Report on the Condition of the Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge (1860)

Final report of John A. Roebling, Civil Engineer, to the presidents and directors of the Niagara Falls Suspension and Niagara Falls International Bridge Companies, on the condition of the Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge

Strukturen der Zeit, als diese aus den Fugen geriet

Lukas Werner:Erzählte Zeiten im Roman der Frühen Neuzeit. Eine historische Narra-tologie der Zeit.Berlin/Boston, MA: de Gruyter 2018(=Narratologia Bd. 62). 416 S. EUR 99,95. ISBN 978-3-11-056553-

Strukturen der Zeit, als diese aus den Fugen geriet

Rezension zu: Lukas Werner: Erzählte Zeiten im Roman der Frühen Neuzeit. Eine historische Narratologie der Zeit. Berlin / Boston, MA: de Gruyter 2018 (= Narratologia Bd. 62). 416 S. EUR 99,95. ISBN 978-3-11-056553-

Cómo escribir sobre una técnica de la oración : El <i>Tercer abecedario espiritual</i> de Francisco de Osuna

El libro espiritual más difundido del siglo XVI, el Tercer abecedario espiritual de Francisco de Osuna, aprovechó como ningún otro las posibilidades que brindaba la técnica de la imprenta. Lo demuestra su uso de la estructura en abecedario, que facilita la memorización y, por tanto, la internalización del texto devoto. En este sentido, las técnicas empleadas por Osuna contrastan con las que prefirió una contemporánea, Teresa de Ávila, que buscó que su texto impresionara a los lectores fomentando la identificación entre ellos y la autora.The most widely-read book of the sixteenth century, Francisco de Osuna's Tercer abecedario espiritual, profited like few others from the possibilities that the new technique of the printing press bid. We can see it examining his use of the alfabet structure, that fosters memorization and, therefore, helps internalize the devote content of the text. In this sence, Osuna's techniques contrast with those preferred by contemporary religious writer Teresa de Ávila, who strove to impress her readers fomenting idendifiation between them and the author of the text.Instituto de Investigaciones en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales (IdIHCS

Increased Resting-State Perfusion after Repeated Encoding Is Related to Later Retrieval of Declarative Associative Memories

Electrophysiological studies in animals have shown coordinated reactivation of neuronal ensembles during a restricted time period of behavioral inactivity that immediately followed active encoding. In the present study we directly investigated off-line processing of associative memory formation in the human brain. Subjects' regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) as a surrogate marker of neural activity during rest was measured by MR-based perfusion imaging in a sample of 14 healthy male subjects prior to (Pre2) and after (Post) extensive learning of 24 face-name associations within a selective reminding task (SR). Results demonstrated significant Post-Pre2 rCBF increases in hippocampal and temporal lobe regions, while in a control comparison of two perfusion scans with no learning task in-between (Pre2-Pre1) no differences in rCBF emerged. Post perfusion scanning was followed by a surprise cued associative recall task from which two types of correctly retrieved names were obtained: older names already correctly retrieved at least once during one of the SR blocks, and recent names acquired during the last SR block immediately prior to the Post scan. In the anterior hippocampus individual perfusion increases were correlated with both correct retrievals of older and recent names. By contrast, older but not recently learned names showed a significant correlation with perfusion increases in the left lateral temporal cortex known to be associated with long-term memory. Recent, but not older names were correlated with dopaminergic midbrain structures reported to contribute to the persistence of memory traces for novel information. Although the direct investigation of off-line memory processing did not permit concomitant experimental control, neither intentional rehearsal, nor substantial variations in subjects' states of alertness appear to contribute to present results. We suggest that the observed rCBF increases might reflect processes that possibly contribute to the long-term persistence of memory traces

Gains from trans-boundary water quality management in linked catchment and coastal socioecological systems: a case study for the Minho region

