Office Building- Fire Protection Systems Evaluation

This report is a Life Safety Code (LSC) and fire protection systems evaluation of an office building located in Colorado. This report covers the prescriptive analysis of the building, as well as the performance‐based aspect of the evaluation. The prescriptive analysis of this report includes assessment of the building code for structural design, means of egress, detection and notification systems, smoke control system, and the water‐ based fire suppression system for this building. The 2012 International Building Code (IBC) and the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) 101 LSC were used for the prescriptive based evaluation and the building was determined to be compliant with the relevant code and referenced standards. The performance‐based assessment was conducted in accordance with strategies and processes from widely accepted literature in the Fire Protection industry. Two different fire scenarios were evaluated using FDS and SmokeView to show that the building is tenable during evacuation and that the occupants are not exposed to any undue risks. The fire scenarios consist of a fire in cubicle space that is prominent in the building, and the other is a fire that begins in a convenience store on the main floor that opens into the lobby. For the cubicle fire occupants needed 366 seconds to evacuate the floor. The first tenable limit to be reached in this fire was the temperature limit of 60°C and it reached that at 400 seconds into the simulation. The next criterion to be reached was the visibility limit of 4 meters and that was at 475 seconds into the simulation. There were no issues with the carbon monoxide concentration limit during this simulation. The convenience store fire was looked at from three points, the fire location in the small office/storage area, the store area, and the lobby area. Temperature and visibility criteria were quickly reached in the fire location but it is assumed that there are no personnel in that location at the time of the fire. Visibility was the first criterion to be reached within the store itself but was still 40 seconds beyond the required safe egress time for the store. It was determined that it would take a total of 158 seconds to evacuate the entire first floor. Both temperature and carbon monoxide criteria were never reached during the simulation in the lobby area. Visibility of 6 meters was reached at 250 seconds but this is well beyond the RSET of 158 seconds. Based on the prescriptive and performance‐based analysis of this building, there are no recommendations that need to be made. It could be worth considering an HVAC purge system to assist in the removal of smoke and toxic gases in the event of a fire but this is definitely not necessary. Another item to consider for this building is to install smoke or heat detectors in spaces that currently do not have them. By having detectors present in the areas where they are not existing and not required by code, it is possible to reduce the Required Safe Egress Time (RSET) by early detection and therefore, early notification. Again, this is not something that is necessary based on the analysis of this building but could add another level of safety for the occupants

Utilization of the Invasive Alga Gracilaria Vermiculophylla (Ohmi) Papenfuss by the Native Mud Snail Ilyanassa Obsoleta (Say)

The recent invasions of the red alga, Gracilaria vermiculophylla, to the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific Oceans have the potential to significantly alter intertidal and subtidal soft sediment communities. In particular, G. vermiculophylla increases habitat complexity and provides a novel hard substrate in an otherwise two dimensional habitat. Following our observations that the native omnivorous mud snail Ilyanassa obsoleta utilizes G. vermiculophylla for egg capsule deposition, our field surveys demonstrated that the in situ abundance of egg capsules on G. vermiculophylla matched abundances on a native alga Ceramium virgatumandwere at least 11–50 times greater than on all other co-occurring macrophytes. Additionally, through mesocosm experiments, we showed that I. obsoleta preferentially deposits eggs on the invasive G. vermiculophylla over native substrates. However, despite the thick layer of egg capsules found on G. vermiculophylla, no detrimental effects were seen on thalli growth. In contrast, growth of the native red alga Ceramium virgatum was significantly reduced when egg capsules were present, suggesting G. vermiculophylla can out-compete native macrophytes in areas of I. obsoleta abundance, while facilitating reproduction of the native mud snail. This novel interaction has the potential to significantly alter biological interactions in soft sediment communities through a variety of different mechanisms, including the alteration of trophic cascades via the increase in mud snail abundance. Furthermore, facilitation of the reproductive success of I. obsoleta may lead to increases in the occurrence of cercarial dermatitis, as I. obsoleta is a known intermediate host organism

