High spectral resolution ground-based observations of Venus in the 450-1250 cm sup-1 region

The thermal emission of Venus was recorded during the winter of 1970-1971, and in 1973 using the 2.7m telescope at McDonald Observatory. The double beam Michelson interferometer installed at the Coude focus was used. The spectrum was recorded between 400/cm and 1,400/cm. For the 1970 observations, the spectral resolution was 0.25/cm and the linear spatial resolution was 3/4 of the disk of Venus. In 1973 the spectral resolution was 0.20/cm with a spatial resolution 1/3 of the planetary disk. In addition to Venus, the moon, the sky adjacent to each object, and the zenith sky were recorded to help eliminate the absorption and emission effects of the earth's atmosphere

Impact of Organizational Factors on Sales Force Unethical Behavior in the Sri Lankan Life Insurance Industry

As a service providing company the image and the success of the insurance industry vastly depend on the ethical behavior patterns of their salesperson as they are the persons who have direct relationships with customers which in turn build up the customer’s satisfaction and trust towards the organization. Therefore, the managers must have the knowledge of the key determinant of the unethical behavior of their salespersons if they want to ensure the ethical behavior among the salespersons. Different factors contribute to these behavior patterns and organizational factors are more important among them. The main purpose of this research was to identify the organizational factors affecting the unethical behavior patterns of salespersons in the Sri Lankan life insurance industry. An extensive literature review was conducted, and five organizational factors were identified as impacting on unethical behaviour of salespersons in the Sri Lankan life insurance industry. Namely, they were supervisory role, sales targets, organizational culture, code of ethics and a rewarding system. Data were collected from 200 individual salespersons from 10 life insurance companies through structured questionnaires. The stratified random sampling method was used for the selection of the respondents to the sample and data were analyzed using multiple regression. The findings of the research indicated that the supervisory role, sales targets and rewarding system significantly predict the unethical behavior of salespersons. Further, it revealed that sales targets predicted unethical behavior strongly, compared to the rewarding system and the supervisory role. Findings of this research also gave some implications on the code of ethics. It was found that there is no code of ethics in the companies or if exists they are not practiced or enforced. Accordingly, the research provides recommendations that can be used to minimize the unethical behavior patterns of the salespersons. To improve the generalization of the findings, future research should broaden the sample by including general insurance companies and finance companies. Continuing research is needed to analyze the other factors in addition to organizational factors and future research could also look at the customer perspective rather than the salesperson perspective. KeywordsBusiness Ethics; Life Insurance Industry; Organizational Factors; Salesperson; Unethical Behavior Patter

A 12-week multidomain intervention versus active control to reduce risk of Alzheimer’s disease: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Disappointing results from clinical trials of disease-modifying interventions for Alzheimer’s dementia (AD), along with reliable identification of modifiable risk factors in mid life from epidemiological studies, have contributed to calls to invest in risk-reduction interventions. It is also well known that AD-related pathological processes begin more than a decade before the development of clinical signs. These observations suggest that lifestyle interventions might be most effective when targeting non-symptomatic adults at risk of AD. To date, however, the few dementia risk-reduction programs available have targeted individual risk factors and/or were restricted to clinical settings. The current study describes the development of an evidence-based, theoreticallydriven multidomain intervention to reduce AD risk in adults at risk. Method: The design of Body Brain Life (BBL) is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate a 12-week online AD risk-reduction intervention. Eligible participants with several modifiable risk factors on the Australian National University (ANU) AD Risk Index (ANU-ADRI) are randomly allocated to an online only group, an online and face-toface group, or an active control group. We aim to recruit 180 participants, to undergo a comprehensive cognitive and physical assessment at baseline, post-intervention, and 6-month follow-up assessment. The intervention comprises seven online modules (dementia literacy, risk factor education, engagement in physical, social, and cognitive lifestyles, nutrition, and health monitoring) designed using contemporary models of health behavior change. Discussion: The BBL program is a novel online intervention to reduce the risk of AD in middle-aged adults at risk. The trial is currently under way. It is hypothesized that participants in the intervention arms will make lifestyle changes in several domains, and that this will lead to a reduction in their AD risk profile. We also expect to show that health behavior change is underpinned by changes in psychological determinants of behavior. If successful, the findings will contribute to the development of further dementia risk reduction interventions, and thus contribute to the urgent need to lower dementia risk factors in the population to alter future projections of disease prevalence. Longer follow-up of BBL participants and replications using large samples are required to examine whether reduction in AD risk factors will be associated with reduced prevalence.BBL is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council as part of the Dementia Collaborative Research Centres. Anstey and Cherbuin are funded by NHMRC Fellowships 1002560 and 471501

X-ray CT-derived soil characteristics explain varying air, water, and solute transport properties across a loamy field

The characterization of soil pore space geometry is important for explaining fluxes of air, water, and solutes through soil and understanding soil hydrogeochemical functions. X‐ray computed tomography (CT) can be applied for this characterization, and in this study CT‐derived parameters were used to explain water, air, and solute transport through soil. Forty‐five soil columns (20 by 20 cm) were collected from an agricultural field in Estrup, Denmark, and subsequently scanned using a medical CT scanner. Nonreactive tracer leaching experiments were performed in the laboratory along with measurements of air permeability (Ka) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat). The CT number of the matrix (CTmatrix), which represents the moist bulk density of the soil matrix, was obtained from the CT scans as the average CT number of the voxels in the grayscale image excluding macropores and stones. The CTmatrix showed the best relationships with the solute transport characteristics, especially the time by which 5% of the applied mass of tritium was leached, known as the 5% arrival time (t0.05). The CT‐derived macroporosity (pores >1.2 mm) was correlated with Ka and log10(Ksat). The correlation improved when the limiting macroporosity (the minimum macroporosity for every 0.6‐mm layer along the soil column) was used, suggesting that soil layers with the narrowest macropore section restricted the flow through the whole soil column. Water, air, and solute transport were related with the CT‐derived parameters by using a best subsets regression analysis. The regression coefficients improved using CTmatrix, limiting macroporosity, and genus density, while the best model for t0.05 used CTmatrix only. The scanning resolution and the time for soil structure development after mechanical activities could be factors that increased the uncertainty of the relationships. Nevertheless, the results confirmed the potential of X‐ray CT visualization techniques for estimating fluxes through soil at the field scale

