How Neighbours Communicate: The Role of Language in Border Relations

This paper reports on a study of the linguistic situation in the border region where Norway meets Russia in the north. The aim of the study was to investigate language use when contact is revitalised after a long period with closed borders. The Norwegian and Russian languages are very different in vocabulary and structure, which makes communication difficult. How are the two languages affected by extended contact and migration across the border? The study was carried out by the author and Marit Bjerkeng through interviews, a questionnaire and observation of the linguistic situations in two Norwegian communities. The results show an ongoing development where the neighbouring language is increasingly noticeable, and there is a clear link between attitudes, identity and language use. The role of public policy seems to play an important role for the developing linguistic situation, as the Barents region as a political concept introduced in the 1990s has led to cross-border contact within various fields and also inspired local language policy, contributing to cultural pride and changing attitudes

Effects of sodium hypochlorite on enamel composition

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of sodium hypochlorite on the organic and inorganic composition of enamel. Background: With the advent of enamel bonding for orthodontic appliances in the late 1970s, it has been shown that traditional phosphoric acid etching affects the inorganic portion of the enamel.1, 2 In an attempt to enhance the acid etching pattern and, furthermore, the bond strength, additional pretreatment techniques that target the organic components of the enamel biofilm have been proposed. One such method is the non-invasive enamel pretreatment with 5.25% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) prior to phosphoric acid etching.3, 4 It has been suggested that the mechanism by which sodium hypochlorite enhances the etching pattern is enamel deproteinization, in which organic elements, including the acquired film, are removed from the enamel surface.3, 5 This presumption is based on the multitude of endodontic literature supporting the use of NaOCl as an effective irrigant in root canal therapy6-13. In contrast to dentin and pulpal tissue, enamel is comprised of minimal organic matter.14, 15 As a result of this fact and the limited amount of experimentation of the effect of NaOCl on the enamel surface, the true mechanism by which sodium hypochlorite enhances the etching pattern of enamel is questionable.5, 16 The objective of this study was to determine the compositional effects of sodium hypochlorite on human enamel. Methods: Following IRB approval, 120 enamel sections from 22 extracted human premolar teeth were randomly divided into three experimental groups and one control group.17 The control group (E = enamel) received no treatment. The first experimental group (A = phosphoric acid) received a 15-second treatment with 37% phosphoric acid, rinsed with distilled water and air sprayed for 20 seconds, then dried with oil free compressed air. The second experimental group (H = sodium hypochlorite) received a treatment of 5.25% sodium hypochlorite for 60 seconds, washed with distilled water for 10 seconds, and dried. The third experimental group (HA = sodium hypochlorite + phosphoric acid) received a treatment of 5.25% sodium hypochlorite for 60 seconds, washed with distilled water for 10 seconds, dried, then receive the 15-second treatment with 37% phosphoric acid as in Group A.3 Following treatment preparations of the four groups, scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) analysis was performed for all groups.18 For elemental concentration, a one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc statistical tests were applied.17, 19, 20 ANOVA and Tukey tests were performed at a significance level of p ≤ 0.05. Results: There were no significant effects of treatment on the enamel elements carbon (C), calcium (Ca) sodium (Na), oxygen (O), and phosphorous (P). There was a significant effect of treatment on the amount of chlorine (Cl) in enamel between groups acid (A) and hypochlorite + acid (HA) as well as between groups hypochlorite (H) and hypochlorite + acid (HA) (p = 0.004). The amount of variation of iodine (I) in the enamel composition between untreated enamel (E) and enamel treated with sodium hypochlorite + phosphoric acid (HA) was significant (p = 0.004). Additionally, there was a significant decrease in the quantity of antimony (Sb) found in the control group (E) versus the hypochlorite + acid (HA) experimental group (p = 0.002). Lastly, tin (Sn) was significantly reduced from the enamel surface (E) when treated with hypochlorite + acid (HA) (p = 0.008). Conclusions: The various treatments minimally affected the elemental concentrations of C, Ca, Na, O, and P. The amount of chlorine present in enamel significantly increased following treatment with sodium hypochlorite (H) alone and even more so following treatment with phosphoric acid and sodium hypochlorite (AH). In contrast, elements I, Sb, and Sn demonstrated a congruent reduction in concentration after treatment with hypochlorite and acid (HA). Although it has been hypothesized that sodium hypochlorite targets the organic pellicle present on the surface of enamel via a process known as deproteinization, the findings presented here suggest that pre-treatment with NaOCl impacts the inorganic components of enamel more so than the organic constituents. These quantitative findings corroborate the enhanced etching pattern that can be visualized under scanning electron microscopy in this as well as previous studies

Sleep, and its Relation to Non-Motor Deficits in Patients with Cerebellar Ataxia

The cerebellum is a highly connected structure, and its involvement in sleep – which is a dynamic process that is modulated by a complex set of neural systems – can come about through a number of neural pathways. We conducted two studies aimed at furthering our understanding of cerebellar involvement in sleep behavior and physiology, as well as measuring the impact of poor sleep on mood and cognition in patients with cerebellar degeneration. First, by means of an online battery including measures of sleep and neuropsychiatric function, we collected data from 176 patients with cerebellar ataxia. We found strong evidence of poor subjective sleep quality, symptoms of movement-related sleep disorders, and excessive daytime sleepiness in this sample. Importantly, poor subjective sleep was associated with both diminished perceptions of cognitive abilities and depression symptomatology. Second, in order to determine whether the benefit of sleep on declarative associative learning, previously observed in healthy controls, was affected by cerebellar degeneration, we compared overnight changes in performance on a word-pair association task between patients with pure cerebellar syndrome and matched-controls. By means of polysomnography recordings, we demonstrated significantly greater fragmentation of sleep and periodic limb movement indices in patients relative to controls. Although patients demonstrated impaired learning of the word-pair association task – which was significantly correlated with sleep fragmentation – there were no differences between patients and controls with respect to overnight change in accuracy on the word-pair task. Taken together, these findings suggest that inefficient sleep and the presence of sleep disorders in patients with cerebellar ataxia might exacerbate deficits in certain non-motor domains, while other processes – namely those associated with sleep-dependent declarative memory consolidation – remain intact

