Hybrid place : blurring the edge between the digital and physical layers of urban environments

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the edge condition between the digital layers and the physical layers of the city and how tangible expressions of the interrelationships between them to create and define new experiences of place, creating hybrid place. To date there has been discussion and investigation into understanding the importance of place, similarly into defining hybrid space. This paper explores principles of place and space to question how they can be applied into defining and proposing the notion of hybrid place in urban environments. The integration of media spaces into architecture provide infrastructure for the development of hybrid place. The physical boundaries of urban spaces become blurred through the integration of media such as computer technologies connecting the physical environment with the digital. Literature and case studies that reflect the current trends of use of technology by people in space and place within urban environments are examined.

Traits of fear resistance and susceptibility in an advanced intercross line

Genetic variability in the strength and precision of fear memory is hypothesised to contribute to the etiology of anxiety disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder. We generated fear-susceptible (F-S) or fear-resistant (F-R) phenotypes from an F8 advanced intercross line (AIL) of C57BL/6J and DBA/2J inbred mice by selective breeding. We identified specific traits underlying individual variability in Pavlovian conditioned fear learning and memory. Offspring of selected lines differed in the acquisition of conditioned fear. Furthermore, F-S mice showed greater cued fear memory and generalised fear in response to a novel context than F-R mice. F-S mice showed greater basal corticosterone levels and hypothalamic corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) mRNA levels than F-R mice, consistent with higher hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis drive. Hypothalamic mineralocorticoid receptor and CRH receptor 1 mRNA levels were decreased in F-S mice as compared with F-R mice. Manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI) was used to investigate basal levels of brain activity. MEMRI identified a pattern of increased brain activity in F-S mice that was driven primarily by the hippocampus and amygdala, indicating excessive limbic circuit activity in F-S mice as compared with F-R mice. Thus, selection pressure applied to the AIL population leads to the accumulation of heritable trait-relevant characteristics within each line, whereas non-behaviorally relevant traits remain distributed. Selected lines therefore minimise false-positive associations between behavioral phenotypes and physiology. We demonstrate that intrinsic differences in HPA axis function and limbic excitability contribute to phenotypic differences in the acquisition and consolidation of associative fear memory. Identification of system-wide traits predisposing to variability in fear memory may help in the direction of more targeted and efficacious treatments for fear-related pathology. Through short-term selection in a B6D2 advanced intercross line we created mouse populations divergent for the retention of Pavlovian fear memory. Trait distinctions in HPA-axis drive and fear network circuitry could be made between naïve animals in the two lines. These data demonstrate underlying physiological and neurological differences between Fear-Susceptible and Fear-Resistant animals in a natural population. F-S and F-R mice may therefore be relevant to a spectrum of disorders including depression, anxiety disorders and PTSD for which altered fear processing occurs.

Punk’s fairy godfather : Go-Between John Willsteed on Lou Reed

Obituary on the death of Lou Reed, member of The Velvet Underground and acclaimed solo artist.

Interventions for increasing ankle joint dorsiflexion : a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Ankle joint equinus, or restricted dorsiflexion range of motion (ROM), has been linked to a range of pathologies of relevance to clinical practitioners. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the effects of conservative interventions on ankle joint ROM in healthy individuals and athletic populations. METHODS: Keyword searches of Embase Medline Cochrane and CINAHL databases were performed with the final search being run in August 2013. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they assessed the effect of a non-surgical intervention on ankle joint dorsiflexion in healthy populations. Studies were quality rated using a standard quality assessment scale. Standardised mean differences (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and results were pooled where study methods were homogenous. RESULTS: Twenty-three studies met eligibility criteria, with a total of 734 study participants. Results suggest that there is some evidence to support the efficacy of static stretching alone (SMDs: range 0.70 to 1.69) and static stretching in combination with ultrasound (SMDs: range 0.91 to 0.95), diathermy (SMD 1.12), diathermy and ice (SMD 1.16), heel raise exercises (SMDs: range 0.70 to 0.77), superficial moist heat (SMDs: range 0.65 to 0.84) and warm up (SMD 0.87) in improving ankle joint dorsiflexion ROM. CONCLUSIONS: Some evidence exists to support the efficacy of stretching alone and stretching in combination with other therapies in increasing ankle joint ROM in healthy individuals. There is a paucity of quality evidence to support the efficacy of other non-surgical interventions, thus further research in this area is warranted.

