Search

The aim of this review is to assess the efficacy and safety of using heat and cold therapy for adults with lymphoedema. A multi-database search was undertaken. Only studies which included adults with lymphoedema who were treated with heat or cold therapy reporting any outcome were included. Screening, data extraction, and assessment of bias were undertaken by a single reviewer and verified by a second. Due to the substantial heterogeneity, a descriptive synthesis was undertaken. Eighteen studies were included. All nine studies which assessed the effects of heat-therapy on changes in limb circumference reported a point estimate indicating some reduction from baseline to end of study. Similarly, the five studies evaluating the use of heat-therapy on limb volume demonstrated a reduction in limb volume from baseline to end-of-study. Only four studies reported adverse events of which all were deemed to be minor. Only two studies explored the effects of cold therapy on lymphoedema. Tentative evidence suggests heat-therapy may have some benefit in treating lymphoedema with minimal side effects. However, further high-quality randomised controlled trials are required, with a particular focus on moderating factors and assessment of adverse events. This review highlights the potential benefit that heat therapy may have on reducing limb circumference and volume for adults with lymphoedema. There was no evidence that controlled localised heat therapy was unsafe. The current evidence-base is at a point where no specific clinical recommendations can be made. The use of heat therapy should only be applied as part of a methodologically robust study to treat lymphoedema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inequalities related to racial identity are consistently reported across social institutions, not least education, and sport. These inequalities consistently challenge ‘post-race’ narratives that rationalise racism down to individual prejudices and poor decision-making. This paper presents part of the findings from a wider a twelve-month research project commissioned by British University and Colleges Sport (BUCS) to explore race equality. This wider research privileged the voices of non-White students and staff in an exploration of race and equality in British UK university sport. ‘Non-white’ was chosen as a race identifier to focus on Whiteness, the normalised, raceless power that reproduces itself both knowingly and unknowingly, to ensure racial ‘others’ remain subordinate. This paper presents the findings of the student voices. In this study a research team of academic and student researchers explored the experiences of 38 students across five universities. Generating case studies from each university, the data was analysed from an Intersectional and Critical Race Theory perspective. Two core themes relating to negotiating Whiteness were developed from the data analysis which reflected experiences of university sport as predominantly White spaces; ‘Play by the Rules’ and ‘Keep You Guessing’. Racial abuse was subtle, camouflaged in comments and actions that happened momentarily and hence were implausible to capture and evidence. For incidents to be addressed, evidence had to meet a ‘beyond doubt’ standard. Students were required to consciously negotiate racial bias and abuse to ensure they did not provide a justification for abuse. Navigating racialisation and stereotypes, plus White denial, was additional emotional labour for students. This mechanism of silencing the victim served to normalise racism for both the abused and perpetrator. The conclusion explores potential ways of disrupting these mechanisms of Whiteness in placing students’ welfare at the heart of university sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have numerous practical applications including hydrogen storage, drug delivery, separation processes and sensing. Sensing is particularly important in the mineral processing sector, where the success of mineral leaching processes depends upon the development of reliable and efficient methods for the detection of ferric ions (Fe 3 + ). Here, we examine the atomic interactions between a hydrated ferric ion and an europium-based MOF with a view to the development of a sensing device capable of determining the ferric ion concentration in an analyte solution. Using a continuum approach together with the Lennard-Jones potential, we determine the Lennard-Jones (van der Waals) interaction energy and force between a hydrated ferric ion and a MOF pore. The hydrated ferric ion is modelled as a point at the centre of two concentric spheres, while the MOF pore is modelled by a semi-infinite cylinder. The model predicts that it is energetically more favourable for the hydrated ferric ion to reside inside the MOF pore and that the greatest attractive force is experienced at the entrance of the MOF pore. However, the hydrated ferric ion is unlikely to enter the MOF pore because it is geometrically larger than the free space inside. This means that in practice the hydrated ferric ion will remain on the surface of the MOF crystal, considerably simplifying ion removal. This property will be useful for washing and reusing the sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the social domains hypothesis, we reduce the information-processing demands of complex social cues by classifying them into a limited number of domains, each with distinct sets of expectations. This requires rapid identification of violations of the boundaries between social domains. We hypothesized that these violations are likely to be associated with neural activation of the salience system. Using fMRI we compared responses of 20 adults to expected and unexpected everyday social scenarios in personal and work interactions. The vignettes exemplified different kinds of scenarios presented in the work setting, i.e., task-focused scenarios which are expected at work and scenarios with a personal focus, which are unexpected at work. The key contrast between task and personal focussed scenarios presented in the work setting was associated with fronto-insular activation. Perceived inappropriateness of the unexpected scenarios, and shorter response time to judgment of inappropriateness were also associated with fronto-insular activation, after controlling for unpleasantness. This study indicates specific neural responses to violations of expectations in different social situations. Our findings suggest that the fronto-insular region is implicated in rapid detection of behaviors that cross the boundaries of social domains, which are hypothesized to be necessary for efficient social information processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sought