Age-Related Changes in Sleep-Dependent Consolidation of Visuo-Spatial Memory

Healthy aging is associated with a reduction in slow-wave sleep (SWS), crucial for declarative memory consolidation in young adults; consequently, previously observed benefits of sleep on declarative learning in older adults could reflect a passive role of sleep in protecting memories from waking interference, rather than an active, stabilizing effect. To dissociate the passive and active roles of sleep, a visuo-spatial task was administered; memory was probed after a 12 hr interval consisting of either daytime wake or overnight sleep and post-wake/post-sleep stability of the memories was tested following task-related interference. Ninety five older adults (mean=65.43 yrs; SD=7.6 yrs) and 137 young adults (mean= 21.22yrs; SD=2.62 yrs) were tested across either an “Interference” or a “No Interference” condition (without exposure to the interference). In both young and older adults, sleep significantly benefitted performance compared to wake, such that the memories were more resistant to subsequent interference. For young adults, post-sleep performance was correlated with time spent in SWS and delta power density during SWS early in the night. Additionally, the interaction between NREM and REM early in the night played an important role in stabilizing the memories. There were no significant correlations between sleep parameters and over-sleep performance changes in older adults; however, high performing older adults benefitted from greater amounts of REM sleep early in the night, and from the interaction between NREM and REM during this time period. These results suggest that the active role of sleep in declarative memory consolidation persists in an aging population

Driving with Low Vision: Development of Evidence Based Practice Manual for Bioptic Drivers

This doctoral capstone was centered around the creation of a pre-driver training manual for novice drivers with Bioptic Telescope Systems (BTS) in preparation for behind-the-wheel training. The BTS pre-driver training manual was created with OTs at Vanderbilt Eye Institute as well as various OTS/CDRS from additional universities around the country. The manual consists of several parts including: bioptic care/hygiene, steps to become a bioptic driver in TN, how to use the bioptic, pre-driver training activities, time log form and helpful resources page. We also distributed a survey to current novice drivers (without the training manual) to get an impression of their familiarity with the current bioptic/BTS license process. The future of this project will be to distribute a survey to the patients who receive the training manual to compare their understanding of the BTS license process/preparation for behind-the-wheel training. This will also point to date on the effectiveness of the training manual itself

Functional imaging in neurodegenerative disorders: past, present and future

The present monographic issue of the Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging is dedicated to the role of functional imaging in the broad field of neurodegenerative disorders, with a special focus on some of the most relevant topics of the last decades, of the present time and of the near future. Functional neuroimaging is close to reach the time in which it will be routinely implemented in clinical practice and in which the principles of "molecular imaging" will aid clinical diagnosis disclosing the fine extra- and intracellular deposit of protein aggregates and neuroinflammation markers. The almost simultaneous advancement in nuclear medicine techniques, i.e., PET-MRI, along with the development of new tracers and the implementation of more and more sophisticated image analysis software will assign to neuroimaging a preeminent role in the diagnostic algorithm both in neurological and psychiatric practice

Analysis of the Equatorial Lower Stratosphere Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) Using ECMWF-Interim Reanalysis Data Set

The ERA-Interim data set from Europe Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) was used to quantitatively analyze the characteristic of equatorial quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO). Analysis of spatial and temporal of the data showed that the zonally symmetric easterly and westerly phase of QBO regimes alternate with period of ~27.7 months. Based on Equivalent QBO Amplitude (EQA) method, the maximum amplitudes in zonal mean zonal wind (u), temperature (T), vertical shear (du/dz) and quadratic vertical shear (d2u/dz2) are ~28.3 m/s, ~3.4 K, ~4.8 m/s/km, and ~1.0 m/s/km2 respectively. The amplitudes decay exponentially with a Gaussian distribution in latitude. The twofold-structure of QBO descends downward at rate of ~1 km/month. The temperature anomaly can be used to analyze the characteristic of QBO which satisfies the thermal wind balance relation in the lower- stratosphere due to very small contribution of the mean meridional and vertical motion. Moreover, the concentration of the total column ozone (TCO) in the tropics is significantly influenced by QBO. During the westerly phase of QBO, the TCO is relatively increased in the lower-stratosphere, but decreased during the opposite phase

PENGARUH PEMBIAYAAN SYARIAHTERHADAP LIKUIDITAS PERBANKAN SYARIAH DI INDONESIA

This research aims to determine the influence of murabahah, mudharabah, and musyarakah towardsliquidity (financing o deposite ratio) in the syar’i banking sector. Syar’i funding is one of the syar,i banking service products. This study used analytical and descriptivemethods.The data has been taken from annual report during periodof 2009 trough 2013 and use the SPSS programme to analize the data. Normality test using Kolmogorov-smirnov, linier regression, t-test, dan f-test. The result shows, that murabahah, mudharabah, and musyarakah simulatanously has positive-relation towards liquidity. T-test provide mudharabah and musyarakah has relation with liquidity, the significancy of mudharabah and musyarakah are 0,010 and 0,021, that fulfill the condition under 0,05 significancy. On the other hand, murabahah is the partially shows a positive relation to the liquidity with t-test score is about 0,502. Keywords: Murabahah Finance, Mudharabah finance, Musyarakah finance, Liquidity