Promoting physical activity to older adults through general practice

This study aimed to assess the efficacy of a general practice based intervention to increase physical activity (PA) levels among 50-70 year old adults. One hundred and thirty-six inactive patients (50-70 years) were randomised into three groups. All participants received brief advice and a written prescription from a GP. Group one received this 'usual care' only (GP, n=46); group two received individualised counselling and follow-up contact from an Exercise Scientist (ES, n=45); group three received a pedometer to supplement the ES counselling (PED, n=45). The Active Australia Survey was administered at baseline, after the 12- week intervention and at a 24-week follow-up. One-way ANOVA showed no significant group differences at baseline in self-reported PA. Average time spent walking increased in all three groups at the 24-week follow-up (GP, 68158min/wk, p=0.006; ES, 83160min/wk, p=0.001; PED, 87132min/wk, p<0.001). Total time in PA (weighted min/wk) also increased significantly in all three groups (GP, 98 213min/wk, p=0.003; ES, 108 182min/wk, p<0.001; PED, 158 229min/wk, p<0.001 ). The proportion of participants who initially did not meet National PA Guidelines (150 minutes and 5 sessions/week) but who met the Guidelines at the 12 and 24-week follow-up was 15% (12 weeks) and 20% (24 weeks) in the GP group compared with 36% and 24% in the ES group and 20% and 42% in the PED group. All three intervention strategies were effective in increasing PA, but the ES intervention resulted in a higher proportion of active participants after 12 weeks and the PED group resulted in a higher proportion of active participants after 24 weeks.

Effects of different levels of refractive blur on night-time pedestrian visibility

Purpose The aim of this study was to systematically investigate the effect of different levels of refractive blur and driver age on night-time pedestrian recognition and determine whether clothing that has been shown to improve pedestrian conspicuity is robust to the effects of blur. Methods Night-time pedestrian recognition was measured for 24 visually normal participants (12 younger M=24.9±4.5 years and 12 older adults M=77.6±5.7 years) for three levels of binocular blur (+0.50 D, +1.00 D, +2.00 D) compared to baseline (optimal refractive correction). Pedestrians walked in place on a closed road circuit and wore one of three clothing conditions: i) everyday clothing, ii) a retro-reflective vest and iii) retro-reflective tape positioned on the extremities in a configuration that conveyed biological motion (known as “biomotion”); the order of conditions was randomized between participants. Pedestrian recognition distances were recorded for each blur and pedestrian clothing combination while participants drove an instrumented vehicle around a closed road course. Results The recognition distances for pedestrians were significantly reduced (p<0.05) by all levels of blur compared to baseline. Pedestrians wearing “biomotion” clothing were recognized at significantly longer distances than for the other clothing configurations in all blur conditions. However, these effects were smaller for the older adults, who had much shorter recognition distances for all conditions tested. Conclusions In summary, even small amounts of blur had a significant detrimental effect on night-time pedestrian recognition. Biomotion retro-reflective clothing was effective, even under moderately degraded visibility conditions, for both young and older drivers.

Quantum chemical study on influence of intermolecular hydrogen bonding on the geometry, the atomic charges and the vibrational dynamics of 2,6-dichlorobenzonitrile

FT-IR (4000-400 cm(-1)) and FT-Raman (4000-200 cm(-1)) spectral measurements on solid 2,6-dichlorobenzonitrile (2,6-DCBN) have been done. The molecular geometry, harmonic vibrational frequencies and bonding features in the ground state have been calculated by density functional theory at the B3LYP/6-311++G (d,p) level. A comparison between the calculated and the experimental results covering the molecular structure has been made. The assignments of the fundamental vibrational modes have been done on the basis of the potential energy distribution (PED). To investigate the influence of intermolecular hydrogen bonding on the geometry, the charge distribution and the vibrational spectrum of 2,6-DCBN; calculations have been done for the monomer as well as the tetramer. The intermolecular interaction energies corrected for basis set superposition error (BSSE) have been calculated using counterpoise method. Based on these results, the correlations between the vibrational modes and the structure of the tetramer have been discussed. Molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) contour map has been plotted in order to predict how different geometries could interact. The Natural Bond Orbital (NBO) analysis has been done for the chemical interpretation of hyperconjugative interactions and electron density transfer between occupied (bonding or lone pair) orbitals to unoccupied (antibonding or Rydberg) orbitals. UV spectrum was measured in methanol solution. The energies and oscillator strengths were calculated by Time Dependent Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT) and matched to the experimental findings. TD-DFT method has also been used for theoretically studying the hydrogen bonding dynamics by monitoring the spectral shifts of some characteristic vibrational modes involved in the formation of hydrogen bonds in the ground and the first excited state. The C-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shifts of the molecule were calculated by the Gauge independent atomic orbital (GIAO) method and compared with experimental results. Standard thermodynamic functions have been obtained and changes in thermodynamic properties on going from monomer to tetramer have been presented. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Anomaly detection in compressed H.264/AVC video

