Very Low Birth Weight Infants as Young Adults : Focus on aspects of cognition, behavior and sleep

Major advances in the treatment of preterm infants have occurred during the last three decades. Survival rates have increased, and the first generations of preterm infants born at very low birth weight (VLBW; less than 1500 g) who profited from modern neonatal intensive care are now in young adulthood. The literature shows that VLBW children achieve on average lower scores on cognitive tests, even after exclusion of individuals with obvious neurosensory deficits. Evidence also exists for an increased risk in VLBW children for various neuropsychiatric disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and related behavioral symptoms. Up till now, studies extending into adulthood are sparse, and it remains to be seen whether these problems persist into adulthood. The aim of this thesis was to study ADHD-related symptoms and cognitive and executive functioning in young adults born at VLBW. In addition, we aimed to study sleep disturbances, known to adversely affect both cognition and attention. We hypothesized that preterm birth at VLBW interferes with early brain development in a way that alters the neuropsychological phenotype; this may manifest itself as ADHD symptoms and impaired cognitive abilities in young adulthood. In this cohort study from a geographically defined region, we studied 166 VLBW adults and 172 term-born controls born from 1978 through 1985. At ages 18 to 27 years, the study participants took part in a clinic study during which their physical and psychological health was assessed in detail. Three years later, 213 of these individuals participated in a follow-up. The current study is part of a larger research project (The Helsinki Study of Very Low Birth Weight Adults), and the measurements of interest for this particular study include the following: 1) The Adult Problem Questionnaire (APQ), a self-rating scale of ADHD-related symptoms in adults; 2) A computerized cognitive test battery designed for population studies (CogState®) which measures core cognitive abilities such as reaction time, working memory, and visual learning; 3) Sleep assessment by actigraphy, the Basic Nordic Sleep Questionnaire, and the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire. Actigraphs are wrist-worn accelerometers that separate sleep from wakefulness by registering body movements. Contrary to expectations, VLBW adults as a group reported no more ADHD-related behavioral symptoms than did controls. Further subdivision of the VLBW group into SGA (small for gestational age) and AGA (appropriate for gestational age) subgroups, however, revealed more symptoms on ADHD subscales pertaining to executive dysfunction and emotional instability among those born SGA. Thus, it seems that intrauterine growth retardation (for which SGA served as a proxy) is a more essential predictor for self-perceived ADHD symptoms in adulthood than is VLBW birth as such. In line with observations from other cohorts, the VLBW adults reported less risk-taking behavior in terms of substance use (alcohol, smoking, and recreational drugs), a finding reassuring for the VLBW individuals and their families. On the cognitive test, VLBW adults free from neurosensory deficits had longer reaction times than did term-born peers on all tasks included in the test battery, and lower accuracy on the learning task, with no discernible effect of SGA status over and above the effect of VLBW. Altogether, on a group level, even high-functioning VLBW adults show subtle deficits in psychomotor processing speed, visual working memory, and learning abilities. The sleep studies provided no evidence for differences in sleep quality or duration between the two groups. The VLBW adults were, however, at more than two-fold higher risk for sleep-disordered breathing (in terms of chronic snoring). Given the link between sleep-disordered breathing and health sequelae, these results suggest that VLBW individuals may benefit from an increased awareness among clinicians of this potential problem area. An unexpected finding from the sleep studies was the suggestion of an advanced sleep phase: The VLBW adults went to bed earlier according to the actigraphy registrations and also reported earlier wake-up times on the questionnaire. In further study of this issue in conjunction with the follow-up three years later, the VLBW group reported higher levels of morningness propensity, further corroborating the preliminary findings of an advanced sleep phase. Although the clinical implications are not entirely clear, the issue may be worth further study, since circadian rhythms are closely related to health and well-being. In sum, we believe that increased understanding of long-term outcomes after VLBW, and identification of areas and subgroups that are particularly vulnerable, will allow earlier recognition of potential problems and ultimately lead to improved prevention strategies.

