Obesity and the food environment: income and ethnicity differences among people with diabetes: the Diabetes Study of Northern California (DISTANCE).

ObjectiveIt is unknown whether any association between neighborhood food environment and obesity varies according to individual income and/or race/ethnicity. The objectives of this study were to test whether there was an association between food environments and obesity among adults with diabetes and whether this relationship differed according to individual income or race/ethnicity.Research design and methodsSubjects (n = 16,057) were participants in the Diabetes Study of Northern California survey. Kernel density estimation was used to create a food environment score for each individual's residence address that reflected the mix of healthful and unhealthful food vendors nearby. Logistic regression models estimated the association between the modeled food environment and obesity, controlling for confounders, and testing for interactions between food environment and race/ethnicity and income.ResultsThe authors found that more healthful food environments were associated with lower obesity in the highest income groups (incomes 301-600% and >600% of U.S. poverty line) among whites, Latinos, and Asians. The association was negative, but smaller and not statistically significant, among high-income blacks. On the contrary, a more healthful food environment was associated with higher obesity among participants in the lowest-income group (<100% poverty threshold), which was statistically significant for black participants in this income category.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that the availability of healthful food environments may have different health implications when financial resources are severely constrained

Experimental investigation of criteria for thermal roughening

The morphology of single domain Si(001)2 × 1 surfaces has been investigated with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Using the model of Villain, Grempel and Lapujoulade, which is based on the microscopic properties of the surface, this vicinal surface is found to be thermally rough. On macroscopic scale, however, we did not observe any indication for the expected characteristic logarithmic divergence of the surface height-height correlation function. Possible causes for this discrepancy are discussed briefly

Algebraic properties of Gardner's deformations for integrable systems

An algebraic definition of Gardner's deformations for completely integrable bi-Hamiltonian evolutionary systems is formulated. The proposed approach extends the class of deformable equations and yields new integrable evolutionary and hyperbolic Liouville-type systems. An exactly solvable two-component extension of the Liouville equation is found.Comment: Proc. conf. "Nonlinear Physics: Theory and Experiment IV" (Gallipoli, 2006); Theor. Math. Phys. (2007) 151:3/152:1-2, 16p. (to appear

(Non)local Hamiltonian and symplectic structures, recursions, and hierarchies: a new approach and applications to the N=1 supersymmetric KdV equation

Using methods of math.DG/0304245 and [I.S.Krasil'shchik and P.H.M.Kersten, Symmetries and recursion operators for classical and supersymmetric differential equations, Kluwer, 2000], we accomplish an extensive study of the N=1 supersymmetric Korteweg-de Vries equation. The results include: a description of local and nonlocal Hamiltonian and symplectic structures, five hierarchies of symmetries, the corresponding hierarchies of conservation laws, recursion operators for symmetries and generating functions of conservation laws. We stress that the main point of the paper is not just the results on super-KdV equation itself, but merely exposition of the efficiency of the geometrical approach and of the computational algorithms based on it.Comment: 16 pages, AMS-LaTeX, Xy-pic, dvi-file to be processed by dvips. v2: nonessential improvements of exposition, title change

SMEs entry mode decision making process: Rational or cybernetic?

Entry mode choice is a critical decision when a firm expends its business to foreign markets. By applying rational and cybernetic strategies to international strategic decision-making process, this paper investigates how small and medium sized firms (SMEs) decision makers decide their entry mode choices. By focusing on the entry decision making process, this research distinguishes the prior entry mode studies that emphasize the relationship between influencing factors and their impacts on entry mode choices. The results of this study show that SME managers normally adapt a combination of rational and cybernetic strategies in their international entry decision making process. This highlights that SMEs’ international entry decision making process is dynamic and complex

Cluster-randomised Controlled Trial of an Occupational Therapy Group Intervention for Children Designed to Promote Emotional Wellbeing: Study Protocol

Background Symptoms of anxiety and depression are common in childhood, as are risk factors that undermine wellbeing: low self-esteem and limited participation in daily occupations. Current treatments focus primarily on modifying internal cognitions with insufficient effect on functional outcomes. Occupational therapists have a role in measuring and enabling children’s functional abilities to promote health and wellbeing. To-date there is no evidence for the use of occupational therapy as an intervention to promote mental health or increase self-esteem, participation and wellbeing in a preventative context. The aim of this cluster-randomised controlled study is to investigate the effectiveness of an 8-week occupational therapy group intervention (Kia Piki te Hauora) at reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression and improving self-esteem, participation and wellbeing in children aged 11–13 years. Methods/design In this two-arm, pragmatic, cluster-randomised controlled trial, 154 children will be recruited from 14 schools. All mainstream schools in the region will be eligible and a convenience sample of 14 schools, stratified by decile ranking (i.e. low, medium, and high) will be recruited. Eight to twelve students aged 11–13 years from each school will be recruited by senior school personnel. Following consent, schools will be randomised to either the intervention or waitlist control arm of the trial. The study will employ a parallel and one-way waitlist-to-intervention crossover design. Each cluster’s involvement will last up to 19 or 31 weeks depending on allocation to the intervention or waitlist respectively. The primary outcome is symptoms of anxiety and secondary outcomes are symptoms of depression, self-esteem, participation in daily occupations and wellbeing. Outcome measurement will be repeated at baseline, post-intervention and again at 8–9 weeks follow-up. Planned statistical analyses will utilise repeated measures analysis of covariance. The primary analysis will be based on an intention-to-treat analysis set and include only parallel data. The crossover data will only be used in secondary analyses. Discussion This is the first cluster-randomised controlled trial to investigate an occupational therapy intervention promoting emotional wellbeing in a non-clinical sample of children. Results will contribute to the limited evidence base for occupational therapists in this field and potentially support investment in these services. Trial registration Australia/New Zealand Clinical Trials Register: ACTRN12614000453684

