Functional equations of polylogarithms in motivic cohomology

For an infinite field F, we study the integral relationship between the Bloch group B_2(F) and the higher Chow group CH^2(F,3) by proving some relations corresponding to the functional equations of the dilogarithm. As a second result, the groups involved in Suslin’s exact sequence 0 → Tor^1(F^× ,F^×)∼ → CH^2(F,3) → B_2(F) → 0 are identified with homology groups of the cycle complex Z^2(F,•) computing Bloch’s higher Chow groups. Using these results, we give explicit cycles in motivic cohomology generating the integral motivic cohomology groups of some specific number fields and determine whether a given cycle in the Chow group already lives in one of the other groups of Suslin’s sequence. In principle, this enables us to find a presentation of the codimension two Chow group of an arbitrary number field. Finally, we also prove some relations in the higher Chow groups of codimension three modulo 2-torsion coming from relations in the higher Bloch group B_3(F) modulo 2-torsion. Further, we can prove a series of relations in CH^ 3(Q(zeta_p),5) for a primitive pth root of unity zeta_p.

A commutative higher cycle map into Deligne-Beilinson cohomology

Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Konstruktion eines Homomorphismus von partiell definierten, graduiert-kommutativen Algebren, der nach Ubergang zu rationalen Kohomologiegruppen mit der Regulatorabbildung reg zwischen motivischer und Deligne-Beilinson Kohomologie übereinstimmt.rnZu Beginn der Arbeit werden verschiedene Komplexe beschrieben, mit denen sich die motivische und die Deligne-Beilinson Kohomologie berechnen lassen.rnIm ersten Kapitel wird der Komplex der höheren Chow Ketten und der Unterkomplex der "alternierenden" Ketten "in guter Lage" eingeführt, die beide die motivische Kohomologie berechnen (letzterer mit rationalen Koeffizienten).rnIn den folgenden beiden Kapiteln werden Komplexe C_D und P_D beschrieben, mit denen sich die (rationale) Deligne-Beilinson Kohomologie berechnen lässt. Diese sind aufgebaut aus sogenannten Strömen, die im zweiten Kapitel eingeführt werden. Verknüpft sind die beiden Komplexe durch eine Auswertungsabbildung ev, die für rationale Koeffizienten zu einem Quasi-Isomorphismus wird. Auf beiden Komplexen lassen sich (Schnitt-)Produkte definieren, von denen jedoch nur das Produkt auf P_D gleichzeitig assoziativ und graduiert-kommutativ ist.rnIm vierten Kapitel wird ganz allgemein für eine Familie von Komplexen, die einer Reihe an Anforderungen genügt, ein (partiell definierter) Homomorphismus (der Regulator) von dem Komplex der höheren Chow Ketten in eben diese Komplexe konstruiert. Die beiden oben genannten Komplexe erfüllen diese Anforderungen und liefern daher Regulatoren reg_C und reg_P

Some considerations about cohomology of finite groups

In this work we present some considerations about cohomology of finite groups. In the first part we use the restriction map in cohomology to obtain some results about subgroups of finite index in a group. In the second part, we use Tate cohomology to present an application of the theory of groups with periodic cohomology in topology.

Algebraische Zyklen auf abelschen Varietäten der Dimension 4 mit Polarisierung von Typ (1,2,2,2)

