Published reports and memoranda of the Aeronautical Research Council (nos. 3551 to 3650)

This paper lists one hundred titles which have been published in the R. & M. Series of the Aeronautical Research Council. The Council number is included for the purpose of record only

Analyzing the Effects of Adolescent Risky Behaviors on Suicidal Ideation

This study is an analysis of adolescent risk behaviors contributing to an increased rate of suicidal ideation for 12 to 18 year olds. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System Survey (YRBSS) is an epidemiologic survey designed to monitor the prevalence of risky behaviors of adolescents in middle and high school1. The YRBSS is a complex sample survey with a three-stage cluster design. Multiple logistic regression is used to analyze the data, including methods of analysis to address issues in complex survey design. Results of this study indicate several different risk factors that influence the rate of suicidal ideation among adolescents, including alcohol and drug use, sexual risky behaviors, unhealthy weight loss methods, depressed mood, sex and race/ethnicity. The conclusions of this study indicate that many risk factors associated with suicidal ideation are behaviors that could be addressed with early intervention strategies to reduce the risk of suicidal ideation

Parallel Simulation of Structural VHDL Circuits on Intel Hypercubes

Many VLSI circuit designs are too large to be simulated with VHDL in a reasonable amount of time. One approach to reducing the simulation time is to distribute the simulation over several processors. This research creates an environment for designing and simulating structural VHDL circuits on the Intel iPSC/2 and iPSC/860 Hypercubes. Logic gates and system behaviors are partitioned among the processors, and signed changes are shared via event messages. Circuit simulations are run over the SPECTRUM parallel simulation testbed, and the null- message paradigm is used to avoid deadlock. Structural circuits ranging from forty to over one thousand logic gates are correctly simulated. Although no attempt is made to find optimal partitioning strategies, speedups are obtained for some configurations

Emissions to the environment of brominated and organophosphate flame retardants in the waste streams

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), “novel” brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) and organophospate flame retardants (PFRs) are industrial chemicals widely used in consumer products to enhance their ignition resistance. The toxicity of some BFRs has led to concern about human exposure. The work carried out for this PhD thesis, focuses on brominated and organophospate flame retardants (FRs) emissions to the environment in the waste streams. It divided into 2 parts. First part was about taken the field measurements of the brominated FRs (BFRs) contaminants in the air and soil surrounded vicinity of six Oman landfills. The second part was about examining the potential for emissions of FRs from an end-of-life polyurethane furniture foams (PUF) via leaching experiments. The analyses of samples in this study were performed according to the methodology and QA/QC procedures in the chapter (2). Therefore, a substantial amount of PBDEs were found emitted into the environment from landfills in high concentrations in comparison to non-landfilled areas. The percent ratio of BDE-209 in ∑PBDEs for all sampling locations in this study was particularly high as well as same of some percentages of other places in worldwide. Furthermore, PBDEs affected by different periodical variation trends. These were possibly mainly because the various types of PBDEs emitted from different varieties of BFR-containing waste and also were affected by various landfilling processes. The concentrations of ΣPBDEs in air samples in the vicinity of Oman landfills ranged from 176.38 - 1803.13 pg m$^{-3}$. Also, the concentrations of ΣPBDEs in soil ranged from 65 - 252 ng g$^{-1}$ in Am landfill (mean 146 ng g$^{-1}$) and from 25 to 158 ng g$^{-1}$ in Ra landfill (mean 91 ng g$^{-1}$). The average of other landfills was 199, 234, 246, and 174 ng g$^{-1}$ for Ni, Ib, So, and Bu landfills, respectively. The ∑NBFR concentrations are lesser than that for PBDEs. They ranged in this study from 11 - 163 pg m$^{-3}$ and from 4.5 - 13 pg m$^{-3}$ at the vicinity of Oman landfills and reference sites, respectively. They ranged too from 20.5 – 47 ng g$^{-1}$ and from nd – 1.29 ng g$^{-1}$ in soil surrounded the landfills in Oman, respectiveley. The leaching experiments of the FRs that were investigated in this study under the effect of a range of landfill relevant leaching fluids and parameters. The leaching concentrations of FRs from PUF wastes were determined. Thus, the most significant findings of these experiments are that large concentrations of FRs can be created in leachate from PUF wastes in spite of their physicochemical properties like comparatively excessive hydrophobicity and moderately little water solubility. The levels for the ƩPBDEs in these experiments were ranged from 1389 - 975325 µg L$^{-1}$, BEH-TEBP were ranged from 215 - 107800 µg L$^{-1}$, EH-TBB were ranged from 75 – 37730 µg L$^{-1}$, TCIPP was were covered from 6639 - 353326 µg L$^{-1}$ and TPhP was range from 598 - 85608 µg L$^{-1}$. The ƩPBDEs concentrations are higher than the results of leaching experiments that prepared by Stubbings (2015) of ƩPBDEs in CRT plastics (ranged from 14000 – 200000 ng L$^{-1}$) but were comparable to a high of his study of TCIPP leaching fluids (13 - 130 mg L$^{-1}$). Henceforth, The NBFRs and TPhP were studied for the first time in this study. The leaching experiments consisted of sequences of standardized trials that were accomplished to examine of FR leaching out from a flame retarded PUF waste, containing PUF samples from USA and UK. The leaching examinations were performed by using a range of leaching solutions, with the viewpoint of emulating of the features of actual landfill leachates. A four number of diverse analysis factors were inspected, for instance as variety of dissolved humic matter (DHM) densities, the pHs of 5.8, 6.5 and 8.5 which is relevant of landfill leachate, landfill proper temperatures, the effect of agitation, contact periods and measured the mass to leachate ratio. It is evident from these tests that even with the comparatively hydrophobic physicochemical properties of BFRs, they are capable of leaching out from waste materials at considerable concentrations

