, this infrastructure is no longer the most cost-effective or efficient methodology available. Consequently, the NASA STI Program is pursuing a modernization effort that applies new technology to current processes to provide near-term benefits to the user. In conjunction with this activity, we are developing a long-term modernization strategy designed to transition the Program to a multimedia, global 'library without walls.' Critical pieces of the long-term strategy include streamlining access to sources of STI by using advances in computer networking and graphical user interfaces; creating and disseminating technical information in various electronic media including optical disks, video, and full text; and establishing a Technology Focus Group to maintain a current awareness of emerging technology and to plan for the future.

“Omics” in Human Colostrum and Mature Milk: Looking to Old Data with New Eyes

PubMed Central

Fanos, Vassilios; Reali, Alessandra

2017-01-01

Human Milk (HM) is the best source for newborn nutrition until at least six months; it exerts anti-inflammatory and anti-infective functions, promotes immune system formation and supports organ development. Breastfeeding could also protect from obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, human colostrum (HC) presents a peculiar role in newborn support as a protective effect against allergic and chronic diseases, in addition to long-term metabolic benefits. In this review, we discuss the recent literature regarding “omics” technologies and growth factors (GF) in HC and the effects of pasteurization on its composition. Our aim was to provide new evidence in terms of transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and microbiomics, also in relation to maternal metabolic diseases and/or fetal anomalies and to underline the functions of GF. Since HC results are so precious, particularly for the vulnerable pre-terms category, we also discuss the importance of HM pasteurization to ensure donated HC even to neonates whose mothers are unable to provide. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review analyzing in detail the molecular pattern, microbiota, bioactive factors, and dynamic profile of HC, finding clinical correlations of such mediators with their possible in vivo effects and with the consequent impact on neonatal outcomes. PMID:28783113

"Omics" in Human Colostrum and Mature Milk: Looking to Old Data with New Eyes.

PubMed

Bardanzellu, Flaminia; Fanos, Vassilios; Reali, Alessandra

2017-08-07

Human Milk (HM) is the best source for newborn nutrition until at least six months; it exerts anti-inflammatory and anti-infective functions, promotes immune system formation and supports organ development. Breastfeeding could also protect from obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, human colostrum (HC) presents a peculiar role in newborn support as a protective effect against allergic and chronic diseases, in addition to long-term metabolic benefits. In this review, we discuss the recent literature regarding "omics" technologies and growth factors (GF) in HC and the effects of pasteurization on its composition. Our aim was to provide new evidence in terms of transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and microbiomics, also in relation to maternal metabolic diseases and/or fetal anomalies and to underline the functions of GF. Since HC results are so precious, particularly for the vulnerable pre-terms category, we also discuss the importance of HM pasteurization to ensure donated HC even to neonates whose mothers are unable to provide. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review analyzing in detail the molecular pattern, microbiota, bioactive factors, and dynamic profile of HC, finding clinical correlations of such mediators with their possible in vivo effects and with the consequent impact on neonatal outcomes.

PM2.5 Characterization for Time Series Studies: Organic Molecular Marker Speciation Methods and Observations from Daily Measurements in Denver

PubMed Central

Dutton, Steven J.; Williams, Daniel E.; Garcia, Jessica K.; Vedal, Sverre; Hannigan, Michael P.

2009-01-01

Particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5) has been shown to have a wide range of adverse health effects and consequently is regulated in accordance with the US-EPA’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards. PM2.5 originates from multiple primary sources and is also formed through secondary processes in the atmosphere. It is plausible that some sources form PM2.5 that is more toxic than PM2.5 from other sources. Identifying the responsible sources could provide insight into the biological mechanisms causing the observed health effects and provide a more efficient approach to regulation. This is the goal of the Denver Aerosol Sources and Health (DASH) study, a multi-year PM2.5 source apportionment and health study. The first step in apportioning the PM2.5 to different sources is to determine the chemical make-up of the PM2.5. This paper presents the methodology used during the DASH study for organic speciation of PM2.5. Specifically, methods are covered for solvent extraction of non-polar and semi-polar organic molecular markers using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Vast reductions in detection limits were obtained through the use of a programmable temperature vaporization (PTV) inlet along with other method improvements. Results are presented for the first 1.5 years of the DASH study revealing seasonal and source-related patterns in the molecular markers and their long-term correlation structure. Preliminary analysis suggests that point sources are not a significant contributor to the organic molecular markers measured at our receptor site. Several motor vehicle emission markers help identify a gasoline/diesel split in the ambient data. Findings show both similarities and differences when compared with other cities where similar measurements and assessments have been made. PMID:20161318

Early establishment response of different Pinus nigra ssp. salzmanii seed sources on contrasting environments: Implications for future reforestation programs and assisted population migration.

PubMed

Taïbi, K; del Campo, A D; Aguado, A; Mulet, J M

2016-04-15

Forest restoration constitutes an important issue within adaptive environmental management for climate change at global scale. However, effective implementation of these programs can only be achieved by revising current seed transfer guidelines, as they lack inherent spatial and temporal dynamics associated with climate change. In this sense, provenance trials may provide key information on the relative performance of different populations and/or genotypes under changing ecological conditions. This study addresses a methodological approach to evaluate early plantation performance and the consequent phenotypic plasticity and the pattern of the adaptation of different seed sources in contrasting environments. To this end, six seed sources of Salzmann pine were tested at three contrasting trial sites testing a hypothetical assisted population migration. Adaptation at each site was assessed through Joint Regression and Additive Main effect and Multiplication Interaction (AMMI) models. Most of the observed variation was attributed to the environment (above 90% for all traits), even so genotype and genotype by environment interaction (GxE) were significant. Seedlings out-planted under better site conditions did not differ in survival but in height growth. However, on sites with higher constraints, survival differed among seed sources and diameter growth was high. The adaptation analyses (AMMI) indicated that the cold-continental seed source 'Soria' performed as a generalist seed source, whereas 'Cordilleras Béticas', the southernmost seed source, was more adapted to harsh environments (frost and drought) in terms of survival. The results supported partially the hypothesis that assisted migration of seed sources makes sense within limited transfer distances, and this was reinforced by the GxE results. The present study could be valuable to address adaptive transfer of seedings in ecological restoration and to determine the suitable seed sources for reforestation programs and assisted population migration under climatic changes. The reported results are based on 3 years' data and need to be considered in this context. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High power neutron production targets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wender, S.

1996-06-01

The author describes issues of concern in the design of targets and associated systems for high power neutron production facilities. The facilities include uses for neutron scattering, accelerator driven transmutation, accelerator production of tritium, short pulse spallation sources, and long pulse spallation sources. Each of these applications requires a source with different design needs and consequently different implementation in practise.

Youth access to tobacco.

PubMed

Rigotti, N A

1999-01-01

To start smoking, young people need a supply of tobacco products. Reducing youth access to tobacco is a new approach to preventing tobacco use that has been a focus of federal, state, and local tobacco control efforts over the past decade. All 50 states ban tobacco sales to minors, but compliance is poor because laws are not enforced. Consequently, young people have little trouble obtaining tobacco products. Commercial sources of tobacco (stores and vending machines) are important for underage smokers, who often purchase their own cigarettes. Underage youths also obtain tobacco from noncommercial sources such as friends, relatives, older adolescents, and adults. Educating retailers about tobacco sales laws has not produced long-term improvement in their compliance. Active enforcement of tobacco sales laws changes retailer behavior, but whether this reduces young people's access to tobacco or their tobacco use is not clear. The effectiveness of new local, state, and federal actions that aim to reduce youth access to tobacco remains to be determined. Can enforcing tobacco sales laws reduce young people's access to tobacco? If so, will this prevent or delay the onset of their tobacco use? How will youths' sources of tobacco change as commercial sources are restricted? What are the social (noncommercial) sources of tobacco for minors and how can youths' access to tobacco from these sources be reduced? What is the impact of the new federal policies aimed at reducing youth access to tobacco? Do new state and local laws that ban youth possession or use of tobacco have a net positive or negative impact on youth attitudes, access to tobacco, or tobacco use? What is the relative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of efforts to reduce the supply of tobacco compared to those that aim to reduce demand for tobacco? Will either work alone or are both necessary to achieve reductions in youth smoking?

Impacts of Microbial Growth on the Air Quality of the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macatangay, Ariel V.; Bruce, Rebekah J.

2009-01-01

An understanding of the various sources of non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) is one facet to ensuring the habitability of crewed spacecraft. Even though the International Space Station (ISS) atmosphere is relatively well characterized in terms of what is in the atmosphere and approximately how much, linking the majority of these trace contaminants detected to their source is virtually impossible. Albeit a few of can be associated to a single source, the majority of these trace contaminants have their origins from multiple sources. On crewed spacecraft such as ISS, trace contaminants are broadly categorized as either coming from equipment, which includes systems and payloads, or from the metabolic processes of the crew members. Such widely encompassing categories clearly illustrate the difficulty in linking air contaminants to their source(s). It is well known that microbial growth in ISS can flourish if left unchecked. Although processes are in place to limit microbial growth, in reality, microbial growth has pervaded the habitable environment of ISS. This is simply a consequence of having crewed spacecraft, as humans are the largest contributor to the bioload. As with crew members, microbes also have metabolic processes which, in many ways, are comparable to human metabolism. As such, it can be expected that microbial growth can lead to the release of volatile organic compounds into the ISS atmosphere. Given a large enough microbial population, the impact to the air quality of ISS can be potentially large. A survey of the microbiology found in ISS will be presented as well as the possible types of volatile organic compounds that can result from such organisms. This will be correlated to the observations provided by ground-based analysis of ISS atmosphere samples.

DEEP WIDEBAND SINGLE POINTINGS AND MOSAICS IN RADIO INTERFEROMETRY: HOW ACCURATELY DO WE RECONSTRUCT INTENSITIES AND SPECTRAL INDICES OF FAINT SOURCES?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rau, U.; Bhatnagar, S.; Owen, F. N., E-mail: rurvashi@nrao.edu

Many deep wideband wide-field radio interferometric surveys are being designed to accurately measure intensities, spectral indices, and polarization properties of faint source populations. In this paper, we compare various wideband imaging methods to evaluate the accuracy to which intensities and spectral indices of sources close to the confusion limit can be reconstructed. We simulated a wideband single-pointing (C-array, L-Band (1–2 GHz)) and 46-pointing mosaic (D-array, C-Band (4–8 GHz)) JVLA observation using a realistic brightness distribution ranging from 1 μ Jy to 100 mJy and time-, frequency-, polarization-, and direction-dependent instrumental effects. The main results from these comparisons are (a) errors in themore » reconstructed intensities and spectral indices are larger for weaker sources even in the absence of simulated noise, (b) errors are systematically lower for joint reconstruction methods (such as Multi-Term Multi-Frequency-Synthesis (MT-MFS)) along with A-Projection for accurate primary beam correction, and (c) use of MT-MFS for image reconstruction eliminates Clean-bias (which is present otherwise). Auxiliary tests include solutions for deficiencies of data partitioning methods (e.g., the use of masks to remove clean bias and hybrid methods to remove sidelobes from sources left un-deconvolved), the effect of sources not at pixel centers, and the consequences of various other numerical approximations within software implementations. This paper also demonstrates the level of detail at which such simulations must be done in order to reflect reality, enable one to systematically identify specific reasons for every trend that is observed, and to estimate scientifically defensible imaging performance metrics and the associated computational complexity of the algorithms/analysis procedures.« less

Impacts of Microbial Growth on the Air Quality of the International Space Station

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macatangay, Ariel V.; Bruce, Rebekah J.

2010-01-01

An understanding of the various sources of non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) is one facet to ensuring the habitability of crewed spacecraft. Even though the International Space Station (ISS) atmosphere is relatively well characterized in terms of what is in the atmosphere and approximately how much, linking the majority of these trace contaminants detected to their source is virtually impossible. Albeit a few of can be associated to a single source, the majority of these trace contaminants have their origins from multiple sources. On crewed spacecraft such as ISS, trace contaminants are broadly categorized as either coming from equipment, which includes systems and payloads, or from the metabolic processes of the crew members. Such widely encompassing categories clearly illustrate the difficulty in linking air contaminants to their source(s). It is well known that microbial growth in ISS can flourish if left unchecked. Although processes are in place to limit microbial growth, in reality, microbial growth has pervaded the habitable environment of ISS. This is simply a consequence of having crewed spacecraft, as humans are the largest contributor to the bioload. As with crew members, microbes also have metabolic processes which, in many ways, are comparable to human metabolism. As such, it can be expected that microbial growth can lead to the release of volatile organic compounds into the ISS atmosphere. Given a large enough microbial population, the impact to the air quality of ISS can be potentially large. A survey of the microbiology found in ISS will be presented as well as the possible types of volatile organic compounds that can result from such organisms. This will be correlated to the observations provided by ground-based analysis of ISS atmosphere samples

Influence of measurement frequency on the evaluation of short-term dose of sub-micrometric particles during indoor and outdoor generation events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manigrasso, M.; Stabile, L.; Avino, P.; Buonanno, G.

2013-03-01

Aerosol generation events due to combustion processes are characterized by high particle emissions in the nucleation mode range. Such particles are characterized by very short atmospheric lifetimes, leading to rapid decay in time and space from the emission point. Therefore, the deposited fraction of inhaled particles (dose) also changes. In fact, close to the emission source, high short-term peak exposures occur. The related exposure estimates should therefore rely on measurements of aerosol number-size distributions able to track rapid aerosol dynamics. In order to study the influence of the time resolution on such estimates, simultaneous measurements were carried out via Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) and Fast Mobility Particle Sizer (FMPS) spectrometers during particle generation events in both indoor (cooking activities) and outdoor (airstrip and urban street canyons) microenvironments. Aerosol size distributions in the range 16-520 nm were measured by SMPS and FMPS at frequencies of 0.007 s-1 and 1 s-1, respectively. Based on the two datasets, respiratory dosimetry estimates were made on the basis of the deposition model of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. During cooking activities, SMPS measurements give an approximate representation of aerosol temporal evolution. Consequently, the related instant doses can be approximated to a fair degree. In the two outdoor microenvironments considered, aerosol size distributions change rapidly: the FMPS is able to follow such evolution, whereas the SMPS is not. The high short-term peak concentrations, and the consequent respiratory doses, evidenced by FMPS data are hardly described by SMPS, which is unable to track the fast aerosol changes. The health relevance of such short peak exposures has not been thoroughly investigated in scientific literature, therefore, in the present paper highly time-resolved and size-resolved dosimetry estimates were provided in order to deepen this aspect.

Medical and Psychological Risks and Consequences of Long-Term Opioid Therapy in Women

PubMed Central

Darnall, Beth D.; Stacey, Brett R.; Chou, Roger

2016-01-01

Background Long-term opioid use has increased substantially over the past decade for U.S. women. Women are more likely than men to have a chronic pain condition, to be treated with opioids, and may receive higher doses. Prescribing trends persist despite limited evidence to support the long-term benefit of this pain treatment approach. Purpose To review the medical and psychological risks and consequences of long-term opioid therapy in women. Method Scientific literature containing relevant keywords and content were reviewed. Results and Conclusions Long-term opioid use exposes women to unique risks, including endocrinopathy, reduced fertility, neonatal risks, as well as greater risk for polypharmacy, cardiac risks, poisoning and unintentional overdose, among other risks. Risks for women appear to vary by age and psychosocial factors may be bidirectionally related to opioid use. Gaps in understanding and priorities for future research are highlighted. PMID:22905834

26 CFR 1.737-3 - Basis adjustments; Recovery rules.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... Properties A1, A2, and A3 is long-term, U.S.-source capital gain or loss. The character of gain on Property A4 is long-term, foreign-source capital gain. B contributes Property B, nondepreciable real property...-term, foreign-source capital gain ($3,000 total gain under section 737 × $2,000 net long-term, foreign...

26 CFR 1.737-3 - Basis adjustments; Recovery rules.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... Properties A1, A2, and A3 is long-term, U.S.-source capital gain or loss. The character of gain on Property A4 is long-term, foreign-source capital gain. B contributes Property B, nondepreciable real property...-term, foreign-source capital gain ($3,000 total gain under section 737 × $2,000 net long-term, foreign...

26 CFR 1.737-3 - Basis adjustments; Recovery rules.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... Properties A1, A2, and A3 is long-term, U.S.-source capital gain or loss. The character of gain on Property A4 is long-term, foreign-source capital gain. B contributes Property B, nondepreciable real property...-term, foreign-source capital gain ($3,000 total gain under section 737 × $2,000 net long-term, foreign...

26 CFR 1.737-3 - Basis adjustments; Recovery rules.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... Properties A1, A2, and A3 is long-term, U.S.-source capital gain or loss. The character of gain on Property A4 is long-term, foreign-source capital gain. B contributes Property B, nondepreciable real property...-term, foreign-source capital gain ($3,000 total gain under section 737 × $2,000 net long-term, foreign...

26 CFR 1.737-3 - Basis adjustments; Recovery rules.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... Properties A1, A2, and A3 is long-term, U.S.-source capital gain or loss. The character of gain on Property A4 is long-term, foreign-source capital gain. B contributes Property B, nondepreciable real property...-term, foreign-source capital gain ($3,000 total gain under section 737 × $2,000 net long-term, foreign...

Acute and chronic neurological consequences of early-life Zika virus infection in mice.

PubMed

Nem de Oliveira Souza, Isis; Frost, Paula S; França, Julia V; Nascimento-Viana, Jéssica B; Neris, Rômulo L S; Freitas, Leandro; Pinheiro, Daniel J L L; Nogueira, Clara O; Neves, Gilda; Chimelli, Leila; De Felice, Fernanda G; Cavalheiro, Ésper A; Ferreira, Sergio T; Assunção-Miranda, Iranaia; Figueiredo, Claudia P; Da Poian, Andrea T; Clarke, Julia R

2018-06-06

Although congenital Zika virus (ZIKV) exposure has been associated with microcephaly and other neurodevelopmental disorders, long-term consequences of perinatal infection are largely unknown. We evaluated short- and long-term neuropathological and behavioral consequences of neonatal ZIKV infection in mice. ZIKV showed brain tropism, causing postnatal-onset microcephaly and several behavioral deficits in adulthood. During the acute phase of infection, mice developed frequent seizures, which were reduced by tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) inhibition. During adulthood, ZIKV replication persisted in neonatally infected mice, and the animals showed increased susceptibility to chemically induced seizures, neurodegeneration, and brain calcifications. Altogether, the results show that neonatal ZIKV infection has long-term neuropathological and behavioral complications in mice and suggest that early inhibition of TNF-α-mediated neuroinflammation might be an effective therapeutic strategy to prevent the development of chronic neurological abnormalities. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

The chronic and evolving neurological consequences of traumatic brain injury.

PubMed

Wilson, Lindsay; Stewart, William; Dams-O'Connor, Kristen; Diaz-Arrastia, Ramon; Horton, Lindsay; Menon, David K; Polinder, Suzanne

2017-10-01

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can have lifelong and dynamic effects on health and wellbeing. Research on the long-term consequences emphasises that, for many patients, TBI should be conceptualised as a chronic health condition. Evidence suggests that functional outcomes after TBI can show improvement or deterioration up to two decades after injury, and rates of all-cause mortality remain elevated for many years. Furthermore, TBI represents a risk factor for a variety of neurological illnesses, including epilepsy, stroke, and neurodegenerative disease. With respect to neurodegeneration after TBI, post-mortem studies on the long-term neuropathology after injury have identified complex persisting and evolving abnormalities best described as polypathology, which includes chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Despite growing awareness of the lifelong consequences of TBI, substantial gaps in research exist. Improvements are therefore needed in understanding chronic pathologies and their implications for survivors of TBI, which could inform long-term health management in this sizeable patient population. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bisphenol A (BPA) in the serum of pet dogs following short-term consumption of canned dog food and potential health consequences of exposure to BPA.

PubMed

Koestel, Zoe L; Backus, Robert C; Tsuruta, Kaoru; Spollen, William G; Johnson, Sarah A; Javurek, Angela B; Ellersieck, Mark R; Wiedmeyer, Charles E; Kannan, Kurunthachalam; Xue, Jingchuan; Bivens, Nathan J; Givan, Scott A; Rosenfeld, Cheryl S

2017-02-01

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a widely present endocrine disruptor chemical found in many household items. Moreover, this chemical can bioaccumulate in various terrestrial and aquatic sources; thereby ensuring continual exposure of animals and humans. For most species, including humans, diet is considered the primary route of exposure. However, there has been little investigation whether commercial-brands of dog foods contain BPA and potential health ramifications of BPA-dietary exposure in dogs. We sought to determine BPA content within dog food, whether short-term consumption of these diets increases serum concentrations of BPA, and potential health consequences, as assessed by potential hematological, serum chemistry, cortisol, DNA methylation, and gut microbiome changes, in dogs associated with short-term dietary exposure to BPA. Fourteen healthy privately-owned dogs were used in this study. Blood and fecal samples were collected prior to dogs being placed for two-weeks on one of two diets (with one considered to be BPA-free), and blood and fecal samples were collected again. Serum/plasma samples were analyzed for chemistry and hematology profiles, cortisol concentrations, 5-methylcytosine in lymphocytes, and total BPA concentrations. Fecal samples were used for microbiome assessments. Both diets contained BPA, and after two-weeks of being on either diet, dogs had a significant increase in circulating BPA concentrations (pre-samples=0.7±0.15ng/mL, post-samples=2.2±0.15ng/mL, p<0.0001). Elevated BPA concentrations positively correlated with increased plasma bicarbonate concentrations and associated with fecal microbiome alterations. Short-term feeding of canned dog food increased circulating BPA concentrations in dogs comparable to amounts detected in humans, and greater BPA concentrations were associated with serum chemistry and microbiome changes. Dogs, who share our internal and external environments with us, are likely excellent indicators of potential human health concerns to BPA and other environmental chemicals. These findings may also have relevance to aquatic and terrestrial wildlife. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated Gait Analysis Through Hues and Areas (AGATHA): a method to characterize the spatiotemporal pattern of rat gait

PubMed Central

Kloefkorn, Heidi E.; Pettengill, Travis R.; Turner, Sara M. F.; Streeter, Kristi A.; Gonzalez-Rothi, Elisa J.; Fuller, David D.; Allen, Kyle D.

2016-01-01

While rodent gait analysis can quantify the behavioral consequences of disease, significant methodological differences exist between analysis platforms and little validation has been performed to understand or mitigate these sources of variance. By providing the algorithms used to quantify gait, open-source gait analysis software can be validated and used to explore methodological differences. Our group is introducing, for the first time, a fully-automated, open-source method for the characterization of rodent spatiotemporal gait patterns, termed Automated Gait Analysis Through Hues and Areas (AGATHA). This study describes how AGATHA identifies gait events, validates AGATHA relative to manual digitization methods, and utilizes AGATHA to detect gait compensations in orthopaedic and spinal cord injury models. To validate AGATHA against manual digitization, results from videos of rodent gait, recorded at 1000 frames per second (fps), were compared. To assess one common source of variance (the effects of video frame rate), these 1000 fps videos were re-sampled to mimic several lower fps and compared again. While spatial variables were indistinguishable between AGATHA and manual digitization, low video frame rates resulted in temporal errors for both methods. At frame rates over 125 fps, AGATHA achieved a comparable accuracy and precision to manual digitization for all gait variables. Moreover, AGATHA detected unique gait changes in each injury model. These data demonstrate AGATHA is an accurate and precise platform for the analysis of rodent spatiotemporal gait patterns. PMID:27554674

Automated Gait Analysis Through Hues and Areas (AGATHA): A Method to Characterize the Spatiotemporal Pattern of Rat Gait.

PubMed

Kloefkorn, Heidi E; Pettengill, Travis R; Turner, Sara M F; Streeter, Kristi A; Gonzalez-Rothi, Elisa J; Fuller, David D; Allen, Kyle D

2017-03-01

While rodent gait analysis can quantify the behavioral consequences of disease, significant methodological differences exist between analysis platforms and little validation has been performed to understand or mitigate these sources of variance. By providing the algorithms used to quantify gait, open-source gait analysis software can be validated and used to explore methodological differences. Our group is introducing, for the first time, a fully-automated, open-source method for the characterization of rodent spatiotemporal gait patterns, termed Automated Gait Analysis Through Hues and Areas (AGATHA). This study describes how AGATHA identifies gait events, validates AGATHA relative to manual digitization methods, and utilizes AGATHA to detect gait compensations in orthopaedic and spinal cord injury models. To validate AGATHA against manual digitization, results from videos of rodent gait, recorded at 1000 frames per second (fps), were compared. To assess one common source of variance (the effects of video frame rate), these 1000 fps videos were re-sampled to mimic several lower fps and compared again. While spatial variables were indistinguishable between AGATHA and manual digitization, low video frame rates resulted in temporal errors for both methods. At frame rates over 125 fps, AGATHA achieved a comparable accuracy and precision to manual digitization for all gait variables. Moreover, AGATHA detected unique gait changes in each injury model. These data demonstrate AGATHA is an accurate and precise platform for the analysis of rodent spatiotemporal gait patterns.

Long-term groundwater contamination after source removal—The role of sorbed carbon and nitrogen on the rate of reoxygenation of a treated-wastewater plume on Cape Cod, MA, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Smith, Richard L.; Repert, Deborah A.; Barber, Larry B.; LeBlanc, Denis R.

2013-01-01

The consequences of groundwater contamination can remain long after a contaminant source has been removed. Documentation of natural aquifer recoveries and empirical tools to predict recovery time frames and associated geochemical changes are generally lacking. This study characterized the long-term natural attenuation of a groundwater contaminant plume in a sand and gravel aquifer on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, after the removal of the treated-wastewater source. Although concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and other soluble constituents have decreased substantially in the 15 years since the source was removed, the core of the plume remains anoxic and has sharp redox gradients and elevated concentrations of nitrate and ammonium. Aquifer sediment was collected from near the former disposal site at several points in time and space along a 0.5-km-long transect extending downgradient from the disposal site and analyses of the sediment was correlated with changes in plume composition. Total sediment carbon content was generally low (< 8 to 55.8 μmol (g dry wt)− 1) but was positively correlated with oxygen consumption rates in laboratory incubations, which ranged from 11.6 to 44.7 nmol (g dry wt)− 1 day− 1. Total water extractable organic carbon was < 10–50% of the total carbon content but was the most biodegradable portion of the carbon pool. Carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratios in the extracts increased more than 10-fold with time, suggesting that organic carbon degradation and oxygen consumption could become N-limited as the sorbed C and dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) pools produced by the degradation separate with time by differential transport. A 1-D model using total degradable organic carbon values was constructed to simulate oxygen consumption and transport and calibrated by using observed temporal changes in oxygen concentrations at selected wells. The simulated travel velocity of the oxygen gradient was 5–13% of the groundwater velocity. This suggests that the total sorbed carbon pool is large relative to the rate of oxygen entrainment and will be impacting groundwater geochemistry for many decades. This has implications for long-term oxidation of reduced constituents, such as ammonium, that are being transported downgradient away from the infiltration beds toward surface and coastal discharge zones.

Road Traffic Noise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beckenbauer, Thomas

Road traffic is the most interfering noise source in developed countries. According to a publication of the European Union (EU) at the end of the twentieth century [1], about 40% of the population in 15 EU member states is exposed to road traffic noise at mean levels exceeding 55 dB(A). Nearly 80 million people, 20% of the population, are exposed to levels exceeding 65 dB(A) during daytime and more than 30% of the population is exposed to levels exceeding 55 dB(A) during night time. Such high noise levels cause health risks and social disorders (aggressiveness, protest, and helplessness), interference of communication and disturbance of sleep; the long- and short-term consequences cause adverse cardiovascular effects, detrimental hormonal responses (stress hormones), and possible disturbance of the human metabolism (nutrition) and the immune system. Even performance at work and school could be impaired.

Timing of introduction of complementary food: short- and long-term health consequences.

PubMed

Przyrembel, Hildegard

2012-01-01

Complementary food is needed when breast milk (or infant formula) alone is no longer sufficient for both nutritional and developmental reasons. The timing of its introduction, therefore, is an individual decision, although 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding can be recommended for most healthy term infants. The new foods are intended to 'complement' ongoing breastfeeding with those dietary items whose intake has become marginal or insufficient. Both breastfeeding and complementary feeding can have direct or later consequences on health. The evaluation of consequences of both early and late introduction of complementary food can neither disregard the effect of breastfeeding compared to formula feeding nor the composition or quality of the complementary food. Possible short-term health effects concern growth velocity and infections, and possible long-term effects may relate to atopic diseases, type 1 and 2 diabetes, obesity and neuromuscular development. On the basis of the currently available evidence, it is impossible to exactly determine the age when risks related to the start of complementary feeding are lowest or highest for most of these effects, with the possible exception of infections and early growth velocity. The present knowledge on undesirable health effects, however, is mainly based on observational studies, and although some mechanisms have been proposed, further prospective studies have to clarify these unsolved issues. Even less evidence on the consequences of the timing of complementary food introduction is available for formula-fed infants. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Radioactivity: A Natural Phenomenon.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ronneau, C.

