Can a website-delivered computer-tailored physical activity intervention be acceptable, usable, and effective for older people?

Despite the numerous health benefits, population physical activity levels are low and declining with age. A continued increase of Internet access allows for website-delivered interventions to be implemented across age-groups, though older people have typically not been considered for this type of intervention. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate a website-delivered computer-tailored physical activity intervention, with a specific focus on differences in tailored advice acceptability, website usability, and physical activity change between three age-groups. To mimic "real-life" conditions, the intervention, which provided personalized physical activity feedback delivered via the Internet, was implemented and evaluated without any personal contact for the entire duration of the study. Data were collected online at baseline, 1-week, and 1-month follow-up and analyzed for three age-groups (≤44, 45-59, and ≥60 years) using linear mixed models. Overall, 803 adults received the intervention and 288 completed all measures. The oldest age-group increased physical activity more than the other two groups, spent the most time on the website, though had significantly lower perceived Internet self-confidence scores when compared with the youngest age-group. No differences were found in terms of website usability and tailored advice acceptability. These results suggest that website-delivered physical activity interventions can be suitable and effective for older aged adults.

FORA - A Fuzzy Set Based Framework for Online Reputation Management

The Social Web offers increasingly simple ways to publish and disseminate personal or opinionated information, which can rapidly exhibit a disastrous influence on the online reputation of organizations. Based on social Web data, this study describes the building of an ontology based on fuzzy sets. At the end of a recurring harvesting of folksonomies by Web agents, the aggregated tags are purified, linked, and transformed to a so-called fuzzy grassroots ontology by means of a fuzzy clustering algorithm. This self-updating ontology is used for online reputation analysis, a crucial task of reputation management, with the goal to follow the online conversation going on around an organization to discover and monitor its reputation. In addition, an application of the Fuzzy Online Reputation Analysis (FORA) framework, lesson learned, and potential extensions are discussed in this article.

Hybrid Ty1/HIV-1 elements used to detect inhibitors and monitor the activity of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase

We previously demonstrated that hybrid retrotransposons composed of the yeast Ty1 element and the reverse transcriptase (RT) of HIV-1 are active in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The RT activity of these hybrid Ty1/HIV-1 (his3AI/AIDS RT; HART) elements can be monitored by using a simple genetic assay. HART element reverse transcription depends on both the polymerase and RNase H domains of HIV-1 RT. Here we demonstrate that the HART assay is sensitive to inhibitors of HIV-1 RT. (−)-(S)-8-Chloro-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-5-methyl-6-(3-methyl-2-butenyl)imidazo[4,5,1-jk][1,4]-benzodiazepin-2(1H)-thione monohydrochloride (8 Cl-TIBO), a well characterized non-nucleoside RT inhibitor (NNRTI) of HIV-1 RT, blocks propagation of HART elements. HART elements that express NNRTI-resistant RT variants of HIV-1 are insensitive to 8 Cl-TIBO, demonstrating the specificity of inhibition in this assay. HART elements carrying NNRTI-resistant variants of HIV-1 RT can be used to identify compounds that are active against drug-resistant viruses.

Genomes OnLine Database (GOLD): a monitor of genome projects world-wide

GOLD is a comprehensive resource for accessing information related to completed and ongoing genome projects world-wide. The database currently provides information on 350 genome projects, of which 48 have been completely sequenced and their analysis published. GOLD was created in 1997 and since April 2000 it has been licensed to Integrated Genomics. The database is freely available through the URL: http://igweb.integratedgenomics.com/GOLD/.

Recent international activity in cooperative vehicle-highway automation systems /

This report summarizes the current state of the art in cooperative vehicle-highway automation systems in Europe and Asia based on a series of meetings, demonstrations, and site visits, combined with the results of literature review. This review covers systems that provide drivers with a range of automation capabilities, from driver assistance to fully automated driving, with an emphasis on cooperative systems that involve active exchanges of information between the vehicles and the roadside and among separate vehicles. The trends in development and deployment of these systems are examined by country, and the similarities and differences relative to the U.S. situation are noted, leading toward recommendations for future U.S. action. The Literature Review on Recent International Activity in Cooperative Vehicle-Highway Automation Systems is published separately as FHWA-HRT-13-025.

Literature review on recent international activity in cooperative vehicle-highway automation systems /

This literature review supports the report, Recent International Activity in Cooperative Vehicle-Highway Automation Systems. It reviews the published literature in English dating from 2007 or later about non-U.S.-based work on cooperative vehicle-highway automation systems. This review covers work performed in Europe and Japan, with application to transit buses, heavy trucks, and passenger cars. In addition to fully automated driving of the vehicles (without human intervention), it also covers partial automation systems, which automate subsets of the total driving process. Recent International Activity in Cooperative Vehicle Highway Automation Systems is published separately as FHWA-HRT-12-033.

The parent's monitor, and teacher's assistant; consisting of biographical sketches, and observations on religious education and personal piety.

Mode of access: Internet.