Elder abuse in Norwegian nursing homes: Prevalence and risk factors

Norsk sammendrag Bakgrunn: Vold, overgrep og forsømmelser mot eldre er et alvorlig folkehelse- og menneskerettighetsproblem som forventes å øke i takt med den økende andelen eldre i befolkningen. Slike uønskede hendelser påvirker en persons velvære og har blitt satt i sammenheng med en rekke negative fysiske og psykiske helseutfall fra mindre plager til tidlig død. I tillegg har det betydelige samfunnsmessige og økonomiske konsekvenser. Vold, overgrep og forsømmelser kan skje både i hjemmet og i institusjon, og det kan begås av både pårørende, helsepersonell og medbeboere, og inkluderer ulike typer: psykisk vold, fysisk vold, økonomisk/materiell vold, seksuelle overgrep og forsømmelser. I sykehjem er beboere spesielt sårbare og utsatte på grunn av sin fysiske og kognitive svikt, avhengighet av omsorgspersoner og et delt boareal med personer med utfordrende adferd. Ulike faktorer ved både den som blir utsatt og den som begår handlingen, deres relasjon, sykehjemmet og samfunnet for øvrig, har vist seg å ha betydning for at uønskede hendelser oppstår. Verdens helseorganisasjon (WHO) understreker at vold, overgrep og forsømmelser mot eldre er mindre forsket på enn andre typer vold, og med den økende andelen eldre i befolkningen, oppfordrer WHO alle land til mer forskning som kan bidra til å forebygge og redusere omfanget av slike uønskede hendelser. Formål: Det overordnede målet med denne avhandlingen var å frembringe ny kunnskap om omfanget og risikofaktorer relatert til vold, overgrep og forsømmelser mot beboere i norske sykehjem. Dette ble beskrevet i tre artikler med spesifikke formål: (I) estimere antallet hendelser begått av pleieansatte, og undersøke demografiske forskjeller ved ansatte som begår og ikke begår slike handlinger; (II) estimere antallet hendelser av aggresjon mellom beboere og undersøke forskjeller ved sykehjem som har høy og lav forekomst, og (III) undersøke faktorer på ulike nivå i den økologiske modellen (individuell, relasjonell, institusjonell) som kan ha en sammenheng med psykisk vold, fysisk vold og forsømmelser begått av pleieansatte. En fjerde artikkel, som er under utarbeidelse, estimerer antallet hendelser av vold og overgrep begått av pårørende i sykehjem. Metode: Dette var en nasjonal tverrsnittstudie av 3693 pleieansatte rekruttert fra 100 ulike sykehjem over hele Norge. Dataene ble samlet inn ved hjelp av et kvantitativt spørreskjema som undersøkte antallet hendelser av vold, overgrep og forsømmelser observert og begått av pleieansatte, antallet hendelser av aggresjon mellom beboere, og antallet hendelser av vold og overgrep begått av pårørende i løpet av det siste året. I tillegg inneholdt skjemaet spørsmål om ulike faktorer knyttet til pleieansatte, deres relasjon med beboerne og faktorer ved sykehjemmet. Forekomsten av vold, overgrep og forsømmelser ble presentert med antall og prosent, mens risikofaktorene ble analysert med Pearsons khikvadrattest og en flernivå regresjonsmodell. Funn: Resultat fra studien viser at 76% av pleieansatte hadde ved minst én anledning observert en kollega begå vold, overgrep eller forsømmelser, mens cirka 60% av pleieansatte innrømmet å ha begått minst én slik handling selv i løpet av det siste året. Psykisk vold og forsømmelser var mest rapportert (artikkel I). Regresjonsmodellen viste at individuelle risikofaktorer for at pleieansatte begår psykisk vold, fysisk vold og forsømmelser var at de hadde helsefaglig utdanning, symptomer på psykiske plager, intensjon om å slutte i jobben og dårlige holdninger til personer med demens. Ansatte som rapporterte om dårlig kvalitet på egen barndom, rapporterte om flere forsømmelser. Relasjonelle faktorer som aggressiv adferd fra beboere og pleierelaterte konflikter, viste seg å ha sammenheng med flere hendelser av psykisk vold, fysisk vold og forsømmelser. Av institusjonelle faktorer, var mangel på støtte fra leder assosiert med flere handlinger av psykisk vold (artikkel III). Nær 89% av pleieansatte hadde observert minst én hendelse av aggresjon mellom beboere det siste året, der verbal og fysisk aggresjon var mest rapportert. Pleieansatte som jobbet i skjermede avdelinger, i større sykehjem og sykehjem lokalisert i urbane/suburbane områder, rapporterte om flere hendelser enn ansatte som jobbet i korttids- og langtidsavdelinger, mindre sykehjem og sykehjem lokalisert i rurale områder (artikkel II). Litt under halvparten (46%) av pleieansatte rapporterte at de hadde observert minst én hendelse av vold og overgrep begått av pårørende det siste året, med handlinger av psykisk og fysisk karakter som de mest rapporterte. Konklusjon: Denne avhandlingen presenterer resultater fra den første nasjonale studien som har undersøkt omfanget av og risikofaktorer relatert til vold, overgrep og forsømmelser mot beboere i norske sykehjem. Studien er en av de største i verden som har kartlagt omfanget av slike hendelser mot eldre i pleieinstitusjoner. Samlet sett bidrar funnene i denne avhandlingen til mer kunnskap om et utbredt og mangesidig problem i norske sykehjem. Et problem som trenger oppmerksomhet fra både helsepersonell, ledere i institusjoner, ledere i kommuner og samfunnet for øvrig, spesielt med tanke på den