1990-01-01

Discussed is misinformation people have on the subject of radiation. The importance of comparing artificial source levels of radiation to natural levels is emphasized. Measurements of radioactivity, its consequences, and comparisons between the risks induced by radiation in the environment and from artificial sources are included. (KR)

Skeletal muscle and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Myrie, Semone B; Pinder, Mark A

2018-04-01

Skeletal muscle is critical for mobility and many metabolic functions integral to survival and long-term health. Alcohol can affect skeletal muscle physiology and metabolism, which will have immediate and long-term consequences on health. While skeletal muscle abnormalities, including morphological, biochemical, and functional impairments, are well-documented in adults that excessively consume alcohol, there is a scarcity of information about the skeletal muscle in the offspring prenatally exposed to alcohol ("prenatal alcohol exposure"; PAE). This minireview examines the available studies addressing skeletal muscle abnormalities due to PAE. Growth restriction, fetal alcohol myopathy, and abnormalities in the neuromuscular system, which contribute to deficits in locomotion, are some direct, immediate consequences of PAE on skeletal muscle morphology and function. Long-term health consequences of PAE-related skeletal abnormalities include impaired glucose metabolism in the skeletal muscle, resulting in glucose intolerance and insulin resistance, leading to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. In general, there is limited information on the morphological, biochemical, and functional features of skeletal abnormalities in PAE offspring. There is a need to understand how PAE affects muscle growth and function at the cellular level during early development to improve the immediate and long-term health of offspring suffering from PAE.

Disparities in long-term care: building equity into market-based reforms.

PubMed

Konetzka, R Tamara; Werner, Rachel M

2009-10-01

A growing body of evidence documents pervasive racial, ethnic, and class disparities in long-term care in the United States. At the same time, major quality improvement initiatives are being implemented that rely on market-based incentives, many of which may have the unintended consequence of exacerbating disparities. We review existing evidence on disparities in the use and quality of long-term care services, analyze current market-based policy initiatives in terms of their potential to ameliorate or exacerbate these disparities, and suggest policies and policy modifications that may help decrease disparities. We find that racial disparities in the use of formal long-term care have decreased over time. Disparities in quality of care are more consistently documented and appear to be related to racial and socioeconomic segregation of long-term care facilities as opposed to within-provider discrimination. Market-based incentives policies should explicitly incorporate the goal of mitigating the potential unintended consequence of increased disparities.

Predicting Consequences of Technological Disasters from Natural Hazard Events: Challenges and Opportunities Associated with Industrial Accident Data Sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wood, M.

2009-04-01

The increased focus on the possibility of technological accidents caused by natural events (Natech) is foreseen to continue for years to come. In this case, experts in prevention, mitigation and preparation activities associated with natural events will increasingly need to borrow data and expertise traditionally associated with the technological fields to carry out the work. An important question is how useful is the data for understanding consequences from such natech events. Data and case studies provided on major industrial accidents tend to focus on lessons learned for re-engineering the process. While consequence data are reported at least nominally in most reports, their precision, quality and completeness is often lacking. Consequences that are often or sometimes available but not provided can include severity and type of injuries, distance of victims from the source, exposure measurements, volume of the release, population in potentially affected zones, and weather conditions. Yet these are precisely the type of data that will aid natural hazard experts in land-use planning and emergency response activities when a Natech event may be foreseen. This work discusses the results of a study of consequence data from accidents involving toxic releases reported in the EU's MARS accident database. The study analysed the precision, quality and completeness of three categories of consequence data reported: the description of health effects, consequence assessment and chemical risk assessment factors, and emergency response information. This work reports on the findings from this study and discusses how natural hazards experts might interact with industrial accident experts to promote more consistent and accurate reporting of the data that will be useful in consequence-based activities.

Bayesian estimation of a source term of radiation release with approximately known nuclide ratios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tichý, Ondřej; Šmídl, Václav; Hofman, Radek

2016-04-01

We are concerned with estimation of a source term in case of an accidental release from a known location, e.g. a power plant. Usually, the source term of an accidental release of radiation comprises of a mixture of nuclide. The gamma dose rate measurements do not provide a direct information on the source term composition. However, physical properties of respective nuclide (deposition properties, decay half-life) can be used when uncertain information on nuclide ratios is available, e.g. from known reactor inventory. The proposed method is based on linear inverse model where the observation vector y arise as a linear combination y = Mx of a source-receptor-sensitivity (SRS) matrix M and the source term x. The task is to estimate the unknown source term x. The problem is ill-conditioned and further regularization is needed to obtain a reasonable solution. In this contribution, we assume that nuclide ratios of the release is known with some degree of uncertainty. This knowledge is used to form the prior covariance matrix of the source term x. Due to uncertainty in the ratios the diagonal elements of the covariance matrix are considered to be unknown. Positivity of the source term estimate is guaranteed by using multivariate truncated Gaussian distribution. Following Bayesian approach, we estimate all parameters of the model from the data so that y, M, and known ratios are the only inputs of the method. Since the inference of the model is intractable, we follow the Variational Bayes method yielding an iterative algorithm for estimation of all model parameters. Performance of the method is studied on simulated 6 hour power plant release where 3 nuclide are released and 2 nuclide ratios are approximately known. The comparison with method with unknown nuclide ratios will be given to prove the usefulness of the proposed approach. This research is supported by EEA/Norwegian Financial Mechanism under project MSMT-28477/2014 Source-Term Determination of Radionuclide Releases by Inverse Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling (STRADI).

Long-term consequences of anorexia nervosa.

PubMed

Meczekalski, Blazej; Podfigurna-Stopa, Agnieszka; Katulski, Krzysztof

2013-07-01

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a psychiatric disorder that occurs mainly in female adolescents and young women. The obsessive fear of weight gain, critically limited food intake and neuroendocrine aberrations characteristic of AN have both short- and long-term consequences for the reproductive, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and skeletal systems. Neuroendocrine changes include impairment of gonadotropin releasing-hormone (GnRH) pulsatile secretion and changes in neuropeptide activity at the hypothalamic level, which cause profound hypoestrogenism. AN is related to a decrease in bone mass density, which can lead to osteopenia and osteoporosis and a significant increase in fracture risk in later life. Rates of birth complications and low birth weight may be higher in women with previous AN. The condition is associated with fertility problems, unplanned pregnancies and generally negative attitudes to pregnancy. During pregnancy, women with the condition have higher rates of hyperemesis gravidarum, anaemia and obstetric complications, as well as impaired weight gain and compromised intrauterine foetal growth. It is reported that 80% of AN patients are affected by a cardiac complications such as sinus bradycardia, a prolonged QT interval on electrocardiography, arrythmias, myocardial mass modification and hypotension. A decrease in bone mineral density (BMD) is one of the most important medical consequences of AN. Reduced BMD may subsequently lead to a three- to seven-fold increased risk of spontaneous fractures. Untreated AN is associated with a significant increase in the risk of death. Better detection and sophisticated therapy should prevent the long-term consequences of this disorder. The aims of treatment are not only recovery but also prophylaxis and relief of the long-term effects of this disorder. Further investigations of the long-term disease risk are needed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Legal consequences of the moral duty to report errors.

PubMed

Hall, Jacqulyn Kay

2003-09-01

Increasingly, clinicians are under a moral duty to report errors to the patients who are injured by such errors. The sources of this duty are identified, and its probable impact on malpractice litigation and criminal law is discussed. The potential consequences of enforcing this new moral duty as a minimum in law are noted. One predicted consequence is that the trend will be accelerated toward government payment of compensation for errors. The effect of truth-telling on individuals is discussed.

Acta Oncologica Lecture. Gastrointestinal consequences of cancer treatment and the wider context: a bad gut feeling.

PubMed

Muls, Ann Cecile

2014-03-01

The percentage of people living with a diagnosis of cancer is rising globally. Between 20% and 25% of people treated for cancer experience a consequence of cancer which has an adverse impact on the quality of their life. Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are the most common of all consequences of cancer treatment and have the greatest impact on daily activity. PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF LONG-TERM BOWEL DAMAGE AFTER PELVIC RADIOTHERAPY: Long-term damage to the bowel after radiotherapy is mediated by ischaemic changes and fibrosis. Each fraction of radiotherapy causes a series of repetitive injuries to the intestinal tissue resulting in an altered healing process, which affects the integrity of the repair and changes the architecture of the bowel wall. THE NATURE OF GI SYMPTOMS THAT DEVELOP: Patient-reported outcome measures show that diarrhoea, urgency, increased bowel frequency, tenesmus and flatulence are the five most prevalent GI symptoms with a moderate or severe impact on patients' daily lives after treatment with pelvic radiotherapy. Many patients also experience fatigue, urinary problems and have sexual concerns. SYSTEMATIC ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT: The complex nature of those symptoms warrants systematic assessment and management. The use of a tested algorithm can assist in achieving this. The most common contributing factors to ongoing bowel problems after pelvic radiotherapy are small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, bile acid malabsorption, pancreatic insufficiency, rectal bleeding and its impact on bone health. Symptom burden, socio-psychosocial impact, memory and cognitive function, fatigue, urinary problems and sexual concerns need to be taken into account when thinking about consequences of cancer treatment. As our understanding of consequences of cancer treatments continues to emerge and encompass a wide variety of specialties, a holistic, multifaceted and multidisciplinary approach is required to manage those consequences long-term.

Monetary conversion factors for economic evaluations of substance use disorders.

PubMed

McCollister, Kathryn; Yang, Xuan; Sayed, Bisma; French, Michael T; Leff, Jared A; Schackman, Bruce R

2017-10-01

Estimating the economic consequences of substance use disorders (SUDs) is important for evaluating existing programs and new interventions. Policy makers in particular must weigh program effectiveness with scalability and sustainability considerations in deciding which programs to fund with limited resources. This study provides a comprehensive list of monetary conversion factors for a broad range of consequences, services, and outcomes, which can be used in economic evaluations of SUD interventions (primarily in the United States), including common co-occurring conditions such as HCV and HIV. Economic measures were selected from standardized clinical assessment instruments that are used in randomized clinical trials and other research studies (e.g., quasi-experimental community-based projects) to evaluate the impact of SUD interventions. National datasets were also reviewed for additional SUD-related consequences, services, and outcomes. Monetary conversion factors were identified through a comprehensive literature review of published articles as well as targeted searches of other sources such as government reports. Eight service/consequence/outcome domains were identified containing more than sixty monetizable measures of medical and behavioral health services, laboratory services, SUD treatment, social services, productivity outcomes, disability outcomes, criminal activity and criminal justice services, and infectious diseases consequences. Unit-specific monetary conversion factors are reported, along with upper and lower bound estimates, whenever possible. Having an updated and standardized source of monetary conversion factors will facilitate and improve future economic evaluations of interventions targeting SUDs and other risky behaviors. This exercise should be repeated periodically as new sources of data become available to maintain the timeliness, comprehensiveness, and quality of these estimates. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

10 CFR 50.67 - Accident source term.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... occupancy of the control room under accident conditions without personnel receiving radiation exposures in... 10 Energy 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Accident source term. 50.67 Section 50.67 Energy NUCLEAR... Conditions of Licenses and Construction Permits § 50.67 Accident source term. (a) Applicability. The...

10 CFR 50.67 - Accident source term.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... occupancy of the control room under accident conditions without personnel receiving radiation exposures in... 10 Energy 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Accident source term. 50.67 Section 50.67 Energy NUCLEAR... Conditions of Licenses and Construction Permits § 50.67 Accident source term. (a) Applicability. The...

10 CFR 50.67 - Accident source term.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... occupancy of the control room under accident conditions without personnel receiving radiation exposures in... 10 Energy 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Accident source term. 50.67 Section 50.67 Energy NUCLEAR... Conditions of Licenses and Construction Permits § 50.67 Accident source term. (a) Applicability. The...

10 CFR 50.67 - Accident source term.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... occupancy of the control room under accident conditions without personnel receiving radiation exposures in... 10 Energy 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Accident source term. 50.67 Section 50.67 Energy NUCLEAR... Conditions of Licenses and Construction Permits § 50.67 Accident source term. (a) Applicability. The...

10 CFR 50.67 - Accident source term.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... occupancy of the control room under accident conditions without personnel receiving radiation exposures in... 10 Energy 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Accident source term. 50.67 Section 50.67 Energy NUCLEAR... Conditions of Licenses and Construction Permits § 50.67 Accident source term. (a) Applicability. The...

Analysis on Dangerous Source of Large Safety Accident in Storage Tank Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Tong; Li, Ying; Xie, Tiansheng; Liu, Yu; Zhu, Xueyuan

2018-01-01

The difference between a large safety accident and a general accident is that the consequences of a large safety accident are particularly serious. To study the tank area which factors directly or indirectly lead to the occurrence of large-sized safety accidents. According to the three kinds of hazard source theory and the consequence cause analysis of the super safety accident, this paper analyzes the dangerous source of the super safety accident in the tank area from four aspects, such as energy source, large-sized safety accident reason, management missing, environmental impact Based on the analysis of three kinds of hazard sources and environmental analysis to derive the main risk factors and the AHP evaluation model is established, and after rigorous and scientific calculation, the weights of the related factors in four kinds of risk factors and each type of risk factors are obtained. The result of analytic hierarchy process shows that management reasons is the most important one, and then the environmental factors and the direct cause and Energy source. It should be noted that although the direct cause is relatively low overall importance, the direct cause of Failure of emergency measures and Failure of prevention and control facilities in greater weight.

Estimates of Radiation Effects on Cancer Risks in the Mayak Worker, Techa River and Atomic Bomb Survivor Studies.

PubMed

Preston, Dale L; Sokolnikov, Mikhail E; Krestinina, Lyudmila Yu; Stram, Daniel O

2017-04-01

For almost 50 y, the Life Span Study cohort of atomic bomb survivor studies has been the primary source of the quantitative estimates of cancer and non-cancer risks that form the basis of international radiation protection standards. However, the long-term follow-up and extensive individual dose reconstruction for the Russian Mayak worker cohort (MWC) and Techa River cohort (TRC) are providing quantitative information about radiation effects on cancer risks that complement the atomic bomb survivor-based risk estimates. The MWC, which includes ~26 000 men and women who began working at Mayak between 1948 and 1982, is the primary source for estimates of the effects of plutonium on cancer risks and also provides information on the effects of low-dose rate external gamma exposures. The TRC consists of ~30 000 men and women of all ages who received low-dose-rate, low-dose exposures as a consequence of Mayak's release of radioactive material into the Techa River. The TRC data are of interest because the exposures are broadly similar to those experienced by populations exposed as a consequence of nuclear accidents such as Chernobyl. In this presentation, it is described the strengths and limitations of these three cohorts, outline and compare recent solid cancer and leukemia risk estimates and discussed why information from the Mayak and Techa River studies might play a role in the development and refinement of the radiation risk estimates that form the basis for radiation protection standards. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Predictors and immunological correlates of sublethal mercury exposure in vampire bats

PubMed Central

Chumchal, Matthew M.; Platt, Steven G.; Czirják, Gábor Á.; Rainwater, Thomas R.; Altizer, Sonia; Streicker, Daniel G.

2017-01-01

Mercury (Hg) is a pervasive heavy metal that often enters the environment from anthropogenic sources such as gold mining and agriculture. Chronic exposure to Hg can impair immune function, reducing the ability of animals to resist or recover from infections. How Hg influences immunity and susceptibility remains unknown for bats, which appear immunologically distinct from other mammals and are reservoir hosts of many pathogens of importance to human and animal health. We here quantify total Hg (THg) in hair collected from common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus), which feed on blood and are the main reservoir hosts of rabies virus in Latin America. We examine how diet, sampling site and year, and bat demography influence THg and test the consequences of this variation for eight immune measures. In two populations from Belize, THg concentrations in bats were best explained by an interaction between long-term diet inferred from stable isotopes and year. Bats that foraged more consistently on domestic animals exhibited higher THg. However, relationships between diet and THg were evident only in 2015 but not in 2014, which could reflect recent environmental perturbations associated with agriculture. THg concentrations were low relative to values previously observed in other bat species but still correlated with bat immunity. Bats with higher THg had more neutrophils, weaker bacterial killing ability and impaired innate immunity. These patterns suggest that temporal variation in Hg exposure may impair bat innate immunity and increase susceptibility to pathogens such as bacteria. Unexpected associations between low-level Hg exposure and immune function underscore the need to better understand the environmental sources of Hg exposure in bats and the consequences for bat immunity and susceptibility. PMID:28484633

Toward Knowledge Systems for Sustainability Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaks, D. P.; Jahn, M.

2011-12-01

Managing ecosystems for the outcomes of agricultural productivity and resilience will require fundamentally different knowledge management systems. In the industrial paradigm of the 20th century, land was considered an open, unconstrained system managed for maximum yield. While dramatic increases in yield occurred in some crops and locations, unintended but often foreseeable consequences emerged. While productivity remains a key objective, we must develop analytic systems that can identify better management options for the full range of monetized and non-monetized inputs, outputs and outcomes that are captured in the following framing question: How much valued service (e.g. food, materials, energy) can we draw from a landscape while maintaining adequate levels of other valued or necessary services (e.g. biodiversity, water, climate regulation, cultural services) including the long-term productivity of the land? This question is placed within our contemporary framing of valued services, but structured to illuminate the shifts required to achieve long-term sufficiency and planetary resilience. This framing also highlights the need for fundamentally new knowledge systems including information management infrastructures, which effectively support decision-making on landscapes. The purpose of this initiative by authors from diverse fields across government and academic science is to call attention to the need for a vision and investment in sustainability science for landscape management. Substantially enhanced capabilities are needed to compare and integrate information from diverse sources, collected over time that link choices made to meet our needs from landscapes to both short and long term consequences. To further the goal of an information infrastructure for sustainability science, three distinct but interlocking domains are best distinguished: 1) a domain of data, information and knowledge assets; 2) a domain that houses relevant models and tools in a curated space; and 3) a domain that includes decision support tools and systems tailored toward frame particular trade-offs, which may focus on inputs or outputs and may range in scale from local to global. An information infrastructure for sustainability science is best built be built and maintained as a modular, open source, open standard, open access, open content platform. We have defined the scope of this challenge, managing choices within agroecosystems, recognizing that any decision on a landscape involves multidimensional tradeoffs. An effort to address this challenge will need a cohesive, coherent and targeted approach toward an integrated knowledge management infrastructure for sustainability science applied to land management is essential to move more rapidly toward sustainable, productive, and resilient landscapes.

A tale of integrated regional water supply planning: Meshing socio-economic, policy, governance, and sustainability desires together

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Asefa, Tirusew; Adams, Alison; Kajtezovic-Blankenship, Ivana

2014-11-01

In 1998, Tampa Bay Water, the largest wholesale water provider in South East USA with over 2.3 million customers, assumed the role of planning, developing, and operating water supply sources from six local water supply utilities through an Interlocal Agreement. Under the agreement, cities and counties served by the agency would have their water supply demands met unequivocally and share the cost of delivery and/or development of new supplies based on their consumption, allowing a more holistic approach to manage resources in the region. Consequently, the agency was able to plan and execute several components of its Long-Term Master Water Plan to meet the region's demand, as well as diversify its sources of water supply. Today, the agency manages a diverse and regionally interconnected water supply system that includes 13 wellfields, two surface water supply sources, off-site reservoir storage, a sea water desalination plant, a surface water treatment plant, and 14 pumping/booster stations. It delivers water through 390 km of large diameter pipe to 19 potable water connections. It uses state-of-the-practice computer tools to manage short and long-term operations and planning. As a result, after the agency's inception, groundwater pumpage was reduced by more than half in less than a decade-by far one of the largest cutback and smaller groundwater utilization rate compared to other utilities in Florida or elsewhere. The region was able to witness a remarkable recovery in lake and wetland water levels through the agency's use of this diverse mix of supply sources. For example, in the last three years, 45-65% of water supply came from groundwater sources, 35-45% from surface water sources and 1-9% from desalinated seawater-very different from 100% groundwater only supply just few years ago. As an "on demand" wholesale water provider, the agency forecasts water supply availability and expected water demands from seasonal to decadal time frames using a suite of forecasting tools and a structured decision-making process. This paper presents a case study of the approach taken by Tampa Bay Water to meet the region's growing water demands while satisfying other competing objectives in a sustainable fashion and documents the remarkable environmental improvement observed in the area.

Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer Observations of the First Transient Z Source XTE J1701-462: Shedding New Light on Mass Accretion in Luminous Neutron Star X-Ray Binaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Homan, Jeroen; van der Klis, Michiel; Wijnands, Rudy; Belloni, Tomaso; Fender, Rob; Klein-Wolt, Marc; Casella, Piergiorgio; Méndez, Mariano; Gallo, Elena; Lewin, Walter H. G.; Gehrels, Neil

2007-02-01

We report on the first 10 weeks of RXTE observations of the X-ray transient XTE J1701-462 and conclude that it had all the characteristics of the neutron star Z sources, i.e., the brightest persistent neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries. These include the typical Z-shaped tracks traced out in X-ray color diagrams and the variability components detected in the power spectra, such as kHz QPOs and normal and horizontal branch oscillations. XTE J1701-462 is the first transient Z source and provides unique insights into mass accretion rate (m˙) and luminosity dependencies in neutron star X-ray binaries. As its overall luminosity decreased, we observed a switch between two types of Z source behavior, with the branches of the Z track changing their shape and/or orientation. We interpret this as an extreme case of the more moderate long-term changes seen in the persistent Z sources and suggest that they result from changes in m˙. We also suggest that the Cyg-like Z sources (Cyg X-2, GX 5-1, and GX 340+0) are substantially more luminous (>50%) than the Sco-like Z sources (Sco X-1, GX 17+2, and GX 349+2). Adopting a possible explanation for the behavior of kHz QPOs, which involves a prompt as well as a filtered response to changes in m˙, we further propose that changes in m˙ can explain both movement along the Z track and changes in the shape of the Z track. We discuss some consequences of this and consider the possibility that the branches of the Z will smoothly evolve into the branches observed in X-ray color diagrams of the less luminous atoll sources, although not in a way that was previously suggested.

Reestablishing the Dominance of Biogeochemical Pathways for Reducing Downstream Nutrient Losses from Aged Impounded Features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shukla, S.; Shukla, A.

2017-12-01

Water and phosphorus (P) dynamics and loss pathways at two stormwater impoundments (SIs) were analyzed using measured fluxes between 2008 and 2011. These SIs are a decade old. Analyses of water and P budgets along with the discernment of various P pools and characterization of the intermediary processes revealed that soil adsorption and plant uptake are secondary to volume reduction apropos of P treatment. At one site, extreme wet conditions in a year combined with soil P saturation resulted in it being a P source rather than a sink. The impoundment (SI-1) discharged 12% more P than incoming due to soil P desorption, a consequence of dilution of incoming stormwater with large water input from an extreme tropical rain event. The second impoundment (SI-2) was a consistent sink of P; 55% and 95% of the incoming total P was retained in the two years, mainly as a result of 49% and 84% volume retention, respectively. Analysis of plant available aluminum, iron, and phosphorus showed the surface soil to be P saturated and at risk of releasing P to a limit of environmental concern. These results when seen in light of more frequent extreme precipitation events under the changed climate scenario call for alternatives to revive the role of biogeochemical processes in P treatment because volume reduction may not always be the viable option, especially for wet conditions. Aboveground biomass harvesting and removal was evaluated to transform the SIs from a frequent P source to sink and maintain the long-term sink functions of the SIs. Use of harvested biomass as a source of nutrients (N and P) and carbon to agricultural soil can result in beneficial use of biomass and offset the cost of harvesting. Other avenues such as altering the hydrology of the SIs by compartmentalizing the system and increasing the storage were also explored for short-term benefits. Results provided a combination of hydraulic and biochemical options for achieving long-term water and nutrient retentions in agricultural and urban landscapes that use the SIs to meet downstream flows and water quality goals for watersheds.

Everyday attention lapses and memory failures: the affective consequences of mindlessness.

PubMed

Carriere, Jonathan S A; Cheyne, J Allan; Smilek, Daniel

2008-09-01

We examined the affective consequences of everyday attention lapses and memory failures. Significant associations were found between self-report measures of attention lapses (MAAS-LO), attention-related cognitive errors (ARCES), and memory failures (MFS), on the one hand, and boredom (BPS) and depression (BDI-II), on the other. Regression analyses confirmed previous findings that the ARCES partially mediates the relation between the MAAS-LO and MFS. Further regression analyses also indicated that the association between the ARCES and BPS was entirely accounted for by the MAAS-LO and MFS, as was that between the ARCES and BDI-II. Structural modeling revealed the associations to be optimally explained by the MAAS-LO and MFS influencing the BPS and BDI-II, contrary to current conceptions of attention and memory problems as consequences of affective dysfunction. A lack of conscious awareness of one's actions, signaled by the propensity to experience brief lapses of attention and related memory failures, is thus seen as having significant consequences in terms of long-term affective well-being.

The Psychometricization of Sigfluence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loase, John Frederick

The English language lacks a word that means long-term interpersonal influence of one person toward another. This failing likely conditions people to be superficial in their thinking, and consequently in their behavior. A new term, sigfluence, has been coined to define positive, long-term, significant, impactful, interpersonal influence. One of…

The Health Consequences of Smoking for Women. A Report of the Surgeon General 1979.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinney, John M., Ed.; And Others

This report focuses on the evidence about the health consequences of smoking for women, and is intended to serve the public health and medical communities as a unified source of existing scientific research. The major issues about tobacco use and women's health are examined, including trends in consumption, biomedical evidence, and determinants of…

Piecewise synonyms for enhanced UMLS source terminology integration.

PubMed

Huang, Kuo-Chuan; Geller, James; Halper, Michael; Cimino, James J

2007-10-11

The UMLS contains more than 100 source vocabularies and is growing via the integration of others. When integrating a new source, the source terms already in the UMLS must first be found. The easiest approach to this is simple string matching. However, string matching usually does not find all concepts that should be found. A new methodology, based on the notion of piecewise synonyms, for enhancing the process of concept discovery in the UMLS is presented. This methodology is supported by first creating a general synonym dictionary based on the UMLS. Each multi-word source term is decomposed into its component words, allowing for the generation of separate synonyms for each word from the general synonym dictionary. The recombination of these synonyms into new terms creates an expanded pool of matching candidates for terms from the source. The methodology is demonstrated with respect to an existing UMLS source. It shows a 34% improvement over simple string matching.

Knowledge of consequences of missing teeth in patients attending prosthetic clinic in u.C.h. Ibadan.

PubMed

Dosumu, O O; Ogunrinde, J T; Bamigboye, S A

2014-06-01

Various causes of tooth loss such as caries, trauma, periodontal diseases, and cancer have been documented in the literature. In addition, factors that can modify these causes such as level of education, age and sex have been studied. There is however paucity of information on whether patients or people with missing teeth are aware of the side effects of tooth loss on them or on the remaining teeth. This study investigated the knowledge of consequences of missing teeth among partially edentulous patients in a teaching hospital. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to the patients to collect information relating to demography, cause and duration of tooth loss, awareness of the consequences of tooth loss and their sources of information. Four clinical conditions including supra-eruption, mastication, teeth drifting, and facial collapse were used to assess the level of awareness of consequences of missing teeth. Two hundred and three participants were included in the study. Their mean age was 45.5±1.8 years. There was no significant difference between the knowledge of the consequences of missing teeth and sex or on level of education (p(·) 0.05). Dentists constituted the largest source of information to these patients (25.6%) while the media constituted the least (0.5%). The result of this study showed poor knowledge of the consequences of missing teeth among partially edentulous patients and the media that should be of assistance were equally unaware, signifying urgent need for public awareness on this subject.

Predicting long-term outcomes for children affected by HIV and AIDS: perspectives from the scientific study of children's development.

PubMed

Stein, Alan; Desmond, Christopher; Garbarino, James; Van IJzendoorn, Marinus H; Barbarin, Oscar; Black, Maureen M; Stein, Aryeh D; Hillis, Susan D; Kalichman, Seth C; Mercy, James A; Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J; Rapa, Elizabeth; Saul, Janet R; Dobrova-Krol, Natasha A; Richter, Linda M

2014-07-01

The immediate and short-term consequences of adult HIV for affected children are well documented. Little research has examined the long-term implications of childhood adversity stemming from caregiver HIV infection. Through overviews provided by experts in the field, together with an iterative process of consultation and refinement, we have extracted insights from the broader field of child development of relevance to predicting the long-term consequences to children affected by HIV and AIDS. We focus on what is known about the impact of adversities similar to those experienced by HIV-affected children, and for which there is longitudinal evidence. Cautioning that findings are not directly transferable across children or contexts, we examine findings from the study of parental death, divorce, poor parental mental health, institutionalization, undernutrition, and exposure to violence. Regardless of the type of adversity, the majority of children manifest resilience and do not experience any long-term negative consequences. However, a significant minority do and these children experience not one, but multiple problems, which frequently endure over time in the absence of support and opportunities for recovery. As a result, they are highly likely to suffer numerous and enduring impacts. These insights suggest a new strategic approach to interventions for children affected by HIV and AIDS, one that effectively combines a universal lattice of protection with intensive intervention targeted to selected children and families.