Real time anomaly detection is the need of the hour for any security applications. In this article, we have proposed a real time anomaly detection for H.264 compressed video streams utilizing pre-encoded motion vectors (MVs). The proposed work is principally motivated by the observation that MVs have distinct characteristics during anomaly than usual. Our observation shows that H.264 MV magnitude and orientation contain relevant information which can be used to model the usual behavior (UB) effectively. This is subsequently extended to detect abnormality/anomaly based on the probability of occurrence of a behavior. The performance of the proposed algorithm was evaluated and bench-marked on UMN and Ped anomaly detection video datasets, with a detection rate of 70 frames per sec resulting in 90x and 250x speedup, along with on-par detection accuracy compared to the state-of-the-art algorithms.

Mi primera experiencia en la metodología del caso… y algo más

Capítulo 5 del libro: Guisasola, Jenaro ; Garmendia, Mikel (eds.) "Aprendizaje basado en problemas, proyectos y casos: diseño e implementación de experiencias en la universidad" (ISBN: 978-84-9860-959-2)

Season- and depth-dependent variability of a demersal fish assemblage in a large fjord estuary (Puget Sound, Washington)

Fjord estuaries are common along the northeast Pacific coastline, but little information is available on fish assemblage structure and its spatiotemporal variability. Here, we examined changes in diversity metrics, species biomasses, and biomass spectra (the distribution of biomass across body size classes) over three seasons (fall, winter, summer) and at multiple depths (20 to 160 m) in Puget Sound, Washington, a deep and highly urbanized fjord estuary on the U.S. west coast. Our results indicate that this fish assemblage is dominated by cartilaginous species (spotted ratfish [Hydrolagus colliei] and spiny dogfish [Squalus acanthias]) and therefore differs fundamentally from fish assemblages found in shallower estuaries in the northeast Pacific. Diversity was greatest in shallow waters (<40 m), where the assemblage was composed primarily of flatfishes and sculpins, and lowest in deep waters (>80 m) that are more common in Puget Sound and that are dominated by spotted ratf ish and seasonally (fall and summer) by spiny dogfish. Strong depth-dependent variation in the demersal fish assemblage may be a general feature of deep fjord estuaries and indicates pronounced spatial variability in the food web. Future comparisons with less impacted fjords may offer insight into whether cartilaginous species naturally dominate these systems or only do so under conditions related to human-caused ecosystem degradation. Information on species distributions is critical for marine spatial planning and for modeling energy flows in coastal food webs. The data presented here will aid these endeavors and highlight areas for future research in this important yet understudied system.

Implementação paralelizada de métodos de resolução de sistemas algébricos na simulação de reservatórios de gás