to identify whether piggery effluent-derived nitrogen sources can be formulated with urea and nitrification inhibitors to better synchronize nitrogen (N) supply with crop demand than conventional urea fertilizer alone. A 288 pot pasture growth and leaching growth accelerator trial (5 pasture cuts) was completed with a factorial treatment structure of three N sources (2.63 g N [kg soil]−1 applied as 100% urea-N, 8% struvite-N + 92% urea-N, and 8% piggery pond sludge-N + 92% urea-N), five rates of three nitrification inhibitors (including 3,4-Dimethylpyrazole phosphate, DMPP; limonene+ethanol; and dicyandiamide, DCD), and matrix encapsulated forms of these inhibitors. Applying a combination of piggery sludge with urea increased N uptake during the first 4 weeks of plant growth (by 65%), though total N uptake throughout the trial (22 weeks) did not differ across the N-sources. The microbial community of the soil to which the sludge was added was significantly different from the un-amended soil at the conclusion of the trial. All inhibitor formulations significantly decreased leaching losses of mineral-N relative to the control (by 14 to 61%). The use of DMPP decreased initial nutrient uptake, deferring uptake until later in the experiment. Inhibitor addition resulted in microbial community effects that persisted throughout the trial. The study demonstrated that a piggery-derived N-source and a nitrification inhibitor can be used to manipulate plant N uptake to occur later or earlier in a growing period with equal cumulative uptake, achieving an 11% increase in residual N store, and decreased N leaching losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on the Algerian regimes of Chadli Benjedid and Abdelaziz Bouteflika to critically evaluate Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way's dimension of linkage. The paper shows that, despite the intensification of the country's ties to the European Union (EU) from one regime to the other, the willingness and ability of Brussels to put democratizing pressure on Algiers decreased rather than increased. This development challenges Levitsky and Way's thesis and the importance they place on linkage in relation to their other dimensions of leverage and organizational power. The article concludes that: strengthening linkage does not always result in greater EU or Western democratizing pressure; the balance of importance Levitsky and Way strike between their dimensions is open to question; and, the EU has grown less willing to press for political change in Algeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many cases, especially in the electronics industry, of manufacturing activities involving very high volumes of components that, whilst individually costing very little, can cause very expensive failures or recalls upon unexpected failure. The identification of such outliers in component supply is therefore of great interest. These items are often within design technical specification but their deviation from the characteristics of the rest of the population may be indicative of some underlying cause that can lead to their premature failure in service. Identification of outliers using conventional statistical process control (SPC) and Control Charting techniques is often uncertain and most other published methods are inappropriate for dynamic monitoring. This paper proposes a simple and practical technique that has proved successful in identifying such components whilst minimizing ‘false alarms’. In many cases these items have subsequently been found to pass short-term inspection tests but fail well short of their design life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate a carbon nanotorus as a caged molecular structure interacting with an atom. Assuming that the atom is located along the central axis perpendicular to the torus, the interaction energy of the system is determined using the continuum approximation together with the Lennard-Jones potential. This approach avoids the intensive computational calculations that are involved in other modelling approaches. Numerical results are presented in terms of dimensionless variables. The results show that the optimal major radius of the torus has a linear relationship with its minor radius when the atom is symmetrically situated along the torus axis. When the atom is offset from this axis, the minimum energy location shifts away from the centre as the ratio of the major and minor radii exceeds the value of 0.90. Finally, the oscillatory behaviour for the carbon atom is investigated. Our findings predict a novel nano-oscillator which can produce frequencies in the gigahertz range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In reviewing the books of Mathilde von Bülow (2016), Liat Kozma (2017), and Odile Moreau and Stuart Schaar (2016), this review article makes a series of important observations on trans—Mediterranean relations. Along with the longevity of Europe's concerns over migration and migrants from North Africa and the wider Middle East, and the parallels between France and Britain's treatment of their colonised populations and domestic minorities, it notes the opportunities for anti-colonial resistance generated by the imperial powers' classification of individuals, groups and organisations operating in and out of their respective Mediterranean territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arab uprisings' failure to bring about either the scale or type of political change in the Maghreb that it initially seemed to promise belies the significance of its impact on the region. While Algeria, Mauritania and Morocco continue to be ruled by the same competitive authoritarian regimes that held power when the protests began, they, and the new governments in Tunisia and Libya, must now negotiate an altered and more dangerous security environment than before. The unsettling of Tunisia's security apparatus and the outbreak of full-blown civil war in Libya have created new opportunities for terror and criminal groups to thrive and expand. The primary aim of this special issue is to chart and explain many of the critical changes in the Maghreb's security environment that have occurred as a result of the Arab Spring. Each of the articles collected here identifies and analyses at least one important security issue in one or more Maghreb country as well as explain how that issue has emerged in response to or been affected by the Arab Spring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that Morocco's competitive authoritarian regime is more resilient today in certain key respects than it was when the Arab Spring began. Drawing on Levitsky and Way's dimension of