raskt økende befolkningen av eldre som alle har krav på gode og trygge helsetjenester.English Summary Introduction: Elder abuse is recognized as a public health problem, predicted to increase as many countries experience rapid growth in their population of older adults. Elder abuse undermines an older person’s well-being and has been associated with a range of negative health outcomes from minor harms to premature death and has substantial societal and economic consequences. Elder abuse may occur in the community and institutional settings and includes various forms: psychological, physical, financial/material, and sexual abuse, and neglect. In nursing homes, residents are particularly vulnerable due to their physical and cognitive impairments, the dependency of caregivers, and shared living arrangements with other impaired residents; hence, at higher risk of being exposed to abuse by nursing staff, fellow residents, and/or relatives. Different risk factors have been related to the individuals (victim and perpetrator), their relationship, the institution, and the society in general, demonstrating that elder abuse in nursing homes is a complex and multifaceted problem. WHO emphasizes that elder abuse is less addressed than the other forms of interpersonal violence, and with the projected demographic changes in the population all over the world, countries are urged for more research that could lead to prevention and reduction of the mistreatment of older persons. Aim: The overall aim of this thesis was to generate new knowledge on the extent, nature, and risk factors of elder abuse in Norwegian nursing homes. This was presented in three Papers with specific aims: (I) estimate the prevalence of observed and perpetrated staff-to-resident abuse and examine demographic differences between staff who perpetrate and not-perpetrate acts of abuse; (II) estimate the prevalence of resident-to-resident aggression and examine differences in facility characteristics between nursing homes with a high and low occurrence; (III) examine risk factors on different levels of the ecological model (individual, relational, institutional) associated with staff-to-resident psychological abuse, physical abuse, and neglect. A fourth study, in process, estimates the prevalence of relative-to-resident abuse in nursing homes. Methods: This study was a national, cross-sectional survey of 3,693 nursing staff recruited from 100 nursing homes all over Norway. The quantitative data was collected by means of a questionnaire measuring the annual proportion of observed/perpetrated staff-to-resident abuse, observed resident-to-resident aggression, and observed relative-to-resident abuse, and the associations of the different individual (staff), relational, and institutional factors of elder abuse in nursing homes. The annual prevalence of the different types of abuse was presented with frequencies and percentages. Risk factors were analyzed with Pearson’s chi-squared test and a multilevel regression model. Results: Study findings revealed that 76% of the nursing staff had observed, and about 60% admitted, perpetrating at least one incident of staff-to-resident abuse during the previous year, where psychological abuse and neglect were the most reported subtypes (Paper I). The multilevel regression model showed that individual risk factors of staff associated with psychological abuse, physical abuse, and neglect, were having health education, reporting symptoms of psychological distress, intention to leave their job, and reporting poor attitudes towards people with dementia. In addition, staff who reported poorer quality of childhood were more likely to perpetrate neglect. Relational factors such as care-related conflicts and resident aggression were associated with all three types of abuse. Of institutional factors, a lack of support from a manager was associated with perpetrating psychological abuse (Paper III). Concerning resident-to-resident aggression, about 89% of the nursing staff had observed one or more incidents during the previous year, with verbal and physical aggression the most reported. Nursing staff working in dementia special care units, larger nursing homes, and nursing homes located in suburban/urban municipalities, reported more incidents than staff in short-term and long-term units, small institutions, and nursing homes located in rural municipalities (Paper II). Of relative-to-resident abuse, about 46% had observed one or more incidents during the previous year, with acts of psychological and physical character the most reported. Conclusion: This thesis presents results from the first national study that has examined the extent, nature and risk factors of elder abuse in Norwegian nursing homes, and it is one of the largest studies worldwide providing evidence on the magnitude of elder abuse in institutional settings. Overall, the findings contribute to a greater knowledge of a prevalent and multifaceted problem of elder abuse in Norwegian nursing homes requiring immediate attention from both healthcare professionals, institutional managers, municipal leaders, and the society in general, considering in particular the rapidly aging population who are entitled to decent and safe long-term care services