Stabilization of the bio-membrane by small molecules: interaction of trehalose with the phospholipid bilayer

Anhydrobiotic organisms undergo periods of acute dehydration during their life cycle. It is of interest to understand how the biomembrane remains intact through such stress. A disaccharide, trehalose, which is metabolised during anhydrobiosis is found to prevent disruption of model membrane systems. Molecular modelling techniques are used to investigate the possible mode of interaction of trehalose with a model monolayer. The objective is to maximise hydrogen bonding between the two systems. A phospholipid matrix consisting of 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphatidylcholine (DMPC) is chosen to represent the monolayer. The crystal structure of DMPC reveals that there are two distinct conformers designated as A and B. An expansion of the monolayer, coplanar with its surface, results in the trehalose molecule being accommodated in a pocket formed by four B conformers. One glucose ring of the sugar rests on the hydrophobic patch provided by the choline methyls of an A conformer. Five hydrogen bonds are formed involving the phosphate oxygens of three of the surrounding B conformers. The model will be discussed with reference to relevant experimental data on the interaction.

Archaeology and authenticity

In this master s thesis, I have discussed the question of authenticity in postprocessual archaeology. Modern archaeology is a product of the modern world, and postprocessual archaeology in turn is strongly influenced by postmodernism. The way authenticity has been understood in processual archaeology is largely dictated by the modern condition. The understanding of authenticity in postprocessual archaeology, however, rests on notions of simulation and metaphor. It has been argued by postprocessual archaeologists that the past can be experienced by metaphor, and that the relationship between now and then is of a metaphorical kind. In postprocessual archaeology, authenticity has been said to be contextual. This view has been based on a contextualist understanding of the meanings of language and metaphor. I argue that, besides being based on metaphor, authenticity is a conventional attribute based on habits of acting, which in turn have their basis in the material world and the materiality of objects. Authenticity is material meaning, and that meaning can be found out by studying the objects as signs in a chain of signification called semiosis. Authenticity therefore is semiosis.

Operationalizing Supply Chain vs. Supply Chain Competion

Competition is an immensely important area of study in economic theory, business and strategy. It is known to be vital in meeting consumers’ growing expectations, stimulating increase in the size of the market, pushing innovation, reducing cost and consequently generating better value for end users, among other things. Having said that, it is important to recognize that supply chains, as we know it, has changed the way companies deal with each other both in confrontational or conciliatory terms. As such, with the rise of global markets and outsourcing destinations, increased technological development in transportation, communication and telecommunications has meant that geographical barriers of distance with regards to competition are a thing of the past in an increasingly flat world. Even though the dominant articulation of competition within management and business literature rests mostly within economic competition theory, this thesis draws attention to the implicit shift in the recognition of other forms of competition in today’s business environment, especially those involving supply chain structures. Thus, there is popular agreement within a broad business arena that competition between companies is set to take place along their supply chains. Hence, management’s attention has been focused on how supply chains could become more aggressive making each firm in its supply chain more efficient. However, there is much disagreement on the mechanism through which such competition pitching supply chain against supply chain will take place. The purpose of this thesis therefore, is to develop and conceptualize the notion of supply chain vs. supply chain competition, within the discipline of supply chain management. The thesis proposes that competition between supply chains may be carried forward via the use of competition theories that emphasize interaction and dimensionality, hence, encountering friction from a number of sources in their search for critical resources and services. The thesis demonstrates how supply chain vs. supply chain competition may be carried out theoretically, using generated data for illustration, and practically using logistics centers as a way to provide a link between theory and corresponding practice of this evolving competition mode. The thesis concludes that supply chain vs. supply chain competition, no matter the conceptualization taken, is complex, novel and can be very easily distorted and abused. It therefore calls for the joint development of regulatory measures by practitioners and policymakers alike, to guide this developing mode of competition.