Sustainable economic development requires balancing of marginal costs from catchment water pollution abatement and associated marginal benefits from freshwater/coastal ecosystem appreciation. Hence we need to differentiate between intra- and trans-boundary catchments because benefactors and beneficiaries from water quality improvement are not one and the same. In trans-boundary catchments, private (national) welfare maximizing rates of water quality improvement differ across nations as benefits from water quality improvement generally accrue to one nation while the costs are paid by multiple nations. In this paper we develop a deterministic optimal control approach to explore private and social welfare maximizing rates of water pollution abatement in linked catchment and freshwater/coastal socioecological systems. For a case study of the Minho region (Iberian Peninsula), we estimate nation-specific water pollution abatement cost functions (based on management practice adoption) to determine and compare private (national) and social (trans-national) welfare maximizing rates of water pollution abatement. Results show that some private (national) welfare gains can be obtained through adoption of win-win practices, leading to a 12% reduction in the annual rate of water pollution and a 7% increase in annual regional income. Maximum social (international) welfare gains can, however, be obtained through adoption of win-win and lose-win practices across Spain and Portugal, leading to a 36% reduction in water pollution and a 14% increase in regional income. Non-cooperation in water pollution abatement would only lead to a 16%-32% reduction in water pollution and a 8%-13% increase in regional income. Hence, social (trans-national) welfare losses from non-cooperation between Spain and Portugal would equate to between 16 and 81 m€/yr

Motor system hyperconnectivity in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy: a cognitive functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy is the most frequent idiopathic generalized epilepsy syndrome. It is characterized by predominant myoclonic jerks of upper limbs, often provoked by cognitive activities, and typically responsive to treatment with sodium valproate. Neurophysiological, neuropsychological and imaging studies in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy have consistently pointed towards subtle abnormalities in the medial frontal lobes. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging with an executive frontal lobe paradigm, we investigated cortical activation patterns and interaction between cortical regions in 30 patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy and 26 healthy controls. With increasing cognitive demand, patients showed increasing coactivation of the primary motor cortex and supplementary motor area. This effect was stronger in patients still suffering from seizures, and was not seen in healthy controls. Patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy showed increased functional connectivity between the motor system and frontoparietal cognitive networks. Furthermore, we found impaired deactivation of the default mode network during cognitive tasks with persistent activation in medial frontal and central regions in patients. Coactivation in the motor cortex and supplementary motor area with increasing cognitive load and increased functional coupling between the motor system and cognitive networks provide an explanation how cognitive effort can cause myoclonic jerks in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. The supplementary motor area represents the anatomical link between these two functional systems, and our findings may be the functional correlate of previously described structural abnormalities in the medial frontal lobe in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

Risk-taking behavior in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

Objective Patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) often present with risk-taking behavior, suggestive of frontal lobe dysfunction. Recent studies confirm functional and microstructural changes within the frontal lobes in JME. This study aimed at characterizing decision-making behavior in JME and its neuronal correlates using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods We investigated impulsivity in 21 JME patients and 11 controls using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), which measures decision making under ambiguity. Performance on the IGT was correlated with activation patterns during an fMRI working memory task. Results Both patients and controls learned throughout the task. Post hoc analysis revealed a greater proportion of patients with seizures than seizure-free patients having difficulties in advantageous decision making, but no difference in performance between seizure-free patients and controls. Functional imaging of working memory networks showed that overall poor IGT performance was associated with an increased activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in JME patients. Impaired learning during the task and ongoing seizures were associated with bilateral medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) and presupplementary motor area, right superior frontal gyrus, and left DLPFC activation. Significance Our study provides evidence that patients with JME and ongoing seizures learn significantly less from previous experience. Interictal dysfunction within "normal" working memory networks, specifically, within the DLPFC and medial PFC structures, may affect their ability to learn.© 2013 International League Against Epilepsy.Wellcome Trust; Big Lottery Fund; Wolfson Trust, and the Epilepsy Society; UCLH/UCL; Department of Health's NIHR Biomedical Research Centres' funding scheme; DFG fellowshi

Brooklyn Bridge

Dedication plaque; John Roebling was perhaps the single most important figure in the development of the modern suspension bridge. He graduated with a civil engineering degree from the Königliche Technische Hochschule, Berlin, in 1826 and emigrated to the USA in 1831. Roebling broke his own engineering record for world's longest span (over the Ohio River, 1856) in little more than a decade with the design for his greatest work, Brooklyn Bridge, spanning the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York (1869-1883). It remains a triumph of the structural art: the unprecedented length of span, 486 m between the towers, and the combination of the aerial grace of the steelwork with the mass and strength of the towers immediately gave the bridge the status of a national monument. Washington Roebling was appointed chief engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge on the death of his father in 1869. He was crippled with caisson disease (the bends) in 1872 after inspecting one of the bridge’s underwater chambers and was forced to supervise construction of the bridge by means of a telescope mounted in a room of his Brooklyn home and to rely on his wife, Emily Warren Roebling, to act as secretary and transmitter of messages to the field superintendents. The names of all three Roeblings are inscribed on the bridge. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.oxfordartonline.com/ (accessed 7/15/2010