2,107 research outputs found

    Cumulative energetic costs of military aircraft, recreational and natural disturbance in roosting shorebirds

    Get PDF
    Knowing the consequences of disturbance for multiple species and all disturbance sources is crucial to mitigate disturbance impacts in densely populated areas. However, studies that observe the complete disturbance landscape to estimate cumulative costs of disturbance are scarce. Therefore, we quantified responses, frequencies and energetic costs of disturbance of four shorebird species on five high tide roosts in the Wadden Sea. Roosts were located either in a military air force training area or were predominantly affected by recreational disturbance. In the military training area, infrequent transport airplanes and bombing jets elicited the strongest responses, whereas regular, predictable activities of jet fighters and small civil airplanes elicited far smaller responses. Disturbance occurred more frequently at roosts near recreational than near military activities, as recreation was prohibited in the military area during operation days. On average, birds took flight due to military, recreational or natural disturbance (e.g. raptors) 0.20–1.27 times per hour. High tide disturbance increased daily energy expenditure by 0.1%–1.4%, of which 51% was due to anthropogenic disturbance in contrast to natural disturbance. Costs were low for curlews Numenius arquata, oystercatchers Haematopus ostralegus and gulls Larus spp, but higher – and potentially critical – for bar-tailed godwits Limosa lapponica as they were most susceptible to aircraft and raptors. Given that bar-tailed godwits have previously been found to be least susceptible to walker disturbances, our results suggest that interspecific differences in susceptibility depend on disturbance source type. In our study area, aircraft disturbance impacts can be reduced by avoiding jet fighter activities during periods when high water levels force birds closer to military targets and by limiting bombing and transport airplane exercises

    Factors Associated with Step Numbers in Acutely Hospitalized Older Adults: The Hospital-Activities of Daily Living Study

    Get PDF
    ObjectivesTo determine the number of steps taken by older patients in hospital and 1 week after discharge; to identify factors associated with step numbers after discharge; and to examine the association between functional decline and step numbers after discharge.DesignProspective observational cohort study conducted in 2015–2017.Setting and ParticipantsOlder adults (≄70 years of age) acutely hospitalized for at least 48 hours at internal, cardiology, or geriatric wards in 6 Dutch hospitals.MethodsSteps were counted using the Fitbit Flex accelerometer during hospitalization and 1 week after discharge. Demographic, somatic, physical, and psychosocial factors were assessed during hospitalization. Functional decline was determined 1 month after discharge using the Katz activities of daily living index.ResultsThe analytic sample included 188 participants [mean age (standard deviation) 79.1 (6.7)]. One month postdischarge, 33 out of 174 participants (19%) experienced functional decline. The median number of steps was 656 [interquartile range (IQR), 250–1146] at the last day of hospitalization. This increased to 1750 (IQR 675–4114) steps 1 day postdischarge, and to 1997 (IQR 938–4098) steps 7 days postdischarge. Age [ÎČ = −57.93; 95% confidence interval (CI) −111.15 to −4.71], physical performance (ÎČ = 224.95; 95% CI 117.79–332.11), and steps in hospital (ÎČ = 0.76; 95% CI 0.46–1.06) were associated with steps postdischarge. There was a significant association between step numbers after discharge and functional decline 1 month after discharge (ÎČ = −1400; 95% CI –2380 to −420; P = .005).Conclusions and ImplicationsAmong acutely hospitalized older adults, step numbers double 1 day postdischarge, indicating that their capacity is underutilized during hospitalization. Physical performance and physical activity during hospitalization are key to increasing the number of steps postdischarge. The number of steps 1 week after discharge is a promising indicator of functional decline 1 month after discharge

    Site dependent thermoluminescence of long persistent phosphorescence of BaAl2O4: Ce 3+, Opt

    Get PDF
    Abstract A very long persistent phosphor BaAl 2 O 4 : Ce 3ĂŸ was prepared and studied. The Ce 3ĂŸ 5d-4f emissions from two Ba 2ĂŸ sites in the BaAl 2 O 4 were observed at 450 and 402 nm. The lowest 4f-5d excitation peaks were recorded at 357 and 335 nm, respectively. The persistence times of the long afterglow emissions from Ce 3ĂŸ at the two sites were found to be longer than 10 h. Site-selective thermoluminescence spectra of the sample were measured. Two sets of thermoluminescence peaks were detected at )43, )26 and 27°C, and )53, )36 and 30°C (heating rate 13.3°C/min) corresponding to the two sites at 450 nm (site-1) and 402 nm (site-2), respectively. Dy 3ĂŸ , Ce 3ĂŸ co-doped samples were also prepared, which introduce new defect-related traps at 18, 50, and 82°C (heating rate 10°C/min). These defect-related traps due to Dy 3ĂŸ co-doping also contribute to the Ce 3ĂŸ afterglow at the two sites.