organisational power, the article contends the regime was sufficiently unnerved by the unrest to resort to the use of high intensity coercion as part of its response to the 20 February Movement. The article maintains that, in employing this force successfully, the regime has turned the protests into an important source of non-material cohesion for its security apparatus and thereby enhanced its ability to defend itself from similar challenges in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) has rapidly established itself as the key business process improvement strategy of choice for many companies. The LSS approach provides significant benefits to companies through its dual focus on reducing waste and increasing value whilst resolving Critical to Quality (CTQ) issues that affect consistency and repeatability in a product and process. The implementation of LSS is finding wider application in many different environments. Through a case study approach, this paper describes the novel implementation of an integrated LSS framework and outlines how it was used to identify the factors that affect supply chain performance in an aerospace Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility. The study outlines the application and measures the effectiveness of the integrated LSS framework through its ability to achieve new and enhanced performance through simultaneously reducing late material calls and reducing and stabilizing Order To Receipt (OTR) times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the Global International Relations project by critically evaluating the roles ascribed to Europe and the EU by Levitsky and Way in their model for explaining regime transitions. Focusing primarily on their international dimensions of linkage and leverage, it assesses both the normative geopolitical underpinnings and explanatory power of their thesis, drawing on the North African cases of Tunisia and Mauritania at the start of the Arab Spring to illustrate and substantiate its observations and arguments. It concludes that the EU's failure to discipline either country's competitive authoritarian regime raises important questions about the validity of the privileged role in which they cast Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In laboratory experiments on the rapid partial annealing of cold-worked mild steel sheet, the experimental results have been used to derive an empirical model, inter-relating the mechanical properties of the sheet with different variables selected in order of their effects on the particular mechanical property. The validity of these process model relationships was tested by predicting the mechanical properties coreesponding to each of the experimental conditions included in the model and comparing them with the actual experimental values. This comparison revealed that only the 0.2% P.S. and the T.S. equations satisfactorily predict, properties to an acceptable degree of accuracy. The scope and limitation of this type of empirical model are discussed in terms of application and the difficulties associated with precisely defining the pertinent, process or material variables. Finally, it is demonstrated how the equations can be used to optimize the different process variables to achieve a given property level or combination of properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weakly bound systems present a difficult problem for conventional atom-centred basis sets due to large separations, necessitating the use of large, computationally expensive bases. This can be remedied by placing a small number of functions in the region between molecules in the complex. We present compact sets of optimised midbond functions for a range of complexes involving noble gases, alkali metals and small molecules for use in high accuracy coupled -cluster calculations, along with a more robust procedure for their optimisation. It is shown that excellent results are possible with double-zeta quality orbital basis sets when a few midbond functions are added, improving both the interaction energy and the equilibrium bond lengths of a series of noble gas dimers by 47% and 8%, respectively. When used in conjunction with explicitly correlated methods, near complete basis set limit accuracy is readily achievable at a fraction of the cost that using a large basis would entail. General purpose auxiliary sets are developed to allow explicitly correlated midbond function studies to be carried out, making it feasible to perform very high accuracy calculations on weakly bound complexes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to critically assess Joseph Nye’s claims about student exchange programmes by examining the impact of Morocco’s educational relationship with the EU on the kingdom’s political development during and since the Arab Spring. Nye maintains that such schemes are important sources of soft power which Western countries can use to promote their values - including that of democracy - in the societies of the visiting students. Despite tens of thousands of its citizens enrolling in European universities each year, however, Morocco is scarcely any more democratic today than it was when the Arab Spring began. The article considers what the country’s non-democratisation means for the EU’s soft power and this facet of Nye’s thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed a spatio-temporal path reflectance climatology for use in atmospheric corrections for a Landsat pre-processing framework. The climatology is intended as a fallback strategy for aerosol estimation in bright Southern African savannah ecosystems where the rarity of dark objects decreases the applicability of common image-based aerosol estimation strategies and the widespread burning prohibits the use of a fixed aerosol loading. We predicted the climatological path reflectance surface by applying a multivariate regression model to all available path reflectance retrievals on basis of the geolocation and the days of the year on which the data were acquired. The resulting predictions are able to successfully model major spatio-temporal gradients of the path reflectance distribution. The prediction error (weighted root mean squared Error at 0.483 µm) was less than 1% reflectance while the prediction itself varied by 4.6% reflectance. Thus, using the modelled climatology for atmospheric correction is favourable compared to a fixed aerosol content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There seems to be paucity in the research into the collection of data for use in simulation. This is rather unfortunate since data quality and availability are two of the most challenging issues in many simulation projects. This paper