Microfocal X-Ray Computed Tomography Post-Processing Operations for Optimizing Reconstruction Volumes of Stented Arteries During 3D Computational Fluid Dynamics Modeling

Restenosis caused by neointimal hyperplasia (NH) remains an important clinical problem after stent implantation. Restenosis varies with stent geometry, and idealized computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models have indicated that geometric properties of the implanted stent may differentially influence NH. However, 3D studies capturing the in vivo flow domain within stented vessels have not been conducted at a resolution sufficient to detect subtle alterations in vascular geometry caused by the stent and the subsequent temporal development of NH. We present the details and limitations of a series of post-processing operations used in conjunction with microfocal X-ray CT imaging and reconstruction to generate geometrically accurate flow domains within the localized region of a stent several weeks after implantation. Microfocal X-ray CT reconstruction volumes were subjected to an automated program to perform arterial thresholding, spatial orientation, and surface smoothing of stented and unstented rabbit iliac arteries several weeks after antegrade implantation. A transfer function was obtained for the current post-processing methodology containing reconstructed 16 mm stents implanted into rabbit iliac arteries for up to 21 days after implantation and resolved at circumferential and axial resolutions of 32 and 50 μm, respectively. The results indicate that the techniques presented are sufficient to resolve distributions of WSS with 80% accuracy in segments containing 16 surface perturbations over a 16 mm stented region. These methods will be used to test the hypothesis that reductions in normalized wall shear stress (WSS) and increases in the spatial disparity of WSS immediately after stent implantation may spatially correlate with the temporal development of NH within the stented region

Human visual cortical responses to specular and matte motion flows

Determining the compositional properties of surfaces in the environment is an important visual capacity. One such property is specular reflectance, which encompasses the range from matte to shiny surfaces. Visual estimation of specular reflectance can be informed by characteristic motion profiles; a surface with a specular reflectance that is difficult to determine while static can be confidently disambiguated when set in motion. Here, we used fMRI to trace the sensitivity of human visual cortex to such motion cues, both with and without photometric cues to specular reflectance. Participants viewed rotating blob-like objects that were rendered as images (photometric) or dots (kinematic) with either matte-consistent or shiny-consistent specular reflectance profiles. We were unable to identify any areas in low and mid-level human visual cortex that responded preferentially to surface specular reflectance from motion. However, univariate and multivariate analyses identified several visual areas; V1, V2, V3, V3A/B, and hMT+, capable of differentiating shiny from matte surface flows. These results indicate that the machinery for extracting kinematic cues is present in human visual cortex, but the areas involved in integrating such information with the photometric cues necessary for surface specular reflectance remain unclear. © 2015 Kam, Mannion, Lee, Doerschner and Kersten

Flavour constraints on scenarios with two or three heavy squark generations

We re-assess constraints from flavour-changing neutral currents in the kaon system on supersymmetric scenarios with a light gluino, two heavy generations of squarks and a lighter third generation. We compute for the first time limits in scenarios with three heavy squark families, taking into account QCD corrections at the next-to-leading order. We compare our limits with those in the case of two heavy families. We use the mass insertion approximation and consider contributions from gluino exchange to constrain the mixing between the first and second squark generation. While it is not possible to perform a general analysis, we assess the relevance of each kind of flavour- and CP-violating parameters. We also provide ready to use magic numbers for the computation of the Wilson coefficients at 2 GeV for these scenarios.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures; v3: matches published version (contains improvements in the presentation and clarifications

Op weg naar Park Essenburg : advies aan Bewonersgroep ProGroen Rotterdam

Bewonersgroep ProGroen in Rotterdam is voor het behoud van een miskende groenstrook van circa twaalf hectare tussen de spoordijk en Essenburgsingel. Ze wil dat het gebied in de deelgemeente Delfshaven het groene en duurzame karakter behoudt en dat het in de toekomst goed bruikbaar is en blijft voor alle mensen uit de buurt en de stad. De Wetenschapswinkel ziet voor ProGroen de opgave weggelegd om aan te tonen dat de strook een waardevol groenelement is in de stad. Het park draagt bij aan de sociale cohesie: het vergroot het aantal ontmoetingsplekken in de wijk, biedt laagdrempelige aanleidingen om contact te leggen en motiveert bewoners te investeren in relaties in de buurt. Daarnaast biedt het park de wijkbewoners nieuwe mogelijkheden om in contact te komen met groen, met natuur. De eerste concrete invulling van het park is PlukTuin Essenburg RFC. Deze PlukTuin, een buurttuin, wordt aangelegd op een voormalige parkeerplaats. Opzet is dat bewoners de PlukTuin zelf aanleggen en onderhoude