Resonance-thrombography indices of the haemostatic process in relation to risk of incident coronary heart disease: 9 years follow-up in the Caerphilly Prospective Heart Disease Study

Global assays, such as resonance-thrombography (RTG), which measure the interaction between platelets, coagulation and fibrinolysis have been used as summary measures of risk for over two decades but have not been evaluated in epidemiological studies. We examined whether RTG indices are risk indicators for incident coronary heart disease (CHD). RTG indices, related haematological variables and other risk factors were measured between 1984 and 1988 in a cohort of 2398 British men. Reaction time (r) and amplitude of fibrin leg (AF) were associated with lifestyle risk factors. During 9 years of follow-up, 282 (12%) men developed a major new CHD event, as classified by World Health Organization criteria. On adjustment for age, only r and AF measured at baseline were related to risk of incident CHD. On multivariate adjustment in a multiple logistic regression model that included age, diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, total and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, lifestyle risk factors and use of prescribed medicine, these associations weakened but remained significant. Additional adjustment for fibrinogen, viscosity, white cell count and fibrin D-dimer either reduced these associations to non- significance (AF) or to borderline significance(r)

Evolvability signatures of generative encodings: beyond standard performance benchmarks

Evolutionary robotics is a promising approach to autonomously synthesize machines with abilities that resemble those of animals, but the field suffers from a lack of strong foundations. In particular, evolutionary systems are currently assessed solely by the fitness score their evolved artifacts can achieve for a specific task, whereas such fitness-based comparisons provide limited insights about how the same system would evaluate on different tasks, and its adaptive capabilities to respond to changes in fitness (e.g., from damages to the machine, or in new situations). To counter these limitations, we introduce the concept of "evolvability signatures", which picture the post-mutation statistical distribution of both behavior diversity (how different are the robot behaviors after a mutation?) and fitness values (how different is the fitness after a mutation?). We tested the relevance of this concept by evolving controllers for hexapod robot locomotion using five different genotype-to-phenotype mappings (direct encoding, generative encoding of open-loop and closed-loop central pattern generators, generative encoding of neural networks, and single-unit pattern generators (SUPG)). We observed a predictive relationship between the evolvability signature of each encoding and the number of generations required by hexapods to adapt from incurred damages. Our study also reveals that, across the five investigated encodings, the SUPG scheme achieved the best evolvability signature, and was always foremost in recovering an effective gait following robot damages. Overall, our evolvability signatures neatly complement existing task-performance benchmarks, and pave the way for stronger foundations for research in evolutionary robotics.Comment: 24 pages with 12 figures in the main text, and 4 supplementary figures. Accepted at Information Sciences journal (in press). Supplemental videos are available online at, see http://goo.gl/uyY1R

Exploring Iranian political refugees’ experiences in Britain - phoenix rises from the ashes - an existential-phenomenological study

The refugee issue is as old as human history. Today the spiralling crisis for host countries and for the refugees themselves needs to be addressed psychologically, as well as politically and sociologically. This study focuses on the lived experience of nine Iranian political refugees in the UK. My main sampling criterion is the willingness of participants to discuss in depth their lived experiences. I chose Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to carry out the investigation. My literature review developed as themes emerged from the participants’ data, which I collected through semi-structured interviewing. Following IPA criteria, five super-ordinate themes developed: Violation of human rights as a threat to the self; their value system and commitment; Taking risks to create possibilities ; psychological rebirth and overcoming obstacles ; and finally their sense of self and cultural adaptation. Within these super-ordinate themes were twenty-five sub-themes. Recognising the value of reflexivity, I asked an IPA researcher to interview me twice: once before commencing my research and again after completing the data analysis. My research showed my nine participants’ capacity to overcome extreme crisis. Through a challenging and painful process, they created a new life in the UK. This research enabled me to recommend a therapeutic model for working with political refugees in particular, and with all others who face traumatic upheaval

Conflict-Free Conflict Resolution Process and Method

Conflict-free Conflict Resolution (CFCR) is an emerging theory and practice of conflict resolution. Building upon traditions of innovation within the field of dispute resolution, as well as insights from a variety of disciplines including conflict studies, peace studies and developmental psychology, CFCR aims to be a unity-centered practice. Both the method and outcomes of CFCR are attempts to reflect the possibilities of helping to create conditions of unity between individuals and communities. The purpose of this article is primarily descriptive, aiming to give an initial overview of CFCR as a practice. This description is rooted in the initial applications of CFCR in a number of contexts. In this article, the theoretical underpinnings of the CFCR model are summarized, CFCR’s connections with the contemporary conflict resolution scholarship are explored, and the three stages of CFCR are outlined

A wideband trapezoidal dielectric resonator antenna with circular polarization

A new design of a circularly-polarized (CP) trapezoidal dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) for wideband wireless application is presented. A single-layered feed is used to excite the trapezoidal shaped dielectric resonator to increase resonant frequency and axial ratio. Besides its structure simplicity, ease of fabrication and low-cost, the proposed antenna features good measured impedance bandwidth, 87.3% at 4.21 GHz to 10.72 GHz frequency bands. Moreover, the antenna also produces 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth of about 710 MHz from 5.17 GHz to 5.88 GHz. The overall size of DRA is 21 mm × 35 mm, which is suitable for mobile devices. Parametric study and measurement results are presented and discussed. Very good agreement is demonstrated between simulated and measured results

Wideband P-Shaped Dielectric Resonator Antenna

A novel P-shaped dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) is presented and investigated for wideband wireless application. By using P-shaped resonator, a wideband impedance bandwidth of 80% from 3.5 to 8.2 GHz is achieved. The antenna covers all of wireless systems like C-band, 5.2, 5.5 & 5.8 GHz-WLAN & WiMax. The proposed antenna has a low profile and the thickness of the resonator is only 5.12 mm, which is 0.06-0.14 free space wavelength. A parametric study is presented. The proposed DRA is built and the characteristics of the antenna are measured. Very good agreement between numerical and measured results is obtained

Green manuring for tropical organic cropping – A comparative analysis

Green manuring is an essential component of tropical organic farming. Field studies evaluated the use of three legumes as in situ or ex situ green manures, along with a nonlegume green manure and a control to ascertain their impacts on soil properties and yields of maize and mung bean grown in major (wet) and minor (dry) seasons. In situ green manuring, especially with legumes, had the most beneficial impact on soil properties, while with ex situ methods, the use of leaves alone improved soil properties. Yields were increased to a greater extent by green manuring in the minor season, and the in situ system proved to be more beneficial. In ex situ green manuring, greater benefits were obtained by the application of leaves alone. The impact of different green manures and their application methods is presented