Diese Arbeit besch"aftigt sich mit algebraischen Zyklen auf komplexen abelschen Variet"aten der Dimension 4. Ziel der Arbeit ist ein nicht-triviales Element in $Griff^{3,2}(A^4)$ zu konstruieren. Hier bezeichnet $A^4$ die emph{generische} abelsche Variet"at der Dimension 4 mit Polarisierung von Typ $(1,2,2,2)$. Die ersten drei Kapitel sind eine Wiederholung von elementaren Definitionen und Begriffen und daher eine Festlegung der Notation. In diesen erinnern wir an elementare Eigenschaften der von Saito definierten Filtrierungen $F_S$ und $Z$ auf den Chowgruppen (vgl. cite{Sa0} und cite{Sa}). Wir wiederholen auch eine Beziehung zwischen der $F_S$-Filtrierung und der Zerlegung von Beauville der Chowgruppen (vgl. cite{Be2} und cite{DeMu}), welche aus cite{Mu} stammt. Die wichtigsten Begriffe in diesem Teil sind die emph{h"ohere Griffiths' Gruppen} und die emph{infinitesimalen Invarianten h"oherer Ordnung}. Dann besch"aftigen wir uns mit emph{verallgemeinerten Prym-Variet"aten} bez"uglich $(2:1)$ "Uberlagerungen von Kurven. Wir geben ihre Konstruktion und wichtige geometrische Eigenschaften und berechnen den Typ ihrer Polarisierung. Kapitel ref{p-moduli} enth"alt ein Resultat aus cite{BCV} "uber die Dominanz der Abbildung $p(3,2):mathcal R(3,2)longrightarrow mathcal A_4(1,2,2,2)$. Dieses Resultat ist von Relevanz f"ur uns, weil es besagt, dass die generische abelsche Variet"at der Dimension 4 mit Polarisierung von Typ $(1,2,2,2)$ eine verallgemeinerte Prym-Variet"at bez"uglich eine $(2:1)$ "Uberlagerung einer Kurve vom Geschlecht $7$ "uber eine Kurve vom Geschlecht $3$ ist. Der zweite Teil der Dissertation ist die eigentliche Arbeit und ist auf folgende Weise strukturiert: Kapitel ref{Deg} enth"alt die Konstruktion der Degeneration von $A^4$. Das bedeutet, dass wir in diesem Kapitel eine Familie $Xlongrightarrow S$ von verallgemeinerten Prym-Variet"aten konstruieren, sodass die klassifizierende Abbildung $Slongrightarrow mathcal A_4(1,2,2,2)$ dominant ist. Desweiteren wird ein relativer Zykel $Y/S$ auf $X/S$ konstruiert zusammen mit einer Untervariet"at $Tsubset S$, sodass wir eine explizite Beschreibung der Einbettung $Yvert _Thookrightarrow Xvert _T$ angeben k"onnen. Das letzte und wichtigste Kapitel enth"ahlt Folgendes: Wir beweisen dass, die emph{ infinitesimale Invariante zweiter Ordnung} $delta _2(alpha)$ von $alpha$ nicht trivial ist. Hier bezeichnet $alpha$ die Komponente von $Y$ in $Ch^3_{(2)}(X/S)$ unter der Beauville-Zerlegung. Damit und mit Hilfe der Ergebnissen aus Kapitel ref{Cohm} k"onnen wir zeigen, dass [ 0neq [alpha ] in Griff ^{3,2}(X/S) . ] Wir k"onnen diese Aussage verfeinern und zeigen (vgl. Theorem ref{a4}) begin{theorem}label{maintheorem} F"ur $sin S$ generisch gilt [ 0neq [alpha _s ]in Griff ^{3,2}(A^4) , ] wobei $A^4$ die generische abelsche Variet"at der Dimension $4$ mit Polarisierung vom Typ $(1,2,2,2)$ ist. end{theorem}

Socioeconomic differences in takeaway food consumption and their contribution to inequalities in dietary intakes