Predicting overfishing and extinction threats in multispecies fisheries

PubMed Central

Burgess, Matthew G.; Polasky, Stephen; Tilman, David

2013-01-01

Threats to species from commercial fishing are rarely identified until species have suffered large population declines, by which time remedial actions can have severe economic consequences, such as closure of fisheries. Many of the species most threatened by fishing are caught in multispecies fisheries, which can remain profitable even as populations of some species collapse. Here we show for multispecies fisheries that the biological and socioeconomic conditions that would eventually cause species to be severely depleted or even driven extinct can be identified decades before those species experience high harvest rates or marked population declines. Because fishing effort imposes a common source of mortality on all species in a fishery, the long-term impact of a fishery on a species is predicted by measuring its loss rate relative to that of species that influence the fishery’s maximal effort. We tested our approach on eight Pacific tuna and billfish populations, four of which have been identified recently as in decline and threatened with overfishing. The severe depletion of all four populations could have been predicted in the 1950s, using our approach. Our results demonstrate that species threatened by human harvesting can be identified much earlier, providing time for adjustments in harvesting practices before consequences become severe and fishery closures or other socioeconomically disruptive interventions are required to protect species. PMID:24043810

How to Present Evidence-Based Usability Design Principles Dedicated to Medication-Related Alerting Systems to Designers and Evaluators? Results from a Workshop.

PubMed

Marcilly, Romaric; Monkman, Helen; Villumsen, Sidsel; Kaufman, David; Beuscart-Zephir, Marie-Catherine

2016-01-01

Medication alerting system use errors and lack of adoption are often attributed to usability issues. Previous work has used evidence from the literature to reveal usability principles specific to medication alerting systems and identify potential consequences of violating these principles. The current study sought to explore how best to convey these principles to designers and evaluators of these systems to facilitate their work. To this aim, a workshop with 19 participants was used to generate ideas and opinions on how to deliver these topic-specific design principles in a way that would be most helpful for them. Participants generated ideas for how (e.g., a collaborative, continuously updated forum) and what (e.g., illustrations, checklists, evidence sources and strength, consequences of violations) information is most useful to disseminate usability principles for medication alerting systems. Participants, especially designers, expressed desire to use these principles in practice and avoid previously documented mistakes and therefore make design and evaluation of these systems more effective and efficient. Those insights are discussed in terms of feasibility and logistical challenges to developing the proposed documentation). To move this work forward, a more collaborative approach of Human Factors specialists in medical informatics is necessary.

Spectral emission from the alkali inductively-coupled plasma: Theory and experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bazurto, R.; Huang, M.; Camparo, J.

2018-04-01

The weakly-ionized, alkali inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) has a long history as the light source for optical pumping. Today, its most significant application is perhaps in the rubidium atomic frequency standard (RAFS), arguably the workhorse of atomic timekeeping in space, where it is crucial to the RAFS' functioning and performance (and routinely referred to as the RAFS' "rf-discharge lamp"). In particular, the photon flux from the lamp determines the signal-to-noise ratio of the device, and variations in ICP brightness define the long-term frequency stability of the atomic clock as a consequence of the ac-Stark shift (i.e., the light-shift). Given the importance of Rb atomic clocks to diverse satellite navigation systems (e.g., GPS, Galileo, BeiDou) - and thereby the importance of alkali ICPs to these systems - it is somewhat surprising to find that the physical processes occurring within the discharge are not well understood. As a consequence, researchers do not understand how to improve the spectral emission from the lamp except at a trial-and-error level, nor do they fully understand the nonlinear mechanisms that result in ICP light instability. Here, we take a first step in developing an intuitive, semi-quantitative model of the alkali rf-discharge lamp, and we perform a series of experiments to validate the theory's predictions.

Predicting overfishing and extinction threats in multispecies fisheries.

PubMed

Burgess, Matthew G; Polasky, Stephen; Tilman, David

2013-10-01

Threats to species from commercial fishing are rarely identified until species have suffered large population declines, by which time remedial actions can have severe economic consequences, such as closure of fisheries. Many of the species most threatened by fishing are caught in multispecies fisheries, which can remain profitable even as populations of some species collapse. Here we show for multispecies fisheries that the biological and socioeconomic conditions that would eventually cause species to be severely depleted or even driven extinct can be identified decades before those species experience high harvest rates or marked population declines. Because fishing effort imposes a common source of mortality on all species in a fishery, the long-term impact of a fishery on a species is predicted by measuring its loss rate relative to that of species that influence the fishery's maximal effort. We tested our approach on eight Pacific tuna and billfish populations, four of which have been identified recently as in decline and threatened with overfishing. The severe depletion of all four populations could have been predicted in the 1950s, using our approach. Our results demonstrate that species threatened by human harvesting can be identified much earlier, providing time for adjustments in harvesting practices before consequences become severe and fishery closures or other socioeconomically disruptive interventions are required to protect species.

Implications of domestic food practices for the presence of bioactive components in meats with special reference to meat-based functional foods.

PubMed

Jiménez-Colmenero, Francisco; Cofrades, Susana; Herrero, Ana M; Ruiz-Capillas, Claudia

2017-06-14

Although an essential component of the diet, the consumption of meat is in question. Meat is a major source of beneficial compounds but it also contains other substances with negative health implications. Functional foods, which are leading trends in the food industry, constitute an excellent opportunity for the meat sector to improve healthier meat options. Most studies on meat-based functional foods have focused mainly on the application of different strategies (animal production practices and meat transformation systems) to improve (increase/reduce) the presence of bioactive (healthy/unhealthy) compounds; these have led to the development of numerous products, many of them by the meat industry. However, like other foods, after purchase meats undergo certain processes before they are consumed, and these affect their composition. Although domestic handling practices can significantly alter the make-up of the marketed product in terms of healthy/unhealthy compounds, there are very few studies on their consequences. This paper provides an overview of the influence of different domestic practices (from shopping to eating) habitually followed by consumers on the presence of, and consequently on the levels of exposure to, (healthy and unhealthy) food components associated with the consumption of meats, with special reference to meat-based functional foods.

The Consequences of Consequential Validity.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mehrens, William A.

1997-01-01

There is no agreement at present about the importance or meaning of the term "consequential validity." It is important that the authors of revisions to the "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing" recognize the debate and relegate discussion of consequences to a context separate from the discussion of validity.…

Lasting Consequences of the Summer Learning Gap

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alexander, Karl L.; Entwisle, Doris R.; Olson, Linda Steffel

2007-01-01

Prior research has demonstrated that summer learning rooted in family and community influences widens the achievement gap across social lines, while schooling offsets those family and community influences. In this article, we examine the long-term educational consequences of summer learning differences by family socioeconomic level. Using data…

Being as Normal as Possible: How Young People Ages 16-25 Years Evaluate the Risks and Benefits of Treatment for Inflammatory Arthritis.

PubMed

Hart, Ruth I; McDonagh, Janet E; Thompson, Ben; Foster, Helen E; Kay, Lesley; Myers, Andrea; Rapley, Tim

2016-09-01

To explore how young people (ages 16-25 years) with inflammatory arthritis evaluate the risks and benefits of treatment, particularly treatment with biologic therapies. This qualitative study involved in-depth interviews (n = 44) with young people, trusted others (e.g., parents), and health professionals; audio-recordings (n = 4) of biologic therapy-related consultations; and focus groups (n = 4). Analysis used techniques from grounded theory (open and focused coding, constant comparison, memoing, and mapping). Young people aspired to live what they perceived as a "normal" life. They saw treatment as presenting both an opportunity for and a threat to achieving this. Treatment changes were therefore subject to complex and ongoing evaluation, covering administration, associated restrictions, anticipated effects, and side effects. Information sources included expert opinion (of professionals and other patients) and personal experience. Previous treatments provided important reference points. Faced with uncertain outcomes, young people made provisional decisions. Both trusted others and health professionals expressed concern that young people were too focused on short-term outcomes. Young people value treatment that helps them to live a "normal" life. There is more to this than controlling disease. The emotional, social, and vocational consequences of treatment can be profound and lasting: opportunities to discuss the effects of treatment should be provided early and regularly. While making every effort to ensure understanding of the long-term clinical consequences of taking or not taking medication, the wider impact of treatment should not be dismissed. Only through understanding young people's values, preferences, and concerns can a sustainable balance between disease control and treatment burden be achieved. © 2016 The Authors. Arthritis Care & Research published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.

A Population-Based Study of Childhood Sexual Contact in China: Prevalence and Long-Term Consequences

PubMed Central

Luo, Ye; Parish, William L.; Laumann, Edward O.

2008-01-01

Objectives This study provides national estimates of the prevalence of childhood sexual contact and its association with sexual well-being and psychological distress among adults in China. Method A national stratified probability sample of 1,519 women and 1,475 men aged 20 to 64 years in urban China completed a computer-administered survey in 1999–2000. The data from this survey on both adult-to-child and peer-to-peer sexual contact before age 14 were subjected to descriptive and multivariate analyses that were adjusted for both sampling weights and sampling design. Results The overall prevalence of reported childhood sexual contact was 4.2%, with prevalence higher among men (5.1%) than among women (3.3%) and higher among those aged 20–29 years (8.3%). Childhood sexual contact was associated with multiplex consequences, including hyper-sexuality (high levels of masturbation, thoughts about sex, varieties of sexual practices, partner turnover), adult sexual victimization (unwanted sex, unwanted sexual acts, sexual harassment), sexual difficulties (genitor-urinary symptoms, sexually transmitted infections, sexual dysfunctions), and psychological distress. Psychological distress was largely mediated by adult sexual victimization, sexual difficulties, and hyper-sexuality. Conclusions Despite the relatively modest prevalence of childhood sexual contact among Chinese adults, the association with multiplex adult outcomes suggests that much as in the West early sexual contact is a significant issue. Practice Implications The findings underscore the importance of public education about childhood sexual contact and abuse in China. The findings suggest a need for public health campaigns that tackle the stigma associated with being abused and encourage victims to report abusive behavior to proper sources. The findings are also consistent with new efforts to alleviate the negative long-term impact of childhood sexual abuse. PMID:18614231

(A)biotic processes control soil carbon dynamics: quantitative assessment of model complexity, stability and response to perturbations for improving ESMs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Georgiou, K.; Abramoff, R. Z.; Harte, J.; Riley, W. J.; Torn, M. S.

2016-12-01

As global temperatures and atmospheric CO2 concentrations continue to increase, soil microbial activity and decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM) are expected to follow suit, potentially limiting soil carbon storage. Traditional global- and ecosystem-scale models simulate SOM decomposition using linear kinetics, which are inherently unable to reproduce carbon-concentration feedbacks, such as priming of native SOM at elevated CO2 concentrations. Recent studies using nonlinear microbial models of SOM decomposition seek to capture these interactions, and several groups are currently integrating these microbial models into Earth System Models (ESMs). However, despite their widespread ability to exhibit nonlinear responses, these models vary tremendously in complexity and, consequently, dynamics. In this study, we explore, both analytically and numerically, the emergent oscillatory behavior and insensitivity of SOM stocks to carbon inputs that have been deemed `unrealistic' in recent microbial models. We discuss the sources of instability in four models of varying complexity, by sequentially reducing complexity of a detailed model that includes microbial physiology, a mineral sorption isotherm, and enzyme dynamics. We also present an alternative representation of microbial turnover that limits population sizes and, thus, reduces oscillations. We compare these models to several long-term carbon input manipulations, including the Detritus Input and Removal Treatment (DIRT) experiments, to show that there are clear metrics that can be used to distinguish and validate the inherent dynamics of each model structure. We find that traditional linear and nonlinear models cannot readily capture the range of long-term responses observed across the DIRT experiments as a direct consequence of their model structures, and that modifying microbial turnover results in more realistic predictions. Finally, we discuss our findings in the context of improving microbial model behavior for inclusion in ESMs.

A population-based study of childhood sexual contact in China: prevalence and long-term consequences.

PubMed

Luo, Ye; Parish, William L; Laumann, Edward O

2008-07-01

This study provides national estimates of the prevalence of childhood sexual contact and its association with sexual well-being and psychological distress among adults in China. A national stratified probability sample of 1,519 women and 1,475 men aged 20-64 years in urban China completed a computer-administered survey in 1999-2000. The data from this survey on both adult-to-child and peer-to-peer sexual contact before age 14 were subjected to descriptive and multivariate analyses that were adjusted for both sampling weights and sampling design. The overall prevalence of reported childhood sexual contact was 4.2%, with prevalence higher among men (5.1%) than among women (3.3%) and higher among those aged 20-29 years (8.3%). Childhood sexual contact was associated with multiplex consequences, including hyper-sexuality (high levels of masturbation, thoughts about sex, varieties of sexual practices, partner turnover), adult sexual victimization (unwanted sex, unwanted sexual acts, sexual harassment), sexual difficulties (genitor-urinary symptoms, sexually transmitted infections, sexual dysfunctions), and psychological distress. Psychological distress was largely mediated by adult sexual victimization, sexual difficulties, and hyper-sexuality. Despite the relatively modest prevalence of childhood sexual contact among Chinese adults, the association with multiplex adult outcomes suggests that much as in the West early sexual contact is a significant issue. The findings underscore the importance of public education about childhood sexual contact and abuse in China. The findings suggest a need for public health campaigns that tackle the stigma associated with being abused and encourage victims to report abusive behavior to proper sources. The findings are also consistent with new efforts to alleviate the negative long-term impact of childhood sexual abuse.

Modeling of induced seismicity and ground vibrations associated with geologic CO 2 storage, and assessing their effects on surface structures and human perception

DOE PAGES

Rutqvist, Jonny; Cappa, Frédéric; Rinaldi, Antonio P.; ...

2014-05-01

In this paper, we present model simulations of ground motions caused by CO 2 -injection-induced fault reactivation and analyze the results in terms of the potential for damage to ground surface structures and nuisance to the local human population. It is an integrated analysis from cause to consequence, including the whole chain of processes starting from earthquake inception in the subsurface, wave propagation toward the ground surface, and assessment of the consequences of ground vibration. For a small magnitude (M w =3) event at a hypocenter depth of about 1000m, we first used the simulated ground-motion wave train in anmore » inverse analysis to estimate source parameters (moment magnitude, rupture dimensions and stress drop), achieving good agreement and thereby verifying the modeling of the chain of processes from earthquake inception to ground vibration. We then analyzed the ground vibration results in terms of peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV) and frequency content, with comparison to U.S. Geological Survey's instrumental intensity scales for earthquakes and the U.S. Bureau of Mines' vibration criteria for cosmetic damage to buildings, as well as human-perception vibration limits. Our results confirm the appropriateness of using PGV (rather than PGA) and frequency for the evaluation of potential ground-vibration effects on structures and humans from shallow injection-induced seismic events. For the considered synthetic M w =3 event, our analysis showed that the short duration, high frequency ground motion may not cause any significant damage to surface structures, but would certainly be felt by the local population.« less

Renewable resources in the chemical industry--breaking away from oil?

PubMed

Nordhoff, Stefan; Höcker, Hans; Gebhardt, Henrike

2007-12-01

Rising prices for fossil-based raw materials suggest that sooner or later renewable raw materials will, in principle, become economically viable. This paper examines this widespread paradigm. Price linkages like those seen for decades particularly in connection with petrochemical raw materials are now increasingly affecting renewable raw materials. The main driving force is the competing utilisation as an energy source because both fossil-based and renewable raw materials are used primarily for heat, electrical power and mobility. As a result, prices are determined by energy utilisation. Simple observations show how prices for renewable carbon sources are becoming linked to the crude oil price. Whether the application calls for sugar, starch, virgin oils or lignocellulose, the price for the raw material rises with the oil price. Consequently, expectations regarding price trends for fossil-based energy sources can also be utilised for the valuation of alternative processes. However, this seriously calls into question the assumption that a rising crude oil price will favour the economic viability of alternative products and processes based on renewable raw materials. Conversely, it follows that these products and processes must demonstrate economic viability today. Especially in connection with new approaches in white biotechnology, it is evident that, under realistic assumptions, particularly in terms of achievable yields and the optimisation potential of the underlying processes, the route to utilisation is economically viable. This makes the paradigm mentioned at the outset at least very questionable.

Reconstructing Seasonal Range Expansion of the Tropical Butterfly, Heliconius charithonia, into Texas Using Historical Records

PubMed Central

Cardoso, Márcio Zikán

2010-01-01

While butterfly responses to climate change are well studied, detailed analyses of the seasonal dynamics of range expansion are few. Therefore, the seasonal range expansion of the butterfly Heliconius charithonia L. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) was analyzed using a database of sightings and collection records dating from 1884 to 1992 from Texas. First and last sightings for each year were noted, and residency time calculated, for each collection locality. To test whether sighting dates were a consequence of distance from source (defined as the southernmost location of permanent residence), the distance between source and other locations was calculated. Additionally, consistent directional change over time of arrival dates was tested in a well-sampled area (San Antonio). Also, correlations between temperature, rainfall, and butterfly distribution were tested to determine whether butterfly sightings were influenced by climate. Both arrival date and residency interval were influenced by distance from source: butterflies arrived later and residency time was shorter at more distant locations. Butterfly occurrence was correlated with temperature but not rainfall. Residency time was also correlated with temperature but not rainfall. Since temperature follows a north-south gradient this may explain the inverse relationship between residency and distance from entry point. No long-term directional change in arrival dates was found in San Antonio. The biological meaning of these findings is discussed suggesting that naturalist notes can be a useful tool in reconstructing spatial dynamics. PMID:20672989

Consequences and Reduction of Elevated Ammonia in Illinois Groundwaters: U.S. EPA Research Efforts

EPA Science Inventory

Nitrification in drinking water distribution systems is a concern of many drinking water systems. Although chloramination as a source of nitrification has drawn the most attention, many source waters contain significant levels of ammonia, particularly in Midwestern States such a...

Influence of atmospheric internal variability on the long-term Siberian water cycle during the past 2 centuries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oshima, Kazuhiro; Ogata, Koto; Park, Hotaek; Tachibana, Yoshihiro

2018-05-01

River discharges from Siberia are a large source of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean, whereas the cause of the long-term variation in Siberian discharges is still unclear. The observed river discharges of the Lena in the east and the Ob in the west indicated different relationships in each of the epochs during the past 7 decades. The correlations between the two river discharges were negative during the 1980s to mid-1990s, positive during the mid-1950s to 1960s, and became weak after the mid-1990s. More long-term records of tree-ring-reconstructed discharges have also shown differences in the correlations in each of the epochs. It is noteworthy that the correlations obtained from the reconstructions tend to be negative during the past 2 centuries. Such tendency has also been obtained from precipitations in observations, and in simulations with an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) and fully coupled atmosphere-ocean GCMs conducted for the Fourth Assessment Report of the IPCC. The AGCM control simulation further demonstrated that an east-west seesaw pattern of summertime large-scale atmospheric circulation frequently emerges over Siberia as an atmospheric internal variability. This results in an opposite anomaly of precipitation over the Lena and Ob and the negative correlation. Consequently, the summertime atmospheric internal variability in the east-west seesaw pattern over Siberia is a key factor influencing the long-term variation in precipitation and river discharge, i.e., the water cycle in this region.

Clinical reasoning: concept analysis.

PubMed

Simmons, Barbara

2010-05-01

This paper is a report of a concept analysis of clinical reasoning in nursing. Clinical reasoning is an ambiguous term that is often used synonymously with decision-making and clinical judgment. Clinical reasoning has not been clearly defined in the literature. Healthcare settings are increasingly filled with uncertainty, risk and complexity due to increased patient acuity, multiple comorbidities, and enhanced use of technology, all of which require clinical reasoning. Data sources. Literature for this concept analysis was retrieved from several databases, including CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC and OvidMEDLINE, for the years 1980 to 2008. Rodgers's evolutionary method of concept analysis was used because of its applicability to concepts that are still evolving. Multiple terms have been used synonymously to describe the thinking skills that nurses use. Research in the past 20 years has elucidated differences among these terms and identified the cognitive processes that precede judgment and decision-making. Our concept analysis defines one of these terms, 'clinical reasoning,' as a complex process that uses cognition, metacognition, and discipline-specific knowledge to gather and analyse patient information, evaluate its significance, and weigh alternative actions. This concept analysis provides a middle-range descriptive theory of clinical reasoning in nursing that helps clarify meaning and gives direction for future research. Appropriate instruments to operationalize the concept need to be developed. Research is needed to identify additional variables that have an impact on clinical reasoning and what are the consequences of clinical reasoning in specific situations.

Turbidity and nitrate transfer in karstic aquifers in rural areas: the Brionne Basin case-study.

PubMed

Nebbache, S; Feeny, V; Poudevigne, I; Alard, D

2001-08-01

The degradation of water quality in many groundwaters of Europe is a major source of concern. Rises in turbidity and nitrate concentrations represent present or potential threats for the quality of drinking water in rural areas. They are for the most part a consequence of agricultural intensification which has considerably affected land cover and land use in recent decades. In our case-study (a karstic catchment) the mechanisms which explain changes in water quality, as far as turbidity and nitrate are concerned, result from a strong continuity between surface and underground waters. The karstic system of the Brionne Basin can be considered as both the focus of rapid horizontal flows (runoff, a rapid process in which rainwater reaches the spring directly through sinkholes) and slow vertical flows (leaching, in which rainwater filters through the soil to the spring). A hierarchical approach to the water pollution problem of the basin suggests that turbidity or nitrate concentrations peak during heavy rain episodes and are short-term events. In terms of management, this implies that the solution to water pollution caused by such events is also short-term and can therefore be addressed at a local scale. The rise of nitrate concentrations during the past twenty years is the main concern. The solution can only be found at a global scale (all the catchment area must be taken in account: land plots and their spatial configuration), and by taking a long-term approach.

Low birth weight and air pollution in California: Which sources and components drive the risk?

PubMed

Laurent, Olivier; Hu, Jianlin; Li, Lianfa; Kleeman, Michael J; Bartell, Scott M; Cockburn, Myles; Escobedo, Loraine; Wu, Jun

2016-01-01

Intrauterine growth restriction has been associated with exposure to air pollution, but there is a need to clarify which sources and components are most likely responsible. This study investigated the associations between low birth weight (LBW, <2500g) in term born infants (≥37 gestational weeks) and air pollution by source and composition in California, over the period 2001-2008. Complementary exposure models were used: an empirical Bayesian kriging model for the interpolation of ambient pollutant measurements, a source-oriented chemical transport model (using California emission inventories) that estimated fine and ultrafine particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM0.1, respectively) mass concentrations (4km×4km) by source and composition, a line-source roadway dispersion model at fine resolution, and traffic index estimates. Birth weight was obtained from California birth certificate records. A case-cohort design was used. Five controls per term LBW case were randomly selected (without covariate matching or stratification) from among term births. The resulting datasets were analyzed by logistic regression with a random effect by hospital, using generalized additive mixed models adjusted for race/ethnicity, education, maternal age and household income. In total 72,632 singleton term LBW cases were included. Term LBW was positively and significantly associated with interpolated measurements of ozone but not total fine PM or nitrogen dioxide. No significant association was observed between term LBW and primary PM from all sources grouped together. A positive significant association was observed for secondary organic aerosols. Exposure to elemental carbon (EC), nitrates and ammonium were also positively and significantly associated with term LBW, but only for exposure during the third trimester of pregnancy. Significant positive associations were observed between term LBW risk and primary PM emitted by on-road gasoline and diesel or by commercial meat cooking sources. Primary PM from wood burning was inversely associated with term LBW. Significant positive associations were also observed between term LBW and ultrafine particle numbers modeled with the line-source roadway dispersion model, traffic density and proximity to roadways. This large study based on complementary exposure metrics suggests that not only primary pollution sources (traffic and commercial meat cooking) but also EC and secondary pollutants are risk factors for term LBW. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Perceptions and attitudes regarding noise in urban areas: the example of the Ile-de-France region].

PubMed

Grange, Dorothée; Chatignoux, Edouard; Grémy, Isabelle

2010-01-01

Noise is the subject of increasing attention for the French, especially in highly urbanized areas where its sources are multiple. In this context, this article aims to gain a better understanding of the how the specificities of the Ile-de-France region influence perceptions, attitudes and expectations of its inhabitants with respect to noise. The article is based on the regional use of results extracted from the national Environmental Health Barometer 2007 study by the INPES, the French National Institute for Prevention and Health Education. First and foremost, noise is perceived as a source of discomfort and inconvenience, in particular in Ile-de-France, while the related consequences of noise exposure for health were of secondary importance and not necessarily influenced by the degree of urbanization. The preoccupation with noise was much more important in the Ile-de-France region than in the rest of the country. Furthermore, a significant proportion of young people, particularly the Paris region, are exposed to high noise levels during their leisure time. These results are useful to better understand the expectations and needs of Parisians in terms of policies needed for information and education, prevention and reduction of noise.

Comparing colour discrimination and proofreading performance under compact fluorescent and halogen lamp lighting.

PubMed

Mayr, Susanne; Köpper, Maja; Buchner, Axel

2013-01-01

Legislation in many countries has banned inefficient household lighting. Consequently, classic incandescent lamps have to be replaced by more efficient alternatives such as halogen and compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). Alternatives differ in their spectral power distributions, implying colour-rendering differences. Participants performed a colour discrimination task - the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test--and a proofreading task under CFL or halogen lighting of comparable correlated colour temperatures at low (70 lx) or high (800 lx) illuminance. Illuminance positively affected colour discrimination and proofreading performance, whereas the light source was only relevant for colour discrimination. Discrimination was impaired with CFL lighting. There were no differences between light sources in terms of self-reported physical discomfort and mood state, but the majority of the participants correctly judged halogen lighting to be more appropriate for discriminating colours. The findings hint at the colour-rendering deficiencies associated with energy-efficient CFLs. In order to compare performance under energy-efficient alternatives of classic incandescent lighting, colour discrimination and proofreading performance was compared under CFL and halogen lighting. Colour discrimination was impaired under CFLs, which hints at the practical drawbacks associated with the reduced colour-rendering properties of energy-efficient CFLs.

Ecological restoration and its effects on a regional climate: the source region of the Yellow River, China.

PubMed

Li, Zhouyuan; Liu, Xuehua; Niu, Tianlin; Kejia, De; Zhou, Qingping; Ma, Tianxiao; Gao, Yunyang

2015-05-19

The source region of the Yellow River, China, experienced degradation during the 1980s and 1990s, but effective ecological restoration projects have restored the alpine grassland ecosystem. The local government has taken action to restore the grassland area since 1996. Remote sensing monitoring results show an initial restoration of this alpine grassland ecosystem with the structural transformation of land cover from 2000 to 2009 as low- and high-coverage grassland recovered. From 2000 to 2009, the low-coverage grassland area expanded by over 25% and the bare soil area decreased by approximately 15%. To examine the relationship between ecological structure and function, surface temperature (Ts) and evapotranspiration (ET) levels were estimated to study the dynamics of the hydro-heat pattern. The results show a turning point in approximately the year 2000 from a declining ET to a rising ET, eventually reaching the 1990 level of approximately 1.5 cm/day. We conclude that grassland coverage expansion has improved the regional hydrologic cycle as a consequence of ecological restoration. Thus, we suggest that long-term restoration and monitoring efforts would help maintain the climatic adjustment functions of this alpine grassland ecosystem.

A qualitative and quantitative assessment of the reproductive litter from Posidonia oceanica accumulated on a sand beach following a storm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balestri, E.; Vallerini, F.; Lardicci, C.

2006-01-01

The biomass of reproductive litter from Posidonia oceanica deposited on a 3.5 km stretch of beach in the north-western Mediterranean, as a consequence of a storm in May 2004, was quantified. The damage caused by this storm to the meadow from which fruits originated was evaluated in terms of loss of seed production. Intermediate fruits (i.e., developing fruits) were the most important reproductive component, followed by immature and damaged fruits. No fully mature fruits were found. No significant differences in the average number of fruits and biomass accumulated were detected among beach sections hundreds of metres apart. Extrapolation of the results at four beach sections indicated that about 1 million fruits were deposited on the entire (3.5 km) beach. This was equivalent to the seed production potential of about 313,217 inflorescences, or a flowered area of 1500 m 2. The organic input to the beach was 224 kg ash-free dry weight (AFDM). These results suggest that storms may provide an unpredictable source of seed mortality in P. oceanica. The reproductive material produced by storms, however, may constitute an important source of allochthonous organic matter to the beach.

Lasers in energy device manufacturing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ostendorf, A.; Schoonderbeek, A.

2008-02-01

Global warming is a current topic all over the world. CO II emissions must be lowered to stop the already started climate change. Developing regenerative energy sources, like photovoltaics and fuel cells contributes to the solution of this problem. Innovative technologies and strategies need to be competitive with conventional energy sources. During the last years, the photovoltaic solar cell industry has experienced enormous growth. However, for solar cells to be competitive on the longer term, both an increase in efficiency as well as reduction in costs is necessary. An effective method to reduce costs of silicon solar cells is reducing the wafer thickness, because silicon makes up a large part of production costs. Consequently, contact free laser processing has a large advantage, because of the decrease in waste materials due to broken wafers as caused by other manufacturing processes. Additionally, many novel high efficiency solar cell concepts are only economically feasible with laser technology, e.g. for scribing silicon thin-film solar cells. This paper describes laser hole drilling, structuring and texturing of silicon wafer based solar cells and describes thin film solar cell scribing. Furthermore, different types of lasers are discussed with respect to processing quality and time.

