Physical Accessibility and Historic Preservation in Historic House Museums of the Southeast

Museums are a public good, as they provide educational recreation and preserve cultural history, and so it is crucial that they are physically accessible to as many visitors as possible. The aim of this study was to understand what architectural features of historic house museums are the least accessible and what has been done to ameliorate these challenges. The survey used in the study was developed using the guidelines for making historic buildings accessible as described in the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards. It was distributed by email to representatives of 220 historic sites, of which 79 responded. The results suggested that the number of visitors to a site is essentially irrelevant to what level of accessibility the historic house possesses. A site’s budget often, but not always, influences the accessibility measures available for visitors. Many museum administrators describe barriers to increased accessibility in the form of limitations imposed by regulatory bodies and the risk of damaging the houses’ historical integrity. Even so, building stewards are generally enthusiastic about expanding accessibility and want to find ways to implement measures compatible with their buildings’ historic fabric

Wittgenstein and web facets

The World Wide Web has grown exponentially in the last few years. The popularity of Web search engines has also grown in a similar manner. The task of a Web search engine is to provide the Web searcher with accurate and targeted information from the plethora of information available on the Web. This is a daunting task that requires the careful usage of language to ensure accuracy. As a result, the importance of the usage and meaning of language in the Web domain has become the focus of recent research. In this paper, the author will explore Wittgenstein’s later philosophy of language as it applies to the language used in the search result pages of a Web search engine in an effort to broaden the understanding of language usage within this domain

Does Design Contribute to Ease of Use: An Exploratory Study of Web Facets in The Result Pages of Two Search Engines

An exploratory study was conduced to examine the design aspects of Web facets found in the search result pages of two search engines: Exalead and Excite. The goal of the study was to determine if Web facet design could contribute to perceived ease of use. This study builds upon findings from an earlier study (Milonas, 2010) in which the results indicated that users perceived the Web facets evident in the search result pages of the Exalead search engine easier to use than those found in Excite. The researcher surmised that the design of these Web facets might have contributed to the difference in perceived ease of use. The relationship between design and user perception in determining the ease of use of Web facets within these two search engines is explored. In the first component of the study, an expert inspection of the various design aspects of the search result pages of Exalead and Excite was conducted.  In the second part of the study, five participants conducted an experiment using the Web facets found in the search result pages of the two search engines. Findings of both the expert inspection and the usability evaluation showed that there does not seem to be a significant difference in the design of Web facets within the two search engines. The findings seem to indicate that design of Web facets is not a contributory factor in terms of Web facet ease of use

Coping strategies of ambulatory burn patients during daily dressing changes

The purpose of this study was to describe the coping strategies used by ambulatory burn patients for management of pain during dressing changes. The sample consisted of 136 ambulatory burn patients (N = 136) who attended an outpatient Burn Clinic at a Southwestern medical center. Coping strategies were measured using the Coping Strategies Questionnaire (Rosenstiel & Keefe, 1983) and the Helpfulness of Prayer Scale (Saudia, Kinney, Brown & Young-Ward, 1991); The most frequently used coping strategies used by ambulatory burn patients were coping self-statements (87.5%, n = 119) and praying/hoping (71.3%, n = 97). There was no significant difference in reported levels of pain among subjects who prayed (n = 56) and subjects who did not pray (n = 80) before or during dressing changes (t =.988, {dollar}p = .325).{dollar} Patients who used pain medications had significantly higher levels of pain (mean = 5.92) than patients who did not use pain medication (mean = 4.02) before their dressing changes (t = 3.47, {dollar}p = .001).{dollar} The level of pain experienced by patients was weakly correlated to the degree (depth) of the burn {dollar}(r = .230,\ p = .007).{dollar}

Pension Funds under Investments Constraints: An Assessment of the Opportunity Cost to the Greek Social Security System

In this paper we study the opportunity loss of the Greek social security system in terms of risk and return, caused by the inflexible investment constraints under which Greek pension funds operated in the period 1958-2000. Using data on pension fund reserves as well as on money and capital market yields, we evaluate retrospectively the risks and returns of a more pro-investment fund reserve management by analyzing an indicative number of investment scenarios in local and international money and capital markets. In order to estimate local currency yields for international investment, we generate for the entire period – covering both a fixed and a partially floating exchange rates regime – a corresponding series of exchange rate variations based on the official rate fluctuations and inflation differentials. Our results suggest that in the 43-year period, there has been a significant opportunity loss in the system both in risk and returns: first, by excluding Greek bank deposits and Greek capital market securities that would have propped returns up at acceptable levels of risk and, second, by not allowing for some degree of international diversification that would have kept overall downside risk down. This opportunity loss could have alleviated, to some extent, the current imbalance of the system, had some of the restrictive investment rules been relaxed.pension funds; financial investment