Background Takeaway consumption has been increasing and may contribute to socioeconomic inequalities in overweight/obesity and chronic disease. This study examined socioeconomic differences in takeaway consumption patterns, and their contributions to dietary intake inequalities. Method Cross-sectional dietary intake data from adults aged between 25 and 64 years from the Australian National Nutrition Survey (n= 7319, 61% response rate). Twenty-four hour dietary recalls ascertained intakes of takeaway food, nutrients and fruit and vegetables. Education was used as socioeconomic indicator. Data were analysed using logistic regression and general linear models. Results Thirty-two percent (n = 2327) consumed takeaway foods in the 24 hour period. Lower-educated participants were less likely than their higher-educated counterparts to have consumed total takeaway foods (OR 0.64; 95% CI 0.52, 0.80). Of those consuming takeaway foods, the lowest-educated group was more likely to have consumed “less healthy” takeaway choices (OR 2.55; 95% CI 1.73, 3.77), and less likely to have consumed “healthy” choices (OR 0.52; 95% CI 0.36, 0.75). Takeaway foods made a greater contribution to energy, total fat, saturated fat, and fibre intakes among lower than higher-educated groups. Lower likelihood of fruit and vegetable intakes were observed among “less healthy” takeaway consumers, whereas a greater likelihood of their consumption was found among “healthy” takeaway consumers. Conclusions Total and the types of takeaway foods consumed may contribute to socioeconomic inequalities in intakes of energy, total and saturated fats. However, takeaway consumption is unlikely to be a factor contributing to the lower fruit and vegetable intakes among socioeconomically-disadvantaged groups.

Socioeconomic inequalities in weight status among mid-aged adults : the contribution of perceptions of weight status and weight-control behaviours

Background Socioeconomically-disadvantaged adults in developed countries experience a higher prevalence of a number of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis and some forms of cancer. Overweight and obesity are major risk factors for these diseases. Lower socioeconomic groups have a greater prevalence of overweight and obesity and this may contribute to their higher morbidity and mortality. International studies suggest that socioeconomic groups may differ in their self-perceptions of weight status and their engagement in weightcontrol behaviours (WCBs). Research has shown that lower socioeconomic adults are more likely to underestimate their weight status, and are less likely to engage in WCBs. This may contribute (in part) to the marked inequalities in weight status observed at the population level. There are few, and somewhat limited, Australian studies that have examined the types of weight-control strategies people adopt, the barriers to their weight control, the determinants of their perceived weight status and WCBs. Furthermore, there are no known Australian studies that have examined socioeconomic differences in these factors to better understand the reasons for socioeconomic inequalities in weight status. Hence, the overall aim of this Thesis is to examine why socioeconomically-disadvantaged group experience a greater prevalence of overweight and obesity than their more-advantaged counterparts. Methods This Thesis used data from two sources. Men and women aged 45 to 60 years were examined from both data source. First, the longitudinal Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle (AusDiab) Study were used to advance our knowledge and understanding of socioeconomic differences in weight change, perceived weight status and WCBs. A total of 2753 participants with measured weights at both baseline (1999-2000) and follow-up (2004-2005) were included in the analyses. Percent weight change over the five-year interval was calculated and perceived weight status, WCBs and highest attained education were collected at baseline. Second, the Candidate conducted a postal questionnaire from 1013 Brisbane residents (69.8 % response rate) to investigate the relationship between socioeconomic position, determinants of perceived weight status, WCBs, and barriers and reasons to weight control. A test-retest reliability study was conducted to determine the reliability of the new measures used in the questionnaire. Most new measures had substantial to almost perfect reliability when considering either kappa coefficient or crude agreement. Results The findings from the AusDiab Study (accepted for publication in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health) showed that low-educated men and women were more likely to be obese at baseline compared to their higheducated respondents (O.R. = 1.97, 95 % C.I. = 1.30-2.98 and O.R. = 1.52, 95 % C.I. = 1.03-2.25, respectively). Over the five year follow-up period (1999-2000 to 2004- 05) there were no socioeconomic differences in weight change among men, however socioeconomically-disadvantaged women had greater weight gains. Participants perceiving themselves as overweight gained less weight than those who saw themselves as underweight or normal weight. There was no relationship between engaging in WCBs and five-year weight change. The postal questionnaire data showed that socioeconomically-disadvantaged groups were less likely to engage in WCBs. If they did engage in weight control, they were less likely to adopt exercise strategies, including moderate and vigorous physical activities but were more likely to decrease their sitting time to control their weight. Socioeconomically-disadvantaged adults reported more barriers to weight control; such as perceiving weight loss as expensive, requiring a lot of cooking skills, not being a high priority and eating differently from other people in the household. These results have been accepted for publication in Public Health Nutrition. The third manuscript (under review in Social Science and Medicine) examined socioeconomic differences in determinants of perceived weight status and reasons for weight control. The results showed that lower socioeconomic adults were more likely to specify the following reasons for weight control: they considered themselves to be too heavy, for occupational requirements, on recommendation from their doctor, family members or friends. Conversely, high-income adults were more likely to report weight control to improve their physical condition or to look more attractive compared with those on lower-incomes. There were few socioeconomic differences in the determinants of perceived weight status. Conclusions Education inequalities in overweight/obesity among men and women may be due to mis-perceptions of weight status; overweight or obese individuals in loweducated groups may not perceive their weight as problematic and therefore may not pay attention to their energy-balance behaviours. Socioeconomic groups differ in WCBs, and their reasons and perceived barriers to weight control. Health promotion programs should encourage weight control among lower socioeconomic groups. More specifically, they should encourage the engagement of physical activity or exercise and dietary strategies among disadvantaged groups. Furthermore, such programs should address potential barriers for weight control that disadvantaged groups may encounter. For example, disadvantaged groups perceive that weight control is expensive, requires cooking skills, not a high priority and eating differently from other people in the household. Lastly, health promotion programs and policies aimed at reducing overweight and obesity should be tailored to the different reasons and motivations to weight control experienced by different socioeconomic groups. Weight-control interventions targeted at higher socioeconomic groups should use improving physical condition and attractiveness as motivational goals; while, utilising social support may be more effective for encouraging weight control among lower socioeconomic groups.