Observations of mass fractionation of noble gases in synthetic methane hydrate

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hunt, Andrew G.; Pohlman, John; Stern, Laura A.; Ruppel, Carolyn D.; Moscati, Richard J.; Landis, Gary P.; Pinkston, John C.

2011-01-01

As a consequence of contemporary or longer term (since 15 ka) climate warming, gas hydrates in some settings are presently dissociating and releasing methane and other gases to the oceanatmosphere system. A key challenge in assessing the susceptibility of gas hydrates to warming climate is the lack of a technique able to distinguish between methane recently released from gas hydrates and methane emitted from leaky thermogenic reservoirs, shallow sublake and subseafloor sediments, coalbeds, and other sources. Carbon and deuterium stable isotopic data provide only a first-order characterization of methane sources, while gas hydrate can sequester any type of methane. Here, we investigate the possibility of exploiting the pattern of noble gas fractionation within the gas hydrate lattice to fingerprint methane released from gas hydrates. Starting with synthetic gas hydrate formed under careful laboratory conditions, we document complex noble gas fractionation patterns in the gases liberated during dissociation and explore the effects of aging and storage (e.g., in liquid nitrogen), as well as sampling and preservation procedures. The laboratory results confirm a unique noble gas fractionation pattern for gas hydrates, one that shows promise in evaluating modern natural gas seeps for a signature associated with gas hydrate dissociation.

Corporate sponsorship of global health research: Questions to promote critical thinking about potential funding relationships.

PubMed

Brisbois, Ben W; Cole, Donald C; Davison, Colleen M; Di Ruggiero, Erica; Hanson, Lori; Janes, Craig R; Larson, Charles P; Nixon, Stephanie; Plamondon, Katrina; Stime, Bjorn

2016-12-27

Funding options for global health research prominently include grants from corporations, as well as from foundations linked to specific corporations. While such funds can enable urgently-needed research and interventions, they can carry the risk of skewing health research priorities and exacerbating health inequities. With the objective of promoting critical reflection on potential corporate funding options for global health research, we propose a set of three questions developed through an open conference workshop and reflection on experiences of global health researchers and their institutions: 1) Does this funding allow me/us to retain control over research design, methodology and dissemination processes? 2) Does accessing this funding source involve altering my/our research agenda (i.e., what is the impact of this funding source on research priorities)? 3) What are the potential "unintended consequences" of accepting corporate funding, in terms of legitimizing corporations or models of development that are at the root of many global health problems? These questions outline an intentional and cautionary approach to decision-making when corporate funding for global health research is being considered by funding agencies, institutions, researchers and research stakeholders.

Status Epilepticus

PubMed Central

Seinfeld, Syndi; Goodkin, Howard P.; Shinnar, Shlomo

2016-01-01

Although the majority of seizures are brief and cause no long-term consequences, a subset is sufficiently prolonged that long-term consequences can result. These very prolonged seizures are termed “status epilepticus” (SE) and are considered a neurological emergency. The clinical presentation of SE can be diverse. SE can occur at any age but most commonly occurs in the very young and the very old. There are numerous studies on SE in animals in which the pathophysiology, medication responses, and pathology can be rigorously studied in a controlled fashion. Human data are consistent with the animal data. In particular, febrile status epilepticus (FSE), a form of SE common in young children, is associated with injury to the hippocampus and subsequent temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) in both animals and humans. PMID:26931807

High-order scheme for the source-sink term in a one-dimensional water temperature model

PubMed Central

Jing, Zheng; Kang, Ling

2017-01-01

The source-sink term in water temperature models represents the net heat absorbed or released by a water system. This term is very important because it accounts for solar radiation that can significantly affect water temperature, especially in lakes. However, existing numerical methods for discretizing the source-sink term are very simplistic, causing significant deviations between simulation results and measured data. To address this problem, we present a numerical method specific to the source-sink term. A vertical one-dimensional heat conduction equation was chosen to describe water temperature changes. A two-step operator-splitting method was adopted as the numerical solution. In the first step, using the undetermined coefficient method, a high-order scheme was adopted for discretizing the source-sink term. In the second step, the diffusion term was discretized using the Crank-Nicolson scheme. The effectiveness and capability of the numerical method was assessed by performing numerical tests. Then, the proposed numerical method was applied to a simulation of Guozheng Lake (located in central China). The modeling results were in an excellent agreement with measured data. PMID:28264005

High-order scheme for the source-sink term in a one-dimensional water temperature model.

PubMed

Jing, Zheng; Kang, Ling

2017-01-01

The source-sink term in water temperature models represents the net heat absorbed or released by a water system. This term is very important because it accounts for solar radiation that can significantly affect water temperature, especially in lakes. However, existing numerical methods for discretizing the source-sink term are very simplistic, causing significant deviations between simulation results and measured data. To address this problem, we present a numerical method specific to the source-sink term. A vertical one-dimensional heat conduction equation was chosen to describe water temperature changes. A two-step operator-splitting method was adopted as the numerical solution. In the first step, using the undetermined coefficient method, a high-order scheme was adopted for discretizing the source-sink term. In the second step, the diffusion term was discretized using the Crank-Nicolson scheme. The effectiveness and capability of the numerical method was assessed by performing numerical tests. Then, the proposed numerical method was applied to a simulation of Guozheng Lake (located in central China). The modeling results were in an excellent agreement with measured data.

Evaluation of medium-term consequences of implementing commercial computerized physician order entry and clinical decision support prescribing systems in two ‘early adopter’ hospitals

PubMed Central

Cresswell, Kathrin M; Bates, David W; Williams, Robin; Morrison, Zoe; Slee, Ann; Coleman, Jamie; Robertson, Ann; Sheikh, Aziz

2014-01-01

Objective To understand the medium-term consequences of implementing commercially procured computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and clinical decision support (CDS) systems in ‘early adopter’ hospitals. Materials and methods In-depth, qualitative case study in two hospitals using a CPOE or a CDS system for at least 2 years. Both hospitals had implemented commercially available systems. Hospital A had implemented a CPOE system (with basic decision support), whereas hospital B invested additional resources in a CDS system that facilitated order entry but which was integrated with electronic health records and offered more advanced CDS. We used a combination of documentary analysis of the implementation plans, audiorecorded semistructured interviews with system users, and observations of strategic meetings and systems usage. Results We collected 11 documents, conducted 43 interviews, and conducted a total of 21.5 h of observations. We identified three major themes: (1) impacts on individual users, including greater legibility of prescriptions, but also some accounts of increased workloads; (2) the introduction of perceived new safety risks related to accessibility and usability of hardware and software, with users expressing concerns that some problems such as duplicate prescribing were more likely to occur; and (3) realizing organizational benefits through secondary uses of data. Conclusions We identified little difference in the medium-term consequences of a CPOE and a CDS system. It is important that future studies investigate the medium- and longer-term consequences of CPOE and CDS systems in a wider range of hospitals. PMID:24431334

Long-Term Consequences of Curriculum Choices with Particular Reference to Mathematics and Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fitz-Gibbon, Carol Taylor

1999-01-01

Explores consequences of taking or not taking "A" level mathematics in British secondary schools, using a followup study of students who took "A" levels in 1988. "A" level mathematics takers were in high "pulling power" universities and had higher salary expectations than those taking "A" level…

Retrenchment Policies and Their Organizational Consequences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berger, Michael A.

This paper focuses on the organizational consequences of retrenchment policies emphasizing efficiency (selective cuts to insure long-term survival) and equity (across the board actions). The effectiveness of each of these policies was tested on 59 cases of school district enrollment decline over a 10-year period by means of a…

The Decision to Remain in an Involuntarily Celibate Relationship

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donnelly, Denise A; Burgess, Elisabeth O

2008-01-01

Based upon qualitative data from a sample of 77 married or long-term cohabiting heterosexuals self-defining as involuntarily celibate, we used social exchange theory to develop a model for understanding the causes and consequences of sexual inactivity in committed relationships. Although reported consequences of involuntary celibacy tended to be…

Female genital mutilation/cutting type IV in Cambodia: a case report.

PubMed

Abdulcadir, Jasmine; Irion, Olivier; de Tejada, Begoña Martinez

2015-12-01

Nontherapeutic female genital modifications can cause short- and long-term consequences. Caregivers should promote women's self knowledge on genitals' anatomy and physiology, and psychophysical and sexual health. They should also inform on possible negative consequences of vulvar nontherapeutic alterations requested and avoid the medicalization of female genital mutilation.

The Intended and Unintended Consequences of International Service-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crabtree, Robbin D.

2013-01-01

Previous research on service-learning in international contexts tends to focus on the benefits and outcomes for students and educational institutions. This essay is intended to provoke further examination of issues related to university-community engagement in global contexts, particularly in terms of the consequences for host communities. In…

Purposes, Causes and Consequences of Excessive Internet Use among Turkish Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akar, Filiz

2015-01-01

Problem Statement: Excessive internet use, particularly problematic and negative consequences of internet use, is rapidly increasing among children and adolescents throughout the World and in Turkey. While the internet provides potential advantages for users in terms of the academic support, sharing ideas & feelings, and freedom of expression,…

Source Term Model for Vortex Generator Vanes in a Navier-Stokes Computer Code

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waithe, Kenrick A.

2004-01-01

A source term model for an array of vortex generators was implemented into a non-proprietary Navier-Stokes computer code, OVERFLOW. The source term models the side force created by a vortex generator vane. The model is obtained by introducing a side force to the momentum and energy equations that can adjust its strength automatically based on the local flow. The model was tested and calibrated by comparing data from numerical simulations and experiments of a single low profile vortex generator vane on a flat plate. In addition, the model was compared to experimental data of an S-duct with 22 co-rotating, low profile vortex generators. The source term model allowed a grid reduction of about seventy percent when compared with the numerical simulations performed on a fully gridded vortex generator on a flat plate without adversely affecting the development and capture of the vortex created. The source term model was able to predict the shape and size of the stream-wise vorticity and velocity contours very well when compared with both numerical simulations and experimental data. The peak vorticity and its location were also predicted very well when compared to numerical simulations and experimental data. The circulation predicted by the source term model matches the prediction of the numerical simulation. The source term model predicted the engine fan face distortion and total pressure recovery of the S-duct with 22 co-rotating vortex generators very well. The source term model allows a researcher to quickly investigate different locations of individual or a row of vortex generators. The researcher is able to conduct a preliminary investigation with minimal grid generation and computational time.

77 FR 37784 - Airworthiness Directives; Fokker Services B.V. Airplanes

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-25

... source in the tank vapor space, which could result in a fuel tank explosion and consequent loss of the...., Washington, DC. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom Rodriguez, Aerospace Engineer, International Branch, ANM... structure could, under certain conditions, result in an ignition source in the tank vapour space. This...

Congruent Knowledge Management Behaviors as Discriminate Sources of Competitive Advantage

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Magnier-Watanabe, Remy; Senoo, Dai

2009-01-01

Purpose: While knowledge management has been shown to be a strategic source of competitive advantage, processes designed to enhance the productivity of knowledge do not, however, equally contribute to the organization's capabilities. Consequently, this research aims to focus on the relationship between each mode of the knowledge management process…

Sources of Inequities in Rural America: Implications for Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fujimoto, Isao; Zone, Martin

The paper identifies the basic factors affecting rural development and the social consequences of rural policies and structural changes in agriculture; it also suggests research areas relating some of these factors to what is happening in America's rural communities. Data sources such as congressional hearings, rural sociologists' critiques,…

Reducing hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico – an alternative approach

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico is a high-priority national issue. Agricultural nonpoint source pollution is the greatest source of water pollution today and its consequences are particularly evident in the Gulf of Mexico. For example, Illinois, Iowa and Indiana together contribute nearly 30% of the p...

Rural Latino caregivers’ beliefs and behaviors around their children’s salt consumption

PubMed Central

Hoeft, Kristin S.; Guerra, Claudia; Gonzalez-Vargas, M. Judy; Barker, Judith C.

2015-01-01

Background Prevalence of high blood pressure has been increasing in U.S. children, with implications for long term health consequences. Sodium consumption, a modifiable risk factor for high blood pressure, is above recommended limits and increasing. Very little is known about Latino caregiver beliefs and behaviors around their children’s salt consumption. Methods In California’s Central Valley, qualitative interviews in Spanish investigated low-income caregivers’ views and understandings of their children’s dietary salt consumption. Thirty individual interviews and 5 focus groups were conducted (N=61). Interview transcripts were translated and transcribed, coded and thematically analyzed. Results Seven primary topic areas around children’s salt intake and its impact on health were identified: children’s favorite foods, children’s dietary salt sources, superiority of home-cooked foods, salty and sweet foods, managing salt for health, developing children’s tastes, and adding salt added at the table. Parents recognize common sources of sodium such as “junk food” and processed food and made efforts to limit their children’s consumption of these foods, but may overlook other significant sodium sources, particularly bread, cheese, prepared soups and sports drinks. Caregivers recognize excess salt as unhealthy for children, but don’t believe health problems (like high blood pressure) can occur in young children. Nevertheless, they made efforts to limit how much salt their children consumed through a variety of strategies; school meals were a source of high sodium that they felt were outside of their control. Conclusion Latino caregivers are concerned about their children’s salt intake and attempt to limit consumption, but some common sources of sodium are under-recognized. PMID:25481770

100 years of seismic research on the Moho

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prodehl, Claus; Kennett, Brian; Artemieva, Irina M.; Thybo, Hans

2013-12-01

The detection of a seismic boundary, the “Moho”, between the outermost shell of the Earth, the Earth's crust, and the Earth's mantle by A. Mohorovičić was the consequence of increased insight into the propagation of seismic waves caused by earthquakes. This short history of seismic research on the Moho is primarily based on the comprehensive overview of the worldwide history of seismological studies of the Earth's crust using controlled sources from 1850 to 2005, by Prodehl and Mooney (2012). Though the art of applying explosions, so-called “artificial events”, as energy sources for studies of the uppermost crustal layers began in the early 1900s, its effective use for studying the entire crust only began at the end of World War II. From 1945 onwards, controlled-source seismology has been the major approach to study details of the crust and underlying crust-mantle boundary, the Moho. The subsequent description of history of controlled-source crustal seismology and its seminal results is subdivided into separate chapters for each decade, highlighting the major advances achieved during that decade in terms of data acquisition, processing technology, and interpretation methods. Since the late 1980s, passive seismology using distant earthquakes has played an increasingly important role in studies of crustal structure. The receiver function technique exploiting conversions between P and SV waves at discontinuities in seismic wavespeed below a seismic station has been extensively applied to the increasing numbers of permanent and portable broad-band seismic stations across the globe. Receiver function studies supplement controlled source work with improved geographic coverage and now make a significant contribution to knowledge of the nature of the crust and the depth to Moho.

A source-channel coding approach to digital image protection and self-recovery.

PubMed

Sarreshtedari, Saeed; Akhaee, Mohammad Ali

2015-07-01

Watermarking algorithms have been widely applied to the field of image forensics recently. One of these very forensic applications is the protection of images against tampering. For this purpose, we need to design a watermarking algorithm fulfilling two purposes in case of image tampering: 1) detecting the tampered area of the received image and 2) recovering the lost information in the tampered zones. State-of-the-art techniques accomplish these tasks using watermarks consisting of check bits and reference bits. Check bits are used for tampering detection, whereas reference bits carry information about the whole image. The problem of recovering the lost reference bits still stands. This paper is aimed at showing that having the tampering location known, image tampering can be modeled and dealt with as an erasure error. Therefore, an appropriate design of channel code can protect the reference bits against tampering. In the present proposed method, the total watermark bit-budget is dedicated to three groups: 1) source encoder output bits; 2) channel code parity bits; and 3) check bits. In watermark embedding phase, the original image is source coded and the output bit stream is protected using appropriate channel encoder. For image recovery, erasure locations detected by check bits help channel erasure decoder to retrieve the original source encoded image. Experimental results show that our proposed scheme significantly outperforms recent techniques in terms of image quality for both watermarked and recovered image. The watermarked image quality gain is achieved through spending less bit-budget on watermark, while image recovery quality is considerably improved as a consequence of consistent performance of designed source and channel codes.

Epigenetic Regulation of Immunological Alterations Following Prenatal Exposure to Marijuana Cannabinoids and its Long Term Consequences in Offspring

PubMed Central

Zumbrun, Elizabeth E.; Sido, Jessica M.; Nagarkatti, Prakash S.

2015-01-01

Use of marijuana during pregnancy is fairly commonplace and can be expected increase in frequency as more states legalize its recreational use. The cannabinoids present in marijuana have been shown to be immunosuppressive, yet the effect of prenatal exposure to cannabinoids on the immune system of the developing fetus, its long term consequences during adult stage of life, and transgenerational effects have not been well characterized. Confounding factors such as coexisting drug use make the impact of cannabis use on progeny inherently difficult to study in a human population. Data from various animal models suggests that in utero exposure to cannabinoids results in profound T cell dysfunction and a greatly reduced immune response to viral antigens. Furthermore, evidence from animal studies indicates that the immunosuppressive effects of cannabinoids can be mediated through epigenetic mechanisms such as altered microRNA, DNA methylation and histone modification profiles. Such studies support the hypothesis that that parental or prenatal exposure to cannabis can trigger epigenetic changes that could have significant immunological consequences for offspring as well as long term transgenerational effects. PMID:25618446

A Well-Balanced Path-Integral f-Wave Method for Hyperbolic Problems with Source Terms

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Systems of hyperbolic partial differential equations with source terms (balance laws) arise in many applications where it is important to compute accurate time-dependent solutions modeling small perturbations of equilibrium solutions in which the source terms balance the hyperbolic part. The f-wave version of the wave-propagation algorithm is one approach, but requires the use of a particular averaged value of the source terms at each cell interface in order to be “well balanced” and exactly maintain steady states. A general approach to choosing this average is developed using the theory of path conservative methods. A scalar advection equation with a decay or growth term is introduced as a model problem for numerical experiments. PMID:24563581

The Antecedents and Consequences of Racial/Ethnic Discrimination during Adolescence: Does the Source of Discrimination Matter?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benner, Aprile D.; Graham, Sandra

2013-01-01

In the current study, we examined the precursors and consequences of discrimination for 876 Latino, African American, and Asian American adolescents (M[subscript age] = 16.9 years, SD = 0.43). The race/ethnic characteristics of schools and neighborhoods influenced adolescents' perceptions of the race/ethnic climates of these contexts. In turn,…

Exploring Undergraduate Engagement With The Consequences of Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, N.; Danielson, R.; Lombardi, D.

2013-12-01

Engendering conceptual change from naive to scientifically sophisticated beliefs is a difficult task. One factor that fosters conceptual change is greater engagement with a topic. Yet if one asks about a topic in the wrong way, one may fail to find engagement where it exists or assume it exists where it does not. Climate change is an immense topic with consequences across many domains and people may be more concerned with specific consequences than with the topic generally. Therefore, it may be helpful to disambiguate the various risks to see which consequences people find especially engaging and which they do not. We asked 188 undergraduate students at a large university in California to rate twenty-five potential consequences of climate change on several questions. The questions were drawn from constructs that lead to greater engagement with a topic according to the Cognitive Reconstruction of Knowledge Model (Dole & Sinatra, 1998). Scores were then combined to create engagement scores. We found that two potential consequences of climate change were rated as more engaging than climate change generally: air pollution and increases in the price of food. Many consequences were rated as less engaging, including floods, stronger hurricanes, and melting permafrost. This implies that some consequences that scientists consider potentially worthy of concern are nonetheless not considered engaging by many. We also asked participants several open-ended questions about their perceptions of climate change and what consequences they especially cared about. Results were broadly similar but demonstrated many misconceptions about the mechanics and consequences of climate change. Several participants expressed concerns about increases in earthquakes, changes to the ozone layer, and dangerous changes to the density of the atmosphere. We asked participants about the relationship between the terms climate change and global warming. There was considerable disagreement on how these two terms were related. This is problematic if educators assume that people are using the terms synonymously. Finally, we asked participants about whether humanity would be able to solve climate change before catastrophic consequences occurred. To our surprise, only one out of five participants believed we would do so. Some participants were unsure whether we would solve it or believed that we would only address it after some catastrophic consequences had already occurred, but the majority of participants believed that we would fail to solve it. Climate science educators have often tried to avoid portraying climate change as unavoidable and hopeless, yet many people have nonetheless come to this conclusion. Relying on positive messages about solving climate change in the hope of forestalling hopelessness may be insufficient and we may need to help people deal with feelings of hopelessness directly.

Long-term consequences of traumatic experiences: an assessment of former political detainees in romania

PubMed Central

2005-01-01

Background Research has suggested that organized violence and torture have long-term psychological effects that persist throughout the lifespan. The present survey aimed at examining the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other disorders and symptoms, all present in old age, as long-term consequences of politically motivated violence in a comparison design. Methods A group of former political detainees (N = 59, mean age 73.5 years) who had been arrested by the Romanian communist regime were compared to an age- and gender-matched control group (N = 39). PTSD was assessed using a structured clinical interview (CIDI). The investigation of the clinical profile was further accomplished by self-rating measures for anxiety, depression, and health-related functioning, as well as by clinician-administrated interviews for substance abuse, dissociation, and somatization symptoms. Results Lifetime prevalence of PTSD was 54%. In the case of participants left untreated, PTSD persisted, often over four decades, such that current PTSD was diagnosed still in a third of the survivors. Other clinical conditions such as somatization, substance abuse, dissociative disorders, and major depression were also common among the former political detainees and often associated with current PTSD. Conclusion Our findings suggest that political detention may have long-term psychological consequences that outlast the changes in the political system. PMID:16185364

State-of-the-art and outlook for biomimetic materials

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Richman, R.H.; Bond, G.M.; McNaughton, W.P.

1994-11-01

A remarkable diversity of structures and molecular functions has evolved in plants and animals. Many of these natural substances have properties or capabilities that belie their origins in humble, everyday, starting materials. Consequently, there is a growing awareness among scientists and engineers that biological systems can be a valuable source of inspiration for man-made materials. Emphasis in this assessment is on biomimetics; that is, the achievement of unusual materials properties or processes by mimicking novel aspects of biological systems. Five broad areas are selected for detailed investigation: Mimicking of Natural Material Designs; Biomimetic Materials Processing; Artificial Photosynthesis; Biomimetic Molecular Electronics;more » and Biomimetic Catalysis. Each of these topics is examined in terms of current activities and approaches, key aspects, unresolved issues, and implications for the power industry. Finally, the researchers, their organizations, the main thrusts of investigation, achievements, and funding agencies are summarized in tabular form.« less

Injury to the male external genitalia: a comprehensive review.

PubMed

Furr, James; Culkin, Daniel

2017-04-01

While rare, trauma and injury to the male external genitalia can result in significant consequences regarding function, appearance, psychological effects, and overall quality of life. Due to the relative paucity of literature regarding male external genitalia injuries, few standardized protocols exist. This review aims to outline common clinical causes of male external genitalia injuries by both anatomic location and etiology. Initial stabilization, long-term reconstruction, and coverage options are discussed in detail. Outcomes of complex grafts have favorable success rates of 90-100% in the hands of experienced surgeons. Outcomes of penile, testicular trauma also have favorable outcomes when managed appropriately. Attempts at reconstruction after initial injury stabilization should be undertaken at high-volume centers where a multidisciplinary approach can be employed. This manuscript will be an excellent reference and source that can provide direction for evaluation and management of these complex presentations.

Carotenoids in the treatment of diabetes mellitus and its complications: A mechanistic review.

PubMed

Roohbakhsh, Ali; Karimi, Gholamreza; Iranshahi, Mehrdad

2017-07-01

Carotenoids are a large class of natural antioxidants that occur in many vegetables, foods and other natural sources. To date, a large number of biological properties have been reported from carotenoids, particularly protective effects against diabetes mellitus (DM), cancer, and neurodegenerative, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. However, recent studies including clinical evidences, have shown that carotenoids play a role in the treatment of diabetes via enhancing insulin sensitivity. They are also able to protect the body from long-term consequences of diabetes including infectious diseases, nephropathy, neuronal and eye abnormalities. In this review, we try to discuss the mechanisms behind the biological effects of carotenoids for the prevention and treatment of DM and its complications. The authors believe that carotenoids will have a prominent place in the treatment of DM and its complications in the future. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Development of Northeast Asia Nuclear Power Plant Accident Simulator.

PubMed

Kim, Juyub; Kim, Juyoul; Po, Li-Chi Cliff

2017-06-15

A conclusion from the lessons learned after the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident was that Korea needs a tool to estimate consequences from a major accident that could occur at a nuclear power plant located in a neighboring country. This paper describes a suite of computer-based codes to be used by Korea's nuclear emergency response staff for training and potentially operational support in Korea's national emergency preparedness and response program. The systems of codes, Northeast Asia Nuclear Accident Simulator (NANAS), consist of three modules: source-term estimation, atmospheric dispersion prediction and dose assessment. To quickly assess potential doses to the public in Korea, NANAS includes specific reactor data from the nuclear power plants in China, Japan and Taiwan. The completed simulator is demonstrated using data for a hypothetical release. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Calculational note for the radiological and toxicological effects of a UO{sub 3} release from the T-hopper storage pad

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Goldberg, H.J.

1998-06-18

UO{sub 3} powder is stored at the T-hopper storage area associated with the 2714-U building in the 200 west area. The T-hopper containers and 13 drums containing this material are used to store the powder on pads immediately north of the building. An interim safety basis document (WHC,1996) was issued in 1996 for the UO{sub 3} powder storage area. In this document the isotope {sup 99}Tc was not included in the source term used to calculate the radiological consequences of a postulated release of the powder. A calculations note (HNF, 1998) was issued to remedy that deficiency. The present documentmore » is a revision to that document to reflect updated data concerning the solubility of UO{sub 3} in simulated lung fluid and to utilize more realistic powder release fractions.« less

The Piano Plague: The Nineteenth-Century Medical Critique of Female Musical Education*

PubMed Central

Kennaway, James

2014-01-01

The role of music in nineteenth-century female education has been seen primarily in the context of the middle class cult of domesticity, and the relationship of music to medicine in the period has generally been viewed in terms of music therapy. Nevertheless, for much of the century there was serious medical discussion about the dangers of excessive music in girls’ education. Many of the leading psychiatrists and gynaecologists of the nineteenth century argued that music could over-stimulate the nervous system, playing havoc with vulnerable female nerves and reproductive organs, and warned of the consequences of music lessons on the developing bodies of teenage girls. Two rival models of music’s effects competed and were combined. One suggested that music led to illness by provoking sensuality, imagination and sexuality; the other argued that it was a source of neurasthenic fatigue because of intellectual strain. PMID:22303771

Epistemic uncertainties and natural hazard risk assessment - Part 1: A review of the issues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beven, K. J.; Aspinall, W. P.; Bates, P. D.; Borgomeo, E.; Goda, K.; Hall, J. W.; Page, T.; Phillips, J. C.; Rougier, J. T.; Simpson, M.; Stephenson, D. B.; Smith, P. J.; Wagener, T.; Watson, M.

2015-12-01

Uncertainties in natural hazard risk assessment are generally dominated by the sources arising from lack of knowledge or understanding of the processes involved. There is a lack of knowledge about frequencies, process representations, parameters, present and future boundary conditions, consequences and impacts, and the meaning of observations in evaluating simulation models. These are the epistemic uncertainties that can be difficult to constrain, especially in terms of event or scenario probabilities, even as elicited probabilities rationalized on the basis of expert judgements. This paper reviews the issues raised by trying to quantify the effects of epistemic uncertainties. Such scientific uncertainties might have significant influence on decisions that are made for risk management, so it is important to communicate the meaning of an uncertainty estimate and to provide an audit trail of the assumptions on which it is based. Some suggestions for good practice in doing so are made.

[Mesenchymal stem/stroma cells : Therapeutic potential in the treatment of autoimmune diseases].

PubMed

Schäfer, R; Daikeler, T

2016-10-01

Mesenchymal stem and stromal cells (MSC) are propagated for the treatment of autoimmune and autoinflammatory processes. These cells can be relatively easily obtained from various tissues. The MSC feature anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties in vitro as well as in animal models. Initial reports on the clinical application of MSC for various diseases are available, some with promising results and so far no reported toxicity; however, data from phase III studies are still lacking and crucial questions are still unanswered. The MSC preparations used are heterogeneous and also differ depending on the source and it is unclear whether autologous (own) or allogeneic (foreign) MSC are more suitable for therapeutic use. Long-term consequences, such as possible malignant transformation and possible endogenous tumor growth stimulation cannot be completely excluded. Ultimately, these questions can only be answered through randomized controlled trials for defined clinical indications with defined MSC.

