3,033 research outputs found
The City of Morro Bay, California Sign Ordinance Update and Tourism-Oriented Directional Sign Plan
ABSTRACT
The City of Morro Bay, California – Sign Ordinance Update and Embarcadero District
Tourism-Oriented Directional Sign Plan
Erik Berg-Johansen
This report includes a Draft Sign Ordinance, a Tourism-Oriented Directional Sign Plan, and a background report for each product. The final products were created thought a process involving extensive research, community outreach, and detailed discussions among City of Morro Bay staff.
The Sign Ordinance
It was discovered that signs are important to business owners and residents due to their effect on both economic and aesthetic issues in communities. This report documents research of scholarly articles, case studies, and community outreach efforts. This report includes survey results and analysis that reveal the opinions of Morro Bay business owners, and also their ideas in regards to the sign ordinance update. According to many business owners, the current sign ordinance is convoluted, virtually unenforced, and unfairly applied. It was the goal of this project to hear what the community desires, and then apply this knowledge to a proposal that residents and business owners in Morro Bay approve of. The proposed sign ordinance aims to be fair and user-friendly, while ultimately enhancing community character and aesthetic quality in the future.
Tourism-Oriented Directional Sign Plan
The Tourism-Oriented Directional Sign Plan was created to promote tourism in the City of Morro Bay and negate the need for A-frame sign use in the Embarcadero District. The plan includes three alternatives that are intended to spur discussion among the Planning Commission when the proposal is presented. The background report associated with this plan is intended to provide the reasoning behind the proposals, and give readers of the plan background knowledge on directional signs in general. Similar to the sign ordinance background report, this report documents research of scholarly articles, case studies, and community outreach efforts
Peeling Potatoes as Health Promotion? Self-Perceived Benefits of Volunteering among Older Adult Volunteers in a Norwegian Volunteer Centre
In recent years, voluntary work undertaken by older people has been viewed as a possible way to link aging populations with individual and societal needs related to healthy aging. Based on focus group interviews, the study aims to clarify how volunteering is maintained in older populations and examines how older adults (aged 65+years) in a Norwegian volunteer centre perceived the benefits of volunteering. The results of the study highlight the importance of the volunteer centre as a place in which to participate and be social, for a sense of belonging to a fellowship of co-volunteers, and as an arena for personal growth and adaption to old age. These aspects were described by the volunteers as health promoting. Additionally, the context of the voluntary work, as the volunteer activities and the way they were organized, was significant for their experiences. From these findings, it is a need for in-depth studies of the dynamics of everyday volunteer work in order to gain a better understanding of the relationship between self-rated health benefits and the organizational contexts in which older adults retain to work voluntarily.publishedVersio
Individual differences in white matter microstructure reflect variation in functional connectivity during action choice.
The relation between brain structure and function is of fundamental importance in neuroscience. Comparisons between behavioral and brain imaging measures suggest that variation in brain structure correlates with the presence of specific skills[1-3]. Behavioral measures, however, reflect the integrated function of multiple brain regions. Rather than behavior, a physiological index of function could be a more sensitive and informative measure with which to compare structural measures. Here, we test for a relationship between a physiological measure of functional connectivity between two brain areas during a simple decision making task and a measure of structural connectivity. Paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation indexed functional connectivity between two regions important for action choices: premotor and motor cortex. Fractional anisotropy (FA), a marker of microstructural integrity, indexed structural connectivity. Individual differences in functional connectivity during action selection show highly specific correlations with FA in localised regions of white matter interconnecting regions including the premotor and motor cortex. Probabilistic tractography[4, 5], a technique for identifying fibre pathways from diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), reconstructed the anatomical networks linking the component brain regions involved in making decisions. These findings demonstrate a relationship between individual differences in functional and structural connectivity within human brain networks central to action choice
A simple transformation independent method for outlier definition
Abstract
Background:
Definition and elimination of outliers is a key element for medical laboratories establishing or verifying reference intervals (RIs). Especially as inclusion of just a few outlying observations may seriously affect the determination of the reference limits. Many methods have been developed for definition of outliers. Several of these methods are developed for the normal distribution and often data require transformation before outlier elimination.
