Boron content of Lake Ulubat sediment: A key to interpret the morphological history of NW Anatolia, Turkey

Freshwater Lake Ulubat (c. 1.5 m deep and c. 138 km2) receives sediment from a 10.414 km2 area in the seismically active Susurluk Drainage Basin (SDB) of NW Turkey. The B and trace element contents of the lake infill seem to be a link between the fresh landforms of the SDB and the lacustrine sediment. Deposition in Lake Ulubat has been 1.60 cm.a-1 for the last 50 a according to radionucleides; however the sedimentation rate over the last millennium was 0.37 cm.a-1 based on 14C dating. The B content of the lacustrine infill displays a slight increase at 0.50 m and a drastic increase at 4 m depth occurring c. 31 a and c. 1070 a ago respectively. Probably the topmost change corresponds to the start of open mining in the SDB and the second one to the natural trenching of borate ore-deposits. These dates also show indirectly a 1.4 cm.a-1 erosion rate during the last millennium as the borate beds were trenched up to 15 m. By extrapolation, it is possible to establish that the formation of some of the present morphological features of the southern Marmara region, especially river incision, began in the late Pleistocene, and developed especially over the last 75 ka

Evaluation of thermal insulation materials

Data was obtained on silicone-bonded fiberglass, isocyanurate foam, and two dozen other insulators. Materials were selected to withstand heat sterilization, outer space, and the Martian atmosphere. Significant environmental parameters were vibration, landing shock, and launch venting

The Development of Coping Skills for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Students: Transitioning From Minority to Majority Environments

Urban Ills: Twenty First Century Complexities of Urban Living in Global Contexts is a collection of original research focused on critical challenges and dilemmas to living in cities. Volume 1 examines both the economic impact of urban life and the social realities of urban living. The editors define the ecology of urban living as the relationship and adjustment of humans to a highly dense, diverse, and complex environment. This approach examines the nexus between the distribution of human groups with reference to material resources and the consequential social, political, economic, and cultural patterns which evolve as a result of the sufficiency or insufficiency of those material resources. They emphasize the most vulnerable populations suffering during and after the recession in the United States and around the world. The chapters seek to explore emerging issues and trends affecting the lives of the poor, minorities, immigrants, women, and children

Managing Complaints about Doctors: Stakeholder Perspectives of the Role of the Medical Council in Ireland

This study has quantified the number of complaints made about doctors to hospitals in Ireland over a five year period. Complaints about doctors represented a minority of overall complaints to hospitals. They predominantly concerned clinical care and communication issues. There were few patient complaints about unprofessional behaviour. Hospitals rarely referred complaints to the Irish Medical Council. Thus current practice differs significantly from that envisaged in the new legislative framework. There is a need to promote transparent, efficient and effective regulation through a standardised inter-agency approach

Time to Listen : Confronting Child Sexual Abuse by Catholic Clergy in Ireland. Executive Summary

The overall aim of the study was twofold. Firstly, since this is an issue with international relevance, an important aim was to extend scientific knowledge about the impact of child sexual abuse by clergy beyond the individual in order to assess its impact on all of those likely to be affected. These range from the family of the abused, convicted members of clergy and their families and colleagues, clergy and Church personnel and the wider Church community. The second broad aim was to understand clerical child sexual abuse in the Irish context - what were the salient factors convering its occurrence and management and how can this information be used to inform practice in the future

Long term outcome of stroke: Stroke is a chronic disease with acute events.

Long term outcome of stroke: Stroke is a chronic disease with acute events

Physical activity and core depressive symptoms in the older Irish adult population.

