Road‌ ‌lighting‌ ‌for‌ ‌pedestrian‌ ‌reassurance:‌ ‌consideration‌ ‌of‌ ‌methods‌ ‌and‌ ‌new‌ ‌metrics‌

One reason for installing road lighting in subsidiary roads is to enhance pedestrian reassurance after dark. Low reassurance has been associated with poor mental health, social isolation and lower active walking. However, despite numerous studies, it remains unclear if there are optimal lighting characteristics for pedestrian reassurance. Two field studies were carried out in the city of Sheffield in the UK. Field study 1 was designed to examine the day-dark approach proposed by Boyce et al. 2000, which uses evaluations of reassurance in the daytime as well as after dark, rather than after-dark only. Thus, this study had 24 participants, rating 10 test locations in daytime and after-dark, using a survey. It also considered the development of a composite evaluation item to characterise reassurance rather than rely on the response to a single question. The results of field study 1 suggested that reassurance was better characterised by minimum illuminance and uniformity than by mean illuminance, the usually considered metric, but that was not an apriori hypothesis of field study 1. Therefore, Field study 2 was carried out with an expanded sample (35 participants) and a set of locations (16 roads) to test that hypothesis and also to consider the association between reassurance and three types of illuminances referred to in lighting guidance - horizontal, hemispherical, and semi-cylindrical. Results of Field Study 2 suggest the minimum horizontal illuminance and hemispherical mean illuminance are more relevant than horizontal mean illuminance for pedestrian reassurance. Finally, some consideration to methodological matters is given, such as the impact in findings of asking participants to imagine after-dark settings and the validity of subjective assessments of lighting. Responses to an item regarding the perceived risk at night were analysed. These analyses suggested that asking participants to imagine an after-dark scenario might promote lower perceptions of safety. Also, the association of subjective evaluations of the lighting were analysed against the lighting metrics and reassurance appraisals resulting from study 1 and 2. Findings suggest that the perceived quality of lighting, in both studies, is associated with the recorded significant illuminances of each study

High Resolution Imaging of the Mitral Valve in the Natural State with 7 Tesla MRI

Imaging techniques of the mitral valve have improved tremendously during the last decade, but challenges persist. The delicate changes in annulus shape and papillary muscle position throughout the cardiac cycle have significant impact on the stress distribution in the leaflets and chords, thus preservation of anatomically accurate positioning is critical. The aim of this study was to develop an in vitro method and apparatus for obtaining high-resolution 3D MRI images of porcine mitral valves in both the diastolic and systolic configurations with physiologically appropriate annular shape, papillary muscle positions and orientations, specific to the heart from which the valve was harvested. Positioning and mounting was achieved through novel, customized mounting hardware consisting of papillary muscle and annulus holders with geometries determined via pre-mortem ultrasonic intra-valve measurements. A semi-automatic process was developed and employed to tailor Computer Aided Design models of the holders used to mount the valve. All valve mounting hardware was 3D printed using a stereolithographic printer, and the material of all fasteners used were brass for MRI compatibility. The mounted valves were placed within a clear acrylic case, capable of holding a zero-pressure and pressurized liquid bath of a MRI-compatible fluid. Obtaining images from the valve submerged in liquid fluid mimics the natural environment surrounding the valve, avoiding artefacts due to tissue surface tension mismatch and gravitational impact on tissue shape when not neutrally buoyant. Fluid pressure was supplied by reservoirs held at differing elevations and monitored and controlled to within ±1mmHg to ensure that the valves remained steady. The valves were scanned in a 7 Tesla MRI system providing a voxel resolution of at least 80μm. The systematic approach produced 3D datasets of high quality which, when combined with physiologically accurate positioning by the apparatus, can serve as an important input for validated computational models

Evaluation of pedestrian reassurance gained by higher illuminances in residential streets using the day–dark approach

A field study was conducted to investigate how changes in the illuminance affect pedestrian reassurance when walking after dark in an urban location. The field study was conducted in daytime and after dark in order to employ the day–dark approach to analysis of optimal lighting. The results suggest that minimum illuminance is a better predictor of reassurance than is mean illuminance. For a day–dark difference of 0.5 units on a 6-point response scale, the results suggest a minimum horizontal illuminance of approximately 2.0 lux