Socioeconomic position and mass media campaigns to prevent chronic disease

This cross-sectional study of a 45 to 60 year old Brisbane population examined socioeconomic differences in campaign reach, understanding of health language, and effectiveness, of a recent mass media health promotion campaign. Lower socioeconomic groups were reached significantly less and understood significantly less of the health language than higher socioeconomic groups thus contributing to the widening of the health inequality gap.

Pathological excretion patterns of urinary proteins in miners highly exposed to dinitrotoluene

A cohort of 161 underground miners who had been highly exposed to dinitrotoluene (DNT) in the copper-mining industry of the former German Democratic Republic was reinvestigated for signs of subclinical renal damage. The study included a screening of urinary proteins excreted by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and quantitations of the specific urinary proteins α 1-microglobulin and glutathione-S-transferase α (GST α) as biomarkers for damage of the proximal tubule and glutathione-S-transferase π (GST π) for damage of the distal tubule. The exposures were categorized semiquantitatively (low, medium, high, and very high), according to the type and duration of professional contact with DNT. A straight dose-dependence of pathological protein excretion patterns with the semiquantitative ranking of DNT exposure was seen. Most of the previously reported cancer cases of the urinary tract, especially those in the higher exposed groups, were confined to pathological urinary protein excretion patterns. The damage from DNT was directed toward the tubular system. In many cases, the appearance of Tamm-Horsfall protein, a 105-kD protein marker, was noted. Data on the biomarkers α 1-microglobulin, GST α, and GST π consistently demonstrated a dose-dependent increase in tubular damage, which confirmed the results of screening by SDS-PAGE and clearly indicated a nephrotoxic effect of DNT under the given conditions of exposure. Within the cluster of cancer patients observed among the DNT-exposed workers, only in exceptional cases were normal biomarker excretions found.

