3,208 research outputs found
Noise and Quality of Life
Noise is defined as an unwanted sound or a combination of sounds that has adverse effects on health. These effects can manifest in the form of physiologic damage or psychological harm through a variety of mechanisms. Chronic noise exposure can cause permanent threshold shifts and loss of hearing in specific frequency ranges. Noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) is thought to be one of the major causes of preventable hearing loss. Approximately 10 million adults and 5.2 million children in the US are already suffering from irreversible noise induced hearing impairment and thirty million more are exposed to dangerous levels of noise each day. The mechanisms of NIHL have yet to be fully identified, but many studies have enhanced our understanding of this process. The role of oxidative stress in NIHL has been extensively studied. There is compelling data to suggest that this damage may be mitigated through the implementation of several strategies including anti-oxidant, anti-ICAM 1 Ab, and anti JNK intervention. The psychological effects of noise are usually not well characterized and often ignored. However, their effect can be equally devastating and may include hypertension, tachycardia, increased cortisol release and increased physiologic stress. Collectively, these effects can have severe adverse consequences on daily living and globally on economic production. This article will review the physiologic and psychologic consequences of noise and its effect on quality of life
NUMERICAL COMPUTATIONS FOR SELF-CONSISTENT ASTRON E LAYER WITH SLOWING DOWN OF ELECTRONS
Components of the program not specifically covered in the preceding report are brought up to date. Elements of the program in which no significant results were produced are mentioned only briefly. Activities are reported under the following headings: Pyrotron Program; High-energy Injection; Astron Program: Livermore Pinch Program; Berkeley Pinch Program; Ion Magnetron: Theoretical Research: Basic Experimental Research; and Engineering and Technological Development. (For preceding period see UCRL-8682.) (W.D.M.
Tbx5 is Required for Avian and Mammalian Epicardial Formation and Coronary Vasculogenesis.
Rationale: Holt-Oram syndrome (HOS) is an autosomal dominant heart-hand syndrome caused by mutations in the TBX5 gene. Overexpression of Tbx5 in the chick proepicardial organ (PEO) impaired coronary blood vessel formation. However, the potential activity of Tbx5 in the epicardium itself, and Tbx5\u27s role in mammalian coronary vasculogenesis, remains largely unknown. Objective: To evaluate the consequences of altered Tbx5 gene dosage during PEO and epicardial development in the embryonic chick and mouse. Methods and Results: Retroviral-mediated knockdown or upregulation of Tbx5 expression in the embryonic chick PEO as well as proepicardial-specific deletion of Tbx5 in the embryonic mouse (Tbx5(epi-/-)) impaired normal PEO cell development, inhibited epicardial and coronary blood vessel formation and altered developmental gene expression. The generation of epicardial-derived cells (EPDCs) and their migration into the myocardium was impaired between embryonic day (E) 13.5-15.5 in mutant hearts due to delayed epicardial attachment to the myocardium and subepicardial accumulation of EPDCs. This caused defective coronary vasculogenesis associated with impaired vascular smooth muscle cell recruitment, and reduced invasion of cardiac fibroblasts and endothelial cells into myocardium. In contrast to wildtype hearts that exhibited an elaborate ventricular vascular network, Tbx5(epi-/-) hearts displayed a marked decrease in vascular density that was associated with myocardial hypoxia as exemplified by HIF1α upregulation and increased binding of Hypoxyprobe-1. Tbx5(epi-/-) mice with such myocardial hypoxia exhibited reduced exercise capacity compared to wildtype mice. Conclusions: Our findings support a conserved Tbx5 dose-dependent requirement for both proepicardial and epicardial progenitor cell development in chick and mouse coronary vascular formation
Piecewise smooth systems near a co-dimension 2 discontinuity manifold: can one say what should happen?
We consider a piecewise smooth system in the neighborhood of a co-dimension 2
discontinuity manifold . Within the class of Filippov solutions, if
is attractive, one should expect solution trajectories to slide on
. It is well known, however, that the classical Filippov
convexification methodology is ambiguous on . The situation is further
complicated by the possibility that, regardless of how sliding on is
taking place, during sliding motion a trajectory encounters so-called generic
first order exit points, where ceases to be attractive.
In this work, we attempt to understand what behavior one should expect of a
solution trajectory near when is attractive, what to expect
when ceases to be attractive (at least, at generic exit points), and
finally we also contrast and compare the behavior of some regularizations
proposed in the literature.
Through analysis and experiments we will confirm some known facts, and
provide some important insight: (i) when is attractive, a solution
trajectory indeed does remain near , viz. sliding on is an
appropriate idealization (of course, in general, one cannot predict which
sliding vector field should be selected); (ii) when loses attractivity
(at first order exit conditions), a typical solution trajectory leaves a
neighborhood of ; (iii) there is no obvious way to regularize the
system so that the regularized trajectory will remain near as long as
is attractive, and so that it will be leaving (a neighborhood of)
when looses attractivity.