The Home of Hearing : George Lindbeck's understanding of community

The aim of this thesis was to examine the understanding of community in George Lindbeck s The Nature of Doctrine. Intrinsic to this question was also examining how Lindbeck understands the relation between the text and the world which both meet in a Christian community. Thirdly this study also aimed at understanding what the persuasiveness of this understanding depends on. The method applied for this task was systematic analysis. The study was conducted by first providing an orientation into the nontheological substance of the ND which was assumed useful with respect to the aim of this study. The study then went on to explore Lindbeck in his own context of postliberal theology in order to see how the ND was received. It also attempted to provide a picture of how the ND relates to Lindbeck as a theologian. The third chapter was a descriptive analysis into the cultural-linguistic perspective, which is understood as being directly proportional to his understanding of community. The fourth chapter was an analysis into how the cultural-linguistic perspective sees the relation between the text and the world. When religion is understood from a cultural-linguistic perspective, it presents itself as a cultural-linguistic entity, which Lindbeck understands as a comprehensive interpretive scheme which structures human experience and understanding of oneself and the world in which one lives. When one exists in this entity, it is the entity which shapes the subjectivities of all those who are at home in this entity which makes participation in the life of a cultural linguistic entity a condition for understanding it. Religion is above all an external word that moulds and shapes our religious existence and experience. Understanding faith then as coming from hearing, is something that correlates with the cultural-linguistic depiction of reality. Religion informs us of a religious reality, it does not originate in any way from ourselves. This externality linked to the axiomatic nature of religion is also something that distinguishes Lindbeck sharply from liberalist tendencies, which understand religion as ultimately expressing the prereflective depths of the inner self. Language is the central analogy to understanding the medium in which one moves when inhabiting a cultural-linguistic system because language is the transmitting medium in which the cultural-linguistic system is embodied. The realism entailed in Lindbeck s understanding of a community is that we are fundamentally on the receiving end when it comes to our identities whether cultural or religious. We always witness to something. Its persuasiveness rests on the fact that we never exist in an unpersuaded reality. The language of Christ is a self-sustaining and irreducible cultural-linguistic entity, which is ontologically founded upon Christ. It transmits the reality of a new being. The basic relation to the world for a Christian is that of witnessing salvation in Christ: witnessing Christ as the home of hearing the message of salvation, which is the God-willed way. Following this logic, the relation of the world and the text is one of relating to the world from the text, i.e. In Christ through the word (text) for the world, because it assumes it s logic from the way Christ ontologically relates to us.

'South-South' Remittance - Poverty reduction nexus. The Case of 'Hadiya' immigrants in South Africa, as Agents of 'Constituence development' in Ethiopia, and the policy implications of their 'remittance instrument'

This thesis explores the link between South-South remittance and development. It attempts to establish improved understanding about the role of immigrants as agents of constituency growth and development. By doing so, it illuminates the dark corners of the policy implications that the unconventional development agency of immigrants might have for countries in the Organization ft Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The thesis problematises the existence of state-centric international cooperation as providing the recipe for failed Aid in the face of global poverty menace. In the last half a century, the relative shi' of focus to non-state actors brought about the proliferation of NGOs. That, intrun, helped improve international access to crisis situations; however, their long-term remedial impacts on poverty and development have been contested. Major misgivings for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are, on one hand, low level goal-bound expenditures and lack of independence from influence of the state, on the other. Therefore, the thesis enterprises to empirically verify its fundamental question whether remitting immigrants constitute an alternative development agency to the traditional players: the State and NGOs. Its main arguments are: due to state's failures in bringing sustainable development in many countries of the South, the future of poverty reduction and development also rests in immigrants' remittances. Nonetheless, in the last decade, remittance security-nexus dominated its discourse. Because of that remittance was viewed as something requiring global regime and restrictions. These temptations to tightly regulate remittance flows carry the danger of overlooking its trans-boundary nature and its strong link with livelihood of the poor. Therefore, to avoid unintended consequences of interventions, there need to be clear policy that bases itself on a discursive knowledge on the issues of North-South and South-South remittances The study involved both literature based and empirical research. It employed Discourse Analysis (C as main method for the former and snow-balling as its approach for the latter. For the first part the thesis constructed three conceptual models, these are: metrological model, police model and ecological model on remittance development-nexus. Through this modeling, the thesis achieved better deconstruction on the concepts remittance, immigrants and development agency. The protagonists of each model, the values and interests they represent, and their main arguments along various lines of dichotomies have been discussed. For instance, the main treats of meteorological model include: it sees remittance as transitional economic variable which require constant speculations and global management; it acts as meteorological station for following up or predicting the level, direction, flow and movement of global remittance. It focuses on official lines and considers the state as legitimate recipient of advic and positive consequence of remittance. On the other hand, police model views remittance as beir at best, development neutral or as an illicit activity requiring global regulations and tight control. Both immigrants and remittance viewed as subversive to establishments. It gives primacy to state stable agent of development and a partner for international cooperation. The anti-thesis to the police model is supplied by ecological model, which this thesis is a part. Ecological model on remittance and immigrants argues that, tight global regulations alone cannot be a panacea for possible abuse of informal remittance system. Ecological model, not only links remittance to poverty reduction, the main trust of development, but also considers the development agency of immigrants as critical factor for 21st century north-south development intervention. It sees immigrants as development conscious and their remittance instrument as most stable flow of finance to the developing countries. Besides, it sees remittance as effective poverty solutions than Foreign Direct Investment and international AID. This thesis focuses on the significance of South-South remittance and investigates the South Africa - Ethiopia remittance corridor, as case study; and empirically verifies the role of Ethiopian (Kembata and Hadiya) immigrants in South Africa as agents of local development back home. The study involved techniques of interview, group discussions, observations and investigative study. It also looked into the determinants of their migration to South Africa, and their remittance to Ethiopia. The theoretical models in the first part of the thesis have been operationalised throughout the empirical part to verify if the Kembata and Hadiya immigrants played the crucial role in their household poverty and local development in comparison with the Ethiopian state and the NGOs involved in the system. As evidenced by the research the thesis has made three distinct contributions to the discourse of remittance development-nexus. Fist, it systematized the debate about linkages between remittance, immigrants, development agency and policy of international cooperation by creating three conceptual models (school of thoughts); second, it singled out remitting immigrants as new agents of development in the South; third, it deconstructed concept of remittance and established South¬South remittance as additional sphere of academic investigation. In addition to the above contributions, the thesis finds that Kembata and Hadiya immigrants have engaged in various developmental activities in their locality than usually anticipated. Hence, it concludes that Ethiopian immigrants constitute an alternative development agency to the state and other non-state actors in their country, and the lesson can be applied to poverty reduction strategies in most developing countries.

