On the Delay of Reactive-Greedy-Reactive Routing in Unmanned Aeronautical Ad-hoc Networks

AbstractReactive-Greedy-Reactive (RGR) has been proposed as a promising routing protocol in highly mobile density-variable Unmanned Aeronautical Ad-hoc Networks (UAANETs). In RGR, location information of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as well as reactive end-to-end paths are employed in the routing process. It had already been shown that RGR outperforms existing routing protocols in terms of packet delivery ratio. In this paper, the delay performance of RGR is evaluated and compared against Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) and Greedy Geographic Forwarding (GGF).We considerextensive simulation scenariostocover both searchingand tracking applicationsofUAANETs. The results illustrate that when the number of UAVs is high enough in a searching mission to form a connected UAANET, RGR performs well. In sparsely connected searching scenarios or dense tracking scenarios, RGR may also slightly decrease delay compared to traditional reactive routing protocols for similar PDR

Factors That Impact the Success of Interorganizational Health Promotion Collaborations: A Scoping Review

© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017. Objective: To explore published empirical literature in order to identify factors that facilitate or inhibit collaborative approaches for health promotion using a scoping review methodology. Data Source: A comprehensive search of MEDLINE, CINAHL, ScienceDirect, PsycINFO, and Academic Search Complete for articles published between January 2001 and October 2015 was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Study Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria: To be included studies had to: be an original research article, published in English, involve at least 2 organizations in a health promotion partnership, and identify factors contributing to or constraining the success of an established (or prior) partnership. Studies were excluded if they focused on primary care collaboration or organizations jointly lobbying for a cause. Data Extraction: Data extraction was completed by 2 members of the author team using a summary chart to extract information relevant to the factors that facilitated or constrained collaboration success. Data Synthesis: NVivo 10 was used to code article content into the thematic categories identified in the data extraction. Results: Twenty-five studies across 8 countries were identified. Several key factors contributed to collaborative effectiveness, including a shared vision, leadership, member characteristics, organizational commitment, available resources, clear roles/responsibilities, trust/clear communication, and engagement of the target population. Conclusion: In general, the findings were consistent with previous reviews; however, additional novel themes did emerge

Healthy Eating and Active Living: Rural-Based Working Men's Perspectives.

There is a pressing need for health promotion programs focused on increasing healthy eating and active living among "unreached" rural-based men. The purpose of the current study was to describe rural-based working men's views about health to distil acceptable workplace approaches to promoting men's healthy lifestyles. Two focus group interviews included 21 men who worked and lived in northern British Columbia, Canada. Interviews were approximately 2 hours in duration; data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Themes inductively derived included (a) food as quick filling fuels, (b) work strength and recreational exercise, and (c) (re)working masculine health norms. Participants positioned foods as quick filling fuels both at work and home as reflecting time constraints and the need to bolster energy levels. In the theme work strength and recreational exercise, men highlighted the physical labor demands pointing to the need to be resilient in overcoming the subarctic climate and/or work fatigue in order to fit in exercise. In the context of workplace health promotion programs for men, participants advised how clear messaging and linkages between health and work performance and productivity and cultivating friendly competition among male employees were central to reworking, as well as working, with established masculine health norms. Overall, the study findings indicate that the workplace can be an important means to reaching men in rural communities and promoting healthy eating and active living. That said, the development of workplace programs should be guided by strength-based masculine virtues and values that proactively embrace work and family life

Learning to drive in young adults with language impairment

Language impairment (LI) is a common developmental disorder which affects many aspects of young people’s functional skills and engagement with society. Little is known of early driving behaviour in those with this disability. This longitudinal study examines early driving experience in a sample of young adults with LI, compared with a sample of typically developing age-matched peers (AMPs). At age 24 years, significantly fewer participants with LI had acquired a driving licence. A crucial hurdle for those with LI appeared to be the Theory part of the (UK) test. Logistic regression analysis indicated that language ability and a measure of independence at age 17 contributed to the prediction of licence possession at age 24. There was no evidence of differences in traffic violations or accident rates between those with and without LI. There is little evidence that young people with LI are at greater risk on the roads than peers without LI, but some individuals with LI might benefit from support in the course of preparation for driving and in the driving test

Compressional origin of the Naxos metamorphic core complex, Greece: structure, petrography, and thermobarometry

The island of Naxos, Greece, has been previously considered to represent a Cordilleran-style metamorphic core complex that formed during Cenozoic extension of the Aegean Sea. Although lithospheric extension has undoubtedly occurred in the region since 10 Ma, the geodynamic history of older, regional-scale, kyanite- and sillimanite-grade metamorphic rocks exposed within the core of the Naxos dome is controversial. Specifically, little is known about the pre-extensional prograde evolution and the relative timing of peak metamorphism in relation to the onset of extension. In this work, new structural mapping is presented and integrated with petrographic analyses and phase equilibrium modeling of blueschists, kyanite gneisses, and anatectic sillimanite migmatites. The kyanite-sillimanite−grade rocks within the core complex record a complex history of burial and compression and did not form under crustal extension. Deformation and metamorphism were diachronous and advanced down the structural section, resulting in the juxtaposition of several distinct tectono-stratigraphic nappes that experienced contrasting metamorphic histories. The Cycladic Blueschists attained ∼14.5 kbar and 470 °C during attempted northeast-directed subduction of the continental margin. These were subsequently thrusted onto the more proximal continental margin, resulting in crustal thickening and regional metamorphism associated with kyanite-grade conditions of ∼10 kbar and 600−670 °C. With continued shortening, the deepest structural levels underwent kyanite-grade hydrous melting at ∼8−10 kbar and 680−750 °C, followed by isothermal decompression through the muscovite dehydration melting reaction to sillimanite-grade conditions of ∼5−6 kbar and 730 °C. This decompression process was associated with top-to-the-NNE shearing along passive-roof faults that formed because of SW-directed extrusion. These shear zones predated crustal extension, because they are folded around the migmatite dome and are crosscut by leucogranites and low-angle normal faults. The migmatite dome formed at lower-pressure conditions under horizontal constriction that caused vertical boudinage and upright isoclinal folds. The switch from compression to extension occurred immediately following doming and was associated with NNE-SSW horizontal boudinage and top-to-the-NNE brittle-ductile normal faults that truncate the internal shear zones and earlier collisional features. The Naxos metamorphic core complex is interpreted to have formed via crustal thickening, regional metamorphism, and partial melting in a compressional setting, here termed the Aegean orogeny, and it was exhumed from the midcrust due to the switch from compression to extension at ca. 15 Ma

