The key role of nitric oxide in hypoxia: hypoxic vasodilation and energy supply-demand matching

Significance: a mismatch between energy supply and demand induces tissue hypoxia with the potential to cause cell death and organ failure. Whenever arterial oxygen concentration is reduced, increases in blood flow - 'hypoxic vasodilation' - occur in an attempt to restore oxygen supply. Nitric oxide is a major signalling and effector molecule mediating the body's response to hypoxia, given its unique characteristics of vasodilation (improving blood flow and oxygen supply) and modulation of energetic metabolism (reducing oxygen consumption and promoting utilization of alternative pathways). Recent advances: this review covers the role of oxygen in metabolism and responses to hypoxia, the hemodynamic and metabolic effects of nitric oxide, and mechanisms underlying the involvement of nitric oxide in hypoxic vasodilation. Recent insights into nitric oxide metabolism will be discussed, including the role for dietary intake of nitrate, endogenous nitrite reductases, and release of nitric oxide from storage pools. The processes through which nitric oxide levels are elevated during hypoxia are presented, namely (i) increased synthesis from nitric oxide synthases, increased reduction of nitrite to nitric oxide by heme- or pterin-based enzymes and increased release from nitric oxide stores, and (ii) reduced deactivation by mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase. Critical issues: several reviews covered modulation of energetic metabolism by nitric oxide, while here we highlight the crucial role NO plays in achieving cardiocirculatory homeostasis during acute hypoxia through both vasodilation and metabolic suppression Future directions: we identify a key position for nitric oxide in the body's adaptation to an acute energy supply-demand mismatc

UNBOUND

This adjective - ex-traor-di-nary, describes the creative talents of our graduating Fashion Design class of 2009. Their accomplishments are a true celebration of the three years of passion, hard work, and dedication of our student designers. It is our hope that family, friends and the fashion industry will enjoy the creative endeavours of the next generation of Canadian fashion talent from the Fashion design program at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario.https://first.fanshawec.ca/famd_design_fashiondesign_unbound/1006/thumbnail.jp

UNBOUND

As part of the graduating class of Fanshawe College\u27s Fashion Design program, we are leaving the comfort of our cocoon to transform ourselves into full-fledged designers. Our aspirations have developed, and our goals have become clear. Reaching the heights of new age fashion is now possible with the wings that have been provided to us through the articulate direction and constant devotion of our advisors. With all of the help and guidance that our professors have given us, we are now able to go into the industry with confidence. The creativity within the Unbound show is a reflection of the intellect, devotion, passion and strong will that our designer\u27s possess. We have collected ourselves as individuals and have successfully pulled together in a collaborative effort to attain excellence and success in tonight\u27s Unbound fashion gala. - Graduating Class of 2009https://first.fanshawec.ca/famd_design_fashiondesign_unbound/1005/thumbnail.jp

Preference Change

International audienceMost models of rational action assume that all possible states and actions are pre-defined and that preferences change only when beliefs do. But several decision and game problems lack these features, calling for a dynamic model of preferences: preferences can change when unforeseen possibilities come to light or when there is no specifiable or measurable change in belief. We propose a formally precise dynamic model of preferences that extends an existing static model (Boutilier et al. in J Artif Intell Res 21:135-191, 2004). Our axioms for updating preferences preserve consistency while minimising change, like Hansson's (Theory Decis 38(1):1-28, 1995). But unlike prior models of preference change, ours supports default reasoning with partial preference information, which is essential to handle decision problems where the decision tree isn't surveyable. We also show that our model avoids problems for other models of preference change discussed in Spohn (Preference change: approaches from philosophy. Economics and Psychology: Springer, pp 109-121, 2009)

The citadel on stage : the rise and decline of garrison theatre in Halifax

ix, 117 leaves ; 28 cm.Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-117).This thesis traces theatre and other entertainments provided by French explorers and British military contingents stationed at garrisons in Annapolis Royal, Fort Anne, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, from 1606 to 1906. The narrative argues that politics, religion, and economics were involved in the social and cultural aspects of theatre and spectacle performed by garrison officers and men during that time. However, the main focus is the rise and decline of the garrison theatrical tradition in Halifax, from 1773 to 1874, in order to understand why the officers and men of the British military produced and acted in stage plays; why the men found it necessary to play the women's parts, and how the female actors were selected; why the repertoire of the garrison amateurs consisted mainly of comedy and farce; and what caused the decline and eventual grand finale of garrison theatre in Halifax. Indexing (document details

Semi-supervised learning of a pomdp model of patientcaregiver interactions. unpublished manuscript

This paper presents a decision theoretic model of interactions between assistive technology and users during activities of daily living. The model is a partially observable Markov decision process whose goal is to monitor a user, assist the user during each activity, maintain indicators of overall user health, and adapt to changes. The key idea behind the model is that it is relatively easy to specify, and can be applied to many activities of daily living with little modification. The key contribution of this paper is to show how such a model can be learned without knowing the classes of behaviors of the user a priori. This semi-supervised learning will enable assistive technologies to be applied ubiquitously for many different activities. We give some results from a preliminary version of the model for the task of handwashing.

POMDP Models for Assistive Technology

This paper presents a general decision theoretic model of interactions between users and cognitive assistive technologies for various tasks of importance to the elderly population. The model is a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP) whose goal is to work in conjunction with a user towards the completion of a given activity or task. This requires the model to monitor and assist the user, to maintain indicators of overall user health, and to adapt to changes. The key strengths of the POMDP model are that it is able to deal with uncertainty, it is easy to specify, it can be applied to different tasks with little modification, and it is able to learn and adapt to changing tasks and situations