Providing Low and Moderate Income Housing Through Non-Profit Housing Associations: Lessons from the British

The conflicting needs of associations and government-separation from government versus control over public funds--led to the creation in 1964 of a national Housing Corporation. Its functions are to promote and register associations, to channel funds, and to monitor association activities. This system of registration, cost limits, and individual project review has been remarkably effective in assuring proper use of the substantial subsidies that have stimulated the rapid and significant contributions of associations

Analysis of Neuronal and Microglial Responses to Implanted Silicon Devices through Immunohistochemistry and CLARITY

Brain computer interfaces (BCI’s) and implantable cortical devices have recently emerged in research as promising treatment methods for a variety of neurological problems such as motor dysfunction, memory loss, and sudden onset seizures. The number of people currently suffering from a loss of nervous system function as a result of neurodegenerative diseases or injury creates a need for reliable neural prostheses. The autoimmune response of the Central Nervous System (CNS) when introduced with a foreign object such as an electrode shank quickly impedes signal strength and degrades the functional life of the device. Two different experimental methods were used to analyze the host tissue responses to implantation with silicon micro-electrodes and micro-wires. In situ device capture histology was used to obtain fluorescent images of neurons and activated microglia in rat and mouse brain slices with an electrode still present. A recent method, CLARITY, was used to obtain images of green fluorescent microglia in un-sectioned mouse brains post mortem. Both methods utilized a laser-equipped inverted confocal microscope to obtain the images. The results show that increasing tissue transparency with CLARITY and two photon imaging can give detailed information about the tissue immune response in an implanted brain. Through comparison to various controls, changes in density, movement, and conformation of neurons and microglia surrounding electrode implants will help increase the understanding of the cellular mechanisms involved and likely be used to identify future targets for research

Miniature quadrupole mass spectrometer array

The present invention provides a minature quadrupole mass spectrometer array for the separation of ions, comprising a first pair of parallel, planar, nonmagnetic conducting rods each having an axis of symmetry, a second pair of planar, nonmagnetic conducting rods each having an axis of symmetry parallel to said first pair of rods and disposed such that a line perpendicular to each of said first axes of symmetry and a line perpendicular to each of said second axes of symmetry bisect each other and form a generally 90 degree angle. A nonconductive top positioning plate is positioned generally perpendicular to the first and second pairs of rods and has an aperture for ion entrance along an axis equidistant from each axis of symmetry of each of the parallel rods, a nonconductive bottom positioning plate is generally parallel to the top positioning plate and has an aperture for ion exit centered on an axis equidistant from each axis of symmetry of each of the parallel rods, means for maintaining a direct current voltage between the first and second pairs of rods, and means for applying a radio frequency voltage to the first and second pairs of rods

PLENARY PANEL: A 360-DEGREE VIEW OF SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURAL POLICY; EDITED TRANSCRIPT

Agricultural and Food Policy,

Why Engagement Matters in Sport Volunteer Motivation

Over the years, sport management scholars have been interested in sport volunteer research. Considering there is a heavy reliance on sport volunteers to successfully stage of sporting events, knowing how to recruit and retain these volunteers allows sport event managers and organizers to continue this success. One such way is through understanding the engagement of sport volunteers, specifically the influences of engagement. Through survey methodology, this study examined how engagement of 464 sport volunteers at college football bowl games influenced motivational aspects. Structural Equation Modeling found that meaningfulness and safety had a significant impact on love and purposive motivation through engagement, but there was no significant relationship with rewards. With these results in mind, there are implications for sport event organizers to remember when working with volunteers. Keywords: Human resource management, volunteer engagement, volunteer motivatio

How the Perception of Athletic Academic Services affects the overall College Experience of Freshmen Student-Athletes

