1,773 research outputs found
Dynamism in the context of views out: A literature review
Previous studies have shown that access to a satisfactory view to the outside with sufficient daylight is essential for building occupants\u27 health and well-being. It has also been suggested that certain features of visual content improve view-out quality, such as horizontal stratification, natural landscapes, distant features, and diversity of visual elements. Additionally, having movement and changes in viewing content has been shown to further strengthen building occupants’ engagement and connectivity to their surrounding environment. The objective of this paper is to review the literature on the dynamism of the view content and the inclusion of this criterion in the current metrics of view evaluation. Our review revealed a need for further research on view dynamism, especially focusing on testing different types, speeds, and scales of movement on view quality assessment. It also showed that more comprehensive view evaluation frameworks should be developed to accurately preserve the dynamic qualities of window views in experimental settings. While many view rating metrics have acknowledged the importance of movement, this criterion is to date ignored or only poorly included in existing metrics, which further highlights the need of learning more about this topic
Adapting to ageing: a mixed methods study of the role of Selection, Optimisation and Compensation in the maintenance of high wellbeing
Objectives: Selection, Optimization and Compensation (SOC) may contribute to successful aging by helping older people maximize wellbeing in the context of physical decline. To explore this hypothesis, and to investigate the potential for narrative analysis to improve understanding of SOC, we analyze interviews conducted with 15 members of the 6-Day Sample, a cohort of Scots born in 1936.
Method: Interviewees were chosen based on their physical function and wellbeing scores. Interviews were analyzed to investigate ‘SOC talk’, i.e. older people’s talk about SOC behaviors in everyday life. Types and amounts of SOC talk were quantified, and talk was narratively analyzed. We hypothesized that older people who engaged in more SOC talk would have higher wellbeing.
Results: Older people who engaged in high levels of SOC talk had high wellbeing despite low physical function. Those who engaged in little SOC talk had low wellbeing despite higher physical function.
Discussion: The concept of successful aging is valuable in part because of its narrative quality: one must strive to keep one’s life story developing despite physical decline and other losses. We provide evidence, from the perspectives of older people themselves, of the ways in which SOC may play a role in that process
Measurement of epigenetic alterations from patient’s tissues in myoma, adenomyoma and endometriosis
Background: Myoma, adenomyoma, and endometriosis are estrogen-dependent gynecologic diseases and result in reproductive dysfunction and pelvic pain in women. However, these gynecologic diseases have a complex and poorly understood etiology, involving both genetic and environmental factors. Epigenetic alterations, heritable changes that can modify gene expression without affecting genetic sequence, are associated with the development and progression of numerous pathological states and diseases. Therefore, there is great potential for the use of epigenetics as biomarkers to better understand the early-stage biological responses and molecular mechanisms of gynecologic diesases. We aimed to examine levels of global DNA and gene-specific methylation, which are epigenetic alterations that could be associated with development of gynecologic diseases, including myoma, adenomyoma, and endometriosis.
Methods: We measured global DNA methylation (LINE-1) as well as disease relevant gene-specific methylation (i.e. ER, PR, and aromatase) using pyrosequencing assay. For this measurement, gene-specific primers for the selected genes were designed using the Pyro-Mark assay design software. Genomic DNAs from each tissue were extracted, and underwent bisulfite modification to convert unmethylated cytosine residues to uracil. A Pyromark Q96 MD was used for all subsequent pyrosequencing. Samples were processed in duplicates on plates with water controls. Percent methylation of a sample was calculated by averaging all of the interrogated CpG sites.
Results: Different methylation levels of selected genes were measured from myoma, adenomyoma, and endometriosis tissues. Our obtained results suggest that epigenetic changes are involved in development of different types of gynecologic diseases
Alcohol intake and cardiovascular risk factors:A Mendelian randomisation study
Mendelian randomisation studies from Asia suggest detrimental influences of alcohol on cardiovascular risk factors, but such associations are observed mainly in men. The absence of associations of genetic variants (e.g. rs671 in ALDH2) with such risk factors in women – who drank little in these populations – provides evidence that the observations are not due to genetic pleiotropy. Here, we present a Mendelian randomisation study in a South Korean population (3,365 men and 3,787 women) that 1) provides robust evidence that alcohol consumption adversely affects several cardiovascular disease risk factors, including blood pressure, waist to hip ratio, fasting blood glucose and triglyceride levels. Alcohol also increases HDL cholesterol and lowers LDL cholesterol. Our study also 2) replicates sex differences in associations which suggests pleiotropy does not underlie the associations, 3) provides further evidence that association is not due to pleiotropy by showing null effects in male non-drinkers, and 4) illustrates a way to measure population-level association where alcohol intake is stratified by sex. In conclusion, population-level instrumental variable estimation (utilizing interaction of rs671 in ALDH2 and sex as an instrument) strengthens causal inference regarding the largely adverse influence of alcohol intake on cardiovascular health in an Asian population
A continuous-wave and pulsed X-band electron spin resonance spectrometer operating in ultra-high vacuum for the study of low dimensional spin ensembles
We report the development of a continuous-wave and pulsed X-band electron
spin resonance (ESR) spectrometer for the study of spins on ordered surfaces
down to cryogenic temperatures. The spectrometer operates in ultra-high vacuum
and utilizes a half-wavelength microstrip line resonator realized using
epitaxially grown copper films on single crystal AlO substrates. The
one-dimensional microstrip line resonator exhibits a quality factor of more
than 200 at room temperature, close to the upper limit determined by radiation
losses. The surface characterizations of the copper strip of the resonator by
atomic force microscope, low-energy electron diffraction, and scanning
tunneling microscope show that the surface is atomically clean, flat, and
single crystalline. Measuring the ESR spectrum at 15 K from a few nm thick
molecular film of YPc, we find a continuous-wave ESR sensitivity of indicating that a
signal-to-noise ratio of is expected from
a monolayer of YPc molecules. Advanced pulsed ESR experimental capabilities
including dynamical decoupling and electron-nuclear double resonance are
demonstrated using free radicals diluted in a glassy matrix.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
An antisite defect mechanism for room temperature ferroelectricity in orthoferrites
Single-phase multiferroic materials that allow the coexistence of
ferroelectric and magnetic ordering above room temperature are highly
desirable, motivating an ongoing search for mechanisms for unconventional
ferroelectricity in magnetic oxides. Here, we report an antisite defect
mechanism for room temperature ferroelectricity in epitaxial thin films of
yttrium orthoferrite, YFeO3, a perovskite-structured canted antiferromagnet. A
combination of piezoresponse force microscopy, atomically resolved elemental
mapping with aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and
density functional theory calculations reveals that the presence of YFe
antisite defects facilitates a non-centrosymmetric distortion promoting
ferroelectricity. This mechanism is predicted to work analogously for other
rare earth orthoferrites, with a dependence of the polarization on the radius
of the rare earth cation. Furthermore, a vertically aligned nanocomposite
consisting of pillars of a magnetoelastic oxide CoFe2O4 embedded epitaxially in
the YFeO3 matrix exhibits both robust ferroelectricity and ferrimagnetism at
room temperature, as well as a noticeable strain-mediated magnetoelectric
coupling effect. Our work uncovers the distinctive role of antisite defects in
providing a novel mechanism for ferroelectricity in a range of magnetic
orthoferrites and further augments the functionality of this family of complex
oxides for multiferroic applications
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