discusses how simulation practitioners identify and collect data for simulation projects. The data was collected from ORH Ltd, a management consultancy company using participant observations method and an experiment using a mock case scenario. From the observation, we produce a generic data identification and collection method. The method is evaluated using a real project conducted for a UK Ambulance Service. The experiment reveals variations in the data identification process that are influenced by the role and the level of experience of modellers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban and metropolitan universities serve a diverse population of learners, including nontraditional and part-time students, many taking courses on-campus, off-campus at remote locations and/or online. Libraries at these institutions are committed to providing collections and services to support students and faculty engaged in both traditional and online environments. This article reports on a survey of libraries at the member institutions of the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities (CUMU) that identifies the services, activities and policies that urban and metropolitan libraries have developed to provide library resources to their distance learners. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper has three main objectives. The first is to contribute to the process, which is being pursued by an increasing number of scholars with ever greater urgency, of mapping Boko Haram. The second is to make the point that, while Boko Haram might be unique, it is not the first Islamic group to spring from or operate in northern Nigeria, to the alarm of either the country’s government or the international community. The third is to highlight a historical paradox: the Tijaniyya’s shift from suspect to ally. To achieve these ambitions, the paper compares Boko Haram with what the British authorities in Nigeria in the 1920s described as the pseudo-Tijanis. More specifically, it points to: their complicated organisational structures; their links to other groups and bodies elsewhere in the Islamic world; and the difficult and delicate positions in which their actions placed the North’s traditional leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The use of resonant enhancements of the inelastic cross-section in the hard X-ray regime has been developing rapidly in the last few years, driven both by advances in the instrumentation, from sources to analyzers to detectors, and by simultaneous advances in theoretical understanding of the resonant process and the inelastic cross-section [5]. The field has recently been reviewed in an article by Ament et al. [2], following earlier reviews by Schulke [24] and Kotani and Shin [21]. Most collective modes have now been observed with the technique including phonons [2, 28], bi-magnons [7, 14], magnons and charge transfer excitations. In this article, we briefly survey some of the very recent work that has been carried out at the Advanced Photon Source, focusing on studies of magnons and charge transfer excitations in strongly correlated systems. This work was carried out on the beamlines 9IDB and 30IDB. We first discuss the instrument at Sector 30, known as “MERIX.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to consider how Algeria's most prized achievement and treasured memory – the FLN's victory over the French in the war of liberation – has helped stimulate and sustain the violence that has blighted the country since independence. It argues that successive governments have propagated a legend of the war that encourages and legitimises rebellion and armed resistance. By celebrating the actions and achievements of a committed band of revolutionaries they have established a precedent whereby it is every citizen's duty to oppose and resist an unjust government. Time and again therefore, insurgent groups like the FFS, MIA, and AIS have justified their actions and won popular support by portraying themselves as the early FLN's natural heir. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A benchmark of explicitly correlated CCSD(T)-F12 methods for the dimers Ga2, As2, Br2 and diatomic molecules AsN, BrO, HBr, GaF, GaCl, GaBr, AsF, AsCl, BrF, and BrCl is presented. Equilibrium distances, harmonic vibrational frequencies, and dissociation energies are compared with extensive conventional CCSD(T) calculations using a variety of orbital basis sets and different ansätze for the explicitly correlated wavefunctions. Correlation of the 3d electrons has a strong effect, in particular on the equilibrium distances, and it is shown that this can be recovered very efficiently by the explicit correlation treatment. It is found that CCSD(T)-F12 calculations with new F12-specific cc-pVnZ-F12 basis sets give comparable accuracy to standard CCSD(T) calculations with very much larger aug-cc-pwCV(n+2)Z basis sets. The effects of higher order valence electron correlation (up to CCSDTQP) are also investigated in conventional calculations and are found to be significant in some cases. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A mouse- and human-brain-abundant, nuclear factor (NF)-кB-regulated, micro RNA-146a (miRNA-146a) is an important modulator of the innate immune response and inflammatory signaling in specific immunological and brain cell types. Levels of miRNA-146a are induced in human brain cells challenged with at least five different species of single- or double-stranded DNA or RNA neurotrophic viruses, suggesting a broad role for miRNA-146a in the brain's innate immune response and antiviral immunity. Upregulated miRNA-146a is also observed in pro-inflammatory cytokine-, Aβ42 peptide- and neurotoxic metal-induced, oxidatively stressed human neuronal-glial primary cell cocultures, in murine scrapie and in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain. In AD, miRNA-146a levels are found to progressively increase with disease severity and co-localize to brain regions enriched in inflammatory neuropathology. This study provides evidence of upregulation of miRNA-146a in extremely rare (incidence 1–10 per 100 million) human prion-based neurodegenerative disorders, including sporadic Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (sCJD) and Gerstmann–Straussler–Scheinker syndrome (GSS). The findings suggest that an upregulated miRNA-146a may be integral to innate immune or inflammatory brain cell responses in prion-mediated infections and to progressive and irreversible neurodegeneration of both the murine and human brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The partial skeletons of two marine turtles are reported from Late Eocene strata of Northland, northern