Desde a década de 1960, devido à pertinência para a indústria petrolífera, a simulação numérica de reservatórios de petróleo tornou-se uma ferramenta usual e uma intensa área de pesquisa. O principal objetivo da modelagem computacional e do uso de métodos numéricos, para a simulação de reservatórios de petróleo, é o de possibilitar um melhor gerenciamento do campo produtor, de maneira que haja uma maximização na recuperação de hidrocarbonetos. Este trabalho tem como objetivo principal paralelizar, empregando a interface de programação de aplicativo OpenMP (Open Multi-Processing), o método numérico utilizado na resolução do sistema algébrico resultante da discretização da equação que descreve o escoamento monofásico em um reservatório de gás, em termos da variável pressão. O conjunto de equações governantes é formado pela equação da continuidade, por uma expressão para o balanço da quantidade de movimento e por uma equação de estado. A Equação da Difusividade Hidráulica (EDH), para a variável pressão, é obtida a partir deste conjunto de equações fundamentais, sendo então discretizada pela utilização do Método de Diferenças Finitas, com a escolha por uma formulação implícita. Diferentes testes numéricos são realizados a fim de estudar a eficiência computacional das versões paralelizadas dos métodos iterativos de Jacobi, Gauss-Seidel, Sobre-relaxação Sucessiva, Gradientes Conjugados (CG), Gradiente Biconjugado (BiCG) e Gradiente Biconjugado Estabilizado (BiCGStab), visando a uma futura aplicação dos mesmos na simulação de reservatórios de gás. Ressalta-se que a presença de heterogeneidades na rocha reservatório e/ou às não-linearidades presentes na EDH para o escoamento de gás aumentam a necessidade de métodos eficientes do ponto de vista de custo computacional, como é o caso de estratégias usando OpenMP.

辐照和退火对聚乙烯单晶结构的影响

高聚物的单晶结构是高分子物理的一个基本课题，对它的掌握有助于高聚物结晶动力学和晶体结构的研究。对聚乙烯单晶中分子链的折迭方式历来存在两种不同的观点。一是以A.Keller为代表有规近邻折叠模式，另一个是以P.J.Flory为代表的无规返折即“插线板”模式。这两种模式均有自己的实验证据和理论根据，但也有各自不能解释的现象。两种观点至今难以统一，一是由于高聚物的分子量大且分散，导致结晶结构很复杂。二是由于实验手段的非直接性，现有许多方法获得的信息往往是宏观的或较大结构尺度上的。对微观结构的反应不一定客观和有效。有鉴于此，应当在现有的实验水平上，尽可能用较直接的方法进行研究。以往的研究侧重于从“静”的方面，即不改变单晶状况进行探测，这样做考察问题的角度较单一，再加上实验手段的限制，不易得到更多的信息。本实验从“动”的方面着手研究，即引入退火和辐照两个因素，既研究单晶结构，又研究不同剂量辐照和不同温度退火后单晶结构的实化。由于结构和结构的变化之间存在一定的因果关系，所以二者可互为印证。这样既可以增加考察问题的角度，又可以掌握辐照对单晶结构的影响。以及退火过程中单晶结构的细致变化。采用的主要实验手段是混合晶红外光谱法，它可以给出单个分子的结晶茎干在单晶中的分布，是目前比较直接的方法。为了得到单晶的“微观”结构和较大尺度的结构，并使二者互相印证，还采用了低频拉曼谱，X射线（SAXS和WAXD）以及示差扫描量热法等手段。对聚乙烯／氘代聚乙烯混合晶进行了综合研究，得到如下结论。1.证实了PEH和PED的结晶行为一致，可以互为代表。二者的重量比大于40／1时，混合晶能够给出单个PED分子的茎干在晶体中排布方式的信息，且此信息完全适合于聚乙烯单晶。2.辐照不仅在非晶区产生交联点，还对晶区产生不可忽略的影响。辐照使晶区发生畸变和一定程度的断链。造成较大折叠块的含量及微晶尺寸随剂量增大而减小。这些结构上的变化使熔点随剂量的对数降低，结晶熔融热随剂量线性减小。这些结果修正和补充了前人对单晶辐照效果的观点。3. 辐照单晶的结构在退火前后均以（110）方向分子链近邻折叠形成的折叠块为主，同时也存在单独茎干的成分。这表明高分子物理中两种相对立的分子链折叠观点是可以统一的，二者的结合将更利于恰当描述单晶结构。退火使单晶结晶度和结晶完善程度提高的结构原因在于相对较小的折迭块重新组合成相对较大的折迭块。4.辐照单晶退火后，仍存在一定程度的折叠块。与未辐照时相比，剂量越大，较大折叠块越少，单独茎干的成分越多，且结构变化的程度越小。同一退火温度下，剂量越大，晶体越不稳定，结晶熔融热相应越低。5.无论辐照与否，单晶结构的变化均与退火温度有直接关系，不同退火温度下的退火机理不同。本实验中，90℃以下退火时，分子主要以蛇游式方式运动。105℃退火时也存在分子链的蛇游式运动，但是熔融再结晶占主导作用。