Research indicates that the prevalence of depression is increasing and that by 2020 depression will become the second leading cause of disease worldwide, as measured by disability adjusted life years. Interventions which involve physical activity have shown that becoming active, even at a moderate level; can be effective in treating depression. In addition, physically active individuals are less likely to develop depressive symptoms than those who are not active, making physical activity an important strategy in the prevention of ill health. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between physicalactivity levels and core depressive symptoms in Irish adults aged 50 years or more. The study used data from the Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition (SLÁN) 2007, a national survey of individuals living in the Republic of Ireland (n=4,255 adults aged 50 years or older) and The Northern Ireland Health and Social Wellbeing Survey (NIHSWS), 2005-2006, a survey of individuals living in Northern Ireland (n=1,904 adults aged 50 years or older). Measures of depressed mood and anhedonia (two core depressive symptoms according to diagnostic criteria (DSM IV)) were derived using items from the surveys. Physical activity patterns were categorised using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) Short Form (Craig et al. 2003). Demographic factors (age, gender and social class), smoking status and health service use were also considered. Just over 5% (5.4%) of SLÁN 2007 participants and 11.1% of NIHSWS 2005-2006 participants had experienced both depressed mood and anhedonia in the recent past. In the overall sample this was 7.2% of participants. Overall 45% of participants reported being moderately physically active but 36.6% of participants reported activity at low levels (SLÁN 2007: 35.6%; NIHSWS 2005-2006: 38.8%). For the overall sample, depressive symptoms were negatively associated with being male, being older and high levels of physical activity. Depressive symptoms were significantly and positively associated with being separated/divorced or widowed, and social classes 3-6. Overall, people over 50 years who were engaged in moderate to high levels of physical activity had a 50-56% reduction in the odds of having elevated depressive symptoms. Consistent with other research findings, this study suggests that physical activity levels are strongly associated with depressive symptoms. Increasing levels of physical activity among adults over 50 years has the potential to improve mental health

HeSSOP Health and Social Services for Older People Summary

The views of older people living in the community on the health and social services available to them had not previously been assessed on a large scale in Ireland. The National Council on Ageing and Older People, in partnership with the Western Health Board (WHB) and the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) which was formerly the Eastern Health Board, has now carried out such an assessment. It is anticipated that this will assist in planning for services for older people. A survey instrument was developed based on both literature review and focus group work. Groups of older people and key health and social service professionals in the two board areas were consulted to identify the most important concerns to be addressed in the study

HeSSOP Health and Social Services for Older People : Survey of service use, evaluation and preceived need by older people in two health board areas. INTERM REPORT II

HeSSOP is a collaboration across the National Council on Ageing and Older People and two health boards: the Eastern Regional Health Authority and the Western Health Board. Information on service use, service evaluation and perceptions of service need of a large community-dwelling group will be reported separately for each board in the first instance; this is to assist service planning for 2000. A combined report will allow further analysis of patterns of use etc., including comparisons across boards to identify common and locationspecific challenges to service delivery. While the project will cover only two of the country’s health boards as constituted at the time of the work, the particular boards involved represent the most urban and one of the most rural of the boards. Thus findings are expected to have value for other health boards. The wider issue of consultation strategies to involve older people will be addressed and will be included in the combined survey report

Irish Heart Foundation National Audit of Stroke Care

Stroke is the third leading cause of death and disability worldwide. It constitutes a formidable burden of disability for patients, their families, health professionals and the wider community. It combines aspects of both acute and chronic disease, and there is increasing evidence that those affected by stroke can benefit to a very significant extent from organised stroke care throughout the course of the illness. Delivering this care requires a unique combination of skills, drawing on neurosciences, cardiovascular medicine, general medicine, the science of ageing, rehabilitation, vascular surgery, and public health. Local and timely evidence on the service performance is essential to assess quality of care and to improve services. This has not been available to date in Ireland. The aim of this project was to conduct a national audit of stroke care in hospital and the community in the Republic of Ireland. This was achieved by completing six separate surveys and by drawing conclusions based on complementary information across the studies. The six surveys are described next. Where possible, audit systems used in the UK’s Sentinel audit were used to provide an opportunity for comparison of relative, as well as absolute, levels of achievement of recommended standards of care