Successful ageing in an area of deprivation: Part 1—A qualitative exploration of the role of life experiences in good health in old age

Objectives: To determine the life histories and current circumstances of healthy and unhealthy older people who share an ecology marked by relative deprivation and generally poor health. Study design: In-depth interview study with a qualitative analysis. Methods: Matched pairs of healthy and unhealthy ‘agers’ were interviewed face-to-face. Healthy ageing was assessed in terms of hospital morbidity and self-reported health. Study participants consisted of 22 pairs (44 individuals), aged 72–89 years, matched for sex, age and deprivation category, and currently resident in the West of Scotland. All study participants were survivors of the Paisley/Renfrew (MIDSPAN) survey, a longitudinal study commenced in 1972 with continuous recording of morbidity and mortality since. Detailed life histories were obtained which focused on family, residence, employment, leisure and health. This information was supplemented by more focused data on ‘critical incidents’, financial situation and position in social hierarchies. Results: Data provided rich insights into life histories and current circumstances but no differences were found between healthy and unhealthy agers. Conclusions: It is important to understand what differentiates individuals who have lived in circumstances characterized by relative deprivation and poor health, yet have aged healthily. This study collected rich and detailed qualitative data. Yet, no important differences were detected between healthy and unhealthy agers. This is an important negative result as it suggests that the phenomenon of healthy ageing and the factors that promote healthy ageing over a lifetime are so complex that they will require even more detailed studies to disentangle

Regularized Ordinal Regression and the ordinalNet R Package

Regularization techniques such as the lasso (Tibshirani 1996) and elastic net (Zou and Hastie 2005) can be used to improve regression model coefficient estimation and prediction accuracy, as well as to perform variable selection. Ordinal regression models are widely used in applications where the use of regularization could be beneficial; however, these models are not included in many popular software packages for regularized regression. We propose a coordinate descent algorithm to fit a broad class of ordinal regression models with an elastic net penalty. Furthermore, we demonstrate that each model in this class generalizes to a more flexible form, for instance to accommodate unordered categorical data. We introduce an elastic net penalty class that applies to both model forms. Additionally, this penalty can be used to shrink a non-ordinal model toward its ordinal counterpart. Finally, we introduce the R package ordinalNet, which implements the algorithm for this model class

Incidental gonadal tumors at the time of gonadectomy in women with Swyer syndrome: a case series

Background: Swyer syndrome (46XY complete gonadal dysgenesis) is an uncommonly encountered condition in our population. Gonadectomy is recommended upon diagnosis due to a significant risk of malignant transformation of the dysgenetic gonads, typically to dysgerminoma. Cases: We present 3 cases of women who underwent gonadectomy following a diagnosis of Swyer syndrome. Two of these patients had dysgerminoma confirmed on histopathology. In particular we discuss the macroscopic appearance of the affected gonads and the further management of each case. Summary and Conclusion: Individuals with Swyer syndrome require gonadectomy upon diagnosis of their condition, as part of their multidisciplinary management. For treatment of early stage dysgerminoma, surgical resection of the involved gonad and fallopian tube is curative, again highlighting the need for early intervention

Influence of Sediment Nutrients on Growth of Emergent Hygrophila

Hygrophila ( Hygrophila polysperma (Roxb.) T. Anderson) is a plants which forms serious aquatic weed problems. Both submerged and emergent growth forms occur. Nutritional studies with a controlled release fertilizer and sediments collected from hygrophila-infested areas were conducted with the emergent growth habit to provide insights into growth of this introduced plant. Plant dry weights for experimental 16- week culture periods with low average temperatures were associated with low amounts of hygrophila biomass as compared to culture periods with high average temperatures. Hygrophila cultured in sand rooting media with the controlled release fertilizer produced as much as 20 times more dry weight than plants cultured in sediments only. First-degree linear regression statistics showed hygrophila dry weights were highly related to ammonia nitrogen, magnesium, sodium, and pH values in the sediments. These findings show the close relationship of the emergent growth habit of hygrophila to sediment nutrients. Analyses for certain sediment characteristics may provide an indication of the potential growth that may be expected for weed infestations of this plant. Hygrophila grows year round in south Florida; however, visual observations of canals and other bodies of water indicate that lower amounts of hygrophila plants occur during the cooler months of year than during the summer season. These findings show the seasonal growth of emergent hygrophila occurs with biomass dependent on both sediment nutrients and temperature

Picturing the Enemy: The Construction of the Islamic Other in Post 9/11 Comic Anthologies

