Fluctuation-dissipation theorem in an aging colloidal glass

We provide a direct experimental test of the Stokes-Einstein relation as a special case of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem (FDT) in an aging colloidal glass. The use of combined active and passive microrheology allows us to independently measure both the correlation and response functions in this non-equilibrium situation. Contrary to previous reports, we find no deviations from the FDT over several decades in frequency (1 Hz-10 kHz) and for all aging times. In addition, we find two distinct viscoelastic contributions in the aging glass, including a nearly elastic response at low frequencies that grows during aging. This is the clearest change in material properties of the system with aging.Comment: 5 pages,4 figure

Correlation between rearrangements and soft modes in polymer glasses during deformation and recovery

We explore the link between soft vibrational modes and local relaxation events in polymer glasses during physical aging, active deformation at constant strain rate, and subsequent recovery. A softness field is constructed out of the superposition of the amplitudes of the lowest energy normal modes, and found to predict up to 70% of the rearrangements. Overlap between softness and rearrangements increases logarithmically during aging and recovery phases as energy barriers rise due to physical aging, while yielding rapidly rejuvenates the overlap to that of a freshly prepared glass. In the strain hardening regime, correlations rise for uniaxial tensile deformation but not for simple shear. These trends can be explained by considering the differing degrees of localization of the soft modes in the two deformation protocols

Active aging through employment : a critical feminist perspective on Polish policy

Age has become a crucial factor in labour market regulation measures undertaken in Poland in the last several years. Inspired by Europe 2020 strategy of ‘smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’, Poland’s own long-term development plans, especially those adopted by the former Civic Platform-led administration, feature significant emphasis on extended working lives as essential to economic sustainability. Given low employment rates among Poland’s older age cohorts, and the shortfall between the actual and statutory age of retirement, many of the country’s active aging measures have focused primarily on employment activation of workers above the age 50. The policy mix of supply-side activation techniques and demand-side incentives, combined with pension system reforms, have been the key measures designed to encourage longer working lives. Yet, to what extent are these measures achievable and adequate? Using a feminist, socio-legal perspective, this paper critically evaluates Poland’s active aging policy and reforms by locating them at intersection of the transformation and re-structuring of the Polish welfare state and the re-regulation of the country’s labour market according to neoliberal proscriptions. Two key points of interest – or sources of tension – are identified: the extent to which the efforts to bolster older people’s employment participation take adequate notice of labour market conditions and the roles that older people play in the provision of care and other activities involved in maintenance of living standards. As the paper shows, the potentially negative consequences of this policy trajectory for older people’s wellbeing in and out of the labour market, and for the organization of care and the broader processes of social reproduction, have tended to be downplayed in policy and legal reform, while being potentially exacerbated by them

Effectiveness of the vital aging program to promote active aging in Mexican older adults

Introduction: Aging is not only a population phenomenon but also an experience and an individual reality. Vital Aging® is a program that considers active aging as the lifelong adaptatio process of maximizing health and independence, physical and cognitive functioning, positive affect regulation and control, and social engagement. Through its different versions and editions, it has demonstrated being an effective program to promote active aging. The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the “face-to-face” and “combined” versions of the program to promote active aging in Mexican older adults trial. Methods: Seventy-six older adults aged 60 years and over participated in a quasi-experimental study and were recruited in a senior center to participate in the two experimental conditions: Vital Aging face-to-face (VA-FF) (n=35) and Vital Aging combined (VA-C; multimedia/face-toface) (n=15), and the remaining 26 adults were assigned to a control group. Pretest and posttest assessments were performed after the theoretical–practical intervention. Mean differences and size effects were calculated for estimating the effect of the program. Results: At the end of the study, participants showed improvements in the active aging outcome measures. Positive effects were observed in the frequency of intellectual, cultural – artistic, and social activities, perceptions of aging, satisfaction with social relationships, and self-efficacy for aging. Additionally, those who participated in VA-FF showed better memory performance, meta-memory, and a trend to report less memory problems, while older persons in VA-C showed a trend to have better life satisfaction. No effects were observed in physical activity, frequency of social relationships, and subjective health. Conclusion: Findings show that the Vital Aging program in face-to-face and combined versions encourages active aging in Mexican older persons. These results are in general similar to those found in editions performed in Spain, revealing its consistency as a cross-cultural practical initiative for promoting active agingProject PSI2014-52464-P from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) in Spain supported this wor

Optimization of Bi-Directional V2G Behavior With Active Battery Anti-Aging Scheduling

