Awareness, requirements and barriers to use of Assistive Technology designed to enable independence of people suffering from Dementia (ATD)

This article is available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ 2012 IOS PressThis study investigated the awareness and use of assistive technology for people with dementia. The aim of the study was to explore barriers to the uptake of, and the unmet needs for, assistive technology for dementia (ATD) The work was carried out with family carers of people with dementia because carers are often the purchasers, end users and main beneficiaries of this type of technology. Focus groups were used to explore carers’ views on ATD use, and the problems that might be addressed by ATD, in order to develop a questionnaire for dementia carers. The questionnaire was administered at Alzheimer’s Society carer support groups in South Bucks and in Hillingdon Borough (UK). None of the 16 focus group participants or the 42 respondents to the questionnaire had any personal experience of ATD. The dementia carers reported a number of concerns, problems and unmet needs that could be addressed by existing, commercially available ATD products. Some needs for new technology development were identified in the study, but the lack of awareness of ATD appears to be the most important barrier to technology adoption

Beam Energy Considerations for Gold Nano-Particle Enhanced Radiation Treatment

Purpose: A novel approach using nano technology enhanced radiation modalities is investigated. The proposed methodology uses antibodies labeled with organically inert metals with a high atomic number. Irradiation using photons with energies in the kilo--electron volt (keV) range show an increase in dose due to a combination of an increase in photo-electric interactions and a pronounced generation of Auger and/or Coster-Kronig (A-CK) electrons. Methods: The dependency of the dose deposition on various factors is investigated using Monte Carlo simulation models. The factors investigated include: agent concentration, spectral dependency looking at mono--energetic sources as well as classical bremsstrahlung sources. The optimization of the energy spectrum is performed in terms of physical dose enhancement as well as the dose deposited by Auger and/or Coster-Kronig electrons and their biological effectiveness. Results: A quasi-linear dependency on concentration and an exponential decrease within the target medium is observed. The maximal dose enhancement is dependent on the position of the target in the beam. Apart from irradiation with low photon energies (10 - 20 keV) there is no added benefit from the increase in generation of Auger electrons. Interestingly, a regular 110kVp bremsstrahlung spectrum shows a comparable enhancement in comparison with the optimized mono--energetic sources. Conclusions: In conclusion we find that the use of nano-particle enhanced shows promise to be implemented quite easily in regular clinic on a physical level due to the advantageous properties in classical beams.Comment: Preprint submitted to Phys Med Bio

Nucleotide sequence and genomic organization of an ophiovirus associated with lettuce big-vein disease

The complete nucleotide sequence of an ophiovirus associated with lettuce big-vein disease has been elucidated. The genome consisted of four RNA molecules of approximately 7ò8, 1ò7, 1ò5 and 1ò4 kb. Virus particles were shown to contain nearly equimolar amounts of RNA molecules of both polarities. The 5'- and 3'-terminal ends of the RNA molecules are largely, but not perfectly, complementary to each other. The virus genome contains seven open reading frames. Database searches with the putative viral products revealed homologies with the RNA-dependent RNA polymerases of rhabdoviruses and Ranunculus white mottle virus, and the capsid protein of Citrus psorosis virus. The gene encoding the viral polymerase appears to be located on the RNA segment 1, while the nucleocapsid protein is encoded by the RNA3. No significant sequence similarities were observed with other viral proteins. In spite of the morphological resemblance with species in the genus Tenuivirus, the ophioviruses appear not to be evolutionary closely related to this genus nor any other viral genus

Urinary incontinence: A vibration alert system for detecting pad overflow

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2011 RESNA.A sensor and electronics system is described that monitors the leakage of urine from continence pads into surrounding underwear. Urinary incontinence is involuntary loss of urine and occurs when the bladder muscles contract without warning or the sphincter muscles surrounding the urethra are too weak to prevent leakage. The system comprises a wetness sensor and electronics unit. The sensor is stitched into the underwear and detects overspills of urine from the pad. The electronics unit is attached to the underwear and responds by vibrating, signaling to the wearer that pad has failed. This system has application for individuals who use continence pads in the community, but it could also be used in care homes

Characterisation of the melting layer variability in an Alpine valley based on polarimetric X-band radar scans