In my paper entitled “Picturing the Enemy: The Construction of the Islamic Other in Post-9/11 Comic Anthologies,” I argue that the philanthropic comic collections created shortly after the September 11th attacks provide an ideal opportunity to explore the cultural constructions of the Islamic Other in the post-9/11 period. In this paper, I will examine three comic anthologies released shortly after 9/11: 9-11: Artists Respond published by DC Comics’ subsidiary Dark Horse Comics, 9-11: September 11th 2001 published by DC Comics, and 9-11: Emergency Relief published by Alternative Comics. These comic collections represent an urge to create and commemorate while the effects of the event were still fresh, and they predominantly portray the Islamic Other in three fashions: as a stereotypical figure adopted into a message of patriotism or multiculturalism, as a victim of continuing racism, or as a symbol of evil. The comics that represent misguided attempts at inclusion via simplistic representations of a “good” Islamic Other instead foster cultural misunderstanding, as they depend on the utilization of Islamophobic stereotypes regarding the dress and behavior of Muslim individuals. In more successful positive representations, comics that remind readers of preexisting racism and Islamophobia in America emphasize the artificial nature of emotion-laden racial definitions and attempt to deconstruct the conflation of individuals from various racial and religious categories into a single Islamic Other. However, the comics that negatively represent the Islamic Other operate through dehumanization and repeated comparisons to other culturally accepted figures of evil, and in this way are able to create a definite enemy on whom all of the misfortunes of 9/11 can be blamed. Ultimately, I argue that these four comic anthologies represent a snapshot of American culture in transition as it attempts to come to grips with a traumatic and destabilizing event while simultaneously paving the way for an increasingly militaristic future. The comics often present a very shallow understanding of the Islamic Other, one that is rife with stereotypes and conjecture, and rely on a cultural Islamophobia shared by both creators and readers. The comics that avoid these misunderstandings only emphasize the extent to which Islamophobia pervades our culture. In these comic anthologies, we see a reflection of an American culture all too willing to believe the worst of the Islamic Other, and willing to assume the roles of both victim and aggressor in order to pursue its ideological goals

String and M-theory: answering the critics

Using as a springboard a three-way debate between theoretical physicist Lee Smolin, philosopher of science Nancy Cartwright and myself, I address in layman's terms the issues of why we need a unified theory of the fundamental interactions and why, in my opinion, string and M-theory currently offer the best hope. The focus will be on responding more generally to the various criticisms. I also describe the diverse application of string/M-theory techniques to other branches of physics and mathematics which render the whole enterprise worthwhile whether or not "a theory of everything" is forthcoming.Comment: Update on EPSRC. (Contribution to the Special Issue of Foundations of Physics: "Forty Years Of String Theory: Reflecting On the Foundations", edited by Gerard 't Hooft, Erik Verlinde, Dennis Dieks and Sebastian de Haro. 22 pages latex

The nature of GRB-selected submillimeter galaxies: hot and young

We present detailed fits of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of four submillimeter (submm) galaxies selected by the presence of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) event (GRBs 980703, 000210, 000418 and 010222). These faint ~3 mJy submm emitters at redshift ~1 are characterized by an unusual combination of long- and short-wavelength properties, namely enhanced submm and/or radio emission combined with optical faintness and blue colors. We exclude an active galactic nucleus as the source of long-wavelength emission. From the SED fits we conclude that the four galaxies are young (ages <2 Gyr), highly starforming (star formation rates ~150 MSun/yr), low-mass (stellar masses ~10^10 MSun) and dusty (dust masses ~3x10^8 MSun). Their high dust temperatures (Td>45 K) indicate that GRB host galaxies are hotter, younger, and less massive counterparts to submm-selected galaxies detected so far. Future facilities like Herschel, JCMT/SCUBA-2 and ALMA will test this hypothesis enabling measurement of dust temperatures of fainter GRB-selected galaxies.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, submitted to ApJ, for SED templates, see http://archive.dark-cosmology.dk

COMPTEL measurements of MeV gamma-ray burst spectra

We present results from the on-going spectral analysis of gamma-ray bursts measured by the COMPTEL instrument in its main Compton “Telescope” observing mode (0.75–30 MeV). Thus far, 18 bursts have been analyzed from three years (April 1991–April 1994) of observations. The time-averaged spectra of these events above 1 MeV are all consistent with a simple power law model with spectral index in the range 1.5–3.5. Exponential, thermal bremsstrahlung and thermal synchrotron models are statistically inconsistent with the burst sample, although they can adequately describe some of the individual burst spectra. We find good agreement between burst spectra measured simultaneously by BATSE, COMPTEL and EGRET, which typically show a spectral transition or “break” in the BATSE energy range around a few hundred keV followed by simple power law emission extending to hundreds of MeV. However, the temporal relation between MeV and GeV (e.g., as measured by EGRET) burst emission is still unclear. Measurement of rapid variability at MeV energies in the stronger bursts provides evidence that either the sources are nearby (within the Galaxy) or the gamma-ray emission is relativistically beamed

The pre-WDVV ring of physics and its topology

We show how a simplicial complex arising from the WDVV (Witten-Dijkgraaf-Verlinde-Verlinde) equations of string theory is the Whitehouse complex. Using discrete Morse theory, we give an elementary proof that the Whitehouse complex $\Delta_n$ is homotopy equivalent to a wedge of $(n-2)!$ spheres of dimension $n-4$. We also verify the Cohen-Macaulay property. Additionally, recurrences are given for the face enumeration of the complex and the Hilbert series of the associated pre-WDVV ring.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

Apollo 7 retrofire and reentry of service propulsion module. Further study of Intelsat 2 F-2 apogee burn

Photography of Apollo 7 retrofire and service propulsion module reentry and apogee burn of Intelsat 2 F-2 satellit