A set of indicators for decomposing the secular increase of life expectancy.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The ongoing increase in life expectancy in developed countries is associated with changes in the shape of the survival curve. These changes can be characterized by two main, distinct components: (i) the decline in premature mortality, i.e., the concentration of deaths around some high value of the mean age at death, also termed rectangularization of the survival curve; and (ii) the increase of this mean age at death, i.e., longevity, which directly reflects the reduction of mortality at advanced ages. Several recent observations suggest that both mechanisms are simultaneously taking place. METHODS: We propose a set of indicators aiming to quantify, disentangle, and compare the respective contribution of rectangularization and longevity increase to the secular increase of life expectancy. These indicators, based on a nonparametric approach, are easy to implement. RESULTS: We illustrate the method with the evolution of the Swiss mortality data between 1876 and 2006. Using our approach, we are able to say that the increase in longevity and rectangularization explain each about 50% of the secular increase of life expectancy. CONCLUSION: Our method may provide a useful tool to assess whether the contribution of rectangularization to the secular increase of life expectancy will remain around 50% or whether it will be increasing in the next few years, and thus whether concentration of mortality will eventually take place against some ultimate biological limit.

Memory-based scheduling of scientific computing clusters

This study looks at how increased memory utilisation affects throughput and energy consumption in scientific computing, especially in high-energy physics. Our aim is to minimise energy consumed by a set of jobs without increasing the processing time. The earlier tests indicated that, especially in data analysis, throughput can increase over 100% and energy consumption decrease 50% by processing multiple jobs in parallel per CPU core. Since jobs are heterogeneous, it is not possible to find an optimum value for the number of parallel jobs. A better solution is based on memory utilisation, but finding an optimum memory threshold is not straightforward. Therefore, a fuzzy logic-based algorithm was developed that can dynamically adapt the memory threshold based on the overall load. In this way, it is possible to keep memory consumption stable with different workloads while achieving significantly higher throughput and energy-efficiency than using a traditional fixed number of jobs or fixed memory threshold approaches.

Foliar potassium concentrations of bilberry, bog bilberry and downy birch as indicators of potassium nutrition of Scots pine on a drained peatland

Abstract

Climate Change or Land Use Dynamics: Do We Know What Climate Change Indicators Indicate?

Different components of global change can have interacting effects on biodiversity and this may influence our ability to detect the specific consequences of climate change through biodiversity indicators. Here, we analyze whether climate change indicators can be affected by land use dynamics that are not directly determined by climate change. To this aim, we analyzed three community-level indicators of climate change impacts that are based on the optimal thermal environment and averagelatitude of the distribution of bird species present at local communities. We used multiple regression models to relate the variation in climate change indicators to: i) environmental temperature; and ii) three landscape gradients reflecting important current land use change processes (land abandonment, fire impacts and urbanization), all of them having forest areas at their positive extremes. We found that, with few exceptions, landscape gradients determined the figures of climate change indicators as strongly as temperature. Bird communities in forest habitats had colder-dwelling bird species with more northerndistributions than farmland, burnt or urban areas. Our results show that land use changes can reverse, hide or exacerbate our perception of climate change impacts when measured through community-level climate change indicators. We stress the need of an explicit incorporation of the interactions between climate change and land use dynamics to understand what are current climate change indicators indicating and be able to isolate real climate change impacts

Biological exposure indicators: quantification of biological variability using toxicokinetic modeling

Compartmental and physiologically based toxicokinetic modeling coupled with Monte Carlo simulation were used to quantify the impact of biological variability (physiological, biochemical, and anatomic parameters) on the values of a series of bio-indicators of metal and organic industrial chemical exposures. A variability extent index and the main parameters affecting biological indicators were identified. Results show a large diversity in interindividual variability for the different categories of biological indicators examined. Measurement of the unchanged substance in blood, alveolar air, or urine is much less variable than the measurement of metabolites, both in blood and urine. In most cases, the alveolar flow and cardiac output were identified as the prime parameters determining biological variability, thus suggesting the importance of workload intensity on absorbed dose for inhaled chemicals.