New Zealand. One, from the autochthonous Ruatangata Sandstone near Whangarei, is identified as a new species of the previously monotypic cheloniid genus Eochelone Dollo, 1903. It is larger than the European type species, E. brabantica Dollo, 1903. The new species, E. monstigris, represents a geographic range extension for Eochelone and for the group of 'Eocene stem cheloniines' to which it belongs, a long-distance interchange that the configuration of Late Eocene-Early Oligocene marine currents and land-sea distribution must have permitted. The other specimen, from the allochthonous Pahi Greensand of northeast Kaipara Harbour, was previously reported as a cheloniid but we believe it more likely to belong to the Toxochelyidae. Given previous records of two dermochelyids (Psephophorus and Maoriochelys), the Middle to Late Eocene of New Zealand hosted at least four species of marine turtle which approaches the modern diversity of five species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a report on the British government's development of a competency framework for diabetes nursing. Various aspects of diabetes care and delivery of health services in Great Britain such as the National Health Service (NHS) are discussed. A brief history of diabetes nursing and an overview of the changing workforce are presented.

There has been a growing realization that academic libraries need to change to serve a new generation of learners and researchers. Efforts to enhance the “main library” on campus with extended hours, coffee shops, and information commons have created modern, user-friendly environments that support changing student needs and expectations. Generally fewer resources have been given to upgrading smaller branch libraries. The need to modernize older spaces along with the availability of electronic collections, campus demands for classroom/lab space, and financial pressures on libraries have prompted a rethinking of the role of branch libraries. Actively pursuing initiatives to reenvision library spaces and services, Indiana University Bloomington set out to assess the needs of students and faculty of the Life Sciences Library. Quantitative as well as qualitative data were collected. All traditional performance indicators demonstrated that the library was doing a good job meeting the needs of its users. However, the biology department's need for space necessitated a significant downsizing of the library's collection and space, prompting a rethinking of services at the library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of density fitting, local correlation methods (DF-LMP2 and DF-LCCSD) in studies of non-covalent interactions is tested against literature data for a standard set of 22 inter-molecular complexes. Partitioning of interaction energy in the local correlation approach, based on the classes of occupied and virtual orbital involved in the interaction, clearly distinguishes the three types of interaction present in the set of complexes, in agreement with previous classifications. Geometry optimisation is found to be straightforward with DF-LMP2 without the need for counterpoise correction, resulting in geometries very close to previous, counterpoise-corrected structures. Spin-component scaling of gradients to correct for the known shortcomings of conventional MP2 has only a small effect on geometries in most cases, but significantly alters the distance between aromatic rings in stacked complexes. Harmonic frequency calculation is made possible by efficient use of parallel computing resources, and confirms all structures to be true minima, unlike previous estimates using density functional theory. Corrections for the change in zero-point vibrational energy are determined from this data, and typically constitute between 10 and 50% of the overall binding energy of the complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of electronic excitations by inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS) has a rich history. Very early IXS work, for example, provided seminal demonstrations of the validity of relativistic kinematics and the quantum hypothesis [1] and of Fermi-Dirac statistics [2]. While there have been many important results in the interim [3], it has been the development of the third generation light sources together with continuing innovations in the manufacture and implementation [4-6] of dispersive X-ray optics that has led to the rapid growth of IXS studies of electronic excitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. We compared the intrinsic clearance (CLint) of a number of substrates in suspensions of fresh and cryopreserved human hepatocytes from seven donors. 2. CLint values for a cocktail incubation of phenacetin, diclofenac, diazepam, bufuralol, midazolam, and hydroxycoumarin were 4.9 ± 3.4, 18 ± 7.2, 5.1 ± 4.9, 6.3 ± 3.3, 9.8 ± 5.8 and 22 ± 14 μl min-1/106 cells, respectively, and they correlated well with corresponding CLint values using cryopreserved hepatocytes from 25 different donors. 3. CLint values of each cocktail substrate and 20 AstraZeneca new chemical entities were compared in fresh and cryopreserved hepatocytes from the same three donors. There was a statistically significant correlation between CLint in fresh and cryopreserved hepatocytes for each of the three livers (p < 0.002) and the geometric mean of the ratio of fresh to cryopreserved CLint values was 1.03. 4. In conclusion, the results add further support to the use of cryopreserved human hepatocytes as a screening model for the intrinsic clearance of new chemical entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To identify what is known about the prevalence and incidence of low back pain (LBP) in children and to assess the quality of the methods employed to find this information. Data source: The entire holdings of Medline, Cinahl, Amed, Embase, Psycinfo, Australian Medical Index, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Registry of Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials up to September 2008. Methods: Inclusion criteria were cross-sectional, retrospective or prospective studies, published in English, participants aged 7–18 years, studies reporting data that includes information about the age of onset of LBP, prevalence and/or incidence of LBP. Studies were assessed for quality according to nine pre-defined criteria. Results: Thirty-five studies were included in the review. Lifetime prevalence was most widely studied. There was considerable variation in the definition of LBP and recall periods for reporting of LBP. Age specific data indicates that LBP is not uncommon in children less than 10 years. Lifetime prevalence of LBP gradually increases from