The perceived barriers to the inclusion of rainwater harvesting systems by UK house building companies

This work investigates the barriers that exist to deter the implementation of rainwater harvesting into new UK housing. A postal questionnaire was sent to a selection of large, medium and small house-builders distributed across the UK. Questions were asked concerning potential barriers to the inclusion of rainwater harvesting in homes separated into five sections; (1) institutional and regulatory gaps, (2) economic and financial constraints, (3) absence of incentives, (4) lack of information and technical knowledge, and (5) house-builder attitudes. The study concludes that although the knowledge of rainwater systems has increased these barriers are deterring house-builders from installing rainwater harvesting systems in new homes. It is further acknowledged that the implementation of rainwater harvesting will continue to be limited whilst these barriers remain and unless resolved, rainwater harvesting's potential to reduce the consumption of potable water in houses will continue to be limited

Recommended Radiation Protection Practices for Low-Level Waste Disposal Sites

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission contracted with Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) to provide technical assistance in estsblishing operational guidelines, with respect to radiation control programs and methods of minimizing occupational radiation exposure, at Low-Level Waste (LLW) dis- posal sites. The PNL, through site visits, evaluated operations at LLW dis- posal sites to determine the adequacy of current practices in maintaining occupational exposures as low as is reasonably achievable (ALARA). The data sought included the specifics of: ALARA programs, training programs, external exposure control , internal exposure control , respiratory protection, survei 1 - lance, radioactive waste management, facilities and equipment, and external dose analysis. The results of the study indicated the following: The Radiation Protection and ALARA programs at the three commercial LLW disposal sites were observed to be adequate in scope and content compared to similar programs at other types of nuclear facilities. However, it should be noted that there were many areas that could be improved upon to help ensure the health and safety of the occupa- tionally exposed individuals. As a result, radiation protection practices were recommended with related rationales in order to reduce occupational exposures as far below specified radiation limits as is reasonably achievable. In addition, recommendations were developed for achieving occupational exposure ALARA under the Regulatory Requirements issued in 10 CFR Part 61

An Electrochemical Study of Frustrated Lewis Pairs: A Metal-free Route to Hydrogen Oxidation

[Image: see text] Frustrated Lewis pairs have found many applications in the heterolytic activation of H(2) and subsequent hydrogenation of small molecules through delivery of the resulting proton and hydride equivalents. Herein, we describe how H(2) can be preactivated using classical frustrated Lewis pair chemistry and combined with in situ nonaqueous electrochemical oxidation of the resulting borohydride. Our approach allows hydrogen to be cleanly converted into two protons and two electrons in situ, and reduces the potential (the required energetic driving force) for nonaqueous H(2) oxidation by 610 mV (117.7 kJ mol(–1)). This significant energy reduction opens routes to the development of nonaqueous hydrogen energy technology

Student Satisfaction and Performance in an Online Teacher Certification Program

The article presents a study which demonstrates the effectiveness of an online post baccalaureate teacher certification program developed by a Wisconsin university. The case method approach employing multiple methods and multiple data sources were used to investigate the degree to which pre-service teachers were prepared to teach. It was concluded that the study supports online delivery as an effective means of teacher preparation, but it was limited in the number of students followed into their first year of teaching

Metabolomics profiling of visceral adipose tissue: Results From MESA and the NEO study

Background Identifying associations between serum metabolites and visceral adipose tissue ( VAT ) could provide novel biomarkers of VAT and insights into the pathogenesis of obesity-related diseases. We aimed to discover and replicate metabolites reflecting pathways related to VAT . Methods and Results Associations between fasting serum metabolites and VAT area (by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging) were assessed with cross-sectional linear regression of individual-level data from participants in MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis; discovery, N=1103) and the NEO (Netherlands Epidemiology of Obesity) study (replication, N=2537). Untargeted 1H nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomics profiling of serum was performed in MESA, and metabolites were replicated in the NEO study using targeted 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. A total of 30 590 metabolomic spectral variables were evaluated. After adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, smoking, physical activity, glucose/lipid-lowering medication, and body mass index, 2104 variables representing 24 nonlipid and 49 lipid/lipoprotein subclass metabolites remained significantly associated with VAT ( P=4.88×10-20-1.16×10-3). These included conventional metabolites, amino acids, acetylglycoproteins, intermediates of glucose and hepatic metabolism, organic acids, and subclasses of apolipoproteins, cholesterol, phospholipids, and triglycerides. Metabolites mapped to 31 biochemical pathways, including amino acid substrate use/metabolism and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis. In the replication cohort, acetylglycoproteins, branched-chain amino acids, lactate, glutamine (inversely), and atherogenic lipids remained associated with VAT ( P=1.90×10-35-8.46×10-7), with most associations remaining after additional adjustment for surrogates of VAT (glucose level, waist circumference, and serum triglycerides), reflecting novel independent associations. Conclusions We identified and replicated a metabolite panel associated with VAT in 2 community-based cohorts. These findings persisted after adjustment for body mass index and appear to define a metabolic signature of visceral adiposity