Cancer survivors at work : Work-related problems and factors associated with their employment, work ability and social support from the work community

Due to the improved prognosis of many forms of cancer, an increasing number of cancer survivors are willing to return to work after their treatment. It is generally believed, however, that people with cancer are either unemployed, stay at home, or retire more often than people without cancer. This study investigated the problems that cancer survivors experience on the labour market, as well as the disease-related, sociodemographic and psychosocial factors at work that are associated with the employment and work ability of cancer survivors. The impact of cancer on employment was studied combining the data of Finnish Cancer Registry and census data of the years 1985, 1990, 1995 or 1997 of Statistics Finland. There were two data sets containing 46 312 and 12 542 people with cancer. The results showed that cancer survivors were slightly less often employed than their referents. Two to three years after the diagnosis the employment rate of the cancer survivors was 9% lower than that of their referents (64% vs. 73%), whereas the employment rate was the same before the diagnosis (78%). The employment rate varied greatly according to the cancer type and education. The probability of being employed was greater in the lower than in the higher educational groups. People with cancer were less often employed than people without cancer mainly because of their higher retirement rate (34% vs. 27%). As well as employment, retirement varied by cancer type. The risk of retirement was twofold for people having cancer of the nervous system or people with leukaemia compared to their referents, whereas people with skin cancer, for example, did not have an increased risk of retirement. The aim of the questionnaire study was to investigate whether the work ability of cancer survivors differs from that of people without cancer and whether cancer had impaired their work ability. There were 591 cancer survivors and 757 referents in the data. Even though current work ability of cancer survivors did not differ between the survivors and their referents, 26% of cancer survivors reported that their physical work ability, and 19% that their mental work ability had deteriorated due to cancer. The survivors who had other diseases or had had chemotherapy, most often reported impaired work ability, whereas survivors with a strong commitment to their work organization, or a good social climate at work, reported impairment less frequently. The aim of the other questionnaire study containing 640 people with the history of cancer was to examine extent of social support that cancer survivors needed, and had received from their work community. The cancer survivors had received most support from their co-workers, and they hoped for more support especially from the occupational health care personnel (39% of women and 29% of men). More support was especially needed by men who had lymphoma, had received chemotherapy or had a low education level. The results of this study show that the majority of the survivors are able to return to work. There is, however, a group of cancer survivors who leave work life early, have impaired work ability due to their illness, and suffer from lack of support from their work place and the occupational health services. Treatment-related, as well as sociodemographic factors play an important role in survivors' work-related problems, and presumably their possibilities to continue working.

E. C. G. Sudarshan and Symmetry in Classical Dynamics, Optics and Quantum Mechanics

We review work initiated and inspired by Sudarshan in relativistic dynamics, beam optics, partial coherence theory, Wigner distribution methods, multimode quantum optical squeezing, and geometric phases. The 1963 No Interaction Theorem using Dirac's instant form and particle World Line Conditions is recalled. Later attempts to overcome this result exploiting constrained Hamiltonian theory, reformulation of the World Line Conditions and extending Dirac's formalism, are reviewed. Dirac's front form leads to a formulation of Fourier Optics for the Maxwell field, determining the actions of First Order Systems (corresponding to matrices of Sp(2,R) and Sp(4,R)) on polarization in a consistent manner. These groups also help characterize properties and propagation of partially coherent Gaussian Schell Model beams, leading to invariant quality parameters and the new Twist phase. The higher dimensional groups Sp(2n,R) appear in the theory of Wigner distributions and in quantum optics. Elegant criteria for a Gaussian phase space function to be a Wigner distribution, expressions for multimode uncertainty principles and squeezing are described. In geometric phase theory we highlight the use of invariance properties that lead to a kinematical formulation and the important role of Bargmann invariants. Special features of these phases arising from unitary Lie group representations, and a new formulation based on the idea of Null Phase Curves, are presented.

