10,577 research outputs found
Video Evidence That London Infants Can Resettle Themselves Back to Sleep After Waking in the Night, as well as Sleep for Long Periods, by 3 Months of Age
Objective: Most infants become settled at night by 3 months of age, whereas infants not settled by 5 months are likely to have long-term sleep-waking problems. We assessed whether normal infant development in the first 3 months involves increasing sleep-period length or the ability to resettle autonomously after waking in the night. Methods: One hundred one infants were assessed at 5 weeks and 3 months of age using nighttime infrared video recordings and parental questionnaires. Results: The clearest development was in sleep length; 45% of infants slept continuously for 5 hours or more at night at 3 months compared with 10% at 5 weeks. In addition, around a quarter of infants woke and resettled themselves back to sleep in the night at each age. Autonomous resettling at 5 weeks predicted prolonged sleeping at 3 months suggesting it may be a developmental precursor. Infants reported by parents to sleep for a period of 5 hours or more included infants who resettled themselves and those with long sleeps. Three-month olds fed solely breast milk were as likely to self-resettle or have long sleep bouts as infants fed formula or mixed breast and formula milk. Conclusions: Infants are capable of resettling themselves back to sleep in the first 3 months of age; both autonomous resettling and prolonged sleeping are involved in “sleeping through the night” at an early age. Findings indicate the need for physiological studies of how arousal, waking, and resettling develop into sustained sleeping and of how environmental factors support these endogenous and behavioral processes
Lakshmi Planum: A distinctive highland volcanic province
Lakshmi Planum, a broad smooth plain located in western Ishtar Terra and containing two large oval depressions (Colette and Sacajawea), has been interpreted as a highland plain of volcanic origin. Lakshmi is situated 3 to 5 km above the mean planetary radius and is surrounded on all sides by bands of mountains interpreted to be of compressional tectonic origin. Four primary characteristics distinguish Lakshmi from other volcanic regions known on the planet, such as Beta Regio: (1) high altitude, (2) plateau-like nature, (3) the presence of very large, low volcanic constructs with distinctive central calderas, and (4) its compressional tectonic surroundings. Building on the previous work of Pronin, the objective is to establish the detailed nature of the volcanic deposits on Lakshmi, interpret eruption styles and conditions, sketch out an eruption history, and determine the relationship between volcanism and the tectonic environment of the region
Industrial and Commercial Loans and Guarantees for New or Expanding Business under the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965
In his pivotal primary victory over Hubert Humphrey, President John F. Kennedy pledged that he would lend vigorous assistance to the impoverished coal mining regions of West Virginia to alleviate their economic distress. In fulfillment of this pledge, Congress passed and President Kennedy signed into law in May, 1961, the Area Redevelopment Act in order to establish an effective program to alleviate conditions of substantial and persistent unemployment and underemployment in certain economically distressed areas. The Area Redevelopment Act created an experimental pilot program within the Department of Commerce to accomplish the above purpose through a system of government loans for the establishment of new businesses or the expansion of existing firms; loans and grants to assist communities in providing needed public facilities for industrial expansion; technical assistance to communities; and job retraining. With the benefit of four years experience under the pilot program of this act, President Lyndon B. Johnson proposed on March 25, 1965, that a number of alterations be made in the Area Redevelopment Act and that the program be given permanent status for the purpose of carrying out the policies set forth in the act. Acting on the President\u27s proposal, Congress considered and passed and the President on August 26, 1965, approved the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965. The act of 1965 replaces the Area Redevelopment Administration with the Economic Development Administration which continues as a part of the Department of Commerce under the authority of the Secretary of Commerce. Based generally upon the Area Redevelopment Act (Public Law 87-27), this act is also based to a certain extent upon the public Works Acceleration Act (Public Law 87-658) and the Appalachian Regional Development Act (Public Law 894). Recognizing that approval or disapproval of an industrial or commercial loan application will be conclusive of the creation or expansion of a business enterprise, and that approval holds the promise of increased activity and improved economic health of an entire area, the great importance of the procedure for making a loan application and the subsequent administrative determination relative to the application is readily apparent. It is, therefore, the purpose of this article to evaluate the alterations effected by the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965 with a consideration of past experience under the Area Redevelopment Act, and with particular consideration of the criteria and standards applicable in determining whether or not a business qualifies for a low interest rate industrial or commercial loan
