Spirituality: Take Me to a Higher Place

Panel Chair: Marta Moore Papers Presented: The Acceptance of Fate from a Man of God by Alexandra Mendez Acceptance Is Peace by Kane Stanglin Hindu Beliefs in Bhagavad-Gita by Laura A Eads Analysis of \u27The Sovereignty of Goodness of God\u27 by Kyle Crossli

Assessment of the Probability of Collapse of Structures Under Earthquakes

Avoidance of collapse is the most important objective in earthquake resistant design, but assessing the probability of collapse of a structure during an earthquake is technically challenging and it is computationally demanding. This paper summarizes recent investigations conducted by the authors at Stanford University aimed at improving the assessment of the probability of collapse of structures. It is shown that methodologies based on estimating the probability of collapse at a single ground motion intensity, such as those that only evaluate the level of safety at the so called maximum considered earthquake are inadequate. Results are presented showing that estimating the probability of collapse using incremental dynamic analyses in which a model of the structure is subjected to ground motions scaled at increasing levels of intensity until collapse is produced may introduce significant bias in the results. An improved procedure, referred to as Enhanced Two Stripe Analysis, E2SA is presented which provides not only more accurate results compared to those obtained with an incremental dynamic analysis but can be obtained at a small fraction of the computational effort. The new approach is based on careful observation of the deaggregation the mean annual frequency of collapse that reveals that is typically dominated by earthquake ground motion intensities corresponding to the lower half of the collapse fragility curve. Therefore, rather than focusing on the estimation of the median collapse intensity as proposed in previous studies, the new method proposes to focus on intensities in the lower tail of the collapse fragility function. Furthermore, it is shown that the uncertainty in the collapse fragility curve and on the mean annual frequency of collapse is significantly reduced by increasing the number of ground motions used in the analysis, so instead of using a small ground motion set scaled at many increasing levels of intensity, the proposed method recommends conducting nonlinear response history analyses with a larger number of ground motions but only at two levels of intensity. Results indicate that using a larger number of ground motions at two intensity levels provides improved results. Finally, recent investigations conducted by the authors show that rather than selecting and scaling ground motions based on spectral accelerations at a period equal to the fundamental period of the structure alone or in combination with epsilon, a much better approach is to use an averaged spectral acceleration over a wide range of periods extending to periods shorter than the fundamental period to significantly longer than the fundamental period. Extensive studies conducted by the authors over a wide range of structures indicate that this new intensity measure is significantly better correlated with collapse and therefore leads to a more reliable estimation of the mean annual frequency of collapse while at the same time reducing the computational effort involved since the number of ground motions to be used in the analysis can be reduced

Aberrant DNA Methylation of OLIG1, a Novel Prognostic Factor in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Currently, tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) staging provides the most accurate prognostic parameter for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the overall survival of patients with resectable tumors varies significantly, indicating the need for additional prognostic factors to better predict the outcome of the disease, particularly within a given TNM subset. METHODS AND FINDINGS: In this study, we investigated whether adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas could be differentiated based on their global aberrant DNA methylation patterns. We performed restriction landmark genomic scanning on 40 patient samples and identified 47 DNA methylation targets that together could distinguish the two lung cancer subgroups. The protein expression of one of those targets, oligodendrocyte transcription factor 1 (OLIG1), significantly correlated with survival in NSCLC patients, as shown by univariate and multivariate analyses. Furthermore, the hazard ratio for patients negative for OLIG1 protein was significantly higher than the one for those patients expressing the protein, even at low levels. CONCLUSIONS: Multivariate analyses of our data confirmed that OLIG1 protein expression significantly correlates with overall survival in NSCLC patients, with a relative risk of 0.84 (95% confidence interval 0.77–0.91, p < 0.001) along with T and N stages, as indicated by a Cox proportional hazard model. Taken together, our results suggests that OLIG1 protein expression could be utilized as a novel prognostic factor, which could aid in deciding which NSCLC patients might benefit from more aggressive therapy. This is potentially of great significance, as the addition of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in T2N0 NSCLC patients is still controversial

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia

Measurement of associated W plus charm production in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

Peer reviewe

Discutindo a educação ambiental no cotidiano escolar: desenvolvimento de projetos na escola formação inicial e continuada de professores

A presente pesquisa buscou discutir como a Educação Ambiental (EA) vem sendo trabalhada, no Ensino Fundamental e como os docentes desta escola compreendem e vem inserindo a EA no cotidiano escolar., em uma escola estadual do município de Tangará da Serra/MT, Brasil. Para tanto, realizou-se entrevistas com os professores que fazem parte de um projeto interdisciplinar de EA na escola pesquisada. Verificou-se que o projeto da escola não vem conseguindo alcançar os objetivos propostos por: desconhecimento do mesmo, pelos professores; formação deficiente dos professores, não entendimento da EA como processo de ensino-aprendizagem, falta de recursos didáticos, planejamento inadequado das atividades. A partir dessa constatação, procurou-se debater a impossibilidade de tratar do tema fora do trabalho interdisciplinar, bem como, e principalmente, a importância de um estudo mais aprofundado de EA, vinculando teoria e prática, tanto na formação docente, como em projetos escolares, a fim de fugir do tradicional vínculo “EA e ecologia, lixo e horta”.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Seasoned with Salt

As Colossians 4:6 tells us, our speech should always be gracious, as if seasoned with salt. How do we use our mouths to honor our holy God