Agreement between temporal and spatial gait parameters from an instrumented walkway and treadmill system at matched walking speed

Background Commercially available instrumented treadmill systems that provide continuous measures of temporospatial gait parameters have recently become available for clinical gait analysis. This study evaluated the level of agreement between temporospatial gait parameters derived from a new instrumented treadmill, which incorporated a capacitance-based pressure array, with those measured by a conventional instrumented walkway (criterion standard). Methods Temporospatial gait parameters were estimated from 39 healthy adults while walking over an instrumented walkway (GAITRite®) and instrumented treadmill system (Zebris) at matched speed. Differences in temporospatial parameters derived from the two systems were evaluated using repeated measures ANOVA models. Pearson-product-moment correlations were used to investigate relationships between variables measured by each system. Agreement was assessed by calculating the bias and 95% limits of agreement. Results All temporospatial parameters measured via the instrumented walkway were significantly different from those obtained from the instrumented treadmill (P < .01). Temporospatial parameters derived from the two systems were highly correlated (r, 0.79–0.95). The 95% limits of agreement for temporal parameters were typically less than ±2% of gait cycle duration. However, 95% limits of agreement for spatial measures were as much as ±5 cm. Conclusions Differences in temporospatial parameters between systems were small but statistically significant and of similar magnitude to changes reported between shod and unshod gait in healthy young adults. Temporospatial parameters derived from an instrumented treadmill, therefore, are not representative of those obtained from an instrumented walkway and should not be interpreted with reference to literature on overground walking.

Reliability of spatiotemporal and kinetic gait parameters determined by a new instrumented treadmill system

Background Despite the emerging use of treadmills integrated with pressure platforms as outcome tools in both clinical and research settings, published evidence regarding the measurement properties of these new systems is limited. This study evaluated the within– and between–day repeatability of spatial, temporal and vertical ground reaction forces measured by a treadmill system instrumented with a capacitance–based pressure platform. Methods Thirty three healthy adults (mean age, 21.5 ± 2.8 years; height, 168.4 ± 9.9 cm; and mass, 67.8 ± 18.6 kg), walked barefoot on a treadmill system (FDM–THM–S, Zebris Medical GmbH) on three separate occasions. For each testing session, participants set their preferred pace but were blinded to treadmill speed. Spatial (foot rotation, step width, stride and step length), temporal (stride and step times, duration of stance, swing and single and double support) and peak vertical ground reaction force variables were collected over a 30–second capture period, equating to an average of 52 ± 5 steps of steady–state walking. Testing was repeated one week following the initial trial and again, for a third time, 20 minutes later. Repeated measures ANOVAs within a generalized linear modelling framework were used to assess between–session differences in gait parameters. Agreement between gait parameters measured within the same day (session 2 and 3) and between days (session 1 and 2; 1 and 3) were evaluated using the 95% repeatability coefficient. Results There were statistically significant differences in the majority (14/16) of temporal, spatial and kinetic gait parameters over the three test sessions (P < .01). The minimum change that could be detected with 95% confidence ranged between 3% and 17% for temporal parameters, 14% and 33% for spatial parameters, and 4% and 20% for kinetic parameters between days. Within–day repeatability was similar to that observed between days. Temporal and kinetic gait parameters were typically more consistent than spatial parameters. The 95% repeatability coefficient for vertical force peaks ranged between ± 53 and ± 63 N. Conclusions The limits of agreement in spatial parameters and ground reaction forces for the treadmill system encompass previously reported changes with neuromuscular pathology and footwear interventions. These findings provide clinicians and researchers with an indication of the repeatability and sensitivity of the Zebris treadmill system to detect changes in common spatiotemporal gait parameters and vertical ground reaction forces.