Failure Analysis of Electrical Pin Connectors

A study was initiated to determine the root cause of failure for circuit board electrical connection pins that failed during vibRatory testing. The circuit board is part of an unmanned space probe, and the vibratory testing was performed to ensure component survival of launch loading conditions. The results of this study show that the pins failed as a result of fatigue loading

Withaferin A activates TRIM16 for its anti-cancer activity in melanoma.

Although selective BRAF inhibitors and novel immunotherapies have improved short-term treatment responses in metastatic melanoma patients, acquired resistance to these therapeutics still represent a major challenge in clinical practice. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of Withaferin A (WFA), derived from the medicinal plant Withania Somnifera, as a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of melanoma. WFA showed selective toxicity to melanoma cells compared to non-malignant cells. WFA induced apoptosis, significantly reduced cell proliferation and inhibited migration of melanoma cells. We identified that repression of the tumour suppressor TRIM16 diminished WFA cytotoxicity, suggesting that TRIM16 was in part responsible for the cytotoxic effects of WFA in melanoma cells. Together our data indicates that WFA has potent cytopathic effects on melanoma cells through TRIM16, suggesting a potential therapeutic application of WFA in the disease

China’s rising hydropower demand challenges water sector

Demand for hydropower is increasing, yet the water footprints (WFs) of reservoirs and hydropower, and their contributions to water scarcity, are poorly understood. Here, we calculate reservoir WFs (freshwater that evaporates from reservoirs) and hydropower WFs (the WF of hydroelectricity) in China based on data from 875 representative reservoirs (209 with power plants). In 2010, the reservoir WF totaled 27.9 × 109 m3 (Gm3), or 22% of China’s total water consumption. Ignoring the reservoir WF seriously underestimates human water appropriation. The reservoir WF associated with industrial, domestic and agricultural WFs caused water scarcity in 6 of the 10 major Chinese river basins from 2 to 12 months annually. The hydropower WF was 6.6 Gm3 yr−1 or 3.6 m3 of water to produce a GJ (109 J) of electricity. Hydropower is a water intensive energy carrier. As a response to global climate change, the Chinese government has promoted a further increase in hydropower energy by 70% by 2020 compared to 2012. This energy policy imposes pressure on available freshwater resources and increases water scarcity. The water-energy nexus requires strategic and coordinated implementations of hydropower development among geographical regions, as well as trade-off analysis between rising energy demand and water use sustainability

Climate Influences on Human-Elephant Conflict in Sri Lanka

Contemporary ecological research supports focus on the preservation of habitats and the preservation of keystone species that are critical to the ecological character of the habitats. Conservation of endangered species works best with attention not only to the species but also to the needs of the people who may be adjacent to or bordering habitats. Southern Sri Lanka fall into the category of globally important biodiversity hotspots. The biggest land animal, the elephant is the keystone species in Sri Lanka outside the highlands. The population of elephants in Sri Lanka is estimated to be between 3000 and 4,000; yet there has been an alarming loss of 1000 elephants during from 1990-2003. Given its island setting and rich hydro-climatic data, Sri Lanka provides a unique opportunity to study the dynamics leading to species loss. Our work in this project was initially motivated by the practical concerns of our project partners in the Mahaweli River Basin in Sri Lanka where the human-elephant conflict was a major problem. The question that arose was: "Are the climate, water availability and river basin management practices contributing to conflict between elephants and people?" If this was indeed the case, then, could one adaptively manage the river basin, organize agricultural practices, and prioritize conflict mitigation options such as separate habitat enrichment programs? Moreover, could we propose various adaptive measures in changes if one could monitor the climate and environmental conditions and take advantage of seasonal climate predictions

Diclofenac, a NSAID, delays fracture healing in aged mice

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as diclofenac, belong to the most prescribed analgesic medication after traumatic injuries. However, there is accumulating evidence that NSAIDs impair fracture healing. Because bone regeneration in aged patients is subject to significant changes in cell differentiation and proliferation as well as a markedly altered pharmacological action of drugs, we herein analyzed the effects of diclofenac on bone healing in aged mice using a stable closed femoral facture model. Thirty-three mice (male n = 14, female n = 19) received a daily intraperitoneal injection of diclofenac (5 mg/kg body weight). Vehicletreated mice (n = 29; male n = 13, female n = 16) served as controls. Fractured mice femora were analyzed by means of X-ray, biomechanics, micro computed tomography (μCT), histology and Western blotting. Biomechanical analyses revealed a significantly reduced bending stiffness in diclofenac-treated animals at 5 weeks after fracture when compared to vehicle-treated controls. Moreover, the callus tissue in diclofenac-treated aged animals exhibited a significantly reduced amount of bone tissue and higher amounts of fibrous tissue. Further histological analyses demonstrated less lamellar bone after diclofenac treatment, indicating a delay in callus remodeling. This was associated with a decreased number of osteoclasts and an increased expression of osteoprotegerin (OPG) during the early phase of fracture healing. These findings indicate that diclofenac delays fracture healing in aged mice by affecting osteogenic growth factor expression and bone formation as well as osteoclast activity and callus remodeling