The bi-directional linkage between the power grid and electric vehicles (EVs) enables flexible, cheap and fast-responding use of vehicle batteries in the grid. However, the battery aging effects due to the additional operation cycles caused by Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) service and the concern of the battery degradation are the main reason that keeps the customer from being the named prosumer of the grid. This paper proposes a novel active battery anti-aging V2G scheduling approach. Firstly, to evaluate the battery aging effect in V2G service, the battery degradation phenomenon is quantified by a novel use of rain-flow cycle counting (RCC) algorithm. Then, the V2G scheduling is modeled as a multi-objective optimization problem, in which the minimal battery degradation and grid load fluctuation are designed as the optimization objectives. Finally, a multi-population collaborative mechanism, which is particularly designed for the V2G scheduling problem, is also developed to improve the practicability and performance of the heuristic optimization based V2G scheduling method. The proposed methodologies are verified by numerical analysis, which highlights that the proposed V2G scheduling method can minimize battery charge/discharge cycles by optimizing the time and scale of each V2G participant while providing the same services to the grid as expected

Population Aging, Savings Behavior and Capital Markets

Population aging is just beginning to hit the industrialized countries in full force, and it will have a tremendous impact on capital markets. In this paper, we argue that the capital market effects of population aging are particularly strong in continental European economies such as Germany, France, and Italy, with their large and ailing pay-as-you-go public pension systems, relatively thin capital markets, and poor capital performance. The younger generations in these countries are quite aware of the need to provide for more retirement income through own private saving, and these effects will be accentuated by fundamental pension reforms that aim at more pre-funding. Population aging changes households' savings behavior and portfolio composition, and much more assets will be invested on the stock market. Capital markets will grow in size, and active institutional investors such as pension funds will become more important in continental European countries. These changes are likely to have beneficial side effects in terms of improved capital efficiency, total factor productivity, and growth. Looking at the effects of population aging on savings behavior and capital markets therefore adds a new dimension to the continuing debate about advantages and disadvantages of pay-as-you-go and fully funded pension systems.

Profiles of physical activity biographies in relation to life and aging satisfaction in older adults: longitudinal findings

Background: While there is substantial evidence on the relationship between life satisfaction and present physical activity (PA), less is known about which specific PA biographies are associated with a high quality of life and aging satisfaction. Our objective was to identify classes of PA biographies that may be associated with life and aging satisfaction. Methods: In this longitudinal study, PA biographies were assessed retrospectively as a baseline, followed by assessments of life and aging satisfaction at six and twelve months in 418 adults aged 60–95. Subgroups with different PA biographies were identified using latent class analysis. Results: Four distinct PA biographies emerged: increasingly active (35%; n = 147); consistently active (25%; n = 103); consistently inactive (18%; n = 75); and decreasingly active (22%; n = 94). Being consistently active was related to life satisfaction (β = .17) and consistent inactivity was associated with aging dissatisfaction (β = −.20) when accounting for current PA levels. Conclusions: In addition to current PA, our findings emphasize the value of PA biographies for life and aging satisfaction, which could inform lifespan theories of PA and health promotion

Making More Efficient the Dissemination of the Information in the Field of Anti-Aging through Information Technology

ICT have become extremely important because they allow everybody to participate at the Information Society, in spite of under-privileged personal or social situation. Health Education Informatics Systems (HEIS), as a method for facilitating the exchange of information between specialists, physicians and patients, or authorized organisations, become a necessary modern tool which offer quality solutions, a correct source of information and pertinent instrument for taking decisions. The members of the aging society must be motivated to have access through ICT at knowledge that can improve and prolong the active life. The dramatic demographic transformations of our century have imposed the reconsideration of the social policies and of the use of HEIS for disseminating the anti-aging information, for empowering the person regarding his own state of health, and also for the real involving of the elderly in using the Internet. AgingNice is a multidisciplinary complex system that belongs to the health informatics systems with particularization in the anti-aging domain and that allows the sharing of the knowledge concerning the specific research and the promotion of the theoretical and practical information, both among the stakeholders from the medical area and at the person level.anti-aging, elderly, ICT, health informatics systems, web services

The effect of aging on network structure

In network evolution, the effect of aging is universal: in scientific collaboration network, scientists have a finite time span of being active; in movie actors network, once popular stars are retiring from stage; devices on the Internet may become outmoded with techniques developing so rapidly. Here we find in citation networks that this effect can be represented by an exponential decay factor, $e^{-\beta \tau}$, where $\tau$ is the node age, while other evolving networks (the Internet for instance) may have different types of aging, for example, a power-law decay factor, which is also studied and compared. It has been found that as soon as such a factor is introduced to the Barabasi-Albert Scale-Free model, the network will be significantly transformed. The network will be clustered even with infinitely large size, and the clustering coefficient varies greatly with the intensity of the aging effect, i.e. it increases linearly with $\beta$ for small values of $\beta$ and decays exponentially for large values of $\beta$. At the same time, the aging effect may also result in a hierarchical structure and a disassortative degree-degree correlation. Generally the aging effect will increase the average distance between nodes, but the result depends on the type of the decay factor. The network appears like a one-dimensional chain when exponential decay is chosen, but with power-law decay, a transformation process is observed, i.e., from a small-world network to a hypercubic lattice, and to a one-dimensional chain finally. The disparities observed for different choices of the decay factor, in clustering, average node distance and probably other aspects not yet identified, are believed to bear significant meaning on empirical data acquisition.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures,V2, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.