Understanding the role of grit in competitive sport

The ability to persist past challenges and sustain one’s pursuit of long-term goals is essential for athlete success. One motivational disposition that may enable athletes to overcome setbacks is grit. Grit, defined as perseverance and passion over the long term, has been linked to sport success. However, the role of grit in sport requires further exploration. This mixed-methods research program aimed to investigate the role of grit in competitive sport through three interrelated studies. Study 1 involved a scoping review of grit in sport, identifying 90 publications exploring relationships between grit and factors such as athlete characteristics, sport performance, motivation, mindfulness, self-compassion, and deliberate practice. Coaches' input helped identify future research considerations. Study 2 examined whether grit predicted important athlete outcomes beyond other determinants of success. Data from 214 collegiate student-athletes revealed that the grit subscales added unique explanatory power when predicting subjective sport performance perceptions and aspects of well-being. This study highlighted the complexity of predicting success in sport, but ultimately provided support for predictive utility of grit in sport. The purpose of Study 3 was to construct a grounded theory of competitive athletes' grit in sport. Interviews with 28 participants indicated that grit was a malleable dispositional tendency shaped by accumulated sport experiences. Support from others fostered adaptive cognitions, which lead to the pursuit of long-term goals in sport. Grit was associated with sport-specific goal achievement, thriving, and languishing. The study contributed to a greater understanding of the processes underlying competitive athletes' sport-specific grit, and provided implications for practice and recommendations for future research. Overall, this program of research found evidence to support the continued study of grit as a relevant and meaningful construct within the competitive sport domain and emphasizes the need for further exploration, including improvements to the measurement of grit and the creation of interventions to enhance grit levels

Exploring metabolic vulnerability and therapeutic potential in cancers with isocitrate dehydrogenase mutations