Methods:
We have developed a non-parametric transformation independent outlier definition. The new method relies on drawing reproducible histograms. This is done by using defined bin sizes above and below the median. The method is compared to the method recommended by CLSI/IFCC, which uses Box-Cox transformation (BCT) and Tukey’s fences for outlier definition. The comparison is done on eight simulated distributions and an indirect clinical datasets.
Results:
The comparison on simulated distributions shows that without outliers added the recommended method in general defines fewer outliers. However, when outliers are added on one side the proposed method often produces better results. With outliers on both sides the methods are equally good. Furthermore, it is found that the presence of outliers affects the BCT, and subsequently affects the determined limits of current recommended methods. This is especially seen in skewed distributions. The proposed outlier definition reproduced current RI limits on clinical data containing outliers.
Conclusions:
We find our simple transformation independent outlier detection method as good as or better than the currently recommended methods.
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Rescue of long-term spatial memory by 7,8-dihydroxyflavone in mice with reduced oligodendrogenesis
Oligodendrogenesis is the process by which new oligodendrocytes are produced in the CNS. Oligodendrocytes form myelin, which has a vital role in neural signal transmission and integration. Here we tested mice with reduced adult oligodendrogenesis in the Morris water maze, a test of spatial learning. These mice were found to have impaired long-term (28 d) spatial memory. However, when 7,8-dihydroxyflavone (7,8-DHF) was administered immediately after each training session, their long-term spatial memory impairment was rescued. An increase in the number of newly formed oligodendrocytes in the corpus callosum was also observed. 7,8-DHF has previously been shown to improve spatial memory in animal models of Alzheimer's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, Wolfram syndrome and Down syndrome, as well as in normal aging. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of the effect of this drug on spatial memory is therefore helpful in assessing it for clinical relevance and development
Solidification behavior and thermal conductivity of bulk sodium acetate trihydrate composites with thickening agents and graphite
En god dag pĂĄ jobben: evaluering av prosjektet "Trygghet og tillit"
Politiets tillit i befolkningen varierer noe i ulike grupper – og
ungdom med minoritetsbakgrunn er av dem som har lavest tillit
til politiet. Denne utfordringen ønsket man å gjøre noe med,
og i 2008 iverksatte POD prosjektet «Trygghet og tillit». Denne
rapporten omhandler evaluering av hovedprosjektet som bestĂĄr
av 18 gjennomførte tiltak i fire politidistrikter og et særorgan.
Tiltakene er valgt ut og gjennomført lokalt og varierer i innhold,
omfang, metode og plassering i organisasjonen. Alle tiltakene har
en felles målsetting: Å øke tilliten mellom politi og ungdom med
minoritetsbakgrunn. I prosjektet har man ikke vært opptatt av at
de enkelte tiltakene nødvendigvis skal videreføres i eget distrikt,
eventuelt overføres til andre. Men de arbeidsmetodene som er
utviklet i løpet av prosjektperioden er det stor enighet om at
fortjener ĂĄ leve videre i etaten etter at prosjektet er avsluttet
Study and Analyses Plan:Are tibial plateau fractures associated with an increased risk of early knee arthroplasty? A matched cohort study of X0001 tibial plateau fractures with an average of XX1 years follow-up
Relevance of Structural Brain Connectivity to Learning and Recovery from Stroke
The physical structure of white matter fiber bundles constrains their function. Any behavior that relies on transmission of signals along a particular pathway will therefore be influenced by the structural condition of that pathway. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging provides localized measures that are sensitive to white matter microstructure. In this review, we discuss imaging evidence on the relevance of white matter microstructure to behavior. We focus in particular on motor behavior and learning in healthy individuals and in individuals who have suffered a stroke. We provide examples of ways in which imaging measures of structural brain connectivity can inform our study of motor behavior and effects of motor training in three different domains: (1) to assess network degeneration or damage with healthy aging and following stroke, (2) to identify a structural basis for individual differences in behavioral responses, and (3) to test for dynamic changes in structural connectivity with learning or recovery
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