Impaired perception of facial motion in autism spectrum disorder

Copyright: © 2014 O’Brien et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Facial motion is a special type of biological motion that transmits cues for socio-emotional communication and enables the discrimination of properties such as gender and identity. We used animated average faces to examine the ability of adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to perceive facial motion. Participants completed increasingly difficult tasks involving the discrimination of (1) sequences of facial motion, (2) the identity of individuals based on their facial motion and (3) the gender of individuals. Stimuli were presented in both upright and upside-down orientations to test for the difference in inversion effects often found when comparing ASD with controls in face perception. The ASD group’s performance was impaired relative to the control group in all three tasks and unlike the control group, the individuals with ASD failed to show an inversion effect. These results point to a deficit in facial biological motion processing in people with autism, which we suggest is linked to deficits in lower level motion processing we have previously reported

SCOTfluors: Small, Conjugatable, Orthogonal and Tunable Fluorophores for in vivo Imaging of Cell Metabolism

The transport and trafficking of metabolites are critical for the correct functioning of live cells. However, in situ metabolic imaging studies are hampered by the lack of fluorescent chemical structures that allow direct monitoring of small metabolites under physiological conditions with high spatial and temporal resolution. Herein, we describe SCOTfluors as novel small-sized multi-colored fluorophores for real-time tracking of essential metabolites in live cells and in vivo and for the acquisition of metabolic profiles from human cancer cells of variable origin. © 2019 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.The authors acknowledge funding from Medical Research Scotland (S.B.: 879-2015), MSCA Individual Fellowship (A.F.: 704912), OPTIMA (N.D.B.: EP/L016559/1), Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Dale Fellowship (Y.F.: 100104/Z/12/Z) and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (J.L.A, A.D.: CTQ2017-85378-R). M.V. acknowledges funds from ERC Consolidator Grant (771443), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/M025160/1) and the Royal Society (IEC\R3\170132). The authors thank the technical support from the Flow Cytometry and the Confocal Advanced Light Microscopy units at the University of Edinburgh.Peer reviewe

Utility of Nontraditional Risk Markers in Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk Assessment

AbstractBackgroundThe improvement in discrimination gained by adding nontraditional cardiovascular risk markers cited in the 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association cholesterol guidelines to the atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk estimator (pooled cohort equation [PCE]) is untested.ObjectivesThis study assessed the predictive accuracy and improvement in reclassification gained by the addition of the coronary artery calcium (CAC) score, the ankle–brachial index (ABI), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels, and family history (FH) of ASCVD to the PCE in participants of MESA (Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis).MethodsThe PCE was calibrated (cPCE) and used for this analysis. The Cox proportional hazards survival model, Harrell’s C statistics, and net reclassification improvement analyses were used. ASCVD was defined as myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease–related death, or fatal or nonfatal stroke.ResultsOf 6,814 MESA participants not prescribed statins at baseline, 5,185 had complete data and were included in this analysis. Their mean age was 61 years; 53.1% were women, 9.8% had diabetes, and 13.6% were current smokers. After 10 years of follow-up, 320 (6.2%) ASCVD events occurred. CAC score, ABI, and FH were independent predictors of ASCVD events in the multivariable Cox models. CAC score modestly improved the Harrell’s C statistic (0.74 vs. 0.76; p = 0.04); ABI, hsCRP levels, and FH produced no improvement in Harrell’s C statistic when added to the cPCE.ConclusionsCAC score, ABI, and FH were independent predictors of ASCVD events. CAC score modestly improved the discriminative ability of the cPCE compared with other nontraditional risk markers