Role of corundum-adapted strains of Bacillus polymyxa in the separation of hematite and alumina

Strains of Bacillus polymyxa, preadapted and grown in the presence of corundum, were found to be capable of the efficient separation of hematite from alumina. Results of rests peformed using binary hematite-corundum and ternary hematite-quartz-corundum mixtures in the presence of cells and metabolic products separated from the adapted bacterial culture indicated that more than 99% of the hematite could he efficiently separated through selective flocculation after desliming. It was found that alumina-specific bioproteins and other nonproteinaceous compounds were secreted by bacterial cells after adaptation to the mineral. The utility of this bioprocessing is demonstrated in the removal of iron from bauxite ores through selective flocculation in the presence of the adapted bacteria.

Studies on grinding media wear and its effect on flotation of ferrugenous phosphate ore

Marked ball grinding rests were carried out in the laboratory with a low grade phosphate ore under different experimental conditions. Two types of balls were used, namely high carbon low alloy (HCLA) cast steel and high chrome cast iron. Results of marked ball grinding tests indicated that ball wear increased with time and showed a sharp increase for wet grinding over dry grinding. Ball wear under wet grinding conditions was also influenced by the gaseous atmosphere in the mill. The grinding ball materials could be arranged in the following order with respect to their overall wear resistance: High chrome cast iron > HCLA cast steel balls Methods to minimize ball wear through control of mill atmosphere and addition of flotation reagents are discussed. Effect of grinding media and additions of flotation reagents during grinding on phosphate ore flotation are also discussed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

On a Novel Geometric Representation of Rotation

This paper presents a novel method of representing rotation and its application to representing the ranges of motion of coupled joints in the human body, using planar maps. The present work focuses on the viability of this representation for situations that relied on maps on a unit sphere. Maps on a unit sphere have been used in diverse applications such as Gauss map, visibility maps, axis-angle and Euler-angle representations of rotation etc. Computations on a spherical surface are difficult and computationally expensive; all the above applications suffer from problems associated with singularities at the poles. There are methods to represent the ranges of motion of such joints using two-dimensional spherical polygons. The present work proposes to use multiple planar domain “cube” instead of a single spherical domain, to achieve the above objective. The parameterization on the planar domains is easy to obtain and convert to spherical coordinates. Further, there is no localized and extreme distortion of the parameter space and it gives robustness to the computations. The representation has been compared with the spherical representation in terms of computational ease and issues related to singularities. Methods have been proposed to represent joint range of motion and coupled degrees of freedom for various joints in digital human models (such as shoulder, wrist and fingers). A novel method has been proposed to represent twist in addition to the existing swing-swivel representation.