The positive and negative impact of an intergenerational digital technology education programme on younger people’s perceptions of older adults

In order to meet the technological needs of older adults, and ensure digital inclusion, it is important for digital technology designers to accurately assess and understand older adults’ needs and requirements, free from the influence of societal assumptions of their capabilities. This study evaluated the impact of an intergenerational digital technology education programme on younger adults’ stereotypes of older people. Using an experimental design, results show that compared to a control group, students taking part in the programme subsequently rated older adults as more friendly but less competent. Practical implications for developing intergenerational education programmes are discussed

Chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis is associated with detrimental bacterial dysbiosis.

BACKGROUND: Gastrointestinal mucosal injury (mucositis), commonly affecting the oral cavity, is a clinically significant yet incompletely understood complication of cancer chemotherapy. Although antineoplastic cytotoxicity constitutes the primary injury trigger, the interaction of oral microbial commensals with mucosal tissues could modify the response. It is not clear, however, whether chemotherapy and its associated treatments affect oral microbial communities disrupting the homeostatic balance between resident microorganisms and the adjacent mucosa and if such alterations are associated with mucositis. To gain knowledge on the pathophysiology of oral mucositis, 49 subjects receiving 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) or doxorubicin-based chemotherapy were evaluated longitudinally during one cycle, assessing clinical outcomes, bacterial and fungal oral microbiome changes, and epithelial transcriptome responses. As a control for microbiome stability, 30 non-cancer subjects were longitudinally assessed. Through complementary in vitro assays, we also evaluated the antibacterial potential of 5-FU on oral microorganisms and the interaction of commensals with oral epithelial tissues. RESULTS: Oral mucositis severity was associated with 5-FU, increased salivary flow, and higher oral granulocyte counts. The oral bacteriome was disrupted during chemotherapy and while antibiotic and acid inhibitor intake contributed to these changes, bacteriome disruptions were also correlated with antineoplastics and independently and strongly associated with oral mucositis severity. Mucositis-associated bacteriome shifts included depletion of common health-associated commensals from the genera Streptococcus, Actinomyces, Gemella, Granulicatella, and Veillonella and enrichment of Gram-negative bacteria such as Fusobacterium nucleatum and Prevotella oris. Shifts could not be explained by a direct antibacterial effect of 5-FU, but rather resembled the inflammation-associated dysbiotic shifts seen in other oral conditions. Epithelial transcriptional responses during chemotherapy included upregulation of genes involved in innate immunity and apoptosis. Using a multilayer epithelial construct, we show mucositis-associated dysbiotic shifts may contribute to aggravate mucosal damage since the mucositis-depleted Streptococcus salivarius was tolerated as a commensal, while the mucositis-enriched F. nucleatum displayed pro-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic capacity. CONCLUSIONS: Altogether, our work reveals that chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis is associated with bacterial dysbiosis and demonstrates the potential for dysbiotic shifts to aggravate antineoplastic-induced epithelial injury. These findings suggest that control of oral bacterial dysbiosis could represent a novel preventive approach to ameliorate oral mucositis

Microbial Biogeography of Public Restroom Surfaces

We spend the majority of our lives indoors where we are constantly exposed to bacteria residing on surfaces. However, the diversity of these surface-associated communities is largely unknown. We explored the biogeographical patterns exhibited by bacteria across ten surfaces within each of twelve public restrooms. Using high-throughput barcoded pyrosequencing of the 16 S rRNA gene, we identified 19 bacterial phyla across all surfaces. Most sequences belonged to four phyla: Actinobacteria, Bacteriodetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. The communities clustered into three general categories: those found on surfaces associated with toilets, those on the restroom floor, and those found on surfaces routinely touched with hands. On toilet surfaces, gut-associated taxa were more prevalent, suggesting fecal contamination of these surfaces. Floor surfaces were the most diverse of all communities and contained several taxa commonly found in soils. Skin-associated bacteria, especially the Propionibacteriaceae, dominated surfaces routinely touched with our hands. Certain taxa were more common in female than in male restrooms as vagina-associated Lactobacillaceae were widely distributed in female restrooms, likely from urine contamination. Use of the SourceTracker algorithm confirmed many of our taxonomic observations as human skin was the primary source of bacteria on restroom surfaces. Overall, these results demonstrate that restroom surfaces host relatively diverse microbial communities dominated by human-associated bacteria with clear linkages between communities on or in different body sites and those communities found on restroom surfaces. More generally, this work is relevant to the public health field as we show that human-associated microbes are commonly found on restroom surfaces suggesting that bacterial pathogens could readily be transmitted between individuals by the touching of surfaces. Furthermore, we demonstrate that we can use high-throughput analyses of bacterial communities to determine sources of bacteria on indoor surfaces, an approach which could be used to track pathogen transmission and test the efficacy of hygiene practices