Misinformation, disinformation, and violent conflict: from Iraq and the "War on Terror" to future threats to peace.

PubMed

Lewandowsky, Stephan; Stritzke, Werner G K; Freund, Alexandra M; Oberauer, Klaus; Krueger, Joachim I

2013-10-01

The dissemination and control of information are indispensable ingredients of violent conflict, with all parties involved in a conflict or at war seeking to frame the discussion on their own terms. Those attempts at information control often involve the dissemination of misinformation or disinformation (i.e., information that is incorrect by accident or intent, respectively). We review the way in which misinformation can facilitate violent conflicts and, conversely, how the successful refutation of misinformation can contribute to peace. We illustrate the relevant cognitive principles by examining two case studies. The first, a retrospective case, involves the Iraq War of 2003 and the "War on Terror." The second, a prospective case, points to likely future sources of conflict arising from climate change and its likely consequences. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved

Concept confusion and concept discernment in basic magnetism using analogical reasoning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemmer, Miriam; Nicodimus Morabe, Olebogeng

2017-07-01

Analogical reasoning is central to all learning, whether in daily life situations, in the classroom or while doing research. Although analogies can aid the learning process of making sense of phenomena and understanding new ideas in terms of known ideas, these should be used with care. This article reports a study of the use of analogies and the consequences of this use in the teaching of magnetism with special reference to misconceptions. We begin by identifying concept confusion and associated misconceptions in magnetism due to in-service physics teachers’ spontaneous analogical reasoning. Two analogy-based experiments that can be used to convert such concept confusion to discernment are then described. These experiments focus on understanding basic principles about sources and interactions of magnetic fields and implement the constructivist learning processes of discrimination and generalization. Lastly, recommendations towards reinforcement of conceptual understanding of basic magnetism in its relation to electricity are proposed.

Annually and monthly resolved solar irradiance and atmospheric temperature data across the Hawaiian archipelago from 1998 to 2015 with interannual summary statistics.

PubMed

Bryce, Richard; Losada Carreño, Ignacio; Kumler, Andrew; Hodge, Bri-Mathias; Roberts, Billy; Brancucci Martinez-Anido, Carlo

2018-08-01

This article contains data and summary statistics of solar irradiance and dry bulb temperature across the Hawaiian archipelago resolved on a monthly basis and spanning years 1998-2015. This data was derived in association with an article titled "Consequences of Neglecting the Interannual Variability of the Solar Resource: A Case Study of Photovoltaic Power Among the Hawaiian Islands" (Bryce et al., 2018 [7]). The solar irradiance data is presented in terms of Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI), Diffuse Horizontal Irradiance (DHI), and Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) and was obtained from the satellite-derived data contained in the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB). The temperature data is also obtained from this source. We have processed the NSRDB data and compiled these monthly resolved data sets, along with interannual summary statistics including the interannual coefficient of variability.

The role of oxidative stress in organophosphate and nerve agent toxicity

PubMed Central

Pearson, Jennifer N.; Patel, Manisha

2016-01-01

Organophosphate nerve agents exert their toxicity through inhibition of acetylcholinesterase. The excessive stimulation of cholinergic receptors rapidly causes neuronal damage, seizures, death, and long-term neurological impairment in those that survive. Owing to the lethality of organophosphorus agents and the growing risk they pose, medical interventions that prevent organophosphate toxicity and the delayed injury response are much needed. Studies have shown that oxidative stress occurs in models of subacute, acute, and chronic exposure to organophosphate agents. Key findings of these studies include alterations in mitochondrial function and increased free radical–mediated injury, such as lipid peroxidation. This review focuses on the role of reactive oxygen species in organophosphate neurotoxicity and its dependence on seizure activity. Understanding the sources, mechanisms, and pathological consequences of organophosphate-induced oxidative stress can lead to the development of rational therapies for treating toxic exposures. PMID:27371936

The piano plague: the nineteenth-century medical critique of female musical education.

PubMed

Kennaway, James

2011-01-01

The role of music in nineteenth-century female education has been seen primarily in the context of the middle class cult of domesticity, and the relationship of music to medicine in the period has generally been viewed in terms of music therapy. Nevertheless, for much of the century there was serious medical discussion about the dangers of excessive music in girls' education. Many of the leading psychiatrists and gynaecologists of the nineteenth century argued that music could over-stimulate the nervous system, playing havoc with vulnerable female nerves and reproductive organs, and warned of the consequences of music lessons on the developing bodies of teenage girls. Two rival models of music's effects competed and were combined. One suggested that music led to illness by provoking sensuality, imagination and sexuality; the other argued that it was a source of neurasthenic fatigue because of intellectual strain.

Optimal focusing conditions of lenses using Gaussian beams

DOE PAGES

Franco, Juan Manuel; Cywiak, Moisés; Cywiak, David; ...

2016-04-02

By using the analytical equations of the propagation of Gaussian beams in which truncation exhibits negligible consequences, we describe a method that uses the value of the focal length of a focusing lens to classify its focusing performance. In this study, we show that for different distances between a laser and a focusing lens there are different planes where best focusing conditions can be obtained and we demonstrate how the value of the focal length impacts the lens focusing properties. To perform the classification we introduce the term delimiting focal length. As the value of the focal length used inmore » wave propagation theory is nominal and difficult to measure accurately, we describe an experimental approach to calculate its value matching our analytical description. Finally, we describe possible applications of the results for characterizing Gaussian sources, for measuring focal lengths and/or alternatively for characterizing piston-like movements.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Venkatraman, A.; Walawender, W.P.; Fan, L.T.

The term, activated carbon, is a generic name for a family of carbonaceous materials with well-developed porosities and consequently, large adsorptive capacities. Activated carbons are increasingly being consumed worldwide for environmental applications such as separation of volatiles from bulk gases and purification of water and waste-water streams. The global annual production is estimated to be around 300 million kilograms, with a rate of increase of 7% each year. Activated carbons can be prepared from a variety of raw materials. Approximately, 60% of the activated carbons generated in the United States is produced from coal; 20%, from coconut shells; and themore » remaining 20% from wood and other sources of biomass. The pore structure and properties of activated carbons are influenced by the nature of the starting material and the initial physical and chemical conditioning as well as the process conditions involved in its manufacture. The porous structures of charcoals and activated carbons obtained by the carbonization of kernels have been characterized.« less

Developmental Dyslexia and Explicit Long-Term Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Menghini, Deny; Carlesimo, Giovanni Augusto; Marotta, Luigi; Finzi, Alessandra; Vicari, Stefano

2010-01-01

The reduced verbal long-term memory capacities often reported in dyslexics are generally interpreted as a consequence of their deficit in phonological coding. The present study was aimed at evaluating whether the learning deficit exhibited by dyslexics was restricted only to the verbal component of the long-term memory abilities or also involved…

A Comparison of Combustor-Noise Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hultgren, Lennart S.

2012-01-01

The present status of combustor-noise prediction in the NASA Aircraft Noise Prediction Program (ANOPP)1 for current-generation (N) turbofan engines is summarized. Several semi-empirical models for turbofan combustor noise are discussed, including best methods for near-term updates to ANOPP. An alternate turbine-transmission factor2 will appear as a user selectable option in the combustor-noise module GECOR in the next release. The three-spectrum model proposed by Stone et al.3 for GE turbofan-engine combustor noise is discussed and compared with ANOPP predictions for several relevant cases. Based on the results presented herein and in their report,3 it is recommended that the application of this fully empirical combustor-noise prediction method be limited to situations involving only General-Electric turbofan engines. Long-term needs and challenges for the N+1 through N+3 time frame are discussed. Because the impact of other propulsion-noise sources continues to be reduced due to turbofan design trends, advances in noise-mitigation techniques, and expected aircraft configuration changes, the relative importance of core noise is expected to greatly increase in the future. The noise-source structure in the combustor, including the indirect one, and the effects of the propagation path through the engine and exhaust nozzle need to be better understood. In particular, the acoustic consequences of the expected trends toward smaller, highly efficient gas-generator cores and low-emission fuel-flexible combustors need to be fully investigated since future designs are quite likely to fall outside of the parameter space of existing (semi-empirical) prediction tools.

Capstone Depleted Uranium Aerosol Biokinetics, Concentrations, and Doses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guilmette, Raymond A.; Miller, Guthrie; Parkhurst, MaryAnn

2009-02-26

One of the principal goals of the Capstone Depleted Uranium (DU) Aerosol Study was to quantify and characterize DU aerosols generated inside armored vehicles by perforation with a DU penetrator. This study consequently produced a database in which the DU aerosol source terms were specified both physically and chemically for a variety of penetrator-impact geometries and conditions. These source terms were used to calculate radiation doses and uranium concentrations for various scenarios as part of the Capstone DU Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA). This paper describes the scenario-related biokinetics of uranium, and summarizes intakes, chemical concentrations to the organs, andmore » E(50) and HT(50) for organs and tissues based on exposure scenarios for personnel in vehicles at the time of perforation as well as for first responders. For a given exposure scenario (duration time and breathing rates), the range of DU intakes among the target vehicles and shots was not large, about a factor of 10, with the lowest being from a ventilated operational Abrams tank and the highest being for an unventilated Abrams with DU penetrator perforating DU armor. The ranges of committed effective doses were more scenario-dependent than were intakes. For example, the largest range, a factor of 20, was shown for scenario A, a 1-min exposure, whereas, the range was only a factor of two for the first-responder scenario (E). In general, the committed effective doses were found to be in the tens of mSv. The risks ascribed to these doses are discussed separately.« less

Inverse modelling for real-time estimation of radiological consequences in the early stage of an accidental radioactivity release.

PubMed

Pecha, Petr; Šmídl, Václav

2016-11-01

A stepwise sequential assimilation algorithm is proposed based on an optimisation approach for recursive parameter estimation and tracking of radioactive plume propagation in the early stage of a radiation accident. Predictions of the radiological situation in each time step of the plume propagation are driven by an existing short-term meteorological forecast and the assimilation procedure manipulates the model parameters to match the observations incoming concurrently from the terrain. Mathematically, the task is a typical ill-posed inverse problem of estimating the parameters of the release. The proposed method is designated as a stepwise re-estimation of the source term release dynamics and an improvement of several input model parameters. It results in a more precise determination of the adversely affected areas in the terrain. The nonlinear least-squares regression methodology is applied for estimation of the unknowns. The fast and adequately accurate segmented Gaussian plume model (SGPM) is used in the first stage of direct (forward) modelling. The subsequent inverse procedure infers (re-estimates) the values of important model parameters from the actual observations. Accuracy and sensitivity of the proposed method for real-time forecasting of the accident propagation is studied. First, a twin experiment generating noiseless simulated "artificial" observations is studied to verify the minimisation algorithm. Second, the impact of the measurement noise on the re-estimated source release rate is examined. In addition, the presented method can be used as a proposal for more advanced statistical techniques using, e.g., importance sampling. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of pyroclastic deposits and pre-eruptive soils following the 2008 eruption of Kasatochi Island Volcano, Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Wang, B.; Michaelson, G.; Ping, C.-L.; Plumlee, G.; Hageman, P.

2010-01-01

The 78 August 2008 eruption of Kasatochi Island volcano blanketed the island in newly generated pyroclastic deposits and deposited ash into the ocean and onto nearby islands. Concentrations of water soluble Fe, Cu, and Zn determined from a 1:20 deionized water leachate of the ash were sufficient to provide short-term fertilization of the surface ocean. The 2008 pyroclastic deposits were thicker in concavities at bases of steeper slopes and thinner on steep slopes and ridge crests. By summer 2009, secondary erosion had exposed the pre-eruption soils along gulley walls and in gully bottoms on the southern and eastern slopes, respectively. Topographic and microtopographic position altered the depositional patterns of the pyroclastic flows and resulted in pre-eruption soils being buried by as little as 1 m of ash. The different erosion patterns gave rise to three surfaces on which future ecosystems will likely develop: largely pre-eruptive soils; fresh pyroclastic deposits influenced by shallowly buried, pre-eruptive soil; and thick (>1 m) pyroclastic deposits. As expected, the chemical composition differed between the pyroclastic deposits and the pre-eruptive soils. Pre-eruptive soils hold stocks of C and N important for establishing biota that are lacking in the fresh pyroclastic deposits. The pyroclastic deposits are a source for P and K but have negligible nutrient holding capacity, making these elements vulnerable to leaching loss. Consequently, the pre-eruption soils may also represent an important long-term P and K source. ?? 2010 Regents of the University of Colorado.

Surgical Fires in Otolaryngology: A Systematic and Narrative Review.

PubMed

Day, Andrew T; Rivera, Erika; Farlow, Janice L; Gourin, Christine G; Nussenbaum, Brian

2018-04-01

Objective To bring attention to the epidemiology, prevention, management, and consequences of surgical fires in otolaryngology by reviewing the literature. Data Sources PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Scopus. Review Methods Comprehensive search terms were developed, and searches were performed from data source inception through August 2016. A total of 4506 articles were identified; 2351 duplicates were removed; and 2155 titles and abstracts were independently reviewed. Reference review was also performed. Eligible manuscripts described surgical fires involving patients undergoing otolaryngologic procedures. Results Seventy-two articles describing 87 otolaryngologic surgical fire cases were identified. These occurred during oral cavity or oropharyngeal procedures (11%), endoscopic laryngotracheal procedures (25%), tracheostomies (36%), "other" general anesthesia procedures (3%), and monitored anesthesia care or local procedures (24%). Oxidizing agents consisted of oxygen alone (n = 63 of 81, 78%), oxygen and nitric oxide (n = 17 of 81, 21%), and room air (n = 1 of 81, 1%). The fractional inspired oxygen delivered was >30% in 97% of surgical fires in non-nitrous oxide general anesthesia cases (n = 35 of 36). Laser-safe tubes were used in only 12% of endoscopic laryngotracheal cases with endotracheal tube descriptions (n = 2 of 17). Eighty-six percent of patients experienced acute complications (n = 76 of 87), including 1 intraoperative death, and 22% of patients (n = 17 of 77) experienced long-term complications. Conclusion Surgical fires in otolaryngology persist despite aggressive multi-institutional efforts to curb their incidence. Guideline recommendations to minimize the concentration of delivered oxygen and use laser-safe tubes when indicated were not observed in many cases. Improved institutional fire safety practices are needed nationally and internationally.

26 CFR 1.737-1 - Recognition of precontribution gain.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... Property A1 and Property A2 is long-term, U.S.-source capital gain or loss. The character of gain on Property A3 is long-term, foreign-source capital gain. B contributes Property B, nondepreciable real... long-term, U.S.-source capital gain ($10,000 gain on Property A1 and $8,000 loss on Property A2) and $1...

Source term model evaluations for the low-level waste facility performance assessment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yim, M.S.; Su, S.I.

1995-12-31

The estimation of release of radionuclides from various waste forms to the bottom boundary of the waste disposal facility (source term) is one of the most important aspects of LLW facility performance assessment. In this work, several currently used source term models are comparatively evaluated for the release of carbon-14 based on a test case problem. The models compared include PRESTO-EPA-CPG, IMPACTS, DUST and NEFTRAN-II. Major differences in assumptions and approaches between the models are described and key parameters are identified through sensitivity analysis. The source term results from different models are compared and other concerns or suggestions are discussed.

Dengue vector control: present status and future prospects.

PubMed

Yap, H H; Chong, N L; Foo, A E; Lee, C Y

1994-12-01

Dengue Fever (DF) and Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF) have been the most common urban diseases in Southeast Asia since the 1950s. More recently, the diseases have spread to Central and South America and are now considered as worldwide diseases. Both Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are involved in the transmission of DF/DHF in Southeast Asian region. The paper discusses the present status and future prospects of Aedes control with reference to the Malaysian experience. Vector control approaches which include source reduction and environmental management, larviciding with the use of chemicals (synthetic insecticides and insect growth regulators and microbial insecticide), and adulticiding which include personal protection measures (household insecticide products and repellents) for long-term control and space spray (both thermal fogging and ultra low volume sprays) as short-term epidemic measures are discussed. The potential incorporation of IGRs and Bacillus thuringiensis-14 (Bti) as larvicides in addition to insecticides (temephos) is discussed. The advantages of using water-based spray over the oil-based (diesel) spray and the use of spray formulation which provide both larvicidal and adulticidal effects that would consequently have greater impact on the overall vector and disease control in DF/DHF are highlighted.

Magnification effect of Kerr metric by configurations of collisionless particles in non-isotropic kinetic equilibria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cremaschini, Claudio; Stuchlík, Zdeněk

2018-05-01

A test fluid composed of relativistic collisionless neutral particles in the background of Kerr metric is expected to generate non-isotropic equilibrium configurations in which the corresponding stress-energy tensor exhibits pressure and temperature anisotropies. This arises as a consequence of the constraints placed on single-particle dynamics by Killing tensor symmetries, leading to a peculiar non-Maxwellian functional form of the kinetic distribution function describing the continuum system. Based on this outcome, in this paper the generation of Kerr-like metric by collisionless N -body systems of neutral matter orbiting in the field of a rotating black hole is reported. The result is obtained in the framework of covariant kinetic theory by solving the Einstein equations in terms of an analytical perturbative treatment whereby the gravitational field is decomposed as a prescribed background metric tensor described by the Kerr solution plus a self-field correction. The latter one is generated by the uncharged fluid at equilibrium and satisfies the linearized Einstein equations having the non-isotropic stress-energy tensor as source term. It is shown that the resulting self-metric is again of Kerr type, providing a mechanism of magnification of the background metric tensor and its qualitative features.

[Scabies and the significance of "suriones" in the handwritten manuscripts of Hildegard von Bingen].

PubMed

Riethe, Peter

2006-01-01

In her studies on nature and medicine, the "Liber simplicis medicinae" (LSM or "Physica") and the "Liber compositae medicinae" (LCM or "Causae et Curae"), Hildegard von Bingen mentions Scabies (mange) in several passages. She characterizes "suren aut (= or) sneuelzen" as the cause of the disease, which she calls also "gracillimi vermiculi", that is, tiny worms that burrow into the human skin ("ubi suren aut sneuelzen hominem comedendo ledunt"). In this context the meanings of the German-ancestor terms "suren aut sneuelzen", which are found in the Latin text concerning the "Alia Mynza", are still disputed. The question whether Hildegard knew the cause of scabies the author discusses on the basis of ancient and medieval sources as well as modem medical historical and philological/linguistic research approaches. He concludes that Hildegard was able not only to describe the symptoms exactly, but also to define the cause of the disease as a special parasite. Consequently, she differentiates other diseases of the skin, such as "grint", from scabies. The proposed interpretation of "sneuelzen" as the tick is untenable. The assumption that both terms are synonyms for sarcoptes scabiei can be confirmed by philological and medical historical research.

A cost benefit analysis of an enhanced seat belt enforcement program in South Africa.

PubMed

Harris, G T; Olukoga, I A

2005-04-01

To examine whether a program to increase the wearing of seat belts in a South African urban area would be worthwhile in societal terms. A cost benefit analysis of a one year enhanced seat belt enforcement program in eThekwini (Durban) Municipality. Data were drawn from two main sources--a 1998 study of the cost of road crashes in South Africa and, given the absence of other data, a meta-analysis of the effectiveness of various types of interventions to reduce road crash casualties in the United States--and were analyzed using cost benefit analysis. A program designed to enforce greater wearing of seat belts, estimated to cost 2 million rand in one year, could be reasonably expected to increase seat belt usage rates by 16 percentage points and reduce fatalities and injuries by 9.5%. This would result in saved social costs of 13.6 million rand in the following year or a net present value of 11.6 million rand. There would also be favorable consequences for municipal finances. Investment in a program to increase seat belt wearing rates is highly profitable in societal terms.

Spatio-temporal variation in microclimate, the surface energy balance and ablation over a cirque glacier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hannah, David M.; Gurnell, Angela M.; McGregor, Glenn R.

2000-06-01

Climatic processes, operating at a range of scales, drive energy fluxes at the glacier surface which control meltwater generation and ultimately runoff. Nevertheless, to date, most glacier microclimate research has been both temporally (short-term) and spatially (single station) restricted. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by reporting on a detailed, empirical study which characterizes spatio-temporal variations in and linkages between glacier microclimate, surface energy and mass exchanges within a small glacierized cirque (Taillon Glacier, French Pyrénées) over two melt seasons. Data collected at five automatic weather stations (AWSs) and over ablation stake networks suggest that topoclimates, altitude and transient snowline position primarily determine the distribution of glacier energy receipt and, in turn, snow- and ice-melt patterns. Generally net radiation is the dominant energy source, followed by sensible heat, while latent heat is an energy sink. However, the magnitude and partitioning of energy balance terms, and consequently ablation, vary across the glacier both seasonally and with prevailing weather conditions. Importantly, this paper demonstrates that such monitoring programmes are required to truly represent and provide a sound basis for modelling glacier energy and mass-balances in both space and time.

The timing of introduction of complementary foods and later health.

PubMed

Agostoni, Carlo; Przyrembel, Hildegard

2013-01-01

Complementary food is needed when human milk (or infant formula) alone is no longer sufficient for nutritional reasons. The timing of introduction needs to be determined on an individual basis although 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding can be recommended for most healthy term infants. Solid foods are intended to 'complement' ongoing breastfeeding with those dietary items whose intake has become marginal or insufficient. Both breastfeeding and complementary feeding can have direct or later consequences on health. Possible short-term health effects concern growth velocity and infections while possible long-term effects may relate to obesity, cardiovascular disease, autoimmunity (celiac disease and type 1 diabetes) and atopic disorders. For most of these it is impossible on the basis of the available evidence to conclude on the age when risks related to the start of complementary feeding are lowest or highest, with the possible exception of infections and early growth velocity. For undesirable health consequences, whilst potential mechanisms are recognized, the evidence from mostly observational studies is insufficient and requires more and prospective research. While the 6-month goal is desirable, introduction of suitable complementary food after 4 completed months with ongoing breastfeeding can be considered without adverse health consequences for infants living in affluent countries. Even less evidence on the consequences of the timing of complementary food introduction is available for formula-fed infants. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Evolutionary consequences of climate-induced range shifts in insects.

PubMed

Sánchez-Guillén, Rosa A; Córdoba-Aguilar, Alex; Hansson, Bengt; Ott, Jürgen; Wellenreuther, Maren

2016-11-01

Range shifts can rapidly create new areas of geographic overlap between formerly allopatric taxa and evidence is accumulating that this can affect species persistence. We review the emerging literature on the short- and long-term consequences of these geographic range shifts. Specifically, we focus on the evolutionary consequences of novel species interactions in newly created sympatric areas by describing the potential (i) short-term processes acting on reproductive barriers between species and (ii) long-term consequences of range shifts on the stability of hybrid zones, introgression and ultimately speciation and extinction rates. Subsequently, we (iii) review the empirical literature on insects to evaluate which processes have been studied, and (iv) outline some areas that deserve increased attention in the future, namely the genomics of hybridisation and introgression, our ability to forecast range shifts and the impending threat from insect vectors and pests on biodiversity, human health and crop production. Our review shows that species interactions in de novo sympatric areas can be manifold, sometimes increasing and sometimes decreasing species diversity. A key issue that emerges is that climate-induced hybridisations in insects are much more widespread than anticipated and that rising temperatures and increased anthropogenic disturbances are accelerating the process of species mixing. The existing evidence only shows the tip of the iceberg and we are likely to see many more cases of species mixing following range shifts in the near future. © 2015 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Finding Resolution for the Responsible Transparency of Economic Models in Health and Medicine.

PubMed

Padula, William V; McQueen, Robert Brett; Pronovost, Peter J

2017-11-01

The Second Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine recommendations for conduct, methodological practices, and reporting of cost-effectiveness analyses has a number of questions unanswered with respect to the implementation of transparent, open source code interface for economic models. The possibility of making economic model source code could be positive and progressive for the field; however, several unintended consequences of this system should be first considered before complete implementation of this model. First, there is the concern regarding intellectual property rights that modelers have to their analyses. Second, the open source code could make analyses more accessible to inexperienced modelers, leading to inaccurate or misinterpreted results. We propose several resolutions to these concerns. The field should establish a licensing system of open source code such that the model originators maintain control of the code use and grant permissions to other investigators who wish to use it. The field should also be more forthcoming towards the teaching of cost-effectiveness analysis in medical and health services education so that providers and other professionals are familiar with economic modeling and able to conduct analyses with open source code. These types of unintended consequences need to be fully considered before the field's preparedness to move forward into an era of model transparency with open source code.

Unexpected Nongenetic Individual Heterogeneity and Trait Covariance in Daphnia and Its Consequences for Ecological and Evolutionary Dynamics.

PubMed

Cressler, Clayton E; Bengtson, Stefan; Nelson, William A

2017-07-01

Individual differences in genetics, age, or environment can cause tremendous differences in individual life-history traits. This individual heterogeneity generates demographic heterogeneity at the population level, which is predicted to have a strong impact on both ecological and evolutionary dynamics. However, we know surprisingly little about the sources of individual heterogeneity for particular taxa or how different sources scale up to impact ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Here we experimentally study the individual heterogeneity that emerges from both genetic and nongenetic sources in a species of freshwater zooplankton across a large gradient of food quality. Despite the tight control of environment, we still find that the variation from nongenetic sources is greater than that from genetic sources over a wide range of food quality and that this variation has strong positive covariance between growth and reproduction. We evaluate the general consequences of genetic and nongenetic covariance for ecological and evolutionary dynamics theoretically and find that increasing nongenetic variation slows evolution independent of the correlation in heritable life-history traits but that the impact on ecological dynamics depends on both nongenetic and genetic covariance. Our results demonstrate that variation in the relative magnitude of nongenetic versus genetic sources of variation impacts the predicted ecological and evolutionary dynamics.

The potential of smoking cessation programmes and a smoking ban in public places: comparing gain in life expectancy and cost effectiveness.

PubMed

Højgaard, Betina; Olsen, Kim Rose; Pisinger, Charlotta; Tønnesen, Hanne; Gyrd-Hansen, Dorte

2011-12-01

Interventions aimed at reducing the number of smokers are generally believed to be cost effective. However as the cost of the interventions should be paid up front whereas the gains in life years only appear in the future--the budgetary consequences might be a barrier to implementing such interventions. The aim of the present paper was to assess the long-term cost effectiveness as well as the short-term (10 years) budget consequences of cessation programmes and a smoking ban in enclosed public places. We develop a population-based Markov model capable of analyzing both interventions and assess long-term costs effectiveness as well as short-term budgetary consequences and outcome gains. The smoking cessation programme model was based on data from the Danish National Smoking Cessation Database (SCDB), while the model of the smoking ban was based on effect estimates found in the literature. On a population level the effect of a smoking ban has the largest potential compared with the effect of smoking cessation programmes. Our results suggest that smoking cessation programmes are cost saving and generate life-years, whereas the costs per life-year gained by a smoking ban are 40,645 to 64,462 DKK (100 DKK = €13.4). These results are conservative as they do not include the healthcare cost saving related to reduced passive smoking. Our results indicate that smoking cessation programmes and a smoking ban in enclosed public places both in the short term and the long term are cost-effective strategies compared with the status quo.

Effect of magnetic island geometry on ECRH/ECCD and consequences to the NTM stabilization dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chatziantonaki, I.; Tsironis, C.; Isliker, H.; Vlahos, L.

2012-09-01

In the majority of codes that model ECCD-based NTM stabilization, the analysis of the EC propagation and absorption is performed in terms of the axisymmetric magnetic field, ignoring effects due to the island topology. In this paper, we analyze the wave propagation, absorption and current drive in the presence of NTMs, as well as the ECCD-driven island growth, focusing on the effect of the island geometry on the wave de-position. A primary evaluation of the consequences of these effects on the NTM evolution is also made in terms of the modified Rutherford equation.

Drug abuse: consequences in terms of family pathology and disintegration.

PubMed

Visser, L

1991-01-01

This article examines some of the consequences of drug addiction in terms of family pathology and family disintegration. It briefly elucidates the role of the family in developing and maintaining drug addiction in family members. The concept of 'secondary' sufferers of the illness of drug addiction is examined. An actual case history will be presented in order to facilitate analysis of some of the forms of pathology and disintegration so often seen in the family of the drug addict. Within the family context, the question of who, if anyone, is the victim of drug addiction, is raised.

MID-LATITUDE CYCLONES WITH TROPICAL ORIGINS: lessons from two historical case studies.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Herrera, R.; Vaquero, J. M.; Wheeler, D.