Treatment of mutant isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) glioma remains challenging; targeted allosteric inhibitors currently provide limited clinical effect. Resistance to mutIDH1 inhibitors has also emerged in other cancers with mutant IDH1. IDH1 catalyses the decarboxylation of isocitrate to 2-oxoglutarate (2-OG) and concomitant reduction of NADP+ to NADPH. Upon mutation, the enzyme instead reduces 2-OG to (R)-2-hydroxyglutarate (2 HG) with NADPH. 2 HG accumulates to high levels in cells and is thought to promote tumorigenesis by e.g., disrupting DNA and histone methylation and impairing DNA repair. Altered central carbon, amino acid and lipid metabolism, as well as redox homeostasis, has been linked to expression of mutIDH1R132H and presence of high levels of 2-HG. Yet, the understanding of the mechanisms by which 2 HG affects metabolism, and what capacity those metabolic changes have to drive tumorigenesis, remains limited. A more detailed comprehension of the metabolic changes in mutIDH1 glioma and how they relate to 2-HG abundance would improve understanding of tumorigenesis and potentially uncover new therapeutic targets. The aim of this thesis was therefore to investigate mutIDH1 glioma metabolism by comparison to a matched wild-type (wt) IDH1 model and with metabolic inhibitors targeting the mutated enzyme or substrate availability. The glioblastoma cell line LN18 with mutant IDH1 expressed via lentiviral vector was compared to wtIDH1 LN18 cells and treated with mutIDH1 inhibitors (AG-120, AG-881, BAY 1436032, GSK864 and FT2102) or glutaminase (GLS) inhibitor (CB-839) to investigate mutIDH1 glioma metabolism. Anion exchange chromatography (IC) and reverse phase liquid chromatography (RPLC), both coupled to mass spectrometers (MS) were used to measure metabolites in samples. Cell viability was measured by colorimetric assay. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were performed to identify altered metabolites and reveal correlative relationships to 2-HG abundance. Untargeted pathways analysis was used to assess metabolic changes at the pathway level. The abundance of 2-HG was significantly elevated in mutIDH1R132H LN18 cells and glutamine was the main carbon source. Amino acids and metabolic intermediates, nucleotides, lipid related metabolites, N acetylaspartylglutamate (NAAG) and B citryl L glutamate (B CG) were significantly altered in the mutant cell line. On the pathway level, amino acid metabolism (lysine degradation, BCAA catabolism, glutamate, arginine & proline and aspartate & asparagine), butanoate & propanoate and vitamin B1 and vitamin C were significantly altered between the wtIDH1 and mutIDH1R132H LN18 cells. Certain metabolites required 2-OG or NADPH for biosynthesis, while others did not, suggesting that 2-HG affected metabolism both directly (e.g., competitive inhibition) or indirectly (e.g., altered transcription of enzymes). MutIDH1 inhibitors were capable of significantly decreasing 2-HG abundance in mutIDH1R132H LN18 cells. AG-120, AG-881 and GSK864 were also capable of inhibiting wtIDH1; isocitrate accumulated in treated cells. AG-881 was inferior in ability to decrease 2-HG abundance and reached a maximum inhibition threshold at far lower concentration than the other three mutIDH1 inhibitors. None of the mutIDH1 inhibitors had a substantial impact on cell viability. Mutant cells treated with mutIDH1 inhibitors were metabolically more similar to wtIDH1 cells. Several metabolites correlated with 2-HG abundance. Nevertheless, it was difficult to determine the extent 2-HG abundance affected other metabolites due to concurrent inhibition of wtIDH1. GLS inhibition was assessed as an alternative treatment strategy; it indirectly decreased substrate availability by decreasing glutamate abundance. Cell viability was decreased significantly compared to treatment with mutIDH1 inhibitors. Despite 2-OG abundance decreasing, 2-HG levels were maintained. However, this effect was used to determine which metabolites were affected by 2-HG only or and which were also dependent on 2-OG. Amino acid metabolism was suggested to be affected by competitive inhibition by 2-HG. Amino acids are key for cell proliferation by providing energy and are substrates for anaplerosis and redox-active compounds. B-CG had a particularly strong correlative relationship to 2 HG abundance and the effect was likely indirect. The function of B CG in human metabolism is not well understood, but its proposed redox protective abilities suggest a tumorigenic role in maintaining redox homeostasis. Collectively, the experiments in this thesis revealed that 2-HG abundance correlated consistently with certain metabolic changes and that altered metabolism was due to a combination of direct and indirect effects by 2-HG. Future work should focus on the potential contributions to tumorigenesis and therapeutic potential of B-CG and amino acid metabolism in mutIDH1 glioma

Development of a diode laser heterodyne spectrometer and observations of silicon monoxide in sunspots

A state of the art, tunable diode laser infrared heterodyne spectrometer was designed and constructed for ground based observations throughout the 8 to 12 micron atmospheric window. The instrument was optimized for use with presently available tunable diode lasers, and was designed as a flexible field system for use with large reflecting telescopes. The instrument was aligned and calibrated using laboratory and astronomical sources. Observations of SiO fundamental (v = 1-0) and hot band (v = 2-1) absorption features were made in sunspots near 8 microns using the spectrometer. The data permit an unambiguous determination of the temperature pressure relation in the upper layers of the umbral atmosphere, and support the sunspot model suggested by Stellmacher and Wiehr