More and more intercollegiate athletics programs are allocating strategic resources towards building attractive athletics facilities, lavish training and academic complexes, and high-quality support services. Strategic investments in these areas continue to be a high priority for major college athletics programs, all with the hopes of enhancing the overall college experience for student-athletes. As such, researchers have begun to examine the role these various support services play in the overall athletic program. In this aim, the present study seeks to understand how academic support services are successful in enhancing this experience. Findings indicate that freshmen student-athletes’ perceptions of service quality provided by their academic athletic services, influence satisfaction, student involvement, and emotional adjustment. Building from these findings, university athletic departments should reevaluate and adjust their academic services based on the perception of student-athletes and how the provided services influence their overall college experience

Epidemiology and immunogenetic background of islet cell antibody - positive nondiabetic schoolchildren : Ulm-Frankfurt population study

Islet cell antibodies (ICAs) were determined in a large cohort of white nondiabetic schoolchildren (n = 4287) from a homogenous population in southern Germany. The prevalence of ICA levels greater than or equal to 5 Juvenile Diabetes Foundation (JDF) U was 1.05% (95% confidence interval 0.8-1.4%). Analysis of HLA-DR beta and -DQ beta alleles revealed that the specificities found to be increased in insulin-dependent (type I) diabetic subjects with the same ethnic background were also associated with ICA positivity in the nondiabetic schoolchildren. HLA-DR3 (P less than 0.01) and -DR4 (P less than 0.01) phenotypes and absence of Asp residue (P less than 0.01) at codon 57 of the HLA-DQ beta-chain were significantly increased in ICA+ compared with control subjects. High levels of ICAs, which were categorized as either greater than or equal to 17 or greater than or equal to 30 JDF U, were found to be associated with amino acids other than Asp at position 57 of the HLA-DQ beta-chain. No association of ICA level was found for HLA-DR phenotypes

Multiple foil lunar environmental analyser (FLEA package) for the evaluation of meteoroid primary impact penetration, radiant, velocity and composition, meteoroid impact ejecta and comminution products, solar wind composition, medium energy solar flare composition, solar wind sputter rate, meteoroid bumper efficiency

The conception of a multiple thin foil sensor has been investigated and is suggested as a very valuable tool for the accumulation of data over long exposure periods on the lunar surface. Data will lead to the evaluation of specific parameters of the meteor environment, of the solar wind spectrum and of the overall environmental erosion rates from both impact and sputtering.by J.A.M. McDonnell and Otto E. Berg.Summary -- Introduction -- Proposal -- Scientific background -- Environmental stability of FLEA system -- Data evaluation -- Support details and personne

Adaptive Evolution of the Chlamydia trachomatis Dominant Antigen Reveals Distinct Evolutionary Scenarios for B- and T-cell Epitopes: Worldwide Survey

Background: Chlamydia trachomatis is one of the most disseminated human pathogens, for which no vaccine is available yet. Understanding the impact of the host pressure on pathogen antigens is crucial, but so far it was only assessed for highly-restricted geographic areas. We aimed to evaluate the evolutionary picture of the chlamydial key antigen (MOMP), which is one of the leading multi-subunit vaccine candidates, in a worldwide basis. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using genetics, molecular evolution methods and mathematical modelling, we analyzed all MOMP sequences reported worldwide, composed by 5026 strains from 33 geographic regions of five continents. Overall, 35.9 % of variants were detected. The evolutionary pattern of MOMP amino acid gains/losses was found to differ from the remaining chromosome, reflecting the demanding constraints of this porin, adhesin and dominant antigen. Amino acid changes were 4.3-fold more frequent in host-interacting domains (P,10 212), specifically within B-cell epitopes (P,10 25), where 25 % of them are at fixation (P,10 25). According to the typical pathogen-host arms race, this rampant B-cell antigenic variation likely represents neutralization escape mutants, as some mutations were previously shown to abrogate neutralization of chlamydial infectivity in vitro. In contrast, T-cell clusters of diverse HLA specificities are under purifying selection, suggesting a strategy that may lead to immune subversion. Moreover, several silent mutations are at fixation, generating preferential codons that may influence expression, and may also reflect recombination-derived ‘hitchhikingeffect