2009-04-01

Interest in storm and hurricane activity has grown over recent years, their changing incidence being seen, rightly or wrongly, as a gauge of ‘global warming'. Yet such judgements can be confidently offered only on the basis of a reliable long period of record that provides more informative perspective on the events of the past few decades. This presentation is concerned with two examples of hurricane activity, both of which make valuable use of historical source material but provide different lessons for climatologists. The first example is from 1680 and demonstrates the value of historical source material in reconstructing events from the distant past and suggests a way forward in developing and improving the long-term storm chronologies. The other, based on the analogous events of 1842 and 2005, offers a convincing demonstration of the need to call upon such comprehensive long-term chronologies in order to avoid making mistaken and unintentionally ill-informed observations on the seeming idiosyncrasies of recent climatic variation. The first example, from August 1680, reconstructs the trajectory and development of an Atlantic tropical cyclone, and draws upon a notable variety of documentary sources ranging from ships' logbooks, official and unofficial correspondence and some early examples of instrumental data. It serves as a model of how such sources, which remain largely unexploited, can be called upon to provide important climatic information. It allows also for the reconstruction the tropical and extratropical phases of the cyclone's trajectory and its possible impact over the UK. The second example, which compares hurricane Vince (2005) with an earlier but overlooked analogue from 1842, demonstrates the caution with which recent events should be interpreted and the need to take as long-term view as possible. Hurricane Vince, which moved directly from the eastern Atlantic towards Iberia, was widely proclaimed as a unique event and a consequence of global warming. Yet a careful search of the historical record provided an almost perfect analogue from 1842 and in doing so offered a salutary warning of our need for caution and for a clearer picture of the past. This presentation reviews both examples and discusses their implications in terms of the possibility of improving the cyclone chronology and, thereby, of assisting in our understanding of present-day events. References Vaquero J.M., R. García-Herrera, D. Wheeler, M. Chenoweth and C. J. Mock, 2008: An historical analogue of 2005 hurricane Vince. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 89, 191 - 201. WheelerD., R. García-Herrera, J.M.Vaquero, M. Chenoweth and C. J. Mock, 2009: Reconstructing the trajectory of the August 1680 Hurricane from contemporary records Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society,(accepted).

Bayesian source term determination with unknown covariance of measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belal, Alkomiet; Tichý, Ondřej; Šmídl, Václav

2017-04-01

Determination of a source term of release of a hazardous material into the atmosphere is a very important task for emergency response. We are concerned with the problem of estimation of the source term in the conventional linear inverse problem, y = Mx, where the relationship between the vector of observations y is described using the source-receptor-sensitivity (SRS) matrix M and the unknown source term x. Since the system is typically ill-conditioned, the problem is recast as an optimization problem minR,B(y - Mx)TR-1(y - Mx) + xTB-1x. The first term minimizes the error of the measurements with covariance matrix R, and the second term is a regularization of the source term. There are different types of regularization arising for different choices of matrices R and B, for example, Tikhonov regularization assumes covariance matrix B as the identity matrix multiplied by scalar parameter. In this contribution, we adopt a Bayesian approach to make inference on the unknown source term x as well as unknown R and B. We assume prior on x to be a Gaussian with zero mean and unknown diagonal covariance matrix B. The covariance matrix of the likelihood R is also unknown. We consider two potential choices of the structure of the matrix R. First is the diagonal matrix and the second is a locally correlated structure using information on topology of the measuring network. Since the inference of the model is intractable, iterative variational Bayes algorithm is used for simultaneous estimation of all model parameters. The practical usefulness of our contribution is demonstrated on an application of the resulting algorithm to real data from the European Tracer Experiment (ETEX). This research is supported by EEA/Norwegian Financial Mechanism under project MSMT-28477/2014 Source-Term Determination of Radionuclide Releases by Inverse Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling (STRADI).

Long-term relationships among pesticide applications, mobility, and soil erosion in a vineyard watershed

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabatier, Pierre; Poulenard, Jérôme; Fanget, Bernard; Reyss, Jean-Louis; Develle, Anne-Lise; Wilhelm, Bruno; Ployon, Estelle; Pignol, Cécile; Naffrechoux, Emmanuel; Dorioz, Jean-Marcel; Montuelle, Bernard; Arnaud, Fabien

2014-11-01

Agricultural pesticide use has increased worldwide during the last several decades, but the long-term fate, storage, and transfer dynamics of pesticides in a changing environment are poorly understood. Many pesticides have been progressively banned, but in numerous cases, these molecules are stable and may persist in soils, sediments, and ice. Many studies have addressed the question of their possible remobilization as a result of global change. In this article, we present a retro-observation approach based on lake sediment records to monitor micropollutants and to evaluate the long-term succession and diffuse transfer of herbicides, fungicides, and insecticide treatments in a vineyard catchment in France. The sediment allows for a reliable reconstruction of past pesticide use through time, validated by the historical introduction, use, and banning of these organic and inorganic pesticides in local vineyards. Our results also revealed how changes in these practices affect storage conditions and, consequently, the pesticides' transfer dynamics. For example, the use of postemergence herbicides (glyphosate), which induce an increase in soil erosion, led to a release of a banned remnant pesticide (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, DDT), which had been previously stored in vineyard soil, back into the environment. Management strategies of ecotoxicological risk would be well served by recognition of the diversity of compounds stored in various environmental sinks, such as agriculture soil, and their capability to become sources when environmental conditions change.

Metabolic modelling to support long term strategic decisions on water supply systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ciriello, Valentina; Felisa, Giada; Lauriola, Ilaria; Pomanti, Flavio; Di Federico, Vittorio

2017-04-01

Water resources are essential for the economic development and sustenance of anthropic activities belonging to the civil, agricultural and industrial sectors. Nevertheless, availability of water resources is not uniformly distributed in space and time. Moreover, the increasing water demand, mainly due to population growth and expansion of agricultural crops, may cause increasing water stress conditions, if combined with the effects of climate change. Under these circumstances, it is necessary to improve the resilience of water supply systems both in terms of infrastructures and environmental compliance. Metabolic modelling approaches represent a flexible tool able to provide support to decision making in the long term, based on sustainability criteria. These approaches mimic the water supply network through a set of material and energy fluxes that interact and influence each other. By analyzing these fluxes, a suite of key performance indicators is evaluated in order to identify which kind of interventions may be applied to increase the sustainability of the system. Here, we adopt these concepts to analyze the water supply network of Reggio-Emilia (Italy) which is supported by water withdrawals from both surface water and groundwater bodies. We analyze different scenarios, including possible reduction of water withdrawals from one of the different sources as a consequence of a decrease in water availability under present and future scenarios. On these basis, we identify preventive strategies for a dynamic management of the water supply system.

Long-term relationships among pesticide applications, mobility, and soil erosion in a vineyard watershed

PubMed Central

Sabatier, Pierre; Poulenard, Jérôme; Fanget, Bernard; Reyss, Jean-Louis; Develle, Anne-Lise; Wilhelm, Bruno; Ployon, Estelle; Pignol, Cécile; Naffrechoux, Emmanuel; Dorioz, Jean-Marcel; Montuelle, Bernard; Arnaud, Fabien

2014-01-01

Agricultural pesticide use has increased worldwide during the last several decades, but the long-term fate, storage, and transfer dynamics of pesticides in a changing environment are poorly understood. Many pesticides have been progressively banned, but in numerous cases, these molecules are stable and may persist in soils, sediments, and ice. Many studies have addressed the question of their possible remobilization as a result of global change. In this article, we present a retro-observation approach based on lake sediment records to monitor micropollutants and to evaluate the long-term succession and diffuse transfer of herbicides, fungicides, and insecticide treatments in a vineyard catchment in France. The sediment allows for a reliable reconstruction of past pesticide use through time, validated by the historical introduction, use, and banning of these organic and inorganic pesticides in local vineyards. Our results also revealed how changes in these practices affect storage conditions and, consequently, the pesticides' transfer dynamics. For example, the use of postemergence herbicides (glyphosate), which induce an increase in soil erosion, led to a release of a banned remnant pesticide (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, DDT), which had been previously stored in vineyard soil, back into the environment. Management strategies of ecotoxicological risk would be well served by recognition of the diversity of compounds stored in various environmental sinks, such as agriculture soil, and their capability to become sources when environmental conditions change. PMID:25313074

Short and long-term effects of an historic blizzard in Asturias (Northern Spain)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garcia-Hernandez, Cristina; Ruiz-Fernández, Jesús; Gallinar, David

2016-04-01

This research has combined the consult of several historical sources (historic newspapers, church records, meteorological records) with fieldwork (geographical checking and interviews) and the application of statistical techniques for data processing in order to define, locate and analyze the causes and physical, social, economic and demographic effects (both short- and long-term) of an historic natural disaster that concerned the territory of Asturias (Northern Spain). The storm that hit the Spanish northwest in the winter of 1888 consisted of a four snowstorms concatenation occurred between 14th February 1888 and 8th April 1888. It was a phenomenon that, by its magnitude and rarity, was especially harmful because of the triggering of avalanches of snow and landslides; the generation of large snow deposits (up to 9 meters depth), and the floods related with the effects of the snow thawing. The first results of this research point to 36 people dead and 23 injured, more than 1,000 buildings ruined and more than 19,000 head of cattle lost as a result of all these events. However, the personal and material losses increase if we investigate the long-term consequences and, in this aspect, we have identified several singularities in the 1888 mortality patterns (ie an increase in neonatal mortality rate), and a clear increase in overall mortality in the two years following this episode, affecting to women more than to men.

Bereavement in very old age: impact on health and relationships of the loss of a spouse, a child, a sibling, or a close friend.

PubMed

d'Epinay, Christian J Lalive; Cavalli, Stefano; Guillet, Luc A

This article deals with the following two questions: In very old age, which are the main sources of bereavement? And what are the consequences of such losses on health and on relationships? The findings are based on the complete set of data compiled in the course of the Swiss Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study on the Oldest Old (SWILSOO), which provided a 10-year follow-up of a first cohort (1994-2004) and a 5-year follow-up of a second (1999-2004). The data revealed that, in very old age, the great majority of the dear ones who died were either siblings or close friends. Taken as a whole, the bereaved suffered a marked and lasting increase in depressive symptoms, together with a short-term deterioration in their functional status; those bereft of a spouse or a child saw their functional status worsen and exhibited enduring depressive symptoms but they also benefited from support in the form of increased interaction; those bereft of siblings only suffered from a mild, short-term deterioration in functional status; those who had lost a close friend suffered a very significant increase in depressive symptoms. In the medium term, most of these effects disappeared, lending weight to the claim that the survivors manage to cope with the misfortunes of life.

Long-term relationships among pesticide applications, mobility, and soil erosion in a vineyard watershed.

PubMed

Sabatier, Pierre; Poulenard, Jérôme; Fanget, Bernard; Reyss, Jean-Louis; Develle, Anne-Lise; Wilhelm, Bruno; Ployon, Estelle; Pignol, Cécile; Naffrechoux, Emmanuel; Dorioz, Jean-Marcel; Montuelle, Bernard; Arnaud, Fabien

2014-11-04

Agricultural pesticide use has increased worldwide during the last several decades, but the long-term fate, storage, and transfer dynamics of pesticides in a changing environment are poorly understood. Many pesticides have been progressively banned, but in numerous cases, these molecules are stable and may persist in soils, sediments, and ice. Many studies have addressed the question of their possible remobilization as a result of global change. In this article, we present a retro-observation approach based on lake sediment records to monitor micropollutants and to evaluate the long-term succession and diffuse transfer of herbicides, fungicides, and insecticide treatments in a vineyard catchment in France. The sediment allows for a reliable reconstruction of past pesticide use through time, validated by the historical introduction, use, and banning of these organic and inorganic pesticides in local vineyards. Our results also revealed how changes in these practices affect storage conditions and, consequently, the pesticides' transfer dynamics. For example, the use of postemergence herbicides (glyphosate), which induce an increase in soil erosion, led to a release of a banned remnant pesticide (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, DDT), which had been previously stored in vineyard soil, back into the environment. Management strategies of ecotoxicological risk would be well served by recognition of the diversity of compounds stored in various environmental sinks, such as agriculture soil, and their capability to become sources when environmental conditions change.

Source Term Model for Steady Micro Jets in a Navier-Stokes Computer Code

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waithe, Kenrick A.

2005-01-01

A source term model for steady micro jets was implemented into a non-proprietary Navier-Stokes computer code, OVERFLOW. The source term models the mass flow and momentum created by a steady blowing micro jet. The model is obtained by adding the momentum and mass flow created by the jet to the Navier-Stokes equations. The model was tested by comparing with data from numerical simulations of a single, steady micro jet on a flat plate in two and three dimensions. The source term model predicted the velocity distribution well compared to the two-dimensional plate using a steady mass flow boundary condition, which was used to simulate a steady micro jet. The model was also compared to two three-dimensional flat plate cases using a steady mass flow boundary condition to simulate a steady micro jet. The three-dimensional comparison included a case with a grid generated to capture the circular shape of the jet and a case without a grid generated for the micro jet. The case without the jet grid mimics the application of the source term. The source term model compared well with both of the three-dimensional cases. Comparisons of velocity distribution were made before and after the jet and Mach and vorticity contours were examined. The source term model allows a researcher to quickly investigate different locations of individual or several steady micro jets. The researcher is able to conduct a preliminary investigation with minimal grid generation and computational time.

34 CFR 386.43 - What are the consequences of a scholar's failure to meet the terms and conditions of a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... the terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement? 386.43 Section 386.43 Education Regulations of... terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement? In the event of a failure to meet the terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement or to obtain a deferral or an exception as provided in § 386.41, the...

34 CFR 386.43 - What are the consequences of a scholar's failure to meet the terms and conditions of a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... meet the terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement? 386.43 Section 386.43 Education Regulations... terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement? In the event of a failure to meet the terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement or to obtain a deferral or an exception as provided in § 386.41, the...

34 CFR 386.43 - What are the consequences of a scholar's failure to meet the terms and conditions of a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... the terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement? 386.43 Section 386.43 Education Regulations of... terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement? In the event of a failure to meet the terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement or to obtain a deferral or an exception as provided in § 386.41, the...

34 CFR 386.43 - What are the consequences of a scholar's failure to meet the terms and conditions of a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... meet the terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement? 386.43 Section 386.43 Education Regulations... terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement? In the event of a failure to meet the terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement or to obtain a deferral or an exception as provided in § 386.41, the...

34 CFR 386.43 - What are the consequences of a scholar's failure to meet the terms and conditions of a...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... meet the terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement? 386.43 Section 386.43 Education Regulations... terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement? In the event of a failure to meet the terms and conditions of a scholarship agreement or to obtain a deferral or an exception as provided in § 386.41, the...

Child Maltreatment Prevention

MedlinePlus

... Prevention Strategies Additional Resources Data & Statistics Coping with stress Youth Violence Definitions Data Sources Risk and Protective Factors Consequences Prevention Strategies Environmental Design Additional Resources School- ...

The Anthropogenic `Greenhouse Effect': Greek Prospective Primary Teachers' Ideas About Causes, Consequences and Cures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ikonomidis, Simos; Papanastasiou, Dimitris; Melas, Dimitris; Avgoloupis, Stavros

2012-12-01

This study explores the ideas of Greek prospective primary teachers about the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, particularly about its causes, consequences and cures. For this purpose, a survey was conducted: 265 prospective teachers completed a closed-form questionnaire. The results showed serious misconceptions in all areas (causes, consequences and cures). The most prominent misconception found by this survey is the conflation between the greenhouse effect and the ozone layer depletion, which is widely reported in the literature. There is also the notion that `good things' (like clean beaches) can help ameliorate the greenhouse effect, whereas `bad things' (like insecticides) can enhance it. One of the secondary results of the survey is that prospective teachers' main source of information about the greenhouse effect is school. This calls for educational interventions to fight misconceptions at the source. Some suggestions are presented in this paper. The results of this study are compared with the results of two similar studies conducted in the UK and in Turkey.

The Relationship between Motivation, Learning Approaches, Academic Performance and Time Spent

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Everaert, Patricia; Opdecam, Evelien; Maussen, Sophie

2017-01-01

Previous literature calls for further investigation in terms of precedents and consequences of learning approaches (deep learning and surface learning). Motivation as precedent and time spent and academic performance as consequences are addressed in this paper. The study is administered in a first-year undergraduate course. Results show that the…

A Postsecondary Transition Model for Low-Income, Minority Youth in Philadelphia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Alexis Tolbert

2016-01-01

School administrators are in the best position, but often lack the knowledge, to help low-income, minority youth transition to college. Consequently, some youth are not meeting their full potential and there are long-term, deleterious consequences on local economies as wage earning potential stagnates. Using Aslanargun's, Farmer-Hinton's, and…

High-Risk Drinking in College Athletes and Nonathletes across the Academic Year

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doumas, Diana M.; Turrisi, Rob; Coll, Kenneth M.; Haralson, Kate

2007-01-01

This study compared heavy drinking and alcohol-related consequences between freshman student-athletes (n = 137) and nonathletes (n = 318). Differences in high-risk drinking between the fall and spring terms were also examined. Results indicated that student-athletes reported heavier drinking and higher levels of alcohol-related consequences than…

Economic Hardship in the Family of Origin and Children's Psychological Well-Being in Adulthood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sobolewski, Juliana M.; Amato, Paul R.

2005-01-01

Past research consistently indicates that poverty and economic hardship have negative consequences for children. Few studies, however, have examined whether these consequences persist into adulthood. This study addresses this gap by assessing whether economic resources in the family of origin have long-term effects on psychological well-being in…

Social Bullying: Correlates, Consequences, and Prevention. In Brief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stuart-Cassel, Victoria; Terzian, Mary; Bradshaw, Catherine

2013-01-01

Bullying is considered one of the most prevalent and potentially damaging forms of school violence. Each year, more than a quarter of middle and high school students are subjected to some form of bullying in their school environments. Research has identified potentially harmful immediate and long-term consequences for bullying-involved youth and…

Perceptual Consequences of Changes in Vocoded Speech Parameters in Various Reverberation Conditions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drgas, Szymon; Blaszak, Magdalena A.

2009-01-01

Purpose: To study the perceptual consequences of changes in parameters of vocoded speech in various reverberation conditions. Method: The 3 controlled variables were number of vocoder bands, instantaneous frequency change rate, and reverberation conditions. The effects were quantified in terms of (a) nonsense words' recognition scores for young…

California's High School Dropouts: Examining the Fiscal Consequences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stuit, David A.; Springer, Jeffrey A.

2010-01-01

This report analyzes the economic and social costs of the high school dropout problem in California from the perspective of a state taxpayer. The authors' analysis considers the consequences of this problem in terms of labor market, tax revenue, public health, and incarceration costs. The authors' quantification of these costs reveals the sizeable…

Addressing Chronic Malnutrition through Multi-Sectoral, Sustainable Approaches: A Review of the Causes and Consequences

PubMed Central

Reinhardt, Kristina; Fanzo, Jessica

2014-01-01

Chronic malnutrition, including stunting, is an important example of a global challenge that spans multiple sectors, specifically health, agriculture, and the environment. The objective of this paper is to review current knowledge on the causes and consequences of chronic malnutrition and their relationship with multiple sectors. Understanding the causes includes approaching chronic malnutrition from the basic, underlying, and immediate levels. The causes reach from macro-level environmental influences to specific micronutrient intake. In order to effectively address stunting, it is important to understand the timing of stunting and the ability of individuals to catch up in terms of linear growth, cognitive ability, and immune function. The consequences of chronic malnutrition are transgenerational and they have an impact at the individual, community, and national level in the short- and long-term. There are still many gaps in knowledge regarding both the causes and consequences of chronic malnutrition, particularly when it comes to the interaction with agriculture and the environment, and understanding these gaps is important to addressing the burden of chronic malnutrition through evidence-based interventions. PMID:25988116

Thermodynamics of viscoelastic rate-type fluids with stress diffusion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Málek, Josef; Průša, Vít; Skřivan, Tomáš; Süli, Endre

2018-02-01

We propose thermodynamically consistent models for viscoelastic fluids with a stress diffusion term. In particular, we derive variants of compressible/incompressible Maxwell/Oldroyd-B models with a stress diffusion term in the evolution equation for the extra stress tensor. It is shown that the stress diffusion term can be interpreted either as a consequence of a nonlocal energy storage mechanism or as a consequence of a nonlocal entropy production mechanism, while different interpretations of the stress diffusion mechanism lead to different evolution equations for the temperature. The benefits of the knowledge of the thermodynamical background of the derived models are documented in the study of nonlinear stability of equilibrium rest states. The derived models open up the possibility to study fully coupled thermomechanical problems involving viscoelastic rate-type fluids with stress diffusion.

Vortex unbinding in 2D classical JJ arrays

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Minnhagen, Petter

1998-05-15

Vortices for 2D superfluids are introduced and are described in terms of a 2D Coulomb gas. The 2D classical JJ array is modeled by a 2D XY-model and a mapping between the XY-model and the Coulomb gas is given. The physical properties of a JJ array are then given in terms of the corresponding Coulomb gas properties. First aspects of the Kosterlitz-Thouless vortex unbinding transitions are reviewed. Consequences for the resistance as well as the frequency dependent conductivity are described. Next the vortex unbinding induced by an external current is considered with Consequencies for the non-linear IV-characteristics. Finally some somemore » effects of a perpendicular magnetic field are discussed in terms of an interplay between free vortices and bound vortex pairs.« less

Revision of earthquake hypocentre locations in global bulletin data sets using source-specific station terms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nooshiri, Nima; Saul, Joachim; Heimann, Sebastian; Tilmann, Frederik; Dahm, Torsten

2017-02-01

Global earthquake locations are often associated with very large systematic travel-time residuals even for clear arrivals, especially for regional and near-regional stations in subduction zones because of their strongly heterogeneous velocity structure. Travel-time corrections can drastically reduce travel-time residuals at regional stations and, in consequence, improve the relative location accuracy. We have extended the shrinking-box source-specific station terms technique to regional and teleseismic distances and adopted the algorithm for probabilistic, nonlinear, global-search location. We evaluated the potential of the method to compute precise relative hypocentre locations on a global scale. The method has been applied to two specific test regions using existing P- and pP-phase picks. The first data set consists of 3103 events along the Chilean margin and the second one comprises 1680 earthquakes in the Tonga-Fiji subduction zone. Pick data were obtained from the GEOFON earthquake bulletin, produced using data from all available, global station networks. A set of timing corrections varying as a function of source position was calculated for each seismic station. In this way, we could correct the systematic errors introduced into the locations by the inaccuracies in the assumed velocity structure without explicitly solving for a velocity model. Residual statistics show that the median absolute deviation of the travel-time residuals is reduced by 40-60 per cent at regional distances, where the velocity anomalies are strong. Moreover, the spread of the travel-time residuals decreased by ˜20 per cent at teleseismic distances (>28°). Furthermore, strong variations in initial residuals as a function of recording distance are smoothed out in the final residuals. The relocated catalogues exhibit less scattered locations in depth and sharper images of the seismicity associated with the subducting slabs. Comparison with a high-resolution local catalogue reveals that our relocation process significantly improves the hypocentre locations compared to standard locations.

Can control of soil erosion mitigate water pollution by sediments?

PubMed

Rickson, R J

2014-01-15

The detrimental impact of sediment and associated pollutants on water quality is widely acknowledged, with many watercourses in the UK failing to meet the standard of 'good ecological status'. Catchment sediment budgets show that hill slope erosion processes can be significant sources of waterborne sediment, with rates of erosion likely to increase given predicted future weather patterns. However, linking on-site erosion rates with off-site impacts is complicated because of the limited data on soil erosion rates in the UK and the dynamic nature of the source-pathway-receptor continuum over space and time. Even so, soil erosion control measures are designed to reduce sediment production (source) and mobilisation/transport (pathway) on hill slopes, with consequent mitigation of pollution incidents in watercourses (receptors). The purpose of this paper is to review the scientific evidence of the effectiveness of erosion control measures used in the UK to reduce sediment loads of hill slope origin in watercourses. Although over 73 soil erosion mitigation measures have been identified from the literature, empirical data on erosion control effectiveness are limited. Baseline comparisons for the 18 measures where data do exist reveal erosion control effectiveness is highly variable over time and between study locations. Given the limitations of the evidence base in terms of geographical coverage and duration of monitoring, performance of the different measures cannot be extrapolated to other areas. This uncertainty in effectiveness has implications for implementing erosion/sediment risk reduction policies, where quantified targets are stipulated, as is the case in the EU Freshwater Fish and draft Soil Framework Directives. Also, demonstrating technical effectiveness of erosion control measures alone will not encourage uptake by land managers: quantifying the costs and benefits of adopting erosion mitigation is equally important, but these are uncertain and difficult to express in monetary terms. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The influence of cross-order terms in interface mobilities for structure-borne sound source characterization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonhoff, H. A.; Petersson, B. A. T.

2010-08-01

For the characterization of structure-borne sound sources with multi-point or continuous interfaces, substantial simplifications and physical insight can be obtained by incorporating the concept of interface mobilities. The applicability of interface mobilities, however, relies upon the admissibility of neglecting the so-called cross-order terms. Hence, the objective of the present paper is to clarify the importance and significance of cross-order terms for the characterization of vibrational sources. From previous studies, four conditions have been identified for which the cross-order terms can become more influential. Such are non-circular interface geometries, structures with distinctively differing transfer paths as well as a suppression of the zero-order motion and cases where the contact forces are either in phase or out of phase. In a theoretical study, the former four conditions are investigated regarding the frequency range and magnitude of a possible strengthening of the cross-order terms. For an experimental analysis, two source-receiver installations are selected, suitably designed to obtain strong cross-order terms. The transmitted power and the source descriptors are predicted by the approximations of the interface mobility approach and compared with the complete calculations. Neglecting the cross-order terms can result in large misinterpretations at certain frequencies. On average, however, the cross-order terms are found to be insignificant and can be neglected with good approximation. The general applicability of interface mobilities for structure-borne sound source characterization and the description of the transmission process thereby is confirmed.

Sociology: A Guide to Reference Sources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giffin, Meredith

Sociology, the study of the organization and activities of human societies, encompasses many fields of inquiry and consequently the literature of the discipline is vast. In providing access to some of this literature, this guide concentrates on reference sources which may be found in McLennan Library of McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Areas…

78 FR 49237 - Airworthiness Directives; the Boeing Company Airplanes

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-13

... could cause a fuel leak near an ignition source (e.g., hot brakes or engine exhaust nozzle..., which could cause a fuel leak near an ignition source (e.g., hot brakes or engine exhaust nozzle... brakes or engine exhaust nozzle), consequently leading to a fuel-fed fire. (f) Compliance Comply with...

Automated Source-Code-Based Testing of Object-Oriented Software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerlich, Ralf; Gerlich, Rainer; Dietrich, Carsten

2014-08-01

With the advent of languages such as C++ and Java in mission- and safety-critical space on-board software, new challenges for testing and specifically automated testing arise. In this paper we discuss some of these challenges, consequences and solutions based on an experiment in automated source- code-based testing for C++.

Deciphering the Principles of Bacterial Nitrogen Dietary Preferences: a Strategy for Nutrient Containment

PubMed Central

Wang, Jilong; Yan, Dalai

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT A fundamental question in microbial physiology concerns why organisms prefer certain nutrients to others. For example, among different nitrogen sources, ammonium is the preferred nitrogen source, supporting fast growth, whereas alternative nitrogen sources, such as certain amino acids, are considered to be poor nitrogen sources, supporting much slower exponential growth. However, the physiological/regulatory logic behind such nitrogen dietary choices remains elusive. In this study, by engineering Escherichia coli, we switched the dietary preferences toward amino acids, with growth rates equivalent to that of the wild-type strain grown on ammonia. However, when the engineered strain was cultured together with wild-type E. coli, this growth advantage was diminished as a consequence of ammonium leakage from the transport-and-catabolism (TC)-enhanced (TCE) cells, which are preferentially utilized by wild-type bacteria. Our results reveal that the nitrogen regulatory (Ntr) system fine tunes the expression of amino acid transport and catabolism components to match the flux through the ammonia assimilation pathway such that essential nutrients are retained, but, as a consequence, the fast growth rate on amino acids is sacrificed. PMID:27435461

Fragment Impact Toolkit (FIT)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shevitz, Daniel Wolf; Key, Brian P.; Garcia, Daniel B.

2017-09-05

The Fragment Impact Toolkit (FIT) is a software package used for probabilistic consequence evaluation of fragmenting sources. The typical use case for FIT is to simulate an exploding shell and evaluate the consequence on nearby objects. FIT is written in the programming language Python and is designed as a collection of interacting software modules. Each module has a function that interacts with the other modules to produce desired results.

On the relationship between boreal forest browning and tree mortality: insights from Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogers, B. M.; Goetz, S. J.

2015-12-01

Long-term satellite measurements of vegetation productivity in high-latitude environments have revealed profound and widespread responses to climate warming. Although warmer and longer summers are causing the Arctic to "green", many regions of boreal forest are showing the opposite response, particularly since the mid 1990s. This "browning" phenomenon was generally unexpected at the time of discovery, is not captured by global models, and may have profound consequences for the boreal biome. A number of studies have linked satellite-based browning trends to tree productivity through tree rings. However, our understanding of the environmental controls and ecosystem consequences of browning remains remarkably limited. Here we examine to what extent browning patterns are related to a fundamental demographic process: tree mortality. We focus on a long-term inventory database in Alaska to characterize mortality events and trends from 1994 to 2014. These patterns were related to vegetation productivity indices from MODIS and the AVHRR-based GIMMS3g data set. We explore three central hypotheses: (1) mortality events are likely to be preceded by 5-10 year browning trends ("press stress"), (2) mortality events are likely to be preceded by distinct pulses of low productivity ("pulse stress"), and (3) long-term trends in mortality are related to long-term browning. Within our study region, which encompasses eastern Alaskan from the Pacific coastal mountains up through the interior, we find strong evidence for the first two hypotheses. The third is weakly supported, which may be a consequence of the episodic nature of mortality in the region. However, preliminary analyses in the southern Canadian boreal reveal a markedly stronger relationship between long-term mortality and browning. Taken together, our study suggests a robust correlation between satellite-based metrics of productivity and forest demography; one that has consequences for forest composition, carbon stocks, and early signs of a biome shift in boreal forests.

