Leo Jud: The Shorter Catechism

English translation of Leo Jud’s "Kuertzer Catechismus" (1538) with biographical sketch

A Study of Selected Factors Related To Attitudes Toward the Hutterites of South Dakota

This report is an attempt to examine the relationship between some of factors like personal frustration, ignorance, tradition, lack of contact and attitude by studying attitudes toward a particular ethnic group in South Dakota

Application of Isotonic Regression in Predicting Business Risk Scores

An isotonic regression model fits an isotonic function of the explanatory variables to estimate the expectation of the response variable. In other words, as the function increases, the estimated expectation of the response must be non-decreasing. With this characteristic, isotonic regression could be a suitable option to analyze and predict business risk scores. A current challenge of isotonic regression is the decrease of performance when the model is fitted in a large data set e.g. more than four or five dimensions. This paper attempts to apply isotonic regression models into prediction of business risk scores using a large data set – approximately 50 numeric variables and 24 million observations. Evaluations are based on comparing the new models with a traditional logistic regression model built for the same data set. The primary finding is that isotonic regression using distance aggregate functions does not outperform logistic regression. The performance gap is narrow however, suggesting that isotonic regression may still be used if necessary since isotonic regression may achieve better convergence speed in massive data sets

Towards the “ultimate earthquake-proof” building: Development of an integrated low-damage system

The 2010–2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence has highlighted the severe mismatch between societal expectations over the reality of seismic performance of modern buildings. A paradigm shift in performance-based design criteria and objectives towards damage-control or low-damage design philosophy and technologies is urgently required. The increased awareness by the general public, tenants, building owners, territorial authorities as well as (re)insurers, of the severe socio-economic impacts of moderate-strong earthquakes in terms of damage/dollars/ downtime, has indeed stimulated and facilitated the wider acceptance and implementation of cost-efficient damage-control (or low-damage) technologies. The ‘bar’ has been raised significantly with the request to fast-track the development of what the wider general public would hope, and somehow expect, to live in, i.e. an “earthquake-proof” building system, capable of sustaining the shaking of a severe earthquake basically unscathed. The paper provides an overview of recent advances through extensive research, carried out at the University of Canterbury in the past decade towards the development of a low-damage building system as a whole, within an integrated performance-based framework, including the skeleton of the superstructure, the non-structural components and the interaction with the soil/foundation system. Examples of real on site-applications of such technology in New Zealand, using concrete, timber (engineered wood), steel or a combination of these materials, and featuring some of the latest innovative technical solutions developed in the laboratory are presented as examples of successful transfer of performance-based seismic design approach and advanced technology from theory to practice

Docosahexaenoic Acid Promotes Recovery of Motor Function by Neuroprotection and Neuroplasticity Mechanisms

The omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), has been shown to promote recovery of motor function after spinal cord injury. This is likely to be at least partly due to neuroprotective effects of DHA. However, recent studies have shown that DHA also supports neuroplasticity after injury, such as promoting sprouting of spared corticospinal tract (CST) axons. In this chapter, we review the published studies showing that DHA promotes recovery of motor function in rodent models of spinal cord injury (SCI), and consider the available data on the underlying mechanisms. This includes effects on inflammation and on neuronal and oligodendrocyte survival at the injury site, and effects on spared CST axons and serotonergic axons. Current data support the hypothesis that DHA promotes recovery of motor function by both neuroprotection and neuroplasticity mechanisms. The significance of this, and the implications of combining DHA with rehabilitation strategies, will be discussed

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Improve Recovery, whereas Omega-6 Fatty Acids Worsen Outcome, after Spinal Cord Injury in the Adult Rat

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a cause of major neurological disability, and no satisfactory treatment is currently available. Evidence suggests that polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) could target some of the pathological mechanisms that underlie damage after SCI. We examined the effects of treatment with PUFAs after lateral spinal cord hemisection in the rat. The ω-3 PUFAs α-linolenic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) injected 30 min after injury induced significantly improved locomotor performance and neuroprotection, including decreased lesion size and apoptosis and increased neuronal and oligodendrocyte survival. Evidence showing a decrease in RNA/DNA oxidation suggests that the neuroprotective effect of ω-3 PUFAs involved a significant antioxidant function. In contrast, animals treated with arachidonic acid, an ω-6 PUFA, had a significantly worse outcome than controls. We confirmed the neuroprotective effect of ω-3 PUFAs by examining the effects of DHA treatment after spinal cord compression injury. Results indicated that DHA administered 30 min after spinal cord compression not only greatly increased survival of neurons but also resulted in significantly better locomotor performance for up to 6 weeks after injury. This report shows a striking difference in efficacy between the effects of treatment with ω-3 and ω-6 PUFAs on the outcome of SCI, with ω-3 PUFAs being neuroprotective and ω-6 PUFAs having a damaging effect. Given the proven clinical safety of ω-3 PUFAs, our observations show that these PUFAs have significant therapeutic potential in SCI. In contrast, the use of preparations enriched in ω-6 PUFAs after injury could worsen outcome after SCI

An Estimate of the Yield Displacement of Coupled Walls for Seismic Design

A formula to estimate the yield displacement observed in the pushover analysis of coupled wall lateral force-resisting systems is presented. The estimate is based on the results of an analytical study of coupled walls ranging from 8 to 20 stories in height, with varied amounts of reinforcement in the reinforced concrete coupling beams and walls, subjected to first-mode pushover analysis. An example illustrates the application of these estimates to the performance-based seismic design of coupled walls