An online survey of Australian physicians reported practice with the off-label use of nebulised frusemide

BACKGROUND: Off-label prescribing is common in palliative care. Despite inconsistent reports of the benefit of nebulised frusemide for breathlessness, its use continues to be reported. METHODS: An online survey was emailed to 249 members of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine to estimate the use of nebulised frusemide for breathlessness by Australian physicians involved in palliative care in the previous 12 months. RESULTS: There were 52/249 (21%) respondents to the survey. The majority (44/52; 85%) had not prescribed nebulised frusemide in the previous 12 months. The most common (18/44; 43%) reason for not prescribing nebulised frusemide was a belief that there was not enough evidence to support its use. Whilst only a few respondents (8/52; 15%) reported having used nebulised frusemide, all that had used it thought there was at least some benefit in relieving breathlessness. CONCLUSION: This report adds to the series of case studies reporting some benefit from nebulised frusemide in relieving breathlessnes

Transforming Special Education Teacher Education: A Reaction to the Report Transforming Teacher Education through Clinical Practice: A National Strategy to Prepare Effective Teachers

Policy makers, university teacher education faculty, school leaders, and government officials are asking the same question: How do we recruit, prepare, and retain effective teachers who will produce desired student outcomes in every classroom? This complex question garners distinct opinions depending on the queried stakeholder, but most agree that significant improvement is needed in the processes of teacher preparation and induction (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Greer & Meyen, 2009; Sykes, Bird, & Kennedy, 2010; Wang, Odell, Klecka, Spalding, & Lin, 2010). An argument can be made that the need for improvement is most urgent within the field of special education teacher preparation (Brownell, Sindelar, Kiely, & Danielson, 2010; Piper, 2007; Pugach, Blanton, & Correa, 2011; Simonsen et al., 2010; Sindelar, Brownell, & Billingsley, 2010) . To illustrate, recent achievement data for students with disabilities provides striking evidence of the critical need for improvement in areas of literacy, graduation rates, and other postsecondary outcomes (e.g. National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2009; Wagner, Newman, Cameto, Levine, & Garza, 2006). There is substantial variability in the numerous factors that contribute to the struggles of students with exceptionalities on measures of academic and social success (see Skiba, Poloni-Staudinger, Simmons, Feggins-Azziz, & Chung, 2005; Wagner et al., 2006). Many complex factors influence a teacher's impact on student achievement, which leads to the need for us to continue to examine and reform our current models of teacher preparation. Thus, teacher educators and practitioners must continue to investigate and evaluate the effects of new and existing policies, programmatic structures, and individual practices on outcomes of interest and disseminate those findings. Although calls to reform teacher education and P-12 instruction for children with exceptionalities are not new (Vaughn & Fuchs, 2003), it is clear that new thinking is needed to overcome traditional barriers to academic and social success for individuals with exceptionalities. However, despite the critical need for improvement, teacher preparation models within special and general education largely remain fixed to traditional methods that reflect the status quo as opposed to evidence-based practice (Boyd, Grossman, Lankford, Loeb, & Wycoff, 2009; Brownell, Griffin, Leko, & Stephens, 2011; Sykes et al., 2010)

Narrowing the Digital Divide: The Young Women Leaders Program HerStory Project

Research suggests that girls are at especial disadvantage in the field of informational technology and are less likely than boys to take courses or seek out careers in this area. The Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP), a mentoring program at the University of Virginia that pairs at-risk middle school girls with college women for a year of mentoring, developed the YWLP HerStory project to engage middle school girls in informational technology through their development of technology projects focused on psychosocial issues of importance to them. This study reviewed an early version of the YWLP HerStory’s technology curriculum and training for mentors, the revisions made to both, and evaluated the effectiveness of the revisions with a sample of 27 eighth grade girls and their mentors. Findings indicated that participating in the revised curriculum improved girls’ engagement in technology projects, including an 83% completion rate, and modifications to mentor training improved mentor’s grasp of relevant technology and confidence in teaching it to their mentees. Notably, participating eighth grade girls reported that the technology curriculum was fun and expressed an interest in further engagement in using technology platforms to tell their stories