聚甲基丙烯酸多缩乙二醇二酯－锂盐－增塑剂聚合物电解质的离子电导

合成了一系列甲基丙烯酸多缩乙二醇二酯（ＰＥＤ），并且考察了溶剂含量、盐浓度、增塑剂种类对由ＰＥＤ、锂盐、溶剂组成的聚合物电解质的电导率的影响。当溶剂含量局于８０ｍｏｌ％，盐含量相同时，不同分子量的ＰＥＤ形成的电解质的电导率非常接近，表明增塑剂在盐的解离和离子迁移过程中起主导作用。研究了四种增塑剂：碳酸乙烯酯（ＥＣ）、碳酸丙烯酯（ＰＣ）、四乙二醇（ＴＥＧ）和ＰＥＧ＿（４００），发现其增塑效果同它们的介电常数大小的顺序相吻合。对于室温电导率，在ＬｉＣＬＯ＿４盐浓度为０．９ｍｏｌ／１时，存在最大值。但当温度上升时，电导率对盐浓度的依赖性发生了改变，通过离子－离子对－三离子之间的平衡随温度的变化可以很好地解释该种现象。本文还研究了电导率的温度依赖性，发现在盐浓度低于０．５ｍｏｌ／ｌ时，符合阿仑尼乌斯关系。

World in motion

Professor Ed Galea CEng, MIFireE provides a welcome to Pedestrian and Evacuation Dynamics 2003, (PED 2003) to be held in London on 20-22 August 2003.

Distance limits to intermediate- and high-velocity clouds

We present optical spectra of 403 stars and quasi-stellar objects in order to obtain distance limits towards intermediate- and high-velocity clouds (IHVCs), including new Fibre-fed Extended Range Optical Spectrograph (FEROS) observations plus archival ELODIE, FEROS, High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) and Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) data. The non-detection of Ca II K interstellar (IS) absorption at a velocity of −130 to −60 km s−1 towards HDE 248894 (d ∼ 3 kpc) and HDE 256725 (d ∼ 8 kpc) in data at signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) > 450 provides a new firm lower distance limit of 8 kpc for the anti-centre shell HVC. Similarly, the non-detection of Ca II K IS absorption towards HD 86248 at S/N ∼ 500 places a lower distance limit of 7.6 kpc for Complex EP, unsurprising since this feature is probably related to the Magellanic System. The lack of detection of Na I D at S/N = 35 towards Mrk 595 puts an improved upper limit for the Na I column density of log (NNaD <) 10.95 cm−2 towards this part of the Cohen Stream where Ca II was detected by Wakker et al. Absorption at ∼ −40 km s−1 is detected in Na I D towards the Galactic star PG 0039+049 at S/N = 75, placing a firm upper distance limit of 1 kpc for the intermediate-velocity cloud south (IVS), where a tentative detection had previously been obtained by Centurion et al. Ca ´ II K and Na I D absorption is detected at −53 km s−1 towards HD 93521, which confirms the upper distance limit of 2.4 kpc for part of the IV arch complex obtained using the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) data by Danly. Towards HD 216411 in Complex H a non-detection in Na D towards gas with log(NH I) = 20.69 cm−2 puts a lower distance limit of 6.6 kpc towards this HVC complex. Additionally, Na I D absorption is detected at −43.7 km s−1 in the star HD 218915 at a distance of 5.0 kpc in gas in the same region of the sky as Complex H. Finally, the Na I/Ca II and Ca II/H I ratios of the current sample are found to lie in the range observed for previous studies of IHVCs.

Padrões de crescimento em otólitos de larvas de Pomatoschistus pictus (Pisces, Gobiidae)

Dissertação mest., Biologia Marinha, Universidade do Algarve, 2006

Jovens em risco: projectos de vida e motivação para a frequência do ensino profissional

Dissertação de mest., Psicologia da Educação (Necessidades Educativas Especiais), Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Univ. do Algarve, 2011