age 7 to 12 years (lifetime prevalence 1% at 7 years to 17% at 12 years). This is followed by a steep increase in lifetime prevalence from 12–15 years (from a maximum lifetime prevalence of 17% at 12 years to 53% at 15 years), with a continued increase in lifetime prevalence of LBP until the late teens. Discussion/Conclusion: The incidence and prevalence of LBP in children has been widely studied. Inconsistency in definition of LBP and pre-defined recall periods, along with a range of other variations in data collection methods, probably affect the reported prevalence rates. Standardisation of best methods is essential for confident pooling of future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first substantial set of radiocarbon determinations for the later Iron Age decorated metalwork known as Celtic art in Britain. Hitherto this material has been dated relatively on the basis of changes in decoration and form, which were then linked to materials with some absolute date. The latter process has tended to give relatively late dates, as most of the material with a firm date stems from the last century BC or after. This has meant that British Celtic art appears to be rather later than that on the Continent. Our results provide some tentative support for an earlier dating for at least some British material, more closely aligned to that on the Continent. Stead, building on earlier work, has developed a series of Stages or Styles for the decorations of Celtic art and we shall review these here. We also look at particular classes of artefacts and forms of deposition in the light of our new results. We conclude by drawing some contrasts between Bronze Age metalwork and that of Celtic art, reflecting on how far assumptions of a sequential series of changes, key to all forms of typology, are useful in the case of the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study a link was established between anomalies in climatic and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)/Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data in Spain for the period from 1989 to 1999 on a monthly and annual basis using multivariate distributed lag (DL) models and generalized least-square (GLS) parameter estimation. In most areas significant time-delayed correlation between anomalies of monthly rainfall and NDVI data was confined to an interval of 1 month. Locally higher lag orders of up to 3 months were found. By contrast, relationships between surface temperature and the NDVI were insignificant in the multivariate context at most locations. The multiple correlation coefficients of the DL models achieved 0.6 in the maximum. Regions characterized by the most significant NDVI-rainfall correlations include the southern forelands of the Pyrenees in Cataluna, rainfed agricultural areas in Extremadura, Andalusia, and the western parts of Castilla y Leon. Average ratios of rainfall to potential evapotranspiration (PET) in the sensitive areas ranged between 0.5 and 2, with annual rainfall amounts less than 700 mm. For each land-cover class a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was carried out to assess the environmental factors that might explain the differences in the NDVI-rainfall relationships. The highest discriminant coefficients and factor loadings were recorded for those factors that recurrently trigger water deficit in the sensitive regions, such as low total annual rainfall, large seasonal rainfall variability, high average PET and surface temperature. On the annual basis the lagged correlation of the NDVI and rainfall data was confined to natural vegetation (grassland and scrubland) areas in western Spain. This region suffered from a severe drought in the early 1990s, after which biomass production lagged several years behind improved rainfall conditions. The approach presented is useful for assessing the influence of climatic variables on the pattern of temporal anomalies in the NDVI or related vegetation parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'Sing Up' National Singing Programme for primary schools in England was launched in November 2007 under the UK government's 'Music Manifesto'. 'Sing Up' is a four-year programme whose overall aim is to raise the status of singing and increase opportunities for children throughout the country to enjoy singing as part of their everyday lives, in and out of school. As part of the Programme's research evaluation, a key focus has been to build an initial picture of singing in primary schools across England. This information could then be used as a 'baseline' by which the programme's subsequent impact could be judged, including 'before' and 'after' measures of schools that receive particular 'Sing Up' input. This paper reports an overview of key outcomes of the first five months of baseline profiling (October 2007-February 2008), embracing analyses of the singing behaviours of 3472 children in 76 primary schools. These findings are complimented by additional analyses of children's views on singing in and out of school; and the self-efficacy of their class teachers (n=90), both as singers and as teachers of singing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The successful design of many novel nano-electronic devices will require a thorough understanding of the geometric joining issues of certain nano-structures. In this paper, we adopt a continuous approach and we employ the calculus of variations to model the nanostructure obtained by the joining of two fullerenes. We model the fullerenes as spheres and we assume symmetric defects on both fullerenes so that the three-dimensional problem is axially symmetric and can therefore be reduced to a problem in two dimensions. We propose two models depending upon the curvature of the join profile which can be either positive or both positive and negative. However, there is at present no experimental or simulation data to verify the theoretical connecting structures predicted by this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Union listing of serials on OCLC can bring about an in- crease in interlibrary loan and turn-around time when implemented at a university library. Formerly accessible as a subsystem of OCLC, union listing is now available on Connexion Browser as MARC 21 holdings data. Immediately following a batch load of OCLC union listing records at medium-sized Louisiana university library, it was found that lending requests sent to the library were up 10% for all materials and up 13% for serials. An increase in borrower requests from patrons at the library was also observed when interlibrary loan request buttons were inserted into citation entries found on EBSCO host university