Antecedents and outcomes of consumer environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviour

With the intensification of problems relating to the environment, a growing number of consumers are becoming more ecologically conscious in their preferences and purchases of goods. This paper presents the results of a study conducted among 500 Cypriot consumers, focusing on the factors that shape consumer environmental attitudes and behaviour, as well as on the resulting outcomes. The findings confirmed that both the inward and outward environmental attitudes of a consumer are positively influenced by his/her degree of collectivism, long-term orientation, political involvement, deontology, and law obedience, but have no connection with liberalism. The adoption of an inward environmental attitude was also found to be conducive to green purchasing behaviour that ultimately leads to high product satisfaction. On the other hand, an outward environmental attitude facilitates the adoption of a general environmental behaviour, which is responsible for greater satisfaction with life. The findings of the study have important implications for shaping effective company offerings to consumers in target markets, as well as formulating appropriate policies at the governmental level to enhance environmental sensitivity among citizens

Theory and Applications of Non-Relativistic and Relativistic Turbulent Reconnection

Realistic astrophysical environments are turbulent due to the extremely high Reynolds numbers. Therefore, the theories of reconnection intended for describing astrophysical reconnection should not ignore the effects of turbulence on magnetic reconnection. Turbulence is known to change the nature of many physical processes dramatically and in this review we claim that magnetic reconnection is not an exception. We stress that not only astrophysical turbulence is ubiquitous, but also magnetic reconnection itself induces turbulence. Thus turbulence must be accounted for in any realistic astrophysical reconnection setup. We argue that due to the similarities of MHD turbulence in relativistic and non-relativistic cases the theory of magnetic reconnection developed for the non-relativistic case can be extended to the relativistic case and we provide numerical simulations that support this conjecture. We also provide quantitative comparisons of the theoretical predictions and results of numerical experiments, including the situations when turbulent reconnection is self-driven, i.e. the turbulence in the system is generated by the reconnection process itself. We show how turbulent reconnection entails the violation of magnetic flux freezing, the conclusion that has really far reaching consequences for many realistically turbulent astrophysical environments. In addition, we consider observational testing of turbulent reconnection as well as numerous implications of the theory. The former includes the Sun and solar wind reconnection, while the latter include the process of reconnection diffusion induced by turbulent reconnection, the acceleration of energetic particles, bursts of turbulent reconnection related to black hole sources as well as gamma ray bursts. Finally, we explain why turbulent reconnection cannot be explained by turbulent resistivity or derived through the mean field approach.Comment: 66 pages, 24 figures, a chapter of the book "Magnetic Reconnection - Concepts and Applications", editors W. Gonzalez, E. N. Parke

The respiratory virome and exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Introduction Exacerbations are major contributors to morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and respiratory bacterial and viral infections are an important trigger. However, using conventional diagnostic techniques, a causative agent is not always found. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) allows analysis of the complete virome, but has not yet been applied in COPD exacerbations. Objectives To study the respiratory virome in nasopharyngeal samples during COPD exacerbations using mNGS. Study design 88 nasopharyngeal swabs from 63 patients from the Bergen COPD Exacerbation Study (2006-2010) were analysed by mNGS and in-house qPCR for respiratory viruses. Both DNA and RNA were sequenced simultaneously using an Illumina library preparation protocol with in-house adaptations. Results By mNGS, 24/88 samples tested positive. Sensitivity and specificity, as compared with PCR, were 96% and 98% for diagnostic targets (23/24 and 1093/1120, respectively). Additional viral pathogens detected by mNGS were herpes simplex virus type 1 and coronavirus OC43. A positive correlation was found between Cq value and mNGS viral normalized species reads (log value) (p = 0.002). Patients with viral pathogens had lower percentages of bacteriophages (p<0.001). No correlation was found between viral reads and clinical markers. Conclusions The mNGS protocol used was highly sensitive and specific for semi-quantitative detection of respiratory viruses. Excellent negative predictive value implicates the power of mNGS to exclude any pathogenic respiratory viral infectious cause in one test, with consequences for clinical decision making. Reduced abundance of bacteriophages in COPD patients with viral pathogens implicates skewing of the virome during infection, with potential consequences for the bacterial populations, during infection

Fine-Scale Mapping of the 4q24 Locus Identifies Two Independent Loci Associated with Breast Cancer Risk