We reach the above conclusions by considering exclusively the given piecewise
smooth system, without superimposing any assumption on what kind of dynamics
near (or sliding motion on ) should have been taking place.Comment: 19 figure
Global Saturation of Regularization Methods for Inverse Ill-Posed Problems
In this article the concept of saturation of an arbitrary regularization
method is formalized based upon the original idea of saturation for spectral
regularization methods introduced by A. Neubauer in 1994. Necessary and
sufficient conditions for a regularization method to have global saturation are
provided. It is shown that for a method to have global saturation the total
error must be optimal in two senses, namely as optimal order of convergence
over a certain set which at the same time, must be optimal (in a very precise
sense) with respect to the error. Finally, two converse results are proved and
the theory is applied to find sufficient conditions which ensure the existence
of global saturation for spectral methods with classical qualification of
finite positive order and for methods with maximal qualification. Finally,
several examples of regularization methods possessing global saturation are
shown.Comment: 29 page
The impact of multiple sclerosis on the identity of mothers in Italy
Purpose: This paper reports on one of the themes that emerged from the analysis of the study, regarding the perceived influence of multiple sclerosis (MS) on the identity of mothers in the socio-cultural context of Italy.
Method: In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 women at various stages of MS, with follow up interviews with seven of the women. Phenomenology guided the methodology and the analysis was conducted using interpretative phenomenological analysis.
Results: Through the research the value of motherhood to the women who participated emerged. The findings illustrated how many strove to maintain controlof their MS, which led to some making comparisons of themselves and other mothers and feeling different. Some women described how they adjusted their roles and found strength in being mothers but others spoke of their feelings of loss. Most women described living in the moment, appreciating the present and living each day as it came. Another significant experience was fear of stigma, both realized in the form of âpityâ from others, and the perceived and actual associated stigma for their families. This contributed to why some women were reluctant to disclose their condition. The mothers who took part in this study differed in how they perceived their disabled identity.
Conclusion: Although this study was conducted in the socio-cultural setting of Italy, the findings have implications for professionals working with disabled mothers and women with MS in Italy and beyond; including recognizing the value associated with fully identifying oneself as a mother, rather than solely focusing on doingmothering tasks.
âą Implications for Rehabilitation
âą Professionals need to be mindful of the value of motherhood for women with multiple sclerosis.
âą Professionals should support women who feel like they are battling with maintaining control of their multiple sclerosis, who may be adjusting their identity as mothers; recognizing that they may be influenced by the stage of their multiple sclerosis and whether they were diagnosed before or after having their children.
âą Women can have feelings of loss related to their ability to fully participate in their childrenâs lives and professionals should work with women to help them identify the value of their mothering role not only in physically participating in activities but also in being emotionally and physically present as a mother
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Turning points: the personal and professional circumstances that lead academics to become middle managers
In the current higher education climate, there is a growing perception that the pressures associated with being an academic middle manager outweigh the perceived rewards of the position. This article investigates the personal and professional circumstances that lead academics to become middle managers by drawing on data from life history interviews undertaken with 17 male and female department heads from a range of disciplines, in a post-1992 UK university. The data suggests that experiencing conflict between personal and professional identities, manifested through different socialization experiences over time, can lead to a âturning pointâ and a decision that affects a personâs career trajectory. Although the results of this study cannot be generalized, the findings may help other individuals and institutions move towards a firmer understanding of the academic who becomes head of departmentâin relation to theory, practice and research
Generalized Qualification and Qualification Levels for Spectral Regularization Methods
The concept of qualification for spectral regularization methods for inverse
ill-posed problems is strongly associated to the optimal order of convergence
of the regularization error. In this article, the definition of qualification
is extended and three different levels are introduced: weak, strong and
optimal. It is shown that the weak qualification extends the definition
introduced by Mathe and Pereverzev in 2003, mainly in the sense that the
functions associated to orders of convergence and source sets need not be the
same. It is shown that certain methods possessing infinite classical
qualification, e.g. truncated singular value decomposition (TSVD), Landweber's
method and Showalter's method, also have generalized qualification leading to
an optimal order of convergence of the regularization error. Sufficient
conditions for a SRM to have weak qualification are provided and necessary and
sufficient conditions for a given order of convergence to be strong or optimal
qualification are found. Examples of all three qualification levels are
provided and the relationships between them as well as with the classical
concept of qualification and the qualification introduced by Mathe and
Perevezev are shown. In particular, spectral regularization methods having
extended qualification in each one of the three levels and having zero or
infinite classical qualification are presented. Finally several implications of
this theory in the context of orders of convergence, converse results and
maximal source sets for inverse ill-posed problems, are shown.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figur
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