Innovation in flood risk management: an 'Avenues of Innovation' analysis

Innovation in flood risk management (FRM) is a driver for change. Research, however, is sparse in this area, and innovation itself appears to be left largely to chance. This paper uses a ’systems of innovation’ approach, defining ’avenues’ of innovation, to explore factors that promote or inhibit innovation. The research is based on in-depth interviews with 10 leading figures in FRM in the United Kingdom, and describes the interactions and iterations involved. We conclude that in terms of practice the encouragement of champions should be enhanced, risk cultures require concerted attention to minimise risk aversion, learning should be facilitated, and innovation scaled up to maximise its effectiveness. We aim also to add to the literature on innovation systems, providing a case study of a complex field previously unexplored in this regard. Detailed innovation-encouraging processes here need to be better understood and FRM policies and practices adjusted accordingly

IMPACT OF SHORT MEDITATION ON ATTENTIONAL PERFORMANCE

Meditation describes a large variety of traditions that all include the conscious focus of attention. By maintaining attention, meditators experience both acute and long-term changes in physiology, anatomy, and cognitive performance. The type of performance benefit is believed to depend, at least in part, on the specific type of mental training. What is much less clear in the literature is the impact of a single session of meditation on the brain and how the acute changes could impact performance. Studies in advanced meditators show an increase in neuronal coordination and slowing of neuronal firing across many regions in the brain, but this remains poorly studied in novices. It is also unknown how neural dynamics fluctuate over time during meditation, as most studies have assumed the changes remain relatively constant. To investigate this, non-meditators were taught a simple eyes-closed focused breathing meditation. This technique is common to many meditation traditions and is often used at the start or end of more advanced meditation techniques. Using a within subject design, attention and vigilance were measured using the psychomotor vigilance test (PVT). Novice meditators showed improvement on the PVT with 20 minutes, and even 5-minutes of meditation in a large classroom setting. Using electroencephalography, EEG, the neural dynamics during a single session of 20-minute meditation were investigated. This exploratory analysis also implemented a phase synchronization measure of coherence, mean phase coherence (MPC), which is novel to the meditation field. Results suggest that MPC may have identified regions of high coherence during meditation that are also correlated with improved PVT attentional performance. The results also suggest that meditation is a dynamic neural process that requires more careful analysis into changes over time (across a single meditation bout). Finally, results suggest that “control” conditions need to be more systematically studied, as many conditions may show similar benefits or neural dynamics to meditation

Some conditions for finiteness and commutativity of rings

We present several new sufficient conditions for a ring to be finite; we give two conditions which for periodic rings R imply that R must be either finite or commutative; and we study commutativity in rings with only finitely many non-central subrings

Co-digestion of macroalgae for biogas production: an LCA-based environmental evaluation

Algae represent a favourable and potentially sustainable source of biomass for bioenergy-based industrial pathways in the future. The study, performed on a real pilot plant implemented in Augusta (Italy) within the frame of the BioWALK4Biofuels project, aims to figure out whether seaweed (macroalgae) cultivated in near-shore open ponds could be considered a beneficial aspect as a source of biomass for biogas production within the co-digestion with local agricultural biological waste. The LCA results confirm that the analysed A and B scenarios (namely the algae-based co-digestion scenario and agricultural mix feedstock scenario) present an environmental performance more favourable than that achieved with conventional non-renewable-based technologies (specifically natural gas - Scenario C). Results show that the use of seaweed (Scenario A) represent a feasible solution in order to replace classical biomass used for biofuel production from a land-based feedstock. The improvement of the environmental performances is quantifiable on 10% respect to Scenario B, and 38 times higher than Scenario

Women and the Scottish Clerks' Association: from contempt to collegiality

First paragraph: This paper will trace the evolution of the attitudes expressed by the Scottish Clerks' Association (SCA) towards women in clerical work in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. For women trying to establish careers in office work it was necessary to be accepted as colleagues by men in organisations like the SCA. But, as Sylvia Walby noted, explanations of the increasing presence of women in clerical work in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century have emphasised the role of employers as the main actors in the feminisation of clerical work, while the resistance (or acceptance) by male clerks has been given less attention. The evolution of the SCA's attitudes illustrates such resistance and then the growth of a kind of acceptance of women clerks in the early twentieth century; but this acceptance was within the context of male clerks' attempts to restructure their occupational group in order to preserve the better jobs for themselves

Self-Assessment of Adherence to Medication: A Case Study in Campania Region Community-Dwelling Population.