Transformations of morphine, codeine and their analogues by Bacillus sp

A bacterial strain belonging to the genus Bacillus isolated by enrichment culture technique using morphine as a sole source of carbon transforms morphine and codeine into 14-hydroxymorphinone and 14-hydroxycodeinone as major and 14-hydroxymorphine and 14-hydroxycodeine as minor metabolites, respectively. When the N-methyl group in morphine and codeine are replaced by higher alkyl groups, the organism still retains its ability to carry out 14-hydroxylation as well as oxidation of the C-6-hydroxyl group in these N-variants, although the level of metabolites formed are considerably low. The organism readily transforms dihydromorphine and dihydrocodeine into only dihydromorphinone and dihydrocodeinone, respectively; suggesting that the 7,8-double bond is a necessary structural feature to carry out 14-hydroxylation reaction. The cell free extract (20,000 x g supernatant), prepared from morphine grown cells, transforms morphine into 14-hydroxymorphinone in the presence of NAD(+), but fails to show activity against testosterone. However, the cell free extract prepared from testosterone grown cells contains significant levels of 17 beta- hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase but shows no activity against morphine.

Estrategias de diversificación en los grupos familiares y no familiares: principales diferencias según el tipo de grupo no familiar

[ES] Durante la última década surge un interés por el estudio de la estructura de propiedad como elemento determinante de la diversificación. Sin embargo, existe una carencia de investigaciones que analicen la influencia de la naturaleza del último propietario en el nivel y tipo de diversificación. Por ello, el objeto del presente trabajo es analizar las estrategias de diversificación empleadas por los grandes grupos empresariales españoles cuya empresa matriz cotiza en los mercados de valores, estudiando las diferencias existentes entre grupos familiares y no familiares, y considerando en estos últimos la naturaleza del último propietario. Se parte de una muestra de noventa y nueve grupos empresariales, donde se identifican las compañías que constituyen el grupo empresarial, siendo empleadas como metodologías econométricas los modelos logísticos binomiales y los modelos datos panel. Los resultados muestran como la naturaleza familiar del grupo influye positivamente en la especialización y en el empleo de estrategias de diversificación relacionada, y negativamente en el empleo de estrategias de diversificación no relacionada. Los grupos familiares difieren en mayor medida de aquellos grupos no familiares donde no existe un accionista de referencia que pueda ejercer el control efectivo del grupo y la dispersión de la propiedad es mayor, los denominados grupos sin control efectivo . La investigación permite profundizar en el análisis de las diferencias existentes entre grupos familiares y no familiares, y más concretamente en el ámbito de las estrategias de crecimiento, considerando la naturaleza del último propietario de los grupos no familiares.