databases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many European road casualties result from vehicles leaving the road, often impacting roadside obstacles. As part of the European Commission-funded project RISER (Roadside Infrastructure for Safer European Roads), several activities were undertaken to collate the type of real world crash data which is needed to understand single vehicle crash situations and relate this to crash-test data mandated in the European Union. Accident data were collected and used to create databases exclusively for single-vehicle collisions on major rural roads, simulation software was used to further understand impacts with roadside structures, and an inventory of crash-test data was collected for impacts with poles and safety barriers. The combination of accident data, simulations and crash-test data has provided a unique insight into the characteristics of single-vehicle collisions, helping those involved in the design and evaluation of the roadside environment to understand them better and make recommendations for consideration when drafting design guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Usnic acid is a component of nutritional supplements promoted for weight loss that have been associated with liver-related adverse events including mild hepatic toxicity, chemical hepatitis, and liver failure requiring transplant. To determine if metabolism factors might have had a role in defining individual susceptibility to hepatotoxicity, in vitro metabolism studies were undertaken using human plasma, hepatocytes, and liver subcellular fractions. Usnic acid was metabolized to form three monohydroxylated metabolites and two regio-isomeric glucuronide conjugates of the parent drug. Oxidative metabolism was mainly by cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A2 and glucuronidation was carried out by uridine diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) 1A1 and UGT1A3. In human hepatocytes, usnic acid at 20 µM was not an inducer of CYP1A2, CYP2B6, or CYP3A4 relative to positive controls omeprazole, phenobarbital, and rifampicin, respectively. Usnic acid was a relatively weak inhibitor of CYP2D6 and a potent inhibitor of CYP2C19 (the concentration eliciting 50% inhibition (IC50) = 9 nM) and CYP2C9 (IC50 = 94 nM), with less potent inhibition of CYP2C8 (IC50 = 1.9 µM) and CYP2C18 (IC50 = 6.3 µM). Pre-incubation of microsomes with usnic acid did not afford any evidence of time-dependent inhibition of CYP2C19, although evidence of slight time-dependent inhibition of CYP2C9 (KI = 2.79 µM and Kinact = 0.022 min-1) was obtained. In vitro data were used with SimCYPRto model potential drug interactions. Based on usnic acid doses in case reports of 450 mg to >1 g day-1, these in vitro data indicate that usnic acid has significant potential to interact with other medications. Individual characteristics such as CYP1A induction status, co-administration of CYP1A2 inhibitors, UGT1A1 polymorphisms, and related hyperbilirubinaemias, or co-administration of low therapeutic index CYP2C substrates could work alone or in consort with other idiosyncrasy risk factors to increase the risk of adverse events and/or hepatotoxicity. Thus, usnic acid in nutritional supplements might be involved as both victim and/or perpetrator in clinically significant drug-drug interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advent of digital reference, the outsourcing of a portion of public service is now possible, enabling libraries to offer more hours of service at a lower cost with little awareness on the part of users. Since fall 2003, librarians at Southeastern Louisiana University have teamed up with librarians employed by a partner library and/or Tutor.com's Librarians By Request to provide a 24/7 digital reference service. A comparative analysis of digital reference transcripts and user satisfaction surveys indicates that external librarians can provide good digital reference service with a high level of user satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In spring 2005, Sims Memorial Library at Southeastern Louisiana University initiated "Text A Librarian," a service that enables Southeastern students, faculty, and staff to use the text message feature of their cell phones to send questions to and receive answers from the library. Librarians at Sims use a dedicated text messaging telephone number and "e-mail/SMS" conversion software, provided by Altarama Systems and Services, to send and receive text messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background PBMC can be expanded ex vivo into aggressive cytotoxic effector cells (CEC) comprising T, NK and NKT cells. We identified the phenotype, cytotoxicity and mechanisms of killing of these CEC. Methods CY- and G-CSF-mobilized PBMC from myeloma patients were placed in Aim-V serum-free medium, IL-2 (50 IU/mL) and OKT-3 (50 ng/mL). Cytotoxicity was evaluated by selectively blocking the TCR, MHC class I or NKG2D receptor. Results The CEC expanded three-fold by day 7 and aggressively lysed myeloma cells (41.9%) compared with day 0 (4%; P =0.012). CD8 + CD56 + NKT cells performed the majority of lysis. The CD8 + cells greatly increased NKG2D expression during culture ( P =0.005). Cytotoxicity correlated with target NKG2D ligand expression ( P =0.0002). Blocking the TCR or MHC class I did not affect cytotoxicity ( P >0.22). CD8 + cell-mediated lysis dropped 48% when the NKG2D receptor was blocked. Day 7 CEC aggressively lysed myeloma cells in an MHC- and non-MHC-restricted fashion, through the NKG2D receptor. Discussion Because MHC expression is often down-regulated on tumor cells and the NKG2D ligands are generally specific to malignant cells, the adoptive transfer of CEC that kill through different pathways may circumvent tumor-resistant mechanisms and improve outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classifications of coniferous forest stands regarding tree species and age classes were performed using hyperspectral remote sensing data (HyMap) of a forest in western Germany. Spectral angle mapper (SAM) and maximum likelihood (ML) classifications were used to classify the images. Classification was performed using (i) spectral information alone, (ii) spectral information and stem density, (iii) spectral and textural information, (iv) all data together, and results were compared. Geostatistical and grey level co-occurrence matrix based texture channels were derived from the HyMap data. Variograms, cross variograms, pseudo-cross variograms, madograms, and pseudo-cross madograms were tested as geostatistical texture measures. Pseudo-cross madograms, a newly introduced geostatistical texture measure, performed best. The