First record of the bougainvillea mealybug Phenacoccus peruvianus in Greece

Ο ψευδοκόκκος της βουκαμβίλλιας Phenacoccus peruvianus (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) καταγράφηκε για πρώτη φορά στην Ελλάδα το φθινόπωρο του 2012 στην περιοχή Βουτάκος της νήσου Πάρου (Γεωγρ. Πλάτος: 37°00΄21΄΄, Γ εωγρ. Μήκος: 25°06΄41΄΄). Το P. peruvianus είναι ιθαγενές είδος της νεοτροπικής ζώνης (Περού, Αργεντινή) αλλά αναφέρεται ότι έχει εγκατασταθεί στην Ευρώπη (Αλμερία και Μαγιόρκα Ισπανίας, Σικελία, νοτιοανατολική Αγγλία, Κορσική, Πορτογαλία, Μονακό και Γαλλία).This is the first record of the Boungainvillea mealybug Phenacoccus peruvianus in Greece. The mealybug originates from South America and in the last decade has invaded Europe and particularly the Mediterranean basin. It has become a major pest for various ornamental plant species. In Spain, it is found to be parasitized by the parasitoid Acerophagus n. sp. near coccois

Influence of female age of Trichogramma cacoeciae and host eggs age on its parasitic effectiveness

Σε εργαστηριακά πειράματα εξετάστηκε η επίδραση της ηλικίας των αυγών του εντόμου L botrana ως προς την αποδοχή τους για παρασιτισμό από το ωοπαράσιτοειδές T. cacoecciae. Θηλυκά άτομα του T. cacoecciae παρασιτούν σε μικρότερο βαθμό τα αυγά ηλικίας 4 ημερών από ότι αυγά ηλικίας 1 ή 2 ημερών. Επίσης, η διάρκεια ανάπτυξης ως την ενηλικίωση του Τ. cacoecciae σε 4 ημερών αυγά του L botrana ήταν ση μαντικά μεγαλύτερη από ότι σε αυγά μικρότερης ηλικίας. Επιπλέον, εξετάστηκε και η επίδραση της ηλικίας των παρασιτοειδών ως προς την ικανότητα παρασιτισμού αυγών του L botrana. Η ηλικία του παρασιτοειδούς επηρέασε σημαντικά τον αριθμό των παρασιτισμένων αυγών του L botrana. Περισσότερα αυγά παρασιτίστηκαν όταν χρησιμοποιήθηκαν θηλυκά άτομα του T. cacoecciae ηλικίας 4 ημερών.Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of female age of Trichogramma cacoeciae (Marchai) (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) and egg age of Lobesia bot rana (Denis & Schiffermueller) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) on parasitoid effectiveness. It was found that T. cacoecciae females parasitize more frequently 4 days old L. boi rana eggs than younger ones. Furthermore, developmental time of their offspring retarded and percentage of viable eggs decreased when parasitoid larvae fed with older eggs. 7*. cacoecciae females that were 4 days old were more effective in parasitising L. botrana eggs. Rearing the paras ito ids on Sitôt roga ce rea lei la eggs for one generation resulted in a decreased number of parasitised eggs of L boi rana than when reared on Ephestia kit eh niella eggs. The implications of these results in selecting a candidate species for biological control are discussed

Oncologic Outcomes of Surgery in T3 Prostate Cancer: Experience of a Single Tertiary Center

Aim. The aim of this study is to present the oncologic outcomes and to determine the prognostic factors of overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), disease-progression-free survival (DPFS), and biochemical-progression-free survival (BPFS) after surgery for pT3 prostate cancer (PCa). Methods. Between 2002 and 2007, a pT3 stage after radical prostatectomy was detected in 182 patients at our institution. The Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to calculate OS, CSS, DPFS, and BPFS. Cox regression was used to identify predictive factors of survival. Results. pT3a was detected in 126 (69%) and pT3b in 56 (31%) of cases. Five-year OS, CSS, DPFS, and BPFS rates were 90.7%, 94%, 91.8%, and 48.4%, respectively. Survival was significantly different when comparing pT3a to pT3b groups. The 5-year OS, CSS, DPFS, and BPFS were 96% versus 72%, 98% versus 77%, 97.3% versus 79.3%, and 60% versus 24.2%, respectively. Specimen Gleason score was the most significant predictor of OS, CSS, DPFS, and BPFS. The risk of death increased up to 3-fold when a Gleason score 8–10 was present at the final pathology. Conclusions. Radical prostatectomy may offer very good CSS, OS, DPFS, and BPFS rates in pT3a PCa. However, outcomes in patients with pT3b or specimen Gleason ≥8 were significantly worse, suggesting the need for multimodality treatment in those cases