Biocompatibility, SiH lenses and the impact of hydration on comfort

Silicone hydrogel (SiH) contact lenses have been available for over a decade. During that time, these highly innovative materials and designs have continually improved and now represent a major percentage of fits within the global contact lens market.1 Their high oxygen transmissibility has drastically reduced the incidence of hypoxia-related conditions such as corneal edema, limbal hyperaemia, and corneal vascularisation.2,3 However, there remain significant challenges in the quest for the ideal contact lens. The silicone material used in SiH contact lenses is inherently more hydrophobic than the non-silicone hydrogel materials. SiH lens manufacturers must find ways to overcome lens surface hydrophobicity since it can create issues in terms of lens wettability and surface deposition. Achieving ideal lens water content presents yet another challenge since increasing water content in a silicone hydrogel lens can reduce oxygen transmissibility. This is because increasing water content results in decreased silicone content in the lens and silicone is a better transmitter of oxygen than water.

A comparison between bagasse and water efficient alternatives using KOH/AQ pulping

Numerous crops grow in sugar regions that have the potential to increase the amount of biomass available to a small bagasse-based pulp factory. Arundo donax and Sorghum offer unique advantages to farmers compared to other agricultural crops. Sorghum bicolour requires only 1/3 of the water of sugarcane. Arundo donax is a very high yield crop, it can also grow with little water but it has the further advantage in that it is also highly stress tolerant, making it suitable for land which is unsuited to other crops. Pulps produced from these crops were benchmarked against sugarcane bagasse pulp. Arundo, sorghum and bagasse were pulped using KOH and anthraquinone to 20 Kappa number so as to produce a bleachable pulp which is suitable for making photocopier paper and tissue products. The unbleached sorghum pulp has better tensile strength properties than the unbleached Arundo pulp (43.8 Nm/g compared to 21.4 Nm/g) and the bleached sorghum pulp tensile strength was similar to bagasse (28.4 Nm/g). At 20 Kappa number, sorghum pulp had acceptable yield for a non-wood fibre (45% c.f. 55% for bagasse), Arundo donax pulp had low tensile strength, and relatively low yield (38.7%), even for an agricultural fibre and required severe cooking conditions to achieve similar delignification to sugarcane bagasse or sorghum. Sorghum and Arundo donax produced thicker handsheets than bagasse (>160 µm c.f. 122 µm for bagasse). In preliminary experiments sorghum and bagasse responded slightly better to Totally Chlorine Free peroxide bleaching (QPP), although none achieved a satisfactory brightness level and further improvement would be required to produce a bleached pulp.

Conditions for Successful Reforms : Characteristics of the Organisation and Culture in Chinese Schools in a Global Context

Reforms to the basic education system in China have reflected an increasing awareness of and openness to new ideas from the global education sphere. Many of the concepts involved in the development and implementation of these reforms, including adopting holistic perspectives of student development; decentralising school governance to facilitate local decision-making to address local needs; and, an increased focus on practical, lifelong learning for all involved in schools, have been promoted in research and policies throughout the world. While working within this global context, the system of schooling in China has retained a unique character that is quite different from education in the West. Drawing on an international project on school transformation, this chapter aims to examine how five secondary schools in Chongqing, a municipality in Southwestern China, have harnessed and aligned their resources to provide effective school governance following the curriculum reforms. Furthermore, the chapter will examine the similarities and differences between the organisational structures and cultures of these schools in China and successful schools in Australia, England, Finland, Wales and the United States.

Efficient fuzzy matching and intersection on private datasets

At Eurocrypt’04, Freedman, Nissim and Pinkas introduced a fuzzy private matching problem. The problem is defined as follows. Given two parties, each of them having a set of vectors where each vector has T integer components, the fuzzy private matching is to securely test if each vector of one set matches any vector of another set for at least t components where t < T. In the conclusion of their paper, they asked whether it was possible to design a fuzzy private matching protocol without incurring a communication complexity with the factor (T t ) . We answer their question in the affirmative by presenting a protocol based on homomorphic encryption, combined with the novel notion of a share-hiding error-correcting secret sharing scheme, which we show how to implement with efficient decoding using interleaved Reed-Solomon codes. This scheme may be of independent interest. Our protocol is provably secure against passive adversaries, and has better efficiency than previous protocols for certain parameter values.