Novel perfluoropolyalkylethers monomers: synthesis and photo-induced cationic polymerization

Several difunctional oligomers were synthesized by functionalizing perfluoropolyalkylether (PFPAE) chains with different vinyl ethers and epoxides end-groups. Due to their innate synthetic challenges and demanding purification protocols, the PFPAE derivatives were obtained in low yield and with an average functionality lower than 2. However, the functionalized PFPAE oligomers were successful in being used in photo-induced cationic polymerization processes, obtaining transparent and soft films. The influences of the fluorinated chains, and various end-groups on the photopolymerization process were investigated, as well their chemical stability, thermal degradation, and surface properties

Acción : diario de Teruel y su provincia: Año II Número 116 - (06/04/33)

The selective aerobic oxidation of crotyl alcohol to crotonaldehyde was investigated by time-resolved synchronous DRIFTS/MS/XAS over silica and alumina supported Pd nanoparticles. Alcohol and oxygen reactant feeds were cycled through the catalyst bed while dynamic measurements of the palladium oxidation state, molecular adsorbates and evolved product distribution were made simultaneously on a sub-second timescale. Highly dispersed palladium nanoparticles remained in a partially oxidised state <100 degrees C, independent of the redox environment, and were selective for crotonaldehyde formation. Higher temperatures facilitated rapid catalyst reduction on exposure to crotyl alcohol, with palladium metal driving crotonaldehyde decarbonylation to propene and CO, while slower (surface diffusion-limited) reoxidation on exposure to oxygen re-opened selective oxidation pathways. Surface palladium oxide is identified as the desired active species

El Mañana: Año III Número 501 - (26/08/30)

Synchronous, time-resolved DRIFTS/MS/XAS cycling studies of the vapor phase selective aerobic oxidation of crotyl alcohol over nanoparticulate palladium reveal surface oxide as the desired catalytically active phase, with dynamic, reaction-induced palladium redox processes controlling selective versus combustion pathways

Identifying spring barley cultivars with differential response to tillage

Cultivars and some cultivar mixtures of spring barley were grown under inversion and non-inversion tillage conditions for three or four years and assessed for disease and yield in order to obtain genotypes that can be used to determine the mechanisms of cultivation adaptation. In general, the higher-yielding cultivars under inversion tillage conditions gave lower yields under non-inversion tillage, whereas low-yielding older cultivars showed relatively smaller reductions in yield under non-inversion tillage. A few cultivars showed preferential yield performance for either inversion or non-inversion tillage and this was irrespective of their overall yield performance. There was no pedigree or breeding programme link between these cultivars and no above-ground gross morphological trait observed was associated with tillage adaptation. Root hairs may contribute to inversion tillage adaptation as a root hair absence mutant was associated with non-inversion adaptation and it is likely that other root-associated traits are responsible also for tillage adaptation. There was no overall cultivar or tillage interaction with rhynchosporium symptoms but a differential tillage interaction may occur in individual years. We have identified clearly contrasting cultivars and tested their across-season robustness with respect to tillage treatment for further detailed mechanistic studies and identification of tillage adaptation traits

Burkitt's lymphoma

Burkitt's lymphoma is a highly aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma and is the fastest growing human tumour. The disease is associated with Epstein-Barr virus and was one of the first tumours shown to have a chromosomal translocation that activates an oncogene (c-MYC). Burkitt's lymphoma is the most common childhood cancer in areas where malaria is holoendemic. The incidence is very high in immunosuppressed patients in non-endemic areas, especially when associated with HIV infection. Outcome with intensive chemotherapy has improved and is now excellent in children, but the prognosis is poor in elderly adults. The success of intensive treatment relies on good supportive care. The therapy offered in oncology units in low-income countries is not as aggressive as in centres in high-income countries and outcomes are less successful. Adjuvant monoclonal antibody therapy with rituximab shows promise for improved outcomes and reduced toxic effects in the future