Modeling building semantics: providing feedback and sustainability

Even minor changes in user activity can bring about significant energy savings within built space. Many building performance assessment methods have been developed, however these often disregard the impact of user behavior (i.e. the social, cultural and organizational aspects of the building). Building users currently have limited means of determining how sustainable they are, in context of the specific building structure and/or when compared to other users performing similar activities, it is therefore easy for users to dismiss their energy use. To support sustainability, buildings must be able to monitor energy use, identify areas of potential change in the context of user activity and provide contextually relevant information to facilitate persuasion management. If the building is able to provide users with detailed information about how specific user activity that is wasteful, this should provide considerable motivation to implement positive change. This paper proposes using a dynamic and temporal semantic model, to populate information within a model of persuasion, to manage user change. By semantically mapping a building, and linking this to persuasion management we suggest that: i) building energy use can be monitored and analyzed over time; ii) persuasive management can be facilitated to move user activity towards sustainability

Earlier Physical Therapy Input is Associated with a Reduced Length of Hospital Stay and Reduced Care Needs on Discharge in Frail Older Inpatients: An Observational Study

$\textbf{Background and Purpose}$: Pressures on hospital bed occupancy in the English National Health Service (NHS) have focused attention on enhanced service delivery models and methods by which physical therapists might contribute to effective cost savings, while retaining a patient-centered approach. Earlier access to physical therapy may lead to better outcomes in frail older inpatients, but this has not been well studied in acute NHS hospitals. Our aim was to retrospectively study the associations between early physical therapy input and length of hospital stay (LOS), functional outcomes and care needs on discharge. $\textbf{Methods}$: This was a retrospective observational study in a large tertiary university NHS hospital in the United Kingdom. We analyzed all admission episodes of people admitted to the Department of Medicine for the Elderly wards over 3 months in 2016. Patients were categorized into 2 groups: those examined by a physical therapist within 24 hours of admission and those examined after 24 hours of admission. The outcome variables were: LOS (days), functional measures on discharge (Elderly Mobility Scale and walking speed over 6 meters), and the requirement of formal care on discharge. Characterization variables on admission were: age, gender, existence of a formal care package, pre-admission abode, the Clinical Frailty Scale, Charlson Comorbidity Index, the Emergency Department Modified Early Warning Score, C-reactive protein level on admission, and the 4-item version of the Abbreviated Mental Test. The association between the delay to physical therapy input and LOS before discharge home was evaluated using a Cox proportional hazards regression model. $\textbf{Results and Discussion}$: There were 1022 hospital episodes over the study period. We excluded 19 who were discharged without being examined by a physical therapist. Of the remaining 1003, 584 (58.2%) were examined within 24 hours of admission (early assessment), and 419 (41.8%) after 24 hours of admission (late assessment). The median (interquartile range: IQR) LOS of the early assessment group was 6.7 (3.1–13.7) versus 10.0 (4.2-20.1) days in the late assessment group, P < 0.001. The early assessment group was less likely to require formal care on discharge: n=110 (20.3%) versus n=105 (27.0%), P = 0.016. No other statistically significant differences were seen between the 2 groups. In the unadjusted Cox proportional hazards model, the hazard ratio for early assessment compared to late assessment was 1.29 (95% confidence interval: 1.12-1.48, P < 0.001). Early assessment was associated with a 29% higher probability of discharge to usual residence within the first 21 days after admission, compared to late assessment. Adjustment for possible confounding variables increased the hazard ratio: 1.34 (1.16 – 1.55) P < 0.001. $\textbf{Conclusions}$: Early physical therapy input was associated with a shorter LOS and lower odds of needing care on discharge. This may be due to the beneficial effect of early physical therapy in preventing hospital-related deconditioning in frail older adults. However, causality cannot be inferred and further research is needed to investigate causal mechanisms

Key Amino Acid Residues of Ankyrin-Sensitive Phosphatidylethanolamine/Phosphatidylcholine-Lipid Binding Site of βI-Spectrin

It was shown previously that an ankyrin-sensitive, phosphatidylethanolamine/phosphatidylcholine (PE/PC) binding site maps to the N-terminal part of the ankyrin-binding domain of β-spectrin (ankBDn). Here we have identified the amino acid residues within this domain which are responsible for recognizing monolayers and bilayers composed of PE/PC mixtures. In vitro binding studies revealed that a quadruple mutant with substituted hydrophobic residues W1771, L1775, M1778 and W1779 not only failed to effectively bind PE/PC, but its residual PE/PC-binding activity was insensitive to inhibition with ankyrin. Structure prediction and analysis, supported by in vitro experiments, suggests that “opening” of the coiled-coil structure underlies the mechanism of this interaction. Experiments on red blood cells and HeLa cells supported the conclusions derived from the model and in vitro lipid-protein interaction results, and showed the potential physiological role of this binding. We postulate that direct interactions between spectrin ankBDn and PE-rich domains play an important role in stabilizing the structure of the spectrin-based membrane skeleton

Demographic and reproductive associations with nematode infection in a long-lived mammal

Infection by macroparasites, such as nematodes, varies within vertebrate host systems; elevated infection is commonly observed in juveniles and males, and, for females, with different reproductive states. However, while such patterns are widely recognized in short-lived model systems, how they apply to long-lived hosts is comparatively understudied. Here, we investigated how infection varies with host age, sex, and female reproduction in a semi-captive population of individually marked Asian elephants Elephas maximus. We carried out 1,977 faecal egg counts (FECs) across five years to estimate nematode loads for 324 hosts. Infection patterns followed an established age-infection curve, whereby calves (5 years) exhibited the highest FECs and adults (45 years) the lowest. However, males and females had similar FECs across their long lifespan, despite distinct differences in life-history strategy and clear sexual dimorphism. Additionally, although mothers invest two years in pregnancy and a further three to five years into lactation, nematode load did not vary with four different measures of female reproduction. Our results provide a much-needed insight into the host-parasite dynamics of a long-lived host; determining host-specific associations with infection in such systems is important for broadening our knowledge of parasite ecology and provides practical applications for wildlife medicine and management

Spectrin-based skeleton as an actor in cell signaling

This review focuses on the recent advances in functions of spectrins in non-erythroid cells. We discuss new data concerning the commonly known role of the spectrin-based skeleton in control of membrane organization, stability and shape, and tethering protein mosaics to the cellular motors and to all major filament systems. Particular effort has been undertaken to highlight recent advances linking spectrin to cell signaling phenomena and its participation in signal transduction pathways in many cell types

Fifth European Dirofilaria and Angiostrongylus Days (FiEDAD) 2016

Peer reviewe

Economic evaluation of coalbed methane exploitation; an example from Poland

The paper presents the methodology of economic evaluation of coalbed methane exploitation in coal mines. The methodology consists of seven phases, which analyse: gassy conditions of coal deposit, coal exploitation scope, ventilation conditions of underground workings, productivity of degasification system as well as economics of both coal exploitation and methane recovery. In the result of the analyses classification, of methane resources and their subdivision into economic reserves and potentially economic resources can be done on the ground of either economic findings or methane content figures. The analyses also show, that methane extraction is always economic, but it can be proved only, if profit resulted coal exploitation during degasification is taken into account