When leadership meets organizational change : the influence of the top management team and supervisory leaders on change appraisals, change attitudes, and adjustment to change

Despite the importance of adaption and change for firm survival, the failure rate of organizational change efforts remains alarmingly high (Beer and Nohria, 2000; Kotter, 1995). In a recent global survey of over 3,000 executives,Meaney and Pung (2008) reported that two-thirds of executives indicated that their firm had failed to successfully implement organizational changes. Similarly, academic researchers have also concluded that difficulties in implementing and managing organizational change efforts often precipitate organizational crises (Probst and Raisch, 2005). As a result, attention has been directed to identify the factors that improve the likelihood of successfully implementing organizational change efforts. While there has been practitioner-oriented discussion around the pivotal role of workplace leaders in reducing resistance to change, only a limited number of empirical studies have examined relationships between leader behavior and employee change attitudes (e.g., Bommer, Rich, and Rubin, 2005; Herold, Caldwell, and Liu, 2008; Nemanich and Keller, 2007; Oreg and Berson, 2011). However...

Teaching and assessment of prescribing medicines : a multidisciplinary review

Background Prescribing is a complex task, requiring specific knowledge and skills, and the execution of effective, context-specific clinical reasoning. Prescribing errors can result in significant morbidity and mortality. For all professions with prescribing rights, a clear need exists to ensure students graduate with a well-defined set of prescribing skills, which will contribute to competent prescribing.

Telomerase activity : detection and clinical implications in human cancer

Telomerase is an extremely important enzyme required for the immortalisation of tumour cells. Because the gene is activated in the vast majority of tumour tissues and remains unused in most somatic cells, it represents a marker with huge diagnostic, prognostic and treatment implications in cancer. This article summarises the basic structure and functions of telomerase and considers its clinical implications in colorectal and other cancers.

The effect of hip muscle strengthening on pain and disability for individuals with non-specific low back pain : a randomized controlled trial

Introduction Clinical guidelines for the treatment of chronic low back pain suggest the use of supervised exercise. Motor control (MC) based exercise is widely used within clinical practice but its efficacy is equivalent to general exercise therapy. MC exercise targets the trunk musculature. Considering the mechanical links between the hip, pelvis, and lumbar spine, surprisingly little focus has been on investigating the contribution of the hip musculature to lumbopelvic support. The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy of two exercise programs for the treatment of non-specific low back pain (NSLBP). Methods Eighty individuals aged 18-65 years of age were randomized into two groups to participate in this trial. The primary outcome measures included self-reported pain intensity (0-100mm VAS) and percent disability (Oswestry Disability Index V2). Bilateral measures of hip strength (N/kg) and two dimensional frontal plane mechanics (º) were the secondary outcomes. Outcomes were measured at baseline and following a six-week home based exercise program including weekly sessions of real-time ultrasound imaging. Results Within group comparisons revealed clinically meaningful reductions in pain for both groups. The MC exercise only (N= 40, xˉ =-20.9mm, 95%CI -25.7, -16.1) and the combined MC and hip exercise (N= 40, xˉ = -24.9mm, 95%CI -30.8, -19.0). There was no statistical difference in the change of pain (xˉ =-4.0mm, t= -1.07, p=0.29, 95%CI -11.5, 3.5) or disability (xˉ =-0.3%, t=-0.19, p=0.85, 95%CI -11.5, 3.5) between groups. Conclusion Both exercise programs had similar and positive effects on NSLBP which support the use of the home based exercise programs with weekly supervised visits. However, the addition of specific hip strengthening exercises to a MC based exercise program did not result in significantly greater reductions in pain or disability. Trial Registration NCTO1567566 Funding: Worker’s Compensation Board Alberta Research Grant.

A multidisciplinary review of the teaching and assessment of prescribing : how do professions perform?

Aim To investigate the methods employed to teach and assess the principles of effective prescribing across five non-medical professions in a tertiary institution. Methods The National Prescribing Service MedicineWise Prescribing Competencies Framework was employed as the prescribing standard. A curriculum mapping exercise was undertaken to determine whether the prescribing articulated in the competency standards were addressed within the following courses: Master of Nursing Science (Nurse Practitioner), Bachelor of Vision Science, Master of Optometry, Bachelor of Pharmacy, Bachelor of Podiatry, Bachelor of Paramedic Science. The methods employed to teach and assess prescribing principles were documented. For each profession, identified gaps in teaching and/or assessment were noted.