Oxidative injury of the pulmonary circulation in the perinatal period: Short- and long-term consequences for the human cardiopulmonary system

PubMed Central

de Wijs-Meijler, Daphne P.; Duncker, Dirk J.; Tibboel, Dick; Schermuly, Ralph T.; Weissmann, Norbert; Merkus, Daphne; Reiss, Irwin K.M.

2017-01-01

Development of the pulmonary circulation is a complex process with a spatial pattern that is tightly controlled. This process is vulnerable for disruption by various events in the prenatal and early postnatal periods. Disruption of normal pulmonary vascular development leads to abnormal structure and function of the lung vasculature, causing neonatal pulmonary vascular diseases. Premature babies are especially at risk of the development of these diseases, including persistent pulmonary hypertension and bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Reactive oxygen species play a key role in the pathogenesis of neonatal pulmonary vascular diseases and can be caused by hyperoxia, mechanical ventilation, hypoxia, and inflammation. Besides the well-established short-term consequences, exposure of the developing lung to injurious stimuli in the perinatal period, including oxidative stress, may also contribute to the development of pulmonary vascular diseases later in life, through so-called “fetal or perinatal programming.” Because of these long-term consequences, it is important to develop a follow-up program tailored to adolescent survivors of neonatal pulmonary vascular diseases, aimed at early detection of adult pulmonary vascular diseases, and thereby opening the possibility of early intervention and interfering with disease progression. This review focuses on pathophysiologic events in the perinatal period that have been shown to disrupt human normal pulmonary vascular development, leading to neonatal pulmonary vascular diseases that can extend even into adulthood. This knowledge may be particularly important for ex-premature adults who are at risk of the long-term consequences of pulmonary vascular diseases, thereby contributing disproportionately to the burden of adult cardiovascular disease in the future. PMID:28680565

Validation of the surgical fear questionnaire in adult patients waiting for elective surgery.

PubMed

Theunissen, Maurice; Peters, Madelon L; Schouten, Erik G W; Fiddelers, Audrey A A; Willemsen, Mark G A; Pinto, Patrícia R; Gramke, Hans-Fritz; Marcus, Marco A E

2014-01-01

Because existing instruments for assessing surgical fear seem either too general or too limited, the Surgical Fear Questionnaire (SFQ) was developed. The aim of this study is to assess the validity and reliability of the SFQ. Based on existing literature and expert consultation the ten-item SFQ was composed. Data on the SFQ were obtained from 5 prospective studies (N = 3233) in inpatient or day surgery patients. These data were used for exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability analysis and validity analysis. EFA in Study 1 and 2 revealed a two-factor structure with one factor associated with fear of the short-term consequences of surgery (SFQ-s, item 1-4) and the other factor with fear of the long-term consequences of surgery (SFQ-l, item 5-10). However, in both studies two items of the SFQ-l had low factor loadings. Therefore in Study 3 and 4 the 2-factor structure was tested and confirmed by CFA in an eight-item version of the SFQ. Across all studies significant correlations of the SFQ with pain catastrophizing, state anxiety, and preoperative pain intensity indicated good convergent validity. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was between 0.765-0.920 (SFQ-total), 0.766-0.877 (SFQ-s), and 0.628-0.899 (SFQ-l). The SFQ proved to be sensitive to detect differences based on age, sex, education level, employment status and preoperative pain intensity. The SFQ is a valid and reliable eight-item index of surgical fear consisting of two subscales: fear of the short-term consequences of surgery and fear of the long-term consequences.

Work attendance among healthcare workers: prevalence, incentives, and long-term consequences for health and performance.

PubMed

Dellve, Lotta; Hadzibajramovic, Emina; Ahlborg, Gunnar

2011-09-01

This paper is a report of a cohort study of healthcare workers' work attendance, and its long-term consequences' on health, burnout, work ability and performance. Concepts and measures of work attendance have varied in the scientific literature. Attending work in spite of being sick can have serious consequences on health. There is little knowledge on which individual and work-related conditions that increase work attendance and the long-term impact on health and performance. Prospective analyses of three measures of work attendance i.e. sickness attendance, uninterrupted long-term attendance and balanced attendance (≤7 days of sick leave per year and no sickness attendance) were done using questionnaire data from a 2-year cohort study (2004-2006) of randomly selected healthcare workers (n = 2624). Incentives (e.g. effort-reward balance, social support, meaningfulness) and requirements (e.g. time-pressure, dutifulness, high responsibility) to attend work as well as general health, burnout, sick leave, work ability and performance were assessed. There was a positive relation between balanced work attendance and incentives, whereas high sickness attendance was associated with requirements. Follow up after 2 years showed that balanced attendance was associated with sustained health and performance while sickness attendance was associated with poor health, burnout, sick-leave and decreased performance. It is important to distinguish between measures of work attendance as they differ in relation to incentives, and health- and performance-related consequences. Sickness attendance seems to be an important risk indicator. A balanced work attendance should be promoted for sustained health and performance in healthcare organisations. © 2011 The Authors. Journal of Advanced Nursing © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The Unintentional Memory Load in Tests for Young Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Margaret Hubbard

The validity of certain standardized tests may be affected by the short-term memory load therein and its relation to a child's short-term memory capacity. Factors of testing which increase a test's memory load and consequently interfere with comprehension are discussed. It is hypothesized that a test which strains the short-term memory capacity of…

Disturbance Dynamics and Ecological Response: The Contribution of Long-Term Ecological Research.

Treesearch

MONICA G. TURNER; SCOTT L. COLLINS; ARIEL L. LUGO; JOHN J. MAGNUSON; T. SCOTT RUPP; FREDERICK J. SWANSON

2003-01-01

Long-term ecological research is particularly valuable for understanding disturbance dynamics over long time periods and placing those dynamics in a regional context.We highlighted three case studies from Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network sites that have contributed to understanding the causes and consequences of disturbance in ecological systems. The LTER...

A Model of Twice-Exceptionality: Explaining and Defining the Apparent Paradoxical Combination of Disability and Giftedness in Childhood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ronksley-Pavia, Michelle

2015-01-01

The literature on twice-exceptionality suggests one of the main problems facing twice-exceptional children is that there is no consensus on the definition of the terms "disability" or "giftedness" and, consequently, the term "twice-exceptional". Endeavoring to define these specific terms loops back on itself to…

Multinational Experiment 7. Outcome 3 - Cyber Domain Objective 3.3. Guidelines for Decision Makers Version 2.0

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-03

depending on whether it is intrusive or not, may be regarded as either perfectly legitimate and lawful Open Source Intelligence ( OSINT ), or as...response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources , gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and...Context 2. Actor 3. Assessment of Activities 4. Source 5. Target/Objectives 6. Consequences 7. Extent 8. Breach of an International

Semantic Interoperability Almost Without Using The Same Vocabulary: Is It Possible?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Krisnadhi, A. A.

2016-12-01

Semantic interoperability, which is a key requirement in realizing cross-repository data integration, is often understood as using the same ontology or vocabulary. Consequently, within a particular domain, one can easily assume that there has to be one unifying domain ontology covering as many vocabulary terms in the domain as possible in order to realize any form of data integration across multiple data sources. Furthermore, the desire to provide very precise definition of those many terms led to the development of huge, foundational and domain ontologies that are comprehensive, but too complicated, restrictive, monolithic, and difficult to use and reuse, which cause common data providers to avoid using them. This problem is especially true in a domain as diverse as geosciences as it is virtually impossible to reach an agreement to the semantics of many terms (e.g., there are hundreds of definitions of forest used throughout the world). To overcome this challenge, modular ontology architecture has emerged in recent years, fueled among others, by advances in the ontology design pattern research. Each ontology pattern models only one key notion. It can act as a small module of a larger ontology. Such a module is developed in such a way that it is largely independent of how other notions in the same domain are modeled. This leads to an increased reusability. Furthermore, an ontology formed out of such modules would have an improved understandability over large, monolithic ontologies. Semantic interoperability in the aforementioned architecture is not achieved by enforcing the use of the same vocabulary, but rather, promoting alignment to the same ontology patterns. In this work, we elaborate how this architecture realizes the above idea. In particular, we describe how multiple data sources with differing perspectives and vocabularies can interoperate through this architecture. Building the solution upon semantic technologies such as Linked Data and the Web Ontology Language (OWL), we demonstrate how a data integration solution based on this idea can be realized over different data repositories.

Impacts of forest restoration on water yield: A systematic review

PubMed Central

Filoso, Solange; Bezerra, Maíra Ometto; Weiss, Katherine C. B.; Palmer, Margaret A.

2017-01-01

Background Enhancing water provision services is a common target in forest restoration projects worldwide due to growing concerns over freshwater scarcity. However, whether or not forest cover expansion or restoration can improve water provision services is still unclear and highly disputed. Purpose The goal of this review is to provide a balanced and impartial assessment of the impacts of forest restoration and forest cover expansion on water yields as informed by the scientific literature. Potential sources of bias on the results of papers published are also examined. Data sources English, Spanish and Portuguese peer-review articles in Agricola, CAB Abstracts, ISI Web of Science, JSTOR, Google Scholar, and SciELO. Databases were searched through 2015. Search terms Intervention terms included forest restoration, regeneration/regrowth, forest second-growth, forestation/afforestation, and forestry. Target terms included water yield/quantity, streamflow, discharge, channel runoff, and annual flow. Study selection and eligibility criteria Articles were pre-selected based on key words in the title, abstract or text. Eligible articles addressed relevant interventions and targets and included quantitative information. Results Most studies reported decreases in water yields following the intervention, while other hydrological benefits have been observed. However, relatively few studies focused specifically on forest restoration, especially with native species, and/or on projects done at large spatial or temporal scales. Information is especially limited for the humid tropics and subtropics. Conclusions and implications of key findings While most studies reported a decrease in water yields, meta-analyses from a sub-set of studies suggest the potential influence of temporal and/or spatial scales on the outcomes of forest cover expansion or restoration projects. Given the many other benefits of forest restoration, improving our understanding of when and why forest restoration can lead to recovery of water yields is crucial to help improve positive outcomes and prevent unintended consequences. Our study identifies the critical types of studies and associated measurements needed. PMID:28817639

Flicker

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2013-03-01

Solid-state lighting program technology fact sheet that discusses flicker metrics, contributing factors, and consequences in addition to comparing the flicker attributes of a sample of conventional and LED sources.

Terms used by nurses to describe patient problems: can SNOMED III represent nursing concepts in the patient record?

PubMed Central

Henry, S B; Holzemer, W L; Reilly, C A; Campbell, K E

1994-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the terms used by nurses in a variety of data sources and to test the feasibility of using SNOMED III to represent nursing terms. DESIGN: Prospective research design with manual matching of terms to the SNOMED III vocabulary. MEASUREMENTS: The terms used by nurses to describe patient problems during 485 episodes of care for 201 patients hospitalized for Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia were identified. Problems from four data sources (nurse interview, intershift report, nursing care plan, and nurse progress note/flowsheet) were classified based on the substantive area of the problem and on the terminology used to describe the problem. A test subset of the 25 most frequently used terms from the two written data sources (nursing care plan and nurse progress note/flowsheet) were manually matched to SNOMED III terms to test the feasibility of using that existing vocabulary to represent nursing terms. RESULTS: Nurses most frequently described patient problems as signs/symptoms in the verbal nurse interview and intershift report. In the written data sources, problems were recorded as North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA) terms and signs/symptoms with similar frequencies. Of the nursing terms in the test subset, 69% were represented using one or more SNOMED III terms. PMID:7719788

A Semi-implicit Treatment of Porous Media in Steady-State CFD.

PubMed

Domaingo, Andreas; Langmayr, Daniel; Somogyi, Bence; Almbauer, Raimund

There are many situations in computational fluid dynamics which require the definition of source terms in the Navier-Stokes equations. These source terms not only allow to model the physics of interest but also have a strong impact on the reliability, stability, and convergence of the numerics involved. Therefore, sophisticated numerical approaches exist for the description of such source terms. In this paper, we focus on the source terms present in the Navier-Stokes or Euler equations due to porous media-in particular the Darcy-Forchheimer equation. We introduce a method for the numerical treatment of the source term which is independent of the spatial discretization and based on linearization. In this description, the source term is treated in a fully implicit way whereas the other flow variables can be computed in an implicit or explicit manner. This leads to a more robust description in comparison with a fully explicit approach. The method is well suited to be combined with coarse-grid-CFD on Cartesian grids, which makes it especially favorable for accelerated solution of coupled 1D-3D problems. To demonstrate the applicability and robustness of the proposed method, a proof-of-concept example in 1D, as well as more complex examples in 2D and 3D, is presented.

Cervical cancer survivorship: Long-term quality of life and social support

PubMed Central

Pfaendler, Krista S.; Wenzel, Lari; Mechanic, Mindy B.; Penner, Kristine R.

2015-01-01

Purpose Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are the mainstays of cervical cancer treatment. Many patients receive multiple treatment modalities, each with its own long-term effects. Given the high 5 year survival rate for cervical cancer patients, evaluation and improvement of long-term quality of life are essential. Methods Pertinent articles were identified through searches of PubMed for literature published from 1993-2014. We summarize quality of life data from long-term follow up studies of cervical cancer patients. We additionally summarize small group interviews of Hispanic and non-Hispanic cervical cancer survivors regarding social support and coping. Findings Data is varied in terms of the long term impact of treatment on quality of life but consistent in suggesting that patients who receive radiotherapy as part of their treatment have the highest risk of increased long term dysfunction of bladder and bowel, as well as sexual dysfunction and psychosocial consequences. Rigorous investigations regarding long-term consequences of treatment modalities are lacking. Implications Continued work to improve treatment outcomes and survival should also include a focus on reducing adverse long-term side effects. Providing supportive care during treatment, and evaluating the effects of supportive care, may reduce the prevalence and magnitude of long-term sequelae of cervical cancer, which will in turn improve quality of life and quality of care. PMID:25592090

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brock, T.D.

Thermal pollution is discussed with regard to sources of manmade thermal water; thermal consequences of thermal pollution; and thermal effects on water quality. Natural habitats receiving thermal additions are discussed with regard to geothermal habitats and geothermal modification of normal aquatic ecosystems. Ecological observations on geothermal habitats include upper temperature limits for various taxonomic groups and consequences of species restriction by temperature. General ecological consequences of thermal polution are discussed with regard to differences between thermal effects on cold and warm water habitats; adaptation to the thermal environment; effect of temperature on gruwth rate; temperatare and water quality; and bacterialmore » indicators of thermal pollution. (HLW)« less

Density-dependent microbial turnover improves soil carbon model predictions of long-term litter manipulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Georgiou, Katerina; Abramoff, Rose; Harte, John; Riley, William; Torn, Margaret

2017-04-01

Climatic, atmospheric, and land-use changes all have the potential to alter soil microbial activity via abiotic effects on soil or mediated by changes in plant inputs. Recently, many promising microbial models of soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition have been proposed to advance understanding and prediction of climate and carbon (C) feedbacks. Most of these models, however, exhibit unrealistic oscillatory behavior and SOC insensitivity to long-term changes in C inputs. Here we diagnose the sources of instability in four models that span the range of complexity of these recent microbial models, by sequentially adding complexity to a simple model to include microbial physiology, a mineral sorption isotherm, and enzyme dynamics. We propose a formulation that introduces density-dependence of microbial turnover, which acts to limit population sizes and reduce oscillations. We compare these models to results from 24 long-term C-input field manipulations, including the Detritus Input and Removal Treatment (DIRT) experiments, to show that there are clear metrics that can be used to distinguish and validate the inherent dynamics of each model structure. We find that widely used first-order models and microbial models without density-dependence cannot readily capture the range of long-term responses observed across the DIRT experiments as a direct consequence of their model structures. The proposed formulation improves predictions of long-term C-input changes, and implies greater SOC storage associated with CO2-fertilization-driven increases in C inputs over the coming century compared to common microbial models. Finally, we discuss our findings in the context of improving microbial model behavior for inclusion in Earth System Models.

PULSED ION SOURCE

DOEpatents

Martina, E.F.

1958-10-14

An improved pulsed ion source of the type where the gas to be ionized is released within the source by momentary heating of an electrode occluded with the gas is presented. The other details of the ion source construction include an electron emitting filament and a positive reference grid, between which an electron discharge is set up, and electrode means for withdrawing the ions from the source. Due to the location of the gas source behind the electrode discharge region, and the positioning of the vacuum exhaust system on the opposite side of the discharge, the released gas is drawn into the electron discharge and ionized in accurately controlled amounts. Consequently, the output pulses of the ion source may be accurately controlled.

Estimation of the caesium-137 source term from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant using a consistent joint assimilation of air concentration and deposition observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winiarek, Victor; Bocquet, Marc; Duhanyan, Nora; Roustan, Yelva; Saunier, Olivier; Mathieu, Anne

2014-01-01

Inverse modelling techniques can be used to estimate the amount of radionuclides and the temporal profile of the source term released in the atmosphere during the accident of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March 2011. In Winiarek et al. (2012b), the lower bounds of the caesium-137 and iodine-131 source terms were estimated with such techniques, using activity concentration measurements. The importance of an objective assessment of prior errors (the observation errors and the background errors) was emphasised for a reliable inversion. In such critical context where the meteorological conditions can make the source term partly unobservable and where only a few observations are available, such prior estimation techniques are mandatory, the retrieved source term being very sensitive to this estimation. We propose to extend the use of these techniques to the estimation of prior errors when assimilating observations from several data sets. The aim is to compute an estimate of the caesium-137 source term jointly using all available data about this radionuclide, such as activity concentrations in the air, but also daily fallout measurements and total cumulated fallout measurements. It is crucial to properly and simultaneously estimate the background errors and the prior errors relative to each data set. A proper estimation of prior errors is also a necessary condition to reliably estimate the a posteriori uncertainty of the estimated source term. Using such techniques, we retrieve a total released quantity of caesium-137 in the interval 11.6-19.3 PBq with an estimated standard deviation range of 15-20% depending on the method and the data sets. The “blind” time intervals of the source term have also been strongly mitigated compared to the first estimations with only activity concentration data.

Analysis of radiation safety for Small Modular Reactor (SMR) on PWR-100 MWe type

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Udiyani, P. M.; Husnayani, I.; Deswandri; Sunaryo, G. R.

2018-02-01

Indonesia as an archipelago country, including big, medium and small islands is suitable to construction of Small Medium/Modular reactors. Preliminary technology assessment on various SMR has been started, indeed the SMR is grouped into Light Water Reactor, Gas Cooled Reactor, and Solid Cooled Reactor and from its site it is group into Land Based reactor and Water Based Reactor. Fukushima accident made people doubt about the safety of Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), which impact on the public perception of the safety of nuclear power plants. The paper will describe the assessment of safety and radiation consequences on site for normal operation and Design Basis Accident postulation of SMR based on PWR-100 MWe in Bangka Island. Consequences of radiation for normal operation simulated for 3 units SMR. The source term was generated from an inventory by using ORIGEN-2 software and the consequence of routine calculated by PC-Cream and accident by PC Cosyma. The adopted methodology used was based on site-specific meteorological and spatial data. According to calculation by PC-CREAM 08 computer code, the highest individual dose in site area for adults is 5.34E-02 mSv/y in ESE direction within 1 km distance from stack. The result of calculation is that doses on public for normal operation below 1mSv/y. The calculation result from PC Cosyma, the highest individual dose is 1.92.E+00 mSv in ESE direction within 1km distance from stack. The total collective dose (all pathway) is 3.39E-01 manSv, with dominant supporting from cloud pathway. Results show that there are no evacuation countermeasure will be taken based on the regulation of emergency.

Desert basins of the Southwest

USGS Publications Warehouse

Leake, Stanley A.; Konieczki, Alice D.; Rees, Julie A.H.

2000-01-01

Ground water is among the Nation’s most important natural resources. It provides drinking water to urban and rural communities, supports irrigation and industry, sustains the flow of streams and rivers, and maintains riparian and wetland ecosystems. In many areas of the Nation, the future sustainability of ground-water resources is at risk from overuse and contamination. Because ground-water systems typically respond slowly to human actions, a long-term perspective is needed to manage this valuable resource. This publication is one in a series of fact sheets that describe ground-water-resource issues across the United States, as well as some of the activities of the U.S. Geological Survey that provide information to help others develop, manage, and protect ground-water resources in a sustainable manner. Ground-water resources in the Southwest are among the most overused in the United States. Natural recharge to aquifers is low and pumping in many areas has resulted in lowering of water tables. The consequences of large-scale removal of water from storage are becoming increasingly evident. These consequences include land subsidence; loss of springs, streams, wetlands and associated habitat; and degradation of water quality. Water managers are now seeking better ways of managing ground-water resources while looking for supplemental sources of water. This fact sheet reviews basic information on ground water in the desert basins of the Southwest. Also described are some activities of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that are providing scientific information for sustainable management of ground-water resources in the Southwest. Ground-water sustainability is defined as developing and using ground water in a way that can be maintained for an indefinite time without causing unacceptable environmental, economic, or social consequences.

The Economic Consequences of Child Sexual Abuse for Adult Lesbian Women.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hyman, Batya

2000-01-01

This study extends investigation of the long-term consequences of child sexual abuse into the workplace and considers the economic effects on Lesbian women as determined by the National Lesbian Health Care Survey. It considers the effects of child sexual abuse on four spheres of a woman's life: her physical health, mental health, educational…

Consequences of Violated Equating Assumptions under the Equivalent Groups Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lyren, Per-Erik; Hambleton, Ronald K.

2011-01-01

The equal ability distribution assumption associated with the equivalent groups equating design was investigated in the context of a selection test for admission to higher education. The purpose was to assess the consequences for the test-takers in terms of receiving improperly high or low scores compared to their peers, and to find strong…

Why Do Infants Begin to Talk? Language as an Unintended Consequence.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Locke, John L.

1996-01-01

This article looks into why infants learn to talk, using a series of illustrative proposals as to the short- and long-term consequences to the infant behaviors that lead to linguistic competence. The goal of the article is to encourage investigation of behavioral dispositions that nudge the child toward proficiency in the use of the spoken…

Examining Evidence for External and Consequential Validity of the First Term General Chemistry Exam from the ACS Examinations Institute

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Scott E.

2014-01-01

Validity of educational research instruments and student assessments has appropriately become a growing interest in the chemistry education research community. Of particular concern is an attention to the consequences to students that result from the interpretation of assessment scores and whether those consequences are swayed by invalidity within…

Montana's High School Dropouts: Examining the Fiscal Consequences. State Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stuit, David A.; Springer, Jeffrey A.

2010-01-01

This report analyzes the economic and social costs of the high school dropout problem in Montana from the perspective of a state taxpayer. The majority of the authors' analysis considers the consequences of this problem in terms of labor market, tax revenue, and public service costs. In quantifying these costs, the authors seek to inform public…

Some harvest options and their consequences for the aspen, birch, and associated forest types of the Lake States.

Treesearch

L.F Ohmann; H.O. Batzer; R.R. Buech; D.C. Lothner; D. A. Perala; A.L. Schipper; E.S. Verry

1978-01-01

Describes some harvest options and their consequences in terms of timber investment return, water yield and quality, wildlife, visual quality, and disease and insect impact for the aspen, white birch, red pine, white pine, jack pine, black spruce, spruce-fir, and white-cedar forest types of the Lake States.

International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps: A Manual of Classification Relating to the Consequences of Disease.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

World Health Organization, Geneva (Switzerland).

This classification system is intended to offer a conceptual framework for information; the framework is relevant to the long-term consequences of disease, injuries or disorders, and applicable both to personal health care, including early identification and prevention, and to the mitigation of environmental and societal barriers. It begins with…

The Academic Consequences of Employment for Students Enrolled in Community College. CCRC Working Paper No. 46

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dadgar, Mina

2012-01-01

College students are increasingly combining studying with paid employment, and community college students tend to work even longer hours compared with students at four-year colleges. Yet, there is little evidence on the academic consequences of community college students' term-time employment. Using a rare administrative dataset from Washington…

Long Term 2 Second Round Source Water Monitoring and Bin Placement Memo

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT2ESWTR) applies to all public water systems served by a surface water source or public water systems served by a ground water source under the direct influence of surface water.

Uncertainty, variability, and earthquake physics in ground‐motion prediction equations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Baltay, Annemarie S.; Hanks, Thomas C.; Abrahamson, Norm A.

2017-01-01

Residuals between ground‐motion data and ground‐motion prediction equations (GMPEs) can be decomposed into terms representing earthquake source, path, and site effects. These terms can be cast in terms of repeatable (epistemic) residuals and the random (aleatory) components. Identifying the repeatable residuals leads to a GMPE with reduced uncertainty for a specific source, site, or path location, which in turn can yield a lower hazard level at small probabilities of exceedance. We illustrate a schematic framework for this residual partitioning with a dataset from the ANZA network, which straddles the central San Jacinto fault in southern California. The dataset consists of more than 3200 1.15≤M≤3 earthquakes and their peak ground accelerations (PGAs), recorded at close distances (R≤20  km). We construct a small‐magnitude GMPE for these PGA data, incorporating VS30 site conditions and geometrical spreading. Identification and removal of the repeatable source, path, and site terms yield an overall reduction in the standard deviation from 0.97 (in ln units) to 0.44, for a nonergodic assumption, that is, for a single‐source location, single site, and single path. We give examples of relationships between independent seismological observables and the repeatable terms. We find a correlation between location‐based source terms and stress drops in the San Jacinto fault zone region; an explanation of the site term as a function of kappa, the near‐site attenuation parameter; and a suggestion that the path component can be related directly to elastic structure. These correlations allow the repeatable source location, site, and path terms to be determined a priori using independent geophysical relationships. Those terms could be incorporated into location‐specific GMPEs for more accurate and precise ground‐motion prediction.

Short and long-lasting behavioral consequences of agonistic encounters between male Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Trannoy, Séverine; Penn, Jill; Lucey, Kenia; Popovic, David; Kravitz, Edward A

2016-04-26

In many animal species, learning and memory have been found to play important roles in regulating intra- and interspecific behavioral interactions in varying environments. In such contexts, aggression is commonly used to obtain desired resources. Previous defeats or victories during aggressive interactions have been shown to influence the outcome of later contests, revealing loser and winner effects. In this study, we asked whether short- and/or long-term behavioral consequences accompany victories and defeats in dyadic pairings between male Drosophila melanogaster and how long those effects remain. The results demonstrated that single fights induced important behavioral changes in both combatants and resulted in the formation of short-term loser and winner effects. These decayed over several hours, with the duration depending on the level of familiarity of the opponents. Repeated defeats induced a long-lasting loser effect that was dependent on de novo protein synthesis, whereas repeated victories had no long-term behavioral consequences. This suggests that separate mechanisms govern the formation of loser and winner effects. These studies aim to lay a foundation for future investigations exploring the molecular mechanisms and circuitry underlying the nervous system changes induced by winning and losing bouts during agonistic encounters.

Vaccination choices for older people, looking beyond age specific approaches.

PubMed

Aspinall, Richard; Lang, Pierre Olivier

2018-01-01

To improve the ability of vaccines to protect older individuals we can no longer consider those over 65 years of age to be an homogenous population termed the 'elderly' displaying a condition termed immunosenescence. Area Covered: The most recent figures from the US Census Bureau indicate that the global population exceeds 7,400 million. Of these more than 657 million are currently over 65, an age often designated by policy makers as permitting them access to concessions, pensions and social care benefits. But the spill-over consequences of these policies are the impact they have on access to different vaccine formulations. Aging is associated with a blunted immune system, often termed immunosenescence, and because those of 65 are considered old, by association they are thought to have reduced immunity. Consequently, different vaccines are offered to those over this age. Expert Commentary: We believe it to be an inappropriate policy to ascribe a biological condition and consequent vaccine choices, to a population on the basis of single chronological feature. To ensure better protection within this population we need to consider approaches to stratify this group to ensure the best vaccine choices.

North south asymmetry in the coronal and photospheric magnetic fields

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Virtanen, I.; Mursula, K.