Objectives. The aim of the study was to assess self-reported medication adherence measure in patients selected during a health education and health promotion focused event held in the Campania region. The study also assessed sociodemographic determinants of adherence. Methods. An interviewer assisted survey was conducted to assess adherence using the Italian version of the 8-item Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8). Participants older than 18 years were interviewed by pharmacists while waiting for free-medical checkup. Results. A total of 312 participants were interviewed during the Health Campus event. A total of 187 (59.9%) had low adherence to medications. Pearson's bivariate correlation showed positive association between the MMAS-8 score and gender, educational level and smoking (P < 0.05). A multivariable analysis showed that the level of education and smoking were independent predictors of adherence. Individuals with an average level of education (odds ratio (OR), 2.21, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.08-4.52) and nonsmoker (odds ratio (OR) 1.87, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.04-3.35) were found to be more adherent to medication than those with a lower level of education and smoking. Conclusion. The analysis showed very low prescription adherence levels in the interviewed population. The level of education was a relevant predictor associated with that result

From human Megakaryocytes to platelets: Effects of aspirin on high-mobility group Box 1/receptor for advanced glycation end products axis

Platelets (PLTs) are the major source of high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), a protein that is involved in sterile inflammation of blood vessels and thrombosis. Megakaryocytes (MKs) synthesize HMGB1 and transfer both protein and mRNA into PLTs and PLT-derived microvesicles (MV). Free HMGB1 found in supernatants of in vitro differentiated MKs and in a megakaryoblastic cell line (DAMI cells). Aspirin “in vivo” and “in vitro” not only reduces HMGB1 and receptor for advanced glycation end products expression on MKs and PLTs but also drives the movement of HMGB1 from MKs into PLTs and PLT-derived MV. These findings suggest that consumption of low doses of aspirin reduces the risk of atherosclerosis complications as well as reducing PLT aggregation by the inhibition of COX-1

May SARS-CoV-2 diffusion be favored by alkaline aerosols and ammonia emissions?

Ammonia is a common factor linking air in bat caves and air pollution in the proximity of agricultural fields treated with livestock farming sewage and slaughterhouses, where important clusters of COVID-19 have recently been reported all over the world. Such a commonality has a further connection with the known behavior of some viruses of the coronavirus family, such as the murine hepatitis virus, whose spike glycoprotein (S) can be triggered to a membrane-binding conformation at pH 8.0. Within the airborne route of virus transmission, with particular relevance for crowded and enclosed environments, these observations have prompted a hypothesis that may represent a contributing cause to interpret the geographical variability of the virus diffusion and the surging rise of COVID-19 cases in slaughterhouses all over the world. The hypothesis is that, in these environments, the SARS-CoV-2 S protein may find on a fraction of the airborne particles an alkaline pH, favorable to trigger the conformational changes, needed to induce the fusion of the viral envelope with the plasma membrane of the target cells

Non perturbative renormalization in coordinate space

We present an exploratory study of a gauge-invariant non-perturbative renormalization technique. The renormalization conditions are imposed on correlation functions of composite operators in coordinate space on the lattice. Numerical results for bilinears obtained with overlap and O(a)-improved Wilson fermions are presented. The measurement of the quark condensate is also discussed.Comment: Lattice2003(improve), 3 page

Interleukin-6 and granulocyte macrophage-CSF in the cerebrospinal fluid from HIV infected subjects with involvement of the central nervous system.

We detected the cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6) and granulocyte macrophage-CSF (GM-CSF) by ELISA in the CSF and serum of 30 HIV-infected patients classified as AIDS dementia complex (ADC), and 20 subjects with other neurological diseases (OND). We have found a high incidence of detectable IL-6 and GM-CSF in the CSF of ADC patients compared with OND patients. No statistical differences were observed between both groups for serum IL-6 and GM-CSF levels. These results suggest an intrathecal synthesis of these cytokines and a possible involvement in the pathogenesis of ADC