Extensive lava flow fields on Venus: Preliminary investigation of source elevation and regional slope variations
Large-volume lava flow fields have been identified on Venus, the most areally extensive of which are known as fluctus and have been subdivided into six morphologic types. Sheetlike flow fields (Type 1) lack the numerous, closely spaced, discrete lava flow lobes that characterize digitate flow fields. Transitional flow fields (Type 2) are similar to sheetlike flow fields but contain one or more broad flow lobes. Digitate flow fields are divided further into divergent (Types 3-5) and subparallel (Type 6) classes on the basis of variations in the amount of downstream flow divergence. As a result of our previous analysis of the detailed morphology, stratigraphy, and tectonic associations of Mylitta Fluctus, we have formulated a number of questions to apply to all large flow fields on Venus. In particular, we would like to address the following: (1) eruption conditions and style of flow emplacement (effusion rate, eruption duration), (2) the nature of magma storage zones (presence of neutral buoyancy zones, deep or shallow crustal magma chambers), (3) the origin of melt and possible link to mantle plumes, and (4) the importance of large flow fields in plains evolution. To answer these questions we have begun to examine variations in flow field dimension and morphology; the distribution of large flow fields in terms of elevation above the mean planetary radius; links to regional tectonic or volcanic structures (e.g., associations with large shield edifices, coronae, or rift zones); statigraphic relationships between large flow fields, volcanic plains, shields, and coronae; and various models of flow emplacement in order to estimate eruption parameters. In this particular study, we have examined the proximal elevations and topographic slopes of 16 of the most distinctive flow fields that represent each of the 6 morphologic types
Diving behaviour of whale sharks in relation to a predictable food pulse
We present diving data for four whale sharks in relation to a predictable food pulse (reef fish spawn) and an analysis of the longest continuous fine-resolution diving record for a planktivorous shark. Fine-resolution pressure data from a recovered pop-up archival satellite tag deployed for 206 days on a whale shark were analysed using the fast Fourier Transform method for frequency domain analysis of time-series. The results demonstrated that a free-ranging whale shark displays ultradian, diel and circa-lunar rhythmicity of diving behaviour. Whale sharks dive to over 979.5 m and can tolerate a temperature range of 26.4 degrees C. The whale sharks made primarily diurnal deep dives and remained in relatively shallow waters at night. Whale shark diving patterns are influenced by a seasonally predictable food source, with shallower dives made during fish spawning periods
Large-volume lava flow fields on Venus: Dimensions and morphology
Of all the volcanic features identified in Magellan images, by far the most extensive and really important are lava flow fields. Neglecting the widespread lava plains themselves, practically every C1-MIDR produced so far contains several or many discrete lava flow fields. These range in size from a few hundred square kilometers in area (like those fields associated with small volcanic edifices for example), through all sizes up to several hundred thousand square kilometers in extent (such as many rift related fields). Most of these are related to small, intermediate, or large-scale volcanic edifices, coronae, arachnoids, calderas, fields of small shields, and rift zones. An initial survey of 40 well-defined flow fields with areas greater than 50,000 sq km (an arbitrary bound) has been undertaken. Following Columbia River Basalt terminology, these have been termed great flow fields. This represents a working set of flow fields, chosen to cover a variety of morphologies, sources, locations, and characteristics. The initial survey is intended to highlight representative flow fields, and does not represent a statistical set. For each flow field, the location, total area, flow length, flow widths, estimated flow thicknesses, estimated volumes, topographic slope, altitude, backscatter, emissivity, morphology, and source has been noted. The flow fields range from about 50,000 sq km to over 2,500,000 sq km in area, with most being several hundred square kilometers in extent. Flow lengths measure between 140 and 2840 km, with the majority of flows being several hundred kilometers long. A few basic morphological types have been identified
Lunar mining of oxygen using fluorine
Experiments during the first year of the project were directed towards generating elemental fluorine via the electrolysis of anhydrous molten fluorides. Na2SiF6 was dissolved in either molten NaBF4 or a eutectic (minimum-melting) mixture of KF-LiF-NaF and electrolyzed between 450 and 600 C to Si metal at the cathode and F2 gas at the anode. Ar gas was continuously passed through the system and F2 was trapped in a KBr furnace. Various anode and cathode materials were investigated. Despite many experimental difficulties, the capability of the process to produce elemental fluorine was demonstrated
Bacterial Foodborne Disease: Medical Costs and Productivity Losses
