The meaning of the experience of sea kayaking for persons with spinal cord injury

Engagement in meaningful activity is at the core of occupational therapy; when a person sustains a spinal cord injury (SCI), access to leisure activities that once had meaning may become limited. This study aims to gain an insider’s perspective on the meaning of engaging in kayaking as a leisure pursuit for six adults with a SCI. It compares the findings to an original study by Taylor & McGruder (1995). A qualitative approach using Spradley’s (1979) interviewing technique was employed. A number of meaningful themes matched the original study by Taylor & McGruder (1995) and were consistent with current literature: atmosphere, achievement, adjusting, safety and physical benefits. The two unique findings of this study were the themes of sense of freedom and equality. Overall, kayaking was found to offer the participants with a SCI a unique experience to participate on equal terms with an able-bodied person, and facilitates freedom of mobility on the water

Clouds, shadows, or twilight? Mayfly nymphs recognise the difference

1. We examined the relative changes in light intensity that initiate night-time locomotor activity changes in nymphs of the mayfly, Stenonema modestum (Heptageniidae). Tests were carried out in a laboratory stream to examine the hypothesis that nymphs increase their locomotion in response to the large and sustained reductions in relative light intensity that take place during twilight but not to short-term daytime light fluctuations or a minimum light intensity threshold. Ambient light intensity was reduced over a range of values representative of evening twilight. Light was reduced over the same range of intensities either continuously or in discrete intervals while at the same time nymph activity on unglazed tile substrata was video recorded. 2. Nymphs increased their locomotor activity during darkness in response to large, sustained relative light decreases, but not in response to short-term, interrupted periods of light decrease. Nymphs did not recognise darkness unless an adequate light stimulus, such as large and sustained relative decrease in light intensity, had taken place. 3. We show that nymphs perceive light change over time and respond only after a lengthy period of accumulation of light stimulus. The response is much lengthier than reported for other aquatic organisms and is highly adaptive to heterogeneous stream environments

A Canvas for Establishing Global Software Development Collaborations

Jufo-id:80620There is an increasing need and interest for organizations to collaborate with internal and external partners on a global scale for creating software-based products and services. Potential risks and different strategies need to be addressed when setting up such collaborations. Aspects such as cultural and social features, coordination, infrastructure, organizational change processes, or communication issues need to be con- sidered. Although there are already experiences available with respect to setting up global collaborations, they mainly focus on specific areas. It is dicult for companies to quickly assess if they have considered all rele- vant aspects. An overall aid that guides companies in systematically setting up global collaborations is widely missing. In this paper we present a study based on the snowballing method as a systematic approach to literature review. Based on this literature review and inputs from indus- try we investigated what aspects and practices need to be considered when establishing global software development collaborations and how to prioritize them. Based on that we created activity roadmaps that aggregate existing experiences. Reported experiences were structured into nine main aspects each containing extracted successful practices for set- ting up global software development collaborations. As a result we came up with an initial version of a canvas that is proposed as guidance for companies for setting up global collaborations in the software development domain.Peer reviewe

Designing a broad-spectrum integrative approach for cancer prevention and treatment

Targeted therapies and the consequent adoption of "personalized" oncology have achieved notablesuccesses in some cancers; however, significant problems remain with this approach. Many targetedtherapies are highly toxic, costs are extremely high, and most patients experience relapse after a fewdisease-free months. Relapses arise from genetic heterogeneity in tumors, which harbor therapy-resistantimmortalized cells that have adopted alternate and compensatory pathways (i.e., pathways that are notreliant upon the same mechanisms as those which have been targeted). To address these limitations, aninternational task force of 180 scientists was assembled to explore the concept of a low-toxicity "broad-spectrum" therapeutic approach that could simultaneously target many key pathways and mechanisms. Using cancer hallmark phenotypes and the tumor microenvironment to account for the various aspectsof relevant cancer biology, interdisciplinary teams reviewed each hallmark area and nominated a widerange of high-priority targets (74 in total) that could be modified to improve patient outcomes. For thesetargets, corresponding low-toxicity therapeutic approaches were then suggested, many of which werephytochemicals. Proposed actions on each target and all of the approaches were further reviewed forknown effects on other hallmark areas and the tumor microenvironment. Potential contrary or procar-cinogenic effects were found for 3.9% of the relationships between targets and hallmarks, and mixedevidence of complementary and contrary relationships was found for 7.1%. Approximately 67% of therelationships revealed potentially complementary effects, and the remainder had no known relationship. Among the approaches, 1.1% had contrary, 2.8% had mixed and 62.1% had complementary relationships. These results suggest that a broad-spectrum approach should be feasible from a safety standpoint. Thisnovel approach has potential to be relatively inexpensive, it should help us address stages and types ofcancer that lack conventional treatment, and it may reduce relapse risks. A proposed agenda for futureresearch is offered

Measurement of the differential cross section for the production of an isolated photon with associated jet in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV

The process ppbar -> photon + jet + X is studied using 1.0 fb^-1 of data collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron ppbar collider at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV. Photons are reconstructed in the central rapidity region |y_gamma|<1.0 with transverse momenta in the range 30<Pt_gamma<400 GeV while jets are reconstructed in either the central |y_jet|15 GeV. The differential cross section d^3sigma/dPt_gamma dy_gamma dy_jet is measured as a function of Pt_gamma in four regions, differing by the relative orientations of the photon and the jet in rapidity. Ratios between the differential cross sections in each region are also presented. Next-to-leading order QCD predictions using different parameterizations of parton distribution functions and theoretical scale choices are compared to the data. The predictions do not simultaneously describe the measured normalization and Pt_gamma dependence of the cross section in any of the four measured regions.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure

Incorporation of Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopes in Age-0 Walleye (Sander vitreus) Tissues Following a Laboratory Diet Switch Experiment

Trophic dynamics are often described by following the exchange of naturally occurring isotopes through aquatic communities. However, without experimentally derived isotopic turnover rates and discrimination factors for each species, tissue, and life stage, these trophic models can be misleading. We conducted a laboratory diet-shift experiment to describe isotopic turnover and discrimination in age-0 walleye (Sander vitreus) dorsal muscle and gutted carcass samples. Although turnover of dietary δ13C (half-life: 10 – 12 days) and δ15N (half-life: ~13 days) signatures was relatively rapid, the diet change was undetected in both tissues during a short transitional period (up to 1.2 times shorter in muscle). Our discrimination estimates generally conform to those of other fishes (ΔCarbon = 0.91, ΔNitrogen = 1.6), but were 30-50% higher in muscle tissues than gutted carcass samples. The assumption that young walleye tissues are in equilibrium with their diet is untrue for weeks following a diet shift and, when incorporated, discrimination factors differ between tissues. We provide tissue-specific parameters that remove uncertainty associated with the analysis of field collected isotopic age-0 walleye data.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author