The melting layer designates the transition region from solid to liquid precipitation, and is a typical feature of the vertical structure of stratiform precipitation. As it is characterised by a well-known signature in polarimetric radar variables, it can be identified by automatic detection algorithms. Though often assumed to be uniform in space and time for applications such as vertical profile correction, the spatial variability of the melting layer remains poorly documented. This work aims to characterise and quantify the spatial and temporal variability of the melting layer using a method based on the Fourier transform, which is applied to high-resolution X-band polarimetric radar data from two measurement campaigns in Switzerland. It is first demonstrated that the proposed method can accurately and concisely describe the spatial variability of the melting layer and may therefore be used as a tool for comparison. The method is then used to characterise the melting layer variability in summer precipitation on the relatively flat Swiss Plateau and in winter precipitation in a large inner Alpine valley (the Rhone valley in the Swiss Alps). Results indicate a higher contribution of smaller spatial scales to the total melting layer variability in the case of the Alpine environment. The same method is also applied to data from vertical scans in order to study the temporal variability of the melting layer. The variability in space and time is then compared to investigate the spatio-temporal coherence of the melting layer variability in the two study areas, which was found to be more consistent with the assumption of pure advection for the case of the plateau.</p

On the origin of the difference between the runaway velocities of the OB-supergiant X-ray Binaries and the Be/X-ray Binaries

The recent finding by Chevalier & Ilovaisky (1998) that OB-supergiant X-ray binaries have relatively large runaway velocities whereas Be/X-ray binaries have low runaway velocities, provides confirmation of the current models for the formation of these two types of systems. These predict a difference in runaway velocity of an order of magnitude. This difference basically results from the variation of the fractional helium core mass as a function of stellar mass, in combination with the conservation of orbital angular momentum during the mass transfer phase that preceded the formation of the compact object in the system. This combination results into: (i) Systematically narrower pre-supernova orbits in the OB-supergiant systems than in the Be-systems, and (ii) A larger fractional amount of mass ejected in the supernovae in high-mass systems relative to systems of lower mass. Regardless of possible kick velocities imparted to neutron stars at birth, this combination leads to a considerable difference in average runaway velocity between these two groups. The observed low runaway velocities of the Be/X-ray binaries confirm that in most cases not more than 1 to 2Msun was ejected in the supernovae that produced their neutron stars. This, in combination with the --on average-- large orbital eccentricities of these systems, indicates that their neutron stars must have received a velocity kick in the range 60 - 250 km/s at birth.Comment: reduced abstract, 13 pages, accepted by A&

Sequence analysis and genomic organization of Aphid lethal paralysis virus: a new member of the family Dicistroviridae

The complete nucleotide sequence of the genomic RNA of an aphid-infecting virus, Aphid lethal paralysis virus (ALPV), has been determined. The genome is 9812 nt in length and contains two long open reading frames (ORFs), which are separated by an intergenic region of 163 nt. The first ORF (5' ORF) is preceded by an untranslated leader sequence of 506 nt, while an untranslated region of 571 nt follows the second ORF (3' ORF). The deduced amino acid sequences of the 5' ORF and 3' ORF products respectively showed similarity to the non-structural and structural proteins of members of the newly recognized genus Cripavirus (family Dicistroviridae). On the basis of the observed sequence similarities and identical genome organization, it is proposed that ALPV belongs to this genus. Phylogenetic analysis showed that ALPV is most closely related to Rhopalosiphum padi virus, and groups in a cluster with Drosophila C virus and Cricket paralysis virus, while the other members of this genus are more distantly related. Infectivity experiments showed that ALPV can not only infect aphid species but is also able to infect the whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum, extending its host range to another family of the order Hemipter

Forming short-period Wolf-Rayet X-ray binaries and double black holes through stable mass transfer

We show that black-hole High-Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs) with O- or B-type donor stars and relatively short orbital periods, of order one week to several months may survive spiral in, to then form Wolf-Rayet (WR) X-ray binaries with orbital periods of order a day to a few days; while in systems where the compact star is a neutron star, HMXBs with these orbital periods never survive spiral-in. We therefore predict that WR X-ray binaries can only harbor black holes. The reason why black-hole HMXBs with these orbital periods may survive spiral in is: the combination of a radiative envelope of the donor star, and a high mass of the compact star. In this case, when the donor begins to overflow its Roche lobe, the systems are able to spiral in slowly with stable Roche-lobe overflow, as is shown by the system SS433. In this case the transferred mass is ejected from the vicinity of the compact star (so-called "isotropic re-emission" mass loss mode, or "SS433-like mass loss"), leading to gradual spiral-in. If the mass ratio of donor and black hole is $>3.5$, these systems will go into CE evolution and are less likely to survive. If they survive, they produce WR X-ray binaries with orbital periods of a few hours to one day. Several of the well-known WR+O binaries in our Galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds, with orbital periods in the range between a week and several months, are expected to evolve into close WR-Black-Hole binaries,which may later produce close double black holes. The galactic formation rate of double black holes resulting from such systems is still uncertain, as it depends on several poorly known factors in this evolutionary picture. It might possibly be as high as $\sim 10^{-5}$ per year.Comment: MNRAS in pres