A multiple length scale description of the mechanism of elastomer stretching

Conventionally, the stretching of rubber is modeled exclusively by rotations of segments of the embedded polymer chains; i.e. changes in entropy.</p

Risk factors for dementia development, frailty, and mortality in older adults with epilepsy – A population-based analysis

Objective: Although the prevalence of comorbid epilepsy and dementia is expected to increase, the impact is not well understood. Our objectives were to examine risk factors associated with incident dementia and the impact of frailty and dementia on mortality in older adults with epilepsy. Methods: The CALIBER scientific platform was used. People with incident epilepsy at or after age 65 were identified using Read codes and matched by age, sex, and general practitioner to a cohort without epilepsy (10:1). Baseline cohort characteristics were compared using conditional logistic regression models. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to examine the impact of frailty and dementia on mortality, and to assess risk factors for dementia development. Results: One thousand forty eight older adults with incident epilepsy were identified. The odds of having dementia at baseline were 7.39 [95% CI 5.21–10.50] times higher in older adults with epilepsy (n = 62, 5.92%) compared to older adults without epilepsy (n = 88, 0.86%). In the final multivariate Cox model (n = 326), age [HR: 1.20, 95% CI 1.09–1.32], Charlson comorbidity index score [HR: 1.26, 95% CI 1.10–1.44], and sleep disturbances [HR: 2.41, 95% CI 1.07–5.43] at baseline epilepsy diagnosis were significantly associated with an increased hazard of dementia development over the follow-up period. In a multivariate Cox model (n = 1047), age [HR: 1.07, 95% CI 1.03–1.11], baseline dementia [HR: 2.66, 95% CI 1.65–4.27] and baseline e-frailty index score [HR: 11.55, 95% CI 2.09–63.84] were significantly associated with a higher hazard of death among those with epilepsy. Female sex [HR: 0.77, 95% CI 0.59–0.99] was associated with a lower hazard of death. Significance: The odds of having dementia were higher in older adults with incident epilepsy. A higher comorbidity burden acts as a risk factor for dementia, while prevalent dementia and increasing frailty were associated with mortality

Suspended liminality: Vacillating affects in cyberbullying/research

This paper develops a concept of liminal hotspots in the context of i) a secondary analysis of a cyberbullying case involving a group of school children from a Danish school, and ii) an altered auto-ethnography in which the authors ‘entangle’ their own experiences with the case analysis. These two sources are used to build an account of a liminal hotspot conceived as an occasion of troubled and suspended transformative transition in which a liminal phase is extended and remains unresolved. The altered auto-ethnography is used to explore the affectivity at play in liminal hotspots, and this liminal affectivity is characterised in terms of volatility, vacillation, suggestibility and paradox

Strategic sustainable development in the UK construction industry, through the Framework of Strategic Sustainable Development, using Building Information Modelling

The UK Government has set out ambitious plans for all new domestic and commercial buildings to be zero carbon rated by 2016 and 2020 respectively. These are some of the most progressive environmental targets for the built environment in the western world. There are also sustainability principles (SP) that need to be addressed by the UK construction industry, particularly negative impacts such as waste and pollution. Currently, 100 million tonnes of construction waste, including 13 million tonnes of unused materials, is generated each year, with only 20% currently capable of being recycled. The majority of this waste ends up in landfill, contributing to further pollution of the biosphere. The literature suggests that these negative impacts result from a variety of causes, including ineffective leadership, ingrained cultures, outdated technologies and poor logistics. There are a number of innovative projects within the UK, particularly at a local level, that pose the question as to whether bottom up approaches may be more successful than top down policies, as set by national and local government. This paper presents a case study demonstrating the former approach within the construction industry. Research and consultancy has been undertaken collaboratively between industry, academia and professional practice in the production of 15 individually designed sustainable dwellings in the North East of England. This project has employed Building Information Modelling (BIM) as a new collaborative working platform, aligned to the Modern Method of Construction (MMC). By situating this inquiry within an authentic case study it has highlighted currently ineffective strategies, policies and leadership which have prevented full exploitation of the potential of BIM and MMC towards sustainable production. This inquiry supports the integration of the Framework of Sustainable Strategic Development (FSSD) into construction procurement, as a method for implementing bottom up leadership in a value driven project

Travelling and sticky affects: : Exploring teens and sexualized cyberbullying through a Butlerian-Deleuzian- Guattarian lens

In this paper we combine the thinking of Deleuze and Guattari (1984, 1987) with Judith Butler’s (1990, 1993, 2004, 2009) work to follow the rhizomatic becomings of young people’s affective relations in a range of on- and off-line school spaces. In particular we explore how events that may be designated as sexual cyberbullying are constituted and how they are mediated by technology (such as texting or in/through social networking sites). Drawing on findings from two different studies looking at teens’ uses of and experiences with social networking sites, Arto in Denmark, and Bebo in the UK, we use this approach to think about how affects flow, are distributed, and become fixed in assemblages. We map how affects are manoeuvred and potentially disrupted by young people, suggesting that in the incidences discussed affects travel as well as stick in points of fixation. We argue that we need to grasp both affective flow and fixity in order to gain knowledge of how subjectification of the gendered/classed/racialised/sexualised body emerges. A Butlerian-Deleuzian-Guattarian frame helps us to map some of these affective complexities that shape sexualized cyberbully events; and to recognize technologically mediated lines of flight when subjectifications are at least temporarily disrupted and new terms of recognition and intelligibility staked out. Keywords