A near-singular, flexure jointed, moment sensitive Stewart platform based fore-torque sensor

A force-torque sensor capable of accurate measurement of the three components of externally applied forces and moments is required for force control in robotic applications involving assembly operations. The goal in this paper is to design a Stewart platform based force torque sensor at a near-singular configuration sensitive to externally applied moments. In such a configuration, we show an enhanced mechanical amplification of leg forces and thereby higher sensitivity for the applied external moments. In other directions, the sensitivity will be that of a normal load sensor determined by the sensitivity of the sensing element and the associated electronic amplification, and all the six components of the force and torque can be sensed. In a sensor application, the friction, backlash and other non-linearities at the passive spherical joints of the Stewart platform will affect the measurements in unpredictable ways. In this sensor, we use flexural hinges at the leg interfaces of the base and platform of the sensor. The design dimensions of the flexure joints in the sensor have been arrived at using FEA. The sensor has been fabricated, assembled and instrumented. It has been calibrated for low level loads and is found to show linearity and marked sensitivity to moments about the three orthogonal X, Y and Z axes. This sensor is compatible for usage as a wrist sensor for a robot under development at ISRO Satellite Centre.

Urban Sprawl Pattern Analysis Using GIS

Urbanisation has evinced interest from a wide section of the society including experts, amateurs, and novices. The multidisciplinary scope of the subject invokes the interest from ecologists, to urban planners and civil engineers, to sociologists, to administrators and policy makers, students and finally the common man. With the development and infrastructure initiatives mostly around the urban centres, the impacts of urbanisation and sprawl would be on the environment and the natural resources. The wisdom lies in how effectively we plan the urban growth without - hampering the environment, excessively harnessing the natural resources and eventually disturbing the natural set-up. The research on these help urban residents and policymakers make informed decisions and take action to restore these resources before they are lost. Ultimately the power to balance the urban ecosystems rests with regional awareness, policies, administration practices, management issues and operational problems. This publication on urban systems is aimed at helping scientists, policy makers, engineers, urban planners and ultimately the common man to visualise how towns and cities grow over a period of time based on investigations in the regions around the highway and cities. Two important highways in Karnataka, South India, viz., Bangalore - Mysore highway and the Mangalore - Udupi highway, in Karnataka and the Tiruchirapalli - Tanjavore - Kumbakonam triangular road network in Tamil Nadu, South India, were considered in this investigation. Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing data were used to analyse the pattern of urbanisation. This was coupled with the spatial and temporal data from the Survey of India toposheets (for 1972), satellite imageries procured from National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) (LANDSAT TM for 1987 and IRS LISS III for 1999), demographic details from the Census of India (1971, 1981, 1991 and 2001) and the village maps from the Directorate of Survey Settlements and Land Records, Government of Karnataka. All this enabled in quantifying the increase in the built-up area for nearly three decades. With intent of identifying the potential sprawl zones, this could be modelled and projected for the future decades. Apart from these the study could quantify some of the metrics that could be used in the study of urban sprawl.

Simulating grasping behavior of people using the relational description scheme

This paper presents an enhanced relational description for the prescription of the grasp requirement and evolution of the posture of a digital human hand towards satisfaction of this requirement. Precise relational description needs anatomical segmentation of the hand geometry into palmar, dorsal and lateral patches using the palm-plane and joint locations information, and operational segmentation of the object geometry into pull,push and lateral patches with due consideration to the effect of friction. Relational description identifies appropriate patches for a desired grasp condition. Satisfaction of this requirement occurs in two discrete stages,namely,contact establishment and post-contact force exertion for object capturing. Contact establishment occurs in four potentially overlapping phases,namely,re-orientation,transfer,pre- shaping,and closing-in. The novel h and re-orientation phase,enables the palm to face the object in a task sequence scenario, transfer takes the wrist to the ball park ; pre-shaping and close-in finally achieves the contact. In this paper, an anatomically pertinent closed-form formulation is presented for the closing-in phase for identification of the point of contact on the patches ,prescribed by the relational description. Since mere contact does not ensure grasp and slip phenomenon at the point of contact on application of force is a common occurrence, the effect of slip in presence of friction has been studied for 2D and 3D object grasping endeavours and a computational generation of the slip locus is presented.A general slip locus is found to be a non-linear curve even on planar faces.Two varieties of slip phenomena,namely,stabilizing and non-stabilizing slips, and their local characteristics have been identified.Study of the evolution of this slip characteristic over the slip locus exhibited diverse grasping behaviour possibilities. Thus, the relational description paradigm not only makes the requirement specification easy and meaningful but also enables high fidelity hand object interaction studies possible.