High pressure induced changes on sarcoplasmic protein fraction and quality indicators

The combined effect of pressure and mild temperature treatments on bovine sarcoplasmic proteins and quality parameters was assessed. M. longissimus dorsi samples were pressurised in a range of 200–600 MPa and 10–30 °C. High Pressure Processing (HPP) induced a reduction of protein solubility (p < 0.001) compared to non-treated controls (NT), more pronounced above 200 MPa. HPP at pressures higher than 200 MPa induced a strong modification (p < 0.001) of meat colour and a reduction of water holding capacity (WHC). SDS–PAGE analysis demonstrated that HPP significantly modified the composition of the sarcoplasmic protein fraction. The pressurisation temperature mainly affected protein solubility and colour; a smaller effect was observed on protein profiles. Significant correlations (p < 0.001) between sarcoplasmic protein solubility and both expressible moisture (r = −0.78) and colour parameters (r = −0.81 to −0.91) suggest that pressure induced denaturation of sarcoplasmic proteins could influence to some extent WHC and colour modifications of beef. Changes in protein band intensities were also significantly correlated with protein solubility, meat lightness and expressible moisture. These results describe the changes induced by HPP on sarcoplasmic proteins and confirm a relationship between modification of the sarcoplasmic protein fraction and alteration of meat quality characteristics

Food Indicators and Their Relationship with 10 to 12 Year-olds' Subjective Well-Being

This study aimed to test subjective indicators designed to analyze the role food plays in children’s lives, explore children’s personal well-being, and evaluate the relationship between these two phenomena. It was conducted on 371 children aged 10 to 12 by means of a selfadministered questionnaire. Results showed a marked interest in food on the part of children, who consider taste and health the most important indicators when it comes to eating. They demonstrated a high level of personal well-being, measured using Cummins & Lau’s adapted version of the Personal Well- Being Index–School Children (PWI-SC) (2005), overall life satisfaction (OLS) and satisfaction with various life domains (friends, family, sports, food and body). Regression models were conducted to explain satisfaction with food, taking as independent variables the interest children have in food, the importance they give to different reasons for eating, scores from the PWI-SC, OLS and satisfaction with various life domains. In the final model, it was found that OLS, health indicators, satisfaction with health from the PWI-SC and satisfaction with your body contribute to explaining satisfaction with food. The results obtained suggest that satisfaction with food is a relevant indicator in the exploration of children’s subjective well-being, calling into question the widespread belief that these aspects are of exclusive interest to adults. They also seem to reinforce the importance of including food indicators in any study aimed at exploring the well-being of the 10 to 12 year-old population.

Protocol for a systematic review on the extent of non-publication of research studies and associated study characteristics.

BACKGROUND: Methodological research has found that non-published studies often have different results than those that are published, a phenomenon known as publication bias. When results are not published, or are published selectively based on the direction or the strength of the findings, healthcare professionals and consumers of healthcare cannot base their decision-making on the full body of current evidence. METHODS: As part of the OPEN project (http://www.open-project.eu) we will conduct a systematic review with the following objectives:1. To determine the proportion and/or rate of non-publication of studies by systematically reviewing methodological research projects that followed up a cohort of studies that a. received research ethics committee (REC) approval,b. were registered in trial registries, orc. were presented as abstracts at conferences.2. To assess the association of study characteristics (for example, direction and/or strength of findings) with likelihood of full publication.To identify reports of relevant methodological research projects we will conduct electronic database searches, check reference lists, and contact experts. Published and unpublished projects will be included. The inclusion criteria are as follows:a. RECs: methodological research projects that examined the subsequent proportion and/or rate of publication of studies that received approval from RECs;b. Trial registries: methodological research projects that examine the subsequent proportion and/or rate of publication of studies registered in trial registries;c. Conference abstracts: methodological research projects that examine the subsequent proportion and/or rate of full publication of studies which were initially presented at conferences as abstracts.Primary outcomes: Proportion/rate of published studies; time to full publication (mean/median; cumulative publication rate by time).Secondary outcomes: Association of study characteristics with full publication.The different questions (a, b, and c) will be investigated separately. Data synthesis will involve a combination of descriptive and statistical summaries of the included methodological research projects. DISCUSSION: Results are expected to be publicly available in mid 2013.

Chemistry in Catalonia 1990-1995

The seven-year period studied here differs very little from the sixyear period described in the previous Report (1990-1995). Sustained growth was observed in almost all the indicators used to evaluate the resources invested and the scientific results obtained