Análise criminal de Vila Nova de Gaia: caracterização dos crimes contra a propriedade e identificação de Hot-Spots

Dissertação apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Psicologia JurídicaA criminologia ambiental define que o evento criminal ocorre face à interacção entre factores temporais, espaciais e legais, o ofensor e os alvos criminais. Desta forma, o crime distribui-se de forma não aleatória, mas padronizada segundo as oportunidades criminais que cada ambiente fornece, uma vez que o comportamento criminal está dependente de factores situacionais. O presente estudo pretende, de uma forma geral, caracterizar a criminalidade contra a propriedade a um nível macro- e meso- em Vila Nova de Gaia, nas áreas de jurisdição da Guarda Nacional Republicana. A um nível específico, procura identificar os hot-spots correspondentes. Para o efeito, recorreu-se a um levantamento de dados presentes nas participações de todos os crimes contra a propriedade relativas ao ano de 2012, à observação directa, e posteriormente analisaram-se os dados através do software estatístico IBM Statistics 22. Os resultados permitem uma análise criminal macroscópica relevante, nomeadamente ao nível das características criminais e ambientais e do lesado. Permitem ainda verificar que a informação relativamente ao ofensor é escassa. Ao nível meso- a análise inferencial permite caracterizar e comparar a criminalidade ao nível dos diferentes postos de polícia, indicando diferenças significativas nas relações estabelecidas. Este estudo pode ser relevante para o desenvolvimento de estratégias de prevenção e intervenção adequadas, bem como para o desenvolvimento de outros estudos desde a perspectiva da criminologia ambiental.Environmental criminology defines that the criminal event occurs due to the interaction between temporal, spatial and legal factors, the offender and criminal targets. Thus, crime is distributed non-randomly; on the contrary, it is standardized according to the criminal opportunities that each environment provides, since criminal behavior depends on situational factors. Mainly, the present study aims to characterize crime against property from a macro- to a meso- level in the jurisdiction areas of Guarda Nacional Republicana in Vila Nova de Gaia. At a specific level, it seeks to identify the corresponding hot-spots. To this end, not only we collected data from the police records of 2012, but we also proceeded to direct observation for data completion, and then analyzed it using the statistical software IBM Statistics 22. Results allow a relevant macroscopic analysis, particularly in terms of criminal and environmental characteristics and of the victim. It also allowed us to verify that the information regarding the offender is scarce. At a meso- level, this analysis allowed us to characterize and compare criminality of each police station, observing significant differences in established relationships. This study may be relevant for the development and implementation of appropriate prevention and intervention strategies as well as for the development of other studies drawn from the perspective of environmental criminology

A multi-center preclinical study of gadoxetate DCE-MRI in rats as a biomarker of drug induced inhibition of liver transporter function.

UNLABELLED: Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a leading cause of acute liver failure and transplantation. DILI can be the result of impaired hepatobiliary transporters, with altered bile formation, flow, and subsequent cholestasis. We used gadoxetate dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI), combined with pharmacokinetic modelling, to measure hepatobiliary transporter function in vivo in rats. The sensitivity and robustness of the method was tested by evaluating the effect of a clinical dose of the antibiotic rifampicin in four different preclinical imaging centers. The mean gadoxetate uptake rate constant for the vehicle groups at all centers was 39.3 +/- 3.4 s-1 (n = 23) and 11.7 +/- 1.3 s-1 (n = 20) for the rifampicin groups. The mean gadoxetate efflux rate constant for the vehicle groups was 1.53 +/- 0.08 s-1 (n = 23) and for the rifampicin treated groups was 0.94 +/- 0.08 s-1 (n = 20). Both the uptake and excretion transporters of gadoxetate were statistically significantly inhibited by the clinical dose of rifampicin at all centers and the size of this treatment group effect was consistent across the centers. Gadoxetate is a clinically approved MRI contrast agent, so this method is readily transferable to the clinic. CONCLUSION: Rate constants of gadoxetate uptake and excretion are sensitive and robust biomarkers to detect early changes in hepatobiliary transporter function in vivo in rats prior to established biomarkers of liver toxicity