Mapping joint ROM on a cube using electromagnetic trackers

This paper presents a unified framework using the unit cube for measurement, representation and usage of the range of motion (ROM) of body joints with multiple degrees of freedom (d.o.f) to be used for digital human models (DHM). Traditional goniometry needs skill and kn owledge; it is intrusive and has limited applicability for multi-d.o.f. joints. Measurements using motion capture systems often involve complicated mathematics which itself need validation. In this paper we use change of orientation as the measure of rotation; this definition does not require the identification of any fixed axis of rotation. A two-d.o.f. joint ROM can be represented as a Gaussian map. Spherical polygon representation of ROM, though popular, remains inaccurate, vulnerable due to singularities on parametric sphere and difficult to use for point classification. The unit cube representation overcomes these difficulties. In the work presented here, electromagnetic trackers have been effectively used for measuring the relative orientation of a body segment of interest with respect to another body segment. The orientation is then mapped on a surface gridded cube. As the body segment is moved, the grid cells visited are identified and visualized. Using the visual display as a feedback, the subject is instructed to cover as many grid cells as he can. In this way we get a connected patch of contiguous grid cells. The boundary of this patch represents the active ROM of the concerned joint. The tracker data is converted into the motion of a direction aligned with the axis of the segment and a rotation about this axis later on. The direction identifies the grid cells on the cube and rotation about the axis is represented as a range and visualized using color codes. Thus the present methodology provides a simple, intuitive and accura te determination and representation of up to 3 d.o.f. joints. Basic results are presented for the shoulder. The measurement scheme to be used for wrist and neck, and approach for estimation of the statistical distribution of ROM for a given population are also discussed.

La urna (1911) de Enrique Banchs : un cancionero argentino del siglo XX

Integran este número de la revista ponencias presentadas en Studia Hispanica Medievalia VIII : Actas de las X Jornadas Internacionales de Literatura Española Medieval, 2011, y de Homenaje al Quinto Centenario del Cancionero General de Hernando del Castillo.

La Teoría del Diseño Inteligente : un análisis desde el tomismo

Resumen: Michael Behe y William Dembski son dos de los líderes de la Teoría del Diseño Inteligente, una propuesta surgida como respuesta a los modelos evolucionistas y anti-finalistas prevalentes en ciertos ambientes académicos e intelectuales, especialmente del mundo anglosajón. Las especulaciones de Behe descansan en el concepto de “sistema de complejidad irreductible”, entendido como un conjunto ordenado de partes cuya funcionalidad depende estrictamente de su indemnidad estructural, y que su origen resulta, por tanto, refractario a explicaciones gradualistas. Estos sistemas, según Behe, están presentes en los vivientes, lo que permitiría inferir que ellos no son el producto de mecanismos ciegos y azarosos, sino el resultado de un diseño. Dembski, por su parte, ha abordado el problema desde una perspectiva más cuantitativa, desarrollando un algoritmo probabilístico conocido como “filtro explicatorio”, que permitiría, según el autor, inferir científicamente la presencia de un diseño, tanto en entidades artificiales como naturales. Trascendiendo las descalificaciones del neodarwinismo, examinamos la propuesta de estos autores desde los fundamentos filosóficos de la escuela tomista. A nuestro parecer, hay en el trabajo de estos autores algunas intuiciones valiosas, las que sin embargo suelen pasar desapercibidas por la escasa formalidad en que vienen presentadas, y por la aproximación eminentemente mecanicista y artefactual con que ambos enfrentan la cuestión. Es precisamente a la explicitación de tales intuiciones a las que se dirige el artículo.