社会困境中的行为决策――社会身份与地位的影响

Social dilemmas are defined as such situations in which short-term individual and long-term collective interests are at odds (Hardin, 1968; Messick & Brewer, 1983). Severe social problems lead more and more researchers to pay attention to the issue of social dilemmas. Until now, research has widely examined the factors influencing cooperation in social dilemmas, and provided solutions to social dilemmas. In the need of theory development, previous research generally simplified the situation of realistic social dilemmas. Therefore, few studies have explored the issue of cooperation in social dilemmas in an intergroup situation. On the other hand, there has been little empirical attention for such issues in countries outside of United States and Western Europe. To meet this gap, the present study grounded itself in social identity theories and examined the effect of unequal group status on behavioral decision making in social dilemmas. To this end, the study designed three experiments to examine how individuals with different group status response psychologically and behaviorally to cooperation in intragroup and intergroup social dilemmas. In experiment 1, the study examined how independent and interdependent self- construals affect cooperative behavior in an intragroup social dilemma. The results showed that when individuals were primed with interdependent (as opposed to independent) self-construal, they consistently contributed highly, regardless of context manipulation. In contrast, those primed with independent self-construal contributed less in the investment game but only when placed in a context where group members were encouraged to think about their individual (versus shared) fate. Results supported the idea that independent self-construal in a low interdependent context produces the most competitive behavior and that this effect was partially mediated by the feeling of interaction within a group. In experiment 2, the study examined how the effect of group status on different level of cooperation in a nested social dilemma was moderated by individual status, and what roles ingroup and superordinate identifications played in the above effect. Results found that individuals in higher status groups tended to allocate more to private account and less to subgroup account compared to those in lower status group; individuals in higher status groups allocated more to higher level accounts than to private account, whereas those in lower status acted in a reverse way. The results indicated that group status (compared to individual status) exerted a positive influence on behavioral decision making in social dilemmas, with higher group status contributing more to subgroup as well as collective interests. Results also found that the effect of group status and/or individual status on cooperation in social dilemmas was moderated by sex. As for individual status, results showed that the effect of individual status on subgroup interest was significantly moderated only by the combination of higher ingroup identification and lower superordinate identification. In experiment 3, the study explored how group stability and cognitive categorization interactively influenced the relationship between group status and behavioral decision making in a social dilemma. Results did not support the prediction that group status and stability interactively affected behavioral decision-making in social dilemmas. However, it was found that this relationship was moderated by which level individuals categorized themselves at. When categorization at the individual level was salient, individuals in high status group contributed more to subgroup account than those in low status group if they perceived a stable status hierarchy; whereas they contributed more to private account and less to collective account if they perceived that the status was instable. On the other hand, when categorization at the subgroup level was salient, individuals in high status group contributed less to collective account than those in low status group if they perceived that the status was stable; whereas they contributed less to private account and more to subgroup account if they perceived an instable status relation. In summary, the present study suggests that cooperation with ingroup forms the basis of social harmony, and higher status for everyone in any given group is a necessary for social development. On the other hand, individuals in higher status group tend to be more selfish once they realize that their current status hierarchy is unstable. However, activating their collective identity will to some degree increase the level of their cooperation with the collective. The study thus provides psychological explanations on how to construct group harmony and management suggestions on how to solve social conflicts.

Loss of functionally unique species may gradually undermine ecosystems

Functionally unique species contribute to the functional diversity of natural systems, often enhancing ecosystem functioning. An abundance of weakly interacting species increases stability in natural systems, suggesting that loss of weakly linked species may reduce stability. Any link between the functional uniqueness of a species and the strength of its interactions in a food web could therefore have simultaneous effects on ecosystem functioning and stability. Here, we analyse patterns in 213 real food webs and show that highly unique species consistently tend to have the weakest mean interaction strength per unit biomass in the system. This relationship is not a simple consequence of the interdependence of both measures on body size and appears to be driven by the empirical pattern of size structuring in aquatic systems and the trophic position of each species in the web. Food web resolution also has an important effect, with aggregation of species into higher taxonomic groups producing a much weaker relationship. Food webs with fewer unique and less weakly interacting species also show significantly greater variability in their levels of primary production. Thus, the loss of highly unique, weakly interacting species may eventually lead to dramatic state changes and unpredictable levels of ecosystem functioning.

Social determinants of older adults' awareness of community support services in Hamilton, Ontario

Community support services (CSSs) have been developed in Canada and other Western nations to enable persons coping with health or social issues to continue to live in the community. This study addresses the extent to which awareness of CSSs is structured by the social determinants of health. In a telephone interview conducted in February-March 2006, 1152 community-dwelling older adults (response rate 12.4%) from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada were made to read a series of four vignettes and were asked whether they were able to identify a CSS they may turn to in that situation. Across the four vignettes, 40% of participants did name a CSS as a possible source of assistance. Logistic regression was used to determine factors related to awareness of CSSs. Respondents most likely to have awareness of CSS include the middle-aged and higher-income groups. Being knowledgeable about where to look for information about CSSs, having social support and being a member of a club or voluntary organisations are also significant predictors of awareness of CSSs. Study results suggest that efforts be made to improve the level of awareness and access to CSSs among older adults by targeting their social networks as well as their health and social care providers. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.