    Relational trauma and its impact on late-adopted children

    Get PDF
    This paper describes work with two children, placed for late adoption who have suffered relational trauma. The paper explores the long-term consequences of such trauma, which includes problems with affect regulation, difficulties in generalising from one experience to another and shifts between phantasies of omnipotent control and sudden helplessness. Using drawings from one boy's therapy, it is argued that many children adopted at a later age live in two worlds, both internal and external, and internal objects and memories from the past vie with new experiences and representations for ascendancy within the child's mind. Which is more real: the world of the past or the present? The paper describes how these children experienced sudden and troubling shifts in focus as they were catapulted from feeling states belonging to one world to the other. The paper ends with a consideration of how findings from neuroscience may help us to understand these sudden shifts and overall argues for a pulling together of psychoanalytic thinking and child development research findings to support the child in psychotherapy

    Charge dependent azimuthal correlations in Pb--Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 2.76 TeV

    Full text link
    Separation of charges along the extreme magnetic field created in non-central relativistic heavy--ion collisions is predicted to be a signature of local parity violation in strong interactions. We report on results for charge dependent two particle azimuthal correlations with respect to the reaction plane for Pb--Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 2.76 TeV recorded in 2010 with ALICE at the LHC. The results are compared with measurements at RHIC energies and against currently available model predictions for LHC. Systematic studies of possible background effects including comparison with conventional (parity-even) correlations simulated with Monte Carlo event generators of heavy--ion collisions are also presented.Comment: Published in the proceedings of "Quark Matter 2011", Annecy-Franc

    Three method factors explaining the low correlations between assessment center dimension ratings and scores on personality inventories

    Get PDF
    In general, correlations between assessment centre (AC) ratings and personality inventories are low. In this paper, we examine three method factors that may be responsible for these low correlations: differences in (i) rating source (other versus self), (ii) rating domain (general versus specific), and (iii) rating format (multi- versus single item). This study tests whether these three factors diminish correlations between AC exercise ratings and external indicators of similar dimensions. Ratings of personality and performance were combined in an analytical framework following a 2 × 2 × 2 (source, domain, format) completely crossed, within subjects design. Results showed partial support for the influence of each of the three method factors. Implications for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

    Long term treatment with metformin in patients with type 2 diabetes and risk of vitamin B-12 deficiency: randomised placebo controlled trial

    Get PDF
    Objectives To study the effects of metformin on the incidence of vitamin B-12 deficiency (<150 pmol/l), low concentrations of vitamin B-12 (150-220 pmol/l), and folate and homocysteine concentrations in patients with type 2 diabetes receiving treatment with insulin

    CD34-related coexpression of MDR1 and BCRP indicates a clinically resistant phenotype in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) of older age

    Get PDF
    Clinical resistance to chemotherapy in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is associated with the expression of the multidrug resistance (MDR) proteins P-glycoprotein, encoded by the MDR1/ABCB1 gene, multidrug resistant-related protein (MRP/ABCC1), the lung resistance-related protein (LRP), or major vault protein (MVP), and the breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP/ABCG2). The clinical value of MDR1, MRP1, LRP/MVP, and BCRP messenger RNA (mRNA) expression was prospectively studied in 154 newly diagnosed AML patients ≄60 years who were treated in a multicenter, randomized phase 3 trial. Expression of MDR1 and BCRP showed a negative whereas MRP1 and LRP showed a positive correlation with high white blood cell count (respectively, p < 0.05, p < 0.001, p < 0.001 and p < 0.001). Higher BCRP mRNA was associated with secondary AML (p < 0.05). MDR1 and BCRP mRNA were highly significantly associated (p < 0.001), as were MRP1 and LRP mRNA (p < 0.001) expression. Univariate regression analyses revealed that CD34 expression, increasing MDR1 mRNA as well as MDR1/BCRP coexpression, were associated with a lower complete response (CR) rate and with worse event-free survival and overall survival. When adjusted for other prognostic actors, only CD34-related MDR1/BCRP coexpression remained significantly associated with a lower CR rate (p = 0.03), thereby identifying a clinically resistant subgroup of elderly AML patients

    Location of the Energy Levels of the Rare-Earth Ion in BaF2 and CdF2

    Full text link
    The location of the energy levels of rare-earth (RE) elements in the energy band diagram of BaF2 and CdF2 crystals is determined. The role of RE3+ and RE2+ ions in the capture of charge carriers, luminescence, and the formation of radiation defects is evaluated. It is shown that the substantial difference in the luminescence properties of BaF2:RE and CdF2:RE is associated with the location of the excited energy levels in the band diagram of the crystals

    Energy dependence of exclusive J/ψJ/\psi photoproduction off protons in ultra-peripheral p-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} = 5.02 TeV

    Full text link
    The ALICE Collaboration has measured the energy dependence of exclusive photoproduction of J/ψJ/\psi vector mesons off proton targets in ultra-peripheral p-Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair sNN=5.02\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02 TeV. The e+^+e−^- and ÎŒ+Ό−\mu^+\mu^- decay channels are used to measure the cross section as a function of the rapidity of the J/ψJ/\psi in the range −2.5<y<2.7-2.5 < y < 2.7, corresponding to an energy in the Îł\gammap centre-of-mass in the interval 40<WÎłp<55040 < W_{\gamma\mathrm{p}}<550 GeV. The measurements, which are consistent with a power law dependence of the exclusive J/ψJ/\psi photoproduction cross section, are compared to previous results from HERA and the LHC and to several theoretical models. They are found to be compatible with previous measurements.Comment: 25 pages, 3 captioned figures, 3 tables, authors from page 19, published version, figures at http://alice-publications.web.cern.ch/node/455
    • 

    corecore