classification accuracy (kappa) using hyperspectral data alone was 0.66. Application of pseudo-cross madograms increased it to 0.74, a result comparable to that obtained with stem density information derived from high spatial resolution imagery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State academies of science originated in the late 1800s and early 1900s as a means to provide scientists at the state and local level with the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas. Since their origin, most state academies of science have disseminated regional scientific research through the publication of state academy journals and conference proceedings. Due to limited resources, most state academies have been slow to move to electronic publication and distribution of scientific research. However, a number of state academies have created electronic journals and/or have begun using commercial database producers to distribute their research as full-text content in aggregated data-bases. This article examines the progress made by the state academies of science in electronic publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The San Pedro Valley of North America's desert Southwest has been depicted in maps for over four centuries. These images composed by Euro-American colonialists do not merely portray a topographical reality; they also construct singular notions of place. While place-making often inspires a rich awareness of self and belonging, it is also a device of power that shapes people's desires, perceptions and experiences. Employing Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, we explore the hidden messages embedded in maps from the 1500s to 1800s to reveal the social and political ideologies that buttressed the Spanish, Mexican and American empires. These analyses illustrate that Euro-American maps do not advance in a linear evolution from simple (unknown) to complex (known) in the production of place. Rather they act to legitimize colonial rule through strategies of representation that privilege Euro-American standpoints and disregard competing claims of entitlement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The IEEE Xplore online delivery system provides researchers at science and engineering libraries with the abstracts and full text PDF files of IEEE conference proceedings. The University of Akron recently added full text PDF hotlinks to the print records of both serial and monographic IEEE conference proceedings, permitting the searching, viewing, printing, and downloading of individual articles. These changes have resulted in significantly greater use of the proceedings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it is well known that livestock husbandry has become more prevalent in Crete, Greece, during the last two decades, it is not well understood how grazing pressure differs spatially and how it influences grazed rangelands over time. To enhance the understanding of spatio-temporal degradation processes, a 20-year time series of Landsat Thematic Mapper and Multi-Spectral Scanner data is analysed. A set of vegetation fraction images is derived, based on a rigorous pre-processing scheme and linear spectral unmixing. Patterns of vegetation degradation, stability and regeneration are subsequently mapped by means of a trend analysis. It can be concluded that about 40% of the central Cretan rangelands show a declining trend in vegetation cover between 1977 and 1996. A deeper understanding of the underlying driving forces can be achieved through integrating remote sensing-derived information with other geoinformation sources. A comparison between local stress factors and vegetation development reveals that degradation processes are most evident when boundary conditions are favourable. It is, hence, assumed that increased grazing pressure is a major driving force for decreasing vegetation cover in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A total of 103 prospective first-time mothers completed measures of parenting beliefs, depressive symptomatology, personality, social support and attachment style at 20 weeks prepartum (T1), and were asked to complete various measures again at 6 months postnatally (T2). There were significant changes in parenting beliefs in an adaptive direction, with mean scores for 'nurturance' and 'knowledge of social learning theory' increasing, and scores for 'restrictiveness', 'authoritarianism', 'punitiveness' and 'role reversal' decreasing. Scores on each belief measure at T2 were predicted by the corresponding score at T1, with other measures at T1 explaining further variance for particular beliefs at T2. The implications of these findings for those supporting first-time mothers and directions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since their origin, state academies of science have promoted and disseminated regional scientific research through the publication of journals and conference proceedings. For the most part, these multidisciplinary publications have been overshadowed by the more voluminous, specialized publications of the larger scientific societies and publishers. Nevertheless, an examination of the titles currently published by the state academies of science indicates that on the basis of content, subscription levels, library ownership rates, indexing/abstracting practices and professional citation levels, it can be concluded that the publications of the state academies of science remain an important means for the distribution of scientific research. Appendices provide a list of publications and a list of web sites. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Archaeologists working in central New Mexico have proposed economic models for the late prehistoric period that entail specialized production and exchange between pueblos and between Pueblo and Plains groups. Some aspects of these models have been demonstrated with archaeological materials, but agricultural production has been difficult to measure using materials that are often more indicative of consumption than production. Cotton and corn are two agricultural products that are essential to the models proposed but whose production has yet to be demonstrated with archaeological data. A combination of historical, ethnographic, and G IS data is used here to support the hypotheses that: 1) cotton was produced by specialists in the Rio Abajo and traded to Eastern pueblos and beyond; 2) corn was produced by specialists among the Salinas pueblos for exchange to the Great Plains; and 3) the production of cotton by Rio Abajo farmers did not interfere with subsistence production but was complementary to it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]