Background: A recent association study identified a common variant (rs9790517) at 4q24 to be associated with breast cancer risk. Independent association signals and potential functional variants in this locus have not been explored. Methods: We conducted a fine-mapping analysis in 55,540 breast cancer cases and 51,168 controls from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium. Results: Conditional analyses identified two independent association signals among women of European ancestry, represented by rs9790517 [conditional P = 2.51 × 10−4; OR, 1.04; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02–1.07] and rs77928427 (P = 1.86 × 10−4; OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.02–1.07). Functional annotation using data from the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project revealed two putative functional variants, rs62331150 and rs73838678 in linkage disequilibrium (LD) with rs9790517 (r2 ≥ 0.90) residing in the active promoter or enhancer, respectively, of the nearest gene, TET2. Both variants are located in DNase I hypersensitivity and transcription factor–binding sites. Using data from both The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Molecular Taxonomy of Breast Cancer International Consortium (METABRIC), we showed that rs62331150 was associated with level of expression of TET2 in breast normal and tumor tissue. Conclusion: Our study identified two independent association signals at 4q24 in relation to breast cancer risk and suggested that observed association in this locus may be mediated through the regulation of TET2. Impact: Fine-mapping study with large sample size warranted for identification of independent loci for breast cancer risk

RUMAH SAKIT REHABILITASI CACAT MOBILITAS

Rumah Sakit Rehabilitasi Cacat mobilitas merupakan rumah sakit dengan spesialisasi pasien penyandang cacat mobilitas yang membutuhkan pelayanan rehabilitasi. Tujuan penulisan untuk menguraikan arsitektur berwawasan perilaku. Ditemukan bahwa pasien rehabilitasi cacat mobilitas selain membutuhkan suatu lingkungan yang bebas hambaran (barrier free environment), mereka juga sangat potensial untuk mengalami rasa bosan/jenuh, akibat lamanya masa inap dan kondisi medisnya yang relatf stabil,sehingga dijelaskan isu lingkungan medis yang rekreatif. Hasil akhir dari proyek tugas akhir ini adalah rancangan rumah sakit rehabilitasi cacat mobilitas sebagai suatu lingkungan medis yang rekreatif, sekaligus sebagai lingkungan bebas hambatan

Laboratorium Pembentukan Logam : Laboratorium Metallurgi Puspitek Serpong Tahap Iii.

35 hlm.;bib.;ill.;tab.;lamp

ADDRESSING PEDESTRIAN NEEDS IN MODERN CITY PLANNING

In many cities, vehicular traffic has been given high priority. The boom in consumer demand for automobile is encouraged by the planning policies of city streets, which focus on accommodating motorised vehicles, despite the fact that every citizen walks a great deal. However, automobiles also have adverse impacts, and it is revealed that their cost is much more than their contribution, being largely subsidised by public funds. Thus, there is a need to think of alternative transport which could be public transport of bicycles and to create an environment conducive to these alternative transport options. Whul is needed is a more integrated approach to city planning and design - one that respects the relationship between urban physicul forms and social life. The idea centres on the shift of focus from prioritising automobiles to prioritising people

Spelen! Natuurlijk!: Ouders en hun kind met een visuele beperking.

Samen spelen met je kind is leuk. Je hebt plezier, je geniet samen; er is contact. Al vanaf het eerste begin heb je contact met je kind. Door aanraken, kijken, ‘praten’ en geluiden maken, ontstaat ongemerkt een ‘vraag-en-antwoordspel’, een subtiele wisselwerking: je kind maakt een geluidje, jij reageert erop door het geluid na te doen. Je kind voelt zich daardoor bevestigd: het is leuk wat ik doe, ze zien mij, ze begrijpen mij. Je kind reageert ook op jou; het kijkt naar je, luistert, lacht, maakt bewegingen waardoor ook jij je bevestigd voelt. Zo groeit de hechting, de emotionele band tussen je kind en jou; de basis voor de verdere ontwikkeling. Als je kind een visuele beperking heeft, kan de wisselwerking tussen jou en je kind, het speelse contact, zeker in het begin wat minder vanzelfsprekend verlopen. Dit boek geeft allerlei handreikingen waarmee je kunt aansluiten bij het spel van je kind en het nog leuker kunt maken