In the Beginning Was the Word

A short humorous piece about the development of post-colonial literature in English

Analysing and modelling train driver performance

Arguments for the importance of contextual factors in understanding human performance have been made extremely persuasive in the context of the process control industries. This paper puts these arguments into the context of the train driving task, drawing on an extensive analysis of driver performance with the Automatic Warning System (AWS). The paper summarises a number of constructs from applied psychological research which are thought to be important in understanding train driver performance. A “Situational Model” is offered as a framework for investigating driver performance. The model emphasises the importance of understanding the state of driver cognition at a specific time (“Now”) in a specific situation and a specific context

Relationship of glycemic control, exogenous insulin, and C-peptide levels to ischemic heart disease mortality over a 16-year period in people with older-onset diabetes: the Wisconsin Epidermologic Study of Diabetic Retinopathy (WESDR)

OBJECTIVE - the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of glycemic control and exogenous and endogenous insulin levels with all-cause and cause-specific mortality (ischemic heart disease and stroke) in an older-onset diabetic population.RESEARCH DESIGN and METHODS - the Wisconsin Epidemiologic Study of Diabetic Retinopathy (WESDR) is an ongoing, prospective, population-based cohort study of individuals with diabetes first examined in 1980-1982. A stratified sample of all individuals with diabetes diagnosed at 30 years of age or older was labeled older-onset (n = 1,370). Those participating in the 1984-1986 examination phase (n = 1,007) were included in the analysis. Endogenous insulin was determined by measurements of plasma C-peptide (in nanomoles per liter), and exogenous insulin was calculated in units per kilogram per day. Glycemic control was determined by levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA(1)).RESULTS - After 16 years of follow-up, 824 individuals died (all-cause mortality); 358 deaths involved ischemic heart disease and 137 involved stroke. C-peptide and HbA(1) were significantly associated with all-cause and ischemic heart disease mortality in our study. the hazard ratio (95% CI) values for all-cause mortality were 1.12 (1.07-1.17) per 1% increase in HbA, 1.20 (0.85-1.69) per 1 unit . kg(-1) - day(-1) increase in exogenous insulin, and 1.15 (1.04-1.29) per 1 nmol/l increase in C-peptide and for ischemic heart disease mortality were 1.14 (1.06-1.22), 1.50 (0.92-2.46), and 1.19 (1.02-1.39) for HbA(1), exogenous insulin, and C-peptide, respectively, after adjusting for relevant confounders. C-peptide was associated with stroke mortality only among men (1.65 [1.07-2.53]).CONCLUSIONS - Our results show that individuals with higher endogenous insulin levels are at higher risk of all-cause, ischemic heart disease, and stroke mortality.Univ Wisconsin, Sch Med & Publ Hlth, Dept Ophthalmol & Visual Sci, Madison, WI 53726 USAUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Cellular aspect ratio and cell division mechanics underlie the patterning of cell progeny in diverse mammalian epithelia.

Cell division is essential to expand, shape, and replenish epithelia. In the adult small intestine, cells from a common progenitor intermix with other lineages, whereas cell progeny in many other epithelia form contiguous patches. The mechanisms that generate these distinct patterns of progeny are poorly understood. Using light sheet and confocal imaging of intestinal organoids, we show that lineages intersperse during cytokinesis, when elongated interphase cells insert between apically displaced daughters. Reducing the cellular aspect ratio to minimize the height difference between interphase and mitotic cells disrupts interspersion, producing contiguous patches. Cellular aspect ratio is similarly a key parameter for division-coupled interspersion in the early mouse embryo, suggesting that this physical mechanism for patterning progeny may pertain to many mammalian epithelia. Our results reveal that the process of cytokinesis in elongated mammalian epithelia allows lineages to intermix and that cellular aspect ratio is a critical modulator of the progeny pattern

Blood transfusion in patients treated with surgery for necrotizing enterocolitis

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110529/1/pan12485.pd

Reinforcing Innovation Effectiveness. A New Methodological Approach for Policy Evaluation

Innovation is considered an important competitiveness factor for companies and a source of wealth for economies. Therefore it is an important subject of policy intervention and regional development. The understanding of what innovation is has evolved in the past decades away from a purely technological definition – of new products and processes introduced on the market, to a wider one including organizational and marketing aspects or incremental innovation in low tech production companies and more recently, innovation in services (European Commission, 2008). Today, innovation is present in the discourse of politicians and business leaders. They see innovation as a positive value and as a solution to solve social problems and company’s competitiveness, so organizations are encouraged to adopt innovative practices through incentives and innovation policies. The main purpose of this paper is to propose a new methodological approach for public policy supporting innovation evaluation in a territorial based analysis. A new methodology which intended to contribute to strengthen and reinforcing the innovation effectiveness in firms and territory development resulting from support of public mechanisms