Emerging technologies and their impact on regulatory science

There is an evolution and increasing need for the utilization of emerging cellular, molecular and in silico technologies and novel approaches for safety assessment of food, drugs, and personal care products. Convergence of these emerging technologies is also enabling rapid advances and approaches that may impact regulatory decisions and approvals. Although the development of emerging technologies may allow rapid advances in regulatory decision making, there is concern that these new technologies have not been thoroughly evaluated to determine if they are ready for regulatory application, singularly or in combinations. The magnitude of these combined technical advances may outpace the ability to assess fit for purpose and to allow routine application of these new methods for regulatory purposes. There is a need to develop strategies to evaluate the new technologies to determine which ones are ready for regulatory use. The opportunity to apply these potentially faster, more accurate, and cost-effective approaches remains an important goal to facilitate their incorporation into regulatory use. However, without a clear strategy to evaluate emerging technologies rapidly and appropriately, the value of these efforts may go unrecognized or may take longer. It is important for the regulatory science field to keep up with the research in these technically advanced areas and to understand the science behind these new approaches. The regulatory field must understand the critical quality attributes of these novel approaches and learn from each other's experience so that workforces can be trained to prepare for emerging global regulatory challenges. Moreover, it is essential that the regulatory community must work with the technology developers to harness collective capabilities towards developing a strategy for evaluation of these new and novel assessment tools

Changes in the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and bromodeoxyuredine (BrdU) incorporation in the testes of rats with age and after acute exposure to cyclophosphamide

While aging is generally associated with accumulation of DNA damage and decreased cell proliferation, the reason for age-related oligospermia remains unclear. The present study provides evidence that age-related oligospermia may be caused by the altered ability of testicular germ cells to undergo the first mitosis and meiosis. This is due to decreased DNA replication and/or repair in response to DNA damage. Young and aging rats were exposed to either saline or an alkylating agent, cyclophosphamide. The ability of the male germ cells to replicate and/or repair their DNA was estimated by examining expression of PCNA (an essential component of DNA replication and repair machinery) and incorporation of BrdU (analog of thymidine). PCNA expression correlated with that of BrdU incorporation. The ability of germ cells to replicate and/or repair their DNA was affected by both the aging process and cyclophosphamide exposure in a stage-specific manner. At mitosis 1, expression of PCNA and BrdU incorporation decreased with both age and drug exposure. Mitosis 2 was not affected by either age or cyclophosphamide. Meiosis was affected only by the aging process. These differential effects are due, probably, to the different types of DNA damage caused by aging and drug exposure: age produces a long term chronic damage while cyclophosphamide exposure produces an acute short term damage. The results of this study suggest that different mechanisms may be involved in mediating cell cycle arrest and DNA repair at different stages of spermatogenesis

Uniformity predicts pedestrian reassurance better than average illuminance

Reassurance describes the degree of confidence a pedestrian might have to walk, a critical concern where there are national plans to promote walking rather than driving for local journeys. This paper describes a field study carried out to measure the reassurance benefit of lighting using the day-dark method. The results suggest that reassuranc is better predicted by uniformity or minimum illuminance than it is by average illuminance, which is the conventional metric

2D aggregation and selective desorption of nanoparticle probes: A new method to probe DNA mismatches and damages

A 2D colorimetric DNA sensor is reported based on the 2D aggregation of oligonucleotide-modified gold nanoparticle probes resulting from the molecular hybridization between these latest and their complementary single stranded DNA targets. To increase their mobility the nanoparticles are adsorbed on a fluid lipid bilayer, itself supported on a substrate. The hybridization between the target and the mobile nanoparticle probes creates links between the nanoparticles resulting in the formation of nanoparticle aggregates in the plane of the substrate. This aggregation is detected using a new method based on the selective desorption of non-aggregated nanoparticles. The addition of dextran sulfate induces the substitution of non-aggregated gold nanoparticles while aggregated ones are stable on the substrate. We show that this detection method is highly specific and allows the detection of DNA mismatches and damages