2013-12-01

Several recent studies have shown that the Heliospheric current sheet (HCS) is southward shifted during about three years in the solar declining phase (the so-called bashful ballerina phenomenon). We study the hemispherical asymmetry in the photospheric and coronal magnetic fields using Wilcox Solar Observatory (WSO) measurements of the photospheric magnetic field since 1976 and the potential field source surface (PFSS) model. Multipole analysis of the photospheric magnetic field shows that during the late declining phase of solar cycles since 1970s, bashful ballerina phenomenon is a consequence of g02 quadrupole term, signed oppositely to the dipole moment. Surges of new flux transport magnetic field from low latitudes to the poles, thus leading to a systematically varying contribution to the g02-term from different latitudes. In the case of a north-south asymmetric flux production this is seen as a quadrupole contribution traveling towards higher latitudes. When the quadrupole term is largest the main contribution comes from the polar latitudes. At least during the four recent solar cycles the g02-term arises because the magnitude of the southern polar field is larger than in the north in the declining phase of the cycle. Magnetic flux is transported polewards by the meridional flow and it is most likely that besides the north-south asymmetric production of the magnetic flux, also the asymmetric transportation may significantly contribute to the observed asymmetry of polar field intensities. The overall activity during solar cycle is not significantly different in the northern and southern hemispheres, but hemispheres tend to develop in a different phase.

Using a Network of Flux Towers to Investigate the Effects of Wetland Restoration on Greenhouse Gas Fluxes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baldocchi, D. D.; Hatala, J.; Knox, S.; Verfaillie, J. G.; Anderson, F.

2012-12-01

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, a peatland and former wetland, was drained a 100 years ago for intensive agriculture. In the interim, over 10 m of peat has been lost, mostly through oxidation. Current land use is not sustainable, if this region is to maintain its integrity and serve as a conduit for freshwater pumped from northern to southern California. There is great interest in restoring this disturbed landscape with tule wetlands or rice; one is an effective carbon sink, the other an economically viable alternative. Questions arise to how effective are these new landscapes in sequestering carbon and what are the unintended consequences, such as the production of methane and high rates of evaporation from flooded lands, in a semi-arid climate? We are currently operating 6 eddy covariance flux systems that measure short and long term fluxes of carbon dioxide, water vapor and methane. We are making flux measurements over landscapes that represent business as usual (irrigated pasture and corn) and new alternatives (rice, a newly restored wetland and a 14 year old wetland). The pasture and corn operate as carbon sources and are weak emitters of methane on annual time scales. The rice is a modest sink of carbon dioxide, but becomes a carbon source when harvesting is considered. It is a smaller source of methane compared to rice growing in the Sacramento Valley on clay. It seems that there are sufficient alternative electron acceptors (iron, nitrate) that moderate methane production for rice growing on peat soils. The newly restored wetland is a huge methane source, with fluxes exceeding 300 nmol m-2 s-1. In the first two years of functioning, following disturbance, it is switching from being a carbon source to a sink, as tules fill the landscape. The older wetland remains a strong methane source, and its carbon dioxide sink potential is diminishing at it becomes derelict with much undecomposed vegetation.

The tools of PDT: light sources and devices. Can they help in getting better therapeutic results?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boucher, Didier

2011-08-01

PDT is a drug and device therapy using photosensitizing drugs activated by laser light, for tissue ablation. PDT light sources must deliver wavelengths matching the absorption of photosensitizers' compound without any side thermal effect. According to applications, these sources need to be: - pled to relatively small optical fibres so as to bring the light energy, of specific wavelength, inside of the body (gastroenterology, head & neck, urology, pneumology), - coupled to a slit lamp adapter to transmit the light to the eye (AMD) - or allow a direct illumination of tissues when large areas must be treated (dermatology). But they also need to be user-friendly with limited investment and installation costs. So as to achieve the required effects, several light sources are available and will be used but practical and economical reasons have limited the number and types of these sources. For PDT oncology applications, besides dermatology, it has also been necessary to develop specific light delivery systems based on optical fibres. These devices allow the treatment: - of circular lumens such as oesophagus, bile ducts, lungs - of solid volumes such as prostate, pancreas - of surfaces such as in head and neck - of empty volumes such as bladder, uterus, cervix. Due to the variety of these treatments, a full family of sources has been developed from original sophisticated costly lasers to more recent easy-to-use diode laser systems. The aim of this presentation is to present the actual state of the art of actual available PDT tools, analyze their qualities and weaknesses, analyze the consequences of a good and/or bad choice or good and/or bad utilization on the quality of the therapeutic results and resulting side effects. It will also evaluate the short and medium term developments of new tools and their effect on the development of the therapy including economical aspects.

Multiobjective optimization of cluster-scale urban water systems investigating alternative water sources and level of decentralization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Newman, J. P.; Dandy, G. C.; Maier, H. R.

2014-10-01

In many regions, conventional water supplies are unable to meet projected consumer demand. Consequently, interest has arisen in integrated urban water systems, which involve the reclamation or harvesting of alternative, localized water sources. However, this makes the planning and design of water infrastructure more difficult, as multiple objectives need to be considered, water sources need to be selected from a number of alternatives, and end uses of these sources need to be specified. In addition, the scale at which each treatment, collection, and distribution network should operate needs to be investigated. In order to deal with this complexity, a framework for planning and designing water infrastructure taking into account integrated urban water management principles is presented in this paper and applied to a rural greenfield development. Various options for water supply, and the scale at which they operate were investigated in order to determine the life-cycle trade-offs between water savings, cost, and GHG emissions as calculated from models calibrated using Australian data. The decision space includes the choice of water sources, storage tanks, treatment facilities, and pipes for water conveyance. For each water system analyzed, infrastructure components were sized using multiobjective genetic algorithms. The results indicate that local water sources are competitive in terms of cost and GHG emissions, and can reduce demand on the potable system by as much as 54%. Economies of scale in treatment dominated the diseconomies of scale in collection and distribution of water. Therefore, water systems that connect large clusters of households tend to be more cost efficient and have lower GHG emissions. In addition, water systems that recycle wastewater tended to perform better than systems that captured roof-runoff. Through these results, the framework was shown to be effective at identifying near optimal trade-offs between competing objectives, thereby enabling informed decisions to be made when planning water systems for greenfield developments.

Space-time quantitative source apportionment of soil heavy metal concentration increments.

PubMed

Yang, Yong; Christakos, George; Guo, Mingwu; Xiao, Lu; Huang, Wei

2017-04-01

Assessing the space-time trends and detecting the sources of heavy metal accumulation in soils have important consequences in the prevention and treatment of soil heavy metal pollution. In this study, we collected soil samples in the eastern part of the Qingshan district, Wuhan city, Hubei Province, China, during the period 2010-2014. The Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn concentrations in soils exhibited a significant accumulation during 2010-2014. The spatiotemporal Kriging technique, based on a quantitative characterization of soil heavy metal concentration variations in terms of non-separable variogram models, was employed to estimate the spatiotemporal soil heavy metal distribution in the study region. Our findings showed that the Cd, Cu, and Zn concentrations have an obvious incremental tendency from the southwestern to the central part of the study region. However, the Pb concentrations exhibited an obvious tendency from the northern part to the central part of the region. Then, spatial overlay analysis was used to obtain absolute and relative concentration increments of adjacent 1- or 5-year periods during 2010-2014. The spatial distribution of soil heavy metal concentration increments showed that the larger increments occurred in the center of the study region. Lastly, the principal component analysis combined with the multiple linear regression method were employed to quantify the source apportionment of the soil heavy metal concentration increments in the region. Our results led to the conclusion that the sources of soil heavy metal concentration increments should be ascribed to industry, agriculture and traffic. In particular, 82.5% of soil heavy metal concentration increment during 2010-2014 was ascribed to industrial/agricultural activities sources. Using STK and SOA to obtain the spatial distribution of heavy metal concentration increments in soils. Using PCA-MLR to quantify the source apportionment of soil heavy metal concentration increments. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Deep Wideband Single Pointings and Mosaics in Radio Interferometry: How Accurately Do We Reconstruct Intensities and Spectral Indices of Faint Sources?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rau, U.; Bhatnagar, S.; Owen, F. N.

2016-11-01

Many deep wideband wide-field radio interferometric surveys are being designed to accurately measure intensities, spectral indices, and polarization properties of faint source populations. In this paper, we compare various wideband imaging methods to evaluate the accuracy to which intensities and spectral indices of sources close to the confusion limit can be reconstructed. We simulated a wideband single-pointing (C-array, L-Band (1-2 GHz)) and 46-pointing mosaic (D-array, C-Band (4-8 GHz)) JVLA observation using a realistic brightness distribution ranging from 1 μJy to 100 mJy and time-, frequency-, polarization-, and direction-dependent instrumental effects. The main results from these comparisons are (a) errors in the reconstructed intensities and spectral indices are larger for weaker sources even in the absence of simulated noise, (b) errors are systematically lower for joint reconstruction methods (such as Multi-Term Multi-Frequency-Synthesis (MT-MFS)) along with A-Projection for accurate primary beam correction, and (c) use of MT-MFS for image reconstruction eliminates Clean-bias (which is present otherwise). Auxiliary tests include solutions for deficiencies of data partitioning methods (e.g., the use of masks to remove clean bias and hybrid methods to remove sidelobes from sources left un-deconvolved), the effect of sources not at pixel centers, and the consequences of various other numerical approximations within software implementations. This paper also demonstrates the level of detail at which such simulations must be done in order to reflect reality, enable one to systematically identify specific reasons for every trend that is observed, and to estimate scientifically defensible imaging performance metrics and the associated computational complexity of the algorithms/analysis procedures. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

Major wildfires at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anders, Edward; Wolbach, Wendy S.; Gilmour, Iain

1991-01-01

The current status of the reconstruction of major biomass fire events at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary is discussed. Attention is given to the sources of charcoal and soot, the identification of biomass and fossil carbon, and such ignition-related problems as delated fires, high atmospheric O2 content, ignition mechanisms, and the greenhouse-effect consequences of fire on the scale envisioned. Consequences of these factors for species extinction patterns are noted.

INVESTIGATING THE SOURCES OF THE MUTAGENIC ACTIVITY FOUND IN A RIVER USING THE SALMONELLA ASSAY AND DIFFERENT WATER EXTRACTION PROCEDURES

EPA Science Inventory

Abstract
As a consequence of the routine surface water quality-monitoring program of Sao Paulo State (Brazil), which includes the Salmonella microsome mutagenicity assay as one of its parameters, we detected a river used as a drinking water source after treatment, that repeate...

Key Considerations When Measuring Teacher Effectiveness: A Framework for Validating Teachers' Professional Practices. AACC Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallagher, Carole; Rabinowitz, Stanley; Yeagley, Pamela

2011-01-01

Researchers recommend that policymakers use data from multiple sources when making decisions that have high-stakes consequences (Herman, Baker, & Linn, 2004; Linn, 2007; Stone & Lane, 2003). For this reason, a fair but rigorous teacher-effectiveness rating process relies on evidence collected from different sources (Goe, Bell, & Little, 2008;…

Interlaboratory study of the ion source memory effect in 36Cl accelerator mass spectrometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pavetich, Stefan; Akhmadaliev, Shavkat; Arnold, Maurice; Aumaître, Georges; Bourlès, Didier; Buchriegler, Josef; Golser, Robin; Keddadouche, Karim; Martschini, Martin; Merchel, Silke; Rugel, Georg; Steier, Peter

2014-06-01

Understanding and minimization of contaminations in the ion source due to cross-contamination and long-term memory effect is one of the key issues for accurate accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements of volatile elements. The focus of this work is on the investigation of the long-term memory effect for the volatile element chlorine, and the minimization of this effect in the ion source of the Dresden accelerator mass spectrometry facility (DREAMS). For this purpose, one of the two original HVE ion sources at the DREAMS facility was modified, allowing the use of larger sample holders having individual target apertures. Additionally, a more open geometry was used to improve the vacuum level. To evaluate this improvement in comparison to other up-to-date ion sources, an interlaboratory comparison had been initiated. The long-term memory effect of the four Cs sputter ion sources at DREAMS (two sources: original and modified), ASTER (Accélérateur pour les Sciences de la Terre, Environnement, Risques) and VERA (Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator) had been investigated by measuring samples of natural 35Cl/37Cl-ratio and samples highly-enriched in 35Cl (35Cl/37Cl ∼ 999). Besides investigating and comparing the individual levels of long-term memory, recovery time constants could be calculated. The tests show that all four sources suffer from long-term memory, but the modified DREAMS ion source showed the lowest level of contamination. The recovery times of the four ion sources were widely spread between 61 and 1390 s, where the modified DREAMS ion source with values between 156 and 262 s showed the fastest recovery in 80% of the measurements.

Nonnative Fishes in the Upper Mississippi River System

USGS Publications Warehouse

Irons, Kevin S.; DeLain, Steven A.; Gittinger, Eric; Ickes, Brian S.; Kolar, Cindy S.; Ostendort, David; Ratcliff, Eric N.; Benson, Amy J.; Irons, Kevin S.

2009-01-01

The introduction, spread, and establishment of nonnative species is widely regarded as a leading threat to aquatic biodiversity and consequently is ranked among the most serious environmental problems facing the United States today. This report presents information on nonnative fish species observed by the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program on the Upper Mississippi River System a nexus of North American freshwater fish diversity for the Nation. The Long Term Resource Monitoring Program, as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Environmental Management Plan, is the Nation's largest river monitoring program and stands as the primary source of standardized ecological information on the Upper Mississippi River System. The Long Term Resource Monitoring Program has been monitoring fish communities in six study areas on the Upper Mississippi River System since 1989. During this period, more than 3.5 million individual fish, consisting of 139 species, have been collected. Although fish monitoring activities of the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program focus principally on entire fish communities, data collected by the Program are useful for detecting and monitoring the establishment and spread of nonnative fish species within the Upper Mississippi River System Basin. Sixteen taxa of nonnative fishes, or hybrids thereof, have been observed by the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program since 1989, and several species are presently expanding their distribution and increasing in abundance. For example, in one of the six study areas monitored by the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program, the number of established nonnative species has increased from two to eight species in less than 10 years. Furthermore, contributions of those eight species can account for up to 60 percent of the total annual catch and greater than 80 percent of the observed biomass. These observations are critical because the Upper Mississippi River System stands as a nationally significant pathway for nonnative species expansion between the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes Basin. This report presents a synthesis of data on nonnative fish species observed during Long Term Resource Monitoring Program monitoring activities.

Comparing the effectiveness of using generic and specific search terms in electronic databases to identify health outcomes for a systematic review: a prospective comparative study of literature search methods

PubMed Central

MacLean, Alice; Sweeting, Helen; Hunt, Kate

2012-01-01

Objective To compare the effectiveness of systematic review literature searches that use either generic or specific terms for health outcomes. Design Prospective comparative study of two electronic literature search strategies. The ‘generic’ search included general terms for health such as ‘adolescent health’, ‘health status’, ‘morbidity’, etc. The ‘specific’ search focused on terms for a range of specific illnesses, such as ‘headache’, ‘epilepsy’, ‘diabetes mellitus’, etc. Data sources The authors searched Medline, Embase, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PsycINFO and the Education Resources Information Center for studies published in English between 1992 and April 2010. Main outcome measures Number and proportion of studies included in the systematic review that were identified from each search. Results The two searches tended to identify different studies. Of 41 studies included in the final review, only three (7%) were identified by both search strategies, 21 (51%) were identified by the generic search only and 17 (41%) were identified by the specific search only. 5 of the 41 studies were also identified through manual searching methods. Studies identified by the two ELS differed in terms of reported health outcomes, while each ELS uniquely identified some of the review's higher quality studies. Conclusions Electronic literature searches (ELS) are a vital stage in conducting systematic reviews and therefore have an important role in attempts to inform and improve policy and practice with the best available evidence. While the use of both generic and specific health terms is conventional for many reviewers and information scientists, there are also reviews that rely solely on either generic or specific terms. Based on the findings, reliance on only the generic or specific approach could increase the risk of systematic reviews missing important evidence and, consequently, misinforming decision makers. However, future research should test the generalisability of these findings. PMID:22734117

Genetic consequences of trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator) reintroductions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ransler, F.A.; Quinn, T.W.; Oyler-McCance, S.J.

2011-01-01

Relocation programs are often initiated to restore threatened species to previously occupied portions of their range. A primary challenge of restoration efforts is to translocate individuals in a way that prevents loss of genetic diversity and decreases differentiation relative to source populations-a challenge that becomes increasingly difficult when remnant populations of the species are already genetically depauperate. Trumpeter swans were previously extirpated in the entire eastern half of their range. Physical translocations of birds over the last 70 years have restored the species to portions of its historical range. Despite the long history of management, there has been little monitoring of the genetic outcomes of these restoration attempts. We assessed the consequences of this reintroduction program by comparing patterns of genetic variation at 17 microsatellite loci across four restoration flocks (three wild-released, one captive) and their source populations. We found that a wild-released population established from a single source displayed a trend toward reduced genetic diversity relative to and significant genetic differentiation from its source population, though small founder population effects may also explain this pattern. Wild-released flocks restored from multiple populations maintained source levels of genetic variation and lacked significant differentiation from at least one of their sources. Further, the flock originating from a single source revealed significantly lower levels of genetic variation than those established from multiple sources. The distribution of genetic variation in the captive flock was similar to its source. While the case of trumpeter swans provides evidence that restorations from multiple versus single source populations may better preserve natural levels of genetic diversity, more studies are needed to understand the general applicability of this management strategy. ?? 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. (outside the USA).

Improving quantitative gas chromatography-electron ionization mass spectrometry results using a modified ion source: demonstration for a pharmaceutical application.

PubMed

D'Autry, Ward; Wolfs, Kris; Hoogmartens, Jos; Adams, Erwin; Van Schepdael, Ann

2011-07-01

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry is a well established analytical technique. However, mass spectrometers with electron ionization sources may suffer from signal drifts, hereby negatively influencing quantitative performance. To demonstrate this phenomenon for a real application, a static headspace-gas chromatography method in combination with electron ionization-quadrupole mass spectrometry was optimized for the determination of residual dichloromethane in coronary stent coatings. Validating the method, the quantitative performance of an original stainless steel ion source was compared to that of a modified ion source. Ion source modification included the application of a gold coating on the repeller and exit plate. Several validation aspects such as limit of detection, limit of quantification, linearity and precision were evaluated using both ion sources. It was found that, as expected, the stainless steel ion source suffered from signal drift. As a consequence, non-linearity and high RSD values for repeated analyses were obtained. An additional experiment was performed to check whether an internal standard compound would lead to better results. It was found that the signal drift patterns of the analyte and internal standard were different, consequently leading to high RSD values for the response factor. With the modified ion source however, a more stable signal was observed resulting in acceptable linearity and precision. Moreover, it was also found that sensitivity improved compared to the stainless steel ion source. Finally, the optimized method with the modified ion source was applied to determine residual dichloromethane in the coating of coronary stents. The solvent was detected but found to be below the limit of quantification. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Aeroacoustic analysis of the human phonation process based on a hybrid acoustic PIV approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lodermeyer, Alexander; Tautz, Matthias; Becker, Stefan; Döllinger, Michael; Birk, Veronika; Kniesburges, Stefan

2018-01-01

The detailed analysis of sound generation in human phonation is severely limited as the accessibility to the laryngeal flow region is highly restricted. Consequently, the physical basis of the underlying fluid-structure-acoustic interaction that describes the primary mechanism of sound production is not yet fully understood. Therefore, we propose the implementation of a hybrid acoustic PIV procedure to evaluate aeroacoustic sound generation during voice production within a synthetic larynx model. Focusing on the flow field downstream of synthetic, aerodynamically driven vocal folds, we calculated acoustic source terms based on the velocity fields obtained by time-resolved high-speed PIV applied to the mid-coronal plane. The radiation of these sources into the acoustic far field was numerically simulated and the resulting acoustic pressure was finally compared with experimental microphone measurements. We identified the tonal sound to be generated downstream in a small region close to the vocal folds. The simulation of the sound propagation underestimated the tonal components, whereas the broadband sound was well reproduced. Our results demonstrate the feasibility to locate aeroacoustic sound sources inside a synthetic larynx using a hybrid acoustic PIV approach. Although the technique employs a 2D-limited flow field, it accurately reproduces the basic characteristics of the aeroacoustic field in our larynx model. In future studies, not only the aeroacoustic mechanisms of normal phonation will be assessable, but also the sound generation of voice disorders can be investigated more profoundly.

LED-driven backlights for automotive displays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strauch, Frank

2007-09-01

As a light source the LED has some advantage over the traditionally used fluorescence tube such as longer life or lower space consumption. Consequently customers are asking for the LED lighting design in their products. We introduced in a company owned backlight the white LED technology. This step opens the possibility to have access to the components in the display market. Instead of having a finalized display product which needs to be integrated in the head unit of a car we assemble the backlight, the glass, own electronics and the housing. A major advantage of this concept is the better control of the heat flow generated by the LEDs to the outer side because only a common housing is used for all the components. Also the requirement for slim products can be fulfilled. As always a new technology doesn't come with advantages only. An LED represents a point source compared to the well-known tube thus requiring a mixing zone for the multiple point sources when they enter a light guide. This zone can't be used in displays because of the lack of homogeneity. It's a design goal to minimize this zone which can be helped by the right choice of the LED in terms of slimness. A step ahead is the implementation of RGB LEDs because of their higher color rendering abilities. This allows for the control of the chromaticity point under temperature change but as a drawback needs a larger mixing zone.

A novel approach for the improvement of electrostatic behaviour of physically doped TFET using plasma formation and shortening of gate electrode with hetero-gate dielectric

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Soni, Deepak; Sharma, Dheeraj; Aslam, Mohd.; Yadav, Shivendra

2018-04-01

This article presents a new device configuration to enhance current drivability and suppress negative conduction (ambipolar conduction) with improved RF characteristics of physically doped TFET. Here, we used a new approach to get excellent electrical characteristics of hetero-dielectric short gate source electrode TFET (HD-SG SE-TFET) by depositing a metal electrode of 5.93 eV work function over the heavily doped source (P+) region. Deposition of metal electrode induces the plasma (thin layer) of holes under the Si/HfO2 interface due to work function difference of metal and semiconductor. Plasma layer of holes is advantageous to increase abruptness as well as decrease the tunneling barrier at source/channel junction for attaining higher tunneling rate of charge carriers (i.e., electrons), which turns into 86.66 times higher ON-state current compared with the conventional physically doped TFET (C-TFET). Along with metal electrode deposition, gate electrode is under-lapped for inducing asymmetrical concentration of charge carriers in the channel region, which is helpful for widening the tunneling barrier width at the drain/channel interface. Consequently, HD-SG SE-TFET shows suppression of ambipolar behavior with reduction in gate-to-drain capacitance which is beneficial for improvement in RF performance. Furthermore, the effectiveness of hetero-gate dielectric concept has been used for improving the RF performance. Furthermore, reliability of C-TFET and proposed structures has been confirmed in term of linearity.

The recruiter's excitement--features of thoracic vibrations during the honey bee's waggle dance related to food source profitability.

PubMed

Hrncir, Michael; Maia-Silva, Camila; Mc Cabe, Sofia I; Farina, Walter M

2011-12-01

The honey bee's waggle dance constitutes a remarkable example of an efficient code allowing social exploitation of available feeding sites. In addition to indicating the position (distance, direction) of a food patch, both the occurrence and frequency of the dances depend on the profitability of the exploited resource (sugar concentration, solution flow rate). During the waggle dance, successful foragers generate pulsed thoracic vibrations that putatively serve as a source of different kinds of information for hive bees, who cannot visually decode dances in the darkness of the hive. In the present study, we asked whether these vibrations are a reliable estimator of the excitement of the dancer when food profitability changes in terms of both sugar concentration and solution flow rate. The probability of producing thoracic vibrations as well as several features related to their intensity during the waggle phase (pulse duration, velocity amplitude, duty cycle) increased with both these profitability variables. The number of vibratory pulses, however, was independent of sugar concentration and reward rate exploited. Thus, pulse number could indeed be used by dance followers as reliable information about food source distance, as suggested in previous studies. The variability of the dancer's thoracic vibrations in relation to changes in food profitability suggests their role as an indicator of the recruiter's motivational state. Hence, the vibrations could make an important contribution to forager reactivation and, consequently, to the organisation of collective foraging processes in honey bees.

Long-term impacts of prescribed fire on stand structure, growth, mortality, and individual tree vigor in Pinus resinosa forests

Treesearch

Sawyer S. Scherer; Anthony W. D' Amato; Christel C. Kern; Brian J. Palik; Matthew B. Russell

2016-01-01

Prescribed fire is increasingly being viewed as a valuable tool for mitigating the ecological consequences of long-term fire suppression within fire-adapted forest ecosystems. While the use of burning treatments in northern temperate conifer forests has at times received considerable attention, the long-term (>10 years) effects on forest structure and...

The Effects of Prenatal and Early-Postnatal Exposure to Mexico's "Oportunidades" on Long-Term Cognitive Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sanchez, Alonso

2016-01-01

It is well established that children's early life environments can have significant consequences on their long-term outcomes. Yet, there is still limited empirical evidence on the effects that being exposed during the prenatal and early postnatal periods to positive shocks, such as conditional cash transfers, has on long-term cognitive function.…

Chronic methamphetamine exposure produces a delayed, long-lasting memory deficit.

PubMed

North, Ashley; Swant, Jarod; Salvatore, Michael F; Gamble-George, Joyonna; Prins, Petra; Butler, Brittany; Mittal, Mukul K; Heltsley, Rebecca; Clark, John T; Khoshbouei, Habibeh

2013-05-01

Methamphetamine (METH) is a highly addictive and neurotoxic psychostimulant. Its use in humans is often associated with neurocognitive impairment. Whether this is due to long-term deficits in short-term memory and/or hippocampal plasticity remains unclear. Recently, we reported that METH increases baseline synaptic transmission and reduces LTP in an ex vivo preparation of the hippocampal CA1 region from young mice. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that a repeated neurotoxic regimen of METH exposure in adolescent mice decreases hippocampal synaptic plasticity and produces a deficit in short-term memory. Contrary to our prediction, there was no change in the hippocampal plasticity or short-term memory when measured after 14 days of METH exposure. However, we found that at 7, 14, and 21 days of drug abstinence, METH-exposed mice exhibited a deficit in spatial memory, which was accompanied by a decrease in hippocampal plasticity. Our results support the interpretation that the deleterious cognitive consequences of neurotoxic levels of METH exposure may manifest and persist after drug abstinence. Therefore, therapeutic strategies should consider short-term as well as long-term consequences of methamphetamine exposure. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Methods applied in cost-effectiveness models for treatment strategies in type 2 diabetes mellitus and their use in Health Technology Assessments: a systematic review of the literature from 2008 to 2013.

PubMed

Charokopou, M; Sabater, F J; Townsend, R; Roudaut, M; McEwan, P; Verheggen, B G

2016-01-01

To identify and compare health-economic models that were developed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of treatments for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and their use within Health Technology Assessments (HTAs). In total, six commonly used databases were searched for articles published between October 2008 and January 2013, using a protocolized search strategy and inclusion criteria. The websites of HTA organizations in nine countries, and proceedings from five relevant conferences, were also reviewed. The identified new health-economic models were qualitatively assessed using six criteria that were developed based on technical components, and characteristics related to the disease or the treatments being assessed. Finally, the number of times the models were applied within HTA reports, published literature, and/or major conferences was determined. Thirteen new models were identified and reviewed in depth. Most of these were based on identical key data sources, and applied a similar model structure, either using Markov modeling or microsimulation techniques. The UKPDS equations and panel regressions were frequently used to estimate the occurrence of diabetes-related complications and the probability of developing risk factors in the long term. The qualitative assessment demonstrated that the CARDIFF, Sheffield T2DM and ECHO T2DM models seem technically equipped to appropriately assess the long-term health-economic consequences of chronic treatments for patients with T2DM. It was observed that the CORE model is the most widely described in literature and conferences, and the most often applied model within HTA submissions, followed by the CARDIFF and UKPDS models. This research provides an overview of T2DM models that were developed between 2008 and January 2013. The outcomes of the qualitative assessments, combined with frequent use in local reimbursement decisions, prove the applicability of the CORE, CARDIFF and UKPDS models to address decision problems related to the long-term clinical and economic consequences of new and existing T2DM treatments.

Semi-implicit and fully implicit shock-capturing methods for hyperbolic conservation laws with stiff source terms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yee, H. C.; Shinn, J. L.

1986-01-01

Some numerical aspects of finite-difference algorithms for nonlinear multidimensional hyperbolic conservation laws with stiff nonhomogenous (source) terms are discussed. If the stiffness is entirely dominated by the source term, a semi-implicit shock-capturing method is proposed provided that the Jacobian of the soruce terms possesses certain properties. The proposed semi-implicit method can be viewed as a variant of the Bussing and Murman point-implicit scheme with a more appropriate numerical dissipation for the computation of strong shock waves. However, if the stiffness is not solely dominated by the source terms, a fully implicit method would be a better choice. The situation is complicated by problems that are higher than one dimension, and the presence of stiff source terms further complicates the solution procedures for alternating direction implicit (ADI) methods. Several alternatives are discussed. The primary motivation for constructing these schemes was to address thermally and chemically nonequilibrium flows in the hypersonic regime. Due to the unique structure of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors for fluid flows of this type, the computation can be simplified, thus providing a more efficient solution procedure than one might have anticipated.