Microbial pathogens in food cause an estimated 6.5-33 million cases of human illness and up to 9,000 deaths in the United States each year. Over 40 different foodborne microbial pathogens, including fungi, viruses, parasites, and bacteria, are believed to cause human illnesses. For six bacterial pathogens, the costs of human illness are estimated to be 12.9 billion annually. Of these costs, 6.7 billion are attributed to foodborne bacteria. These estimates were developed to provide analytical support for USDA's Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems rule for meat and poultry. (Note that the parasite Toxoplasma gondii is not included in this report.) To estimate medical costs and productivity losses, ERS uses four severity categories for acute illnesses: those who did not visit a physician, visited a physician, were hospitalized, or died prematurely. The lifetime consequences of chronic disease are included in the cost estimates for E. coli O157:H7 and fetal listeriosis.cost-of-illness, foodborne pathogens, lost productivity, medical costs, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,
Descriptive figures for differences in parenting and infant night-time distress in the first three months of age
AIM: To provide descriptive figures for infant distress and associated parenting at night in normal London home environments during the first three months of age. BACKGROUND: Most western infants develop long night-time sleep periods by 4 months of age. However, 30% of infants in many countries sleep for short periods and cry out on waking in the night: the most common type of infant sleep behaviour problem. Preventive interventions may help families and improve services. There is evidence that 'limit-setting' parenting, which is common in western cultures, supports the development of settled infant night-time behaviour. However, a recent review has challenged this and argued that this form of parenting risks distressing infants. This study describes limit-setting parenting as practiced in London, compares it with ‘infant-cued’ parenting, and measures the associated infant distress. METHODS: Longitudinal infra-red video, diary and questionnaire observations comparing a General-Community (n=101) group and subgroups with a Bed-Sharing (n=19) group on measures of infant and parenting behaviours at night. FINDINGS: General-Community parents took longer to detect and respond to infant waking and signalling, and to begin feeding, compared with the highly infant-cued care provided by Bed-Sharing parents. The average latency in General-Community parents' responding to infant night-time waking was 3.5 minutes, during which infants fuss/cried for around one minute. Compared with Bed-Sharing parenting, General-Community parenting was associated with increased infant distress of around 30 minutes per night at 2 weeks, reducing to 12 minutes per night by three months of age. However, differences in infant distress between General-Community subgroups adopting limit-setting versus infant-cued parenting were not large or statistically significant at any age. The figures provide descriptive evidence about limit-setting parenting which may counter some doubts about this form of parenting and help parents and professionals to make choices
Video evidence that parenting methods predict which infants develop long night-time sleep periods by three months of age
Aim To examine two hypotheses about the longitudinal relationship between night-time parenting behaviours in the first few postnatal weeks and infant night-time sleep-waking at five weeks, three months and six months of age in normal London home environments. BACKGROUND: Most western infants develop long night-time sleep periods by four months of age. However, around 20-30% of infants in many countries continue to sleep for short periods and cry out on waking in the night: the most common type of infant sleep behaviour problem. Preventive interventions may help families and improve services. There is evidence that 'limit-setting' parenting, which is common in western cultures, supports the development of settled infant night-time behaviour. However, this evidence has been challenged. The present study measures three components of limit-setting parenting (response delay, feeding interval, settling method), examines their stability, and assesses the predictive relationship between each of them and infant sleep-waking behaviours. METHODS: Longitudinal observations comparing a General-Community (n=101) group and subgroups with a Bed-Sharing (n=19) group on infra-red video, diary and questionnaire measures of parenting behaviours and infant feeding and sleep-waking at night. Findings Bed-Sharing parenting was highly infant-cued and stable. General-Community parenting involved more limit-setting, but was less stable, than Bed-Sharing parenting. One element of General-Community parenting - consistently introducing a short interval before feeding - was associated with the development of longer infant night-time feed intervals and longer day-time feeds at five weeks, compared with other General-Community and Bed-Sharing infants. Twice as many General-Community infants whose parents introduced these short intervals before feeding in the early weeks slept for long night-time periods at three months of age on both video and parent-report measures, compared with other General-Community and Bed-Sharing infants. The findings' implications for our understanding of infant sleep-waking development, parenting programmes, and for practice and research, are discussed
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